TUESDAY 3RD JANUARY 2023

Wike Mocks Atiku over Obasanjo’s Endorsement of Obi You’re a mole in our party, PDP PCC tells Rivers governor Asks him, did Amaechi support you, ‘good product’?

Atiku's campaign: Your unholy union with Tinubu based on treachery, you’re both treacherous Onyebuchi Ezigbo, Emameh Gabriel in Abuja, Blessing Ibunge in Port Harcourt and Gideon Arinze in Enugu

Rivers State Governor, Mr. Nyesom Wike, has said Sunday’s endorsement of Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate, Mr. Peter Obi, by former

President Olusegun Obasanjo speaks volumes about the character of his former vice and current presidential candidate of Peoples Democratic

Party (PDP), Alhaji Atiku Abubakar.

Wike called Atiku a bad product.

The governor spoke yesterday at the flag-off of the Akpabu- Odido

Road project in the Emohua Local Government Area of the state.

But reacting swiftly, PDP Presidential Campaign Council (PCC)

returned Wike’s diatribe, asking sarcastically if his own former boss, Continued on page 9

Military: Plans By Terror Groups to Overrun Nigeria Failed... Page 26 Tuesday 3 January, 2023 Vol 27. No 10128. Price: N250

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Four Policemen Killed as Gunmen Attack Ohakim’s Convoy... Page 9

Presidency: Obasanjo Destabilising Internal Democracy Says ex-president deceived south-east by failing to deliver Second Niger bridge after turning the sod Deji Elumoye in Abuja The Presidency, yesterday, reacted to an open letter written by former President Olusegun Obasanjo on

New Year day, in which he said Nigeria had performed poorly under President Muhammadu Buhari in the last seven and a half years, saying the ex-president had no moral right

to push such uncommon position.

The president’s spokesperson, Mallam Garba Shehu, in reaction to Obasanjo, accused the former president of untoward practises as

president from 1999 to 2007, citing several instances of his destabilising internal democracy by removing five governors illegally via the State Houses of Assembly.

The presidency also recalled that under Obasanjo’s watch, the local government allocation of Lagos State government was withheld despite Supreme Court’s pronouncement

judgment that the allocations should be released to the state.

The statement stated inter alia: Continued on page 9

Muslim Leaders to Nigerians: Vote for Candidate Who'll Lead with Fairness, Justice Urges people to collect their PVCs, elect leaders of their choice Cautions 'accidental Imams’ and ‘emergency Sheikhs’ preaching hatred, disunity Says Muslim women should feel free to wear hijab, not to be discriminated against Wants security agencies to do more to protect lives, bring killers to justice Ahead of the general election, which commences next month, the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA) has advised Nigerians to freely choose the best candidates and vote those who would lead with justice, fairness and uprightness.

NSCIA stated this in a communique released yesterday, at the end of its special extraordinary meeting of the expanded General Purpose Committee (EGPC) meeting held on Wednesday, December 28, 2022.

The council warned those it referred to as “accidental Imams” and “emergency Sheikhs”, who promoted hatred, disunity and dissension in their mosques and on the social media to desist from such negative activities.

It also expressed concern over the worsening insecurity in the country and called on the security agencies to protect Muslims, especially in the south-eastern part of the country.

The council had convened a Continued on page 9

REQUIEM SERVICE/TRIBUTES FOR IFUEKO OMOIGUI OKAURU'S FATHER...

L-R: Eghosa Omoigui, Dr. Sota Omogui, Ifueko Omoigui-Okauru and Nosa Omogui, at the requiem/tributes of their late father and Nigeria's first Surveyor General, PHOTO: AYO AJAYI Daniel Aiyanyo Omoigui, held at the Holy Trinity Catholic Church, Abuja….yesterday.

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Group News Editor: Goddy Egene Email: Goddy.egene@thisdaylive.com, 0803 350 6821, 0809 7777 322, 0807 401 0580

NEWS

NEW YEAR THANKSGIVING HELD BY THE OKEOWOS...

L-R: Mrs. Omolabake Olabanji; Mr. Yemi Olabanji; mother of celebrant, Lady Grace Okeowo; Son/ Chairman/CEO Gibraltar Construction Nigeria Limited, Mr. Clement Oluwatumininu Okeowo; Mrs. PHOTO: MUBO PETERS. Funmilayo Adewumi, and Mrs. Adejoke Okeowo, at the thanksgiving to mark New Year held at Palacio De Okeowo resident in Ikoyi, Lagos… yesterday

27 Days to Retirement of Old Naira Notes, Analysts Urge CBN to Intensify Awareness Say new banknotes scarce, facing rejection among market women, rural communities Declare extension of January 31 deadline needless James Emejo in Abuja Barely 27 days to the deadline issued by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for the return of the old N200, N500, and N1, 000 banknotes following the currency redesign programme, analysts yesterday urged the apex bank to increase awareness on the initiative, especially among market women, rural dwellers, and other categories of Nigerians at the grassroots.

CBN Governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, had on October 26, 2022 announced the central bank’s resolve to redesign, produce, and circulate new series of the N200, N500, and N1, 000 denominations.

Emefiele said the move would help to manage money supply, tackle currency counterfeiting and terrorism, among others.

He explained that while the circulation of the new banknotes would commence on December 15, 2022, the new and existing currencies would remain legal tender and circulate together until January 31, 2023, when the existing currencies shall seize to be legal tender.

Emefiele had insisted that the January 31 deadline remained sacrosanct, adding that the 100 days provided for people to deposit existing banknotes in commercial banks was adequate.

President Muhammadu Buhari, subsequently, on November 23,

2022, unveiled the redesigned banknotes during the weekly Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting.

But the Senate last week urged the central bank to extend the withdrawal date of old currency notes from January 31 to June 30, 2023.

But analysts told THISDAY in separate interviews that the new banknotes had not been easily accessible to Nigerians since they were introduced.

They also said the central bank needed to increase awareness of the currency redesign, noting that many market women and rural dwellers are currently rejecting the new legal tender.

Speaking in an exclusive chat with THISDAY, Professor of Finance and Capital Markets, Nasarawa State University, Keffi, Professor Uche Uwaleke, said though he did not support calls for an extension of the deadline for withdrawal of the old notes at the end of the month, the CBN must address the concerns over the availability of the new currency.

The former Imo State Commissioner for Finance said, “Since December 15, 2022, more than two weeks after the CBN began distributing the new naira notes via the banks, you hardly find them in circulation. The bulk of cash withdrawals from the banks and POS agents are still done in old naira notes.

“It appears the banks have been hoarding the new naira notes for distribution to their high-net-worth customers most of whom are politicians, especially this festive period.”

Uwaleke also said, “If the January 31, 2023 deadline must be kept, I expect the CBN to push out more of the redesigned notes and also ensure that the banks are dispensing them to their custom-

Bishop Oyonude Kure; Archbishop of the Benin Diocese of Catholic Church Bishop Augustine Obiora Akubueze, amongst others.

According to the governor, “We have the privilege of hosting religious leaders in Government House, for two reasons. First is to help us dedicate this rebuilt presidential lodge. The second reason is to pray for us and the state.

“Yesterday, they held new year services in their various churches across the state and this morning, we felt we should invite them and they are here to pray for the

“Having said that, I do not support the idea of extending it to June 30, 2023, as has been canvassed in some quarters. Doing so would defeat one of the aims of the currency redesign, which is to discourage vote-buying, in view of the fact that the general election would have been over by then.”

Commenting on the development, also, Managing Director/

Chief Executive, Dignity Finance and Investment Limited, Dr. Chijioke Ekechukwu, stressed the need for the CBN to boost education and awareness of Nigerians, pointing out that the rural dwellers “prefer the currency they know and would rather not sell than to receive the new naira”.

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Abiodun: We'll Prospect for Oil in Tongeji Island, Olokola 2023 James Sowole in Abeokuta The Ogun State Governor, Dapo Abiodun, yesterday said his administration would intensify efforts in collaboration with technical partners and investors to explore oil prospects in Tongeji Island and Olokola this year.

Abiodun, who stated this in his new year message to the people of the state, entitled, "The Promising Future is Here", said apart from human, the state is also blessed with abundant untapped natural resources which his administration is poised to explore.

He said:,"As the year progresses, we shall commence the imple-

Obaseki Urges Clerics to Pray for Devt in Edo The Edo State Governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki, has urged religious leaders in the state to pray for the state’s development.

Obaseki made the charge during a prayer session held in Government House, Benin City.

Religious leaders present at the occasion include the General Overseer of Covenant Gospel Church (CGC) Rev. Felix Omobude; General Overseer of Christ Apostolic Church God Mission Inl’t (CACGM) Rev. Godspower Ogbomwan; Chairman, Edo State Chapter of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN),

ers. This has become necessary given the upward revision of the cash withdrawal limit from N100, 000 to N500, 000 per week for individuals.

“Else, at the current slow rate and the lopsided manner in which the distribution of the new naira notes is being done by the banks, I foresee a situation where the deadline is extended by at least two weeks.

government and people of Edo State. Their visit has no political undertone but they are simply here to pray for the State.”

Bishop Oyonude Kure said the religious leaders in the state are in Government House to pray for the State and her people.

Other top government functionaries at the event include the Deputy Governor of Edo State, Rt. Hon. Comr. Philip Shaibu; Secretary to the Edo State Government, Osarodion Ogie Esq., Commissioner for Communication and Orientation Chris Nehikhare, amongst others.

mentation of some of our other initiatives: We will be partnering with others in the private sector in exploring the oil prospects of our state in the Tongeji Island and Olokola. We have no doubt that with the right technical partners and investors, Ogun State will soon proudly join the comity of oil producing states in Nigeria.

"We will, through our rural electrification programme provide solar powered lighting systems for our underserved communities.

We will continue investing in the provision and supply of water. We already started this by carrying out a major overhaul of the Arakanga water works gates, which has provided for the adequate storage and supply of potable water to the people of Abeokuta and its environs. We will also commence laying new pipes across the State to replace the old ones laid over fifty years ago, alongside the implementation of other creative initiatives which on completion, will solve the perennial shortage of water in any part of our State.

"We are determined to provide a statewide steady supply of electricity through the implementation of our Light Up Ogun Project, this will allow us to generate uninterrupted power to our major towns and cities, from an independent power project through a public private partnership (PPP) joint venture. We believe this will free up more power supply to our

smaller towns and villages there by improving the overall supply to the entire state.

"We will also soon be implementing our e -mobility and gas mobility projects through which all our motorcycles will be battery powered and our mass transport system will be powered by compressed natural gas," he stated.

The governor further assured the people that the new year would see the completion of the 250 bed hospital at Oke-Mosan, Abeokuta, in partnership with the Afrexim Bank, which, according to him, would be a medical center of excellence.

He added that the Mother and Child Specialist Hospital at the Olabisi Onabanjo University Teaching Hospital, Sagamu, would be built in partnership with the Abdul Samad Rabiu Foundation.

The governor noted that urban renewal and regeneration programmes that would focus on major urban centres such as Abeokuta, Ijebu Ode, Mowe Ibafo, and Ota, would be aggressively pursued, while the state would leverage on the Lagos Blue and Red light rail lines for the efficient transportation of goods and passengers especially to Kajola and Agbara axis of the State.

While assuring the people of their security, Governor Abiodun maintained that his government would continue to be proactive and invest heavily in security

infrastructure through capacity building and training of security personnel, adding that the provision of conducive learning environment for school children and the quest to achieve the 2,500 affordable houses would equally be intensified in the new year.

"Undoubtedly, we have seriously improved on the infrastructural deficit we inherited, we have put in place reforms and policies that have allowed for the actualization of our vision, and actively promoted a hard earned but rewarding, enabling environment for socio-economic development.

"We have created and renewed the trust between the Administration the Private sector and our indigenes . We have increased our ranking on the ease of doing business index and turned the push factor to Ogun State to a pull factor", the governor noted.

While praying for a prosperous 2023, the governor, however, emphasized that despite the numerous challenges including the after effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, his administration has discharged its mandate by putting the people at the centre of governance through meaningful engagement in policy formulation and implementation, which has allowed them to contribute to the determination of the infrastructural projects required in their communities.

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NEWS

WEDDING RECEPTION OF PAT UTOMI'S DAUGHTER...

L-R: Chairman, Board of Trustees, South East-South South Professionals of Nigeria; Mr. Emeka Ugwu-Oju’ Wife of Labour Party Presidential Candidate, Mrs. Margaret Obi; Parents of the bride, Prof and Mrs. Pat Utomi, and Communications/Events Specialist, Afreximbank, Ms. Adaeze Anyaoku ... recently

Economic Pollsters Predict $89.37 Per Barrel of Oil in 2023 Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja

Oil prices will only gain slightly in 2023, hitting $89.37 on the average, thanks to a worsening global economic outlook as well as the latest COVID-19 outbreak in China, which will take a hit on oil demand.

A survey of 30 economists and analysts predicted for Reuters that Brent crude will average $89.37 a barrel in 2023, just 4 per cent higher than current price of $85.91 per barrel and 4.6 per cent lower than the $93.65 consensus in a November survey.

If the forecast remains spot on

this year, it means that Nigeria may be able to save about $15 per barrel in its currently depleted Excess Crude Account (ECA) despite high oil prices.

The National Assembly recently passed a N21.8 trillion budget, pegging Nigeria’s crude oil benchmark at $75 per barrel from the previous

$70 per barrel while production for 2023 was put at 1.69 million barrels per day.

Although production data for December 2022, had yet to be released, in November, Nigeria was only able to produce roughly 1.2 million bpd.

Brent, Nigeria’s oil benchmark

, averaged $99 per barrel in 2022, according to the report. Meanwhile, the experts have predicted that United States crude will average $84.84 per barrel in 2023, lower than the previous month's $87.80 consensus.

"We expect the world to slip into recession in early 2023 as

Emefiele's Alleged Terrorism Funding: Southern, Middle Belt Leaders Demand Buhari's Intervention Says DSS action against CBN governor embarrassing Nigeria

Sunday Aborisade and Emameh Gabriel in Abuja The Southern and Middle Belt Leaders’ Forum (SMBLF) has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to put his house in order and save the country from, "repeated, unwarranted national embarrassments."

The advised was is contained in a statement made available in Abuja, yesterday, by the SMBLF and signed by its leaders, Chief Edwin Clark, (South - South/PANDEF); Chief Ayo Adebanjo (Afenifere); Dr. Pogu Bitrus (President, Middle Belt Forum) and Ambassador Okey Emuchay, (Secretary-General, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Worldwide).

The Senior Citizens explained that the Call, "became necessary following the reported recent, disgraceful, attempt by the Department of State Service (DSS) to surreptitiously obtain an ex-parte order from the Federal High Court, Abuja, to arrest and detain the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Mr. Godwin Emefiele."

The action of the DSS, according to the elders, was, "not only a travesty of the nation’s judiciary, but also a grave disservice to the Nigerian state, and a mortification of the nation’s image."

Part of the statement read: "It is unthinkable that the DSS would recklessly and carelessly accuse Mr. Godwin Emefiele, the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, of financing terrorism and involvement in economic crimes of national security dimension.

"This is not only shameful but a disgrace to the Buhari administration and the Nation. And capable of unsettling the socioeconomic tractions of the country.

"What is the evidence that the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, is involved in terrorism financing?

"If the allegations against the CBN Governor are genuine, why didn’t the DSS present its findings to the President for consideration and necessary action?

"It is common knowledge that the Governor the Central Bank, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, has been carrying out Mr. President’s directives and instructions religiously.

"We wonder whether it is those instructions given to him by the President, which he carries out that make him to be a terrorism sponsor or there are personal actions and activities he has carried out without the president’s approval and instruction?

"The CBN Governor who has been doing everything to salvage the nation’s economy with several intervention schemes in agriculture and SMEs, among others, to ensure that individuals, households and businesses across all sectors of the economy receive support to sustain their operations and livelihoods, especially during COVID and even in post-COVID era.

"It was thwarting that the Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr. Godwin Emefiele, practically “apple-polished” certain sections of the country with the apex bank’s intervention schemes to boost production of farm commodities, providing smallholder farmers with inputs, in kind and cash, particularly in the Northern States that supposedly have comparative advantage to produce rice, maize, wheat, cotton, tomato, roots and tubers like cassava, potatoes, yam, among others.”

The statement added: "The CBN interventions have reportedly led to huge drop in rice importation, in recent years; which has been publicised widely as one the key achievements of the Buhari administration. Sadly, the same Godwin Emefiele is now being labeled terrorism sponsor. What a shame!

"It is bemusing that Mr. Yusuf

Bichi (the Director General of the Department of State Services), and his backers, presumed all citizens have been 'conquered'.

"Allegedly acting on a petition, the DSS filed a secret suit at the Federal High Court, Abuja, on 7 December, under Section 66 of the Terrorism Prevention and Prohibition Act, 2022 to request a court order for Mr. Emefiele’s arrest and detention for 60 days, in the first instance.

"The respected judge, Justice John Tsoho, who is the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, Abuja, in his ruling on 9th December 2022, rejected the application on the grounds that the DSS failed to provide sufficient evidence to warrant the issuance of an arrest warrant against Mr. Emefiele" SMBLF applauded the courage and bravery of the judge.

The group stated that it was gratifying to know that there were still men and women of character and integrity, who could firmly defend and uphold justice, without fear or favour.

It noted that by the singular act, Justice Tsoho had written his name in gold, and shall remain indelible in the hearts and minds of all patriotic Nigerians and people of goodwill across the world.

"The judge in his ruling also inferred that there was no seeming indication that the President approved the action of the DSS. "Now, if indeed, President Muhammadu Buhari was not aware of the plot, then, it would be inexcusable to allow Mr. Yusuf Magaji Bichi remain a moment longer in office as Director-General of the Department State Services," it added.

The SMBLF accordingly demanded that Bichi, "should be relieved of his position, without any delay, for being disloyal and discourteous to the President and the nation."

The SMBLF added, "Mr. Yusuf Magaji Bichi should also be made to

render an unreserved public apology to the nation and to the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Mr. Godwin Emefiele.

"We are not in the least surprised at the way and manner Mr. Yusuf Bichi has been running the DSS since he assumed that office; his appointment as Director General of the DSS itself, in the first place, leaves much to be desired.

"President Muhammadu Buhari, not minding that appointments in the top hierarchy of the Military, Paramilitary, Security and Intelligence

related agencies were already skewed and grossly lopsided in favour of the North, went ahead to, on 18th September6 2018, appoint Yusuf Magaji Bichi, from Kano State, who had retired from the service, to replace Mr. Matthew Seiyefa from Bayelsa State who was appointed as Acting Director General of the Department of State Service (DSS), on 7th August 2018, by Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, then Acting President, following the sack of Lawal Musa Daura.

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the effects of high inflation and rising interest rates are felt," Bradley Saunders, Assistant Economist at Capital Economics, told Reuters.

Another oil bear, Credit Suisse, said the selloff is not yet over.

“The market remains well below its 55-Day Moving Average and 200DMA at 89.01 and 100.67, and with medium-term momentum declining and global growth concerns looming, we think further weakness is likely to follow,” it added.

The Reuters poll contradicts a string of bullish analysis on oil in the past couple of weeks, including a $90 per barrel prediction from Bank of America and a $100 per barrel prediction from Ninepoint Partners LP. Oil markets have gone back and forth with recession fears in the past few months. While inflationary pressures seem to have eased, leading to optimism for lower rate hikes by the Fed in the future, concerns linger that rates could remain high for the first half of this year.

Nigeria has not been able to reap the full value of high global oil prices due to its failure to meet the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) quota. The country blames massive oil theft for the challenge.

Obaseki: We’re Expanding Our Economic Base, Transforming Edo from Civil Service State Describes Esama of Benin as an inspiration The Edo State Governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki, has said his government has in the past six years pursued reforms and programmes to expand the state’s economic base by deliberately creating the enabling environment to attract investments and ensure that businesses thrive.

Obaseki, in a statement yesterday, noted that the reforms have transformed Edo from a civil service state to a haven for foreign direct investment, attracting investments in the manufacturing, real estate, agriculture, culture and education, among other sectors.

He said: “We have also been intentional about expanding our economic base by creating the enabling environment for businesses to thrive and attract investments into Edo State as a haven for investment.

“Through this, we are transitioning Edo from a civil service dominated state to one which is attracting manufacturing, commercial agricultural

concerns, service and technology companies, real estate and several SMEs among others.”

Obaseki added, “Through a mix of reforms in revenue collection and land management, we have curtailed the excesses of non-state actors, who had hitherto caused untold hardship for the people. We have cleared touts from our roads.

“We're fighting land-grabbers so that there is sanity in public places as well as transparency and certainty in land transactions.”

For plans in the new year, the governor stated, “This year we will continue our emphasis in building the capacity of our young population to find quality jobs in areas like agriculture, health services and technology.

“Hence The Edo State College of Agriculture, Iguoriakhi will take in its first set of students before September this year, while the Edo State School of Health Technology will be rebuilt

to meet global standards just like we did with our School of Nursing Sciences.

“Quite a number of jobs are currently being created from several opportunities in the State’s agricultural sector such as the Edo State Oil Palm Programme (ESOPP), our cassava to ethanol initiatives, Forestry plantations and also in poultry production. These and many more areas will contribute significantly to our Gross Domestic Product.”

“In 2023, we intend to exploit the advantage which Edo has in electricity with the establishment of Edo State Electricity Commission. We will be creating a vibrant electricity market in the state to allow and encourage investors to invest in generation and distribution of grid and off-grid electric power. Thus expanding our existing investments in Azura power and Ossiomo Power Project,” he added.

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BACK FROM PERFORMING UMRAH...

L-R: Former National Welfare Officer of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Alhaji Ibrahim Masari; APC presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu and Jigawa state Governor, Abubakar Badaru, when Tinubu and his entourage arrived at the private wing of the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja, after observing Umrah (lesser hajj) in Mecca, Saudi Arabia...yesterday

AuGF Report Reveals How NLNG Denied Inspectors Access to Export Terminals in Four Years Udora Orizu in Abuja Details of how the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) refused to grant the PRE-shipment Inspection Agents (PIAs) and Monitoring and Evaluation Agents (MEAs) access, thereby stalling export monitoring and inspection have emerged.

This was disclosed in a report by the Auditor General of the Federation dated June 29th, 2022, a copy of which was obtained yesterday.

The report was focused on preshipment inspection and monitoring of crude oil and gas exports by the Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning spanning between January 2016 and December 2020, with reference number 747/99/CONF/VOL.II/75.

Signed by the former auditor general of the federation, Adolphus Aghughu, the report had since been submitted to the National Assembly.

The pre-shipment inspection export act in some relevant sections stipulates that no goods shall be exported unless inspected by relevant agents.

Section 1 of the Pre-Shipment Inspection of Export Act states thus: “As from the commencement of this Act, no goods to which this Act applies shall be exported from Nigeria unless an inspecting agent appointed pursuant to section 12 of this Act has issued in respect of the goods Clean Certificate of

Inspection to overseas buyers of the goods".

Also, section 18(1) of Pre-Shipment Inspection of Export Act also states that: “Any person who, at any time after the commencement of this Act, knowingly export goods liable to pre-shipment inspection under this Act otherwise than in compliance with the provisions of this Act is guilty of an offence under this Act.” But according to the report made available to the national parliament for immediate action, the, “audit team noted during review of Inspection and Monitoring Agents’ annual reports for 2016 — 2020, that Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas Limited (NLNG) has continually refused PIAs and MEAs access to the Terminals under its control to carry out inspection and monitoring activities as required by the Act.” It added that: "Also, the operators of Puffin (Floating Production Storage and Off take (FPSO)) Terminal located on Ajeoil field and Zaffiro Terminal being operated by Mobil/ NNPC, located outside Nigeria in the Equatorial Guinea under the inspection of Trobell International Nig. Ltd and Robinson international Energy Limited could not be accessed for inspection.”

Expressing concerns over the non-usage of metering equipment at export terminal, the report also revealed that: “Section 52(1) of Petroleum (Drilling & Production)

Regulations of 1969 stipulate that ‘the licensee or lessee shall, with volume and gravity correction to sixty-degree Fahrenheit and by a method or methods approved by the Director of Petroleum Resources in writing, measure or weigh — (a) all crude oil won and saved and casing head petroleum spirit recovered from relevant area; and (b) all-natural gas sold.

“Measuring equipment meant to guarantee accuracy of quantity and sample collection for quality testing is either not available or used at terminals because DPR as a regulatory authority has not provided and enforced its usage were available.

“The manual method of arriving at quantity and sample collection is prone to error and can lead to

inaccurate records.

“Also, section 52(2) of the Regulation stipulates that ‘he Director of Petroleum Resources or an officer authorised by him shall have the right to be present whenever any such measurement or weighing take place. Interviews conducted with the Managing Directors and staff of PIAs and MEA revealed that Okono terminal does not have metering equipment since 2012.

“It also revealed that Ebok and Forcados terminals do not use the available metering equipment to measure quantity during Fiscalisaton and Defiscalisation exercise.”

However, the Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning in its response to the query as quoted by the report

The All Progressives Congress (APC) and the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Katsina State hurled brickbats at each other over the defection of 1,900 members from the latter to the former in Danmusa local government area of the state.

Danmusa is the local government of the immediate past Secretary to the State Government, Dr. Mustapha Muhammad Inuwa, who recently defected to the PDP alongside with his 627 political support groups.

However, a statement by the Director, Media and Publicity campaign council of the APC, Ahmed Abdulkadir, stated that 1,900 Inuwa's supporters crossed-

carpets from mainly the PDP and other parties into the APC. He stressed that the defectors, led by one of the prominent local government chairmen in Danmusa, Sani Abu Minista, were received by the state APC gubernatorial candidate, Dr. Dikko Umar Radda during a campaign rally in the area.

According to him, Minista led the complete structure of the PDP from each of the 11 wards of the local government area into the folds of the APC and donated an office complex for the APC activities.

But the media and publicity committee chairman of the Atiku/Lado 2023, Alhaji Kabir Yusuf Yar’Adua, described the 1,907 defectors as a rented crowd from other local governments that were paraded by

the meeting, that the framework which guides investment portfolio of NLNG which is referred to as “investment Protection Law of 1989" cum MOU was signed with investors and the Federal Government of Nigeria, Precludes NLNG's revenue from taxes, which they claimed to had been affirmed

by FMFB&NP, CBN and the Attorney General of the Federation with an additional clause to maintain status-quo. The interface is on-going.”

Also commenting on the nonusage of metering equipment at Export Terminal, the report quoted the ministry as saying that, “all terminal operators own the equipment needed at the terminal to measure quantity and quality of crude oil exports.”

TUC Laments Sufferings, Hardship in Nigeria Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja The Trade Union Congress (TUC) has said Nigerians have been facing severe hardship with the hyper-inflation in the country.

In its new year message issued yesterday, by TUC president, Festus Usifo, the congress lamented that Nigerians have faced various calamities and challenges in the last few years, with the situation unabating.

"The life of the Nigerian mases was made more difficult by hyper- inflation which notched above 20 per-cent, misery index which soared to all time high, hydra-headed unemployment and numerous unfulfilled promises.

"Sadly, Nigerians ended the year with another unnecessary death; that of Mrs Omobolanle Raheem, a pregnant lawyer whose promising life was eclipsed on Christmas Day by a trigger-happy

APC, PDP Bicker over Defection of 1,900 Members in Katsina

Francis Sardauna in Katsina

said that NLNG relied on the existing law which made it difficult to comply with demand by the auditor general.

“NLNG is relying on some guarantees/assurance in the existing law that established NLNG which they posited made it difficult for the company to comply with the Pre-Shipment Inspection Act No. 10 of 1996. The Ministry in order to redress the situation, convened a meeting between the officials of Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG), the Pre-Shipment Agent (PIA) Monitoring and Evaluation Agent (MEA) on Gas exports and representatives of the Ministry on the 13" October, 2021 and the issues presented, are being addressed by the Ministry.

“However, It was revealed from

the APC in Danmusa as defectors.

Yar’Adua, in a statement yesterday, also accused the ruling party of buying permanent voters cards (PVCs) from, "innocent electorates aimed at reducing the much anticipated victory of the PDP in the upcoming 2023 general elections."

He said: "Only recently the Independent National Electoral Commission in Katsina released a figure of 142,261 authentic registered voters in 10 local government security prone areas (Danmusa local government inclusive).

"How therefore APC gets its 1,900 decampees out of that figure? This is apart from those voters who were displaced by banditry and those who migrated and relocated

to other places.

"It therefore beats our imagination for the Director of APC campaign council to make such callous, unsubstantiated and biased judgement by reportedly conscripting such figures and arriving at the wrong conclusion.

"We are advising the APC in this respect to allow the electorate to make unbiased and correct judgement of their choice between APC and PDP and in relation to their performance from the top to the bottom in the last seven and a half years in the office.

"The PDP campaign council is calling all well-meaning Nigerians to remain vigilant and alert in our resolve to vote out APC in the 2023 general elections."

police officer.

"On a personal level, the over six million dynamic members of the TUC lost its former Secretary General Comrade Musa-Lawal Ozigi and our Kwara State Chairman, Comrade Akin Akinsola to the March 28, 2022 bandits train attack.

"It is to the resilience of Nigerians in restarting the Abuja-Kaduna train services on December 5, 2022 that our 2023 New Year Message is directed," he said.

While enumerating some of the key issues that are agitating the minds of Nigerian workers, Usifo said they included, insecurity, hyper-inflation, opposition to the removal of subsidy on imported petroleum products, restoration of sanity in the education sector, tackling corruption and enthroning good education.

"We cannot say that Nigerians have enjoyed good governance since the return of democracy in 1999. Our institutions and public resources have been mismanaged and human rights abused. Growth and development have eluded the country because there is hardly accountability on the part of the leadership.

"They abuse the system because they believe they do not need our votes to emerge. How wrong they are this time.

Nigerian workers will hold

elected government accountable henceforth as good governance is nonnegotiable moving forward," added Usifo.

On the general elections which is less than eight weeks away, the TUC said the elections would actually determine whether Nigerians learnt any lesson from previous elections and successive administrations.

"We appeal to Nigerians not to sell their votes, but elect leaders they can trust. This is the only veritable way of putting the country on the part of growth and development.

"Fellow Compatriots, we can give birth to a New Nigeria if we unite to demand good governance not just from the Buhari government but also from those who may win elections at state and national levels in 2023.

"We must demand a new trajectory of governance, assert our sovereignty over all those in government, hold governments at all levels to their constitutional duties and make them accountable to the Nigerian people.

"If we unite and are determined, the pains of 2022 can be replaced by gains in 2023.

We and our compatriots in the Labour Movement are ready to lead the populace in this charge towards the New Nigeria which we so richly deserve," it stated.

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Presidential Ticket: Okowa Didn’t Betray Anyone, Aide Reiterates Omo-Julius Onabu in Asaba The Chief Press Secretary to the Delta State Governor and VicePresidential candidate of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Mr. Olisa Ifeajika, yesterday, reiterated that, his principal, Ifeanyi Okowa, did not betray anyone during the party's presidential primary held last June.

Speaking at a news conference

in Asaba, Ifeajika said as a loyal party man, the governor heeded PDP's directives and decisions in all matters concerning the presidential convention.

He recalled that the Southern Governors' Forum, at a meeting in Asaba, resolved, and later reiterated at subsequent meetings in Lagos and Enugu to work towards the realisation of Southern Presidency.

He pointed out that Southern

Four Policemen Killed as Gunmen Attack Ohakim’s Convoy My attackers were not amateurs, says former Imo governor, laments deaths of his security officers Amby Uneze in Owerri Four policemen were killed yesterday as the convoy of a former governor of Imo state, Mr. Ikedi Ohakim was attacked by gunmen.

Ohakim escaped death by whiskers as the vehicle the four policemen were in was burnt by the assailants of the former governor.

The gunmen were said to have targeted the former governor but were not so lucky on their target but they succeeded in hitting the security vehicle in the convoy of the ex-governor.

Ohakim, governor of Imo state between 2007 and 2011, was attacked at Oriagu in the Ehime Mbano Local Government Area of the state. It was gathered that Ohakim was with two of his children and was returning from a visit when the gunmen struck.

A source close to the ex-governor disclosed that it took the brevity of the former governor’s driver for him to escape.

According to the reliable source, the former governor was the main target but his driver was smart enough to beat them because they were driving to block him.

"Disappointed that their main target had escaped, they blocked his backup vehicle and burnt it.

The four policemen with him were burnt.

“The fact that Ohakim is still alive today is a miracle. It is by the sheer grace of God and the smartness of his driver.

“Otherwise, he would have been a dead man by now.

“In frustration and disappointed that their main target had escaped, they blocked his backup vehicle and burnt it. The four policemen with him were burnt.”

Ohakim who managed to confirm the incident was sober.

He was able to escape because he was in a bulletproof vehicle.

Speaking in a telephone conversation with a low voice, he said his attackers were professionals and not amateurs.

Narrating what happened on phone at exactly 9.45 pm, the badly shaken governor said in a subdued voice that what happened was still like a dream.

“We were driving between Isiala Mbano and Ehime Mbano. These people blocked us at a place called Umualumaku.

“They attacked us from behind and were firing at our vehicles consistently. I thought I was a dead man and I was with two of my children – my son and daughter.

“What saved me was the bulletproof vehicle. That I am alive today is by the special grace of God and the bulletproof vehicle.

Continues online

Governors' Forum comprised members from various political parties, and that the resolution of the Forum was only a wish, which was not intended to be compulsory on all political parties.

According to him, when members of the forum returned to their various parties, decisions varied as each political party had different plans to approach the process of electing a presidential candidate.

"For us in PDP, the party told the governors that it may not go with their position, because we are in opposition and in order to get it right, the party set up a committee headed by Benue Governor, Samuel Ortom, to advise it appropriately on zoning of the ticket.

"The Ortom committee, in its wisdom, recommended that zoning be jettisoned to allow all aspirants to participate in the primary to

those who led the campaign that the party's chairmanship should go to the north because I believed the presidency should go to the south.

"I attended meetings of southern governors of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), and other parties from Delta to Lagos to Enugu states, where we agreed that presidency should come to the south."

The governor alleged that while the southern cross-party consultations were going on, there were people in PDP who were bent on frustrating the eventual zoning of the party's presidential ticket to the south.

Such people, he maintained, could not now turn around to blame him and Ortom in order to hide their evil scheme, to try to deceive Nigerians.

Wike said, "I woke up this morning and read where they said, how Wike and Ortom frustrated PDP's micro-zoning of presidential ticket to the South-east. That was what the PDP presidential candidate, Atiku, said.

"I keep on saying, they'll be contradicting themselves, telling lies up and down, thinking that Nigerians don't know. How can they say that I influenced Ortom, told him to allow and throw the ticket open?”

He explained further, "Nigerians know those who are opposed to zoning of the party's chairmanship first.

"And when the zoning committee was set up, this time, Atiku had gone to buy form to frustrate the recommendation of the zoning committee; so that when they have bought form, they could say, oh, there is no need of zoning, will you tell people to withdraw?"

Wike said it was noteworthy that the gimmick of those who frustrated the zoning plan was now hunting

voices against the party’s decision not to zone the ticket to any part and rise against it? They agreed to it, participated, only to start an agitation without foundation after a candidate had emerged.

"I see the G-5 governors' agitation as a distraction and I appeal to them to sheathe their sword and beat a retreat as quickly as possible to join the party’s rescue mission.

"They remain very senior members of PDP and they remain an important factor, because the next election is a low hanging fruit for the PDP to pick if we close ranks. We believe that Nigerians would vote for the party," he added.

On the G-5 governors agitation for the sack of Ayu, Okowa’s spokesman said it was a constitutional matter, which ought to be addressed at the appropriate time.

"In Rivers State, where Wike

holds sway as governor, the governorship candidate is from Rivers South and the Chairman of the party in the state is also from Rivers South. We didn't see Wike tell the party Chairman to step aside, because a governorship candidate emerged from same senatorial district with him.

"It becomes germane if Atiku emerges President and the party Chairman remains in office. There is no law that compels Ayu to resign, because the North has produced the presidential candidate, unless he decides to step aside on his own volition.

"One would have thought that having pursued the agitation without yielding results that they will beat a retreat but if they go ahead to endorse another candidate aside the PDP Presidential candidate, appropriate steps will be taken," he stressed.

PRESIDENCY: OBASANJO DESTABILISING INTERNAL DEMOCRACY “Former President Obasanjo is so well known to all that no one needs to describe who he is. But, four things we will like to say: One is that he will not stop attacking President Muhammadu Buhari, because the former President won’t stop being jealous of anyone, who beats him to a new record in the nation’s development process.

"President Buhari is ahead of Chief Obasanjo in all fields of national development and to do that is cardinal sin to Obasanjo, whose hallucinations tell him that he is the best ever to lead Nigeria and there will never be another one better than him.

“President Buhari just completed the world class edifice that is the Second Niger Bridge after three decades of failed promises. It is now awaiting commissioning.

"Obasanjo laid the sod for the bridge in his first term as elected President and work never started.

When he sought re-election for his second term in office, he returned to the site to turn the sod for the bridge the second time.

“When the Obi of Onitsha, forthright and scholarly, reminded him that he had done this in the past, Obasanjo told the foremost Southeast traditional ruler that he was a liar, in the full presence of the Chiefs and Oracles in his palace.

WIKE MOCKS ATIKU OVER OBASANJO’S ENDORSEMENT OF OBI Rt. Hon. Chibuike Amaechi, under whom the governor, a “so-called good product”, had served as Chief of Staff, supported his governorship ambition.

The PCC described Wike as a mole in the main opposition party working for the presidential candidate of All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Tinubu. It dismissed the recent alliance between the Rivers State governor and Tinubu as profane and based on treachery, saying both men are treacherous.

However, the Professor Pat Utomi-led Big Tent Coalition of political parties and civil society organisations described Obasanjo’s stance on Obi’s candidacy as the will of the Nigerian people.

That was as the LP presidential candidate promised to revolutionise agriculture and other productive ventures it elected president next year. He stated this in his New Year message to Nigerians.

Wike said a bad product was always difficult to sell, otherwise, Obasanjo would have endorsed Atiku. He urged the PDP presidential candidate to leave him out of party’s crisis.

Wike insisted that if Obasanjo refused to recommend Atiku, who had served with him, to Nigerians, but endorsed Obi, instead, then something must be fundamentally wrong with the former vice president’s character.

The Rivers State governor also took a swipe at those accusing him and Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State of frustrating the microzoning of the presidential ticket of PDP to the South-east. He said he had always believed and supported concerted effort towards ensuring that the presidency was zoned to the south.

Wike explained, "I was one of

enable the best to emerge.

"The committee presented its report to the party’s National Executive Committee (NEC),where it was agreed to open the presidential ticket to enable the best hands emerge as recommended.

"As far as we are aware, no member, including the governors or group protested the party’s decision.

They all acquiesced and accepted the party’s decision on zoning.

"There was no treachery anywhere, because no agreement was reached. The party's position prevailed and delegates at the presidential primary voted as they wished," he said.

Ifeajika said long after the primaries some persons were still talking about betrayal, and wondered where the G-5 governors were when the Ortom Committee presented its report.

"Why didn't they raise their

them because they were unfair to Nigerians.

He stated, "Yes, you don't like Ortom, no problems. I know my own, you don't like me, no problems.

But my state gave you the highest support in 2019, both with logistics and by votes.

"You can't deceive every Nigerian again. What I have stood for is equity, fairness and justice.

"So, saying that I and Ortom frustrated PDP micro-zoning to South-east is neither here nor there.

They know that they don't want presidency to come to the south."

Commenting on the road project, Wike expressed gratitude to God that the Odido community would get a modern road for the first time in their history during his administration.

He said given the joy expressed by the Odido people, it would be difficult to believe that they would cast their votes for candidates of any other party except PDP

Wike is Tinubu’s Mole in PDP, Says Atiku's Campaign

PDP responded swiftly to Wike's castigation of Atiku, describing him as a mole in PDP. It said Wike’s comments were akin to pot calling the kettle black, saying, “Wike himself, a so-called good product, has never been found worthy of any position by any of his predecessors.

“Governor Amaechi, whom he served as Chief of Staff never supported his governorship ambition for two principal reasons. First, he said at a town hall meeting in Port Harcourt in 2015 that ‘Nyesom Wike loves and worships money; he can betray anyone for money – nothing more, nothing less’ and, secondly, Continued on page 10

"Obasanjo lied to the Southeast to get their votes. President Buhari didn’t get their votes but built the bridge because he believed it is the right thing to do.

"Two, President Buhari had been bagging awards and encomiums for trying to do that which the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria says a leader should do: serve one, or a maximum of two terms and go.

“President Buhari has been stating and restating that he will supervise a better election than the one that brought him to office and to leave as and when due. Having tried tenure elongation and failed, Obasanjo’s fictitious mind must be telling him that he is the one under attack.

“But he is not on President Buhari’s radar because experience has shown, especially lately in West Africa, where there have been at least three successful coups and many other failed attempts, that third term or tenure elongation is a recipe for political instability.”

The presidency further noted that the totality of African leaders appointed Buhari the Anti-Corruption Champion of the continent, saying he could not have been declared an anti-corruption champion if he had meddled and bent the rules.

The statement added: "As an insight, the Aluminum Smelter Company of Nigeria, ALSCON, which was set up with $3.2 billion, was sold to a Russian firm, Russal,

for a paltry $130million. Delta Steel, which was set up in 2005, at a cost of $1.5billion, was sold to Global Infrastructure for just $30 million.

“ALSCON got back $120 million for the dredging of the Imo River, which was never carried out. Three, which is linked to the one above is the growing profile of President Buhari as the Champion of Democracy not only at home and in the West African subregion but the African continent as whole.

"As President, Obasanjo destabilised internal democracy by orchestrating impeachment after impeachment of governors who were not compliant with his highly imperial administration.As we said sometime back, Mr. Obasanjo’s tenure, 1999-2007, represented the dark days of Nigeria’s democracy due to a slew of assaults on the constitution.

"The former president deployed federal machinery to remove governors Joshua Dariye, Rashidi Ladoja, Peter Obi, Chris Ngige and Ayo Fayose from office. They were the then governors of Plateau, Oyo, Anambra, Anambra and Ekiti, respectively, unjustly removed using the police and secret service under his control.

"Under him, a five-man legislature met at 6:00 am and “impeached” Governor Dariye in Plateau; 18 members out of 32 removed Governor Ladoja of Oyo from office; in Anambra, APGA’s Governor

Obi was equally impeached at 5:00 a.m. by members who did not meet the two-thirds required by the constitution.

"Lawmaking powers of the Rivers State legislature were transferred to the federal parliament to punish Governor Amaechi for shifting his political alliance. Moreover, he damned the Supreme Court and unlawfully held back Lagos State revenues due from federal sources on account of his pettiness against Governor Bola Tinubu.

"On the other hand, in Washington a few weeks ago, the US President Joe Biden at a meeting with African Heads of States and Government, described President Buhari as a champion of democracy and role model for the leaders of African states.

"Clearly, Obasanjo has become even more jealous by adopting a vengeful attitude.

"Four, to say that ‘frying pan to fire’ is the situation in Nigeria at this time should be read to mean a personal experience to him and we know what that means. ‘Hell’ for Obasanjo is when a president, any president that comes after him refuses to be his own puppet, to do as he wishes on all matters and at all times.

"He then keeps attacking out of frustration. Obasanjo’s vengeful attitude towards President Buhari is the height of selfishness and little short of moral squalor."

MUSLIM LEADERS TO NIGERIANS: VOTE FOR CANDIDATE WHO'LL LEAD WITH FAIRNESS, JUSTICE special extraordinary meeting of its EGPC with a view to appraising the state of the Ummah, considering the reports of its various committees, and taking a position on the 2023 general election.

The meeting was presided over

by President-General of NSCIA and Sultan of Sokoto, His Eminence, Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar IV, and attended by Muslim leaders from across the country. The communique, which was jointly signed

by Secretary General of NSCIA, Professor Is-haq O. Oloyede, and Director of Administration, Zubairu Haruna Usman-Ugwu, directed all Muslims to pray fervently to the Almighty Allah for peace, security and wellbeing of Nigeria and for the success of the general election and the forthcoming population census.

It urged the security agencies to do more to protect the lives and properties of Muslims.

It said the authorities should bring the perpetrators of killings to justice.

Among the resolutions was that Muslims should collect their Permanent Voters Cards (PVCs), as it said were indications that many Muslims were yet to collect their cards.

The communiqué read, “Nigerians should freely choose the best candidates and vote those who will lead with justice, fairness and righteousness in line with our usual prayer, ‘O Allah, make the best of us our leaders, and don’t make the worst of us our leaders. Don’t make us, on account of our sins, be under those who will neither fear you nor be compassionate to us.’

"The federal government should ensure free, fair, peaceful and credible general elections in 2023 by

providing the necessary environment through adequate voter mobilisation and appropriate security measures.

"Nigerians should evolve a standard process of electing not only eligible candidates, but also suitable ones because the eligibility criteria are too general to the extent that unsuitable people ultimately get elected to the positions of authority.

In essence, there is an urgent need to raise the bar of leadership in Nigeria beyond basic qualifications.”

NSCIA added, "The committee condemned the negative activities of ‘accidental Imams’ and ‘emergency Sheikhs’ who promote hatred, disunity and dissension in their mosques and on the social media.

The committee also warned Muslims to be wary of their antics as they do not represent Islam or Muslims.

"As Muslims are being profiled and killed in what appears as ethnoreligious cleansing in the South-east by some non-Muslims, which is evident in the recent confessions by some individuals, the committee called on security agencies to do more to protect the lives and properties of Muslims and bring the perpetrators of such killings to justice."

In addition, the committee expressed concern about the general insecurity manifesting in terrorism, banditry, kidnapping and ritual killings all over country.

It urged the federal and state governments to work harder on securing Nigeria from the rampaging criminals.

NSCIA further urged the federal government to make available financial empowerment opportunities in the country and thereby tackle the challenges of poverty and unemployment in the society. It also enjoined

Muslims to key into the available opportunities.

"More Muslims should establish private universities for the educational development of Nigeria as a whole and Islam, in particular, because Muslim students in some private universities owned by non-Muslims are being subjected to religious victimisation and oppression,” it added.

NSCIA noted that the Supreme Court of Nigeria had affirmed the legality, legitimacy and rights of Muslims to hijab in compliance with Section 38, Subsection 1 of the Nigerian Constitution (as amended in 2011), which states, “Every person shall be entitled to freedom of thought, conscience and religion (either alone or in community with others, and in public and or in private) to manifest and propagate his religion or belief in worship, teaching practice and observance.”

Therefore, it urged Muslim women to feel free to wear their hijab, “and no person or institution should discriminate against them.”

Prominent Muslim leaders, who were at the meeting, included Deputy President General, NSCIA (South), Alhaji Rasaki Oladejo; Secretary General, NSCIA, Oloyede; former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Alh. Yayale Ahmed; Secretary-General of Jama’atu Nasril Islam (JNI), Dr. Khalid Aliyu; Executive Secretary of the Muslim Ummah of South-west Nigeria (MUSWEN), Professor Muslih T. Yahaya; many Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SANs); senior academics; traditional rulers; top executives; and other eminent personalities and leaders of Islamic organisations from different parts of the country.

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NEW YEAR SERVICE IN MARINA...

L-R: Provost’s warden, Cathedral Church of Christ Marina, Lagos, Mr. Yinka Shonekan; Provost, Very Rev. Dr. Bola Ojofitimi; Legal Secretary, Mrs. Tolulope Orhiwerei; Supervising Bishop for Lagos Diocese, Rt. Rev. Dr. James O. Odedeji; Registrar, Lagos Diocese, Mr. Segun Ajayi; Assistant Registrar, Gbenga Bello, and People’s Warden, Prince Dapo Opeaye, at the 2023 New Year Service in Marina, PHOTO: KOLAWOLE ALLI. Lagos...on Sunday .

Tariff Regulation Hindering New Investment in Gas Sector, Say Distributors Insist FG lacks funds to execute its ‘Decade of Gas’ programme Lament banks' unwillingness to lend for long-term financing Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja The Association of Local Distributors of Gas (ALDG) in Nigeria, an organisation which aims to deepen the utilisation of natural gas in the country, has said that government’s regulation of tariffs in the gas sector has continued to hinder new investment in the industry.

Chairman, Board of the ALDG and Managing Director of Falcon Corporation Limited, Prof. Joseph Ezigbo, speaking in the latest edition of the association’s publication, also maintained that the federal government cannot fund the much-talked-about ‘Decade of Gas’, reason the private sector must be encouraged to be on the driver’s seat.

Nigeria's gas industry, he argued, is plagued by numerous challenges, including legacy issues, and unfolding ones due to the current state of the industry and the impact of global events.

“Infrastructure is and has remained a key challenge. Nigeria has a gross inadequacy of gas infrastructure, and we are not seeing new investments coming into the space. There are of course many reasons behind this.

“A key issue is tariff regulation.

Regulated gas price limits investors’ confidence in the commercial viability of projects. The government still regulates the domestic price

of natural gas, an act that many industry players say promotes inefficiency as pegged prices are not reflective of actual costs.

“The tariffs must be cost reflective and accommodate acceptable investor returns, and in this regard, the market must be allowed to determine the acceptable and competitive tariff levels that encapsulate value chain cost from production, processing, transportation, and distribution,” he maintained.

The ALDG chairman also stated that cost and tenure of funding for gas infrastructure where available is also a major constraint, with local financing institutions struggling with the capacity to provide the quantum and tenure of funding required.

The Nigerian financing landscape, he argued, needs to transition to one where single digit and long term local currency credit can be accessed since gas infrastructure facilities are extremely capital intensive.

Within the ambit of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA), he opined that the implementation on of the Midstream and Downstream Gas infrastructure Fund (MDGIF) and other incentives for the development of gas infrastructure were critical to unlocking investment in the domestic natural gas market.

Ezigbo maintained that the right way to go is to bring the private sector into the realm of

ownership of the decade of gas programme being pursued by the federal government,.

“One clear thing is that the government does not have the resources, nor is its structure aligned enough to ensure continuity and timely delivery of the objectives of the programme.

“The government needs to allow for the gravitating toward a completely private sector-driven industry where its role remains at the level of oversight of the PIA provisions and its attendant regulations.

“Where the country is today and the many socio-economic headwinds we are grappling with, we need the private sector efficiency and capacity to come to play and enable the industry to move forward at a much faster pace,” he argued.

He pointed out that the fact that components used in the sector are mostly imported, considering the effect that exchange rates have on company cash flows and the wide disparity between the official and parallel rates, only serves to compound the challenges.

The liquidity crunch in the gasto-power value chain, he added, remains a huge concern, with the mounting debts as gas suppliers continue to suffer from payment defaults and liquidity constraints that erode investors' confidence.

“This is a major problem for the

gas sector given that power offtakes the bulk of gas delivered into the domestic market.

“There are many attendant challenges stemming from the general micro and macro environment, amongst which are inflation, insecurity, human

Former Minister of Youth and Sports Development and Kwara Central senatorial candidate for the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP), Mr. Bolaji Abdullahi has reiterated that his ‘big ideas’ slogan remains only a strategy to address the various challenges facing the nation and not for money to be doled out to woo electorate.

He, however, remarked that: "The primary job of a legislator is all about canvassing ideas to solve the many problems that confront our people and philanthropy cannot be a qualification for leadership."

Abdullahi who stated this in an open letter written to the Turaki of Ilorin and the All Progressives Congress (APC) senatorial candidate for Kwara Central senatorial for the forthcoming election, Mallam Saliu Mustapha on his recent video

comment against his slogan, made available to journalists yesterday, described Mustapha’s comment "as strange indeed and embarrassingly cynical no-thinking."

In the letter dated January 1, 2023, the ex-editor of THISDAY Newspapers said: "A few days ago, my attention was drawn to a video in which you attempted to draw a comparison between my concept of “Big Ideas” and what you claim as “impacts.

"You went on to say that you have passed the stage of ideas and you were now at the level of “impacts”. I have struggled since then to understand what you might possibly mean by this statement.

"I understand that people may have different ideas, or may accept or reject other people’s ideas. But I have never heard anyone say he no longer has a need for ideas; that

he has passed the level of ideas."

Abdullahi added, "Dear Turaki, contrary to your belief, most problems in life cannot be solved by throwing money around.

"It is ideas that move and rule the world. The entire human civilisation advances and is sustained by constant production of ideas.

"For example, Japan was almost wiped off the face of the earth in 1945. Without any meaningful natural resources, it had to rely solely on the power of ideas nurtured by heavy investment in education and health to resurrect itself from the ruins of the Second World War. "Now, Japan is one of the most developed countries on the planet.

This is why Barack Obama said that the greatest ‘natural’ resource that a country needs is what lies in the brains of its people, rather than in the ground under their feet.

he stated that opportunities exist for potential investors to play in Domestic Liquefied Natural Gas (DLNG), Compressed Natural Gas (CNG), Auto Gas/Natural Gas Vehicle (NGV), Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG), wholesale gas trading and natural gas distribution.

WIKE MOCKS ATIKU OVER OBASANJO’S ENDORSEMENT OF OBI that two Ikwerre sons should not rule the state consecutively to the exclusion of other sections of the state. But the man who preaches fairness today wanted to be governor regardless of whether it was fair to others or not.”

The main opposition party added, “Former Governor Rotimi Amaechi even stated at the convention of the apex Ikwerre body, Ogbako Ikwerre, in Emohua Local Government Area of Rivers State on December 31, 2013 that President Jonathan initially rejected Wike when he recommended him for ministerial appointment.

“Amaechi specifically stated, ‘He (Jonathan) rejected Wike and I begged President Jonathan several times and consistently because I wanted Wike to be appointed a minister. But today, Nyesom Wike has betrayed me for selfish reasons.’

“Even former Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, Prince Uche Secondus, and former Governor Celestine Omehia do not see Wike as presidential material.

Abdullahi: My 'Big Ideas' Slogan Strategy to Address Nation's Challenges Hammed Shittu in Ilorin

capacity constraints, and so on, which also have implications for gas development in Nigeria.

“These notwithstanding, several opportunities exist for potential players to fully harness as enabled by the PIA,” he stressed.

Despite the many challenges,

"Nigeria first discovered oil in 1956, two years ahead of the United Arab Emirates. Now, look where Nigeria is, and look where UAE is? By one estimate, Nigeria has earned about $116 trillion from its oil, UAE has earned much less.

"You know the difference sir?

At the time that a Nigerian head of state was declaring that money was not our problem but how to spend it, the leaders of UAE were spending their money to lay the foundation for what was to become one of the most developed countries on earth. That’s the power of big ideas."

He noted that, "From what you said in your video, you appear to think that charity is a development strategy or that philanthropy can take the place of well-thought-out government policies.

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“Indeed, if notable politicians and even predecessors of Wike from his home state do not see him worthy enough to lead Nigeria, he ought to sit down and reflect on his life rather than continue to taunt Atiku Abubakar who Obasanjo found worthy to be president in 2019, despite the many hurtful things he had said against Atiku in the past.

“And if Obasanjo decides not to support Atiku this time around, it is all well and good. Waziri is a man who does not bear grudges or wish people evil like Wike.”

PDP went further to explain that former United States President Barack Obama did not endorse his then Vice President Joe Biden in 2016. It noted that when the latter wanted to vie for the Democratic Party ticket, Obama endorsed Hillary Clinton.

It stated, “But in 2020, he endorsed Biden. Time and circumstances do change. Ironically, Wike cleverly ignored more salient issues in Obasanjo’s letter, which talks about how unfit the candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Bola Tinubu, is for the presidency.”

For the sake of emphasis, PDP said Obasanjo had stated, “Let me say straight away that ‘Emi Lokan’ (My turn) and ‘I have paid my dues’ are one and the same thing and are wrong attitude and mentality for the leadership of Nigeria now.

They cannot form the new pedestal to reinvent and to invest in a new Nigeria based on an All-Nigeria Government for the liberation and restoration of Nigeria.”

It alleged, “Wike cleverly decided to be silent on this aspect of Obasanjo’s letter because he is a mole working for the APC candidate.

He is clearly executing a part of their agreement to remain in PDP and demarket the party and her presidential candidate from within.

What he is doing now is the deal reached in London with Tinubu.

He thinks he can fool Nigerians.

“Unfortunately, he is not man enough to come out boldly to tell the world he is working for Tinubu.

Their unholy union is based on treachery, as they are both treacherous. Atiku will not be distracted

by Wike’s constant vituperations and childish tantrums. He needs to

grow up and stop trying to destroy the party he once claimed to love.”

Former President’s Endorsement Reflects Resolve of Voters, Says Utomi-led Group

In a related development, the Professor Pat Utomi-led Big Tent Coalition of political parties and civil society organisations described Obasanjo’s endorsement of the LP presidential candidate, Peter Obi, as the will of the electorate.

BigTent, an affiliate of LP, also commended Obasanjo for, “standing up for the Nigerian youth and majority of Nigerians, who shared similar sentiment, to endorse Peter Obi, presidential candidate of Labour Party.”

In a statement signed by its Director of Media and Communications, Charles Odibo, the coalition maintained that Obasanjo’s, “unambiguous endorsement of Peter Obi as the most credible and qualified presidential candidate for the February 2023 election, is a further affirmation of the popular views of majority of registered voters, as reflected in five independent polls conducted by four credible pollster organisations."

Odibo added, “By this exemplary act of rising above primordial sentiments and standing with the people, as is consistently reflected in the mood of the nation and published empirical surveys in the past four months, President Obasanjo has again displayed the characteristic frankness, which has long endeared him to the masses who still fondly remember his golden era as president of the country at the dawn of this democratic dispensation.

"Going into the election in February, we are confident that Peter Obi, who has built up an enthusiastic base over the past six months as widely indicated in the surveys has, through an organic ‘Obidient’ support base, rapidly scaled up our organisational infrastructure to capitalise on the campaign’s momentum that will inevitably lead to victory on February 25, 2023.”

Continued on page 27

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TUESDAY, ͻ˜ ͺ͸ͺͻ ˾ T H I S D AY

NEWS

AT STAKEHOLDERS DINNER AND INTERACTIVE FORUM FOR UBA...

L-R: Member of the House of Representatives, Nkanu East/West Federal Constituency, Hon. Nnoli Nnaji; deputy governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Enugu State, Barr.

Ifeanyi Ossai; governorship candidate, Dr. Peter Mbah, and Speaker of the Enugu State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Edward Ubosi, at the Stakeholders Dinner and Interactive Forum organised in honour of Mbah by the Oganiru Enugu East Senatorial District at the Base Event Centre in Enugu... recently

Atiku/Okowa Campaign Council: PDP More Comfortable with Endorsement of Nigerians Appeals to Wike, others to sheathe their swords PDP candidate will not stop former president’s honorarium, Melaye declares Group tackles Obasanjo, says Nigerians must avoid another shipwreck Chuks Okocha in Abuja Ripples of the former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s endorsement of the presidential candidate of Labour Party, Peter Obi continued yesterday as one of the spokesmen of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Presidential Campaign Council, Mr. Charles Aniagwu, yesterday insisted that the party was not bothered about the development.

He said while the party would have loved to have the endorsement of the former Nigerian leader like he did in 2019, the party was comfortable with the numerous endorsements from Nigerians across the country.

Speaking on AIT Television programme ‘Kakaaki’ yesterday, Aniagwu, who is also the Delta State Commissioner for Information, said Obasanjo was one leader that enjoys respect across the country, adding that the party was quite happy with the endorsements it had received from Nigerians which could be seen from the different rallies held thus far.

"We have organic convergence of Nigerians in all our rallies and at the end of the day their vote is what matters than any other thing.

"We would have loved to have Obasanjo's endorsement just like he did in 2019, when he endorsed and supported Atiku Abubakar because he believed that he had what it takes to take Nigeria out of the current situation.

"Democracy allows you the latitude to make choices and he has made his own choice and we do believe that most Nigerians are already making their own choices and from what we have seen Atiku is already favoured to win this election.

"We don't have any problem with Obasanjo endorsing anybody because that is his democratic right and you can't take it away from him, but Nigerians at the end of the day will make the ultimate choice of who governs them for the purpose of recovering Nigeria from where we are at the moment."

Aniagwu stressed that the party would not begrudge Obasanjo over the choice of Obi, rather it would

buoy the party to intensify engagements with relevant stakeholders across the country.

"The PDP presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar, his running mate, Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa and indeed our presidential campaign council are not ruffled because we do realise from the beginning that we are going into a contest.

"We knew it wasn't going to be a roller-coaster and that is why we have continued to interface with Nigerians across the six geopolitical zones.

"In this contest, nobody is an underdog and we do have respect for all candidates contesting this election but we do believe that we stand taller than any of the contestants.

"We are convinced that Nigerians would likely look in our direction because our presidential candidate and his running mate have got the credentials to be able to position our country and recover it from where we are at the moment.

"So, a former President under the PDP has decided to pitch his tent with another person is not something that will ruffle us, it will only strengthen us to further deepen our interface with Nigerians for them to understand that where we are headed that Atiku-Okowa are the only ones that have what it takes to lead Nigeria out of the woods," he said.

The presidential campaign spokesman said he was happy that Obasanjo in endorsing Atiku in 2019, then made it clear that the former vice president has the experience and had described him as, "the president for the time."

"I don't think anything has changed from his views about the capability of Atiku to address the many challenges confronting us today, the challenges have become more severe which requires a man that has got the experience and candour to be able to deal with these issues.

"Our brother Peter Obi was a member of the PDP until not too long ago before he joined the Labour Party, so we do not begrudge him if he now enjoys the support of former President Olusegun Obasanjo.

"Most Nigerians do know that based on the records of Atiku Abubakar and his running mate Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa in the last seven years that these are the individuals that have what it takes to be able to address the challenges of today.

"Atiku has got the reach both nationally and internationally to unify Nigeria and put it on a strong pedestal in the comity of nations and we are very much convinced that Atiku towers far above other presidential candidates and that is why we are looking forward to Nigerians endorsing us because theirs is the ultimate," Aniagwu added.

On the threat by G-5 governors to pitch tent with another presidential candidate other than that of the PDP, Aniagwu said the party would continue to appeal to them to sheathe their sword and join hands to deliver on its rescue mission.

He said Wike's actions in recent times were inimical to democratic norms and ethos and pleaded with the Rivers governor to respect the democratic rights of citizens of the state to freely support their preferred candidates without hindrance.

"We will continue to plead with our leaders who are members of the G-5 because we believe that working with us will smoothen our ride to Aso Rock Presidential Villa.

"We also recognise their democratic rights to make choice, but as they do so, they must recognise the role the party has played in their lives and that is why we are asking them to sheath their sword and return home.

"Much as we desire that there should be peace in the party, a peaceful Nigeria is much more than any group and PDP being a group is desirous of a peaceful Nigeria," He urged governor Wike to thread softly in Rivers, adding that his recent actions strangulating opposition views in the state was not good for democracy.

"Revocation of Certificate of Occupancy of those who tend to have divergent views with him is not in line with democratic norms and principles.

"Hounding members of the party that don't agree with him is not also in line with democratic ethos and so while we allow him to have his own choice, he should

respect the rights of those who gave him the power which is of course transient and would be over in five months’ time.

"If Wike doesn't like Atiku and Okowa he should think about what the party has done for him right from when he became Chairman of Obiakpo Local Government Council to becoming two time governor of oil-rich Rivers state.

"Let him respect the fact that the party has done well for him and return home to help the party to win the election.

"This is important because where we are now is not a period for acrobatics but a period to begin to rebuild, recover Nigeria and doing so we need to march together in one accord as members of the PDP which is the only party that is well positioned to lead Nigeria out of the woods," he stated.

Also, on Facebook page, the spokesperson of the PDP PCC and Director of Public Affairs, Dino Melaye said: "God will keep Obasanjo alive, and he will attend council of state meetings with Atiku Abubakar as President and Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces Of The Federal

Republic Of Nigeria.

"I also want to assure him that his honorarium will be paid," Melaye added.

OBJ's Endorsement: Nigerians Must Avoid Another Shipwreck, Group Says

In a related development, SouthWest Political Group, the Conscience Bureau (CB) has declared that only Atiku could be trusted with the onerous task of salvaging Nigeria presently.

It called on Nigerians to discountenance Obi’s endorsement

by Obasanjo, stating that Nigerians must be wary of such move.

The group, in a statement recalled that when the All Progressives Congress (APC) led by Bola Tinubu and its other leaders went to seek Obasanjo's endorsement for then Muhammadu Buhari's presidential ambition on December 13, 2013, Nobel Laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, acting on his premonition, had warned that such an endorsement could lead the nation to a shipwreck.

Continues online

Diri Signs 2023 Budget, Contributory Pension Bills into Law Olusegun Samuel in Yenagoa Bayelsa State Governor, Senator Douye Diri, has signed the 2023 appropriation bill of N389.37 billion into law.

He also signed a bill on the state’s Contributory Pension Scheme for civil servants, local government workers and political appointees.

Presenting the two bills for assent at the Government House in Yenagoa, Speaker of the House of Assembly, Abraham Ingobere, explained that the state and local government workers would be required to contribute eight per cent of their salaries toward their retirement, while the state government and local government councils as their employers would contribute 10 per cent on their behalf.

Also, he noted that political office holders were expected to contribute 10 per cent of their salaries while

the state government and local government councils contribute 15 per cent on their behalf upon their retirement or disengagement from the service.

On the 2023 budget, Ingobere said the initial amount presented to the assembly for consideration was N385.21 billion, but after consultation with ministries, departments and agencies, the figure was increased by N4 billion bringing the total amount to N389.37 billion for the 2023 fiscal year.

While assenting to the bills, Diri said the contributory pension law would put an end to the long delay and harrowing experience retirees go through before receiving their gratuities and other entitlements.

The governor stressed that the pension scheme had to be backed by law because of its importance, which he noted would outlive his administration.

According to him, the scheme covers all employees of the state as well as political office holders both at the state and local government levels.

He noted that through the contributory and collaborative approach, the scheme provides that the employer shall contribute 10 per cent of their consolidated monthly salaries while the employee shall contribute eight per cent of the consolidated monthly salary as provided by the third schedule of the law.

Diri assured workers that government would ensure that proper machinery was put in place to engage only reputable pension fund administrators to manage the funds in accordance with pension regulations.

He said: “Upon assumption of office, we discovered that some of our elder statesmen that had served

our state meritoriously over the period had died without collecting their gratuity. Most of them have been owed in arrears to the tune of billions of naira. “l sat with my team to fashion out a way to pay off these elder statesmen. What we are doing is a policy of government and we thought it needed to be backed by law. That was why we sent an Executive Bill to the House of Assembly to cater for our retirees."

He equally assured that over N28 billion arrears would be paid off within the first tenure of his administration.

"When we assumed office (in February 2020), a minimum of N200 million monthly was made available for the payment of gratuities and we have been doing that faithfully. And in some months, we increased it to N500 million.

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Tuesday January 3, 2023 Vol 27. No 10117

opinion@thisdaylive.com

www.thisdaylive.com

A LETTER TO THE G5 GOVERNORS It is important to endorse Peter Obi for President, urges ETIM ETIM

See page 17

ANAP/NOI PRESIDENTIAL POLLS: SCIENCE OR POLITICS? JOSHUA J. OMOJUWA canvasses rigour and scientific integrity in the polls

See page 17 EDITORIAL

NIGERIA AND THE POPULATION QUESTION

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Politicians should work to diminish the appeal of Japa as verb by addressing those things that give resonance to the noun, writes CHIDI ANSELM ODINKALU

JAPA: THE VERB THAT BECAME A NOUN HEADACHES

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As Nigeria prepares for a seminal vote in 2023, one surprise is that Japa is not getting more attention as a political issue. A country being emptied of its most talented has to worry for its long term sustainability

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TUESDAY JANUARY 3, 2023

It is important to endorse Peter Obi for President, urges ETIM ETIM

A LETTER TO THE G5 GOVERNORS +DSS\ 1HZ <HDU <RXU ([FHOOHQFLHV /HW criterion that the G5 governors should me begin by acknowledging that your pay a particular attention to in making public statements and political activities their choice. In our recent history, we have in the last few months have enraptured seen cases of Nigerian Presidents whose national attention and kept us in suspense. SHUIRUPDQFH LQ R΀FH KDV EHHQ KDPSHUHG The formation of the G5 Governors is one by ill health. President Yar’Adua died in of the biggest political events of 2022. The R΀FH DQG HYHQ EHIRUH WKDW KH ZDV FOHDUO\ IDFW WKDW WKH ÀYH RI \RX FROOHFWLYHO\ JRYHUQ not a healthy man. President Buhari no fewer than 35 million Nigerians and EDWWOHG LOO KHDOWK VRRQ DIWHU KH WRRN R΀FH some 12 million registered voters makes and was hospitalized for seven months you the single most powerful political only two years after he was sworn in. The bloc in this election season. When G5 costs of taking care of a sick president are speaks, the nation listens and the PDP HQRUPRXV ERWK LQ GLUHFW H[SHQVHV RQ WKH VKLYHUV <RXU OHDGHU *RYHUQRU 1\HVRP WUHDVXU\ DQG LQ WKH IUDXGV DEXVH RI R΀FH Wike, has been particularly inspiring and and national paralysis that transpire in his audacious. His achievements in Rivers absence. The polity goes into some kind of palsy when the president goes abroad on a medical trip, and speculations, intrigues and rumors that play out daily in the corridors of power suck the energy out of the administration. Obi and Baba$KPHG DUH WKH \RXQJHVW DQG WKH ÀWWHVW pair in this race; they are educated and SRVVHVV WKH HQHUJ\ OHYHO WKDW LV UHTXLUHG to tackle our huge problems. In addition, the Obi candidacy has inspired and drawn a lot of youthful Nigerians into politics this season - over 40 million new voters, mostly those aged 30 and below, have registered to vote. For them, Obi RͿHUV DQ DOWHUQDWLYH WR WKH ROG FRUUXSW 6WDWH DQG SHUVRQDO FKDUP KDYH H[FLWHG incompetent and decrepit order that has held the nation down for 60 years.

PDQ\ DQG SXW RͿ PDQ\ RWKHUV DV ZHOO Among the agenda of the G5 <RXU ([FHOOHQFLHV , DP XVXDOO\ QRW *RYHUQRUV WKH SXVK WR KDYH WKH QH[W persuaded by ethnic bias in most of our president of Nigeria come from the national issues, but I believe in the strong VRXWKHUQ SDUW RI WKH FRXQWU\ H[FLWHV PH need to strengthen our bond of unity as Our polity and democracy would be a federation and respect our diversity further strengthened if our union is more DV D FRPSOH[ DQG SOXUDOLVWLF FRXQWU\ inclusive and embracing of the nation’s But I don’t ever want competence diversity. The Southern Governors to be compromised on the platter of Forum had met in Asaba in May last inclusiveness. I am a proud Ibibio man, year and unanimously canvassed for but I will never choose an incompetent the presidency to shift to the South after Ibibio fellow over a more competent and eight years of the Buhari administration. capable compatriot from another ethnic <RXU ([FHOOHQFLHV KLVWRU\ ZLOO YLQGLFDWH group. In this race, I believe that Peter Obi you for the principled position you have is as competent and capable as the other taken to insist on the presidency coming contenders, if not better, and at the same to the South. It would be a travesty of our time, his ethnicity makes a compelling multiplicity as a federation to have two case for his election. It is time to have a presidents of Fulani origin back-to-back competent, capable and well-prepared in a pluralistic country of over 250 ethnic President from the South East for all the right reasons. The fabric of our nationhood nationalities.

As I write, the G5 Governors are meeting would be further strengthened.

LQ /RQGRQ WR WDNH D ÀQDO GHFLVLRQ RQ ZKLFK In 1999, this nation bent over of the Presidential candidates they would backwards and chose a President from endorse, and there are speculations that WKH 6RXWK :HVW MXVW WR DVVXDJH WKH DQ[LHW\ their choice would be announced early in apprehensions and tensions of those the new year, presumably on Thursday, days. It is now time to act to prove that no January 5. Of the four main candidates, part of this country is less important than two are Southerners, and that means the others. If I were not convinced that Obi choice before the G5 is between Peter Obi was a knowledgeable and capable Igbo and Bola Tinubu. I wish to respectfully call man, believe you me, I wouldn’t support on the G5 governors to support Peter Obi him. If Obi had been as little as accused for President. I have my reasons. Obi is of corruption in the past; suspected of the only one of the main contenders who engaging in illegal bunkering or theft has never been associated with any case of our crude oil; or accused of dealing of corruption and theft of public funds; in narcotics or any illegal or immoral and in a country where graft is a major activities, I would never support him, and SUREOHP WKLV LV VLJQLÀFDQW $V ZH DOO NQRZ would never recommend him to the G5. corruption erodes the trust we have in the He is one of the most decent politicians public sector and drains the resources that in this country, and one of the few former would have been used to build a better governors who have never been accused VRFLHW\ DQG HQKDQFH WKH TXDOLW\ RI OLYLQJ or convicted of any crime. Peter Obi is Development economists have over not a saint, and I am actually not looking WKH \HDUV HVWDEOLVKHG D QH[XV EHWZHHQ for one. But compared to the others in corruption and underdevelopment, the race, he looks like an angel. Even his insecurity, poverty and unemployment. opponents have not found anything to Peter Obi and his running mate, Senator tar him with. I therefore appeal to the Datti Yusuf Baba-Ahmed, stand out as the G5 Governors to endorse Peter Obi for cleanest pair in this presidential race and 3UHVLGHQW DQG WRJHWKHU ZH VKDOO ÀJKW WR WKH\ KROG RXW WUXVW FRQÀGHQFH DQG KRSH restore the glory of our country. for millions of our people.

The health and physical stamina of Etim is a Journalist and member of the the candidates is another important APC

JOSHUA J. OMOJUWA canvasses rigour and scientific integrity in the polls

ANAP/NOI PRESIDENTIAL POLLS: SCIENCE OR POLITICS? All of us are blind but some of us are more blind than the rest of us. At the height of the HIV epidemic, researchers wanted to know ZKDW PHDVXUHV PHQ ZLWK D VSHFLÀF VH[XDO orientation were taking to avoid contacting the virus. They asked respondents whether they always carried condoms around as a preventive measure. Many said they did. Things took D GLͿHUHQW WXUQ ZKHQ WKH UHVHDUFKHUV WKHQ asked the men to show the condoms they were carrying at that point. It turned out there were fewer people with condoms compared to the men who said they always had one with them. This phenomenon is called the social desirability bias - SDB. The sort of answers

SHRSOH JLYH WR TXHVWLRQV WR IHHO JRRG DERXW WKHPVHOYHV DQG RU WR ÀW LQWR D JURXS RU WR EH perceived in a certain way.

The ANAP/NOI polls have generated substantial conversation. The APC rejected it saying most of its voters were grassroots people who were not captured by the poll.

The PDP called it a hatchet job. NNPP’s Rabiu .ZDQNZDVR NQRFNHG WKH ÀUVW SROO +H KDV QRZ gone from being a ‘dark horse’ to being part of a four-horse race. The Labour Party accepted the result. You would not need a survey to predict these reactions. Politicians, like most people, generally agree with results that favour WKHP EXW ÀQG D ZD\ WR NQRFN WKH UHVXOWV WKDW do not. But this is not about politicians and the SUHGLFWDEOH UHDFWLRQV LW·V DERXW WKH VFLHQWLÀF credibility of these polls.

A poll is a work of research, objectivity is a crucial element. Let’s put the ANAP/NOI polls to the same test one would put any such poll.

How much care was being taken to ensure WKHVH SROOV ZHUHQ·W ELDVHG" 7KH EHWWHU VXFK FDUH the more trustworthy the poll. %RWK SROOV VXͿHUHG IURP QRQUHVSRQVH ELDV Nonresponse is a situation where there is a substantial number of people who do not respond to a survey, when compared to those who responded. In the September ANAP/NOI poll, 32% of the respondents were said to be undecided whilst 15% preferred not to reveal their choice. The poll could not show how a whopping 47% of the respondents would vote. In the December 2022 poll, undecided voters had reduced to 29% of respondents whilst the non-response had jumped to 23%, both accounting for 52% of respondents. Even if their sampling process was perfect, can 480 people predict the behaviour of 93.5 million SRWHQWLDO YRWHUV" The ANAP statement signed by its founder, Mr. Atedo Peterside, suggested that respondents refusing to disclose who they were voting was historically suggestive of fear of voter intimidation. He noted that the South-West’s 38% compared to the national range of 14-23% could be indicative of voter intimidation. In essence, the pollster was

claiming that its respondents chose not to reveal their choice of candidate because of fear of intimidation. If your respondents do not feel safe enough to choose from your options, your poll is already biased.

INEC and the Nigerian government are responsible for the conditions around the election, but polling organisations are traditionally responsible for the conditions of their research process. If the organisation UHÁHFWHG RQ WKLV LQVWHDG RI H[WHUQDOLVLQJ WKH cause, it would see that nonresponse and the high number of supposedly undecided voters had something to do with its PHWKRGRORJ\ ,W FDQ À[ WKHVH IRU VXEVHTXHQW SROOV EXW ÀUVW LW PXVW DFFHSW UHVSRQVLELOLW\ Other sources of bias include; how were WKH TXHVWLRQV DQG RSWLRQV ZRUGHG" ,I \RX repeatedly placed a candidate at the top RI \RXU TXHVWLRQ ZKLOVW SODFLQJ DQRWKHU repeatedly at the bottom, that is a biased process. Randomising the options would reveal a more credible result, ceteris paribus.

What issues were top of the news when the SROOV ZHUH FRQGXFWHG" ,I D FDQGLGDWH ZDV trending for the wrong reasons during the poll, the process is already biased against such candidate. The same applies, mutatis mutandis, if a candidate was enjoying a great press run.

Were the respondents primed before EHLQJ DVNHG WKHLU RSWLRQV" ,I , VWDUWHG RXW DVNLQJ IRU H[DPSOH LI D UHVSRQGHQW KDG seen the 2nd Niger Bridge, before asking them to choose from a pool of candidates, I would be biasing the respondent towards the incumbent party. The reverse would apply if I asked them what they thought of banditry before asking them who they would vote for. From the released statement and the subject matters mentioned by Mr. Peterside, priming is suspected. How UDQGRP ZDV WKH SROOLQJ VDPSOH" :KDW measures were put in place to avoid a VHOHFWLRQ ELDV" Mr. Peterside has been seen to back LP candidate and two-time winner ofANAP/ NOI Presidential poll, Mr. Peter Obi, to run for president. It is not impossible for him to hold such a partisan position yet OHDG D QRQ SDUWLVDQ HͿRUW HVSHFLDOO\ LI WKH SODWIRUPV FRQGXFWLQJ VXFK HͿRUW DUH VHHQ to have a strong corporate governance VWUXFWXUH WR EH DEOH WR UHÁHFW YLHZV other than that of their founder. The NOI Poll website shows only one man on its board. ANAP on its part has nine advisory board members, an impressive 5/4 male/female representation. What is not impressive about this board is selfHYLGHQW ÀYH 3HWHUVLGHV DQG IRXU RWKHUV What is not self-evident is revealed by the fact that of the four advisory board members who aren’t ‘Peterside’, at least two return obvious google results that FRQFOXVLYHO\ UHÁHFW WKH IDFW WKDW $1$3 is too in-house to be trusted with such matters as a presidential poll. You need diversity to conduct the sort of poll intended for the Nigerian public. I hope this will be addressed in the future constitution of these boards.

All of us are blinded by biases, but those who are aware of their biases are likely to see a lot better. It is my hope that ANAP/NOI does a better job of its VXEVHTXHQW SROOV 7KH SDWK WR D EHWWHU 1LJHULD UHTXLUHV ULJRXU VHULRXVQHVV DQG VFLHQWLÀF LQWHJULW\ DW HYHU\ OHYHO © Joshua J. Omojuwa

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T H I S D AY

TUESDAY JANUARY 3, 2023

EDITORIAL

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

NIGERIA AND THE POPULATION QUESTION Policymakers should sit up and address the population problem

T

social services, there are no policy measures to address he Minister of State for Health, Joseph the demographic danger beyond going on a borrowing Ekumankama, became the latest binge without repayment plan. It is a simple economic person to express concerns about the fact that population growth that is not matched with implications of Nigeria’s demographic commensurate development in the socio-economic trend. Ekumankama noted at the seventh sector and education for the citizenry can only breed Nigeria Family Planning Conference that chaos.

ZLWKRXW HͿHFWLYH SRSXODWLRQ SROLFLHV WR 7KH &HQWUDO %DQN RI 1LJHULD &%1 GLUHFWRU 0RVHV reduce the high fertility rate, Nigeria will be saddled Tule noted not long ago that Nigeria’s population with a projected population of about 400 million by had become a liability and would remain so unless it 2050. “It will then mean that rapid population will expands its economic base by stimulating the economy put substantial pressure on the country’s capacity to and producing the needed goods and services to sustain provide quality social services such as food, clinics, it. Figures available paint a dire situation of millions of and adequate sanitation and other basic needs,” Nigerian youths roaming Ekumankama stated. the streets looking for work Indeed, Nigeria has EXW ÀQGLQJ QRQH 0RUH WKDQ a lot to worry about a dozen million children A sustainable society is one with moderate population growth that concerning a population are also not in school. The that continues to bulge enables its members to achieve a high quality of life situation is compounded exponentially, at a period by the prevailing economic the nation is ranked condition in which rather among the poorest in than hire, many private the world. Meanwhile, HQWHUSULVHV QRZ ÀUH according to the latest WKHLU VWDͿ LQ WKH QDPH RI ÀJXUH E\ WKH $VVRFLDWLRQ T H I S D AY rationalisation.

IRU WKH $GYDQFHPHQW RI )DPLO\ 3ODQQLQJ $$)3 EDITOR SHAKA MOMODU The danger of such a high level of idleness among the number of Nigerian women using modern DEPUTY EDITORS WALE OLALEYE, OBINNA CHIMA millions of young persons is already manifesting in contraceptive methods is 12 per cent while 19 per cent MANAGING DIRECTOR ENIOLA BELLO the high level of crimes in virtually every corner of the others lack such access for reasons ranging from lack DEPUTY MANAGING DIRECTOR ISRAEL IWEGBU country. Whereas the multitude of violent outbursts CHAIRMAN EDITORIAL BOARD OLUSEGUN ADENIYI of contraceptives to ignorance and religious beliefs. The EDITOR NATION’S CAPITAL IYOBOSA UWUGIAREN might have religious and ethnic colorations and $$)3 FKDLUPDQ (MLNH 2ML DFNQRZOHGJHG WKDW WKH ORZ MANAGING EDITOR BOLAJI ADEBIYI undertones, it is a notorious fact that most of the people utilisation of family planning services has contributed, THE OMBUDSMAN KAYODE KOMOLAFE LQ WKH ÀHOGV DQG WUHQFKHV DUH \RXWKV ZKR LI RWKHUZLVH among other things, to a high total fertility rate of an meaningfully engaged would have been unavailable average of six children per woman which contributes for those anti-social endeavours. Joblessness and to the rapid population growth rate of 3.2 per cent, frustrations are evidently fuelling the frequent cases of T H I S D AY N E W S PA P E R S L I M I T E D and which “impacts negatively on the country’s unrest across the country.

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF/CHAIRMAN NDUKA OBAIGBENA development and health situations.”

GROUP EXECUTIVE DIRECTORS ENIOLA BELLO, KAYODE KOMOLAFE, Nigeria must thus sit up to address the growing $W WKH SUHVHQW UDWH RI JURZWK DQG DV ULJKWO\ REVHUYHG ISRAEL IWEGBU, IJEOMA NWOGWUGWU, EMMANUEL EFENI population problem. First, we must do a credible head by the minister, Nigeria’s population is expected to DIVISIONAL DIRECTORS SHAKA MOMODU, PETER IWEGBU, count, stripped of politics to stop the dependence on double in less than 30 years, thus becoming the third ANTHONY OGEDENGBE LQWHUQDWLRQDO DJHQFLHV IRU ´HVWLPDWHGµ ÀJXUHV $FFXUDWH most populous country in the world after China DEPUTY DIVISIONAL DIRECTOR OJOGUN VICTOR DANBOYI head count will aid planning. Besides, a sustainable and India. Yet, a combination of sustained negative SNR. ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR ERIC OJEH society is one with moderate population growth that ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR PATRICK EIMIUHI economic growth and an uncontrolled demographic EXOJH KDV SXW WKH FRXQWU\ LQ D YHU\ GL΀FXOW DQG CONTROLLERS ABIMBOLA TAIWO, UCHENNA DIBIAGWU, NDUKA MOSERI enables its members to achieve a high quality of life. It DIRECTOR, PRINTING PRODUCTION CHUKS ONWUDINJO is time for a policy to tame the country’s uncontrolled SRWHQWLDOO\ H[SORVLYH VLWXDWLRQ $QG DV WKH SRSXODWLRQ TO SEND EMAIL: first name.surname@thisdaylive.com population growth. continues to rise amid decaying infrastructure and

Letters to the Editor Letters in response to specific publications in THISDAY should be brief (150-300 words) and straight to the point. Interested readers may send such letters along with their contact details to opinion@thisdaylive.com. We also welcome comments and opinions on topical local, national and international issues provided they are well-written and should also not be longer than (750- 1000 words). They should be sent to opinion@thisdaylive. com along with photograph, email address and phone numbers of the writer.

LETTERS HAPPY 85TH BIRTHDAY TO NEWTON JIBUNOH His beaming smile is his trademark but more importantly his heart of gold and spirit of adventure stands him out. I must say his zest for life is breathtaking and legendary as he continues to shine like the lush dales RI $NZXNZX ,JER Dr Newton Jibunoh started life with a lot of uncertainties with the loss of his mother and father months after in an accident in the 40s. The uncertainty became mammoth when his dearest sister that was the only companion and compass passed, but his sense of loneliness only birthed an unending adventure

that will spur him to greater things.

When nobody gave him a chance, he gave himself one, following the stars that only leads to greatness, earning a degree in Engineering and also doing the unthinkable and traveling back home through the desert LQ WKH V LQ $IULFD +H KDV VLQFH conquered the desert and become the true desert warrior and campaigner for environmental causes.

He always will say we are put on earth for a reason and the universe has been here before us. So relax, he says, with lovely smile, so infectious to make hearts melt.

Newton is a man of the people and his friends are unique from 20-year - old to 90-year- old.

Everyone is always bright and beautiful with him and he is skilled in making everyone feel LPSRUWDQW 2QH WKLQJ VR DPD]ing is his heart. I swear you can feel he has a good spirit once you meet him; I met him10 years ago in Eko Hotel and we chatWHG IRU ÀYH PLQXWHV DQG KH ZDV convinced enough to make me his Master of Ceremonies for his 75th Birthday. That friendship has lasted over 10 years and it

NHHSV VKLQLQJ OLNH WKH VXQÁRZer, his grace is graceful. I must add his scent of humanity is warm like the Eucalyptus.

I told him two days ago at dinner that I will see him at 95, which is10 years’ time and he smiled saying, God willing. I must confess men like Newton DUH KDUG WR ÀQG OLNH KH RQFH DXtographed for me in a book saying, “Rufai friends like you are KDUG WR ÀQGµ Rufai Oseni, gmail.com

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19

T H I S D AY ˾TUESDAY JANUARY 3, 2023

POLITICS

Acting Group Politics Editor DEJI ELUMOYE Email: deji.elumoye@thisdaylive.com (08033025611 SMS ONLY)

Beyond Osinbajo’s Recent Visit to Tinubu Vice President Yemi Osinbajo recently visited the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Asiwaju BolaTinubu, in a show of solidarity as the February 25, 2023 presidential poll draws nearer, Adedayo Akinwale writes

I

n what appears to be a political realignment of forces, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo last week visited the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Tinubu at his Abuja residence.

This will be the first visit Osinbajo was paying Tinubu since the party’s presidential primary was concluded in June, 2022.

Osinbajo contested for the APC presidential ticket in spite of pressure on him to step down for Tinubu. Since the conclusion of the party primary, the vice president has not made any comment in support of Tinubu fuelling speculations of frosty relationship between the duo, who were of the same political family in Lagos.

However, last week’s visit was coming less than 60 days to the February 25 presidential poll, in a clear show of solidarity by the Vice President to his erstwhile political benefactor who is contesting for the presidency of the country, his life long ambition.

The planned but impromptu visit was coming six months after the party’s Presidential primary that produced Tinubu as the party’s candidate.

At about 7 pm last Wednesday, the Vice President in company of a few of his personal aides visited Tinubu, in what many party members saw as a sign of a good development having maintained distance after losing the primary.

Investigation revealed that the meeting between the duo which was held behind closed doors lasted for almost an hour.

Prior to the meeting, it was a rude shock that Osinbajo, a pastor at the Redeemed Christian Church of God had maintained a graveyard silence following the decision of Tinubu to pick a fellow Muslim from the North East and a former Governor of Borno state, Senator Kashim Shettima, as his running mate.

His refusal to comment on the issue till the whole hullabaloo died down was interpreted by political watchers as a deliberate attempt

Osinbajo

Tinubu

by Osinbajo who was torn between two walls. While he doesn’t want to betray his faith, he doesn’t want to be seen as kicking against the choice of Tinubu to float a MuslimMuslim ticket.

When the presidential campaign council list of the ruling party was finally released, it was a rude shock that Osinbajo’s name and that of some prominent christians leaders within the party were missing due to their stand against same faith ticket.

With their names missing on the campaign council list, tongues were set wagging, a development that forced the spokesperson of the campaign council, Festus Keyamo, to issue a statement justifying the omission.

He had explained that the exclusion of Osinbajo from the council was deliberate and was directed

by President Muhammadu Buhari.

Keyamo added that apart from Osinbajo, the President also ordered the exclusion of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Boss Mustapha.

He dismissed apprehension over Osinbajo’s exclusion from the campaign council as needless because there was no cause for concern.

The Minister of state for Labour had said: “Our attention has been drawn to some stories making the rounds that there may be something amiss within the family of the All Progressives Congress as the name of our own revered and respected Vice-President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo is not included in the list of the Tinubu/ Shettima Presidential Campaign Council.

“Nothing can be farther from the facts. For the avoidance of doubt, President Muhammad is the Chairman of the Campaign Council. As a result, Mr. President has specifically directed that the Vice-President and the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Mr. Boss Mustapha should be left out of the Campaign Council to concentrate on the governance of the country and administration of Government.”

Keyamo pointed out that as a responsible party and government, all the key functionaries of government cannot abandon their positions for electioneering campaigns, saying the APC has the mandate of the Nigerian people to administer the country on their behalf at least till May, 29, 2023, and this it intends to do with all sense of responsibility.

He said the ruling party would not tow the path of those who governed the country in an irresponsible manner before, adding that the APC was not in total disarray like those who wish to ‘rescue’ the country, but cannot simply manage their own internal affairs.

For what it’s worth, the President, for the umpteenth time, assured of his readiness to campaign for Tinubu and all party candidates with full energy and conviction in the 2023 elections.

The Senior Special Assistant to the President, Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu, in a statement said this was to dispel expressed concerns in certain quarters that the President has not featured in campaigns since the national launch in Jos, Plateau State capital.

Buhari pointed out that while he remains committed to party politics, the functions and duties of the President will equally be upheld at all times.

The President noted that the APC campaigns have so far been the most aggressive in recent history. He expressed strong optimism that the party will win all the elections fairly and squarely.

But while Buhari appears to be too busy with state matters which has kept him away from the party’s campaign, he had always created time for his foreign engagement, a situation that made the statement issued by the presidency less convincing.

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

Okupe: Travails of An Ex-Presidental Spokesperson Emameh Gabriel chronicles the developments that culminated in the sentencing by an high court sitting in Abuja of a former Presidential spokesperson and a staunch member of the Labour Party, Dr Doyin Okupe, to two-years imprisonment

“D

ear Peter, You will recall that I briefed you yesterday about my personal travails in seeking justice and clearing my name using the Nigerian Legal System to pursue same.

“I have invested too much in your campaign to allow my personal travails to become a source of distraction. In the circumstances, I have opted to step aside and plead that you appoint a new Campaign DG who can continue the assignment with zero distractions”.

These were the words of Dr. Doyin Okupe, a former Senior Special Assistant to President Goodluck Jonathan and Director General of Obi-Datti Campaign Council, a day after he was sentenced by a Federal High Court, Abuja, to two years imprisonment or payment of N2million fine for money laundering related offences.

Okupe became one of the latest casualties of a Court gavel after a trial that lasted for almost four years amid battle to survive the storm that greeted him in Labour Party.

His ordeals were a combination of his past, cumulatively prompted by lack of tact to handle adversities in an unfamiliar territory.

Okupe left his former party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) where it was alleged that he had lost relevance. He was part of those who defected with Peter Obi to Labour Party in April this year when the momentum for a Third Force movement electrified the streets of Nigeria.

He came into Labour Party, his newly found political family which has metamorphosed into a fertile ground for his new political adventure, with a mindset to re-establish himself and become a voice in the scheme of things.

Okupe

In Labour Party, Okupe spoke passionately of a new Nigeria of his dream; a Nigeria led by Nigerians and by a new set of leaders who will run the country in line with the tenets of a democratic society; a society where corruption will no longer have a place and a society where equity, justice and fairness reign supreme.

All this while, he had avoided the media for reasons best known to him but occasionally, Okupe passed his messages through his social media handles.

He had early in October when

he announced himself as the Director-General of the Campaign Council, boasted that the party’s presidential candidate, Peter Obi, has the capacity to defeat other candidates in the coming election.

He noted that the Obidient Movement which currently drives the Presidential run of the Labour Party, transcends ethnicity and religious bias.

Okupe explained that if presidential candidates were to be pre-qualified, both the candidates of the All Progressives Congress and the Peoples Democratic Party would have since been disqualified.

Okupe predicted that PDP’s internal crisis will continue to fester because its candidate, Atiku Abubakar emerged after “a skewed party primary” which jettisoned the time-tested respect for zoning and rotation of power as enshrined in its very constitution.

For the APC, the campaign DG noted that the party shot itself in the foot with its same faith ticket which he described as a clear indication that the party lacks respect for Nigeria’s religious diversity.

It was on this same day Okupe’s troubles in Labour Party began. He was greeted by nemesis; a sworn enemy who had now vowed to take a pound of flesh from him. And from nowhere, he was ambushed.

The then National Publicity Secretary of Labour Party, Abayomi Arabambi, now on suspension, did not only fault the composition of the campaign council, he said Okupe had no power to announce himself the DG of the council.

This was the root of the battle of wit and vendetta that ensued till Okupe was suspended

by the Ogun State chapter of the party and his subsequent conviction by a Federal High Court for money laundering.

Abayomi had also in an earlier interview with THISDAY after the inauguration, described Okupe as an usurper who has turned himself to the defacto national chairman of the party.

Although the party had in a later date after making some adjustments to accommodate concerns raised by some of its members, endorsed the campaign council list with Okupe still as its DG, a new chapter of crisis ensued.

Arabambi who has distanced himself from the activities of Labour Party since the inauguration of its PCC, disclosed to THISDAY that his grouse was with Okupe, who he accused of importing corruption into Labour Party.

He also raised the alarm that his life had been under threat since he challenged Okupe to refund the N50 million former president Goodluck Jonathan allegedly gave to Labour Party during the 2015 presidential election.

“This is my 13 years in Labour Party. People cannot just come into the party and in four months they will be telling us that they know more than us in the party.”

While Okupe was yet to find his foot on the ground against an unexpected war launched on him by the Arabambi-led group in the party even after getting the backing of the party’s national headquarters, he was hit by a suspension on 1st December by the Ogun State chapter of the party for allegedly failing to perform his duty as a member of the party.

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

20

TUESDAY, ͻ˜ ͺ͸ͺͻ ˾ T H I S D AY

THE ALTERNATIVE

with RenoOmokri

Time Other Governors Decouple From Wike’s Self-Immolation Politics O nly an unreasonable man fights because he wants to fight.

Reasonable people fight for their interests. And that is something I will urge the members of the so-called Integrity Group, also known as the G-5 to take note of.

Some of them have interests they are fighting for. They may dress those interests in altruistic terms, like the need to ensure power balancing, and the desire to get others to keep to agreements, which they assumed, but which were not promised.

But the bottom line is that they have their interests. Some of them have personal political interests for 2023, others have to secure their financial security. I get it.

But it is important for these governors not to be the fly that follows the dead body into the grave.

The arrowhead of their association is Governor Nyesom Wike. He is not a man known to get along with people. He likes to be the alpha dog. He can temporarily suppress his desire to dominate if he needs you. But when he has used you, he moves on.

If in doubt, ask yourself when last you saw him with Mama Peace. For those who do not know, Dame Patience Jonathan is from Rivers State and she played a leading role in helping Wike triumph over Rotimi Amaechi in their epic 2015 showdown.

But what is their relationship today? How many times in 2022 have you seen Wike with former President Jonathan, who made him a powerful minister?

Whether it is Rotimi Amaechi, who he served as Chief of Staff, or any of his other benefactors, the thing is that Nyesom Wike is not a person who maintains relationships with his benefactors.

And the reason he is fighting now is because he is angry. Angry that he lost the Peoples Democratic Party Presidential primary in a free and fair election. He himself said on the day of the primary that he would not leave the PDP if he lost and that he would stay and work with the winner.

It was always clear that Wike would lose the Peoples Democratic Party Presidential primary. Governor Umar Ganduje told him so to his face, when he visited Kano on Tuesday, April 19, 2022.

It was clear to everybody but Wike. The bulk of primary votes come from the North, and by his comments and actions over the years since he became Governor in 2015, Wike has severely alienated the core North.

That he is and was not aware of that is due to his hubris.

For example, on Friday, June 24, 2019, Wike pronounced Rivers State as a Christian state.

His exact words were: “I repeat once again without apologies, Rivers is a Christian state.

That is why nobody can touch us.”

Now, not only is that unconstitutional, it is also most unwise. No military dictator, no matter how strong, has ever declared Nigeria a Muslim or Christian nation. No military Governor or Administrator has ever declared a state to be a Muslim or Christian state. It is unprecedented in Nigeria’s socio-political history.

Yes, Sharia Law has been declared in some states in the past, but those states remained secular and the declared Sharia Law only applied to Muslims.

The Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended) makes Nigeria a secular state.

Chapter 1, Part 2, Section 10, of the constitution wisely provided that “The government of the federation or of a state shall not adopt any religion as state religion.”

And yet, Wike unilaterally went against that. Now, imagine you are a Southern PDP primary delegate, would you vote for a Northern Presidential aspirant who declared his state to be a Muslim state? Of course

because you do not want the Presidency to go to the North? It is like allowing a thief to make away with your father’s property because you do not want your brother to inherit it. The thief only comes to steal, kill and destroy!

The tag-along governors should understand that their interests are not tied to that of their ring leader. In fact, he has no interest. His ego was bruised by his loss. That is why he is fighting. Not for North or South. If he had been offered the running mate slot, he would have been quiet today!

He cannot deny that he wanted the running mate slot after his foreseen defeat in the primary. He lobbied for it. I urge Nigerians to go back and find out the date when he began his tantrums. It began on June 18, 2022. Exactly two days after Governor Ifeanyi Okowa emerged as the running mate. Why was he quiet up until that time?

This is just a case of sour grapes. A scorned woman seeking to destroy a happy home in the People’s Democratic Party. A man driven to the point of uncontrollable rage because somebody else is in a spot that he thought he would be in. Yet, he says it is God that gives power. If he really believes that, then why would he be fighting his party? He should let God decide who He wants to give power to!

Finally, these other governors may want to think of what they want eventually, not what they want right now. Because I can assure them that their ‘leader’ is not thinking about the big picture, for the simple reason that he thinks he is himself the big picture!

They have elections to come. They will need party agents at the polls. The state chapters of the party need to work with the national leadership to present a united house before the Independent National Electoral Commission.

If this unity does not materialise, it will affect them more than those they want to hurt!

On Obasanjo’s Endorsement of Peter Obi

Wike not. That is scary!

The truth is that in not electing Wike, the PDP dodged a bullet. The fellow may be powerful for now, but he is uncouth and uncultured, and literally ANYTHING can come out of his mouth.

For example, Wike is sadly misinformed when he claimed on Friday, December 30, 2022 that President Obasanjo knelt down to beg Waziri Atiku.

President Obasanjo did not at any time kneel before then-vice-president Atiku, and Waziri Atiku never requested that from his boss. That is beer parlour talk unworthy of being spread by a sitting Governor.

Chief Obasanjo is still alive. The media may want to seek his insight into these claims

by Wike. Reliance on false rumours have in the past made Governor Wike to fight phantom enemies, which is why it is very necessary to put a guard to your tongue, lest one reduces the prestige of the office one occupies.

Let us go back to the premise with which I started this piece. Wike is not fighting for his interests. His interests have evaporated forever. He will not be president or vice. No major party that has watched his behaviour in the past six months, would still give him a ticket now or in the future.

And he knows that as soon as he gets his man Friday elected as Governor, the man will turn against him. So, Wike has nothing

to lose. He is fighting because he is angry.

And when you are angry, you are not able to take rational decisions.

But then, the other four governors have their own salvageable interests. They have political careers with a future. They have ethnic nationality questions that are existential.

No matter how much money they are getting from Wike, they still cannot afford to be servile to a man who is a bull in a china shop, where they themselves are the china.

They must begin to think long term and win-win. If they allow Wike to take them down with him, their actions will have consequences for their own peoples. And they must remember that they are in politics to serve their people, rather than to serve a man whose ego has been wounded and is deflating faster than the vagueness of the Zimbabwean dollar.

Think about your people and then think about yourselves and your families.

First of all, even Wike’s argument is weak.

Power rotation is a construct of the PDP constitution, and has nothing to do with the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended).

And in the PDP, the last elected President was from the South. As such, in keeping with our constitution, the next PDP President should come from the North.

But beyond that, how can you consider supporting a man with links to drug barons

President Obasanjo is a good-hearted man.

He has always wanted a President from the Southeast, or one from the South-South, with Igbo roots. He believes that is the best way to heal the wounds of the civil war. He is a man who strongly believes in the unity of Nigeria. In 2007, he wanted Governor Peter Odili, but Governor Yar’adua insisted on Governor Goodluck Jonathan as his running mate. Peter Odili said as much in his book, which was corroborated by others, including Nuhu Ribadu and Nasir El-Rufai.

What Obasanjo did is understandable, but it will not matter in the election. Therefore, the Peoples Democratic Party would not be wise to attack it, as Tinubu and the All Progressives Congress have done. President Obasanjo has done so much for Nigeria, in peacetime and in wartime. Whether we like his stance on anything, we must respect his status, and place in history, and respectfully agree to disagree.

Reno’s Nuggets Sadly, the strictest parents often raise the baddest adults. Children hardly lie or steal because they are bad. Children are neither bad nor good. They are neutral. It is their environment that makes them good or bad.

Often, the reason children lie and steal is because they are afraid of punishment. Stop beating your child, or over punishing them.

Give them unconditional love, and maybe their behaviour will improve. Cut your children some slack. Be warm enough that they can approach you. They must not fear you to respect you. In fact, fear in childhood often breeds hatred in adulthood. So, make your home a loving sanctuary. #RenosNuggets #FreeLeahSharibu

LAWYER TUESDAY, JANUARY 3, 2023

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OLAWALE FAPOHUNDA, SAN

' Those Waiting for Clean Politics, Will Wait Indefinitely '

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When Circumstantial Evidence Can Ground a Conviction for Murder

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EFCC Powers: Agbakoba Seeks Court Declaration

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JI ADELEKE

QUOTABLES ‘The Nigerian Bar Association is actually bleeding, because of what has happened to Bolanle. We have been dealing with issues of attacks on the lives of legal practitioners, in the recent past….It is as if, the legal profession is under specific attack.’ -Yakubu Maikyau OON, SAN, President, Nigerian Bar Association ‘We don’t know why Politicians are buying up people’s PVCs….If they think they can hand over those PVCs to their people who will come to the polling unit on Election Day and vote, that is next to an impossibility. The BVAS has the capacity to read fingerprints and facials…..’ - Festus Okoye, Lawyer,

A2J Condemns Recall of Justice Ajumogobia Page V

National Commissioner & Chairman, Information & Voter Education, INEC

COLUMNIST DR. MIKE OZEKHOME, CON, SAN, FCIARE, PH.D. LLD Constitutional Democracy, means a system of government, in which political and governmental power, is defined, limited and shared by a grundnorm called the Constitution, which provides inbuilt checks and balances.

This column seeks to fiercely discuss constitutional, legal and political issues, with a view to strengthening, deepening and widening the plenitude and amplitude of democracy and good governance, without fear or favour.

The writer of this column, Dr. Mike Ozekhome, SAN, is a Constitutional Lawyer, Human Rights Activist, Pro-Democracy Campaigner, Notary Public and Motivational Speaker. He co-founded the Civil Liberties Organisation (CLO), Nigeria’s pioneer human rights league, on October 15, 1987, the Universal defenders of Democracy (UDD), in 1992, and with Chief Gani Fawehinmi and others in 1998, the Joint Action Committee of Nigeria (JACON), to push out the military. In his early days, he lectured at the University of Ife. Dr. Ozekhome is an author of many books. He is also a Special Counsel at the International Criminal Court (ICC), at The Hague.

LAWYER

Dasukigate: Okupe Heads to Appeal Court Page V

ONIKEPO BRAITHWAITE: EDITOR, JUDE IGBANOI: DEPUTY EDITOR, PETER TAIWO, STEVE AYA: REPORTERS

III THE ADVOCATE

T H I S D AY ˾ TUESDAY, JANUARY 3, 2023

For Omobolanle Raheem, A True Police Reform 2023: No Expectations from this Administration, Except….. e thank God for letting us see this new year, 2023. Happy New Year everyone! As far as my expectations for 2023 go, I have none from this present administration. They have done their best, which is absolutely below par (with only a few exceptions).

And, with only about 20 weeks or so to go, we cannot expect any miracle from them! What they did not achieve in over seven and a half years, obviously they cannot achieve in five months.

Perhaps, all we can really demand from them, is to ensure that we have hitch-free, violence-free credible elections, and a smooth handover to the next administration on May 29, 2023, come what may. In our own constituency, if the vacant positions in the various courts, particularly the Supreme Court and Court of Appeal can be filled immediately, that will also be good.

W

Deepest Condolences I would like to express my deepest condolences to the family of our learned colleague, Mrs Omobolanle Raheem, on her death and that of her unborn twins at the hands of trigger-happy Assistant Superintendent of Police, Drambi Vandi. Goodnight.

“May flights of angels sing thee to thy rest.” Amen.

May their souls rest peacefully in the bosom of the Lord. Amen. May God comfort Omobolanle Raheem’s family, especially her Mother, Husband and Daughter. Amen.

I burst into tears last Wednesday while I was watching Arise TV’s Morning Show, and I saw a videoclip of late Mrs Raheem’s Mother recounting how much she had suffered to ensure that her daughter became a Lawyer - she said she had even hawked oranges at a point, to be able to provide. She stated that now that it was time for her to enjoy the ‘fruits of her labour’ (‘jéun òmò’ as we say in Yoruba), her expectations had been cut short (by the senseless murder of her daughter and twin grandchildren by an irresponsible, reckless Assistant Superintendent of Police).

While Mrs Raheem was murdered on Christmas Day, a young man, Gafaru Buraimoh was also killed on 7/12/22 by Officers from the same Ajewi Police Station as the ASP. May Allah grant him Aljannah Firdaus.

The Law Section 33(1) of the 1999 Constitution of Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended in 2018) (the Constitution) guarantees our right to life, except in execution of a death sentence handed down by a court (of competent jurisdiction), for a criminal offence for which a Defendant has been found guilty of.

Section 221 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State 2015 (CLLS) provides that anyone who unlawfully kills another is guilty of murder or manslaughter, depending on the circumstances of the case. Section 222 of the CLLS provides for the felony called murder, which is simply killing with the intention (mens rea) to kill or do grievous bodily harm to the victim or another person. I do not have the accurate details of the circumstances of the deaths of Mr Buraimoh and Mrs Raheem (and her children), and in the case of Mrs Raheem, whether ASP Vandi will eventually be charged for Murder - see the case of Ndike v State (1994) LPELR-1971(SC) Page 16-17 per Ogwuegbu JSC on the definition of murder; or for Involuntary Manslaughter under Section 224 of the CLLS, that is unlawful killing which doesn’t constitute murder - causing the death of another (1) by an unlawful and dangerous act; or (2) with gross negligence or reckless disregard for human life. See the case of Egbirika v State 2014 4 N.W.L.R. Part 1398 Page 558 at 580 per Kekere-Ekun JSC where the Supreme Court held that “Manslaughter is an unintentional killing of a human being. Such killing is not premeditated, but accidental in the sense that it was not intentional”. Also see the case of State v Njoku 2010 1 N.W.L.R. Part 1175 Page 243 at 266 per Saulawa JCA (as he then was), where the Court of Appeal held inter alia that “Invariably, the term ‘manslaughter’ denotes unlawful killing of a human being without malice aforethought”.

Sections 223 & 229 of CLLS prescribe the death sentence and life imprisonment respectively, for anyone who is found guilty of committing the

ONIKEPO BRAITHWAITE onikepo.braithwaite@thisdaylive. com onikepob@yahoo.com

The

Advocate “Despite the fact this administration promised Police Reforms, to date, nothing significant has been done or achieved in this regard. A change of nomenclature from SARS to SWAT, is certainly not the sum total of the institutional reforms that Nigerians were/are expecting” offence of murder or manslaughter. See the cases of Erekanure v State (1993) LPELR-1155(SC) per Olatawura JSC; Omini v State 1999 12 N.W.L.R. Part 630 Page 168 at 182 per Karibi-Whyte JSC. The culprits in Mr Buraimoh and Mrs Raheem and her unborn children’s cases, and indeed, all the cases where Policemen have killed innocent citizens unlawfully, deserve the maximum punishment, be it the death sentence or life imprisonment. Let it be an example to law enforcement agents, that “if you kill person unlawfully, something go happen” - since they have become infamous for threatening Nigerians by saying: “if I kill you, nothing go happen”.

Matters Arising Several matters arise from these two recent unfortunate incidents, aside from the abovementioned criminal aspect.

Firstly, the culture of lack of accountability and impunity in our society - that depending on who you are, or the connections you may have, or the bribes you may be willing to give, an individual in Nigeria can get away with the most heinous of crimes. See the case of DCP Danjuma Ibrahim & Ors aka “Apo 6” case, in which many believed that justice was not served. Danjuma Ibrahim (then Deputy Commissioner of Police) who was alleged to have ordered the shooting of the Apo 6, was discharged and acquitted by the court for lack of evidence (along with two others), while those who were alleged to have carried out the instructions of their Superior Police Officer to open fire, were the ones convicted.

Late Omobolanle Raheem

If there was accountability, erring Police Officers would not have become infamous for such an offensive saying, that they will go scot free even if they commit murder! This is so unfair to the victims and their families, especially in a country whose Constitution claims to be based on the tenets of equity, equality and fairness (see the Preamble of the Constitution). If it is true that ASP Vandi had once before unlawfully killed a Customs Officer in Niger State in 1995 and indeed, “nothing happened”; and not only did he escape culpability, he continued in the Police Force to date, being promoted in rank etc, this only confirms my assertion that Nigeria has a culture of impunity and lack of accountability (which didn’t start today).

Secondly, it shows that we have a government that couldn’t care less about governance or the people. When the people are disgruntled about one issue or the other, Government pretends that it will react in the way that it should; but, once the complaints reduce, it doesn’t follow through. What was the 2020 #EndSARS Protest about? Principally about putting an end to Police brutality against Nigerians, particularly the Youths, and introducing reforms to the Nigeria Police Force, like better salaries and conditions of service for the Police; better mode of selection of Recruits and training; psychological screening before recruitment and periodically thereafter.

I’m almost tired of reiterating the fact that the security and welfare of the people is the primary purpose of Government, while that of the Police is to maintain law and order within the country (see Sections 14(2)(b) and 215(3) & (4) of the Constitution respectively).

Inspector General of Police, Usman Alkali Baba

Also see Section 4 of the Nigeria Police Act 2020 and Fawehinmi v IGP 2002 7 N.W.L.R. Part 767 Page 602 per Uwaifo JSC on the duties of the Police.

It is true that there are stories of Police brutality against citizens all over the world, and that it doesn’t only happen in Nigeria; but, the issue is whether steps are taken to curb this evil. Take for example USA, after the extra-judicial Police killing of George Floyd, the practice of Police Officers wearing body cameras was reinforced, to serve as a deterrent to unlawful killing and the use of unnecessary or excessive force against people, because the encounters are being recorded and are used to secure convictions against accused Officers. A 2020 Report by the National Police Foundation, revealed that Officers who wore the cameras appeared to have fewer complaints filed against them.

Despite the fact this administration promised Police Reforms, to date, nothing significant has been done or achieved in this regard. A change of nomenclature from SARS to SWAT, is certainly not the sum total of the institutional reforms that Nigerians were/are expecting. Should Police Officers detailed to man checkpoints, not possibly be given special training? I watched in amazement, a Police Public Relations Officer on Channels TV’s Politics Today last Thursday, shamelessly lying through his teeth when he said: “We don’t do anything with impunity. If you commit an offence as a Policeman, you pay dearly for it. Nobody will tolerate that….”. Tah! If that is true, neither Mr Buraimoh nor Mrs Raheem and her children, would have been murdered in cold blood by the Police for no reason.

Thirdly, the deaths of Mr Buraimoh and Mrs Raheem shows how lacking our medical facilities are. If there was a decent, modern, well-equipped General Hospital in the area, that would have been the first port of call that the victims would have been rushed to. Maybe the lives of Mr Buraimoh, Mrs Raheem and her babies could have been saved, if Mrs Raheem had been rushed to a capable hospital in the nick of time. Unfortunately, it seems that the victims were rushed to other medical facilities first, and by the time they were eventually taken to Grandville Medical Centre which is actually a Level 1 Emergency Trauma Centre in the VGC/ Ajah axis, Mrs Raheem had already passed on.

I read somewhere in a news report, that one of the hospitals first visited said they couldn’t handle the case!

In the course of my investigation, I found out that Grandville is equipped with machines and personnel that are required in such traumatic circumstances.

This is good information for the public to be aware of, especially if there’s an emergency.

Conclusion The truth is that extra-judicial killings, extortion etc by the Police have continued with gusto and aplomb, unabated. At most, the #EndSARS Protest only had a fleeting effect when emotions were high. In September, I wrote about one Mr Bernard Ogbu who was arrested by the Police in 2019, and has not been seen since then. He was allegedly taken to SARS Office, Abbatoir, Guzape, Abuja aka Abbatoir. When I made some enquiries about him, I was told that he had probably been killed extra-judicially there. A senior Police Officer also told me that, in certain circumstances, extra-judicial killing may be necessary. In fact, Section 33(2) (a)-(c) sets out instances in which extra-judicial killing may be permitted by law; however, these exceptions are inapplicable to the cases of Mrs Raheem and Mr Buraimoh.

From the incoming administration, one thing Nigerians expect as a matter of urgency, is much needed, genuine Police Reforms, and an end to their incessant killing incessant killing and brutalising of innocent citizens. There must be an effective way, to check the excesses of law enforcement agents. This habit of not bringing Police Officers to book for the crimes they have committed, must stop. Since the initial noise that was made in DCP Kyari aka Super Cop’s case at the time of his arrest, Nigerians have heard nothing. To the best of our knowledge, Mr Kyari has neither been extradited to USA to face his Hushpuppi money laundering charges, nor has his trial for drug peddling here in Nigeria made any remarkable progress. Soon, the case will simply fade into oblivion, and life will go on as usual - a total lack of accountability to worrisome levels!

IV LAW REPORT

TUESDAY, JANUARY 3, 2023 ˾ T H I S D AY

When Circumstantial Evidence Can Ground a Conviction for Murder Facts The Appellant was arraigned before the High Court of Delta State for the murder of one Oghenekome Obogho on 10th November 2003, punishable under Section 319(1) of the Criminal Code, Cap. 48, Vol. II, Laws of Bendel State 1976 as applicable in Delta State. The case of the Prosecution was that the Appellant and the deceased were lovers, and the Appellant was in the habit of beating the deceased on the allegation of infidelity, which caused a strain in their relationship, and the Appellant eventually murdered the deceased. The Respondent called five witnesses in proof of the Charge. The Respondent’s key witness - PW1 - Enakome Evvie, a female friend of the deceased, testified that the deceased moved to her house at Oleh in Delta State sometime in November 2003, and the Appellant had on different occasions visited the house and threatened the deceased, and had even on one occasion hit both the deceased and PW1 with a motorbike. PW1 testified further that on 10th November, 2003, the Appellant again visited the deceased at PW1’s residence, discussed with her and left.

At about 10pm on the same day, the deceased went outside to empty her bowels when PW1 heard the deceased scream her name from outside that “Enakome come to rescue me, Ogege (the Appellant) is killing me”. PW1 testified that on rushing outside, she found the deceased in the pool of her own blood with deep cuts on her head and beside her ear, and she heard the sound of a motorcycle zooming off through the bush as she shouted for help.

Ultimately, the case of the Respondent was that the Appellant killed the deceased based on the circumstances of the several previous threats issued by the Appellant against the deceased, and the Appellant’s presence at the scene of the crime on 10th November, 2022 prior to when the crime was committed, and based on the dying declaration of the deceased. At the conclusion of trial, the court found the Appellant guilty of murder from the circumstantial evidence adduced before it, and sentenced him to death by hanging.

Dissatisfied, the Appellant appealed to the Court of Appeal, which court upheld the findings of the trial court that the Prosecution had proved its case beyond reasonable doubt.

The Court of Appeal, thereby, affirmed the conviction and sentence of the Appellant.

Further dissatisfied, the Appellant filed an appeal to the Supreme Court.

Issue for Determination The Apex Court considered the following sole issue for its determination of the appeal: Whether from the circumstantial evidence adduced by the Prosecution, the Court of Appeal was right in affirming the decision of the trial court that the Respondent proved the charge of murder against the Appellant beyond reasonable doubt.

Arguments Counsel for the Appellant submitted that the circumstantial evidence adduced in the case, fell short of the standard and quality required to prove the charge of murder against the Appellant. He argued that before the Prosecution can rely on circumstantial evidence to ground conviction in a criminal trial, such evidence must be cogent, complete and unequivocal.

Relying on OGIDI v THE STATE (2005) NWLR (Pt. 918) 286 at 319, counsel for the Appellant argued that the circumstantial evidence to be used by the Prosecution must be incompatible with the innocence of the accused, and incapable of explanation upon any other reasonable hypothesis than that of his guilt. He submitted that there are general co-existing circumstances that greatly weakened, diluted and completely destroyed whatever circumstantial evidence that was adduced by the Prosecution. He argued that instances of previous quarrels and visit of the Appellant to the deceased prior to the attack, cannot be

Honourable Olukayode Ariwoola, JSC (now CJN)

In the Supreme Court of Nigeria Holden at Abuja On Friday, the 17th day of June, 2022 Before Their Lordships Olukayode Ariwoola (now CJN) Uwani Musa Abba Aji Mohammed Lawal Garba Adamu Jauro Emmanuel Akomaye Agim Justices, Supreme Court SC/466/2014 Between OGEGE EGBERTAMU

And

THE STATE

APPELLANT RESPONDENT

(Lead Judgement delivered by Honourable Olukayode Ariwoola, JSC (now CJN)

used to hold the Appellant responsible for killing the deceased, in the absence of any other credible evidence linking the Appellant with the attack on the deceased.

He contended further that none of the prosecution witnesses gave evidence that they saw the Appellant attacking the deceased, or that the Appellant was seen within the scene of the crime immediately after the attack.

On the dying declaration of the deceased, counsel for the Appellant contended that the trial court was wrong in relying on the dying declaration which did not identify the Appellant as the person who killed the deceased. He argued that the testimony of PW1 on the alleged dying declaration was not a circumstantial evidence that the court can safely rely on, to conclude that the Appellant was the person referred to as the accused in the deceased’s dying declaration. He urged the court to hold that the evidence of PW1 lack precision, clarity, consistency and therefore, unreliable for the purpose of holding the Appellant responsible for the death of the deceased.

Responding to the arguments of the Appellant, counsel for the Respondent submitted that the totality of the evidence before the court were cogent, compelling, unequivocal as to the guilt of the

“A court could properly infer from cogent circumstantial evidence, that the death of the deceased was caused by the act of the accused person even without any other evidence, once it irresistibly and compellingly leads to the reasonable conclusion of the guilt of the accused person and no other person”

Appellant. He referred to the various testimonies of the prosecution witnesses, particularly the testimonies of PW1 - a friend of the deceased; PW2 – the uncle of the deceased who identified the corpse of the deceased; PW3 – the father of the deceased; PW4 - Medical Doctor who performed autopsy on the deceased and; PW5 - the Investigating Police Officer who investigated the case. He contended that their testimonies constituted overwhelming evidence that proved the ingredients of the offence of murder against the Appellant that the deceased died, that the Appellant killed the deceased and that the act of the Appellant in hitting the deceased with a sharp object on the head and causing a deep cut running from the front of her right ear to the back of her head was intentional with the knowledge that death or grievous bodily harm was its probable cause. He submitted that the pieces of evidence even without more positively linked the murder of the deceased to the Appellant. He urged the court to dismiss the appeal and affirm the conviction and sentence of the Appellant.

Court’s Judgement and Rationale In deciding the appeal, the Supreme Court described the offence of murder as taking of human life by a person who either (a) has a malicious and wilful intent to kill or do grievous bodily harm, or (b) is wickedly reckless as to the consequences of his act upon his victim. For murder, there must be an evil intent, that is a criminal intent, although it is not necessary that there should be an intent to kill. Further, by the Criminal Code, an offence of murder is committed when a person unlawfully kills another under any of the following circumstances: (i) if the offender intends to cause the death of the person killed, or that of some other persons; (ii) if the offender intends to do to the person killed, or to some other person some grievous

harm; (iii) if death is caused by means of an act done in the prosecution of an unlawful purpose, which act is of such a nature as to be likely to endanger human life; (iv) if the offender intends to do grievous harm to some person for the purpose of facilitating the commission of an offence which is such that the offender may be arrested without warrant, or for the purpose of facilitating the flight of an offender who has committed or attempted to commit such an offence; (v) if death is caused by administering any stupefying or overpowering things for either of the purposes last aforesaid; (vi) if death is caused by wilfully stopping the breath of any person for either of such purposes.

In the second case, it is immaterial that the offender did not intend to hurt the particular person who is killed; in the third instance, it is immaterial that the offender did not intend to hurt any person; and in the last three cases, it is immaterial that the offender did not intend to cause death or did not know that death was likely to result – SABINA CHIKAODI MADU v THE STATE (2012) 15 NWLR (Pt. 1324) 405.

The Apex Court reiterated the firmly settled law that for the Prosecution to succeed in a charge of murder under Section 319(1) of the Criminal Code, it must prove beyond reasonable doubt that: (a) there was a killing; (b) the killing was unlawful as prohibited by Section 316 of the Criminal Code; (c) it was the act or omission of the accused person that caused the death of the deceased; (d) the accused intended to cause the death of the deceased. The court referred to GRACE AKINFE v THE STATE (1988) 3 NWLR (Pt. 89) 729 at 745; AKPAN v THE STATE (1994) 9 NWLR (Pt. 368) 347.

The court held that in criminal trials, the guilt of an accused can be established by either the confessional statement of the accused, or by circumstantial evidence, or by the evidence of an eye witness. A court could properly infer from cogent circumstantial evidence, that the death of the deceased was caused by the act of the accused person even without any other evidence, once it irresistibly and compellingly leads to the reasonable conclusion of the guilt of the accused person and no other person. ESAI v THE STATE (1976) 11 SC 39; ISMAIL v THE STATE (2008) 15 NWLR (Pt. 1111) 593.

Their Lordships held that the trial court rightly found that the ingredients of the offence of murder were proved by the Prosecution, based on the testimonies of the prosecution witnesses. Furthermore, to know whether or not it was the act of the Appellant that led to the death of the deceased, the trial court analysed the circumstantial evidence before it, together with the statement of the Appellant – Exhibit A wherein he stated that he was very angry that the deceased left him to live with another boy, and he had threatened the life of the deceased and the said boy at different times, and the trial court came up with the following conclusion that: (a) the assertion that the relationship between the deceased and the accused was strained was not in doubt; (b) the accused was bitter (c) the accused threatened the deceased was not in doubt; and (d) the Appellant was in Oleh in November 2003 was not in doubt.

Thus, the defence of alibi pleaded by the Appellant was unsubstantiated, and the trial court rightly rejected same.

Further, the Supreme Court decided that in this appeal, the circumstances of the death of the deceased former girlfriend of the Appellant, which is substantially contained in the evidence of PW1 and the Appellant’s own statement to the Police admitted as Exhibit A at the trial, unequivocally, directly and unmistakably pointed to the acts of the Appellant, as to totally exclude any reasonable hypothesis than his guilt. The Court of Appeal could therefore, not be faulted in its conclusion that the trial court rightly held that the Prosecution proved the case beyond reasonable doubt, upon the overwhelming circumstantial evidence against the Appellant.

Appeal Dismissed.

Representation A. Olungwe Kabibo, Esq. for the Appellant.

Olivia Agbajo Esq. for the Respondent.

Reported by Optimum Publishers Limited, Publishers of the Nigerian Monthly Law Reports (NMLR)(An affiliate of Babalakin & Co.)

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TUESDAY, JANUARY 3, 2023 ˾ T H I S D AY

NEWS

Hon. Justice Ofili-Ajumogobia

Dr Olisa Agbakoba, SAN

Dr Doyin Okupe

EFCC Powers: Agbakoba Seeks Court Declaration Stories by Steve Aya Dr Olisa Agbakoba SAN, has expressed his resolve to proceed to court for a clearer declaration and explanation on the exact scope of powers of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), and to seek a declaration of his position that the anti-graft agency often acts contrary to the Law setting it up.

The Former President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) said this on Tuesday in a press statement titled: “The Scope of Pow-

ers of EFCC Will be Tested by the Courts,” by his Media Assistant, Mr Niyi Odunmorayo, a copy of which was made available to newsmen, in reaction to EFCC’s response to claims made by the former NBA President, that the anti-graft agency had often exceeded its powers in the investigation and prosecution of alleged offenders of the country’s criminal laws.

It would be recalled that Agbakoba had addressed a press conference on last Saturday at his Ikoyi office, where he gave this position, stating that the EFCC,

A2J Condemns Recall of Justice Ajumogobia An NGO, Access to Justice (A2J) has described the recall and reinstatement of the erstwhile sacked Judge of the Federal High Court, Hon. Justcie Ofili-Ajumogobia as a brutal, agonising portrait of the decline in Nigeria’s Judiciary.

In a statement last week, A2J Media said: “The National Judicial Council (“NJC”), on 1st of December, 2022 reinstated Justice Ofili-Ajumogobia as Judge of the Federal High Court. The Judge had been standing trial since 2019 on charges of unlawful enrichment, illegal concealment, corruption and forgery among others. The NJC’s decision comes on the heels of a High Court Judgement, quashing the recommendations of the Council that led to Justice Ajumogobia’s dismissal.

“The NJC’s decision to reinstate Justice Ofili-Ajumogobia, in the face of serious and damning accusations against her, which the Council itself investigated and substantiated, is deeply unfortunate. The Council’s decision will cast a long, dark shadow over the Judiciary for a long time to come, and amplify questions whether the Nigerian Judiciary, in its present form, can continue to legitimately exercise judicial power.

“A Judiciary’s legitimacy, rests on the pedestal of public confidence and trust. A Judiciary that cannot offer that trust, loses the moral authority to sit in judgement over

others. By (now) foisting a Judge with an incredible load of baggage – details of which, by the way, are in the public domain - to sit in judgement over cases involving other people, the NJC pollutes the justice delivery process, and violates the rights of litigants to fair trial before a Judge with requisite skills and integrity. The Council’s decision is a grievous, staggering, and inconceivable misjudgement, and plumbs new depths of ridicule for the Judiciary. The decision will further evoke, in the minds of reasonable people, strong concerns about the kind of Judiciary Nigeria operates, and whether the NJC as presently constituted, can faithfully function as an accountability or oversight institution.

“The NJC has badly managed the Justice Ofili-Ajumogobia case, and the question is why? This is the same Council that found Justice Ofili-Ajumogobia guilty of serious misconduct, and recommended her removal. A High Court may have quashed its recommendations, as well as ordered the Judge’s reinstatement, but the NJC had ample opportunity to defend its position with a convincing effort to save the Judiciary’s image, through appellate corridors.

Why did the Council capitulate so quickly without a contest? And what does that capitulation say about the seriousness of the NJC, in maintaining integrity in the Judiciary?”

often, but not all the time, exceeded its powers, in what it considered to be its public duty in the war against corruption in Nigeria.

“Concerned that the EFCC often exceeds its powers in the investigation and prosecution of alleged offenders of our criminal laws, I held a media conference to express my concerns, which I do occasionally on several national issues. I stated that I felt that the EFCC, often, but not all the time, I must concede, exceeded its powers, in what it considers to be its public

duty in the war against corruption in Nigeria.

“The EFCC issued a response, stating that I was wrong to take the view that it sometimes acts outside the scope of its powers vested by the EFCC Act. “The EFCC referred to some cases, but I would say that in a very recent decision, Dr Joseph Nwobike SAN v The Federal Republic of Nigeria FRN SC/CR/161/2020, the Supreme Court drastically limited the scope of powers of the EFCC, as it recognised that

the EFCC being very powerful, could not be allowed to run amok.

“I am not a court. Neither is the EFCC. I will proceed to the court for a declaration on the exact scope of powers of the EFCC, especially in relation to States of the Federation. A declaration by a Judicial authority is the most valid process to authenticate if I am right or wrong, with respect to my position that the EFCC often acts contrary to the Law”, Agbakoba stated.

The former NBA President,

while noting that he was not in any way against the EFCC in the fight against corruption, but always in support of the fight against corruption as admitted by the Commission, said his concern was that the anti-graft, “in its undoubted statutory powers to stamp out corruption in Nigeria, must strictly conform to the prescriptions of the law”.

According to him, the EFCC must not in the fight against corruption, undermine the rule of law, declaring: “So, to the courts, I go”.

Dasukigate: Okupe Heads to Appeal Court The former Director General of the Presidential Campaign Council of the Labour Party, LP, Dr Doyin Okupe, who was convicted over a breach of the Money Laundering Act, has gone to the Appeal Court to appeal his conviction.

In a press statement released by his Lawyer, Chief Joe-Kyari Gadzama SAN, he said the appeal was based on the orders of Dr Okupe, who was actually discharged by the court, because the Prosecution had failed to prove the charges of money laundering charges against him. The statement further reads further.

“While the Court had held that the Prosecution has failed to prove the charges of money laundering

against Dr Okupe and acquitted him of the charges relating to same, the Court convicted him of the charges relating to the receipt of monies above the threshold permitted by the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act. The Court held that though he was a victim of circumstances, the law is trite and ignorance of same cannot be an excuse.

“The Court, in the exercise of its discretion pursuant to Section 311 of the ACJA and after receiving character evidence in favour of Dr Okupe pursuant to Section 310 of the ACJA, sentenced him to 2 years imprisonment (to run concurrently) or an option of the fine of N500,000 (consecutively) for

each count. Dr Okupe has exercised the option of fine, and a warrant of release has been signed by the Judge accordingly. Dr Okupe is already enjoying his freedom.

“Following his conviction, Dr Okupe has instructed his counsel, Joe-Kyari Gadzama, SAN to appeal the said conviction.”

Justice Ijeoma Ojukwu of the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, found Okupe guilty of contravening Sections 16 (1) & (2) of the Money Laundering Act. The Judge said Okupe was guilty of collecting cash payments in excess of the threshold allowed under the Act, without going through a financial institution.

According to her, the embattled

former Labour Party Campaign DG was said to have received hundreds of millions in cash from the office of the National Security Adviser (NSA), while Colonel Sambo Dasuki (Rtd) was in office.

Justice Ojukwu, however, discharged Dr Okupe on counts 1-33, which bordered on money laundering and criminal breach of trust.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) had arraigned Okupe alongside two companies, Value Trust Investment Ltd and Abrahams Telecoms Ltd in 2019 on a 59-count charge, bordering on alleged money laundering and diversion of funds to the tune of N702 million.

Assets Disposal: Court Restrains the Game Stores The Lagos State High Court sitting at the Tafawa Balewa Square, has granted an injunction restraining Game Discount World (Popularly known as “The Game Stores”) and four others, from shutting down the business and disposing of assets or interests in the Game Stores.

The court, in a December 19, 2022 ruling, further ordered Game Stores and other Respondents to maintain the status quo ante, with regard to the terms of the Sale of Business Agreement.

Earlier this year, there were reports that the Game Stores had concluded a contract for the sale of its business and assets to a Nigerian entity - Xanderwill Limited.

Apparently, the Game Stores is alleged to have attempted resiling from the agreement, when it announced its shutdown and exit from Nigeria on or before 25 December, 2022 without selling the business and assets to Xanderwill Limited.

Following alleged attempts to breach the sale of business agreement with Xanderwill Limited, a dispute was declared and referred to arbitration. Additionally, Xanderwill Limited filed Suit No.: LD/6413GCM/2022 at the High Court of Lagos State, to restrain the Game Stores (the 1st Respondent in the suit)m from engaging in any act that will essentially impact negatively on the pending arbitral proceedings.

Xanderwill Limited’s applica-

tion for injunction was granted as follows:“An Interim Order of Injunction restraining the 1st Respondent or anyone acting through it or by it, from selling, transferring, disposing, converting, charging, divesting the Sale Assets, business as defined in the Sale of Business Agreement executed on 26th April, 2022 and all related (Nigerian SBA) between the Applicants and the 1st - 3rd Respondent, (other than as contemplated/agreed in the Nigerian SBA), or from taking any other action to negate the commercial terms of the Nigerian SBA pending the hearing and determination of the accompanying Originating Motion on Notice.

"An Interim Order of Injunction restraining the 1st-3rd Respondent or anyone acting through or by them from terminating, revoking or cancelling any business licence, permits, lease agreements, etc. with respect to the business and operations of the 1st Respondent in Nigeria.

"An Interim Order of Injunction restraining the 4th Respondent from paying or otherwise making available to the 1st-3rd Respondent the Escrow Agreement executed on or about 26th April, between the Applicants, the 1st-3rd Respondent, and the 4th Respondent, in any manner that will be prejudicial to the Applicants.”

#upjudicialsalaries “From the inception of the current administration of the NBA, we embarked on a sustained campaign/advocacy for the improvement of the remuneration of Judges/Justices in Nigeria. This was borne out of the understanding of the very important role the Judiciary plays in the growth and advancement of any nation, and that an impoverished Judiciary can hardly be expected to be truly independent.” - NBA President, Yakubu Maikyau OON, SAN

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TUESDAY,JANUARY 3, 2023 ˾ T H I S D AY

Condemnation of the Killing of Mrs Bolanle Raheem he Nigerian Bar Association has condemned the brutal killing of one of its members, Mrs Bolanle Raheem, in Lagos on December 25, 2022 by a trigger-happy Policeman. The suspect has been arrested and detained, pending his arraignment for murder in the Lagos State High Court. The InspectorGeneral of Police, Mr Usman Alkali Baba and Governor of Lagos State, Mr Babajide Sanwoolu, have decried the killing and assured the Nigerian people that justice will be served speedily. To demonstrate the abhorrence of the Government, the Attorney-General of Lagos State, Mr Moyosore Onigbanjo, SAN, will lead to lead the prosecution team.

President Muhammadu Buhari has expressed shock and complete disapproval of the horrendous killing, even though it is a common phenomenon under his administration. In the same vein, the Presidential candidates of the leading political parties, berated the Nigeria Police Force over the killing. It is however, curious to note that, these political leaders have not informed Nigerian voters how they intend to end extrajudicial killing of unarmed citizens by the Police and other security agencies in the county, if they win the 2023 presidential election.

The cruel killing of Mrs Bolanle Raheem provides an opportunity for the Nigerian people led by Lawyers, to address the root cause of the extrajudicial killing of unarmed citizens by law enforcement officers.

T

The Beginning of Reckless Shooting On July 15, 1981, Dele Udo, a United States based athlete and a potential world beater in the 400 metres category was shot dead by a trigger-happy Policeman at Ojuelegba in Lagos State. That was the beginning of the reckless shooting of unarmed citizens, by armed Policemen and armed soldiers on the roads. Since then, hundreds of young people and other citizens have been killed at illegal check points manned by drunk Police and Military personnel.

Causes of Extrajudicial Killing The huge amount of money extorted from motorists via the check points, is allegedly shared by Police and military officers. Hence, the cancellation of check points by successive Inspectors-General of Police, has never been faithfully enforced.

It is pertinent to note that, despite the demand of the human rights community for a fundamental reform of the curriculum of the Police Academy, the training of Police cadets has remained as brutish as it was under the British colonial regime. Upon their graduation, the Recruits usually unleash violence on a society that has dehumanised them in the Police Academy. Having been brutalised themselves, they derive pleasure in subjecting suspects to physical, mental and psychological torture. During the interrogation of a suspect, it is not uncommon for a policeman to threaten that: "I will kill you, and nothing will happen”.

No doubt, the Nigeria Police Force is a neo-colonial institution in every material particular. It is deliberately called a Police Force, and not a Police Department or Service. The logo of the Force, pictures an eagle standing on two crossed staves above an elephant.

Like an elephant, the colonial Police Force was set up to mow down the natives, suppress and extort taxes from them, to service British imperialism.

In 1960, the nationalist politicians who inherited political power from the British colonial regime decided to retain the Police Force, and use it to oppress the people. Hence, the killing of unarmed citizens by Police and Military personnel, is not punished by the violent neo-colonial State. Even monetary damages awarded by courts for unlawful killing of citizens and other forms of human rights abuses by Police Officers, are never paid.

Indeed, the payment of monetary damages awarded by courts is frustrated by Attorneys-General, who refuse to grant leave to garnish the accounts of the Federal and State Governments. As if that is not bad enough, some Attorneys-General file nolle prosequi applications, to terminate criminal cases involving highly connected murder suspects. The legal departments of the Police, is ever prepared to defend the unlawful killing of citizens by trigger -happy Police personnel. Thus, the Police personnel indicted for extrajudicial killings are promoted until they retire, while a few of them had risen to the highest echelons in the Force.

Whenever there are protests against unlawful killing of citizens by Police personnel, the Government moves to douse tension by setting up judicial or administrative commissions of inquiry, to probe the remote and immediate causes of the civil disturbance. But, the

How Lawyers Can Mobilise Nigerians to End Police Brutality This article by Femi Falana, SAN condemns the recent killing of our learned colleague, Mrs Omobolanle Raheem on Christmas Day by a trigger-happy Policeman. He traces the history of extrajudicial killings by Police, to the 1981 killing of a promising Nigerian athlete, Dele Udo, and suggests several steps that the Nigerian Bar Association must take, in a bid to curb this evil menace of extrajudicial killing by law enforcement agents recommendations of such panels, are usually ignored by the Government. For instance, after the #EndSARS protests in October 2020, the Federal Government and 28 out of the 36 State Governments, instituted judicial commissions of inquiry to probe various allegations of Police brutality.

After two years, the reports of the judicial panels have not been published by majority of the State Governments. The few that issued white papers, have not fully implemented the recommendations of the judicial panels. Apart from payment of some monetary damages, the Police officers indicted by the panels have not been prosecuted. Consequently, the brutalisation of the Nigerian people by the Police and other security agencies, has continued unabated.

Even though the notorious Special AntiRobbery Squad (SARS) was disbanded in line with the demand of the #EndSARS protesters, in replacing SARS with SWAT, the authorities promised that the operatives would undergo a retraining programme. As the retraining did not occur, the SWAT officers have continued to terrorise and intimidate the people unabashedly, like SARS. The implication of such official impunity, is that the very many Police Officers indicted for extrajudicial killing of suspects and other citizens, have been allowed to remain in the Police Force to continue to perpetrate their nefarious activities.

Not too long ago, thousands of professional armed robbers and armed political thugs bribed and were recruited to the Nigeria Police Force.

When a former President became aware of the scandalous recruitment, he ordered that the uniformed armed robbers be identified and flushed out of the Police. It is regrettable to note that, the Police authorities did try to do

“Indeed, the best tribute that the NBA can pay to the deceased, is to use her cold blooded murder to mobilise the Nigerian people to end Police brutality in Nigeria. To start with, Police check points must be removed from Nigerian roads. The roads should be patrolled by combined teams Officers from the Police and Road Safety Commission”

so, but did not succeed in weeding out all the criminal elements from the Police Force.

On a regular basis, kidnap, murder and terror suspects are paraded by Police Commissioners.

But, majority of the suspects are extrajudicially executed after the parade. The Police claim that those who were charged with grave offences before the High Courts in the past and who were freed on technical grounds, turned round to attack and kill the Police Officers who had arrested them. So, instead of prosecuting armed robbery and other dangerous criminal suspects, they are extrajudicially killed by untrained executioners in the Force.

The suspects are usually shot in the back, to give the impression that they were trying to escape from Police custody. Thus, it is difficult to sue the Police Service Commission for illegal killing of suspects, who have been "wasted" by the Police. After the execution, no post mortem is conducted, while the bodies of the deceased are buried by the Police at night. The money and other assets seized from the suspects are never returned to the family members or friends of the deceased, but shared among Police Officers.

Without any rehabilitation for the untrained executioners, they are unleashed on the society with their guns. The uniformed murderers then turn round to use their weapons to kill members of the public, including their own relations. Thus, the brutal killing of poor citizens by Police and other security operatives has become a routine occurrence. But, we only complain whenever the unlicensed Police executioners kill Lawyers, Doctors, Journalists and other victims whose killings trigger protests!

In exasperation, Mr Boms Worgu, a former Attorney-General of Rivers State, has said that, "The Banabas Igwes of the NBA assassinated pair we remembered the other day. That was long ago. Recently, less than two years, there was Henry Ndionyenma Nwankwo, matcheted by still to be apprehended men, right there in his chambers. In PHC recently, two colleagues were similarly dispatched. And, many more. In all, nothing happened after they were mowed down, except wailing and condemnations. Soon, sadly though, this addition will blow over, calm will return, only for the calm to be disrupted by another killing! That is how we are."

‘Mrs Raheem Must Not Die in Vain’: Steps to Take/ NBA Action Plan Nigerian Lawyers must ensure that Mrs Bolanle

Raheem does not die in vain, like others who were dispatched to their untimely grave before her. Indeed, the best tribute that the NBA can pay to the deceased, is to use her cold blooded murder to mobilise the Nigerian people to end Police brutality in Nigeria.

To start with, Police check points must be removed from Nigerian roads. The roads should be patrolled by combined teams Officers from the Police and Road Safety Commission.

The use of arms by Policemen on duty, should be strictly regulated according to the Service rules.

No lethal options such as batons, tear gas, water etc should be employed in dispersing crowds.

In Femi Falana v Chief of Army Staff & Ors (Suit No. FHC/L/CS/1939/19), the presiding Judge, the Honourable Railwan Aikawa, declared that, the involvement of armed soldiers in the maintenance of internal security is illegal and unconstitutional. On the basis of the judgement, all check points manned by soldiers should be dismantled by the Chief of Army Staff, without any further delay.

In the recent case of the State Security Service v Godwin Emefiele (Suit No.FHC/ABJ/ CS/2255/2022), the Federal High Court assigned and determined the case within two days, because it pertained to the personal liberty of the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria. The NBA leadership should prevail on the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court and heads of other courts, to ensure that all fundamental rights cases are promptly assigned and expeditiously determined, regardless of the class status of the applicants.

The Anti-Torture Act of 2017 prescribes that any Police Officer or law enforcement officer who subjects a citizen to torture, is liable to be tried and if convicted to imprisonment for 25 years. If any person dies as a result of torture, the Police Officer indicted is liable to be tried for murder. The NBA should direct its human rights committees to take up all cases of torture meted out to citizens, by public and private individuals in the society.

The NBA should prevail the Federal Government and State Governments, to publish the reports and implement the recommendations of the judicial panels. Otherwise, the NBA should adopt legal measures to compel the Governments to implement the recommendations. Furthermore, the NBA should mount pressure on State Governments to enact laws for the establishment of human rights bodies, for the purpose of protecting the human rights of citizens. This was the principal resolution adopted by the National Economic Council, after the #EndSARS protests.

VII

TUESDAY, JANUARY 3, 2023 ˾ T H I S D AY

TALKING CONSTITUTIONAL DEMOCRACY DR. MIKE OZEKHOME, SAN

0809 889 8888 SMS ONLY

Ethics and Discipline in Law: Akin to Waiting for Godot (Part 6) Introduction egal practitioners, as guardians of the law, play a significant role in the preservation of society. As a result, it is the obligation of legal practitioners to maintain the highest standards of ethical conduct. The fulfilment of this role requires an in-depth analysis by legal practitioners, of their relationship with and their function in our legal system. Today, we shall continue our discourse.

units such as home, school, market places, working environment, mosques and churches.

Why are we not in a state of disorder, conflict and instability? It is because from these social units, we learn to share and respect common values, norms, goals and aspiration based on daily interaction and relationships. This enables us to share common sets of meanings and symbols, together with the feeling of unity, solidarity and a system of mutual obligations to group.

Why is there a need for discipline in society?

Discipline is very essential to society, because it serves important functions. It makes society able to avoid complex situations of chaos, instability, unrest and other forms of violence.

It provides positive orientation to members, and provides a means of collective mobilisation for societal development. Discipline makes it possible to predict individual and group behaviour, in different situations. It also helps society, to check activities of deviants and other law-breakers in society. In general, ethics and discipline have the advantage of ensuring proper and effective functioning of the individual, within definite and defined societal goals and aims.

L

Ethics in the Legal Profession: History, Nature and Meaning of Ethics (Continues) Man was thereby ejected from the cherished garden for not keeping to the ethics attendant thereto, and that to his chagrin. This constitutes the first sanction for failure of ethics. In ancient Rome, they talked about exacta diligentia, especially when it involved the business of others. Ethics demands exacta diligentia in regard to everything. It could not be less, for it to be ethical. Ethics consists of what ought to be – deferenda. It is objective, as against its subjective counterpart “What is” – de lata. What ought to be, also deals with common sense ethics viz; what do we expect will be done in the circumstances?

Ethics in its wider sense affects princes and slaves alike; it has neither physical nor class boundary, it is universal. It postulates that, no man is an island of himself entirely. Ethics may be defined simply as the performance of excellence, doing the right thing, at the right time, be it in business, profession or even in ordinary day life.

Ethics demands a round peg in a round hole, and will have nothing to do with a spare peg in a round hole. However, ethics, within which the Rules of Professional Conduct for Legal Practitioners 2007 is concerned about, crystallises in the good, positively rejecting the bad and the ugly, and dwelling on the mores in the acts or actions of Lawyers in all they do. With ethics, there is no partiality, no scapegoat and no sacred cow. Ethics generally craves for honesty, decorum, reliability, trust and reliance to deserve the appellation – ethics.

Ethics indeed, deals with ideal human conduct.

What is Required of a Professional in Ethics The legal profession is ideally not open to all manner of persons, because in the words of the Supreme Court of Nigeria in the case of N.B.A v OHIOMA, it was stated thus: “Legal practice is a very serious business that is to be undertaken by serious minded practitioners, particularly as both the legally trained minds and those not so trained always learn from our examples.

We therefore, owe the legal profession the duty to maintain the very high standards required in the practice of the profession in this country”.

Ethics demands from a Lawyer, that his client must have absolute confidence in him.

Ethics demands that he knows his duty to the court. On these issues, Honourable Kayode Eso enunciated two commandments: a. A Lawyer shall never be rude, insolent or insulting to the court. The above commandment however, imports respect to Judges, but not a commandment for Lawyers to fear Judges or be intimidated by them. This is because, part of the qualities a Judge expects from an advocate is: i. Simplicity of presentation i.e. lucidness. ii. Selectivity i.e. ability to separate the relevant from the irrelevant.

iii. Straight forwardness – ability to go straight to the point. Avoiding being garrulous. iv. Brevity. v. Candour (Court detests deceitful counsel). vi. Resilience (ability to argue with conviction). vii. Proper presentation (court must perceive you as thorough in your presentation). viii. Courage, but not recklessness.

In the case of ETIM v OBOT, the Court of Appeal deprecated counsel’s use of the words ‘strange’ and ‘mysterious’ in describing the judgement of the lower court, as not only inappropriate, but also inconsistent with high ethical standard of the profession. b. Secondly, a Judge shall never be rude, even as a result of, or over sensitiveness to remarks made about or against him in the court.

In this respect, it is the ethics of the legal profession that insults are better treated with disdain. The legal practitioner’s duty to the court, is higher and more important than his duty to his client. Therefore, misleading the court to obtain a judgement for a client, is seen as a miscarriage of justice. General knowledge of almost all aspects of practice is advocated, while pomposity is to be eschewed.

The dress a legal practitioner wears in and out of the court, is a reflection of his/her state of mind. A legal practitioner in Nigeria is expected to be tidy, respectable and sober, not necessarily flamboyant. Lateness to court, is unethical. A legal practitioner is expected to wait for the court, and not the court to wait for him/her. The responsibility of a legal practitioner to his/her client and the court extends to knowing the facts of his client’s case, relevant laws, statutes, rules

“Discipline is very essential to society, because it serves important functions. It makes society able to avoid complex situations of chaos, instability, unrest and other forms of violence”

of court, case law, strength and weakness of a client’s case, and trying as much as possible to avoid mistakes.

It is ethical for a legal practitioner, to know his Judge. The rule is that, no two human beings are the same. By extension also, no two Judges are the same; each Judge has his or her own sensitivity, peculiarities of approach and attitude.

One must therefore, learn how to adapt.

It is unethical, to allow or encourage a client to disobey a court order. It is part of the ethics of the legal profession in Nigeria, for Lawyers to accept briefs pro-bono public (for public good), that is, without charging any professional fees.

It is part of the ethics of the legal profession, for Lawyers working in the Attorney-General’s Chambers, whether at the State or Federal level, to be guided by the “Shawcross Doctrine”, and not to allow external influences or politics or money considerations, to influence their decisions in “whether or not to prosecute”. Yielding to any of these considerations, may have a catastrophic effect.

Judges in Nigeria are required to be impartial unto dismal, and even unto death. Honourable Justice Kayode Eso remarked as follows: “... It is the duty of every Judge, after his appointment, conscientiously, to stand clear of all odium. In this sense, he gives no cause whatsoever, to be suspected of a process to anything that is shady. He, like linen, remains stainless but more so he guards against stain...”.

Discipline The issues of the ethics and discipline in society are the study of the problems of peace, order and stability. No form of social grouping can be maintained, without the solid foundation of ethics and discipline.

They are derived from the normative and value systems of society. They enhance group dynamism, social cohesion and solidarity among members.

Let us consider the above in the way we live and grow in different groups/

Discipline and Indiscipline Explained Discipline can be generally defined as, a set of rules for conduct. It is acknowledged in every society. Its character is defined by different social and cultural contexts, and time dimension. It is moralistic and ethical.

Discipline also refers to training, especially of the mind and character to produce self control, and habits of obedience. In sociological terms, a disciplined person is therefore, a well-socialised individual. The above is made possible/impossible, successful/unsuccessful through the process of socialisation. According to Paul B. Horton and Hunt, socialisation is the process whereby an individual internalises the norms of the group so that a distinct “self” emerges, that is unique to this individual and conscious of social rules and regulations.

Indiscipline is the opposite of discipline.

It consists of perverse or debased activities.

It means lack of discipline, or the growing of or increase in indiscipline over time. In Nigeria, activities that are considered as indiscipline include: rigging and other forms of electoral malpractices, succession bids by politicians, bribery, corruption and perversion of the administration of justice, flamboyant demonstration of individual’s materialistic possessions in the midst of social poverty, forgery, drug abuse, child abuse, child and female trafficking, financial misappropriation, all forms of dubious deals like advance payment/ fee fraud and (419) activities.

Forms of Indiscipline The causes of indiscipline are as varied, as the types of indiscipline that we have. These can be categorised under five distinct areas or typologies:Political Indiscipline: this means any form of perversion of the political process in general, or electoral process in particular.

Examples are rigging, bungled registration exercise, or failure to conduct elections where and when it is supposed to be conducted, use of a touts to manipulate elections etc.

Economic Indiscipline: This involves the use of and manipulation of institutional regulations by those in positions of authority, to hasten or shorten organisational procedures for their personal benefits, for friends and associates. Examples are manipulations of foreign exchange, award of contracts, and any use of one’s official position for profit motive.

Bureaucratic Indiscipline: This forms the most popular form of indiscipline. Generally, it means the use of any illegitimate governmental process, in the conduct of public office. Examples are bribery and corruption, lack of probity and accountability. (To be continued).

THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK “In just about every area of society, there's nothing more important than ethics”. (Henry Paulson)

VIII COVER

TUESDAY, JANUARY 3, 2023 ˾ T H I S D AY

Olawale Fapohunda, SAN

'Those Waiting for Clean Politics, Will Wait Indefinitely' The office of State Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, is one delicate job that only the best of Lawyers should hold. Olawale Fapohunda, SAN is a two-term Attorney-General of Ekiti State, a trail blazer who introduced many innovations to the Justice Sector of his State, left uncountable, progressive legacies which will hopefully endure and be built upon by his successors-in-office. In a chat with Onikepo Braithwaite and Jude Igbanoi, the well respected and renowned Administration of Justice Sector Reform Activist, whose reputation goes beyond the boundaries of Nigeria, shared his vast experience in Justice Sector reforms, and his vision for a better regime of justice administration in Nigeria, including his altruistic quest for better welfare, working conditions and remuneration for judicial officers at all levels

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earned Silk, kindly, give us an overview of your two terms in office as Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice of Ekiti State? What would you say were your major achievements, and what legacies have you left behind for your successors-in-office?

I first came into office in 2012 until 2014.

I was again reappointed in 2018. I had a clear idea and mandate from Governor Fayemi, on my key areas of intervention.

The most important intervention area for me, was to strengthen the capacity of counsel in the Ministry of Justice to deliver on our mandate. It was clear to me from the onset, that achieving success in the other intervention areas depended

wholly on an efficient and professional Ministry of Justice. We had to build good human resources policies within the Ministry, so that we could do our work well. It was important to me, that we achieved a professional cadre of Lawyers and non-Lawyers, who were able to promote the new values of the Ministry. Directly related to this, was providing career advancement possibilities for all those who work in the Ministry. To achieve this in concrete terms, I established the Ministry of Justice Academy. The first of its kind in Nigeria. It was through this Academy, that we facilitated training and continuous education programmes for staff of the Ministry. This initiative was not only targeted at Lawyers. We

“So, in terms of legacy, I will say I left behind a legacy of efficiency in the provision of legal and legislative services to the government and people of Ekiti State”

ensured that our administrative staff, were beneficiaries. So, I can confidently say that I have left behind an efficient, service oriented Ministry of Justice.

By the time I left, we were largely focusing on service delivery and on verifiable results.

The other area, was the need to revisit the manner we administered State legal affairs. We had to reaffirm the place of the Ministry of Justice, as the sole legal adviser the Government of Ekiti State. I simplified and made more efficient, the framework that I inherited.

One of the innovations I introduced, was appointing State Counsel as legal advisers to all MDAs in the State. I also established a department of advisory services, to monitor and supervise them.

My main achievement in this area, was the provision of legal services to the State Government in an efficient and cost-effective manner.

The other key intervention area, was the reform of justice system itself. Our administration of justice system in Ekiti State was in need of change, not change for the sake of it, but because our people wanted a more effective and open system of justice which is within the reach of the ordinary person. As a first step,

I set out to address the special needs of disadvantaged groups such as women, children and rural communities. Notably, I set up a Citizens Complaints Centre in the Ado Ekiti Main market. The purpose of this was, to achieve access to professional legal services by our market men and women and indigents. This was also in response to the concerns, about lack of physical access to the Ministry of Justice.

I embarked on awareness visits, to rural communities across the State. The main purpose of these visits was to make people more aware of our new image, the services we provide and how to use them. I completed the holistic review of the Laws of Ekiti State. Archaic laws were removed, and many laws were reformed to meet the aspirations of our people. I should also mention that, I translated some of these core laws into Yoruba language. So, in terms of legacy, I will say I left behind a legacy of efficiency in the provision of legal and legislative services to the government and people of Ekiti State.

Some have argued that the role of Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice should be separated, and the roles carried out by two people.

What would you say makes them have that opinion? Do you agree? Is there

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'Those Waiting for Clean Politics, Will Wait Indefinitely’ a clash between the two roles?

I understand the concern, about independence of the office holder. My response has always been, we cannot cure the fear of independence by separating the office. A practical solution may be to ensure that persons appointed to the office of Attorney- General, whether State or Federal, are of high professional standing and comfortable in their shoes. It is this high standard that will ensure the ability of the office holder to make decisions based on his or her conviction, and not on the directive of the appointor, in this case, the State Governor.

In my case, I never had to act on directives from the Governor’s office. I admit that the exposure, understanding and personality of the Governor are key factors. If you have a Governor that does not believe in any rule of law but that set by himself, the Attorney-General will struggle. People often say that, in that case, the AG should resign. I agree, but that may only happen when the occupier of the office does not require the office to survive. My view is that, independence cannot be legislated. It is about appointing the right person to the office.

So much needs to be done in the administration of justice sector in Nigeria. Kindly, chart a course for the sector in 2023 - the Judiciary, Prisons etc I think the first thing we need to do in 2023, is to undertake an in-depth assessment of all we have done in the sector, at least, since the return to democracy in 1999. I hear some of our colleagues often argue that, nothing has been done. That is not true. There have been a number of interventions, at both the Federal and State levels. Many States going further than the Federal Government. We need to have an understanding of where we are. I am proposing a holistic review of laws, the state of our justice institutions, and the adequacy of administrative interventions in the justice sector.

There will always be the issue of where to start from, given the enormity of what needs to be done. I will suggest we start from our criminal justice system. This is an area where the Federal Government needs to reset its relationship with State Governments. Our failure to make progress in criminal justice administration, is today no longer simply a justice reform matter.

It is now a matter of national insecurity.

All parts of Nigeria, are victims of this limited progress.

Of course, there is no way we can embark on this review without focusing on key justice institutions. The Judiciary, Police, Correctional Services and even the Justice Ministries. The outcome of the proposed review, will then enable us chart a path forward especially in deciding what has to be done, when it will begin, how long will it take, who will be responsible, what resources will be needed and what concrete indicators will tell us if we are succeeding.

The bottom line is that, it can’t be business as usual. I think the emergence of a new government is May 2023, provides an opportunity for this review.

Where do you place the issue of Judicial salaries and allowances in this your proposed review process?

Very high on the agenda. Also, it’s great to see that we are now making some progress. President Buhari’s recent approval of a review of judicial salaries and

Olawale Fapohunda, SAN

allowances, is a welcome development.

I hear the cynical comments about timing, and whether this is not too late in the day. When all is said and done, this is progress, however one looks at it. There has been a lot of behind the scenes advocacy led by the NBA, before we got to this point. What is important now, is not to waste time on unnecessary debates and bureaucracy.

All the information required for immediate implementation, is available.

There is no need for any high-level Presidential committee on this, except for the purpose of discussing immediate implementation and appropriation.

I was a member of the Technical Committee on the Review of Judicial Salaries and Allowances, which submitted its report in 2018. We recommended salary increase for all Judicial Officers. We observed that between May 1999 and March 2011, the Federal Government of Nigeria reviewed the salaries and allowances of Public Servants and Political office holders on four occasions, specifically in 2000, 2005, 2007 and 2011. However, the salaries of judicial officers were only reviewed twice during the same period. As a result, judicial officers have been on the same salary structure for over 13 years.

While recognising the enormity of the economic challenges facing the nation, we agreed on the compelling need to increase judicial salaries. It was our view that judicial salaries must be set at a comparatively high public-service level, in order to remove both the temptation to corruption and public contemplation of the possibility of such temptation. We identified two main issues on judicial independence and salaries and conditions of service.

First, the administration of salaries

“I am concerned about the limited number of female Lawyers within the rank. I have always disagreed with the, ‘we are all men at the Bar’ reasoning. Holding on to this reasoning, may inadvertently be undermining the growth of female Lawyers in the profession.

and conditions of service of judicial officers, should not be lumped together with that of other public or political office holders. As it currently exists, the provisions relating to judicial salaries and entitlements are to be found in the Certain Political, Public and Judicial Office holders (Salaries, Allowances, etc) Act 2002 and the Amendment Act 2008. Secondly, the review of judicial remuneration, should not be left to the discretion of the very arms of government on which they should not be dependent.

In response to these concerns, we proposed a Judicial office Holders Entitlements Bill, to consolidate legislative provisions relating to judicial salaries and entitlements into a single piece of legislation. The proposed Bill supports judicial independence, by creating a modern statutory framework for determining the salary, allowances and conditions of service for judicial officers.

Specifically, the Bill will create a Judicial Office Holders Entitlements Panel to replace the Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission, as it relates to the Judiciary. I am pleased to note that, the President of the NBA is seeking to present this Bill to the National Assembly for its consideration.

The Nigerian Bar Association witnessed a very disgraceful incident at its 2022 Annual General Conference, when Lawyers invaded the venue and looted conference materials from there. You and the Committee that you chair, were given the responsibility of unravelling the immediate and remote causes of the ugly incident, with a view of bringing the perpetrators to book. What has your Committee done so far? Have you been able to identify the perpetrators, and what further steps will the NBA leadership take on this matter? Will you have the perpetrators tried in a court of law?

You may recall that on 5th September, 2022, the President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Yakubu Chonoko Maikyau, SAN inaugurated the Conference Incident Investigation Committee (CIIC), to investigate the disturbances and report its findings to the National Executive Committee of the NBA. I was appointed to Chair the Committee, CP Lough Simon Asamber, SAN, was appointed Alternate Chair. The

Committee was mandated, among others, to investigate and establish the cause of the disturbance, with reference to any contributing immediate and remote cause(s), as well as investigate and establish the identities of the persons involved in the disturbances. We were also asked to make recommendations, taking into consideration the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended), Constitution of the Nigerian Bar Association, 2015 (as amended in 2021), Rules of Professional Conduct for Legal Practitioners 2007 and other relevant legislations, policies and guidelines. The Committee was mandated to recommend measures to ensure the future safe conduct of Annual General Conferences of the NBA. The Committee considered considerable evidence submitted by the Conference Service Providers, Technical Committee on Conference Planning, Bar Leaders, Members of the Bar and members of the public, in making its preliminary findings and recommendations. We presented our preliminary report to the NBA National Executive Council, at its December 15 meeting.

Without going into the details of our findings, there is a consensus within the Committee that the conduct of those persons brought shame and embarrassment to the NBA specifically, and the legal profession generally. Our recommendations reflect the Committee’s conclusion that the incident is of a serious nature, and that strong measures should be applied to deter its future occurrence. Concerning the identification of specific persons, at the NEC meeting we released the photographs of certain persons who we believe may be able to assist us in achieving our mandate. We note the hullabaloo that resulted, consequent upon that publication. It may again be helpful to re-emphasise that we did not say that those persons whose photographs were published, were the culprits. We simply called for assistance in identifying them, to enable us conclude our investigation.

Going forward, we have made some progress, and we will be inviting those persons to a meeting early this month. We plan to submit our final report to NEC, no later than end of January. It will then be left for NEC to take the next steps.

What are your observations about the new 2023 Guidelines for the conferment of the rank of Senior Advocate of Nigeria, especially as it cont'd on page X

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relates to the Academic category? It also seems as if the rank is gender insensitive, with a total of 40 women or less being elevated to the rank since it’s inception, out of a total of about 752; is this because we are all gentlemen at the Bar? I agree that there is a need for a review of the guidelines, for the conferment of the rank of Senior Advocate. I am respectfully however, unable to agree with the recent amendments.

The amendments should have been broader, and should have gone to the root of the values that the NBA holds dear. For example, lawyering in public interest. We need to encourage Lawyers, to do more public interest work. The limited pro bono cases requirement for advocates is, in my view, inadequate. The NBA has for a while now been concerned about how to respond properly to the legal needs of Nigerians, especially the poor and the indigent. Given the number of Lawyers in Nigeria, we should be doing more. The requirement for pro bono work, should not only be about litigation. There is an emerging consensus that we need to change the way that those who go into the legal profession, are educated and trained. There are many practicing Lawyers whose experience and knowledge across the various fields of law, would be invaluable in our Law Faculties and indeed, the Law School. There is also an urgent need for law reform. It is often said that our problem in Nigeria is not the absence of laws, but the implementation.

I agree, but this may also be as a result of drafting un-implementable laws. So, we need Lawyers skills in this area.

There are also a large number of Lawyers who have dedicated their lives, working in the area of public legal education. These are the ones, who are consistently contributing to our understanding of the law. They need to be recognised. What I am saying is that, we need to ensure that the conferment of the title responds to the legal needs of our country. I am concerned about the limited number of female Lawyers within the rank.

I have always disagreed with the, ‘we are all men at the Bar’ reasoning. Holding on to this reasoning, may inadvertently be undermining the growth of female Lawyers in the profession. Thankfully, I am aware that the President of the NBA has began consultations on this issue. Hopefully, we will begin to see changes.

There have been very worrisome developments, in the Nigerian legal profession recently. Suddenly, and to the chagrin of many Lawyers, a splinter body of Lawyers under the aegis of Law Society of Nigeria emerged. What, in your view, does this portend for the cohesion of the Nigerian legal community?

It is really difficult to understand the reasoning of those behind the latest clamour, for a Law Society of Nigeria. This is, more so, when the original founders have publicly distanced themselves from the idea. They have stated that the idea was muted, when the NBA was being muscled during the military era. This is not the situation today.

Now, if the recent clamour is based on the ideal of an effective Bar, then it seems to me that the best way forward, is to seek to strengthen what we have now in the NBA. Achieving the ideal of a Lawyers Association that meets the aspirations of all

Olawale Fapohunda, SAN

Lawyers, cannot be met by the breaking up of the NBA. I agree that, at various levels the Bar needs strengthening.

However, the NBA can only be as virile and strong as its membership.

Starting from the Branches, we need more Lawyers to get involved in the administration of the Bar. The NBA Sections, can do with more active participation from members. The Law Society discussion is a distraction. This is not the time for such distraction.

This is the time when all Lawyers need to unite as one body, and engage the many issues we are facing as a country. Tackling the impediments to the rule of law, achieving accountable political leadership at all levels of government, the crisis of insecurity, our weakening justice sector, inadequate legal representation for marginalised communities, to mention a few. These are some of the issues millions of voiceless Nigerians expect the NBA to speak out on, on their behalf. As we approach the 2023 elections, we need a united Bar that will speak with one voice on the unfolding political situation in the country.

You did a lot of work in the area of violence against women in Ekiti State. On a national scale, it would appear as if the country is still struggling with this issue, particularly if the daily media reports of sexual violence nationwide are taken into consideration. You are also a very strong advocate of gender parity/affirmative action, especially admitting women to important political positions in every strata of government and public service. What would be your advice for the incoming administration at Federal, State and Local government levels?

Reversing the everyday occurrence of violence against women, will not happen overnight. We need a lot more political will to make a difference.

“Again, change will not happen if we all sit in our comfort zones arguing that ‘politics is dirty’. Our politics is not self- cleansing, and it is not likely to be for a while….The energy, time and resources many of us deploy on social media complaining about the state of the nation…can best be used by directly engaging the political parties and their leadership”

It is true that the Nigerian Governors Forum with the buy-in of the Presidency, declared a national emergency on this issue. That was an important first step, in acknowledging that we have a problem.

The challenge the Governors face on a daily basis, is how to translate this declaration into evidence-based results, especially for women and girls in their States. The role of the Governors, will always be crucial.

In Ekiti State, whatever success we recorded, was largely based on the leadership of Governor Fayemi. The office of the Wife of the Governor, also played an important role in translating the declaration by the Governors Forum into concrete deliverables. We enacted one of the most progressive laws anywhere in the world, prohibiting gender based violence. We backed the law with several administrative interventions, including opening a register of sex offenders. We were the first in Nigeria, to do so. The State Executive Council approved our name and shame policy. Here, we published the details of persons convicted of sex offences. We provided a legal framework for these policies, in the Criminal Law of Ekiti State. As a deterrent, we ensured that persons convicted of sex offences, do not benefit from Mr Governors power of prerogative of mercy. We opened a Referral Centre for victims of sexual violence. The Centre was established, to provide medical and other interventions for victims. We enacted a victims of crime law, that includes victims of sexual violence. I am not aware of the existence of this law, in any other State in Nigeria. Our purpose is to recognise victims, in our criminal justice system.

We initiated and sustained a women’s economic empowerment programme.

This we did, in recognition of the nexus between economic dis-empowerment and gender-based violence.

No less important, was our recognition of the important place of women in public office. If our women can campaign and bring out the votes, they are good enough for public office. This has always been an Ekiti State policy, but we went a step further by enacting a law to make provision for female appointments into political offices. The Ekiti State Political Offices (Gender Composition) Law, provides for the appointment of 35% of women in political offices.

Put together, our goal was to leave our people in no doubt, about the State Government’s commitment to women’s full and equal participation in all facets of our society.

After your successful tour of duty as a two term Attorney-General, what is next for Olawale Fapohunda, SAN? My initial thought, was to take a break.

After just about a decade in government, it is necessary to take it easy for a while.

Regrettably, I can’t do that. I still believe that there is much to do in government, especially at the Federal level. No doubt, a lot has been achieved in the justice sector, but there will always be the need to do more. The administration of President Buhari, has set the agenda for a number of interventions in the sector. The job is not yet completed. We have moved a long way along the path of reforms, but we are not there yet.

If there is anything I learnt from my experience in Ekiti State, proposals for reform and change have a fighting chance of happening, if one is around the table where those decisions are made. I know that for most of the ideas I have put forward in this interview to happen, I will have to position myself in a manner that makes my voice heard, especially at the Federal level. It is for this reason that I intend to participate actively in the deliberations of the party that I served, particularly on issues of reform of the administration of justice system in Nigeria.

I have also spent much of my time since leaving office, writing my memoirs and encouraging my friends to get involved.

Again, change will not happen if we all sit in our comfort zones arguing that ‘politics is dirty’. Our politics is not self-cleansing, and it is not likely to be for a while. Those who are waiting for clean politics, may have to wait indefinitely. The energy, time and resources many of us deploy on social media complaining about the state of the nation, including the challenges facing our justice system, can best be used by directly engaging the political parties and their leadership. We simply have to find a seat on the table, where these issues are being discussed. I have told my friends that Lawyers, by our training, are well suited to take active leadership roles in the political process.

Our daily association with people helps us develop people’s skills, skills that would serve any politician very well.

In addition, our court room skills, will always give us an edge in the rough and tumble world of politics.

My final thoughts are that Lawyers should get involved. We should stop complaining, roll up our sleeves and get involved.

Thank you Learned Silk.

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T H I S D AY ˾ DAY ͱ˜ ͰͮͰͱ

Photo Editor Abiodun Ajala Email abiodun.ajala@thisdaylive.com

L-R: Member, House of Representatives, Hon Yemi Adaramodu; immediate-past Deputy Governor of Ekiti State, Otunba Bisi Egbeyemi, and immediate-past state Governor, Dr. Kayode Fayemi; during the yearly Ekiti State All Progressives Congress (APC) Leaders and Stakeholders’ Christmas get-together at Fayemi’s residence in Isan Ekiti, Ekiti State…recently

L-R: Oluwo of Iwoland, Oba Abdulrasheed Akanbi; clergyman, Mr. Michael Ajayi; Rev. Mother Esther Ajayi; and Osun State Governor, Senator Ademola Adeleke, at the 2022 Christmas Carol organised by the Trinity Gospel Choir in Lagos…recently

L-R: Group Chief Executive Officer, RED for Africa/founding board member, Enough is Enough Nigeria (EIE), Adebola Williams; Executive Director, Paradigin Initiative, Gbenga Sesan; Executive Director, EIE, Yemi Ademolekun; founding board members, EIE, Scott Igbene and Bisola Edun; CEO, EAN Aviation Limited, Segun Demure; and founding member, EIE, Chude Jideonwo, at the official presentation of ‘Footprints: Past, Present Future’ by EIE Nigeria, held in Lagos…recently

Programme Coordinator, Jigijagaban Health Care Mission Campaign, Lola Bolusire (right); Consultant Ophthalmologist, Murtala Muhammad Specialist Hospital, Kano State, Dr. Anas Abdullahi (centre), presenting free ‘Mama and Baby’ kits to a beneficiary of Jigijagaban free medical intervention programme organised by Jigijagaban Organisation in Kano State…recently

Segun Ogunleye, General Manager, Marketing, Seven-Up Bottling Company (SBC), presenting a prize to one of the winners of the raffle draw at the launch of Rockstar Energy drink produced by SBC in Lagos, recently

L-R: The Presbyter, Methodist Church of the Trinity, Tinubu Square, Lagos, Rev. Jonathan Osin; Prelate, Methodist Church of Nigeria, His Eminence, Dr. Oliver Abah; Bishop Methodist Church of the Trinity, Tinubu Square, Lagos, Rt. Rev. Oladapo Babalola; Presbyter, Methodist Church of Nigeria, Rev. Bolanle Ojeyemi; and other clergies (back row), during the 2022 Christmas Service in Lagos…recently PHOTO: KOLAWOLE AALI

Passengers at the Murtala Muhammed Airport (MMA2), Ikeja, Lagos, waiting to catch their flights to their various destinations for the Yuletide…recently

PHOTO: KOLAWOLE ALLI

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FOREIGN DESK

COMPILED BY BAYO AKINLOYE

Tens of Thousands Pay Their Respects to Ex-Pope Benedict Tens of thousands of people filed into St. Peter’s Basilica Monday to pay their respects to the late Pope Benedict XVI, whose body is lying in state.

Some of the faithful had lined up hours before dawn to wait for the doors of the basilica to open.

By mid-afternoon Monday, 40,000 people had filed past the late pope, according to Vatican police.

The 95-year-old retired pontiff died Saturday morning. In 2013, Benedict became the first pope in 600 years to step down from his Vatican post.

Filippo Tuccio, 35, told The Associated Press that he came from Venice on an overnight train to view Benedict’s body.

“He was very important for me: for what I am, my way of thinking, my values. This is why I wanted to say goodbye today,” Tuccio said.

Benedict’s body, dressed in traditional red liturgical garments and without any papal paraphernalia, will lie in state until Wednesday.

On Thursday, “Pope Francis will become the first pope in modern history to preside as pope at the funeral of his predecessor,” according to the Vatican News website.

The Vatican has said the funeral would be marked by simplicity, in keeping with Benedict’s wishes.

the Great’s campaign in 332 B.C. The sarcophagus, almost 3 meters (9.5 feet) tall with a brightly painted top surface, may have belonged to an ancient priest named Ankhenmaat, though some of the inscription on it has been erased, Waziri said. It was symbolically handed over at a ceremony Monday in Cairo

by Daniel Rubinstein, the U.S. charge d’affaires in Egypt.

The handover came more than three months after the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office determined the sarcophagus was looted from Abu Sir Necropolis, north of Cairo. It was smuggled through Germany into the United States in 2008, according to Manhattan District Attorney Alvin L. Bragg.

“This stunning coffin was trafficked by a well-organized network that has looted countless antiquities from the region,” Bragg said at the time. “We are pleased that this object will be returned to Egypt, where it rightfully belongs.”

Bragg said the same network had smuggled a gilded coffin out of Egypt that was featured at New York’s Metropolitan Museum. Met bought the piece from a Paris art dealer in 2017 for about $4 million. It was returned to Egypt in 2019....

Brazil Bids Farewell to ‘King of Soccer’ Pele with 24-Hour Wake The Brazilian coastal city of Santos, which sporting giant Pele turned into a byword for soccer brilliance during a glittering club career, started bidding goodbye to its hero on Monday with a 24-hour wake.

Edson Arantes do Nascimento - Pele’s given name - was born in 1940 in the small country town of Tres Coracoes but moved to Santos in 1956 and lived there for most of his life.

In the early hours of Monday, his body arrived under fireworks in the city of about 430,000 people from Sao Paulo’s Albert Einstein Hospital.

Mourners lined up to see Pele’s body in an open casket in the centre of the field at the Vila Belmiro stadium, home of the Santos Football Club. Pele died on Thursday at 82 after battling colon cancer.

“Pele leaves millions of Santos fans across our country. He was the creator of Brazilian soccer,” said Antonio da Paz, a fan outside the stadium for the memorial that began at 10 a.m. (1300 GMT).

FIFA President Gianni Infantino was among the first to arrive for the service and said he would ask every country to name a stadium after Pele, the only man to win the World Cup three times as a player.

“Pele is eternal,” Infantino told reporters.

“FIFA will certainly honour the ‘king’ as he deserves. We have asked all football associations worldwide to pay a minute of silence before every game and will also ask them, 211 countries, to name a stadium after Pele. Future generations must know and remember who Pele was.” .

Floods in Philippines Leave 51 Dead, over Dozen Missing

Thousands of people in the Philippines remained in emergency shelters in the wake of devastating Christmas flooding, as the death toll climbed to 51 with 19 missing, authorities said Monday.

Images showed residents in southern Misamis Occidental province sweeping away thick mud from the floors of their homes. In the seaside village of Cabol-anonan, coconut trees were uprooted, and huts made of light material were nearly flattened.

The Northern Mindanao region bore the brunt of the disaster, reporting 25 deaths, according to the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council. Most of the deaths were from drowning and landslides, and among the missing were fishermen whose boats capsized.

Floods have subsided in most parts, but more than 8,600 people were still in shelters.

Over 4,500 houses were damaged by the floods, along with roads and bridges, and some areas still struggle with disrupted power and water supply, the disaster management agency said...

Russia: 63 Soldiers Killed in Ukrainian Missile Strikes Russia said Monday that 63 of its troops were killed on New Year’s Eve in Ukrainian missile strikes on their quarters in the town of Makiivka in the Russian-controlled part of Ukraine’s Donetsk region.

Germany Cautions Critics Against Traveling to Iran

The unusual casualty announcement by Russia’s Defense Ministry came as Russia continued its air attacks on the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv. However, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said all 40 drones targeting the city and its environs had been shot down.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said Ukraine hit the Makiivka site with four of the six rockets fired from the precision High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) that the United States has dispatched to Ukraine’s forces. Russia said it shot down two of the incoming missiles.

The Ukrainian military did not directly confirm the strike but tacitly acknowledged it and claimed it was more deadly than Russia reported.

The Strategic Communications Directorate of Ukraine’s Armed Forces said Sunday that about 400 Russian soldiers were killed in a vocational school building in Makiivka, and about 300 more were injured. The Russian statement said the strike occurred “in the area of Makiivka” and didn’t mention the vocational school.

Ukraine Condemns Russia’s New Year’s Attacks In a video address on New Year’s Eve, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky condemned Russia’s missile barrage in Ukraine.

“Today, this Russian missile attack is not the end of the year, no matter how much the terrorists want it. It’s the outcome of Russia’s fate,” he said.

Reacting to the Russian air assault on Ukraine skies nationwide Saturday, Zelensky said, “The terrorist state will not be forgiven. And those who give orders for such strikes, and those who carry them out, will not receive a pardon. To put it mildly.”

“The explosions on February 24 stunned us,” the Ukrainian president said about the first day of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. “We were told you have no other option but to surrender.

We say we have no other option than to win.”

“We haven’t lost anything,” Zelensky said.

“It was taken from us. ... We did not lose our lands — they were occupied by invaders. The world did not lose peace — Russia destroyed it.”

Libya: 18 Bodies Found in Mass Grave in Ex-IS Stronghold PLibyan authorities said Sunday they have found 18 bodies buried in a mass grave in a former stronghold of the Islamic State group along the conflict-stricken North African

nation’s coast.

The Missing Persons Authority said in a statement the bodies were unearthed in the Sabaa area of Sirte, a city in central Libya. The bodies were taken to a hospital, it added.

Since Gadhafi’s overthrow and killing, Libya has been split between rival authorities. Sirte is now controlled by forces loyal to military leader Khalifa Haftar based in the country’s east.

In its statement, the Missing Persons Authority said they collected samples of the dead bones in an effort to identify the bodies. Further details on the cause of death for those found were not provided.

Several mass graves have been uncovered across Libya recently.

North Korea Replaces Key Military Official North Korea has replaced its second most powerful military official, state media reported.

The reshuffling took place at last week’s ruling party annual meeting with Ri Yong Gil replacing Pak Jong Chong, the official KCNA news agency said Sunday.

The report did not detail any reasoning for the change.

The development came as Kim Jong Un called for expanding his country’s nuclear arsenal and developing more powerful intercontinental ballistic missiles in response to what he called hostility from the United States..

Looted Ancient Sarcophagus Returned to Egypt From US An ancient wooden sarcophagus that was featured at the Houston Museum of Natural Sciences was returned to Egypt after U.S. authorities determined it was looted years ago, Egyptian officials said Monday.

The repatriation is part of Egyptian government efforts to stop the trafficking of its stolen antiquities. In 2021, authorities in Cairo succeeded in getting 5,300 stolen artifacts returned to Egypt from across the world.

Mostafa Waziri, the top official at the Supreme Council of Antiquities, said the sarcophagus dates back to the Late Dynastic Period of ancient Egypt, an era that spanned the last of the Pharaonic rulers from 664 B.C. until Alexander

Germany has warned Iranians living in the country who have been critical of the Iranian government to be careful about travelling to Iran.

Thomas Haldenwang, head of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, told the Germany Press Agency that for some years, the Iranian government has worked to identify critics and that those people could face serious consequences if they go to Iran.

Haldenwang also said friends or family members of Iran’s critics face the same threats.

He highlighted protests in Germany, such as those that brought tens of thousands of people demonstrating against the Iranian government in Berlin in October, as a possible source for Iranian government agencies to try to identify critics.

Separatists Impose Curfew after Cameroon President Claims Troops Crushing Rebellion Cameroon’s military says it deployed scores of troops to Oku, Kumbo and Kakiri districts Monday in the central African state’s English-speaking Northwest region.

The military says armed gangs over the weekend sealed markets, chased people and vehicles from the streets and abducted scores of civilians who did not comply with their orders.

Motorcycle taxi driver Lukong Genesis, 54, said armed men seized his motorcycle. He said the separatists, who call themselves Ambazonians or Amba, pointed guns at him and demanded he go home.

“The situation in Kumbo for the past two days has been very, very precarious,” he said. There has been serious gun firing between the Amba and the state forces and today being Monday, the ghost town has been reinforced and the streets are dry. No movement of vehicles and people.

Everybody is indoors.”

Lukong said battles between troops and rebels intensified after President Paul Biya’s New Year’s Eve speech.

Biya said many rebel groups have been crushed and the threat from separatists has been significantly reduced.

He praised the central African state’s military for protecting civilians and property during the six-year conflict and said peace would pave the way for the region’s reconstruction.

The rebels say they want to carve out an English-speaking state they call Ambazonia from Cameroon and its French-speaking majority.

XVI

T H I S D AY ˾ TUESDAY JANUARY 3, 2023

PROPERTY & ENVIRONMENT Ladega: Technology can Enable Remote Monitoring of Compliance in Construction Projects Olusegun Paul Adetokunbo Ladega, the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Interstate Architects Limited that clocked 70 years in December 2022. Ladega, a Fellow of the Nigerian Institute of Architects, has practiced architecture for 41 years. He discusses the interesting progression of architectural practice from analogue drawings to building information modelling, construction of UCH Ibadan, LUTH, Lagos Island Maternity, and others. Bennett Oghifo presents Ladega’s views

Y

our firm, Interstate Architects Limited, is 70 years old and you have practiced for 41 years. How has it been all these years?

It’s been very interesting because I think the most interesting part of it is that those 70 years traversed periods of profound changes, both in the practice of architecture, the procurement of buildings, and even the means by which architects carry out their work. Those 70 years traversed a period of profound shifts from analogue hand drawn and simple calculation basis to mechanical drafting mechanisms, through the era of digital drafting and drawing, and now we are in the era of building information modeling.

This whole spectrum from analog, basic hand drawing with simple calculation devices like the slide rule and co, to the time where you had the electronic calculator to full digitisation of the whole process when computers became the means by which we carry out our work.

And not only has computers also transitioned us from basic digital drawing to full building information modelling, now we are in the realms where A.I., (Artificial Intelligence), virtual reality, VR, are now helping us to create digital twins of a building that is designed. So, it means that you have a building that is standing or that will eventually stand, and you have a digital replica of it created in virtual reality in the virtual world that you can go in, you can interact with. And that is where we are now. So you see it’s been quite profound.

Evolution of procurement and design of buildings Again, the procurement process from the simple, almost like handshake transaction to very complex procurement processes and even buildings have gone from buildings with just simple basic technologies like that. The early days were just basic, simple plumbing, and electric-

technology, we all can work together in a virtual space. All the members collaborating with the architect to work together on the project. Not just do we have meetings, but we can jointly make additions, amendments and others, to the design as it goes along, and each one adds its own process. So, collaboration has become much more effective, the design process has also become very high, not just highly automated, but also much more easily integrated. So, integrating engineering into my building becomes more effective, much easier because we are working in the same virtual environment. I can see how the engineering interacts with and how it may affect or amend my building or how my building can make demands on the engineering and the response from the engineering. All that now happens practically. He is at the other end, I at this end, we are both looking at our screens. We are interacting and collaborating and iterating the design. That’s the beauty of what we have now. Whereas before you had to have physical meetings.

Ladega

ity in the buildings. Add a few other things, and that was it. So now, we’re in the era where we are creating highly intelligent buildings, where buildings respond to demands within and outside environments that the building sits in.

We have lots of technology incorporated into buildings that enable us to create a better level of comfort, higher level of efficiency, and also a building that responds to climates, responds to the environment and the level of activity within.

How has this evolution impacted your practise of architecture?

Well, it has. Yes, You know, maybe I

Propcrowdy Receives Crowdfunding Intermediary License Fadekemi Ajakaiye Propcrowdy Limited said it has been granted crowdfunding intermediary (CFI) license

by Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Officials of the company said in a statement that “With this approval, Propcrowdy becomes the only platform in Nigeria today authorised to perform crowdfunding business under the rules and guidelines of SEC.” Propcrowdy is an inclusionary crowdfunding investment platform that is set up to make it possible for individuals who earn minimum wage to access and climb up the real estate investment ladder in Africa.

“Doing this also enables us to raise project finance for small construction and development companies” stated the Founder/CEO, Dr Roland Igbinoba.

The startup is focusing on two main target audience which are the population of Nigerians who earn between $80 to $1,000 per month - Over 127 million Nigerians fall in this category and Small and Medium Enterprise Real Estate Developers whose annual turnover are less than $5m – there are over 3,600 of these SMEs Recall, that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) recently prohibited

the activities of all Agritech and crowdfunding investment platforms due to the massive failure and fraudulent activities of many of the platforms. SEC “had observed with concern the fraudulent activities of some unregistered investment crowdfunding platforms and had strongly advised the investing public against making investment(s) with or through any crowdfunding platform not registered with the Commission. The Commission, in recognition of the potentials and importance of crowdfunding platforms and the need to protect investors through effective regulation, had in January 2021 published its crowdfunding rules and requested well-intending crowdfunding platforms to register with the Commission”.

To build investors’ confidence and trust, Propcrowdy has taken the long and hard road to securing a crowdfunding license from SEC. Propcrowdy was incorporated in 2019 when there was no regulation for crowdfunding. “We recognize that low income earners and small real businesses in Africa lack the financial capacity to scale” states Williams Omoruyi, Head of Product Design. At Propcrowdy, we are solving the twin problem of social impact and inclusiveness for those at the bottom of the pyramid and

creating wealth and economic development for small and medium sized real estate developers, he added.

Funded developers on the platform must meet Propcrowdy’s requirements of environmental, social and governance factors alongside the security and financial metrics in the appraisal and investment decision-making process.

Speaking on the approval by the SEC, the founder, Dr Roland Igbinoba, emphasized that success for Propcrowdy will be measured by how much they have been able to successfully democratize real estate investments within the low and medium income category in Africa, thereby empowering them and improving their wellbeing. Furthermore, our contribution to net zero and the reduction in carbon emissions is of utmost importance, he added.

In 2021, Propcrowdy received family, friends and angel investments of $500,000 to enable it to procure its license and continue to build its products and required infrastructure for monitoring compliance as required by the SEC. The round of investments was led by Proptech54 – a proptech focused accelerator program helping to nurture and scale proptech startups in Africa.

should start with a bit of our history. Interstate Architects Ltd started as the resident architect’s office for Watkins Gray and Partners, a practice based in the UK that was founded by the year 1900 in Bristol. It opened a London office in 1931 and was awarded the consultancy services for the University College Hospital (U.C.H) Ibadan, which happens to be the very first university teaching hospital in Nigeria. And it meant that for the construction phase, which started in 1952, architects had to be sent out from the UK to be on site to monitor the construction works. So, that’s the origin of our firm. Well, some architects were sent from the UK to be resident on sites to monitor and supervise the construction work of the University College Hospital Ibadan. Of course, the gentlemen were quite resourceful because they interacted with society, with the environment. So very quickly, other health care building projects followed, like the Lagos University Teaching Hospital and then the Lagos Island Maternity and a number of other hospital projects, health care projects followed, which necessitated the establishment of more of a Nigerian office. It moved from just resident architects to now having a Nigerian office based on the amount of business that was coming. And of course, that translated into the firm making forays into other areas of the economy outside the health care sector. We became very privileged that by 1963, the practice had designed and supervised the construction of the First Central Bank of Nigeria branch office in Kano. And from then on till date Interstate Architects has remained the architect of choice for the Central Bank of Nigeria. So, that’s a relationship that has lasted almost 60 years now.

Has this impacted how your firm work?

It was hand drawings and basic calculations and quotes, using logbooks, radio recorders and co, to do all the calculations. Building is still standing today. And today, all that I can do from a very simple app on all handheld devices to deliver the same technology now. How has it impacted us? We’ve been able to become more efficient in our work, we’ve been able to become more accurate. We’ve been able to deliver our service much faster and the most important is that any building projects designed by architects are delivered through a collaborative process, where you have to work in collaboration with so many other professionals. Quite a number. I mean, the basic four most basic ones are electrical engineers, mechanical engineers, structural engineers and a quantity surveyor. But there are so many other specialists that the architect works with. In the process of delivering a building. The new technology makes collaboration very easy, more efficient, more effective. The fact is that with the technology that we have available to us today through building information, modeling

What are the challenges in the practice?

Well, in the industry generally, we now have issues. Number one and most important is that a lot of our regulations, codes and standards were developed in the analog era. They still serve us largely in a number of areas, where you look at codes and standards, but when you look at regulations, there is a need for very significant review because the way we work is completely different from what a lot of those regulations envisaged. They didn’t envisage the profound and destructive impact of digital, of digitisation, of the design process. I mean, it’s quite possible now for me to have a building realised without issuing a single piece of paper to anyone. Whereas before, everything was loads of papers, and we had our own tracking system in those days because you build it as a very complex organism. So as you’re going along, issues are coming up. You are going back to the drawing board in the literal sense, which is where the word going back to the drawing board came from, where you need to make amends. You have a design going on on site, something has come up unforeseen that you have to address. You discuss how to address it. You have to go back to the drawing board to now come up with a drawing that expresses the amendments, the alteration that has to be done. Right. I dare you issue a drawing now, which is now a later version. So we had a way of tracking all our drawings and then you put a revision number and you have your revision notes and that was how it was done and everyone followed. Then at the initial stage of digitisation, you still issued papers, which means your version history. Then we went to having digital version history, which is still the kind of thing you will see with your Microsoft Word or whatever. But now we have building information modelling.

It’s a completely different kettle of fish, because what happens is that the model is updated and the updated model as of today is the information that everyone in that collaborative group has.

So without colleagues, a single source of truth, means that there is one single digital model of the current status of design information. Now, that is a completely different world from where we had version history where we had revision numbers and co. The fact is that today this is where we are. And that seals it. And no one can contend with the fact that I don’t have the most correct information because everyone is interacting with one single model. And the date of your last visit is there. So now, what happens is that the new methods are then, like I said, possible for me without issuing a single piece of paper to deliver a building from conception to full realisation of sites.

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

T H I S D AY ˾ TUESDAY, JANUARY 3, 2023

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BUSINESSWORLD R A T E S MONEY MARKET

A S

REPO

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Group Business Editor Eromosele Abiodun Email oriarehu.eromosele@thisdaylive.com

08056356325

J A N U A R Y

S & P INDEX

2 , 2 0 2 3

S & P INDEX

EXCHANGE RATE

OPR

11.25%

CALL

10.25%

INDEX LEVEL

613.31%

1/4 TO DATE

-0.85%

N416.86/ 1 US DOLLAR*

OVERNIGHT

11.50%

1-MONTH

9.56%

1-DAY

0.16%

YEAR TO DATE

7.64%

*AS AT LAST FRIDAY

3-MONTH

10.52%

MONTH-TO-DATE

0.44%

With Eyes on $400m Annual Exploration Fund, NNPC Pushes for Oil in Sokoto, Niger, Others

Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC) is pushing for more oil in the north, a move that could be made easier by the $400 million projected annual funding for the exploration of frontier basins under the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA).

New data obtained by THISDAY covering the national oil company’s frontier exploration activities between 2020-2022 indicated that some of the states in the north where the firm is hoping to discover oil include Sokoto, Nasarawa,

Niger and Borno. Others are Yobe, Adamawa, Gombe and Bauchi states.

Outside the north, the Anambra basin was listed as another area where the NNPC is pushing for more oil, after a similar discovery of the commodity in Kolmani River 2 which straddles Gombe and Bauchi states.

According to the new PIA: “There shall be maintained for the purpose of this section, a Frontier Exploration Fund which shall be 30 per cent of NNPC Limited’s profit oil and profit gas as in the production sharing, profit sharing and risk service

contracts.’’

Last year in the heat of the debate that followed the alleged discrepancy in funding of host oil communities in the Niger Delta and exploration of frontier basins, mostly in the north, as enunciated by the PIA, the Group Chief Executive Officer of the NNPC, Mallam Mele Kyari, revealed that about $400 million would be spent annually to fund exploration of oil and gas in the frontier basins under the new PIA. His projection was from the previous year’s activities in the sector.

When the sum, which is from 30 per cent of the proposed

NNPC Limited’s profit from oil and gas, is added to the estimated $500 million to be spent on host communities, being the 3 per cent of operating expenditure approved by the Act, both cost centres would gulp a cumulative $900 million or roughly N450 billion every year, THISDAY learnt.

At the time, Kyari admitted that some of the misconceptions concerning the new law were due to the adoption of a wrong communication strategy, insisting that the 30 per cent exploration fund was not meant to explore oil in the north alone.

He said there were potential

oil wells in the southern states, including Anambra basin, the Calabar embankment, as well as the ultra-deepwater areas of the Niger Delta.

“When you say profit percentage, it will probably come down to less than $400 million per annum. And, then, the other side of it is that 30 per cent is a big number, but when you come to the host community fund, you have three per cent of operating expense,” the GCEO stated while trying to douse the tension generated by the debate.

“What’s wrong in finding oil anywhere that you find

it? Because once you find oil and gas, it becomes the resource of the federation, and therefore nobody loses from this participation,” he said in defence of the provision of the new law.

However, the latest NNPC document showed that 2D seismic acquisition has already been completed in the 700 Line Kilometre (LKm) in Sokoto basin and the 600 LKm in Bida basin where crop compensation payment has been rounded off and post-acquisition has reached 70 per cent on both Continued on page 22

Report: Big Coal Miners’ Profits Tripled, Hit $97.7bn as Demand Surged in 2022 Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja Despite the pressure from the West on countries to jettison the use of coal, the world’s largest mining companies of the commodity tripled their profits in 2022 to reach a total of

more than $97 billion, defying expectations for an industry that was thought to be in terminal decline.

As global demand for the fuel rose to record levels, total earnings from coal operations at the world’s 20 largest coal

miners reached $97.7 billion during the most recent 12-month period for which financial information is available, compared with $28.2 billion during the same period a year earlier, according to Financial Times research and data from

FOOD

S&P Capital IQ. Many countries that once pledged to quit coal have turned back to it as a reliable source of heat and power as energy security concerns became a top priority following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

COMMODITIES

NAME OF COMMODITY

SIZE

STATE

PRICE

NAME OF COMMODITY

RICE

100KG

ABUJA

N35,000 – N45,000

SORGHUM

50KG

OYO

N35,000 – N45,000

50KG

PLATEAU (JOS)

N32,500 – N42,000

50KG

KWARA

N24,000–N27,000

50KG

LAGOS

N35,000 – N45,000

50KG

RIVERS

N36,500 – N46,500

50KG

SOKOTO

50KG

EDO

SIZE

PRICE

STATE

100KG JIGAWA

The biggest money makers were Glencore, whose coal earnings were $13.2 billion in the 12 months ending on June 30; China Shenhua, which made $12.2 billion during that time; and BHP, which brought in $9.5 billion, mainly from production

of metallurgical coal.

Just a year after the UN COP26 climate summit pledged to “phase down” coal, demand for the fossil fuel has instead grown, boosted by high gas Continued on page 22

T O D AY

PRICE

NAME OF COMMODITY

N30,000

C O C OA

100KG

BENUE

N32,000

100KG

KADUNA

N32,000

50KG

ENUGU

N24,000

50KG

LAGOS

N26,000

N60,000 – N70,000

100KG

DELTA

N35,000

N17,000–N20,000

100KG

ABIA

N36,000

SIZE

STATE

PRICE

1 TON

ONDO

N740,000 – N760,000

1 TON

OSUN

N730,000 – N750,000

1 TON

EDO

N720,000 – N740,000

1 TON

CROSS RIVER

N700,000 – N720,000

1 TON

AKURE SOUTH, ONDO

N730,000 — N755,000

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NEWS FOOD

NAME OF COMMODITY

PALM OIL

SIZE

STATE

PRICE

25CL LAGOS N20,000-N35000 25CL

PH

NAME OF COMMODITY

TOMATOES

N24,000 – N35,000

COMMODITIES SIZE

STATE

PRICE

40KG BENUE

N15,000

40KG

KADUNA

N5,000

40KG

ABIA

N18,000

25CL IBADAN N22,000 — N35,000 25CL

IMO

N24,000 – N36,500

25CL

EDO

N20,000 – N35,000

25CL ABUJA N25,500 – N35,000

25KG LAGOS 40KG DELTA

N9,500 N17000

PRICE

T O D AY

NAME OF COMMODITY

SIZE

STATE

PRICE

ONIONS

100KG

IBADAN

N60,000

100KG KANO

N30,000

100KG ENUGU

N16,500

BENUE

N65,000

100KG DELTA

N14,000

100KG PLATEAU

N45,000

100KG

ABIA

N11,000

100KG DELTA

N50,000

50KG

LAGOS

N9,000

100KG LAGOS

N60,000

100KG KANO

N9,400

100KG ENUGU

N45,000

100KG

NAME OF COMMODITY

SIZE

LOCATION

PRICE

MAIZE

100KG

OYO

N10,000

50KG

BENUE

N6,000

Local Content: NCDMB Holds Training for May & Baker, Biovaccines Indigenous Contractors, Harps On Competitiveness Set for Vaccine Production Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja Personnel of over 50 indigenous oil and gas contracting firms have completed a two-week intensive course on ‘entrepreneurship skills development and access to finance’ sponsored by the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB).

A statement from the board, said the training was held in Port Harcourt, Rivers state, and is part of a holistic project-based

package toward building the capacity of indigenous companies to support activities in the oil and gas industry.

At the close-out ceremony for the third batch of trainees, the NCDMB’s General Manager, Capacity Building Division, Dr. Ama Ikuru explained that the training was to help participants to become more innovative and service-oriented.

“The intention is that they should understand coping with competition in an era

where technology is fast advancing and changing, and opportunities are becoming slimmer.

“They need to understand how to deliver better quality services; they need to understand how to manage their resources - finance, people, and everything - to deliver in the industry,” Ikuru stated.

He enjoined the outgoing trainees to take the knowledge acquired back to their respective businesses, bearing in mind that “knowledge gained,

if not retained, will make infancy perpetual.”

“When we train, we want to see people apply that knowledge to their businesses.

As chief executives you should be thinking how to overcome competition and become more cost-efficient,” he noted.

The resource person, Dr. Silva Opuala-Charles charged the trainees to go back home and reset their companies. “They need to be bullish about it. It’s about execution,” he said.

Shelf Drilling’s Jack-up Booked for Drilling Campaign in Nigeria Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja Offshore drilling firm, Shelf Drilling, has said it won a one-year drilling contract for one of its jackup rigs for the Trident VIII jack-up rig for operations offshore Nigeria.

“The rig will complete a short out-of-service project prior to expected contract commencement in Q2

2023,” Shelf Drilling was quoted by the Offshore Engineer Magazine, as having said.

Shelf Drilling did not say who the client was, nor did it disclose the value of the contract.

The number of Nigeria’s oil rigs have decreased markedly in the last few years, even as crude production slumped.

But according to the rig’s

Automatic Identification System (AIS) as seen on MarineTraffic.com, the Trident VIII rig is currently located off the coast of Ghana.

Ghana is where, as Shelf Drilling’s fleet status report shows, the rig recently secured a 180-day contract plus an option for 90 days with Hans & Co. Built in 1981, and

upgraded in 2018, the Modec 300 C35-design Trident VIII jack-up rig has a maximum operating depth of 300 feet (~91,5 meters), and can accommodate 116 people aboard. The rig’s maximum drilling depth is 21,000 feet (~6400 meters).

As at November 2022 rig fleet status report, Shelf Drilling had six rigs in West Africa.

in Q2 2023 Oluchi Chibuzor Barring unforeseen circumstances, May & Baker Nigeria has announced that the groundbreaking ceremony for its vaccine production factory will happen in the second quarter of 2023.

The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, May & Baker, Mr. Patrick Patrick Ajah, disclosed this at a media parley with journalists in Lagos.

According to him, Nigeria cannot continue to depend on western countries for its vaccine “as the coronavirus pandemic has taught us that.”

He said, “Let me also use this opportunity to announce a milestone achievement in our Joint Venture with the Federal Government of Nigeria Biovarcines.

On 14th September 2022, the Federal Executive Council (FEC) approved the first part of the MOU of Biovarcines with the FMOH for supply of routine immunization vaccines.

“This is the first/major step towards vaccine production in Nigeria, as this allows Biovaccines to commence the engagement with the chosen Technology transfer partners and subsequently initiate the design and construction of the greenfield project. We are optimistic that the groundbreaking ceremony for the vaccine production facility will happen before Q2 of 2023.

“As we speak we already gotten the first order and that gives us some confidence that is going to happen. We are saying we cannot going to import; we know what happen with the issues we have as countries will take care

of themselves first before they think of you. That is why we have singed the contract with companies that is going to support us, where we are now there should be no hindrance because May &Baker is paying to the companies that are producing the vaccines.We just needed an agreement with government that they are going to buy it once we produced it and we are hopefully that is going to happen this time around.”

However, commenting on the profit after tax (PBT), he said it was severely impacted by the significant increase in cost of goods and other operating costs.

He maintained that revenue was growing at 27 percent, cost of goods was growing at 47 percent on average and the cost of paracetamol API has doubled since last year.

He said ,”We were able to mitigate some of these costs with some marginal price increases, operational efficiencies driven by increasing volumes and better production planning and of course the reduction in admin expenses.

Our world class manufacturing facility in Ota is growing into a hub of pharmaceutical manufacturing excellence in West Africa with a remarkable level of capacity utilization and efficiency. As capacity utilization of the factory grows, better cost optimization is being achieved and the factory is daily getting to run more efficiently as we consistently keep pace with international best practices, making strategic plans that can take the business to the next level.”

REPORT: BIG COAL MINERS’ PROFITS TRIPLED, HIT $97.7BN AS DEMAND SURGED IN 2022 prices and the European energy crisis. Global coal demand rose 1.2 per cent to reach a record high in 2022, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA).

In 2022, the benchmark price for high-quality thermal coal in Europe was $295 on average — double the levels of the

previous year, and nearly four times higher than the average price between 2010 and 2020, according to Argus Media.

As a result, coal mining companies have experienced a huge and unexpected improvement in their fortunes.

The coal division of Anglo American, the world’s fifth-

largest producer outside China of the metallurgical coal used in steelmaking, swung from losses of $34 million in the 12 months ending on June 30 2021 to earnings of $2.5 billion a year later.

The biggest increase in coal profits was at BHP, where they surged 3,200 per cent, from $288

million in the 12 months ending on June 30, 2021 to $9.5 billion a year later. BHP is the world’s largest producer of metallurgical coal outside China.

At Glencore, coal earnings rose to $13.2 billion, compared with $1.2 billion during the same period a year earlier, the Financial Times report said.

Before the boom in coal prices, many of the biggest miners outside of China and India were busy paring back their coal operations.

This was the rationale behind the decisions of BHP and Anglo American to dispose of their respective stakes in the Cerrejón coal mine in Columbia, which

exports high-quality thermal coal to Europe, the report added.

In January, they sold their combined 66 per cent stake to Glencore for $101 million in cash and other considerations, giving the Switzerland-based commodities group, which already owned 33 per cent, full ownership of the asset.

WITH EYES ON $400M ANNUAL EXPLORATION FUND, NNPC PUSHES FOR OIL IN SOKOTO, NIGER, OTHERS sites respectively.

On the Chad basin, the NNPC report indicated that acquisition activities had been suspended, but that security clearance was received from the defence headquarters on November 7, 2022, while a waiver from the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) for Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) was being awaited.

For Oil Prospecting Licence (OPL) 813A, Keana West, and phase 14, Kinasar, the NNPC document stated that seismic acquisition for the former

two had been carried out and security assessment completed.

In Nasarawa State, the NNPC said that it has also obtained 3D seismic data of 86Km2 in Keana and final deliverables have been received.

Also in Yobe state, the company explained that it is prospecting for oil in Phase 13 in Wadi, where it is appraising a 168km2 likely area.

In Adamawa state, NNPC noted that it is on phase 14 of Kinasar Prospect spanning 170km2 and phase 15 of Ziye Prospect spanning 172km2 all in the Borno basin while the

contract agreements for phases 13 and 14 have been executed while that of phase 15 is yet to be executed.

In November, a visibly elated Buhari, in his speech, at the unveiling of Kolmani 2, said it was to the credit of his government that at a time that financing of fossil fuel projects was drying up due to the energy transition drive, the administration was able to attract $3 billion to the facility.

Buhari described the day as important in the economic history of the nation as it moves

closer to production of oil and gas in the Upper Benue Trough, specifically, the Kolmani River oil and gas field, straddling Bauchi and Gombe States in the North-east.

At the time, THISDAY learnt that the first phase of the integrated development project, will entail an oil refinery of up to 120,000 barrels per day capacity and a gas processing plant of up to 500 million standard cubic feet per day.

The Kolmani project also comprises a power plant of up to 300-megawatt capacity and a fertiliser plant of 2,500 tons per

day with over 1 billion barrels of oil reserves and 500 billion Cubic Feet of Gas cumulatively.

Buhari noted that the feat was significant considering that efforts to find commercial oil and gas outside the established Niger Delta was attempted for many years without the desired outcomes.

However, he explained that the successful discovery of the Kolmani oil and gas field by NNPC and her partners has finally broken the jinx by the confirmation of huge commercial deposits of hydrocarbons in Kolmani

River field.

Among several other locations where exploration is ongoing in the north, the NNPC document revealed that it expected drilling of phase 8-X3 well in the Chad basin even as it has applied for permits from the regulatory agency.

The NNPC report further explained that a “petroleum play fairway analysis”, basin modelling activities and seismic interpretation were ongoing at the Anambra basin and had reached 65 per cent completion.

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BUSINESSWORLD

ENERGY

Tackling the Challenges of Nigeria’s Energy Transition Plan As countries and businesses shift from fossil-based energy production to renewable energy sources like wind, solar and hydro, Ejiofor Alike reports that the adoption of natural gas as a transition fuel by the European Union (EU) is a boost for Nigeria, which has over 209 trillion cubic feet (TCF) of gas reserves that can be harnessed to help the country’s transition to net-zero emissions by 2060

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he world is feeling the effects of climate change. Due to global warming, drought, heatwaves, floods and landslides are now frequent. Pakistan is reeling under the impact of its latest flooding incident, while the UK recorded its highest temperature ever of 40.2 Centigrade earlier in July 2022. In south-east Asia, unusually heavy monsoon rains and flash flooding have devastated some countries in the region, killing dozens of people, displacing thousands from their homes and destroying key agricultural areas. In Thailand, 59 of the country’s 77 provinces have been hit by floods, affecting about 450,000 homes and more than 100,000 hectares of farmland.

Like other countries, Nigeria is not exempt from the effects of global warming, with the recent incident of flooding across several states of the country. According to the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Hajiya Sadiya Umar-Farouq, the latest flooding in Nigeria killed over 603 people, displaced 1,302,589 people and destroyed over 108,393 hectares of farmland. In addition, Umar-Farouq stated that the disaster left 2,407 people injured, 121,318 houses partially damaged and a further 82,053 completely destroyed, together with 108,392 hectares of farmland across Nigeria partially damaged and some 332,327 hectares completely destroyed.

About 295 million tonnes of CO2 (Carbon dioxide) is emitted in Nigeria annually, accounting for only 0.5 per cent of the roughly 50 billion tonnes of global annual emissions.

The need to address global warming has led countries and businesses to focus on energy transition, the shift from fossil-based energy production and consumption to renewable energy sources like wind, solar and hydro.

The transition, made possible by technological advancement and a concerted push towards sustainability, aims to reduce energy-related greenhouse gas emissions through various forms of decarbonisation. Besides, renewable energy sources have proven to be a more cost-effective source of electricity.

At the same time, not all fossil-fuels are regarded equally in the transition scenario.

For example, natural gas is seen as having a key role to play in the transition to Net Zero. The European Union (EU), early in 2022, endorsed natural gas as a transition fuel under its sustainable taxonomy. The EU’s adoption of natural gas as a transition fuel is a boost for Nigeria which has over 209 trillion cubic feet (TCF) of gas reserves that can be harnessed to help the country’s transition to Net Zero by 2060.

Nigeria launched its Energy Transition Plan in August 2022 to demonstrate its commitment to achieving carbon neutrality, ending energy poverty, and driving economic growth. The plan focuses on power, cooking, oil and gas, transport, and industry.

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo joined other players in the energy sector to launch the plan, which showcased Nigeria’s pathway to achieving net-zero emissions by 2060.

In his remarks, Osinbajo said it was time Nigeria and other African countries took ownership of transition pathways and design climate-sensitive strategies that would address peculiar growth objectives.

He said: “There is a clear need for African nations to engage more critically and vocally in conversations on our global climate future. More importantly, we need to take ownership of our transition pathways and design climate-sensitive strategies that address our growth objectives. This is what Nigeria has sought to do with its energy transition plan. It was designed to tackle the dual crises of energy poverty and climate change, and deliver SDG Seven by 2030 and Net Zero by 2060.

“While centering the provision of energy for development, industrialisation and economic growth, we anchored the plan

on key objectives, including lifting 100 million people out of poverty in a decade, driving economic growth, bringing modern energy services to the full population and managing the expected long term job loss in the oil sector due to global decarbonisation.

“Given these objectives, the plan recognises the role of natural gas in the short term to facilitate the establishment of this low energy capacity and address the nation’s clean cooking deficit in the form of LPG. “The plan envisions vibrant industries powered by low carbon technologies, streets lined with electric vehicles, and livelihoods enabled by sufficient and clean energy. “The plan can create about 340,000 jobs by 2030 and 840,000 jobs by 2060.

And it presents a unique opportunity to deliver truly low carbon and rapid development model in Africa’s largest economy.”

In an earlier guest article entitled “The Hypocrisy of Rich Countries’ Climate Policies” published in Savannah Energy’s 2021 Annual Report, Osinbajo had, however, enjoined rich countries to support Africa and not treat the continent with double standards in the effort to reduce global warming through renewable energy adoption.

He noted: “Reaching our development and climate ambitions, however, will require far more external support and the same policy flexibility that rich nations claim for themselves in the energy transition. We cannot achieve our goals otherwise. Despite the tremendous energy gaps, global policies are increasingly constraining Africa’s energy technology choices. Rich countries, especially in Europe, have repeatedly called for African states to use only renewable power sources. This is partly because of a naive belief in leapfrogging; the assumption that, like skipping landlines for mobile phones, Africa can ‘leap’ to new energy technologies.

“The renewables-only mantra is also driven by unjustified fears of the continent’s future emissions. Yet under no plausible scenario is Africa a threat to global climate targets. Such

demands extend even to cooking, where some funders will not support any gas projects, although they bring immediate and substantial benefits. Most Africans still use charcoal or wood for cooking, leading to deforestation, early death from indoor air pollution and avoidable carbon emissions. Instead of viewing Africa’s emergence as a threat to be blocked, the continent should be seen as a tremendous opportunity.

“The challenge for the continent is to transition to net-zero emissions while at the same time building sustainable power systems to drive development and economic opportunity. The EU’s recent decision to label natural gas and nuclear power as green investments recognises a critical truth - different countries will follow different paths in the energy transition. If this is true for Europe, it’s even more true for diverse African nations,” Osinbajo explained.

Osinbajo also called for patience with African countries to meet the climate targets.

“Europe says it needs a decade more of gas investment to meet its 2050 climate targets. With our greater challenges, Africa should have at least two more decades to meet our climate targets. The world cannot tackle collective challenges if poor nations are treated as second class, or their aspirations are ignored. After enduring colonialism, decades of unfair economic practices and COVID-19 vaccine apartheid, we cannot accept regressive climate policy as another injustice. “Tackling the dual crises of poverty and climate change can only succeed if all countries play their fair part and all of humanity is lifted up together,” Osinbajo added.

While Nigeria has unfolded its energy transition plan to take advantage of its benefits, including ending energy poverty, economic growth through industrialisation and employment opportunities, there are some challenges which threaten the ambitious plan.

One of the greatest challenges is the considerable cost of transiting from

the current carbon energy sources. At the launch of Nigeria’s energy transition plan, the government said it needed $410 billion to reach Net Zero by 2060, but where will it get the money? Without adequate funding of the energy transition plan, the objectives may not be realised neither will the deadline be achieved.

Another major issue is access to electricity, with the country notorious for blackouts and power grid collapses.

The World Bank disclosed in its Doing Business 2020 report that Nigeria ranks 175 out of 266 countries globally in terms of access to electricity as a percentage of the population, with an estimated 45 per cent, or 85 million people, without access to grid electricity. The uninspiring data places Nigeria as the country with the biggest energy deficit globally. The Net Zero plan will be a mirage unless the government achieves access to energy for every Nigerian.

Poor public awareness about energy transition is another challenge. Nigerians need to know what energy transition is, how it impacts them and the benefits therein.

Recently, America’s most populous state and the centre of United States’ car culture, California, announced a ban on selling new petrol-powered vehicles starting in 2035.

Nigeria currently has a similar initiative in adopting Compressed Natural Gas (CNG)-enabled vehicles, but it needs to be stepped up so that people can know how internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles and diesel generators increase the amount of carbon in the atmosphere.

Following the end of COP27 in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, where the Nigerian Government reiterated its commitment to Net Zero by 2060, on the basis of a detailed energy transition plan, the government must work assiduously for its full implementation. Exploring bilateral support offers a window to get international funding which the government needs for the capital-intensive transition. Therefore, the announcement by the UK government at COP27 that it will provide a £95 million fund to support climate-resilient agriculture, or CRA, in Nigeria is a big win for the government. The government needs more of such support.

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T H I S D AY ˾ TUESDAY, JANUARY 3, 2023

BUSINESSWORLD

AGRICULTURE

Nigeria’s Agricultural Sector Surged by 18.33% in Three Quarters of 2022 Despite incidents that shaped the nation’s agricultural sector, the food sector witnessed significant growth that ushered fresh hope for farmers in 2023, writes Gilbert Ekugbe

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here is no gain saying that Nigeria is not immune to the failing agri food systems across the globe. Climate change, RussiaUkraine conflict, insecurity, drought and flood to mention but a few are still challenges hindering the growth of global food systems. The World Food Programme (WFP) stated that the world is facing a food crisis of unprecedented proportions, the largest in modern history with millions at risk of worsening hunger unless action is taken now to respond at scale to the drivers of this crisis: conflict, climate shocks and the threat of global recession.

As many as 828 million people go to bed hungry every night, the number of those facing acute food insecurity has soared from 135 million to 345 million since 2019 while a total of 49 million people in 49 countries are teetering on the edge of famine.

According to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), the agricultural sector in the first quarter of 2022 grew by 3.16 per cent (year-on-year) in real terms, an increase of 0.88 percentage points from the corresponding period of 2021, and a decrease of 0.42 percentage points from the preceding quarter, which recorded a growth rate of 3.58 per cent.

It grew on a quarter-on-quarter basis at -28.90 per cent. The sector grew by 13.83 per cent year-on-year in real terms for the second quarter of 2022, a decrease of 1.96 percentage points from the preceding quarter which recorded a growth rate of 3.16 per cent and also a decrease of 0.10 percentage points from the corresponding period of 2021.

Y-O-Y GROWTH

The sector also grew by 1.34 per cent yearon-year in nominal terms in Q3 2022, showing an increase of 7.47 percentage points from the same quarter of 2021.

Capital importation into Nigeria’s agriculture sector increased by 3,161 per cent from $1.76 million in the first quarter of 2022 to $57.41 million in the second quarter of 2022. This meant that there was a 3,161 per cent growth within three months.

However, the value of foreign investment in the sector tumbled 99.23 per cent from $237.83 million that was recorded in the fourth quarter of 2021 to $1.76 million.

The NBS’ Nigerian Capital Importation report for Q1 2022 blamed the declining local and foreign investors on insecurity, adding that $59.17 million of capital was imported into the agricultural sector in half-year 2022, down by 74.9 per cent from $235.87 million in the same period of 2018.

In the first three months of 2022, foreign investments in the country’s agricultural sector stood at $1.76 million, a 98.7 per cent decline from $130.90 million in the same period of 2018.

SKYROCKETING FOOD PRICES

The year 2022 witnessed a significant increase in food prices. Many Nigerians celebrated the yuletide season on a low profile due to declining purchasing power of consumers. Prices of common staple food such as rice, beans, wheat, cassava have continued to hit the roof while many Nigerians go to bed hungry on a daily basis.

Early in the year in January 2022, President, Muhammadu Buhari, unveiled the rice pyramid in Abuja, saying that it would drastically crash the rising price of rice in the countryB but sadly, the price of rice has continued to experience continued increase.

The 13 rice pyramids comprising 1.2 million units of 100kg bags of rice were said to be the biggest on the continent with each of the pyramids containing about 115,000 bags of 100kg each.

According to the latest price in the market, a 50kg bag of locally produced rice goes for between N38,000 and N41,000 as against the N28,000 to N30,000 sold before the launch of the rice pyramids.

Many stakeholders in the agricultural sector described the unveiling of the rice pyramid as a hoax to deceive the impoverished Nigerians.

It raised false hopes.

RUSSIA-UKRAINE CRISIS

Just as the world was recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic, in February 2022, the Russian incursion on Ukraine triggered the prices of wheat and as expected the prices of commodities dependent on wheat increased by 50 per cent. Both Russia and Ukraine rank among the top five exporters of wheat and maize

globally. The two countries supply 30 per cent of the world’s wheat and 20 per cent of maize to global markets.

As a result of the conflict, the Nigeria Bakers Association announced a 50 per cent increase in the price of bread, which brought untold hardship to the already impoverished consumers of bread in the country.

The Nigeria Economic Summit Group (NESG) in its report titled “Implications of Russia-Ukraine War: Risks and Opportunities for Nigeria,” called on the federal government to take urgent steps towards improving food security in Nigeria and removing constraints on the production and supply of agricultural products to the market.

It said that the move would enable the country to mitigate the negative impact of the Russian war on Ukraine on the food supply in the country.

Also in the year, participants at a National Stakeholders Consultative Meeting on the 2023 Agriculture Budget said the Nigerian food sector is confronting new emerging challenges such as the ongoing UkraineRussia war, which affects input prices and the availability of staples such as wheat.

They also stated that the challenges of increased banditry, farmer-herder clashes, climate change, floods, hazardous pesticides, and gender inequality persist, and without a deliberate rethink of the nation’s practices and approaches towards its food and nutrition security, the federal and state governments would not be able to eradicate these agricultural economic growth barriers.

Threat to food security Nigerian farmers and agronomists have expressed concern that widespread insecurity in the North-eastern part of the country and higher prices of farm inputs in the country are shrinking the number of hectares put to food cultivation, warning that the situation would affect the productivity of farmers in the 2022/2023 wet season.

Stakeholders in the food sector have continued to lament on the need for Nigeria’s economic managers to redesign its security architecture to combat insecurity as many farmers are still unable to return to their farms owing to fear of being kidnapped or killed in the process. No doubt, the prices of food items have been affected as a result of this with more Nigerians struggling to have three square meals on a daily basis.

According to Proshare, farmers have become the main target for kidnapping by gunmen, bandits and armed herdsmen across various geopolitical zones in the country, adding that in a rift between two communities in Kaduna this year, at least eight farmers were abducted and eventually killed. “Kidnapping has become a common occurrence such that farmers in some Northern states even go ahead

to pay tax and harvest fees to bandits in order to avoid attacks,” Proshare added.

“Since July 2020, basic food items like beans and tomatoes have seen a 253 per cent and 123 per cent price increase respectively, thus, putting a lot of people at the risk of starvation. Since the start of Boko Haram insurgency in 2009, there has been a rise in starvation index. There has also been a 140 per cent surge in Nigeria’s food import bill, as present production levels cannot meet the country’s ever-increasing demand for food, “Proshare averred.

STAKEHOLDERS LAMENT

The Chief Executive Officer, Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprises (CPPE), Dr. Muda Yusuf, in a telephone chat with THISDAY, said that insecurity is still a major challenge hindering the nation’s food security. Yusuf added that many farmers have been driven out of their farms, many in Internally Displaced Person (IDP) camps and those risking to farm are farming in fear, which in turn had affected the productivity of farmers.

“The challenges are still there as we speak.

Flooding destroyed the farmland of many farmers across the country and it had a very negative impact on agriculture during the year. We also have the challenge of foreign exchange where some agricultural input is normally imported and you know the situation of foreign exchange in the country. The cost of agriculture input went up dramatically and it affected the profitability of agricultural investment in the country.

“We also had issues of community where some of these corporate organisations invested massively in plantations but are facing problems from the community with the community demanding all manners of things from these organisations. Access to land is also not easy for those who want to do mechanised agriculture,” he lamented.

He pointed out that lots of the youths have left the rural areas to the city as the farming population is ageing, calling on the need for economic managers to invest massively in agritech.

“Young people are not staying or going into agriculture, because there is not enough technology in agriculture. Nigeria’s greatest asset as far as human capital is concerned is its youths, but we have not been able to deploy them to agriculture because we have not introduced enough technology in agriculture.

“The farming population is ageing. The quality of technology used in agriculture is also not there. Many of the agricultural research institutes are all over the place but poorly funded. This is why we are not seeing the impacts of these research institutes that are all over the place,” he added.

In his words: “We also need to develop the value chain of agriculture, because agriculture is not only about primary production, but also about the value chain. Unless we develop the value chain, those at the primary end will also not make any meaningful progress. Post-harvest losses are extremely high, sometimes as high as about 50 per cent and it is more when you compare with fruits and vegetables.”

He said that the sector’s growth performance of 1.34 per cent in the third quarter of 2022 was not good enough, saying that the growth is a clear demonstration of resilience on the part of farmers in the country.

He emphasise the urgent need to incentivise farmers and reduce the cost of farm inputs to boost productivity and profitability of farmers.

“We must address insecurity if we want to help agriculture. We also need to address the high cost of input for crop production, livestock and fishery, poultry and forestry.

“All their inputs, particularly every component of their inputs that are imported, have become extremely expensive. We expect the new administration to take the bull by the horn. There should also be special programmes to encourage youths to embrace agriculture.

“We can only achieve this if we fuse technology into agriculture to make the sector a lot more stress free. We need to harness the energy, creativity and innovation of the young people and the only way to do that is to deploy technology. We must also invest to develop processing, strengthened marketing and exports,” he recommended.

On his part, the National President of All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN), Mr. Kabir Ibrahim, said that 2022 has not been very good to farmers, saying that farmers were hopeful of a bumper harvest in 2022 until flooding ravaged farmlands across the country.

He also lamented over the state of insecurity in the North-eastern part of the country, maintaining that insecurity and floods have drastically impacted on the productivity level of farmers across the country.

“People were complaining that they could not celebrate the yuletide because of the high prices of food items especially at a time when the purchasing power of consumers is dwindling.

“We are advocating that agriculture is an activity we can do all year round, but we are hopeful that we might see some growth in 2023,” he stated.

He said that all the programmes and policies of the federal government to transform the nation’s agricultural sector are laudable, but said implementation has been poor.

Going forward into 2023, he advised that farmers must be incentivised to produce more while also calling on the government to institutionalise the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN’s) Anchor Borrowers Programme (ABP).

TUESDAY JANUARY 3, 2023 • T H I S D AY

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TUESDAY, ͻ˜ ͺ͸ͺͻ ˾ T H I S D AY

NEWS

AFTER A PRAYER SESSION AT THE GOVERNMENT HOUSE, BENIN...

L-R (front row): General Overseer, New Covenant Church, Rev. Felix Omobude; Edo State Deputy Governor, Rt. Hon. Comrade Philip Shaibu; Edo State Governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki; Catholic Archbishop of Benin, Augustine Akubeze, and Chairman, Edo State Chapter of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Bishop Kure Oyenude, after a prayer session at the Government House in Benin City... yesterday

Military: Plans By Terror Groups to Overrun Nigeria Failed Says good governance key to ending insurgency Troops vanquish scores of insurgents ISWAP, Boko clash claims 30 fighters Kingsley Nwezeh in Abuja Military authorities, yesterday, said terror groups had failed in their bid to overrun the country.

It, however, maintained that, good governance remained key to ending the war against insurgency.

But in a fierce encounter, troops of Operation Hadin Kai, have vanquished scores of terrorists during an ambush at suspected

crossing point of the terrorists along Maiduguri-Damboa Road, when a fire-fight ensued.

In another development, terror groups, the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) and Boko Haram terrorists clashed recently at the Tumbum Allura and Kangar ISWAP camps, killing over 30 fighters of the terror groups in Borno State.

Speaking during a media chat in Maiduguri, the Theater Com-

mander Operation Hadin Kai, Maj Gen Christopher Musa, said the insurgents including fighters of the Boko Haram and Islamic State West Africa Province failed in their bid to take over the country.

“They have seen within themselves that they cannot take out the Federal Republic of Nigeria, they cannot face the Armed Forces", he said, stressing that, good governance remained key to ending hostilities

in the North-east.

According to him, “For us to be able to get this wrapped up, we need to be able to get the non-kinetic aspect and this non-kinetic aspect has to do with good governance, reaching out to the commanders of these groups, including looking and searching out where sponsors are."

Musa disclosed that, talks with the commanders of terror groups form part of the “non-kinetic” ap-

proach to ending Nigeria’s 13-year insurgency war.

“So, it is good that we open other windows as we are doing this, there will be dialogue behind the doors, so that they give them a leeway to exit so that there will be peace, because they know it is just a matter of time,” he said.

Maintaining that, the military would not compromise its stance on ransom payment to non-state

Oyetola: God Told Me I'll Reclaim My Mandate from Gov Adeleke Yinka Kolawole in Osogbo Former Governor Gboyega Oyetola has vowed to unseat incumbent Governor Ademola Adeleke in court, claiming he got the revelation

from God. He assured his supporters in Osun that he would reclaim his mandate from Adeleke and the Peoples Democratic Party.

Oyetola also said that the All

Senator Adeola Woos Aggrieved APC Members in Ogun West James Sowole in Abeokuta The All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate for Ogun West, Senator Solomon Adeola, has urged all aggrieved party members in the district to unite and ensure victory in this year's general election.

Adeola made the call while speaking at the inauguration of the 'Yayi Campaign Board for 2023 Election held in Ilaro, Yewa South Local Government area.

The senator stressed that his emergence as the APC candidate would offer what the people new opportunities.

"What is about to happen has never been experienced before. I want to call on all my brothers across the divide who are not happy with me to let us settle all our differences," stated Adeola. "Our common interest now should be how we will take Ogun west to the next level. My coming to represent Ogun west is not to ridicule or take the glory of anybody, I appreciate all their contributions. Let us come

together to take Ogun West to the next level."

Adeola, who enjoined the electorate in the senatorial district to vote en masse for all APC candidates, including the presidential flag bearer, Bola Tinubu.

According to him, things will be easier if APC candidates win elections at all levels because everybody would see themselves as one family since they all belong to the same political party.

The senator, who launched a document, 'My Covenant with Ogun Westerners', containing his past achievements in the district even as a Lagos senator, asked the people to keep the document and use it to assess him if elected.

While handing over 25 campaign vehicles and 96 motorcycles wards coordinators and deputy coordinators of the campaign team, Adeola encouraged them to use the vehicles for the intended purposes.

He promised to give allowances for the fuelling and maintenance of the vehicles

Progressives Congress presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu, would win the February 25 election.

Oyetola, who was received by APC supporters on his return to Osun for the first time after leaving office on November 25, visited the Tinubu-Shettima campaign office in Osogbo, where he joined party faithful in an inter-denominational prayer session for success in the general elections.

"I am happy to be back in your midst today after a long break with my family. I return to your midst with good tidings and I am lucky that you organise a prayer to receive

me into the state," said the ex-Osun governor. "God has told me that he will do two things for us this year. We are going to retrieve our mandate and Asiwaju Bola Tinubu will become the president of Nigeria. I know that you are worried by what happened but God knows how he does his plans."

Oyetola revealed that since he lost the governorship election, he had been spending time watching movies and playing with his children and grandchildren.

"I wake up every day, I eat sleep and watch Africa Magic. I have time to receive my children

and grandchildren. I later went to lesser hajj with my wife to give thanks to the almighty," he told his supporters. "God made me to govern Osun well. Let our mind be at rest, nobody can scare us off this state. I want to implore us that we should work hard for the forthcoming election, it is very important to us. Continue to hold your meeting, don't be distracted."

The party's acting Chairman in Osun, Tajudeen Lawal, who welcomed Oyetola to Osogbo disclosed that party members were proud of the former governor's achievements while in office.

actors, he said insurgents sneaked out during military operations and moved into other countries in the Lake Chad only to return after military operations.

The theatre commander said the panacea to terrorism in Nigeria should start from "good parenting system and good schools," adding that "schools should be in place, lectures given on security awareness in schools, good governance, database of citizens, amongst others.

“We need to go back to be able to build capacity from behind. Our schools must be in place, we must have good governance, we must be able to curtail and understand who are Nigerians and how do we do this? Build capacity. Every Nigerian must take ownership of what is going on, don’t throw blames but take ownership,” he said.

Nevertheless, troops of Operation Hadin Kai eliminated scores of Boko Haram fighters after it sprang an ambush at the suspected crossing point of the terrorists along Maiduguri-Damboa Road.

It was gathered that the troops of the 199 Special Forces Battalion, in collaboration with Civilian Joint Task Force, conducted a successful ambush in Kamala near Maiduguri.

Continues online

Tinubu Can't Be Blamed for Buhari’s Shortcomings, Says Ex-Ekiti Chief of Staff

By Gbenga Sodeinde in Ado Ekiti A former governorship chief of staff, Biodun Omoleye, says APC presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu, should not be blamed for President Muhammadu Buhari's shortcomings.

Omoleye, who served under ex-Governor Kayode Fayemi, stated this while flagging off his campaign for a seat in the House of Representatives.

According to him, it was not a crime for Tinubu to campaign for Buhari in 2015 and 2019.

"The fact that Tinubu played a

major role in ensuring that Buhari became Nigeria’s president is not an excuse for anyone to now blame him for shortcomings in Buhari's government. So, it is totally wrong to use Buhari's deficiencies to judge Tinubu, the two personalities are not the same. They have different backgrounds, leadership styles, approaches to issues, different strategies and ideologies," the politician reason.

He added, "Tinubu is coming with his own visions and programmes for the people. He has got his own plans. So, please let us stop making the mistake

of blaming Tinubu for Buhari's shortcomings. He cannot be blamed at all."

Urging Ekiti people to vote for Tinubu in the presidential election, Omoleye explained that the APC flag bearer "has the capacity to deliver on his promises, he has done it in Lagos and he performed excellently, he never failed, his excellent record of achievements still speaks for him till today,."

Speaking about his federal legislative's ambition, Omoleye, pledged to provide quality representation for the Ekiti Central federal constituency II in the Green

Chamber. He also promised to tackle youth unemployment and reduce poverty in his constituency, if elected.

He urged the constituents to vote for him, Tinubu, Senator Opeyemi Bamidele and other APC candidates in the general election.

"The forthcoming election is not just about Biodun Omoleye or any of our candidates but about APC as a family. The 2023 elections provide us another golden opportunity to actualise our age-long dream as a race. We must be united more than ever this time to get it right," added Omoleye.

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TUESDAY, ͻ˜ ͺ͸ͺͻ ˾ T H I S D AY

NEWS

AIRTEL'S '5 DAYS OF LOVE’ YULETIDE PROGRAMME...

L-R: Area Sales Manager, Airtel Nigeria, Rivers State, Uchenna Egbuzie; Area Technical Officer, Jonathan Iraoyah; Enterprise Team, Victoria Okon; Customer Service, Princess White; Regional Technical Officer, South Region, Michael Matter; Zonal Marketing Executive, Ifeyinwa Abazie; Senior Business Manager, Ehijele Aburime and Zonal Security Coordinator, Rivers State, Osayande Peter, at the presentation of 1,000 food packs at Rumumasi Town Hall, Rivers, during Airtel's '5 Days of Love’ yuletide programme in Rivers... recently.

Ogun Govt: Amosun Conceived Model Schools as White Elephant Project Says Abiodun converting them to better uses The Ogun State Government has debunked a media report that the incumbent administration of Governor Dapo Abiodun abandoned and allowed the 27 Model Schools built by the immediate past administration of Senator Ibikunle Amosun, to rot away.

Reacting to the report carried by a national newspaper (Not THISDAY) on December 31, 2022, the Chief Press Secretary to Governor Dapo Abiodun, Kunle Somorin, in a statement yesterday, stated that the claims in the report that the schools were neglected by the incumbent governor were not only untrue but misleading.

According to Somorin, the idea of Model Schools by the administration of Amosun, were not only ill conceived, but designed to be white elephant projects from the beginning, noting that it was actually abandoned

by the Amosun’s administration and it would be uncharitable to blame Abiodun for the abandonment.

The statement read: "Recall that in 2012, the Ogun State government under Ibikunle Amosun announced the commencement of 26 model schools to be built across 20 LGAs for the sum of N27billion. The flag-off for the construction began with the foundation laying ceremony of Ogun State Model Secondary School, Ilaro.

This was done by former Governor Amosun during an occasion to mark his first anniversary as governor.

"Unfortunately, that same school that was the starting point like other projects has remained a groundbreaking but un-commissioned. The Olu of Ilaro and Paramount Ruler of Ilaro, Oba Kehinde Olugbenle said so and that so-called pioneer model school has also been declared “structurally defective” by a Committee headed

by a former President Nigerian Society of Engineers, Adekunle Mokunolu, that reviewed projects done between 2009 and 2019 in Ogun State.

“Each of the schools cost tax-payers between N1.05 billion and N2 billion respectively. That humongous money used to construct these white elephant model schools should have been used to renovate dilapidated schools across the state, which were foisted on us when we came in.

“It is wasteful on the part of the last government to say they wanted to embark on construction of model schools when such money could be easily spent on other things.

“Amosun's administration claimed that the concept was meant to provide 26 model schools in each of the State Constituencies and that the school projects would be

WIKE MOCKS ATIKU OVER OBASANJO’S ENDORSEMENT OF OBI He concluded by saying, “As the race to the general election gets underway and Nigerians contend with soaring inflation, a plunging currency, pervasive insecurity, crude oil sales that have also slumped to all-time lows, while the APC-led administration’s debt service bill continue to exceed the revenue the country is able to earn, majority of Nigerians, as indicated in the surveys, and now endorsed by former President Obasanjo, look up to Peter Obi as the only candidate who can surmount the challenges.”

ZAP: OBJ’s Backing Reinforces Atiku’s Innermost Mind

The Zikist-Aminu Kano Patriots (ZAP) said Obasanjo’s endorsement of Obi was a reiteration of Atiku’s original stance on the 2023 presidency.

ZAP’s spokesman, Dr. Steve Igweze, said Obasanjo’s choice of Obi resonates with Atiku’s belief that 2023 was the turn of the South-east to produce President Muhammadu Buhari’s successor, adding that it would be unfair for a Fulani to succeed another Fulani in a multi-ethno-religious country.

While commending Obasanjo for his patriotism and statesmanship, Igweze maintained that the former president and Atiku had shown that they knew that proper power

rotation was the correct thing to do to sustain Nigeria’s unity and stability.

He stated, “For us in the ZikistAminu Kano Patriots, Obasanjo’s endorsement is in fulfillment of Alhaji Atiku Abubakar's innermost mind on micro zoning the 2023 Presidency to the South-east, before some unpatriotic elements selfishly pushed him to use his Dubai-Machiavellian war-chest to jettison equity, fairness in the PDP presidential primary, which created G-5-Wike Masquerade albatross.”

On claims by some PDP political merchants that the party’s choice of Atiku was a smart move to win the presidency with or without Obasanjo’s endorsement, Igweze said it was impossible for PDP and Atiku to pull the northern votes as they contemplated.

Labour Party Candidate Pledges to Embark on Agric Revolution, Other Productive Ventures, If Elected

The presidential candidate of Labour Party (LP) and former governor of Anambra State, Peter Obi, urged the Nigerian electorate to vote for candidates of good character, with the right competence and commitment, in the next general election.

In his New Year Message to Nigerians, Obi, on behalf of his family and the Labour Party, wished Nigerians joy, peace and good health this year and beyond.

Obi said he had taken time to travel round the country and also gone to other parts of the world to engage Nigerians. He expressed optimism that the country was on the verge of a major turning point in its history.

Obi said, "Together we birthed a movement of Nigerians committed to tacking back the country in 2023.

With your continued support, victory is ours.

“With the 2023 general election just about 55 days ahead, Datti Baba-Ahmed and I reiterate our determination to serve Nigeria with love, strength and faith and diligently implement our pact with Nigeria from May 2023, to create a new Nigeria, a renewed nation bound in freedom, prosperity, peace and unity.

"Vote for character, competence and commitment that you can trust to secure and unite Nigeria, end poverty and ginger through agricultural revolution, particularly in our northern region, and other productive revolutions in different regions of our dear country, empower our children and youth through proper education and health and many other plans and targets."

completed by 2013.

“But two out the 15 projects were sited in one local government area, while there are no projects in about six local government areas, contrary to the original plan.

"Odeda, Ijebu North East, Imeko Afon, Egbado North and Odogbolu LGs didn’t benefit from the project.

What happened to the remaining 11 for which funds were fully disbursed?"

Somorin, in the statement, pointed out that, like the Model Schools, several capital projects were already abandoned by Amosun's administration all over the state before it left office.

“The buildings were not ready.

They were never completed. There are still outstanding debts on it, so we cannot start doing that without trying to make sure we do something about the existing schools.

“Up till today, only the Akin Ogunpola College remains the only one of the proposed model

schools used for academic activities.

After the summer camp, the school admitted pupils for the 2017 and 2018 academic sessions.

‘But in 2019, due to dwindling enrolment and the fact that it was a fee-paying secondary school that charged higher than even most private schools in the State, government had to shut down the school that negates our free education policy.

“To say the least, the model schools’ project was conceived with an intention for cheap political populism. It was conceived in deceit and hatched with the intention to swindle the public. The Amosun government lacked the kind of vision we have and was only playing to the gallery,” the statement added.

"In consonance with his purpose-driven leadership, the Dapo Abiodun-led Administration promised not to abandon any project on which the resources of the state had been expended. “Instead, he is creatively utilising them for the

benefit of the citizenry. For instance, the governor converted the White Elephant projects and tweaked them to become relevant. For example, the Tech Hub on Kobape Road on the outskirts of Abeokuta was one of the supposed Model Schools that was moribund for 8 years. Ditto for the one in Ikenne that into a 128-bed Isolation and Treatment Centre for COVID-19.

“For the umpteenth time, let us reiterate that no project will be allowed to waste. We will only creatively put all of them into purpose-driven ventures. The structure at Ogijo, Sagamu, had already been fully deployed as a state-owned secondary school with a boarding facility.”

Somorin said rather than vilifying Abiodun for not continuing with the model schools, which were abandoned by the same administration that started them, he should be commended for turning some of the model schools into useful edifices.

2023: Year of Hope, Socio-economic Transformation, Mbah Predicts The governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, (PDP) in Enugu State, Dr. Peter Mbah has congratulated the people of the state for making it to another year, describing the new year as a new dawn and new beginning in the state.

Mbah, in his new year message on January 1, 2023, contained in a press statement personally signed by him and made available to newsmen by his media office yesterday, enjoined the people of the state to keep hope alive with his candidacy and the PDP, saying the year would be a special one in the annals of the state if and when elected as the next governor.

The governorship hopeful who said despite the economic crisis that bedeviled the nation in 2022, Enugu State recorded improvement in infrastructures, citizens and workers’ welfare, healthcare and human capital development made possible by the Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi-led administration.

While assuring the state that he was well prepared for the task

ahead with his well thought-out, robust and excellent manifesto, Mbah stated that the state under his leadership in 2023 would witness exponential growth, unprecedented socio-economic transformation and industrialisation which would be driven by technology and innovation.

The oil and gas magnate reiterated his unswerving commitment to support the citizens in areas of businesses and investment by creating a friendly, transparent and enabling environment for ease of doing business, provide for the basic welfare of the people, improve further on human capital empowerment through support for the youths, special training, and skills acquisition for them.

Mbah who maintained that he had set the agenda and the pace for the, “New Enugu State of our dream where everyone will have a voice in the decision making process, participate actively in governance and vigorously pursue their dreams in the most accommodating, encouraging and inspiring environment

as envisioned by my social contract and manifesto,” also added that nobody would be left out in the journey to make the state the one of the top three states in the country in terms of gross domestic product and moving Enugu economy from its present $4.4 billion to $30 billion dollars in the next 8 years.

“We have measurable indicators for you to assess us. We are going to make 2023 a year that will mark the beginning of unprecedented, massive development and support we shall be giving to you in your businesses, education, welfare and needs.

“I am aware of your numerous needs and sincerely assure you that the solution you seek is not far-fetched because our tomorrow is here.

“Having prepared for the task ahead, I'm delighted to let you know that I am that person who'll take Enugu State to the pinnacle of its dreams. This ambition sprouting in us is fueled by the desire to see our beloved state flourish. This journey is all-inclusive.”

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NEWS

PROMOTING ENTREPRENEURSHIP...

L-R: Registrar, Academy for Entrepreneurial Studies (AES), Nigeria, Mr. Paul Umukoro; Chairman, AES Excellence Club, Chief (Mrs.) Nike Akande; Publisher, The Guardian Newspapers, Lady Maiden Alex-Ibru; Chairman, Access Bank Plc, Dr. Dere Awosika; and Keynote Speaker, Mr. Alexander Neyin, at the 12th AES Excellence Club CEO’S Dinner/Awards Nite in Lagos… recently ETOP UKUTT

Bolanle Raheem: Lagos CP Transfers All Officers from Ajah Station Rebecca Ejifoma The Lagos State Police Command, Monday, ordered the transfer of all its officers from the Ajah Police Station with immediate effect.

This is a sequel to the tragic demise of a pregnant Lagos Lawyer, Bolanle Raheem after

she was shot dead on Christmas Day by ASP Drambi Vandi, in the Ajah area of Lagos State.

According to the State Police Spokesman, Benjamin Hundeyin, on his verified Twitter account the State Commissioner of Police, Abiodun Alabi gave the order for the transfer.

661,783 PVCs Remain Uncollected in Edo The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Edo office, said that 661,783 old and new Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) were yet to be collected in the state as at December31, 2022.

The Head, Voter Education and Publicity of Edo INEC office, Mr. Timidi Wariowie, made this known in its PVC daily report analysis made available to newsmen yesterday in Benin.

Wariowei said that of the figure, 409,832 were old uncollected PVCs while 251,951 were new uncollected cards.

“The old uncollected PVCs

were 425,239 but 15,407 had been collected, remaining the balance of 409,832.

“Also, the new PVCs received were 289,931 but 37,980 had been collected, remaining the balance of 251,95,” he said.

Wariowei further disclosed that 460 PVCs were collected on Jan. 1, across the local government areas in the state.

According to him, the collection of PVC remains a daily exercise, including Saturdays and Sundays (excluding public holidays) from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at INEC offices across the 18 LGAs.

Nigerian Turkish Alumni Group Donates to Orphanages in Delta, Edo Omon-Julius Onabu inAsaba A group of Nigerians who graduated from the University of Turkey have donated various items to some established homes for motherless children and orphans located in Edo and Delta states, saying that the love and humane motive behind the gesture was far more important to them than the monetary value of the items donated.

The less privileged children’s homes targeted by former Nigerian students of the University of Turkey to share the joy of the Christmas and New Year celebrations in Nigeria include Eghosa Orphanage Home in Benin-City, Edo State, Little Saints Orphanage in Warri, Delta State and the Motherless Babies Home of the Little Lilies of the Most Holy Trinity Foundation, Okwe near Asaba, the Delta State capital.

A former member of the Delta State House of Assembly, Hon

Emmanuel Orugbo, who is the group’s activity coordinator for Delta State, said that the idea was not to impress anybody with the amount of money and items donated to the charity homes.

He said that it was rather meant to complement various efforts by good spirited individuals to make life meaningful to these vulnerable members of the society.

Orugbo decried the tough economic situation in the country, saying that there was an urgent need for Nigerians to reinvent the culture of caring for others no matter how little they had.

“Yes, we have a culture in this country of being our brother’s keeper. We don’t say we are too poor or don’t have enough to share with others. I think this prevailing situation in the country requires the revival of this culture because that will address many problems were are facing in the country, including insecurity,” he said.

Adding, Hundeyin noted that the CP already effected the transfer “Out of all personnel of the division, with replacement from other divisions. This would

fully materialise in a couple of days.”

Confirming his tweet via a phone conversation, the spokesman told THISDAY, “Yes,

the new officers have started coming in. They will be 100 per cent fully on ground in the next couple of days.”

Meanwhile, the killing of

Bolanle has since elicited public uproar, condemnation, and calls for immediate justice by the state government, police and the nation.

NIS Rescues Six Human Trafficking Victims in Jigawa The Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), Jigawa Command, said it rescued six victims of human trafficking in the state.

The NIS Comptroller in the state, Mr Ahmed Bagari, told newsmen in Dutse yesterday that the victims were rescued by men of the command on Sunday.

Bagari, represented by DCI Muhammad Yako, said the victims were rescued at about 6:30 p.m. in an uncompleted building

in Babura town, headquarters of Babura Local Government Area of the state.

He explained that the victims, aged between 20 and 35, were intercepted while on their way to Libya en route Niger Republic.

The comptroller added that the victims, five females and a male are from Oyo and Nasarawa states.

According to him, none of the rescued victims was in possession of any travel document and no

incriminating items were found on them during interrogation.

“The victims were rescued on Sunday, the 1st of January, 2023 on their way to Niger Republic en route Libya.

“The victims are made up of five females and one male that hailed from Oyo state; only one of them is from Nasarawa State.

The victims are: Olalekan A. Alabi, aged 35; Kehinde adetunde, 26; Afolabi Ajibola, 24; Adedoyin Adetoji, 20; Olawuyi

Mose bolatimoyo, 35 and Blessing John, 22.

“The victims were rescued in an uncompleted building in Babura town which we believe they were kept by a syndicate,” the comptroller said.

He added that the NIS Comptroller-General, Mr. Idris Jere, had directed that the victims be handed over to the National Agency for Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) for further action.

Wike: Amaechi Wasted N54b on Failed Monorail Project in Rivers Blessing Ibunge in PortHarcourt

Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State has alleged that the immediate former Minister of Transportation, Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi wasted N54billion on the abandoned monorail project in the state.

Governor Wike, who made the allegation at the New Year State banquet held in Government House, Port Harcourt, was reacting to claim that Rivers State has been badly governed since 2015.

Governor Wike also disclosed that Amaechi was yet to account for the $308 million proceeds from the sale of the State gas turbine power stations to Sahara Energy, which is allegedly co-founded

by Rivers State All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate, Mr. Tonye Cole.

“Who’s behind Sahara? The one he is presenting to be governorship candidate.”

He described the closure of courts in the State for nearly two years by the past administration of Amaechi as a coup against the

judiciary.

He regretted that Nigeria happens to be the only country where those who violate the sanctity of the third arm of government go unpunished.

Governor Wike said it was preposterous for his predecessor, who closed courts for almost two years and denied people access to justice, to accuse his administration of poor governance.

“There will be bad administration if there is no good governance. What is good governance ? There cannot be

good governance if it is not predicated on the rule of law and due process. Who can you actually accuse of bad administration? We came to this State in 2015. There was no court.

“There was a coup against the third arm of government. It is only in Nigeria where you can stage a coup against the judiciary and you will go free. Nobody can stage coup against the judiciary in any developed society and you go free. You can never. You deny people liberty, you deny them access to justice,” he said.

IDPs Camp Demolition: ActionAid Tasks FG, FCTA on Provision of Shelter, Amenities A non-government organisation (NGO), ActionAid Nigeria, has called on the federal government and Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) to provide amenities for the Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camp at Durumi in the FCT. Country Director of ActionAid, Ene Obi ,made the call at a news briefing at the camp yesterday in Abuja.

The director, who went

round the camp to observe the impact of the demolition exercise by the FCTA described it as “unfortunate.”

She said: “The demolition was unexpected and had resulted in shock and trauma for the IDPs. Nearly 70 per cent of the IDPs are women, children and elderly persons. They are now suffering from the impact of the demolition.

“This is surprising, because, the camp had the recognition

and support of the Federal Government, it’s officials, INGO, FCTA and other organisations and individuals.”

Obi said the various authorities had supported and built infrastructure in the camp such as a health facility, primary school, a block of toilets and boreholes among others.

The country director further said that the camp had over 3,000 individuals from 330 households.

“If the federal government recognised the IDP camp, then it is pertinent to ask what changed their stance, leading to its demolition just few days before the Christmas?” Obi asked.

According to Obi, the leadership of the camp, in collaboration with the different security agencies had helped to checkmate criminal activities within its vicinities.

Police Investigate Couple’s Death on New Year’s Day The police command in Ogun has begun investigation into the death of a couple, Mr Kehinde and Mrs Bukola Fatinoye, at Ibara GRA in Abeokuta, on the New Year’s Day. The state Police Public Relations Officer, SP Abimbola Oyeyemi, made

the disclosure in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) yesterday in Abeokuta.

NAN reports that Kehinde and Bukola were burnt to death when suspected arsonists set their house ablaze on January 1.

One of their children and their

housekeeper were also alleged to have been kidnapped by those behind the suspected arson.

According to Oyeyemi, the police will do all within their powers to reveal those behind the dastardly act.

NAN gathered that the incident happened shortly after

the couple returned from ‘Cross Over Service’ to usher in the new year.

NAN also learnt that Kehinde and Bukola were employees of the Central Bank of Nigeria and Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, respectively.

29

TUESDAY JANUARY 3, 2023 ˾ T H I S D AY

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Enugu Gov Grants Amnesty to 41 Repentant Militants Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu State has granted amnesty to 41 youths in IgboEze North Local Government Area of the state, following the renouncement of their militant activities in the area.

The youths surrendered their weapons to the government after peace dialogues initiated by the government to stem the several months of unrest and insecurity in the council area which had claimed so many lives on both sides.

The event held at the IgboEze North LGA Pavillion, Ogrute in Enugu-Ezike yesterday, showing a turning point in the several efforts for peace and stability in the area.

The Chairman of Igbo-Eze

North Local Government Area, Prince Ejike Itodo, who represented Ugwuanyi at the occasion, described the event as the most important of all and the high point of the Christmas and New Year celebrations in the area .

According to him, the peace and security are the beauty of government and thanked those who were passionate about a better Igbo-Eze North, adding that the significance of the event was that the people of Igbo-Eze North had sent the devil and its agents packing.

He therefore, commended the leadership of the governor.

The LG Chairman, Itodo, also handed over two Toyota Hilux vehicles procured

by the government for the Neighbourhood Watch, Igbo-Eze North Chapter to the Divisional Police Officer, Igbo-Eze North Police Division, CSP Akor Simon.

He thanked the stakeholders in attendance for sacrificing their time to witness the programme and then advised the repented youths to disseminate the good news to others at large for them to repent and reunite with their communities.

The PDP Chairman, Igbo-Eze North Chapter, Chief Alexander Uramah, opined that the root cause of the insecurity is joblessness and expressed his satisfaction to the governor and Itodo for curbing the men ace.

FRSC Rescues Six from Lone Accident in Osun Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) in Osun yesterday rescued six persons unhurt in a road accident on GbonganOsogbo highway.

FRSC Sector Commander in the state, Mr. Paul Okpe, said this in a statement issued by the corps’ Spokesperson, Mrs Agnes Ogungbemi, in Osogbo.

Okpe said that the rescued victims, all male, came out unhurt from the accident reportedly caused by speed

limit violation by the driver.

He said that the driver lost control when the vehicle’s break failed six kilometer to Sasa bridge on the highway.

“An ash-coloured Toyota Sienna car, with registration number: BSR 111 BP, lost control when the driver drove in a manner against road traffic regulations.

“It was a lone accident,” he said.

Okpe said that operatives of

the command were able to clear the traffic by quickly towing the damaged vehicle from the accident scene.

He said that the injured victims were taken to the medical centre within the vicinity of the accident.

The sector commander, however, cautioned road users against dangerous driving, saying that they should learn to obey traffic regulations while on the wheel, to stay alive.

.DQR $JUR 3DVWRUDO 3URMHFW 2;HUV N128. 25m Scholarships to Students

Ibrahim Shuaibu in Kano

Kano State Agro Pastoral Project (KSADP) has disbursed N128.25 million scholarships to 115 indigenes of the state.

The state Project Coordinator of KSADP, Malam Ibrahim Garba, who revealed this during WKH ÁDJ RͿ RI WKH GLVEXUVHPHQW yesterday, said the scholarship is strictly for students of agricultural H[WHQVLRQ DQG OLYHVWRFN UHODWHG courses.

He said: “The project funded by the Islamic Development Bank, the Lives and Livelihood Funds and the Kano State *RYHUQPHQW LV VXSSRUWLQJ ÀYH doctorate students, 10 master students, 50 National Diploma and 50 Higher National Diploma students from the Kano State in milk processing, livestock, crop management and extension, at Bayero University, Kano, Ahmadu Bello University

Zaria, as well as polytechnics and colleges of agriculture.

“This intervention is the ÀUVW RI LWV NLQG E\ DQ\ SURMHFW in the state and is aimed at supporting students from ORZ FRPH IDPLOLHV ZKR ZDQW to pursue their education in agricultural extension and livestock development in view of its importance to food security and national development.”

Besides the scholarship, Ibrahim disclosed that the project has approved funds for the International Institute for Tropical Agriculture (IITA) and ICRISAT to provide technical assistance to and supervise the doctorate and master thesis of WKH EHQHÀFLDULHV He explained that the 115 EHQHÀFLDULHV ZHUH VHOHFWHG from 1,250 applicants, adding that the 100 Ordinary National Diploma and Higher National Diploma students will get N970,

000 each for their two years of study, the Msc students will get N2, 050, 000 each while the doctorate students will get N2, 150, 000 each, for their two years of study respectively. The amount for each student covers tuition fees, upkeep, cost of study materials etc.

The Kano State Commissioner for Agriculture, Dr. Jibrin Yusuf 5XUXP WDVNHG WKH EHQHÀFLDULHV to maintain a positive attitude by devotion to their studies and by paying attention to skills development instead of anticipating white collar jobs when they complete their studies.

“You should remember that you have responsibility to your communities and the society in general, so you should not become liabilities. You should study, not to wait for jobs but to be able to face the challenges of life,” he cautioned.

WikkiTimes Launches Accountability Reporting Fellowship Segun Awofadeji in Bauchi WikkiTimes, an investigative and data journalism medium, is set to launch the Umaru Pate Accountability Reporting Fellowship on January 4, 2023.

Named after Professor Umaru Pate, the Vice Chancellor of the Federal University Kashere, the IHOORZVKLS RIIHUV VL[ PRQWKV SDLG internship to young graduates LQ LQYHVWLJDWLYH GDWD DQG IDFW checking journalism.

WikkiTimes, founded in 2018, is launching the fellowship in recognition of Pate’s outstanding contributions in the field of journalism and to mark the professor’s 59th birth date.

A renown communication scholar, and academic of

international repute, Pate is the pioneer dean of the Faculty of Communication at the Bayero University Kano.

As a professor of Media and Society, and an advocate of investigative journalism, Pate has won several international grants for the Faculty of Communications at BUK. His contributions include the PRGLÀFDWLRQ RI WKH 1LJHULDQ Journalism Curriculum to address emerging trends in the industry.

Commenting on the fellowship, WikkiTimes’ publisher, Haruna Mohammed Salisu, said Umaru Pate is one of 1LJHULD·V ÀQHVW PHGLD VFKRODUV Salisu explained that Pate KDV PHQWRUHG DQG VHOÁHVVO\

supported hundreds of journalists in Nigeria and beyond.

According to him, “He has tutored media scholars and has been at the forefront in advancing the frontiers of media scholarship.

“Inspired by his continuous service to humanity, we are kickstarting a graduate fellowship programme where we intend to train graduates who have a demonstrable interest in accountability journalism.

“For us at WikkiTimes, there is no better way to celebrate Professor Pate than to launch this kind of programme because we believe that doing so will advance the very principles and values Professor Pate stood for many years.”

TUESDAY JANUARY 3, 2023 ˾ T H I S D AY

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CARING FOR DISPLACED PERSONS...

L-R: Spokesperson, Abuja Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) Camps, Idriss Ibrahim; Country Director, ActionAid Nigeria, Ene Obi; Chairman, Durumi IDPs camp, Abuja, Ibrahim Amadu; Women Coordinator, Durumi IDPs Camp, Abuja, Liyatu Ayuba; and Humanitarian Coordinator, ActionAid, Anicetus Atakpu, during the ActionAid’s visit and distribution of palliative items to IDPs in Abuja ENOCK REUBEN

Police Repel Terrorists’Attack, Kill One, Recover AK-47 Rifle in Katsina Francis Sardauna in Katsina Gunmen suspected to be terrorists in Katsina State yesterday attacked a police ‘Nipping Point’ in Jibia Local Government Area in the state during which one of the terrorists was killed by the police operatives.

Jibia is a commercial border town between Nigeria and Niger Republic where activities of terrorists and smugglers are consistent.

The state Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Gambo Isah, who confirmed the attack in a statement, said two policemen sustained injuries in the encounter and had been treated at Jibia hospital and discharged.

Isah, a superintendent of police, said the incident occurred around 4.30 a.m. at Magama/ Hirji junction on the Katsina/Jibia road, but the policemen repelled the attack and recovered one AK-47 rifle from the hoodlums.

Fire Razes Four Shops in Kano Fire has razed four shops in Kano on Airport Road, close to France Road, in Fagge Local Government Area of the state.

This is contained in a statement issued by the Public Relations Officer of the State Fire Service, Alhaji Saminu Abdullahi, yesterday in Kano.

He said the incident occurred yesterday morning.

“We received a distress call at about 09:06 a.m from Hamish

Ahmed and we immediately sent our rescue team to the scene at about 09:13 a.m. to stop the fire from spreading to the other shops.

“The four shops razed were used to sell hospital equipment, car spare parts, while one shop was slightly burnt with toilet wares,” the statement said.He said the cause of the fire was under investigation.

British Council Supports Creative Industries The British Council is offering its venues to artists and exhibitors as part of its Creative Economy Showcase Programme till 31 March 2023. This is part of the organisation’s engagement with the arts and creative industries in Nigeria, where it supports creatives with access to British Council-owned exhibition spaces and other venues in prime locations in Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt, and Kano states.

The artists are using the British Council venues for art displays, showcases and performances for free between one and three consecutive days.

Speaking on the development, British Council Nigeria’s Country Director, Lucy Pearson, said: “This initiative by the British Council is assisting performance artists and art exhibitors, many of whom were adversely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and the resultant economic challenges.

Many creative businesses, particularly those involving art forms that require live performances, are still recovering from the long-term harmful effects of the crisis,” The British Council appointed four curators to review submissions from artists and creative entrepreneurs following a widely advertised

call for applications that ended in July 2022.

The curators for the four venues in the different states are Creative Arts and Visual Imagery Centre (CAVIC) in Abuja, TASCK in Lagos, StartUp South in Port Harcourt and StartUp Kano in Kano.

The curators selected the best entries for venue support and work with the exhibitors to deliver their work and draw audiences to attend. All profits made through the sale of tickets or other financial rewards, including sponsorships, will go to the exhibitors.

As an intervention, the Head of Arts West Africa and Creative Economy Lead SSA at British Council, Brenda Fashugba, said: “The Creative Economy Showcase Programme helps resolve several challenges for creative entrepreneurs, such as offsetting the massive cost of renting a premium venue space, providing communication support through publicity for the programme, offering exhibitors access to the British Council network of art enthusiasts and stakeholders as well as affording exhibitors access to our organisational knowledge of event management, programme management and planning.”

According to him, “Today (yesterday) at about 0430 hours, terrorists in their numbers, shooting sporadically with AK-47 rifles, attacked a police nipping point at Magama-Hirji junction

on Jibia-Katsina road.

“The policemen engaged the terrorists in a fierce gun duel and successfully repelled them. One of the terrorists was neutralised, and one AK-47 rifle was recovered

with four magazines containing 90 rounds of 7.62mm ammunition of AK-47 rifles.

“Money and other exhibits were also recovered. Many of the terrorists escaped the scene

with gunshot injuries.”

He, however, said search parties were still combing the area with a view to arresting or recovering more dead bodies of the terrorists.

2023 Poll: Bishop Urges Nigerians to Shun Vote Trading The Catholic Bishop of Ekiti Diocese, Most Rev. Felix Ajakaye, has called on Nigerians to shun buying and selling of votes as the 2023 general elections drew nearer.

The Catholic Bishop made the call in his new year message titled: “2023: Year of Practical Decision” yesterday, in Ado-Ekiti.

Ajakaye said: “as individuals

and groups, we must never allow the incessant inglorious vote selling and buying at this year’s elections.”

According to the cleric, vote selling and buying are sins, describing the acts as crimes against humanity.

He said citizens must get back their beloved country, Nigeria, from the few, who thought they

were owners, explaining that the masses were the original owners of the nation.

Ajakaye appealed to eligible voters, who had not collected their voter cards to make necessary sacrifice to collect them from the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) within time.

He, however, berated most

of the political parties that do not follow the rule of law in the country, when getting power.

The cleric said: “ Most political parties engage in fake primaries and want to win elections by all means.

They get to power crudely and behave true to type, which makes them selfish and treasury looters”.

RoyalFathers EndorseAbiaAPC Guber Candidate, Emenike Emmanuel Ugwu-Nwogo in Umuahia The 2023 governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Abia State, Ikechi Emenike, received a major boost at the weekend following his endorsement by 67 traditional rulers of Ikwuano/Umuahia political bloc.

The royal fathers, who converged on the palace of the traditional ruler of Ajata na Igu autonomous community, King Larry Ogbonnaya Agwu, declared their support for Emenike, whom they warmly received and prayed to God to grant him success.

The royal fathers told Emenike: “Our collective desire and prayer is for God to lead you to the

government house in Umuahia in 2023. We know your capacity and we strongly believe that you will work for the state and make the people smile.”

They charged him to “go for us,” assuring the governorship hopeful that they would rally their subjects across the three local government areas of Ikwuano, Umuahia North,

Umuahia South, where they hold sway to support him at the poll.

Explaining the reason for supporting him, the royal fathers, whose domains constitute Ikwuano/Umuahia federal constituency, said they were appalled at the stagnation of Abia State, and want Emenike to save the situation.

Zamfara Anti-thuggery Committee Warns Politicians against Misusing Vigilance Groups The Zamfara anti-thuggery committee yesterday cautioned politicians in the state against misusing local vigilance group popularity known as Yansakai for their selfish interests during the political campaign rallies in the state.

The committee’s chairman, Mr Bello Bakyasuwa, made the call

when he visited some anti-thuggery personnel attacked by suspected local vigilance group at the Federal Medical Centre, Gusau.

Bakyasuwa disclosed that six personnel were attacked by some members of a suspected local vigilance group allegedly sponsored by some politicians.

“This is very unfortunate

and disheartening the way our personnel were attacked and shot by local vigilance members while working to protect lives and properties “You know after every campaign rally of both political parties in the state, we stay behind to avoid destruction of properties by thugs.

“Six of our personnel were

attacked after the All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship campaign rally on Monday in Maru Local Government Area,” he said.

Bakyasuwa said that the six injured personnel who were admitted at the emergency centre of FMC, Gusau,were responding to treatment.

Tambuwal Condemns Attack on His Convoy, Says Perpetrators ‘ll Be Prosecuted Onuminya Innocent in Sokoto Sokoto State Governor, Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, has condemned and also vowed to bring to book attackers of his motorcade last Sunday.

Suspected thugs had attacked the governor’s convoy with

stones in the state capital, Sokoto, while he was returning with his entourage and party officials from a campaign tour of Silame and Wammako Local Government Areas of the state.

Also with the governor at the time of the assault were with the Peoples Democratic

Party (PDP) gubernatorial candidates of Sokoto and Kebbi States, Mallam Saidu Umar and Gen. Aminu Bande (rtd); the geputy gubernatorial candidate of Sokoto State, Hon. Sagir Bafarawa, and other dignitaries, all of whom escaped unhurt.

Nonetheless, two vehicles in

the fleet were damaged by the attackers.

Tambuwal told journalists at the close of a stakeholders’ meeting with political appointees in the state that some of the attackers have been arrested and would soon be prosecuted.

Group: Why Tinubu Should be Nigerian Next President Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, “because he who has the capacity “to take us Honestly without a doubt, Sunday Okobi A grassroots organisation for the actualisation of Bola Tinubu presidential ambition, Tea Prosper, has called on Nigerians to support the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC),

has the capacity to turn around the situation of the country.”

The National Chairman/ Coordinator of the group, Shehu Bankole-Hameed, in a statement yesterday, said Nigerians are eager to hand the baton to someone

out of the cauldron that we have found ourselves as Nigerians.”

“I have studied the political entrants, if I may call them entrants, into the field of the next manager of Nigeria as an entity/country.

the best qualified among them is Asiwaju Bola Tinubu. Ordinarily if we have some others with the same capacity as Tinubu, then one can pause to consider who then among Tinubu’s equals to elect.

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TUESDAY, ͻ˜ ͺ͸ͺͻ ˾ T H I S D AY

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

0811 181 3083 SMS ONLY

1940-2022...1940-2022...1940-2022...

O Rei Goes Home in Blazing Glory Today Pele to be buried on the 9th floor of cemetery overlooking Santos Stadium Brazil’s football legend, Edson Arantes do Nascimento (a.k.a.

Pelé), will be buried today at the 9th floor of the Memorial Necropole Ecumenical, a vertical cemetery in Santos with only his family present today.

Yesterday, after a public farewell ceremony where dignitaries and fans gather to pay "The King" last respects held at the “Urbano Caldera” Stadium in Santos Municipality, São Paulo, Brazil, where Pelé played some of the best matches of his career.

The coffin that carrying Pelé's body was placed in the middle of the Stadium early hours of Monday morning so that the fans can take a last look at the football legend.

The farewell started at 10:00am Brazil time and lasted for 24 hours with the burial scheduled to take place this morning, according to information from Brazilian sporting press.

Pelé passed away last Thursday, at the age of 82, after battling cancer of the colon since 2021. His death was announced by his agent, Joe

Fraga.

According to the burial programme released in Brazil, Pelé's final abode is the 9th floor of Necropole Ecumenical Memorial Cemetery so he can 'see' Santos football stadium which made him legendary.

This unique vertical cemetery is a 14-story building in Santos, Brazil with 14.000 vaults, a waterfalls and a car museum building. It also contains a chapel, lagoon, peacock garden, waterfalls, an aviary full of parrots and toucans and even a small restaurant.

Pelé spent a lot of time selecting his final ‘burial’ spot, his final wish was to be buried in his beloved hometown, Santos.

He chose floor 9 to pay homage to his dear dad who always wore the Number 9 shirt as a player.

From where Pelé's coffin will lay forever you could clearly see the iconic Santos Stadium, less than half a mile away. His devoted fans believe that Pelé will always be able to “see” his favourite football pitch for eternity.

Before the funeral ceremony began

O Rei Pele...to be buried in Santos today

Brentford Throw Spanner into Liverpool’s Top Four Dream Liverpool missed the chance to close on the English Premier League's top four after the Reds slumped 1-3 to Brentford on Monday night.

The Reds shipped three poor goals at the Community Stadium as Brentford ran out deserved winners.

In a desperate first half, Ibrahima Konate scored an own goal at a corner and, having escaped conceding two further goals at set-pieces because of offside decisions on VAR review, Liverpool fell two behind when a mistake from Harvey Elliott allowed Mathias Jensen to set up Yoane Wissa.

Reds boss Jurgen Klopp made a triple substitution at half-time and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain reduced the deficit but another error late on, this time from Konate, let Bryan Mbeumo in to seal the win for Brentford.

The Reds, who would have gone within a point of fourth with a win, have now dropped 23 points this season - one more than in the entire campaign last season.

Speaking on Liverpool's poor performance against Brentford, defender Andrew Robertson insisted it was not good enough.

"With the fans sitting at home or on the bus back up to Liverpool, it's not good enough for them," Robertson said.

"We've spoken about consistency

and things like that but we're not getting it.

"It feels like we're one step forward and one step back at the moment which makes it hard to climb the league table unfortunately."

Brentford, meanwhile, are unbeaten in six games - their best run in the top flight for more than 80 years - and climb to seventh.

Liverpool defending was reminiscent of last week's showing

against Leicester when Klopp's side ran out 2-1 winners but were cut open on a number of occasions.

Konate was unfortunate with the first goal which flicked his calf, but that corner came from Mbeumo running clean through on the counter-attack and goalkeeper Alisson having to bail out the defence.

The disorganised visitors were all at sea at the two subsequent corners, fortunately surviving on

both occasions as Wissa turned the ball home.

With the hosts fired up, the Reds made one mistake too many seconds later when Elliott lost the ball attempting a dummy in his own half from the restart.

They improved after the break, Virgil van Dijk one of those replaced, but in the 84th minute Konate should have been stronger when he was brushed off the ball

by Mbuemo.

N1m Prize Money at Stake for Opobo Marathon Winners The Fifth Edition of Opobo Marathon scheduled to hold on January 5th, 2023continues to gather momentum as athletes and people from all works of life have started arriving the ancient kingdom to partake in both the Leisure and Elite categories.

The Opobo Marathon has gained national and international recognition, hence the special interest of top athletes and officials.

This year's event will have the presence of representatives of many organizations within and outside Nigeria.

And for the first time, the organisers have announced a winning prize of N1million for winners in the male and female Elite categories as a reward for perservance, focus, ddetermination and hardwork.

Akintomide Abayomi and Rukayat Oladapo emerged champions of both male and female categories that saw athletes covering 17km early last year.

Oladele Sunday and Clinton Amara finished second and third respectively in the male category that saw more than 100 runners,

while Dorothy Jaja came second in the female event.

The Team Lead of the organisers, Iyowuna Cookey, who spoke on the sidelines of prepration for the marathon, said yesterday that the aim is to connect Opobo to the rest of the world, in addition to showcasing the tourism potentials of the area and culture of the people.

According to him, with Opobo marathon, people are seeing beyond the popular Nwaotam carnival, just "as we are using the marathon to advocate for healthy living."

yesterday, the Brazilian Football Federation (CBF) had raised a huge poster of Pelé on its headquarters building in Rio de Janeiro, with the message 'Eterno', Portuguese for 'Eternal' written above it.

Pelé, throughout his career, from 1956 to 1974 scored more than 1279 goals. Pelé scored 12 goals in 14 World Cup matches and is the only three-time World Champion, winning titles in 1958, 1962 and 1970.

He became one of the most

commanding sports figures of the 20th century. In 1999, he was named Athlete of the Century by both the IOC and FIFA. His 1,279 goals in 1,363 games, which includes friendlies, are recognised as a Guinness World Record.

Pelé began playing for Santos at age 15 and the Brazil national team at 16. He was nicknamed O Rei (The King) following the 1958 World Cup.

....Gusau: Pele’s Contributions to Football Are Ineffable Ahead of today’s burial of football’s indisputable King, Edson Arantes dos Nascimento, popularly known as Pele, President of Nigeria Football Federation, Alhaji Ibrahim Musa Gusau has described the potentate’s contributions to football as ineffable.

King Pele, who won three FIFA World Cup titles and scored a total of 1,279 goals in 1,363 games, died on Thursday in a hospital in São Paulo, Brazil and his remains will be interred this morning in Santos, Brazil.

“I have read so many condolence messages and tributes to the man since he left us, but the truth is that Pele’s contributions to the game of football are ineffable. He did so many things to raise the profile and scale of the game and each and everyone of us can only say a little of what he did.

“I remember that he came to Nigeria five times and identified strongly with black people all over the world. He was a universal figure yet he remained humble, likeable and approachable. With his skill and talent, he took the game of football to a totally different level, captivated global audiences and gave joy to billions. May his soul rest in peace.”

Pele’s first visit to Nigeria was in January 1969, during which his Brazilian club Santos FC played a friendly with a Nigeria XI that ended 2-2, and then returned in February 1969 for a Santos FC Vs

Midwestern XI friendly courtesy of then Military Administrator of Midwestern State, Colonel Samuel Osaigbovo Ogbemudia, who sponsored the return of the club from a tour of East Africa to the tune of £6,000. The match at then Ogbe Stadium ended in a 2-1 win for Santos.

‘The Greatest’ made another stop in Nigeria in 1976 on a tour sponsored by Pepsi Cola, and again in 1978 on another sponsored tour that included another Brazilian club, Fluminense. His last trip to Nigeria was in October 2000, when he met with then Nigeria Minister of Sports, Damishi Tonson Sango.

Gusau admonished that Pele’s life, his humility and humanity should serve as lessons to football players and football leaders worldwide.

“Pele was a universal billboard for magnificence, yet that did not make him arrogant. One can be a stellar talent without looking down on others, and one can accomplish so much without any of these getting into your head.”

Named after the American inventor Thomas Alva Edison, Pele himself can be credited with ‘inventing’ what he called ‘the beautiful game’ and served several humanitarian causes including as Goodwill Ambassador for UNESCO and UNICEF Ambassador. In 1997, King Pele received a honorary knighthood from Queen Elizabeth II (also of blessed memory).

uLesson Partners NCF for National U-17 Championship African EdTech giant, uLesson Education, has been announced as part sponsor of the biggest youth cricket event in the country, the 4th PWC - NCF National Under-17 Cricket Championship.

The competition which has served as a pathway for identifying the next generation of Nigerian cricketers is scheduled to begin on the January 20 with zonal qualifiers taking place across all geo-political regions of the country and culminates in a week-long grand finale in February.

The final will see a constellation best young players across the country congregate in the Federal capital city.

Senior Vice President, Academics and Curriculum at uLesson, Mr Iheanyi Akwitti, described the partnership as a logical move. “Our goal, not only as a company but also as a community of educators and parents is to produce wellrounded young people and to help all learners be the best version of themselves and sports is one of the ways to achieve that”.

This is not the first time uLesson is supporting cricket in Nigeria.

Through its partnership with many schools, the company has contributed to programmes like The Middle Stump’s Greenshoots

Summer Camp which has seen over 1200 young boys and girls introduced to the game.

Vice President of Marketing at uLesson, Oluwafemi Fadipe, said the company is excited about aligning with the impact the game of cricket is having across the nation, especially the demography that it is appealing to.

“Cricket has been one of the sports that has shown itself as being organized and also being deliberate about its developmental plans. The Under-17 Championship has been one event that has gained traction, especially with the school-age kids, which interestingly lies squarely within uLesson’s target population.”

The General Manager of the Nigeria Cricket Federation, Emeka Igwilo, added that the 4th PWC/ NCF National Under-17 Cricket Championship will flag off with regional qualifiers from January 20th through 30th, 2023.

According to him, “We will have each state that has registered send their team to the regional qualifying zones within the set dates and slug it out to qualify for the national finals, from there.

These regional qualifying centres have been set up across the six geo-political zones for ease of participation and spread as well.”

Tuesday, January 3, 2023

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MISSILE

CPPE to National Assembly

“The CPPE is disturbed by the rushed passage of the 2022 Finance Bill by the NASS. There was practically no room for public hearing and engagement with stakeholders in the consideration of the bill. It is curious and puzzling that the Senate gave just 24 hours notice for stakeholders to attend a public hearing on the bill. The torrent of taxes, levies, fees is crippling business.

We submit that the President should withhold assent on the bill…” --- Founder, Centre for the Promotion of Public Enterprise (CPPE), Dr. Muda Yusuf, chides NASS for undue haste on the bill.

TUESDAY WITH REUBENABATI abati1990@gmail.com

2023: Before the Elections T

his certainly promises to be an interesting year for Africa where a total of 24 general, legislative and local elections would take place in the course of the year in Republics of Benin, Comoros, Cote d’Ivoire, Djibouti, Egypt, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Liberia, Libya, Madagascar, Mali, Mauritania, Mozambique, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Somaliland, South Sudan, Sudan, Swaziland, Togo and Zimbabwe. For a continent that has had issues of military truncation of democratic processes or threats thereof in recent times – Libya, Egypt, Congo, Burundi, Central African Republic, Ethiopian, Mali, Guinea Bissau, Chad - any indication of the sustenance of democracy in any part of the continent would be simply good news. But the one that concerns us most is the fact that Nigeria in 2023 is scheduled to have general elections, the sixth since the return to civilian rule in 1999, with the possibility, if that be the case, of the outcome of a transition at political party level at the centre.

This would perhaps turn out to be the most important event in Nigeria’s political calendar in 2023. The question as framed in not so many words is: who will succeed President Muhammadu Buhari?

If the race had been somewhat measured, it can be safely imagined that as we enter the New Year, it would possibly take no more than two weeks from this moment, before the entire Nigerian landscape lights up in frenetic election frenzy as the various parties and candidates begin the final dash towards the Presidential election on February 25, 2022, and the Gubernatorial and Legislative Elections scheduled for March 11. For now, there seems to be an informal consensus that out of the 18 political parties in the race, only four political parties and four candidates can be taken seriously: the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), and Waziri Atiku Abubakar, the All Progressives Congress (APC), and Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the Labour Party and Mr. Peter Obi and the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP) and Dr. Musa Rabiu Kwankwaso. In a recent, robust, thumb-of-the-rule, analysis of projections, ThisDay Newspaper, reduced the race to a straight, all-out fight between the APC and the PDP and the possibility of a run-off. This may however change, given the volatility of political permutations.

But what lies ahead has already been signposted by a series of events. Just as the year was about to end, Prince Arthur Eze, the Igbo billionaire and entrepreneur and the Godfather of some people, announced at an Ofala festival, that he had told Peter Obi of the Labour Party not to run for the Presidency because he is not the chosen one. He said he told Peter Obi not to waste his money and when it is the turn of Igbos, it would not even be him, but Professor Charles Soludo, the incumbent Governor of Anambra State to whom whoever wins the Nigerian Presidency in 2023 would hand over. Prince Eze’s intervention generated not a little ruckus, more so as he had arrogated to himself the power and privilege to determine the political future of Igboland and the political fortunes of Peter Obi. This was made a tad more interesting by the fact that Professor Charles Soludo whom he announced as the Igbo choice for the Presidency of Nigeria had in fact written in November 2022, in a piece titled “History Beckons and I will Not Be Silent (1)” that Peter Obi’s presidential ambition is a wild goose chase that will amount to nothing, and that his claim of extra-ordinary performance as Anambra Governor is at best a scam. Soludo has not published the Part II of his 2023 political homily. But while he and Prince Eze have the right to their own choices, it cannot be confirmed that they speak for all Igbos or the Nigerian elite, even if there has been very loud silence among the Igbo elite about Peter Obi’s candidacy. His constituency is the ordinary Nigerian who wants to take his or her country back, who believes that the best way to move Nigeria forward is to disrupt it, do

Buhari something different, think out of the box. Either by default or design, Peter Obi, more than Omoyele Sowore, candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC) who in fact generated that lexicon in 2019, has taken ownership of it and given it velocity and currency. But to what end? There is considerable disagreement over what the Peter Obi phenomenon means.

What has lent it further oxygen, however, is the New Year endorsement by President Olusegun Obasanjo who says Peter Obi in his own estimation has an “edge” over other candidates in Nigeria’s Presidential race. Having been an issue in Nigerian politics for more than five decades, Obasanjo has learnt the artful game of owning the moment and that is precisely what he has done this time around.

Weeks to the election, on the first day of the new year, he announced his preference, and he drew attention to himself, and made himself an issue.

There are persons who have expressed the view that President Obasanjo should be quiet. I disagree. He has every right under the law to offer an opinion, just like Governor Charles Soludo, Prince Arthur Eze, and the rest of us. Nobody should be crucified for speaking their mind, since we all know in any case that nobody, be it a former President or a serving janitor has more than one vote. The only difference is that some people imagine that with their celebrity endorsements or condemnations, they can influence the votes. This is why the most important person in the forthcoming general elections is the voter.

The Nigerian voter must stand up, be resolute and make an informed choice. There is no individual in this country that has powers under the law to dictate how others should vote. The operative rule is one man, one vote. Whether or not the elite prefer a particular candidate, what matters is what that average voter wants, and chooses. It is hence important that the Nigerian people vote according to their conscience. This is the area where the civil society has a responsibility to act in the people’s interest by conscientizing them that the best way forward for Nigeria is to vote for those who will make Nigeria a better place. Nobody must be allowed to play God in 2023. There are no messiahs in this country anymore. We only have the people and the people have a duty to save themselves.

Why? Because the leading political parties are in disarray, and do not seem to care about the

electoral framework. The Electoral Act 2022 has been touted as a major step forward in Nigeria’s process of democratic consolidation but there is no concrete evidence that the political parties, their candidates and supporters have taken time out to study and internalize its provisions. There is too much bad conduct on the political scene. The political parties signed a peace accord brokered under the leadership of General Abdulsalami Abubakar, the Sultan of Sokoto, Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah and others but the campaign process has been far from peaceful. It has been abusive, toxic, abrasive and uncivil. The major political parties are all guilty, and the surrogates, the hired Vuvuzelas, half of whom are hungry and angry have been unhelpful to the country, the process and the candidates who give them just barely enough to keep their stomachs alive.

Under such circumstances, the people of Nigeria have a responsibility to save their country from all those elements, the termites, the fortune-seekers who have crawled out of the woods to hold the country hostage.

We have been told by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) that the only way to do this is for the people to get their voting cards.

Unfortunately, the on-going PVC collection exercise is a nightmare. In the South West, there have been allegations that non-Yoruba persons are not allowed to collect PVCs. In the East, there are allegations that militant groups are chasing people away from PVC collection centres. In the North, it is alleged that under-aged children are being given PVCs. Across the country, it is said that some unscrupulous elements are buying up PVCs and Voter Identification Numbers (VIN), apparently to reduce the number of voters on election day, and induce poor voter turn-out to serve a purpose in specific constituencies.

INEC through its spokespersons has been very eloquent in dismissing all of these allegations and in boasting that it is prepared, so prepared it has even printed extra ballot papers should the country be faced with the possibility of a Presidential run-off and the activation of reverse logistics. This is not the time for empty boasts. INEC must address the challenges it faces. It must investigate the allegations that have been raised and take appropriate action.

Less than eight weeks to the election, it has been said that people cannot get their PVCs! The collection process has been chaotic from Lagos to Anambra. It is not juju. It is organizational dysfunction! Indeed, in Lagos, many non-Yorubas complain that in the few local government areas where PVCs are given out, anybody bearing a non-Yoruba name is discriminated against and denied a PVC. Now, that is unacceptable. INEC must look into that and ensure that there is smooth, non-discriminatory collection of PVCs across the country, especially now that the adoption of BVAS – the Biometric Verification Accreditation System- has eliminated the recourse to incident forms. Everything in the coming 2023 elections depends on INEC and the integrity of its systems, and further, the commitment of President Muhammadu Buhari to his promise to ensure a peaceful and credible transition. INEC needs more ad-hoc staff. It needs hands on the ground. How it manages this make-or-mar election should mean a lot to its staff. INEC must stop making promises and get to work.

The promises should be left to the politicians. As things stand, the two major political parties are in a battle to the finish. The APC is so arrogant, and confident in a most insufferable manner that it is again the turn of the party. APC is the ruling party, and so there is probably something to be said for the power of incumbency. The only caveat there is that the sitting President has cultivated a seeming air of neutrality in the matter. He is leader of the party and Chairman of the APC Presidential Campaign Council but except I am missing something, and I

stand to be corrected, the President has told everyone whoever has ears to hear that he is committed to leaving behind a legacy of free and fair elections and he wants Nigerians to vote and choose freely according to their conscience. In other words, he, President Buhari belongs to everybody and nobody in particular, even if he has also been quoted as saying that he wants his party, the APC to win.

He has in that regard shown up in one or two campaigns. His wife too. But is that how a sitting President campaigns for a successor that he wants?

Politicians don’t tell people to vote according to their choice. They go out there to drive their own choice down the people’s throats. In 2007, President Olusegun Obasanjo was more active on the stumps than his chosen successor, Umaru Yar’Adua. He was the one going around selling the sick Yar’Adua to Nigerians, and he had his way willy-nilly, even if years after the fact, he is now the same man saying a Presidential candidate needs the gift of mental and physical agility. Do you see how Nigeria has suffered in the hands of its leaders? In comparison to Obasanjo, President Buhari has been rather reticent.

He wants Nigerians to decide for themselves. While that comes across as good statesmanship, it reduces the force of the Tinubu campaign. Why would a sitting APC President not energize his proverbial 12 million voters in support of his own party by going out there to rally the base?

The rival, the main opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has issues of its own too.

The party is divided as it were into three factions.

Yes, three. There is the Atiku faction: the traditional PDP group, the die-hards who are eager to return to power and displace the ruling APC. They are not saying it is their turn, but they are convinced that power belongs to them, they only just missed it in 2015 and 2019, and they want it back desperately.

But there is this other faction: the Nyesom Wike faction. Wike, the inconsolable, cry-baby of the PDP Presidential primaries who missed the presidential ticket, and also lost out in the running mate race who has now ganged up with other Governors of the party to form a G-5 and other members to form a rebellious Integrity Group – he says in the name of justice, equity and fairness, Senator Iyorchia Ayu must go as Chairman of the party – an irreducible minimum. The party has since passed a vote of confidence on Ayu, and in the last few days, the PDP has made it clear that both the G-5 and the Integrity Group can do their worst, because they do not matter. The way I see it, I think Wike and co. have overplayed their hands. Apart from Wike who is not seeking any elective post, all the other principal partners are in a Catch-22 situation. Seyi Makinde in Oyo state wants a second term. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, Samuel Ortom, and Okezie Ikpeazu want to go to the Senate. Governor Ugwuanyi is old and experienced enough to know that Enugu is a traditional PDP state. He can follow others to Port Harcourt and London to drink pepper soup but in his private moments, he knows that he should not jeopardize his own political interest.

Okezie Ikpeazu, the Malabitic Ph.D Governor of Abia state is presumably too intelligent to go and follow Wike and others to drink poisonous soda.

Ortom has been very diplomatic all along, dancing this way and that way, knowing that there are more than enough formidable PDP forces in Benue who can bury his political career. Right now, most of the aggrieved members of the PDP political family are orphans in search of shelter. They also need to be reminded of what happened to the Alliance for Democracy Governors in the 2003 elections in the South West due to mixed messaging. Tinubu was the last man standing in that debacle. They should learn from him.

This may well be a general election of surprises in Nigeria. The story has just begun.

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