FRIDAY 25TH SEPTEMBER 2020

Report: N5.39tn Debt Blocks States from Capital Market Borrowing We are not overwhelmed, Osun govt insists Lagos has reduced reliance on FAAC to 21%, says Sanwo-Olu Deji Elumoye in Abuja and Dike Onwuamaeze in Lagos With a total debt burden of N5.39 trillion as at the end of December 2019, the 36 states of the federation are no longer

eligible to borrow from the capital market, a new report, has said.

The 2020 edition of the BudgIT’s annual state of states report titled “Fiscal Sustainability and Epidemic

Preparedness Financing at the State Level,” stated that the debt burden of the 36 state governments (excluding the Federal Capital Territory) stood at N5.39 trillion in 2019.

This is coming as the Osun

State government has declared that it is not overwhelmed by the huge debt profile of the state, stressing that alternative means had been identified to meet the financial needs of the state.

The Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu, who was the guest of honour at the unveiling of the report, also said that the state’s reliance on Federation Accounts Allocation Committee (FAAC)

has reduced to only 21 per cent as at August 2020.

The report added that the states are no longer qualified to borrow from the capital market Continued on page 10

Nigerian Oil, Gas Suppliers Lament N320bn Loss, Back Deregulation... Page 8 Friday 25 September, 2020 Vol 25. No 9300. Price: N250

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Labour’s Proposed Strike in Abeyance as Parley with FG Ends in Deadlock Parties hold on to positions, adjourn till Monday Court restrains unions from industrial action Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja The meeting between the federal government and organised labour, Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress (TUC), was adjourned yesterday till Monday after both sides failed to agree on terms for the resolution of the dispute

over the increase in petrol price and electricity tariffs in the country.

However, the planned industrial action scheduled for Monday by the labour unions is put in abeyance, pending further consultations with their various organs Continued on page 9

Akeredolu, Jegede, Ajayi, Others Scramble for 1,478,460 Ondo Voters Candidates sign peace accord October 6 Chuks Okocha and James Sowole in Akure The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) yesterday gave details of how the October 10 governorship election in Ondo State would be conducted, stating that 1,478,460 voters are eligible to determine the fate of the

candidates of the various political parties, by casting their votes in the 3,009 polling units in the state.

This is against the voting population of 1,822,345 in the 18 local government areas within 203 electoral wards and registration areas.

Continued on page 9

CARING HEART...

L-R: Chairman of Kwara State Ad-hoc Committee on Environment, Mr. Abdulrazaq Jiddah; Senator Ibrahim Oloriegbe; and Kwara State Governor, Alhaji AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, during the governor's visits to households affected by recent rainstorms in Ilorin…recently

30 People Injured, 23 Buildings Destroyed in Lagos Explosion... Page 5

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

30 People Injured, 23 Buildings Destroyed in Lagos Explosion

Peter Uzoho No fewer than 30 people were yesterday injured in a gas explosion that occurred at Iju Ishaga, Lagos State, while 15 vehicles and 23 buildings were destroyed.

The spokesperson for the Lagos State Emergency Agency, Mr. Nosa Okunbor, who confirmed the incident in a statement, said the 30 people include 20 adult males and 10 adult females.

He said, “On arrival at the scene, it was observed that there was a gas explosion. “Further investigation revealed that a truck had a lone accident and exploded. “The impact of the explosion affected adjoining buildings and several vehicles were burnt. “It was confirmed that a 30 tonnes LPG (Liquefied

Petroleum Gas) Tanker being operated by Mana Gas Limited was involved in the explosion which injured 30 persons – 20 adult males and 10 adult females. “A total of 23 buildings and 15 vehicles were destroyed.

The disaster losses are two residential buildings, church – one, event centre – one, commercial buildings – four, market- one (consisting of 15 shanty shops), cars – 11, mini trucks – two, bus – one, heavy-duty truck – one. “Sixteen people were found to have serious injuries and were taken to various hospitals, including Iju water works clinic.

Two people out of the above 16 were referred to General Hospital. They are in critical conditions.

Among the buildings affected are X and Y Event Centre, a church, and a plank market.

Malami: Why I Declined to Appear before Salami Panel

Alex Enumah in Abuja

The Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Abubakar Malami (SAN), yesterday gave an insight into why he did not appear at the Justice Ayo Salami Panel of Inquiry investigating the suspended Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mr. Ibrahim Magu.

Malami in a statement said his non-appearance at the proceedings of the panel holding in Abuja "was purely constitutional and not based on any ulterior motive."

The statement signed by his media aide, Dr. Umar Gwandu, explained that that the appearance or otherwise of the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice to serve as a witness in any investigation should be a constitutional matter.

He said: "In establishing propriety or otherwise of the presence of the AttorneyGeneral of the Federation and Minister of Justice whose responsibility is to hold constitutional order one must root same within the constitutional provisions.

"The terms and wordings of invitation extended to the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice to Justice Ayo Panel of Inquiry against Magu runs contrary to the constitutional provisions."

Gwandu stressed that the Office of the AttorneyGeneral of the Federation and Minister of Justice is by the provision of the constitution and extant laws empowered to serve supervisory role.

He added: "In the case of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice has been discharging the role effectively.�

Magu was suspended in July based on some reports by investigative panels set up by the AGF. Some of the allegations were that Magu was unable to account for the interest accrued to over N500bn in recovered funds and that he allegedly bought a house in Dubai for N570million.

The suspended EFCC boss was also said to be at loggerheads with the AGF and had refused to obey instructions from his office.

However, in the course of the investigation by the panel, the probe was extended to several other cases including that of convicted former InspectorGeneral of Police, Mr. Tafa Balogun.

Over 40 persons including those standing trial for corruption have reportedly testified before the panel, a move which has been criticised by Magu’s legal team and other anticorruption groups.

The panel is supposed to have ended its sitting since last month but was given a six-week extension which lapses this month.

KEEPING COVID-19 AT BAY...

L-R: Ambassador of Republic of Korea, Mr. Woochan Chang; Director-General of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, Dr. Chikwe Ihekweazu; and the Minister of State for Health, Dr. Olorunnimbe Mamora, during the donation of COVID-19 Smart Walk-Through Booths by Korea to the NCDC National Reference Laboratory, Gaduwa in Abuja‌yesterday

Don’t Rule out States Creation, Omo-Agege Tells Nigerians Deji Elumoye in Abuja The Deputy Senate President, Senator Ovie Omo-Agege, has said that the possibility of creating new states in the ongoing review of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria cannot be ruled out.

Omo-Agege, who also doubles as Chairman of Senate Committee on Constitution Review, however, advised proponents of new states creation to be ready to lobby stakeholders from all the six geo-political zones of the country.

The deputy Senate president spoke while playing host to a delegation from Katagum, Missau and Jama’are Emirates in Bauchi State calling for the creation of Katagum State.

The group was led by a former Head of Service of the Federation and Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Alhaji Yayale Ahmed.

Omo-Agege, while emphasising the need for lobby for creation of new states to be a reality said "irrespective of

my personal views, the views of members of this committee, you will need to do a lot of lobbying.

"No matter what we think as members of this committee about the appropriateness and justness of your cause, I want to plead with you to reach out to our colleagues from all of the geopolitical zones because not one state or geopolitical zone can give you a state. But it is about lobbying. If you do this, there is no reason why you should not be able to pull this through�.

He disclosed that the constitution review panel would harvest from its data bank, stressing that the 2014 Confab Report, El- Rufai panel report of 2018 as well as constitution alteration bills already referred to the committee would enrich its assignment.

"We have a lot of positions taken by various interests to the effect that the Constitution review exercise is not necessary.

That what they require is a complete rewrite of the Nigerian

Constitution. I am glad that we have, seated before us here today in this delegation, people who are very well read, lettered with sound knowledge of the constitution that the power granted to us as a National Assembly, precisely under Section 9 of the Constitution, is a power to amend provisions of the Constitution and not to rewrite the Constitution", Omo-Agege said.

He pointed out that the National Assembly is just one out of the many stakeholders involved in the alteration of the national document.

"This is an exercise we take very seriously. This is a serious request. We are going to look into it and give you all of the assistance we can muster. It is not just about the National Assembly. Our job is to lay the foundation before it goes to the other stakeholders," the committee chairman further stated.

Earlier, leader of the delegation and former SGF, Ahmed, said the

call for the creation of Katagum State dated back to 1980s, adding that the Second Senate in 1981 and the 2014 National Conference had already approved the creation of the state.

While affirming his confidence in the Ninth National Assembly, Ahmed declared that the proposed state was economically viable in the areas of agriculture, solid minerals, livestock and water resources adding that when created, the state would bring development closer to the people.

He said: "We are hereby presenting for your kind consideration, the request for the creation of Katagum State out of the current Bauchi State. We are doing so minding the fact that the National Assembly is the only body recognised constitutionally to initiate and create states.

Anything outside that will not yield any positive result.

Therefore we are reaffirming our confidence in the National Assembly to do the right thing at the right time".

Osinbajo: Current International Mechanism for Asset Recovery Weak Omololu Ogunmade in Abuja Vice President Yemi Osinbajo yesterday canvassed the need to strengthen international cooperation in the global effort to curtail illicit financial flows, saying the current international mechanisms are not strong enough to address the menace.

Osinbajo made this submission while delivering a speech on behalf of President Muhammadu Buhari at the Financial Accountability, Transparency and Integrity (FACTI) Panel Video Conference, held on the sidelines of the

ongoing United Nations General Assembly (UNGA).

According to a statement by the vice-president's spokesman, Mr. Laolu Akande, the session featured presentations by the immediate past President of UNGA, Prof. Tijjani Muhammad-Bande and Ambassador Mona Jul of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC).

Osinbajo, however, said the FACTI Panel has a role to play in meeting the expectations of both the source and destination countries as well as in harmonising the process of

asset recovery and repatriation.

He said: "The current international mechanisms for asset recovery are not good enough as can be seen in the amounts lost to illicit financial flows and the length of time taken before the repatriation of just a small fraction is made. The FACTI Panel report can play an important role in bridging the expectations of source and destination countries as well as in harmonising the process of assets recovery and return.�

The statement said Osinbajo also spoke on efforts to promote equity and achieve economic

growth, saying, “we agree with the panel on the importance of having a balanced approach that reflects the situation in different regions and the priorities of different stakeholders.�

He added: “I believe that for the global aspiration to recover better from the impact of the pandemics and to yield any inclusive result, we must comprehensively address existing structures that make it impossible for countries to generate and retain a sizeable chunk of their resources.

The success of the FACTI panel’s final report will be

measured by the clarity of its recommendations in support of global governance reforms�.

Akande said the speech emphasised the dangers posed by illicit financial flows and how the panel's work could be useful, noting that the problem would be best addressed internationally. “FACTI Panel’s report should assess how effectively we are meeting our commitments to combating the scourge and strengthening cooperation in dispute settlement and peer learning, particularly in assets recovery and return," he added.

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Nigerian Oil, Gas Suppliers Lament N320bn Loss, Back Deregulation Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja The Natural Oil and Gas Suppliers Association of Nigeria (NOGASA) yesterday bemoaned its huge losses to the tune of N320 billion as a result of the control of the prices of products by the federal government.

The body, therefore, backed the decision of the federal government to allow prices to be determined by the forces of demand and supply, and pleaded with the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC), to have a rethink on their planned strike, saying that the action will have unquantifiable adverse impact on businesses.

A statement by the spokesman of the organisation, Chief Ukadike Chinedu, in Abuja, said its members would be forced to lay off staff, with the increasingly difficult business terrain.

It stated: “NOGASA is seriously concerned about recent developments in the downstream sector of the industry, especially with growing adverse effects on our businesses, workers and the Nigerian economy at large. “The crushing impact on businesses and business investors in the downstream sector following the onset of Covid-19 global pandemic has been, to say the least, disastrous for the industry. “Some of our concerns are: heavy losses of over N320 billion investments from products purchases at government specified prices, and sales at compelled price reductions, which could not be justified by the costs of transaction. “Numerous businesses are

dying in silence. A lot of them are no longer trading as a result of the heavy losses. There is an upward slide on the graph of job losses in the sector.�

It noted that while the association fully agrees with the organised labour that the government should repair refineries and allow others to build private ones to encourage a more robust competitive business environment, it strongly believes that further disruptions in an already struggling economy will create far more problems for workers and businesses. “It is in light of these and many other economic challenges and negative outcomes to the entire Nigerian economy that NOGASA appeals to the NLC/TUC to reconsider their proposed action over the increase in petroleum pump price and electricity rates by the government. “While the association believes that there is great need for more far-reaching negotiations and dialogue to resolve matters that affect us all, it also uses this medium to appeal to government to declare a state of emergency on the refineries with a view to bringing them back to life as quickly as possible,� the body said.

To make matters worse, the suppliers stressed that the price reduction by the federal government earlier this year, was announced without notice, saying that so many businesses were caught by surprise and could no longer sustain operations. “Those losses were never refunded by the government and some companies were forced

to shut down operations and lay off workers,� it said.

NOGASA noted that while its members do not mind price reductions, it believes that it is possible to have much more reduced prices even with full deregulation.

According to it, “Rather than

government price control, we believe that the government should leave the prices of these products to be determined by market forces. “The government should not be involved in price-fixing, particularly when we buy from their depots. The truth

also is that the government has a great deal of political and socio-cultural variables to contend with to make efficient input in pricing. “For the suppliers, it is a matter of investments and return on investments, and the way it stands now, growth in this

sector is badly hampered because of heavy losses on investment. “If the strike goes on and the government forces us to reduce pump prices, we may have no other options than to retrench some of our workers in order to cut costs and maintain efficiency.�

ZERO OIL ECONOMY...

Chief Executive OďŹƒcer, Nigerian Export Promotion Council, Mr. Segun Awolowo (left), and Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Alhaji Muhammad Bello, during the presentation of the Zero Oil Plan brochure to the minister in Abuja... yesterday

Buhari Not Biased against Christians, Presidency Tells British Lawmakers Accuses Danjuma of divisiveness Omololu Ogunmade in Abuja The presidency yesterday debunked the allegation that the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari is biased against any ethnicity or religious group.

The presidency also yesterday accused a former Minister of Defence, Lt. Gen. Theophilus Danjuma (rtd.) of not having the interest of democracy and peaceful co-existence in Nigeria at heart.

Although the presidency did not specifically mention the name of Danjuma in a statement it issued in Abuja, it clearly referred to the two offices he held during the military and civil governments of former President Olusegun Obasanjo as Chief of Army Staff and Minister of Defence, respectively, to clear any doubt that Danjuma is the one being referred to.

The presidency was reacting to a letter from British parliamentarians to the Federal Government of Nigeria, which had accused it of condoning killings of Christians in the country.

According to a statement by presidential spokesman, Malam Garba Shehu, Danjuma's name was mentioned in the British parliamentarians' letter to the Nigerian government along with that of the leader of Indigenous People of Biafra

(IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, probably as the petitioners.

The statement then proceeded to list the reasons the British lawmakers should not take them and their petitions seriously, saying their claim could not be true about a country where half of the members of the cabinet are Christians and half of the state governors are also Christians.

It also highlighted alleged misdemeanours perpetrated by the two men, which it believed robbed them of moral rights to make the allegations they had made against the government.

"At the same time as we take note of the lawmakers’ letter, it is also important to stress to our partners and colleagues in the United Kingdom that not all who press them have the best interests of either democratic governance or peaceful coexistence in mind. For example, the former Nigerian Chief of Army Staff, named and quoted in the letter as a source on military matters, relinquished that position some 40 years ago - in 1979. "He was last in a government position 17 years ago in 2003 (as Minister of Defence). At that time, religious and ethnic riots erupted in two states of the federation, (2001 and 2002); these were violently and ruthlessly put down by the military under his authority, leading to the loss of thousands of lives and the displacement

of some further 50,000 persons.

He is, therefore, not a natural source of pressure for good governance.

"Another, signatory to the letter, is well-known to be associated with the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), a Nigerian-blacklisted terrorist group. The IPOB are running a well-known (source-of-financingunknown) international campaign intended to damage the reputation of Nigeria and its government in order to further their cause of 'independence.'

"He jumped bail in Nigeria.

He frequently travels on a Nigerian passport but urged his supporters to burn their passports! The IPOB barely mention their aims in their publicity; neither do they mention that their own leadership does not claim to be Christian.

"Yet, their media and lobbying campaign has focused nearexclusively on promoting matters related to Christianity in Nigeria, promulgating false claims that a government with 50 per cent of its cabinet and 50 per cent of its state governors who are Christian somehow works against Christians. We call on our British friends and colleagues to join us in addressing genuine solutions not pander to agents of anarchy," the statement said.

The statement said the government would welcome

the parliamentarians to Nigeria to discuss issues raised in their letter, buttressing further its assertion that the government is made up of both Christians and Muslims by the claim that the vice-president of the country is a pastor.

It also said the government was ready to work with the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group in addressing the threats posed to the country

by Boko Haram and bandits.

"The President and Government of Nigeria welcome the seriousness of the letter from UK lawmakers, legal experts and campaigners. We welcome the attention paid to this serious challenge by the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group and seek to work with you, the Commonwealth and all concerned parties to bring a lasting solution to herder-farmer clashes, and the threat posed to all Nigerians – and the Sahel region as a whole – from Boko Haram terrorists and their allies.

"We ask our British colleagues to visit Nigeria, whether formally or informally to discuss all the points raised in their letter. Our government is made equally of Christian and Muslim cabinet members; our Vice President is an Evangelical Pastor. We have everything to gain as a country through international cooperation with concerned, senior British parliamentarians and policymakers.

"The threat to civilians and peaceful co-existence between different ethnic and religious groups from Boko Haram, banditry and land disputes is of serious concern to the President and the government.

It is incorrect, however, to assert that the government has or is doing nothing to address these intertwined threats," the statement added.

Submitting that there are ongoing efforts to resolve lingering herders and farmers' conflicts, Shehu said the conflicts date back to colonial days, pointing out that state governors have their own roles to play in resolving them.

He also proceeded to highlight roles being played by the federal government to contain the activities of the terrorist Boko Haram group, narrating the situation of things when the government came to power and the situation of things now.

Shehu disclosed that in the government's efforts to improve security of lives and property, community policing initiative has been launched with N13 billion allocated for its take-off.

"Firstly, there are ongoing efforts for the establishment of cattle ranches to prevent or curtail open grazing, the practice that brings herders and farmers into conflict. This is an age-old problem facing Nigerian Governments since the colonial

days. However, matters of land distribution are dealt with at state level.

"This means willingness has to be shown by state governors to drive the process forward. The Federal Government launched a plan last year to work with states to address these issues - together. Unfortunately, this has been lacking in some states.

"Secondly, with regards to the long and determined battle waged against Boko Haram, Nigerians are aware of the efforts made by this Government.

When the government came to power, the terrorist group held and administered an area the size of Belgium. Now they hold none.

"The terrorists are hiding out amongst remote forests and across borders. This makes it difficult to extinguish the final flames of the insurgency, and the government has no illusions of the potent threat still posed.

However, the progress made cannot be denied.

"Thirdly, in the face of rising crime and insecurity, the government’s new community policing initiative was launched this month.

10,000 new constables are being recruited from the areas they will safeguard – as opposed to past practice. The government hopes this will bring policing closer to local communities. N13 billion has been earmarked for this initiative."

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Buhari: CAMA will Aid Nigeria's Fight against Corruption Omololu Ogunmade in Abuja Following the controversies trailing the enactment of Companies and Allied Matters Act 2020 (CAMA), President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday

said the law would boost the fight against corruption in Nigeria, explaining that it would enhance transparency and corporate accountability.

The president has also pledged that Nigeria would

continue to assist GuineaBissau in any way possible, saying ‘‘a peaceful and prosperous Guinea-Bissau is a win for West Africa and for Africa.’’ Buhari spoke in a video

message he presented at the Open Government Partnership (OGP) 2020 Virtual Leaders’ Summit on the sidelines of the ongoing 75th Session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA75) in New

York, United States.

CAMA has generated huge controversies since the president recently assented to it following the introduction of sections authorising Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC)

to regulate activities of nongovernmental organisations (NGOs) in case of internal disputes, particularly relating to financial misdemeanor.

that Ngige should withdraw his statement that TUC had nothing for resolution unless he didn't want them to be part of the meeting.

Wabba, however, said labour movement is always ready for dialogue on any issue affecting workers.

He said labour leaders are about the most patriotic group in the country.

He said labour is ready to see the amicable and final resolution of subsidy issues in the petroleum sector.

Mustapha said: "The president has said that no government decision is intended to cause any pain or harm. Decisions that have taken are of utmost interest to all people and the working class."

The SGF went down memory lane, recollecting the decisions contained in the report of the Presidential Transition Committee led by Alhaji Ahmed Joda, which was set up by Buhari in 2015, saying deregulation of the petroleum sector was a major part of it.

He, however, said the president refused to accept that part of the recommendations, insisting that the Nigerian people didn't elect him to inflict pain on them.

"When the report was submitted to Buhari, his reaction was that the Nigerian people elected him not to inflict pain on them. He said though he considers that economically as a low hanging fruit, he felt that the time was not yet ripe for it.

That the important thing is to manage before such decision will ever be taken.

"Five years down the line, that decision has become imperative and cannot be escaped, it is a decision that must have been painfully considered," he said.

Continued on page 10

LABOUR’S PROPOSED STRIKE IN ABEYANCE AS PARLEY WITH FG ENDS IN DEADLOCK during the weekend on the offers made by the federal government to cushion the effects of the price hikes on workers.

The Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Mr. Boss Mustapha, who led the government team, also yesterday informed the unions that President Muhammadu Buhari had asked him to reassure the labour leaders and Nigerians that the government's decisions on petrol price and electricity tariffs were never intended to cause any pain or harm.

In the meantime, the National Industrial Court has granted an interim injunction restraining the NLC and TUC, their officers, affiliates and privies from embarking on any strike or stoppage of work from Monday, September, 28 2020.

But in a swift reaction, the TUC described the court injunction as a “non-issue.�

The Minister of Labour and Employment, Senator Chris Ngige, who briefed journalists on the outcome of the meeting last night, said the meeting was fruitful as it afforded the federal government the opportunity to present some of the palliatives federal government intends to implement to cushion the effects of the petrol price

increase and the upward review of electricity tariffs.

Ngige said: "Fruitful meeting. They are going back to their organs. When they consult their organs tomorrow, next tomorrow may be they will take a new decision. “We have requested them to shelve the strike. We have appealed to them to shelve the strike.

"The government side agreed proposals with them on the palliative to cushion the effect of the rise in petroleum products and electricity."

Ngige said the meeting agreed to adjourn till 3pm on Monday.

NLC President, Mr. Ayuba Wabba, said the meeting had been adjourned till Monday so that labour could consult with its organs.

THISDAY gathered from sources that the government side had offered palliatives, including mass and affordable housing for workers, and procurement of transport buses to help reduce the impact of rise in fuel price.

The federal government was also said to have proposed that the Central Bank (CBN) and Ministry of Agriculture will help farmers with loans, including N2.5 billion as fresh palliatives to workers on levels 1-4.

They also agreed that the

government will not tax minimum wage.

Court Restrains Unions from Industrial Action Meanwhile, the NIC has granted an interim injunction restraining the NLC and TUC, their officers, affiliates and privies from embarking on any strike or stoppage of work from Monday September, 28 2020.

Justice Ibrahim Galadima said the order was pending the hearing and determination of the motion on notice.

The court also granted an order of interim injunction restraining the unions, their officers, affiliates, privies from disrupting, restraining, picketing or preventing the workers or its affiliates or ordinary Nigerians from accessing their offices to carry out their legitimate duties on September 28, 2020 or any other date.

Justice Galadima made the order sequel to an ex-parte application filed by the Incorporated Trustees of Peace and Unity Ambassadors Association through their counsel, Mr. Sunusi Musa.

The court also granted an order compelling the Inspector General of Police

and the Director General Department of State Services (DSS) to provide protection for workers engaged in their legitimate duties from any form of harassment, intimidation and bullying by the officers, agents or privies of the unions pending the hearing and determination of the motion on notice.

The meeting with labour commenced in a rather confrontational note as Ngige and the President of the TUC, Mr. Quadri Olaleye, exchanged hot words.

Ngige had complained that TUC did not write the Ministry of Labour and Employment to notify it of its strike deadline but rather chose to submit it to the president.

He said that as far as he was concerned TUC has nothing on the table except that NLC had said that they would partner them in their planned mass action on Monday.

Ngige said the only competent authority of every country regarding labour disputes is the Minister of Labour.

However, TUC president said he did not see anything wrong in what TUC did because the issues on hand were more of socio-economic issues that the president has responsibility to address.

Olaleye had demanded

Deregulation Not Intended to Cause Harm, Says SGF Explaining the government’s subsidy removal policy, the SGF informed the unions that the president had asked him to reassure the labour leaders and Nigerians that the government's decisions on petrol price and electricity tariffs were never intended to cause any pain or harm.

Shortly before the commencement of yesterday’s negotiations, Mustapha told the labour leaders that Buhari said that the policy of deregulation and liberalisation of the energy sector had become an imperative decision that the federal government must take.

AKEREDOLU, JEGEDE, AJAYI, OTHERS SCRAMBLE FOR 1,478,460 ONDO VOTERS It also stated that 343,886 voters may not vote as they failed to collect their Permanent Voters Card (PVCs), adding that it has, however, replaced the over 5,100 Smart Card Readers (SCRs), burnt in its state headquarters during a fire incidence, by sourcing the material from its Oyo State office It called on traditional rulers in the state to prevail on their representatives at the National Assembly to ensure the passage of the bill for the establishment of Electoral Offences Commission.

Meanwhile, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has cautioned the commission against the use of the Z-pad technology, insisting that it will compromise the credibility of the October 10 election, having failed during a test-run deployment for voter accreditation in the recent Nasarawa State byelections.

Apart from other political parties participating in the elections, political analysts believe the three major candidates that will lock horns in the election are Governor Rotimi Akeredolu (SAN) of the All Progressives Congress (APC); Mr. Eyitayo Jegede (SAN) of the PDP and Mr. Agboola Ajayi, the current deputy governor, who is also the candidate of the Zenith Labour Party (ZLP).

Addressing journalists yesterday on the state of preparedness of the commission, the Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, said

that the commission has completed 12 items out of the 14 slated for the election.

He explained that the only outstanding issues are the submission of the names of polling agents and the last date for campaigns by the political parties.

The INEC chairman explained that the commission has put the ugly fire incident behind it as it has sourced more than 5100 SCRs from its office in Oyo. At the moment, he said that the SCRs are being electrically charged and reconfigured.

He said INEC would not use the SCRs from Edo State governorship election because they are kept for post-election activities.

"What remains can be accomplished within the remaining 16 days to the election. If we exclude the Election Day on Saturday, October 10, we have 15 days.

So, we have two weeks, and a day to the election.

The sensitive materials for the election are ready. The CBN will deliver them to the branch.

"On Monday, the 5th of October, the sensitive materials for the election will arrive," the INEC chairman stated.

He announced that INEC will still use the Z- Pad technology, explaining that the Z- pad is already on its way to Akure.

The INEC chairman said the commission will have a stakeholders’ meeting with all the political parties on October 5 and, while on

October 6, all the candidates and their political parties will sign a peace accord with the National Peace Committee (NPC) led by the former Head of State, General Abdulsalami Abubakar (rtd).

He explained that the commission is aware of some violence in the last election in Edo State governorship and are working to prevent such incidents in the Ondo State governorship election.

"We're also aware of some incidents of violence among supporters of some political parties; any incident of violence is worrisome to the commission," he said, explaining that INEC will meet with security agencies and traditional rulers.

"We will appeal to the royal majesties and the Obas to appeal to the candidates and their supporters for peaceful conduct. I'm also glad that the National Peace Committee under the leadership of our former head of state of Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar is going to intervene by organising the signing of the peace accord, similar to what we did in Edo State," the INEC chairman said.

Yakubu said that the commission will adhere strictly to the COVID -19 Protocols, explaining that as was the case in Edo State: "No face mask no voting."

He equally said that there would be the infrared thermometer to check body temperature of voters. “Every eligible voter, who is on the queue before 2.30 p.m. will be allowed to vote

even if voting, goes beyond 2.30 p.m. No one will be disenfranchised,� he added.

PDP Cautions INEC against Use of Z-pad Meanwhile, the PDP National Campaign Council for Ondo Governorship Election has cautioned the INEC against the use of the Z-pad technology for the election.

According to the PDP National Publicity Secretary, Mr. Kola Ologbondiyan, "Our campaign recalls that the Z-pad technology had failed during a test-run deployment for voter accreditation in Nasarawa by-election; a situation that informed its rejection by INEC for voter accreditation in the September 19 Edo State governorship election, where it was only used to assist in direct uploading of results to INEC's virtual portal.

"We, therefore, urge INEC to limit the Z-pad technology to the purpose for which it has helped the commission to attain integrity as witnessed in the Edo State governorship election.

"Our campaign also charges INEC to discountenance the blackmail by the All Progressives Congress (APC) against the replacement of the over 5,000 card readers that were burnt by APC agents to frustrate the conduct of a credible governorship election in Ondo State."

PDP called on INEC to note that the APC is bent on its plots to frustrate the commission’s efforts

following clear indications that there is no way its candidate, Akeredolu, can win in a free, fair and credible election.

"Our demand is predicated on information available to us that INEC officials detailed to handle the process are about being compromised by the APC to engage their members as INEC ad hoc staff with a view to using them to rig the election," the PDP stated.

The party insisted that Akeredolu; an APC chieftain, Mr. Isaac Kekemeke, and other APC agents of violence should be invited by INEC and security agencies and cautioned to desist from acts of violence like the one recently perpetrated by the APC in Oba-Akoko, where the PDP candidate, Mr. Eyitayo Jegede, was almost assassinated, but for the intervention of the people.

In another development, INEC has called on the traditional rulers in Ondo State to prevail on their representatives at the National Assembly to ensure passage of the bill for the establishment of Electoral Offences Commission.

Yakubu, made the appeal yesterday in Akure, Ondo State during an interaction with traditional rulers in the state on the forthcoming governorship election.

He was reacting to a remark by a monarch that the inability of the INEC to effectively prosecute electoral offenders had emboldened violators of the electoral law

to continue with the act in subsequent elections.

The INEC Chairman said the commission relies on the police for the arrest, investigation and prosecution of electoral offenders, which in many cases hampered the ability of the INEC to bring to book the electoral offenders.

However, he said the commission was able to prosecute 40 electoral offenders in one of the South-west states but lamented that the commission, would have been happier if sponsors of the offenders, were arrested and prosecuted because the perpetrators are actually not the beneficiaries of the offences.

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FRIDAY, ÍşÍ˝Ëœ ͺ͸ͺ͸ Ëž T H I S D AY

NEWS BUHARI: CAMA WILL AID NIGERIA'S FIGHT AGAINST CORRUPTION Human rights lawyer, Mr. Femi Falana (SAN), and a former Chairman of the National Human Rights Commission, Prof. Chidi Odinkalu, among others, had on Wednesday, attacked the new law, saying many of its provisions would allow for gross violation of fundamental human rights.

Falana and Odinkalu had argued that the new law gave too much power to the Registrar General (RG) of the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), which could easily be used to arbitrarily clamp down on civil society organisations.

They spoke at a virtual townhall meeting, with the theme, “CAMA 2020: Regulation or Repression?� co-organised

by European Union-ACT; Open Society Initiative for West Africa; Working Group on Civil Society Regulatory Environment; Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP), and the CAC. But the Registrar-General of CAC, Alhaji Garba Abubakar, had said the law should be allowed to operate first and given “benefit of the doubt; and if there are challenges we will address them by way of amendments.�

However, the president, who said his administration had been committed to the fight against corruption since he assumed office in 2015, added that it was the development which compelled Nigeria to join Open Government Partnership (OGP).

He said his recent assent to Companies and Allied Matters Bill was one of the expressions of the country's commitment to anti-graft war.

A statement by the

president's spokesman, Mr. Femi Adesina, said the president remarked that joining OGP had helped Nigeria to learn how other countries have been tackling similar challenges.

He said: ''Since the inception of our administration in 2015, the government has been committed to changing international and domestic perceptions regarding Nigeria’s commitment to fight corruption and foster good governance. ''We focused on the task of dealing head-on with this destructive monster, which led to us joining the Open Government Partnership and making reform commitments such as to establish a public central register of beneficial owners of corporate entities. ''Since then, we have made significant progress in implementing tougher anti-corruption measures, including my recent assent to the Companies and Allied Matters Act, 2020. ''The Act provides a legal framework for the implementation of Beneficial Ownership Information Disclosure in Nigeria.�

The president in his submission on COVID-19, highlighted the threat posed by the disease to the global community.

According to him, as cases of infection from the disease continue to spread across the world, it has become clear that governments alone cannot solve all the problems posed by the pandemic.

He, therefore, suggested that it is only through open governance and working with citizens that nations can succeed. ''We face a significant contraction in the global economy in 2020; the world

is facing the unprecedented twin challenges of managing the health and economic impacts of the pandemic,�

Buhari said, adding: ''In these times, citizens worldwide are seeking more information, engagement, and support from their governments.''

The president told the summit that his administration would continue to explore its membership of OGP as a platform to deploy open government initiatives to strengthen the management of the pandemic.

He added that the Nigerian government would sustain its consultations and engagements with citizens through civil society organisations as well as the organised private sector on COVID-19 response and recovery plan. ''These consultations are in line with the effort of our administration to encourage public participation in government policies and programmes. ''Our recovery package includes support to businesses, to vulnerable communities and an expansion of public works.

Our aim is to make all these efforts more effective by making them open," he said.

Buhari recalled that shortly after joining OGP, Nigeria had the privilege of being elected to the OGP Global Steering Committee.

He explained that as a leader in the OGP Steering Committee, Nigeria has learnt from both government and non-government counterparts on international best practices.

He said: "I am also glad that Nigeria’s pioneering sub-national open government partnership model has become one of the leading examples

driving the expansion of the open government partnership local programme. ''Nigeria will also champion the tenets of the Open Government Partnership through our leadership role in regional institutions. ''We aim to expand the partnership on the African continent by continuing to play a leading role in the International Steering Committee. ''As we look forward to celebrating 10 years of the existence of the Open Government Partnership next year, it is my earnest wish that all countries in the world will adopt open government principles and help democracy live up to the expectations of citizens having a voice at and beyond the ballot box. '' Buhari thanked the leadership and staff of the OGP Global Support Unit for working assiduously to ensure that voices are not only heard but valued.

He also encouraged Nigerians to be involved in OGP initiative and assist in shaping and sustaining the country’s democracy both now and in future.

The statement listed participants in the virtual event to include leaders of Canada, France, Georgia and Germany as well as civil society leaders who have assisted their countries to pursue a full, fair, and inclusive response and recovery.

Buhari Pledges Continuous Support for Guinea-Bissau Meanwhile, Buhari yesterday pledged that Nigeria would continue to assist Guinea-

Bissau in any way possible, saying ‘‘a peaceful and prosperous Guinea-Bissau is a win for West Africa and for Africa.’’ He made this pledge when he joined his counterparts from Senegal, Mauritania and Burkinafaso to celebrate the 47th independence anniversary of Guinea Bissau at the 24 de Setembro National Stadium, Bissau.

According to a separate statement by Adesina, Buhari, while speaking at the event, said he was proud of the support Nigeria provided for the country's past electoral processes in its efforts to entrench democracy. ‘‘This support can only be increased under my tenure,’’ he said.

Adesina said the president also placed on record Nigeria’s deployment of troops under the auspices of ECOWAS Mission in Guinea Bissau (ECOMIB), saying the troops played an important role in maintaining peace and security.

Buhari congratulated President Umaro Sissocco Embalo, the government and people of Guinea Bissau on the occasion of their 47th independence anniversary, praying that Guinea-Bissau and its people will continue to grow in strength and prosperity.

Noting that it was his first official visit to the country since he became president in 2015, Buhari expressed his good wishes for greater achievements in the years ahead for the West African country.

The president recalled how Guinea Bissau obtained its independence from Portugal, after a protracted struggle

for freedom, which brought Portuguese colonisation to an end. ‘‘It is fitting on this august occasion to remember your forebears and to celebrate them for the sacrifices they made for you to be free. ‘‘The highest tribute we can pay them is to build on the gains of independence.

It is my sincere prayer that your country will continue on the path of national cohesion, growth and unity,’’ he said.

He used the occasion to reflect on Nigeria's relations with Guinea, pledging that his administration will take it to a new height. ‘‘Relations between Nigeria and the Republic of Guinea Bissau which dates back to the country’s liberation struggle against Portugal have been extremely warm. ‘‘I am determined to carry this excellent relationship to the next level of fruitful cooperation and partnership, together with my brother Umaro Embalo,’’ he said.

On regional integration, Buhari emphasised the need for ECOWAS member countries to remain committed to the realisation of the vision of its founding fathers. ‘‘It is my desire that Nigeria and Guinea-Bissau as well as other member countries of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) will continue to provide the impetus in realizing the objectives and ideals of its Founding Fathers and to ensure security, peace and development of our region,’’ he said.

The statement said later in the capital city of Bissau, Buhari commissioned a road named in his honour.

headwinds are set to impact Federal Allocations over the next two years.

This paints a bleak outlook for Nigerian states who depend on FAAC allocation for their survival, even though dwindling revenue will affect all states differently. “On sub-national epidemic preparedness, it is important for states to prioritize health financing especially on Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH). While COVID-19 has garnered major attention in the last few months, it is worthy of note that states are currently battling at least six other deadly diseases, which already have vaccines or known treatment. In 2019, all 36 states recorded 94,500 cases of the deadly Cerebrospinal meningitis (CSM), measles, lassa fever, yellow fever, monkeypox and cholera combined. It is in the selfinterest of state governments to grow their IGR and also invest in appropriate health systems through their budgets and other sustainable methods,�

Okeowo explained.

Meanwhile, the Osun state government has declared that it is not in any way overwhelmed by the huge debt profile facing the state, stressing that alternative means had been identified to meet the financial needs of the state of the living spring.

The state deputy governor, Mr. Benedict Alabi, who made this disclosure in Abuja yesterday at the launch of a book "Life of a Quintessential Engineer: Biography of Oluyemi Oguntominiyi," the immediate past Director of federal highways construction and rehabilitation.

Alabi, who spoke to reporters after the book presentation, emphasised that current administration in the state which will be two years old by December is not really bothered by the huge debt profile it inherited.

He said the ingenuity of Governor Gboyega Oyetola has created other avenues for the state to generate resources with a view to delivering the dividends of democracy to Osun people.

The deputy governor also hinted that the state government was currently tapping other revenue sources for the socio-economic development of the state.

"Osun State has great potentials. It is like a gold that is untapped. Last year November, we organised an economic and investment summit where we showcased the potentials of the state to the whole world. We rested on the three plaques of agriculture, mining and tourism where we have comparative advantages.

"In the last one year, if not for the COVID - 19 pandemic, 42 companies would have been established in Osun State. But as of now, we have 15. One was even inaugurated last week at Iragbiji area where the firm would convert cassava to ethanol. What we are trying to do is that we want to transform the state to an industrial state and to go into the exploration of our mineral resources".

Alabi explained that despite the limited resources available to the state, Osun had been able to pay salaries as and when due as well as massive infrastructural development of the state.

REPORT: N5.39TN DEBT BLOCKS STATES FROM CAPITAL MARKET BORROWING as a result of the regulation put in place by Debt Management Office (DMO) to forestall debt crisis on sub-national public borrowings.

However, the data released by the DMO had indicated that Nigeria’s total debt stock as of December 2019 stood at N27.4 trillion.

This includes N21.7 trillion owed by the federal government and N5.6 trillion owed by the state governments.

But the Communications Associate of BudgIT, Ms. Iyanu Fatoba, told THISDAY yesterday that the difference between the DMO's N5.6 trillion and the BudgIT's figure of N5.39 trillion could be attributed to the foreign exchange rate differentials as at the time the reports were compiled.

The BudgIT Research Lead, Mr. Abel Akeni, who reviewed the report, said that in the light of this debt growth, all the state governments have reached the ceiling set for them by the DMO, which stipulated that state government’s total debt must not be more than 50 per cent of its last year’s total revenue. “And in our analysis, we observed that all the 36 states have actually reached this particular ceiling. All of them now have debts that are larger than the 50 per cent of their last year’s total revenue.

It is going to be a struggle if they will be allowed to access funds from the capital market in 2020,� Akeni said.

The annual report, which was unveiled yesterday in Lagos State, stated that state governments accumulated N3.34 trillion debts in five

years from N2.05 trillion in 2014 to N5.39 trillion in 2019, representing 162.87 per cent increase during the period under review.

The report also said that Lagos State is the most exposed state to exchange rate volatility because of its foreign debts.

It noted that just by devaluing the exchange rate of the Naira to the Dollar from N305 in January to N380 in September, the Lagos State’s foreign debt obligations have ballooned.

The report also ranked Rivers State as number one in its 2020 States’ Fiscal Sustainability Index (FSI), and was followed closely by Anambra, Ogun and Lagos States while Bayelsa, Osun, Ekiti and Plateau States were ranked lowest in terms of sustainability index The FSI was based on the ability of each state government to meet its recurrent obligations with its internally generated revenue (IGR) or total revenue, as well as the state’s ability to repay its debts considering its total revenue in a single year and the degree of the state’s investments in capital projects compared to its overhead costs and other recurrent expenditures.

The BudgIT’s Communications Lead, Mr. Damilola Ogundipe, said: “To achieve fiscal sustainability, states need to grow their IGRs as options for borrowing are reduced due to debt ceilings put in place by the federal government to prevent states from slipping into a debt crisis.

Therefore, there has to be a shift from the culture of states’ overdependence on FAAC.�

The report stated that only 15 states in the country are in a good position to meet their recurrent expenditures and loan repayment obligations from their total revenues.

These states are Rivers, Akwa Ibom, Delta, Sokoto, Kaduna, Anambra, Kano and Ebonyi States.

Others are Enugu, Kebbi, Borno, Katsina, Yobe, Imo and Bayelsa State.

The report further showed that another set of eight states are fairly able to also meet the recurrent and debt repayment expenditures from their total revenues and still have a little left for capital expenditure.

These states are Jigawa, Edo, Nasarawa, Ogun, Niger, Kwara, Ondo and Zamfara.

However, the BudgIT stated that 13 states are in a delicate negative situation in terms of meeting their recurrent and debt obligations from their revenue without resorting to further borrowings to execute capital budget. These are Abia, Taraba, Benue, Cross River, Gombe, Bauchi, Adamawa, Plateau, Ekiti, Osun, Kogi, Oyo and Lagos states.

It also reported that 11 states, namely Taraba, Benue, Ekiti, Nasarawa, Kwara, Kano, Kogi, Adamawa, Bauchi, Plateau and Bayelsa, have overhead expenditures that are higher than their capital expenditures.

Akeni noted that recurrent expenditures, though not necessarily bad, could hamper the ability of a state to generate future revenues to invest in development projects, adding that some states used recurrent expenditures to prioritise certain items. For instance, Delta State has a miscellaneous budget of N33 billion under

its recurrent items.

The report also put question mark on some capital expenditures like Akwa Ibom State Government House’s N22.61 billion budget while the state’s budget for health is N8.19 billion. Similarly, Adamawa State is spending N10.62 billion on reforms and governance alone higher than its expenditure for health or education.

The report listed five states that prioritised capital budget over recurrent expenses as Rivers, Kaduna, Akwa Ibom, Ebonyi and Kebbi states.

The report stated that three states – Bayelsa, Borno and Katsina would be worst hit “by dwindling revenue as they relied on net Federation Account (FAAC) allocation for 89.56 per cent, 88.30 per cent and 88.16 per cent of their total revenues, respectively in 2019. Lagos, Ogun and Rivers state will be least affected as they relied on FAAC for only 22.82 per cent, 35.31 per cent and 53.02 per cent of their total revenues, respectively.�

The Lagos State Governor, Sanwo-Olu, who was the guest of honour at the unveiling of the report, in his keynote address said that the state’s reliance on FAAC has gone down to only 21 per cent as at August 2020.

BudgIT’s Principal Lead, Mr. Gabriel Okeowo, noted that though some states have seen some improvement in their IGR between 2014 and 2019, there is still a need to put systems in place for aggressive IGR growth within the sub-national economies, especially as falling crude oil prices, OPEC production cuts and other COVID-19 induced

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T H I S D AY Ëž Ëœ Í°ÍłËœ Í°ÍŽÍ°ÍŽ

COMMENT

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

BRT AND PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION IN LAGOS The Bus Rapid Transit has brought a fresh air to intra-state movement in Lagos, writes Kayode Abiodun

S

ince Lagos became a mecca for Nigerians and foreigners, it has always grappled with the challenge of public transportation. With traffic snarls, dilapidated vehicles, impatient drivers, moving around in Lagos was a nightmare. In the past, the yellow and black striped buses – molues and danfos - were a menace. Often, the molues, usually transformed Bedford or Mercedes Benz 911 trucks and danfos - Volkswagen minibuses – were poorly maintained, dirty, crowded and uncomfortable. They were also mostly uncouth drivers and conductors, serving as markets for all sorts of merchandise, both good and bad, and generally represented chaos. For many Lagosians, it was an unpleasant experience riding on public buses.

But thanks to Lagos State government, that is changing and gradually becoming a thing of the past as the launch of Bus Rapid Transit in Lagos has brought a fresh air to intra-state movement. Initiated by the administration led

by Bola Tinubu, the BRT started operations in 2008 with buses running from Mile 12 to CMS. And steadily through the subsequent administrations, it has increased its routes to other parts of the state. But as I lived in Abule Egba, a part of Lagos where the BRT buses didn’t get to, I endured the danfo buses, at least to get out of my neck of the woods.

However, with the recent commissioning of the 13.68km Oshodi – Abule Egba BRT corridor by Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu in August, my transportation needs have been drastically eased. Clean, spacious, air-conditioned, the BRT buses are a delight to ride on.

I can say that I have become a proud patron. In fact, I find commuting so enjoyable now that I often do some work on my laptop or just surf the internet and listen to music while aboard. It helps that there are even spaces to charge mobile phones.

While inaugurating the BRT corridor, the governor announced the deployment of 550 additional mass transit buses as well as the launch of an e-ticketing system. “We are unveiling 550 high and medium capacity buses, which will be immediately deployed for public use,�

Sanwo-Olu said, describing the event as a milestone. “This event also formally inaugurates our upgraded e-ticketing system in fulfilment of our pledge.�

Upon inauguration, about 100, 000 free Lagos State Travel Cards were distributed to Lagosians. However, those who missed that freebie can purchase the card for a sum of N400. I think it’s a small cost for the benefit therein. I also think the e-ticketing system is good for reasons of auditing, extracting transportation data of residents for better planning as well as for commuters to pre-load their cards with fares. “This project is very significant because of its immense benefits to Lagosians in the different communities it straddles and to visitors to our state,� the governor added.

Indeed it is. For about two years, I have been waiting for when I would be able to board the bus from my area.

Now, early in the mornings, BRT buses are stationed at Katangua Bus Stop, Abule Egba and along the major bus

I FIND COMMUTING SO ENJOYABLE NOW THAT I OFTEN DO SOME WORK ON MY LAPTOP OR JUST SURF THE INTERNET AND LISTEN TO MUSIC WHILE ABOARD. IT HELPS THAT THERE ARE EVEN SPACES TO CHARGE MOBILE PHONES

stops such as Ile Epo and Iyana Ipaja. And with a N300 fare for the Abule Egba to Oshodi journey, I must say it is affordable. Aside from the affordable fare, the commute time on that route has been drastically shortened. Before, during peak periods, I usually planned a minimum of one hour in the bus but my commute time on the BRT buses have been reduced to about 15 minutes. This is exactly what the Lagos State government promised. Sitting on the bus, I see other commuters trapped in traffic snarls popularly called ‘go-slow’ and I’m thankful to Sanwo-Olu and the Lagos State government for ensuring the buses are on this route. As I enjoy the comfy space and cool air-conditioned air in the bus, I can’t help but reflect on the difference, compared to the usually tight, dirty, humid situation in the yellow buses. Well, I imagine that it is only a matter of time before those passengers discover what they are missing by not patronising the BRT buses.

While we saw that the Covid-19 limit the way we moved during lockdowns, there would always be a need for man to move. And the BRT buses are redefining the way the masses move in Lagos.

Supervised by the Lagos Metropolitan Area Transport Authority (LAMATA), the BRT scheme has steadily gained acceptance from the residents of the state. The arterial bus stations at CMS, Obalende, Ikeja and Oshodi have connected the buses to different parts of Lagos. It is great that not only the central parts of Lagos are covered by this initiative. Even distant routes like Ikorodu and Ajah also have BRT buses plying them. I believe once the Badagry roads are repaired, the BRT buses would also start plying that route. It is also critical to note that LAMATA has planned the bus routes in a way to integrate other transport modes of rail and ferry to connect them with each other. What this means is that, for example, someone going to Apapa from Oshodi can board a BRT bus going to CMS and cross over to take a ferry to Apapa. Splendid.

Lagos is not perfect but it strives to be on top of its game. As the state with the highest population and smallest land mass in the country, it needed a dynamic solution to meet its transportation needs. And the BRT solution which is being improved upon by the Sanwo-Olu administration is a tested solution in other cosmopolitan cities like Jakarta, Mexico City, Ottawa, Johannesburg, New York, Istanbul and Guangzhou.

But LAMATA still needs to continually seek feedback from its customers and improve on its services. For one, I think their drivers must be constantly trained to reflect quality. I recall one instance I was in the bus and I pressed the ‘stop request’ button but the driver sped off at the designated stop and it was until I resorted to shouting ‘owa’ in the way it’s done in the danfo and Molue buses that he stopped. According to him, I didn’t stand up. I was perplexed. Should I have stood up when a ‘stop request’ sign clearly showed in the electronic display in front of him? And I hope LAMATA is utilising technology to aid it in providing more efficient service delivery.

OBASEKI’S OLIVE BRANCH

John Mayaki urges the governor to apologise to members of the state assembly who were denied from representing their constituencies

H

appy times are here for Godwin Obaseki, who rode into victory, courtesy of his Rivers State counterpart Nyesom Wike. Obaseki has since been more vocal and less busy than he was leading up to the election. He is no longer turning down interviews on grounds of having ‘an important meeting’.

He cannot be begrudged if, intoxicated by his recent electoral victory, he is keen and ready to preach on every pulpit that beckons. He, however, must talk with caution and not chatter like a man given to all the prolixity of a canary.

On his most recent outing, he displayed a most excellent species of motor-mouthed pontification and acerbic attributions upon the very sources of his political relevance, perhaps a product of his recent tutelage under his newfound mentor, Governor Wike.

He says Nigeria’s democracy is threatened

by APC chieftains such as Asiwaju Bola Tinubu and Comrade Adams Oshiomhole.

He flung words like ‘non-constitutional’, ‘anti-democratic’, ‘fox’, ‘vicious’, ‘evil’ and all of that all over the place in describing these time-tested benefactors of both himself and the people, entirely forgetting how consonant the expressions were to his own very actions and conducts since his emergence upon the scene of governance in Edo. To think himself a democrat, he clearly needed to have his memory rebooted!

If Obaseki has any iota of charity, as he claims, he has never displayed such.

Sure enough, the PDP will have a taste of him in due course. In any case, it is a measure of his weird variant of democracy that lawmakers-elect would be herded and forced to participate (with one clad in shorts) in a nocturnal, underhand inauguration. A governor with overt predilection for

lording wrongs quite gleefully, openly and frequently must indeed be charitable!

Obaseki wanted Frank Okiye to be speaker of the State House of Assembly, but 19 of the 24 elected members wanted Victor Edoror instead. To actualise his narrow-minded and tyrannical target, Obaseki, claiming to be democratic and godfather-phobic, got just nine of a 24-member conclave to accede to his desires. Whole four years, it was this ‘nine’ who partnered Obaseki to unloosen most despicable minority rule on the people of Edo, with telling consequences. It was dastardly enough that the executive arm of government would so flagrantly poke its nose into the affairs of the legislature, but the governor simply took tyranny notches up by ensuring that only the nine were inaugurated. Similar evidence of tyranny abounds across levels and cadres of the state, from education, health, commerce, infrastructure, and many more. Where are the roads constructed by Obaseki?

If anyone has the nerve to talk about justice, law and order, it is certainly not the man who kicked market women around after their shops caught fire and refused to make good on his promise to compensate them, although he hugged and cuddled quite a number of these during a so-called on-the-spot assessment of the development in overt show of sympathy – for quick foto sessions that would later serve him during campaigns as ‘a man of the people’. A political actor who demolished people’s businesses, uprooted the roofs of the state House of Assembly buildings, even while sending strong-men to seal up the place after which he went around bragging about running people out of the state and their hard-earned livings has suddenly become

the poster-boy of a so-called democracy at work. Wonderful!

Now, the big story in town is that he has ‘extended the olive branch’ – so the media term it(!) – to APC candidate, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu. He even talked about collaborations! Collaboration with whom and on what terms? With a man who has no known campaign manifestoes? A MEGA agenda – this was his name for a non-existing campaign manifesto that was full on rhetoric but short on substance, and one a single copy of which could not be accessed and read in print throughout electioneering? What then would be the basis for collaboration?

There are options for Obaseki in atoning for a litany of sins he, in cahoots with a few imported elements, unloosened upon Edo State people in an election they bonded to make neither free nor fair, neither transparent nor credible, the first and best of which is to return a mandate procured by force and deceitful artifice. He should be man enough to own up to this fact and apologise to the Edo people. In consequence of this, he should await the expiration of his ongoing term to vacate the Samuel Ogbemudia Quarters.

To complement the first move and to prove his genuine contrition, he should address a press conference, alongside his newfound love of a party – the PDP – to atone for the three APC supporters killed at different polling centres during the election, the man whose wife was beaten to stupor by thugs in Egor, and those kidnapped also by thugs imported from Delta and Rivers States. What is more, he should apologise to the House of Assembly members freely elected by their people but denied the opportunity of rendering their services to same people. This should extend

to those constituencies flagrantly and most shamelessly robbed of representation in the parliament.

In doing the preceding, he should issue a definitive statement on commitment, detailing how he would restitute entire 17 assemblymen voted by their constituents but banished from the house with his draconian conducts. He will have to include processes and procedures for executing various projects denied all communities represented by the entire 17 members for the four years.

Unfortunately and in truth, what Obaseki did to these communities was same as he did for entire state in his four years!

His projects include the terrible shapes of roads across the state, the shutting down of College of Agriculture, Iguoriakhi, the School of Nursing and College of Education, Ekiadolor.

Finally, he will also have to apologise on behalf of his henchmen for the flagrant and unprecedented desecration of the hallowed chambers; the invasion, pulling down and the pouring of trailer-loads of granite trucks on their entrances. Although such wantonness carries equally extreme penalty, Obaseki should return to the very scene of his misconduct and apologise, applying a well-publicised medium, to the Edo people for a misconduct which remains unequalled in the annals of the state.

Time for the governor who promised at least 500,000 jobs and another pledge of creating 200,000 jobs and employing same but ended up recruiting boys to defend his failures on social media to offer half-hearted penance for his vengeful and exclusionary policies against the people. r.BZBLJ JT %JSFDUPS PG $PNNVOJDBUJPO BOE .FEJB 1BTUPS 0TBHJF *[F *ZBNV $BNQBJHO 0SHBOJTBUJPO

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T H I S D AY Ëž Ëœ Í°ÍłËœ Í°ÍŽÍ°ÍŽ

EDITORIAL

PROSTITUTION AS A SOCIAL PROBLEM All the major stakeholders need to take action against the menace of prostitution

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he biggest revelation from the immigrant crisis facing our country today with many of our stranded nationals being brought back home from some countries in Europe and Asia is that prostitution is a big industry in Nigeria. But it is not only outside the shores that these women and girls ply their trade, they do it virtually everywhere in our country: at street corners; behind residential homes; inside school hostels, in front of highbrow hotels, bars, shops, restaurants and other public places.

The questions are: How did we get to this sorry state? How come that every evening, especially on weekends, young girls who ought to be at school are parading the major streets of Abuja, Lagos, Port Harcourt, Enugu, Ibadan and other cities hawking their half-naked bodies to any willing buyer? Why has sex become the fad among SINCE POVERTY AND many students of UNEMPLOYMENT ARE our institutions of THE MAJOR CAUSES higher learning?

Where lies the fuOF PROSTITUTION, ture of these young GOVERNMENT, AT ALL ladies and what LEVELS, SHOULD STOP can the society PAYING LIP SERVICE do to protect their dignity?

TO THE CHALLENGE OF The worrisome UNEMPLOYMENT aspect is organised sex-trafficking, even within the country. A lot of young Nigerian girls are being trafficked from one state of the federation to the other just for sex. A recent research carried out by Sympathy Worldwide Foundation, a non-governmental organisation fighting sex slavery and child trafficking, reveals that several young girls are being trafficked from the hinterland to Lagos but as the promises of their do-gooders become no more than a mirage, the girls take to the streets to use the same means to help themselves.

Outside Nigeria, the situation is lamentable. The various reports indicate that the largest group of

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EDO 2020: LESSONS FOR APC

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do 2020 governorship election was a contest between All Progressives Congress (APC) and itself. The outcome of the election has many lessons for the ruling APC. The lessons for the APC are for ‘today’ in regards to the current high-wired rivalry within the party and for ‘tomorrow’- the 2023 general elections and the politics of APC presidential primaries.

The before and after events of the Edo governorship election brought to the fore the hot-politicking among some bigwigs in the APC. Some party bigwigs seem delighted that the party lost the election in Edo, just because Bola Ahmed Tinubu supported Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu, who ended up losing. Some stalwarts seem happy the party lost because the defeat means the final nail in the coffin of Adams Oshiomhole’s influence in the APC. Some APC bigwigs are happy the APC lost the election, just because it gives them a temporary ‘victory’ in the power struggle within the party vis-a-vis the permutations of the 2023 party presidential primaries.

Two inferences are possible from the defeat: the continuation of the implications of Adams Oshiomhole’s tenure as APC national chairman which some analysts say was characterized by misjudgments and failure to manage complex party affairs. The other inference is the indifference of President Muhammadu Buhari to asserting his authority in bringing any party crisis to an end. It was a huge shock to many political observers that the entire structure of the APC could not reconcile a sitting governor (Godwin Obaseki) and a sitting National Chairman of the party (Adams Oshiomole).

Similar unresolved crises in the APC in Zamfara, Bauchi,

prostitutes from sub-Saharan Africa is from Nigeria.

According to a recent United States Department of State report, majority of the minors engaged in full-time prostitution in most countries in Europe are either from Albania or Nigeria. There are rough estimates that four out of every prostitute on any Italian street are Nigerians. Something definitely has to be done about this unsavoury situation that destroys not only our image as a nation but the future of our citizens that are involved.

Apart from Italy, Nigerian prostitutes have successfully invaded Spain, Germany, Belgium, Austria, United Kingdom, Norway, Netherlands, Lebanon, and other countries. Majority of these prostitutes are recruited through the human trafficking industry. Most of the victims of this trafficking are unsuspecting young girls who are enticed with promises of good jobs only to be coerced into prostitution once they are ferried abroad. But to the extent that it is a racket involving criminal cartels, it is important for all relevant stakeholders to work together in combating the challenge.

We therefore call on government at all levels, antiprostitution NGOs, parents, Churches, Mosques, the police and all relevant stakeholders to take concrete steps in putting an end to prostitution that is still a crime in our law. Persons trading in prostitution or keeping brothels should be prosecuted while men patronising, defiling or seducing our young girls should be brought to justice. The relevant authorities should also intensify their spirited campaigns against prostitution.

Meanwhile, since poverty and unemployment are the major causes of prostitution, government, at all levels, should stop paying lip service to the challenge of unemployment. Finally, the family institution needs to be re-invigorated. If parents were at home performing their parental responsibilities their daughters would probably not have taken to the streets.

Nigeria possesses an enviable rich cultural and religious heritage which includes living a chaste life and respect for the body and soul. That is why all should join hands in tackling the menace of prostitution in our country.

Adamawa , Taraba, Rivers cost the party major offices including governorship seats.

Internal conflicts are normal in political parties especially in growing democracies like Nigeria’s. But when such conflicts become messy and personal; the ‘hands’ of a leader are needed to put a stop to it. Former President Obasanjo did that for the PDP, when he was in office.

The APC was formed by different individuals with diverse interests and political backgrounds. Nonetheless, harmony amongst members is still possible.

As the permutations for 2023 gather momentum, the battle will be fierce – the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) will be on the offensive while the APC will be forced to be on the defensive. Nigerians will be able to put both parties on a scale and score them. PDP had spent 16 years in power while the APC would have spent eight. Both have tasted power.

The Ondo governorship elections on October 10 is an opportunity for the APC to reassess itself. The bulk lies with President Buhari and Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the two men who ‘literarily’ formed the APC. Tinubu should gauge his ambition and the survival of the APC. President Buhari, as the leader of the APC, needs to look into every crisis in the party, address discontentment and entrench unity. The starting point should be the reward system, which is currently virtually ‘thin’ in the APC, and needs to be restructured. For example, Buhari has not done well in the area of political patronage especially for his ardent supporters notably in the north, they feel left behind, Buhari needs to retrospect. rZayyad I. Muhammad, Jimeta, Adamawa State

AGONY OF ENUGU - EBONYI FEDERAL ROAD USERS

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write to bring to your notice the pains and frustrations of the Constituents of Ezza-North/Ishielu Federal Constituency occasioned by the pitiable state of the federal road linking Ezzagu with the other parts of Ebonyi and Enugu States.

It is regrettable that the road which is critical to robust rural economy is currently in a deplorable condition. I am particularly worried that added to the general hardship being experienced in the country occasioned by the Coronavirus pandemic, socioeconomic activities of these rural dwellers who are mostly agrarians are grossly undermined.

The road is currently inaccessible to road users: commuters, pedestrians, travellers and visitors due to the failed portions. I am concerned about the obvious plight of the helpless school children, traders, worshippers, pregnant women and the sick who are being unreasonably cut-off from schools, markets, churches and medical facilities.

I am particularly disturbed that agricultural produce from farms rather than getting to where they are needed unfortunately perish thereby compounding our already bad conditions. The federal road in question passed through the popular AFO Ezzagu Regional Market which used to attract businessmen and women from within and outside Nigeria. The regional market is now a shadow of its former self.

I, therefore, call for the completion of the rehabilitation of the 41-kilometre Ozalla-Akpugo-Amagunze-Ihuokpara-Nkomoro Ezzagu federal road.

The people of Ezzagu in Ishielu LGA of Ebonyi State also need potable water, electricity, functional health centres, standard schools and markets in the communities.

Ezzagu people don’t bury their dead ones during rainy season unless those who die in the village because ambulances and vehicles get trapped on the roads. r(PEXJO &[FBLB &[[B /PSUI *TIJFMV 'FEFSBM $POTUJUVFODZ &CPOZJ 4UBUF

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FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 25, 2020 •T H I S D AY

FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 25, 2020 • T H I S D AY

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T H I S D AY ˾ FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 25, 2020

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POLITICS

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

New Vista for the Amnesty Programme Abbey Collins, Port Harcourt based Environmentalist argues that the new helmsman at the Presidential Amnesty Programme, Col. Dixon Dikio (Rtd.) holds a promise to return the programme to its original ideal

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new vista opened for the Presidential Amnesty Programme this week with the assumption of office of Col. Milland Dixion Dikio (rtd) as the new administrator of the Programme. Established in 2010 following the proclamation of unconditional amnesty for militant agitators in the oil-rich Niger Delta in 2009 by the Federal Government under the late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, the Amnesty Programme was designed to coordinate efficaciously, the Disarmament, Demobilisation and the Reintegration (DDR) of the about 30,000 exagitators who accepted the offer of Amnesty.

The DDR process itself was conceived to further deepen safety and security in the Niger Delta while other components of government at all tiers intensify efforts to right the perceived wrongs that led to the militant agitations in the region.

While it is not in doubt that the Presidential Amnesty Programme has helped calm frayed nerves and contributed to the relative peace the nation is enjoying in the Niger Delta and the Gulf of Guinea, available facts however indicate that the Programme, in its over a decade of existence, has failed to realize its full potentials of mass empowerment of thousands of ex-agitators in the Niger Delta who have agreed to abandon every form of militancy and agitations for a more sustainable way of life.

To be candid, each Coordinator of the Programme had tried to build on the excellent path laid down by Chief Timi Alaibe, who was the first Presidential Adviser on Niger Delta and Coordinator of the Programme.

They have achieved different levels of successes, but the fact that their best may not have been good enough can be seen in the current state of the Amnesty Programme.

Some analysts have argued that the Federal Government may have boxed itself into a cul-de-sac with the programme which was meant to be a temporary initiative, but now being extended ad infinitum because it seems not to know how to bring it to an end. This situation was worsened by the glaring ineptitude of the last two Coordinators of the Programme – Brig-Gen. Paul Boroh (Rtd) and Professor Charles Quaker Dokubo. Boroh has since been indicted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and has since been charged to court for series of alleged fraud while he served as the Chief Executive Officer of the Amnesty Programme. Similarly, a highlevel investigative committee in the office of the National Security Adviser recently thoroughly indicted Professor Dokubo for allegedly presiding over massive fraud running into billions of Naira at the Amnesty Office during the brief period he served as the Coordinator of the Programme. Beyond the findings of the EFCC and the Office of the NSA on both Brig-Gen. Boroh and Professor Dokubo, several of the ex-agitators enlisted in the Programme and other stakeholders held the view that both men were inept and lacked understanding of the Prograsmme.

At some point, it seemed the Programme totally lost value.

However, the Federal Government seems set to rework the Programme with a view to giving it value once again. President Muhammadu Buhari’s recent appointment of Col. Milland Dixion Dikio (rtd) as the new Administrator of the Amnesty Programme, is seen by knowledgeable stakeholders in the region and beyond as a bold step in the long over-due bid to return the Amnesty Programme to its original mandate. With Col. Dikio’s experience - professionally and academically, analysts are convinced that the new helmsman is well equipped to bring the programme back on course. The Mbiama, Ahoada West Local Government Area of Rivers State born retired Colonel is an alumnus of the prestigious Baptist High School, Port Harcourt and had a fulfilling

military career during which he occupied different leadership positions and acquired experiences which will surely be needed in the task of turning the Amnesty Programme

around. As a member of the 21st Regular Combatant Course of the Nigerian Defence Academy for example, he was appointed the Academy Cadets Adjutant in recognition of

Political Repression in Africa and The Threat of American Visa Ban Iboro Otu, Akwa Ibom state gubernatorial candidate of the Abundant Nigeria Renewal Party in the 2019 national elections relived his effort to get justice for perceived electoral fraud against him

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fter the 2019 gubernatorial elections in Akwa Ibom State, I was quite disappointed with the outcome and rightfully so. The outcome, as usual, was abundantly marred by multiple irregularities and of course, the incumbent carried the day. Your question would be, ‘was I hoping to win?’ Well, we weren’t hoping to lose the way it came! It was a slaughter. We didn’t lose, the thing is, we didn’t even stand. Let me put it this way for dramatic effect; even my vote, at my Polling Unit, wasn’t counted. I must have mistakenly voted for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) or the All Progressives Congress (APC) or worse, voided. It was that bad.

CLO’s, CSO’s, international observers all spoke against the rigged election outcome in Akwa Ibom state and their press releases are still there in the public domain. As such, immediately after the fabricated results were announced, My self and Arc. Nya-Etok Ezekiel, another candidate in the race, held an international press conference where I clearly stated that I was heading to the election tribunal and further to the International Criminal Court, as what had transpired in the state amounted to crimes against humanity, the videos of the press conference are still online. That’s how this all began and we had to prepare for the tribunal afterwards.

I was unlawfully excluded from the Akwa Ibom State Election Petition Tribunal. In fact, not only was I illegally excluded, it was done in grand style. The Secretary of the tribunal refused to receive my petition two days before the deadline, and on video, he refused to receive my petition petitioning why he, as a tribunal secretary, wasn’t accepting my petition -

and he was caught on camera slamming to pieces the phone that was used in making the recording. He promised myself and my team, in the presence of a world of media people from Channels and AIT, that my petition will never get in or see the light of day. That was exactly what happened.

That’s how powerful and networked corruption is in Nigeria; a tribunal secretary spoke on behalf of the Nigerian Judiciary and it stood. Who didn’t I try to see, the President of the Court of Appeal? Chairman of the petition tribunal? We wrote to everyone. All went straight to ‘voicemail’.

No one responded. We took the matter to court in our bid to get my petition in, it was impossible to get dates. Time was running out. When we finally got a date, the judge wouldn’t show up; all these captured by media houses that followed us to court. The court then went into vacation. We wrote to everyone about the injustice, from the Chief Justice of the Federation (CJN) - he wrote back a few months ago, that he was looking at the matter, after one year - to every arm of government, then finally, the President of the Court of Appeal wrote back that we had to wait for the vacation court to come out of vacation - knowing fully well that by the time that happened, we would’ve ran out of time and the tribunal time frame would’ve expired on us and that was exactly what happened. All what I’m telling you right now were captured on video by reputable media houses local and international, and are in public domain for all to see. What has happened since? Nothing. My case is just one of many. But I swore then I wouldn’t let it pass, my case would be different.

NOTE: Interested readers should continue in the online edition on www.thisdaylive.com

his leadership qualities.

This led to his posting to the elite Nigerian Army Armored Corps on commission as a Second Lieutenant effective Jan 03, 1977, thus beginning a military career in which he distinguished himself as a seasoned professional in the various assignments he was saddled with.

A versatile individual, Dikio in the course of his military assignment was tasked with responsibilities and assignments at the the command, diplomatic, staff and teaching departments of the Nigerian military.

He distinguished himself in the various assignments and his excellence in service was recognized with the medals he was decorated while on ECOMOG, OAU and UN Peacekeeping assignments. He is also a tested conflict resolution expert with numerous field engagements and policy advisory roles at both local and international levels. His flair for languages enables him to communicate effectively in whatever environment he was deployed.

Being a DDR expert, Col Dikio commanded the Nigerian Contingent of Military and Police UN Observers in Angola. As Commanding Officer NIBATT 37 ECOMOG, Sierra Leone, he was responsible for securing the major land approaches into Freetown, the Child Soldiers Rehabilitation Camp in Orogu and Disarmament Camp in Newton.

He successfully carried out the special mission to dislodge Sam Bockerie, a notorious Revolutionary United Front Rebel considered inimical to the success of the Sierra Leone peace process without casualties.

In order to stop cross border rebel activities that had the potential to drag Guinea and Liberia into war, he led an Advance team in Nov 2000 that conducted an extensive reconnaissance mission throughout the length of the Guinea-Liberia borders in his capacity as the Military Adviser/ Principal Programme Officer Peacekeeping at ECOWAS Executive Commission.

Remarkably, Col Dikio was the Point Officer – Design Team, ECOWAS Early Warning System in collaboration with EUCOM. Dixon also played a prominent role in negotiations with insurgents in Cote d’Ivoire, Liberia and Sierra Leone which set the stage for the signing of peace accords in those countries. He was a member of the first ECOWAS Mediation and Security Council Verification of Government of Liberia compliance with UN Security Council Resolution 1343(2001) Apr 19-24,2001.

Noted for his high standard of discipline, excellence and integrity, Dikio voluntarily retired from the Nigeria Army after attaining the rank of Colonel in July 2004. After retirement, Dikio went into consultancy, putting the experience he acquired in the military at the service of humanity. He was at various times the Security Consultant to the Federal Inland Revenue Service and ECOWAS Executive Commission. The Center for Development and Democracy contracted him to produce the documents and organize workshops aimed at operationalizing ECOWAS Mechanism on Peace and Security.

He is currently, a Real Estate Investor at 3 Strands Group LLC and Security Consult at Madiba Inc LLC in the USA. He is married, proactive, reads autobiographies and history. There is therefore no doubt that Dikio has the experience acquired as a military office and as a top notch security consultant to excel and make a difference as the administrator of the Amnesty Programme.

It was also believed that these qualities and the desire to turn the Amnesty Programme around may have earned him the appointment from President Muhammadu Buhari. To use the popular cliché, Dikio is a round peg in a round as President Buhari moves to rework the Amnesty Programme.

-Abbey Collins, an Environmentalist and Niger Delta activist lives in Port Harcourt

T H I S D AY ˾ FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 25, 2020

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PERSPECTIVE VIEW FROM

AMERICA

chido@usafricaonline.com @Chido247

EPISTLES of ANTHONY KILA

Chuba Okadigbo and the An Appeal for a New Order Anthony Kila draws attention to the different generations Jolt of September 25 that have been on centrestage in the Nigerian polity

Chido Nwangwu, Publisher USAfricaonline recalls since the country’s independence and concludes that the life and times of Dr. Chuba Okadigbo, Nigeria’s there is a new need to chart a fresh course seventh Senate President and one of country’s ear Readers most flamboyant politicians In the next few days the 1st of

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hilosopher, scholar, strategist, wordsmith, publisher, activist, orator, traditionalist (Oyi of Oyi) and former President of the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria passed away on September 25, 2003, at a relatively young age, at 61.

He was a big tree on the political and intellectual landscape of Nigeria; and indeed Africa.

Dr. Chuba Okadigbo was a philosopher, master of political intrigues scholar, publisher, activist and orator. . He was vice presidential aspirant of the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) with retired Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, as leader of the ticket.

Chuba, a hardnosed political operator,was a bridge between the transited old brigade of the Azikiwe and Awolowos and the new, unsophisticated, impatient new breed of politicians in Nigeria. He was colorful, flamboyant and sometimes controversial in his activist life.

But one of his misadventures was the oft-cited statements where he allegedly said that Dr. Azikiwe’s opposition to the National Party Nigeria (NPN) “victory” of 1982 could be “likened to the rantings of an ant.”

On many issues, he showed rigor and lucidity in ntellectual discourses. Chuba was in Kano for an ANPP where federal police sprayed tear-gas to disperse their opposition oo the Obasanjo presidency and “reelection.”

Okadigbo, who had a doctorate in Philosophy, had a health record of respiratory issues.

Meanwhile, a key member of Okadigbo’s ANPP in Kano State Hajiya Naja’tu Mohammed had told the Voice of America (VOA) Hausa Service that the former Senate President may have died from the impact of of an “offensive liquid” which the Nigerian Police poured on ANPP leaders at the same rally in Kano. “Immediately Okadigbo inhaled the offensive liquid, he was not himself again and party men started administering first aid on him to revive him. It was something else, I and Okadigbo were soaked, even Buhari was soaked by the offensive liquid. The Police will not say they don’t know Buhari. That was the beginning of Okadigbo’s travails, because he started behaving like an asthmatic patient.”

On his part, durable journalist and nationalist Chief MCK Ajuluchukwu pointedly said that Chuba’s death was a “national calamity

Dr. Chuba Okadigbo was a philosopher, master of political intrigues scholar, publisher, activist and orator.

He was vice presidential aspirant of the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) with retired Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, as leader of the ticket.

Chuba, a hardnosed political operator,was a bridge between the transited old brigade of the Azikiwe and Awolowos and the new, unsophisticated, impatient new breed of politicians in Nigeria. He was colorful, flamboyant and sometimes controversial in his activist life

which was sure to embarrass President Olusegun Obasanjo and the Inspector General of Police (Tafa Balogun).He said, “ It is a national calamity. It must be an embarrassment to the President and IGP that the police in Kano had to throw teargas at a rally being addressed by the Governor of Kano State and the Presidential candidate of the ANPP (Buhari) and his running mate (Okadigbo).

There should be a revisit to the constitutional provision for freedom of Assembly without police molestation. This death is a kind of incident that can bring the North and the East together because they share a common sense of grief. Things like that should not be allowed to happen. The death of Bola Ige is shocking enough, Okadigbo’s death is even more bizarre. There should be an investigation regarding the real cause of death, which is now being attributed to police teargas in Kano. I don’t believe he died a natural death.

It seems like a respiratory collapse arising out of poisonous gas.”

Also, the Kaduna State chairman of ANPP Alhaji Kabir Umar said his party “vehemently objects to the way and manner Okadigbo was tear gas(ed) during the Kano rally...the death of Okadigbo was unfortunate, this is because we believe that his sudden death is not unconnected with the use of tear gas fired by the police. If they know that a man like Okadigbo was asthmatic and the security men still went ahead to fire tear gas in that environment, what did they expect?”

USAfricaonline.com contacts indicate that Dr. Okadigbo was taken to his Jerome Udoji Close residence in Asokoro, Abuja, the city where he had a home, to get additional medical attention and some rest. He was also planning for the next day to see if could make another court appearance in the ANPP’s electoral-legal challenge to President Olusegun Obasanjo’s controversial reelection of May 2003. The petitioners, the alliance of Nigeria’s political parties, the European Union, Human Rights Watch, and many international observers have since described the “reelection” in various terms as “rigged, unfair, and not credible” - citing certain cases of vote inflation and violence.

Chuba’s police orderlies were withdrawn and he was getting threatening calls. A number of his supporters were outraged by his sudden death.

Chuba told me in an interview during the 2002 World Igbo Congress in Houston that “Nigeria’s President Obasanjo was sorely lacking in the mannerisms of running a democratic government. We fell out because I insisted and worked constitutionally on the principle of separation of powers. He believes he owns the government. He’s a soldier and acts like one. But this is a democracy.” He fell out with Obasanjo and the party, PDP, and said the following, “Now, the Nigerian polity is sick of second term syndrome, a threatening political cancer. Sadly, I must say that the PDP, which had been a big party of the people, is fast becoming a problem party for Obasanjo and his associates, which is run by his sycophantic cronies. They now lie prostrate in the trauma wing of a political hospital. Some good persons have been trying to nurse the PDP back to good health. But Obasanjo and his cronies are unwilling to let go, due to their ‘second term’ mania. So, what next? We all know that nothing succeeds like failure....”

NOTE: Interested readers should continue in the online edition on www.thisdaylive.com

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October will come and we all be shall once again be inundated with ceremonies, analysis, lamentations, accusations, justifications platitudes and promises about Nigeria. So it has been in the last 60 years and so it shall this year save for the Coronavirus induced soberness that will force all rational people and originations to stage moderate and sober events. Event planners and other ceremony vendors get all my sympathies but it is what it is.

Beyond the induced soberness though, I posit that 60 years after the experiment called Nigeria, it is time for us to give a realistic view at our reality, it is my view that a pure honest and profound analysis will readily reveal that this experiment called Nigeria has failed all. Even the very few, too few, privileged beneficiaries of the status quo are not getting enough in terms of potential compared to outcome.

I have argued elsewhere that history of Nigeria is a tale of three generations: The generation of dreamers and inspirers; the generation of squanderers and survivors and the generations of redeemers.

Conventional wisdom in Nigeria uses the names and images of the trio of Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Dr Namadi Azikiwe and Sir Ahmadu Bello plus that of Sir Tafawa Balewa to symbolise the first generation. A better list, even if minimal, should always include the names of Herbert Macaulay, Eyo Ita, Alvan Ikoku, Udo Udoma, Aminu Kano, Anthony Enahoro and Michael Okpara.

A major trait of the generation of dreamers and inspirers was their vision for their country and African continent. They all had grand ideas and ideals for their country and people: They wanted both to be free and great. In their minds, they were not just in politics to administrate power; they saw themselves on a mission to rescue their race. They communicated their visions and aspirations with their speeches and writings. Their rhetoric was always imposing and they never shied away from challenging injustice, rather they seemed to enjoy confronting power.

Once in power, this generation of Nigerians put the masses at the heart of the actions. They knew they had to build institutions and infrastructures and they went about it diligently. Awolowo led the way and others swiftly followed suit in a creative competitive way that became a win-win situation for all. From the free education programme, to the establishments of Ikeja Industrial Estate, Aba and Port Harcourt Industrial layouts and Kaduna and Kano Industrial areas. The fruits of their labour were real, clear and are still yet to be surpassed. International analysts saw them at work and predicted that Nigeria was destined for greatness.

There is still a lot to be learnt from and about that generation.

Then came the second generation.

The generation of squanderers and survivors, these ones came into office wearing uniforms and seized power with the use of boots and bullets. These were bullets and boots that we gave them to defend the country against external threats; keep an eye on your “Maiguard” if you have one. They never bothered to inspire or convince, they simply scared, tortured and subdued their fellow citizens. With their decrees and dismissive orders they ruined the institutions they

met and annihilated the middle class that could check them.

After they had wrecked all they could and utterly disgraced themselves, they eased their ilk into power to continue their misdeeds. While the squanderers were destroying the country, the other part of that generation, save for a very few, did not fight back. Most of them who couldn’t, wouldn’t, or simply didn’t stand up to leaders, turned looters. They simply resorted to finding means of surviving.

Many left the country to seek greener pastures; the ones that stayed became beggars and hustlers. Rather than being proud of their ideas, dedicated to their professions and be protective of their ideals, they, in the name of survival, became accommodating to rascals. Just to survive they lowered their standards, wasted their knowledge and allowed mediocrity to thrive.

Terms like dignity, duties and rights have been trashed by many in this generation; fathers of family are proud to identify themselves as someone else’s boy, professionals beg for appointment, contractors and suppliers beg and bribe to be paid. Rather than protect their schools, they look for private schools for their children; rather than campaign for good roads, they buy jeeps; rather than insist on stable electricity, they loot to buy generators.

The generation that will save our people from all these will be the generation of redeemers. They have a strong battle in their hands for they have few examples at hand to support them. Yet they have no choice but to find their voices and chart their own course. They will have to face reality, see where survival mode has gotten the country and they will need to realise that only dignity and dedication can lead to greatness.

For the redeemers to succeed they need to learn to approach reality with knowledge and courage.

A new order is needed.

There is no point pretending or striving to have a one Nigeria Nation. Nigeria is a union of nations and the best that can be done is find a way for these nation to live in peace, trade and thrive within clear laws but with each nation conserving its identity. Power has to been seen with suspicion rather than deference and devotion. Power has to be devolved, functions need to be decentralised and processes need to be digitalised. Rather than rushing to the political centre people of goodwill should focus on excelling in their chosen trades or profession and concentrate developing their communities and nations.

-Prof. Kila can be at @anthonykila

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FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 25, 2020 •T H I S D AY

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T H I S D AY ˾ SEPTEMBER 25, 2020

BUSINESSWORLD R A T E S MONEY MARKET OBB OVERNIGHT

A S

A T

REPO 2% 3%

CALL 1-MONTH 3-MONTH

2% 3% 4%

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

S E P T E M B E R S & P INDEX INDEX LEVEL 1-DAY MONTH-TO-DATE

602.60 % -0.04 % 2.33 %

1 8 , 2 0 2 0

S & P INDEX 1/4 TO DATE 7.07 % YEAR TO DATE 25.24 %

EXCHANGE RATE N379/1US DOLLAR* ̩

Quick Takes Port Health Workers Demand Allowance

SMART METER FORUM

L-R: Managing Director/CEO,MOJEC International, Ms. Chantelle Abdul; Lagos State Commissioner for Energy and Mineral Resources, Mr. Olalere Odusote, and Chief Commercial Officer, Eko Electric Distribution Company, Mrs. Enobong Ezekiel, at the Lagos Smart Meter Hackathon forum held in Lagos... recently PHOTO: ETOP UKUTT

Hope Rises for Domestic Airlines on Aircraft Leasing Chinedu Eze Nigerian airlines may soon begin to lease aircraft without high insurance premium and rigid, outrageous leasing rates, as the federal government has stepped in to rebuild relationship between airlines and lessors.

After series of default on leasing agreements by some Nigerian carriers, lessors have stopped giving out their aircraft to operators despite the fact that Nigeria is signatory to Cape Town Convention, which enables airlines of member countries to lease aircraft at low rates.

This had led to a reduction in the number of operating aircraft before the COVID-19 lockdown and heightened the cost of airfares, as number of operating aircraft was not meeting the demand of pas-

AVIATION sengers, forcing airlines to cancel and delay flights, besides the exorbitant airfares.

To end this problem, the Director General of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Captain Musa Nuhu said the agency would guarantee lessors that it would protect their equipment leased to Nigerian carriers and with the new assurance, lessors can now give out their aircraft to Nigerian operators at relatively lower rates.

“We will work with Nigerian airlines that lease aircraft and if there is any disagreement we will intervene and resolve the issues without having serious negative consequences on the Nigerian aviation market. “Of recent there was an airline in Northern Ireland that has issues

with an operator in Nigeria over leased engines, we stepped in, intervened and we were able to resolve it and the engines were returned to the lessor.

“Honestly, from that singular act I got a lot of positive responses from the international community. People are more relaxed to do business with Nigerian airlines, knowing that if their equipment got stuck in Nigeria; they are able to get their equipment back with the help of the regulatory body,” he said.

The Director General said it would rebuild the confidence lessors have in Nigeria and could now lease aircraft to Nigerian airlines without stringent measures that describe Nigeria as risky environment, which ups the insurance premium and leasing rates.

“If we continue to intervene

for a longtime, it is going to make it easier for Nigerian operators to lease equipment, be it aircraft, engine or whatever, it will also come at a competitive global rate rather than adding premium because Nigeria is considered a high risk market. These are part of the things we are doing,” Nuhu said.

However, aviation economist and the lead consultant at ETIMFRI Group, Amos Akpan told THISDAY that there was negative perception about the country in the global business transactions, noting that transactions with Nigerians carry a high possibility of fraud and corruption.

“This false propaganda makes those leasing aircraft to Nigerian airlines install Continued on page 22

FG to Shutdown Bonded Terminals over Illegal Charges, Inefficiency Eromosele Abiodun The federal government has called on all bonded terminals in the country to desist from charging shippers and freight forwarders illegal fees and improve on efficient delivery and management of cargo or face total shutdown.

The Executive Secretary / CEO of the Nigerian Shippers Council (NSC), Mr. Hassan Bello, stated this during an on-the-spot assessment of Denca Terminal and Kachicares Bonded Terminal, both located within Amuwo-Odofin Lagos.

Specifically, the NSC boss threatened to shut down Denca Bonded Terminal if it fails to return about N40 million illegal charges obtained under the guise of transfer and storage charges from Nigerian shippers and freight forwarders.

Bello condemned the in-

MARITIME discriminate citing of bonded terminals and issuing of approvals by the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), stressing that henceforth, the NSC would engage customs to ensure that it is consulted before bonded terminals are licensed.

The NSC, he stated, had in July issued a circular, directing all seaport terminals and bonded terminals to stop charging shippers for transfer of cargoes from Apapa to bonded terminals.

He said some of the bonded terminals were recalcitrant and were still collecting the money.

“Presently, Denca Bonded Terminal has N42 million to refund to importers while Kachicares Terminal owes N3 million. Our circular which we issued in July 2020 would suffice for this exercise, there should

be no transfer charges, if goods are stemmed from the seaport terminals, those who stemmed the goods are responsible for whatever cost, not the shipper, so between the seaport terminals and the bonded terminals, there must be an SOP or a memorandum of understanding, I think what has been happening so far is informal arrangements, we cannot afford to operate on informal arrangements,” he said.

“The shipper cannot pay for what is not his responsibility, he has already nominated in the bill of laden where his consignments should be taken to, and transferring it to another terminal is the business of the terminal he nominated.

“NSC believes in consultation, but if we found out that for whatever reason, the seaport terminals or the bonded terminal is charging the bills we have abolished, then we would be left

with no option that to ensure that we seal off premises of such recalcitrant operators who have defied genuine orders from the council.”

Bello also disclosed that the NSC is now posting its staff to all terminals to monitor and enforce efficiency.

“Some of the bonded terminals are not properly situated, there are no access to the terminals, the whole environment is not looking nice, and it is also our duty to work with the NSC that licensed them to ensure that whenever a terminal is going to be licensed, its location and geographical availability and suitability must be taken into consideration. We are going to talk with the customs to see that we are consulted when these terminals are being licensed, “he added.

About67personnelofthePortHealthServices(PHS),MurtalaMuhammed Airport,Lagosandsomeothersattheheadquartersofthehealthagencyin Abuja,havedecriednon-paymentofhazardallowancepromisedbythefederal governmenttohealthworkersduringtheCovid-19lockdown.

ThehazardallowancewereannouncedtobepaidtohealthworkersinMarch, April and May, but 67 of 73 health workers at the Lagos airport are yet to bepaidanyoftheallowances,whileonlythreeinAbujahavebeenpaidtheir allowances.

Meanwhile, it was learnt that port health workers in other locations such as maritime,borderpostsandotherairportsacrossthenationwholaterjoined themondutyhavebeenpaidtheirfullhazardallowances,raisingconcernfor theworkerswhowerealsoattheforefrontofthepandemic.

One of the workers who spoke on condition of anonymity, said they were surprisedtofindoutviaamemothatcolleaguesinAbujaandLagosairports havenotbeenpaidtheCOVID-19hazardallowances.

“Iwasshockedtoknowthatoutofthe73healthworkersonthenominalroll in Murtala Muhammed Airport; only six of them have so far been paid. We sympathisewiththoseLagospeoplebecausetheycarriedthemajorburdens oftheprimaryscreeningofinternationalpassengerstopreventthespread of coronavirus through the airport.They risked their lives and those of their families’duringtheperiodoftheCOVID-19.

“Lagosairport,weallknow,isthebusiest.ThePHSpersonneltherewerealways overstretchedwheneverthereisanypandemic.IbelievethoseinLagosAirport should be the one to be taken care of first whenever allowances are to be paid,”thesourcesaid.

Airbus Reveals Zero-emission Aircraft

Airbus has revealed three concepts for the world’s first zero-emission commercialaircraft,whichcouldenterserviceby2035.Theseconceptseach representadifferentapproachtoachievingzero-emissionflight,exploring various technology pathways and aerodynamic configurations in order to supportthecompany’sambitionofleadingthewayinthede-carbonisation oftheentireaviationindustry.

Alloftheseconceptsrelyonhydrogenasaprimarypowersource-anoption whichAirbusbelievesholdsexceptionalpromiseasacleanaviationfueland islikelytobeasolutionforaerospaceandmanyotherindustriestomeettheir climate-neutraltargets.

“Thisisahistoricmomentforthecommercialaviationsectorasawholeand weintendtoplayaleadingroleinthemostimportanttransitionthisindustry haseverseen.

“The concepts we unveil today offer the world a glimpse of our ambition to driveaboldvisionforthefutureofzero-emissionflight,”saidGuillaumeFaury, AirbusCEO. “I strongly believe that the use of hydrogen - both in synthetic fuels and as a primarypowersourceforcommercialaircraft-hasthepotentialtosignificantly reduceaviation’sclimateimpact.”

The three concepts - all codenamed “ZEROe” - for a first climate neutral zero-emissioncommercialaircraftinclude: Aturbofandesign(120-200passengers)witharangeof2,000+nauticalmiles, capableofoperatingtranscontinentallyandpoweredbyamodifiedgas-turbine engine running on hydrogen, rather than jet fuel, through combustion. The liquid hydrogen will be stored and distributed via tanks located behind the rearpressurebulkhead.

BAGAIA Engages Cape Verde Minister

The Commissioner, Banjul Accord Group Accident Investigation Agency (BAGAIA), Engineer Charles Erhueh, has engaged the Minister of Tourism and Transport in Cabo Verde, Dr. Carlos Duarte Santos on the importance oftheregionalinvestigativeagencyandtheneedtobefullyinvolvedinorder toattractothernationstobepartofthelaudableagency.

Themeetingdwelledmainlyoncapacitybuildingandtrainingtoenhancethe expertiseattheagency;italsofocusedinpartonfinancingBAGAIA. Erhueh,whothankedtheMinisterandhiscabinetmembersforhostingthe meeting during this time the world was trying to wriggle its way from the clutches of the COVID-19 pandemic, highlighted to Santos and his team, theimportantroleBAGAIAcouldandshouldplayintheregion.

Accordingtohim,theimportanceofBAGAIAcannotbeoveremphasisedandits functionswithemphasisonstrengtheningandcollaborationbetweenmember statesinrespecttoinvestigationofaccidents,sayingseriousincidentsremain beneficialtotheCapeVerdeandothercountries.

AlsotheBAGAIACommissionerreiteratedtheneedtoenlistotherAfrican countries into the fold and create larger capacity not just for the region but theentirecontinent.

OncapacitybuildinginrelationtoOn-the-jobtraining,theBAGAIACommissioner toldtheMinisterthattoenhancethosekeyproponentsofaccidentinvestigation thereisneedtosendtheirinvestigatorsforsuchtrainings.

“I am fully aware of all the problems facing AON such as multiple taxation, VAT, intervention to the airline operators, duty waiver and forex” Newly elected President of Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON) and MD of Max Air,

Abdulmunaf Yunusa Continued on page 22

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T H I S D AY Ëž SEPTEMBER 25, 2020

BUSINESSWORLD HOPE RISES FOR DOMESTIC AIRLINES ON AIRCRAFT LEASING unnecessary, difficult clauses which are not found in their lease agreements with airlines from other countries. “The situation is tilted against the Nigerian to the extent that when the lessor is in default, he gets away with it because of the preconception that the Nigerian should be in default. “The Cape Town Convention addressed this anomaly. The convention stipulates that all aircraft lease agreements be registered with the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) of the contracting states. It further stipulates in case of default by the lessee in the agreement, the CAA shall grant permission to the lessor to fly out her aircraft to a destination of her choice.

Simply put, if the lessor applies to NCAA, she shall be granted permission by NCAA to ferry out her aircraft. There have been instances that NCAA successfully implemented the Cape Town Convention protocol.

Also, there are instances where the Nigerian courts have barred the NCAA and the Lessor from implementing this protocol in Nigeria,� Akpan explained.

FG TO SHUTDOWN BONDED TERMINALS OVER ILLEGAL CHARGES, INEFFICIENCY Bello pointed out that some of the terminals have good equipment, adding that the NSC is pushing for terminals to meet international standards. “The circular issued in July prohibited terminals from leveling charges on storage or transfer, especially when the consignee have not appointed the terminal as port of destination. We have been to other terminal we saw some level of compliance, but your terminal unfortunately is still leveling charges on storage and transfer, and for now, about N42million which belongs to shippers from the various complaints have not been refunded. “We are also concerned with your operational efficiency, access to your terminal, the traffic situation and many other operations are under scrutiny.

The council wants timely evacuation of cargoes and efficiency in service delivery, “he said.

In his response, General Manager, Denca Bonded Terminal, Mr. Tony Asiadiachi, blamed APM Terminals for the storage and transfer charges.

Group Business Editor

Obinna Chima

NEWS

NIMASA Partners Public Service Reform Bureau on Change Initiatives Eromosele Abiodun The Director General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Dr. Bashir Jamoh, has emphasised the importance of efficient and effective public service to Nigeria’s economic prosperity.

He stated this while disclosing the agency’s commitment to collaborate with the Bureau of Public Service Reforms (BPSR) on the design and implementation of the transformational initiatives in the maritime sector.

Jamoh, who said this in Abuja during a visit to the Bureau, said the partnership would be focused on reform initiatives and development research.

The NIMASA boss, who was represented by the agency’s Director, Reform Coordination and Strategic Management, Dr. Kabir Murnai, said a sustainable relationship between the two Federal Government agencies was essential for capacity development.

Jamoh said: “We are here to see how we can connect with BPSR in order to clearly understand and key into government’s specific priorities, while

still pursuing the respective mandates and goals of NIMASA. We desire advisory and technical support services for change management teams,

to engender an environment of learning within NIMASA.�

Responding, Director of BPSR, Mr. Dasuki Ibrahim Arabi, appreciated the NIMASA DG and

his management team for the visit. Arabi pledged the Bureau’s commitment to the collaboration agreement for the mutual benefit of the two agencies.

BPSR was established in 2004 to coordinate implementation of government reform policies and programmes.

REWARDING CUSTOMER LOYALTY

L-R: Head of Sales, International Breweries Plc (IBPLC), Sylvester Umemezie; Prize Winner, Akubue Somuadina; Corporate Aairs Manager IBPLC, Chuma Umunna; and District Manager, Stanley Njoku, at the ‘Million Naira’ cheque presentation from Hero Lager Beer’s Rise-Like-A-Hero promotion held in Onitsha... recently

FG Urges Operators to Embrace New Fertiliser Regime James Emejo and Folalumi Alaran in Abuja The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Alhaji Sabo Nanono, has demanded a high level of commitment and cooperation from the fertiliser value chain operators in order to sanitise the system.

He said farmers needed to be properly guided on the use of fertilisers through public awareness creation and continuous sensitisation of the public on the new fertilizer regulatory system.

Speaking at the opening of a three-day workshop for fertilizer operators on the operationalisation of the National Fertilizer

Quality Control (NFQC) Act and the Fertilizer Regulations, in Nasarawa State, the minister said the new fertiliser regime system would eliminate the rampant cases of fertilizer sharp practices across the country.

He said new regulations will further address nutrient deficiencies, adulteration, misleading claims and short weighting, adding that the Act would protect the investments of manufacturers, blenders or distributors as well as other service providers along the fertilizer value chain.

Nanono said the primary objective of the fertilizer regulatory system was to increase agricultural productivity towards

national food security which can only be achieved through the provision of quality fertilizers and other key farm inputs.

In order to ensure smooth implementation of the fertilizer Act, the ministry along with other stakeholders had developed fertilizer regulations and forwarded same to the Federal Ministry of Justice for review by legal draftsmen.

The minister emphasised that stipulated in the Act, operators are henceforth required to obtain certificate of registration or sales permits upon payment of some prescribed fees/charges before being allowed to operate any fertilizer business in the country.

The minister noted that in

determining the fees, wide consultations with stakeholders were made adding that a lot of factors put into consideration to reduce costs burden to the farmers.

He said the charges were the least when compared to what is obtainable in other related sub-sector agencies within the country and the ECOWAS Sub-region.

Nanono pointed out that the workshop was further aimed at acquainting stakeholders on the workings of the Act and the regulations towards its implementation process.

He expressed to President Muhammadu Buhari for ensuring the actualisation of the

national fertilizer law, adding that it is a demonstration of his commitment and determination to repositioning the agricultural sector to assume its’ rightful place in national economy through the provision of foods for the entire citizens and raw materials for numerous agroallied industries.

The minister had earlier in March, flagged-off the implementation of the NFQC Act which was accomplished after over 25 years of fruitless efforts.

The legislation included severe punitive clauses for defaulters.

He added that the ministry had developed a portal which is ready for online registration of all fertilizer dealers.

DBN Advocates Capacity Building to Increase SME Lending Business and financial experts at the recently held Development Bank of Nigeria’s (DBN) capacity building webinar have tasked financial institutions on the need to engage more in capacity building initiatives for SMEs to develop their business expertise and provide them more access to finance.

They also emphasised the need for behavioral change from micro and small enterprises in Nigeria, even as they urged the financial institution to incorporate the knowledge acquired at

development training sessions into their daily business routine to make them more attractive and loan worthy for banks to avail funding to them.

The DBN MSME Webinar which was the third in the series was a capacity-building initiative aimed at building synergy between financial institutions, micro, small and medium scale enterprises and other stakeholders to upscale their interactions to facilitate funding to this critical sub-sector of the Nigeria economy.

The interactive session moderated by DBN Assistant Chief Economist, Prof. Joseph Nnanna, also had in attendance, Director General of Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria, Dr. Dikko Radda, who was represented by Director, Enterprise Development and Promotion; Mr. Monday Ewans, CEO, ProtĂŠgĂŠ Professional Limited, Ms. Nwamaka Onyiuke; Independent Non-Executive Director, DBN, Dr. Oladimeji Alo, and Divisional Head South-South GTBank, Mrs. Ndidi Ukaonu.

In her presentation, Onyiuke explained that capacity development of SMEs would help them build the required structure for their business, aid their leadership development, help MSMEs scale up and ultimately help them to utilise their resources in the right way. Speaking on the core of capacity building as a funding tool.

Also, Alo stated that banks need to know that the needs of the micro small and medium enterprises often differ depending on their scale. Alo stressed that

it was in the enlightened selfinterest of financial institutions to develop the capacity of MSMEs. “Some of the financial institutions say they have the funds to lend but the SMEs are not coming for the funds. The banks need to know the special needs of the sector and, also know that lending to the sector is not plug-and-play.

The banks do very well when they deal with highly structured organisations, but when they deal with the SMEs, there is a level of frustration because the basic things are not there.�

would continue to provide the NNPC regulatory guidance and support towards up-scaling its downstream assets and operations under the proposed PPP arrangement as governed by the ICRC Establishment Act 2005 and National Policy on Public Private Partnership (N4P).

In a statement issued by the acting Head, Media and Publicity, ICRC, Manji Yarling,

Izuwah said: “You have shown the world that you are driving a totally transparent PPP process in line with the Infrastructure revolution of President Muhammadu Buhari. “I commend the GMD of NNPC, Mr. Mele Kyari and his team for showing the world that things can be done properly and in the best interest of Stakeholders�.

Capital Market Editor

Goddy Ogene

Comms/e-Business Editor

ICRC Hails NNPC on PPP Optimisation

Senior Correspondent

James Emejo in Abuja

Emma Okonji

Ă‹Ă’Ă?Ă?Ă— Ă•Ă“Ă˜Ă‘ĂŒĂ™Ă–Ă&#x; (Advertising) Correspondents

Ă’Ă“Ă˜Ă?ĂŽĂ&#x; äĂ? (Aviation) ĂœĂ™Ă—Ă™Ă?Ă?Ă–Ă? ĂŒĂ“Ă™ĂŽĂ&#x;Ă˜ (Maritime) James Emejo (Finance) Ebere Nwoji (Insurance) Chineme Okafor (Energy) Ă—Ă—Ă‹Ă˜Ă&#x;Ă?Ă– ĂŽĂŽĂ?Ă’ (Energy) Reporters

Ă&#x;Ă—Ă? Ă•Ă?Ă‘Ă’Ă? (Money Market) Ă™Ă?Ă‹ Ă–Ă?Ă•Ă’Ă&#x;ÙÑÓĂ? (ICT) Ă?ĂžĂ?Ăœ äÙÒÙ (Energy)

The Director General, Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC), Mr. Chidi Izuwah, has commended the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).

Izuwah, hailed the corporation for improving efficiency in the country’s oil and gas sector through private sector

participation to optimise operations of its downstream critical pipelines and associated depots/ terminal infrastructure through a Finance, Build, Operate and Transfer (FBOT) PPP model.

He gave the commendation during the virtual public Request for Qualification (RFQ) opening ceremony for the infrastructure PPP procurement exercise by the corporation.

A total of 78 companies had submitted electronic RFQs for the four lots advertised by the NNPC in August, 2020 in some national dailies in line with ICRC guidelines via the NIPEX Platform.

Izuwah said the massive response from across the world was full endorsement for President Muhammadu Buhari, adding that the ICRC

23

T H I S D AY Ëž Í°ÍłËœ Í°ÍŽÍ°ÍŽ

Nigerian Airlines Operating 25% of Fleet Stories by Chinedu Eze Nigerian airlines said they have been operating 25 per cent of their fleet since the July 8, 2020 flight restart after COVID-19 lockdown.

This was disclosed by Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON), which linked it to low passenger patronage, urging the federal government to urgently help the operators as they are find it increasingly difficult to fund their operations.

Speaking after the election of new executive members to run the affairs of the association, the newly elected President, Abdulmunaf Yunusa, who is the founder of Azman Airlines, said the impact of COVID-19 reduced the purchasing power of Nigerians and many of them cannot afford to travel by air.

Abdulmunaf said now is the time for the government to support the airlines or else, some of them would go under and hundreds of jobs would be lost.

He said the association has heard of the government’s proposed N27 billion intervention funds but at the end of the day, it is only what the association sees, it would

work with.

AON elected new executive members to run the affairs of the association for the next three years.

The President of the association is now Abdulmunaf Yunusa, founder of Azman Airline and the President of Azman Group while Allen Onyema, Chairman/CEO of Air Peace was elected Vice President.

Yunusa took over from Nogie Meggison who has been the Executive Chairman of the AON for two tenures.

Other newly elected executive members included Shehu Wada, who is of Max Air, Muneer Bankole, Med-View Airline Managing Director/ CEO; Edward Boyo, his counterpart with Overland Airways, among others were elected as members of the Board of Trustees.

The AGM also approved the change of leadership nomenclature from Executive Chairman to President.

Yunusa in his acceptance speech commended the members for the confidence reposed in him to lead the association. “It is such an honour to be elected as your next President. I am humbled that

you placed your confidence and trust in me. As in one of the words of the former President of United States of America, John Kennedy, I accept your decision with a full and grateful heart, without reservation and with only one obligation to devote my mind, my thoughts and my spirit to lead our association to the next level. “As an active member of AON, I am fully aware of all the pending matters and problems facing our association such as the issue of multiple taxation, VAT, and intervention to the airline operators, duty waiver and forex. “I will like to assure you that I will continue from where the former chairman is today, taking the matter up with all the relevant authorities until we achieve our goals. “Although it is difficult for an association like AON to solve its problems, we shall do our very best. I am therefore requesting the cooperation and support from each and every one of you to achieve that. “I will like to thank the former Chairman for the success recorded during his tenure and hope that he will always be available to advise and guide us,� he said.

NAHCO Takes Delivery of Ground Equipment The Nigerian Aviation Handling Company Plc (NAHCO) has taken delivery of another set of ground support equipment valued at about N500 million, as part of the N3.6 billion equipment proposed in 2019, to be injected into the company to aid facility upgrade and enhanced service delivery.

The company said the latest delivery was the first of two sets it had been expecting since the end of the first quarter of 2020.

Beside the equipment, the company has also completed the renovation of the cargo complex, which houses the airlines, cargo agents, banks

and other clients.

According to the Group Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of NAHCO, Mrs. Olatokunbo Fagbemi, “our plan is to make NAHCO customer- centric, and with this renovation, as well as the ongoing equipment purchase, we are providing our clients a conducive environment to operate from. “We are also coming up with fresh innovations to offer our numerous clients better deals, and retain a minimum of 65 per cent market share in aviation ground handling business.�

Speaking on the latest deliveries, the GMD attributed

the company’s current low run to the Covid-19 pandemic which has adversely impacted operations.

Notwithstanding, she said: “We will continue to strive for excellence at all times. This is just part of the equipment being expected, some more will be delivered in the coming days.

The era of inadequate equipment is sure to be over soon.�

Meanwhile, NAHCO’s five- year transformation plan is right on course, though with a significant slowdown as a result of the closure of the airports due to Covid-19, the Company is however very optimistic to scale through the hurdles.

‘NAMA’s IGR Still Low’ Two months after resumption of flights, the Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) of the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) is still very low when compared with pre-covid-19 era.

This was disclosed by the Managing Director of the agency, Capt. Fola Akinkuotu, who, however, expressed optimism that things would get better. He said the revenue was still at single digit, adding that there was improvement from the hitherto zero percent at the peak of the virus in the country.

Akinkuotu, decried that the pandemic disrupted the activities of the agency and hoped that revenue would climb up in the coming months as the pandemic eases and the government relaxes its protocols.

NAMA collects navigation and en-route charges from airlines, while it also gets some percentages from the Ticket Sales Charge (TSC) and Cargo Sales Charge (CSC) from operators. “I can’t give you specific figures, but I can give you an estimate of figures lost within the period. The only thing I can say is that we lost millions of dollars during this pandemic period and that include losses from TSC and navigation charges,� he said.

In view of its weak financial situation, the NAMA boss said it would be difficult for the agency to grant the request of indigenous airlines to suspend some of the charges collected from them as a result of disruption to services caused

by COVID-19 pandemic.

Akinkuotu said the pandemic affected the operations of the agency, adding that NAMA like other agencies was selfsustaining and could not afford to grant any waiver to airlines at this moment.

According to him, NAMA had to service its equipment, fuel generating plans in all stations and airports across the country, while salaries and welfare of its thousands of workers would also be taken care of by the management.

He, however, said that if the government granted NAMA intervention fund, the management might consider the airline’s request for waiver, adding that without this, such a request would not be granted by the management.

Challenges of International Air Travel

MMIA Chinedu Eze There have been many complaints from airlines and passengers since international flights started on September 5, 2020.

Passengers have complained that the COVID-19 protocol has been very stringent and inefficient such that travellers are finding it difficult to abide by the rules. This is because the PTF on COVID-19 has decided that government health institutions would not conduct tests for travellers, so they designated private hospitals and laboratories where the tests could be done.

But feedback from passengers indicate that the private COVID-19 test centres charge N50,450 per test and the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) portal is difficult to access, thus making it difficult for arriving passengers to clear the COVID-19 status.

Also because there are not many places intending travellers can do the test in Nigeria, it is difficult for many of them to conduct the test and get results as at the time they wish to travel.

THISDAY learnt that some of the foreign carriers complain that they want to operate more frequencies to Nigeria but are allowed fewer flights into the country.

For example, African World Airlines (AWA) before the COVID-19 lockdown used to operate five times daily between Accra, Ghana to Lagos and 11 times a week between Accra to Abuja but after the restart on September 5, 2020, AWA operates five times a week to Lagos and four times a week to Abuja. “But there are many Nigerians in Ghana willing to return to Nigeria but there is no capacity. What we are allowed is just 250 seats a week. That is too small and currently there is no other airline on that route, except few occasions when Asky operates to Nigeria,� a source said.

THISDAY visited the international wing of the Murtala Muhammed Airport (MMIA), Lagos and spoke to some travellers and airport officials who conceded that flight operations were not as smooth as initially envisaged, especially for arriving passengers who have to face COVID-19 protocols.

Our biggest export is human. So our laws and foreign policy should be designed to protect our assets: humans. So any country that injures our economic interest should receive a similar injury to their interest

They complained of the overzealous attitude of security operatives who make certain demands from passengers beyond the protocols acknowledged by PTF on COVID-19 and the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA).

Tourism Consultant and Vice-President (South East) Federation of Tourism Association of Nigeria and operator of Zigona Travels and Tours Limited, Ngozi Ngoka told THISDAY that despite the aforementioned hitches, there have been smooth flight operations and Nigerians are coming back into the country, while outbound passengers are also leaving the country. “The only problem we have is that some countries are not allowing our citizens into their destinations because of COVID-19 and we have reciprocated that gesture, so some airlines are now allowed to come into the country but it is something we must have to bear because we cannot continue to be slaves to foreign countries and their airlines; there must be balance of trade and we support the position of our government in this. “Flights that operated so far have been smooth. But we have many flights that want to come but we don’t have the capacity because government does not want to take in the number of passengers the airports cannot manage in terms of COVID-19 protocols. So there are not many passengers coming in,� she said.

With the implementation of the principle of reciprocity by the federal government, many countries have started negotiating with Nigeria over the measures they introduced to bar Nigerians from their shores and last weekend the European Union held a meeting with the Ministry of Aviation and on Sunday the United Arab Emirates (UAE) opened a line of discussion with Nigeria in order to avoid the Nigerian government’s decision to bar Emirates Airlines from operating from the West African country.

THISDAY gathered that before the Monday date (September 21), UAE authorities had met to consider issuing visa to Nigerians in order to prevent the ban by the Nigerian government.

According to Emirates spokesperson, “Emirates remains committed to serving its two Nigerian points, Abuja and Lagos, to connect our customers to and through Dubai to Emirates’ global network, and meet the growing demand for air travel in and out of the country. “Emirates is working closely with the UAE and Nigerian authorities, and will communicate any updates to our customers. We look forward to continue serving our customers in Nigeria.�

But travel expert and the organiser of Akwaaba African Travel Market, Ikechi Uko noted that the principle of reciprocity adopted by the Nigerian government was good because Nigeria has comparative advantage in human capacity. “Our biggest export is human. So our laws and foreign policy should be designed to protect our assets: humans. So any country that injures our economic interest should receive a similar injury to their interest. That is the unwritten text of reciprocity. It should not be in like terms.

Reciprocity is accepted in diplomacy. Ghana just showed us an example. We closed our borders; they closed Nigerian shops. That’s Reciprocity 101,� he said.

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T H I S D AY ˾ SEPTEMBER 25, 2020

BUSINESSWORLD

INTERVIEW

Babalola: Our Commitment to Improve Trade in Nigeria Unshaken The Managing Director of Webb Fontaine Nigeria, Opeolu Babalola, in this interview with newsmen in Lagos, talked about how his company has been supporting government agencies with information communication technology solutions on ease of doing business and trade facilitation. EromoseleAbiodun present the excerpts:

W

e will like to start by asking you to give us an overview of Webb Fontaine’ s operation in Nigeria?

Webb Fontaine was appointed by Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) to implement a Customs centric Single Window Portal and the provision of information technology (IT) & Telecom infrastructure for Nigeria.This encompasses the delivery of Webb Fontaine’s customs Webb, Customs Management System nationwide as the Nigerian Customs Integrated System (NICIS II).

NICIS II has been adopted as a home grown information communication technology (ICT) innovation for Nigeria Customs electronic platform. We have impacted in capacity building through training and retraining of customs officers, some port users and other government employees. So far, we have trained over 10,000 Nigerians on a total of 13,479 sessions on various aspects of ICT aided trade procedures. Many of them are customs officers. Specifically on ASYCUDA ++ we trained 2,804 persons; on NICIS I& II we trained 10,260; on Database (Oracle) 36 and System Administration 30. Other training sessions undertaken by us for more Nigerians include SO Class for 6; Java 84; Help Desk 213; Support 26 and Networking 20. Our E-government software products, information and telecommunications technology and infrastructure services, peripherals and consumables, business process reengineering and standardisation has been applied successfully across various government agencies. Our services synchronises well with the Federal Government of Nigeria Ease of Doing Business and Trade Facilitation policies. We have always demonstrated commitment in helping government succeed in the drive to promote efficiency, time saving and transparency in the conduct of it’s businesses.

A lot of private sector operators have also found our support invaluable because of our culture of international best practices and promotion of legitimate way of doing things.

It is pertinent,I state that we are a company with international reach that has impeccable track records of providing trade solutions in several countries we have demonstrated adequate capacity. I have been responsible for managing the implementation of the company’s technology solutions in Nigeria.

The Covid-19 pandemic had a very adverse effect on trade and logistics generally. How best do you think it should be managed in your areas of operations?

Navigating the complex world of logistics, international Customs and global supply chains in the post-Covid-19 era will require government agencies and the private sector to embrace new methods that prioritise digitalisation.

We strongly recommend knowledge sharing and to streamline complicated and outdated processes for the benefit of all. Knowledge sharing will come with multiple benefits like increase in government revenue, support for trade and strengthening security in many ramifications. As a way of good corporate citizen, we also supported the federal government battle to prevent and manage Covid-19 with donations of equipment. This is a gesture we did in many other countries like. Countries like Nepal, Guinea, Ethiopia, DR Congo, Benin, Maldives and other areas in Asia and Africa also benefitted from our Covid19 relief package. We commend the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), the Presidential Task Force on Covid-19 and the Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN) for rising to the occasion by being proactive in the face of the crisis. On our own part we

appreciable increase. The NICIS II has been recognised as a credible digital trade platform by the World Trade Organisation and the World Customs Organisation. This led to them being able to adapt and be prepared for optimal operations even in the midst of the COVID-19 crisis. Throughout COVID-19, the Nigerian Customs Service has maintained revenue performance, which may not always have been the case for other Government agencies. While the Nigerian Customs Service revenue target changes from year to year, it was initially slashed in 2020 because of the expected revenue shortfall due to Covid-19.

However, the total collections up to May this year are greater than last year’s total at the same time, and the Nigerian Customs Service achieved well over 60 percent of the target. The NCS generated N976.6 billion from January to August 2020 despite the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to the shutdown of the country in March. Also and notably, the Customs IT platform operated robustly throughout the period of reduced movement. The Nigerian Customs Service have really shone a light on just how important a digital led Customs approach is, and in many ways is leading the way. With plans to get more automated as recently approved by the federal government

Babalola

also strengthened our purpose of knowledge sharing during this pandemic. We brought a group of experts. From Nigeria to talk in a webinar aimed at ensuring seamless trade transactions across our ports during the lockdown. Customs experts like Stephen Adekunle Oloyede, Comptroller Risk Management at the Nigeria Customs Service and Apeh Fateh Assistant Comptroller for ICT and Head of the Implementation Team for the Nigeria Customs Service, who took a ‘deep dive’ into the major issues facing global cross border trade, debated the disruptions caused by the implementation of health and safety protocols in the webinar. They explored new concepts to improve the industry by introducing greater efficiency through technology and the simplification of processes and checks.

Following on from the discussions we have created a report to continue the knowledge and ideas sharing. Soft copy of the report is Available to download at www.webbfontaine. com/2020/09/08/covid-19-customs-report/The White Paper examines how international best practices can be incorporated into all aspects of the sector, particularly in emergency situations,

and recommends possible routes of action in critical moments. It draws conclusions from lessons learnt globally and how these can be integrated into a detailed package of procedures to enable a smooth transition towards recovery and the resumption of normal business functions. Among the important topics addressed during the webinar and examined in detail in the White Paper are: physical distancing and reducing physical presence to a minimum; digitalisation and paperless approaches. Other areas we touched in our readiness for post Covid-19 era are revenue collection; risk management inspections; passenge screening; Client segmentation; movement of goods; regional and international connectivity; border management; readiness for crisis and digitalisation. We had emphasis on the importance of digitalisation as the world begins its journey to recovery and continues to adapt to the health safety rules now required for post COVID-19. The white paper outlines a number of important recommendations and findings. NCS are already doing so much in the digital space including application of e-form M, their revenue has experienced

There were some reports in the media that tend to criticise the recent $3.1 billion NCS automation deal. What is Webb Fontaine’s view about it?

We don’t know where those reports are coming from and have no part in them. I have read them and was surprised to see Webb Fontaine’s name prominently featured.

We are investigating the source of the media reports. We won’t, in anyway, support a narrative that shows tendencies to discourage modernisation progress or against the work of the FGN to enhance revenue collection and border security. From what I have seen, the huge amount mentioned is even to be brought in by the private sector. Our company have no issues with Bionica or their plans, and we have neither initiated nor asked to be joined in lawsuit against them. Let me say here that Webb Fontaine is fully supportive of all the federal government’s move to continue and improve upon the modernisation and full automation of Nigeria Customs Service and it’s processes. This will help to facilitate trade, increase revenue and enhance national security, and will improve Nigeria’s standing in the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business indices. This has been our focus and we have remained consistent with this over the years.

Maritime Agency, Air Force to Deploy Assets for Deep Blue Project The Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar, has disclosed that the air assets acquired under the Deep Blue Project, also called the Integrated National Security and Waterways Protection Infrastructure, domiciled at the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) are set for deployment by the Nigerian Air Force in support of the federal government’s maritime security effort.

Abubakar announced this when the DirectorGeneral of NIMASA, Dr. Bashir Jamoh, paid a working visit to the Nigerian Air Force headquarters in Abuja.

The NIMASA boss had requested adequate arrangement to receive and deploy the two special mission aircraft expected in the country in the next few months.

While commending the leadership of the Nigerian Air Force for its commitment to capacity

development, Jamoh noted that NIMASA was committed to ensuring the success of the Deep Blue Project with adequate cooperation from all stakeholders.

He stated: “We have received two Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV), and the two special mission aircraft are expected to arrive Nigeria before the end of the year. The challenges associated with the COVID-19 pandemic delayed the special training for the personnel to man these air assets, but we have found a way around it.

We will continue to seek your partnership to secure the Nigerian maritime domain.”

Jamoh disclosed that 17 fast interceptor boats, 15 armored vehicles, and two special mission vessels were some of the land and marine assets already on the ground. He said all hands must be on deck to secure the country’s maritime environment and change

all negative narratives.

Responding, Air Marshal Abubakar said the NAF had maintained a longstanding cordial relationship with NIMASA, with an MoU on Maritime Air Surveillance and Intelligence signed in 2013. He said, though, the MoU had elapsed, the NAF had continued to play a crucial role in maritime security, working closely with the Nigerian Navy, and NIMASA. Abubakar disclosed that NAF had recently established a Combat Reconnaissance Group (203 CRG) in Gombe State, primarily, to deal with the security challenges in the North-East and other parts of the North. He said the drones that would be deployed with the 203 CRG could be moved to any part of the country, including coastal locations, especially given the crucial place of the maritime environment to the survival of the country.

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BUSINESSWORLD

DEVELOPMENT

Domesticating, Enforcing Child Protection Policy in Schools Ugo Aliogo examines the role of trained teenage girl leaders in promoting the domestication of child protection policy in Lagos schools

Adamu

S

ome of the growing trends that call for urgent attention in Nigeria today are the incidents of rape, defilement, domestic violence, child abuse, neglect and maltreatment.

According to the Lagos State Safeguarding and Child Protection Policy, child protection is about practices that ensure children accessing services are safe, ensuring that potential abuse and neglect, along with general concerns about child wellbeing, are identified and appropriately responded to.

It is key to building a culture of child protection where the safety and security of children is paramount.

The responsibility for making sure that children are safe and that their needs are met is shared between the families, the general community, professionals working with children, law enforcement and government.

Each has a significant role to play to ensure the safety and wellbeing of children and young people and to help prevent them from harm.

The policy explained that while most child abuse occurs within families and communities, children also experience abuse and exploitation in organisations that provide them with support and services.

Experience has found that physical, emotional abuse and neglecting child focused organisations and institutions are less systematic and usually unplanned. It is usually the result of poor conditions, bad work practices and negligent management.

The policy now makes it mandatory for all schools, child-centered institutions such as crèches and recreational centres; located in the state, have a child protection policy in place which ensures that the rights of children are safeguarded. This mandatory requirement also extends to institutions and organizations in the State’s public and private sectors.

The Child Protection Unit, Ministry of Youth and Social Development is the department responsible for safeguarding the development of the child through the prevention of all forms of abuse against children, coordinating response and investigation of suspected abuse and neglect and for providing care and protection to children found to be in need.

Many adolescent girls in Nigeria face human rights abuses on a daily basis, including gender based violence, forced marriage, female genital mutilation, and limitations on their mobility, education, employment, and participation in public life which delay their progression and development and impede their human rights and dignity.

About 44 per cent of girls are married before their 18th birthday and 31 per cent of women 20-24 years have given birth by

Osinbajo

age 18, the ChildNotBride 2018 report noted.

About 60 per cent of out-of-school children are girls; with net enrolment rate at primary school level at 56 per cent for girls and 61 per cent for boys.

On the other hand, dropout rates are highest amongst girls than boys at the sixth grade of primary school, United Nation Children Fund (UNICEF) 2018 report has stated.

In the same vein, the 2018 Nigeria HIV/ AIDS Indicator and Impact Survey (NAISS) report states that adolescents (10-19 years) account for eight per cent of persons living with HIV and female incidence is significantly higher than male incidence.

Acknowledging the role of adolescent girls in achieving inclusive, and sustainable development is crucial to ensuring progress especially in all issues affecting them directly such as their education, health, human rights and dignity; Action Health Incorporated (AHI) with support of Rise Up trained 60 girl leaders ages 13-18 from across Lagos State on leadership and public advocacy to strengthen their voices in demanding for change.

These girl leaders engaged decision-makers and policy-makers at multiple levels to address issues affecting girls in the state.

To put the issue into proper perspective, THISDAY spoke to the Programme Officer, Action Health International (AHI), Oluwa Funsho, who explained that the girls’ voices initiative project is an advocacy project that seeks to build the capacity of adolescent girls on advocacy and leadership issues.

In line with this understanding, in 2019, AHI enrolled 60 girls for the project between the ages of 13-18 and their capacity was built on leadership and advocacy in order for them to lead to discussions and issues affecting girls in their communities.

Goal of the Project Bukoye maintained that the project was a fallout of AHI’s discovery that a lot of teenage girls are faced with a lot issues such as gender based violence, girl’s right violation, lack of skills support initiatives, lack of access to certain services and others.

She espoused that some girls don’t have the space and even the skills to demand on issues affecting them, while adding that AHI focuses on those issues, “to build the skills of girls, help them become leaders and change agents in their communities, and have a safe space in order to lead discussions on issues affecting them.”

According to Bukoye, “In line with its commitment to address child protection issues, the Lagos State government has put in place structures and policy framework to tackle it. Lagos is one of the states that

enacted the child right law early enough and other child right issues.

“But the child protection policy which signed into law in 2016 by former Governor Akinwunmi Ambode was to provide a structure and state clearly mechanisms of protecting children that are victims of sexual abuse, even from child institutions such as schools and at home.

“The key issues that this policy seeks to achieve including working in collaboration with child right are to protect the right of the child. It also seeks to ensure that government put in place referrals, and people understand what the rules and responsibilities are.

“The girls in their various groups have been doing tremendous work. We have online meetings on WhatsApp where we share updates on their advocacy work. They have online blog GVILagos.com where they talk about girls issues such as the rights of girls. The advocacy project is for one year.

“In terms of scaling the progress of the project, we are hopeful that over the next one year, the advocacy capacity of the girls must have been built, even when we transits and the project ends. Moreover, they will be part of the cohort of young girls that AHI will work with to build the capacity of other young girls.

“We hope that they will take up the conversation in their respective communities from the different level of advocacy, and ensure their discussions with various stakeholders are actualised. I like I said, the goal of the project is to build the advocacy skills and capacity of the girls. These girls are picked from three senatorial district of Lagos.”

In an interview with THISDAY, one of the girl leaders, Maryann Godwin, from Ifako Ijaiye Local Government Area said her group is working in District I in Agege Local Government Area; and it is focusing on implementing the state Child Safeguard and Protection Policy.

She said the policy has been in place since 2016 and it was brought up by Governor Akinwunmi Ambode, noting that most schools have not domesticated and implemented, “the policy because they don’t have an idea of the policy.”

She affirmed that the policy is not just about having knowledge of it. Rather, it is about making sure that the students understand the policy and they are making use of the policy.

“So we started by embarking online research if the students in some of those schools knew about the policy. When we had conversations with the girls, we realised that many of the girls don’t know about the policy. This policy guides against sexual harassment in secondary schools,” she stated.

According to Godwin, the policy explained that if a girl has been harassed there are referrals, and the school can handle such issues, noting that in carrying out their work in District I, they collaborated with the Nigeria Police Force (NPF), and had a zoom meeting with the teachers, principals and counselors in the area.

She hinted that they had zoom meetings with 12 Schools in Agege from which it was discovered that some principals and teachers had implemented the policy in their schools, while others have not because they had no knowledge of it.

Godwin said: “For those that have implemented it, they had a policy documentation of it. Some had the banner of how the policy is going to be implemented in their schools.

Some have complaints boxes in their schools for girls who are unable to speak out to drop their complaint in the box provided.

“We created a WhatsApp group to engage those that are yet to implement to find how they were going to implement. Some gave us feedback on how they implemented, others gave their challenges involved in it and they will need the counselors to be properly trained on the implementation of this policy. Thereafter, we wrote a letter to the Tutor-General Permanent Secretary, (TGPS) District I. “We did an online meeting with her and informed her about the zoom meeting we had with the School teachers, Principals and Counselors in District I and the challenges they have faced. Therefore, she had accepted that the policy will be implemented in those schools and she will work towards it.

“Our next action is to go to the TGPS and request for her to write a draft letter stating her support of the policy being implemented in schools in District I and also taking picture with her with a placard, and that the right of girls will be protected in schools in District I under the Lagos State Safety and Child Protection Policy. That will ensure that our advocacy has been achieved.

“Some of the key concerns we raised in the document we submitted to the TGPS was each school in the state should have the child safeguarding and protection officer incharge of the policy, then they can have banner placed either in front of the school or inside of the compound.

“So as soon school resumes, the students will know that their school is Child safety and protection compliant. Also, the teachers will have access to the document and what they are meant to do, and the complaint box will be available. There is also new card with telephone numbers for girls who have been harassed to call and lodge complaints.”

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THIS WEEKEND WEEKLY MAGAZINE

NEWS METRO THISLIFE ART WEEKEND ENTERTAINMENT Group Features Editor: Chiemelie Ezeobi chiemelie.ezeobi@thisdaylive.com 08038901925

Sam Loco Smith: I Made the Best of a Bad Situation

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COVER

Sam Loco Smith: I Made the Best of a Bad Situation Growing up, it seemed little Sam Loco Smith was never going to make headway in life due to the circumstance he was surrounded by but he never allowed it to weigh him down.With an unwavering determination and support from a loving mother, he forged on.Today, Smith who wears many caps as a journalist, public relations expert, author andcommunicationconsultant,holdsaPh.DinMassCommunicationsandhaswrittenwidelyonpoliticaladvertising, a topic that does not enjoy as much documented materials as other fields. In this interview with MARY NNAH he talked about his challenges during his growing up days, achievements and most importantly his recent books

Y

ou recently presented two books to the public- Political Advertising in Nigeria and My Stella‌One In A Million. Can you talk about the inspiration behind them?

The book ‘Political advertising-creativity, intrigue and electoral outcome’ was inspired by the very chronic scarcity of books on political adverts in Nigeria. There are several books on advertising profession and journal articles on political advertising, but you will hardly find any book on political advertising in Nigeria. You can check all the best and the biggest bookshops in Nigeria, I can tell you that you may not see any book on what transpired during Nigeria`s political advertising space which dates back to 1958/59 through 2019.

So, basically the book on political advertising in Nigeria is an attempt at chronicling and documenting what transpired within Nigeria`s political advertising space from 1958-2019. I must confess here that because of the content it is rich in information about the trajectory of political advertising in Nigeria from the First Republic era to the epochal 2015 presidential elections in which the ruling party lost power for the first time.

It also offers a critical perspective from the industry experts and governmental regulating agencies in political broadcast advertising guidelines and codes. It is an attempt at bridging the gap or a diagnostic prescription to the scarcity of books on political advertising in Nigeria.

The book is a 592 -page book that provides or answers the question of what transpired in Nigeria pre-elections activity from 1929, 1959, 1979, 1983, 1999, 2003, 2007, 2011, 2015 and 2019. It also reveals experts’ perception on the subject matter and equally provides answers to the number of newspaper political adverts that were placed ahead of the 2015 and 2019 General Elections. In addition the book gives answers to what government regulatory agencies like the APCON, NBC, and LASSA did before, during and after the general election. The intensive research work took about six good years.

The second book, My Stella‌One in a Million is also an attempt to chronicle the life of a patriotic and sacrificial Nigerian, wife, mother, a friend indeed, someone you can count on particularly at the most critical moment and also her research works as a scientific researcher. “My Stella‌One in a Millionâ€?, also x-rays her orientation, watertight relationship with the mother, waiting for the cry of a baby, trials, acts of victimisation, maltreatment, backstabbing; her determination, persistence, firmness and total trust in God. The whole idea of writing the book is also to document what Stella has done over the years and she has been a blessing to humanity. This September makes us 28 years in marriage. In October last year, Stella brought honour to the Institute where she works as a Convener of the first ever Humboldt Kolleg in a Research Institute which saw the gathering of prominent scholars for three days with over 130 participants in attendance out of which 25 were Humboldtians.

In addition, in the bid to impact knowl-

the former vice-president Atiku Abubakar the 2019 political advertising campaign slogan was anchored on, “Let’s Get Nigeria Working Again� this slogan was supported with a strong political advertising theme song, “Articulated�.

Smith and wife

edge Stella has consistently held Molecular Biology hands-on- training workshops from 2009 to 2019. A visit to her lab is evidence of an extremely hard working lady. In addition, from her grants/ contacts she has sent a reasonable number of her PhD students to Germany, Ivory Coast and Senegal. From her grants she has also carried out extensive renovation of her lab over the years. Stella is a star and she is completely different.

You cannot come in contact with Stella and remain the same.

As a Public Relation expert, how would you describe the impact of politicaladvertising on the average Nigerian vote?

The essence of any political advertising campaign is the fact that it gives the voter or the electorate the right to choose a politician or political party to vote for or against.

Another factor that will influence the voting judgment or where the pendulum will swing to is the mass media tools deployed in creating the exposure and visibility of the political party ideologies and political manifestos.

In Nigeria, political advertising campaign has become not only part of the constitutional electoral act but cultural phenomena in which Nigeria and particularly politicians, political parties and their support groups also look forward to, since the use of the popular “Daisy Girl� a sixty second political advert ahead of the 1964, United States of America presidential election which gave president Lyndon Johnson’s landslide victory over Berry Goldwater.

The use of political advertising campaigns has witnessed various transformations from analogue political advertising approach to what could be regarded as a digital/ social media political advertising campaign strategy.

In the 1959 parliamentary elections in Nigeria, Chief Obafemi Awolowo applied a more advanced and probably scientific political advertising campaign strategy;

although he did not win that election, he certainly made a very loud and strong statement in the place of strategic and innovative political campaign strategies with the sky- writing concept even at that time.

That was the Action Group’s (AG) political advertising campaign fulcrum which revolved around-immediate termination of British Rule in every phase of the political life of the people, education of all children of school age and general enlightenment of all; provision of health and general welfare for all the people and total abolition of want in the society through the variable economic policies.

Also ahead of the 1979 General Election, Chief Obafemi Awolowo’s political advertising campaign philosophy under the Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN), revolved around the popular four cardinal programme which included: Free education at all levels; integrated rural development; the provision of free health service and full employment for all Nigerians.

Another political advertising campaign slogan that had a direct link with the people’s desire was that of Chief MKO Abiola “Hope 93� and ``Farewell to Poverty� particularly the radio and TV jingles.

The radio and TV jingles had melodious lyrics like ‘na wa for this life o, na so so palava, I tire for this problem, I tire for life oh� another was MKO, MKO, MKO!!!

Action! Abiola, Abiola, Abiola!!!!, Progress!.

There was also the 8 pm - 9 pm MKO vs Tofa live presidential debate on NTA Channel 10, in which Nigerians were glued to their TV station from the beginning of the debate to the very end.

We also had the President Goodluck Jonathan’s political advertising campaign slogan, “We need a breath of fresh air� and “I had no shoes to wear?�

In 2015 President Muhammadu Buhari came with “Change� and “Change� became a greeting language as against “Good morning�. And in 2019 it was “Next Level�. For

Looking at the development of political advertising from pre-independence till now, has it impacted the country’s democratic growth?

One of the major pre-electoral activities before any major elections is the lifting of the ban on political advertising campaigns.

That automatically validated the potency of political advertising in our electoral system and globally. Political advertising is very important and has contributed phenomenally and astronomically to the country’s democratic growth that is one of the first things that must be done before the election itself. Political advertising is about communication, information, education, visibility, exposure, understanding, acceptance, rejection, making a choice between several choices.

If you don’t embark on a political advertising campaign using the right mass media tools and strategies it is simply a walkover for the other party and politician.

Ahead of the 2015 General Election, Nigeria saw a keenly contested type of political advertising campaign like no other in the annals of the nation’s history. 2019 was fair and not comparable to that of 2015. However, 2015 and 2019 saw the development of multiple intense political advertising campaign tools-outdoors, posters, branded bridge, street lamp poles, A- frames, hat boxes, branded cars, buses and vehicles, branded bus shelter, t-shirts, face and hand bandies etc. All these and other pre-election activities contribute immensely to Nigeria`s democratic growth because without political advertising, elections will not be colorful, it will be boring and very dry. It is the icing on the cake of every election.

Is there any nexus between political advertising and election rigging?

There is no link or connection between the two subject matters. Basically political advertising is about the application and the use of various mass media tools, newspaper adverts, billboards, flyers, radio, branded vehicles and any other means of mass communication tools/media for the singular purposes of appealing, influencing, seeking support, adverts all in bid towards securing the vote of the electorates.

On the other hand, election rigging is simply about electoral fraud, manipulation and winning by any means. It is an unauthorized or illegal interference.

The election rigging revolves around manipulation of demography, disenfranchisement, intimidation, attack on polling booths, coercion, vote buying, hijacking of electoral materials, snatching of ballot boxes, incumbency and control of state securities instruments, political grassroots structure, market association, National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW).

NOTE: Interested readers should continue in the online edition on www.thisdaylive.com

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Lilvera Group Boss Advocates Review of Marketing Strategy Amid Pandemic Mary Nnah The Chief Executive Officer/Managing Director of Lilvera Group, Mr. Buchi Johnson, has urged clients and corporate organisations to review their marketing plans and budgets as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic that has redefined the dynamics of the Nigerian marketing environment.

The London Business School alumnus, who spoke to journalists in his Lekki office, said there will be new opportunities post pandemic that brands can pivot to be a part of.

He noted further that technology is making it very easy for us to get a lot of things done and presently, any business that wants to make it has to create strategies using technology to achieve success online. “Going forward, a serious minded organisation that wants to achieve great success for its brand and products must adopt an 80 per cent to 20 per cent budget planning for its marketing activities. This is as a result of the COVID-19 impact on the bottom line as well as government regulations,�

Johnson said.

The Lilvera Group boss said brands must make a conscious effort to understand their consumers’ online needs, adding, “understanding your consumers’ online behaviours will help any brand align with their needs. To achieve this, brands must ensure

L-R: Chief Executive OďŹƒcer, December 29 Media, Goddie Ofose; Business Executive, Lilvera Nigeria Limited, Habeebat Raji; Group Managing Director/Chief Executive OďŹƒcer, Lilvera Group, Buchi Johnson and Head Administration, Lilvera Nigeria, Paix Otene, during a media interactive session at the company’s headquarters in Lekki, Lagos

their teams are social media savvy to meet consumers’ needs�. “Their understanding of tech tools will help manage sales channels and consumer conversations. They will also be able to understand what influences consumer decisions in the present situation as well as what influence new business and partnership,� he said.

Johnson advised that it is important businesses begin to take crisis communication and management seriously as pandemic continues to bite harder. “It is also important that businesses should have a

crisis management plan on hand, the pandemic is a huge crisis that a lot of businesses did not envisage and could not manage. This caused a lot of businesses to shut down or lay off workers. It is important now more than ever to have a crisis management plan,� Johnson stated.

As a marketing communications expert with over 12 years’ experience, Johnson said, “I have come to understand that change is permanent and to stay relevant, one must understand the trends and stay steps ahead of uncertainty.�

Speaking on the impact of pandemic on retail mar-

keting space, the CEO said, “the retail sphere would be impacted no doubt but brands that adopt digital marketing would conquer this space and make greater success out of it despite the effect of the pandemic.� “I am an early adopter of technology and an advocate of it as well, I think up ways to use technology to build my business and it has been the best strategy so far during the COVID-19 issue. We literally kept working during the lockdown, found new ways of doing things and offering our clients new ideas, which saw us grow through the lockdown to this present time.�

Bschool Strategy Bootcamp Plans Immersive Experience for Stakeholders Bschool, Africa’s Pop Culture Academy, has concluded plans to host the 2020 Strategy Bootcamp tagged, ‘Immersive Virtual Experience�, in Lagos.

From October 21 to 24, 2020, Bschool will be running a series of live workshops during the Strategy Bootcamp which is expected to impact practitioners in advertising, marketing, retail, pop culture and creative sectors.

Bschool is a strategy and innovation school set up to provide an unconventional learning system for business, marketing and creative professionals. It is the “New School� for entrepreneurs, admen, marketers, and corporate executives.

It’s a four-day virtual getaway for senior marketers, brand custodians and business leads, who are planning to hold strategy retreats and to develop business transformation plans as we move closer towards the last quarter of the year.

The course modules include AI Marketing, CX Strategy, Behavioral Economics, Business Model Innovation, Product Design, Cultural Foresight and Trend Codes, Scenario Planning,

Bschool Strategy Bootcamp host, Frankline Ozekhome

and Customer Engagement.

Organisations looking to send delegates can view the programme schedule on its website.

The webinar will be hosted

by Frankline Ozekhome, the head of strategy and digital at Insight Publicis, where he will unpack mega-industry themes, consumer insights and the dynamics that ap-

ply to sectors like Retail and Ecommerce, Home and Personal Care, FMCG, and Financial services.

He will also be sharing business propulsion toolkits and innovation playbooks that will help organisations to successfully navigate the phenomenal changes that have affected virtually every single industry.

The Strategy Bootcamp is a bespoke event designed to help businesses and brands rebound as futuredetermining entities that are focused on continually being viable, sustainable, and admired by employees, customers and competitors.

The curriculum, curated

by Ozekhome who is also the founder of Bschool, and Dean of Studies at Orange Academy, is premised on creating practicable ideas and executing new experiences that capture top-line and bottom-line growth.

Ozekhome is a pop culture maven and is a globally acknowledged expert on consumer trends and cultural intelligence. He has led multidisciplinary teams through the development of award-winning campaigns, product design initiatives and innovation platforms for multinationals, SMEs and startups.

Over the years, he has worked with brands as diverse as Visa, Heineken, Google, Emirates, Tecno Mobile, Pepsi, MTN, Dangote, Vitafoam, Smile, Airtel and Samsung.

Bschool was founded in 2017 and already boasts an alumni network of 500+ students from varied backgrounds, disciplines and organisations.

Access Bank Emphases Private/Public Sector Collaboration Access Bank’s Head of Sustainability, Omobolanle VictorLaniyan, has stressed the urgent need for private and public players to collaborate in order to meet up with the remaining 10 years timeline for the full implementation of the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

In a recent interview on CNBC Africa’s ‘Closing Bell’ while discussing the key role of the private sector in the implementation of the SDGs, Victor-Laniyan reiterated that it is an onerous task that cannot be expected to be borne alone by the public sector. “Achieving success in implementation requires a lot of financial investment. Research on the estimated cost of eradicating poverty globally pegs it at about $66bn per year. “While the annual investment required improving infrastructure; that’s clean water, power, transportation, and agriculture could total to about $7tn. That is a substantial amount, the government alone cannot tackle the SDGs at the national level, businesses and private institutions have a key role to play�, Victor-Laniyan said.

With Nigeria still navigating an economically crippling pandemic, the path to achieving the SDGs is currently facing several forms of systemic hindrances and other national threats such as terrorism and increased poverty levels.

This development continues to cause a decline in the growth targeted by the United Nations but as experts have expressed, the situation can be steered towards change with increased participation and partnership from various actors from across the private and public sectors. Speaking on whether the private sector can respond differently from the public sector in addressing global crises, and more recently the raging global pandemic, Victor-Laniyan opined that, “the private sector can behave differently. Issues around development offer opportunities for private sector organisations that are innovative. “Challenges require solutions, and as the private sector, we could provide those solutions. The private sector can proffer these solutions by innovating appropriately across various SDG areas, such as building sustainable cities, climate-smart agriculture, clean energy, improved healthcare and so on. “All of these require not only the dynamism but also the funding of the private sector working in very close partnership with governments and communities�.

Victor-Laniyan said further that, “organisations that use the SDGs as an overarching framework in shaping and communicating their various strategies, goals and activities, obtain the unwritten social license to operate and this ultimately leads to profitability.�

Highbridge Home Excels Despite Pandemic Oluwabunmi Fache The MD/CEO of HighBridge Homes Limited Mr. Olawale Popoola has said despite the difficulties in the world economy occasioned by the COVID-19 pandemic, the good track record set by the firm has helped it blossom.

Speaking with THISDAY during an interview, Popoola HighBridge Homes Managing who is also an executive member of Real Estate Devel- Director, Olawale Popoola opers Association of Nigeria (REDAN), explained that while all sectors of the society are complaining, COVID-19 Pandemic has taken positive tolls on his company’s operations.

He said that though COVID-19 pandemic affected real estate players in different measures, those who have good track records of performance and the capacity to dangle enticing and innovative schemes to consumers of real estate products still closed fantastic deals, despite the economic limitation that the pandemic had on people. “For HighBridge Homes, COVID-19 Pandemic was a blessing in disguise because we made so many sales than we did before the pandemic. At the moment two schemes have been sold out. “Currently, HighBridge Park estate is available and is the fastest selling estate with the Lagos Free Trade Zone, with a high appreciable value. A prospective property buyer can get a patch of land in Ibeju-Lakki at the rate of N970, 000 per plot and N540, 000 for half plot, respectively. “With full conviction, in two weeks, all the plots in the estate will be sold out because we give our customers prime properties at affordable rates. Our properties are safe, that is our hall mark�, he noted.

He revealed further that HighBridge Homes Limited Corporate Headquarters, located at Royal Plaza, Bogije on the Ibeju-Lekki axis of Lagos, has one of the largest land banks all over the country, adding that these landed properties are affordable to all categories of Nigerians; the low income inners, middle and high income strata of the society.

He further said that HighBridge Homes aims to help people own their own houses by selling landed properties to prospective owner(s) with approved title documents from relevant governments while assisting people to buy both luxurious, middle level and low cost houses, so that people can have shelter at affordable prices.

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E-TRENDS

MUSIC SHOWBIZ

‌Your weekly entertainment delight

NOLLYWOOD

Tight Race to Big Brother Naija Lockdown Finale Stories by Vanessa Obioha

Who will be crowned the winner of the Big Brother Naija Lockdown season on Sunday?

Laycon or Nengi?

To a large extent, the race to the ďŹ nish line is between the two housemates.The season had seen them dominate social media and gather most votes when placed on the eviction block. However, Sunday’s verdict will determine whose dominance was stronger.

Numerous predictions favour Laycon as the iconic winner of the ďŹ fth season of the reality TV show which kicked off on July 19.

Despite fears of the ravaging COVID-19, the organisers went ahead to host the popular show under strict health measures. Unlike previous seasons, the housemates had no encounter with outsiders except for the DJs and a few musicians who entertained them within an enclosed area.

The usual twists of new and fake housemates were also not included in this season as a preventive measure.

More so, the duration of the show was reduced to 71 days as against the 91 days which have the norm of the production.

None of these changes however subtracted the entertainment value from the show. Fans have been intrigued by the series of dramas that have shaped this season. From the unexpected disqualification of Erica, the Ozo and Nengi fraught relationship to Lucy’s peevish antics.

Laycon however has grown to be a fan’s favourite mostly for his humble background.

Unlike other housemates who boast of good family background and good looks, Laycon had little or nothing to show except his creative talents. His creativity endeared many to him and with most music stars rooting for him, the ‘underdog’ narrative began to change to that of an ‘iconic’ winner.

Nengi and Laycon on the party dance oor

Arguably, his support is built on sympathy.

His die-hard fans believe that he deserves the N85 million grand prize more than other contestants.They are moved by his humble beginnings and with his new genotype revelation (He is SC, a rare genotype) a few days ago, the support for him to clinch the coveted title soared tremendously.

Notwithstanding, Nengi fans are not backing out. They are also pushing for the fair-skinned Bayelsa state indigene to win on Sunday. Armed with good looks, Nengi is mostly loved for her beauty. She also grabbed

Filmmakers Call for Sudanese Filmmaker Hajooj Kuka’s Release From Nigerian ďŹ lmmaker Femi Odugbemi to the heads of international ďŹ lm festivals such as theToronto International Film Festival and Berlin International ďŹ lm festival, the call for the release of Sudanese ďŹ lmmaker Hajooj Kuka is reverberating all over the world with the hashtag #Freehajooj.

Kuka, a prominent ďŹ lmmaker in the North-East African country and a member of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences the body responsible for the Oscars was sentenced to two months imprisonment and ďŹ ned 5,000 Sudanese pounds ($90) last week for‘threatening peace’and‘breaching public safety. He was arrested alongside four other artists: Abdelrahman Mohamed, Ayman Khalafallah, Ahmed El Sadig and Duaa Tarig.

Kuka had on August 13 tweeted about an attack on him by Islamists instigators during a workshop in Khartoum.“The police stood by the attackers and arrested us. Now we are awaiting trial. Is there any support for #artists or do we need to get killed ďŹ rst?â€?

Local reports disclose that Sudanese authorities raided a cultural centre in the Al-Zuhour neighbourhood of the capital Khartoum, where several artists were rehearsing a play, after receiving a noise complaint from residents.

Tarig alleged that she was slapped by a police ofďŹ cer for protesting that her picture shouldn’t be taken by him.

While in custody, the detainees chanted revolutionary slogans, which angered police authorities and delayed their release.

Hajooj Kuka

Since their imprisonment, there have been calls by the global ďŹ lm industry big weights for his release, includingTIFF which recognised the ďŹ lmmaker in 2014 for his outstanding documentary ‘Beats of the Antonov’ which captures the conict between farmers,herders, and rebels displaced to the Blue Nile and Nuba Mountains regions, and the Sudanese army.

In a statement, the festival heads Cameron Bailey and JoanaVicente noted that the 44-year-old ďŹ lmmaker is“an exceptional ďŹ lmmaker and TIFF has been proud to present his work. His ďŹ lms ‘Beats of the Antonov’ and ‘aKasha’ revealed a singular view of life in Sudan through the eyes of a remarkable artist. Hajooj, along with four other artists, is now in prison in Sudan and we need to bring attention to this urgent and troubling situation. When an artist is silenced, society as a whole suffers.â€?

headlines with the way she handled her fellow housemate Ozo‘s interest in her.

While the latter continuously professed and expressed his love for her, she never gave him the green light. His constant attachment to her is believed to have cost Ozo a chance in the ďŹ nals. He was regarded as the most intellectual housemate in the house.

It is also whispered in some corners that of the two housemates, Nengi is a good face for the brand. If she emerges the winner on Sunday, she will become the second female to win the show. Mercy Eke was crowned

the ďŹ rst female winner of Big Brother Naija last year.

While Laycon and Nengi seem to be on the lead to the ďŹ nals, it will be a big surprise to see Dorathy in the ďŹ rst runner-up position.

Her fans had shown a quiet resilience by supporting her ďŹ ercely on the two occasions she was put up for eviction.

Although Neo andVee strategically secured a place in the ďŹ nals, the possibility of them being in the top three is very slim. But in Big Brother Naija house, anything can happen on Sunday.

With New Slate of Nigerian Films, Netix ReaďŹƒrms Commitment to Nollywood Netix romance with Nollywood solidiďŹ ed this week as the streaming giant announced the premieres of four new Nollywood content.

The global streamer announced interest in the Nigerian ďŹ lm industry early this year with new original content but the global pandemic halted productions.

However, the lockdown period saw several Nigerian ďŹ lms in the rich vault of the streamer. Some of the ďŹ lms such as Ramsey Nouah’s directed sequel of the classic ďŹ lm ‘Living in Bondage’ enjoyed the number one spot on the streamer’s Top 10 Films in Nigeria for weeks.The popularity algorithm indicated that Nollywood ďŹ lms are gradually appealing to the over 15 million subscribers of the internet entertainment company, although the number of Nigerians who watch Nollywood ďŹ lms on the platform is relatively low according to a survey carried out in April.

The survey showed that Nigerians watch more international ďŹ lms on the platform than Nollywood. Nonetheless, Netix continues to penetrate the market in a bid to capture the industry before other competitors will.

The new Nigerian content coming to the streamer’s platform this year and next year include â€˜Ă’lòtrÊ’, an EbonyLife Film production which will premiere on October 2.The trailer of the movie shared on Netix Naija’s Twitter account already generated buzz as fans are intrigued by the punchy storyline which focuses on an investigative journalist that went undercover to reveal human trafďŹ cking crimes. Kunle Afolayan’s anticipated

ďŹ lm about sexual harassment in tertiary institutions ‘Citation’ will globally launch on the streaming platform on November 6, while the sequel to the Kemi Adetiba’s directed King of Boys is slated for the ďŹ rst half of 2021.

A six-part series created by Chinaza Onuzo and Dami Elebe, ‘Far From Home’ rounded the number of contents acquired

by Netix. Produced by Inkblot Productions, the series follows Ishaya, a teenage artist from a humble background who wins a scholarship that launches her into the wealthy circle of Nigerians. Actor and producer Funke Akindele-Bello will play the lead role. “Netix is proud to continue to invest in more original content from Nigeria. We’re also thrilled to grow our existing creative partnerships while forming new ones with Chinaza and the amazing Inkblot team who will now join the growing list of Nigerian partners,â€? said Dorothy Ghettuba, Head of African Originals at Netix. “These Netix original ďŹ lms demonstrate how we’re building a home for the bestin-class Nigerian content for our members in Nigeria and beyond. It’s amazing to see how Nigerian ďŹ lms and series resonate with audiences around the world.

By making it easy for people to watch ďŹ lms and shows from other countries, we can help them build empathy and develop a shared understanding of the world,â€? noted Ben Amadasun, Netix’s Director of Licensing and Co-productions in Africa.

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Nigerian Navy Inaugurates New Hydrographic SurveyVessel Chiemelie Ezeobi In line with its promise to better equip the Hydrographic Department for enhanced maritime safety, the Nigerian Navy (NN) has inaugurated the nation’s first purpose-built survey vessel.

The hydrographic survey ship was unveiled at the OCEA shipyard on Thursday morning at Les Sables d’Olonne, France, by the Chief of Naval Staff (CNS), Vice Admiral Ibok-Ete Ibas.

The construction of the new vessel started in 2018 and it is scheduled to be inducted into the NN fleet next year.

This is just as the navy is also expecting a purposebuilt Landing Ship Tank (LSD) warship from the United Arab Emirates (UAE), which is expected to boost the service’s operation against maritime crimes.

Ibas who was represented at the ceremony by the Group Managing Director of Nigerian Navy Holdings Limited, Rear Admiral Abraham Adaji, said the vessel was conceived as replacement for the Nigerian Navy survey vessel, NNS LANA, which was decommissioned about 10 years ago.

Noting that the inauguration marked a giant stride in the efforts to realise the dreams of restoring and enhancing the NN’s survey capability, the CNS said surveying and charting of the country’s waterway play crucial roles in ensuring navigation safety.

He added that the ship would serve as critical component of deployment of naval power for enhanced maritime security in the Gulf of Guinea (GoG).

In a statement by Direc-

Group photograph taken to mark the launch of the new Nigerian Navy Hydrographic Survey Vessel, NNS LANA, yesterday in Les Sables dolonnes, France

The new Nigerian Navy hydrographic survey vessel, NNS LANA, launched at Les Sables D’olonne, France

tor of Naval Information (DINFO), Commodore Suleman Dahun, the CNS thanked President Muhammadu Buhari for his relentless support towards the recapitalisation of NN’s fleets.

At the unveiling ceremony, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of OCEA shipyard, Roland Joassard who was represented by Fabrice Weinback said the vessel was the result of excellent cooperation between the

Remembering Late Pa. Augustine Aribo (1950-2020) Mary Nnah It’s been close to six months since late Pa. Augustine Aribo passed exactly on April 15, 2020. Although he is gone, the memories he left remain indelible.

He was a lover of God and a man of humility and dignity.

His core values were honesty, care and integrity. His caring attitude was so evident to everyone around him including his community. His diligence to work was out of this world. It would be an understatement to say papa lived

a fulfilled and an accomplished life.

Late Pa Aribo was born into the family of Aribo in the year 1950 in Ondo State.

He went to St. Peter ’s C.A.C Modern School, Ikun Akoko. After which he moved to Lagos State in his early twenties in search of greener pastures where he worked with several organisations like Africa Paint, Nycil Limited.

Pa Aribo, who has since been buried, is survived by wife, Janet Aribo and four children (Temitope, Bukola, Olajumoke and Oladotun) and grandchildren; Rafael, Deborah and Adejoke.

Media Excellence Award for Prince Nwoko King Akan in Abuja Popular Nigerian Philanthropist and Billionaire; Prince Ned Nwoko, is set to be conferred with an award of Media Excellence and Innovation by the prestigious Delta State University on Saturday, September 26, 2020.

This was disclosed in a letter issued recently by the Vice Chancellor, Delta

State University; Prof Andy Egwunyenga.

According to the letter, the unanimous decision by the leadership of the school to grant Prince Nwoko this prestigious award was as a result of his extraordinary contributions and commitment to the education of youths, women and sustainable development in Africa.

While reacting to the news, Mr Justice AjedeAkpotohwo, President of the Prince Ned Nwoko

Foundation’s Educational Empowerment Beneficiaries said: “A big Congratulations to our educationloving father, Prince Dr Ned Nwoko on his worthy recognition by the great Delta State University leadership and community. “This type of intellectual award is solely for a hardworking few like Prince Ned Nwoko who will go to any length to empower youths and women educationally.�

Nigerian Navy and OCEA teams.

He praised the Nigerian Embassy staff and the Nigerian Building survey team for their commitment and professionalism, adding that the new ship

demonstrated Nigeria’s willingness to improve its knowledge of the country’s waters.

The CEO said the vessel was equipped with latest technology, adding that integrated logistics support

services such as training and on-site technical assistance would be provided the crew.

Also at the ceremony was Nigeria’s Ambassador to France, Mrs Modupe Enitan Irele.

Honeybols Rewards Fallen Heroes by Empowering Widows Ezekiel Okpuzor As part of efforts to reward the labour of heroes past in the Nigerian army, Honeybols Foundation in conjunction with Nigerian Army Officers’ Wives Association (NAOWA) has empowered 10 widows and given palliative to over 500 widows at the fifth edition of ‘giving hands arena’.

The event which was held recently in Lagos, was a dynamic step to comfort and establish a happier living for widows that lost their husbands while defending the nation.

Titled “Widows of fallen heroes in Nigerian army’, the Convener,Honeybols Foundation, Mrs. Akinfolajimi Adebimpe, disclosed that most fallen heroes made a huge sacrifice on behalf of the nation and must be acknowledged by every Nigerian.

She added that many widows in Nigeria are being mistreated by the privileged citizens and often abandoned by their relatives. “In this part of our world,

Adebimpe with NAOWA members

widows are always rejected and abandoned even by their family members, the force has done well for us so I decided to give back to people who are in charge of security.�

Adebimpe urged all widows in Nigeria to be focused and brave. “Widows should learn how to be independent and make time out of their life to make things work out for themselves; they should be productive and remove a sense of entitlement hoping for someone to help them. “The Nigeria Army is do-

ing its best for their widows but it’s not enough. That’s why I came out with this idea to come and give back to them to encourage other people around. They should not leave it for the government alone.

In their remarks, NAOWA commended the Honeybols foundation for the great zeal towards nation building.

NAOWA added that those widows empowered are going to be under their watch to bring out the full potential in them and to avoid lapses in the long run.

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35

FERTILITY

with DR. KEMI AILOJE Info@lifelinkfertility.com; Website: lifelinkfertility.com 08033083580

SUCCESS: A POSSIBILITY AFTER REPEATED IVF FAILURES (PART 2)

T

here is a high and similarly equal chance of success on the first three attempts at In-Vitro Fertilization (IVF) but if not successful, then a fourth attempt will offer little success unless there has been a major change in protocol, or the “environment� that the embryos are placed into is changed.

In spite of the fact that use of donor eggs is always an option, there is another and possibly very successful option to consider such as Zygote Intra-Fallopian tube Transfer (ZIFT) or Gamete Intra-Fallopian tube Transfer (GIFT). ZIFT is a procedure where your eggs are recovered and fertilized exactly the same as with In-Vitro Fertilization (IVF), but rather than keeping them in the incubator, they are immediately transferred back into the fallopian tube via laparoscopy within a day or two. GIFT is a procedure where the eggs are recovered by either Transvaginal aspiration or laparoscopy, immediately mixed with sperm and placed back into the fallopian tube, all within a matter of minutes.

With GIFT, it allows procreation to occur in the body, which for some religious beliefs, is the only “allowable� means of advanced reproductive technology. It has been recorded that though, some religious sect are against all advanced reproductive technologies, including GIFT, and especially ZIFT and In-Vitro Fertilization (IVF); certain religion is in approval of the GIFT procedure, but not ZIFT and In-Vitro Fertilization (IVF). The reason to consider the option of either GIFT or ZIFT is the thinking that some embryos do better in the “natural environment� of the fallopian tube rather than the “artificial environment� of the incubator. It is thought to also allow further and more advanced development in the natural environment of the fallopian tube before entry into the uterine cavity, and more synchronization with the uterus, the presence of numerous growth factors in the human tubal fluid may contribute to the development of some early

embryos and thus enhance implantation, and may reduce traumatic cervical transfer in some difficult patients.

When all factors have been considered and other options with IVF exhausted without success that is the ideal time to re-strategize.

Different treatment modalities have been recommended and attempted for unsuccessful In-Vitro Fertilization (IVF) to improve to greater extent the implantation in these patients. These include the options of Assisted Hatching(AZH) where a microscopic hole is made in the wall of the embryo to help it “hatch out� before implantation, embryo co-culture, Pre-implantation Genetic Testing for Aneuploidy(PGT A) where cells are removed, sent for genetic diseases and chromosomal disorders, this offers at risk couples the opportunity to select embryos for transfer with a normal number of chromosomes to achieve successful pregnancy, prophylactically removing the fallopian

tubes in the cases of large hydrosalpinges or dilated water tubes, and more so extension of embryo culture to day 5 or blastocyst stage (Blastocyst Transfer).

It is unfortunate that all these factors cannot be considered on the first attempt at In-Vitro Fertilization (IVF) as they may all not be necessary for a patient to achieve successful pregnancy in the first IVF attempt.

Success has been recorded in some patients with clinically proven adjuvants for example the addition of Human Growth Hormone or hGH to the treatment protocol . It is a known fact that hGH is a co-gonadotrophin and, like FSH and LH, is absolutely needed for the full and final maturation of an egg. Although, if measured, a patient will have a normal level of hGH in the blood, some patients do not have enough hGH for all the extra eggs that they make.

These patients are impossible to identify before procedure but young patients that

make a lot of eggs and have poor fertilization rates or do not get pregnant as expected seem to have better success rates when hGH is added to their treatment protocol as part of their starting protocol for In-Vitro Fertilization (IVF). Some patients may also benefit from use of IVIg given before embryo transfer and a second dose when a fetal heart is noticed has been found to improve implantation and live birth and some Intralipid infusion. Others may benefit from immunomodulation therapy.

Finally, considering the high cost of IVF, it is normal to wonder if IVF will truly work out for you. The good news is that IVF is generally successful, especially for women under age 35 and those using donor eggs at older age. Success rates among women of all ages have been found to increase over three cycles. Couple/couples presenting with Repeated Implantation Failure (RIF) represent a significant challenge for the treating clinic, it is important that a step by step approach to management be done with individualized treatment option to achieve pregnancy and healthy babies.

Failure can conjure a plethora of negative emotions – frustration, sadness, dejection and disappointment to name a few. It is normal to feel sad. Healthy even, for grieving your lost chance can help cleanse your mind and prepare you for what lies ahead.

Allow yourself time to heal before making any decisions about your next steps, and remind yourself that IVF isn’t always successful the first time around.

Many women conceive on their second or even third cycle. And although it’s hard to stay patient, sometimes, it is the only way to receiving a miracle.

Breaking a cycle of IVF doom and gloom can seem hard at first, but know that there is light at the end of the tunnel. With hope and patience, you’ll make it out of the other sure side of successful parenthood.

References: Cloudninefertility. com,acfc2000.com, lifelinkfertility.com

Edo Election: Akpofure is the Unsung Hero Williams Eghebi There is no doubt, the recently held gubernatorial election in Edo State, to a very great extent, has brought increased credibility to the Independent Electoral Commission, INEC. Aside the credibility to the electoral umpire, the election has added some currency to President Mohammadu Buhari whose rating dropped to all time low as a result of the badly timed removal of subsidy on petroleum products as well as upward review of electricity tariffs.

Against all permutations that the election was going to witness killings, ballot box snatchings, manipulations and use of security agencies against the opposition, many of the negative prophesies turned out unachieved.

These tendencies didn’t happen not because the factors were absent but primarily because President Buhari had in one way or the other let INEC, various security agencies as well as his party know that whoever indulges in untoward electoral infractions will not get his protection.

Despite the clear and unambiguous neutral disposition of the president, there are reports that some powerful political gladiators searched

for opportunities to undermine the will of the voters. There is much credence to this underhand maneuvers especially against the backdrop of what happened in Kogi and Bayelsa States that may not have received the support of the president.

That the Edo State produced election result that is the true reflection of the wishes and decision of the people should be attributed to the State Returning Officer, Prof Rim-Rukeh Akpofure. The academic guru who assumed office May 4, 2020 as the Vice Chancellor of the Federal University of Petroleum Resources, Effurun, executed his assignment with uncommon dexterity, confidence and total control of INEC staff, ad hoc staff and all security agents attached to the election.

Naturally as a young man working in a federal university and who hails from Delta Central that boasts of APC political heavyweights like Senator Ovie Omo-Agege, it was plausible that he would capitulate when exposed to intense pressure from these policitians. Though there are no evidence of any intention to function outside the rules, moments of tension during the collation of the results at the state level

suggested uneasy activities.

Prof Rim-Rukeh Akpofure made three decisions that put paid to who was in charge of results collation in Edo State. First was an objection by the agent of the PDP with regards to the collation officer of a local government area turning result where the total votes was higher than the number of voters accredited. He assured the aggrieved agent that administrative decision was going to be made before final result would be declared. Another decision he made was to the effect that he agreed with the protest that there should not be a two-hour break at a time it was reported that the collation officer of Orhionmwhon Local Government Area was sighted at the INEC Hall where state collation was taking place but failed to respond put up appearance . This action further brought sanity and confidence in the already charged room.

Finally, the collation officer of Ovia South West Local Government Area, was nowhere to be found. Time was ticking, party agents were getting edgy. One political party few hours earlier granted press conference, suggesting that attempts were ongoing to manipulate the results coming from riverine communities.

The fever-pitch tension pervades beyond the situation room. The streets of Benin City painted uneasy calm. Social media was on a buzz, television outlets unsure of the next activity, reporters inside the hall were snoring, nothing could be predicted. Out of the blues, Prof Rim-Rukeh Akpofure, the Edo State Returning Officer, picked the microphone to announce that the Collation Officer of Ovia South-West Local Government Area was going to arrive with the results in forty minutes. Behold, few minutes less than the prediction, the man walked in with the results.

The results were interpolated into the broadsheet. Not quite long, Prof Rim-Rukeh Akpofure, wearing a tiresome disposition, stood up with stoic confidence, adjusted his wagging jacket, carefully dropping his phone on a busy table, to announce the results of the election which truly reflected the wishes and thoughts of the majority of Edo State people.

Prof Rim-Rukeh Akpofure, you didn’t only make us proud but you unknowingly raised the credibility of the electoral umpire. Buhari, thanks. Obaseki, congrats. Let’s build on this unexpected feat.

Firm Sets to Dominate Mobile App Taxi Market Mary Nnah A firm known as RideOntrac Limited is set to dominate the lucrative Mobile App Taxi Hailing market.

RideOntrac’s promoters said they are set to launch their own APP as an alternative, to ease the pains of Nigerian taxi drivers.

Speaking to journalists, the product’s Managing Director, Aisha Bello described RideOntrac

as a new concept in taxi hailing where the driver pays only N2, 000 a month to do as many trips as they wish.

The company, according to Bello, has already launched the app in Lagos and Abuja and is set to go nationwide by mid-October, explaining that the app “RideOntrac� is available for free on Google’s play store and can be downloaded and used for free from now till October 15 as part of the Independence Day promo.

Bello cited the hardship that foreign operators put Nigerians through as the main drive for the RideOntracinnovation, adding that the app also features a secure and reliable means to use the popular green taxis in Abuja known as ‘Along’.

Commenting on the recent protests by some cab hailing drivers in Abuja, Chairman of RideOntrac Limited, Engr Emeka Ken Nwabueze called on taxi hailing companies to find ways to

reduce the huge burden placed on these drivers.

He said: “I know of drivers that have been put out of work because the taxi hailing company is collecting 25 to 30 per cent and leaving the drivers with nothing to maintain their vehicles with.�

Asked how RideOntrac would achieve the rescue mission, Nwabueze, who revealed that an IOS version for iphone users would be available soon, said that “it is already working in Lagos and Abuja, so the rescue mission is achievable�.

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POLSCOPE

P

erhaps those who argue that we sought for Independence too soon, may have a point. It is not to suggest that we do not cherish our freedom and sovereignty. In six days from today, Nigeria will be 60. Looking back, how do we place the country?

Have we made as much progress as we ought, given all that the good Lord has bestowed on us as a people and as a nation?

If there was a means of comparing the sociometrics that we had during the colonial days and the ones we have had after independence, it would be clear that Nigeria had made far more reasonable progress in almost all spheres during the colonial days than we are making under independence.

Evil and crime have become so dynamic, such that they keep changing in form and tactics.

Some have argued that the all-knowing God knew what he was doing when He endowed us with so much human and material resources, knowing that we shall have leadership problem.

But our case has been worsened now because both the leadership and the followership have all fallen short of grace for beneficial conducts. And this is across board.

Everywhere we turn, we are faced with a plethora of cases wherein we not only reduce our collective potential, we also jeopardise the future of upcoming generations.

In the second republic, it had been presented as a great crime, if not sin, for a top government official to award contract and demand or receive a ten per cent kickback. It was one of the many offences the regime of then Gen Mohammadu Buhari/ Maj Gen Tunde Idiagbon had to deal with. Many politicians (second republic governors especially) were sent to jail for such offences or even less.

Today, not only are contracts awarded with “MoU� of higher kickbacks between the awarder and the awardee, there is now a wholesome ‘abscondment’ with the total worth of a contract, without even visiting the site where the contract ought to be executed, let alone execute it. That is why certain contracts keep re-occurring in state and federal budgets year-in, year-out. They glibly explain it away as “know-your way�!

Perhaps there is no other place where these malaises are far more endemic than the state and National Assemblies. That is where our politicians literally commit huge robberies without arms. It is the issue of budget padding.

Hon Abdulmumin Jubrin in 2017 had introduced the new lexicon of ‘budget padding’ to our parliamentary register. Since then, and before then, it had become a running practice among parliamentarians as they often arrange with the executive to undo the treasury.

Sometimes, the total value of the padded budget is enough to transform more than one sector of the economy. Indeed, it is even worse than contract inflation which is no better evil though. With the latter, the exaggerated sum voted for the construction of a 10-kilometer road for instance, can be sufficient for the construction of 20-kilometer road, in the same terrain.

I

t was such a relief that the Edo governorship election has not only come and gone, but also without the rivers of blood that was predicted to flow along with it. Bookmakers had predicted that there would be massive violence. The Oba of Benin had to intervene.

So was the National Peace Committee headed by former Head of State, Gen Abdusallam Abubakar and Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Matthew Hassan Kukah.

Thankfully, the interventions were effective and helpful in stemming the tide of violence which had threatened to mar the polls.

It is no longer news that incumbent Governor Godwin Obaseki won the election, beating, for the second time, his arch political rival, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu, his fellow Bini man.

It was a tough contest. His former godfather, turned adversary, Adams Oshiomhole had literally staked his political life for this contest. It is likely to be his last political outing. It ended sadly for him. It is worse that he had lost out at the national level, and now at the state level. Except something significant happens to redeem and reboost his political profile, Oshiomhole may begin to suffer political orphanage.

I read a joke cautioning all jubilant Obaseki supporters to do it with caution, since the Supreme Court has not “voted�. That tells a lot of story: how the Supreme Court can intervene to change the political fortune of gladiators.

But it is instructive that unless something else happens, Obaseki is as good as having secured his second term. Mr President, the head of the

åÓÞÒ ĂŽĂŽĂŁ ĂŽĂ“Ă ĂĄĂœĂ“ Ă?ĂŽĂŽĂŁË›Ă™ĂŽĂ“Ă ĂĄĂœĂ“ĚśĂžĂ’Ă“Ă?ĂŽĂ‹ĂŁĂ–Ă“Ă Ă?Ë›Ă?Ă™Ă—Ëœ ͸΀͸ͽ ͝͸͞ Π͝ͽ͞

How We Undo Ourselves

Lai Mohammed

What it means is that the money that can be used to build 50 kilometer road, ends up building only 25 kilometers. We do ourselves in.

In the health sector, Health managers plus their civil servant collaborators budget huge sums for health facilities, the monies are collected, but the facilities are either never procured or are underprocured. And in times of emergencies, we lose valuable lives, needlessly, because somebody, somewhere had frisked the system. It is everywhere.

They joke about it and say it is “workshop�: that where a man works, that’s where he/she would chop {eat}; as if they do not earn their legitimate income from being in employment.

The Aso Villa clinic, is notorious for not having even common drugs, yet, every year they draw down funds from the budget. Where do the monies go? We undo ourselves.

I read something during the week, allegedly written by Mr Akinwunmi Ambode, immediate past governor of Lagos State, wherein he was cataloguing the reasons he was not returned as

governor of Lagos. One of it was that he refused to pad the budget with 10 per cent for the lawmakers (as the practice is?). One other reason for his being disallowed from re-contesting was because he insisted that party chieftains who collected various contracts under former Governor Raji Fashola (now Minister of Works) should execute those already awarded contracts before being awarded new ones.

It must have sounded like gibberish in the ears of those who see government as an extension of their treasury. If we are not determined to undo ourselves, why would a normal person collect contract for a project, get paid, and then refuse to execute the contract? And because such persons are probably political gladiators, the law does not catch up with them. They are spared. The work remains undone. Society suffers at the expense of the unholy greed of one man or woman. How we undo ourselves!

It is even more befuddling that the governors and other top government functionaries know why these projects have failed but they cannot discuss

it. They wring their hands in utter helplessness, essentially because at a higher scale, they also indulge in such ill deals.

The other day, in 2018, a clerk in JAMB office claimed that some snake swallowed N36 million.

What kind of snake is that? Where was N36 million kept for a snake to swallow? Those are monies that should be used to improve a system. One fellow corners it and the system suffers. We all complain and grumble that the system is not working‌. Without knowing that it is one of us who has done us in.

Recently, a scandal broke out in College of Education, Warri, where the provost of the College, soon-to-retire Prof Mrs Mary Olire Edema was said to have spent N36 million to build two toilets in the college. That was a TETFUND grant, which just had to be clerically “burnt�. How does building two toilets cost even N2 million? Yet, in that college, there will be many things missing: students will be suffering, other staff will be suffering, facilities will not be working as they ought, yet, the head of the organization is expending N36 million to build two toilets? What a prized pooh!

Or how shall we explain the National Universities Commission (NUC) which recently budgeted N8 million for research and N85 million to purchase vehicles? This is largely a research institution. What a disservice to proper prioritization!

In some universities, it is said students can now arrange to get given grades. They call it “sorting�.

Students pay lecturers certain amounts that have been charged by the lecturers, and then they get bargained grades. Such students buy their way through the universities. They graduate, without having capacity, speaking cracked English. Yet, they get employed one day and end up being a disaster in the public space. How we undo ourselves!

A friend recently applied for her first degree transcript from Abia State university. She was charged N50,000, for “express service� that took nine weeks. She had also applied for her Masters Degree transcript from a university in the UK. The transcripts were to be sent to an institution. While the Abia State University sent the transcript after nine weeks, it took the UK university an hour or so to send the transcript at no fee at all. The applicant was even sent a soft copy of the transcript from the UK university.

She was not charged. The receiving institution further requested authentication of the transcript from the Nigerian university. All that was required was a two-paragraph email to confirm that the transcript earlier sent emanated from the school authorities. But our dear Abia State university went ahead to demand another N31,000 as “authentication fee� from the applicant, before it can confirm that the transcript it earlier sent is genuine. And all these charges are un-receipted. How we undo ourselves!

The cases are a legion. Those who run efficient and stress-free systems abroad are also human.

They are not angels. It is a matter of orientation. In many ways, we make it tough and hard for others.

It is high time we changed our orientation for the better. That way, we are better of and collectively happier.

Edo Guber: The Lessons for Obaseki

Obaseki

opposition party, had congratulated him. The All Progressives Congress (APC) which had initially rejected the outcome of the election, has also followed suit to congratulate Obaseki. If we take these as accepting the outcome of the election, then Osadebey House is going to continue to host Obaseki for another four years.

But what are the lessons from the contest for

Obaseki?

First, he must realize that as victorious as he was (with his 307,955 votes), as many as over 260,000 voters did not want him to be returned. That is not a figure that he should dismiss. Now he has won.

He has to be the governor of those who wanted him and those who did not want him. But more importantly, he must introspect to find out why those who voted against him did so.

It is good he has extended the hand of fellowship to those who fought against him ,particularly Oshiomhole and Ize-Iyamu. He must be magnanimous in victory and seek to carry everyone along. To see himself as the political conquistador of Edo State would be to miss the point.

During the campaigns, a lot was said. He was described as an MoU governor. Now that he has won, it is time to activate the content, essence and benefit of those MoUs. It is time to put words to action. His campaign promises should always be his mirror and check.

Another lesson for Obaseki is to indeed perish the thought of him being the latest godfather on the Edo landscape. If his victory is acclaimed to have been the formal burial of godfatherism in the state, he should not seek to awaken the ghost, image or silhouette of godfathersim in the state, four years after. As he would have seen, not only is it a malappropriation of the will of the people, it is even more dangerous to go against your avowals.

Oshiomhole had vowed to abolish godfatherism.

He went full circle to practice what he condemned.

Hear him: “A situation where one man decides, has been abolished. All I want is for power to

move to the people. The people should decide who becomes their leader and that leader will not be answerable to any godfather, but to them.� But sadly, Oshiomhole wanted to be the Alpha and Omega in Edo Politics, something he condemned so strongly against late Chief Tony Anenih.

So, Obaseki should steer clear of the temptation to play the Lord of Edo politics.

But more importantly, is the question of whether Obaseki will soon be adopted as a godson by another godfather. Already, observers are touting Gov Nyesom Wike of Rivers State of being his godfather. The latter is brutal and politically uncouth. Becoming his godson, would be hurtful ultimately to the image and psyche of the people of Edo State. As they say, Obaseki must “shine his eyes�

As a newly elected governor, one who was supported by a network of governors and many interested individuals, Obaseki must be careful in knowing how to manage and deal with his many political IOUs, such that it does not impede the development of Edo State.

He was accused of scuttling the idea behind the Specialist Hospital, in Benin which his predecessor built to a near-finish point. Obaseki is said to have brought consultants to run the hospital and that the ordinary Edo people no longer have access to the facility.

It is in Obaseki’s place to take proper notice of all the criticisms he received during the campaigns and work towards addressing those ones that are truly valid and would be beneficial to the ordinary man on the street.

FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 25, 2020 • T H I S D AY

37

38

T H I S D AY Ëž Í°ÍłËœ 2020

BUSINESS/MONEYGUIDE

‘FCT Will Key into Efforts in Promoting Export’ The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Mr. Muhammad Musa Bello, has assured the Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC), Mr. Segun Awolowo of his support towards the realisation of all export promotion businesses and the hosting of the forthcoming technical meeting of the national committee.

This was disclosed in a statement by the NEPC yesterday.

The minister urged Awolowo to use the FCT as implementation centre for all the committees’ suggestions, alluding to the fact that the courtesy call was a homecoming to the NEPC boss who had served three former ministers in different positions before his latest appointment.

Awolowo briefed him that the committee on export promotion

was established by the National Economic Council to implement the Zero oil campaign, a document envisioned in the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan as part of the economic diversification agenda of the federal government.

He reiterated the expediency of diversifying the sources of the country’s foreign reserve to insulate the economy from incessant economic shocks arising from the volatility of crude oil prices and other global geo-political and socio-political dynamics which is premised on the potential of every state including the FCT in realising an export-led economic revolution to earn foreign exchange and generate employment for teeming youth and the womenfolk.

The NEPC boss added that the technical committee meeting

would enable all state governments and the FCT present their export programmes and activities and match them with institutional export facilitation agencies intervention.

Although the FCT chose Shea butter and handicraft as an alternate product with competitive and comparative advantage to promote for export in line with the ‘One state one product’ initiative, the minister urged the NEPC to expand its scope to accommodate more value chains rather than just end products and to show interest in price stability among others.

Bello also advised that the NEPC should link up with relevant agencies in negotiating mechanism of pricing towards stamping and shaping pricing challenges.

Access Bank Partners Lagos to Improve Oniru Road Network Segun James Ă‹Ă˜ĂŽ Nume Ekeghe Following the improvement of the road network around the Oniru-Victoria Island and Lekki axis, where its head office is located, Access Bank Plc in partnership with the Lagos State government yesterday inaugurated the project.

The road network project measuring around 1.8 kilometers was inaugurated by the Governor of Lagos State, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu and had in attendance his Deputy, Mr. Femi Hamzat, the Oniru of Iruland, Oba Abdul-Wasiu Omogbolahan Lawal and array of distinguished persons.

Speaking during the ceremony, Sanwo-Olu said the most critical challenge being experienced on daily basis by residents and road users along the axis was the heavy traffic, saying delivering the project has improved traffic flow, reduced travel time and eliminated perennial flooding issues.

According to the governor, the

Victoria Island – Lekki Traffic Circulation Project commenced in December last year, under a Public Infrastructure Improvement Partnership (PIIP) Programme in conjunction with Access Bank.

It involved the dualisation, expansion, construction and rehabilitation of some roads, junction and turning radius. In addition, it included the provision of new drainage system, re-routing some roads as one way and signalization.

Sanwo-Olu added: “Over the years, one of the critical challenges being experienced on a daily basis by residences and road users along this axis has been heavy traffic, congestion occasioned by the geometric increase by the traffic of this area. The traffic congestion has been responsible for the decline in productivity and it discourages growth in this highly commercial location. “As a responsible government, we resolved to work in partnership with public spirited corporate organisation to embark on this project and our aim was to improve on the

traffic linkage and time of our people. Specifically, we sought to reduce the untold hardship our citizens pass through at this axis and this project was executed through the public infrastructure improvement partnership PIIP arrangement. “Today I have the pleasure to stand before you and can confirm that we have improved network connectivity and traffic flow and we have reduced travel time.

We have eliminated perennial flooding issues, enhanced transportation and we have improved the health and social economic wellbeing of our people through this Victoria island-lekki circulation around the Oniru axis from Muri Okunola extension down to Ligali Ayoyinde and along other 7 junctions.�

Speaking further, he praised the Group Managing Director Access Bank, Herbert Wigwe, describing him as, “a true believer of our government, a real partner and somebody you can truly depend on and rely on as a friend.�

MARKET INDICATORS MONEY AND CREDIT STATISTICS

(MILLION NAIRA)

JULY 2020 Money Supply (M3)

36,822,751.47

-- CBN Bills Held by Money Holding Sectors

3,476,121.25

Money Supply (M2)

33,346,630.22

-- Quasi Money

120,764,479.02

-- Narrow Money (M1)

12,582,151.19

---- Currency Outside Banks

2,002,026.89

---- Demand Deposits

10,580,124.31

Net Foreign Assets (NFA)

7,637,137.23

Net Domestic Assets(NDA)

29,185,614.24

-- Net Domestic Credit (NDC)

39,711,115.95

---- Credit to Government (Net)

19,521,851.08

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

0.00

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

0.00

---- Credit to Private Sector (CPS)

-130,189,264.87

--Other Assets Net

3,472,017.70

Reserve Money (Base Money

13,421,827.07

--Currency in Circulation

2,395,917.03

--Banks Reserves --Special Intervention Reserves

11,025,910.04 317,234.17

Ëž Ă™Ă&#x;ĂœĂ?Ă? Ě‹

Money Market Indicators (in Percentage)

FG Restates CommitmenttoInfrastructural Development, Renewal Emmanuel Addeh Ă“Ă˜ ĂŒĂ&#x;ÔË The federal government has said it will continue to improve and renew the stock of the country’s aging and insufficient infrastructure to the benefit of the entire country.

Minister of Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, who made the commitment while inaugurating the 9th board of the Quantity Surveyors Registration Board of Nigeria (QSRBN) in Abuja, stressed that in spite of the global recession, government would not shirk its responsibility to the Nigerian people.

He charged the surveyors to

be at the frontline of government’s efforts at driving the infrastructural development of the country and urged them not to shy away from challenges that come with the job.

The members of the newly inaugurated board include: Murtala Aliyu, President; Austin Onaro, Vice-President as well as Pemi Temitope, Dickson Onoja, Annette Oke and Ahmad Shehu as members.

Others were: Prof. Yahaya Ibrahim, Joseph Obieze, Tajudeen Salami , Jacob Awolesi, Michael Shonubi, Adegbemibo Ogunfidodo, Kene Nzekwe ,Jadu Mdirmbita among others.

“At this time of global recession and the limited resources, when governments, including ours are challenged to do more with less, your professional roles and skills will be in even greater demand. “President Muhammadu Buhari has made no secret about his commitment and passion to improve and renew the stock of the country’s aging and insufficient infrastructure. “The professionals in the industry such as the quantity surveyors are the frontline operators the federal government needs to achieve this objective� he stated.

Month Inter-Bank Call Rate

March 2018 15.16

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

14.00

Treasury Bill Rate

11.84

Savings Deposit Rate

4.07

1 Month Deposit Rate

8.82

3 Months Deposit Rate

9.72

6 Months Deposit Rate

10.93

12 Months Deposit Rate

10.21

Prime Lending rate

17.35

Maximum Lending Rate

31.55

Ëž Ă™Ă˜Ă?ĂžĂ‹ĂœĂŁ ÙÖÓĂ?ĂŁ Ă‹ĂžĂ? Ě‹ ͯ͹Ϲ

FirstBank Appoints Muoyo Non-Executive Director First Bank of Nigeria Limited has announced the appointment of Mrs. Oluwande Muoyo as a Non-Executive Director.

Muoyo joined the board of First Bank from FBN Holdings Plc., the parent company of First Bank of Nigeria Limited.

Speaking on her appointment, a statement from the bank quoted its CEO, Dr. Adesola Adeduntan, to have said: “We are excited to welcome Mrs. Oluwande Muoyo to the First Bank Board.

She brings to the Board her depth of experience which

spans over three decades in various leadership and strategic positions across the private and public sectors. I am assured that these rich experiences will have an immediate impact in the board which will transcend the activities of the Bank as a whole.

OPEC DAILY BASKET PRICE Ëœ Í°Íą Í°ÍŽÍ°ÍŽ

The price of OPEC basket of thirteen crudes stood at $41.40 a barrel on Wednesday, compared with $41.32 the previous day, according to OPEC Secretariat calculations.

The OPEC Reference Basket of Crudes (ORB) is made up of the following: Saharan Blend (Algeria), Girassol (Angola), Djeno (Congo), ZaďŹ ro (Equatorial Guinea), Rabi Light (Gabon), Iran Heavy (Islamic Republic of Iran), Basra Light (Iraq), Kuwait Export (Kuwait), Es Sider (Libya), Bonny Light (Nigeria), Arab Light (Saudi Arabia), Murban (UAE) and Merey (Venezuela).

SOURCE: OPEC headquarters, Vienna

39

T H I S D AY Ëž Í°ÍłËœ Í°ÍŽÍ°ÍŽ

Stock Market Gains N107 Billion on Continuing Bullish Trading Goddy Egene The Nigerian stock market sustained its positive trend leading to a growth of 0.79 per cent in the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) All-Share Index (ASI) to close at 25,987.14, while market capitalisation added N106.7 billion to be at N13.6 trillion.

The market was highly bullish as 25 stocks appreciated compared with seven stocks that depreciated.

Nigerian Breweries Plc led the

price gainers with 10 per cent, trailed by Union Diagnostic and Clinical Services Plc with 8.0 per cent. Royal Exchange Plc and Lafarge Africa Plc garnered 6.8 per cent apiece. Other leading bellwethers that helped to sustain the positive performance are Guaranty Trust Bank Plc(1.9 per cent), FBN Holdings Plc (1.0 per cent) and Dangote Cement Plc (0.89 per cent).

The management of Dangote Cement presented company’s facts

P R I C E S MAIN BOARD

F O R DEALS

behind the figures and sustainability report to the capital market community on Wednesday.

The Group Chief Executive Officer, Dangote Cement, Michel Puchercos, told stakeholders that while the world faces economic recession and downturn, Dangote Cement is fortunate enough to have had a decent start to the year as reflected in its first half financial results “We are fortunate to have resilient H1 2020 results amidst

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

QUANTITY TRADED

VALUE TRADED ( N )

impact of COVID-19. Cement is an essential building material with no viable substitutes and the global cement industry continues to grow driven by urbanisation, population growth, housing growth, industrialisation, and infrastructure development, especially in emerging economies such as Africa, where we operate. “We are presented with a huge opportunity and are strategically positioned to take

T R A D E D MAIN BOARD

A S

advantage of these opportunities with our operational efficiency, product quality, modern facilities, and technology to leverage our unique economies of scale and know-how,� he said.

Also speaking, Group Chief Financial Officer of Dangote Cement Plc, Mr. Guillaume Moyen, said the company has an outstanding financial profile and has achieved excellent financial performance during this period. “ If we look at the last

O F

seven years, you will see that our EBITDA has increased by a CAGR of 9.0 per cent. We have paid over N1 trillion in dividends to shareholders in the last seven years. As Africa’s largest cement manufacturer, we will continue to prioritise giving value to investors and other stakeholders,� he said.

According to him, the company is doing a mix of short and medium-term debt, to optimize our cost of capital.

2 4 / 0 9 / 2 0 2 0 DEALS

MARKET PRICE

QUANTITY TRADED

VALUE TRADED ( N)

40

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 2020 ˾ T H I S D AY

MARKET NEWS

Julius Berger Diversifies into Agro-processing Business Goddy Egene

Plc has approved a diversification long term strategy.

Julius Berger Nigeria said it had be looking into diversification into the Agro-processing as part of In a notification to the Nigerian severally advised the capital opportunities, based on the The board of Julius Berger Nigeria efforts to deliver on the company’s Stock Exchange (NSE) yesterday, market that the company would emerging developments, political, A Mutual fund (Unit Trust) is an investment floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange.

Offer price: The price at which units of a trust or vehicle managed by a SEC (Securities and A REIT (Real Estate Investment Trust) is an ETF are bought by investors.

Exchange Commission) registered Fund Manager. investment vehicle that allows both small and Bid Price: The price at which Investors Investors with similar objectives buy units of the large investors to part-own real estate ventures (eg. redeem (sell) units of a trust or ETF. Fund so that the Fund Manager can buy securities Offices, Houses, Hospitals) in proportion to their Yield/Total Return: Denotes the total that willl generate their desired return. investments. The assets are divided into shares that return an investor would have earned on An ETF (Exchange Traded Fund) is a type are traded on the Nigerian Stock Exchange. his investment. Money Market Funds report of fund which owns the assets (shares of stock, Yield while others report Year- to-date Total bonds, oil futures, gold bars, foreign currency, GUIDE TO DATA: Return. etc.) and divides ownership of those assets into Date: All fund prices are quoted in Naira as at 23- NAV: Is value per share of the real estate shares. Investors can buy these ‘shares’ on the Sep-2020, unless otherwise stated. assets held by a REIT on a specific date.

economical and structural in Nigeria and the resultant reforms by the Governments.

DAILY PRICE LIST FOR MUTUAL FUNDS, REITS and ETFS MUTUAL FUNDS / UNIT TRUSTS AFRINVEST ASSET MANAGEMENT LTD aaml@afrinvest.com Web: www.afrinvest.com; Tel: +234 818 885 6757 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Afrinvest Equity Fund N/A N/A N/A Afrinvest Plutus Fund N/A N/A N/A Nigeria International Debt Fund N/A N/A N/A ALTERNATIVE CAPITAL PARTNERS LTD info@acapng.com Web: www.acapng.com, Tel: +234 1 291 2406, +234 1 291 2868 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn ACAP Canary Growth Fund 0.96 0.97 6.34% ACAP Income Funds 0.79 0.79 10.37% AIICO CAPITAL LTD ammf@aiicocapital.com Web: www.aiicocapital.com, Tel: +234-1-2792974 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn AIICO Money Market Fund 100.00 100.00 5.52% AIICO Balanced Fund 3.06 3.15 24.73% ANCHORIA ASSET MANAGEMENT LIMITED info@anchoriaam.com Web:www.anchoriaam.com, Tel: 08166830267; 08036814510; 08028419180 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Anchoria Money Market N/A N/A N/A Anchoria Equity Fund N/A N/A N/A Anchoria Fixed Income Fund N/A N/A N/A ARM INVESTMENT MANAGERS LTD enquiries@arminvestmentcenter.com Web: www.arm.com.ng; Tel: 0700 CALLARM (0700 225 5276) Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn ARM Aggressive Growth Fund 14.64 15.08 -4.44% ARM Discovery Fund 344.29 354.67 -0.33% ARM Ethical Fund 30.73 31.66 5.68% ARM Eurobond Fund ($) 1.13 1.14 13.25% ARM Fixed Income Fund 1.09 1.09 8.91% ARM Money Market Fund 1.00 1.00 4.17% AXA MANSARD INVESTMENTS LIMITED investmentcare@axamansard.com Web: www.axamansard.com; Tel: +2341-4488482 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn AXA Mansard Equity Income Fund N/A N/A N/A AXA Mansard Money Market Fund N/A N/A N/A CAPITAL EXPRESS ASSET AND TRUST LIMITED info@capitalexpressassetandtrust.com Web: www.capitalexpressassetandtrust.com ; Tel: +234 803 307 5048 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn CEAT Fixed Income Fund N/A N/A N/A Capital Express Balanced Fund(Formerly: Union Trustees Mixed Fund) N/A N/A N/A CHAPELHILL DENHAM MANAGEMENT LTD investmentmanagement@chapelhilldenham.com Web: www.chapelhilldenham.com, Tel: +234 461 0691 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Chapelhill Denham Money Market Fund 100.00 100.00 4.97% Paramount Equity Fund 11.68 11.90 -6.65% Women's Investment Fund 111.60 112.57 1.07% CORDROS ASSET MANAGEMENT LIMITED assetmgtteam@cordros.com Web: www.cordros.com, Tel: 019036947 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Cordros Money Market Fund 100.00 100.00 4.21% Cordros Milestone Fund 2023 109.07 109.52 Cordros Milestone Fund 2028 120.10 120.97 Cordros Dollar Fund ($) 104.00 104.00 CORONATION ASSEST MANAGEMENT investment@coronationam.com Web:www.coronationam.com , Tel: 012366215 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Coronation Money Market Fund 1.00 1.00 3.37% Coronation Balanced Fund 0.96 0.97 3.55% Coronation Fixed Income Fund 1.59 1.59 19.72% EDC FUNDS MANAGEMENT LIMITED mutualfundng@ecobank.com Web: www.ecobank.com Tel: 012265281 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn EDC Nigeria Money Market Fund Class A 100.00 100.00 3.71% EDC Nigeria Money Market Fund Class B 1,000,000.00 1,000,000.00 2.66% EDC Nigeria Fixed Income Fund 1,189.51 1,202.84 7.24% FBNQUEST ASSET MANAGEMENT LTD invest@fbnquest.com Web: www.fbnquest.com/asset-management; Tel: +234-81 0082 0082 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn FBN Fixed Income Fund 1,406.56 1,408.22 15.22% FBN Balanced Fund N/A N/A N/A FBN Halal Fund 108.45 108.46 8.45% FBN Money Market Fund 100.00 100.00 4.39% . . . .

FBN Nigeria Eurobond (USD) Fund - Retail 120.56 121.01 3.80% FBN Nigeria Smart Beta Equity Fund 115.78 117.56 -11.03% FCMB ASSET MANAGEMENT LIMITED fcmbamhelpdesk@fcmb.com Web: www.fcmbassetmanagement.com; Tel: +234 1 462 2596 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Legacy Money Market Fund N/A N/A N/A Legacy Debt Fund N/A N/A N/A Legacy Equity Fund N/A N/A N/A Legacy USD Bond Fund N/A N/A N/A FSDH ASSET MANAGEMENT LTD coralfunds@fsdhgroup.com Web: www.fsdhaml.com; Tel: 01-270 4884-5; 01-280 9740-1 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Coral Growth Fund N/A N/A N/A Coral Income Fund N/A N/A N/A FSDH Treasury Bills Fund N/A N/A N/A GREENWICH ASSET MANAGEMENT LIMITED assetmanagement@gtlgroup.com Web: www.gtlgroup.com ; Tel: +234 1 4619261-2 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Greenwich Plus Money Market Fund 100.00 100.00 4.05% Nigeria Entertainment Fund 114.74 120.76 9.00%

GROWTH & DEVELOPMENT ASSET MANAGEMENT LIMITED assetmanagement@gdl.com.ng Web: www.gdl.com.ng ; Tel: +234 9055691122 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn GDL Money Market Fund N/A N/A N/A INVESTMENT ONE FUNDS MANAGEMENT LTD enquiries@investment-one.com Web: www.investment-one.com; Tel: +234 812 992 1045,+234 1 448 8888 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Abacus Money Market Fund 100.00 100.00 3.68% Vantage Balanced Fund 2.16 2.20 -1.36% Vantage Guaranteed Income Fund 1.00 1.00 8.42% Kedari Investment Fund (KIF) 150.93 151.67 5.29% LOTUS CAPITAL LTD fincon@lotuscapitallimited.com Web: www.lotuscapitallimited.com; Tel: +234 1-291 4626 / +234 1-291 4624 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Lotus Halal Investment Fund 1.27 1.29 8.78% Lotus Halal Fixed Income Fund 1,141.36 1,141.36 7.75% MERISTEM WEALTH MANAGEMENT LTD info@meristemwealth.com Web: http://www.meristemwealth.com/funds/ ; Tel: +234 1-4488260 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Meristem Equity Market Fund N/A N/A N/A Meristem Money Market Fund N/A N/A N/A PAC ASSET MANAGEMENT LTD info@pacassetmanagement.com Web: www.pacassetmanagement.com/mutualfunds; Tel: +234 1 271 8632 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn PACAM Balanced Fund 1.32 1.35 8.75% PACAM Fixed Income Fund 11.91 11.88 5.39% PACAM Money Market Fund 10.00 10.00 3.29% PACAM Equity Fund 1.07 1.08 PACAM EuroBond Fund 108.27 110.85 SCM CAPITAL LIMITED info@scmcapitalng.com Web: www.scmcapitalng.com; Tel: +234 1-280 2226,+234 1- 280 2227 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn SCM Capital Frontier Fund 119.24 121.59 -4.54% SFS CAPITAL NIGERIA LTD investments@sfsnigeria.com Web: www.sfsnigeria.com, Tel: +234 (01) 2801400 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn SFS Fixed Income Fund 1.02 1.02 7.28% STANBIC IBTC ASSET MANAGEMENT LTD assetmanagement@stanbicibtc.com Web: www.stanbicibtcassetmanagement.com; Tel: +234 1 280 1266; 0700 MUTUALFUNDS Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Stanbic IBTC Balanced Fund 2,521.35 2,532.80 6.61% Stanbic IBTC Bond Fund 210.33 210.33 4.30% Stanbic IBTC Ethical Fund 0.88 0.89 0.56% Stanbic IBTC Guaranteed Investment Fund 273.87 273.95 6.05% Stanbic IBTC Iman Fund 154.92 156.64 5.74% Stanbic IBTC Money Market Fund 100.00 100.00 3.67% Stanbic IBTC Nigerian Equity Fund 7,674.15 7,756.30 -2.13% Stanbic IBTC Dollar Fund (USD) 1.21 1.21 4.05% Stanbic IBTC Shariah Fixed Income Fund 109.57 109.57 5.14% UNITED CAPITAL ASSET MANAGEMENT LTD Web: www.unitedcapitalplcgroup.com; Tel: +234 803 306 2887 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn United Capital Balanced Fund N/A N/A N/A United Capital Bond Fund N/A N/A N/A United Capital Equity Fund N/A N/A N/A United Capital Money Market Fund N/A N/A N/A United Capital Eurobond Fund N/A N/A N/A United Capital Wealth for Women Fund N/A N/A N/A QUANTUM ZENITH ASSET MANAGEMENT & INVESTMENTS LTD service@quantumzenithasset.com.ng Web: www.quantumzenith.com.ng; Tel: +234 1-2784219 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Zenith Equity Fund 10.42 10.49 1.10% Zenith Ethical Fund 11.60 11.70 -0.23% Zenith Income Fund 24.41 24.42 6.80% Zenith Money Market Fund 1.00 1.00 3.56%

REITS NAV Per Share

Fund Name SFS Skye Shelter Fund

Yield / T-Rtn

118.13

5.31%

53.51

2.80%

Bid Price

Offer Price

Yield / T-Rtn

9.25 86.55 67.45

9.35 88.40 68.68

6.27% -8.38% -10.23%

Union Homes REIT

EXCHANGE TRADED FUNDS Fund Name Lotus Halal Equity Exchange Traded Fund SIAML Pension ETF 40 Stanbic IBTC ETF 30 Fund

VETIVA FUND MANAGERS LTD Web: www.vetiva.com; Tel: +234 1 453 0697 Fund Name Vetiva Banking Exchange Traded Fund Vetiva Consumer Goods Exchange Traded Fund Vetiva Griffin 30 Exchange Traded Fund Vetiva Money Market Fund Vetiva Industrial Goods Exchange Traded Fund Vetiva S&P Nigeria Sovereign Bond Exchange Traded Fund

funds@vetiva.com Bid Price

Offer Price

Yield / T-Rtn

3.04 4.35 12.15 1.00 11.24 186.46

3.08 4.43 12.25 1.00 11.44 188.46

-14.31% -26.29% 0.17% 2.85% 8.06% -1.01%

NAV Per Share

Yield / T-Rtn

108.03

15.02%

INFRASTRUCTURE FUND Fund Name Chapel Hill Denham Nigeria Infrastructure Debt Fund

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

FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 25, 2020 • T H I S D AY

41

42

˾ FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 2020

WORLD OF ISLAM

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

Quran, Science and Certitude - 2

Shafi A. Khaled/IslamiCity

(Continued from last week) Further, Muslims have been dubbed “people of the middle way” (2:143), meaning a people balanced. That Muslims have lost their way may be attributed to a loss of balance brought on by manifest disorganization. In their rituals, the Muslims fortunately continue to display substantial inherited organization. Because the five daily prayers have been identified as barriers to lewdness and evil (29:45); because charity out of acceptable sources of income purifies a person (9:103); because fasting during Ramadaan produces righteousness, i.e., induces a sense of fair play (2:183); and because respecting the rites of pilgrimage (22:32) gravitates Muslims toward imbibing Ibrahimic recognition of pure monotheism, trustfulness of the Almighty as was done at various times, sometimes repeatedly,

by Hagar (AS), Isma’il (AS) and Ibrahim (AS) and washing away of sins (Bukhaari: 1449; Muslim: 1350), Muslims may yet be blessed with a comeback and as a source of light and relief for today’s inventive and rich yet languishing humanity.

Retrieving Stored Information Pointing to His creativity, the Lord of the World reminds us to find the extraordinary hidden in the ordinary. Does the dead soil not become verdant after a brief shower brought on by the processes He has placed in the natural order (16:10; 22:63)?

Does life not follow a predefined, well-trodden cycle: from human non-existence to existence, from youth to old age and death in all living matters (30:54)? Why should it not be easy for Him to bring about a rebirth of His creation? Did He not make it in the first place from a situation of nonexistence even in the imagination of its parents?

In making the case for a rebirth, does He not say that even our finger-tips will be restored (75:3-4)?

What meaning did that claim carry for the Arab pagans and nomads? Perhaps they thought about the shape, size and color differences showing up in the restored fingers among individuals. But now, we know about fingerprints and their uniqueness.

Indeed, it is a prescient statement. While such a statement has always been Muhkamat, it has grown in clarity with time. Today, claiming to restore fingertips is doubly profound for it also points to restoration of distinctive fingerprint on every fingertip.

We are told that the Almighty created death and life, in that order, so that man may be tested regarding its goodness (67:2). What do we get from it? Since God is eternal, to be unlike Him, whatever He makes must be transient (39:21). The concept of end, expiry or death does not apply to the Almighty. In His realm, an end concept is immaterial. So, before saying ‘Be!’ He had to invent death. So, life was preceded in concept by death in the hands of the Creator. Yes, life and death are mundane. We see this cycle to proceed from life, yet life’s genesis was preceded by a tour into the reality of death. Thus, if we do not catch God’s philosophy about our existence, we are rather liable to miss the big picture.

Our Lord tells us to look for signs in the Quran, in our lives, and in the natural order around us to ascertain the veracity of His existence, His uniqueness (27:93; 41:53; 45:3-5 & 13; & 16:10-17). Once this is done, the rest of the creed can easily fall into place.

How can one believe that, on Judgment Day, every minutiae about us will become available to Him, the Master of Ceremonies (Al Maalik), to peruse, review and evaluate? Today, we find information stowed away in nature in a permanent manner: our fingerprints, of course; age of a tree revealed by the rings in its sawed-off trunk; murmur picked up by radio-telescopes is said to be the sound of the earliest ear-shattering moment that followed ‘Be!’ We no longer need a forensic expert to tell us that our DNA is very revelatory, right? Our retina is unique. Some have suggested, even our ears bear the tell-tale signature of their wearer. “Formed fully at birth, they do not change except that the lobe may descend a little.” For diabetic patients, A1C test reports average glucose level over the previous three month period. So, when the Creator says that He will inspire our body parts to bear witness for or against us on Judgment Day, why should that be a surprise (24:24; 36:65; & 41:21)?

The Colors Al Hakeem (The Wise) made tall mountains upon which precipitation fall in abundance, owing to condensation brought about by the atmospheric coolness in high places. From rain or melted snow gather streams and rivulets to form mighty rivers roaring downhill and beyond for hundreds of miles to the sea. Paraphrasing the Quran: “that produces fruits and vegetation of various colors just as the colors of the mountains over which the water washes down. Even people and animals carry varying shades of color” (35:27-28). That is, all the nutrient or minerals that colorful vegetation, flower and fruits display come from colorful mountainous

rocks and soils. For millennia, crops, flowering plants and fruit trees depended on whatever succor the earth had to provide directly. This correlation, as pointed out by the Quran (35:27-28), is so startling in its obviousness and scientific import.

Ironic In Suratul Hadid (57:25), the Almighty says that He sent down iron in which there is military might and benefits for mankind. But the Quran was also sent down. Exactly the same verb is used for both events. Such a parallel is perplexing until one checks out the role supernovae (exploding star) has had on planets and other such bodies. Before our time, this portion of the verse was Mutashabihat. Now, it is Muhkamat. Surely, swords and shields, tips of bow and spears are gifts produced from the provision of iron. Likewise, pots and pans, hammer and nail, and bridges are great contributors to human welfare.

Those are underlying Muhkamat elements of the verse. However, the real reasons have lain latent until only recently: the magnetic poles that spread a web of cover around Earth against the Sun’s deadly ultra-violet rays and the red blood cells that courses through most animals causing them to live while also energizing them. Today’s civilization brought about for over 200 years by windmills, looms, steam locomotives, motors, cars, electricity, computers and MRIs are then but just a small sample of iron’s vital presence in our lives. Thus, the Muhkamat scope of this verse has expanded just as the verse on restoration of the fingertips.

It is hard to imagine an Arab pagan or a desert nomad asking Prophet Mohammed (SAW) 1453 lunar years ago about the role of iron on earth and in the lives of animals, in particular, human beings!

So, toward whom, other than today’s humans, is this allusion directed?

The End Finally, long ago, as an undergraduate and graduate student of Economics, I learned about equilibrium.

High School Physics, Chemistry and Biology, too, were replete with varied concepts of equilibrium.

I spoke earlier about how the human body, when removed from equilibria of various types, seeks to restore it with food, water, sleep, medicine, etc. As we look around, we see hurricanes, tornadoes, etc. as means to restoring atmospheric equilibrium. Jet streams and ocean currents are driven toward attaining equilibrium of temperature.

Even osmosis in plants takes place for attaining equilibrium between solutions. Authentic faith speaks to equilibrium as being born of spiritualism and materialism. It also categorically signals the dual importance of personal freedom and social involvement. Without them, the physical and psychological wellbeing of the individual will be endangered owing to a lack of equilibrium.

A lack of balance in food is now blamed squarely for the widespread incidence of blood pressure, diabetes, cancer, heart disease, asthma, and even children’s autism. We are told by environmentalists, that if we are not careful quickly enough with effluents brought on by industrial production, we dare nature to violently and unexpectedly restore equilibrium by closing in upon us. So, these aspects of a human’s life on earth appear to be the mirror image of the equilibrium or balance of the supreme order governing the creation and maintenance of the universe (67:3-4). Then there is this from the Quran, at the Creator’s signal, a single blast of an angel’s trumpet will bring the heavens and the earth crashing down (39:68).

With everything be-stilled what will be nigh but the moment of resurrection (following a second trumpet blast; 50:20) and gathering together of all of mankind from Adam (p) onward (following a third and final trumpet blast; 69:13) in front of Al Maalik.

A question arises: why is an external trumpet blast needed to shatter the equilibrium of the universe? Can it not self-destruct? Is there nothing organic about the universe that will shake it to its foundations and bring about its ruin? Apparently not, if we believe the self-sustaining equilibria with which it has been endowed! Our universe came about through an external intervention: ‘Be!’ It will perish, if my understanding is not shallow and my communication glib, by a similar external intervention. An exploding sun or a supernova, now and then, here and there, are too irregular and too far apart spatially and temporally to cause the demise of the universe. In fact, interestingly today, among scientific community, having measured the energy of the Higgs-Boson field, there are rumblings afoot about the stability of the universe. It does not matter how long the scientists eventually say the universe has left to live, that it will end is in agreement with Quran. How long the universe will last is not theologically interesting to a Muslim. It is also of no practical value. Once queried about this by a companion, the Prophet (p) in turn asked the questioner what he had done to prepare for it (Bukhari: 3688/Bk-62, H-38). This matter is known only to God (7:187). After all, every person’s end of time is the moment of his death!

43

FRIDAYSEPTEMBER 25, 2020 ˾ T H I S D AY

NEWS

Kogi Declares Two-day Mourning for Victims of Tanker Accident State polytechnic declares three lecture-free days Lawan, PDP mourn victims of incident Deji Elumoye, Chuks Okocha in Abuja and Ibrahim Oyewale in Lokoja The Kogi State Government has declared a two-day mourning in honour of the 28 victims of a tanker explosion, which occurred in Lokoja, the state capital, on Wednesday.

The Kogi State Polytechnic has also declared three lecture-free days to honour the victims, including students of the school, who lost their lives.

This is coming as the President

of the Senate, Dr. Ahmed Lawan, and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) have commiserated with the victims and their families over the unfortunate disaster.

In a statement issued yesterday, the Kogi Commissioner for Information and Communication, Mr. Kingsley Fanwo, said: “The Governor and the Government of Kogi State are saddened by the unfortunate incident that claimed many lives in the early hours of today.

“The people are the State.

Therefore, the primary

Nigeria’s COVID-19 Cases Rise By 125 to 57,849 Martins Ifijeh Nigeria has recorded 125 new cases of COVID-19, bringing to 57,849 the number of confirmed cases in the country.

Announcing this yesterday, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) said Lagos recorded 37 new cases; Plateau, 18; Federal Capital Territory

The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila, has said the challenges of insecurity confronting Nigeria is threatening its corporate existence.

Speaking at a two-day retreat in Abuja yesterday, Gbajabiamila said the insecurity challenge undermines the faith of the public in the government’s ability to protect lives and property.

The retreat was organised by the House of Representatives’ Committee on National Security and Intelligence and Konrad Adenauer Stiftung (KAS) Foundation.

The speaker said the citizens expect the government to fulfill its constitutional responsibility

of protecting them.

“These internal security challenges threaten the very existence of the Nigerian state because they undermine public faith in the government’s ability to fulfill its fundamental obligation to protect the lives and property of citizens.

“Across the three arms of government, we have a shared responsibility to take all necessary actions to meet these challenges head-on. This is what the people who elected us rightly expect.

“National security is generally understood to be the preserve of the executive arm of government. As a result, the general public and even the political class often do not know what the legislative role in national security is or ought to be.

EFCC Recovers N4.16bn Revenue from Lottery Companies The acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mr. Mohammed Abbah, has disclosed that the commission has recovered over N4.16 billion unpaid revenue from lottery companies.

He noted that the lottery firms operating in the country were not forthcoming in remitting revenues that were due to the government, hence the intervention by the EFCC. Speaking while hosting a delegation of the Ministerial Task Force for recovery of unpaid revenues from lottery businesses, led by its chairman, Williams Alo, the EFCC boss said, “We mapped out strategies which resulted in the recovery of over N4.16bn from lottery companies, operating in

The state government has called on road users to act responsibly in order to avert unfortunate situations that care and caution could have averted.

It has also promised to carry out full investigations to determine the causes of the incident.

Meanwhile, following the incident, which claimed the lives of some students of the Kogi State Polytechnic, the school has declared September 23, 24 and 25 as lecture-free days.

This was contained on a statement issued yesterday by the Head of the school’s Public Relations, Mrs. Uredo Omale, which was made available to journalists in Lokoja.

“The stakeholders which comprise the Principal Officers, Deans, Directors, the Chief Security Officer, the Public Relations Officer and Student Union Leaders, also resolved that normal academic activities are to continue on Monday, 28th September, 2020.

“A vital decision at the meeting was the setting up of a committee to do a careful and thorough identity check of members of staff and students affected by the inferno with the view to ascertaining the nature and level of damage done to them.

“The Committee, chaired by the Dean, School of Art, Design and Printing, Mr. Pedro Peter Akande, immediately swung into action,

and has so far reported that three members of staff sustained injuries in the incident,” the statement added .

In a related development, the President of the Senate, Lawan, has commiserated with Governor Yahaya Bello and people of the state over the loss of lives to the tanker explosion.

He also sent his condolences to the families of victims of the explosion.

Lawan, in a condolence message issued yesterday, expressed grief over the gruesome accident in which more than a score of people, including school children, were reported to have lost their lives or property.

(FCT), 17; Ogun, 15; Rivers, 10; Benue and Kaduna, seven each; Anambra, five; Oyo, three; Cross River and Ondo, two each; while Edo and Imo recorded one each.

It said: “Nigeria has so far recorded 57,849 confirmed cases of COVID-19. 49,098 patients have been discharged, while 1,102 persons have died.”

Gbajabiamila: Insecurity Threatening Existence of Nigeria Udora Orizu in Abuja

responsibility of the Government is to ensure the safety and well-being of the Kogi people.

“As a result of the importance placed on the lives of our people, the Government has declared a two-day state mourning to honor the departed souls.

“In this time of grief, we urge the people to be deep in sober reflection and stand together for one another to pull out of the agonising loss,” the statement read in part.

The tanker explosion, which occurred in the Felele area of Lokoja, along the Lokoja/Abuja Highway had initially claimed 23 lives, but the death toll reportedly rose to 28 yesterday.

Abuja with over N3b from their counterparts, operating in Lagos State.”

A statement yesterday by the EFCC spokesman, entitled: ‘EFCC recovers over N4.16billion unpaid lottery revenue,’ noted that Abbah further assured the task force of the EFCC’s unwavering support.

“We are willing and ready to partner with you to ensure that lottery companies that have continuously shortchanged the government are made to cough out all the revenues they had deprived the government over the years,” he pledged.

Alo, who is also the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Special Duties and Inter-governmental Affairs, commended the EFCC for its effort in recovering the funds.

THANK-YOU VISIT...

Edo State Governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki (left), and Governor Udom Emmanuel of Akwa Ibom State, during Obaseki’s thank-you visit to his Akwa Ibom State counterpart in Uyo, the state capital...yesterday

Ekiti APC Slams Indefinite Suspension on Ojudu, 10 Others Suspension is illegal, says Ojudu Victor Ogunje in Ado Ekiti The Ekiti State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has imposed sanctions on the Special Adviser on Political Matters to the President, Senator Babafemi Ojudu and 10 other chieftains of the party in the state.

Ojudu and the 10 other members were slammed with indefinite suspension over

alleged disobedience, following their failure to withdraw the case they instituted against the party as directed by the National Executive Council (NEC) of the party.

The NEC had in its meeting of June 25, 2020, which was attended by President Muhammadu Buhari, governors and other chieftains directed that all cases pending in courts should be withdrawn

for speedy resolution of internal crises in the party.

In a statement issued yesterday by the party’s state Publicity Secretary, Mr. Ade Ajayi, in Ado Ekiti, APC said the disciplinary action was taken against Ojudu and others, for defying the party’s NEC. Others who were suspended alongside Ojudu include: Mr. Ayo Ajibade, Hon.

Oyetunde Ojo, Hon. Femi Adeleye, Bunmi Ogunleye, Akin Akomolafe, Bamigboye Adegoroye, Wole Oluyede, Olusoga Owoeye, Dele Afolabi, and Toyin Oluwasola.

“The State Executive Council of the Ekiti State chapter of APC has approved indefinite suspension of the following members with immediate effect from September 23, 2020.

Man Jailed 36guilty Months over $1m Internet Scam in US before US District Judge December 2013, Ogunremi and the agencies visited the fake Kingsley Nwezeh in Abuja

A Nigerian national was sentenced to 36 months in prison for his role in a computer hacking and identity theft scheme that defrauded vendors of nearly $1 million of office products after “phishing” e-mail login information from government employees, US Attorney Craig Carpenito announced.

Olumide Ogunremi, aka “Tony Williams,” 43, previously pleaded

Susan B. Wigenton in Newark Federal Court to an indictment charging him with one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud.

A press statement issued by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) said Judge Wigenton imposed the sentence yesterday by video conference.

According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court: “From at least July 2013 through

others perpetrated a computer hacking and theft scheme on US government agencies’ email systems and General Services Administration vendors.

The ring employed ‘phishing’ attacks, which used fraudulent e-mails and websites that mimicked the legitimate e-mails and web pages of US government agencies including the US Environmental Protection Agency.

Unwitting employees of

web pages and provided their e-mail account usernames and passwords.

Ogunremi and his conspirators used these stolen credentials to access the employees’ e-mail accounts in order to place fraudulent orders for office products, typically printer toner cartridges, in the employees’ names from vendors who were authorised to do business with U.S. government agencies.

COVID-19: Korea Donates Walk-through Booth Systems to Nigeria Olawale Ajimotokan in Abuja The Korean Government, through its aid agency, Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) in Nigeria, has donated to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) three smart walkthrough booth systems for the COVID-19 test sample collection to further enhance

national and sub-national efforts in the fight against COVID-19.

In collaboration with the NCDC, the booths are expected to be deployed to the National Reference Laboratory in Abuja, and the Central Public Health Laboratory and the Nigerian Institute of Medical Research in Lagos.

During the donation ceremony, the Korean

Ambassador to Nigeria, H.E. Maj. Gen. Lee In-tae (rtd), in his remark, disclosed that the booths are expected to provide medical personnel with effective protection during test sample collection, support mass screening for COVID-19 in a timely and efficient manner, and reduce the usage of Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs) during test

sample collection.

He added that some key features of the booths include High Efficiency Particulate Air (HEPA) filter, high efficiency bi-directional fan module, air conditioning and heating system to make the environment conducive for medical personnel to collect test sample, Intercom system and LED control panel.

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FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 25, 2020 ˾ T H I S D AY

NEWS XTRA

Diri, INEC Urge A’Court to Reverse Tribunal’s Verdict on Bayelsa Court reserves judgments Dismisses UPC’s appeal

Alex Enumah inAbuja Bayelsa State Governor, Senator Duoye Diri; his party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) yesterday separately asked the Court of Appeal to reverse the decision of the Bayelsa State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal, which nullified the November 16, 2019 governorship poll.

However, the five-man panel has announced that date for judgment would be communicated to parties in the matter.

The panel similarly, reserved two other appeals for judgment; that of Alliance for Democracy (AD) and Liberation Movement (LM), while it adjourned hearing in the appeal filed by the Accord Party to Friday (today).

The Bayelsa State Election Petition Tribunal had in a twoto-one judgment last month held that the Advanced Nigerian Democratic Party (ANDP) and its governorship candidate, Mr. Lucky King-George, were unlawfully excluded by INEC in the November 16 governorship poll in Bayelsa State that produced Diri as governor.

The tribunal accordingly nullified Diri’s election and ordered a fresh poll to be conducted within 90 days.

Dissatisfied, Diri and his

party, PDP, and INEC however approached the appellate court to set aside the majority judgment, which had ordered his sack.

In their separate appeals, the three appellants pleaded that the conduct of the gubernatorial election and its outcome which produced Diri as governor be upheld having complied with relevant laws.

In the lead appeal by Governor Diri and argued by his counsel, Chief Chris Uche (SAN), the governor argued that the case of the first respondent was statute-barred as at the time it was filed.

The senior lawyer claimed that the case of the ANDP was a breach of the constitution because it was based on an attempt to field two under aged candidates at the governorship poll contrary to constitutional provisions.

He contended that while INEC disqualified ANDP from participating in the election in October last year, the same respondent, did not challenge the disqualification until February this year, which according to him was more than five months as against the 14 days allowed by law.

Uche therefore urged the appellate court to set aside the majority decision of the tribunal which nullified Diri’s election and uphold the minority judgment which according to him was based on sound reasoning and law.

Ondo Guber Poll: INEC Tasks Security Agencies on Professionalism Chuks OkochainAkure

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has called on security agencies to ensure that it raises the set standard of professionalism and election security in the forthcoming Ondo State governorship election.

The INEC Chairman, Professor Mahmood Yakubu, gave the advice yesterday when he met with the security agencies at the Inter Agencies Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICCES) meeting in Akure, the state capital.

Yakubu said INEC had raised the bar of professionalism for peaceful election in Edo State and should not lower it in Ondo State.

According to Yakubu, “Edo State had a good election. We are all very proud of what we achieved. The security agencies were professional so too were

INEC staff members. So the challenge for us now is not to lower the bar.

“Ondo State should be better because there are lessons we have learned from the Edo Staten election. We should strive to ensure the Ondo State election is better than Edo State’s, and that in subsequent elections, we keep improving. That should be our commitment to the country and to the electorate.

“Security is of critical concern to all of us. You know we can’t conduct free, fair and credible elections unless the environment is secure for us.”

He said part of the meeting agenda was to discuss the identified flash points and security threat areas, and try to see how they could respond, as well as identify difficult terrains and how to manage movement of personnel and material.

Kukah: Catholic Church Believes in Anti-graft War Kingsley Nwezeh in Abuja The Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Mathew Hassan Kukah, yesterday said the Catholic Church was in support of the efforts of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to rid the country of corruption, economic and financial crimes.

A statement by EFCC said Bishop Kukah spoke while playing host to the Sokoto Zonal Head of the Commission, Bawa Usman Kaltungo, who paid him a

courtesy visit.

The Bishop revealed that Catholic Church Masses, which incorporate prayers against bribery and corruption, are being said on a daily basis.

While praying for Kaltungo’s success in the onerous task ahead of him, Kuka reminded him that “To whom much is given, much more is expected.”

Kaltungo solicited the support, counsel and prayers of the clergy if the country was to win the war against the scourge of corruption, economic and financial crimes.

In his own appeal, the PDP through his counsel, Mr. Yunus Ustaz (SAN), drew the attention of the appellate court to an affidavit of the ANDP National Chairman, where he admitted that the party

had no election in the November 16 governorship poll, adding that if a rerun is ordered the ANDP has nothing to gain because the case has become academic.

In his own appeal INEC,

through his lawyer, Mr. Ibrahim Bawa (SAN), informed the panel that the alteration done to Section 285 of the 1999 constitution has restored power of the electoral body to screen and disqualify any

candidate wrongly nominated by a political party and therefore urged the appellate court to affirm the constitutional provisions of INEC to disqualify candidate in an election.

ALL EYES ON HIGHER RETURNS...

L-R: Independent Director, Unity Bank Plc, Mr. Sam Okagbue; Chairman of Board of Directors, Alhaji Aminu Babangida; Managing Director, Mrs. Tomi Somefun; and the Company Secretary, Mr. Alaba Williams, at the 14th Annual General Meeting of the bank in Lagos ...yesterday ETOP UKUTT

Presidency: Nigeria Not Constructing Rail Line to Niger Republic The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Mallma Garba Shehu, yesterday said Nigeria was not building any rail line to Niger Republic.

He said the plan was to construct the rail line up to the border Nigeria shares with the neighbouring country and not into the country itself.

The Minister of Transportation, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi, had told

State House correspondents on Wednesday that the Federal Executive Council approved $1.96billion for the construction of a rail line to link Kano, Dutse, Katsina and Maradi in Niger Republic.

But following nationwide outrage, Shehu, in a series of tweets posted on his Twitter handle, @ GarShehu, yesterday, clarified that Nigeria would only construct the

rail line to the border it shares with Niger Republic in Maradi.

The presidential aide wrote, “Nigeria isn’t building rail line into Niger but, only to the designated border point.

“An agreement between Nigeria and Niger in 2015, coordinated by the Nigeria-Niger Joint Commission for Cooperation has a plan for Kano-Katsina-Maradi Corridor Master Plan, K2M as it is called.

“Going by this, the two nations would each build a rail track to meet at the border town of Maradi.

“Nigerian delegates to that meeting comprised officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, National Boundaries Commission, Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Water Resources as well as those of Kano and Katsina states.

COVID-19 Forces FG to Curb 60th Anniversary Celebrations Olawale Ajimotokan in Abuja The federal government has announced that this year’s 60th Independence Day celebration will be low key apparently in reflection of the raging effects of COVID-19 pandemic, which has warranted the application of safety protocols around the world.

The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed

disclosed this yesterday at the unveiling of the activities to commemorate the occasion.

He, however, noted that the 60th anniversary celebration will be marked for a whole year and staggered until September 30, 2021.

The activities slated to start this week and extend till next week will begin with a Public Lecture tomorrow (today) at the

Conference Hall of the National Mosque, Abuja at 10 a.m. to be followed by a Special Jumat Prayers in the afternoon.

There will be an Interdenominational Church Service on Sunday, September 27 at the National Christian Centre, Abuja.

The Church service holds at 3p.m.

The following day, President Muhammadu Buhari will launch the National Ethics and

Integrity Policy as well as Integrity Award to commemorate the 20th anniversary of ICPC at the State House.

There will also be a Historical Exhibition on the same day at the National Press Centre, Radio House, Abuja, followed by a Presidential Broadcast and Guard of Honour/Anniversary Parade at the Eagle Square on October 1.

Court Bars IG, Delta CP from Harassing Group Sunday Okobi A High Court in Effurun, Delta State, has barred the InspectorGeneral of Police (IG), the state Commissioner of Police and the Ughelli Area Commander of the police division from further harassing, disrupting and arresting members of Brothers Across Nigeria (BAN) on their forthcoming annual convention,

and planned medical outreach on COVID-19, among others.

BAN, according to the group, is a non-governmental and notfor-profit organisation, which fights against perceived societal ills and defends the masses against any form of oppression, and will hold its annual Dinner, General Assembly, Convention and elections in Ughelli, Delta State tomorrow.

While talking to THISDAY yesterday about the event, the BAN President, Dr. Lewis Atuife, stated that the event, which will also cater for their long-running issue of election of their Board of Trustees (BoT), will include a medical outreach for the Nigerian public on the COVID-19 pandemic as well as visitations to charity homes with relief items for them and other

displaced persons in the area.

However, he lamented that the Nigeria Police Force seem maliciously hell-bent on disrupting their gathering by threatening to harass or arrest their members and by calling hoteliers in the areas to breach their contract with the association by withdrawing bookings, which have already been paid for by the association.

US Supports Nigeria with $2.1m for Survey on COVID-19 Transmission

Adedayo Akinwale in Abuja

The United States Government, through the US Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), is supporting Nigeria with $2.1 million to conduct a household survey to determine the extent of COVID-19 transmission in Gombe, Enugu, and Nasarawa states.

The US Mission in Abuja in a statement issued yesterday said the survey would increase

the current understanding of COVID-19 transmission and burden in these three states.

It stated: “The US CDC is funding the full cost of the survey ($2.1 million) and providing technical assistance as part of the US Government’s bilateral efforts to improve the health and well-being of the Nigerian people.

“The survey will estimate the proportion of the population in these states who have ever

been infected with SARSCoV-2, the virus responsible for COVID-19 disease. This will be accomplished by measuring the presence of antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 in the blood of volunteers. These antibodies, specialised proteins produced by the immune system to fight infection, are generated as part of the body’s response to COVID-19 and are an indication of previous infection.”

The US said the survey would also estimate the proportion of people who have the disease but are not showing any symptoms, determine risk factors for infection, and measure the intra-household transmission of COVID-19.

It added that the survey would also estimate the prevalence of malaria and its potential relationship to SARS-CoV-2 infection.

FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 25, 2020 ˾ T H I S D AY

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No LG Funds were Diverted in Kwara, Says Judicial Panel Hammed Shittu in Ilorin

The panel of inquiry on the finance of the 16 local government areas in Kwara State, has described the allegations that the state government diverted or deducted N300million monthly from local government funds since May 2019 to date as false and baseless,

The panel also said it found no evidence that Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq’s administration has borrowed to pay salary or pension since it was inaugurated on May 29, 2019.

“We want to state categorically that there is no evidence either oral or documentary to support the allegation of N300million

Malami’s Refusal to Appear before Panel, Disrespect to Buhari, Says Magu’s

monthly deduction from the local government funds by the state government. The allegation of such deductions is therefore baseless, unfounded and false,” its Chairman, Justice Mathew Adewara (rtd) said late Wednesday when the panel submitted its report to the governor.

AbdulRazaq had on August 11 inaugurated the panel to investigate the allegations of diversion of local government

funds or borrowings from the bank to pay salaries of local government workers.

Adewara said a total of 35 witnesses testified before the panel while several documents were produced and tendered by them.

He said the panel also visited some of the local governments to see what projects they have done as had earlier been submitted by the director of personnel management (DPMs) who

appeared before them.

The report of the panel meanwhile has found that the state government “does not deduct money from the SUBEB account while salaries of teaching and non-teaching staff are paid as and when due from May 29 to date”.

Adewara said the panel only received a memorandum from the Elite Network for Sustainable Development (ENETSUD), adding however that the

questions the civic group raised in its memo were “all based on incomplete information sourced from the internet and social media.

“Meanwhile, all the grey areas have been thoroughly thrashed out to the satisfaction of Mr. Suleiman Oladimeji (of ENETSUD), having been confronted with the documents earlier submitted to the panel by the Kwara State Ministry of Finance.”

Magu opens defence Kingsley Nwezeh in Abuja The Counsel to Mr. Ibrahim Magu, the suspended acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mr. Wahab Shittu, yesterday stated that the alleged refusal of the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF), Mr. Abubakar Malami, to appear before the Justice Ayo Salami-led presidential panel probing the allegations of financial impropriety against Magu’s leadership amounted to disrespect to President Muhammadu Buhari, in whose authority the subpoena was issued to the AGF.He argued in a statement issued in Abuja that in a situation where Malami could not substantiate his allegations, it should be declared frivolous.

This is coming as Magu opened defence for the first time since the commencement of proceedings of the panel

inaugurated on July 3, 2020.

He denied allegations of misappropriation of monies levelled against him, insisting that none of the recoveries made under his leadership was diverted for personal use.

Magu told the Salami panel that he never received any bribe from anyone in his life.

The Justice Salami-led presidential panel set up to probe the 22-point allegations of financial impropriety against Magu had subpoenaed the AGF, who, in a letter to the panel, declined appearance as a witness on the ground that he made charges against Magu based on the petitions he received against him in his office.

Shittu said Malami’s nonappearance was strange and bizarre.

FG: Road Accidents Now Kills More Nigerians than HIV, TB Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja The federal government yesterday lamented the frequency of carnages caused by road accidents in the country, noting that deaths resulting from crashes have now exceeded the ones caused by the Human Immunodeficiency Syndrome (HIV) and the deadly tuberculosis disease combined.

Against the backdrop of the crash that claimed about 30 lives in Kogi State last Wednesday, the government said many of the losses were caused by avoidable human errors.

Speaking during a workshop on ‘Truck Renewal Policy’ in Abuja, Minister of State for

Transport, Senator Gbemisola Saraki, stressed that the spate of accidents involving trucks across the country leading to loss of lives and property was becoming worrisome.

The theme of the programme was ‘Truck Renewal System, Ensuring Road Transport Safety’ and was organised by the Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN) and the National Association of Road Transport Owners (NARTO).

It was organise to discuss fleet renewal, which stakeholders said would ensure the replacement of trucks in the fleet of transporters that do not meet the safety requirements for the transportation of dangerous goods.

DPR Harps on Consumer Protection in Downstream Operations Peter Uzoho The Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) has outlined four cardinal areas of focus for the downstream operations in its bid to continue to enable business as well as create opportunities in the Nigerian oil and gas sector.

The four areas of focus are ‘Quality for product assurance and customer satisfaction; Quantity for transparency, value for money and consumer protection; Safety for personnel/ assets and public safety; and Integrity for investment protection and business continuity’.

In a statement signed and

issued yesterday by the agency’s Head of Public Affairs, Mr. Paul Osu, the Director of DPR, Mr. Sarki Auwalu, disclosed this during the visit by members of the Depot and Petroleum Products Marketers Association of Nigeria (DAPPMAN) to DPR in Lagos last Wednesday.

Auwalu said DPR would continue to partner DAPPMAN to achieve national aspirations for the downstream sector such as price freedom, optimum petroleum products distribution network, petroleum products supply sufficiency and curbing of petroleum products cross-border leakages.

FIGHTING THE PANDEMIC...

L-R: Public Relations (PR) Specialist, MultiChoice Nigeria, Timothy Okwu; Secretary, Brand Journalists Association of Nigeria (BJAN), Lukman Ishau; Vice Chairman, BJAN, Afolabi Idowu; Head, Corporate Affairs, MultiChoice Nigeria, Caroline Oghuma; CSI Executive, MultiChoice Nigeria, Akaoma Onyenouro; and the Financial Secretary, BJAN, Akeem Salau, during the presentation of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) to BJAN by Multichioce Nigeria in Lagos...recently

Avoid Previous Pitfalls, FG Tells Investment Tribunal Ndubuisi Francis in Abuja The federal government yesterday tasked the Investment and Securities Tribunal (IST) to avoid previous pitfalls, which had tended to blur its modest achievements.

Such pitfalls include in-fighting among tribunal members, lack of industrial harmony and maladministration, among others.

The Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs. Zainab

Shamsuna Ahmed, who gave the admonition at the swearing in ceremony of Mr. Amos Isaac Azi, and Nosa Smart Osemwengie in Abuja, as Chairman and member of the tribunal, respectively, said such negative developments had been the bane of the tribunal and a source of embarrassment, not only to her ministry but the federal government.

While Azi was appointed for the first five-year term, Osemwengie was re-appointed for a second and final

term of four years.

In her address at the event, Ahmed said: “With your appointment, the tribunal now has a full complement of 10 members in line with the enabling law, the Investments and Securities Act (ISA), 2007.

“It is, therefore, my hope that all the members will justify the confidence reposed in them by President Muhammadu Buhari by diligently working together to discharge the responsibilities of the

tribunal.”

Congratulating both of them for being found worthy by the president to be appointed to the highly exalted positions, she noted: “Your appointments have come at a time when all hands are needed to build our economy. As you all may be aware, the IST was first inaugurated in December, 2002. It is a specialised fast-track court, established for the settlement of disputes in the capital market.”

‘Nigeria’s Inability to Diversify Economy Hampering Growth’ Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja The Congressional Research Service (CRS), a non-partisan group providing legislative research and analysis for the United States Congress, has stated that Nigeria’s failure to diversify the economy from oil remains one of the biggest impediments to its development.

In its latest research paper

titled: ‘Nigeria: Current Issues and US Policy’, which was authored for the American lawmakers by an Analyst in African Affairs, Tomas Husted, and Specialist in African Affairs, Lauren Blanchard, the CRS noted that the Nigerian economy is expected to slide into a ‘deep recession’ with implications for Nigerians’ livelihoods.

The document prepared by

persons, which America believes have in-depth knowledge of happenings in Africa and Nigeria, is to help the country’s lawmakers to take ‘informed’ decisions on key issues in the country.

“With massive oil reserves, extensive potential in the agriculture and service sectors, and a youthful, rapidly growing population, Nigeria is equipped to emerge as a global economic

powerhouse.

“Yet corruption, infrastructure gaps, insecurity and a failure to diversify the economy away from petroleum production have constrained economic growth and development. “The economy is poised to enter a deep recession in 2020-its second contraction in five years-amid a global oil price collapse and disruptions linked to the coronavirus pandemic.

Peterside Hails Elumelu for His Recognition by Time Magazine Peter Uzoho Former Director General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Dr Dakuku Peterside, has congratulated the Founder of Tony Elumelu Foundation and Chairman of United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc, Mr. Tony Elumelu, on his recognition by Time International Magazine as one of the

100 Most Influential People In The World.

Peterside in a congratulatory message yesterday, said the recognition was a fitting testimony and badge of honour for a man, who has devoted his time, resources, being and comfort towards raising hundreds, if not thousands of entrepreneurs across the African continent.

He said it was unarguable

that there had never been any initiative, policy or action across the continent that had challenged African entrepreneurs the way and manner the Tony Elumelu Foundation had touched lives, with reverberating effects that would endure for generations.

He described Elumelu as the biggest success story in the Nigerian banking industry having taken the

then nascent Standard Trust Bank to challenge the biggest names in the industry, culminating to an audacious merger with the United Bank for Africa (UBA).

According to Perterside, “This merger saw Elumelu to the top echelons of corporate banking in Nigeria and Africa. The footprints he left in Nigeria’s banking sector is yet to be matched.

Ganduje Blames Boko Haram Insurgency, Banditry on Drug Abuse Ibrahim Shuaibu in Kano The Governor of Kano State, Mr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, has blamed the rising wave of banditry, thuggery and the activities of the members of Boko Haram on drug abuse and called for all hands to be put on deck to curb the menace.

Ganduje made this assertion yesterday during the public destruction of exhibits by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), in Kano.

He said: “Drug abuse is the major crime aiding Boko Haram, banditry, thuggery and street fights in our communities.

They abuse drugs to engage

in all these and many other crimes.

“There is need for all hands to be put on deck to deal with the situation and force it out of our communities.”

The governor explained that the state government is relocating all pharmacies in Kano city to the Economic

City Market that is located at Dangwauro in order to discourage drug abuse.

Ganduje also disclosed that plans are underway to deploy all relevant security agencies to the new pharmaceutical market to ensure that no unlawful drugs would be sold in the state.

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FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 25, 2020 ˾ T H I S D AY

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Boko Haram Commander, Family Surrender to Military in Borno Kingsley Nwezeh in Abuja The Defence Headquarters (DHQ) has said a high-profile Boko Haram Commander has surrendered to the Nigerian troops during clearance operations in their enclaves in Borno, saying that the operations took place between September 17 and September 23.

The Coordinator, Defence Media Operations, Maj. Gen. John Enenche, disclosed this yesterday in Abuja, while giving a weekly update on the operation of Armed Forces of Nigeria yesterday in Abuja.

Enenche said the unnamed commander surrendered with his four wives.

He said the success was as a result of a sustained offensive by troops of Operation Lafiya Dole through air and ground operations on terrorists’ enclaves at different locations in Borno, Yobe, Taraba and Adamawa.

According to him, the operations also led to the arrest of one Boko Haram fighter at Kamuya in Biu Local Government Area of Borno, while nine other criminals were arrested in Wukari LGA of Taraba.

Gunmen Kidnap Former PDP Youth Leader in Katsina Francis Sardauna in Katsina

A stalwart of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Katsina State, Mr. Salisu Ali, has been abducted by suspected kidnappers in his hometown.

Ali, a former youth leader of the party, was abducted by the hoodlums at his residence in Sukuntuni village in Kankia Local Government Area of the state.

The incident occurred barely 24 hours after the abduction of Aisha Dangiwa, a sister to the current Managing Director of the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria, Ahmed Musa Dangiwa.

THISDAY gathered that Ali’s

abductors stormed his house last Wednesday night shortly after his arrival from an outing, and ransacked the house before they took him away to an unknown destination.

Sources within the village revealed that the kidnappers numbering about six on motorcycles, forcibly rode off with the victim from his compound, and they are yet to contact members of the family.

When contacted, the state Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), SP Gambo Isah, said: “It is true. I called the DPO and he confirmed the incident, but we are trying to rescue the victim.”

TUC Kicks against Construction of Railway Line to Niger Republic Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja The Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC) has described the federal government’s approval for the construction of a railway line linking Nigeria to Niger Republic as an insult to Nigerians and a waste of the country’s scarce resources.

In a statement jointly signed

by TUC president and SecretaryGeneral, Musa-Lawal Ozigi, the union said by this latest move, “it has indeed become obvious to the world that the managers of our country have ulterior and sinister motives to ruin this country.

“The Congress is not averse to development; constructing rail lines to Kano, Katsina

and Dutse is understandable, but why extend it to Niger Republic? Why should we borrow from the IMF, World Bank and China to build a rail line to Niger Republic? Is there something this government is not telling us? How could the federal government come up with such an idea in a country where potable water has become a luxury; right to electricity is regarded as a taboo for an average citizen; roads have become death traps and our health facilities lack malaria drugs? That sum of $1.96billion (for the construction of the rail line), when exchanged at the rate of N380 per dollar is almost N800billion. This can do a lot in the economy.”

PDP will Win Most States in 2023, Says BoT Chairman John Shiklam in Kaduna The Chairman of the Board of Trustees (BoT) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Senator Walid Jibrin, has posited that the party is set to take over most of the states in Nigeria given free, fair and credible elections, like the recently concluded Edo State governorship election.

In a statement issued yesterday in Kaduna, Jibrin said with the recent defeat of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Edo State, the PDP is set to take over 90 per cent of the states in the country in the next elections.

According to him, “After our victory in Edo State, PDP presently controls 16 states, while APC controls 19. This is therefore a good sign that PDP is on its way to controlling over 90 per cent of the states in Nigeria given free, fair and transparent election as conducted by the Independent National Election Commission (INEC) in Edo State.”

He said the failure of the APC to address the problems facing Nigerians, especially the economic and security challenges, has made the party unpopular among the people.

“Caches of arms and ammunition, as well as equipment and motorcycles, were also recovered.

“Meanwhile, troops repelled BHT/ISWAP attacks on civilians and own troops at Wajiroko in Damboa LGA of Borno on September 17 and

September 20.

“The troops neutralised several of the terrorists and recovered arms and ammunition,” he said.

In the North West, Enenche disclosed that the troops of Operations Hadarin Daji and Sahel Sanity had continued

to dominate the general area leading to the killing of seven bandits and rescue of kidnapped victims during the week.

He said the troops on September 17, rescued eight kidnapped victims from suspected bandits at Fankama

and Sabon Layi area of Faskari LGA of Katsina State.

The coordinator explained that the troops got information that bandits dressed in military camouflage were sighted with kidnapped victims and engaged the bandits forcing them to abandon the victims.

Ize-Iyamu: I’m Not under Pressure to Concede Defeat Adibe Emenyonu in Benin City The candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the recently conducted governorship election in Edo State, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu has denied being under pressure from party leaders to accept defeat.

The APC governorship candidate has also debunked a report credited to a viral video, where he was begging the Governor of Edo State, Mr. Godwin Obaseki to return to the APC. He insisted the he has not begged Obaseki to return to APC because he was yet to decide on the next line of action after the governorship election.

Though the APC candidate was actually begging Obaseki as reported, but the video was in a reaction to the APC primary election, where he emerged the winner after Obaseki was disqualified and he left the party.

Ize-Iyamu was defeated by Governor Obaseki, the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), in Saturday’s election adjudged to be free and fair by the APC and President

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CORRECTION OF NAME This is to notify the general public that ODEKUINYAM OLUTAYOFUNMI OGU, SUNDAY OLADIPO, OGU ODE and OLADIPO ODE OGU refers to one person. Henceforth, the bearer wishes to be known and addressed as OGU ODE OLADIPO SUNDAY. All documents bearing all names remain valid. The general public should please take note.

This is to notify the general public that UDO FRANCIS TOBECHI and UDOCHUKWU FRANCIS TOBECHUKWU is one and the same person, and now wish to be known as UDOCHUKWU FRANCIS TOBECHUKWU. All former documents remain valid.

General public take note.

Muhammadu Buhari.

Both the APC and Buhari have since congratulated Obaseki, but the party’s candidate, Ize-Iyamu has insisted that he was yet to decide on the next line of action.

Relying on a dependable party source, THISDAY had reported that the leadership of APC was mounting pressure on its candidate to accept his defeat by Obaseki.

Ize-Iyamu had on Wednesday in Abuja met with the APC Chairman of the Caretaker/ Extra-Ordinary National Convention Planning Committee, Governor Mai Mala Buni of Yobe State, and his Kogi State counterpart, Alhaji Yahaya Bello.

THISDAY gathered that the closed-door meeting with IzeIyamu took place at the Abuja residence of Buni.

Although the agenda of the

meeting was not disclosed, a source privy to the meeting said it was part of the efforts to persuade Ize-Iyamu to accept the outcome of the election.

The meeting also reportedly discussed the way forward for Ize-Iyamu.

But in a swift reaction, IzeIyamu in a statement issued yesterday his Director of Communication and Media, Mr. John Mayaki said, “I was shocked this morning when I saw reports saying I begged Obaseki to return to APC after the election. While immediately responding to it, another one emerged. I will restate that I never begged him to return after the election. I deliberately did not reply when I saw all that rumour on the social media with people tagging me in them.

“Now I saw another report in the media stating that APC leaders are mounting pressure

on me to accept defeat. In all fairness to the National leadership of my party, they never mounted any pressure on me. So I wonder where their source got information from. The public reposes a lot of trust in the media for authentic information. What happens when this trust is betrayed?”

Meanwhile Ize-Iyamu reiterated his earlier position that he had not yet made up his mind on the next step to take.

“I already tweeted that I am studying the result and consulting widely on my next line of action. Speculative reporting must be condemned.

When I make up my mind, I will let my supporters know. For now, patience is what I implore.

Not violence, not anger will help us now. Dignity will manifest in how we bounce back from this minor setback,” he said.

47

Ëœ ÍşÍ˝Ëœ ͺ͸ͺ͸ Ëž T H I S D AY

FRIDAYSPORTS

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

13 Kwara Utd Players, Officials Test Positive for Covid-19 Duro Ikhazuagbe Nine players and four officials of Nigerian Professional Football League (NPFL) side, Kwara United FC of Ilorin are believed to have tested positive for the Covid-19 pandemic ravaging the world.

THISDAY checks revealed yesterday that the 13 players and officials were discovered to have tested positive for the virus on Monday during the mandatory Covid-19 testing ordered by the League Management Company (LMC) for teams in the topflight before

resumption of the new 2020/21 NPFL season.

It was further learnt that the management of Kwara United obeyed the LMC directive and ordered all the club’s playing personnel and coaches to take the mandatory test. “It was after the tests were carried out that nine players and four officials were confirmed to have tested positive for the virus.

All those who tested positive have been moved to the Sobi Isolation Centre in Ilorin for treatment,� a top football stakeholders in the state

confirmed to THISDAY on telephone yesterday afternoon.

All attempts to reach Chairman of the club, Kunbi Titiloye were unsuccessful.

A club official who spoke on condition of anonymity insisted that nobody was allowed to speak on the result of the Covid-19 tests. “The only person who can talk is Mr Rafiu Ajakaiye, the Chief Press Secretary to Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq. He is the Spokesperson of the Covid-19

Technical Committee in the state,� observed the source.

The 13 positive cases appear the first known cases in the country’s sports sector.

Just few weeks ago when the Presidential Task Force on Covid-19 lifted lockdown on non-contact sports, most pundits were also looking forward for the return of all football leagues suspended with the outbreak of the pandemic.

But Sports Minister, Sunday Dare, insisted that no sport under his watch would return

without proper testing for the virus as well as following the laid down protocol by health officials to prevent the spread of the infection. “We are happy that the ban on non-contact sports has been lifted after so many months of inactivity due to the Covid-19 scourge . The Sports Ministry is not oblivious of the challenges that would be encountered in organising football matches,� reads a statement signed by the Permanent Secretary of the Sports Ministry, Mr Gabriel

Aduda, “We cannot take anything for granted. As a way of safeguarding the lives of our players, coaches, officials and fans, approval must be sought and given before any game is played. The Ministry would ensure that all protocols and guidelines are obeyed as directed by PTF and NCDC.�

The Covid-19 pandemic has affected over 57,000 Nigerians and also recorded a fatality rate of over 1,000 deaths in the country.

Bayern Munich Beat Sevilla to Win Super Cup Bayern Munich were taken to extra time by a durable and resilient Sevilla in front 15,180 fans in Budapest last night before adding the UEFA Super Cup to their Champions League trophy.

The showpiece was watched by supporters inside the 67,000-capacity Puskas Arena, the first major European match to allow fans since the coronavirus pandemic forced the game into lockdown.

And they witnessed a hardfought encounter which saw Sevilla take the lead from the penalty spot on 13 minutes

when Lucas Ocampos scored an outrageous “no look� penalty after Ivan Rakitic was bundled over by David Alaba.

Bayern equalised before the break, Leon Goretzka scoring from Robert Lewandowski’s superb touch, with both sides having opportunities to win after the break.

Lewandowski and Leroy Sane saw goals chalked off for Bayern but the biggest chance fell to Sevilla substitute Youssef EnNesyri in the closing moments, seeing his shot touched away

by Manuel Neuer with only the keeper to beat.

Anthony Joshua May Vacate WBO Belt to Fight Tyson Fury Anthony Joshuawould notably vacate his WBO belt if that meant a fight with Tyson Furywas easier to facilitate, his promoter, Eddie Hearn, announced yesterday.

The Sagamu-born British heavyweight boxer is currently next scheduled to face mandatory challenger Kubrat Pulev later this year, but may then have to fight Oleksandr Usyk before an all-British clash with Fury can materialise.

The Gypsy King himself needs to defeat Deontay Wilderin their trilogy fight too, but with a two-fight ‘financial agreement’ already in place between Joshua and Fury, a mega all-British heavyweight bout could be on the horizon in 2021, whether all the belts are on the line or not.

Questioned on the dilemma of the WBO belt, Hearn told Boxing Social: “There’s been a lot of talk about “give up the belt,� but the aim for Anthony

Joshua is to be the undisputed heavyweight champion. “Will a belt get in the way of him fighting Tyson Fury next?

Probably not. Will he vacate a belt and fight Tyson Fury next?

Yes, I believe he would if he had to, but would he rather maintain all the belts? One million per cent. “I know Tyson Fury has said, “I already had all the belts.� I know, but you’ve never been undisputed. I hope that means something to people because it means a lot to Anthony Joshua if we get to a position where AJ is fighting Fury regardless of whether the WBO allows their title to be on the line. “It’s almost like I want to go to Usyk and say, “Look, we’re going to vacate the title, but can we vacate it the day after the fight?�’ Unbeaten Ukrainian Usyk will be the WBO mandatory challenger should he beat Dereck Chisora in their fight on October 31.

Anthony Joshua...aiming to become the undisputed heavyweight champion

Bayern Munich have won all trophies in Europe this season

Leicester City Boss, Rodgers, Laments Ndidi’s Long Injury Spell Leicester City Manager, Brendan Rodgers, is yet to come to terms with the recent groin injury that will keep Super Eagles midfielder out of action for almost 12 weeks..

The 23-year-old suffered a groin strain in their Premier League win over Burnley on Sunday but managed to play for the duration of the game which also means that the player will play no part in the forthcoming international friendly matches against Tunisia and Cote d Ivoire next month and perhaps, the

back-to-back AFCON qualifying matches against Sierra Leone in November for Nigeria.

The Nigeria international missed his side’s defeat against Arsenal in Wednesday’s League Cup tie at the King Power Stadium.

But yesterday, Rodgers said the 23-year-old could be out of action for up to three months should he undergo surgery. “We’re just waiting to hear more on that, but he could be anything between six and 12 weeks. It’s an abductor which may have come off the bone,�

Rodgers told the club website. “It’s quite a nasty injury, so we’re waiting to see if he needs an operation or not. If it’s an operation, then he’ll be at least 12 weeks.�

Ndidi played as a centre-back in the Foxes’ opening Premier League games against West Bromwich Albion and Burnley due to the unavailability of Wes Morgan, Jonny Evans and Filip Benkovic.

Following the midfielder’s withdrawal from Nigeria’s friendlies, former assistant coach and Awka United manager

Kennedy Boboye has suggested ex-U17 captain Samson Tijani and Galatasaray’s Oghenekaro Etebo could be drafted in as his replacement. “Ndidi should be the only player actually playing in that position in the national team. If he is injured, I think we should have a better replacement. The coaches working with them know,� Boboye said yesterday. “That position is where Oghenekaro Etebo has been played in more than three games for Nigeria so he can fill the void as usual.

EPL, La Liga, Serie A Matches Live on DStv, GOtv This Weekend Three of Africa’s prolific goal poachers, Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane and PierreEmerick Aubameyang will go to ‘war’this weekend as Liverpool and Arsenal meet at Anfield on the evening of Monday 28, September, at 8:15pm on SS Premier League.

This fixture will be the highlight of another weekend of football on DStv and GOtv which their subscribers have been told to look forward to as SuperSport beams the Premier League, La Liga and Serie A to their living rooms. It will cap the schedule of topflight football action starting from Friday September 25 through Monday, September 28, 2020.

Liverpool will be looking for revenge against Arsenal, given that the teams’ last two meetings have both gone the way of the London side: 2-1 in a Premier League clash in mid-July and a penalty shootout triumph in the Community

Shield late last month.

Other picks for Premier League this weekend are Crystal Palace vs Everton at 3pm, Brighton & Hove Albion v Manchester Unitedat 12:30pm, West Bromwich Albion v Chelsea at 5:30pm and Burnley vs Southampton at 8pm all on Saturday 26 September, live on

SS Premier League.

On Sunday 27 September EPL fans will watch Sheffield United vs Leeds United at 12pm, Tottenham Hotspur vs Newcastle United at 2pm, Manchester City vs Leicester City at 4:30pm and West Ham United vs Wolverhampton

Wanderers at 7pm all live on SS Premier League.

The top clash for this La Liga round sees champions Real Madrid head to Estadio Benito Villamarin to face Real Betis. This will air on Saturday 26 September at 8pm on SS La Liga and SS GOtv La Liga.

NIMASA SUPPORTS KADUNA MARATHON‌ Executive Governor of Kaduna State, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai (right) and the Director General of Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) Dr. Bashir Jamoh during the press briefing held as part of the preparation for the Kaduna Marathon holding on Saturday

Friday September 25, 2020

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MISSILE

Obaseki to Oshiomhole, Tinubu

“They have constituted themselves into what they say they are without any constitutional responsibility and trying to overlord themselves over people who have constitutional authority and if we allow them to continue in the mould they are, it will destroy our democracy and for me, it is straightforward.”

– Governor of Edo State, Godwin Obaseki, describing his predecessor, Adams Oshiomhole, and All Progressives Congress stalwart, Bola Tinubu, danger to democracy in Nigeria.

ENIOLABELLO ENI-B

eniola.bello@thisdaylive.com

0805 500 1956

The Tinubu Conundrum

B

ola Tinubu, national leader of All Progressives Congress (APC), for some strange and unnecessary reason, made himself an issue in the just concluded Edo State governorship election. For an election whose dominant message was a protest against godfatherism, a message aptly projected with the #EdoNoBeLagos hashtag on social media, it was ill-advised for Tinubu, the last of the godfathers whose persona is synonymous with Lagos, to have made a video broadcast appealing to the Edo people, a few days before the election, not to re-elect incumbent Governor Godwin Obaseki. I was a little surprised that Tinubu, an accomplished political strategist, persuaded himself, or allowed himself to be persuaded, to make such a video broadcast that was dumb in concept, poor in messaging, and weak in presentation.

That the video broadcast was conceptually dumb I have highlighted in the opening paragraph with the #EdoNoBeLagos hashtag, something akin to the #Otoge campaign drive which swept away the Saraki political family in Kwara State last year. The presentation was weak. Rather than sit upright, or better still stand, Tinubu leaned forward on his chair, hands fidgeting on the table. His hesitancy in vocalizing some words and expressions added to that lack of surefootedness. In messaging, Tinubu rather than project the strength of his party’s candidate, embarked on a meaningless ego trip by describing himself as “a leader of all democrats regardless of political party…”

Having been long addressed as National Leader of the APC, a title which although has in its origin in how President Muhammadu Buhari used to address him, perhaps to humour him, in the early days of the formation of the APC shortly before the 2015 elections, Tinubu perhaps decided to take liberty by extending that hollow title to other parties. Thereafter, he arrogantly made himself an issue in the election by saying: “I have suffered with many others to bring about this democratic regime that today we are enjoying…” Such trumpeting would have been meaningfully blown by other people. For a man who decides, almost single-handed, who is elected what in Lagos, he didn’t appear to notice the irony in his brazen condemnation of Obaseki for dictatorship.

Tinubu’s video broadcast not unsurprisingly fuelled the fire of the outcry against godfatherism and roused Edo sub-nationalism, forcing the hands of undecided voters to cast their ballots in Obaseki’s favour. Although the reasons for Obaseki’s victory resulted from a combination of the people’s vigilance, INEC’s decision to upload results from the polling units straight to its portals, the internal schisms within the APC resulting from the scheming for power and control post-Buhari, and the growing dissatisfaction with the APC over general insecurity and increasing hardship from the policies of the Buhari administration, most people attributed APC’s loss to Tinubu’s video broadcast. The narrative therefore being shaped out there is that, outside of Lagos, Tinubu is an electoral liability.

Nothing, for now, would possibly give greater satisfaction to Tinubu’s competitors in APC, and the opposition PDP (People’s Democratic Party), than incumbent Ondo State Governor Rotimi Akeredolu losing the election scheduled for October 10. An APC loss in Ondo,

Tinubu Tinubu’s southwest base, would perfectly serve the narrative in a well-calculated strategy of isolation and decapitation. Were APC to lose Ondo, then Tinubu’s opponents - opponents comprising of elements within his party, some presidential aides protecting their principal or promoting their self-interests, some state governors uncomfortable with his 2023 ambition, and some of his former proteges who got federal appointments in spite of him; and those in the opposition PDP who blame him and sacked APC National Chairman Adams Oshiomhole for their defeat in 2019 elections - would have more reason to gloat as they sharpen their swords for the final battle.

And those after Tinubu, if how he was mocked the day after Obaseki’s victory in Edo was anything to go by, are bound to have a massive crowd of people across the country baying for his blood. It is pretty clear that the godfather tribe of politicians in which Tinubu is the most significant symbol has never been this unpopular. More and more people are getting tired of his type of political godfather, one who mostly decides who gets what position, when, where and how; and one who seems to revel in his ability to plant, and uproot, a governor in Lagos whenever he wanted. Tinubu ought to be worried by the pervasive perception that his politics of domination and aggrandisement delimits the governor’s freedom, if not restrains the state from growing faster than it is. It is ironic that Tinubu, who came to political limelight by joining forces with Dapo Sarumi in the then SDP (Social Democratic Party) of the aborted Third Republic to stop the “Baba so pe” godfather syndrome during the hey days of Lagos State Second Republic governor Lateef Jakande, would end up being Nigeria’s most powerful godfather today. However, with the growing alliance of powerful forces against him from within and outside of his southwest political base, Tinubu would need to review his strategy with eyes on self-renewal if he was not to end up, like Jakande, a political museum piece.

Although Tinubu almost always found a way of bouncing back after every political setback, with the present alliance of powerful forces out to weaken, if not completely eviscerate him, there’s the possibility of him regretting his political marriage with Buhari that sired

the APC. The fusion of the CPC (Congress for Progressive Change), ACN (Action Congress of Nigeria), ANPP (All Nigeria Peoples Party) and breakaway factions of APGA (All Progressives Grand Alliance) and PDP which initially appeared to have strengthened Tinubu’s hands may end up being his Achilles heel.

Long before the formation of APC, Tinubu had in 2003, as governor in Lagos, played smart politics to survive then President Olusegun Obasanjo’s decimation of the Alliance for Democracy (AD), the party in control of the six states in the southwest since 1999.

As Obasanjo’s PDP ruthlessly took over the subregion, Tinubu survived and became the face of the opposition, challenging the Obasanjo administration at the Supreme Court, in the media, at National Economic Council meetings, and in every available public space. He strongly pushed for restructuring and fiscal federalism.

He received considerable support from the generality of Lagosians, including the elite who had become suspicious of Obasanjo’s desperation to make the country a one-party state. With the AD hopelessly compromised and divided, Tinubu led some young elements within the party to form the Action Congress (AC), which in no time transformed into the ACN, and one after the other, took over all the states in the southwest.

Having emerged the foremost politician in the southwest, Tinubu became feared and respected and envied, all in equal measure. Unlike other political godfathers, he identified talents and empowered them, planting his associates in different elective offices, yet occupying none.

Although the ACN did not have the national reach to produce the president, the candidates of the other parties could not make serious inroad into the southwest without talking to and reaching some form of accommodation with Tinubu. This was what persuaded Buhari’s handlers in CPC to cobble him into that marriage with Tinubu.

The ACN, on the other hand, saw in Buhari’s ready 12 million votes from the north a short cut to taking over the centre. For a party said to be for all progressives, the APC elected Buhari, an arch conservative, as its presidential candidate. At the party’s 2014 Convention in Lagos, Tinubu was central to the emergence of Candidate Buhari, a man who did not even believe in some key issues like restructuring, central to the party’s manifesto. From the time the Buhari administration was inaugurated in May 2015, what had served Tinubu so well in the past became his weakness. He became a caricature of his old self, swallowing the ideals he had hitherto stood for, ideals that had helped forge his political character. He lost his voice on Buhari’s clannishness, and became the administration’s apologist on woolly economic policies, herdsmen incessant killings and worsening Boko Haram insurgency. Some were quick to anchor this new face of Tinubu on the peg of his 2023 presidential ambition.

Even at that, the internal contradictions within the APC and its government began to unravel and chip away at the foundation of his access, influence and power.

Central to this was Tinubu’s decision not to offer himself for any office in government or the party. Although he had planned to be Chairman of BOT (Board of Trustees), the nPDP wing’s opposition to that office going to the

ACN wing that already provided the National Chairman, truncated the inauguration of the Board. Though addressed as National Leader, the title was hanging in the air as the APC constitution has no such Office. As a result, Tinubu had no locus to participate in meetings of the party’s decision-making organs. Yet he wanted to be involved, if not solely decide, as he was wont to do in the ACN, who was picked as the party’s governorship candidates in states under his influence, who was qualified for re-election as governor or senator, who the party should support for Senate President and House Speaker, and who should be the party’s national chairman, etc.

But the APC is no ACN. Presidential aides, either acting on instructions of their principal or working on their own, easily put together a coalition of some state governors and ministers and party officials to undermine Tinubu all the way, ensuring those he did not support picked the governorship tickets, or making sure many of his nominees for appointment as ministers and heads of agencies were dropped for those he didn’t want. Some of his associates even opted to operate out of his orbit. Senator Ibikunle Amosun, immediate past governor of Ogun State leveraged on his long-term friendship with Buhari to carve a different, even if conflicting, path. Ekiti State Governor Kayode Fayemi has since charted an independent course. And Minister Babatunde Fashola appear indifferent.

Tinubu had long been given a taste of what was to come when midway through Buhari’s first term in office, he was cut off from the power loop and denied access. However, he was allowed to regain his bounce to exploit his utility value for Buhari’s re-election last year. He has once again been pushed back as he wasn’t consulted before Oshiomhole’s National Working Committee was dissolved.

As things are, the forces against Tinubu, in and outside of the APC, are advancing their strategy of delegitimization, isolation before decapitation. Edo State Governor Godwin Obaseki called Tinubu an extra constitutional power who wouldn’t stop trying to lord it over those with constituted authorities and so pose a danger to democracy. So early in the day, there are already fears in the camp of Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwoolu that Tokunbo Abiru, the APC candidate for the senatorial bye election in Lagos East, is being positioned for 2023 governorship; in other words, that Tinubu may not allow the governor a second term. Though wild, the fears are legitimate considering that immediate past governor Akinwumi Ambode was denied a second term; and Tinubu was initially opposed to Fashola’s second term but had to back down on weighing the heavy political costs. This narrative may not be more than hot air, but it fits into the grand scheme to disempower Tinubu.

APC’s constitution of a new executive by the end of the year will open the flank for the final showdown. If he is to make any progress in his 2023 presidential ambition, or even extend the currency of his political relevance, Tinubu would need a comprehensive makeover, a repackaging from the overbearing and grabbing godfather.

Will Tinubu be able to reinvent himself?

That is the difficult question.

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