WEDNESDAY 11TH JANUARY 2023

CBN Threatens to Sanction Banks over Failure to Load ATMs with New Banknotes Insists there are enough new N200, N500, N1,000 to go round

Nume Ekeghe in Lagos and James Emejo in Abuja The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)

has warned that it will penalise banks that fail to comply with its directive to dispense the newly redesigned N200, N500 and N1,000

through their Automated Teller Machines (ATMs).

The warning was issued yesterday by the CBN Director, Currency

Operations Department, Ahmed Umar, during a training session for state directors of the National Orientation Agency (NOA) in Abuja.

Also, in Lagos yesterday, the apex bank urged banks to comply with the directive to load their ATMs with the new notes to ensure that

they circulate widely.

Umar explained that the purpose Continued on page 10

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General Election Won’t Be Postponed or Cancelled, FG Assures Nigerians Olawale Ajimotokan in Abuja and Ibrahim Shuaibu in Kano The federal government yesterday said the 2023 general election would not be postponed or cancelled because of insecurity.

The Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, said this in Abuja at the 17th edition of President Muhammadu Buhari scorecard series from 2015-2023, adding that nothing has happened to alter the election timetable.

The assurance by the federal government followed concerns raised by INEC, following rising cases of insecurity and the attack on the commission’s facilities in some parts of the country allegedly perpetrated by the Eastern Security

Network (ESN), the militant arm of the outlawed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), bandits and terrorist groups in the North-west and some other parts of the country as well as other forms of criminalities.

INEC had revealed that over

41 attacks had been carried out at its offices across 14 states since the 2019 general election, with the South-east recording 13 attacks.

The attacks which started in Abia on May 9, 2021, spread to Enugu and Ebonyi, with three

incidents each; Imo, with two attacks; Anambra and Abia with one each and in Bayelsa and Akwa Ibom states.

Also, the commission on Monday Continued on page 10

Buhari: I Can't Be Blackmailed over Illicit Enrichment, Inexplicable Wealth Says he has no investment, property outside Nigeria Insists he has fulfilled his promise to tackle Boko Haram Vows to serve God, country till last day in office Promises to remain in Nigeria after May We’re not a rubber stamp N’Assembly, Lawan insists Deji Elumoye and Sunday Aborisade in Abuja President Muhammadu Buhari has declared that no individual or group can accuse him of corruptly enriching himself since he assumed office as a civilian president on May 29, 2015.

The president, according to a statement issued yesterday by his

Media Adviser, Mr. Femi Adesina, spoke on Monday night at a banquet in his honour in Damaturu, Yobe State capital.

According to the statement, Buhari said nobody could blackmail him on inexplicable wealth and illicit enrichment while in office.

Continued on page 10

Tinubu: Edo Train Station Attack Shows CONSULTATIVE VISIT...

Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar; former President of the Senate, Dr. Bukola Saraki; and British Nigeria Hasn't Won War against Insecurity L-R: Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, Mr. James Cleverly, during a meeting in London…yesterday ...Page 6

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

NEWS

WELCOME TO STATE HOUSE...

Group Chairman, Odu'a Investment Company Limited, Mr. Bimbo Ashiru (left) and Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, when the vice president received officials of the company at the State House, Abuja…yesterday

Buhari: Tinubu will Continue My Legacy to Rebuild Nigeria Says whoever is against Nigeria's unity will be roundly defeated Charges former Lagos governor, other APC candidates not to disappoint electorate if elected Tinubu pledges to end recurring ASUU strike Deji Elumoye and Adedayo Akinwale in Abuja The ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential campaign rally moved to Damaturu, the Yobe State capital yesterday, with the Presidential Campaign Council Chairman, President Muhammadu Buhari, calling on eligible voters in the state and the North-eastern part of the country to ensure that his party’s presidential candidate, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, was elected in the forthcoming general election.

Buhari assured Nigerians that Tinubu would continue to build on his legacy to rebuild Nigeria if elected.

The president said a vote for Tinubu and his running mate, Kashim Shettima, would guarantee the sustenance of progress made in the security, economy and education sectors of the country.

Buhari, according to a statement issued by his Media Adviser, Femi Adesina, vowed that following the victory against terrorists in the region, the APC-led government was more than ever before energised to

defeat whoever threatens the unity of Nigeria.

The president, who addressed the teeming crowd in Hausa language, recalled how Boko Haram inflicted damage on the people, their property and the economy, before their decimation by Nigeria Armed Forces and security agencies.

Emphasising the need for education in countering the despicable ideology of Boko Haram, the President told parents and guardians in Yobe: ‘‘Make sure you send your children to school and make them understand that whatever you have in this world can be taken away from you except the knowledge you have in your head. ‘‘I was an orphan; I did not know my father. I spent nine years in a boarding school and because of education, I was enlisted into the Nigerian Army. ‘‘I want you to strengthen your faith, try your best to uphold the children and family God has entrusted to you. Do not betray that trust’’ Buhari challenged all the APC flagbearers in the forthcoming general elections, to ensure good governance

when elected and not to disappoint the electorate.

He declared that the governing party had done its best in the last eight years at the federal level and would continue to ensure the progress, prosperity and stability of Nigeria.

According to Buhari, the former Lagos governor has the capacity to continue the work of rebuilding Nigeria he started over seven years ago.

He said, "I accompany Asiwaju here to tell you to vote for him so that he can continue with my legacy of rebuilding Nigeria."

Also, in a separate statement issued yesterday by his own Media Office, Tinubu said he would use the newly commissioned Yobe Cargo airport to boost agriculture in the state.

He commended Buhari for the airport project and other laudable projects across the country, describing it as wise investments.

Tinubu said: “The cargo airport Mr. President commissioned yesterday will be greatly needed when our agenda for greater production of agricultural and industrial exports begins to take off.

“It is a wise investment made with courage and foresight. It will be needed to transport Yobe’s excellent sesame, hibiscus and gum Arabic to the rest of the world."

Dissecting his plan for the agriculture sector, Tinubu stressed that harnessing the country's agricultural endowment was more than an economic desire, but a matter of national security.

He stated: "We need to further guarantee food security to better ensure social stability and lay the groundwork for even more economic progress.

“We will establish agricultural hubs and irrigation and water catchment systems to assist farmers throughout the nation. Yields and harvests will increase. More importantly, we will encourage value-added agroprocessing businesses that will foster greater economic activity creating well paid jobs and bringing better products to local markets and to your family’s dinner table.

“We will invest in the individual small farmers. You will earn a good and guaranteed income through the establishment of Commodity

Exchange boards that will ensure an acceptable price for the crops you labor so hard to grow.”

On the investment and tourism opportunities available in the state, Tinubu promised to work with the state government to invest in the exploration of the precious mineral resources found in Yobe State “Your limestone, trona and gypsum will create jobs and earn money for the state. Yobe’s tourism potentials of the beautiful landscapes, sand dunes, oases and bird sanctuaries will be highlighted,” he added.

He also promised to create jobs for the people of the state, while also improving their access to quality education.

The former Lagos State governor praised the people of the state for being steadfast to the progressives’ family since the return to democracy in 1999, not allowing the opposition any chance. He sought their support to continue this trend.

He said: "Yobe has always been a progressive state. You have never allowed the locusts to land here and feast on what does not belong to them. Instead, you have been loyal

GTBank UK Reaches Settlement with FCA after Money Laundering Control Fines Nume Ekeghe with agency report Guaranty Trust Bank UK Limited (GTBank UK) said it has reached a settlement with the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), after accepting findings in relation to historical Anti-Money Laundering (AML) controls in its operations from October 2014 to July 2019.

Britain's financial watchdog fined the UK subsidiary of GTBank 7.6 million pounds ($9.3 million) for what it said were further failures in its anti-money laundering systems and controls, Reuters disclosed.

The bank cooperated fully with the FCA’s investigation and has agreed a penalty sum of GBP7,671,800, which was calculated by reference to a proportion of the revenues of GTBank UK over the relevant period and included a 30 per cent discount for early settlement.

The FCA’s investigation focused on GTBank UK’s AML controls and steps taken by the subsidiary to remediate it to ensure they operated in line with the relevant require-

ments.

The findings were final, and no further action was anticipated in respect of this matter.

The FCA acknowledged in its findings that GTBank UK had spent considerable time and resource in order to bring its AML standards up to the required level.

Commenting on the issue, Managing Director of GTBank UK, Mr. Gbenga Alade, said: “As a responsible financial services institution that is committed to best practices, GTBank UK takes its AML obligations extremely seriously. We note with sincere regret the FCA’s findings regarding AML control gaps in our operations in the past and we are very sorry for this.”

He further stated: “We would like to assure all our stakeholders and the general public that necessary steps have been taken to address and resolve the identified gaps.

Whilst there was no direct customer impairment arising from the period under review [and the FCA’s findings do not include any instances

of suspected money laundering], we have since reinforced our AML control framework and implemented changes in our AML processes in line with best practice with a view to ensuring that the highest standards are maintained in our operations.”

“The Guaranty Trust Banking Group, including GTBank UK, is fully committed to the fight against all forms of financial crime and to continuing to meet all applicable financial crime regulations and

legislation globally.

“Our AML policies and controls, together with our overall risk management strategy, are regularly reviewed and revised to ensure that they remain relevant and current in line with the evolving regulatory requirements,” the bank stated.

The FCA had in a statement said: "During the relevant period, GT Bank failed to undertake adequate customer risk assessments, often not assessing or documenting the

money laundering risks posed by its customers."

It stated that the weaknesses were repeatedly highlighted to GTBank by internal and external sources, including the FCA, but GTBank failed to take appropriate action to fix them.

The FCA had already fined GT Bank 525,000 pounds in August 2013, for serious and systemic failings related to anti-money laundering controls.

to the progressive cause of building a state and nation both of which have the sole mission of serving their people.

"You have supported this noble cause and the APC, our nation’s best and only true hope for good governance. Now, we are here to ask you to remain true to this proud tradition. Continue to support us progressives.”

Tinubu also commended Buhari for ensuring the people of the state can now move freely without fear, promising to build on this.

According to him, ‘‘This government is a government of progress, integrity and honesty".

Tinubu also promised to make the perennial ASUU strike history, adding that undergraduates would not need to spend extra years in the university beyond the standard duration of course of study.

Also speaking, the Senate President, Dr. Ahmad Lawan, promised that APC would win every contestable seat in Yobe State, because Buhari has done wonderfully well in the seven and half years he has been in office.

He accused PDP of destroying Nigeria during its 16 years in power, saying ‘‘they should be ashamed of themselves and have no right to go around Nigeria seeking for votes.’’ ‘‘We are all Buharists and that Buharism- integrity and love for country-will continue when you (President Buhari) hand over to Asiwaju,’’ Lawan said at the presidential campaign rally attended by all the APC governors from the region, the National Chairman of the party, Senator Abdullahi Adamu, the Vice Presidential Candidate, Senator Shettima as well as Plateau State Governor and Director General of the Presidential Campaign Council, Simon Lalong, among others.

Atiku Holds Strategic Meeting with British Government Adedayo Akinwale Less than two months to the February 25 presidential election, the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar yesterday held a strategic meeting with the British government.

Atiku, who had been on vacation in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates

(UAE) since January 1, arrived in London on Monday for the meeting.

The British government had earlier met with the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Tinubu and the presidential candidate of Labour Party, Peter Obi before meeting with Atiku.

According to a source, the meeting which is coming about

five weeks before the presidential election is to discuss areas of future potential collaboration between both countries.

The source said, "An internal poll by the British government shows Atiku Abubakar as the leading candidate and the possibility of working together for a more effective Post BREXIT world which promises to be a win-win

for both countries.

"This is especially imperative as the U.K. seeks to improve and increase trade partnership with Nigeria."

The presidential candidate was accompanied on the visit by Chief Raymond Dokpesi, House Minority Leader, Hon. Ndudi Elumelu, Senator Dino Melaye, Reno Omokri, and Timi Frank, among others.

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NEWS

MOBILISATION...

L-R: Ogun State Deputy Governor, Noimot Salako-Oyedele; Governor Dapo Abiodun; Chairman, Ewekoro Local Government, Mr. Sikiru Adesina; and the All Progressives Congress Senatorial Candidate for Ogun Central, Salis Afolabi Shuaib, at the inauguration of locked up shop during the electioneering campaign at Itori, Ogun State…yesterday

FG to Increase Surveillance at Airports as COVID-19 Surges in China, Europe Asks state govts to submit inventory of isolation, testing centres Olawale Ajimotokan in Abuja The federal government yesterday said it would step up surveillance at all the country’s international airports and trigger the now relaxed scientific approach, including asking travellers to fill health forms, in addition to checking their temperature, in response to the surge in spread of COVID-19.

It urged state governments to submit an inventory of isolation and testing centres for the management of COVID-19 in their respective states.

Minister of Health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire disclosed this yesterday while speaking at the 17th Edition of the PMB Administration Scorecard.

He said government’s response to the latest spike would be guided by science through creating awareness and involving the public with increasing vaccination.

“We need to go back to wearing of face masks to protecting those with compromised health issues and to washing our hands and sanitising, if it gets even worse than that. But we have not seen what the variants are like. Right now we just are going to increase surveillance at the points of entry; checking temperature, asking visitors to fill health forms to know where they are coming from and if they are coming from high burdened areas. We are also going to start vaccinating. Those who have not vaccinated will vaccinate at the airports before they enter, while

those fully vaccinated will come in.

Those are the measures we will be working on,” Ehanire said.

The minister also insisted that Nigeria would not spontaneously ban travellers from China from entering the country over the rising cases that are suspected to be triggered by variants linked to the dominant Omicron strain.

He attributed the surge in the pandemic to the global winter gripping across China, Europe and the Americas, saying COVID appears to explode in temperate areas and also recede in the summer.

“It is related to the fact that in winter you lock up the house and don’t leave house and no fresh air is coming in and no ventilation.

We don’t exactly know yet but it is related. There is always a surge of Covid around Winter. It is not Covid China, so let’s disabuse our minds from issue of China. It is along the temperate belt. Are we going to start banning people from China because other countries are doing it?”

The minister said although the health authorities had discovered that the prevalent variant in China also bore semblance to the sub-variant already present in Nigeria, its concern is that the sub variants in other places are not the type present in the country.

Ehanire also allayed the concern about the exodus of Nigerian doctors and other health workers in pursuit of greener pasture. He said the crisis

EFCC: 90 Bidders Vie for Forfeited Lekki, Ikoyi Properties Six successful Kingsley Nwezeh in Abuja Six bidders yesterday emerged winners of different properties as the sale of forfeited real estate assets by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), through sealed bids, entered the second day in Abuja.

At yesterday’s session, 12 properties in Lot 4, located in highbrow areas of Ikoyi and Lekki Peninsular of Lagos were offered for sale through competitive bidding.

At the end of the exercise, the bid for six properties were successful, while those in respect of the remaining six properties were unsuccessful on the grounds of non-compliance with the guidelines or the highest bid falling short of the reserve price.

A statement by EFCC said the

properties listed serially in the Lot as numbers 4, 7, 8, 9 10, and 12 in respect of which no bid was successful, were re-opened for fresh bids until Friday, January 13, 2023, with the exception of the properties listed as numbers 9 and 12, which bid opening are slated for Monday, January 16, 2023.

"Over 90 bidders participated in yesterday’s exercise. One of the bid winners, Olaore Adebayo, commended the transparency of the exercise.

“I want to thank the EFCC for this opportunity. We came here not knowing anybody at the EFCC and I am glad that our efforts were not in vain. I want the EFCC to extend more opportunities like this to the public so that more people can benefit,” she said.

is global because of the mobility of the health work force.

“This is not really an exodus.

The very high workforce mobility is global; doctors and nurses are moving everywhere. I have had occasions speaking with other ministers, even Ghana. They are losing doctors going elsewhere. There is a high mobility in the health sector internationally. So, we should not knock ourselves as if we are just the only victims on earth,” Ehanire said.

He also added that he had at occasions reflected on the scenario with the authorities in the UK, who complained that their doctors are going to New Zealand and Canada where the pay is better.

He said government is seeking to

improve the conditions of service for health workers including allowances and remuneration so that doctors don’t just receive grade level salary paid to other workers, but their performance can indeed be measured and be rewarded for the work done.

“What we are also going to do is what we call conversion of brain drain to brain gain We are doing that with a new mechanism that is being set up to engage Nigerian doctors, pharmacists sand nurses in Diaspora and connect them with home universities because modern technology makes it possible for someone to be giving lectures. They can be affiliated with the teaching hospitals and come with cutting

knowledge and skills” He said from the conversation with the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria, there is actually a net balance of doctors as the country is producing about 3,000 doctors every year from the universities. He said while 1,000 doctors are after the Golden Fleece, about 800 are returning having trained overseas.

Meanwhile, Ehanire has urged state governments to submit an inventory of isolation and testing centres for the management of COVID-19 in their respective states.

At the height of the pandemic, the country’s isolation centres and healthcare staff were equipped to deal with the virus.

“COVID-19 will not be the last

pandemic and the equipment in those isolation centres need to be maintained to prevent equipment failure.

“States and hospitals need to have adequate maintenance arrangements in place to ensure the equipment remains safe to use in the incidence of an outbreak,” he said.

The minister said the federal government had supported states in their preparedness and response to the COVID-19 management.

“This includes supporting the establishment of diagnostic capacity, public health emergency operations centres, as well as training of health workers and rapid responders across states,” noting that all the support needed to be nurtured.

Tinubu: Edo Train Station Attack Shows Nigeria Hasn't Won War against Insecurity Another abducted passenger regains freedom FG, host communities collaborating on security, says minister Adibe Emenyonu in Benin City, Adedayo Akinwale and Kasim Sumaina in Abuja The presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Senator Bola Tinubu, has said that last Saturday's abduction of train passengers in Edo State was a sad reminder that the country has not completely won the war against insecurity.

Meanwhile, another victim of the train station abduction has reportedly been rescued.

This brings the number of rescued victims to seven.

The state Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Chidi Nwabuzor, disclosed this.

Tinubu in a statement issued yesterday by his Media Office and signed by Mr. Tunde Rahman, added that the latest attack was an indication that there were still some agents of darkness lurking around the corner, but assured that Nigeria would prevail over agents of darkness.

The APC presidential candidate described the abduction of 31 passengers who were waiting to board the train at Igueben Station to Warri as another sad episode in the security challenges facing the country.

He said: "I condemn the mindless attack and abduction of innocent train passengers in Edo State by terrorists on Saturday. From available information, the security agencies are

working hard to rescue the victims.

I urge more collaborative efforts by the federal government, Edo State government and other local authorities on quick rescue of all the victims."

Tinubu sympathised with the victims who are still held captive by the attackers and urged the federal government, Edo State government and Local authorities to work with the security agencies on quick action to secure the release of all the victims.

He added: "This occurrence is a sad reminder that we have not completely won the war against insecurity and that there are still some agents of darkness lurking around the corner. But I want to assure Nigerians we will win this war. Evil will not prevail over our country because of our strong determination to exterminate the dark forces everywhere they manifest."

The former governor of Lagos state said the reason why he was contesting was to improve the current security situation in the country.

According to him, "One of the reasons I am running for the presidency is to improve the security situation and tackle every form of insecurity in our country. We have a clear plan to end violent crimes and terrorism through our Anti-Terrorism Battalion Forces, investment in more security hardware and surveillance technology that will make our streets, neighborhoods and forests safer for socio-economic activities to thrive and bloom."

Tinubu, therefore, commended the rescue efforts of the security agencies that have led to the arrest of some of the terrorists.

After the kidnap of 32 people from a train station last Saturday, one of the victims on that day escaped.

Also, on Monday, six persons were said to have been rescued, and yesterday afternoon, news of rescue of another victim, a woman was reported by security agencies combing the area.

Although the identity of the woman and the details of how she gained her freedom remained unclear, the police confirmed her release.

When contacted, Nwabuzor said: “Yes, a woman has been rescued making it a total of seven persons that have been rescued so far” adding that details would be giving later.”

Meanwhile, the federal government has disclosed plan to establish the Nigerian Railways and host communities’ security committee as part of measures to curb the incidence of armed attacks on railway infrastructure and passengers in the country.

The Minister of State for Transportation, Mr. Ademola Adegoroye, made this known when he visited the Tom Ikimi train station in Igueben.

While sympathising with the victims of the unfortunate attack, the minister noted that, ''the intention of the perpetrators of this heinous crime are to sabotage the good great efforts of President Muhammedu Buhari's towards the resuscitation

of the rail transport service.”

He added: "Henceforth, government will take proactive measures to forestall train station attacks in the country and ensure safety of passengers and facilities."

Adegoroye in a statement yesterday in Abuja by the Ministry's Director, Press & Public Relations, Henshaw Ogubike, said one of such steps would be the establishment of a collaborative initiative between the Nigerian Railway Corporation and the host communities to ensure that security is beefed up at the railway stations.

The minister who solicited the cooperation of the host communities in this regard, maintained that it was in the best interest of the host communities to ensure that federal government investments and personnel are protected.

Adegoroye alleged fears that the rail transport system would be shut down, stating that the, "Federal government remains undeterred. The Nigerian Railway Corporation remains undeterred and that is why we will continue to operate this rail service.

"We are not going to stop. All we need to do is to ensure the safety and security of our people and our passengers."

He assured that security operatives were on the trail of the assailants, adding that the government would do everything possible to bring the perpetrators of the heinous act to justice.

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FUNDRAISING DINNER...

L-R: Minister of Defence, Major. Gen. Bashir Magashi (rtd); Plateau State Governor/Chairman of the occasion, Mr. Simon Lalong; Kano State Governor, Dr. Abdullahi Ganduje; his deputy/All Progressives Congress governorship candidate, Dr. Nasiru Yusuf Gawuna; and APC Deputy National Chairman (North), Senator Abubakar Kyari, during the presentation of the governorship candidate and fundraising dinner in Abuja…recently

W’Bank Revises Nigeria’s Growth Projection for 2023, 2024 Downward to 2.9% Says rising global commodity prices, underperforming oil sector may slow country’s growth Nume Ekeghe in Lagos and Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja The World Bank Group has downgraded Nigeria's growth projection for 2023 and 2024 to 2.9 per cent, as against the 3.1 per cent it had predicted for the country in June 2022.

The Washington-based institution made the projection in its latest Global Economic Prospects (GEP) released yesterday.

The bank noted that the downgrade was a result of the underperforming oil and gas sector, insecurity, floods, and rising production costs.

Also, the Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) growth for 2023 was revised to 3.6 per cent a 0.2 percentage point downward revision from the June forecast. However, the region’s growth was expected to accelerate to 3.9 per cent in 2024.

It stated: “Growth in Nigeria,

the region’s largest economy weakened to 3.1 percent in 2022, a 0.3 percentage point downgrade from the June projection. Oil output dropped to 1 million barrels per day, down by over 40 per cent compared to its 2019 level, reflecting technical problems, insecurity, rising production costs, theft, lack of payment discipline in joint ventures, and persistent underinvestment, partly because of the diversion of oil revenues to petrol subsidies,

estimated at over two per cent of GDP in 2022.”

It states that a strong recovery in non-oil sectors moderated in the second half of the year as floods and surging consumer prices as annual inflation surpassed 21 per cent for the first time in 17 years disrupted activity and depressed consumer demand.

“Persistent fuel and foreign exchange shortages, with the naira depreciating by over 30 per cent last

Remain Focused on Addressing Nigeria’s Economic Challenges Despite Election, LCCI Urges FG Dike Onwuamaeze The Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) has called on the federal government to remain focused on tackling Nigeria’s many economic issues even as the country approaches the general election in February.

The call was made yesterday by the President of LCCI, Dr. Michael Olawale-Cole, during the chamber’s “State-of-the Economy Quarterly News Conference” in Lagos where he commended the government’s bold initiative to stop payment for petroleum subsidy.

Olawale-Cole said: “Government must remain focused on addressing the country’s economic challenges and not get carried away by electioneering.

“As a private sector advocacy group with the mandate to promote the business community’s interests, we shall continue to engage relevant government agencies, the media, and other interest groups on actionable recommendations for a thriving business community.”

The LCCI’s president also appealed to Nigerians to get involved in the electioneering processes and use their power of numbers to sustain the Nigerian democracy.

“Dear Nigerians, this year’s election is critical to the survival of our nation, and we know that every democratic nation determines its leaders by decision of the citizens who vote.

“As the voice of the organised private sector, LCCI appeals to everyone to get involved and use the power of numbers to sustain the Nigerian democracy.

“Get your Permanent Voters Card (PVC) today, and more importantly,

please cast your vote wisely,” he said.

Olawale-Cole also noted that the security profile around the conduct of the general elections has not been comforting enough to guarantee a secure electioneering process.

He said there was need to deploy more technology to boost security communication and more surveillance infrastructure at critical locations across the country to actualise a free, fair, and credible election.

He also called for massive enlightenment campaigns against

thuggery, violence and security breaches.

“Election managers should engage constructively with all critical stakeholders including, the traditional community, civil societies, media, and security agencies.

“The recent Edo train attack where 31 passengers went missing should not be allowed to happen.

“The citizens deserve to know the preparedness of the government in conducting the general elections as a way of boosting their confidence

in the process and endearing their participation,” he said.

Olawale-Cole also commended the government’s plans to end the payment of petroleum subsidy as the best economic decision that would reduce the country’s unsustainable public debts.

He, however, urged government to roll out cushioning policies before the possible removal later in the year to mitigate the short term inflationary pressures expected to accompany the removal.

year in the parallel market, further dampened economic activity. In Nigeria, growth is projected to decelerate to 2.9 per cent in 2023 and remain at that pace in 2024 barely above population growth.

“A growth momentum in the non-oil sector is likely to be restrained by continued weakness in the oil sector. Existing production and security challenges and a moderation in oil prices are expected to hinder a recovery in oil output.

“Policy uncertainty sustained high inflation, and rising incidence of violence are anticipated to temper growth. Growth in agriculture is expected to soften because of the damage from last year’s floods.

“As fiscal position is expected to remain weak because of high borrowing costs, lower energy prices, a sluggish growth of oil production, and a subdued activity in the non-oil sectors.”

On the projected growth for the region, the bank stated: “Growth in SSA is projected to edge up in 2023 to 3.6 per cent a 0.2 percentage point downward revision from the June forecast—before picking up to 3.9 per cent in 2024. Even though an expected moderation of global commodity prices should temper cost-of-living increases, tighter policy

stances to address elevated inflation and public debt will weigh on domestic demand.

“Meanwhile, weakening growth in advanced economies and China is expected to pose headwinds for external demand, particularly among exporters of industrial commodities.”

It noted that the region was constrained to accessing external financing, adding that tight fiscal space and high borrowing costs were expected to markedly limit many governments’ ability to spur faster growth.

“The modest downward revision to regional growth this year primarily reflects small downgrades for the largest economies.

“Forecast revisions for individual countries are mixed, with downward revisions for almost 60 per cent of countries. This includes downward revisions for over 70 per cent of metal exporters, which are expected to be affected by the further easing of global metal prices.

“In more diversified economies, lower prices of imports are expected to have a stronger positive effect by boosting activity in services and agriculture; nevertheless, for one in three SSA economies, the growth projection for 2023 has been revised down for the second time in a year.”

Resident Doctors Threaten Nationwide Strike 150 nurses abandoned LASUTH, says CMD Onyebuichi Ezigbo in Abuja The Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) has threatened to go on a nationwide strike if the federal government does not meet its demands.

This was just as the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH) yesterday disclosed that more than 150 nurses resigned their appointments with the tertiary hospital within the last three years.

The association in a letter to the Minister of Health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire, signed by its president, Dr. Emeka Innocent Orji, said processes for the strike would commence if the issues were not addressed before its January 2023 National Executive Council (NEC) meeting slated for January 24 to 28.

The letter read in part, “Our January 2023 National Executive Council meeting has been scheduled

for January 24th to 28th, 2023, and we can confirm very clearly feelers that if these issues are not sorted out before that meeting, our members will likely give us a mandate to immediately kick-start processes that will lead to a nationwide industrial disharmony in the health sector.”

NARD had earlier issued an ultimatum to the federal government six months ago on account of lingering unresolved issues affecting its members, including the irregularities in the new circular on an upward review of the Medical Residency Training Fund (MRTF), outstanding payment of the arrears of the new hazard allowance, non-payment of the skipping arrears for 2014, 2015 and 2016, and non-payment of the consequential adjustment of the minimum wage to some of its members.

Other issues in contention included the delay in the upward

review of the Consolidated Medical Salary Structure(CONMESS), salary arrears of its members in state tertiary health institutions running into several months, including Abia, Imo, Ondo, Ekiti and Gombe States, and non-domestication of the Medical Residency Training Act (MRTA) in most states across the federation.

While lauding efforts of the government through its ministries, departments and agencies in resolving some of the issues raised, the association, however, said many of them remain largely unresolved and have now become sources of serious nationwide agitation threatening industrial peace and harmony in the health sector.

NARD said the major ones amongst them were: “Omitted 2020 MRTF payment, irregularities in the new MRTF circular inconsistent with the Medical Residency Training Act, existing collective bargaining

agreements and current economic realities and review of CONMESS salary structure.”

The association added, “We know how critical this period is and the chaos that will ensue if the government does not take steps to prevent this from happening, and so we humbly implore you to use your good office to resolve these issues before our January NEC meeting. Sir, we trust in your fatherly disposition and believe that you will come to our aid and save this nation from this imminent industrial disharmony.”

NARD also copied the letter to the Senate President, Speaker of the House of Representatives, Secretary to the Government of Federation, Ministers of Labour and Employment and Finance respectively, as well as the Chairman of the Nigerian Governor’s Forum (NGF), among others.

Meanwhile, LASUTH has disclosed that more than 150 nurses

resigned their appointments with the tertiary hospital within the last three years.

The Chief Medical Director of LASUTH, Prof. Adetokunbo Fabamwo, said this during a news conference in Lagos.

Fabamwo said the situation arose as a result of health workers relocating abroad to practice, noting that the exit replacement strategy of the government had, however, ensured that operations weren’t disrupted at the hospital.

He added that in recent times, applications for positions of nurses and resident doctors had reduced in the tertiary hospital.

To address the challenge, Fabamwo said the hospital now recruits double qualified nurses and also engaged some retired but not tired nurses on contract basis to bridge the gaps.

Continues online

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Obi: Aso Rock Not Retirement Home, Nor Place to Take Turns Declares stingy president not bad idea for Nigeria

David-Chyddy Eleke in Awka The presidential candidate of Labour Party, Mr. Peter Obi, has chided his opponents in other political parties, saying Nigeria's presidency was neither a retirement home nor a place where people wait for turns.

Obi also maintained that there was nothing wrong with Nigeria having a stingy president.

The candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Atiku Abubakar and that of the All Progressives Congress (APC),

Senator Bola Tinubu, have at various times described Obi as a stingy man, and that Nigeria does not need a stingy president.

Obi who was in Anambra for a town hall meeting with youths, private meeting with traditional rulers from the state and a political rally held in Onitsha, said he was the right person to fix Nigeria.

Speaking at a meeting with traditional rulers of the state at the Government House in Awka, Obi said: "They said that I am a stingy man, and I say it's better they didn't

say that I am extravagant or that I embezzled public funds. They only said that I am stingy, and I tell you the job and the presidency of our country needs a stingy person."

He said: "It is not a turn by turn affair. This is not about turns, but about capacity and if it is about turns, people like us would insist that it is our turn and should be considered.

"The job of a president is not a retirement home, or for any kind of settlement but about uniting and rebuilding the country.

"When you look at me and my running mate, you will discover that we are young, compared with the other candidates who are older.

"When you talk about qualification, I am the most qualified and the youngest among them and this is not a job for rehabilitation of people because Nigeria needs a strong and vibrant person as president, and one that is in tune with the trending and modern style of leadership. So that our country would be counted among the comity of great nations in the world," he said.

At the town hall meeting with youths in Awka, Obi noted that the issue of industrial action by university lecturers would be tackled under his administration, adding that the revenue from petroleum products, which people are sharing is about the sum lecturers are asking for.

"Why would our universities be on strike? There is no justification for that because people are interested in sharing oil money, and they are not producing anything.

Come to think of it, the money

that they are stealing is about the amount that can be used to fix our universities and educational system."

Obi was received at All Saint Cathedral field, where a mammoth crowd of supporters converged to listen to the former governor.

Several political figures, heads of labour unions, market groups, youths, students and women's groups were also among those who besieged the venue of the rally to show support to the Labour Party candidate.

with any president who never asked that he wanted things done a certain way but I want to admit here that Mr. President, you have never asked me to do anything.

You believe we should do what is best for our country.

“And when I said that we will continue to work with the executive arm of government, ensuring that the national interest is always our guide and focus, our opposition took me out of context.

“Some of them started writing that we are rubber stamps, that whatever is brought to the National Assembly will be approved. I want to say here, that President Muhammadu Buhari never asked anything that is not in the national interest.

“And at the risk of being misquoted by the press, we all know who our president is before he became President and while he is still president. Nigeria, Nigeria,

Nigeria is his focus, his concern.

And that is why we believe that we should continue to work with him. We should support him.”

Speaking further, the Senate President said: “And in the ninth National Assembly, we have supported the executive arm of government fully because we believe this is one president, one administration, one government that has come to deliver Nigeria, from what happened in 16 years, from mis-governance by, of course, the PDP. “Today, Mr. President, I am proud to say that we have achieved so much working with you in the ninth National Assembly.

“We have passed the most difficult bills; we have passed the most complicated legislations. This is because you gave us all the support that we needed to do our work in

BUHARI: I CAN'T BE BLACKMAILED OVER ILLICIT ENRICHMENT, INEXPLICABLE WEALTH He added that ‘‘I do not have one square-inch outside Nigeria.’’

According to him, "one thing that I am grateful to God for is that nobody can blackmail me. I do not have one-square inch outside Nigeria and I intend to stay in Nigeria when I retire from public office.’’

Buhari reiterated his vow to serve God and Nigeria until his last day in office and beyond.

This is coming as the Senate President, Dr. Ahmad Lawan, has insisted that the ninth National Assembly did not operate like a rubber stamp in its collaborations with the executive.

Buhari advised Nigerians to remain patriotic, saying, “as I said more than 30 years ago, we have no other country than Nigeria; we must all stay here and salvage it together.”

Noting that the most critical security challenge inherited by the administration nearly eight years ago was the potent and pervasive threat of terrorism, the president expressed delight that normalcy has returned to affected states in the North-east.

He recalled that the threat was particularly pervasive across the North-east geopolitical zone with Yobe State as one of the most hit

by the terrorists.

Buhari therefore declared that he has fulfilled the commitment he made to Nigerians in his May 29, 2015 inaugural address to frontally and courageously tackle Boko Haram terrorists and stabilise the country.

He said after decimating the Boko Haram insurgents in the North east and the economy picking up, his administration has a challenge of fighting corruption unlike the situation when he was a military Head of State in the 1970s.

“In the North-east, God has helped us to clear Boko Haram; the economy has picked up and some people are asking me about the achievements of my promise to fight corruption. ‘‘Well, under this system, fighting corruption is not easy. When I was in the military, as Head of State, I locked up some people because the Constitution says you must declare your assets and people who couldn’t explain the differences in their assets, I locked them up. ‘‘In the end, I was also locked up. So, if you want to serve this country you must be prepared for the worst,” Buhari added.

Buhari commended Governor Mai Mala Buni of Yobe State for

taking advantage of the return of peace and security in the state to execute people-oriented projects.

He also acknowledged the cooperation of Nigeria’s neighbours in the fight against insurgency, recalling that his first visit outside the country in 2015 was to Niger and Chad, to garner support on tackling the misguided sect.

Earlier in his remarks, Governor Buni expressed delight at the president’s inauguration of landmark projects in the state, including the Yobe International Cargo Airport, Damaturu ultra-modern market, Maternal and Child Health Complex at the Yobe State University Teaching Hospital, the 2600 Housing Estate in Potiskum and the Damaturu Mega School at new Bra-Bra. He appealed to the president to approve the takeover of the Yobe State International Cargo airport by the federal government and the refund of N38 billion expended by the state government on the project.

The governor equally requested the takeover of the state University Teaching Hospital, including the Maternity and Child Health Complex by the federal government.

Also speaking, the InspectorGeneral of Police (IG), Usman Alkali Baba, thanked the president

for inaugurating a purpose-built, ultra-modern, and fully furnished State Police Command Headquarters; Police Secondary School; and Tertiary Police Hospital during the state visit.

The IG assured the president and Nigerians that the Nigeria Police are fully prepared for the upcoming 2023 general election and would remain apolitical in compliance with the presidential directive.

He added that the Force has also perfected the logistics and manpower mobilisation framework, and fine-tuned the Election Security Operational Action Plan in conjunction with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the military, intelligence community, and other sister security agencies.

In his remarks at the ceremony, the Senate President, Lawan, insisted that the ninth National Assembly did not operate like a rubber stamp in its collaborations with the executive.

He said the lawmakers passed many complicated legislations because Buhari gave them all the support they needed to do their work.

Lawan, according to a statement by his Special Adviser (Media), Ola Awoniyi, was quoted to have said: “In all my years in the National Assembly, I have never worked

CBN THREATENS TO SANCTION BANKS OVER FAILURE TO LOAD ATMS WITH NEW BANKNOTES of the CBN directive was to implement the January 31 deadline for the withdrawal of old naira notes in circulation.

The apex bank had ordered banks to suspend dispensing the new currency notes over the counter, and to only make them available via ATMs. Umar said: “We want to use this training session to pass a message that CBN has enough currency notes to go round the general public.

“We, CBN management, have mandated banks to stop putting old notes in their ATM machines.

They should only put the new notes.

“And there is a serialisation of the policy that they can put either N500, N1,000 or N200 notes, whichever denomination they have or combination of any of those notes, they should just put new notes in their machines.”

He said: “We are going to monitor to ensure that the banks comply and if they don’t, we have a penalty for non-compliance.”

The CBN director further noted that in many countries across the world, it takes a few years to change a currency, adding that, “in our own case what we had was basically over 20 years of having the same design of note.

“Over that period, what it did to us was to create an avenue for some people to master the act of counterfeiting the note.

“In our own case, what we have is the minimum of 17 years or more for us to redesign our currency.

“If you notice the N1,000 note that was introduced in 2005, it took 17 years for us to redesign it; N500 and N200 notes were also redesigned after 21 years and 22 years, respectively.

“So, if currency notes stay too long in the system, there is a tendency that people who counterfeit

make a lot of efforts to produce the same notes. So, that is why there is a need to change our notes regularly,” he added.

Umar further pointed out that the N500 and N1,000 notes constituted 99 per cent of the currency notes being targeted by counterfeiters.

He said: “It is simple logic; the effort you put to counterfeit N1,000 is the same effort you put to counterfeit N5.

“So, why will they waste their energy doing small notes; they always target the higher note, particularly N1,000, because of the values attached to it,” he explained.

Also speaking, the Director General, NOA, Garba Abari, said the partnership with the CBN was geared towards educating the agency’s staff to assist in enlightening Nigerians on the naira redesign policy.

Meanwhile, the CBN has urged banks to comply with the directive to load their ATMs across Nigeria with the new notes to ensure that the redesigned banknotes widely circulate.

CBN Lagos Branch Controller, Godfrey Koyor, made the call at a stakeholders’ sensitisation on the currency redesign at the popular Balogun market in Lagos.

He maintained that the January 31, 2023, deadline date for the retirement of the old notes in circulation remained sacrosanct.

Koyor said: "We are giving everyone the assurance that the new naira notes are available to everyone. We are distributing through the banking system. And as transactions take place, you are going to be having the new ones.

"So as people are giving out the old notes, they'll be receiving the new notes. We have pushed a lot of the newly redesigned currency notes into circulation and it is going

around," he said.

On the unavailability of the new notes at the ATMs, Koyor said: "I am assuring you that if you go to the ATMs, you will get the new notes. The essence of giving the directive that the new naira notes should be dispensed through the ATM is so that it will be available to people during working hours and off working hours.

"So, whether it is banking hours or outside the banking hours, if you go to your ATMs, you will get the new naira notes. It is a directive that the apex bank has given to all deposit money banks to make the money available in the machines so that people can have access to it and we are supplying them with the new notes and they are making it available to the machines.

"Everyone should have the assurance that the new naira notes are available. We are printing; we are supplying it and we are distributing it. The process is ongoing and sooner or later everybody will have it.

"It is a directive coming from the apex and the banks are complying and we expect every bank to comply. You will not expect 100 per cent at the same time, but the CBN is supplying to the banks and the banks will be replacing them. There are implications for non-compliance from the bank.”

Speaking on calls for an extension of the deadline, he said "right now, the deadline is 31st of January and it is not changing. We haven't changed the deadline. As I speak with you, the deadline remains sacrosanct and what we are asking the public and the banks to do is to surrender the old notes and take new ones.”

The central bank, in collaboration with the NOA and various market associations, yesterday commenced an aggressive enlightenment and

public awareness campaign on the naira redesign project as well as the need to properly handle the naira notes. The initiative tagged, “Market Storm,” commenced in various markets in Gombe, Minna and Asaba, in the first phase, and will also hold in Kano, Ogun and Onitsha on Thursday. The exercise would be extended to other major cities across the country from next week.

“The essence is to continue to enlighten market people on why the naira redesign project was embarked upon, let Nigerians know that they should respect the naira and also encourage them to embrace alternative payment channels,” a central bank official had explained.

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

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

He had explained that while the circulation of the new banknotes would commence on December 15, 2022, the new and existing currencies shall remain legal tender and circulate together until January 31, 2023, when the existing currencies shall cease 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, had subsequently, on November 23, 2022, unveiled the redesigned banknotes during the weekly Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting.

Continued on page 44

GENERAL ELECTION WON’T BE POSTPONED OR CANCELLED, FG ASSURES NIGERIANS raised the alarm over the rising security situation across the country and its impact on the 2023 general elections.

The INEC Chairman, Mahmood Yakubu, who spoke at the validation of election security training resources in Abuja noted that the forthcoming election faces serious threat of cancellation should the insecurity across the country fail to improve.

Yakubu, represented by the Chairman, Board of Electoral Institute, Abdullahi Zuru, explained that “if the insecurity is not monitored and dealt with decisively, it could ultimately culminate in the cancellation and/ or postponement of elections in sufficient constituencies to hinder declaration of election results and precipitate constitutional crisis.

Mohammed, however, said the federal government was aware that INEC was working with the security agencies to ensure that the elections are successfully held across the country.

According to Mohammed, security agencies have assured the nation of a peaceful atmosphere for the polls.

Mohammed faulted the National Commissioner of INEC who had raised a red flag on the polls.

He said: “Let me use this opportunity to respond to inquiries from the media over a widely-circulated report, credited to an INEC official that the 2023 general election face a serious threat of cancellation due to insecurity.

“The position of the federal government remains that the 2023 elections will be held as planned.

Nothing has happened to change that position. We are aware that INEC is working with the security agencies to ensure that the elections are successfully held across the country.

“The security agencies have also continued to assure Nigerians that they are working tirelessly to ensure that the elections are held in a peaceful atmosphere. Therefore, there is no cause for alarm.”

INEC Has No Reasons to Postpone 2023 Elections, Says SDP Presidential Candidate

Meanwhile, the presidential candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Prince Adebayo Adewole, in Kano, yesterday, said INEC has no reason to postpone 2023 elections as it was being peddled in some quarters.

Adebayo told journalists in Kano that any move to shift or cancel elections would not be tolerated, adding that the electoral commission has no other excuse but to ensure that the elections were conducted as scheduled.

"INEC is the well-funded entity of the government and today they are even competing with some states in terms of financial strength, so they have no excuse whatsoever but make the election a huge reality," he said.

According to him, the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) government had succeeded in playing a comedy show in the last eight years of their governance which he alleged plunged the nation into a more devastating position.

"The ruling APC has not only failed woefully but succeeded in creating poverty and insecurity among the citizens, “Because of these glaring failures what the government is doing now is to create a comedy show and throw a bizarre towards the election, but people are getting it, that is why we don't have a problem with what they are doing.

“For a family in Nigeria or Kano whose idea of their survival is prayers or miracles, and the miracles comes in form of going round to search for dustbin to get watermelon to boil, such a family does not deserve that kind of treatment and cannot say the so-called N5,000 they were given would remove their malice," he added.

Adewole said his party was reaching out to Nigerians, adding that they knew with the structure they have in place and with the understanding of the citizens he would win the presidency.

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MIDWEEKPOLITICS

Acting Group Politics Editor DEJI ELUMOYE Email: deji.elumoye@thisdaylive.com

08033025611 SMS ONLY

Jibes as Tinubu’s Campaign Train Berths in Edo Adibe Emenyonu reports that the campaign train of the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, which recently berthed in Benin City, Edo State capital, was not without jibes and accusations against opposition politicians

Tinubu

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s early as 7:30 am, the ever busy Uselu-Ugbowo-Lagos Road was choked up and traffic was grounded because of influx of vehicles and commuter who thronged the area to the University of Benin Sports Complex, venue of the rally held recently to host the APC’s Presidential flag bearer, Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

The sports complex was relatively filled to capacity as party loyalists and sympathisers trooped in to witness the campaign.

Also in attendance were Kano State Governor, Abdullahi Umar Ganduje; APC National Women Leader, Beta Edu; former Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Godswill Akpabio; Minister of State for Budget and National Planning, Clem Agba; former Chief of Defence Staff, General Abayomi Olanisakin; Senator Andy Uba, among others.

As usual, some of the party candidates vieing for various political offices and numerous supporters seized opportunity of the moment to showcase their programmes adorn in various fliers and leaflets.

From the schedule released by the party, the APC presidential candidate was supposed to pay a courtesy call on the Oba of Benin, Ewuare II. However, this visit was cancelled though no reason was offered while none was expected.

Speaking at the rally, Tinubu said it is time to eliminate darkness and make the economy of the country productive through massive industrialisation, promising to make Edo State a hub of industrial activities and an energy state.

He took a swipe on former President Olusegun Obasanjo, recallling how he brought Enron Power to generate electricity and solve the power problem in the commercial nerve centre of the country but the project was frustrated by the Obasanjo-led PDP government.

His words: “I brought Enron to solve electricity problem and help Lagos economy but Obasanjo and PDP frustrated it. They punished me and Lagos people and even began deducting our money. I created Local Governments in Lagos to accelerate development and create employment for our people but Obasanjo siezed our allocation and punished us for that. That was wickedness and such a man said he endorsed a man for you to vote as President.

Can you follow such a man? Can Obasanjo recommend a leader for anyone in Nigeria?

A man who does not know the way cannot show the way.”

Tinubu who told the crowd of supporters that Obasanjo is not qualified to recommend or endorse anyone as President of Nigeria because of his failures as president of Nigeria, also mocked the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, for engaging his boss, Obasanjo when he was vice president in in-fighting which resulted to under development of the

Oshiomhole

country, accusing both of them spending the country’s money for their personal comfort.

According to him, “Obasanjo failed to develop the country when he had the opportunity, but rather was fighting his then Vice President, Atiku Abubakar”, while accusing each other of spending the country’s money for their personal comfort, noting that after spending $16billion on electricity, Obasanjo and the PDP government could not deliver electricity for Nigerians to make even popcorn.

On his main opponent, Atiku Abubakar, the former two-time Governor of Lagos said the PDP presidential candidate is not qualified to be President of Nigeria having indicted himself on his record as a civil servant.

“Atiku and Obasanjo accused themselves of using Nigeria’s money to buy cars for their comfort. Atiku was a customs officer who said he made money selling cars, that is smuggling. He didn’t even know that a civil servant can not do any other business apart from agriculture. That is enough to disqualify him and he is not fit to be president.”

Tinubu boasted to the people that prosperity and happiness have come. Apparently to curry the favour of Edo people, he played on the psychology of the people as he applauded the return of Benin artefacts by some Western nations but urged the countries to pay some money to Edo State having made huge money from the returned artefacts through tourism and exhibitions.

“Edo people, prosperity has

Obaseki

come, happiness has come, hope is back in your homes, knowledge is back in your community. I am happy about the returned artefacts. They are bringing our artefacts.

I support the Oba of Benin who said our heritage must come back but I disagree with the Europeans. They have used our artefacts for exhibitions and tourism for decades in their museums to make money.

They should not just send them back without money. When I become President I will ask them to pay us restitution. I will contribute to the building of the museum in Benin.”

On his competence and readiness for the job, Tinubu told the mammoth crowd that his administration would focus on job creation through small scale industries, build a credible credit system for capital formation, bring multibillion dollar investments to Edo State and end estimated electricity billing.

“I will turn Edo State to energy State. I will convert Yahoo boys and make them useful by converting their talents and intellects to produce chips for industries. We can defeat poverty, ignorance and homelessness. We have the knowledge, we have the brain to do it. Trust me. I am an expert in finding the way where there is no way. I found a way to tame the Atlantic and turn it to money- making machine.”

He also spoke on his motivation to make life better for the poor and why opportunities must be created for young people to move up on socio-economic ladder.

“I believe the children of boli and groundnut sellers should become doctors, engineers, nurses etc. That was why I started the payment of WAEC fees for their children as governor in Lagos. If you want to become rich, elect me. If you say I should go and retire, it means you want to retire diamond and gold. Edo people, I am telling you like I say everywhere in Nigeria, elect me.”

Earlier in his address at the rally, former governor of Edo State and Deputy Director- General of the Tinubu-Shettima Campaign Council, Adams Oshiomhole,

According to him, come February 25, Edo people would use their PVC to appreciate Tinubu as a father of multi-party democracy in Nigeria.

“If you want to understand why Obasanjo failed to turn Nigeria into a one-party state, it was the resistance of Asíwájú and others.

“Obasanjo also wanted to take over Lagos. Asíwájú said you can’t do it. If you are a military general, I am a general of politics. He fought him to a standstill,” Oshiomhole said.

also said little about what his candidate will do for Nigerians if elected, but dwell more on criticizing political opponents.

According to him, come February 25, Edo people would use their PVC to appreciate Tinubu as a father of multi-party democracy in Nigeria.

“If you want to understand why Obasanjo failed to turn Nigeria into a one-party state, it was the resistance of Asíwájú and others.

“Obasanjo also wanted to take over Lagos.

Asíwájú said you can’t do it. If you are a military general, I am a general of politics.

He fought him to a standstill,” Oshiomhole said.

He charged the mammoth crowd at the rally to mobilise their relatives and friends back home to vote for the APC candidate.

The former governor of Edo State also threw jibes at presidential candidates of Labour Party (LP), Mr. Peter Obi, and that of PDP, Atiku Abubakar, asking Edo people to reject them.

“Peter Obi is a joke,” he said, adding that Obi could not address the erosion problem while serving as governor in Anambra state.

Oshiomhole said Atiku cannot unite this country. “Someone who cannot unite his house, how can he unite Nigeria?”

He also had a jab for his successor, Godwin Obaseki, saying he has not fulfilled his campaign promises to the people of the state and recalled his warning to residents of the state not to vote for Obaseki in 2020.

“You know, the last time I told you to be careful about the governorship election,” Oshiomhole, a former national chairman of the APC, told party supporters at the rally.

“Did I not say so? Did I not say so? Where are we? Where are we? Where is the industrial parks? Where is the port? Where is the new housing estate? Where is the rice farm? Where is the mechanic village?”

Oshiomhole, who displayed great energy on the stage, jumped, sang, and praised the APC presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu.

Unable to stomach Oshiomhole’s tantrum, Obaseki, in a swift reaction, said his estranged godfather attempted to sell lies in a last-ditch effort to revive his dead political career.

The Edo governor in a statement by his Special Adviser, Media Project, Crusoe Osagie, declared: “The people are no longer swayed by empty rhetoric and concocted lies, which has over time been the bane of the poisonous politics that deprive the people of good governance while the political class fed fat from our collective patrimony.

“Oshiomhole’s political career has ended and no matter how high he jumps on a stage or how low he goes to impassion the scanty crowd, the people see through his facade and recognise his ill-intentioned antics and lies. The former governor’s political career was effectively truncated at the polls in the 2020 governorship election in Edo State, which was a referendum on his style of politics.”

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POLITICS

Imo Politicians Jostle for N’Assembly Seats With the whistle for 2023 National Assembly tickets already blown for contest in Imo State by the Independent National Electoral Commission, several politicians have lined up to represent their parties in the federal parliament, writes Amby Uneze.

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y the time the national assembly and the State assembly elections come up by 25th February and March 11th, 2023 respectively in Imo alongside other States of the federation, the people of Imo State would be struggling to know who their candidates for these positions are. As it is used to be the usual pattern in the previous elections when all the State, Governorship and National Assembly elections take place concurrently, that of the 2023 elections would not be the same. Imo State would be having for the first time a staggered election because the governorship election would be conducted much later in 2023.

The reason is not far fetched. The governorship poll for Imo State has been fixed by INEC to hold on November 11, 2023, in line with the Electoral Act of 2022.

According to the Commission, this decision is in fulfillment of the requirement of Section 28(1) of the Electoral Act 2022 which mandates the Commission to publish the notice of election not later than 360 days before the date fixed for the elections.

Similarly, Sections 178(1) and (2) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 mandates the Commission to conduct such elections not earlier than 150 days and not later than 30 days before the expiration of the term of the last holder of the office.

Therefore, the tenure of the incumbent governor of Imo State ends on January 14, 2024, while those of Kogi and Bayelsa States end on January 26, 2024 and February 13, 2024 respectively.

The statement read in part, “Accordingly, the Commission has decided to conduct the three elections on Saturday, November 11, 2023.

“The statutory notice for the elections were published in the three states on November 14, 2022. Party primaries will be held from March 27, to April 17, 2023 while the online portal for the submission of nomination forms (EC9 and EC9B) by political parties opens at 9.00am on April 24, 2023 and closes at 6.00pm on May 5, 2023.

“The final list of candidates will be published on June 9, 2023 while campaign by political parties commences on June 14, 2023 and ends at midnight on November 9, 2023.

The full Timetable and Schedule of Activities has been uploaded to the Commission’s website and social media platforms.”

Based on the above information, Imo State senatorial and House of Representatives elections would be held on February 25, 2023, while that of the governorship would come up later on November 11, 2023.

It, therefore, becomes pertinent to profile some of the candidates of the four main political parties that are contesting for the National Assembly seats in Imo state. The parties are the All Progressives Congress (APC), Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Labour Party (LP) and the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA).

All the candidates are qualified for the positions they are contesting for without of course, losing sight of their individual strengths and weaknesses.

Senatorial Tickets

Uche

Francis Ezenwa Onyewuchi (LP, Imo East) Francis Ezenwa Onyewuchi is a serving senator representing the people of Imo East with the ticket of PDP but currently flying the flag of the Labour Party in the red chambers.

Onyewuchi is a two-time member of the House of Representatives as well as a ranking member of the national assembly. He is an Alumnus of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka and ESUT Business School and holds a Masters degree in Management.

His empowerment to the people of his senatorial zone is highly appreciable and would consolidate his ranking to the extent of getting a principal position in the senate if re-elected.

Chyma Anthony (APGA, Imo East) Chyma Anthony is a professional with considerable experience in and out of the courtroom, a well-established lawyer and businessman with measurable success.

He is a philanthropist of note. A community leader and respected both at home and abroad, Anthony is a clan chief (high chief) in Ikeduru LGA, and holds a key place in community affairs and a major contributor in community projects.

His passion to continue his pet project of providing selflessly to the people and less privileged no doubt spurs him to seek for elective position. He plans to partner the Federal and State Governments to ensure there is adequate security of lives and properties for the good people of Imo East Senatorial District.

Among his manifesto include sponsoring Bills for Location of some Federal Organizations in the senatorial district, for prompt Federal Government’s intervention in areas that are being endangered

by Erosion and Flooding such as Mbieri, Ogwa etc, to ensure that youths and women are trained in batches yearly in different skills that will make them jobs creators and not jobs seekers.

Uche Onyeagocha (PDP, Imo East) When it comes to outspokenness and vibrancy, Hon. Uche Onyeagocha takes his rightful position. A former member of the House of Representatives that represented Owerri federal constituency in 2003 having being the first All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) lawmaker in the green chamber. Onyeagocha had contested several elective posi-

Raphael

Ogbuagu

tions including governorship in the past until he was appointed the Secretary of the State Government under the Rt. Hon. Emeka Ihedioha’s short-lived administration.

He has promised to give effective representation at the senate if elected.

pharmaceuticals in Nigeria. He is a former President-General of Obigbo Socio-cultural organization. He is the Labour Party (LP) Senatorial candidate for the second largest senatorial district in the Southeast of Nigeria and a longstanding campaigner for a Nigerian President of Igbo extraction.

His plans for Imo West senatorial district include making sure that the Southeast is properly integrated in the Nigerian political, economic and development plan. Creating jobs, enhancing more access to quality education and opening bigger windows of opportunities for wealth creation are some of the items on his Orlu Recovery Plan.

Alex Mbata (APC, Imo East) Prince Alex Mbata otherwise called PAM is a new comer in Imo politics especially the Owerri zone. He has no political experience.

Although his admirers described him as a philanthropic gentleman, it is not very clear what his grassroots support base looks like.

Charles Ahize (Labour Party, Imo West) Chief Charles Ugochukwu Ahize is a top businessman and philanthropist who is one of the most successful auto dealers and

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

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T H I S D AY ˾ ͯ​ͯ˜ 2023

FEATURES

Group Features Editor: Chiemelie Ezeobi Email: chiemelie.ezeobi@thisdaylive.com, 07010510430

Industralising Mining in Nasarawa The federal government's Solid Minerals Development Fund recently visited Governor Abdullahi Sule to seek for partnership, with a view to industrialise mining in Nasarawa State, writes Igbawase Ukumba

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asarawa State, known as "Home of Solid Minerals," has tremendous potentials in solid minerals. It is on record that the state is blessed with the largest deposits of several viable solid minerals including cooking coal, barite, lead, zinc and lithium, as well as playing host to most of the active solid minerals development companies.

This is even as the state is currently producing barite that is used in drilling petroleum, and marble that is sold across the country. However, the fact is that at the moment about 70 per cent of mining activities in Nasarawa State are being artisanal.

Perhaps, it was in this vein that the Solid Minerals Development Fund, whose mandate is to partner states and the private sector with a view to change the mining industry for good, visited Governor Sule.

Speaking during the agency's visit to the Nasarawa State governor, Managing Director of the fund, Hajiya Fatima Umaru Shinkafi, expressed that artisanal mining activities in Nasarawa State was an aberration, thus there was need to do something about it.

She said it should not be ignored and the artisans should not be criminalise.

Hajiya Fatima, however, said: "We are here to support them. At the same time, we want a future horizon that is bigger.

We want industrialisation. We want to commercialise these mines. We want data generation. We want job creation. We want wealth creation. We want social security.

We want environmental considerations.

We want green inclusion in what we are doing."

She explained that the fund chose to come to Nasarawa State as its first official engagement in 2023, not only because of its tremendous potentials, but because Governor Sule has a private sector background, and is result driven and an achiever.

"I am very passionate about Nasarawa State because I am aware of the tremendous potentials. I am also passionate because I know that the captain that sails the ship is a private sector driven, result driven doer. He is an executioner and I like to work with people who get things done.

I have his history more than he knows. I will not turn it into an eulogy session for him, but I am aware he gets things done.

And I like people who get things done, with the private sector driven mind that he has brought to Nasarawa State," Hajiya Fatima added.

The MD of the Solid Minerals Development Fund, however, assured that the fund was available to support artisanal miners in the state, especially that Nasarawa State has comparative advantage in terms of security compared to other states. She added that her agency wanted to extend industrialisation beyond limestone and cement, as Nasarawa State was extremely rich and wealthy.

While identifying capital as major challenge for most states, especially as the states were torn between financing health, roads, infrastructure, salaries and so many demands that there was no way with the meagre resources coming to the state so that they could make huge investment in the solid minerals sector, Fatima said the fund was coming to the rescue by bringing together diverse investment and financing capabilities.

"But what you do bring to the table is much more than money and that is the institutional support, the community support that I am looking forward to enjoy from this relationship. We on the other hand have leveraged federal support to translate a lot of opportunities into reality and projects," Hajiya Fatima assured.

Nevertheless, the administration of Governor Sule has also been making frantic efforts towards developing value chain for all solid minerals deposits in Nasarawa State.

Seeking for move from artisanal to commercialised mining

Sule's intervention is coming at a moment the mining sector requires urgent reforms so as to minimise illegal mining and to improve on insecurity in Nasarawa State. Hence, when speaking at a public function recently in Lafia, the Nasarawa State Governor said it was important to speak about security whenever solid minerals development was mentioned.

According to him , "because in Nigeria, solid minerals development and security go together.

This is one area of our economy with great potentials, but will require urgent reforms so as to minimize illegal mining and to improve on insecurity in the country.

Consequently, in his bid to reform the solid minerals sector of Nasarawa State, Governor Abdullahi Sule recently signed an Executive Order restricting all mining host communities from bequeathing Right of Occupancy of lands to entities intending to carry out mining activities in the state.

The state Commissioner for Environment and Natural Resources, Hon. Yakubu Kwanta, disclosed this at a press briefing in Lafia.

The signed Executive Order No. 02, 2022 by the governor, according to Kwanta, is to protect mining host communities in the state from insecurity and other forms of criminality, and the need to provide institutional support for technical assistance to Artisanal Miners.

The Commissioner added: "the Executive Order directed all Mining Entities arriving the state with authority of the federal government to carry out mining

in the state to report to the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources to verify their legal status, citizenship and background before settlement in the communities in collaboration with security agencies.

"All Mining Entities arriving and doing business in the state must report to the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources for the purpose of documentation and identification of their operational status for peace and security."

The Executive Order No. 02, 2022 also mandated Mining Entities doing business in the state to ensure that they pay all mining and other related taxes, levies, fees, charges promptly to the Central Billing System domiciled with the Nasarawa State Internal Revenue Service.

"Also Holders of Mining Lease or License were restricted by the Executive Order No 02 to the powers conferred on them by the Minerals and Mining Act, 2007 and the Land Use Act, 1978 and to ensure restoration and reparation of the integrity of the degraded land and environment as required by these Acts.

"All Mining Entities are to ensure that physical development of structures must be approved by the Nasarawa State Urban Development Authority in conjunction with the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources.

"The state government, as well the traditional institutions and security agencies in the state, will commence total enforcement of the Executive Order and initiate investigation and prosecution of defaulters in accordance with the law," Kwanta stressed.

When hosting the Managing Director of the Solid Minerals Development Fund, Hajiya Fatima Umaru Shinkafi and her team in the Government House, Lafia, Governor Sule said his administration was making frantic efforts towards exploiting the solid minerals potentials of Nasarawa State.

According to the governor, "even though Nasarawa State is blessed as one of the richest states in the country because of the solid minerals deposits, the state is yet to actualise these potentials."

Be that as it may, perhaps the major preoccupation of Sule's administration is to ensure that Nasarawa State develops her marble completely with the Value Chain before taking the finished product to the market, likewise for all the other mineral deposits such as zinc, lead, cobalt, etc

Sule told the Solid Minerals Development Fund MD that his administration has started making efforts towards harnessing the solid minerals potentials of the state.

He, however, said the state was looking at the oil sector at the moment, but his biggest interest in Nasarawa was in the areas of the solid minerals.

But, the governor nevertheless decried the low funding in the solid minerals sector, as well as the artisanal level and lack of commercialisation of the solid minerals sector.

For Gov Sule, the only way Nasarawa State and indeed Nigeria could benefit from its potentials in solid minerals, was to move further from artisanal to commercial mining, which explains why limestone is a money spinner. He pointed out that on assumption of office, he discovered that Nasarawa State produces a lot of marble but that the marble was being taken outside the state in its raw form.

In order to reverse the trend of taking raw marbles outside Nasarawa State, Sule's administration approached a Chinese firm and two years later, the firm established a complete Marble Value Chain factory in Akwanga Local Government Area of the state.

"I am proud to tell you that between 25 to 30 percent of the entire marble in the Nigerian market is coming from there, from Nasarawa State. We are no longer taking the raw marble out because we are doing the entire polishing and cementing here.

My dream is to see that we don't have anything less than 50 to 60 per cent of the entire marble in the country," he said.

The governor called for a wholistic turn around of the mining industry, calling for the full commercialization of gold mining activities especially in Zamfara, and Uke in Nasarawa State, stressing that the major problem of miners is capital.

"The marble I am telling you is close to my hometown Gudi. But if you go to Toto Local Government Area, there is enormous amount of marble there also. Unfortunately, they are still taking that one out. We are hoping that they have can set up another factory there, because it is a different quality of marble," he maintained.

Be that as it may, perhaps the major preoccupation of Sule's administration is to ensure that Nasarawa State develops her marble completely with the Value Chain before taking the finished product to the market, likewise for all the other mineral deposits such as zinc, lead, cobalt, etc.

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FEATURES

How MultiChoice Continues Supporting Big Brother Naija Housemates Years After Making Them Stars Through the Exclusive Big Brother Naija Club, MutiChoice has continuously supported Big Brother Naija reality television show housemates even after making them most sought after stars, Uzoma Mba reports

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ot many things referred to as ‘the gift that keeps giving’ live up to the promise the title entails. However, Big Brother Naija has managed to be that and more in many ways.

Not just to the viewers, businesses, media houses, or craftsmen that enjoy benefits from the show, but also to the housemates and alumni.

Many will agree that the biggest winners of the show are the housemates.

Whether or not they walk away from their season with the grand prize, the show still finds a way to change their lives. What they do with the gift Big Brother presents them is a different topic entirely. Yet, they enjoy more from MultiChoice than just the two to three months of free publicity they get by being on BBNaija. They get more than the prizes they gather in the house, the fame, or even the endorsements that often follow the most popular housemates.

They get support.

Most Big Brother Naija housemates will tell you that they get not just fiscal benefits from the show, but family, and a community that looks out for and takes care of them. MultiChoice Nigeria doesn’t just churn out stars every year, they work to keep them as celebrities.

It is often a thing of pride to see them thrive.

But the sceptics may wonder what MultiChoice has done for these housemates besides giving them fame and perhaps stripping them of their privacy. How have they really continued to support housemates post-BBNaija?

It may be too obvious to start with Ebuka Obi-Uchendu, a former BBNaija star and the six-time host of the show.

It may even be too simple to shine the light on Bisola Aiyeola. Many may easily say she did the work by making it top 2, without considering that she now hosts one of Africa Magic’s original shows, ‘Shoot Your Shot’.

Still, MultiChoice helped to sustain the momentum for its season four and five winners by giving Mercy and Laycon their own reality shows. Laycon also signed an endorsement deal with DStv and GOtv, alongside Nengi and Dorathy.

Other stars like Maria, Sir Dee, Vandora, Diane Russet, and Joe Abdallah, have also benefited from this support the media company is determined to give former housemates.

Maria Chike Benjamin, a ‘Shine Ya Eye’ housemate, is one of the many housemates who have enjoyed being part of the exclusive BBNaija group. She has appeared in commercials for DStv and played the older ‘Noelle’ in Africa Magic’s recently concluded telenovela,

BBNaija Superstars

Dilemma. Sir Dee was also on the show that followed the influential Waziri Family, playing an older ‘Tahir Waziri’.

Diane Russet, who is currently producing for MultiChoice Nigeria and moving her Ricordi show to Africa Magic, lauded the company for the opportunities it gave her.

She said, “MultiChoice gave me the opportunity to even be seen. It has put me on a platform that has helped me in ways I cannot even put into words. They keep impacting everyone's life. I'm happy that I get to benefit again."

Then again, there are those firmly planted behind the scenes, like season four housemate Joe Abdallah, who returned to the BBNaija house as a task producer and the designer of the BBNaija season

5 and 6 space. Or maybe we should shine the light on Vandora, who hosted ‘Our Perfect Wedding’ on Africa Magic Showcase in 2019.

Wherever the light goes, there you’ll find a housemate MultiChoice has continued to support, either publicly or not. Tobi Bakre has hosted several events for the company and appeared on Africa Magic's original Hustle. Pere Egbi and Venita Akpofure both appeared in ‘Unmarried’ and even became lovers on the show. Frodd also appeared in another Africa Magic series, My Flatmates, the same way that JayPaul did in Tinsel.

Even the most recent set of housemates have begun to enjoy benefits of being part of the MultiChoice ecosystem. In October, Doyin and Adekunle both got to host their first events, courtesy of MultiChoice. Chizzy and Phyna are going on an all-expense-paid trip to Qatar, Modella is billed to appear in a Showmax original and Chizzy featured as a lead in the recent GOtv television

commercial for the ongoing world cup.

It’s possible to go on and list each housemate who has continued to benefit from the organization post-show like Elozonam on the Showmax vodcast, but that would take more time than anyone needs to give. As Dr Tejumola succinctly put it while talking about Diane’s Ricordi move to the big screen, “we are very proud of what they are doing, and we will continue to support them.”

MultiChoice is committed to supporting and helping its BBNaija alumni thrive and succeed. With the burden the show’s resultant fame often puts on the housemates to be ‘more’ than others, this support is one they all need.

Despite different housemates needing the backing of the broadcasting company to varying degrees, MultiChoice Nigeria has proven they would always help where they can.

That is a decision and promise that is worthy of praise and celebration.

Asmau Ali Foundation Uses Art Exhibition to Raise Fund for the Blind Olawale Ajimotokan in Abuja

The Asmau Ali Foundation has organised an art exhibition to create awareness towards the plight of the disabled, particularly the blind.

The holiday art exhibition held in Abuja on the eve of the Christmas, which gathered family members, friends and art connoisseurs from all walks of life, was sponsored

by Kpakpando Foundation and Ovation Magazine.

The host of the exhibition, Asmau Ali, said the proceeds from the art exhibition would be used to buy Braille books for the blind.

She described the Asmau Ali Foundation as an NGO which exists strictly for helping the disable community.

The auctioned art works were part of the collections she sourced from different parts of the world during her travels.

“The Art Exhibition is all the arts around me. And it’s taken in different places of the world because I like to travel and all the proceeds that people send on the art go to Asmau Ali Foundation in order to raise fund to buy Braille books for the blind because Asmau Ali Foundation is a disability foundation all for helping the disable community,” she said.

She stated that the disable community is her target because it always pierces her heart and hurts her feeling that someone is blind.

She also lampooned the federal government for not doing enough to assist the disable community while urging other foundations

to come together and work towards same purpose of serving the interest of the needy.

One of the guests at the exhibition, Anthony Ubani, said most of Asmau Ali’s works were inspired by her personal experiences and from places visited.

Ubani, who is the Executive Director Fix Politics Initiative, lauded the creativity in the work in addition to wonderful use of colours, coupled with her ability to turn around ordinary situations and events into an art exhibition.

“It is noteworthy that a young lady could find the time to take these photographs and turn them into art and come to put them up in an exhibition not for the purpose of making money, but to generate revenue for her foundation and use the proceeds to purchase Braille for the blind and doing a whole lot of other charity activities. I think that is outstanding,” Ubani said.

Asmau Ali

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WEDNESDAY, ͹͹˜ ͺ͸ͺͻ ˾ T H I S D AY

SPECIALINTERVIEW

TONYE COLE:

Rivers Judiciary Now Tool in Governor Wike’s Hands The governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress in Rivers State, Tonye Cole, in this interview with THISDAY, discusses the alleged plots by the Governor Nyesom Wike administration of the state, to stifle the change he is proposing. He also reveals his plans to deliver better governance as well as turn a climate of fear into one of peace and prosperity. Excerpts: When are you officially flagging off your campaign? e’re in a very interesting campaign season. This is door-to-door everyday matters, regarding what we do at the grassroots. But for the official flag-off of the campaign, we’ve started going from one local government to the other. This weekend, we will begin the local government rally. There’s something about the APC campaign in this election. There’s an understanding that it’s about grassroots support. We’ve embarked on a door-to-door campaign quietly, gathering all the people, going from one house to another, and speaking to them about APC support.

When we’re about to start the local government rally, that’s when some people will say, ‘now they want to campaign’. But believe me, since September, we’ve been engaging in door-to-door campaigns, holding ward meetings, and accessing the grassroots directly and I think it is to our advantage, because for a long time, the ruling PDP felt they would get victory in court and there would be no APC to contest against them.

The PDP selling point was that APC was not going to be on the ballot, telling the people not to be bothered about APC. Our strategy has been contacting and campaigning to people directly at the grassroots, finding out what their exact needs are. This has worked powerfully. Once we start the rally, you’ll see the people coming out, because we’ve taken time to reach them at their base.

W

So far, what’s the reception been like in your door-to-door campaign?

The reception has been great, because of the two factors I’ve given. The first aspect, which has been a great strategy, is that at the grassroots, they’ve not seen governance trickle down. One of the

biggest policies of the Rivers State government is that there are projects everywhere: flyovers, the Law School, etc. So, to the world looking inside from the outside, they believe that Rivers state has all these big projects. Indeed, they’re beautiful projects. However, these projects are mainly concentrated in Obio/Akpor; that’s the governor’s own location. The Law School used to be the School of Nursing but was converted to the Law School.

The Law School had been earmarked for Degema in the Kalabari region. Degema was the provincial capital during colonial rule. Law School was meant to be in Degema so that development could spread. But he took it to his own town. No problem. Then, bridges were being inaugurated; everybody was excited about overhead bridges. Great! Twelve overhead bridges. But where are those bridges located?

Ten of the bridges are in Obio/Akpor. Two of the bridges are in PHALGA in Port Harcourt.

Port Harcourt and Obio/Akpor are contiguous local governments that make up Port Harcourt as we know it.

Apparently, he’s built 10 overhead bridges in his constituency. Across the entire Rivers State, you have rivers that divide communities; such bridges in the communities will make a huge difference. Between Obakri and Tombia, two communities that you can see each other but there’s no bridge (to connect them). When you build a bridge, there must be a commercial value to it. It must develop and open up the place. If you’re building a bridge within a city, maybe it’s because there’s heavy traffic and you want people to get from one place to another quicker.

Some of the bridges seem to have been constructed deliberately against some particular people. At least, there’s a place called Dikoko, where Igbo traders are many. Most of the bridges, at least two or three of those bridges, were built

“The government had the judiciary in its hands and it was clear it would be a tool that it was going to use. And so, from the beginning, we made sure that everything that’ll be done and the evidence that’ll be brought forward will be extremely difficult to controvert”

in targeted areas where the Igbo community is predominant. He totally destroyed their shops; destroyed their entire livelihood around the area. He displaced them completely. They were uprooted from that area, because he had been trying to relocate them for years. The bridge was an opportunity. The entire Igbo community in Rivers State is against the government, because they feel they have been targeted – physically targeted for destruction.

But why’s there no criticism from the opposition party?

I keep saying we’re in a different kind of election. Everybody has not understood yet that this election is a bit different – before you could just climb up to a podium and you could just say whatever you wanted to say. In this particular election, you need to meet people face to face, not just on the pages of the newspaper; you need to go to their area and hear them out.

I have been to each of those areas whether it’s the Mechanic Village, Diobu; whether it’s at the waterfront communities to sit down and ask them about their needs and aspirations.

This is one aspect of the strategy.

The second aspect that has been burning is the issue of the level of poverty that we have seen at the grassroots. And the poverty is driven from two aspects. The first aspect of it is that no economic empowerment is coming into that area. Without development and empowerment, people are further driven into poverty. The second aspect is when you deliberately begin to remove education, health indices that help people to move forward, you create a problem.

This is one of the things we’re seeing.

So, I’m seeing all of these things in rural areas outside of the riverine communities. I

19

WEDNESDAY, ͹͹˜ ͺ͸ͺͻ ˾ T H I S D AY

SPECIAL INTERVIEW

Rivers People Are Ready, Wike and His Goons Can’t Silence Voice of Change am seeing it because I’m sitting down and I’m talking with the people one on one. There are areas best described as ungoverned cities. In fact, they’re ungoverned cities. There’s no presence of government there. They’re governed by themselves.

They have their own court system. They have their own police system. They have their own enforcement system. They’re on their own, despite all the rhetoric (by the government). This is the real Rivers State. Now, these are the real people that we have been speaking to. When you’re doing that kind of campaign, it will take time.

You have to go, sit down with them, hear what they’re feeling and then convince them that this is not just talk; that you’re actually listening to them. That’s why people started talking about the civil service; the entire civil service has not been promoted for years. They’ve not been paid gratuity.

All sorts of things happening, including salaries being withheld. The civil service has become comatose.

So, we have a government that doesn’t respect the civil service. The government that does not feel the civil service is part and parcel of whatever it is doing. Staff’s morale is at the lowest. To make matters worse, the PDP governorship candidate is a civil servant. In the period when everybody was not promoted, his own promotion was accelerated from an administrative staff to permanent secretary in about four years. So, you have people who’re angry in the system.

This is a pathetic picture you’ve painted.

Looking in from the outside, listening to the governor speak on the podium, it is easy to assume he has done so much. Human capital development is important for any nation or state. Since you’ve identified this as one major problem, tell us how you plan to reverse the situation?

Any kind of project that does not take into consideration how to improve human beings in education, in health, in productivity is going to be a problem. And when you do it in a way that’s not evenly spread across the state, then, you begin to have issues that we have. So, some of the things that we need to take into consideration, is, how do we make education more accessible to all the people. Because if you get into the university system today, for example, the state university now has an unwritten quota whereby they admit more Ikwerres, more people from Ikwerre than anybody else.

So, we have to balance it. What do we need to do? Two things: the first aspect of it is that we must begin to bring business back to Rivers State. There has been a flight of business dealings over the last seven years. People have left; they just packed up and they bolted away. We have to bring them back in because once we bring them back, the jobs begin to come in and competition is good for human capital and rural development.

Places like TransAmadi have to be revived; it used to be very industrious. It was the production and productivity hub but it’s dead today. We have to bring it back. Next, we have to develop new areas. Port Harcourt is the only city in the entire Rivers State. One of the things we must do is to develop new cities.

there is a system geared towards provoking us. We wrote to the police informing them about our plan to carry out a peaceful protest to condemn the government’s executive orders.

Police said we could not protest but told us to go to court to challenge the executive orders. We went to court. We went to court; an executive order is not a pre-election matter.

It’s not even an election matter as far as the judiciary is concerned. So, we went to court and soon realised the case would likely drag for a long time. We decided there was no point continuing on this matter. We concluded that they’re afraid of us and they’re using every means to keep us quiet but what they cannot do is stop us from going to meet people door to door to tell them why they must vote for us.

How have the executive orders 21 and 22 affected your campaign?

The only damage it has done is that it has denied the entire Rivers State the campaign.

There’s no campaign going on in Rivers State by anybody at all. However, the beauty of the situation is that it creates avenues for you to be different. The strategy we started with is the correct strategy, giving us an advantage of meeting the people one on one and starting the campaign with the rival party.

Let’s say you win and become the governor, will you revoke the executive

There are allegations that individuals who do not support the Rivers government’s political choices get their C of Os revoked, especially prominent individuals. Is it true and what’s your take on that?

Let’s take certain people who have been prominent in PDP. Austin Opara, Sekibo and so on, including Uche Secondus. These are people who form the core of PDP. They’re the backbone of PDP. There was an imposition by the governor. All the forms were bought by the candidates. Hon Farah was going to contest, they told him, don’t contest. He said I’m coming. It has been determined a long time ago that it must go to the riverine community.

Danagogo, the secretary to the state government, wanted to contest. These are prominent Kalabari people, who wanted and had a right to contest. He denied them the right to contest. Farah’s case was even worse.

He arrested him, threw him in prison until the process was over. Once that process happened, this particular group now decided that they would not succumb to Wike’s imposition

“…We’ve been engaging in door-to-door, holding ward meetings, and accessing the grassroots directly and I think it is to our advantage, because for a long time, the ruling PDP felt they would get victory in court and there would be no APC to contest against them”

and he decided to crush anyone in his path by revoking their C of Os. This is not governance.

If Wike could deal with his own party men to that extent, how have you, in opposition, been able to carry on? How does this make you feel as a Rivers person?

Rivers people have become very ashamed of their governor. Many people outside the state wonder what’s wrong with the governor. It has brought the respectability of the office down and so, there is the need to restore the dignity of that office. I think more importantly, personally, as a candidate and for the APC as a whole, what it has shown people is that this is not the kind of government that they want. A top politician told me that ‘we don’t have democracy in Rivers State’ and that ‘our governor is called emperor’.

This has opened the eyes of the people, I think they need to get out of this oppressive fear. There’s no hotel in Rivers State that will agree to host anything that’s PDP. I understand the oppressive fear business people are going through in Rivers, because the governor can bulldoze their properties in one day for publicly associating with his perceived opponents. And I told the business people, don’t associate with me publicly but I guarantee them that my administration won’t let them operate in fear.

I was going to petition INEC when I saw the list on the RAC (registration area centre) PHALGA, Port Harcourt local government. All the hotels are PDP-owned hotels. INEC won’t realise this when they were picking the places. So, we’re petitioning them. You’re picking a critical part of the election process and put in a hotel that belongs to diehard Wike people.

Let’s talk about your frontline opponent, who is a PDP member. Not much is known about him; he’s not known to speak to the public. Have you heard him talk?

If you go through any of the APC platforms, our pictures of meetings, you will see pictures of me with various personalities. But you will never find one picture of him and me together. We have never been in the same environment. I have never seen him. We have never seen each other. He may know me. We have never met at any function and never had any conversation. There were events we were both invited to attend but I had never seen him attend them. So, what does this tell you? It tells you that there’s a deliberate plot by PDP in Rivers State to hoodwink the people and smuggle in somebody they don’t know. There are billboards of him everywhere in the state.

So, when it comes to the advertising of him as a character, he’s everywhere. When it comes to hearing him, people have never heard him. What’s he bringing to Rivers State, they don’t know. What does he represent as an individual? They don’t know. How does he sound? Is he aggressive? Is he quiet? They don’t know.

Is it because he was declared wanted by the EFCC? I don’t know why he’s in hiding. But he definitely is in hiding. He was to be picked up by the EFCC; its operatives came to arrest him.

They picked up EFCC operatives. I have never heard that kind of thing before. How do you pick up EFCC operatives? And they didn’t do anything about it. EFCC will have to answer that question.

If you check EFCC’s website, he’s a wanted man.

The Code of Conduct invited him, because they discovered billions of naira and assets that were not declared by him.

As a public servant, he was still, I don’t know whether he’s stopped now, operating as a candidate; he was still operating as an auditor-general or accountant-general all through that process that he’s a candidate. While still holding office and doing all of that, Code of Conduct went through the process and discovered billions and told him to come and answer questions regarding the discovery. He ignored them. If somebody as a candidate is already breaking the rules of good governance, when he becomes a governor what should people expect?

How did you feel, when the court annulled your candidacy?

It was just a repetition of what happened in 2019.

This for me was a pointer to what was coming.

The government had the judiciary in its hands and it was clear it would be a tool that it was going to use. And so, from the beginning, we made sure that everything that’ll be done and the evidence that’ll be brought forward will be extremely difficult to controvert. So, we’re careful. We were determined not to flout any rules of campaigning, because we knew they were going to go to court and we also knew within the judicial system in Rivers State, there were certain courts that when they pass the case to, with that judge in that court, all hope for us would be lost.

The strategy for us was knowing that we could not control nor could we influence how the cases would be assigned and we knew that the government had the leverage in assigning cases to judges that are friendly to them. We decided that our own strategy would be that, for that judge to make a judgment against us, he would have to create something that will put him in a bad light. That was exactly what happened. The judge didn’t go ahead to do it, however, they broke down the cases into several ones targeting various candidates. We made sure they could not use any technicality loophole at the high court to upend us.

People say they have not been feeling you.

When will they start to feel you?

They already have. Two things were brought forward: the executive orders were used to silence opposing voices and parties. Now, it was a build-up.

In 2015, one of the things they used massively against APC into the 2019 election was the war of attrition and violence. This executive order was intended to provoke. If you put up banners and billboards, they’ll break them. We complained to the police and we were told to monitor the vandals, arrest them and bring them to the station. We knew

orders?

Immediately! It’s dead on arrival. It’s an abuse of power. It’s wickedness. It denies people the right to hear, even the right to choose. It denies people even the freedom of association. It denies people even economic benefits arising from campaigning.

It appears Wike is desperate to railroad him in and then continue to control him when he becomes governor. How does this affect the psyche of an average Rivers person?

I think that’s where the APC comes in. When you think about it, I think our role is beyond vying for governorship. We see things that most of the people may not be able to see. Unfortunately, things like the executive order and other governmental restraints make it difficult for us to bring the story out as we would like to do for everybody. And then, there’s a way that you speak that you will be heard. We have been hamstrung as a party, APC, in Rivers State, that once you start, you’re accused of inciting violence. So, we’re careful and what we’re left with at the end of the day is a moral obligation that we must prevent Rivers State from continuing in this manner.

For us, we need to work twice harder than

Cole

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WEDNESDAY, ͹͹˜ ͺ͸ͺͻ ˾ T H I S D AY

SPECIAL INTERVIEW

PDP Fielding Guber Candidate on EFCC Wanted List “The civil service has become comatose. So, we have a government that doesn’t respect the civil service. The government that does not feel the civil service is part and parcel of whatever it is doing. Staff’s morale is at the lowest. To make matters worse, the PDP governorship candidate is a civil servant” the opponents. They have money and they have deployed it massively. The kind of money that Rivers State has spent on this election alone, if they have taken a quarter of that money and put in education, put it in health; if they had put in social welfare, in poverty alleviation, in productive infrastructure, we’ll not be where we are today.

Rivers electorate is a bit more aware and has become a bit more vibrant than in previous election cycles.

One can expect pockets of violence by diehard party members. But this election will be decided by a new crop of voters and those ones will be threatened by violence. So, the key to us and INEC is to ensure there’s no violence. Two hundred thousand people have been employed by Rivers State government to ensure that there will be chaos if it is not going in their direction. We will work to ensure that they’re either kept away from the polling booths or they enter into an agreement that will allow elections to hold peacefully.

Is it true Wike could not pay the N30,000 he promised them and that last time, he was only able to pay 700 people out of the 200,000?

You know something has happened; I keep saying this election is a God factor. This is a different election. I don’t know what’s going on in Nigeria.

But for some reason, CBN decided to wake up and came up with a policy regarding the naira redesign. It’s a challenge politically. But I am for good governance.

How confident are you that you’ll defeat the PDP candidate, with the limited resources you have and the draconian rules by the Rivers government?

The short and direct answer to that is: I’m extremely confident. Every day that goes by gives me more confidence. The amount of money PDP in Rivers State has spent and efforts made to stop me from running tell me one thing from the beginning: that I’m the biggest threat that they have.

APC in Rivers State, with me as the governorship candidate, has been the biggest threat, giving them sleepless nights. Number one, I remember the bully analogy. A bully is one who makes a lot of noise, creating a scene but he cannot stand it when they stand by.

I’m not going anywhere. I’m not giving them an inch. They think that we’re running. We’re not running and we’re not afraid. They don’t want our voices to be heard. You started this interview by asking when we are starting our campaign.

Believe me, we have already started. The jingles are on air. The billboards are there that they’re tearing down and the posters are coming out; the rallies are coming and all of that. The people are ready for the change.

In a nutshell, are you saying the Rivers people are ready for ‘change’?

The Rivers people are ready. They’ve been ready for a while and now we’re offering them the option that they must choose.

The abandonment of the monorail is a major issue. What do you think?

Cole There are many things that have been abandoned, not just the monorail. There are schools that have been abandoned; health centres were abandoned; farms and plantations were abandoned, etc., even scholarships. There were many students that went abroad that the Rivers government was paying their fees, and they were abandoned too. So, there are many things that were abandoned.

The Rivers government has been making big donations to different states and projects by individuals. Will you probe these?

I don’t know if probe is the right word to use because when you spend so much time looking into things like that, you can’t do what you promised to do. Some of the things that we’re going to do is that we’re going to stop that frivolous giving away of Rivers money to all and sundry. In the process of governance, if we discover some things that we must recover, we will take action.

Let’s come to national politics. Wike has been having shadow meetings with several presidential candidates, concentrating more on the APC standard-bearer. He has been trying to strike a deal with Tinubu and news came out a few days ago that he had actually struck a deal, which they both tried to deny. Whether there’s a deal or not, where does this leave you, because

he would not strike a deal with him if he doesn’t get something in return?

First of all, it does not put me at a disadvantage and this is what I have made people to understand. Two is, there are two elections here. If there’s an election process that I have come to appreciate well, it’s this election process, not like the other ones, in 2019, 2015, 2011 and the rest. Before now, people just vote for a party, not minding the candidates at the state and national levels.

That’s different now. Wike is PDP. Under normal circumstances, there’s what’s called anti-party movement. You can’t be in a party and you go about to talk to another party, you would have been thrown out of the party.

Today, you find people going from their party to negotiate with another party and their party cannot expel them. What does that tell you? It tells you that we’re no longer playing party politics. We’re now in the politics of personal preferences. Our presidential candidate is packaging a deal for himself that will guarantee him to be voted for to a large extent in the state. That’s the political strategy for him and I don’t have a problem with that. It doesn’t affect me at all. They’re two different elections. If my presidential candidate wins, APC has won. So, what happens two weeks later? For me, it’s not a problem. PDP in Rivers State is where APC was when we had so much infighting that nobody knew

“Farah’s case was even worse. He arrested him, threw him in prison until the process was over. Once that process happened, this particular group now decided that they would not succumb to Wike’s imposition and he decided to crush anyone in his path by revoking their C of Os.This is not governance”

where you were standing.

Lastly, what’s your message to the Rivers people?

Time is no longer on anybody’s side. We’re now seeing the finish line. We’ve turned that bend and we’re now seeing the finish line. The decision that you make now is going to affect our future.

Making that decision now, I want you to think about two things: how much have you benefitted from the government in the last seven to eight years? That’s number one. Number two, what type of government do you believe is going to make a difference in you moving forward? And the final one is, Rivers State where it ought to be today when you compare it to other states in Nigeria?

The first aspect of it, I think you’ll find that you’re not in a good place. Second, that you need a different type of government; third is, you’ll find out that Rivers State ought to and must have been competing if not outdoing or outcompeting Lagos State. We’re not in the same place. I want to give you that guarantee that my administration will do everything to ensure that Rivers State becomes a destination of choice, a country within a country that will compete with the best that Nigeria has to offer.

Rivers State has what it takes and I have what it takes to deliver that but we must work together to achieve it. So, vote for me as your governor and you’ll see that within four years, you’ll be proud of who you have as a governor and what your state has achieved. My business friends, you know you’re my constituency. I understand that you’re afraid. But fear does not grow business.

What I want to assure you is that for those of you that have left this space, I want to give you the guarantee through this platform that you will have a governor that understands you and wants to bring you back.

Rivers State has business opportunities. I can identify them. I know them and I know what you need and I want to give that to you. For those of you that are still in the state in spite of everything, then, I want to assure you that you’re my first point of contact such that we can use you, use your resilience, use your knowledge in the state to attract others to come and improve the state.

So, don’t be afraid even though fear is what is given. Your fear and hope are secure with me.

Your business is secure with me. We can grow together. God bless you!

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ABIODUN KOMOLAFE pays tribute to Pope Benedict XVI who died aged 95

RE: OPEN LETTER TO SALIU MUSTAPHA Big ideas that are not impactful on the lives of the people are useless, contends SALIU MUSTAPHA

See page 27

ELON MUSK AND DISRUPTIVE INTERNET TECHNOLOGY

SONNY ARAGBAAKPORE reckons that Musk’s Starlink will create a major disruption in the telecommunications industry in Nigeria

See page 27 EDITORIAL

THE SECOND NIGER BRIDGE

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BENEDICT XVI: COUNTING OUR LOSSES On January 26, 1998, I authored an article, entitled ‘Lessons from the Dead’, in one of Nigeria’s foremost newspapers. In the piece, I attempted to eulogize the late Mother Theresa of Calcutta for her avowed commitment to the advancement of global development as well as her giving an everlasting face of honour to humanity. As D PHPEHU RI VWDͿ RI WKH &DWKROLF 6HFUHWDULDW RI 1LJHULD &61 ODWHU WKDW \HDU , FDPH WR D striking realization that ‘Catholics are made, not born!’ $V D ZULWHU DQG SXEOLF DͿDLUV commentator and, much later, as a leading PHPEHU RI WKH SURGXFWLRQ FUHZ RI ¶&61 1HZV· WKH R΀FLDO QHZVPDJD]LQH RI WKH administrative headquarters of the Catholic Church in Nigeria, yours sincerely was able to read widely in a bid to know more about the Church and its leaders. Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, then, Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, was one of them. In 2002, I had a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity of visiting the Cathedral Church RI 2XU 'HDU /DG\ )UDXHQNLUFKH 0XQLFK Germany, which served as Ratzinger’s seat as Archbishop of Munich and Freising, between 1977 and 1982.

Indeed, one of the attributes of the Catholic Church is its ability to train its people. Well, the Church believes that one should always be at the top of one’s game. That’s why the institutional prowess of the Catholic Church is unparalleled all over the world. It is also the reason an institution like that can raise a pope like Benedict XVI. The Church is supportive of its members and adherents of the faith. It is also pro-intellectual like no other Church; and it is wealthy enough to see its projects through anywhere on Planet Earth. That’s why we seldom have a wishywashy man becoming pope.

The Catholic Church must actually be commended for the selection process of popes because enormous responsibility is placed on it to ensure that the right candidate is chosen. Ideally, the Church can DͿRUG QR HUURU &HWHULV SDULEXV LW KDV IDUHG EHWWHU 6R UDLVLQJ D EULOOLDQW FKDULVPDWLF and resourceful priest like Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI is also a sign of the shrewdness of the process of the selection of popes.

To be sure, one of the shining attributes of leadership is an individual’s ability to thrive in untested waters – navigating roads that were hitherto never travelled and how VSHFLÀF OHDGHUV IDUHG DW WKH HQG RI WKH GD\ Indeed, Pope Benedict has demonstrated WR WKH ZRUOG ZKDW WKH LGHDO SURÀOH VKRXOG look like. He was a pragmatist; and, like former President J.F. Kennedy, the Bishop RI 5RPH DQG 6RYHUHLJQ RI WKH 9DWLFDQ 6WDWH XQGHUVWRRG WKH KXJH UHVSRQVLELOLWLHV of power and its functions. Therefore, he would not stick to power for the sake of power. Instead, he carried power gingerly throughout his tenure. And, when it was time to let go, he didn’t need anybody to

persuade him. He knew his health was failing and he decided to let go. Whereas other people would have been beating a wall with the hope of transforming it into D GRRU WKH SRQWLͿ RSWHG IRU WKH SDWK RI honour. Even with the clergy in Africa, they wouldn’t have let go of that sweetness of power!

When Benedict resigned as pope on February 11, 2013, the world was taken aback while some people felt it was rare and unheard-of. Indeed, in the preserved historic account of the Church, only one pope had attempted such; and did resign, hundreds of years ago. Pope Benedict lived above his peers! He glossed through life with abundant grace and vitality because he has an understanding of the intricate details of life and the inevitability of death. Like King Hezekiah, whose resolutions were based on the convictions of his faith, the Holy Father was a man of uncommon courage and a sure symptom of manly tenderness who, until death, was developing. Unlike others, who’d never want to listen to the topic of death, Benedict XVI was able to speak truth to power and face any situation because he knew that he would be here only for a while; that he would one day take the exit route of life. And, by so doing - not living for the moment - he would surely live forever in the hearts of a lot of people.

Abraham Lincoln! Nelson Mandela!

The tragic truth is that the world is fast losing its best with striking vengeance and opportunities for their replacement are waning with each passing day.

Unfortunately, Africa is the worst hit!

Therefore, welcome the African continent, where leadership positions are held in a ‘till-death-do-us-part’ fashion. In the African setting, it is considered normal for leaders to stay put in positions of power. The point is: in our clime, leaders don’t quit; they don’t resign; and they don’t retire! Of course, they are not even supposed to leave, courtesy of the alignment and accommodation found in the cultural contents of most African societies. Unlike Giovanni Martinelli, the Apostolic Vicar of Tripoli who, despite repeated threats to his life, preferred

martyrdom to betraying his community, the story of leadership in Africa has been one of unutterable desolation, indescribable poverty and wanton destruction of innocent lives.

Let’s face it: leadership in the African setting doesn’t have the same root in cultural foundation with the rest of the world. In a continent where people with neither decency nor honour dictate WKH SDFH RI DͿDLUV ZKHUH FRQVSLFXRXV underachievement and struggle for power crudely compete for space; of course, where poverty increases with the same proportion as the national budget, why won’t times and things get messed up? That’s why you have a leader like Paul Biya and Yoweri Museveni who will not want to go after spending 40 DQG \HDUV LQ R΀FH UHVSHFWLYHO\ Nigeria’s case is even peculiarly worse!

Here, the society and the social structures are ambivalent; and successive leaders XQGHUVWDQG WKLV 7KDW·V ZK\ WKH\ FDQ DͿRUG WR PHVV XS LQ SXEOLF R΀FH ZKLOH WKH VRFLHW\ debates the pros and cons of the alleged misdemeanour. To get out of this doctrinal mess, the Cultural Revolution and new orientation will have to start from scratch; that is, from the youths. The youths need to learn that, when they are in a position, they should do for their country something great because everyone has an expiry date!

Generally in Nigeria, the leadership and/or ownership structure and the preponderance of diverse denominations have actually divided the Church more than unite it. The personalization of the ownership of the churches for pecuniary conveniences has made cohesion and FRQWURO RI WKH &KXUFK D GL΀FXOW YHQWXUH 7DNH IRU LQVWDQFH D *HQHUDO 2YHUVHHU * 2 somewhere may say something to his or her members and the leader of another denomination may be opposed to it! It is this lack of cohesion amongst the denominations that has made it easier for the political ‘King Kongs’ and socioeconomic swallowers to factionalize the Church. If God is God and the same One, it is common logic that the doctrines coming from the denominations VKRXOG QRW EH GLͿHUHQW Undeniably, the Catholic Church and, indeed, the world, has lost a star; not only EHFDXVH WKH 6XFFHVVRU WR WKH 7KURQH RI Peter shined as a noble priest, but being someone who through his life and death has FRQWULEXWHG VLJQLÀFDQWO\ WR WKH OHDGHUVKLS and institutional attributes of the Church globally. May the generations of Pope Benedict XVI abound, even in the future!

May the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world, rest the soul of our beloved Pope Benedict XVI and comfort the Church he left behind!

Komolafe writes from Ijebu-Jesa, Osun State

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Big ideas that are not impactful on the lives of the people are useless, contends SALIU MUSTAPHA

RE: OPEN LETTER TO SALIU MUSTAPHA commencement of active campaigns a few months back, you and your team Your open letter dated 2nd January, 2023 KDYH PDGH P\ SHUVRQ WKH VXEMHFW RI \RXU which you intended to be some sort of a wanton ‘debates’ on both the traditional QHZ \HDU PLVVLOH ZDV ZHOO UHFHLYHG :KLOH and new media, while the issues that it is neither my wish nor in my character concern the people you seek to represent to engage in any kind of brickbats with at the Senate have been banished to the you or anyone else for that matter in the EDFN VHDW public domain, I am afraid you have left In spite of all these, I have maintained PH ZLWK QR FKRLFH DW WKLV SRLQW +RZHYHU D GLJQLÀHG VLOHQFH QRW EHFDXVH , ODFN WKH before I proceed to address some of the will or the arsenals to respond to your LVVXHV \RX UDLVHG LQ \RXU OHWWHU OHW PH ÀUVW coercive campaign method, but because I have always believed that politics will PDNH VRPH VDOLHQW REVHUYDWLRQV While you have proudly carried the always come and go, but relationships ZLOO FRQWLQXH WR HQGXUH This is the basis upon which I have related with you and others like you over time, in spite of our divergent political LQWHUHVWV $V DOZD\V , DP UHLWHUDWLQJ KHUH and now, that no matter the temptations to do otherwise, I will continue to PDLQWDLQ ÀGHOLW\ WR WKDW SHUVRQDO SULQFLSOH of running a clean, issue-based campaign GHYRLG RI PXGVOLQJLQJ /LNH ZH DOZD\V VD\ ZKHQ WKH\ JR ORZ ZH JR KLJK Now, to the issue of my remarks on your ‘big idea’ campaign which inspired \RXU OHWWHU :KLOH \RX PLVLQWHUSUHWHG P\ statement to mean that I was underplaying WKH YDOXH DQG VLJQLÀFDQFH RI LGHDV ELJ RU small, the statement was clear enough to sobriquet of ‘Omoluabi’, your behavior decipher even to the average viewers or UHÁHFWV RWKHUZLVH LI LQGHHG DQ 2PROXDEL UHDGHUV LV VRPHRQH ZKR GRHV DV KH VD\V ,Q \RXU For the sake of emphasis, I’ll like to letter, you rightly noted that even though reiterate that while ideas are good, but I “we are political opponents, we are not believe we’ve gone past the stage of merely mouthing it for the sake of the political HQHPLHV µ Since this contest began, I have RSWLFV %XW ZH DUH EH\RQG WKDW :H VKRXOG consciously refrained from any issues or be at the point of implementing creative innuendos that may bother on calumny or ideas and innovative solutions to solve PXGVOLQJLQJ MXVW DV , KDYH HQVXUHG WKDW our people’s pressing problems through my team adhered strictly to only decent ERWK OHJLVODWLYH DQG H[HFXWLYH FKDQQHOV While it is obvious that we both have a HQJDJHPHQWV You, on the other hand, have seemingly GLͿHUHQW FRQFHSWLRQ RI ZKDW LGHDV DUH RU taken this contest as though it is the last should be for our people, it’s regrettable battle before the Judgement Day, and WKDW LQ \RXU XVXDO VHOI JORULÀFDWLRQ \RX the amount of desperation you have already branded my belief as “cynical noshown and displayed so far has left me WKLQNLQJ µ , DP DIUDLG WKDW \RXU GHÀQLWLRQ RI FRPSOHWHO\ EHZLOGHUHG You said in your letter that “we were the concept, especially as it relates to brothers and friends before this contest; the welfare and wellbeing of the people and (you) hope and pray that we shall we both seek to represent, is clearly at remain so after the elections, regardless YDULDQFH ZLWK ZKDW ¶LGHDVµ WUXO\ PHDQ RI WKH RXWFRPH µ %XW EURWKHUV KDYH D You have relegated the word to constant GLͿHUHQW ZD\ RI ZDJLQJ ZDUV EHFDXVH newspaper publications, frivolous attacks even in their moments of animosity, they RQ \RXU RSSRQHQWV DQG PHGLD IHDWXUHV ZRXOG EH FRQVFLRXV RI WKH QHHG WR ÀJKW Idea, to me, is the base word for ideology; with some dignity and respect certain and any ideology that has no positive ERXQGDULHV %XW LW VHHPV \RX KDYH OLWWOH LPSDFW RQ WKH SHRSOH VKRXOG EH UHMHFWHG regard for any relationship when a contest outrightly, as I am sure yours would be by is involved, which is why you have failed )HEUXDU\ WK to temper your campaign strategy to Like you rightly pointed out, ideas accommodate our history of ‘brotherhood DUH QXUWXUHG E\ LQYHVWPHQWV , VKRXOG therefore, ask you how have your much DQG IULHQGVKLS· DV \RX FODLPHG When I was about throwing my hat into touted ‘big ideas’ delivered any tangible the ring to contest this very election, I was impact since you came into the public warned by several people who have had a space nearly 20 years ago? In other words, bitter dose of what they described as your how come your so-called ‘big ideas’ have crude method to be ready for the media not translated to meaningful progress ‘war’ that was coming; they told me that in the lives of the people of Ilorin in relationships do not matter to you when particular and Kwara State in general? politics sets in and I had naively wished What impacts did your ‘big ideas’ have on that away under the assumption that as our people when you served as a minister brothers, momentary contest and even of the Federal Republic of Nigeria? ambitions would not come in the way Mustapha, RI RXU ORQJ \HDUV RI IULHQGVKLS ,W WXUQHG Turaki of Ilorin Emirate out I was wrong about you and they were APC Kwara Central Senatorial District ULJKW Candidate True to prediction, since the Dear Bolaji Abdullahi,

SONNY ARAG BA-AKPORE reckons that Musk’s Starlink will create a major disruption in the telecommunications industry in Nigeria

ELON MUSK AND DISRUPTIVE INTERNET TECHNOLOGY :LWK PLOOLRQ VXEVFULEHUV FRQQHFWHG to internet services as at November 2022, according to statistics published by industry regulator, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), there are strong LQGLFDWLRQV WKDW WKH DGYHQW RI (ORQ 0XVN·V 6WDUOLQN PD\ FUHDWH D PDMRU XSVHW LQ WKH FRXQWU\ +H KDV FRPH ZLWK GLVUXSWLYH LQWHUQHW WHFKQRORJ\ ZKLFK KDV MROWHG WKH LQGXVWU\ where existing service providers including 0RELOH 1HWZRUN 2SHUDWRUV 012V DQG LQWHUQHW VHUYLFH SURYLGHUV ,63V KDYH UHWXUQHG WR WKHLU FORVHWV WR UHMLJ WKHLU RSHUDWLRQDO PRGXOHV Starlink claims it will provide high speed internet of up to 500 megabytes per second

(mbps) and this to many industry watchers will augment the growth of broadband which VWDQGV DW FXUUHQWO\ 6WDUOLQN VD\V LW ZLOO SURYLGH VHUYLFHV YLD VDWHOOLWH The company got the NCC license in 2022 to provide services in the country for which Communications & Digital Economy 0LQLVWHU 'U ,VD 3DQWDPL DQQRXQFHG HDUO\ LQ December 2022 that the company assured him of commencing service provision by end of WKDW PRQWK It’s however not clear whether the services DUH XS DQG UXQQLQJ But one thing is clear, Starlink will create a PDMRU GLVUXSWLRQ LQ WKH WHOHFRPPXQLFDWLRQV LQGXVWU\ LQ 1LJHULD Starlink launched over 2,000 satellites in January 2022, with 1,500 operating in low earth RUELW $V RWKHU RSHUDWRUV DUH SDQLFN\ VRPH Nigerians and corporate organizations have started to pre-order routers in preparation for WKH SURPLVHG IDVW VSHHG LQWHUQHW FRQQHFWLYLW\ ,Q WU\LQJ WR UHMLJ WKHLU RSHUDWLRQV ORFDO operators are studying how the billionaire’s internet service plans to disrupt the industry in Nigeria especially since satellite internet can be accessed in the rural areas where the SUHVHQFH RI WKH FRPSHWLWLRQ LV QRW IHOW Reports had put the cost of price of the KDUGZDUH LQFOXGLQJ WKH DQWHQQD DW ZKLFK LV DERXW 1 LQ 1LJHULD 7KH company has also stated that its subscribers ZRXOG SD\ DERXW 1 PRQWKO\ DV WKH FRVW RI VXEVFULSWLRQ IRU WKH VHUYLFH Starlink’s new tier 1 internet service with higher performance of between 150 and 0ESV ZLWK DERXW WR PLOOLVHFRQG RI ODWHQF\ LV TXLWH SULF\ 7KH FRPSDQ\ LV targeting to have about 12,000 satellites deployed worldwide with a possible later extension to 42,000 to underscore the massive disruption that is bound to happen in the market and why existing operators must either rework their engagement of the market RU JHW RͿ WR GLH DUJXLQJ RYHU WKH YLDELOLW\ RI VDWHOOLWH LQWHUQHW VHUYLFHV SpaceX announced it has reached more than one million subscribers as at December 2022,

and with its presence in large markets like Nigeria, the potential to even-out its operating cost faster to gain traction with SURÀW LV KLJKHU Starlink is a satellite internet cluster operated by SpaceX providing satellite ,QWHUQHW DFFHVV FRYHUDJH WR FRXQWULHV Since 2019 that SpaceX started launching Starlink satellites, it has successfully launched and maintained over 3,300 massproduced small satellites in low earth orbit (LEO), which communicate with GHVLJQDWHG JURXQG WUDQVFHLYHUV Analysts quote Star-link as saying it will take your money and give you speed adding it will give stability than ever H[SHULHQFHG One analyst boasts that “Starlink’s delivery and credential elsewhere in RYHU FRXQWULHV PD\ EH VX΀FLHQW IRU customers in Nigeria to dump their existing providers for the new satellite EULGH , IHDU IRU *60 RSHUDWRUV HYHQ LQ VSLWH RI WKH \HW WR EH IXOO\ H[SORUHG * DQG WKH QHZ * RͿHULQJV µ$ MRXUQDOLVW ZKR has knowledge of Starlink operations said ´WKH FRPSDQ\ FRXOG GR WR *60 RSHUDWRUV ZKDW WKH\ GLG WR &'0$ RSHUDWRUV RYHU D decade ago to end the reign of the likes of ,QWHUFHOOXODU DQG 6WDUFRPPV µ (ORQ 0XVN·V 6WDUOLQN LV FRPLQJ WR WKH market at a higher price but with better SURPLVH RI ÀUVW UDWH VHUYLFH WKDW FRXOG DOWHU WKH VFDOH QRW RQO\ LQ PDMRU XUEDQ FHQWUHV OLNH /DJRV $EXMD DQG 3RUW +DUFRXUW EXW DOVR LQ UXUDO FRPPXQLWLHV ZLWK PDMRU institutions where internet from existing service providers have remained costly DQG XQUHOLDEOH ,Q /DJRV DQ DYHUDJH 6PDOO 0HGLXP (QWHUSULVH 60( SD\V VRPH WR as entry fee for terminal to sign up to a SURYLGHU·V VHUYLFH DQG SD\V EHWZHHQ DQG IRU PRQWKO\ VXEVFULSWLRQ WKDW often comes with ‘managed frustration’ owing to frequent downtimes and lower WKDQ SDLG IRU EDQGZLGWK VSHHG There are no fewer than 18 internet service providers licensed by the NCC and run their services on various technology SODWIRUPV 7KHUH DUH VXEVFULEHUV E\ 0RELOH 1HWZRUN 2SHUDWRUV 0126 LQFOXGLQJ 071 *OREDFRP $LUWHO DQG 0RELOH Fixed wired networks have 15,572 VXEVFULEHUV 7KH RSHUDWRUV LQ WKLV VHJPHQW LQFOXGH ,31; 9*& &RPPXQLFDWLRQV 071 DQG VW &HQWXU\ ,QWHUQHW 6HUYLFH 3URYLGHUV IRU ZLUHG and wireless segment have 204,810 VXEVFULEHUV 2SHUDWRUV LQFOXGH 6SHFWUDQHW DQG 6PLOH &RPPXQLFDWLRQV 9RLFH RYHU ,QWHUQHW 3URWRFRO 9R,3 RSHUDWRUV KDYH VXEVFULEHUV 7KH RSHUDWRUV DUH LQ YDULRXV FDWHJRULHV $OWKRXJK WKH\ RFFXS\ D PDMRU VHJPHQW IRU XVHUV WKHVH RSHUDWRUV DUH HVVHQWLDOO\ XQFODVVLÀHG 7KH\ LQFOXGH 1WHO DQG 6PLOH &RPPXQLFDWLRQV 7KH LGHD is to improve and deepen internet and EURDGEDQG SHQHWUDWLRQ LQ 1LJHULD With an understanding of the Nigerian market and especially conscious of the dearth of internet in unconnected areas, Starlink opted for satellite internet clusters and applied for a license from the NCC ZKLFK ZDV JUDQWHG WR LW WR RSHUDWH RQ 0D\

Aragba-Akpore is a member of THISDAY Editorial Board

28 4

T H I S D AY

WEDNESDAY JANUARY 11, 2022

EDITORIAL

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

THE SECOND NIGER BRIDGE The completion of the bridge deserves commendation

A

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The second Niger Bridge represents a strategic national infrastructure with great socio-economic prospects for the South-east states and indeed, the entire nation T H I S D AY EDITOR SHAKA MOMODU DEPUTY EDITORS WALE OLALEYE, OBINNA CHIMA MANAGING DIRECTOR ENIOLA BELLO DEPUTY MANAGING DIRECTOR ISRAEL IWEGBU CHAIRMAN EDITORIAL BOARD OLUSEGUN ADENIYI EDITOR NATION’S CAPITAL IYOBOSA UWUGIAREN MANAGING EDITOR BOLAJI ADEBIYI THE OMBUDSMAN KAYODE KOMOLAFE

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

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ennis Fitzgerald, Melbourne, Australia

T H I S D AY ˾ WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 11, 2023

29

BUSINESSWORLD R A T E S MONEY MARKET

A S

A T

REPO

Group Business Editor Eromosele Abiodun Email oriarehu.eromosele@thisdaylive.com

08056356325

J A N U A R Y

S & P INDEX

1 0 , 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%

Amidst Investors, Exporters’ Demand, FX Turnover on FMDQ Reached N56.52trn in 2022

Kayode Tokede nn nnn Amid investors and exporters demand, foreign exchange sales increased to N56.52 trillion in 11 months of 2022, representing an increase of 10.1 per cent over N51.34 trillion recorded in 11 months of 2021, a report by FMDQ Exchange has revealed.

The I&E foreign exchange window is the market trading segment for investors, exporters and end-users that allows for FX trades to be made at exchange rates determined based on prevailing market circumstances.

The FX market in 2022

witnessed scarcity and increased intervention by Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), leading to a dwindling decline in foreign reserves.

Findings by THISDAY revealed that investors & exporters foreign exchange turnover in 2021 stood at N58.18 trillion as against N68.22 trillionin 2020.

Analysts have expressed that the intense supply of FX at the investors and exporters window has impacted economic growth, stressing the role CBN has played.

The governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin

Emefiele in 2022 said the investors and exporters window attracted over $50 billion in investments to the country within three years.

According to him, “The CBN introduced the Investors and Exporters (I&E) Forex window to enable investors and exporters to purchase and sell forex at the prevailing market rate. This has attracted over $50 billion in investment to the country within three years.”

Commenting on investors & exporters foreign hike in 11 months of 2022, the vice president, Highcap Securities Limited, Mr. David Adnori

attributed the growth recorded in the total foreign exchange turnover in the 11 months to increasing business activities.

He said that the slow growth in business activities in the first five months of 2022 affected foreign exchange turnover traded, attributing it to uncertainty in the global economy amid hike in inflation rate.

He said: “The restrictions had affected investors and exporters’ demand for FX in the first five months of 2022. The war between Russia/Ukraine affected capital inflow into the country and led to volatility in the foreign exchange

market.

“However, with the ease of movement in 2022, investors and exporters surge for FX from the FMDQ market increased and it reflected in the amounts.”

The Chief operating officer of InvestData Consulting Limited, Mr. Ambrose Omordion, also said the growth to increasing demand for FX, maintaining that global economy was expected to have expanded in 2022 but might be slowed down due to the crisis between Ukraine and Russia.

According Omordion, “the Nigeria economy has witnessed more business activities in the 11

months of 2022 and demand for FX has increased significantly.”

With the growth in turnover FX trade by investors & exporters, the CBN on its official website revealed that Naira against the dollar closed in 11 months of 2022 at N443.584/ Dollar from N306.5/ Dollar it opened in the year under review.

Analysts at Investment One Research in their 2022 review and 2023 macro-economic and financial markets outlook, titled; “Unboxing the new realities,” explained that in 2022, the Continued on page 30

Economy: FG Urged to Strengthen Oversight on Revenue Agencies, Unlock Opportunities for MSMEs James Emejo in Abuja Analysts yesterday urged the federal government to focus on dealing with the current revenue constraints by paying attention to all revenue-generating agencies, particularly the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and the Federal Inland Revenue Service

(FIRS).

They said the country needed to ensure that revenue-generating institutions maximise their collections as well as remit appropriately to the government.

The analysts, in setting an agenda for the government in 2023, also called on the government to boost crude production, and implement

the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) to the letter to ensure consistent growth in the energy sector.

In separate interviews with THISDAY, they urged the government to among other things, concentrate on creating an enabling environment to enable MSME businesses to thrive given that they remain the lifeblood of the economy.

They stressed that factors including insecurity, high inflation, and multiple taxations have crippled businesses, and had a knock-on effect on the economy in general leading to massive poverty.

Managing Director/Chief Executive, Dignity Finance and Investment Limited, Dr. Chijioke Ekechukwu, said the government

must address oil theft to ensure Nigeria meets up with the OPEC production, and be ready to produce up to installed capacity.

In addition, he said, “Firstly, the government should deal with its revenue base and pay attention to all revenue-generating MDAs, including NNPC and FIRS. “We need to determine that

these institutions are maximizing their collections and are remitting maximally.

“We should ensure that FIRS is collecting all that they are meant to collect and remit the same accordingly. Many other revenuegenerating parastatals that are not Continued on page 30

M A R K E T D ATA A S AT T U E S D AY, J A N U A R Y 1 0 , 2 0 2 3 BONDS DESCRIPTION Price ^14.20 14MAR-2024 ^13.53 23MAR-2025 ^12.50 22JAN-2026 ^16.2884 17MAR-2027 ^13.98 23FEB-2028

10.362, 00 10.459, 00 10.287, 00 11.168, 00 10.386, 00

Yield 10.82 11.11 11.35 12.60 12.92

Change Updated Time (%) -0.01 January 6, 2023 -0.71 January 6, 2023 0.00 January 6, 2023 0.00 January 6, 2023 0.00 January 6, 2023

BILLS MATURITY

Discount

Yield

NTB 26-Jan23 NTB 9-Feb23 NTB 9-Mar23 NTB 27-Apr23

3.01

3.01

3.01

3.02

2.21

2.22

3.20

3.23

NTB 11May-23

3.23

3.27

OTC F X F U T U R E S

CPS

Change Updated Time (%) 6, -0.01 January 2023 6, 0.00 January 2023 6, -1.71 January 2023 6, 0.00 January 2023 6, 0.00 January 2023

MATURITY FDHP CP III 17-MAR-23 VHPL CP III 1-APR-23 MREP CP VI 11-APR-23

Change Updated Time (%) 6, 9.26 9.43 0.00 January 2023 6, 14.15 14.64 0.00 January 2023 6, 10.52 10.81 -0.01 January 2023

Discount Yield

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CONTRACT TENOR Contract (MONTH) NGUS JAN 25 1 2023 NGUS FEB 22 2 2023 NGUS MAR 29 3 2023 NGUS APR 26 4 2023 NGUS MAY 31 5 2023

Current Rate Updated Time ($/₦) January 6, 469.87 2023 January 6, 472.05 2023 January 6, 474.23 2023 January 6, 476.42 2023 January 6, 478.60 2023

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WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 11, 2023 ˾ T H I S D AY

BUSINESSWORLD

INTERVIEW

Ife: Banking Sector Will Be Stronger this Year In this interview, renowned economist, London Enterprise Ambassador and Chief Economic Strategist, ECOWAS Commission, Ken Ife predicted that the banking sector would thrive in 2023 and also gave insights on various sectors of the economy. Nume Ekeghe presents the excepts: It is the beginning of the year; can you forecast where our economy is headed in 2023?

023 would be a very difficult year for the country, in the context that we still had runaway inflation that consistently keeps rising. We closed the books at 21. 47 per cent and also, the food sub-basket index still kept on driving the upward pressure on inflation giving a much wider gap.

The second point on inflation is that there is an inflection where the urban sub-index actually went higher than the composite price index. This means that it is coming on higher than the average meaning that the price rises in the urban center are phenomenally high and you can now trace it to the difference between rural and urban. Understanding the complexity of that inflation helps us to see what the dynamics were. There is a very high degree of imported inflation because of the forex dynamics and so many things are going on the forex front.

2

Can you elaborate on issues around foreign exchange?

Three different demand pressures were on the currency. You have the supply push, which is structural and then you have the demand pool, which is really around the Francophone countries that are actively buying crops and foodstuff from Nigeria and northern frontiers and they have been contributing to demandpull inflation.

Also, the imported inflation is due to very high differentials in the black market and the domestic market. So approaching the Christmas season, a lot of money was demanded which caused a big spike towards the end and also because of the speculation on the currency and the announcement of the redesign of the currency. So all of that contributed to the very high push; but then it came down when other factors started kicking in inducing panic buying, people going on holiday people paying school fees and people importing to sell during Christmas, causing it to subside.

And then the diaspora saw a very high dollar rate and had to start buying naira because it was very high. But all of that subsided, and they will remain a little cool.

The other area that was such a challenge was the forex and I find it so difficult to get people to understand that even though our economy is well diversified on the domestic front, especially as the petroleum sector has come down to 6.5 per cent of the GDP and now many sectors are bigger than the petroleum sector. Trade is about 15 to 16 per cent and

Ife ICT is about 7 per cent. Then you have the other sectors like financial services, which is over 20 per cent, services are around 56 per cent all of them are doing higher than oil. But then it is a different story when you come to the export sector of the economy where the dominance for forex receipts is crude oil, accounting for 79 per cent of our revenue. And then gas accounts for 10 per cent, leaving only 10 per cent to be shared by the dwindling foreign direct investment, the foreign portfolio investment and diaspora remittance. Diaspora remittance went down from $26 billion to just over $5 billion during the COVID-19 but has recovered fully to $20.5 billion just before the close of the last quarter.

But that notwithstanding, it is a huge challenge for two reasons: one is that Nigeria is not in control of the prices of crude as well as the production volume.

The production volume limit is set by Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) but at the same time, the militants in the Niger Delta are bursting pipes and were shut down to minimize losses so we are never able to reach our capacity. And then because we are not having enough production volume even though the prices are high and whatever

comes in is consumed by the budget. So you don’t have that excess crude to go into the excess crude account and then you don’t have any accretion to foreign reserves. So the forex situation worsens.

And then the second aspect is that this NNPC did a crude swap, which means they simply ignored the central bank and every other need for forex in Nigeria by simply pushing out the whole crude to refine in exchange for premium motor spirits (PMS). I have fought against this because it doesn’t make sense. The fact of the matter is that you cannot bundle these two transactions into one. For example, if you have 20 per cent leakage in the export of crude accounting, and then you have the same 20 per cent leakage in imported PMS accounting because remember, we are still arguing about the volume that is being consumed. So, you are now having multiple impacts of 40 per cent. So you can’t put them in the same accounting framework.

I’ve been telling this to the Minister of Finance, and she agrees with me.

Now the impact of what they are doing is that since 2014, $3 billion has gone into the central bank from crude proceeds, and then they will still come back and take some of that to pay for the PMS.

But what happens is that the CBN disburses $1.8 billion every month and then the overall request for dollars for imports is about $4.6 billion. So it’s already providing less than what the market requires.

For the whole of 2021, CBN wasn’t getting anything didn’t get anything from NNPC but towards the last quarter, it started getting $300 million which is only 10 per cent of what you should be getting from NNPC. So there is no way you can expect the central bank that has to disburse $1.8 billion monthly that only receives $300 million from the NNPC and still needs to pay for all kinds of import bills for raw materials to cope.

80 per cent of our manufacturing capacity in this country is dependent on imported raw materials and pharmaceutical is almost 100 per cent for active pharmaceutical ingredients.

So you are starving the legitimate people who need them for manufacturing to keep the jobs, starving invincibles, which are people going for medical treatment or paying for school fees for their children, and all kinds of things. Then all the others that are waiting, which amount is put at $4.6 billion. They all have to now head to the black market to buy dollars. So, it is difficult, CBN can’t print dollars in this country. So it is difficult and people don’t want to hear all that, they’ll just say it is CBN that is failing in their policies and they forget that there are other people are playing their part in all of this.

Furthermore, when you now come to the quantum of money trading on the black market, you can now connect it to the N2.6 trillion that is out there outside the banking sector out of the N3.3 trillion that is supposed to be in circulation. Now that quantum of money is trading and speculating on the strength of the naira and then they’ve got cash liquidity there to be trading on this currency. You also have the laundered money in the mix.

Can you speak on the redesign of the naira and what impact it is having?

When CBN decided to change the currency it began to bring sanity to that currency arena.

But that wasn’t well received but people have now come to agree that it is necessary. 20 years is such a long time not to change the currency because the technology of the previous currency is completely outdated and now we have a new currency that has electronic assets in there. You can track money and all kinds of other things.

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

ECONOMY: FG URGED TO STRENGTHEN OVERSIGHT ON REVENUE AGENCIES, UNLOCK OPPORTUNITIES FOR MSMES remitting what they collect should be enforced to do so.”

Ekechukwu, however, said the much-awaited Dangote Refinery should be supported to start production as soon as possible to reduce pressure on the country’s foreign reserves.

He said the government should do everything possible to reduce the embarrassing insecurity in the land so that farmers can go back to the farm and businesses can thrive again.

He said, “When insecurity is reduced, investors will start coming back to invest in the country and

they will start taking us seriously.

“Promotion of exports should be a priority and a serious priority for that matter. This will help bring in more desired foreign currency and reduce the exchange rate.

“All Social intervention programmes should stop and they should channel the funds to building technical schools and colleges all over the country, to teach skills. This will create many entrepreneurs immediately after they finish. These are the low-hanging and ripe fruits.”

Also, Wealth Management and Business Development Consultant,

Mr. Ibrahim Shelleng, said what is required in 2023 was for the government to provide an enabling environment to let MSME businesses thrive.

He said a thriving MSME sector will help boost growth and productivity in the country, pointing out that the impact will be felt almost immediately.

According to him, this will also curtail the massive unemployment figures among other various socioeconomic opportunities.

On his part, Managing Director/ Chief Executive, SD&D Capital Management Limited, Mr. Idakolo

Gbolade, said the agricultural value chain should not be neglected and called for more deliberate intervention by the government through the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in key areas of the sector to drive food sustainability and security.

He said the government should embark on transparent social security measures to alleviate poverty and reduce the percentage of Nigerians in the poverty net.

Gbolade said, “The federal government should embark on key infrastructure projects to can guarantee mass employment for the

unemployed and create programs in all key sectors to engage the teeming youth population.

“The federal government in conjunction with CBN and key drivers of the economy should evolve realistic measures to tame inflation and revive the naira.

According to him, “The government should ensure that the increase in crude production being witnessed now is sustained and efforts should be made to implement the PIA to the latter to ensure consistent growth in the energy sector.

“The government should also

ensure that subsidy payment is stopped this year once the government can achieve selfsustainability in crude oil refining.

“The federal government must also focus on power generation and all its value chain to ensure improved electricity generation and supply to stimulate the manufacturing sector and sustain production in general.”

He added that the government should not relent on efforts to improve security in the country so that investors’ confidence can be restored towards more investment decisions in the year.

AMIDST INVESTORS, EXPORTERS’ DEMAND, FX TURNOVER ON FMDQ REACHED N56.52TRN IN 2022 higher oil price but low reserves conundrum continued to torment the local currency.

According to them, “As such, the pressure on the exchange rate intensified buoyed by the low accretion to reserves. Despite Brent trading at multi-year high, the impact on foreign reserves was limited given the country’s low production and elevated subsidy payments. Resultantly, FX reserves declined by 8.93per cent to close at $36.96 billion as at 2022.

“In a bid to reduce the pressure on the Naira, the CBN introduced the RT200 non-oil

export proceed repatriation rebate scheme to enhance FX inflow, diversify the sources of foreign inflow, increase the contribution of non-oil exports, ensure stability and sustainability of FX inflows, and support oriented companies to expand their export operations and capabilities.

“The rebate scheme rewarded exporters with the payment of N65 for every $1 repatriated and sold at the I& EFX Window to Authorized Dealer Banks (ADBs) for other third-party use, and N35 for every $1 repatriated and sold into I & EFX for eligible transactions only.”

The report disclosed further that, “Consequently, the incentive was positive at the I & EFX window as inflows from exporters rose to $4.93 billion as at FY 2022, 117.18per cent higher than the $2.27 billion recorded in FY 2021.

“On the flip side, CBN’s participation and FPI inflows via the IEFX window recorded lower activities as it crashed by 50.58per cent and 53.45per cent to $2.08 billion and $1.28 billion, respectively.”

The report stated that at the I& EFX window, the naira continued to lose value against

the Dollar, as it depreciated by 3.79 per cent to close at N451.50/$ against the backdrop of declining reserves, low foreign portfolio inflows and diaspora remittances.

“In the same vein, the tight liquidity conditions driven by little or no supply with expanding demand, political activities and speculative demand drove the black-market rate to new lows. We highlight that the pressure on the Naira at the black market worsened as the CBN’s decision to redesign the Naira notes in a short timeframe triggered intense

speculation, and a switch to the greenback by some currency hoarders.

“As such, the scarcity in the FX market intensified, with the Naira plummeting to N800/$ during the year. As a store of value, the market seems to have lost confidence in the currency thus, exacerbating the rotation from local assets to foreign assets.

“Overall, Naira depreciated at the black market by 42.31per cent to close at N750.00/$.

Resultantly, the spread between the official and black market widened and oscillated within

the range of N300.c,” the report said.

They forecasted that the local currency will weaken further in 2023.

“While the nation’s FX reserves may proffer support for the currency, we highlight that the CBN will continue to allow the Naira to weaken to c.

N480/$ - N490.00/$ at the I& EFX window during the year to aid marginal improvement in balance of payment. As such, we opine that we might not see a devaluation in the Naira beyond that level,” the report added.

T H I S D AY ˾ WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 11, 2023

BUSINESSWORLD

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ECONOMY

X-raying SON’s Footprint Across Nigeria Gilbert Ekwugbe examines the Standard Organisation of Nigeria plans to have its presence felt in all the geopolitical zones of the country and beyond

T

he Standard Organization of Nigeria (SON) in pursuance of its statutory mandates has in its strategic plans to have its presence felt in all the geopolitical zones of the country and beyond. The idea is not to only help ease operations but to also cover the entire spectrum of its mandates, maximize resources to achieving optimum productivity with the overall goal of boosting the nation’s economy.

In realization of this strategic objective, the Standard Organization of Nigeria, SON has built complexes in Akwa Ibom- South South, Ekiti in the South West, Kwara in the North Central and Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, with similar projects ongoing in Kogi and Delta states.

The establishment of the North East Regional office and laboratory complex of the Standard Organization of Nigeria commissioned in Bauchi state on the 8th December, 2022 was another milestone in the quest to deepen and widen the horizon of activities of the Agency in Nigeria.

This is more so that Bauchi state in the North East geopolitical zone of the country accounts for a fair percentage of trade and commerce in agro-allied businesses and livestock production which requires regulations by the Agency, hence the need for the laboratory complex which will for now serve all the States in the zone, thereby adding to the programme of the federal government of ‘Ease of Doing Business Initiative’.

This informed the zeal with which the Director General of the SON, Dr Farouk Salim took the project to the point of completion and commissioning. He saw the excellent disposition of the people of Bauchi state to entrepreneur and being that, it was the first state in the zone to offer a parcel of land to SON for the establishment of the regional office and laboratory complex.

LABORATORY COMPLEX IN BAUCHI Standard Organization of Nigeria has always key- in into the federal government’s socioeconomic plans, part of which is to create a conducive environment for the growth of the local industries and to attract foreign investments.

This can be achieved only if there is standardization in what the entrepreneurs produced, of which testing is a critical component of conformity assessment programme of SON. Before now, most samples of products from the North East zone were transported to Lagos for testing at a very high cost with associated problems for perishable commodities as well as risk of accidents.

Often samples get destroyed before they get to the laboratory for testing.

Thus, overcoming all these challenges made it imperative for the establishment of the North East Laboratory in Bauchi and other states including the FCT, Abuja.

The prime factor was the need to improve the turnaround time for the delivery of laboratory services, thereby protecting the integrity of the testing systems, with the overall goal of the SON to reduce the cost of business for Micro. Small, Medium Enterprises in the North East geopolitical zone of the country.

The regional office is expected to help entrepreneurs interact with Officials of SON better in a language they understand through information dissemination and accurate education on other services outside sample testing with a view to ensuring that both entrepreneurs and SON operate in accordance with the set standards in line with the international bodies as they relate to food technology and livestock production for which the people of Bauchi state have comparative advantage on.

This explains why the laboratories are in food chemistry which would focus on

Salim food related products including a popular Bauchi “Masa and Danbum Nama’ while the engineering laboratory is dedicated to products in the building industry such as Lafarge Cement Company in neighbouring Gombe state and thousands of block moulders across the North East geopolitical zone.

REGIONAL OFFICE IN NORTH EAST With the commissioning of the complex, it is a new dawn for the development of MSMEs in Bauchi, the North East and Nigeria as a whole. This is because trade and commerce in animal food processing and agro allied industries including Halal market estimated at 2.3 trillion dollars would be boosted as some MDAs are prepared to partner.

Additionally, the admission of SON as a member of standards and metrology Institute of Islamic countries responsible for regulating Halal certification will encourage the federal government to expedite action for an early completion of the Halal Institute in Kano.

The SON laboratory in Bauchi can also in the future be retooled for an oil and gas laboratory following the successful drilling of crude oil at the Kolmani Integrated Oil field located within the suburbs of Gombe and BAUCHI States, thus, a value addition.

MONITORING AND EVALUATION The establishment of the North East regional office and laboratory was a resolve of The SON to secure accreditation for the laboratories before the expiration of the Director General’s tenure in office, as the accreditation would ensure global acceptance with the principle of “tested once, accepted globally’ with positive multiplier effects on both subnational and national economy.

Already, many of the MSMEs who have formed themselves into clusters are expected to submit their entities cum operational preferences for profiling to enable optimum service delivery expected to grow their businesses.

ACTIVITIES AT THE COMMISSIONING The unveiling of the complex which marked the commissioning was done by the minister of state, Industry, Trade and Investments, Ambassador Mariam Katagum along with Bauchi state Governor Sen. Bala Mohammed. The event attracted the Emirs, captain of industries, MSMEs among other dignitaries.

The event also preceded by several stakeholders sharing experiences and charting a way forward and commendation to the Director General, SON, Mallam Farouk Salim for his visionary leadership style.

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WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 11, 2023 ˾ T H I S D AY

BUSINESSWORLD

INSURANCE

Third Party Insurance as Two-edged Sword for Operators Stakeholders in insurance industry have weighed the pros and cons of the recent increase in premium charged on the compulsory Motor Third Party Insurance by NAICOM. Ebere Nwoji reports that the development has been described as two-edged sword that can make or mar the operators.

T

he National Insurance Commission (NAICOM), precisely on December 22nd, 2022 announced 200 percent increase in premium payable on the compulsory Motor Third Party Insurance.

The commission said the increase took effect from January 1, 2023 meaning that motorists have only one-week notice to abide by the new premium rate.

Before now, motorists were paying N5000 premium on the policy but with the increase they are to pay N15000 showing 200 percent increase.

Also claim on the policy was increased from N1 million for death and permanent disability to N3 million.

The increase though has been muted by NAICOM for some time to the extent that it set up a committee that would set the new rate, but this has elicited series of reactions from the insuring public, insurers themselves and other stakeholders in insurance industry.

ANALYSTS’ VIEW

Industry analysts see the new rate is a two edged sword that can make or mar operators depending on how it is enforced and monitored.

According to the analysts, it is two-edged sword in the sense that if insurers themselves align with the regulator by adhering to the stated rate without cutting corners in terms of rate cutting, it will put more money in their pockets and enable them attend to emanating claims.

On the other hand, if the operators engage in their usual unhealthy competition and its implementation not well monitored and enforced, it will throw wide open the gate for fake insurers to continue their insurance certificate faking deals which has been flourishing until the Nigeria Insurance Industry Data base (NIID) initiative came on board.

According to them, given the fact that this particular policy has over the years suffered the worst abuses by fake insurance certificate sellers, there is need for mass education and campaign on the need for Nigerians to buy their motor insurance from genuine insurers at standard rate and get their claims paid in case of eventuality than pay paltry sum to certificate fakers and have no body to hold responsible in case of the unforeseen.

They are of the view that the new rate and its implementation needs to be monitored by both NAICOM and Nigeria Insurers Association through massive campaigns and education against activities of fake certificate sellers. Also the NIID should be made to be effective in all the states.

In addition to this, they said insurers should collaborate with law enforcement agents and endeavor to make a clear difference between their activities and those of fakers by charging the appropriate premium as stated by the regulator and paying claims promptly when accident occurs.

Before the NIID initiative, Motor Third Party Insurance among the six compulsory insurances in Nigeria suffered the worst abuse and has stood as a major loophole through which premium drift from genuine insurers to fake ones.

THISDAY checks reveal that even with the NIID, there are states where fake certificate sellers on Motor Third Party Insurance are making impressive outing because motorists prefer to pay N1000 to certificate fakers than to pay N5000 official rate to the genuine insurers.

But the danger here is that such motorists expose third party road users whom the Motor Third Party insurance policy is supposed to protect to danger.

Holders of the fake certificates when involved in accident cannot make claims for compensation of their victims because no genuine insurance firm will take responsibility.

Most times, holders of the fake certificates are perpetrators of hit and run crime whereas a claim of N1million is attached to the policy for holders of genuine certificates in case of death or permanent disability. If the accident involves another vehicle, the insurance company that insured the vehicle will take the responsibility of repairing the third party’s vehicle.

MOTORISTS’ CHOICE OF FAKE CERTIFICATES

But despite these benefits, motorist in Nigeria, especially commercial motorists, prefer to patronise fake certificate sellers to pay lesser premium, without minding what the fate of the third party whom the policy is meant to protect, will be in case of accident.

But insurance sector critics argued that insurers often take advantage of public ignorance of benefits and claims attached to the Motor Third Party Insurance to deny them claims, a situation,

which they said has aided patronage of fake certificate sellers.

With the new rate, especially the high margin increase, analysts have reasoned that the new rate and poor disposable income of the masses will compel motorists in states where the NIID is yet to be effective and even states where it has become effective to resort to patronising fake insurance certificate sellers.

Their fear is hinged on the fact that even when rate was N5000, there were states where commercial motorists openly said they prefer to obtain their insurance certificates from fake agents that were ready to collect N1000 rather than offices where the official premium rate of N5000 were being charged.

STATE GOVERNMENT’S ATTITUDE

For instance, in December 2021, there was a media report on the Kaduna State Internal Revenue Service (KADIRS) removing Motor Third Party insurance in the registration and renewal of commercial vehicles’ documents from its coverage, due to N5,000 premium which was said to be too expensive compared to N1,500 paid in neighbouring states.

The Executive Chairman, KADIRS, Dr. Zaid Abubakar, was said to have made the announcement in Kaduna at a sensitisation of taxpayers in Kaduna Central Senatorial zone.

Abubakar was said to have explained that the compulsory Motor Third Party Insurance was paid at the same time as motor vehicle registration, adding, however, that mainly private vehicle owners renew their vehicle documents in the state, while commercial vehicle owners preferred to register and renew their vehicle documents in neighbouring states where the cost for Motor Third Party Insurance was lower than what obtains in the state.

“If the compulsory third party insurance will be a hindrance to tax collection and revenue generation in any way, we can do without it.

This is very disturbing because these commercial vehicle owners conduct their business in Kaduna State but would rather renew their vehicle documents in other states.

Therefore, we are taking off the third party insurance in the registration and renewal of vehicle documents for commercial vehicles.

“Following the removal of insurance in vehicle papers renewal, I am urging all commercial vehicle owners to renew their vehicle papers in Kaduna State. This will enable the state to optimise revenue generation from motor vehicle registration due to the state,’’ Abubakar said.

Reacting to the removal, the Secretary, Road Transport Employers Association of Nigeria (RTEAN), Kaduna State, Mr Suleman Shaba lauded the gesture saying the step would encourage renewal of vehicle papers in the state.

Shaba acknowledged that most of the members travelled to as far as Jigawa, Kano and other neighbouring states to either register new vehicles or renew expired papers.

He said that some of the members who preferred to go to other states argued that the N5, 000 charged in Kaduna State was too expensive compared to the N1, 500 or

N2,000 for the same insurance in Jigawa.

“Now that insurance has been taken off, we will encourage our members to renew their vehicle papers in Kaduna state,” he promised.

Obviously, when the above decision was taken by the revenue department of the state, every Nigerian knew that the official premium rate for Motor Third Party Insurance nationwide was N5000 and anybody who charged anything less than that was a fake insurer yet the motorists preferred to travel to places where they would pay less.

Against this backdrop there are fears that the upward review of the premium rate by NAICOM would compel motorists even private vehicle owners who buy the policy more from genuine insurers to prefer to patronise fake insurers.

OPERATORS’ VIEW

But Managing Director, Royal Exchange General Insurance, Mrs. Ebelechukwu Nwachukwu said insurers were not unmindful of the initial reluctance and resistance of the new premium by the insuring public.

She said insurers were aware that such would happen but that they needed to educate the public on the need for the increase.

She said the premium increase has become inevitable because of cost of maintaining vehicles, which has drastically changed.

She argued that prices of everything in the country has risen and insurance premium could not be exception.

She however said the timing was not well structured but that insurers would try to find a balance because they would not want to loose their customers.

She also said the industry would embark on strong enforcement programme to prevent fake operators from taking advantage of genuine insurers.

Before the premium increase, the Deputy General Manager of sales Sovereign Trust Insurance plc, Mr Segu Bankole, had in a telephone chat with THISDAY lamented that the Motor Third Party Insurance, not only suffers abuses by fake certificate sellers but also by genuine insurers.

He said some insurance operators in their quest to rake in premium cut the rate and charge as low as N2000 and resolve within themselves not to pay any claims that emanate from such low charges.

He said such insurers sweep claims from Motor Third party Insurance under the bed proving to the insured that there are no claims attached to it.

Industry watchers said with the premium increase, the industry would return to the era of premium drift from this particular policy as many people will want to cut corners.

NAICOM CHARGED ON COLLABORATION

To avoid this, they urged NAICOM to collaborate with law enforcement agents especially in states where the NIID is already working to ensure that certificates paraded by motorists were from genuine insurers.

The commission was also challenged to ensure that claims from the policy were

paid to encourage motorists buy their policy from genuine insurers.

VIEW OF INSURANCE CONSUMERS

But the Insurance Consumers Association (INSCAN) shortly after the announcement called on NAICOM to reverse the new rate saying it was at variance with some of the works commissioned by the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) which recommended phased increase of Motor Third Party Motor Insurance premium.

INSCAN National Coordinator, Yemi Soladoye, in a protest letter titled, “Demand for reversal of your policy directive on the increase of Motor Third Party Insurance premium in Nigeria by 200 percent under one week notice to the Nigeria insurance consumers,” noted that the policy required a staggered increase first to N7,500 and subsequently to N10,000, N12,500 and ultimately to N15,000 within a ten year period.

Soladoye outlined that the recommendation was not limited to premium increase but that there was a mandate to NAICOM in 2012 to include in the process initiatives that would ensure, emergence of high level confidence in insurance mechanism in Nigeria to the extent that by the year 2012, mere exchange of insurance papers would resolve any accident/damage dispute among Nigerian motorists.

However, he said only the benefits were taken and he asks “Why take only the benefit and ignore the responsibility that was already 10 years overdue.

Meanwhile, the Nigerian Corporation of Registered Insurance Brokers (NCRIB); which actively participated in the prolonged process of announcing the new Motor Third Party Insurance premium, has referred the matter to its technical committee to take a position.

THISDAY learnt that the Technical Committee of the brokers council is already sitting and would pass their recommendations to the Council of NCRIB for further deliberations at which point the NCRIB would present its position.

In its protest letter, INSCAN, which claimed to be representing almost 20 million motor insurance consumers in Nigeria, argued that consumers deserved more than one week notice for the new rate.

In its argument over the new premium rate it said, “We are not impressed by your corresponding increase in the indemnity limit to N3 million as the questions on the lips of our members are who requested for this increase to N3 million, how many claims have you really settled even when the limit was N1 million, are you aware that many fleet owners on their own volition do pay extra premium to the underwriters to increase their TPPD limit to N5 million and where are the insurance ratios to justify that premium increase by whooping 200 percent.”

Checks by THISDAY on when the industry started charging N5000 on the policy yielded no result as none of the industry operators remembered when the N5000 rate started showing that going by the inflation rate in the country and high cost of repairing damaged vehicles, the rate is overdue for upward review.

But as stated by the industry critics, operators should in the face of the new rate comply with the regulator’s official rate, avoid cutting corners and be ready to pay claims emanating from the premium.

WEDNESDAY JANUARY 11, 2023 • T H I S D AY

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T H I S D AY ˾ WEDNESDAY JANUARY 11, 2023

EDUCATION Exam Charges: Why Parents Must Engage Schools before Enrolment With the inflated West African Senior School Certificate Examination registration fee charged by private schools, as against the N18,000 mandated by the West African Examinations Council, Funmi Ogundare writes on why parents must engage the school on registration charges and what they are putting in place before enrolling their children for the exam

M

rs Sola Adediran is the parent of a student planning to sit for the 2023 West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) conducted by the West African Examinations Council (WAEC).

She was given a bill of N350,000 as a tuition fee for the second term before schools vacated for the Christmas and New Year holidays. As part of this bill, she would have to pay N110,000 for WASSCE for her son against the N18,000 charged for each student by the council.

Adediran, a teacher, said she doesn’t have a choice but to pay the outrageous N110,000 registration, but due to the inflation rate, she will have to pay in instalments.

“If the school says we should pay N110,00, what can parents do? What is the ministry of education doing about it? “ She said she is unaware of any special service her son’s school is rendering to justify such an exorbitant fee, adding that the fee also includes paying for Senior School Certificate Examination (SSCE) conducted by National Examinations Council (NECO).

Another parent, Mrs Adeola Setonji, confirmed to THISDAY that she would be paying N250,000 as a tuition fee for her son, who attends Redeemers School, Festac, adding that the WASSCE registration fee is N34,000.

She, however, expressed shock over the high registration fee charged by schools and called for prayers for the country’s leadership.

Adediran and Setonji are not alone in this.

Many parents/guardians will be at the mercy of school owners who expect them to pay exorbitant WASSCE fees ranging from N34,000 to N110, 000, as against the usual N18,000 rate charged WAEC, as primary and secondary schools across the country, resume for the second term of the 2022/2023 academic session.

During the announcement of the release of the 2021 May/June diet of the SSCE, WAEC announced an increment of the registration fee for its examination from N13,950 to N18,000, which is still far below the current fee charged by private schools.

According to the council, the increment, which amounted to about 29 per cent, begins in the 2022 SSCE. The Head of the WAEC Nigeria Office, Mr Patrick Areghan, who made the announcement, attributed the development to the coronavirus pandemic, rising inflation rates and insecurity.

“Owing to the devastating effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has brought the global economy to its knees, the unabating spiralling inflation in the country as can be seen in the general cost of doing business and the multiplier effect of the unabating insecurity in the country, which have consequential effects on the cost of our operations, it is no longer possible to continue to provide services with the current fee of N13,950 per candidate,” stated Areghan.

He added, “Furthermore, our ad hoc workers, supervisors, examiners, checkers, item writers and, indeed, all examination functionaries, have been agitating for improved remunerations.”

He pointed out that the council had received approval from the appropriate quarters with effect from the WASSCE for school candidates, 2022, to charge N18,000 per candidate, adding that all school principals must collect the same fee per candidate for registration.

He said a part of the new fee had been dedicated to enhancing the remunerations for the various examination functionaries and that its governing board has graciously approved the remunerations, which will come into effect from the WASSCE for school candidates in 2022.

He, however, said any amount beyond N18,000 charged by any school “will not be to our consent or knowledge and will definitely not come to the purse of the West African Examinations Council.”

Despite the instructions, private schools in

Students in an examination hall the country are still charging above the stipulated amount.

The acting Head of Public Affairs of the council, Moyosola Adeyegbe, expressed concern about the exorbitant registration fee parents are made to pay, saying that some schools charge as high as N90,000.

In a telephone conversation with THISDAY, she said, “schools charge candidates more than what they should be charged, we really don’t have power on that, but what the government approves as WAEC charges is N18,000 and N500 bank charges for private candidates. We are aware that schools charge as high as N90,000.”

The council had in October launched the digital certificate platform for candidates to generate their certificates online and to recover burnt, lost and damaged certificates, as Adeyegbe expressed regret that school owners had protested against the initiative.

“The digital certificate that we did, the schools protested and were angry with us that we want to take from them because candidates will not come back to school to pick the hard copy of their certificates since they can access it and share it wherever they want,” she stated Adeyegbe also expressed concern that the calculators given at the point of registration for students are meant to be free, but the schools charge students for them.

“The calculators that we gave when schools were registering for the exams were given for free, but they go back to their schools and sell to the students. We have heard complaints and gone to the schools that it should not be so,” Adeyegbe explained. “We have insisted that candidates should know that the calculator with bold inscription,’ Not for sale’, is for them and should not be sold. Even after writing the

examination, they don’t even allow the students have access to the certificate issued, until they pay some certain amount of money which is meant to be given free to the students.”

She also mentioned that the schools “are using WASSCE exam as an opportunity to make money and exploit candidates, that is why you hear of some students complaining that they are not able to pay their fees. It is not because they can’t pay, but because of the amount the school is charging.”

THISDAY checks reveal that schools organise extra lessons to prepare their students for the exams, pay those that will invigilate during the exam and ensure security, equip the laboratories and even pay the drivers that will take the students home after late classes, fueling generators and vehicles, among other services, to justify their reason for charging high registration fees for WASSCE. A school owner and Proprietor of Omolewu Academy Bucksman Height, Okeho, Oyo State, Mr Segun Omolewu, told THISDAY that the management of schools must put in place many things in preparation for the examination, which is why they inflate the registration fee so it can be spread across the services they would be offering.

Omolewu stated “any standard school must have well-equipped laboratories for WASSCE and experienced teachers that will teach the subjects and take students in practicals. The supervisors and invigilators come with a cost. In order to ensure that the teachers are comfortable, I give them money for transportation and feeding.”

The proprietor added, “We will also need to tighten up security during the conduct of the exam by paying special security guards to monitor the environment. All officials must be very comfortable.”

The President of the National Association of Private Schools (NAPPS), Chief Yomi Otubela, told THISDAY that different variables come into play on the registration fees charged by private schools, adding that some schools also register their students for more than one exam within the year.

“With high inflation rate, the WAEC practical material that we used to buy at a certain rate, is no longer the same. The maintenance of the laboratory and other special room used

“ Schools are using WASSCE as an opportunity to make money and exploit candidates, that is why you hear of some students complaining that they are not able to pay their fees. It is not because they can’t pay, but because of the amount the school is charging”

for preparing the students for the exam get dilapidated over time,” said Otubela. “During the course of the exam, there might be need to supply power to the exam hall and ensure we supply diesel to the generator. This comes with a cost. Some schools also work extra by organising extra mural classes for the students.

While some schools don’t charge anything for development fee, they charge it alongside for the preparation for the exam because it is not part of the school fees.”

He, however, stressed the need for parents to engage the school before enrolling their children for the exams by asking them what the charges are meant for and other variables they are putting in place.

“If It favours the parents, they can continue, but if it doesn’t favour them, then they can look for alternatives”, he said, adding that the schools should also enumerate what they are charging for rather than lumping everything together.

Asked how children from less privileged backgrounds will be able to pay outrageous fees, Otubela said, “we have many schools under our association that grant indigent children scholarship from beginning to the end and even pay for their WAEC. That we have evidence of. As many of these schools submit their scholarship records to us.”

The Chief Executive Officer of Edumark Consult, Mrs Yinka Ogunde, said the operating costs of private schools in the country has increased astronomically and that not many of them may be able to pass them on to school fees.

“This is a very delicate matter and we cannot run away from the fact that private schools are struggling at the moment,” she said.

Justifying the high WASSCE fees, she pointed out that the school may need to put a process around the fee payment, such as settling teachers that will check the details and ensuring that all forms are well filled, amongst other services.

“All the extras will need time and resources to do and the candidates may be be called upon to bear this. I think that this also goes into the structure of a lot of our private schools. Some schools can leave WAEC fees as N18,000 and choose to have an exam management fee or so.

This will clearly show the extra work that the school will need to do is being compensated,” Ogunde added.

She stressed the need for collaboration among stakeholders to restructure the way the education sector is run.

A parent, Mrs Ngozika Amadi, stated that the authorities should investigate private schools regarding charges for JSS three and SS three, adding that policy should be put in place to harmonize the fees outside the compulsory extra lesson and outrageous fees they charge.

Head of Public Affairs Unit, Lagos State Ministry of Education, Mr Ganiu Lawal, said the state, since last year, has been paying N18,000 as registration fee for students who sit for the exam, adding that the ministry does not determine how much private schools charge.

Asked if the state is to regulate the activities of private schools, he said, “We regulate their activities, but we don’t regulate cost because each school charges based on the perceived facility and whatever service they are offering” and that “there are different levels of private schools. You have those that charge a million naira and those that charge between N20,000 and N30,000. What we regulate is the curriculum, safety and every other thing that has to do with the quality of education, but if you say we regulate cost, that means we have to tell every school to charge the same amount for every service they are providing to the students they have.”

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

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T H I S D AY ˾ WEDNESDAY JANUARY 11, 2023

EDUCATION

20 Years After, Alumni, Community Rally Support for AUN Schools’ Improvement Project Dan Okereke

A

n adage says the only reward for success is a hunger for more success. Twenty years after their establishment and currently rated among the five best colleges in Nigeria, the American University of Nigeria (AUN) Schools have turned this adage into a song. Recently, the management of the AUN Schools rolled out a well-thought-out strategic master plan for future reinvention that will put them a notch or two above their contemporaries, letting the successes of the past inspire the future. The strategic plan, conceived as School Improvement Project (SIP), was unveiled before an enthusiastic audience of the Schools’ alumni and their proud parents, as well as a crosssection of business and political elites at a dinner event in Abuja. It was a masterstroke in conceptualization and implementation, considering the passionate, financial, material, and moral support the alumni gave and pledged to the project. Whenever you see success, according to Peter Drucker, someone once made a courageous decision. In the coming years and decades, this wise decision by the management of AUN Schools to reinvent the institution and create buy-in for alumni, parents, and the community will be celebrated as brave and astute. The presentation of the SIP was part of activities commemorating the 20th anniversary of the founding of the AUN Schools, which presently comprise the Academy (Nigerian and British track), the Charter School (American track), and the Elementary and Early Learning Center (pre-school cadres), sister institutions to the famous American University of Nigeria.

Founded twenty years ago through the vision of former Nigeria’s Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, a man whom the United States of America’s Peace Corps at its golden jubilee anniversary celebration said has done more than any philanthropist in Africa for the cause of education, the AUN Schools breathe the Founder’s philosophical vision.

“Education,” says Atiku Abubakar, “is the greatest investment a nation can make to lay the foundations of liberty and freedom, the activation of individual, social and collective values, as well as the achievements of the well-being of the people.” One of his most accomplished legacies and enduring investments in creating opportunities for youths in Nigeria, the AUN Schools have in the last twenty years, provided quality education and sound moral upbringing to young Nigerians and Africans, irrespective of background. “I have always held the unwavering conviction that education is the key to success in life and

must be accorded top priority at all levels,” Atiku Abubakar said at the event.

In the words of Hajia Asma’u Atiku Abubakar, an alumna and now Deputy Director of AUN Schools, the last two decades has been a success story of academic excellence and progress, even as the third decade beckons.

In readiness to meet the tasks of graduating the best and brightest students in the challenging educational environment of the 21st century, the management of AUN Schools initiated the ambitious SIP. The SIP is an all-embracing, all-inclusive plan aimed at refocusing and rebranding the premier Academy with the collaborative support and approval of the old students, staff, teachers, and community members. By all relevant parameters, the AUN Schools belong to the top echelon of private education institutions. As pop star, Madonna, once famously said, “no matter who you are, no matter what you did, no matter where you’ve come from, you can always change, become a better version of yourself.”

Under a visionary and avantgarde management, the AUN Schools’ improvement project is transforming the institution into a better version of itself. The SIP is fundamentally comprehensive and wide-ranging. It requires the full understanding and support of all stakeholders. Ms. Asma’u Atiku Abubakar stressed this point in her welcome speech at the unveiling of the scheme. Banking on the excellent foundation in knowledge, character, and patriotism that students received from the Schools, the Academy’s management hopes to source funds from stakeholders.

The successful implementation of the first phase of the SIP has already positioned the AUN Schools at the pinnacle of the Nigerian school system, exactly where it aimed to be. The first phase aimed to expand infrastructural capacity, add a creative component to the learning and growth experience, and foster significant social contacts. It involved improvement in the Schools’ physical infrastructure – all school buildings have been refurbished and repainted, and

LASU VC Tasks Staff to Sustain Global Ranking Funmi Ogundare

The Vice-Chancellor of Lagos State University (LASU), Prof Ibiyemi Olatunji-Bello, has called on academic staff to ensure that the institution maintains its global ranking by publishing its research online in reputable journals and websites.

She also urged the academics to enhance their visibility by hoisting their works on the university’s website to strengthen its profile as a research-focused institution.

Olatunji-Bello, who said this recently at a new year inter-faith prayer programme, told them to eschew unwholesome practices and lukewarm attitudes that may affect the quality of service delivery and to be eager to provide relevant data to department or division when requested for ranking purposes.

She highlighted some of her administration’s achievements, including staff welfare.

“Our scorecard bears us out on our commitment to

the welfare of our staff. For instance, apart from a large number of staff who have been promoted, this administration has sent the highest number of staff to trainings in a single year than at any other time in the past.,” stated the LASU VC. Olatunji-Bello added, “In addition, we have fulfilled our promises on payment of the outstanding earned academic allowance, consistently remitted cooperative deductions and unfailingly paid salaries on or before the 23rd of every month.

Ekiti Deputy Speaker Motivates Students Gbenga Sodeinde in Ado Ekiti

The Deputy Speaker, Ekiti State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Hakeem Jamiu, has urged secondary school students in his constituency to be ready

to defy the odds to reach the pinnacle of success despite their humble background.

Jamiu, who said achieving success is a challenging task, urged the students to take their studies seriously and remain

focused on pursuing their dreams of becoming somebody.

He also advised them against joining bad gangs and involving in vices that could terminate their lives untimely.

The deputy speaker made

spaces remodeled. These include classrooms, personalized learning spaces, hostels, and residential support facilities like dining, furniture, convenience, and laundry rooms.

There are also technical and administrative components under the first phase. This involved utterly digitalizing the learning platforms and retraining teaching and non-teaching staff to key into 21st-century curriculum advancements. To boost staff morale, the Schools’ management effected a 25-percent welfare increase and launched an all-out parents-teachers engagement, a move applauded and reciprocated by staff.

It is with the same zest and verve that the School’s management is approaching the second and third phases in line with set objectives. The ultimate aim is to make the AUN Schools self-sufficient and better positioned to serve the community’s educational needs. At the presentation of the SIP before an appreciative audience of alumni, parents, educationists, the business community, and other education stakeholders, its goal became very apparent. The old students who attended the colorful event took time to explore their role in the grand scheme set out by management to improve both the academic performance of the teaching staff as well as the students themselves by modernizing the School’s physical infrastructure, improving the quality of the learning environment through the integration of technology, and enhancing service delivery per the best practices found around the world. The SIP is an inclusive rehabilitation plan that has a role for parents, school councils, teachers, and community members. It consists of three phases: infrastructure, technical, and administrative.

Each stage focuses on a different aspect of the School’s improvement and strikes a familiar chord with the alumni who share the same aspirations as management to lift their alma mater as a social responsibility. After the SIP, the AUN Schools will be repositioned to become the unquestioned industry leader and a center of academic excellence in the Northeast and the rest of the country.

The SIP was initiated to enhance the teaching and learning environments within the schools and expand the pool of individuals with access to high-quality educational opportunities. The enthusiastic support of the schools’ alumni, financial and moral, affirms the aptness of the management’s inclusion strategy and confirms Atiku Abubakar’s assertion at the event, that education is a collective responsibility of everyone in the community. Led by the pioneer graduating class of 2008, the Alumni spoke glowingly about the SIP and offered unconditional support to the management’s reinvention plan, which sits well with the larger vision of

the remarks in his hometown, Igbemo Ekiti, during a constituency engagement/career talk with secondary school students in his Irepodun/Ifelodun constituency II, to flag off his re-election campaign.

The event, initiated by a humanitarian organisation, Foluke Akosile Foundation (FAF) and supported by the deputy speaker, attracted students and teachers from towns like Awo, Iropora, Eyio, Esure, Ilomu, Iworoko, Are, Afao, Araromi Obbo, Orun and Igbemo.

Although the deputy speaker had procured JAMB forms for students in the constituency and facilitated the employment of many youths into teaching and civil service in the last three years, he said the students’ outreach was a means to give back to the communities he represents at the state parliament and to imbue the students with determination to succeed in their studies and achieve greater things in life.

In a lecture, ‘with determination and discipline, You

the Schools’ Founder, Atiku Abubakar.

The AUN Schools were founded in 2002 as international schools focused on students’ intellectual and moral development. The secondary sections have continuously achieved outstanding performance in examinations administered by the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) and the National Examinations Council (NECO).

The Schools operate American and Nigerian curricula to foster a typical learning style among their pupils so they can compete globally. With a focus on student-driven learning and critical thinking, the primary and secondary sections of AUN Academy have established the benchmark for private secondary education in Nigeria. As Director Asma’u succinctly put it: “We offer our graduates an exceptional academic experience and teach them how to be global citizens who can compete with the best and at all levels.”

Every graduate of the Academy is equipped with the relevant leadership skills and attitudes to stand out in the world.

Students engage in community service as part of their education by giving back to their community and proposing solutions to societal issues. At AUN Schools, emphasis is placed on moral discipline, diversity, self-development, self-discipline, and cultural sensitivity.

The AUN Schools provide students with a highly digitalized academic environment and small class sizes where computers and tablets maximize the learning experience.

The Academy (secondary section) contains a well-equipped laboratory, music room, four scientific labs, an information technology laboratory, and a magnificent cafeteria delivering five nutritious meals daily. For a suitable study atmosphere, the campus is wired with Internet access 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and is supplied with electricity 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The AUN Academy is a Cambridgeapproved test center that offers International General Certificate of Secondary Education classes (IGCSE), which also facilitates students’ enrollment in other reputable international institutions.

The AUN Schools are international institutions offering day and boarding programs conceived to provide both educational and residential wellness for students. The ultramodern campus also features a swimming pool, basketball and lawn tennis courts, and a football pitch, all adding fun to learning.

The Schools boast a formidable list of alumni both in Nigeria and abroad.

-Okereke can be reached on danokereke@ gmail.com

can become that great person you wanted to be’, the legislator recalled the suffering and inconveniences he endured as a boy growing up in a village who was determined to succeed despite the odds.

He used the forum to warn the students and other youths

of Ekiti State against involvement in criminal activities like drug abuse and Internet fraud, otherwise known as ‘yahooyahoo’, which he described as an erosion of values of hard work, perseverance, the dignity of human person and ethos of “Omoluabi” in Yoruba land.

The Deputy Speaker, Ekiti State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Hakeem Jamiu with some students and other guests during a career talk with secondary school students in his Irepodun/Ifelodun constituency II...recently

36

WEDNESDAY JANUARY 11, 2023 •T H I S D AY

WEDNESDAY JANUARY 11, 2023 • T H I S D AY

37

T H I S D AY ˾ DAY, JANUARY 11, 2023

38

BUSINESS/MONEYGUIDE

Ellah Lakes, IITA Target N360bn Soybean Market Kayode Tokede Ellah Lakes Plc has announced that its subsidiary, Adani Staple Crop Processing Zone Food Company Limited and International Institute for Tropical Agriculture (IITA) are set to tap into N360billion soybean market value.

The Head of Administration, Ellah Lakes, Modupe Boardman-Ejikeme in a statement said the seed production and technical support agreement between the two firms is based on a seed multiplication program which in the first phase, involves the production of high yielding soybean seed varieties on five hectares of land located in IITA Ibadan, Oyo State and subsequently, on 500 hectares of land located in Adani, Enugu State.

According to her, the demand for soybean in Nigeria is estimated to be in excess of 1.2 million metric tons per annum, which is a market value of over N360 billion or approximately $780 million.

Speaking on the development, the Chief Executive Officer, Chuka Mordi in a statement said, “This is a symbolic and significant

milestone on our company’s strategic path to build Staple Crop Processing Zones across the country.

“Adani remains our flagship site and under the supervision of the IITA, we expect to accelerate progress in Enugu State, during the course of 2023.”

Boardman-Ejikeme further explained that IITA brings to this endeavour with Ellah lakes, its expertise in the production and supply of high-quality breeder and foundation seedlings to private sector seed producers.

According to her “The partnership agreement between both companies will facilitate the production of premium quality soybean seedlings for cultivation at Adani SCPZ in Enugu State with IITA providing all the technical support required to produce the seedlings for the company.

“This improved variety of breeder seeds is expected to yield 2.5 metric tons of quality soybean per hectare, 150per cent higher than the Nigerian national average of 1.0 metric tons per hectare and at par with output in South American countries such as Brazil and Argentina.

“Soybean is an important source of plant-based protein

that contains dietary fiber, vitamins and minerals. Soybean consists of 20per cent oil, making it an important crop for producing edible oil. A by-product from the oil production, soymeal, is used as a high-protein animal feed in the poultry and aquaculture industries.

“Additionally, soybean from Nigeria has huge export potential because Nigerian Soyabean is NonGenetically Modified, it has a wider range of applications including as input into infant cereals and textured vegetable protein – which is often used as meat analogue or meat extender.

“With its partnership with IITA, Adani SCPZ will be able to significantly boost productivity at its 3,700 hectare farm in Adani, Enugu State, and will be on track to achieving a target output of 7,500 metric tons of soybean per annum upon full cultivation of the property.

“It also marks an important milestone on the company’s strategic path to build Staple Crop Processing Zones across the country, with Adani being the flagship site.”

The company’s stock price remains flat at N3.60 per share on the NGX.

Sanlam Life Pledges Commitment to Best-in-Class Service Delivery Ebere Nwoji Sanlam Life Insurance Nigeria Limited, formerly FBNInsurance, said it was committed to deliver best-in-class service to its teeming customers in 2023.

The company’s Managing Director/CEO, Tunde Mimiko, gave the assurance in a New Year message sent to customers and partners via the company’s email channel and social media handles.

Mimiko appreciated the customers for their support throughout the year 2022 despite the economic challenges.

He assured the customers

of the company’s renewed vigour and greater capacity to add value to them in the new year.

“As our valued customer, our full integration into the amazing Sanlam family assures you of best-in-class services across our touch points nationwide. We are here to aid your life journey and help you live with confidence,” Mimiko said.

“Our doors are wide open and we have various channels through which you can reach us. We will always be glad to listen to you, work and walk with you,” he added.

Sanlam is a pan-African

brand with a rich history and heritage. Founded in 1918 as a life insurance company, Sanlam has grown to become the largest non-banking financial services group in Africa.

With a strong presence in 33 countries on the African continent, and a niche presence in India, Malaysia, the United Kingdom and Australia, Sanlam is in eight out of the 10 largest economies in Africa, with a market capitalisation of over $8 billion, operating profit of $1 billion before tax and over 154,000 employees globally, delivering superior value to customers, shareholders and the broader society.

Sovereign Trust Insurance Assures Customers Ebere Nwoji The management of Sovereign Trust Insurance Plc, has assured all customers of the company that the new year 2023 would be mutually rewarding for all its Policy holders.

This was made known at the yearly open forum and thanksgiving breakfast retreat held at the company’s corporate head office in Lagos recently.

The Deputy General Manager, Corporate Communication & Investor Relations of the company Mr. Segu Bankole the Convener of the session and Managing Director/CEO of the Underwriting Firm, Olaotan Soyinka urged members of staff and other Senior Management staff to re-double and rededicate their efforts at ensuring that customers were kept satisfied at all times in the new year.

Soyinka in his statement

said, “We owe our customers the obligation to serve them more and more so that they can keep coming back as we are in business because of them”.

He assured that the company would continually do all within its power to ensure that the staff were constantly exposed to the best of human capacity development training both within and abroad with a view to expanding the professional horizon of the workforce and ultimately, engender quality and better service delivery to the customers.

He also encouraged every member of staff to personally develop himself at every given opportunity .

“We are indeed appreciative and look forward to your continued patronage and support in 2023. Rest assured of our avowed commitment to providing top-notch professional risk advisory services at

all given times you throw the opportunity our way. We look forward to making your 2023 a memorable, rewarding, and fruitful one”, Soyinka said.

Also speaking, the Executive Director, Marketing and Business Development Division, Ugochi Odemelam, assured the Managing Director/CEO that the Division was totally committed to delighting her customers in the most professional and courteous manner in making the Sovereign Trust Insurance Brand a preferred choice for patronage amongst other insurance companies in the country.

She pointed out that beyond marketing the products and services of the company in 2023 and thereafter, the Underwriting firm was also committed to paying genuine claims after all due processes have been put in place by both the insured and the insurer.

MARKET INDICATORS MONEY AND CREDIT STATISTICS

(MILLION NAIRA)

AUGUST 2022 Money Supply (M3)

49,356,443.6

-- CBN Bills Held by Money Holding Sectors

50,601.36

Money Supply (M2)

49,305,842.3

-- Quasi Money

27,869,678.3

-- Narrow Money (M1)

21,436,164

---- Currency Outside Banks

2,680,236.81

---- Demand Deposits

18,755,927.2

Net Foreign Assets (NFA)

5,074,909.92

Net Domestic Assets(NDA)

27,869,678.3

-- Net Domestic Credit (NDC)

61,195,142.4

---- Credit to Government (Net)

21,001,401.5

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

0.00

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

0.00

---- Credit to Private Sector (CPS)

40,193,740.9

--Other Assets Net

6,785,979.22

Reserve Money (Base Money

14,040,351.9

--Currency in Circulation

3,210,664.98

--Banks Reserves --Special Intervention Reserves

10,829,686.9 390,557.8

˾ ÙßÜÍÏ ̋

Money Market Indicators (in Percentage) Month

July 2022

Inter-Bank Call Rate

13.00

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

14.00

Treasury Bill Rate

2.76

Savings Deposit Rate

1.42

1 Month Deposit Rate

3.64

3 Months Deposit Rate

4.96

6 Months Deposit Rate

5.87

12 Months Deposit Rate

5.76

Prime Lending rate

12.10

Maximum Lending Rate

27.61

˾ ÙØÏÞËÜã ÙÖÓÍã ËÞÏ ̋ ͯͱϱ

OPEC DAILY BASKET PRICE AS AT 24 OCTOBER, 2022

The price of OPEC basket of thirteen crudes stood at $92.17 a barrel on Monday, compared with $92.09 the previous Friday, according to OPEC Secretariat calculations.

The OPEC Reference Basket of Crudes (ORB) is made up of the following: Saharan Blend (Algeria), Girassol (Angola), Djeno (Congo), Zafiro (Equatorial Guinea), Rabi Light (Gabon), Iran Heavy (Islamic Republic of Iran), Basrah Medium (Iraq), Kuwait Export (Kuwait), Es Sider (Libya), Bonny Light (Nigeria), Arab Light (Saudi Arabia), Murban (UAE) and Merey (Venezuela).

39

T H I S D AY ˾ ˜ ͯ​ͯ˜ 2023

Market Cap Down N134.25bn on Sell-off in Airtel, 15 Others Kayode Tokede The stock market of the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) yesterday closed on a bearish note as the capitalisation dipped by N134.25 billion, triggered by losses in Airtel Africa Plc and 15 others.

In summary, the overall market capitalisation value shed N134.25 billion to close at N28.022 trillion, while the NGX All-Share Index (ASI) declined by 246.48 basis points or 0.48 per cent, to closed

at 51,446.60 points.

The market loss was driven by price depreciation in large and medium capitalised stocks amongst which are; Airtel Africa, Nigerian Exchange Group (NGXGroup), Champion Breweries, NEM Insurance and UAC of Nigeria (UACN).

As measured by market breadth, market sentiment was positive, as 18 stocks gained relative to 16 losers. Thomas Wyatt Nigeria recorded the highest price

P R I C E S MAIN BOARD

DEALS

F O R MARKET PRICE

gain of 9.43 per cent to close at N1.16, per share. Mutual Benefits Assurance followed with a gain 7.14 per cent to close at 30 kobo, while Academy Press went up by 5.65 per cent to close at N1.31, per share.

Lasaco Assurance rose by 4.44 per cent to close at 94 kobo, while Chams gained 4.35 per cent to close at 24 kobo, per share. On the other hand, NEM Insurance led the losers’ chart by 10 per cent to close at N4.05, per share.

S E C U R I T I E S QUANTITY TRADED

VALUE TRADED ( N )

Chellarams Plc followed with a decline of 9.90 per cent to close at N1.82, while Champion Breweries lost 9.58 per cent to close at N4.34, per share.

Cornerstone Insurance lost 6.67 per cent to close at 56 kobo, while Honeywell Flour Mills shed 4.96 per cent to close at N2.30, per share.

The total volume traded increased by 50.7 per cent to 345.491 million units, valued at N8.291 billion, and exchanged in

T R A D E D MAIN BOARD

4,184 deals. Transactions in the shares of FBN Holdings (FBNH) topped the activity chart with 151.388 million shares valued at N1.697 billion. BUA Cement followed with 30.459 million shares worth N2.920 billion, while Zenith Bank traded 25.459 million shares valued at N619.714 million.

Fidelity Bank traded 18.555 million shares valued at N87.555 million, while Transnational Corporation of Nigeria (Transcorp) transacted 13.009 million shares

AS O F

worth N15.453 million.

Analysts said the bears resumed activities on stocks yesterday as investors book profits from the extended rally.

According to analysts at United Capital Plc, “the Central Bank of Nigeria’s recent CRR debits in the money market will likely discourage investors from sustaining investment in equities in the short-term as they hope for improvement in money market yields.

1 0 / 0 1 / 2 3 DEALS

MARKET PRICE

QUANTITY TRADED

VALUE TRADED ( N)

40

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 11, 2023 • T H I S D AY

MARKET NEWS A Mutual fund (Unit Trust) is an investment vehicle managed by a SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) registered Fund Manager.

Investors with similar objectives buy units of the Fund so that the Fund Manager can buy securities that willl generate their desired return.

An ETF (Exchange Traded Fund) is a type of fund which owns the assets (shares of stock, bonds, oil futures, gold bars, foreign currency, etc.) and divides ownership of those assets into shares. Investors can buy these ‘shares’ on the

floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange.

A REIT (Real Estate Investment Trust) is an investment vehicle that allows both small and large investors to part-own real estate ventures (eg.

Offices, Houses, Hospitals) in proportion to their investments. The assets are divided into shares that are traded on the Nigerian Stock Exchange.

GUIDE TO DATA: Date: All fund prices are quoted in Naira as at 09Jan-2023, unless otherwise stated.

Offer price: The price at which units of a trust or ETF are bought by investors.

Bid Price: The price at which Investors redeem (sell) units of a trust or ETF. Yield/Total Return: Denotes the total return an investor would have earned on his investment. Money Market Funds report Yield while others report Year- to-date Total Return.

NAV: Is value per share of the real estate assets held by a REIT on a specific date.

DAILY PRICE LIST FOR MUTUAL FUNDS, REITS and ETFS MUTUAL FUNDS / UNIT TRUSTS AFRINVEST ASSET MANAGEMENT LTD aaml@afrinvest.com Web: www.afrinvest.com; Tel: +234 818 885 6757 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Afrinvest Equity Fund 190.11 191.26 0.54% Afrinvest Plutus Fund 100.00 100.00 10.80% Nigeria International Debt Fund 324.26 324.26 17.79% Afrinvest Dollar Fund 107.16 108.31 2.23% AIICO CAPITAL LTD ammf@aiicocapital.com Web: www.aiicocapital.com, Tel: +234-1-2792974 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn AIICO Money Market Fund 100.00 100.00 13.30% AIICO Balanced Fund 3.77 3.83 11.16% ANCHORIA ASSET MANAGEMENT LIMITED info@anchoriaam.com Web:www.anchoriaam.com, Tel: 08166830267; 08036814510; 08028419180 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Anchoria Money Market 100.00 100.00 10.05% Anchoria Equity Fund 149.00 150.67 2.40% Anchoria Fixed Income Fund 1.24 1.24 0.84% info@anchoriaam.com ARM INVESTMENT MANAGERS LTD enquiries@arminvestmentcenter.com Web: www.arm.com.ng; Tel: 0700 CALLARM (0700 225 5276) Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn ARM Aggressive Growth Fund 22.21 22.88 9.49% ARM Discovery Balanced Fund N/A N/A N/A ARM Ethical Fund 45.53 46.91 16.88% ARM Eurobond Fund ($) 1.13 1.13 4.17% ARM Fixed Income Fund 1.11 1.11 9.33% ARM Money Market Fund 1.00 1.00 10.66% AVA GLOBAL ASSET MANAGERS LIMITED info@avacapitalgroup.com Web: www.avacapitalgroup.com; Tel 08069294653 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn AVA GAM Fixed Income Dollar Fund N/A N/A N/A AVA GAM Fixed Income Naira Fund N/A N/A N/A AXA MANSARD INVESTMENTS LIMITED investmentcare@axamansard.com Web: www.axamansard.com; Tel: +2341-4488482 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn AXA Mansard Equity Income Fund N/A N/A N/A AXA Mansard Money Market Fund N/A N/A N/A CAPITAL EXPRESS ASSET AND TRUST LIMITED info@capitalexpressassetandtrust.com Web: www.capitalexpressassetandtrust.com; Tel: +234 803 307 5048 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn CEAT Fixed Income Fund N/A N/A N/A Capital Express Balanced Fund(Formerly: Union Trustees Mixed Fund) N/A N/A N/A CAPITALTRUST INVESTMENTS AND ASSET MANAGEMENT LIMITED halalfif@capitaltrustnigeria.com Web: www.capitaltrustnigeria.com; Tel: 08061458806 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Capitaltrust Halal Fixed Income Fund N/A N/A N/A CARDINALSTONE ASSET MANAGEMENT LIMITED mutualfunds@cardinalstone.com Web: www.cardinalstoneassetmanagement.com; Tel: +234 (1) 710 0433 4 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn CardinalStone Fixed Income Alpha Fund N/A N/A N/A CHAPELHILL DENHAM MANAGEMENT LTD investmentmanagement@chapelhilldenham.com Web: www.chapelhilldenham.com, Tel: +234 461 0691 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Chapelhill Denham Money Market Fund 100.00 100.00 14.51% Paramount Equity Fund 18.53 18.87 0.67% Women's Investment Fund 148.69 150.49 1.48% CORDROS ASSET MANAGEMENT LIMITED assetmgtteam@cordros.com Web: www.cordros.com, Tel: 019036947 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Cordros Money Market Fund N/A N/A N/A Cordros Milestone Fund N/A N/A N/A Cordros Dollar Fund ($) N/A N/A N/A CORONATION ASSETS MANAGEMENT investment@coronationam.com Web:www.coronationam.com, Tel: 012366215 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Coronation Money Market Fund N/A N/A N/A Coronation Balanced Fund N/A N/A N/A Coronation Fixed Income Fund N/A N/A N/A EDC FUNDS MANAGEMENT LIMITED mutualfundng@ecobank.com Web: www.ecobank.com Tel: 012265281 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn EDC Nigeria Money Market Fund Class A N/A N/A N/A EDC Nigeria Money Market Fund Class B N/A N/A N/A EDC Nigeria Fixed Income Fund N/A N/A N/A EMERGING AFRICA ASSET MANAGEMENT LIMITED assetmanagement@emergingafricafroup.com Web:www.emergingafricagroup.com/emerging-africa-asset-management-limited/, Tel: 08039492594 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Emerging Africa Money Market Fund N/A N/A N/A Emerging Africa Bond Fund N/A N/A N/A Emerging Africa Balanced Diversity Fund N/A N/A N/A Emerging Africa Eurobond Fund N/A N/A N/A FBNQUEST ASSETS MANAGEMENT LIMITED invest@fbnquest.com Web: www.fbnquest.com/asset-management; Tel: +234-81 0082 0082 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn FBN Bond Fund 1472.3 1472.3 12.08% FBN Balanced Fund 200.98 202.35 0.65% FBN Halal Fund 123.22 123.22 12.52% FBN Money Market Fund 100.00 100.00 13.87% FBN Dollar Fund 120.37 120.37 6.68% FBN Smart Beta Equity Fund 168.22 170.68 1.58% FCMB ASSET MANAGEMENT LIMITED fcmbamhelpdesk@fcmb.com Web: www.fcmbassetmanagement.com; Tel: +234 1 462 2596 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Legacy Money Market Fund 1.00 1.00 10.84% Legacy Debt Fund 3.58 3.58 -10.58% Legacy Equity Fund 1.99 2.04 14.73% Legacy USD Bond Fund 1.26 1.26 4.44% FSDH ASSET MANAGEMENT LTD coralfunds@fsdhgroup.com Web: www.fsdhaml.com; Tel: 01-270 4884-5; 01-280 9740-1 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn

Coral Balanced Fund Coral Income Fund Coral Money Market Fund

4,253.93 3,720.08 100.00

4,284.16 3,720.08 100.00

44.32% 8.71% 14.05%

FSDH Dollar Fund 1.14 1.14 6.65% GUARANTY TRUST FUND MANAGERS LIMITED enquiries@investment-one.com Web: www.investment-one.com; Tel: +234 812 992 1045,+234 1 448 8888 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Abacus Money Market Fund N/A N/A N/A Vantage Balanced Fund N/A N/A N/A Vantage Guaranteed Income Fund N/A N/A N/A Kedari Investment Fund (KIF) N/A N/A N/A Vantage Equity Income Fund (VEIF) - June Year End N/A N/A N/A Vantage Dollar Fund (VDF) - June Year End N/A N/A N/A LOTUS CAPITAL LTD fincon@lotuscapitallimited.com Web: www.lotuscapitallimited.com; Tel: +234 1-291 4626 / +234 1-291 4624 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Lotus Halal Investment Fund N/A N/A N/A Lotus Halal Fixed Income Fund N/A N/A N/A MERISTEM WEALTH MANAGEMENT LTD info@meristemwealth.com Web: www.meristemwealth.com/funds/; Tel: +2348028496012 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Meristem Equity Market Fund 12.01 12.05 -2.27% Meristem Money Market Fund 10.00 10.00 11.58% NORRENBERGER INVESTMENT AND CAPITAL MANAGEMENT LIMITED enquiries@norrenberger.com Web: www.norrenberger.com, Tel: +234 (0) 908 781 2026 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Norrenberger Islamic Fund (NIF) N/A N/A N/A Norrenberger Money Market Fund (NMMF) N/A N/A N/A PAC ASSET MANAGEMENT LTD info@pacassetmanagement.com Web: www.pacassetmanagement.com/mutualfunds; Tel: +234 1 271 8632 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn PACAM Balanced Fund N/A N/A N/A PACAM Fixed Income Fund N/A N/A N/A PACAM Money Market Fund N/A N/A N/A PACAM Equity Fund N/A N/A N/A PACAM EuroBond Fund N/A N/A N/A SCM CAPITAL LIMITED info@scmcapitalng.com Web: www.scmcapitalng.com; Tel: +234 1-280 2226,+234 1- 280 2227 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn SCM Capital Frontier Fund 127.07 129.33 0.05% SFS CAPITAL NIGERIA LTD investments@sfsnigeria.com Web: www.sfsnigeria.com, Tel: +234 (01) 2801400 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn SFS Fixed Income Fund 1.00 1.00 11.05% STANBIC IBTC ASSET MANAGEMENT LTD assetmanagement@stanbicibtc.com Web: www.stanbicibtcassetmanagement.com; Tel: +234 1 280 1266; 0700 MUTUALFUNDS Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Stanbic IBTC Balanced Fund N/A N/A N/A Stanbic IBTC Bond Fund N/A N/A N/A Stanbic IBTC Ethical Fund N/A N/A N/A Stanbic IBTC Guaranteed Investment Fund N/A N/A N/A Stanbic IBTC Iman Fund N/A N/A N/A Stanbic IBTC Money Market Fund N/A N/A N/A Stanbic IBTC Nigerian Equity Fund N/A N/A N/A Stanbic IBTC Dollar Fund (USD) N/A N/A N/A Stanbic IBTC Shariah Fixed Income Fund N/A N/A N/A Stanbic IBTC Enhanced Short-Term Fixed Income Fund N/A N/A N/A UNITED CAPITAL ASSET MANAGEMENT LTD unitedcapitalplcgroup.com Web: www.unitedcapitalplcgroup.com; Tel: +234 01-6317876 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn United Capital Equity Fund 0.96 0.99 1.11% United Capital Balanced Fund 1.39 1.42 1.65% United Capital Wealth for Women Fund 1.16 1.18 0.13% United Capital Sukuk Fund 1.11 1.11 9.33% United Capital Fixed Income Fund 1.96 1.96 7.76% United Capital Eurobond Fund 125.53 125.53 5.44% United Capital Money Market Fund 1.00 1.00 15.60% QUANTUM ZENITH ASSET MANAGEMENT & INVESTMENTS LTD service@quantumzenithasset.com.ng Web: www.quantumzenith.com.ng; Tel: +234 1-2784219 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Zenith Balanced Strategy Fund 13.97 14.09 5.89% Zenith ESG Impact Fund 15.96 16.12 9.18% Zenith Income Fund 23.57 23.57 7.36% Zenith Money Market Fund 1.00 1.00 11.08% VETIVA FUND MANAGERS LTD funds@vetiva.com Web: www.vetiva.com; Tel: +234 1 453 0697 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Vetiva Banking Exchange Traded Fund 4.25 4.35 5.81% Vetiva Consumer Goods Exchange Traded Fund 6.23 6.33 6.58% Vetiva Griffin 30 Exchange Traded Fund 18.85 19.05 6.55% Vetiva Money Market Fund 1.00 1.00 11.46% Vetiva Industrial Goods Exchange Traded Fund 23.79 23.99 18.98% Vetiva S&P Nigeria Sovereign Bond Exchange Traded Fund 144.03 146.03 -8.65%

REITS NAV Per Share

Yield / T-Rtn

122.19 52.92

7.68% 3.98%

Bid Price

Offer Price

Yield / T-Rtn

14.31 135.10 102.69 17.40 16.40

14.41 137.21 104.43 17.50 16.50

2.30% 5.78% 2.69% -0.96% -1.99%

Fund Name SFS REIT Union Homes REIT

EXCHANGE TRADED FUNDS Fund Name Lotus Halal Equity Exchange Traded Fund SIAML Pension ETF 40 Stanbic IBTC ETF 30 Fund MERGROWTH ETF MERVALUE ETF

INFRASTRUCTURE FUND Fund Name Chapel Hill Denham Nigeria Infrastructure Debt Fund

N/A

N/A

N/A

NAV Per Share

Yield / T-Rtn

107.59

0.00%

The value of investments and the income from them may fall as well as rise. Past performance is a guide and not an indication of future returns. Fund prices published in this edition are also available on each fund manager’s website and FMAN’s website at www.fman.com.ng. Fund prices are supplied by the operator of the relevant fund and are published for information purposes only.

41

WEDNESDAY, ͹͹˜ ͺ͸ͺͻ ˾ T H I S D AY

NEWS

LUCKY WINNER...

L-R: Retail Advisory, Access Bank Group, Mr. Robert Giles; Regional Sales Manager Lagos 1, Ms. Yewande Shoneye Vaughan; Group Head, Marketing and Communication, Chioma Afe; Access More Mega grand prize winner, Mr. Colin Chukwanu Egemonye; Group Head, Consumer Banking, Njideka Egomeju; and Head, Digital Transmissions, Oluremi Tinuolu-Gabriel, at the Access More Mega Rewards prize PHOTO: SUNDAY ADIGUN presentation ceremony in Lagos… yesterday

Judiciary Under My Watch will Not Be Whipped into Silence, CJN Warns Politicians, Others Urges states Attorneys General, others to rise in defence of rule of law Alex Enumah in Abuja The Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Olukayode Ariwoola, yesterday warned politicians and others who were in the habit of disregarding the rule of law and contempt of the judiciary that it would no longer be business as usual under his watch.

Ariwoola, who sounded out the warning at the Conference of Attorneys General which held in Abuja, advised that the silence of the judiciary must not be mistaken for weakness or vulnerability.

While stating that the rule of law had been assailed from all fronts especially by those who were supposed to uphold and guard it jealously, the CJN who was represented by a Justice of the Supreme Court, Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun, lamented that judicial officers and court facilities had been variously attacked, molested, harassed and desecrated across the country.

"I wish to let whoever cares to listen know that nobody no matter his or her position in society should mistake our golden silence for weakness or vulnerability.

"The judiciary under my watch will not sit by the sidelines to watch the temple of Justice and Ministers of Justice being flagrantly chastised and whipped into silence.

"No one in this country is permitted under any guise to take the law into his or her hands simply because he or she has the guns to wield", the CJN said.

While stressing that the earlier judicial officers and the courts were respected, the better for all Nigerians, the CJN charged stakeholders in the justice sector to ensure fairness, equity and the Rule of Law prevail at all times.

The CJN specifically called on the Attorneys General to begin to live up to their callings by repositioning the Judiciary in their respective states through the manner they conduct their affairs.

While he warned that, "Oppression and suppression of perceived enemies must not have a bearing on your conduct", he stressed that, "judicial officers must not suffer intimidation and chastisement and Chief Justices must not go cap -in-hand to beg for funds to run their courts."

The CJN accordingly urged all participants in their various capacities to start making a comprehensive approach to the effective and seamless administration of criminal justice and the implementation of the rule of law.

Meanwhile, in his remarks, the

The Director-General of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Campaign Council in Rivers State, Dr. Abiye Sekibo, has expressed the hope that the people of the state will give full support to the party’s presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, in the February 25, 2023 election.

Sekibo disclosed this yesterday while addressing members of a proPDP group, the Arewa Democrats, who visited him at his residence in Port Harcourt, the state capital.

He said: “We have work on our hand, we have a job to convince everybody who is of voting age to come out that day and vote for PDP, vote for the umbrella, vote for Atiku Abubakar as President of Nigeria.

“As far as we are concerned in Rivers State, Atiku Abubakar is a son of Rivers State. So, Rivers people will support him in full.”

Sekibo, who is a former Minister of Transport, applauded the Inde-

pendent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for introducing the use of Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) in the forthcoming general election.

He said: “We thank INEC for what they have done by bringing BVAS. On the voting day, it’s you and your BVAS.” The PDP Campaign DirectorGeneral said the party expected 250,000 votes from the Arewa community in Rivers State, saying that Rivers people have always had a good relationship with the Arewa community.

Sekibo said: “I am happy because in this our project, we need all hands to be on deck. When your convener said you will give us 10,000 votes, that is too small. I know that the Arewa community in Rivers State are more than 250,000.

“So, providing only 10,000 is not enough. I want you to mobilize the entire 250,000. Let all of them come on this project. I have closely worked with the Arewa community

at how best the States Chief Law Officers could partner with the federal government in addressing socio-legal issues in Nigeria.

"There is no doubt that the support of the states is required for effective implementation and to increase the tempo of the war

against corruption," he said.

The Justice Minister enumerated other areas of collaboration as "the domestication or review and enforcement of legislations such as the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, Child Rights Act, among others."

DSS: We Have Uncovered Plans By Politicians to Smear Our DG Kingsley Nweze in Abuja The Department of State Services (DSS) yesterday said there were schemes by some politicians to smear its Director-General, Yusuf Bichi, and some of the service’s key officials.

A statement by its spokesperson, Peter Afunanya, said the politicians, as well as “disgruntled elements” within and outside the government were waging war against “the service’s uncompromising stance on some critical governance and policy issues.”

Specifically, Afunanya accused the politicians of using civil society and non-governmental organisations to discredit Bichi.

He asked Nigerians to, “be wary

Rivers People will Give Full Support to Atiku, Says Sekibo Blessing Ibunge in Port Harcourt

Minister of Justice and AttorneyGeneral of the Federation (AGF), Mr. Abubakar Malami, enjoined state governments to collaborate with the federal government in tackling the menace of corruption.

Malami explained that the conference was aimed at looking

in Rivers State from 1992 when Alhaji Kwande and us were doing NRC in the state.

“Under Chief Melford Okilo, we had our father, Alhaji Donu in this town, who was our backbone in NPN. So, my relationship with Arewa Community in Rivers State dates back to 70s after the war. Alhaji Donu was like our father.

His children were our friends and brothers and we have always lived together.

“There has never been a problem between the Arewa Community and Rivers people. In fact, the Arewa community in Rivers State are Rivers people. When a Rivers son was contesting for the presidential ticket, you supported him because you are part of us.

“Now, we are at a point where we need to rescue and recover Nigeria. Only PDP can do it and only Wazirin Adamawa, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, former Vice President of Nigeria, with great experience can do it.”

of these tendencies and ignore the antics of dark forces out to impugn the character of the DG.” The DSS asked the public to, “be wary of these tendencies and ignore the antics of dark forces out to impugn the character of the DG.” “Also, sections of the media have been briefed to implement the strategy through sponsored articles, commentaries and features to malign the DG, his family and

select officials of the service,” the statement read.

“Those behind the plot have engaged civil society and nongovernmental organisations to not only sustain, but stage further rallies, road shows and press conferences and use the occasions to discredit Bichi,” the statement read.

“The service is monitoring developments and will allow the plotters to either exhaust themselves

Osinbajo Wants Businessmen to Invest More in Technology Deji Elumoye in Abuja Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has called on Nigerian businessmen to invest more in technology as it holds the key to the future.

Osinbajo made this charge yesterday while receiving a delegation of Odu’a Investment Company at the State House, Abuja.

Commending the legacy of the conglomerate and the vision that birthed it decades ago, Osinbajo, according to a release issued by his media aide, Laolu Akande, said, “legacy and history have a powerful pull, but it might be that what the future calls for is even greater and this is why we must be investing in technology."

The vice president also told the delegation led by the Group Chairman of the conglomerate, Otunba Bimbo Ashiru, that they should “look at technology and see how to change and improve the (business) model.”

He had earlier commended the model where experts and players are allowed to lead in economic and business matters, saying “if the private sector runs businesses, it is far better because it will bring greater dividends."

Osinbajo cited the example of the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas Company (NLNG) saying "the

NLNG is making a lot of money because the private sector has a controlling share and is making money for the country.”

The Vice President advised that “there is a need to push the model of using smart and tested people from the private sector to manage enterprises and businesses that government has an interest in.”

Earlier in his remarks, Ashiru said the vision of Odu’a Investment Company was to become a worldclass conglomerate, known for its passion for business with a focus on agriculture and industrialisation.

He explained further that the company was exploring international investments and partnerships.

For instance, he disclosed that the Premier Hotel located in Ibadan, Oyo State, one of the well-known businesses of the conglomerate was going to be in partnership with an international brand. In the new arrangement, the hotel would be upgraded to a five-star hotel and would increase its rooms from 87 to 120.

Ashiru informed the Osinbajo that Lagos State had recently joined Odu’a Investment Company and has been presented its certification as a shareholder.

Odu'a Investment Company is owned by the six state governments in the South-west zone of Nigeria.

or rescind the plan of action. Otherwise, no amount of intimidation, harassment and blackmail will deter it from discharging its duties.

“However, it would not idly watch a group of dissatisfied gangs undermine the service and its highly dedicated leadership and management.

“The DSS, therefore, wishes to inform the public to be wary of these tendencies and ignore the antics of dark forces out to impugn the character of the DG.” Afunanya said the service would continue to confront threats to national security and was working to create a conducive atmosphere for the general elections.

“It restates its unalloyed support to the President on his resolve to continue to confront head-on, threats to national security as well as create the enabling environment necessary for the 2023 general elections to hold,” the statement added.

The statement came after a report that Bichi’s wife, Aisha, had ordered the arrest of the Kano State governorship candidate of the New Nigerian Peoples Party (NNPP), Abba Yusuf.

It was reported that Aisha had ordered the arrest of Yusuf following a confrontation between him and the DSS DG’s wife at the VIP lounge gate of the Aminu Kano International Airport Sunday night.

However, Bichi’s son, Abba, had debunked the reports, stating that his mother didn’t order the arrest.

Also, recently, a number of CSOs had raised the alarm that the secret police made an attempt to frame the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr. Godwin Emefiele, for terrorism.

Apart from these CSOs, the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) had also said politicians were behind the plot to arrest Emefiele.

There were suggestions that the bid to arrest the CBN governor might be political given the impact the naira redesign project and cash withdrawal limits might have on vote buying during the elections.

42

WEDNESDAY, ͹͹˜ ͺ͸ͺͻ ˾ T H I S D AY

NEWS

WELCOME ON BOARD...

L-R: Non-Executive Director, Royal Exchange General Insurance Company Limited, Mr. Adeyemo Adejumo; Company Secretary, Mrs. Sheila Ezeuko; Chairman, Board of Directors, Mr. Ike Chioke; new Managing Director/CEO, Mrs. Ebele Nwachukwu; and outgoing Managing Director/CEO, Mr. Ben Agili, during the 2023 press briefing and introduction of Mrs. Nwachukwu as the new CEO of the PHOTO: SUNDAY ADIGUN company in Lagos …yesterday

Tinubu Meets APC Governors to Re-strategise on Campaign Activities Adedayo Akinwale in Abuja The presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Mr. Bola Tinubu, has held a meeting with members of the Progressive Governors’ Forum (PGF), the umbrella body of governors elected under the platform of the ruling party.

The strategic meeting held on Monday night in Abuja, lasted until the early hours of yesterday (Tuesday) and it was to take stock of the campaign so far and fashion out new strategies to win the forthcoming election.

The meeting also had in attendance members of the APC Presidential Campaign Council led by the Director-General and Governor of Plateau State, Simon Lalong.

A source told THISDAY that the meeting was to re-strategise and take stock of the campaign so far.

He said: "The candidate (Tinubu) was re-strategising and to take stock of the campaign so far and iron

out new strategises."

Asked if Tinubu was satisfied with the campaign, the source claimed that it was only the APC that had been campaigning.

According to him, so far, “it is only APC that is campaigning, you can see that the other parties are not.”

The source stressed that the involvement of President Muhammadu Buhari was also a boost to the campaign of the ruling party.

The source said: "It (Buhari's involvement) has added a boost to the campaigns and it has also put to lies those rumours people were making against the party."

Another source also revealed the meeting also discussed the next phase of the campaign activities, bearing in mind that February 25 presidential election date was some weeks away.

He said: “Our presidential candidate used the platform of the meeting to appreciate all the governors, especially in the states where the campaign had

already taken place and pleaded for their continued support as the electioneering campaign hots up ahead of the general election which is billed for next month.

“The meeting also discussed the next phase of the campaign activities, bearing in mind that February 25

presidential election date is some weeks ahead.

“Areas and activities the campaign council will have to re-jigged we’re also identified and concluded upon.”

Those in attendance included the presidential candidate, his running

mate, the Chairman of PGF and governor of Kebbi State, Abubakar Bagudu, Mohammed Badaru Abubakar(Jigawa) Nasir El-Rufai (Kaduna), Inua Yahaya (Gombe) Yahaya Bello (Kogi) Bello Mohammed Matawalle (Zamfara), David Umahi (Ebonyi) and AbdulRahman

Nigeria Air was Meant to Kill Nigerian Airlines, AON Alleges Chinedu Eze The federal government through the Ministry of Aviation planned to kill Nigerian airlines with the proposed establishment of the Nigeria Air, the Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON) has alleged.

The association said it was the realisation of this that prompted the airlines to go to court to stop the planned national carrier and urged the federal government to follow laid down process and also extend the privileges given to Nigeria Air to other domestic airlines.

This was contained in the suit filed by AON at the Federal High Court in Lagos against Nigeria Air Limited, Ethiopian Airlines (second defendant), Senator Hadi Sirika (Minister of Aviation and the Attorney General of the Federation.

The court document obtained

by THISDAY with suit number FHC/L/CS/2159/2022, indicated that AON (the plaintiff) sought orders against the defendants, directing the immediate, fresh and transparent bidding processes involving the plaintiffs to participate in the process; directing the immediate

revocation and cancellation of the Air Transport License (ATL) issued by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) to the first defendant (Nigeria Air) and an order of N2 billion as damages for the injury suffered by the plaintiffs, because of the “wrongful exclusion of the plaintiffs, wrongful action; unlawful bidding and selection processes and their wrongful projection of the Plaintiffs as not having properly, rightly, and timely bid the Nigeria Air project.”

AON alleged that the Minister of Aviation did not follow due process

Labour Party Didn’t Apply for CampaignVenue, Delta Govt Replies Utomi Sylvester Idowu in Warri Delta State Government has chided Labour Party (LP) chieftain, Prof.

Pat Utomi, over what it termed as the false and misleading claims that the government denied the party venue for its presidential campaign in the state.

The Commissioner for Information, Mr. Charles Aniagwu, at a news conference yesterday, in Asaba, said Utomi, a Professor of many years, should not resort to telling lies and blackmail to curry sympathy for his party.

He said there was no record that the LP wrote to the state government for a venue for campaign and was denied, and challenged it to present the letter and the response from the state, denying them the use of a venue.

Aniagwu said, "The LP creates an impression that it is being oppressed across the length and breadth of this country in order to attract sympathy.

"The LP did not write to us as a government that it was going to have a rally in Delta. Somebody as highly placed as Prof. Pat Utomi went to town to allege that they have been prevented from campaigning in Delta.

"I challenge them to show any application letter sent to the Secretary to the State Government and let

them also show the reply from the SSG. "Somebody representing Prof.

Utomi called me on Sunday morning ahead of their rally on Monday morning and I asked what were the issues?

"He said he would be glad if I could give them the Arcade for their campaign and, I said, you are having a campaign on Monday and you are making phone call to demand for a venue on Sunday?"

The commissioner said the state government granted permission to the party for the rally and waived payment for the venue to demonstrate its democratic credentials.

"We asked the LP not to pay for the venue that we would take the responsibility for even the cleaning of the place after the event.

"In spite of doing that, Prof.

Pat Utomi, wanting to tell a lie, went to the media stations and the social media and alleged that we have prevented them from using public venue.

"So, the idea of Prof. Utomi lying to Nigerians is not what we need as a country at this point in time.

Every political party should be free to campaign wherever they want to campaign, provided that they are not infringing on the rights of other persons.

"And Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa and Atiku Abubakar believe that every

AbdulRazaq (Kwara).

The PCC also had its Deputy Director-General (Operations) Adams Oshiomhole, Deputy Director-General (Administration) Hadiza Bala Usman and the Secretary, James Abiodun Faleke, all in attendance.

party should be free to campaign whereever they want. You can see that, that is what we are doing in Delta.

"The closest campaign offices to the Government House are those of the opposition parties and we never made any law or took any step to stop them from using those infrastructure," he said.

According to him, in a democracy, people should be free to exercise their rights as long as they are not infringing on the rights of other Nigerians.

"So, we needed to make this clarifications because it is very bad for Prof. Pat Utomi to lie about the issue, thinking that we would fall into that trap.

"I challenge him to show us any letter of application for venue and let him also deny that it was not on Sunday morning that they spoke to me that they needed to campaign in Delta.

"In fact, they even need to write a letter to commend us. If we prevented them, how did they now have access to use the Arcade?

"Prof. Utomi should know that our desire to rebuild Nigeria should not be on the basis of lies and blackmail. Our desire to rebuild Nigeria must be based on truth. If they claim that they have character, then it should start with telling truth to Nigerians," Aniagwu added.

He explained that the state government allowed everybody to campaign because PDP in Delta was strongly on ground in the state and could not be threatened.

"The reason we allow everyone to come here and campaign is that we are very much on ground. We are on ground because one, Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa has performed.

"Two, he has been in touch with the people. Three, we are on ground because even long before now, PDP has been an indigene of Delta and it's not in a hurry to leave this state.

"So, even if they want to come back tomorrow to campaign in front of Government House, let them come. Every other party will have a chance to campaign in Delta once the venue is available," he stated.

On his part, the Chief Press Secretary, Olisa Ifeajika said Utomi was alien to the politics of the state as he neither visited home nor knew his polling unit and ward.

He said the APC, the main opposition party in the state, flagged off its campaign at the Warri Township Stadium few weeks ago.

"If the state government is not allowing other parties access to venues, how come APC, the main opposition in this state used our stadium in Warri without hindrance and without restrictions.

"Since after that flag off, their

candidates have been going round Delta campaigning unrestrained in our schools and everywhere, and Utomi was somewhere telling lies.

"The truth is that Utomi is an alien to Delta politics and for him to be lying shows that he doesn't come home and doesn't know what is happening in Delta.

Continues online

in the Private, Public Partnership (PPP) arrangement in Nigeria, but circumvented the process through abridgment that was signed by the President of Nigeria.

The operators insisted that the president does not have the powers to sign such arrangement without recourse to the National Assembly.

So the Nigerian airlines also sought the order of a declaration “that the action, conduct and or decisions in the sale of the shares and operations of the 1st defendant (Nigeria Air) is in violation of the Companies and Allied Matters Act (CAMA) 2020, SEC Nigeria Consolidated Rules and Regulations (NIPC) Act, International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) Convention, Civil Aviation Act, Public Procurement Act, Concession Regulatory Commission (Est.) Act, 2005, Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Act, Procurement Processes for Public Partnership in the Federal Government under the National Policy on Public Private Partnership (N4P) and Nigeria Civil Aviation Regulation, 2015 and other regulatory statutes on aviation, companies and investment laws in Nigeria.”

JAMB Approves 600 Centres, Provides Update on Exam’s Processes Kuni Tyessi in Abuja The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has approved a total of 600 centres out of the over 800 that applied.

The Registrar, Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, who stated this in Lagos, during a meeting with all commissioners of education, also assured of a hitch-free 2023 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).

In the weekly bulletin of the Board, its spokesperson, Dr. Fabian Benjamin, noted that JAMB was set to commence the processes for the examination scheduled for February 14 and reiterated that it would not clash with the general elections.

It said the board promised

to tackle most of the challenges recorded during the conduct of the past examinations.

Oloyede said the meeting briefed the commissioners on JAMB’s level of preparedness and sought their support and revealed that the establishment of world-class Computer Based Test (CBT) centres nationwide has come to stay.

“We showed them the result of the 2023 centre accreditation for the conduct of the examination.

A total of 600 centres have been approved, out of the over 800 that applied,” the Registrar confirmed.

The figure was 140 less than the total number used for the exercise in 2022. Due to this, a sharp drop would be expected in the number of personnel that would be engaged.

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NEWS

NEW EXECUTIVE...

L-R: Former General Secretary, Independent Shareholders Association of Nigeria, Mr. Adebayo Adeleke; Founder, ISAN/Chairman, RT Brisco, Sir Sunny Nwosu; Newly-elected, National Coordinator, PHOTO; ABIODUN AJALA ISAN, Mr. Moses Igbrude; and Legal Adviser, Mr. Osato Aideyan, during the swearing-in ceremony of the new executive members of ISAN in Lagos...yesterday

Ortom: I Won’t Impose My Choice of Presidential Candidate on PDP Members in Benue

Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom has disclosed that he would not impose his choice of a presidential candidate on members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state.

Ortom also denied having declared support for Atiku Abubakar, the presidential candidate of the PDP. He was reported to have expressed support for Atiku’s presidential bid in a meeting with PDP stakeholders in Benue on Monday.

But reacting through his Adviser on Media and Publicity, Terver Akase, Ortom described the report as “false and mischievous”, adding that the report was authored for “selfish purposes.”

“We read a fictitious online report which claimed that the Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom, and his colleagues in the G5 have resolved to work for the presidential candidate of Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar to win the 2023 election,” the statement reads.

“The report is not only false but also mischievous as it is targeted at embarrassing the five governors who have chosen the path of justice,

fairness, and equity. Manufacturers of the said report were apparently on a desperate mission to score a cheap political point.

“The report could not mention the place and date of the said meeting of G5 Governors. The writers only sought to take advantage of the crisis within the PDP for their selfish purposes. Governor Ortom and other members of the G5 have not endorsed the said presidential candidate.”

Ortom said when he finally announces his choice of presidential candidate he would not impose it on the PDP members in the state.

The statement explained: “When the governor met with the expanded state caucus of PDP on January 9, 2023, at the Benue Peoples House, Makurdi, his message to them was crystal clear that the national leadership of PDP has failed to utilise its internal conflict resolution mechanism which has led to the crisis rocking the party.

“The governor said during the meeting that if the crisis is not resolved before the elections, he would be left with no other option than to take a stand on the matter. He added, however, that he

wouldn’t impose his decision on members of the party in the state.

“Stakeholders present at the meeting commended the governor for his patriotic disposition and pledged to line up behind him.

Those who spoke on behalf of zones A, B, and C, as well as for women and youths, all said Governor Ortom has shown the

character of a dependable leader who puts the interest of his people first.”

It noted further: “The stakeholders pledged to find ways of resolving the internal crisis rocking the party while assuring the Governor that they would continue to stand with him through thick and thin.

Governor Ortom did not address

John Shiklam in Kaduna President Muhammadu Buhari has given a fresh challenge to the National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI) and the Air Force Institute of Technology (AFIT) Kaduna to complete work on the ongoing manufacturing of the first Nigerian-made Helicopter before the end of his administration.

The Executive Vice Chairman/ Chief Executive of NASENI, Prof.

Mohammed Sani Haruna disclosed this at AFIT Kaduna when he led a

team of NASENI staff on a visit to the site of NASENI’s new Aeronautics and Air Vehicle Development Institute (AAVDI) located in AFIT which houses the Made in Nigeria Helicopter project.

According to Prof Haruna, President Buhari looked forward to a formal launch of the helicopter before May 29 2023 which marks the end of the present administration.

The NASENI Executive Vice Chairman during a meeting with the newly appointed commandant of AFIT Air Vice Marshal Paul Olugbeji

Edo govt meets stakeholders in secen affected LGAs over rising cases

A Nasarawa State medical doctor, Dr. Ahmed Isaiah, has died from Lassa fever at the National Hospital, Abuja.

This is as the Edo State Government, as part of efforts to curb the spread of disease and ensure the health and safety of residents across the state, has met with stakeholders in the seven local government councils most affected by the disease in the state.

Members of the Nigeria Medical Association (NMA) in Nasarawa State held a procession for the deceased in Lafia yesterday for the doctor who died on December 31, 2022.

The NMA chairman in the state, Dr. Peter Attah, confirmed that deceased died of health hazard-related issues, specifically Lassa fever.

“As an association, we got information when he was already dead, but from our investigation, the sickness started like fever, but he kept working even when he was on treatment.

“While on call on December 24, 2022, he collapsed at the theatre while carrying out a surgery on a patient and his family had to rush him to the National Hospital, Abuja.

“Unfortunately, we lost him,’’ Attah said.

He added that a post-mortem confirmed that Dr Isaiah died of Lassa Fever.

Attah lamented that the deceased had to go to work and tried to carry out surgery on a patient even when he was sick, as there were only two medical personnel at the General Hospital, Garaku, Nasarawa State, at that time.

“How can only two doctors handle an entire local government area of more than 150,000 population?

Obviously, the workload was too much.

“Government should employ more doctors and introduce incentives to curtail brain drain in the state,’’ he said.

Attah added that the deceased, who graduated five years ago, died in his prime and left behind a wife, children and loved ones.

The NMA chairman urged Nasarawa State government to also increase hazard allowances for doctors and should immediately begin the payment of call duty allowances.

Addressing the association, the Chief Medical Director of the hospital management board, Dr. Egba Edogo, consoled the association over the loss

the resignation of Iyorchia Ayu as the national chairman of the party.

The demand for Ayu’s resignation was on the grounds that the party’s presidential candidate and national chairman cannot be from the same region.

The governors said they would reveal who they intend to support as president before the end of January.

I Need Nigerian Made Helicopter Before I Handover, Buhari Challenges NASENI

Lassa Fever Kills Medical Doctor in Nasarawa Onyebuichi Ezigbo in Abuja

the press after the meeting. The online report is, therefore, fake and should be disregarded.”

Known as G5, five aggrieved PDP governors — Nyesom Wike (Rivers), Seyi Makinde (Oyo), Okezie Ikpeazu (Abia), Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi (Enugu), and Ortom — have been absent from the campaign rallies of Abubakar and are demanding

of Dr Isaiah, who was an employee of the board.

He noted that the deceased was highly dedicated to his duty while alive and was good to those that worked with him.

Meanwhile, the Edo State Government has met with stakeholders in the seven local government councils most affected by the disease in the state.

Briefing journalists after the meeting in Esan West Local Government Secretariat, the state Commissioner for Health, Prof. Obehi Akoria, said the government has put in place mechanisms to contain the disease and protect citizens.

The local government areas most affected by the disease in the state include Esan West, Etsako West, Esan North East, Esan Central, Etsako Central, Esan South East and Etsako East.

According to her, “The Edo State Government, through the Ministry of Health, is stepping up efforts to contain the spread of Lassa fever in the state and is meeting with relevant stakeholders, including traditional, religious and community leaders, Heads of Local Government Administration (HOLGA), artisans and market leaders as well as differ-

ent groups and associations in the seven local councils most affected by the disease.

“Also in the meeting were the patent proprietary medicine shop owners, pharmacists, epidemiologists, and representatives of the World Health Organisation (WHO), among other health professionals who are at the forefront of the government’s efforts to contain the disease. We are specifically partnering with the Pharmaceutical Council of Nigeria to ensure that patent store owners don’t administer drugs to those who report with the symptoms of Lassa fever but rather refer them to the Irrua Specialist Teaching Hospital (ISTH) for testing and treatment.”

Decrying the rise of Lassa fever in the state, Prof. Obehi noted, “Lassa fever has been with us in Edo State for more than 30 years, but we have never seen what we are seeing now. In the past one week alone, we have confirmed 18 cases.

This is quite alarming and demands drastic measures. Lassa fever is communicable, unlike hypertension and diabetes as such, if one person has the disease, everybody is at risk. So, this is a state emergency situation, and we must take the bull by the horn to address the challenge.”

Jemitola in Kaduna, disclosed that President Buhari was particularly interested in the completion of works on the Made in Nigeria helicopter during NASENI quarterly briefing of Mr. President by the EVC/CE on the activities of the agency last week.

He said the president specifically asked about the ongoing works on the project, stating that President Buhari’s enquiry on the Helicopter project was an indication that the President was keen on the need to complete work on the manufacturing of the Helicopter.

Responding the Commandant of AFIT, Air Vice Marshal Jemitola said that the order from Mr. President “is a task that must be carried out on the completion of work on the project.

According to him, “no stone will be left unturned in order to accomplish the work so that the desire of Mr. President on the Helicopter Project will be realized” He said: “NASENI has been instrumental to the development of many facilities in AFIT in the past while commending the proactiveness and the dynamism with which NASENI now does its work” He said: “AFIT welcomes the challenge by Mr. President, the existing MoU between NASENI and AFIT, and the significance of the project, all combined to make the presidential challenge worthwhile” Explaining further on the significance of AAVDI as NASENI emerging institute, the EVC/CE disclosed that “the Aeronautics and Air Vehicle Equipment Development Institute located at AFIT Kaduna is one of the new institutes of NASENI approved

by President Buhari. The institute has the mandate to research and develop spare parts, components and systems of Aeronautics and Air Vehicle Technologies. It is mandated to produce both passenger and military aircraft through backward integration.

It is the Centre of NASENI Helicopter project assembly and the first Made in Nigeria Helicopter now being relocated to AAVDI.” The visit was for site take over,

design and to strategize the commencement of construction work to fast track the take-off of the project.

According to the NASENI plan, the EVC disclosed “technologies prospecting for domestication from our counterpart agencies across the world for aircraft manufacturing will have pilots plants for realization here in Kaduna and the facilities will be designed to provide machineries, equipment, laboratories and workshops to be shared with AFIT and Nigerian Air Force” On the second project that was inspected by the EVC/CE, he said that the federal government has a plan to develop industrial parks for the Automotive sectors in three zones of the country: Nnewi-Anambra State, Osogbo in Osun State and Igabi, Kaduna State. The project initiative is in line with the concept of the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment which initially proposed establishing the Automotive Supplier Industrial Park (ASIP). This concept agrees with the mandate of NASENI for the provision and development of primary and intermediate capital projects required for machine and equipment design, fabrication, and mass production, in order to provide the enabling environment for the sustainable industrialization of the country.

According to Professor Haruna the project intended to unlock the opportunities in the auto sector as well as potential in the manufacturing industry with a view of creating employment, and skilled labour in this region and sub-Saharan Africa. It is expected to earn the country foreign exchange and stop the importation of vehicle spare parts.

Major vehicle manufacturers from different countries have indicated interest to operate from this facility. It also intended to provide the Nigerian Army Vehicle Manufacturing Company with the necessary support in the production of Armoured Vehicles. Once Fully taken up and equipped, the automotive park will be self-sustaining and also becomes a source of revenue to the government.”

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NEWS

MAKINDE ON CAMPAIGN TRAIL...

Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde (right), addressing the people of Ogbomoso, during his campaign in Ogbomoso North and South at Oja-Igbo, Ogbomoso.

PHOTO: OYO GOV'S MEDIA UNIT.

Uzodimma, Sanwo-Olu, Others Mourn AMAA Founder, Peace Anyiam-Osigwe Vanessa Obioha Imo State Governor, Hope Uzodimma, Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu and members of the Nigerian film and entertainment industries and family members alike yesterday expressed shock over the death of Nigeria's foremost film producer and entertainment icon, Ms. Peace Anyiam-Osigwe, bemoaning the fact that the Nigerian film and

entertainment industries would be badly affected by her passing.

Ms. Anyiam-Osigwe, lawyer, philanthropist, entertainment executive and founder of the Africa Movie Academy Awards (AMAA) in 2005, and famously known as Queen of Nollywood films, reportedly died on Tuesday, according to in a statement from her family - the Emmanuel Onyechere Osigwe Anyiam-Osigwe clan.

The family described her as an

epitome of creative transcendence, an outstanding personality, trailblazer, titan, pathfinder, gogetter, humanitarian, one-of-a-kind creative, and visionary leader in the film and television industry.

“Peace left indelible imprints on the sands of time. We as a family and clan will continue to do all that is necessary to ensure that her legacy lives on,” the family said.

Ayiam-Osigwe, the President of the Association of Movie Producers

and Chief Executive Officer of the African Film Academy, was 53 years old.

A statement by the Chief Press Secretary and Media Adviser to Governor Uzodimma, Oguwike Nwachuku, said his principal could not agree less with the Emmanuel Onyechere Osigwe Anyiam-Osigwe family that Peace was God's gift to humanity in general and the creative industry in particular, and that while she was alive,

Gov Diri Raises the Alarm over High Rate of Out-of-school Children in Bayelsa Seeks parents, community leaders’ cooperation to reverse trend Olusegun Osahon in Yenagoa Bayelsa State Governor, Senator Douye Diri, has said an estimated 250,000 out-of-school children in the state was alarming.

He has therefore charged parents, traditional rulers and community leaders to join hands with government to ensure a reversal of the situation.

Governor Diri spoke yesterday in Yenagoa, the Bayelsa capital, during the launch of a national campaign on out-of-school children organized by the Federal Ministry of Education.

In a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Daniel Alabrah, the governor said his administration will do its part to ensure that education was accessible to every child of school age in the state and urged parents and community leaders to encourage their wards to enrol in schools.

He said the state government has continued to support free primary and secondary education in the state with the purchase of uniforms and other instructional materials.

Lamenting the number of out-of-school children in the state despite an existing law to check the menace, he implored the relevant ministries to ensure that the law was publicized and implemented to the letter.

He also called on the state House of Assembly to oversight its laws to ensure they are implemented.

Diri commended the Federal Ministry of Education for bringing the campaign to Bayelsa, saying the people of the state and the Niger Delta region will benefit from the initiative.

He said: "A law was passed

by the Bayelsa State House of Assembly on this matter in 2018.

So, Mr. Minister, Bayelsa State had started addressing the issues long before now. But your coming is key as it has opened our eyes to the level of out-of-school children in our state.

"The issue is mostly about implementation. We have the laws to ensure that our children are educated. This law has to be implemented across all our communities. The Ministries of Information and Education must do all within their powers to ensure that the public is aware of this law and it is implemented.

"It is unbelievable that a law like this was enacted and assented to by a sitting Governor. Yet we have out-of-school children "Let me use this opportunity to call on parents to ensure that they take advantage of the provisions of government. There is free primary education. Uniforms and other instructional materials are being provided by government. So, why won't parents send their children to school.

"As a state, we will continue to prioritize education and have a paradigm shift that will be beyond certificates. We have introduced technical education and by our third anniversary we will commission some of the schools.”

In his remarks, the Minister of State for Education, Goodluck Nanah-Opiah, said education was a collective responsibility and called on all stakeholders to join forces to eradicate the menace of out-of-school children in the interest of the country.

He said the Federal Ministry

of Education has put in place mechanisms to ensure that education was accessible to children of school age and appealed to the state government to continue to prioritize education.

The minister lauded the Bayelsa government for its investment in the education sector, urging it not to relent.

Earlier, when he received the Minister in his office, Governor Diri called on the federal government to establish more tertiary institutions in the state to enhance and expand the frontiers of education.

He also urged the federal government to release its share of educational counterpart funds to the state.

"As we speak, Bayelsa has done its counterpart funding up till 2022 and now we are eagerly awaiting the federal government counterpart funding for 2022. Help us prevail on the Universal Basic Education Commission to fast-track its contribution to the fund to ensure that our educational requirements are met. As we speak now, we are even prepared for our counterpart funding for 2023.”

she acquitted herself creditably, giving proper account of her creative ingenuity.

The governor said Peace was passionate about giving back to the society and worked hard to serve God through humanity.

Governor Uzodimma noted that with the Africa Movie Academy Awards, the Africa Film Academy, among other bodies that the deceased birthed, Peace impacted lives in Imo State, Nigeria, Africa, and even took the international community by storm with the harvest of talents from the black race at her disposal who competed favourably with their counterparts in Europe and America.

The governor regretted that Peace died when her services were needed most, but urged the family, friends, well wishers, as well as the film and entertainment industries, to take solace in the numerous positive variables she was associated with that will outlive her.

"It is therefore not for fun that the Federal Government found her worthy to be honoured with the Member of the Order of the Federal Republic in appreciation of her contribution to the entertainment industry," Governor Uzodimma noted, and prayed God to console those Peace has left behind to mourn her death while also granting her soul a repose.

On his part, Sanwo-Olu mourned the passage of Peace Anyiam-Osigwe.

He described the late Peace Anyiam-Osigwe as an Amazon of the creative sector, a trailblazer and visionary leader, who contributed immensely to the growth and development of the creative industry in Lagos State and Nigeria as a whole during her lifetime.

Sanwo-Olu in a statement issued on Tuesday by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Gboyega Akosile, stated that Ayiam-Osagwe during her lifetime produced many blockbuster movies, facilitated, trained and empowered hundreds of young people in the creative industry through the ‘Film in a Box’ programme by the African Film Academy in conjunction with the Lagos State Government.

He said the death of Peace Anyiam-Osigwe is a great loss to Lagos State, considering the unique role the deceased was playing in the actualisation of the various commitments and programmes of the Babajide Sanwo-Olu administration to the entertainment industry through the Africa Film Academy and Lagos Committee on Film Production Empowerment, which the deceased was a member.

The governor also commiserated with the deceased family, friends and associates, as well as movie producers, directors, actors and other practitioners in the Nollywood sector over the demise of the renowned filmmaker, urging them to continue the good legacy of the late Peace Anyiam-Osigwe.

BUHARI: I CAN'T BE BLACKMAILED OVER ILLICIT ENRICHMENT, INEXPLICABLE WEALTH the National Assembly.”

Lawan also urged the president to consider the establishment of Gum Arabic Research Institute in Yobe and deploy resources to develop the livestock industry before his exit from power in May. Lawan said: “Mr. President, Yobe State, like Borno, Jigawa, Kano, Katsina, Zamfara, Kebbi, Sokoto, is in this Gum Arabic Zone. Gum Arabic is a cash crop that gave support to our people before. It is no more giving that support.

“Mr. President, if there is one way that we can diversify our economy, Gum Arabic should be given a special position in our administration.

“And I want to say that this belt, from Borno to Sokoto, if we work on the Gum Arabic industry, we are going to earn foreign exchange for Nigeria.

“We spent billions of Naira,

hundreds of millions of dollars to import Gum Arabic from other countries. We can do a lot more if we can get the support of the federal government.

“Your Excellency, we already have a sub-station in Kajuwa, part of Yobe State. That sub-station is rather a research institute sub-station. That research institute is based in Benin, Edo state.

“Mr. President, my belief is that Gum Arabic has that important economic value that deserves its separate research institute because it can transform our country.

“So on behalf of all our people and on behalf of other states, Mr President, I want to urge that before you leave on 29th of May, 2023, let us see how we can make the sub-station in Kajuwa to be the headquarters of the new Gum Arabic Research Institute.”

“The second issue is the issue of livestock development. Mr President,

when you said you will support the livestock industry, some people said it’s private business. They shouldn’t be supported.

“There is nothing more private than someone setting up a bank, killing the bank and then the obnoxious loans will now be taken over by AMCON. AMCON today has about N6 trillion of toxic loans on our head.

“Mr. President, the livestock industry in Nigeria especially between Borno, Sokoto and of course, Yobe is an economy that is worth N33 trillion.

“Incidentally, the poorest states are in this zone. Where you have a potential of N33 trillion economy, we have no reason to be poor. Mr. President, I want to urge you that before you leave, let’s deploy some resources to develop the livestock industry.

“We in the National Assembly will support you because we believe

that our livestock industry can give us a lot more economic stability because our people will benefit economically and in fact can be another source of billions of revenue generation in Nigeria.

“So on behalf of those of us from this part, from Borno to Sokoto and indeed up to Rivers because almost every part of Nigeria has some livestock, Mr. President, let’s devote some resources. I don’t know how we can get it, but about N300 billion can do some magic.

“Our state, the Yobe State, is always ready to provide land for grazing reserves and whatever. Any state that desires to participate in livestock development, the federal government should support that state. Any state that doesn’t want; let that state stay away.

“But we shouldn’t deprive states that are prepared to work with the federal government to develop the livestock industry in Nigeria.”

WEDNESDAY JANUARY 11, 2023 ˾ T H I S D AY

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NEWS

PETER OBI MEETS WITH ANAMBRA MONARCHS…

L-R: The Obi of Onitsha and Chairman of Anambra State Council of Traditional Rulers, Obi Alfred Nnaemeka Achebe, welcoming the Presidential Candidate of Labour Party, Mr. Peter Obi to a meeting of the traditional rulers in Awka, Anambra State…yesterday

One Vigilance Member Killed as Local Hunters Repel Attack byBandits in Niger Gunmen kidnap 15 persons in Kwara

By Laleye Dipo in Minna and Hammed Shittu in Ilorin

A member of vigilance group was killed as local hunters repelled bandits’ attacks on Madanda Community in Pangu district of Rafi Local Government Area of Niger State on Monday.

This is just as suspected kidnappers have reportedly kidnapped 15 persons at Oluwalose community in Moro local government council area of Kwara state capital.

The attack on Madanda came almost one year after terrorists last attacked the community and three days after Muslim faithful held congregational prayers in Mosques in the community to thank God for the peace they have enjoyed for over a year.

It was gathered that unlike in the past the bandits stormed the community on foot but wielded dangerous weapons including AK47 rifles.

According to findings the local hunters mobilised speedily to thwart the attack making

the gunmen to scamper into the bush some of them with serious injuries.

The District Head of the Community Mallam Sallau

Danladi Pangu, who confirmed the incident to THISDAY in a telephone conversation yesterday believed that the terrorists lost some of their

men but were courageous enough to escape with their corpses so that their place of origin or identities would not be known.

Pangu, however, said the bandits were about 20 in number “ our people fought them to a standstill unfortunately we lost one of our men.”

FCCPC Promises Stricter Regulation for Consumer Protection

Raheem Akingbolu

The Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC), Babatunde Irukere, has said players in the power sector, manufacturing sector and digital

space may experience stricter regulations in the interest of consumers in 2023.

Speaking on ARISE Exchange, a special business report section of the ARISE News, Irukera disclosed that FCCPC had, towards the end of 2022, embarked on further investigation and scrutiny of

the power sector, fast moving consumer goods and the activities of digital lenders and unravelled major irregularities that have laid foundation for the areas the organisation would focus in 2023.

According to him, to this end, the agency has started unbundling more of its regulatory tools to create

room for penalties in the months ahead.

He said: “Towards the end of last year, FCCPC opened investigation into the activities of some of the biggest importers of power generators in the country and we made headway in sanitising the area.”

in Ogbomosoland, maintained that he has delivered on his promises to the people of Ogbomoso, adding that he will consolidate on the achievements so far recorded when re-elected on March 11, 2023.

Makinde, who spoke at Oja-Igbo in Ogbomoso, Ahorodada, Tewure , Olokoto

and Ikoyi-Ile in Oriire local government areas, urged the residents of Ogbomoso North, Ogbomoso South and Oriire local councils to vote for him and the candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Ogbomosoland in the National Assembly and state Assembly elections.

The governor, while addressing a mammoth crowd of supporters at Oja’gbo, Ogbomoso, venue of the campaign for Ogbomoso main councils, stated that if he is reelected, he would continue to take the people of the state from poverty to prosperity under Omituntun 2.0.

UNILAG Marks 60th Anniversary, Makinde : I’ve Delivered my Promises to Ogbomosoland Graduates 2,251 Students Kemi Olaitan in Ibadan

Funmi Ogundare

As University of Lagos ( UNILAG) prepares to mark its diamond jubilee anniversary, the Vice Chancellor, Prof. Folasade Ogunsola, yesterday announced that the institution will be holding its 53rd convocation ceremonies where a total of 2,251 students will receive their degrees, diplomas and certificates.

A breakdown of the statistics of the graduating students showed that 67 will receive postgraduate diplomas, 2,119 will receive Masters degrees while 65 will get doctorate degrees.

Dr. Amoo Ahmed Yinusa, who

obtained his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering, will receive the award for the best thesis in Science and the overall best Ph.D. thesis award for this year.

Dr. Rita Okorite Kienka, who obtained her Ph.D in Guidance and Counseling, will receive the award for the best Ph.D. thesis in Humanities.

A veteran journalist at Daily Times, Micheal Dayo Duyile ,83 , who obtained his Ph.D. in Mass Communication is the oldest graduating student (male) while Bridget Obiageli Okonji, 82, who obtained her M.Ed. in Guidance and Counselling, is the oldest female graduating student.

APC Senator Empowers 5,140 Farmers, Women, Youths in Katsina Francis Sardauna in Katsina The All Progressives Congress (APC) Senator representing Katsina South, Bello Mandiya, has distributed empowerment items worth several millions of naira to 5,140 farmers, business women, youths and other constituents across the 11 local government areas of the senatorial zone.

The items distributed yesterday in Kafur, were 138 tricycles, 200 motorcycles, 750 water pumping machines, 3,500 bags of fertiliser, 202 refrigerators and one ambulance as well as an 16-seater bus.

Addressing the beneficiaries, Governor Aminu Bello Masari,

said the gesture would make them self-reliant and widening the chances of the APC in the state ahead of this year’s general elections.

He said: “I am happy and pleased that despite conceding defeat at the last state primary elections, it never deterred you to continue the good work you have started in the senatorial district or decide otherwise.

“It’s better for one to leave 30 years doing good than to leave 100 years doing bad. I assured you that there are better days ahead. What you have done has indeed saved our party in this critical moment when we are preparing for the elections.”

Oyo State Governor, ‘Seyi Makinde, has assured the people that if he is re-elected, the state would experience more positive developments under the Omituntun 2.0 mantra.

The governor, who stated this while addressing party faithful

Govt Mediates in Ekiti, Kogi Communities’ Boundary Dispute Gbenga SodeindeinAdoEkiti

The Ekiti State Government has begun a process of mediation in the boundary dispute between Ilasa Ekiti and Alu community in Kogi State, calling on the two towns to exercise restraint on the crisis-ridden land to avert unwarranted communal clash.

The action by the state

government was sequel to a letter dated October 17, 202, and addressed to the state Governor, Biodun Oyebanji, from the National Boundary Commission (NBC) and signed by the Director, Internal Boundaries, Mr. U. N. Emiowele.

The NBC’s letter stemmed from a letter dated September 13, 2002, written by the Kogi State Government raising the allegation

that the people of Ilasa-Ekiti were encroaching on the land belonging to Alu in Kogi State.

Acting on the letter, the Ekiti State Deputy Governor, Mrs. Monisade Afuye, yesterday invited the Alasa of Ilasa, Oba Oluwasesan Ajayi, and the owners of the affected land to begin a process through which the matter could be nipped in the

bud without snowballing into a bloody clash.

The deputy governor in a statement issued by her Special Assistant on Media, Victor Ogunje, yesterday appealed to the monarch to rein in on his subjects and ensure that no action is taken pending the outcome of the federal government’s action on the matter.

Labour Party Support Group Unveils Grassroots Mobilisation App Mary Nnah

Value Driven Leadership (VDL), a team of professionals committed to reshaping Nigeria’s political and governance landscape, has launched a mobile app, the Obidient Townhall Platform.

This mobile application

would ease organisation among supporters of the Labour Party presidential candidate, Peter Obi, commonly referred to as Obidients.

The mobile tool, which was launched in Lagos, is expected to help Obidients across the country to communicate,

coordinate, and plan with one another across wards and polling units by serving as a mobilising and canvassing tool.

In a statement made available to the press, the Co-convener of the VDL, Mrs. Nwamaka Okoye, highlighted the Townhall Platform’s

strategic importance to Nigeria and the electioneering process.

Okoye said: “Nigeria urgently needs strong electioneering and governance systems to usher in a new generation of leaders. We built the Townhall app to turn online advocacy into offline action.

More Winners Emerge in Glo Festival of Joy Promo A Jos miner was the happy winner of a brand new car in Jos, Plateau State as telecommunications company, Globacom continued its consumer appreciation promo, Festival of Joy promo yesterday.

The 37-year-old mine worker, joined by his wife, four young children and friends received the keys to his new car at a presentation ceremony at the Gloworld in Jos. According to him, “I was

working at a minefield that is located in a deep forest in Jos and initially thought the call coming from Globacom to notify me of the win was a scam. For some reason I picked and was informed that I had won a car.

After rounds of me pushing back at the caller, as I wasn’t sure of the authenticity of the call, I finally agreed to close for the day and go to the Glo office to confirm. I was moved to tears to discover it was true”.

WEDNESDAY JANUARY 11, 2023 ˾ T H I S D AY

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NEWSXTRA

WOKRING IN GOD’S VINEYARD ...

L-R: Newly ordained Priests, Deacon Anike B. Emeka; Deacon Dodo A. John Paul; Deacon Emenalo K. Ogechukwu; Deacon Igbadumhe M. Osikhuemhe; Parish Priest of St. Anthony Catholic Church, Gbaja, Lagos, Msgr. Bernard Ayodele Okodua; Archbishop of Lagos, Most Rev. Dr. Alfred Adewale Martins; newly ordained Priests, Rev. Fr. Meke Martin Ndubuisi; Msgr Francis Ishola Ogunmodede, Deacon Ngbede C. Sunday; Odii B. Peter; Deacon Onah R. Nnamdi; Deacon Onyele C. Ifeanyi, and Deacon Ulasi S. Peter Dennis, during the diaconate and priestly ordination, at the Holy Cross Cathedral, Lagos...recently KOLAWOLE ALLI

Immigration Service Penalises 36 Erring Personnel Michael Olugbode in Abuja The Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) has dismissed four personnel and demoted 14 officials for various act of indiscipline.

A statement issued yesterday by the spokesman of the Service,

Tony Akuneme, said this was part of efforts to rid the Service of bad eggs and in furtherance of the federal government’s fight against corruption.

The statement read: “As part of efforts to rid the Service of bad eggs and in furtherance of the federal government’s fight

against corruption, the Nigeria Immigration Service has dismissed four personnel and demoted 14 others for various offences for which they appeared before the Orderly Room Trial Committee of the Service.”

The statement also disclosed that four other personnel were discharged and acquitted, while two were redeployed to other locations.

It added that 11 were issued warning letters and one was

compulsorilyz retired, noting that according to the committee, 11 personnel are still awaiting trial.

The NIS in the statement further read: “The CGI is assuring the public that there are no sacred cows in the Service as all offenders

shall be appropriately sanctioned.

He is also urging members of public to be vigilant and support the Service to deliver more on its mandate by contacting us for feedback, inquiries and complaints on any of the relevant channels.”

Imo Assembly Votes against Constitutional Amendment Police Arrest Child Trafficking Syndicates, for State Assembly, Judiciary, LGA Autonomy Rescue 10 Pregnant Women in Rivers Blessing Ibunge inPort Harcourt

Operatives of the Rivers State Police Command have arrested two suspects allegedly involved in child trafficking in the state.

According to the State Police Public Relations Officer, SP Grace Iringe-Koko, the suspects, Favour Bright and Peace Alikor, were arrested when the operatives of C4I intelligence unit of the command raided the hideout of the suspects in Igwuruta and Omuagwa communities

in Ikwerre Local Government Area of the state.

Iringe-Koko also revealed that 10 victims were rescued in the operation, adding that the victims were mostly pregnant women who have negotiated to sale their babies at N500, 000 each.

It was gathered that the pregnant victims, who agreed to sale their babies for the aforementioned amount to meet their needs, are natives of Abia, Akwa Ibom, Benue, Imo and Rivers states.

We are Promise Keepers, Says Abiodun

James Sowole inAbeokuta

Ogun State Governor, Prince Dapo Abiodun, yesterday reiterated his call for the people of the state to vote him for second term, saying: “We are promise keeper” Abiodun made the declaration, while addressing mammoth crowd at Itori, during his campaign tour of Ewekoro Local Government.

The governor, who earlier made a stop-over at Ibadan and Papalanto, inaugurated lock-up shops at Itori and road projects in the town.

While asking the people to go and collect their Permanent

Voters Card, Abiodun asked them to vote for all the candidates of the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidates in the forthcoming election.

He said it is only by voting for all the party’s candidates, that the work can be easier.

He therefore, asked them to vote for the APC presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, the Ogun Central Senatorial Candidate, Shuibu Salisu, the House of Representatives Candidate, from Ewekoro/Ifo Federal Constituency, Isiaka Ibrahim, and Okawale Amosun for the House of Assembly.

CIFCFIN to Establish Forensic Laboratories

Ugo Aliogo and Kate Ejisu

The Chartered Institute of Forensics and Certified Fraud Investigators of Nigeria (CIFCFIN) is set to establish world class forensic laboratories across the country.

A statement made to THISDAY by organisation said the first of these would be built before the end of the year, adding that this is coming on the heels of the assent to the Bill for CIFCFIN’s charter by President Muhammadu Buhari on December 23, 2022.

Speaking recently on the significance of the charter in

Abuja, CIFCFIN President and Chairman of Council, Dr. Iliyasu Gashinbaki, said the Institute would partner more robustly with other enforcement agencies such as the Eeconomic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC), Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC); Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB), Police, National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) among others in the war against corruption, illicit financial flows and other forms of criminality in Nigeria.

Amby Uneze in Owerri

Against the popular opinion and Constitutional amendment for the autonomy of State Houses of Assembly, judiciary and local government areas, the Imo State House of Assembly yesterday to the consternation

of the public good voted against their autonomy.

In a special sitting of Tuesday, January11, 2023 presided over the speaker, Mr. Emeka Nduka, the house felt that it was not ideal to grant financial autonomy to the other two key arms of the government namely:

legislature and judiciary, as well as the local government level.

Items 1, 2 and 9 of the order paper of the day which the house voted against read thus: “Alteration Bill No.1: A Bill for an Act to alter the Constitution of the federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 to abrogate the

state Joint Local Government Account and Provide for a Special Account into which shall be paid all allocations due to Local Government councils from the federation Account and from the Government of the state; and for related matters.

Court Bars Senator Abbo from Contesting Senatorial Election expelled by the party. members. man but claimed that where it

A High Court in Yola has restrained the All Progressives Congress (APC) from recognising Ishaku Abbo as its candidate for Adamawa North in the forthcoming general election.

In the judgment, Justice Danladi Mohammed ruled that Senator Abbo is not entitled to seek re-election since he has been

Justice Danladi held that the embattled senator and APC are bound by the resolution of Mubi North Local Government executives of the party dated, October 7, 2022, which expelled the lawmaker thus he is not entitled to enjoy any right or privilege accorded to APC

It further restrained Abbo from parading himself as the candidate of the party for the zone.

But Senator Abbo has faulted the ruling, describing it as a cash-and-carry judgment. He said the court is said to be the last hope of the common

becomes cash and carry affair, it cannot be described as such.

According to him, it is a bought-over judgment because those who purportedly expelled him from the party are not local government party executives and therefore have no jurisdiction to do so.

Veterinarian Urges Diaspora Nigerians to Invest at Home Yinka Kolawole in Osogbo A veterinarian and professor of biology, Oyewole Ajifolokun, has urged Nigerians pursuing legitimate businesses abroad to always invest wisely back home as part of their contributions towards transforming the Nigerian economy.

Ajifolokun gave the charge at the inauguration of Prinaj Hotel, Resorts and Suites built by him for the people of Ere-Ijesa in Osun State.

The professor of Biology and Extension Veterinarian (Small Animal Health), University of Illinois Extension, Chicago, United States of America, and Chair,

Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) team, University of Illinois Extension, gave the advice to Nigerians in diaspora, whom he described as ambassadors of the country in their respective countries of abode from where they earn respectable incomes to sustain themselves as well as maintain their extended

families in Nigeria, including investments back home.

According to him, “I want to urge our people both home and in the diaspora that have enhanced their socio-economic status to come and invest in our country (Nigeria) as part of their contributions towards transforming the country’s economy.”

Police Probe Alleged Attempt to Dethrone, Kill Bayelsa Monarch

Olusegun SamuelinYenagoa

The Bayelsa Police Command has ordered investigation into an alleged attempt to dethrone the Paramount Ruler of the Adiegbe Community in Ekeremor Local Government Area of the state, Mr. Benedict Thompson.

The alleged threat over his throne and subsequent threat to kill him

was over his attempt to stop some few individuals in the community from diverting monies from oil companies into private pockets.

Thompson, who is a fourth class traditional ruler, in conjunction with the Community Development Committee (CDC) leadership, had few months ago raised an alarm over the alleged impersonation of his person and CDC leadership

to divert royalties meant for the community from the Nigerian Agip Oil Company (NAOC) and the Darlon Oil and Gas Nigerian Limited.

The paramount ruler and CDC have also dragged the identified individuals before the Ekeremor High Court and security agencies to desist and asked the oil companies to stop patronising them.

THISDAY gathered that the State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Ben Okolo, acting on a petition filed

by HRH Benedict Thompson, has ordered an investigation into the allegation of unlawful possession of firearms, local warfare and conduct likely to cause a breach of the peace in Adiegbe community against Mr. Salvation Kano, Mr. Julius Kano, Mr. Selebi Sanuku and others.

Buhari Renews Appointment of Obadiah Nkom as DG, NMCO

Deji Elumoye in Abuja

President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the appointment of Obadiah Simon Nkom, as Director General of the Nigeria Mining Cadastre Office (NMCO) for a second and final term of four years effective 12th January,

2023.

According to a release issued yesterday by Media Adviser to the President, Femi Adesina,Nkom was first appointed on 12th January, 2019 for an initial period of four years.

Under the leadership of

Nkom in the past four years, the NMCO recorded 86 per cent increase in revenue generation, raking in over N8.9 billion between 2019 and 2021 compared to N4.8 billion generated in the corresponding period of 2016 - 2018.

This also accounts for about

50 per cent of the contribution of the Ministry of Mines and Steel Development to the economy.

“His recently-unveiled reforms in the automation of the Mining Cadastre system have revolutionalised online and real time mineral title administration and management.

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WEDNESDAY, ͹͹˜ ͺ͸ͺͻ ˾ T H I S D AY

WEDNESDAYSPORTS

Group Sports Editor: Duro Ikhazuagbe Email: duro.ikhazuagbe@thisdaylive.com

0811 181 3083 SMS ONLY

Waldrum Targets Knockout Stage for Super Falcons

Olawale Ajimotokan in Abuja After the disappointment of failing to make the dream of La Decima (The Tenth) come true at the 12th Women Africa Cup of Nations (WAFCON) staged by Morocco last year, Super Falcons Head Coach, Randy Waldrum, is optimistic of an impressive performance for his wards at the FIFA Women's World Cup scheduled for Australia & New Zealand in the summer.

The American tactician is full of optimism, and is confident that his team can go far in the global tournament, but insists they have to take it one step at a time to achieve greatness.

"The first target for us at the World Cup is to advance out of the group stage,” Waldrum told thenff.com.

"Everyone wants to get to the knockout stage but obviously in order to achieve that, you have to advance out of the group, and now, our focus is principally on doing that,” observed the American gaffer.

The Super Falcons survived a huge scare at the 12th Women Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco. Even though the team finished in fourth place, thereby picking the last automatic ticket from Africa to Australia & New Zealand, Nigerians saw it as a disappointing outing, and rightly so.

For a team that had won nine of the previous 11 editions of the competition, losing three out of its six matches in Morocco was seen as a disaster.

The team lost to eventual champions South Africa narrowly in the opening match, and then lost to the host nation Morocco via the lottery of penalty shootout in the semi-finals – with two key players red-carded. As it turned out, the Falcons failed to overcome the set-back as they eventually lost to Zambia in the third-place match by a lone goal.

Waldrum would want to quickly wipe out such an unflattering record with a better and improved performance by

FIFA WOMEN’S WORLD CUP the most successful women's team in Africa at the forthcoming World Cup to be co-hosted

Australia & New Zealand 2023 is the first time that the FIFA Women’s World Cup will welcome 32 teams – the same number as the men’s tournament.

Nigeria is in the elite group of only seven countries that have never failed to qualify for the FIFA Women's World Cup since the competition was launched in China 32 years ago.

Nigeria’s Super Falcons have been given the target of reaching the knockout stage of the FIFA Women’s World Cup in Australia & New Zealand in summer

Ancelotti Laments Mid-season World Cup’s Effects on Real Madrid Real Madrid is still struggling to get back to peak fitness after the domestic season was paused for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar,

U20 AFCON: Hosts Egypt Plot Flying Eagles Fall Seven-time champions Flying Eagles should not expect any favours next month especially from U20 AFCON hosts Egypt, who look desperate to qualify for the U20 World Cup in Indonesia.

Egypt have “tampered” with the opening day fixtures of the U20 AFCON as they plan to go past a tough first round group that has the Flying Eagles, Senegal and Mozambique.

As hosts Egypt were seeded to head Group A as A1 and the standard is for A1 to face A3, which is this case Senegal, while A2 Mozambique take on A4 Nigeria on opening day February 19.

But the fixtures now show that Egypt will open the tournament with Mozambique, who on paper look the weakest team in this group.

The Flying Eagles will therefore have to tackle fellow West African rivals Senegal on the opening day from 1900 hours local time, three hours after the host country have played.

The top two teams in each of the

Down Under.

Nigeria will tackle Olympic champions Canada, co-hosts

Australia and Republic of Ireland in the group stage of the biggest FIFA Women’s World Cup finals ever, in Group B of the tournament that begins on 20th July.

three groups will qualify for the quarterfinal with two other best losers from these groups.

The four semifinalists will qualify for the U20 World Cup in Indonesia in May.

manager Carlo Ancelotti said yesterday.

The Italian is preparing his side for their Spanish Super Cup semi-final against Valencia in Saudi Arabia today but has to rouse his players after they lost 2-1 to Villarreal in LaLiga at the weekend.

Ancelotti said that he is trying to make adjustments accordingly due to the unique experience of having a mid-season World Cup. "It was foreseeable that (the players) would not be at the top-form at the moment, yet we are seeing positive signs in the

(training) sessions," Ancelotti told a news conference in Riyadh.

"I was surprised at Villarreal.

We have to start doing things well again, I'm not saying work, because we don't have time to work.

"This team knows how to defend very well, up front we have the necessary quality, but we have to provide support with a more solid base."

After holders’ Real meet Valencia tonight, Barcelona will face Real Betis tomorrow to fight it out for the other spot

in Sunday's final.

Real travelled on Monday without defensive midfielder Aurelien Tchouameni and centre back David Alaba, as both have undisclosed injuries that leave them light in defence - already an area where the team have struggled.

"The defensive aspect is not one of quality, but of mentality and sacrifice," Ancelotti said.

"We are used to having a compact, solid block. I am convinced that we will see it again soon.

"I don't see a mental load on

the players. Sure, we're hurt for what happened at Villarreal, but we have to see how the team reacts."

The Spanish soccer federation agreed a ten-year deal worth a reported 40 million euros ($42.92 million) per year with the Saudi sports authority in 2019 to expand the Super Cup from two teams to four and have it hosted in the Middle East.

Last year Real Madrid defeated the previous year's champions Athletic Bilbao 2-0 in the final to win their second title in three years.

Four Years After Sala’s Death in Plane Crash, Cardiff Pay Nantes First Tranche of Transfer Fee Cardiff City have paid French club Nantes the first instalment of the transfer fee for striker Emiliano Sala, BBC Sport Wales has learned.

After making the payment, believed to be around £7m, Cardiff expect FIFA to lift the transfer embargo imposed on the club.

Cardiff have appealed to the EFL to lift a separate embargo so they can sign players in the January window.

Sala died in a plane crash over

the English Channel in January 2019.

The Argentine player was travelling from France to join Cardiff, who were then in the Premier League.

A three-window embargo was imposed by FIFA, world football's governing body, because of Cardiff's refusal to pay the first tranche of the £15m transfer fee they had agreed with Nantes for Sala.

Cardiff lost their appeal against

that ruling by FIFA. A three-man panel at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) heard the appeal in Lausanne earlier this year.

The Bluebirds claimed they were not liable for any of the fee because Sala was not officially their player when he died at the age of 28.

Last month Cardiff chairman Mehmet Dalman confirmed the Championship club had received an invoice from Nantes for a first instalment of £5.3m. The payment

they have made is more than that figure because of interest.

Dalman also said other legal discussions were in progress and were continuing.

Cardiff have appealed the CAS hearing verdict to a Swiss Federal Court while contention over the outcome continues.

The Swiss Federal Court is expected to give its verdict later this month or early in February.

They believe FIFA will now remove the original punishment

of a three transfer window embargo for failure to pay the first instalment of the fee.

EFL transfer embargo rules differ from FIFA’s, but it is understood Cardiff have appealed to the league to lift their sanction.

Cardiff are in 20th place in the Championship table, just two points above the relegation one.

Manager Mark Hudson has been told to get his targets in place while the club try to get clearance to make new signings.

Wednesday, January 11, 2023

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MISSILE CJN to Politicians “I wish to let whoever cares to listen know that nobody no matter his or her position in society should mistake our golden silence for weakness or vulnerability.The judiciary under my watch will not sit by the sidelines to watch the temple of justice and ministers of justice being flagrantly chastised and whipped into silence.” ––Chief Justice of Nigeria Olukayode Ariwoola warning politicians against contempt of court and disregarding rule of law.

KAYODEKOMOLAFE THE HORIZON

kayode.komolafe@thisdaylive.com

0805 500 1974

The Cost of Inequality O

n a general note, the manifestoes of the presidential candidates have a lot in common on the economy despite the nuances of emphasis in framing the respective policies and programmes. The policy elements include increased growth rate, diversification of the economy, widening the revenue base, job creation etc. Hence, the manifestoes are loaded with statistical projections.

As an aside, the focus of the public seems to be on the agendas of the presidential candidates. The manifestoes of the governorship candidates are hardly discussed as if the business of development would be that of only the president to be elected next month.

This is because unlike in the Second Republic when it was the political parties that presented manifestoes embraced by their presidential and governorship candidates, in this dispensation candidates seem to own their agendas at all levels. So, if a party did not win the presidential election its manifestoes were to be implemented in the states where its candidates won the governorship elections.

From a development viewpoint, it is more difficult to make assessments of political parties on policies with the trend in this dispensation in which the political party is relegated to a mere machine to win election. The parties appear to have little or no leverage over the drawing of the the agendas. Little surprise, today’s political parties hardly articulate the policies of governments elected on their platforms.

This is in contrast to what happened with the political parties of the Second Republic in which the party secretariats defended the programmes of their elected governments.

Policy analysts are wont to ask questions about how the candidates would fund their programmes. In other words, they require candidates promising policies in education, healthcare, infrastructure, security etc. to make clear statements about the projected sources of revenues to finance the programmes.

Interestingly, the demand on the candidates to state the cost often comes when promises are made in the social sector- education, healthcare, social housing, mass transit, social security etc. The refrain often goes like this: tell us how you would fund the policies on universal healthcare coverage and public education. This is the idea of economic cost that is commonly discussed. Economic experts enjoy making the calculations. That is the cost in Naira and Kobo!

The other cost that is not often a matter of discussion during campaigns is political and social in nature. That is the cost of failing to implement the appropriate policy mix to boost the access of the people to the elements of the social sector. One of the consequences of the neglect of the social sector for years is the widening inequality. And the cost of inequality on the society and human progress is enormous. Some economists have argued that gross inequality on its own could be inimical to economic growth as well as the size of the GDP. Inequality is expressed not only in figures; it is also manifested in human and moral terms. Widening inequality worsens the other dimensions of the crisis in the land such as insecurity and the collapse of the societal

Buhari fabric. Here the nexus between politics and economics is worthy of deeper and critical reflection by party strategists. The tangible and intangible costs of inequality are huge obstacles on the path of human progress.

The contemporary regime of inequality in Nigeria is such that neo-liberal ideologues can no longer rationalise on the basis of the old sayings that “fingers are not equal” or that “equality is utopian.” The poor cannot be blamed for his poverty anymore. The social consequences of the decades of policies of exclusion are too manifest on the streets and the bushes for any rational human being (expert or non-expert) to dismiss. A society that is desirous of peace, social cohesion and human progress cannot make inequality a virtue as some reckless neo-liberals consciously do with ideological undertones. The matter is even made worse when the inequality is exhibited in gender relations.

Things are actually tending towards what even some liberal economists call the “dual economy,” an economy in which the vast majority of the people are excluded as economic players with attendant implications for security and social cohesion. The poor get poorer in the economy.

Tackling the problem of inequality is, therefore, not a just a matter of economic calculations. The solution is also in the political and social realm. It is, therefore, relevant to talk about the cost of inequality in a season when politicians are seeking power to govern.

It is not enough to make projections on the economic indicators, it is also important to pin down politicians on their philosophical outlook on the problem of inequality.

The commitment to reducing inequality is a subject of the economic philosophy to which a political party subscribes. Well, in today’s politics of Nigeria ideology is not taken seriously. That’s why you can hardly call a

party conservative, liberal or social democratic.

The nearest to philosophising in the current campaigns is the emphasis on values of honesty, integrity and transparency. Corruption and the character of the candidate have featured in the soundbites on the hustings. Moral questions are legitimately raised about the faulty leadership recruitment in the political sphere. These are doubtless important values cultivate and cherish.

However, it is important to also stress that solving these problems has a systemic basis.

Some patriots have reasoned that even an angel would find it impossible to operate the current system of Nigeria. They often speak passionately about the vertical problems of Nigerian federalism. Beyond that, however, are the deeper structural problems of the socio-economic system itself which affect the people horizontally across ethnic, regional or religious divides.

To address these deeper structural problems, those who seek power should also develop a passion for another set of values in addition to the one sketched out in the foregoing. These are the values of justice, equality and fairness.

These values are not loudly proclaimed in the political circles. To reduce the social width of inequality in the land, the focus should not only be on the character of who is seeking to be president or governor, but attention

“Socio-economic justice should be a goal of every government as enshrined in Chapter II of the Constitution”

should also be paid to the character of the Nigerian state itself. The most honest man cannot do much about inequality without a developmental state in the Nigerian situation.

The state must be commitment to an all-round development of the people. Such would not be only be pursuing of the dream of expanding the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The government would also hinge its success on the qualitative improvement in the lives of the people as measured by their access to the basic things of life as discussed on this page last Wednesday.

The campaigns for scrutinising the moral fibres of those campaigning to be elected to positions of leadership should be complemented with the struggle for socio-economic justice.

Such a campaign would bring to the fore the imperative of retributive justice. There should be a loud voice in favour of the central values of justice, equality and fairness. Productivity should be boosted to meet the needs of the people who, in any case, would be consumers of the goods and services so produced.

The quest for increased production and the commitment to redistributive justice should be concomitants. The problem of inequality cannot be solved by neglecting one while focusing on the other. The reason for this assertion should be obvious. The figure of 133 million poor people in Nigeria was not arrived at overnight. The shameful figure is the cumulative effect of policies that have tended to normalise inequality for over four decades. Policymakers have been explaining the socio-economic injustice off with all manners of bourgeois economic jargons. However, a look into the nation’s socio-economic history would reveal the reality which some experts would rather deny. For instance, the fate of the millions of Nigeria who still practise open defaecation and who lack access to potable water has remained the same whether the economy was growing fast or in recession.

Some state governments are resisting raising the national minimum wage. Their hostility remains the same during economic growth or recession. Yet, the national minimum wage is an instrument for stemming the expansion of inequality. In the public sphere, you would hardly find any outrage against the denial of socio-economic rights. The question of inequality is not a palatable topic of debate.

In sum, the manifestoes of the political parties are about the future. What the manifestoes say or fail to say about inequality is therefore worthy of note. Despite all the imperfections, the policy projection of the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari on poverty reduction is a right step (albeit very slowly) towards solving the problem of inequality.

Nigeria is certainly very far from attaining the goal of social protection.

In planning for the future, political parties and their candidates should include tackling the problem of inequality in their respective agendas. Future governments should correct the errors of the current social policies and improve on what is being done now. Social protection should be an important focus of governance. Socio-economic justice should be a goal of every government as enshrined in Chapter II of the Constitution.

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