THURSDAY 4TH FEBRUARY 2021

Oil Price Rises to $58, OPEC Exceeds Output Cut Target House: $20bn crude unaccounted for in eight years Emmanuel Addeh and Udora Orizu in Abuja The Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) yesterday said its members

had achieved 101 per cent adherence to crude oil output cut mandatorily agreed upon last year to curb huge supply glut.

This is coming as oil price

rose to $58 per barrel yesterday hitting over 11-month high after major producers showed they were cutting crude output in line with their commitments on restraint.

Disclosing this at the 26th meeting of the Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee (JMMC), in Vienna, held via video conference under the chairmanship of Prince

AbdulAziz bin Salman, the organisation expressed hope that the oil market will recover in 2021.

OPEC highlighted Nigeria's efforts at meeting its own

output cuts, describing it as commendable.

The committee emphasised the ongoing positive Continued on page 8

Tariffs Reduction will Kill Auto Industry, Manufacturers Insist... Page 6 Thursday 4 February, 2021 Vol 26. No 9433. Price: N250

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Lamido Slams APC as Buni Denies Plot to Field Jonathan in 2023 Former gov says ruling party has divided Nigeria Interim chairman explains no presidential aspiration being considered for now Akande dismisses membership revalidation, registration as wasteful exercise Chuks Okocha in Abuja, Emma Okonji and Nosa Alekhuogie in Lagos A former Governor of Jigawa State, Alhaji Sule Lamido, yesterday rebuked governors of All Progressives Congress (APC) that are said to be pushing for former President Goodluck Jonathan to run in 2023 on their party’s platform,

saying they are a bunch of hypocrites.

But the ruling party’s interim chairman, Yobe State Governor Mala Buni, refuted the speculation about Jonathan, explaining that the party has nothing like that on its agenda.

Lamido, a former presidential aspirant of the Continued on page 8

Arrest Plotters of Violence, ACF, Afenifere, CAN Tell DSS

Ask secret police to go after troublemakers

Deji Elumoye, Kingsley Nwezeh, Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja and John Shiklam in Kaduna The Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Northern Elders Forum (NEF), the pan Yoruba socio-cultural organisation, Afenifere, and

the Pan Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF), have urged the Department of State Services (DSS) to go after those plotting to incite violence in the country instead of issuing security alarm.

They were reacting to the alarm raised earlier yesterday Continued on page 9

SEVENTY HEARTY CHEERS...

L-R: Former President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo; former Osun State Governor, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola; and his wife, Omolola, during the 70th birthday celebrations of the former governor in Lagos…yesterday sunday adigun

Gbajabiamila Calls for Amicable Resolution of Herdsmen Crisis...Page 5

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

Gbajabiamila Calls for Amicable Resolution of Herdsmen Crisis

Deji Elumoye in Abuja

Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila, has stressed that no ethnic group should dominate other ethnic groups in the bid to resolve the recurring clashes between herders and farmers in some parts of the country.

Gbajabiamila, who spoke yesterday with journalists after a closed-door meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari, however, called for an amicable resolution of the clashes for the nation to move forward.

The Speaker, who said he had fruitful discussions on the state of the nation with the president, stressed that it would be wrong for any ethnic group to lord its views on other ethnic groups in the country.

He said: "I don’t think any ethnic group should lord it over the other ethnic group.

The South-west should not lord it over the North; the South should not lord it over the Nouth. We should respect each other’s trade, geographical space, history, culture and more importantly, the issue of crime, murder - all those things should be completely jettisoned".

Gbajabiamila assured Nigerians that the National Assembly will wade into the

issue when it reconvenes next Tuesday with a view to finding a lasting solution to the clashes.

"From the National Assembly, solutions will come from talking. I believe that now that we are about to start work on Tuesday, I know these issues will come up and adequate and proper legislation that will address the issue frontally and in the best interest of the country such legislation will be put in place".

He added that eventually the issue will be better resolved through round table discussions, saying: "Everybody just has to come to the table and discuss and come to an amicable resolution, which I’m sure we will.

"But more importantly, we all have to sit on the table and discuss this matter and look for the way forward. I think everybody is willing to do that".

The Speaker hailed the appointment of new service chiefs by Buhari who eventually listened to the voice of the general public.

"The appointment of new service chiefs is what everybody has been clamouring for - the House, Senate, the public and the President took his time and he studied the situation very well and did it at the right time

that he thought he should do it and we are in support of what he has done.

On what support the National Assembly will give to service chiefs, he said: "everything that is needed, we are all in this today, the National Assembly will not in any way put hurdles before the service chiefs, we will make

the working environment suitable for them to be able to discharge their responsibilities very efficiently".

He advised all members of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and potential members to come out to revalidate and register as members of the party ahead of 2023 general elections.

To him: "Everybody should come out and register. You know registration is the beginning of an election process, an election is not a one-day event it has started already. I will encourage all party members, those who are not even party members who have not register before, those who have attained the

age of 18, those who have seen the good works of Mr. President and this party to come in and join the fold and register.

"So that come 2023 you know politics is about numbers, they can pick whoever they want to elect to represent them as a party flag bearer.”

COVID-19 COMPLIANT...

L–R: Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Mr. Boss Mustapha; Minister of Transportation, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi; and National Security Adviser to the President, Maj. Gen. Babagana Monguno (rtd), at the Federal Executive Council meeting in Abuja…yesterday godwin omoigui

Akande Dismisses APC Membership Validation, Registration as Wasteful Exercise Adedayo Akinwale in Abuja and Yinka Kolawole in Osogbo A former Interim National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Chief Bisi Akande, has described the party’s Caretaker and Extra-Ordinary Convention Committee as an abnormality, adding that the party’s ongoing registration and revalidation are an indefensible aberration.

Akande during the commencement of the party’s registration and revalidation in Ila Orangun, Osun State, warned the National Caretaker and Extra-ordinary

Convention Committee, led by the Governor of Yobe State, Mai Mala Buni, against perpetuating itself in office.

He urged the committee to resist all temptations of sit-tight syndromes that usually characterised most handpicked authorities in most underdeveloped countries of the world.

The caretaker committee was inaugurated June 25, 2020 following the sacking of the Adams Oshiomhole-led National Working Committee (NWC).

Akande stated that political party register, as distinct from population census or voters register, is supposed to include

the list of opinion leaders with a particular ideological orientation.

He added that he felt humbled to have been honoured with a singular privilege of presiding over the creation of the original register of the ruling party.

He said he was also proud and happy that the original party register so created was the foundation of all the structures that stimulated the movement that pushed the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) out of power.

He warned that the next national election to elect a successor to President Muhammadu Buhari is going

to be the most important test of the ongoing APC membership registration and whatever structure is being envisaged to be imposed on it.

Akande said: "The first is that, in normal circumstances, a caretaker executive committee for a political party is an abnormality. If not carefully controlled and expeditiously managed, most aberrant authorities end up in contempt and disgrace.

"For this reason, I want to urge the present APC caretaker executive committee to resist all temptations of sit-tight syndromes that usually characterised most handpicked authorities in most

underdeveloped countries of the world.

"The second is to say that no population census is repeated within less than a decade and that voters are not reregistered at every election. Within this context, I see the present APC membership registration within less than a decade after the original register as an indefensible leading to certain ugly perceptions."

Akande explained that the first perception was that APC, already having a well computerised register for an average of 100 leaders of similar ideological orientation per each of the more than 120,000 polling units across

Nigeria, might be lacking comprehension and matrix of the modern day technology.

He noted that the second major perception was that APC leadership might be "wasteful and unappreciative" of the proper use of money in a kind of scanty economy in which Nigeria now finds itself.

Akande added: "These seeming ugly perceptions put into abeyance the applause of the two national election successes that the original APC register enjoyed since its completion on 15th February, 2014 and the over N1 billion of 2014's value that the original register cost when APC had no money of its own."

Lawyer Sues Buhari over IG's Continued Stay in Office Alex Enumah and Kingsley Nwezeh in Abuja The continued stay in office by the Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Mohammed Adamu, two days after he was billed to retire after 35 years of service has attracted a lawsuit.

An Abuja-based legal practitioner, Mr. Maxwell Okpara, has asked the Federal High Court, sitting in Abuja, to stop Adamu from parading himself as the IG. Okpara, in a suit filed before the court challenging Adamu's stay in office as IG beyond February 1, 2021, when he ought to have retired, named the president, Adamu, the Attorney-General of the

Federation and Minister of Justice as well as the Nigeria Police Council as defendants in the suit.

The lawyer, in the suit, marked FHC/ABJ/ CS/106/2021, is also praying the court to declare as illegal all actions that were taken by Adamu after February 1.

In a 10-paragraph affidavit, he deposed to in support of the suit, Okpara claimed that Adamu "by midnight of February 2021 retired from the Nigeria Police Force, having served for 35 years."

While claiming that the office of the Inspector-General of Police became vacant on February 1, he said that the first defendant failed and neglected

to appoint a new IG. He said: "That the second defendant though, no longer a serving police officer, continued to function as the InspectorGeneral of Police, sitting in the office of the Inspector-General of Police and adorning the official uniform of an InspectorGeneral of Police."

He added that if the court does not intervene, the defendants will continue to breach the provisions of the constitution and the Nigeria Police Act. Among the issues he brought for determination are whether by the provisions of sections 215 and 216 of the Constitution and section 7 of the Nigeria Police Act 2020, Adamu can

validly continue to function as IG not being a serving member of Nigeria Police Force after midnight of February 1, 2021.

"Whether the failure of the president and the Nigeria Police Council to appoint an IG on February 1, 2021 does not constitute abdication of their duties under Section 215 of the Constitution and Section 7 of the Nigeria Police Act, 2020."

He said if the questions are answered in the affirmative, the court should declare that that by law, Adamu cannot lawfully continue to function as IG as from the midnight of February 1 and that all actions taking thereafter are illegal, null and void and constitute

a breach of the constitution and the Police Act. He, therefore, prayed for an order restraining Adamu from "parading himself as IG or exercising any form of command or control over the Nigeria Police Force not being a serving police officer."

He also prayed for another order mandating the president and the police council to immediately appoint a new IG in line with the provisions of Section 7 of the Police Act. Adamu, as at the time of writing was still performing his official duties as IG despite attaining the mandatory 35 years in service on Monday.

The IG was in the office yesterday and worked till 6

pm before closing.

The IG, on Monday, had joined other dignitaries to receive the president at the Nnamdi Azikiwe Airport on his arrival from his hometown, Daura, where he had gone on a four-day official visit.

The continued stay in office of Adamu has fuelled speculations that the president might have extended his tenure.

"The IG is in office. He has not gone anywhere. He is doing his job.

"It is either he has been granted extension or the president is still studying the list by the commission," a source familiar with the development said yesterday.

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Tariffs Reduction will Kill Auto Industry, Manufacturers Insist Dike Onwuamaeze The Nigerian automotive manufacturers have insisted that the reduction of the tariffs imposed on imported vehicles from 70 per cent to 40 per cent will shrink the automotive industry, lead to layoffs of workers and cause the death of ancillary businesses in the automotive industry.

In an exclusive interview with THISDAY, the Executive Director of the Nigerian Automotive Manufacturers Association (NAMA), Mr. Remi Olaofe, said the reduction of the import tariff was driven by deceit for the benefit of few rather than the welfare of Nigerians.

But the federal government did not share the concern of critics of the tariffs' reduction policy as the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Mr. Niyi Adebayo, had told THISDAY that Section 38 of the Finance Act 2020, which proposed a reduction in tariffs on the importation of vehicles, was not a policy somersault but “essentially an absolutely critical review of an existing policy that required adjustment.”

Adebayo, in a response to THISDAY’s enquiry, explained that the reductions in the tariffs would only affect the automotive sector in the short run, adding that it will eventually unleash development in the sector.

The minister had also stated that the federal government commenced the review of the auto policy in order to address shortcomings in the plan and introduce measures to enable Nigeria to attain its expectations for the automotive industry.

According to him, the overall objective of the policy review was to stimulate demand for locally-assembled vehicles by creating a federalgovernment-backed Vehicle Credit Financing Scheme (VCFS) to enable Nigerians to own new cars.

However, Olaofe cited lack of legislation to give the implementation of the auto policy a legal backing

and the unavailability of standardised design that should guide the fabrication of parts for Nigerian automobile as part of the bottlenecks hindering automotive manufacturing in the country.

He said: “I am not even sure the government has a good understanding of what we are doing. That is the sad part of it. I am not sure the government has a good understanding of what we are doing. Because if they (government) have an understanding of this plan, their approach to this issue would have been completely different from what they done, which is very myopic.

“How can someone be saying that he is reducing tariffs because he wants to reduce transport costs?

He is simply destroying the industry. They (government) are not even giving a damn.

Do you know how many billions of naira people have pumped into this business and government doesn’t even care?”

According to him, a forward looking government with the expectation of growing the economy would have provided all that should have been required “for investors to thrive, for industries to grow, for the economy to grow and to change our name from what we have always been called ‘importers’ to an export-driven nation.”

He attributed the factors responsible for high transportation fare to the poor state of transport infrastructure, high cost of petrol and diesel as well as insecurity.

“What is responsible for high transportation fare is not import duty but the poor state of transport infrastructure, the cost of fuelling those vehicles, the insecurity challenge that compel transporters to hire armed guards as escorts and the bad roads that hasten tear are wear of vehicle parts. They are not looking at these things but are focusing at the least of the issues, which is very myopic,” he said.

He added that experts had confirmed that the impact of duty paid on vehicles on transportation fares was insignificant.

Olaofe accused the government of reducing the import tariffs of automobiles without considering its wider implications for the country’s economy.

“This is not a good development for us as a nation. The annoying thing in this is that the people taking these decisions are extremely narrow-minded because you do not deal with an economic issue without looking at the implications and multiplier effects of your decisions,” he said.

He stated that the consequences of the

reduction would include the shrinking of the automotive industry, layoffs of workers and the death of ancillary businesses around the automotive industry.

“We have trained our people. We have invested money based on government policy that we are starting an auto assembly and now all that is going down the drain.

“The fundamental mistake behind this policy is that the government is thinking that this only affects us as auto assemblers, which is an error. Nigeria is going to be viewed in an unwholesome state that we are not consistent when it comes to policies,” he added.

Olaofe stated that most of the automotive assembly

plants are still importing Semi-Knocked Down (SKD) components while some, especially those in the manufacturing of trucks, have migrated to the CKD phase, which is a higher stage.

“Auto industry is not grown in one day just as Rome was not built in a day.

And it is recognised in the auto policy that our growth will be in phases. There is SKD 1, SKD 2 before you get to the CKD. You cannot bring the original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) into the country when they are not sure of the depth of your market.

“We want to grow volume first and foremost. It is the volume that will drive every line of the business. So, the

government came up with an executive order that said that it must patronise locally assembled vehicles. But is that the case? You can go around and check. How many parastatals do you know that have locally assembled cars parked in front of their premises?

People are expecting magic,” Olaofe said.

He said investors would have been emboldened to invest in the sector if the government had been able to enact a law to give the NAIDP a legal backing.

According to him, this might account for the reason none of the OEMs has invested in Nigeria and the country could not boast of even a single tyre manufacturing firm.

REVALIDATING MEMBERSHIP...

Osun State Governor, Alhaji Adegboyega Oyetola (left), and former governor of the state, Chief Bisi Akande, during the membership revalidation and registration of the All Progressives Congress in Ila Orangun…yesterday

Cancer Cases in Africa Hits 846,000, Says WHO Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja The World Health Organisation (WHO) has expressed concerns about cancer cases in Africa, saying that the incidences have more than doubled, from 338,000 cases reported in 2002 to almost 846,000 cases in 2020.

It listed the most common forms are cancers of the breast, cervix, prostate, bowel, colon, rectum and liver.

In a speech, yesterday to commemorate the World Cancer Day, WHO

Regional Director for Africa, Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, said current focus should be on the implementation of a comprehensive surveillance system, and investment in digital innovations to improve cancer care.

"Over the past 20 years, new cancer cases have more than doubled in the African region, from 338,000 cases reported in 2002 to almost 846,000 cases in 2020," he said.

According to him, the risk factors include, old age and family history, use of tobacco and alcohol, a diet high in

sugar, salt and fat, physical inactivity, being overweight and exposure to specific chemicals, among others.

He also spoke on the factors promoting the rise in cancer cases, saying that industry interference is a growing challenge, including promotion and marketing of known cancer-causing products, such as tobacco.

He stated that 44 countries in the region have ratified the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control towards reducing tobacco use and that 20 have ratified the WHO

protocol to eliminate Illicit Trade in Tobacco Products.

He added that in many communities in African countries, people have limited access to cancer screening and early detection, diagnosis and treatment.

He said only about 30 per cent of African children diagnosed with cancer survive, compared to 80 per cent of children in high-income economies.

He said that healthcare relief for patients should be integrated into benefits packages and social

insurance schemes.

"Challenges in access to cancer care are further compounded in times of crisis, like the current COVID-19 pandemic.

"The African region also bears the highest burden of cervical cancer among WHO regions, and so the World Health Assembly’s adoption in 2020 of the Global strategy to accelerate the elimination of cervical cancer as a public health problem was of key relevance to African countries.

"As part of the first wave

countries implementing this strategy, Eswatini, Guinea, Malawi, Rwanda, Uganda and Zambia are scaling-up comprehensive cervical cancer programmes.

Human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine introduction needs to increase to prevent cervical cancer," he said.

Moeti said far 17 African countries have introduced HPV vaccination nationwide, including Rwanda and Zimbabwe, which are both achieving high national HPV vaccine coverage with the commitment of their governments and partners.

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PAGE EIGHT LAMIDO SLAMS APC AS BUNI DENIES PLOT TO FIELD JONATHAN IN 2023 Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2019 general election, spoke yesterday while fielding questions on The Morning Show, the breakfast programme on ARISE NEWS Channel, the broadcast arm of THISDAY Newspapers.

The subterranean moves

by APC to draft the former president into the next presidential race became public in November 2020 when a delegation of APC governors, led by Buni, stormed the Abuja home of Jonathan to felicitate with him on his 63rd birthday anniversary.

Besides Buni, others on the delegation were Ebonyi State Governor, Chief David Umahi, who recently defected to the APC from the PDP; Kebbi State Governor, Alhaji Atiku Bagudu; Jigawa State Governor, Alhaji Abubakar Badaru, and a former President of the Senate, Senator Ken Nnamani.

Sources had told THISDAY that the governors used the opportunity of the birthday visit to subtly present their proposal to Jonathan to run in 2023.

Lamido accused the ruling party of entrenching the culture of hatred and divisions among Nigerians.

He, therefore, urged Nigerians to choose between unity and hatred in the forthcoming elections,

saying the PDP represents a united Nigeria, development, security and progress.

He said: “The years of the APC have brought hatred among Nigerians - a divided Nigeria full of insecurity with a culture of hate. What the APC says in the North is different from what it says in the South. APC is a party of double-talks. In the North, the APC has brought divisions among father and son and families.

"Before the APC, Nigerians were united, but look at what it has done to a once united country. Before the APC, Nigerians were living in brotherly and sisterly lifestyles. Look at the level of insecurity now. Look at the hatred in the country."

Lamido faulted the APC’s moves to draft the former president into the 2023 race, wondering why the party would be clamouring for the return of a man it had described as "weak and clueless” and has spent the better part of its years in power demonising.

"To me, I think that they are being merely hypocrites.

They (APC governors) are looking for him; is it because there are no presidential materials in the APC? This is one of the heights of hypocrisy," he stated.

On zoning in the 2023 presidential election, Lamido expressed hope that the PDP will address the matter when

the time comes.

He said: "If you go for zoning, I am prepared for it. I may offer myself but I will abide by the decision of my party.

“Again, if it is for merit, I will put myself forward. If it is for merit and quality, I will wait for the decision of my party. I believe in collectivity as a party man.

But for competency, let the party choose the best.”

Speaking on how to tackle the insecurity in the country, particularly the herdsmen and farmers’ clashes, Lamido urged Yoruba leaders that foisted President Muhammadu Buhari on Nigerians to look for solutions with the president.

He said: "I support the Northern Elders Forum that there is no need evicting the Fulani from the South as it is an evil wind that will blow the nation no good.

Let those that brought Buhari on us speak to him on the solution; after all, they brought him as the president."

When asked to name those that brought Buhari to power, Lamido said: "The Tinubus, Fasholas and the Osinbajos. They came with their propaganda. Those who brought President Buhari should speak out now."

Reacting to the clamour for restructuring, he said he is a pan-Nigerian, explaining

that the present agitation in the country is basically a product of bad governance.

He said: "PDP was in government for 16 years and they left behind good development, growth and security, but with just five years of the APC, see the mess the country is in.

"In the next general election, the choice before Nigerians is to choose between good and bad; between the APC that is sowing division and hatred and the PDP. The choice is for Nigerians to make, not me. I'm a pan-Nigerian.”

Lamido also called for collaboration from all Nigerians in order to effectively address the country’s major challenges such as insecurity and lack of trust.

He insisted that the APC has brought so much hatred and division to Nigeria, adding that the antidote for healing is trust through collective collaboration.

“Banditry in the North has caused a lot of havoc to the people and Nigerians should see the challenge of insecurity as a collective challenge that needs collaboration of all Nigerians to address,” he said.

However, the APC has denied widespread insinuations that it is planning to field Jonathan as its candidate in the 2023 presidential election.

Buni told the BBC Hausa Service yesterday that there was nothing like courtship in the matter as politics is all about actual talking.

He said: “Those peddling such information, they are afraid. But for now, there is nothing in the APC which has anything to do with the aspiration for 2023.

“Even if someone wants to base assumption on our recent visit to him during his birthday, we were there because of his capacity as a former president of Nigeria.

“Again, even if there is nothing, when we are talking of peaceful coexistence, we must give credit to former President Jonathan on the issue of peace - how he accepted defeat in 2015 and resigned to fate. That has qualified him to be a statesman and he is now among our fathers.”

Buni said it is customary to visit one another and exchange pleasantries.

He added: “Our visit to Jonathan was pronounced because of his status as a former president. That could be why some may think there was something beneath.

"There are numerous of such visits to leaders of PDP and APC. Why are others not being mentioned but Jonathan?”

When asked whether the APC would support Jonathan if he indicates interest in the 2023 race,

Buni said that would be a new discussion, entirely.

“Even in America where we got this democracy, I’ve not seen where people are being confined to a limit,” he stated.

Asked whether the APC is still indecisive on Jonathan, Buni said: “You are talking of democracy and at the same time talking of giving him.

Don’t forget even when President Buhari went to revalidate party membership in Daura, he said it is the people at the grassroots that will select leaders upwards.

That no one should expect to be crowned from Abuja.

This has shown that in APC now, it is from the lower level upwards. Not that people would be imposed from the top.

“Then who are we to say we are considering Jonathan?

How? It has to be a party affair and once it is a party affair, then we are talking about the people. So, we have nothing like that on our agenda. What we have now, and is of importance to us, is to ensure peace amongst party members.

Also, to bring members of other political parties, whichever party it might be, whoever wants, should come into the APC. This is our plan for now.

“We are yet to start talking about aspirants; we are not in any discussion about aspirants.”

oil terminals of Escravos, Bonny, Forcados and Bonga.

“Out of these production volumes, only 1,417,200,848 barrels were accounted for, as having been lifted officially.

A whopping volume of 329,420,319 barrels, valued at over $20 billion, could not be accounted for. The same trend of infractions was observed in the years 2016-2019.

“The committee through the analysis of submissions to the committee has raised issues requiring clarifications from DPR these issues range from unprocessed crude oil, suspected stolen/diverted crude oil, discrepancies in records, use of inappropriate devices and technologies for measurement and gauging despite huge budgetary provisions. During the analysis, the committee made discoveries that require clarifications from major stakeholders," he added.

In his presentation, Director of the Department of Petroleum Resources, Mr. Sarki Auwalu, blamed crude theft on third party interference, particularly at the land terminals.

He said: ''The problem is that we have 30 terminals in Nigeria and these terminals, five are land terminals. Most of the thefts, they are coming from land terminals because the land producers, they have to use pipelines to transport the crude into the terminals for export. In the process, you have a lot of third party interferences in which those points of theft were there; small volumes that account for the larger volume are being taken and they are being stolen. ''So, most of the discrepancies in production and export, you can easily calculate the theft volume.

And the theft volume, if not all, come from the land

terminals. But the offshore terminals, it is actually practically impossible to steal crude from offshore terminals, since it is from the bottom of the sea.''

Meanwhile, the House of Representatives Committee on Public Accounts has uncovered over N5 billion waivers illegally granted to China Harbour on imported construction materials.

Speaking during the investigative hearing into the audit query issued by the office of the Auditor General of the Federation (oAuGF) against Nigeria Customs Service (NSC), Chairman of the Committee, Hon. Wole Oke, frowned upon the complacency of various regulatory agencies that approved such waivers in breach of due process.

Oke explained that the auditor general, in his query, expressed concern over the depletion of revenue accruing to the Federation Account.

He accused some multinational companies of indulging in tax avoidance abuse, transfer service schemes, which they use to undermine revenue generation in Nigeria.

Oke reiterated the need for some House standing committees to intensify their oversight functions in the bid to block leakages and reduce the impunity being perpetrated by the MDAs. He underscored the need for standing committees to have detailed information on the number of shipping and cargo companies operating in the country, with a view to ascertaining the details on importation and revenue due to the federation.

He said: ''The solution is that we should step up our oversight and ensure that nobody is undermining the revenue accruing to this country, either through

these schemes I’ve mentioned or fraudulently. Like in the case of China Harbour, China Harbour got a contract in Nigeria through contract financing and then you are claiming duty waiver of over N5 billion on items and materials that are available in Nigeria. They are importing them, they kill local industries, you are injuring us from both ends.

“We just have to resolve that the MD of China Harbour should cause appearance. All they are trying to do is to cover up when it comes to capital flight they don’t mind, but when it comes to accountability they are running away. And those who granted the duty waiver we must ask them and that’s why we invited the Ministry of Finance to cause the appearance to come and defend the duty waiver they gave to you."

OIL PRICE RISES TO $58, OPEC EXCEEDS OUTPUT CUT TARGET contributions of the Declaration of Cooperation (DoC) in supporting a rebalancing of the global oil market in line with the historic decisions taken at the 10th (extraordinary) OPEC and non-OPEC Ministerial Meeting on 12, April 2020.

The decision was to adjust downwards overall crude oil production, following the extraordinary hit taken by the commodity as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The committee acknowledged the positive performance of participating countries, especially their adherence to the deal made in April last year.

"Overall conformity with the original production adjustments was 101 per cent, reinforcing the trend of high compliance by participating countries.

"The committee noted that since April 2020 ministerial meeting, OPEC and nonOPEC countries have adjusted oil production down by a cumulative 2.1 billion barrels, stabilising the oil market and accelerating the rebalancing process.

"The committee further noted that DoC participants pledged to achieve full conformity and make up for previous compensation short-falls, and stressed the importance of accelerating market rebalancing without delay. The progress of Nigeria in this respect was well noted," it stated.

According to the cartel, while economic prospects and oil demand will remain uncertain in the coming months, the gradual rollout of vaccines around the world is a positive factor for the rest of the year, boosting the global economy and oil demand.

OPEC urged all participating countries to remain vigilant and flexible given the uncertain market

conditions and to stay on the course.

The committee thanked the Joint Technical Committee (JTC) and the OPEC secretariat for their contributions to the meeting, while the next conference of the JMMC is scheduled for March 3, 2021.

Meanwhile, oil price rose to $58 per barrel yesterday hitting over 11-month high, after major producers showed they were cutting crude output in line with their commitments on restraint.

Brent crude was up $58.71, a 2.18 per cent increase, while US oil gained 2.36 per cent to hit $56.86 a barrel.

Crude production by the OPEC increased for a seventh month in January, after the cartel and its allies agreed to ease supply curbs further, but the growth was smaller than expected.

OPEC Secretary-General, Dr Sanusi, Barkindo, expressed delight about the new development at the opening of the OPEC+ panel meeting on Tuesday.

“With the crude oil market currently switching into backwardation, we are hopeful that 2021 will be a good year for overall demand,” Barkindo said.

House: $20bn Crude Oil Unaccounted for in Eight Years The House of Representatives Ad-hoc Committee on Crude Oil Theft, yesterday said crude oil worth over $20 billion could not be accounted for between 2005 and 2012.

The Chairman of the Ad-hoc Committee, Hon. Peter Akpatason, during the resumed hearing of the committee in Abuja added that the same infractions

were observed between 2016 and 2019.

He stated that the amount was arrived at after a forensic audit the committee commissioned.

Besides, the House Committee on Public Accounts also said it uncovered over N5 billion waivers illegally granted to China Harbour on imported construction materials.

Akpatason told the gathering that the committee resolved to resume the investigation on crude oil theft in Nigeria, having gone through submissions from stakeholders in the sector.

He said while the committee was not set up to witch-hunt any organisation, it would ensure the trial of anyone found culpable. ''The effects of crude oil theft cannot be overemphasised, and this has lasted for too long. As patriots, it is our collective responsibility to see to the end of this stealing. The adhoc committee has identified the key role DPR as the agency of government in the sector hence your reinvitation today to enable us to work together and come up with a common front on ways to tackle this matter and if not completely put an end to it, reduce it to its barest minimum.

“DPR is the agency of government saddled with the responsibility of monitoring crude oil production and lifting.

The committee requested and obtained schedules of crude oil produced and lifted between 2005 to 2019.

“Forensic analysis of the data revealed a very wide margin between what was reported produced and what was lifted. Between 2005 and 2012, DPR reported production of 1,746,621,167 barrels from four sampled

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NEWS

N’Assembly Sets April for Passage of COVID-19 Vaccine Extra Budget Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja The federal government is working on a supplementary budget for the procurement of COVID-19 Vaccines that will be presented to the National Assembly soon, THISDAY'S investigations have revealed.

Already, the National Assembly has set April deadline for the consideration and approval of the budget when submitted by the executive.

Speaking against the background of concerns

by Nigerians over the procurement plans put in place by the government for the purchase of vaccines to curb the impact of the dreaded virus, the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Primary Healthcare and Communicable Diseases, Senator Chukwuka Utazi, said the issue of the supplementary budget has become apparent since enough funds were not provided in the 2021 budget for the procurement of COVID-19 vaccines.

Utazi in a response to an enquiry by THISDAY yesterday said he is hopeful that before Easter, the bill would be in the National Assembly for legislative processes and passage into law.

Utazi further stated that: "Because of the inadequate provision in the 2021 Appropriation Act for vaccines procurement, it became apparent and needful that there must be a Supplementary Appropriation Bill by the Executive to cover the initial shortfall in the 2021 Appropriation Act. "As we speak, the preparation of the Supplementary Bill is in the works. I hope that before Easter, the bill will be in the National Assembly for legislative processes and passage into law."

The Executive Director of the National Primary

Healthcare Development Agency (NPHCDA), Dr. Faisal Shuaib, also confirmed that the federal government is presently preparing a supplementary budget for the procurement of COVID-19 vaccines.

Shuaib, who spoke to THISDAY yesterday, said there was no money provided in the 2021 appropriation bill signed into law by the president last December.

He said: "The plan of the federal government is to look at all available sources of funding for COVID-19 vaccine as it is not captured in 2021 appropriation for procurement of vaccines. So the Ministry of Health is in consultations with the National Assembly on the possibility a supplementary budget to take care of COVID-19 vaccines," he said.

When asked if the delay in appropriating money for the vaccines will not affect the time frame for its procurement and implementation, Shuaib said that the first of 16 million doses of COVAX procured vaccines are free and is expected to arrive any time from now.

According to the executive director, the federal government is also looking at other sources of funding, especially from World Bank facility that can take care of matters such as manpower training, logistics and personnel cost.

Shuaib also said that the issue of the breakdown of the budget items will be sorted in the days ahead as the supplementary budget takes shape.

for the vaccination of 70 per cent of Nigeria's population.

An official of the Federal Ministry of Health, who spoke to THISDAY yesterday, said that the projected amount is for a two budget circle - 2021 to 2022.

According to the source, who said he was not authorized to speak to the media on the subject matter, there are several components that summed up the N400 billion aside from the cost of COVID-19 vaccine.

He said: "The N400 billion is actually for a 2-year budget circle not for 2021 alone. It is meant to cover vaccination of 70 per cent of Nigeria's population."

According to him, it is not possible to procure vaccines to cover 70 per cent of Nigeria's population which is 140 million and administer them in just one year.

The source described the N400 billion as a mere expenditure projection for the next two years, which may be

higher or lower depending on the various cost factors that are determined by market forces.

The ministry official, who said that it took the government a lot of effort and energy to arrive at the N400 billion estimates, noted it contains details of what it will take to deliver vaccines to the targeted population.

According to him, some of the details have to do with the cost of providing cold chains for storage of vaccines in various locations, diesel for powering the storage facilities as well as solar power alternative that can be deployed to rural areas.

"N400 billion is not just for the procurement of COVID-19 Vaccine. It covers all that is involved in procurement, delivery, storage, administration, distribution, personnel cost and everything needed to deliver the doses of the vaccine to Nigerians.

"For instance, when you procure the vaccines, you will need to store it in cold

freezers across the 36 states of the country including delivery to all the 774 local government areas.

"There is also the cost profile for personnel, administration and logistics till the vaccine is administered to the beneficiary.

All these components were factored into the budget for the COVID-19 Vaccine.

When asked about the current price of each vaccine dose, the official said it varies from from $3 to $20.

Also, the official was asked to confirm whether the N400 billion will come through supplementary appropriation and when he said no information to that effect.

"Budget for the vaccines is not really what Nigerians should worry about but whether the federal government has made good plans to procure these vaccines. In 2020, when COVID-19 broke out as global pandemic, there was no budget for addressing it

but the federal government later found money to tackle it.

The first $1 billion released for the emergency operations was not in the budget. Even the supplementary budget came several months later.

He said that government rose up to the challenge and started tackling the pandemic while pursuing the processes for supplementary budget.

According to him, the federal government has covered all loose ends as far as the issue of procurement of COVID-19 Vaccine is concerned.

"This is the time that Nigerians should trust and have confidence in the government. Although some persons in government may not be straight forward, but this government is sincere to the people. The federal government has a responsibility to the citizens and the people should have confidence in the capacity of the government to deliver on its programmes," he said.

Official Explains N400bn Estimates THISDAY also gathered that the N400 billion budget estimates are being projected to cover the procurement of COVID-19 vaccines required

OFFER OF SUPPORT...

L-R: Chairman, Estate Surveyors and Valuers (ESV), Abuja Branch, Mr. Ikenna Aghaji; President and Chairman of National Council of Nigeria Institution of Estate Surveyors and Valuers, Mr. Emmanuel Wike; and Chairman, Statues and Government Relation Committee, Mr. Emmanuel Alao, during a press briefing by the institute in Abuja…yesterday ayo ajayi

ARREST PLOTTERS OF VIOLENCE, ACF, AFENIFERE, CAN TELL DSS by the DSS over an alleged plot by some groups to incite violence in the country by exploiting the nation's fault lines.

The DSS, some weeks ago, had raised similar concerns.

In a statement by its spokesman, Dr. Peter Afunanya, the DSS said the unnamed groups planned to incite violence in some parts of the country.

The agency warned such groups to desist from such evil plans or face the full wrath of the law.

"The Department of State Services (DSS) hereby reminds the public of its earlier warnings about plans by persons and groups to exploit some fault lines to cause ethno-religious violence in parts of the country.

"Latest developments indicate desperate efforts by these groups to subvert public order. In this regard, they have continued to resort to inciting unguarded and divisive statements and acts", it said.

It accused the groups of plotting to pit citizens against one another to cause discord.

"For the umpteenth time, the service strongly warns these elements to desist forthwith from their planned, nefarious acts or face the full wrath of the law," it stated.

Afunanya said the DSS would, in collaboration with other security and law enforcement agencies, take steps to ensure the safety of lives and property.

But in a swift reaction, Afenifere and PANDEF faulted the latest security alert raised by the secret police, describing it as a gimmick to raise a false alarm.

Afenifere said the security agency knew those reportedly behind such plans but would not arrest them because of their strong connections with the government.

Its spokesman, Yinka Odumakin, told THISDAY: "These people know those who are responsible for these acts but can't touch them because of their connections with the troubling controller of Nigeria.

Let them continue to abuse the rest of us for the sin of their favoured ones."

On its part, PANDEF expressed concern over the latest strategy of the DSS, describing the warning as unnecessary and capable of exacerbating tension in the country.

National Publicity Secretary of PANDEF, Hon. Ken Robinson, told THISDAY that the security outfit has tragically turned itself into a mere alarmist and doomster.

He stated that Nigeria's problems are caused by the way the nation is being run with many people feeling alienated, stressing that the government should demonstrate a commitment to the well-being of the citizenry.

"Everyone, including the DSS, knows the causes of the many problems of the country.

Principal amongst which is the way and manner the affairs of the country are being conducted. The exaltation of nepotism in governance; the situation whereby some ethnic groups and sections of the country are considered more important than others, and key appointments are based on primordial considerations

and not merit, is pathetic and detrimental to national peace and stability.

"Many Nigerians feel alienated and disaffected, therefore the solution is not the deployment of propaganda by key security agencies. This could further divide the citizenry along ethnic and religious lines. The government needs to demonstrate sincerity and commitment to the wellbeing of all citizens, no matter where one comes from and his or her religion," he added.

ACF has also asked the DSS to be proactive in dealing with those plotting to incite violence.

Spokesman of the forum, Mr. Emmanuel Yawe, told THISDAY that since the DSS knows those behind the plot, it should be proactive in dealing with them.

According to him, raising alarm without taking action against those behind the plot means nothing.

“Who are the people? Since the DSS knows them and their Satanic mission, they should be proactive in dealing with them.

“Raising an alarm means

nothing when the people inciting a national crisis are left free,” Yawe said.

CAN has also asked the DSS to rise up to its constitutional responsibility of securing lives and property rather than frequently raising the alarm.

In a statement yesterday by the Special Assistant to CAN President, Pastor Adebayo Oladeji, the organisation said the DSS owed Nigerians a constitutional duty to arrest those involved in the plot.

"Whenever the Department of State Security (DSS ) raises any alarm over the security of the country, ordinarily, one should take them seriously because of the fact that their primary responsibility includes but not limited to intelligence gathering.

"We recall that the agency raised a similar alarm recently.

But how many suspects have been arrested, detained and arraigned over the last ones?

All the killings in the country have been happening without bringing those responsible to book," it said.

CAN urged those who are responsible for the security of

lives and property to wake up to their constitutional responsibilities.

"Are they not aware? People are being kidnapped on the highways and in their residences without any arrest. We wonder why? Those who are shedding the innocent blood and those who are kidnapping for ransom are they spirits?

"This doesn't speak well of us as a nation. Terrorists, bandits, kidnappers and other criminals are not invincible and until they are being apprehended and successfully prosecuted, people will no longer have respect for those who are in charge of the security," it stated.

On its part, NEF said those inciting the crisis should not be allowed to succeed.

Spokesman of the forum, Dr. Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, stated that those attacking Fulani communities and destroying their property are threatening the foundation of security.

"If there are people pushing the country into deeper crises and they are known; they should be treated according to the law.”

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T H I S D AY ˾ ˜ Ͳ˜ 2021

COMMENT

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

NOLLYWOOD, MOBUTU AND KAMALA HARRIS Okello Oculi writes that Nollywood has a movie waiting to be scripted in the Congo

D

AILY MONITOR, a Kampala-based newspaper, carried a report about a translator who ignored a Hollywood event in preference for transcribing into LUGANDA films by Nollywood. This evidence of mind-colonialism across Uganda through eyes and ears recalled colonialism through ears by musicians from Mobutu Sese Seko’s Zaire (now Democratic Republic of Congo). Their dance music dethroned British and American pop-music.

Mobutu began to receive hostile reportage from EuroAmerican media when his doctrine of ‘’Authenticity’’ had hostile stings. His people were required to stop using Jewish/ Christian names because God had for centuries known their native names. Moreover, Catholic missionaries had supported brutal practices by Belgian administrative officials, including: cutting off hands of over five million people for not tapped specified quantities of rubber latex. To carry Christian names is to forget this terrible crime. Nollywood should harvest the Mobutist and Belgian wings of Congo’s history.

Mobutu became notorious across Africa for personally colluding with American, British, Belgian, French and South African racists in the assassination of Patrice Lumumba. Lumumba had rashly threatened to invite Communist Russia to help in ending the secession of mineral-rich Katanga Province. Kwame Nkrumah rebuked him for being impulsive and reckless.

Professor Cheik Anta Diop noted that on the eve of Congo’s independence, American officials had dug out a hill known to be rich in uranium ore and carried the harvest to the United States. Such a resource for making nuclear weapons was not to reach Communist Russia.

Katanga Province also held cobalt, copper, zinc and other industrial raw materials. European immigrants who were ruling Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) and South Africa, also dreaded the prospect of communist countries supporting liberation wars against them. Cuba and Russia had sold weapons to Algeria’s revolutionaries. Their fears were credible.

This dramatic season awaits exploitation by Nollywood.

After pushing politicians from power, Mobutu started a journey of self-redemption. He formed a single political party- the Popular Movement for the Revolution – to counter the multitude of tribal political parties created by Belgian intelligence operative for stopping a latent nationalism of anger against brutal colonial exploitation hungry for Lumumba’s radical rhetoric.

To heal separatism, he toured his vast country six times a year; stopping to make speeches which lasted for up to five hours. He had the example of Fidel Castro in Cuba. Julius Kambarage Nyerere’s example crossed their common border.

KAMALA HARRIS HEADS A GOVERNMENT PLEDGED TO REVERSING ENVIRONMENTAL GENOCIDE. THE RECORD OF DIPLOMACY

BY ECONOMIC VIOLENCE AGAINST THE DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO MUST BE COMBATED

Here again is intellectual pounded yam for Nollywood’s appetite.

For artists with longing for blazing guns, Mobutu’s biography is rich with armed drives to overthrow him. The legendary Che Guevara arrived in Tanzania disguised as a Russian businessman on a flight from Moscow. He met Laurent Kabila guzzling alcohol in Dar-es-Salaam being swooned over by pragmatic prostitutes.

Mobutu’s collaboration with the CIA in supporting Jonas Savimbi to overthrow the socialist government in Angola, earned him invasions by combatants anxious to take control of Katanga. Troops mobilised by the Unites States and Saudi Arabia, flew in troops from Morocco, Senegal and Togo to save Mobutu’s swagger.

That pride would be crushed by an alliance involving Tanzania, Rwanda, Uganda and Chad given legitimacy by British and American diplomatic, military and media support.

The nation-building he had invested in was devastated by wars cynically labelled as ‘’Africa’s Third World War’’. He fled and died in Morocco as a man abandoned by former allies who rejected his distributing foreign businesses, farms and mines to an emerging local Congolese capitalist class. While former allies had tolerated his cultural ‘’authenticity’’, they detested its economic version. There is a rich ‘’One-Pot’’ here for Nollywood’s pool of genius to chop.

From under Mobutu’s shade a large number of women inventors blossomed. These inventions were diverse, including an artificial traffic police official. Vice President Kamala Harris probably carries a gene from this pool of tenacity and genius in women. Her Caribbean roots may stretch back into Congo.

Such ancestral roots would come with urgent responsibilities.

During her presidential run, she waved her flag of triumphal defence of public welfare against selfish big businesses. A United Nations Committee accused 83 multinational corporations of supplying small arms to gangs of militia to inflict violence on communities sitting on deposits of cobalt, coltran, diamond, zinc, etc. Top military officers from Uganda and Rwanda have also been accused of this economic piracy.

Between the fall of Mobutu’s government and the exit of Joseph Kabila, it is estimated that six million civilians have died from this economy of violence. It has remained more murderous than COVID-19. Kamala Harris heads a government pledged to reversing environmental genocide. This record of diplomacy by economic violence against the Democratic Republic of Congo must be combated. Her government can help the African Union to develop the capacity to collectively intervene in this matter. Nollywood should be supported.

THE COVID-19 INCIDENT COMMANDER

Lagos State governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu is forging ahead despite the difficulties of the moment, writes

B

abajide Sanwo-Olu has seen it all. He is indeed a cat with nine lives. As the Executive Governor of Lagos State, he had lofty plans for 2020. Governing Lagos, a city with over 20 million people and the commercial nerve centre of the nation is not a tea party. It requires a great deal of innovation and mental strength.

Unforeseen events threw spanners into the plans. A virus that broke out in Wuhan, China, grew into a massive monster that culminated in the biggest pandemic of the century.

Lagos, the international gateway of Nigeria took the hit when an Italian brought the virus into the country through Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos.

Everything changed forever in the aquatic city and indeed Nigeria.

Governor Sanwo-Olu to the admiration of many Lagosians showed leadership. He was resilient in the face of the greatest public health challenges in history. He put on the candour reminiscent of Fashola days during Ebola scourge.

The governor was not without scar. He contracted the virus in the battlefront. The COVID-19 pandemic plague is no respecter of person. Like a general in the war front, the governor while isolating charged Lagosians not to let down their guard assuring them that COVID-19 will be defeated. He came out healthy and conquered the virus.

So, the coronavirus tale the governor shared recently on Channels Television further entrenched the message and jolted doubting Thomases from their unbeliefs.

Sanwo-Olu recounted how he survived the scourge through God’s mercy and medical science. He described his case as moderate noting that many were not so lucky as their cases were severe.

He spoke with passion in the face of rising cases of infections. Over 44,000 cases have been established in Lagos, the governor disclosed on the programme. This disturbing data must send chills down the spine of any right- thinking persons. Obviously, the challenge is daunting vis-a-vis the myriad of troubles the nation currently grapples with.

The overwhelmed health facilities and personnel can’t match the rising numbers.

We can’t continue to live recklessly - that was the main thrust of the governor’s message during the interview.

“Just to put the figure right, we have actually crossed 44,000 cases as we speak (last Sunday). But to also put in proper context, the current figure is coming out of a test of about 280,000 that we have done in the state, which is more than half of what is done nationally. So, that has given us the positivity of about 16 per cent. But in terms of compliance and enforcement, when we brought out those rules in April/May last year, people still didn’t have the level of understanding they have today. They still believed that it was something that was foreign and far from us. “But right now, almost everybody understands and sees that it is real, especially the second wave.

“After the first wave slowed down, this second wave has shown us that we cannot take this pandemic for granted. In terms of level of compliance, I will not say that a lot of our citizens are complying. But if you come to any of our offices and public buildings, the enforcement is there. You cannot enter my office, our secretariat in Alausa or any of our government buildings without wearing a face mask. And if we can do that, all it takes is for everybody to take responsibility.

“If all the managing directors in the banking sector say to their staff and customers that you cannot enter their facilities if you are not wearing a face mask; if every manufacturing company, church and mosque says the same thing, if we all take responsibility and issue out the same thing, then we will see 99 percent compliance.

“It is not about the government bringing out police and chasing people that are not wearing it; it is about ensuring we understand that it is role sharing. All of us have a role to play and everybody just needs to play his or her part.

“As a media practitioner, you (interviewer) have a responsibility to also help us communicate and tell our citizens that it is about them; it is about their loved ones. It is not just that Sanwo-Olu wants you to just put up a mask on your face; it is because of what the medicine and health practitioners are telling us, that it is the only way we can

reduce transmission and that is the right thing for all of us to do”, the governor urged during the interview.

Sanwo-Olu has shown unequalled leadership in the battle against the pandemic. He was the beacon light when the entire nation was thrown into a state of despondency.

Whilst the national government was pondering on the form of succour that should be extended to the vulnerable segment of the population, Sanwo-Olu disbursed reliefs, both food and free healthcare.

Telemedicine, which leverages telephony technology in getting help to ailment sufferers became imperative as hospital wards and corridors were over-stretched. The government deployed this innovation to remotely manage asymptomatic patients and not fairly moderate cases.

In the wake of deadlier second wave of Coronavirus, the governor did not succumb.

He charged on and intensified the awareness and enforcement of non-pharmaceutical measures to scale down the rate of infections and responded to acute shortage of oxygen in the hospitals.

Before the federal government intervened through funds allocated to states to build Medical Oxygen plants across the land, the proactive and responsive government of Babajide Sanwo-Olu had already built an Oxygen plant at IDH Yaba, the flagship health facility for infectious diseases management.

On the enforcement side, recalcitrant night crawlers and religious dogma who violated the midnight curfew were rounded up at upscale nightclubs in Surulere and Victoria Island areas of the state.

Event centres that violated maximum allowed guests regretted their action as the centres were shut. Handful of Lagosians who scorned at face masks were hounded by security operatives. Face masks violators now risk six months imprisonment. It is that serious. The message is simple - everyone must be whipped to line up for our collective existence.

Another major event that shaped 2020 was the #EndSARS imbroglio. It was a national rage staged by young folks against police brutality. The elites were shocked to the marrow when millennials and centennials

funded and sustained a protest for over two weeks. Criminal elements eventually hijacked the demonstration. It ended in unquantifiable losses to citizens and governments.

The world hailed the cosmopolitan and urbane approach of the uprising when he visited the epicentre in Lekki. Sachets water were hauled at the governor by enraged and irate youths but he took it calmly. He pacified and urged them to return home. Sanwo-Olu sought their trust but they never heeded.

To further demonstrate his sincerity and fidelity to promises made, Sanwo-Olu flew to Abuja to submit the popular 5-for-5 demands of #EndSARS protesters.

He set up a panel of judicial inquiry to look into cases of police brutality in the state. He managed the delicate situation with uttermost tact before criminal elements and fifth columnists hijacked the protest for a heinous end. The lessons learnt during the crisis were not lost on the governor. “If you don’t learn from what has happened yesterday, you probably don’t have a tomorrow.

So, for me personally, it is not really to dwell so much in the past. Learn from the past but have a conversation going forward; have a plan, an agenda that you can take forward.

So, what I would say to a whole lot of my youthful citizens and everyone is to say that as a government and person, we have learnt so much from 2020.

“We have learnt from a pandemic that has never ravaged the world in 100 years and which has Lagos at its epicenter. We had protests that we have never seen in this part of the country before and the aftermath of it, as a government we have learnt from it.

We have seen all the bites and conversations coming out of it and we are saying transparently that let all of us take it forward and build a better society for ourselves.

“How else can we do it? We don’t have anywhere to go to. We don’t have any other country. We don’t have any other state. So, it is in our individual and collective interest that we build things for ourselves and future. That is what I will say and that is the encouragement that I want to leave with all of us. And I kept saying this: for me as a person, as long as I have this mandate, I will not shy away from ensuring that I give hope to my fellow citizens,” Sanwo-Olu said.

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T H I S D AY ˾ ˜ Ͳ˜ 2021

EDITORIAL

SOUTHWEST AND HERDSMEN CRISIS It is time to modernise the way we rear cattle in the country

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e commend the recent meeting between Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) and the leadership of the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association (MACBAN) to find a lasting solution to the incessant killings, kidnappings and crisis between herdsmen and farmers in South-west region. The parley followed the seven-day ultimatum issued by Governor Rotimi Akeredolu to unregistered Fulani herdsmen to vacate Ondo THE SOLUTION TO THE State’s forest FREQUENT CLASHES reserve and cease the movement of BETWEEN THE FARMERS cattle along the AND HERDSMEN IS highways and RANCHING within the cities.

The NGF and MACBAN should also be lauded for the agreement to outlaw open grazing, underage grazing, and night herding in the South-west states, given the rate at which some undesirable elements who parade themselves as herders commit heinous crimes. These criminals hide in bushes and make travelling perilous for road users. In a recent editorial, the Financial Times of London, warned that Nigeria is edging dangerously towards becoming a failed state given the frightening scale of banditry, kidnapping and poor governance.

Due to the incessant nature of these communal conflicts, many communities across the country are self-arming either to protect themselves or for reprisal attacks as bloody battles for supremacy and for the control of land become increasingly alarming. Invariably, this pattern, along with limited access leads to conflict with the farmers and often results in the destruction of crops and cattle rustling by both parties. It is therefore time to modernise the way we rear cattle in our country. And the only way to go about this is by investing in ranching or creating a cattle colony, instead of carrying out a primitive pattern that is no longer in vogue in many

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countries that boast more stock of cattle than us. The sight of cows struggling for space with commuters every day on our roads while also straying into neigbourhood is irritating and only sums up our poor attitude to good governance.

Going forward, all relevant stakeholders must come together to find an acceptable formula to deal with the challenge. States/federal government, legislatures, traditional rulers, civil society organisations, security agencies and communities need to frontally tackle these deadly and criminal conflicts which threaten the fragile peace in the nation. But the way to tackle this is for government to address the underlying causes of banditry, killing, and kidnapping for ransom, which has become the order of the day and is compounding the state of security in the country.

As we keep reiterating, one of the curious tragedies of modern Nigeria is that we have come to accept the category ‘nomadic’ as a permanent description of a vital segment of our populace. We have gone ahead to create schools, map out grazing trails and sundry other things to enshrine this unfortunate doctrine. A consequence has been the ever frequent bloody clashes between nomads and settled landowners and farmers in nearly every part of the country.

Besides, by allowing them to roam the length and breadth of the country, often herding evacuated cattle, we violate the rights of these animals and endanger the health of citizens through exposure to the elements and a cocktail of diseases.

To the extent that farming is becoming a hazardous profession at a time the nation needs to embrace agriculture not only for food security but also to take many of our young people away from the streets, the authorities cannot continue to look the other way or act in a manner that suggests they have taken sides. The solution to the frequent clashes between the farmers and herdsmen is ranching. The authorities, both in Abuja and the states concerned, must therefore begin to fashion long-term solutions to the challenge that is generating violence in several theatres at enormous cost to the nation.

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

2023: SUCCESSION AND POLITICAL LEADERSHIP

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ost of Nigeria’s current political leaders are in their middle and old ages and have reached the peak of the ‘pyramid’ of politics. Add just 10 years to the ages of many top politicians in Nigeria today, we would get nonagenarians, octogenarians; septuagenarians and sexagenarians. For example, President Muhammadu Buhari would be 88; former Vice President Atiku Abubakar 84; former President Olusegun Obasanjo 93, former Military President Ibrahim Babangida 89; former head of state Abdulsalam Abubakar, 88; Bola Tinubu, 78; Bamanga Tukur, 98; TY, Danjuma, 92; Bisi Akande, 92; Murtala Nyako, 88; Danjuma Goje, 78; Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, 74; Anyim Pius, 69; John Nwodo, 78; Bukola Saraki, 68; Attahiru Bafarawa, 76, and so on.

The dynamics of the Nigerian political landscape is changing. The country needs a well-planned leadership succession arrangement. This is even more crucial because the nation is a developing country. A structured political succession plan will free the current age-old leadership from the burden of ‘carrying the camel and its loads’.

Though succession planning has been happening within the spheres of political leadership in Nigeria, it is always haphazard and mostly shrouded by the vestige of personal interests. It has often been devoid of the country’s interests. Former President Olusegun Obasanjo was recently tackled on his choice of former President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, while being fully aware of the latter’s health condition.

Obasanjo said his decision was based on the information available to him and Yar’Adua’s honesty. This has brought to the fore the need for the Nigerian political leadership to cultivate the culture of having succession advisors and employ the science of succession. It will help them in making sound decisions for the transition of leadership between the current generation of leaders and potential younger successors, while still maintaining some sort of political relevance and influence.

Unfortunately, the current political leadership has a poor mentorship system, especially in terms of teaching the art of politicking and participation in national politics. The most hit are often their offspring and lieutenants.

Picking a successor in Nigeria is a

painstaking job because of the complex nature of Nigeria’s politics. Our faultlines, apparent influence of geography, tongue and faith in our polity are some of the factors responsible for this. For instance, the political geography - the north, has a large number of these political leaders and the region has some of the oldest people in the national and state assemblies, including as commissioners and council chairs.

The influence of social media in our lives and politics is growing while young people constitute the major users of social media. The 2023 elections would be a make or mar to Nigeria’s political leaders, their politics and their regions. If power returns to the south, the north may have to produce a young vice president and do the painstaking job to populate some of the most sensitive political positions in the region with young people. Nigeria’s political leadership must put in place a structured but feasible succession plan, it is very critical for them, their politics and the country. 2023 must be the starting point.

Zayyad I. Muhammd, Jimeta, Adamawa State

A WARM WINNER

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veryone has probably seen the Bernie Sander’s photo of him rugged up with the mittens and then the numerous memes of it and although it was mostly a funny picture and a few laughs a handmade crotched doll of it has now raised over US$40,000 for meals on wheels. This is a charity that the Senator supports.

It is an interesting story that combines amusement, generosity and the reality that there are a lot of people who are cold and hungry and that any help will be appreciated. Probably the greatest benefit is the publicity meals on wheels will get and it should encourage all of that can that we should help those less well off, especially in the COVID times.

Dennis Fitzgerald, Melbourne, Australia

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THURSDAY FEBRUARY 4, 2021 •T H I S D AY

THURSDAY FEBRUARY 4, 2021 • T H I S D AY

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T H I S D AY ˾ THURSDAY FEBRUARY 4, 2021

POLITICS

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

‘APC Put Restructuring in Its Manifesto to Deceive the People’

Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola, a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party and former governor of Lagos and Osun states, as well as, Chairman South-west PDP Reconciliation Committee shares his thoughts on the polity and his career as a soldier and politician with Yinka Kolawole

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best sword winners in their sets what of the remaining Swords of Honor that were retired because of the overstay of those chiefs, if we are talking about brilliance? And I know for certain that the General Buhari whom I served under would not take that kind of a thing if it happened when he (Buhari) was in service. I can bet you this would never happen with him in service. I don’t know why they were kept for that long and I don’t know why those ones were not honorable too to tell the president they were leaving. As an officer, there is time to be honorable because at the end of the day you must still go. Now, he has asked them to go, eventually.

s a retired military officer who is still very active what is your candid view on the level of insecurity in Nigeria and what solution would you think can assist us as a nation?

At no time has this country been so divided along every fault lines. The fault lines have been made more pronounced under this administration and if care is not taken we may be heading for chaos. My candid opinion which I believe is the opinion of many Nigerians is for us to discuss and renegotiate the basis of our togetherness as a nation.

In a nutshell, either the country institutes a conference, which I think will not be necessary because we have the report of the 2014 confab that was well conducted. We can dust the documents and implement what is inside.

Let us restructure this country. We had a federal administration from 1960 to 1966 during which every region ran its own area according to the needs and desires of their people and it worked.

There was healthy rivalry between the regions, Awolowo was running free primary education and others were copying him all over. So, the best bet for Nigeria, if it is not going to be a blow out, is for us to look at restructuring of the country and look at the issues holding down everyone and find lasting solutions to them.

Considering what you have said, would you call for Conference of Retired Military Heads of State as well as Presidents for that lasting solution to the nation’s insecurity?

Now, we are called a federal republic, there are ways and manners in which a federal state is run, why can’t we keep to the letters of federalism? Where we took it from, we see it daily how institutions make democracy to progress. Just of recent, we saw in America how the system saved itself. So, we have adopted federalism in governance, why can’t we keep to the dictates and run our country as a true federation? Why? I should run my educational scheme the way it suits my people and not a straitjacketed educational system running from Borno to Osun state. That will not work.

The police issue, we had local police in the Western Region and those were policemen drawn from the locality. There was no-how a thief would steal and they would not get him.

They knew all the bad boys within the vicinity.

Where we drew this system from, they have local police. The laws of one police system in the US cannot override the other. I remember on one of my visits to America, and a security man was detailed to go round with me wherever I went. I was to buy a golf equipment, but I had to cross to another state to the shop where I had to buy the golf equipment. The security man said he had no authority to cross over to that place. Then, I said well, I would go and come.

He did not go with me because his jurisdiction did not allow him to cross to another state. I went and bought the equipment and he was waiting for me. I joined him where he was to continue my other activities. That is where we took the federal system from. Military rule has bastardized our federation but why can’t we go back, 20 years after the military left?

Keeping the unitary system alive, where things are skewed in favor of some people, helps them in appointments, developments, etc. So, those who benefit from this pseudo federation won’t want to let go.

If they don’t want to let go, what is the way out?

I don’t want to say what comes to my mind.

You are the chairman of Southwest Reconciliation committee for PDP how far have you gone?

Well we have succeeded in understanding the areas of problems and the differences and we believe the leaders are eminently qualified to resolve all the differences. At the end

Oyinlola of our job, we will go and present our report to the stakeholders meeting that gave us this assignment and from there the people will go and handle each state’s peculiarity. Like I said, we have gone through Ogun, Oyo and we are heading to Ondo next week.

If you are to X-ray President Muhammadu Buhari’s performance what would be your take?

My take is failure in all ramifications. The APC gave us some promises as to what they want to do. You said the Naira’s exchange rate will be competing with the Dollar; you met naira at N197 to USD1, it is now N500 to One US dollar. Is that not a tragedy?

When the PDP government increased petrol price, you screamed, you brought out all civil society groups; they were all picketing everywhere, what is the price now? The only disappointing thing is that those civil society groups that were shouting over the increase of petroleum prices are now mute because the price has been increased three times.

Federal appointments have never been so blatantly skewed in favor of a particular section.

It is an open secret. So, mention the areas where it has not failed, telling lies. Is that the next level we were promised? Is that the change?

They did not tell us it was going to be negative change. No banditry in the Northwest in

2015, everything was with Boko Haram in the Northeast. Now, nobody is save everywhere.

There is no security for anyone. I joke that if a governor walks about in, say, Katsina, without his security men, Walahi they will abduct him.

It is that bad. Kidnappers took away a District Head in Daura. They abducted him and they have been doing things like that for so long in that zone. It is very sad.

The president recently replaced the Service Chiefs...

Honestly speaking , I don’t know why the service chiefs were kept for that long. By the condition of service that I know very well, you are to stay and serve for 35 years or leave when you are 60 years old. But, as the head of any of the services at the instance and privilege of the president, he may extend your service by two years. Those ones served for over forty years. Infact it negated the service Acts. It was a breach of the law. And because of that, there were generations of officers who have had to exit the service without making it to the peak of their careers because those who were made to sit tight at the top would not allow anybody to go up. The hope and aspirations of any officer is to work and command the force. I don’t know the brilliance of those officers that made them indispensable. We were all trained and graded fit by the defence academy. If they were all the

There are differences in both parties but the ability to resolve disputes without much rancor is high on the side of APC. There is a bit or more discipline in APC than in PDP but APC is not as democratic as the PDP. If you see them (APC) fighting, somebody will just call them and seal it overnight. We have not learnt that in PDP. Everybody wants to be a leader. But talking of democracy, there is no doubt that PDP is more democratic than the APC in all ramifications

You were Chairman of the NIMC that is doing the NIN registration going on across the country. Nigerians are finding it difficult to get it done in this period of COVID-19, what is your take?

Well, if there are situations militating against the smooth conduct of the exercise, the only thing is to extend the exercise which I believe the government will do because the essence of doing this exercise is for security reasons. I can tell you that as a former NIMC chairman. In all countries, all you need is a single identity card and that is why when you cross the border to Benin, all they ask you is your identity card; with the identity card, they just slot it in and tell everything about you.

In the UK with your drivers license you can take loans and do everything you want to do with it and that is what an identity card has to be.

But because of our lack understanding or uncooperative attitude, the Central Bank has its own data, police have their own data, several others like that. It is supposed to be one central data base which NIMC is supposed to keep.

That is why some came up with the idea that if you don’t have a NIN you are not allowed recruitment into any of the forces. We need to bring everybody in. People are nonchalant about it and the NIN is good as a means of identity management. When I was there, some states don’t have the machines but from the little money we were given and which was coming for the first time, we were able to put the machines in over 774 local government areas substantially - and it has not gotten any other subvention ever since then.

Why did you resign as NIMC Chairman?

I resigned because of the fact that our President reneged on the promise that restructure would be part of the programme we were going to execute and being somebody from the South-west, I know the commitment of my people to having Nigeria as a true federation. The Yoruba bought into the Buhari project because of the issue of restructuring. They said, yes, this is what we have been clamouring for but at a stage after the election, the President said he did not know the meaning of restructuring, it was baffling and disappointing. When the leadership said they didn’t know the meaning of restructuring why did you put it in your manifesto? So, you did that manifesto to deceive the people?

You turned 70 years, yesterday. We want you to explain your social life; what you have been doing before 70 and what you will be doing after.

My intention is to continue to do what I have been doing in my life even beyond 70, everything I have been doing; maybe that is what kept me this long. I am an addicted golfer. I am the President of the Nigeria Golf Federation. if you invite me to a party I will come and dig it and boogie down, dancing is part of me and I took that one from my Dad. He was acclaimed to be one of the best dancing Obas around here.

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

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T H I S D AY ˾ THURSDAY FEBRUARY 4, 2021

POLITICS

We Didn’t Have Strong Institutions, We Had Strong Men Ruling Imo in the Past’ Amby Uneze interacts with Chief Enyinna Onuegbu, Imo State Commissioner for Lands, Survey and Physical Planning Development on how Governor Hope Uzodimma has fared within the past one year in office and his plans to implement white paper on illegal acquisition of lands by the previous government

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efore now you have been in active politics and have held many positions, how did you start?

I think I will describe myself as a veteran politician in Imo state apart from being a private solicitor which is my profession. I have been in the vocation of politics longer than what people know starting from my SDP days when I was a councillor aspirant under the Social Democratic Party. Since then I have remained in politics through different platforms mainly because of my adoption by the one and only Senator Arthur Nzeribe who I followed from that time till he retired from politics. As to benefits, I think in the last 10 years I started getting benefits from being in politics; the first was when the former governor, Dr. Ikedi Ohakim appointed me the Sole Administrator of Ngor Okpala local government council from where I contested and won election as Executive Chairman of the council. Outside of those, the next thing that has happened to me positively is the present appointment by the governor, Distinguished Senator Hope Uzodimma for which I am grateful and thankful to him.

I have a lot of experience in party administration. Under DPN, I was Assistant State Legal Adviser, in my former party, the PDP; I served as a State Publicity Secretary. In my present party, the APC, I also served as the State Publicity Secretary and currently I am the state Legal Adviser in the caretaker committee of the party.

In the past one year, the politics of Imo state has experienced certain upheavals, as the leadership has changed hands through the Supreme Court rulings, how did you see the scenario?

I believe that nothing happens without God’s doing. Politics is usually a game where the majority will take the day and the minority will have their say. You can never have 100 percent, either opponents or supporters. His Excellency Governor Hope Uzodimma is, as far as I know, appears to be the David of our time. Why I said so is because nobody gave him a chance. If you remember the story in the Bible when the Prophet went to Jesse house and all the male children lined up and God said the one I am looking for is not here, and said there is a small one in the field tendering sheep, they had to go to the field and fetch David; and God chose him. That is a typical story of Governor Hope Uzodimma. Yes, he tried it and nobody gave him a chance when he contested for the governorship under AD and challenged Governor Achike Udenwa’s second term, but having gone to the Senate where he played national politics and the name he had made at the national level, you will think that coming to contest for governorship is far from it, but God gave him the message to come and right the wrongs in Imo state.

It is a matter of being a welfarist in the politics of the state. Everybody believes that the Number One welfarist politician in the state is Governor Hope Uzodimma. Before he became governor anywhere you go people will attest to the fact that he is the man who attends to their smallest problems in helping to solve them. Eight years in the senate, he did not buy any house or any major thing for himself. As Senator, he arranged for all the party chairmen from Orlu zone to have two 18-seater buses each, he paid for one for them in their private capacity as party officials and helped them secure another one for transport business under the small micro scheme arrangement. He is the first man in Imo who gave out a Range Rover vehicle as a gift to campaign directors and leaders of the party. So I think God looked at his heart and said he should go and bring the state on the path of rectitude. If you check it, we have had governors who ruled the stated that felt they were greater than the institution. We didn’t have strong institutions, rather we had strong men ruling Imo in the past.

For the first time in Imo, people became appointees without first meeting god fathers, carrying drinks etc to lobby to the governor on their behalf. Following the judgment of the Supreme Court of January 14, 2020 that gave

Onuegbu victory to Governor Hope Uzodimma, he was sworn in on the January 15, 2020, and from that day till my appointment was announced, I did not seat one-on-one with Governor Hope Uzodimma, except probably on the phone about what was to be done and he gave me this position. There are more than 90 percent of appointees who would tell you that they did not discuss their appointment before they were made, the governor on his own made these appointments simply because he had knowledge of the antecedents of all of us who worked with him during the campaigns. It was not a case of monkey dey work, baboon dey chop. This monkey worked and it is the one chopping. And that is why; we said that this government is a ‘government of shared prosperity’ with Imo people and the Three R mantra: Reconstruction, Recovery and Rehabilitation as his mission. He is rehabilitating not only the institution, but the plight of the Imolites that this governorship we used to see as the Himalaya Mountains is available on the ground. There is nothing as joyful as when you come to an occasion and your governor calls people by their names without a protocol list. It is joyful when you come to the governor’s office you find people discussing among themselves because they knew themselves from day one, and when you mention any street in the state they know where it is located. That is government that is rooted in the people.

One year has passed what would you ascribe to this government as its milestone?

Governor Hope Uzodimma has achieved a lot within one year in office. For instance, before this government came on board, we

used to have these elderly people (pensioners) monthly coming for verification in Owerri with the attendant problems they passed through.

The governor put a stop to that and designed a method to automate the payment system, so that civil servants, local government systems and pensioners would have their salaries and pensions paid with ease. Somebody in the past had collected N750 million for automation and for seven months it never worked. When the governor started it there were some delays in the system because of the automation, but now he has finished it, you will find out that somebody will get arrears of 5 or 6 months’ salary or pensions at a go, it has never happened before. Now people only get paid through their bank alert. The percentage of people who are not yet verified is not up to 10.

In the local government system, people would go on transfer from one local government to another and they would originate two files each file for one local government and they would be collecting two salaries at the end of the month; doctors who were in employment at Imo State University (IMSU) as lecturers and seconded to Imo State University Teaching Hospital (IMSUTH) at Orlu would go there and generate a new file as if they were employed at IMSUTH, so they would be taking salary in IMSU as well as in IMSUTH, this means they would have double pension at the end of the day. This governor saw this and stopped it. CONHESS requires you to be paid extra work at the IMSUTH but your salary will be generated from IMSU and they said they don’t want it; that is the issue the government has with medical workers. Bringing sanity to the system and making things work normal is

For the first time in Imo, people became appointees without first meeting god fathers, carrying drinks etc to lobby to the governor on their behalf. Following the judgment of the Supreme Court of January 14, 2020 that gave victory to Governor Hope Uzodimma, he was sworn in on the January 15, 2020, and from that day till my appointment was announced, I did not seat one-on-one with Governor Hope Uzodimma, except probably on the phone about what was to be done and he gave me this position. There are more than 90 percent of appointees who would tell you that they did not discuss their appointment before they were made, the governor on his own made these appointments simply because he had knowledge of the antecedents of all of us who worked with him during the campaigns

what this governor has achieved within one year in office.

Again, in terms of road construction and rehabilitation you may visit Chukwuma Nwoha, Dick Tiger, Douglas road (that was impassable all though the second tenure of governor Okorocha; it was a refuse heap), Douglas Road is fully done now with full street lights from beginning to the end; Wethedral Road has full street lights with all the potholes done, MCC Road and see the quality construction of road going on there now; Relief Market Road (called Martin Agbaso street) that was impassable is completed, Chukwuma Nwoha with an underground tunnel (balloon system) that will take all the water from Ikenegbu and Aladimma to Nworie river through the old IBC is going on now. Go to Amaigbo street, Uche street, Oparanozie street where nobody had imagined that tarred road would ever pass through, they are all done with street light.

This is a government that has come to serve the people truly, honestly and very fastidiously and we only need to thank God that a David of our time is on the throne.

In the past eight years or so, we used to see Christmas buntings across the major sites in Owerri and at the end of the day the government would spend billions of Naira. This governor has stopped that jamboree. That is maturity we are talking about which he has brought to governance. The security situation has improved. In the last Christmas there were only two kidnappings, fortunately the Bishop was released through the active intelligence of the security agencies in the state. The other one they ascribed to Imo happened in Ihiala, Anambra state, the man that was killed comes from Ideato in Imo state, but the incident happened in Ihiala. Throughout that period, you would agree with me that the ‘Operation Smash’ did well hence there was very relative peace in the state.

Workers went to Christmas with their December salary. The governor has provided 30 units of Coaster buses to take civil servants thro and from work. This means that when they come to work in the morning by 8am they will stay till 4pm when the buses would take them back home, within this period they must have put up their optimal best. That is why, when you come to the State Secretariat, there is a beehive of activities there. This government gave official vehicles to Permanent Secretaries to perform their official function which has not been done before. So these are the welfare packages that when you impact on the people they bring their optimum best to serve the state.

This governor has provided the latest Prado Jeep for the judges of Imo State, so that they are at par with their colleagues in states like Lagos and the FCT. So that is what is called ‘shared prosperity’.

Let’s talk about your ministry of lands, survey and physical planning, what is your mandate as regards to land matters in the state?

In the Ministry of Lands where I superintend, we are interested in restoring public confidence; we have eliminated quackery in land transactions. Now if you want to do a search, you come to the Ministry and pay the fees, we have embargoed allocation to eliminate double standards. The governor has directed that we certify all C of Os issued in the state as well as to maintain a register for allocation.

We want to maintain transparency by ensuring that all allocation must be by public notice so that Imo people will know that a particular area is available for allocation and they will bid for it. We are expecting the gazette that will emanate from the judicial commission of enquiry on lands and related matters so that all the areas where the previous government took over peoples’ lands without proper revocation can be retrieved and given back to their rightful owners. Luckily the Exco has approved it.

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

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T H I S D AY ˾ ˜ Ͳ, 2021

FEATURES

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

Repositioning Nigerian Ports Authority The reappointment of Hadiza Bala Usman as the managing director of the Nigerian Ports Authority would enable her consolidate on giant strides she recorded during her first tenure in office, writes Francis Sardauna

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or Hadiza Bala Usman, the Managing Director of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), the recent renewal of her tenure in office by President Muhammadu Buhari came as a welcome idea that would allow her further impetus to consolidate her visible achievements in the maritime sector.

Usman, a political stalwart who was born on January 2, 1976 in Zaria, Kaduna State, is known for her agility in the political terrain.

In her first tenure at the ports, she pursued a relentless commitment to the reforms in NPA, which earned her accolades from many Nigerians, including industry operators.

The 45-year-old who has a B.Sc. Business Administration from Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria and a Post Graduate in Development Studies from University of Leeds, United Kingdom in 2009, was first appointed to pilot the affairs of NPA in July 2016.

She came in as the first female managing director of NPA. Since July 2016, the NPA under her watch, has been going through positive transformations, reforms and repositioning such that its services could well be said to be of international standards and corruption-free.

Five years into the journey of transformation, the Katsina State game changer has been able to prove her mettle by introducing changes through her numerous landmark achievements in the maritime sector.

The NPA, under her, commenced with the launching of Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) and the Port Services Support Portal (PSSP) for efficient and effective operations at the six ports in Nigeria. The rationale behind the launch of the SOP and PSSP was to implement the Corruption Risk Assessment project in ports across the country.

The first-of-its kind initiative, is an anticorruption project that is focusing on revolving strategies to reduce corruption in the Nigerian ports in order to guarantee the security and safety of people and cargo within the ports and waterways in Nigeria.

In her first year in office, she succeeded in increasing NPA’s revenue by 84.65 per cent. NPA generated N299.5 billion revenue in 2017. The figure exceeded the N162.2 billion generated in 2016 by 84.65 per cent, making it the highest generated revenue by the ports authority in the past five years.

The contributions of the NPA to the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the Federal Government of Nigeria has also been unprecedented. From the sum of N18 billion inherited, the current management remitted the sum of N30 billion each for the 2017 and 2018 financial years.

The Usman-led management has also been able to launch the provisional, final billing and customer module of revenue invoice management system that seeks to improve service offering and partner relationship, and also create an efficient payment method. This also allows for revenue maximisation while eliminating losses that are related to revenue leakages.

Her ability to block all revenue leakages and making operations at Nigerian ports seamless and efficient will ensure NPA becomes a key economic driver for the country that is desperate to see a truly diversified economy in an efficiently run and transparent revenue generating system.

To boost marine operations and effective service delivery in the Lagos Pilotage District, the MD of NPA also purchased four new ultramodern tugboats at the whooping cost of N9.15 billion. The boats named MT Majiya, MT Daura, MT Ubima, and MT Uromi, with 60 tonnes of bollard pull capacity, can each be used to tow the new class of ultra-large containerships.

As part of efforts to support President Buhari’s anti-corruption drive, the NPA management under her leadership entrenched transparency and accountability in its operations by signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with BudgIT Open Budget System Platform.

The memorandum of understanding, which is for the purpose of implementing a

Usman

programme for dissemination of data from NPA for public consumption, was the first time in the history of the country that an agency of government would go into such an rapprochement.

She equally moved against the $133.28 million Secured Anchorage Area (SAA) deal and APMT over an alleged inefficiency that created congestion at the ports. With these engagements, Hadiza Bala Usman has restored investors’ confidence in the system and force them to adhere strictly to the rule of law while operating their businesses in the country.

The Kaduna born "Uwar Marayu" also introduced new licensing regime that guarantees transparency and strict adherence to due process through review of all concession agreements to ensure collaboration of all stakeholders for development of the maritime industry.

Consequently, the Eastern Ports which had been redundant over the years have recently seen increased vessel activities as a result of concessions made in the reduction of tariffs to encourage vessel owners use the Ports, thereby improving in NPA’s equipment and infrastructure in the areas.

She had even before the executive order, developed a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP), establishing dedicated terminals to handle exports aimed at diversifying the economy and improving earnings in line

with the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP) of the federal government.

Therefore, all terminal operators have also been mandated to establish dedicated desks that will handle all documentations on export, receipt of consignment and the loading of vessels. However, for a long time, the poor state of the port access roads has continually caused untold hardship to both port users and residents of Apapa.

The current management of NPA signed another MOU with the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing, AG Dangote, and Flour Mills of Nigeria Plc for the reconstruction of the Wharf Road Apapa, to which it went the extral miles to contribute the sum of N1,829 billion to the N4.43 billion venture.

Miffed by the challenge of bureaucratic and chaotic clearance of cargoes, the NPA is in collaboration with Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) and Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA), to develop the operational framework for establishing the National Single Window, Ports Community System and Scanning services.

This, is aimed at simplifying and harmonizing formalities, procedures and the related exchange of information and documents between the various partakers in the port operations value chain. The concerted efforts of Usman to restore investors’ confidence in the Nigerian ports industry has produced

remarkable outcomes with the recent signing of a loan agreement of US$629 million by Singaporean conglomerate Tolaram Group and the China Development Bank for the development of the Lekki Deep Seaport project.

In Katsina, her home state, the iron lady has supported the Governor Aminu Bello Masari's administration in repositioning the education, agriculture and health sectors as well as alleviating the plight of the vulnerable households across the three senatorial zones of the state.

The NPA boss's humanitarian gestures in the state apparently prompted residents to applaud President Muhammadu Buhari for re-appointing her to spearhead the affairs of the agency for additional five-year tenure.

One of the residents, Bala Abu said the NPA director-general has donated 400 and constructed classrooms at Musawa primary school and also distributed 40 grinding machines to vulnerable women in the local government area.

Abu, who is the state zonal vice chairman of APC said: "Hadiza Bala Usman has done tremendously well in changing the maritime sector and in the area of reducing the hardship been face by rural dwellers in Katsina. So, her reappointment by President Muhammadu Buhari will enable her to do more.

"For instance, in Musawa Local Government, she single-handedly empowered 50 youths with N25,000 each and distributed 40 irrigation machines to dry season farmers to boost their productivity and enhance their economic growth".

He added: "She also donated 400 chairs and constructed classrooms at Musawa primary school. Hadiza Bala Usman equally purchased and distributed 50 sewing machines to women in Kafur local government and the women are economically doing well".

Another resident, Muhammad Danjuma, noted that the reappointment of Hadiza Bala Usman would pave the way for her to continue to pursue vigorously the collection of the Federal Government’s outstanding revenues with the terminal operators.

He explained that the NPA boss had done well in ensuring that outstanding payments and dues meant for the NPA coffers by stakeholders are remitted as quickly as possible, saying providing an enabling environment for efficient Port services in the country remains her cardinal objective.

Danjuma, who is the publisher of an online newspaper, Katsina City News, said: "One good thing about Hadiza is that any responsibility you give her she will do it perfectly with the fear of Allah. Her numerous achievements are out there to see and it is because of her track records that President Buhari reappointed her.

"In Katsina, she has assited us in many ways. She distributed 220 grinding, sewing and irrigation machines to youths and women in Katsina local government. She also distributed 50 irrigation machines to youths in Dandume Local Government".

Danjuma reiterated that the NPA directorgeneral equally distributed 110 sewing and irrigation farming machines women and youths in Ingawa, Sandamu and Malumfashi Local Government Areas of the state.

According to him, "she also purchased and installed 282 solar light in Almajiri schools across the 34 local government areas of the state. She distributed 500 chairs to primary schools in Matazu Local Government. She also empowered 30 women with sewing machines and 50 house cleaning materials in the same LGA".

He maintained that Hadiza Bala Usman has constructed a state-of-the-art Out Patient Department (OPD) at the National Obstetric Fistula Centre, Babba Ruga, Katsina metropolis and renovated Community Girls Secondary School in Matazu local government.

From the foregoing, it is evidently clear that Hadiza Bala Usman in her five years of stewardship, had successfully set the NPA on the path of actualising its audacious goal of being the leading port in Africa.

THURSDAY FEBRUARY 4, 2021 ˾ T H I S D AY

21

INTERNATIONAL

Myanmar’s Suu Kyi Charged as Calls to Oppose Coup Grow Myanmar’s ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi was formally charged on Wednesday two days after she was detained in a military coup, as calls for civil disobedience to oppose the putsch gathered pace.

The Southeast Asian nation was plunged back into direct

military rule when soldiers arrested key civilian leaders in a series of dawn raids on Monday, ending the army’s brief flirtation with democracy.

Su Kyi, who has not been seen in public since, won a huge landslide with her National

Biden Signs Orders on Migrant Family Separations and Asylum US President, Joe Biden, has signed three executive actions seeking to reunite migrant families split up by a Trump-era policy and ordering a review of his predecessor’s wider immigration agenda.

In an attempt to deter illegal immigration, President Donald Trump’s administration separated undocumented adults from children as they crossed the US-Mexico border.

Mr Biden’s orders will set up a task force to try to reunite the estimated 600-700 children who are still apart from their families.

The Trump administration split up at least 5,500 children from adults along the border between 2017-18.

The administration of US President Barack Obama whom Mr Biden served as vice-president - also separated undocumented children from adults at the border, though

much more rarely, say activists.

One of Mr Biden’s orders will set up an inter-agency task force - led by the newly confirmed Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas - to oversee family reunifications Mr Biden’s second and third orders signed on Tuesday order a review of Mr Trump’s immigration policies that curtailed asylum, slowed legal immigration into the US, and cancelled funding to foreign countries.

Speaking at the White House, Mr Biden said: “We’re going to work to undo the moral and national shame of the previous administration that literally not figuratively ripped children from the arms of their families, their mothers and fathers, at the border and with no plan, none whatsoever, to reunify the children who are still in custody and their parents.”

Draghi Asked to Form New Italian Coalition Italy’s president has asked the former head of the European Central Bank, Mario Draghi, to form a new government after the previous coalition collapsed.

President Sergio Mattarella said Italy needed a “high-profile government” to tackle the Covid-19 pandemic and the worst economic crisis in decades.

Politicians failed to agree a coalition following the resignation of Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte last week.

Draghi will now have to put forward an administration that leaders support.

He was summoned to Rome’s historic Quirinale Palace on Wednesday by President Mattarella, who gave Mr Draghi a mandate and said he hoped he would break the parliamentary stalemate.

In a brief statement after

accepting the challenge, Mr Draghi said Italy was facing a “difficult moment” and that it was time for unity. “I am confident that in talks with parliamentary and other groups, we will find unity and the ability to find a responsible solution.”

Italy’s financial markets welcomed the news that the country’s star technocrat had been brought in, with the Milan stock market up almost 3%. On paper, Mr Draghi has impeccable credentials, BBC Rome correspondent Mark Lowen reports.

Political parties have been divided over how to spend €222bn (£195bn; $267bn) of EU Covid recovery funds, amid a pandemic in which nearly 90,000 Italians have died - the sixth highest death toll in the world.

UN Court to Rule on Role in Iran-US Sanctions Case The UN’s top court will rule Wednesday whether it can take on Iran’s bid to overturn US nuclear sanctions, reimposed by the administration of former US president Donald Trump.

Tehran dragged the United States to the International Court of Justice in mid-2018, saying Washington breached a 1955 friendship treaty between the two countries.

Then-president Trump reimposed the sanctions after pulling out of a 2015 nuclear deal with Iran to the dismay of European allies.

The United States says the Hague-based ICJ does not have jurisdiction and must throw out the case.

It also argues the sanctions were

necessary because Iran posed a “grave threat” to international security.

The ICJ was set up by the United Nations after World War II to rule in disputes between member states.

If the court allows the case to go ahead, a final ruling could still be months or even years away.

The 2015 nuclear deal saw Tehran limit its nuclear powers and let in international inspectors, in return for an end to years of sanctions by the West.

After Trump pulled out, Iran invoked the 1955 “Treaty of Amity”, which predates the 1979 Islamic revolution that overthrew the pro-US shah and severed ties with the US.

League for Democracy (NLD) last November but the military — whose favoured parties received a drubbing — declared the polls fraudulent.

On Wednesday, the NLD’s press officer said the 75-year-old was formally charged with an offence under Myanmar’s import and export law, with a court signing off on two weeks’ remand.

The unusual charge stemmed from a search of her house following her arrest in which walkie-talkies were discovered, according to a leaked police

charging document seen by reporters.

A similarly unorthodox charge under the country’s disaster management law against President Win Myint revolved around him allegedly breaching anti-coronavirus measures last year by meeting voters on the campaign trail.

With soldiers and armoured cars back on the streets of major cities, the takeover has not been met by any large street protests.

But signs of public anger and plans to resist have begun

to flicker.

Doctors and medical staff at multiple hospitals across the country announced Wednesday they were donning red ribbons and walking away from all nonemergency work to protest against the coup. “Our main goal is to accept only the government we elected,” Aung San Min, head of a 100-bed hospital in Gangaw district, told AFP. Some medical teams posted pictures on social media wearing red ribbons — NLD colours — and raising a three-finger salute, a

protest gesture used by democracy activists in neighbouring Thailand, while some have chosen to bypass work altogether.

“My protest starts today by not going to the hospital… I have no desire to work under the military dictatorship,” said Nor Nor Wint Wah, a doctor in Mandalay.

Activists were announcing their campaigns on a Facebook group called “Civil Disobedience Movement” which by Wednesday afternoon had more than 150,000 followers within 24 hours of its launch.

A group of Myanmar activists residing in Israel stand with a crossed-out portrait of Myanmar’s Armed Forces Commander-in-Chief, Min Aung Hlaing, and a portrait of ousted leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, while waving flags of Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy party and of Israel during a protest outside the country’s embassy in the Mediterranean coastal city of Tel Aviv…yesterday AFP

New Start: US and Russia Extend Nuclear Treaty The US has extended the New Start nuclear arms control treaty with Russia for five years.

Announcing the move, Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, said it made the world safer.

President Joe Biden and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin reportedly discussed it by phone a week ago, and Mr Putin signed it into law on Friday.

The treaty had been set to lapse on 5 February, as

the Trump administration had refused to approve the extension.

It had sought tougher verification procedures and some inclusion of tactical weapons, as well as an expansion of the deal to cover China.

New Start is the last remaining nuclear arms deal between Russia and the US, and its demise would have ended all limits on deployments of strategic nuclear warheads and delivery systems.

“This welcome step is the start of our efforts to pursue effective arms control that lowers the risks of war and helps prevent arms races.”

A Russian foreign ministry statement said the agreement entered into force on Wednesday after diplomatic notes were exchanged with the US Embassy in Moscow, adding that the treaty remained in effect “exactly as it had been signed, without any amendments or additions”.

Originally signed in 2010, the

treaty limits each side to 1,550 long-range nuclear warheads, a lower number than under the previous Start deal.

Each country is allowed, in total, no more than 700 deployed intercontinental ballistic missiles, submarine-launched ballistic missiles, and heavy bombers equipped for nuclear arms.

Another 100 are allowed if they are not operationally deployed - for example, missiles removed from a sub undergoing a long-term overhaul.

Liberia War Crimes: Rebel Commander on Trial in Finland The trial of a suspected warlord accused of atrocities during Liberia’s civil war has started in Finland.

Prosecutors say Gibril Ealoghima Massaquoi, from Sierra Leone, was a senior member of a rebel group that fought in Liberia from 1999 to 2003.

He is accused of killing civilians and soldiers who had just been disarmed, rape and recruiting child soldiers.

He denies the charges and says he was taking part in

peace talks at the time of the alleged crimes.

Some 250,000 people were killed in the Liberian conflict, which was intertwined with the war in neighbouring Sierra Leone.

The 51-year-old was a commander and a spokesperson for the notorious Sierra Leone rebel group, the Revolutionary United Front (RUF), which also fought in Liberia.

The RUF was known for atrocities such as hacking off the limbs of civilians, as well

as murder and rape.

He gave evidence to the UNbacked Special Court for Sierra Leone set up to investigate war crimes committed in that conflict. He was relocated to Finland in 2008 as part of a witness protection programme, which provided immunity for crimes committed in Sierra Leone, but not Liberia.

In March, he was arrested in the Finish town of Tampere, where he is standing trial.

He is accused of murder, aggravated war crimes and

aggravated crimes against humanity.

The AFP news agency reports it has seen court documents which contend he held an “extremely senior and influential position” in the RUF, one of the main militias fighting alongside President Charles Taylor’s NPFL forces in Liberia.

According to witnesses, he ordered civilians, including children, to be locked inside two buildings, which were then set on fire.

32 Killed in Uganda Road Accident Thirty-two people died and five were injured on Tuesday when a truck carrying mourners collided with a car and three other vehicles in Uganda, the Ugandan Red Cross said.

The overloaded truck, carrying mourners and a coffin, collided with a car near Kasese in western Uganda shortly

before midnight, according to Red Cross spokeswoman Irene Nakasiita.

“The road is small, it’s under construction and it was dark,” said Nakasiita.

Shortly afterwards, two trucks coming from Kasese ploughed into the crash site and a third coming in the opposite direction,

from Bundibugyo, also struck the vehicles and overturned.

“So it made up five cars all involved at the same scene,” said Nakasiita.

Red Cross staff and volunteers worked with Ugandan soldiers to transport the dead and evacuated the five survivors.

Poorly maintained vehicles

and unsafe highways are common in Uganda which has one of the world’s highest rates of road traffic accidents.

Fatal collisions are becoming increasingly common and cost the East African nation five per cent of its gross domestic product each year, according to a UN report in 2018.

22

THURSDAY FEBRUARY 4, 2021 •T H I S D AY

23

T H I S D AY ˾ Ͳ˜ 2021

BUSINESSWORLD

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

Ͱ ͷ ˜ Ͱ ͮ Ͱ ͯ MONEY MARKET OBB OVERNIGHT

REPO 10.50 % 11 %

CALL 1-MONTH

S & P INDEX INDEX INDEX LEVEL 1-DAY

6% 8%

S&P ʹͮͶ˛ͳͲ ϱ -0.60 %

1/4 TO DATE YEAR TO DATE

EXCHANGE RATE ̋ͷ˛Ͱͯ ϱ ̋ͷ˛Ͱͯ ϱ

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Quick Takes Ericsson amongWorld’s Sustainable Companies

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EXPANDING HEALTHCARE DELIVERY

L-R: First Vice President, Association of General and Private Medical Practitioners of Nigerian, Dr. Adesola Kayode; CEO, Josmol Group of Health Technology Company, Dr. Joseph Olowe; Chairman, Nigerian Medical Association, Lagos Chapter, Dr. Adetunji Adenekan, and President, AGPMPN, Dr. Ugwu Odo, during the launch of DoktorConnect and Lifepro for e-Health service delivery, in Lagos...recently

Kyari: African Leaders Must Leverage Technology for Energy Sufficiency Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja The Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Mallam Mele Kyari, has urged African leaders to leverage emerging technologies and innovation to curtail the energy poverty in the continent.

Kyari, who made the comment at the first quarter 2021 Public Lecture Series of Usman Dan-Fodio University, Sokoto, recently, explained that though the global transition to renewable energy would keep gaining momentum, crude oil will continue to be relevant in the coming decades.

However, he noted that the NNPC was fully prepared to lead Africa in transition to lowcarbon and renewable energy, but admitted that renewables will likely not be enough to satisfy

ENERGY the growing world energy need.

He said: “African governments and institutions must therefore rise to the occasion, to leverage technology and innovation to support energy sufficiency, industrialisation, job creation and economic growth.

“Global transition to renewable energy will definitely continue to gain momentum, but the pace may not be fast enough to offset the impacts of worldwide economic expansion and population growth.

“Oil will remain very much relevant in today’s global energy mix and the future. But as transition to cleaner energy gains momentum especially across the developed countries, oil companies must continuously improve operational efficiency

and reduce their costs to remain relevant.”

He posited that global energy consumption would grow from 2018 levels by about 50 per cent by 2050, stressing that it was apparent that oil and gas will continue to be a crucial component of the world’s future energy.

“The world will keep burning significant proportion of fossil fuels to sustain the anticipated progress and growth, especially in Asia and Africa.

“Modern day energy transition is hinged on the desire to shift from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources.

“Movers of this interest are motivated by among others, the quest for sustainable energy supply, climate change considerations, enabling technologies, innovations and the overall socio-economic impact of the

transition,” he noted.

The GMD opined that the later discovery of crude oil as an important energy source of the 20th century had supported tremendous economic and technological growth the world over.

According to kyari, scientific development and advancement in technology have over the years shaped the dominance of oil as primary energy source and as a game changer in the progress of human society.

“Oil industry has changed the fortunes of both producing and consuming nations, creating wealth and prosperity that catalysed the growth of other sectors of the global economy,” he opined.

The NNPC boss further called for the diversification of energy Continued on page 24

Survey Shows Strong Support for Finance Act 2020 Emma Okonji A recent survey by PwC has shown 92 per cent public support for Nigeria’s Finance Act 2020.

On the changes to existing laws from the Finance Act, the survey showed that majority of respondents were excited about the reduction of minimum tax from 0.5 per cent to 0.25 per cent of turnover.

The survey which was released during PwC Nigeria’s executive roundtable on the Finance Act 2020 and Economic Outlook for 2021, held virtual recently, targeted CEOs, C-Suite executives and MSMEs and focused on the impact of changes to existing

TELECOM laws by the Finance Act 2020 and other significant government policies, to businesses and taxpayers in Nigeria.

Country Senior Partner, PwC Nigeria, Mr. Uyi Akpata, noted that considering the impact the pandemic was having on Nigeria’s economy, it was important for businesses to understand the forces shaping Nigeria’s economy in 2021.

“That this knowledge will help them minimise potential risks and take advantage of the fiscal policies the government had enacted to stimulate the recovery of the Nigerian economy,” he said.

While delivering the keynote

address on the economy and government’s policies towards the recovery, the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs. Zainab Shamsuna Ahmed, emphasised that the administration was committed to enabling economic recovery and stimulating inclusive growth through policies and interventions designed to foster economic resilience and business sustainability.

Thus, the Finance Act 2020, was aimed at supporting vulnerable households and businesses while improving fiscal discipline and procurement efficiency, enhancing economic competitiveness, encouraging domestic investors and enhancing macroeconomic stability

amid the challenges posed by the COVID19 pandemic.

Partner and Chief Economist PwC Nigeria, Dr. Andrew Nevin, noted 10 themes that policymakers and businesses needed to consider in 2021, saying Nigeria must as a priority find its development path.

According to the report, Nigeria holds as much as $900 billion worth of dead capital in residential real estate and agricultural land.

“The value of the federal government’s abandoned properties alone, according to the Nigerian Institute of Builders, is projected to be about N230 billion.

Amazon to Pay $61.7m Settlement Fee

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StarHub, Nokia Support 5G Rollout

ÞËÜ ßÌ ËØÎ ÙÕÓË ËÜÏ ÞÙ ÎÏÚÖÙã Ë ÍÖÙßÎ̋ØËÞÓàÏ ÍÙÜÏ ØÏÞáÙÜÕ ÐÙÜ ÝÞËØÎËÖÙØÏ ̙ ̚ ͳ ÝÏÜàÓÍÏÝ ÝÍÒÏÎßÖÏÎ ÐÙÜ ÖËßØÍÒ ÞÒÓÝ ãÏËܘ ÑÓàÓØÑ ÞÒÏ ÓØØÓÝÒ àÏØÎÙÜ Ë ÝÏÍÙØÎ ÕÏã ÍÙÜÏ ÍÙØÞÜËÍÞ ÓØ ÞÒÏ ÍÓÞã ÝÞËÞÏ ÝÓØÍÏ ÞÒÏ ÝÞËÜÞ ÙÐ ͰͮͰͯ˛

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Ø ×ÓÎ̋ ËØßËÜ㘠ͯ ÝÏÖÏÍÞÏÎ ÙÕÓË˪Ý ÍÖÙßÎ̋ØËÞÓàÏ ÍÙÜÏ ÝÙÐÞáËÜÏ ÐÙÜ ÓÞÝ ØÏÞáÙÜÕ˜ ËÖÝÙ ÝÍÒÏÎßÖÏÎ ÐÙÜ ÖËßØÍÒ ÓØ ͰͮͰͯ˛ ÏËØáÒÓÖϘ ÜÓàËÖ ÓØÑÞÏÖ ËØØÙßØÍÏÎ ÙØ ÏÌÜßËÜã Ͱ˜ ͰͮͰͯ ÞÒËÞ ÓÞÝ ÏØÞÏÜÚÜÓÝÏ ÍßÝÞÙ×ÏÜÝ áÙßÖÎ ÌÏ ËÌÖÏ ÞÙ ßÝÏ ÓÍÜÙÝÙÐÞ äßÜÏ ÞËÍÕ ÜßØØÓØÑ ÙØ ÓÞÝ ͳ ×ßÖÞÓ̋ËÍÍÏÝÝ ÏÎÑÏ ÍÙ×ÚßÞÓØÑ ̙ ̚ ÓØÐÜËÝÞÜßÍÞßÜÏ ÞÙ ÚÜÙÍÏÝÝ ËÚÚÖÓÍËÞÓÙØݲ

“NIMC is currently finalising the setup and activation of enrolment and registration centres (ERS) of the approved agents nationwide, which will bring enrolment activities to the doorsteps of Nigerians with ease within the coming days” DG, National Identity Management Commission (NIMC),

Aliyu Aziz Continued on page 24

T H I S D AY ˾ Ͳ˜ 2021

24

BUSINESSWORLD KYARI: AFRICAN LEADERS MUST LEVERAGE TECHNOLOGY FOR ENERGY SUFFICIENCY sources so as to improve global access to energy especially in developing countries and urged all stakeholders to collaborate if this is to be made possible.

“The growth of oil industry is in many ways associated with the industry’s strategic role of powering the global economy and the collaborative interests of key stakeholders including policy makers, the academia, manufacturers and other experts.

“These stakeholders shape the direction of the industry and continuously improve capabilities across exploration, deep offshore access, shale oil production, oil and gas processing and transportation.

“This type of collaborative trend is again critical in navigating the next energy transition. The oil and gas industry alone cannot drive substantial innovation without sustained collaboration with universities, research institutes, manufacturers, policy makers and regulators,” he noted.

SURVEY SHOWS STRONG SUPPORT FOR FINANCE ACT 2020 “And about a half of Nigeria’s population live in cities, of which almost 80 per cent of them are living in substandard conditions. Finding the political will to act and unlock Nigeria’s dead real estate assets will have a transformative impact on the lives of Nigerians.

“Out of the 10 themes, another important theme to consider was Nigeria’s Gross Fixed Capital Formation, which in 2019, stood at less than 20 per cent,” it added.

And PwC estimated that Nigeria would need an investment rate of at least 26 to 28 per cent of GDP to achieve seven per cent growth.

Speaking about Nigeria’s economy, Nevin further noted that it was distorted by the exchange rate volatility; fuel subsidy regime; and the power sector.

He said addressing these three big distortions would be taking the giant step to restructure the country’s economy holistically; achieve the 7 per cent GDP growth, and improve the lives of the average Nigerian, Kevin added.

NEWS

‘Growth in Mobile Phones Will Enhance Telemedicine, e-Health’ Stories by Emma Okonji The World Health Organisation (WHO) has said rapid growth in the use of mobile phones in Nigeria will support telemedicine and enhance e-Health delivery system in the country.

Lagos State Coordinator for WHO, Dr. Sam Yenyi, who gave the Information while delivering a keynote address during the launch of DoktorConnect and Lifepro in Lagos recently by Josmol Group, a health technology company, said information and communications technology (ICT) would have great potential in developing and providing quality healthcare services through telemedicine.

DoktorConnect is a digital application that provides a platform for anyone, anywhere, and at any time to access instant medical expertise that is accurate and trustworthy.

The latest statistics on mobile phone subscribers in Nigeria, as at November 2020, according to Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), was 208 million, with active internet subscription of 154.9 million and broadband penetration was 45.07 per cent, with a target of 70 per cent broadband penetration by 2025.

“Telemedicine is the future of quality health delivery system and a universally accepted technology tool to reach out to millions of patients.

“It is for this reason that WHO attaches importance to e-Health through remote monitoring of patience and giving quality health services

even in remote environments,” Yenyi said.

Describing the two products of Josmol-DoktorConnect and Lifepro, the CEO of Josmol Group, Dr. Joseph Olowe, said the Lifepro has to do with the medical kits that patients could buy and use independently of the doctor to check for vital health information like blood pressure, sugar level among others, while the DoktorConnect is an online platform through which doctors can leverage to treat their patients remotely and through which patients could connect to registered doctors on the platform for all Kinds of health issues, without physical contact.

“It took us 13 months to

put DoktorConnect together, with support from software developers and we are currently over 20 registered doctors on the platform and we are growing and we are also in collaboration with partners like the Association of General and Private Medical Practitioners of Nigeria (AGPMPN) and the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA).

“The platform is up and running and people could connect to the it through our app which is available on Android operating system and will soon be available on iOS,” Olowe said.

Chairman, Board of Directors, Josmol Group, Prof. Oladapo Ladipo, said DoktorConnect

would be using technology to bring quality and affordable healthcare services to Nigerians though telemedicine in order to give Nigerians unhindered access to health services.

Representatives of AGPMPN and NMA, Dr. Adesola Kayode and Dr. Adetunji Adenekan respectively, in their goodwill messages, spoke about the importance of telemedicine in e-Health delivery system and how DoktorConnect would further enhance the delivery of quality health care to Nigerians.

According to Kayode, “the objectives of AGPMPN are in line with DoktorConnect and the association will collaborate with DoktorConnect to offer Nigerians the best of healthcare

delivery system without depending on government.”

He added that Nigeria was still far from attaining quality healthcare delivery service, but was optimistic that DoktorConnect would help bridge the gap.

Adenekan, who pledged the support of NMA for the growth of DoktorConnect across Nigeria, advised Nigerians to embrace telemedicine with open hands, because of its far-teaching advantages in driving healthcare delivery services. Giving the ratio of 1:6,000 for doctor-patient services, Adenekan said DoktorConnect would make it easier for doctors to attend to more patients despite their limited numbers as a result of brain drain in the medical profession.

FACILITY TOUR

L-R: CEO, All On, Dr. Wiebe Boer; Trade Commissioner at High Commission of Canada in Nigeria, Sonia Hukil; Canadian High Commissioner to Nigeria, Nicolas Simard; CEO, Arnergy, Femi Adeyemo; VP, People & Culture, Ololade George-Aremu; and Head, Marketing & Communications, Ezinne Emenyonu, during the tour of Nicolas Simard to Arnergy Solar Limited Assembly Line in Lagos... recently PHOTO: ABAYOMI AKINYELE

NIMC Cautions against Fake NIN Enrolment Agents The National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) has warned Nigerians against falling prey to fake National Identification Number (NIN) enrolment agents.

The Commission said Nigerians must not enroll with unlicensed agents, who would end up defrauding them.

The Director General of NIMC, Aliyu Aziz, who gave the warning in a statement, said: “Some fake agents are already going about parading themselves as having the capacity to operate and facilitate the engagement of companies under the ongoing National

Identification Number (NIN) enrolment project.

“The unscrupulous persons are engaging innocent members of the public and businesses with the objective of extorting money and purportedly promising to facilitate a sub-licensing arrangement between enrolment agents approved by the NIMC under the said Enrolment project and other persons seeking to participate in the project.”

According to Aziz, “These unscrupulous persons are by no means affiliated, associated or engaged by NIMC nor do they represent the NIMC or any of its services. NIMC has

not permitted the sale, transfer, outsourcing or sub-licensing of the enrolment licence granted to the companies published in the newspapers and on its website.

The NIMC has not authorized the sale of enrolment firms, which are meant to be free.”

NIMC is currently in the process of finalising the set-up and activation of enrolment and registration centres (ERS) of the approved agents nationwide, which will bring enrolment activities to the doorsteps of Nigerians with ease within the coming days, Aziz further said, adding that the enrolment exercise for the issuance of

of the NIN is free and at no cost to the general public and NIMC and that its licensed agents do not collect money from members of the public for enrolment.

“NIMC hereby advises members of the public to resist and not respond to any demand for money prior to provision of enrolment and issuance of NIN, nor should they subject themselves to or engage with any person not approved by the Commission or who purports to be acting on behalf or representing NIMC,” Aziz advised .

He called on Nigerians to

always visit NIMC’s website to get acquainted with the official list of the approved NIN enrolment agents as well as approved list of enrolment and registration centres nationwide.

He further advised Nigerians to report suspected fraudsters or extortionist to NIMC for appropriate action.

Aziz said penultimate week, NIMC, in collaboration with the law enforcement agents, raided some persons across the country, engaged in unauthorized NIN enrolment, insisting that NIMC will not relent in such raids until the society is free from fraudulent NIN enrolment.

Sylva: Why Oil Firms Cannot Relocate Offices to N’Delta Now Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja

Group Business Editor

Obinna Chima

Capital Market Editor

Goddy Egene

Comms/e-Business Editor

Emma Okonji

Senior Correspondent

ËÒÏÏ× ÕÓØÑÌÙÖß (Advertising) Correspondents

ÒÓØÏÎß äÏ (Aviation) ÜÙ×ÙÝÏÖÏ ÌÓÙÎßØ (Maritime) James Emejo (Finance) Ebere Nwoji (Insurance) Chineme Okafo (Energy) ××ËØßÏÖ ÎÎÏÒ (Energy) Reporters

ß×Ï ÕÏÑÒÏ (Money Market) ÙÝË ÖÏÕÒßÙÑÓÏ (ICT) ÏÞÏÜ äÙÒÙ (Energy)

The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipre Sylva, has said asking the oil companies operating in the country to relocate to the Niger Delta without first addressing the security concerns in the area would escalate crude oil production cost.

Sylva insisted that youths and residents of the region must eschew restiveness and work for peace and security as preconditions for multinationals to relocate.

The minister spoke in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, at the special town hall meeting organised by the state government and the

ministry of petroleum resources with chiefs, youths and other stakeholders in the state.

A statement by the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), recalled that the interactive session was a directive of President Muhammadu Buhari, after the #ENDSARS protest last year, for ministers and other top government functionaries to enlighten Nigerians about the plans and programmes of the federal government.

Stressing that Nigeria’s unit per barrel cost was the highest among the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) members, the minister noted that the agitation must be

looked at from the perspective of cost.

“It will be cheaper for oil companies to operate from here because it is nearer from the operating areas. The only concern is that we have a responsibility to bring peace and security because that is another source of cost.

“If you don’t have peace and security and the oil companies move back here, then you add to the cost of oil production,” he explained.

He maintained that it would make sense to the oil companies to return if the environment is safe because it will be cheaper for them, but clarified that on its part, the ministry was not against the oil companies moving back.

“They were here before. Shell was in Port Harcourt and Warri and most of other companies were here. They only ran away when insecurity took over the region. It is time to bring back peace and security so that those firms can return,” he said.

The minister further reiterated that the current administration was committed to the development of Bayelsa State and other states of the Niger Delta.

Sylva affirmed that the federal government was willing to promote more investments that will create jobs and prosperity for citizens and residents of the state and listed the Nigerian Content Tower as one of top achievements of the current

administration.

The minister further stated that the federal government is promoting the development of Nigerian Oil and Gas Park at Ogbia LGA of the state and is facilitating the development of two modular refineries within the state.

He listed the refineries as the 12,000 barrels per day Hydroskimming modular refinery being constructed by Azikel Petroleum Limited at Obunagha, Gbarain, and the 2000 barrels per day modular refinery being developed by Atlantic International Refinery and Petrochemical Limited at Okpoama, Brass Local Government Area.

25

T H I S D AY ˾ Ͳ˜ 2021

Yusuf: Resilience Key to Business Sustainability Managing Partner at Verraki, a business and technology solutions firm, Mr. Niyi Yusuf, in this interview advises business leaders on how to build and nurture resilient organisations.

Emma Okonji presents the excerpts:

T

he COVID-19 pandemic has tested the resilience of organisations in every corner of the global economy, especially Nigeria. What are the lessons and how ready are organisations to face what comes next in terms of difficult situations like volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity (VUCA)?

You have asked two questions: what we have learned, and our readiness for whatever comes next. Let me answer the latter first. No, we are not ready for whatever comes next and that is because we don’t know what can come, we don’t know when the next black swan event will happen. No one predicted COVID-19 or the impact that it would have, so it’s difficult to determine or guess what can come next.

No one can ever be full-proof and ready for uncertainties, we can of course prepare so our readiness and response will be better and faster than what we did for COVID-19. We can prepare for crises but must also realize that we are not in control of every variable, even though we may pretend that we are, or wish so. We can only prepare ourselves to be more resilient to tolerate and absorb whatever comes, especially the low probability but high impact events. That said, if we step back and are humble enough to understand that there are many things we don’t know, perhaps, we can approach life differently.

Another thing we have learned is that we live in an integrated world and something that happens in a corner of Wuhan or actions of a political leader in a country can impact the world. A third thing I have learned is that many businesses are built for normal situations, which is why many struggled during this pandemic. Another learning point is the need for resilient leadership, because the role of leadership is critical during uncertainties, to provide hope and guidance, whether in business or government. However, the most important thing I have learned is that while uncertainties may sound death knells for many organisations, they provide immense opportunities for a few who recognise them and are quick to take advantage. Many companies have become unicorns and quadrupled in value during the pandemic. Many companies are being formed now to respond to COVID-19 opportunities in New York, Delhi, Nairobi and even Lagos that in a few years, will disrupt the world. Because if we look back, Airbnb, Instagram, Whatsapp, Slack, Uber, Square and many iconic organisations were established in 2008 during the mortgage crisis. Disney, Revlon, Hyatt, Fedex, Google, Facebook, Netflix and Microsoft were formed during periods of significant economic crisis.

Some great companies are being formed now that we will only get to know in another five years. The question for businesses is; will you be part of those great companies? Like they say, necessity is the mother of invention and every major crisis had provided opportunity to reshape the world. The current world order symbolised by the United Nations Organisation, the Bretton Woods Institutions and the Europe that we know today, were established based on the lessons of both world war I & II, while the dynamism of Japan came out of the ashes of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. I know that the current coronavirus pandemic will birth some great innovations, companies and a new world order. I am hopeful that Africa and African businesses will be a part of this remold.

You have talked about opportunities within the pandemic, what do you think are the biggest challenges you see and opportunities the pandemic brings to transform how we work and live?

There are some obvious benefits; for instance, the pandemic has accelerated digitalisation. It has forced everyone; old, young, governments, private sector, social sector, urban dwellers as well as those in rural areas, to digitalize and to embrace digitalization. Last year, if you had told employers that their employees can work remotely for a month from home, they would have scoffed at it. I know an employer who had just installed a time and attendance system in Q4 2019 so that people can clock in at eight o’clock and clock out at five o’clock. And then the pandemic happened and lockdowns forced everyone to sit at home. So digitalization has

take measured small steps, bets and investments, and build flexibility into options to allow you be agile.

The fifth step is to build a culture of mutual trust and a safe environment for people that promotes psychological safety. There are many uncertainties already; you should not create new uncertainties for your partners, colleagues and staff. You need to create a culture where people can ask why, test new ideas, and challenge the status quo. By being able to ask the right questions, hopefully, they will be able to better understand and embrace change, especially the type of change that comes with crisis.

Yusuf

changed our mindsets and made us to quickly embrace technology and to work from home and effectively too. For the challenges, I see two – the first is digital inclusion and the second is the mindset. We have high level of financial exclusion in Nigeria, and we know that above 36 million adults do not enjoy financial services. Not sure what the numbers are for digital exclusion but I suspect they are higher than for financial exclusion, as many people in the rural areas do not have the kind of technology access that you and I take for granted. Many people understood the implication of high cost of data and unreliable electricity supply during the lockdown. Wi-Fi and electricity are typically available for those that live in highbrow areas and serviced apartments, while availability, affordability and accessibility are perennial issues for the average Nigerian thereby limiting the number of hours they can be online and the volume of downloads they can afford. I am a member of an Islamic society, NASFAT, and became the president of the society last year. We currently have over 300 branches nationwide, with primary schools, secondary schools and a university. During the pandemic, we experienced this digital exclusion with many of our primary school students, especially those in the deep hinterlands. Our schools were running online classes but many students in the deep hinterlands in the South and Northern parts of Nigeria, could not join because their parents were unable to afford the data for Zoom, or even afford the smartphones required. So some of our schools had to adapt by developing a scheme to support the parents with cheap smartphones. The teachers would record voice notes or video on WhatsApp, to be downloaded by the parents. So instead of spending four hours online listening to a zoom class, the parents would download all the voice notes, videos, and assignments within 10 minutes.

When they are done with their assignments, they would snap them and send them back to the teacher via Whatsapp. I found this interesting and reflective of the challenge of access. So digital exclusion is a huge, huge concern. And the reality is that Lagos is not Nigeria. The second hurdle is one of mindset; the ability of business leaders to embrace and accept technology even without

the duress of a pandemic. It will be interesting to see how much WFH has become a culture a few years from now. For many companies like Verraki, they have been working from home since March 2020 and have been very effective.

A company like Andela has terminated its office lease and is now operating 100 per cent virtual.

So even if COVID-19 stops tomorrow, we are unlikely to go back to 100 per cent office work, we will apply at best, a hybrid of physical and virtual. I expect many digitalised companies will adopt this.

How can organisations adopt resilience, not only in terms of their business but also their operations, and people?

The first step to building resilience is accepting the reality that there is an issue and things have changed. In the current pandemic, we must realize that there is both a health hazard and safety issue, so we must accept the reality that the world as we knew it has changed and we will have to do more to keep ourselves safe. The remedy isn’t to reject it, in Nigerian parlance, or to wish it away. Secondly, We need to build and maintain a positive mindset that sees growth opportunities. It’s the classic half-cup analogy; do you see it as full or empty. Someone told me recently that the cup is always full; it is 50 per cent water and 50 per cent air. I think that captures the required positive mindset succinctly, to see opportunities in everything. And it’s not easy, we must train ourselves and our teams to have a positive mindset and look for the growth potential, as opposed to bunkering down in fear. Thirdly, VUCA periods provide a time to focus on interpreting your mission and focusing on it. If you understand your mission and are driven by that purpose, the chances that you will keep going, even in the face of the greatest hurdles are high; you are mission-driven and so will keep your eye on the ball.

The fourth step: do not wait till you have complete information before you can decide. Avoid analysis paralysis, where you keep analysing and requesting more information before you can understand and take a decision. In a crisis period, you may not have all the information you need. You have to use available information to

The first step to building resilience is accepting the reality that there is an issue and things have changed. In the current pandemic, we must realise that there is both a health hazard and safety issue, so we must accept the reality that the world as we knew it has changed and we will have to do more to keep ourselves safe. Secondly, we need to build and maintain a positive mindset that sees growth opportunities

How can organisations and people design for resilience?

When we are designing organisational processes, we typically ensure that we are creating the right user interface and user experience for our customers. So, this is the same way organizations must design their systems and processes to improve employee engagement or experience.

Organisations should make sure that the systems, policies, and processes they have in place remove the frictions that irritate employees, slow down work, and make the organization not easy to do business with. The second thing is to make sure that in designing for resilience, you focus on the five forces that drive growth; people, technology, customer, capital, and entrepreneurship. When you have the right people, they will do the right things to acquire and excite customers. When you have the right technology, you are likely to drive growth. The third is the customer. If you have the right customer types, you are more likely to be on a growth trajectory. When you have the right amount of capital to do business, you can capture opportunities and drive growth. And the last one is entrepreneurship; the ability to take risks to attain the rewards for risk; capital appreciation, market share, and so on. In designing for resilience, you need to focus on these five factors of growth and make sure that you design your policies and systems to enable these five factors. You need to enable your people to be able to excel and achieve their potential. And design to maximize the use of technology. You must also design an excellent customer experience to retain loyal customers. You must also desire your people to be entrepreneurs who can innovate, who can challenge the status quo, and take risks that will lead to prosperity and growth. The third thing you need to do is to make sure you put the right people, with the right skills, in the right place at the right time and for the right price.

And when you do these things right, then you are likely to have great people or great talents working to support the organisation. And skills are important, as, in a crisis period, it is the ability to adapt and learn relevant skills that determine resilience. This is why organisations need to develop a culture where staff can be self-directed and can take responsibility for their growth and skills with personalised learning.

When designing for resilience, it is important to design for diversification. You should have multiple suppliers instead of one, so you will not be held hostage when one fails. At Verraki for instance, we have built capabilities across 3 market sectors - services, the public sector, and the real sector. We have been seeing good growth in services compared to the other two sectors, largely because Nigeria is becoming a service-oriented economy. This diversification has helped us, as we can serve, for instance, telecoms, or banking or technology sectors when oil and gas sector is not growing. That’s the benefit of diversifying your services.

And lastly, to design for resilience, learn to set micro-goals, especially within a crisis period.

You don’t set a goal for a year when you are not sure what will happen. You set a goal for a month. After you achieve that goal, you set a goal for the next month or quarter. And these micro-goals should reflect the situation at that moment and align with the realities of the day.

The attainment of these micro goals will help build momentum for growth instead of despair and despondency.

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BUSINESSWORLD

INTERVIEW

Curbing Banditry with Emergency Communications Centres The Emergency Communications Centres established by the Nigerian Communications Commission, will help the newly appointed service chiefs to address insecurity issues in the country, writes Emma Okonji

B

anditry in Nigeria in the last five years of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration has taken a new dimension, with increased killings and kidnappings.

It was for this reason and for the purpose of rejigging the security operations of the country that Buhari, last week removed the former service chiefs and replaced them with new ones, with a fresh mandate to curb insecurity across the country.

Premised on the fact that the service chiefs need collaboration and effective communication tools to address insecurity in the country, stakeholders in the telecoms sector are of the view that the different Emergency Communications Centres established by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) across the country, could help address insecurity, if leveraged upon by the new service chiefs and the country’s security operatives.

When NCC commenced the establishment of ECC across state capitals, the commission was optimistic that the project would help in enhancing the security of lives and property of Nigerians, since the centres are designated platforms through which public can access help from any response agency such as the Nigeria Police (NPF), the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), the Fire and Ambulance Services, the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) and all its affiliate State Emergency Management Agencies.

Addressing insecurity with ECC President, National Association of Telecoms Subscribers (NATCOMS), Chief Deolu Ogunbanjo, told THISDAY that security operatives need intelligent report on kidnappers and killers in order to deploy strategies that would get them apprehended even before they strike, and that such intelligent report could come via the ECC centres, where NCC has provided toll free numbers for people to call and pass information, and to also make distress calls and get instant help.

“These are the kind of centres we need that are driven by emerging technologies that can trace and track criminal actions in the country.

Buhari

Danbatta

The newly appointed service chiefs will find the ECC centres useful, if they leverage on it and even improve on it,” Ogunbanjo said.

A cybersecurity expert, John Udeh said keeping security tight and confidential would help security agents accomplish their task of maintain law and order in the country as well as provide safety for all citizens. He said the ECC centres would surly promote confidentiality, since anyone could dial the toll free number to provide intelligent report to security operatives, via the ECC centres.

of Nigeria and the FCT in calculated bid to enhance President Buhari’s ongoing efforts at improving security situation in the country.

In all, the ECCs have been activated in 19 states of the country, including the FCT - The states are FCT, Katsina, Kaduna, Kano, Kwara, Ogun, Plateau, Enugu, Benue, Akwa-Ibom, Cross-River, Oyo, Edo, Ondo, Ekiti, Adamawa, Kogi, Anambra and Imo states, which was recently established.

During the total lockdown occasioned by the COVID-19 pandemic, the ECCs played remarkable role by providing a platform for members of the public to seek lifesaving information or report COVID-19 related cases by dialling ‘112’ from any of the networks. Accounting to NCC, over 1,500 COVID-19-related cases were received and processed by the ECCs in the peak of COVID-19 pandemic in Nigeria.

Established ECC centres The ECCs were activated as a one-stop shop for receiving distress calls from the public and dispatching same to appropriate Emergency Response Agencies (ERAs) for timely response and resolution of the distress.

The ECC project had been in limbo until a new management under the leadership of Prof.

Umar Danbatta, embarked on the construction and operationalisation of the ECCs across states

NCC’s vision Danbatta, while speaking about the importance of ECC centres said the project was essentially aimed at enhancing the security of lives and

property of the people of Nigeria and other residents living in different states of the country.

According to Danbatta, Buhari launched the ECC, which activated the universal toll-free 112-number Service for Nigeria, in Abuja, through a virtual platform. This, he said, underscored the importance president places on the ECC project as a veritable platform to enhance security of lives and property of Nigerians and the general public.

He added that at a time when the country was faced with insecurity issues such as indulgency, banditry, kidnappings, armed robberies and many more life-threatening issues, such as the Coronavirus pandemic, the emergency communications centres, established by NCC across the states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), had become continually useful and central to saving lives.

“The ECC has transformed lives and helped many in handling emergencies. We have activated them across states and many other states are asking us to come and activate their ECCs and serious work is ongoing in this regard, as we know that this important life-saving facility supports security architecture in the country for improving security in our nation,” Danbatta said.

The facilities The facilities at each ECC centre include: 11 workstations, of which 10 are meant for call taking and one for the station supervisor; Server system that receives and processes 112-calls from members of the public before the calls are dispatched to the appropriate response agency that has the responsibility to attend to the specific emergency; power supply mix consisting of the national grid, two units of 100 KVA generators, two units of 20kVA UPS and a 10KVa UPS. The facility is also equipped with six dispatch workstations for the response agencies.

In using the facilities, the public do not have to memorise several 11-digit numbers from different response agencies, as has been the case before now. Danbatta said callers will simply have to dial 112 in times of distress/emergency to seek help. He reiterated that the 112 emergency number is totally toll-free, even when the caller has zero credit on the phone.

Yusuf: Resilience Key to Business Sustainability The new normal occasioned by COVID-19, has increased workers’ dependency on broadband access for internet connectivity. As a technology company, how will you advise the government on cheap and ubiquitous broadband access?

According to the NCC, as at November 2020 we had 207 million active subscribers for telephony services across all the networks utilising different technologies including GSM, CDMA, Fixed Wireless and Fixed Wired (i.e. Landline), of which 155 million are internet subcribers with 86 million using mobile broadband and with 4G coverage now available to 37 per cent of the population. With a mobile broadband penetration of 45.07 per cent, Nigeria is well on its way towards achieving the 70 per cent target set in the National Broadband Plan 2020 -2025 having surpassed the 30 per cent target of the expired National Broadband Plan 2013-2018. The National Broadband Plan aims to deliver data download speeds across Nigeria, a minimum of 25Mbps in urban areas, and 10Mbps in rural areas, achieving a penetration rate of 70 per cent and covering at least 90 per cent of the population by 2025 at a price not more than N390 per 1GB of data (2 per cent of median income or one per cent of minimum wage).

A landmark regional study of the majority of countries in Africa conducted by the International Telecoms Union (ITU) confirms that an increase of 10 per cent in mobile broadband penetration yields an increase in 2.5 per cent in GDP per capita, while strikingly, it suggests that a 10 per cent drop in mobile broadband prices will boost adoption of mobile broadband technology by more than 3.1 per cent.

Given our context-size, spread, lack of fixed infrastructure and challenges with laying fibreoptic cable across the country - the government is rightly focused on mobile broadband as a

way to provide affordable and ubiquitous access. Achieving the target coverage of at least 90 per cent of the population at a price of 1GB data that is not more than 1 per cent of minimum wage by 2025 will require deliberate interventions, concerted efforts and urgent tending by all stakeholders (operators, communities, regulators, civil organisations and governments across Federal, State and Local tiers) to remove the current hurdles associated with our business environment including multiple and sometimes conflicting regulatory policing by more than 10 government agencies, high costs of Right of Way (RoW), expensive broadband equipment due to high cost of, and limited access to, foreign exchange, community conflicts, equipment vandalism and general limited availability of public backbone digital infrastructure across Nigeria, via fibre optic cables, cell towers, Internet routers, wireless spectrum, and reliable electricity.

We just heard how Tizeti launched a 4G LTE broadband service for N4000 ($8.5) monthly, in Edo State, due to favourable concessions given to broadband companies. Government at all tiers must provide concessions as part of their own deliberate upfront investments to foster affordable broadband access across the country and then seek to reap the benefits afterwards of increased economic growth, wealth creation and prosperity. As opposed to instant gratification, government must be ready to groom, support and nurture the proverbial goose that is laying the golden egg, so that the telecom industry can provide long term sustainable returns and the overall digital economy can prosper.

The four regional Infracos licensed over the last five years have not recorded much success.

Highlighting the need for government to do more to remove the bottlenecks that currently constrain internet access and delivery by reducing connectivity and ROW costs to the minimum,

encouraging telco players to implement zero rating services, easing the process for acquiring base stations and ROW, providing favourable access to FX, tax concessions and incentives for companies investing in digital infrastructure projects and providing access to long-term developmental funds.

From a technology point of view, what will you say constitutes resilience in today’s organisational workforce, and does resilience impact on businesses?

Of course, resilience has positive impact on businesses as they are able to operate during crisis.

From a technology standpoint, digital resilience is an organisation’s ability to maintain, change or recover technology-dependent operational capability during crisis, to use technology to seize business opportunities and to render acceptable service levels through, and beyond, severe disruptions to its critical processes and the systems which support them. Digital resilience typically involves the redesign of business processes and IT systems to facilitate the protection of critical infrastructure and information, implementation of strong cyberdefences to protect against internal and external threats, establishing effective business continuity plans for responding to operational failures, and the creation of a framework for innovation. Digital resilience directly impacts the business by driving standardisation and automation of processes to avoid personnel risks, avoiding complexity to reduce operational cost, boosting agility to capture opportunities and enabling innovation to amplify scale. Resilient people and organisations have 3 characteristics. First being an acceptance of reality and knowing that hope is not a strategy, second is a deep belief that there are opportunities during crisis, and third is an uncanny ability to improvise solutions from thin air, to turn

risks into advantages. So, business leaders must be intentional about building and developing teams to trust and believe they can collaborate effectively to complete tasks together. We must develop the workforce to be mission-led and purpose-driven such that they can keep going in the face of a crisis and no matter what fate throws at them. This requires developing a positive mindset and an abundance predilection that sees opportunities for growth.

With the COVID-19 pandemic, many organisations have since closed down offices and operating fully remote. And they have been able to maintain acceptable service levels since March 2020, and at reduced costs. The ability to remotely provide your staff all the technical support that will sustain their productivity; the ability to maintain a seamless engagement experience for your clients and the ability to protect your operations from increased cyber threats is resilience. Naturally, this will involve scaling and expanding connectivity and collaboration platforms including video conferencing, messaging apps for employees to remotely connect and collaborate; communicating best practices of remote working including wellness and work-balance, and encouraging employees and vendors to remain vigilant to business email compromise and other cyber threats.

Digital resilience must also involve the Csuite who must provide digital leadership and visible sponsorship for digital initiatives aimed at boosting business resilience. Leaders must integrate digital resilience into management and governance processes, and also train and engage all staff to create an agile culture. For many enterprises, the ability to survive a catastrophe, the capacity to defend market share and the probability of seizing opportunities to grow the business, and not just survive or defend, are all dependent on how resilience the business is.

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BUSINESSWORLD

NEWS

MAX NG Eyes Market Expansion in 2021 Hamid Ayodeji MAX NG has disclosed plan to expand on its already existing products and technologies in this year.

The Co-Founder of MAX NG, Tayo Bamiduro, disclosed this in a statement, which reviewed the activities of the company in 2020 as well as its outlook for 2021.

According to him, Africans and Nigerians should expect exciting news, anticipate new cities where MAX NG services would be launched, new products, as well as new scale-up in terms of people empowered by the platform.

He further said some more things Africans should expect from the start-up includes more partnerships with local and foreign governments in order to transform the transportation space, roll-out of new prod-

ucts, and more news around fund-raising as well in terms of the impact MAX NG will be creating in Africa.

Bamiduro explained: “One of the key things MAX NG prides itself in is our people because everything we achieve is made possible by the people.

“A very critical aspect of our next phase is giving our people a lot more opportunities to continue to deliver at scale and also bringing onboard people who are excited about transportation and mobility in Nigeria, who’d love to achieve the impossible, do extraordinary things in the development of transportation of Nigeria and Africa.

“If you’re a genius out there, interested in transforming mobility in Africa, we’d love to talk to you.”

The statement pointed out that in the past, prior to the

emergence of professional riders, with reckless driving and road accidents, what used to come to peoples’ mind then was motorcycle.

“This not-so-pretty narrative is what on-demand mobility start-up, MAX NG has been determined to change in the sub-saharan transportation scene since its inception in 2015.

“This is evidently why today, if a person thought of “motorcycle”, words like logistics, mobile app, cool bikes, and faster transportation would easily make it to top 10 on the list. A definite growth scale on both the perception and reality of commercial motorcycles in Nigeria and Africa.

“MAX NG has since its inception, put together resources into making transportation of people and goods easier, more efficient, safer, and innovative for Nigerians and Africans,”

it added.

In its review of year 2020, it stated that for companies globally, the word, “sudden” and “change” might well summarise a major part of the year.

According to the start-up, the unexpectedness of the global coronavirus pandemic took a lot of businesses by surprise and MAX NG was no exception.

So unprepared was the ondemand mobility company for the events of 2020 that Bamiduro, in summarising what 2020 was like for the company said: “2020 was quite an eventful year for MAX NG...”.

“The on-demand mobility startup kicked off the year strong but faced headwinds when, in first quarter, a ban of okadas (motorcycles) was issued in Lagos- their biggest market at the time.

“However, the start-up resisted by focusing on other

Bamiduro

kinds of operations such as logistics in Lagos. Before fully recovering from the blow of the ban, COVID struck and soon enough, the country had to shut down.

“The nature of the virus, and the lockdown regulation meant the start-up could no longer cater to the needs of persons needing in-person transportation services. However, the logistics arm of the business carried on,” it explained.

Furthermore, it noted that towards the end of second quarter, MAX NG doubled down on accelerating its presence in other cities where they were already available, especially in cities like Ibadan (where operations had kicked off in February of 2020), Kano, and Akure - where the tech start-up deployed a lot of drivers.

In addition to this, MAX NG drove hard on its electricity mobility project, it added.

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T H I S D AY ˾ Ͳ˜ 2021

Digital Space Launches HP Enhances Employees’ Production Foundation to Support Capacity with New Solutions Less Privileged Persons Stories by Emma Okonji

The Chief Executive Officer and founder of Digital Space Capital, Mrs. Olubukola Abitoye, has launched a foundation for the less privileged.

Digital Space Capital Limited is notable for offering a wide range of financial services including asset management, corporate finance and business advisory, on-lending, forex services, brokerage & dealings, crowdfunding and aggregation.

The services cut across key areas in finance and business management across Sub-Saharan Africa and the founder has her eyes on inspiring the less privileged in the story.

She celebrated the unveiling of the foundation on her 40th birthday, alongside the launching of her book; Guiding Grace.

While launching the foundation, Abitoye said in her speech: “I am honoured to meet with so many women and men today who are deeply passionate about

development and sustainable growth.

“Your energy and dedication are truly inspiring. I want to say that this enthusiastic engagement of civil society sets the tone for our journey that starts today.

“I have chosen today to kick off something that I am most passionate about and if you are here in this room, it is because you share that passion too.

“What we are setting out to achieve from this day is no mean feat, but with a vision like ours; dreams will come true and their success stories will be told at the end of this race.” She added.

Abitoye who boasts over a decade of professional experience in the financial sector and a proven track record as key player in facilitating major transformations in areas such as Investment Banking, Assets Management, Insurance and Fintech of key banking institutions.

HP, global producers of laptops and printers, has announced its latest services for the Nigerian market as part of its commitment to help information technology(IT) teams in the country rise to the challenges that organisations are facing today.

The new services, which were designed to enhance employee’s productive capacity, include: HP Active Care for proactive device support and maintenance; HP Proactive Insights for intelligent fleet monitoring and HP Proactive Endpoint Management for multi-OS, endpoint management.

Announcing the new services, Global Head and General Manager, Personal Systems Services, HP Inc, Sumeer Chandra, said: “HP has a portfolio of insight-driven services that put actionable insights at IT’s fingertips by

securely collecting device telemetry and applying analytics and deep learning via the HP TechPulse platform.”

During the recently concluded CES 2021 exhibition, HP announced HP Smart Support that helps IT teams reduce HP Support call times.

With this capability, which is available at no additional cost to customers, HP customer service agents now have access to device-level insights through cloud-based telemetry. This allows the agents to improve the customer support experience and reduce the amount of time end users spend on support calls. HP Smart Support is expected to be available via download in early March.

“With half of the global workforce working remotely, IT teams are facing unprecedented challenges. They have been tasked with managing, securing, and supporting computing devices for a workforce that is spread across multiple

locations, often without the ability to help them in-person.

At the same time, it has become paramount for IT to help deliver higher productivity and improved employee experiences with technology,” Chandra said.

“Ensuring today’s working environment has minimal impacts on productivity means identifying and resolving device issues before they become problems.

“Even before the global pandemic began, more than half of IT managers identified that increased predictive technology analytics will be prioritised when it comes to their device management strategy,” he said.

He revealed that the HP Active Care uses artificial intelligence from HP TechPulse to help IT proactively identify needed device repairs and make replacements, if needed, saving valuable employee time and frustration.

“The service provides a combination of predictive device health analytics, proactive help desk ticket creation, remote support, remediation services, and next business day onsite response to keep employees up and running. IT teams can also reduce downtime with automatic case generation, which opens a help desk case when an issue is detected and triggers the customer’s IT team to schedule a repair,” he added.

“IT managers can now measure, track, and improve their employee end-user experience using analytics and employee experience campaigns, or surveys. Employee engagement is largely driven by their experiences with technology and engagement is correlated with retention. “HP wants to help organisations proactively identify and address technologyrelated issues that can improve employee experiences and engagement,” he said.

Ford Partners Google to Enhance Vehicle Experience Ford and Google have announced a strategic partnership to accelerate the former’s transformation and reinvent the connected vehicle experience.

Ford has also named Google Cloud its preferred cloud provider to leverage Google’s world-class expertise in data,

artificial intelligence (AI), and machine learning (ML).

As part of this new, six-year partnership—and beginning in 2023, millions of future Ford and Lincoln vehicles at all price points will be powered by Android, with Google apps and services built-in.

To drive ongoing innovation, Ford and Google are establishing a new collaborative group, Team Upshift. Leveraging the talent and assets of both companies, Team Upshift will push the boundaries of Ford’s transformation, unlock personalised consumer experi-

ences, and drive disruptive, data-driven opportunities. This may include projects ranging from developing new retail experiences when buying a vehicle, creating new ownership offers based on data, and more.

President and CEO of Ford,

Jim Farley, said: “As Ford continues the most profound transformation in our history with electrification, connectivity and self-driving, Google and Ford coming together establishes an innovation powerhouse truly able to deliver a superior experience for our

customers and modernise our business.”

CEO of Google and Alphabet, Sundar Pichai, said: “From the first moving assembly line to the latest driver-assist technology, Ford has set the pace of innovation for the automotive industry for nearly 120 years.

T H I S D AY ˾ Ͳ˜ 2021

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BUSINESSWORLD

DEVELOPMENT

Esiet: We Need to Make Penalty for Gender-basedViolence More Severe The Co-Founder and Director, Action Health Incorporated, Dr. Uwemedimo Esiet, in this interview speaks about the contributions of the organisation towards tackling sexual reproductive health and its plans for 2021. Ugo Aliogo brings the excerpts:

A

ction Health Incorporated (AHI) has been involved in several Sexual Reproductive Health (SRH) activities and also launched different initiatives in SRH to support teenage girls in disadvantaged communities in Lagos.

What were the progress made in 2020?

2020 was a watershed year because of COVID-19.

Therefore, we had limited onsite interventions across everywhere we are working, specifically in Lagos.

In Lagos, we focused our attention on two critical areas: One was raising public awareness using new media; COVID-19 and Gender Based Violence (GBV) because there was an upsurge in gender based violence generally across the world. Due to the violence in GBV, the Secretary General of United Nations, António Guterres issued a global warning on this social problem. With support from the United Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) regional office in Abuja, we mounted a major campaign, against gender based violence, besides that we had an ongoing project to strengthen the leadership of young people to meaningful advocate to get duty bearers to respond to their basic needs which is known as the Girls’ Voices Initiative (GVI). Those were the major activities we did in Lagos area; all other activities were mainly outside Lagos area where we are working with the humanitarian agencies in the North-east and Northwest.

What has been the progress of AHI in the area of female circumcision?

We are working on Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) and the state where we are working in is Osun State. Regarding the issue of FGM, data show that it is more common in the South-south, South-east and South-west. You can only intervene to the existent that you have resources, and if your resources are tired to specific States.

So the funding we got to work on FGM tired us to work in Osun State. So we worked in partnership with Osun State Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development, and the State Ministry of Health. We are working at multiple layers. The lowest point where FGM occurs is in the communities. So we work with communities and as at the last time, we have worked with 50 communities in Osun state.

We come as a community partner; we work with all the community instructors.

We begin by doing public education, work with critical stakeholders, gatekeepers in those communities. Once they understand that this is not bringing any benefits, rather it poses risks and dangers to their girls, and their generations after, we have received cooperation.

We have engaged with all the persons who practice FGM, and what happens thereafter is that we facili-

tate them in abandoning the practice. We have had communities coming out to eradicate the practice at their level. So persons within those communities then become anti-female genital mutilation champions. Those champions monitor the implementations of committed actions in their respective communities. So you galvanise people and once they realise it, they

come onboard because they are not doing you any good, instead they are only doing themselves good. We try to generate dialogue about the dangers of FGM and how it is destroying the future of teenage girls.

We have intra-dialogue and inter-dialogue. Once you get people to start

talking about the issue, on a personal level, they will abandon the issue. Once one community abandons the issue, we celebrate them.

If one community has abandoned and the other hasn’t abandoned, the one that has not abandoned will not feel proud. So far it has been going great.

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

Esiet

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30

NDA, ITF Collaborate on Capacity Institute Empowers Scientists Devt for Staff He added: “For us is because we have several a major breakthrough in departments working in Oluchi Chibuzor

Seriki Adinoyi in Jos

The Industrial Training Fund (ITF) has entered into a fiveyear Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA), Kaduna for the capacity development of the staff of the Academy.

Speaking during the signing ceremony at the ITF Headquarters, the Director-General of the ITF, Joseph Ari said the collaboration, which is subject to review and renewal, would afford the Academy the benefit of the Fund’s expertise, experience and expansive network just as the Fund would benefit from the enormous intellectual resources available at the Academy.

He added that the MOU, which followed discussions between both organisations, was intended to amongst other things, facilitate the exchange of faculty members for short periods for a greater understanding of different teaching and learning styles within the two organisations; promote research collaboration and the application of applied research in the

areas of mutual interest; identify and develop intellectual exchange opportunities that would benefit staff of both organisations; formalize and streamline cadets and other students of relevant subject areas of the Academy into the SIWES programme and, to explore opportunities to produce officers with broad-based training in both military and academic subjects.

Ari further stated that in implementing the MoU, the Fund would adopt digital, green and brownfield approaches, which were also used in the ITF/NECA TSDP project.

He said, “This is to ensure that all trainees are exposed to new trends in technology and have practical hands-on approach in the issues of learning and development. We in the ITF believe that our trainings should be hearts-on, minds-on and hands-on. That is the only way you can change the entire intellectual capacity of an individual”.

Speaking earlier, the Commandant of the Nigerian Defence Academy, Kaduna, Major

General Jamil Sarham appreciated the Management of ITF for the collaboration between the two organisations.

Sarham, who was represented by the Deputy Commandant of the Academy, Air vice Marshal I. T. Ali, said that the areas of collaboration between the NDA and ITF included delivery of training and capacity building programmes, Technical and entrepreneurship skills development, management of security and leadership.

He expressed optimism that both organisations would cooperate and develop curriculum on several key emerging fields of study over the period of five years within which the strategic engagement would be reviewed and renewed.

The Commandant congratulated the Director General and his Management for the achievements of the Fund through its developmental programmes across the length and breadth of Nigeria and prayed for continuous good leadership, development and progress of the ITF.

The Nigeria Institute for Oceanography and Marine Research (NIOMR) in collaboration with Partnership for Observation of the Global Ocean (POGO) has embarked on a two-day research voyage that is aimed at training early-career scientists along the Gulf of Guinea.

The initiative was part of efforts to gather oceanographic data and train the six scientists chosen from Nigeria, Togo, Benin, Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire in the field of Oceanographic research.

Speaking in Lagos, before the departure of RV Bayagbona vessel on the research expedition, the Chairman Vessel Operations, NIOMR, Dr. Adesina Adegbie, said the exercise validated the federal government’s efforts in procuring the vessel in 2014.

He said the motive was for NIOMR to collaborate with Nippon Foundation-POGO (NF-POGO), which is sponsoring some early scientists to come on board the vessel for shipboard training, while the institute makes her vessel available.

line with our mandate as we have done this before with other institutions like UNESCO, FAO and this is just to see NIOMR’s contribution to oceanographic research and education in the Gulf of Guinea. Also, this will prove to the world that on this side of the Atlantic Ocean we have a sea-going vessel that is available for research and training.

“As a brand new vessel that the federal government bought, the vessel is one of the rare vessels in the West African sub region that combines Fisheries and Oceanography in resource identification, pollution monitoring, and understanding of the forces that operate in the waters. That was why the vessel was bought in 2014 to enable us to utilise the vessel to gather sufficient information in knowing the parameters in the ocean.

“NIOMR is collaborating extensively with relevant stakeholders to achieve this because we know the ocean is a vast place and is very expensive to run a vessel like this. We have done a lot in this sector,

the ocean like physical and chemical oceanography, Marine geologygeophysics, fisheries resources management,” he stated.

Commenting on the project, the Project Leader and Assistant Director, Physical and Chemical Oceanography, Dr. Nubi Olubunmi, said the essence of the cruise was to gather oceanographic data within the Gulf of Guinea for sustainable resources management.

“In line with the United Nation Ocean decade for sustainable development we want to contribute our quota with our partnership with POGO and as the only oceanography institute in the country in order to fill necessary gaps within the sector.

For example, the first hydrography of this region of the Gulf of Guinea was observed in 1962 but there is still lack of data despite several cruises over the years to quantify the bio-physical and biogeochemical processes taking place in the ocean.

It is our responsibility within the framework of POGO mandate to act,” he explained.

THURSDAY FEBRUARY 4, 2021 • T H I S D AY

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IMAGES

Photo Editor ÌÓÙÎßØ ÔËÖË Email ËÌÓÙÎßØ˛ËÔËÖË̶ÞÒÓÝÎËãÖÓàÏ˛ÍÙ×

L-R; Ag. Director General, Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC), Mr. Michael Ohiani; Hon. Minister of State in the Ministry, Engr. Abubakar Aliyu and Hon. Minister of Works and Housing, Mr Babatunde Fashola,SAN during the presentation of the Certificate of Compliance for the Highway Development Management Initiative (HDMI) to Fashola at the Ministry of Works and Housing Headquarters, Mabushi, Abuja...recently

Lagos State Deputy Governor, Dr. Kadri Obafemi Hamzat(right) and Chief Commercial Officer/Group Vice President, Africa, Elsewedy Electric, Mr. Mohammed Atef, during a courtesy visit to the Deputy Governor by officials of Elsewedy Electric in Alausa-Ikeja...recently

L - R , Vice President Yemi Osinbajo ; Minister of State for Foreign Affairs , Zuberu Dada and the Minister of Foreign Affairs ,Geoffrey Onyaeama after the Virtual Extraordinary Session of the Authority of Heads of States and Government on upcoming elections at the Presidential Villa, Abuja...recently GODWIN OMOIGUI

L-R; Wife of Delta State Governor, Edith Okowa; her husband, Senator Ifeanyi Okowa ; Edo State Governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki and his Deputy, Comrade Philip Shaibu, during Obaseki’s Condolence visit to Governor Okowa over the Death of Pa Arthur Okowa in Asaba...recently

L-R; Nosa EDO-OSAGIE,Esq.; Roland Otaru, SAN.; Vice Chancellor University of Benin, Prof Lillian Salami; kemi Pinheiro, SAN and Kehinde Akinlolu, SAN. at a luncheon by the University of Benin in honour of its 6 alumni Lawyers elevated to the rank of Senior Advocates of Nigeria...recently.

R-L; Governor State of Osun, Mr. Adegboyega Oyetola, his deputy, Mr. Benedict Alabi, Director, Special Education and Social Mobilization, State Universal Basic Education Board, Princess Omolola Sangolana and others during the flag off and distribution of Instructional materials and Sports Equipment to various Schools in Osun State, at the State Universal Basic Education Board Warehouse/Conference Hall, Abere, Osogbo...recently

Cross section of members of Galant Ladies Club of Nigeria, , during their New year get together party,held at Oke- Aro, Ogun State... recently.

DAN UKANA

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L-R: Chief Corporate Service Officer, MTN Nigeria, Tobechukwu Okigbo; Chief Executive Officer (designate), MTN Nigeria, Karl Toriola; Director-General, Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), Dr. Chikwe Ihekweazu and Chairman, MTN Nigeria, Dr. Ernest Ndukwe OFR during a courtesy visit by MTN Nigeria to intimate the DG NCDC about MTN’s $25 million donation to the African Union Vaccination Programme at the NCDC headquarters, Abuja...recently.

Members of Edo COVID-19 Compliance team inspecting compliance with COVID-19 protocols at Igbinedion Education Centre, in Benin City, Edo State...recently

FCT Minister, Malam Muhammad Musa Bello left) and Minister of State , Dr Ramatu Tijjani Aliyu during the FCT Stakeholders meeting on enforcement of COVID-19 guidelines in Abuja....recently

L-R; Senior Banking Advisor, Retail, Access Bank Plc. Robert Giles; Winner of the Access Transact And Win Promo, Adetayo Esther Olumide; and Group Head, Retail Marketing and Analytics, Access Bank Plc. Chioma Afe during the presentation of car prize to the winner in Lagos…recently SUNDAY ADIGUN

Cross River Commissioner for Environment, Mr Mfon Bassey (right) and Chairman of Calabar Municipality Local Government, Mr Effefiong Nta-Eka, during a sensitisation of traders selling at the Marian Market to stop dumping their refuse on the walk-way in Calabar...recently

L-R: Past Assistant Governor Rotary Club of Asaba Metropolitan, Martha Nwosisi and President, Patricia Ojebor during Ojebor’s installation ceremony as president of Rotary club of Asaba Metropolitan .....recently

Popular Wuse Market under lock and key for non compliance of covid 19 regulations in Abuja...recently

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T H I S D AY ˾ , FEBRUARY 4, 2021

HEALTH & LIFESTYLE

ÜÙßÚ ÏËÞßÜÏÝ ÎÓÞÙÜ˝ ÒÓÏ×ÏÖÓÏ äÏÙÌÓ ×ËÓÖ chiemelie.ezeobi@thisdaylive.com, Tel: 07010510430

Constraints Facing Nigeria’s Quest for Development of Local Remedy against COVID-19 Apart from developing the initial non-pharmaceutical protocols for dealing with COVID-19, there were hopes that Nigeria will play key roles in the discovery of vaccines and probably curative drugs to help check the virus. But while some countries, especially the developed world economic powers have made tremendous progress in research for the vaccine, other countries like Nigeria are still at the primary stages of identifying potential home-grown remedy. Onyebuchi Ezigbo writes on the constraints

N

igeria is part of a global community that is eager to secure a solution against the COVID-19 pandemic currently ravaging the world. At the onset of the outbreak of the novel virus in 2019, the country joined other nations of the world to seek ways of confronting the disease.

Indeed Nigeria has reputable scientists and professionals in the medical field that can hold their own anywhere in the world but this potentials have so far failed to yield any significant result in terms of research and development of vaccines for the prevention of COVID-19 Infection.

The country at present can boost of an array of research institutes located in various federal and state universities. In addition, we have the National Institute for Pharmaceutical Research and Development (NIPRD) in Abuja and the National Institute for Medical Research (NIMR) based in Lagos that are supposed to be centres of excellence in research into health issues.

So far, there are key factors that militating against success in medical research in the country.

These have been identified as poor Infrastructure, funding and lack of politcal will by government and leaders in the country.

Closing the Funding Gaps NIPRD has attributed the apparent slow rate of progress in the local research effort targeted at developing anti COVID-19 vaccines on poor funding. The institute’s Director General and Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Obi Peter Adigwe lamented that lack of adequate funding is robbing the agency of opportunity to showcase the abundant capacity of the array of professionals at NIPRD. Adigwe who spoke recently to ournalists at the headquarters of the research agency in Abuja, said that non of the organisations or philanthropists in the country he approached for funding assistance responded.

He said: “We are proposing Niprimune capsule--with Andrographis paniculata ingredient --- for treatment of COVID-19. We projected it for COVID-19 but it needs to pass through those processes before it will be approved.

“We (NIPRD) were the first to develop this particular drug that has effect on the immune system and since it has affects on the immune system, we ran it through the artificial intelligence and machine learning capabilities we had and we said, this will be good for COVID-19 since COVID-19 affects people whose immune system are compromised. We have done all the pre-clinical tests that show us that this will be very good and we now need to move to the clinical side and it is expensive. And that is what we need funding for and nobody is coming forward”.

Adigwe said that researchers at NIPRD had to use machine learning and artificial intelligence capacity to identify that Niprimune may have activities in the management of COVID-19.

“During that time, almost a year ago, we have come on the television to appeal to philanthropists, development partners to support NIPRD with the funds that will enable us undertake the remaining scienctific activities that will enable us bring this product to the market for COVID-19. It will shock you to learn that a few days ago, the authorities in Thailand approved andrographics maniculatal - its the active ingredient of this product that I am holding in my hand. The authorities in Thailand have approved a tea based on hydrographics for treatment of COVID-19.

“In the meantime, NIPRD, even if we are one of the first in the world to come up with the hypothesis and this could help in COVID-19, the relevant foundations, philanthropists, funding

Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Mr. Boss Mustapha flanked by Christian religious leaders at a sensitisation meeting on COVID-19 vaccines at Sheraton Hotel in Abuja

agencies have still not supported us to the level where we can finish the research to enable us bring this product to the fore.”

Adigwe also said that the agency had written to several development partners and philanthropist groups for assistance to further develop the drug but to no avail.

According to NIPRD DG, “if the agency haven’t written request for support letters, it had written at least to 30 development partners and philanthropic organisations, the Otedolas, Rabius, Dangotes, all the foundations, MTN and all others. It will surprise you to know that the only organisation that has responded to partner us to take the product to the next level is an organisation that is situated in Burkina Faso. Does this not tell you how rich people in this country care for medical research”.

The NIPRD Chief Executive emphasised the need for Nigerians to appreciate the importance of pharmaceutical research and development for the country to achieve medicine security. He cited the COVID-19 pandemic as creating opportunities for improved funding of research into tropical and other diseases, adding that NIPRD had already developed protocols for testing of locally made ventilators, and disinfectants delivery devices.

Efforts at Integrating Traditional Medicine While expressing concern over the state of affairs in medical research, Minister of state for Health, Dr. Olurunnimbe Mamora said Africa must pause and reflect on how well it has fared in the promotion, developing researching and ultimate integration of traditional medicine into the main stream of health care delivery system.

Mamora made the remark at a ministerial press briefing to mark the 2020 African Traditional Medicine Day celebration with the theme “Two Decades of African Traditional Medicine (2001-2020): What Progress in Countries?”

The minister of state said the current COVID-19 pandemic has brought the entire world to its knees due to its ravaging effect on health, economy and social well-being of humanity, with countries inevitably being forced to look inwards for local solution which makes the time for stock taking of

achievement and failure in traditional medicine sector, now.

“You will recall that Madagascar came up with a herbal product, called Covid Organics which claims to be preventive and curative for COVID-19, although this claim is yet to be scientifically proven, but it would not be out of place to acknowledge this effort and its a good step in African continent.

I must commend the gallant efforts of some of our herbal practitioners who made similar moves in this regard; we urge them to step forward to be counted”, the minister of state said.

Speaking further, Mamora said that Nigeria is blessed with over 8,000 species of medicinal plants which provides low hanging fruits for the production of agro allied pharmaceutical raw materials, herbal medicines, trado medicines and body care products to mention a few.

He said that the Federal Ministry of Health has requested traditional herbal medicine practitioner who claimed to have herbal medicines for the management of COVID-19 to submit such claims for necessary evaluation and validation.

However while speaking at a recent media briefing by the Presidential Taskforce on Control of COVID-19, Minister of Health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire said that progress is being made in finding local vacinne therapy.

According to the minister, “Nigeria has developed an indigenous vaccine candidate, which will require considerable investment to get through trials. We shall seek sponsorship to take the initiative further”.

Meanwhile, Enahire had earlier said the federal government was setting aside N10 billion to support local manufacturing of COVID-19 vaccines.

Lack of Political Will and Coordination On its part, the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), said lack of politcal will is at the heart of the poor showing in research and development of local drug therapy or vaccines for Infectious diseases.

NAFDAC Director General, Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye, who bared her mind recently during a programme monitored on the Nigerian National Television Authority said that poor funding and lack

of determination to push research and development efforts to its logical conclusion was costing Nigeria several opportunities to shine in the global arena.

She said: “Because it takes a lot to conduct clinical trials, government has set aside some money through the Central Bank of Nigeria to support health sector research and development Intervention”.

Adeyeye gave glime of hope when she said that group of experts are currently evaluating proposals on herbal remedies for COVID-19. A lot of herbal remedy proposals are included and we are going to be stocking it up. She said that the N50 million for research by the academia is not enough because herbal remedy research or other medical research is very capital intensive.

“Nigeria has the potential, the Madagascar herbal therapy which is mainly made up of Atermesia has its likes in Nigeria for years.

We have Mom which is called Dogonyaro that has anti malaria. But we don’t enough data on them in terms of research and that is what we are doing. Adeyeye said that having the political will is very important whether it is for the production of vaccines or herbal remedies.

“What we need is the political will whether it is the vaccine or herbal remedy. The politcal will is important so that we don’t keep depending on other countries but to have pride in what are capable doing ourselves”.

In the meantime, hope of Nigeria’s participation in the global search for therapeutic solution to COVID-19 was further diminished by long period of shut down of the universities caused by the industrial action embarked upon by lecturers. Even though the leadership of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) kept assuring the nation that its members were at work doing research, nothing significant came out of it.

Perhaps, what is apparent from the views expresed by stakeholders is that there are positive indications that Nigeria can develop local remedies for dealing with COVID-19 and other Infectious diseases if adequate effort is put into the endeavour including funding and proper coordination.

T H I S D AY ˾ , FEBRUARY 4, 2021

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NEWS

Only VAPP Bill Can Stop Genital Mutilation, Rape, Others, NGO Insists Kuni Tyessi ÓØ ÌßÔË A Civil Society Organisation, Women Advocates Research and Documentation Centre (WARDC) has reiterated that only the Violence Against Persons Prohibition (VAPP) bill can stop the reoccurring incidents of genital mutilation, rape, unhealthy widowhood practices and other decimals that limit the growth and development of women.

The organisation which was supported by the United Nations and the Embassy of Netherlands, noted that the rising cases of violence against women in the country was largely caused by lack of commitment from governors in the tackling of the menace.

Executive Director of WARDC, Dr. Abiola Afolabi who stated this in Abuja at a retreat for members of Borno State House of Assembly on Violence Against Persons Prohibition (VAPP) bill in Abuja, regretted that despite the growing violence against women, children and men, many states had not seen reasons to make the VAPP bill a priority.

The VAPP bill which was passed into law in

2015 prohibits all form of gender-based violence including genital mutilation, rape, forceful ejection from home and harmful widowhood practices.

She lamented that, the bill which have been passed into law by only 18 states is not effectively implemented, adding that lack of awareness on the part lawmakers in state assembles was also responsible for the low priority given to the bill.

She said: “Though we noticed positive changes in some states where the law has been passed like Ekiti and Lagos. But in most states, like Ogun, Oyo, Bauchi, it is still just law, the implementation level is still very low. “ Some state assemblies debated this bill and found it worthy by passing it.

It is now the duty of the executive to activate the law but from what we are seeing, it is the executive that are slowing down the implementation of the law which also might be as a result of funding.

“At the state level, budget for women and children are always the lowest, and if you passed a law like this, you need to increase

their budget to make the law effective. The bulk Therefore is on the table of the executive”.

While lending support to Afolabi’s position, Speaker, Borno State House of Assembly, Hon. Abdulkarim Lawan, assured that the house would critically debate the bill and ensure its quick passage.

He however, tasked stakeholders to prevail on governors to assent to the bill when passed by lawmakers.

He said: “When you pass a private bill such as this, governors would not likely give assent to the bill. This is the complaint we always receive from our colleagues in other states. You need to engage the governors on the need to sign the bill when passed.

“For instance, the current assembly in Borno has passed about 25 bills, 20 are executive bills while five are private bills.

“But, only the 20 executive bills have been assented by the governor even as he promised to assent to the remaining five. We also have problems vetoing bills in order to avoid fracas with the executive.”

Sperm Count Declining by 3 Percent among Nigerian Males, Expert Says Martins Ifijeh Sperm count among Nigerian males is declining by three per cent every year, and this is partly responsible for the increased infertility among couples in the country, UIF .BOBHJOH %JSFDUPS Nordica Fertility Centre, Dr. Abayomi Ajayi has said.

Speaking at a virtual meeting with journalists recently, he said every year, more men were experiencing decline in spermatozoa, and that this has put infertility rate among the gender at pal with the females.

He said: “The ratio of male to female infertility is about 50:50. In my clinic, we see a lot of male factor infertility, but we are always careful not to assume or attribute that to the whole society, unless we do communal based studies.

“What we are saying is about 50:50, but we know that we are seeing a lot of male factor infertility and we actually did a study here in 2014 where we looked at the sperm count for over 10 years; that is between 2003 to 2013.

“The study showed three percent in sperm count of the men, so from our study we concluded that there might be decline to spermatozoa by three per cent every year.

That does not portray a very good thing, but it seems that all over the world, there is a decline in sperm count.

“Before now, one of the things we have also seen when it comes to male infertility is that there is no much attention paid to the man. However, Invitro Fertilisation (IVF) has become a game changer.

“What is needed from the male is just a few sperm cells and then the IVF procedure is initiated. This year, one of our task is to ensure men know their fertility status, and then also know there could be a solution to the challenge.”

Ajayi said lifestyle choice has a huge role to play in male infertility, adding that alcohol intake, cigarette smoking, drug use, among others could have effect.

He said: “From our study, about 12 per cent of the men who come to our clinic have no sperm count at all.

As for low sperm count, every one out of every two samples we take from men have low sperm count.

“We also looked at about 3000 samples and we saw that from every two samples, one seems to be a low sperm count.

This calls for concern as far as fertility is concerned in Nigeria. “ It is unfortunate that many of our young men are on drugs like Cigarette, marijuana, cocaine, excessive consumption of alcohol. All these have a profound effect on not just on their health, but on sperm count. i.FO TIPVME LOPX UIBU

some of these poor lifestyle choices will affect their fertility. But the good thing about lifestyle choice is that it is the only thing that is reversible when it comes to fertility. So we need to take the message our there to help our young men to make the right choices.

“I see some people who don’t have good sperm cells and their wives have good eggs, yet the men are still smoking and drinking even through the treatment. “ I always advice them that if they truly want to have children of their own, then they need to stop whatever they are consuming, preferably for two to three months before treatment commenced, so that we can have good sperm cells for the treatment.”

He warned that having a high sexual prowess does not mean that the person XBT GFSUJMF i.FO CFMJFWF UIBU because they are tigers in bed and they produce enough sperm, then they have no fertility issue.

“The fact that a man has the ability to sleep with a woman does not mean he has enough sperm cells in whatever he his discharging.

He might be discharging nothing when we do the sperm count.

“Unless a lab test is done, there is no way to know if the man has enough sperm cells which can fertilise the eggs of a woman,” he said.

FERTILITY

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

FERTILITY PROFILING: KNOWING YOUR FERTILITY STATUS (PART 1)

L

ife is full of unprecedented challenges, with infertility being one of them hence many people although not ready to start a family or make babies are curious about their fertility status. In today’s society, women often delay childbearing until later in their reproductive years. The reason for this shift is complex but often related to social, educational and economic factors. This trend towards delayed childbearing has resulted in increased number of women seeking fertility treatment in their late 30’s, 40’s and beyond.

It is not a common trend to do routine fertility check-ups in young child bearing age by people in this part of the world. We often visit our doctor because something is wrong and not necessarily because we want to evaluate our health status and identify factors that may increase our risk for diseases and its prevention. The fact remains that our health including our reproductive health is our greatest treasure, hence the need for creation of awareness and education is of uttermost importance which brings us to the topic for the today: Fertility Profiling/Know your fertility status.

Why do you need to know your fertility status?

Fertility Profiling is a comprehensive protocol which involves examinations and tests to be done to provide foundation information as they relate to reproductive issues including fertility.

Investigative test carried out during fertility status check- up helps the female to: r &TUBCMJTI GFSUJMJUZ QPUFOUJBM r *EFOUJGZ SJTL GBDUPST UIBU NBZ QSFEJTQPTF to infertility in the future r %JBHOPTF BCOPSNBMJUJFT UIBU NBZ OFFE prompt management r *EFOUJGZ DBVTFT PG JOGFSUJMJUZ UIBU NBZ be prevented. r *OEJWJEVBMT XJUI MPX GFSUJMJUZ QPUFOUJBMT can be identified and counselled appropriately r 1SFQBSF POF UP GBDF UIF GVUVSF XJUI WJTJPO and make informed decisions rather than with ignorance, confusion and frustration e.g. women with Poly Cystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOs) may need some form of assistance to get pregnant but an ignorant woman may never seek help until menopause.

There are strong indicators for fertility status check in females r 8PNFO XJUI B IJTUPSZ PG JSSFHVMBS menses irrespective of age r 8PNFO XJUI TVEEFO DFTTBUJPO PG menses before age of menopause r "EPMFTDFOUT XJUI BCTFODF PG NFOTFT after puberty r 8PNFO XJUI B QPTJUJWF GBNJMZ history of Endometriosis, ovarian cancer, fibroids r 8PNFO XJUI %ZTGVODUJPOBM 6UFSJOF Bleeding r 8PNFO XJUI IPSNPOBM BMUFSBUJPOT and imbalances r 'BUJHVF NPPEJOFTT MPTT PG NVTDMF tone, increased body fat, low sex drive Evaluations Done To Assess Fertility Status in Women A variety of tests are available for evaluating female fertility potential, it may not be necessary to have all of these tests done if basic results done are normal

r .FEJDBM IJTUPSZ " XPNBO T QBTU health and medical history may provide clue to the physician who may ask about childhood development; sexual development during puberty; sexual history; illnesses and infections; surgeries; medications used; exposure to certain environmental agents (alcohol, radiation, steroids, chemotherapy, and toxic chemicals); and any previous fertility evaluations. r .FOTUSVBM IJTUPSZ "NFOPSSIFB (absent menstrual periods) usually signals an absence of ovulation, which can cause infertility.

Oligomenorrhea (irregular menstrual cycles) can be a sign of irregular ovulation; although oligomenorrhea does not make pregnancy impossible, it can interfere with the ability to become pregnant. r 1IZTJDBM FYBNJOBUJPO " QIZTJDBM examination usually includes a general examination, with special attention to any signs of hormone deficiency or signs of other conditions that might affect fertility. The physician will also perform a pelvic examination, which can identify abnormalities of the reproductive tract and signs of low hormone levels. The physical examination may be performed by the patient’s primary care provider, gynecologist, or infertility specialist. r #MPPE 5FTUT 5P EFUFSNJOF CMPPE MFWFM PG Follicle Stimulating Hormone: is important for women in the production of eggs by the ovaries and Elevated FSH in women indicates reduced egg supply whereas low levels can signal that you are not ovulating or are pregnant.

Levels of FSH rise in women as egg production declines; therefore raised FSH often coincides with the onset of the menopause and is a measure of ovarian reserve.it is done on day 3 of the menstrual cycle Luteinizing Hormone: Raised LH in women can signal that you are not ovulating, that you are menopausal or that your hormones are not in balance (as with polycystic ovaries).

These hormones control the development of eggs, maturation, trigger of ovulation and lactation which must happen if one is to ever get pregnant. Abnormalities in level or ratio may hinder fertility.

Serum Progesterone: Progesterone is a female hormone produced by the ovaries during ovulation. It causes the endometrial lining of the uterus to get thicker, making it receptive for a fertilized egg. This test is used to determine if ovulation is occurring. Since progesterone levels increase towards the end of a woman’s cycle, the test is done during the luteal phase of the menstrual cycle (just before her period starts).

Testosterone (Free and Total) Hormonal test: Testosterone is produced in smaller amounts in the ovaries of women. It is responsible for bone and muscle strength, as well as mood, energy and sexual function. Raised testosterone can result in male characteristics in a female such as body hair, greater bulk, a deeper voice and acne - all symptoms of polycystic ovaries, a condition in which elevated testosterone is commonly seen.

To be continued next week

36

T H I S D AY ˾ , FEBRUARY 4, 2021

HEALTH

COVID-19: Okowa’s CPS Distributes Face Masks to Delta Schools Sylvester Idowu ÓØ ËÜÜÓ The Chief Press Secretary to Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State, Mr Olisa Ifeajika, has distributed face masks to staff and pupils of public schools in Illah community in Oshimili North Local Government Area of the state.

While presenting the masks to the four public schools in the community, he said the gesture was at the backdrop of the resurgence of the pandemic and the vulnerability of school children and teachers.

The governor’s spokesman, who was accompanied by Mr Chuks Onwuatogwu and Senior Special Assistant to the Governor

on Media, Mr Nelson Egware, said the prevailing second wave of COVID-19 has proved to be more vicious, and called for the consciousness and support of all stakeholders.

He stated that COVID-19 had affected socio-economic development of the world, including Africa and Nigeria.

Ifeajika appealed to authorities of the schools - Illah Grammar School, Itomorka Secondary School, Omorka Model Primary School and Iyioka Model Primary School - to take special interest in the care of the children.

He assured that infrastructure and human resource needs of the schools would be addressed in no distant time.

According to the governor’s aide, the second wave of the pandemic is deadlier than the previous one and “there is need for us to adhere strictly to the preventive protocols.

“With the reopening of schools, the most basic thing to do is to ensure that pupils wear their face masks always and properly while in classroom and playground.

“I am here today to support you with face masks and to ensure that we preach to our students the need to observe these preventive protocols”.

On the poor state of the Asaba-Illah road, he deplored federal government’s neglect of the strategic route to Abuja, saying that it was unfortunate that

the government had abandoned roads in Delta and South-south.

“Due to the harrowing experience states go through to get refund from the federal government when they rehabilitate its infrastructure, it has becoming extremely difficult for any state to intervene on federal roads.

“However, in spite of such attitude of the Federal Government, our amiable governor, Senator Ifeanyi Okowa, has rehabilitated the Benin-Warri highway, the Asaba end of approach to River Niger Bridge and a failed portion at Ubulu-Okiti.

“By the grace of God, I am convinced without any equivocation that the governor will reconstruct the Asaba-Illah

road if the Federal Government fails to do the needful,” he said.

Representative of the Director of Schools, Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education, Mr Charles Ojieh, thanked the Chief Press Secretary for the donation, adding that government alone could not provide all the needs of schools.

He charged the school heads to ensure that the face masks were judiciously used.

Responding, Principal, Illah Grammar School, Ms Vivian Juwah, thanked Ifeajika for his contribution and assured that the school management would do everything to ensure that the students adhered to the prescribed protocol to check the

spread of the pandemic..

She disclosed that the school required infrastructural facelift and urged the governor’s spokesman to use his good office to attract infrastructural upgrade of the school.

On her part, the Headmistress of Iyioka Primary School, Mrs Joy Enueze, thanked the governor’s spokesman for his magnanimity, and assured that the face masks would be distributed equitably to the pupils Ifeajika had in May, 2020 distributed food palliatives, face masks, hand sanitizers to churches, police, health centre, motorcycle operators and other residents in the community during the lockdown.

COVID-19: Medical Lab Scientists Endorse STK Supplements for Clinical Trial Amby Uneze ÓØ áÏÜÜÓ The Association of Medical Laboratory Scientists of Nigeria (AMLSN) has given a green light concerning the potency and effectiveness of the use of STK Biotech immune booster/ supplements for COVID-19 clinical trials considering its proven capacity to resuscitate the immune system that promotes longevity.

Disclosing this during the Continuous Programme Development (CPD) lecture organised by the Imo State branch of AMLSN in conjunction with the association’s national headquarters, Abuja in Owerri, the state capital, the State Chairman, Dr. Dunga Kinsley maintained that the STK supplements are produced through adequate laboratory examination that corresponds with the people’s health issues.

According to Dunga, “today as part of what we do, Continuous programme development (CPD) lecture organised by the branch in conjunction with the AMLSN Abuja, a body that regulates medical laboratory practice in Nigeria. “ I want to personally thank STK Biotech as our key partner.

We are in partnership with them to see that health care of our people are attended to promptly through provision of quality supplements which STK produces in conformity with adequate laboratory examination of peoples’ health issues.

“Without missing words, the products of STK are very good.

In fact we want to encourage them. We have tested them and their supplements have been proved to be of efficacy. Their products detoxify human health and boost their phyto-immune system.

“These are supplements that you can take to resuscitate your immune system, and it will promote one’s longevity. As long as you take it daily, it boosts your immunity and it scares COVID-19 from attacking you.

“We enjoin people to take these supplements and enjoy their lives. Their research has proved that they are indeed experts in that direction and God will bless them for helping mankind to improve

their longevity. We have really endorsed their products. It is good for immune booster”, he stated.

In her lecture presentation on “TB Public Private Mix”, Justina Odoku outlined that the national tuberculosis and leprosy control programme was established in 1988 under the department of public health with a vision to free Nigeria of TB, leprosy and Buruli ulcer, and a long term goal to reduce significantly the burden, socio-economic impact and transmission of tuberculosis, leprosy and buruli ulcer in Nigeria in line with the sustainable development goals and stop TB partnership target, as well as provide appropriate rehabilitation for persons affected by leprosy.

Odoku revealed that in 2017 an estimated 10 million people comprises of 90 percent of adults, 65 percents male, 9 percent people living with HIV developed TB worldwide, while about 25 percent of the total cases were in the African region.

She also noted that in the same 2017, there were an estimated 1.3 million TB deaths among HIV negative people (down from 1.7 million in 2000) and an additional 300,000 deaths among HIV positive people.

While in Nigeria which is among the countries in three high-burden areas has an estimated TB incidence rate of 219 per 100,000 in 2017 amounting to 418,000 TB cases during the year.

In his message, the Imo State Commissioner for Environment and Petroleum, Dr. Iyke Njoku appealed to the members to engage in group practice as such would promote unity and lift the profession to greater heights, even as he praised laboratory scientists in the state for the workshop.

Among the participants at the lecture which had as theme “Multi Resistance Drugs on Tuberculosis” include the World Health Organization (WHO) State Coordinator, Dr. Sabastine Okwu, Prof. Emenike from the Ambrose Ali University, Ekpoma, and former Registrar of the Institute, Prof. Anthony Emeribe who sent a goodwill message.

Residents getting medical care from TRF

Total Respite Foundation Launches Maiden Health Centre Iyke Bede With the recent commissioning of the Mowo Kekere Health Centre, residents of Mowo Kekere and its neighbouring communities in Ikorodu Local Government Area, are one step closer to accessing top-notch healthcare services in the locality.

On its commissioning day, members of the rural community came out in droves to assemble at the health centre early that morning, where they received free medical services.

These almost overwhelming numbers truly reflected the need to seek medical attention – a desire often mitigated by long distance between residents and already existing health centres. The propinquity of the Mowo Kekere Health Centre easily solves the problem of accessibility.

Stemming from a need to provide affordable healthcare in relation to proximity, the project commenced two years ago by Total Respite Foundation (TRF) to solve these issues plaguing the rural area.

The project was facilitated by former member of the House of Representatives, Hon. Abike Dabiri, who donated a lone building that was part of her constituency projects to hit the

ground running. The health centre now boasts of three additional structures.

“Before we came here [Mowo Kekere], the entire place was covered in bush.”

Board Member, TRF, Hemeson Edwin said explaining the level of transformation that has taken place.

“We only had the main building. All the other structures here were added by TRF. Everything you see here was done by TRF, and we are delighted that the community has accepted us for who we are and what we are here to do for them.”

TRF is one of the stakeholders in private-public health SME initiatives of Lagos State government. Through a broad range of seasoned medical professionals with senior level management in various aspects of healthcare that is comparable to professionals worldwide, the management of the health centre is guided by a well-designed template to provide high grade, value for money healthcare.

Speaking on the visions of TRF to provide affordable and accessible healthcare, CEO of TRF, Bolajoko Sogbesan explained the need to subsidise services to match the pockets of residents in the community, with special consideration for the elderly.

“What we’ve done is to bring private practice into public health centres. We have assured them that it would never be beyond what is been [charged] in public hospitals. In fact, it is a bit reduced because we want to give them quality healthcare at an affordable price.

“For the elderly we have subsidised any healthcare concerning them. For those in their seventies, it is completely subsidised, if not free,” she said.

With its launch, services offered to residents will include outpatient services, immunisation, ante and post-natal services, select surgical procedures, health education, et cetera.

However, due to limitations that come with the 12-bed facility, the management has mapped out an effective referral system to ensure that persons who require urgent medical attention beyond their current capacity, get the immediate medical response they need.

“The personnel working with me are specialised in different fields. There is a way we section them to know who to go to and how to go about things. That way we will be able to contain them [patients].”added Sogbesan.

Showing support for the initiative by TRF, Chairman, Lagos State Primary Healthcare

Board, Prof. Akin Osibogun — represented by Dr. Mobolaji Obadeyi — lauded the project by projecting the important role primary healthcare centres like Mowo Kekere Health Centre plays.

“Primary healthcare is the touchpoint where effective healthcare reaches the smallest unit of our society through our health post, and comprehensive health centres, with the aim of providing cost effective healthcare that is affordable and accessible to individuals in all our communities.

“As a governing board, our mission is also to provide universal health coverage in all 329 health centres across Lagos State.”

In efforts to further subsidise healthcare services, attendees were also introduced to health insurance on the Lagos State Health Scheme that is currently manned by the Lagos State Health Management Agency(LASHMA).

With Mowo Kekere Health Centre as its pilot project, TRF plans to woo more private partners and the state government with its performance and impact to help drive the development of its other centres located in Imota LCDA (Ikorodu), Odomola (Epe), and Oriba (Epe) in the near future.

37

T H I S D AY ˾ , FEBRUARY 4, 2021

HEALTH

TimetoImprovetheNigerianFoodPlate Elvis Eromosele

A

frica is big on agriculture.

It has to be. It is the second-largest continent in the world. It is also the second most populous.

So, there’s plenty of space to farm and over a billion mouths to feed.

It is no surprise therefore that an estimated 65 per cent of Africa’s population relies on subsistence farming.

Subsistence farming, or smallholder agriculture, by definition, is when one family grows only enough to feed itself. Nigeria is the most populous country on the continent. Although it depends heavily on the oil industry for its budgetary revenues, Nigeria is predominantly still an agricultural society.

Reports indicate that approximately 70 per cent of the population engages in agricultural production at a subsistence level. Sadly, with so many people engaged in farming across Africa, a large number of the population still don’t get enough to eat.

The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations, in its State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World report for 2020 revealed that one in five Africans is undernourished, with 250 million people or 19.1% of the population going to bed each night hungry across the continent.

However, the truly sad part is that 30% to 40% of the food produced on many farms in Africa never reach any plate – they go to waste! It is beyond disheartening. Imagine, if you can, food decomposing in farms while plates are empty a city away. It is not a pretty picture by any means. So, the great task is to improve access to food for all, especially protein-rich nutritious foods. The truth is that any effort to improve nutrition needs to involve the government. The government is the biggest business and enabler of business anywhere in the world.

In 2021, as governments consider how to ensure citizens get enough food and nutrition, the Nigerian government would do well to consider some sort of direct intervention.

Several options have been proposed to help the country improve the Nigerian food plate. Here are three exciting possibilities: first, the introduction of a protein-centred national nutrition policy; second, food complementation, especially with protein; and thirdly, widespread and structured nutrition education.

The introduction of a protein-centred national nutrition policy is a good place to start if the goal is to improve the Nigerian food plate. A keen advocate of the nutrition policy, Dr. Adepeju Adeniran, public health expert and national chairperson Women in Global Health, Nigeria, noted that there is the need for a concerted effort in ensuring that the entire population enjoys a measure of good health. A national nutrition policy should, therefore, at the minimum, provide the framework for addressing the problems of food and nutrition insecurity in Nigeria, from the individual, household, community and national

levels. Dr. Adeniran explained that the policy should cover three key areas: Education/ information: Public knowledge and education about the benefits of protein should not be limited to school education and theory only. Re-learning and a lifelong familiarity with proteins’ benefits to the homemaker should be continued in public spaces like hospitals, primary healthcare, community and even religious centres. Human education can be carried out by nurses, community health workers and community leaders.

Availability/supply chain: Supply chain support can be entrenched by import/export policies that prioritise protein-rich foods. Agricultural and food production policies can also support farmers by way of fertilizer and farm-to-market transport subsidies or government-initiated protein produce purchase. This will encourage farmers to produce protein-rich plants and animal farmers to be able to produce proteins at a cheap enough rate for the public to purchase and consume.

Affordability/price/subsidy: Product availability will, through market forces, drive down the protein product cost and address price. However, to further ensure household affordability, subsidies can be used to further cheapen the price of the protein foods to a price point that can easily be afforded by household planners and provid-

ers. The next is food complementation with protein. Now, this has become important with the nutrition transition from the consumption of natural local foods to the consumption of processed foreign/new foods, which are as a result of technological advancement. These processed foods are high in refined starch, fats and sugar. This trend has been adopted more by the younger generation across all income groups and is now a fad. Little attention is paid to the nutritional adequacy of these foods, and the food processing industry has expanded with its seemingly economic benefits.

With the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic and the economic downturn, the consumption of these foods, popularly called ‘fast foods’, even among affluent families, has reduced, for economic reasons.

Dr. Beatrice Oganah-Ikujenyo, a seasoned nutritionist and chief lecturer at the Adeniran Ogunsanya College of Education, noted that it is the time to adjust our food habits to begin consuming more of our locally produced natural foods, especially legumes – soybeans in particular – to boost protein intake and prevent protein deficiency among all age groups. This can be achieved if creative, exciting and innovative recipes are developed.

This is where meal complementation with

legumes is key. Dr Oganah-Ikujenyo argued that this technique is more important now especially amid the pandemic when the cost of meat and seafood has increased astronomically, while the purchasing power of the populace has progressively reduced. On how complementation would work in real life, she revealed that at the household level, soybean flour can be added during meal preparation to staple foods such as elubo, garri, semo, yam/sweet potatoes/plantain pottage; incorporated into soups, sauces and stews; use as soup thickeners in banga, nsala and black soups and as a composite with cowpea (beans) in making moi moi and akara balls. At the industrial level, she noted that food processing companies can contribute to the fight against protein deficiency through research, development of composite self-rising flour containing soybean with comparable texture and quality that can be used to produce confectionery.

Noodles, Spaghetti and Macaroni can also be simulated from soybean composite flour to suit the nutrition transition trend of the young people and at the same time boost their quality protein intake. Food complementation will truly be a great way to improve the Nigerian food plate. On wide-spread and structured nutrition education, Prof Henrietta Nkechi Ene-Obong of the Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Basic Medical Sciences, University of Calabar, Cross River State, contended that it is a key ingredient in the quest to reduce protein deficiency in Nigeria to aid nutrition education at the national level, Prof Ene-Obong stated that there is an urgent need for the establishment of Home Economics and nutrition extension agents across the country. The agents would function much like an agricultural extension agent, only in the nutrition space. Undoubtedly, the message about nutrition must be brought to the level of the people across all strata of the economy and where possible provided in the local languages in the quest to boost nutrition education.

According to Prof Ene-Obong, “Home economics and nutrition extension agents would be in the best position to simplify the nutrition message and bring it to the people to bring about the desired outcome in behaviour across the citizenry.” The don equally supported calls for the introduction of nutrition education in schools, nursery, primary and secondary, as students can learn and equally be able to teach their parents at home.

Studies have shown that food consumption habits in Nigeria depend on the availability of food source, affordability of the food and knowledge of the nutrition value along with the personal choice or preference of the buyer.

The task of improving the food plate is one that must be won. It is possible to improve the Nigerian food plate. The issues are clear. The opportunities are available. And 2021 would be a good time to start. rEromosele, a Corporate Communication professional and public affairs analyst lives in Lagos

NIPRD DG: How Madagascan COVID Organics Analysis Saved Lives Onyebuchi Ezigbo ÓØ ÌßÔË The Director General of the National Institute of Pharmaceutical Research and Development (NIPRD), Dr. Obi Adigwe has said the institute was able to deliver an impactful, world class scientific analysis of the Madagascan herbal therapy despite financial constraints.

Adigwe who made the assertion during a facility tour of the organisation by the Minister of state, Senator Olorunnimbe Mamora last week, said the institute has made considerable contribution to the COVID-19 pandemic response, both within the country and internationally.

He said: “For instance, NIPRD provided the internationally acclaimed analysis that underpinned

governments categorical position on the Madagascan COVID Organics preparation.

“This analysis went viral internationally, with scientists and policy makers around the world referencing NIPRDs seminal work on the product”.

Adigwe stated that with the work done by NIPRD, a multitude of lives on the continent were saved.

“Africa conserved millions of Dollars that would otherwise have been expended on an unverified product, and Research and Development resources were prioritised to more effective solutions,”’ he said.

While giving more details on the milestones reached by the Institute, Adigwe said that early last year at the onset of the

pandemic, NIPRD pioneered and advocated indigenous manufacturing of hand sanitisers from locally sourced raw materials.

He said the institute conceptualised and produced its own brand of hand sanitisers which this has gone on to become famous for its high international quality.

“The Institute has also been involved as sponsor, as well as technical partner to a number of ongoing Randomised Control Trials aimed at scientifically proving the efficacy of a number of conventional medicines currently at the Clinical Trials phase.

“Furthermore, NIPRD leveraged on its reputation as the first African Institute to develop a world-class phytomedicine from

drug discovery up to phase two clinical trials, to begin work on repurposing NIPRIMUNE, its flagship immunomodulatory agent for relevant clinical studies for COVID-19. “ Several months after NIPRDs breakthrough in this area, the government of Thailand approved the same phytomedicine for the management of COVID-19.

“These are just a few of the many areas where the Institute has supported the national response for the deadly virus.”

One of newly completed facilities that the minister came to inspect was the ISO certified laboratories manned by world-class scientists.

While taking the minister round during the inspection

tour, Adigwe said NIPRD is well positioned to lead the scientific evolution that will enable Africa attain its rightful place in the global community.

“Our ground breaking work in various areas including Nanomedicine, Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, Development of Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients, Phytomedicinal Drug Discovery and several others, are at all advanced stages, and when supported to completion will ensure that Nigeria emerges Africas hub for all forms of pharmaceutical research, manufacturing and development.”

Adigwe said despite the great potential, there are still significant challenges. “For instance, prioritisation and

adequate funding of the sector is still suboptimal.

“So far, despite this administration’s clear policy prioritisation, and marginal support, partners such as philanthropic organisations, and development partners are yet to align to government’s position. “ I therefore wish to use this opportunity to urge all well-meaning individuals and corporate entities to stand up now and be counted amongst Nigerias friends, “ he said.

The DG pleaded with Senator Mamora to help reach out to stakeholders to step up their support for NIPRDs national Research and Development efforts for COVID-19 and other critical health issues that plague our people.

38

T H I S D AY ˾ Ͳ , 2021

BUSINESS/MONEYGUIDE

FG to Establish Artisanal Miners’ Clusters in Ebonyi, Others Kasim Sumaina ÓØ ÌßÔË The federal government has begun the establishment of artisanal mineral processing clusters for the development of selected minerals in the six geopolitical zones.

The initiative is to ensure effective harmonisation of minerals’ exploitation as well as to derive the right revenue for government.

The Minister of State, Mines and Steel Development, Dr. Uchechukwu Sampson Ogah, disclosed this during the handing and taking over ceremony of landed property donated by the Ebonyi State government for the establishment of artisanal and small-scale processing clusters for the south-east zone in Abakaliki.

Ogah, in a statement made available to THISDAY in Abuja by the Director of Press of the

ministry, Mrs. Etore Thomas, clarified some contrary media speculations that,” he boycotted the initial date of Friday, 29th January, 2021 scheduled for the event.”

Continuing, he disclosed that the overreaching goal of the development of artisanal and small-scale miners would increase efficiency in mining and mineral processing operations; increase mineral production and revenue generation; enhance safer mining practices; boost the ease of doing mining business as well as create employment and wealth for sustainable growth in the sector The minister who stated that the federal government would soon embark on infrastructural development of the cluster area, revealed that, “upon completion, the cluster will provide common

facilities that will enable easy formalisation of the artisanal mining activities in lead/zinc supply.”

He thanked Governor of Ebonyi State, Dave Umahi, for keying into the programme and providing the land for the project without hesitation, adding that the choice of Ebonyi state for citing the lead/zinc processing cluster was predicated on the fact that it is endowed with large commercial deposits of these minerals.

In his remarks, Umahi urged the media to always verify their story before going to press. he airport.

He appreciated the federal government for choosing Ebonyi State as host for the project, saying the processing cluster would develop the south-east immensely.

Facebook Marketplace Unveiled in Nigeria Facebook has announced the launch in Nigeria of a marketplace, a convenient destination where people can discover, buy and sell items from others in their local communities.

According to a statement obtained yesterday, available in South Africa, Ethiopia and Kenya, Nigeria joins the growing list of countries where people can simply tap on the Marketplace icon or visit www. facebook.com/marketplace to browse and search for items, sort based on distance or category.

Commenting on the initiative, Head of Public Policy for Anglophone West Africa, Adaora Ikenze said: “The launch of Marketplace in Nigeria further highlights our ongoing efforts in helping to boost buying and selling in Nigeria and connecting communities.

“This comes at a crucial time as the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic continues to impact people and businesses, and with many people buying and selling on Facebook, this will provide

people with a convenient destination where they can discover new products, shop for things they want or find buyers for the things they are ready to part with.”

Shedding more light on how the Facebook marketplace works, it stated that when a seller lists an item on it, they create a public listing that could be seen by anyone on the social media platform.

This includes people on Marketplace, News Feed, Facebook search, Facebook Groups or search engines.

“Sellers can simply take a photo of an item, enter a product name, description and price, confirm their location, select a category, and post,” it stated.

Providing tips for buying and selling on the platform, it stated: “Items, products or services sold on Facebook must comply with our community standards, as well as the commerce policies.

“Sellers and merchants are responsible for complying with all applicable laws and

regulations. For high-value items (example: watches, luxury bags), consider requesting a certificate of authenticity or proof of purchase.

“If you’re not satisfied with an item’s condition or have doubts about its authenticity, you can decline to complete the purchase. If the seller offers to ship the item rather than exchanging it in person, keep in mind that you may not have the opportunity to verify the item before completing your purchase.

“If you are meeting, ensure this is in a public place. Don’t invite buyers or sellers into your home. Before going to the agreed location, tell a family member or a friend the exact location where you will meet, bring your cell phone, and consider asking another adult to come with you.

“If the value of the item you intend to buy or sell requires a significant amount of cash, you might consider using a person-to-person payment method.”

Access Bank Partners American Express to Expand Card Acceptance Nume Ekeghe Access Bank and American Express have launched a partnership to broaden the acceptance and usage of American Express Cards in Nigeria.

The announcement places Access Bank as the first full-service bank to acquire merchants who will accept American Express Card payments in the country.

The partnership would enable American Express Card holders use their cards at a wider range of merchant locations when they spend time in Nigeria for tourism, business or visit friends and family.

International American Express Card holders will also be able to withdraw cash from Access Bank ATMs. Also, local merchants would now have the option to accept American Express through Access Bank, thereby not only encouraging increased merchant business activity, but also offering travelling American Express Card holders the opportunity to transact using their preferred method of payment.

This new partnership is expected to broaden the acceptance of American Express payments via Access Bank as well as Access Bank ATMs and ecommerce websites nationwide.

“Many global organisations use American Express Corporate Cards as well as their employees who use these products for personal and business transactions.

“When international travel recovers, many corporate Card holders travelling to Nigeria for business are therefore likely to seek merchants that accept American Express, presenting an opportunity for those businesses that welcome the Card.

“Consequently, Access Bank merchants who welcome the use of American Express cards will benefit from an additional high-spending customer base,” a statement from the bank explained.

A Senior Banking Advisor Retail Banking, Access Bank, Mr. Robert Giles, said the bank was proud to partner American Express to bring some of the best payment solutions in the world to Nigeria.

“Access Bank has the largest and most accessible ATM network in the country, a leading payments business with over 16 million card holders and a huge acceptance network both online and point of sale.

“The benefits will be immediate as soon as travel resumes. We expect significant demand for American Express acceptance in the country, and business travellers and tourists from across the globe will now be able to use the card of their choice.

“This is great news for Nigerian businesses and will help bring foreign exchange inflows into the country. We value the confidence that American Express has placed in us to significantly enhance the payment experience in our market,” he added.

On her part, the Vice President EMEA Network Partnerships for American Express Vivi Galani, said: “We are pleased to be partnering with Access Bank to continue to expand the presence of American Express in Nigeria, which is an important location for our travelling card holders and a fast-growing market for commerce.

MARKET INDICATORS MONEY AND CREDIT STATISTICS

(MILLION NAIRA)

JULY 2020 Money Supply (M3)

36,822,751.47

-- CBN Bills Held by Money Holding Sectors

3,476,121.25

Money Supply (M2)

33,346,630.22

-- Quasi Money

120,764,479.02

-- Narrow Money (M1)

12,582,151.19

---- Currency Outside Banks

2,002,026.89

---- Demand Deposits

10,580,124.31

Net Foreign Assets (NFA)

7,637,137.23

Net Domestic Assets(NDA)

29,185,614.24

-- Net Domestic Credit (NDC)

39,711,115.95

---- Credit to Government (Net)

19,521,851.08

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

0.00

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

0.00

---- Credit to Private Sector (CPS)

-130,189,264.87

--Other Assets Net

3,472,017.70

Reserve Money (Base Money

13,421,827.07

--Currency in Circulation

2,395,917.03

--Banks Reserves --Special Intervention Reserves

11,025,910.04 317,234.17

˾ ÙßÜÍÏ ̋

Money Market Indicators (in Percentage) Month

March 2018

Inter-Bank Call Rate

15.16

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

14.00

Treasury Bill Rate

11.84

Savings Deposit Rate

4.07

1 Month Deposit Rate

8.82

3 Months Deposit Rate

9.72

6 Months Deposit Rate

10.93

12 Months Deposit Rate

10.21

Prime Lending rate

17.35

Maximum Lending Rate

31.55

˾ ÙØÏÞËÜã ÙÖÓÍã ËÞÏ ̋ ͯͱϱ

OPEC DAILY BASKET PRICE ˜ Ͱ ͰͮͰͯ

The price of OPEC basket of thirteen crudes stood at $56.80 a barrel on Tuesday, compared with $55.13 the previous day, according to OPEC Secretariat calculations.

The OPEC Reference Basket of Crudes (ORB) is made up of the following: Saharan Blend (Algeria), Girassol (Angola), Djeno (Congo), Zafiro (Equatorial Guinea), Rabi Light (Gabon), Iran Heavy (Islamic Republic of Iran), Basra Light (Iraq), Kuwait Export (Kuwait), Es Sider (Libya), Bonny Light (Nigeria), Arab Light (Saudi Arabia), Murban (UAE) and Merey (Venezuela) SOURCE: OPEC headquarters, Vienna

39

T H I S D AY ˾ Ͳ ˜ ͰͮͰͯ

NSE Restates Commitment to Providing Funding Opportunities for Businesses Goddy Egene The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) has said it will continue to provide alternative funding opportunities to catalyse business growth having realised that access to capital is a key challenge faced by companies active in various sectors of the economy.

The Divisional Head, Listings Business, NSE, Mr. Olumide Bolumole, stated this while

speaking at a webinar hosted by the exchange yesterday, with the theme: “Capital raising for SMEs through the stock exchange.”

The webinar was hosted in collaboration with trade groups/chambers of commerce in the Northern region of the country, and was headlined by the President, the Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines, and Agriculture (NACCIMA), Hajia Saratu Iya Aliyu.

P R I C E S MAIN BOARD

F O R DEALS

According to Bolumole, the traditional role of the exchange is as a platform for capital formation and liquidity holds good promise for businesses.

“Despite the impact of COVID-19, the NSE functioned to facilitate needed financing with over N2.5 trillion in capital raised by governments and corporates in 2020 across various asset classes. Furthermore, the exchange in January 2020 launched the NSE Growth

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

QUANTITY TRADED

VALUE TRADED ( N )

Board designed to support companies in their growth phase and this notably caters to SMEs,” he said.

On her part, Aliyu commended the NSE for organising the webinar and for extending this invitation to her to give the keynote address at the event.

“This reflects a recognition the role played by the chamber of commerce in promoting the growth and competitiveness of private enterprise in Nigeria. Go-

T R A D E D MAIN BOARD

A S

ing forward, I am hopeful that initiatives such as this webinar will spur greater interest in the activities of the Growth Board by the private sector, as it is a conscious effort to give credence to SMEs which are the building blocks of the Nigerian economy,” she said.

The exchange continues to deliver on its commitment to narrow the undesirable gap in SMEs ability to access right-sized capital and facilitate the flow of

O F

sustainable resources to spur the growth of SMEs. In this light, the NSE the NSE launched the Growth Board in 2020. Growth Board is meant to cater to the growing needs of start-ups, provide exit opportunities for investors and reduced the cost of funding.

It now features four companies namely McNichols Plc, Chellarams Plc, The Initiates Plc and Living Trust Mortgage Bank Plc.

0 3 / 0 2 / 2 0 2 1 DEALS

MARKET PRICE

QUANTITY TRADED

VALUE TRADED ( N)

40

˾ THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2021

Thursday, February 4, 2021 Thisday Afrinvest 40 Index Declined 0.2% dŚĞ dŚŝƐĚĂLJ ĨƌŝŶǀĞƐƚ ϰϬ /ŶĚĞdž ĨĞůů ϭϳďƉƐ ƚŽ ƐĞƩůĞ Ăƚ

THISDAY AFRINVEST 40 INDEX

1,871.16 points. This was on the back of price declines in GUARANTY (-2.1%), WAPCO (-1.6%), and INTBREW (-

Fundamental Performance Metrics for THISDAY AFRINVEST 40 Index

Ϭ͘ϮйͿ͘ dŚĞƐĞ ƐƚŽĐŬƐ ĐƵŵƵůĂƟǀĞůLJ ĂĐĐŽƵŶƚ ĨŽƌ ϭϰ͘ϳй ŽĨ the index.

The sell-ŽīƐ ŽŶ ƚŚĞ ůŽĐĂů ďŽƵƌƐĞ ĐŽŶƟŶƵĞĚ ƚŽĚĂLJ and the All-Share index fell 10bps to 42,000.01 points as a result of price declines in GUARANTY (-

2.1%), WAPCO (-1.6%), and ETI (-4.8%). Consequently,

Price Change Index to Date

Current Price

THISDAY AFRINVEST 40

1,871.16

-0.17%

27.5%

87.1%

19.7%

3.8%

930.00

0.0%

32.3%

9.2%

9.2%

7.9%

2.8%

79.00

0.0%

10.8%

2.1%

2.1%

33.05

-2.1%

9.0%

2.2%

2.2%

27.9%

4.7%

1 Airtel Africa PLC 2 BUA Cement Plc

The Bears Remain Resolute͙ ASI down 0.1%

Price Previous Current Change Price Weightin YTD Change g

Ticker

3 Guaranty Trust Bank PLC 4 Zenith Bank PLC 5 Dangote Cement PLC 6 MTN Nigeria Communications PLC 7 Nestle Nigeria PLC 8 Lafarge Africa PLC 9 Access Bank PLC

ROA

P/E

5.4x

P/BV

Divindend Earnings Yield Yield

0.6x

5.0%

7.7%

1.2% 37.9x

7.2x

2.3%

2.6%

4.8x

1.3x

8.5%

20.9% 25.7%

26.95

2.5%

6.9%

8.7%

8.7%

22.8%

3.1%

3.9x

0.8x

10.6%

236.00

0.0%

5.5%

-3.6%

-3.6%

30.8%

14.6%

15.8x

5.0x

6.8%

6.3%

181.00

0.0%

4.9%

6.5%

6.5%

189.4%

11.9%

18.7x

31.4x

3.7%

5.3% 3.5%

1,450.00

0.0%

3.6%

-3.7%

-3.7%

83.0%

20.5%

28.2x

27.5x

4.8%

27.55

-1.6%

4.1%

30.9%

30.9%

6.5%

4.6%

19.2x

1.2x

3.6%

5.2%

8.90

0.0%

2.8%

5.3%

5.3%

16.8%

1.5%

2.9x

0.5x

7.3%

34.6%

8.85

0.6%

2.6%

2.3%

2.3%

13.9%

1.3%

3.8x

0.5x

11.0%

26.6%

7.35

0.0%

2.4%

2.8%

2.8%

11.2%

1.1%

4.1x

0.4x

5.2%

24.4%

61.00

0.0%

2.1%

8.9%

8.9%

6.6%

2.5%

45.2x

3.0x

2.9%

2.2%

ƐĂƟŽŶ ĨĞůů ďLJ േ22.9bn to ƐĞƩůĞ at േ22.0tn. ĐƟǀŝƚLJ ůĞǀĞů

13 Stanbic IBTC Holdings PLC 14 International Brew eries PLC

44.90

0.0%

1.9%

1.9%

1.9%

24.3%

3.7%

6.0x

1.3x

5.3%

16.7%

6.39

-0.2%

1.6%

7.4%

7.4%

1.1x

varied as volume traded declined 9.2% to 504.8m units

15 Flour Mills of Nigeria PLC 16 SEPLAT Petroleum Development C

32.00

-3.0%

1.2%

23.1%

23.1%

0.8x

and value traded advanced 11.0% to േ5.3bn. The most

17 11 PLC 18 Okomu Oil Palm PLC

the YTD return declined to 4.3% while market capitali-

traded

stocks

by

volume

were

UBN

(75.6m

units), GUARANTY (60.7m units) and FCMB (50.4m units) while GUARANTY (േ2.0bn), ZENITH (േ832.0m)

and UBN (േ434.4m) led by value.

10 United Bank for Africa PLC 11 FBN Holdings Plc 12 Nigerian Brew eries PLC

ROE

19 Fidelity Bank PLC 20 Ecobank Transnational Inc 21 Dangote Sugar Refinery PLC 22 FCMB Group Plc 23 Sterling Bank PLC 24 NASCON Allied Industries PLC 25 Transnational Corp of Nigeria 26 Presco PLC 27 Unilever Nigeria PLC 28 PZ Cussons Nigeria PLC 29 United Capital PLC

Lacklustre Sector Performance Performance across sectors under our coverage was

30 Guinness Nigeria PLC 31 Custodian and Allied Insurance

bearish as all indicators declined save the AFR-ICT index

32 AIICO Insurance PLC 33 Total Nigeria PLC

ƚŚĂƚ ĐůŽƐĞĚ ŇĂƚ͘ The Insurance index lost the most,

34 Julius Berger Nigeria PLC 35 Wema Bank PLC

down 2.3% due to price declines in WAPIC (-8.5%) and NEM (-3.1%). Similarly, sell-ŽīƐ ŝŶ FLOURMILL (-

3.0%), GUARANTY (-2.1%) and ETI (-4.8%) drove the

495.00

0.0%

1.2%

23.0%

23.0%

-0.3%

-0.2%

0.4x

7.5%

-2.7%

228.00

0.0%

0.8%

0.0%

0.0%

16.4%

7.6%

12.4x

1.9x

3.8%

8.1%

93.00

0.0%

0.8%

2.2%

2.2%

24.6%

16.0%

11.3x

2.6x

2.62

0.0%

0.7%

4.0%

4.0%

10.5%

1.1%

2.9x

0.3x

7.6%

35.0%

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

8.9%

5.90

-4.8%

0.6%

-1.7%

-1.7%

0.6%

0.0%

47.0x

0.3x

20.95

-0.2%

0.6%

19.0%

19.0%

30.8%

15.6%

7.4x

2.1x

5.3%

13.5%

3.32

-1.2%

0.5%

-0.3%

-0.3%

10.3%

1.2%

3.2x

0.1x

4.2%

31.7%

1.87

-3.6%

0.4%

-8.3%

-8.3%

9.2%

0.9%

4.6x

0.4x

1.6%

21.6%

16.20

0.0%

0.4%

11.7%

11.7%

18.4%

5.8%

10.6x

3.5x

2.3%

9.5%

1.04

1.0%

0.4%

15.6%

15.6%

-3.5%

-0.8%

0.7x

1.0%

-5.6%

74.50

0.0%

0.3%

5.0%

5.0%

18.5%

7.7%

2.4x

2.7%

14.60

2.8%

0.2%

5.0%

5.0%

-2.4%

-1.6%

14.2x

2.1%

1.3x

5.85

0.0%

0.2%

10.4%

10.4%

-12.2%

-5.6%

5.76

0.9%

0.2%

22.3%

22.3%

85.7%

8.7%

19.00

0.0%

0.2%

0.0%

0.0%

-17.8%

-9.0%

6.00

-0.8%

0.2%

2.6%

2.6%

13.9%

4.8%

5.6x

0.8x

1.25

-2.3%

0.2%

10.6%

10.6%

21.4%

3.3%

2.8x

0.6x

2.2x

7.0% -1.9%

0.7x

1.7%

1.7x

8.9%

0.6x

-151.0% 45.5% -34.1%

7.5%

17.9% 35.6%

143.00

0.0%

0.2%

10.0%

10.0%

4.7%

4.6%

21.00

0.0%

0.2%

18.0%

18.0%

3.2%

0.4%

7.8x

0.7x

8.1%

12.8%

-2.9%

-2.9%

6.8%

0.5%

3.9x

0.5x

6.0%

25.7%

0.67

36 Union Bank of Nigeria PLC 37 Oando PLC

-27.2% 4.4%

21.6x

1.5%

0.1%

0.0%

0.0%

3.00

-4.8%

0.1%

-18.9%

-18.9%

14.5%

2.6%

62.50

0.0%

0.1%

0.0%

0.0%

-29.7%

-8.5%

55.40

0.0%

0.1%

0.0%

0.0%

10.3%

7.2%

3.60

0.0%

0.0%

0.0%

0.0%

-100.0%

6.7x

4.3%

1.3x

0.2x

7.8x

0.8x

14.8% 77.4%

1.8x

-18.4% 3.0%

12.8%

1.9%

-25.7%

Consumer Goods and Banking indices lower by 0.2%

Gas indices ůŽƐƚ ϭϮďƉƐ ĂŶĚ ϱďƉƐ ƌĞƐƉĞĐƟǀĞůLJ following

price weakness in WAPCO (-1.6%) and OANDO (10.0%).

/ŶǀĞƐƚŽƌ ^ĞŶƟŵĞŶƚ /ŵƉƌŽǀĞƐ /ŶǀĞƐƚŽƌ ƐĞŶƟŵĞŶƚ ĂƐ ŵĞĂƐƵƌĞĚ ďLJ ŵĂƌŬĞƚ ďƌĞĂĚƚŚ ;ĂĚǀĂŶĐĞͬĚĞĐůŝŶĞ ƌĂƟŽͿ ŝŶĐƌĞĂƐĞĚ ƚŽ Ϭ͘ϳdž ĨƌŽŵ ƚŚĞ

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

T o p 10 G a i n e r s

ĂŶĚ Ϭ͘ϭй ƌĞƐƉĞĐƟǀĞůLJ͘ dŚĞ Industrial Goods and Oil & T ic k er

T ic k er

Vo lum e

P ric e C hg %

P ric e

P ric e C hg %

NCR

3.43

9.9%

UB N

75.6

0.0%

C H IP LC

0.46

9.5%

GUA R A N T Y

60.7

-2.1%

P R EST IGE

0.48

9.1%

FCM B

50.4

-1.2%

M C N IC H OLS

0.61

8.9%

T R A N SC OR P

44.4

1.0%

ET ER N A

5.60

7.7%

Z EN IT H B A N K

31.5

2.5%

J A IZ B A N K

0.75

7.1%

UB A

23.5

0.6%

C A VER T ON

2.05

6.2%

A C C ESS

19.4

0.0%

M ULT IVER SE

0.21

5.0%

F ID ELIT YB K

14.7

0.0%

A R D OVA

18.00

5.0%

UC A P

11.7

0.9%

CHA M S

0.25

4.2%

M B EN EF IT

11.6

-5.0%

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

T o p 10 L o s e r s

0.2x recorded previously as 19 stocks gained against T ic k er

26

losers.

and

PRESTIGE

while

NCR

(+9.9%),

(+9.1%)

LINKASSURE

were

(-9.9%),

CHIPLC

(+9.5%)

the

gainers

top

CHAMPION

(-9.8%)

and REGALINS (-9.4%) were the top losers. We believe ƚŚĞ ĞdžƉĞĐƚĂƟŽŶƐ ŽĨ ĂŶĚ ƚƌĞŶĚ ŝŶ ĐŽƌƉŽƌĂƚĞ ƌĞůĞĂƐĞƐ ǁŝůů ŝŶŇƵĞŶĐĞ ƉĞƌĨŽƌŵĂŶĐĞ ƚŚŝƐ ǁĞĞŬ͘

LIN KA SSUR E

0.73

P ric e C hg % -9.9%

T ic k er

Value

P ric e C hg %

GUA R A N T Y

2010.4

-2.1%

C H A M P ION

3.39

-9.8%

Z EN IT H B A N K

832.0

2.5%

R EGA LIN S

0.29

-9.4%

UB N

434.4

0.0% -1.6%

A F R IN SUR E

0.20

-9.1%

WA P C O

246.4

WA P IC

0.54

-8.5%

D A N GC EM

210.9

0.0%

N IGER IN S

0.23

-8.0%

UB A

206.5

0.6%

LIVEST OC K

2.35

-7.8%

FCM B

173.5

-1.2%

A C C ESS

171.2

0.0%

M B EN EF IT

0.38

-5.0%

ET I

5.90

-4.8%

M TNN

93.9

0.0%

-4.8%

SEP LA T

85.6

0.0%

OA N D O

Afrinvest West Africa Limited

P ric e

Brokerage

3.00

Asset Management

Investment Research

Adedoyin Allen | aallen@afrinvest.com Robert Omotunde | romotunde@afrinvest.com Abiodun Keripe | AKeripe@afrinvest.com Taiwo Ogundipe | togundi-

Christopher Omoh | comoh@afrinvest.com

41

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2021 ˾ T H I S D AY

MARKET NEWS

Equities Market Remains Bearish on Continuing Profit-taking Goddy Egene

stock market remained Exchange (NSE) All-Share market capitalisation shed has been caused by profitbearish for the third day Index falling 0.10 per cent N229.9 billion to be at N21.97 taking by investors after the Trading at the Nigerian with the Nigerian Stock to close at 42,000.01, while trillion yesterday. The decline market recorded significant A Mutual fund (Unit Trust) is an investment floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange.

Offer price: The price at which units of a trust or vehicle managed by a SEC (Securities and A REIT (Real Estate Investment Trust) is an ETF are bought by investors.

Exchange Commission) registered Fund Manager. investment vehicle that allows both small and Bid Price: The price at which Investors Investors with similar objectives buy units of the large investors to part-own real estate ventures (eg. redeem (sell) units of a trust or ETF. Fund so that the Fund Manager can buy securities Offices, Houses, Hospitals) in proportion to their Yield/Total Return: Denotes the total that willl generate their desired return. investments. The assets are divided into shares that return an investor would have earned on An ETF (Exchange Traded Fund) is a type are traded on the Nigerian Stock Exchange. his investment. Money Market Funds report of fund which owns the assets (shares of stock, Yield while others report Year- to-date Total bonds, oil futures, gold bars, foreign currency, GUIDE TO DATA: Return. etc.) and divides ownership of those assets into Date: All fund prices are quoted in Naira as at 02- NAV: Is value per share of the real estate shares. Investors can buy these ‘shares’ on the Feb-2021, unless otherwise stated. assets held by a REIT on a specific date.

growth in January. A total of 27 stocks depreciated while 19 appreciated.

DAILY PRICE LIST FOR MUTUAL FUNDS, REITS and ETFS MUTUAL FUNDS / UNIT TRUSTS AFRINVEST ASSET MANAGEMENT LTD aaml@afrinvest.com Web: www.afrinvest.com; Tel: +234 818 885 6757 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Afrinvest Equity Fund N/A N/A N/A Afrinvest Plutus Fund N/A N/A N/A Nigeria International Debt Fund N/A N/A N/A Afrinvest Dollar Fund N/A N/A N/A ALTERNATIVE CAPITAL PARTNERS LTD info@acapng.com Web: www.acapng.com, Tel: +234 1 291 2406, +234 1 291 2868 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn ACAP Canary Growth Fund 1.07 1.09 19.49% ACAP Income Funds 0.63 0.63 -13.46% 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 0.31% AIICO Balanced Fund 3.54 3.69 -0.48% 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 0.54% Anchoria Equity Fund 137.87 138.67 3.00% Anchoria Fixed Income Fund 1.20 1.20 -10.83% 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 19.06 19.63 5.08% ARM Discovery Balanced Fund 401.70 413.81 0.33% ARM Ethical Fund 35.73 36.81 6.00% ARM Eurobond Fund ($) 1.22 1.23 0.00% ARM Fixed Income Fund 1.08 1.08 -3.60% ARM Money Market Fund 1.00 1.00 0.36% AXA MANSARD INVESTMENTS LIMITED investmentcare@axamansard.com Web: www.axamansard.com; Tel: +2341-4488482 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn AXA Mansard Equity Income Fund 132.99 133.92 5.40% AXA Mansard Money Market Fund 1.00 1.00 1.22% CAPITAL EXPRESS ASSET AND TRUST LIMITED info@capitalexpressassetandtrust.com Web: www.capitalexpressassetandtrust.com ; Tel: +234 803 307 5048 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn CEAT Fixed Income Fund 2.10 2.10 -36.64% Capital Express Balanced Fund(Formerly: Union Trustees Mixed Fund) 2.30 2.35 17.41% CHAPELHILL DENHAM MANAGEMENT LTD investmentmanagement@chapelhilldenham.com Web: www.chapelhilldenham.com, Tel: +234 461 0691 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Chapelhill Denham Money Market Fund 100.00 100.00 1.83% Paramount Equity Fund 16.88 17.20 5.58% Women's Investment Fund 137.39 139.00 3.25% CORDROS ASSET MANAGEMENT LIMITED assetmgtteam@cordros.com Web: www.cordros.com, Tel: 019036947 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Cordros Money Market Fund N/A N/A N/A Cordros Milestone Fund 2023 N/A N/A Cordros Milestone Fund 2028 N/A N/A Cordros Dollar Fund ($) N/A N/A CORONATION ASSEST MANAGEMENT investment@coronationam.com Web:www.coronationam.com , Tel: 012366215 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Coronation Money Market Fund 1.00 1.00 1.44% Coronation Balanced Fund 1.20 1.21 0.02% Coronation Fixed Income Fund 1.56 1.56 -1.71% EDC FUNDS MANAGEMENT LIMITED mutualfundng@ecobank.com Web: www.ecobank.com Tel: 012265281 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn EDC Nigeria Money Market Fund Class A 100.00 100.00 1.03% EDC Nigeria Money Market Fund Class B 1,000,000.00 1,000,000.00 1.07% EDC Nigeria Fixed Income Fund 1,182.69 1,184.24 -1.50% FBNQUEST ASSET MANAGEMENT LTD invest@fbnquest.com Web: www.fbnquest.com/asset-management; Tel: +234-81 0082 0082 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn FBN Fixed Income Fund 1,357.35 1,357.36 -3.00% FBN Balanced Fund 189.72 191.15 1.09% FBN Halal Fund 110.73 110.73 -0.72% FBN Money Market Fund 100.00 100.00 1.01% FBN Nigeria Eurobond (USD) Fund - Institutional 123.49 123.49 1.56% FBN Nigeria Eurobond (USD) Fund - Retail 123.62 123.62 1.54% FBN Smart Beta Equity Fund 156.83 159.03 3.74% 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 1.11% Legacy Debt Fund 3.88 3.88 0.35% Legacy Equity Fund 1.70 1.74 12.08% Legacy USD Bond Fund 1.14 1.14 0.42% FSDH ASSET MANAGEMENT LTD coralfunds@fsdhgroup.com Web: www.fsdhaml.com; Tel: 01-270 4884-5; 01-280 9740-1 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Coral Growth Fund 3,923.93 3,972.92 4.44% Coral Income Fund 3,322.52 3,322.52 1.73% FSDH Treasury Bills Fund 100.00 100.00 2.96% GREENWICH ASSET MANAGEMENT LIMITED assetmanagement@gtlgroup.com Web: www.gtlgroup.com ; Tel: +234 1 4619261-2 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Greenwich Plus Money Market Fund 100.00 100.00 0.61% Nigeria Entertainment Fund 129.89 129.36 20.74%

GROWTH & DEVELOPMENT ASSET MANAGEMENT LIMITED assetmanagement@gdl.com.ng Web: www.gdl.com.ng ; Tel: +234 9055691122 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn GDL Money Market Fund N/A N/A N/A INVESTMENT ONE FUNDS MANAGEMENT LTD enquiries@investment-one.com Web: www.investment-one.com; Tel: +234 812 992 1045,+234 1 448 8888 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Abacus Money Market Fund 100.00 100.00 0.19% Vantage Balanced Fund 2.89 2.96 0.17% Vantage Guaranteed Income Fund 1.00 1.00 4.50% Kedari Investment Fund (KIF) 155.84 156.37 0.30% 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: http://www.meristemwealth.com/funds/ ; Tel: +234 1-4488260 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Meristem Equity Market Fund N/A N/A N/A Meristem Money Market Fund N/A N/A N/A PAC ASSET MANAGEMENT LTD info@pacassetmanagement.com Web: www.pacassetmanagement.com/mutualfunds; Tel: +234 1 271 8632 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn PACAM Balanced Fund 1.65 1.68 7.14% PACAM Fixed Income Fund 12.19 12.30 8.61% PACAM Money Market Fund 10.00 10.00 1.50% PACAM Equity Fund 1.68 1.70 PACAM EuroBond Fund 108.84 111.38 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 135.88 138.93 12.85% SFS CAPITAL NIGERIA LTD investments@sfsnigeria.com Web: www.sfsnigeria.com, Tel: +234 (01) 2801400 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn SFS Fixed Income Fund 1.01 1.01 0.55% STANBIC IBTC ASSET MANAGEMENT LTD assetmanagement@stanbicibtc.com Web: www.stanbicibtcassetmanagement.com; Tel: +234 1 280 1266; 0700 MUTUALFUNDS Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Stanbic IBTC Balanced Fund 2,521.35 2,532.80 1.42% Stanbic IBTC Bond Fund 210.33 210.33 0.34% Stanbic IBTC Ethical Fund 0.88 0.89 2.54% Stanbic IBTC Guaranteed Investment Fund 273.87 273.95 0.41% Stanbic IBTC Iman Fund 154.92 156.64 1.60% Stanbic IBTC Money Market Fund 100.00 100.00 0.28% Stanbic IBTC Nigerian Equity Fund 7,674.15 7,756.30 0.53% Stanbic IBTC Dollar Fund (USD) 1.23 1.23 0.47% Stanbic IBTC Shariah Fixed Income Fund 111.43 111.43 0.32% UNITED CAPITAL ASSET MANAGEMENT LTD Web: www.unitedcapitalplcgroup.com; Tel: +234 803 306 2887 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn United Capital Balanced Fund 1.43 1.46 4.85% United Capital Bond Fund 1.90 1.90 0.42% United Capital Equity Fund 0.92 0.94 5.82% United Capital Money Market Fund 1.00 1.00 1.49% United Capital Eurobond Fund 117.67 117.67 0.50% United Capital Wealth for Women Fund 1.10 1.12 1.85% United capital Sukuk Fund 1.02 1.02 1.77% QUANTUM ZENITH ASSET MANAGEMENT & INVESTMENTS LTD service@quantumzenithasset.com.ng Web: www.quantumzenith.com.ng; Tel: +234 1-2784219 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Zenith Equity Fund 12.58 12.72 6.13% Zenith Ethical Fund 13.89 14.02 13.74% Zenith Income Fund 24.13 24.13 0.65% Zenith Money Market Fund 1.00 1.00 1.91%

REITS NAV Per Share

Yield / T-Rtn

121.32 52.52

0.48% 0.23%

Bid Price

Offer Price

Yield / T-Rtn

13.49 127.63 101.53

13.59 127.63 103.45

2.02% 4.84% 2.18%

Fund Name SFS Skye Shelter Fund Union Homes REIT

EXCHANGE TRADED FUNDS Fund Name Lotus Halal Equity Exchange Traded Fund SIAML Pension ETF 40 Stanbic IBTC ETF 30 Fund

VETIVA FUND MANAGERS LTD Web: www.vetiva.com; Tel: +234 1 453 0697

funds@vetiva.com Bid Price

Offer Price

Yield / T-Rtn

4.23

4.27

11.35%

Vetiva Consumer Goods Exchange Traded Fund

5.98

6.06

5.04%

Vetiva Griffin 30 Exchange Traded Fund Vetiva Money Market Fund Vetiva Industrial Goods Exchange Traded Fund

18.22 1.00 20.61

18.32 1.00 20.81

11.21% 0.97% 0.42%

184.69

186.69

-16.67%

NAV Per Share

Yield / T-Rtn

108.05

13.11%

Fund Name Vetiva Banking Exchange Traded Fund

Vetiva S&P Nigeria Sovereign Bond Exchange Traded Fund

INFRASTRUCTURE FUND Fund Name Chapel Hill Denham Nigeria Infrastructure Debt Fund

The value of investments and the income from them may fall as well as rise. Past performance is a guide and not an indication of future returns. Fund prices published in this edition are also available on each fund manager’s website and FMAN’s website at www.fman.com.ng. Fund prices are supplied by the operator of the relevant fund and are published for information purposes only.

42

THURSDAY FEBRUARY 4, 2021 ˾ T H I S D AY

NEWS

Agbakoba Writes Buhari on Nigeria’s Stability, Proposes Power Devolution Alex Enumah in Abuja Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) and former National President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Chief Olisa Agbakoba, has proposed the return to regional system of government to prevent a break-up of the country.

Agbakoba in a letter to President Muhammadu Buhari dated February 2, 2021, traced the challenges confronting the nation

to the absence of a fundamental policy that enhances cohesion of the diverse ethnic and religious groups that make up Nigeria.

In the letter titled: ‘Missing Fundamentals and Regional Autonomy for Nigeria,’ the former NBA President lamented that Nigeria has no national fundamentals that would unite the people.

He said, “Nigeria’s diverse religious, cultural and ethnic backgrounds severely impair

Baraje: APC Govs’ Visit to Jonathan, No Threat to PDP Hammed Shittu in Ilorin A former National Chairman of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Abubakar Kawu Baraje, yesterday described the visit of some serving All Progressives Congress (APC) governors to former President Goodluck Jonathan to allegedly woo him to contest the 2023 presidential elections under APC platform as huge joke.

Baraje added that Jonathan would never be taken in by the political antics of the governors who visited him under the guise of felicitating with him during his last birthday anniversary.

The former APC-turned PDP stalwart added that the governors’ visit is not a threat to the PDP as a political party.

Baraje spoke with journalists in Ilorin, Kwara state capital as

part of activities to mark his 70th birthday.

He said: “The Jonathan I know will not be hoodwinked by the APC governors overtures. Dr Jonathan will continue to talk and laugh with them, If they are not careful some of them that went on that visit might end up declaring for PDP. The issue of wining Jonathan to their side is not a threat to PDP because we know and trust Jonathan. We know who he is. We know that he realizes that PDP had done more than enough in his life and he is always saying it. So we are very confident of the former president.”

On the crisis rocking his party PDP nationwide, the politician sounded optimistic that the party would come of the crisis stronger and spring surprises in the 2023 polls.

our ability to work together”.

While explaining that national fundamental policies are necessary to achieve political cohesion, he noted that “our policy choices have resulted in every divisive dialogue”.

According to him, Nigerians continue to raise issues around their differences making it difficult if not impossible to agree on a mode of a federal political system.

He said, “we can only make progress by understanding and embracing our challenges”.

He pointed at countries

like the United Kingdom and Switzerland that have successfully managed their diversity through devolution of power and suggested that Nigeria should emulate same.

“The UK provides a perfect example of managing unity in diversity. The UK is made up of at least four ethnic nationalities, the English, Welsh, Scottish and Irish. But by managed devolution, the UK has grappled with the challenge of their missing fundamentals”, he said.

The senior lawyer noted that Nigeria would continue to have

issue with her diversity foisted on her by the amalgamation of 1914 if the country continues to practice the current central system of government where “political power resides in Abuja to the almost complete exclusion of the 36 states and 774 Local Governments”.

To resolve the challenge, he suggested that President Buhari should push for a bill that would see power return to the various regions that make up the country.

“We must return to the notion of devolution of powers and

regional autonomy. Regional autonomy resolves our diversity challenge. More important, it allows subsidiarity to deliver public service at the base of the nation.

“I was intrigued by the extent of devolved power in the western region under self-rule in 1951 . According to the author of a lecture on regional autonomy, devolution of powers in western Nigeria was substantial and devolved from the regional government to the provisional, divisional, district and native authority.

HERDSMEN’S CRISIS ON THEIR MINDS…

Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila (left), and President Muhammadu Buhari, during the speaker’s visit to the Presidential Villa, Abuja…yesterday

Court Dismisses Suit against Gunmen Abduct Chinese Expatriates, Kill Police Aide in Osun Chinese miners had Brigadier General Bashir Ifewara. A police escort was Adigun, said report of the Restriction of Motorcycles, Three been reportedly abducted Adewinbi (rtd), confirmed also killed in the process. Men abduction was received and by gunmen on a mining site the abduction. have been deployed in the that those abducted had not located at Akere Village near Adewinbi furrher explained village to rescue the victims. been released. The Police Tricycles in Lagos Ifewara, Osun State. that the identities of the “We are also investigating Public Relations Officer of The Federal High Court in Lagos has dismissed a fundamental rights application filed by a legal practitioner, Mr. Olukoya Ogungbeje against the Lagos State Government’s executive order restricting commercial motorcycles and tricycles in some local government areas in the state.

Justice Mohammed Liman held that the application lacks merit.

The applicant claimed his fundamental rights had been violated during the enforcement of the regulation, but the court held that he failed to show or substantiate how the executive order had infringed in his rights.

The judge also noted that the suit was filed in an individual and not in a representative

capacity.

Through the Attorney General of the State, Mr. Moyosore Onigbanjo (SAN), the Lagos State Government had argued that the Executive Order restricting the use of motorcycles and tricycles is in accordance with the law.

The AG who appeared for the state government had filed a notice of preliminary objection and counter affidavit. He also filed a written address in opposition to the originating summons of the applicant.

The Attorney-General had asked the court to dismiss the originating summons, saying that the restriction of Motorcycles and Tricycles on major roads in the state is in line with the provisions of the Transport Sector Reform Law, 2018.

The kidnappers were also said to have killed a policeman attached to the expatriates.

A sum of N500million ransom was being demanded by the kidnappers.

The Corp Commandant, Amotekun Corps in Osun,

abductors were yet to be known, saying security men had already been deployed in the area to secure the release of the expatriates.

He said, “Some Chinese expatriates were kidnapped at a mining site in a village in

the circumstances behind the incidence with a view to bringing the culprits to justice.”

Also, the spokesperson of Osun State Command of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, Daniel

Ortom Accuses FG of Failing to Secure the Country George Okoh in Makurdi Benue State Governor, Mr. Samuel Ortom, has accused the federal government of failing to secure the country by being bias in handling cases of attacks allegedly carried out by armed herdsmen.

Ortom who resumed duty yesterday after recovering from COVID-19 infection reacted to the recent outcry against the

atrocities allegedly committed by herdsmen ranging from kidnapping, murder, rape, destruction of farmland among others.

He urged the federal government to take quick action before the nation descends into crisis.

“This country belongs to all of us and the federal government, the presidency must act fast because time is

going. From North-West, NorthEast, North-Central, South-west, South-East, South-South there is general insecurity and this is being propelled by herdsmen,” he said.

Ortom also noted that the Miyetti Allah leadership have questions to answer concerning increased crimes allegedly carried out by herders across the country and should be arrested.

“I want to repeat it again and I have made a petition to the presidency and to all security agencies before that if they want peace, Miyetti Allah must be arrested.

“These are people who have owned up. They have taken responsibility that they have killed they maimed, they rape and yet their leadership sis in Abuja and nobody is confronting them,” Ortom said.

A former Governor of Zamfara State, Abdulaziz Yari, has again been quizzed the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

THISDAY gathered that the former governor was quizzed for several hours at the Lagos office of the anti-graft commission The ex-governor was believed to have responded to an invitation by the EFCC. Yari was said to have been

to illegally move N300 billion from a corporate account in a new generation bank.

Yari, our sources said, gave a lengthy statement to the Commission’s operatives before he was released late in the evening.

One source said he might be asked to return for further interrogation.

When contacted, the spokesperson of the EFCC, Wilson Uwujaren, confirmed that Yari was at the

Tuesday.

Uwujaren explained that the former governor came on invitation and was allowed to return home after interaction with officials of the agency.

The former governor could not be reached for comments yesterday afternoon.

Multiple calls made to his known telephone number failed to connect.

The fresh investigation of Yari came a week after a court ordered a forfeiture of huge

amounts of money belonging to him.

The Federal High Court, Abuja, had on January 26 ordered the final forfeiture of funds belonging to Yari domiciled in Zenith and Polaris Banks.

While $56, 056.75 was lodged in Polaris Bank account, the sums of N12.9 million, N11.2 million, $301, 319.99; N217, 388.04 and $311, 872.15 were kept in different Zenith Bank accounts in the name of Yari and his companies.

Ekiti Cancels Sponsorship of EFCC Quizzes Ex-Gov Yari Pilgrims to Mecca, Jerusalem Again, quizzed over an alleged attempt commission’s Lagos office on Kingsley Nwezeh in Abuja The Ekiti State Government has said it would no longer sponsor pilgrimages to Mecca and Jerusalem.

The state Deputy Governor, Bisi Egbeyemi, who made the disclosure, said the development is in line with the federal government’s decision to end sponsorship of pilgrims, thereby saving funds for development purposes.

A statement by his Special Assistant on Media, Odunayo Ogunmola, quoted Egbeyemi as speaking when he hosted

members of the state Muslim pilgrims Welfare Board.

The board members led by Babatunde Onipede, its chairman, were on a courtesy visit to the deputy governor’s office which supervises the agency in the state.

In his remarks, Egebeyemi said the state no longer engages in sponsoring pilgrimages, adding that no allocation is made for it in the budget.

He asked those interested in visiting Mecca and Jerusalem for pilgrimage to seek private sponsorship.

Osun Command, Yemisi Opalola, could not be reached for confirmation, as calls to her line rang out, while response to the text message sent to her were still being expected as of the time of filing the report.

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NEWS XTRA

Utomi, Falana, Others Condemn Harassment of #ENDSARS Protesters Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja Prominent Nigerians, including Prof. Pat Utomi; human rights lawyer, Mr. Femi Falana (SAN) and former All Progressives Congress (APC), Legal Adviser, Dr. Muiz Banire, yesterday called on the federal government to

forthwith stop the persecution of last year’s #ENDSARS protest organisers.

The group, which also included Prof. Anthony Kila, Mr. Olutola Mobolurinn, Innocent Chukwuma and Pastor Itua Ighodalo, urged President Muhammadu Buhari to uphold

Insecurity: Ishaku Urges FG to Allow Nigerians Carry Licensed Guns Taraba State Governor, Mr. Darius Ishaku has asked the federal government to allow Nigerians carry licensed guns to defend themselves amid the myriads of security challenges facing the country.

Ishaku stated this on Tuesday when 15 local government chairmen of the state paid him a condolence visit after the burial of one of them who was kidnapped and subsequently killed by gunmen.

He lamented the worsening state of insecurity, adding that the situation has gone to its lowest ebb and demands reawakening.

“The security in this country has gone to the lowest ebb and we have to all wake up. We as leaders have given our advice severally as to the change to the security architecture, you cannot

keep doing one thing over and over and expect a different result,” he said.

“If we cannot be able to provide security for our citizens, then allow all the citizens to buy AK-47, because if everybody is licensed with AK-47, I swear nobody will come to your house, or peradventure he does then it depends on who is faster.

“In a situation where we are all gagged with one security system that has been unable to work, and we are told to sit down and be counting the day our turn will come, I do not agree with it.”

Ishaku sympathised with the families of those who lost their lives to insecurity, noting that the late Ardo-Kola LGA chairman, Salihu Dovo held a security meeting with stakeholders of the council before he was killed.

Katsina Police Kill Three Bandits, Recover Two AK-47 Rifles Francis Sardauna in Katsina As the war against banditry gets intensified in Katsina State, the state Police Command has announced the killing of three bandits and the recovery of two AK-47 rifles in Dutsin-Ma Local Government Area of the state.

The bandits, who rode on motorcycles, attacked Ungwar Bera and Tashar Mangoro villages of the LGA last Tuesday night, where they started shooting sporadically before they met their waterloo following the intervention by police operatives in the state.

Briefing journalists at the command’s headquarters, the state Police Commissioner, Sanusi Buba, said his officers laid ambush on the hoodlums between Mara and Tashar Gajere villages.

Buba said: “On February 2, 2021, at about 7 p.m., the Area Commander of Dutsinma and a team responded to a distress call that bandits numbering over 50 on motorbikes were shooting sporadically with AK-47 rifles and attacking Unguwar Bera and Tashar Mangoro villages of Dutsinma LGA. “The team laid ambush on the hoodlums between Mara and Tashar Gajere villages.

Fortunately, the bandits were entrapped and the team had the upper hand, neutralised three bandits and recovered two AK-47 rifles with 15 rounds of 7.62mm live ammunition.”

He noted that search parties were still combing the area with in an attempt to arrest injured bandits and recover dead bodies and their operational weapons.

Violence Mars Kwara APC Stakeholders’ Meeting Hammed Shittu in Ilorin Violence yesterday marred the stakeholders’ meeting convened by the All Progressives Congress (APC) membership registration and revalidation committee sent from the national headquarters of the party to keep party members abreast of the exercise in Kwara State.

The meeting was held at the Banquet Hall, Government House, Ilorin, before it turned violent by the supporters of Information and Culture Minister, Alhaji Lai Mohammed and that of the state Governor, Alhaji AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq.

The two camps have been at each other throats for the past few months now over the

control of the party in the state.

The national secretariat of the party recently issued a letter of appointment to the state Deputy Chairman of the party, Alhaji Samari Abdullahi, to be the acting chairman of the party in the state.

The development which sparked off crisis as the incumbent Chairman, Hon. Bashr Omolaja Bolarinwa, resisted the move, as he said there was no issuance of query that could have warranted his purported removal from office as the state chairman of the party.

Alhaji Samari Abdullahi is a choice of the state governor, while Bolarinwa is also a choice of Lai Mohammed. This scenario has caused the factionalisation of the party in the state.

the legitimate right of Nigerians to express dissent.

The group of eminent persons noted that if Nigeria’s democracy is to be sustained and thrive , the country must have strong respect for difference of opinions and perspectives amongst the populace.

According to the coalition, whereas the nation must work to avoid vindictiveness in high places, it would seem that this is not the case from what it described as the apparent persecution of EndSARS perceived leaders and supporters.

The group maintained that this alleged vindictiveness in high places is being epitomised by the recent acts of the federal government as shown in the continuous harassment of the

EndSARS protesters and their perceived sponsors.

“While the government claimed to be committed to the right to freedom of speech, right to peaceful protest and to voice out dissent, treatment being meted out to the conscious youths who organised the EndSARS protests is constantly portraying this government in the negative light and as one with poor human rights records.

“The Central Bank of Nigeria does disservice to its core function in allowing itself to be seen as victimisation tools in the hands of the executive.

“Whether this act of witchhunting the perceived enemies of government from CBN is native to the institution or prompted from outside is not clear but

suffice to say that it is troubling,” the group explained.

The coalition, which came under the umbrella of “The New Fabián Society of the Concerned Professionals”, noted that it was inappropriate that after the pledges of the president, including those in his New year address, there is still continuing harassment of the young men and women who organised protest.

It noted that using the court of law as an instrument to obtain ex-parte orders to freeze people’s accounts is an insignia of dictatorship that manipulates judicial institutions to give a façade of lawfulness to tyranny.

According to the concerned professionals, the judges involved too have not been giving a good

account of their oath as these cases are given unreasonable lengthy adjournments while the central bank claims that the allegations against the people are still being investigated.

It insisted that the law is clear about presumption of innocence until proven guilty, stressing that no matter what has happened, the protesters are still Nigerian citizens and are entitled to presumption of innocence until the prosecution proves otherwise.

The group added: “Ex-parte orders by law are not supposed to last for more than 14 days but recent draconian legislations have been enabling tyrants to obtain ex parte orders for 180 days and more under the guise of continuous investigations.

ALL EYES ON NON-OIL EXPORTS...

L-R: Deputy President, National Sesame Seeds Association of Nigeria (NSSAN), Mr. Sadiq Kassim; Chief Executive Officer, Nigeria Export Promotion Council (NEPC), Mr. Segun Awolowo; and President, NSSAN, Mr. Sheriff Balogun, during the presentation of certificate of Global Organic Certification Status of the Nigerian Sesame Seed to Awolowo in Abuja…recently

Adamawa Police Begin Enforcement of Ban on Tricycles, Motorcycles Daji Sani inYola The Adamawa State Commissioner of Police, Alhaji Aliyu Adamu, yesterday ordered policemen in the state to ensure the full enforcement of the ban on the movement of tricycles and motorcycles in Yola, the state capital, and its environs.

The CP order was sequel to the state Governor Ahmadu Fintiri’s executive order banning the use of tricycles and motorcycles in three local government area of Girei, Yola North and Yola South within the hours of 10 p.m. to 5 am.

The governor in a statement

issued last Tuesday which was signed by his Press Secretary, Mr. Humwashi Wonosikou, said the order would last until further notice.

Fintiri said the activities of hoodlums, who are disturbing the peace of the state, necessitated the ban.

While describing the activities of the miscreants as unacceptable, Fintiri said: “They have become an extraordinary threat to the peace, wellbeing, security and stability of the state political and economic systems, as well as a negative effect on the continuous development,

and must therefore be effectively curtailed.”

The governor said no responsible government would allow criminals to hijack the peace of the state, “but must ensure that all residents of Girei, Yola North and Yola South LGAs live free from thuggery, robbery, theft, maiming and other criminal activities.

The executive order prescribes six months imprisonment with an option of N100, 000 or both, in addition to forfeiting the tricycle or motorcycle to the state government if found guilty for violating the

order.

“The order also states that any person found on a tricycle or motorcycle stationary or in motion within the prohibited time whether as a rider or passenger shall be liable to prosecution too.

According to the statement, “The order, which is cited as ‘Adamawa State Restriction of Movement of Tricycles/ Motorcycles Executive Order No.1 of 2021’, comes into effect on February 2, 2021. It was signed into law by the state Governor, Alhamdu Umaru Fintiri, on February 2, 2021.”

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Tension in Ekiti as Armed Robbers Snatch N20m from Civil Servants Victor Ogunje in Ado Ekiti There was palpable panic in Ado Ekiti, the Ekiti State capital, yesterday, when suspected armed robbers reportedly robbed some staff members of the state government of N20 million.

The civil servants, who were accountants attached to the Cabinet Department of the governor’s office, were said to have withdrawn the money

belonging to the government at a new generation bank before they were robbed at gunpoint.

An eyewitness told journalists in Ado Ekiti that the victims withdrew the money from a bank on Secretariat Road in the capital city, and were returning to the governor’s office when they were waylaid by the gunmen and robbed of the huge amount of money.

He said: “The staff members were Paymasters and

Accountants attached to the Cabinet Department of the governor’s office.

“They went to make withdrawal at the behest of their superior, and while returning, the robbers waylaid them at a place between the Chicken Republic and Fajuyi Park, and dispossessed them of the huge cash.”

The robbers were said to have shot into the air sporadically

as they escaped through the GRA to Ilawe road.

The gunshot, according to the source, made motorists and bike riders to clear the way as they made spirited efforts to escape from the crime scene, which they succeeded.

The tension created by the news had made some banks to take strict security measures in Ado metropolis, as it was reported that it was a case of

bank robbery.

But the Ekiti State Police Command allayed the fears, saying the rumoured bank robbery was untrue and baseless.

The state Police Commissioner, Babatunde Mobayo, implored members of the public to disregard “such fabricated and misleading false alarm aimed at causing unnecessary apprehension.”

Mobayo, in a statement signed by the Command spokesman, ASP Sunday Abutu, said: “For clarity, the incident that occurred today (Wednesday) in Ado-Ekiti was about a driver of a Toyota Corolla car with about three other occupants who were accosted by a group of yetto-be-identified hoodlums and dispossessed them of some amount of money.

Suspected Kidnappers Kill American-based Nigerian in Edo Uromi women protest criminal activities of Fulani herdsmen Adibe Emenyonu inBenin-city Suspected herdsmen last Sunday kidnapped and killed a United States of American-based Nigerian from Fugar in Etsako Central Local Government Area of Edo State, Prince Dennis Eloniyo Abuda, after collecting ransom.

Abuda was said to have been abducted last Saturday with two of his family members, who were travelling with him to Lagos as they were expected to catch their flight to the United States of America, and was killed last Sunday.

According to a family member, Abuda was killed because he could not walk fast enough into the bush while the two others were released.

The family source said: “After killing him, they proceeded with the ransom negotiation and got the money. This is so sad! What a reason to kill a fellow human being.”

It was also gathered that the decomposed body of Abuda was discovered inside the bush on the Benin-Ore road.

Meanwhile, Uromi women in Esan North-east Local Government Area of the state yesterday protest against what they described as criminal activities of the Fulani herdsmen, who they said are engaged in killing, kidnapping

and raping of women and girls in the area.

The protest temporarily disrupted vehicular movement along the busy road in the area that connects travellers coming from the northern part of Nigeria to the east.

The women in their hundreds, who blocked the road, accused the Fulani herdsmen of not only killing, kidnapping and raping of their women and girls, but also destroying their crops in the farms Leader of the protesting women, Mrs. Rosemary Ordia, said: “We are tired of kidnapping in our community by Fulani herders.

They don’t only kidnap our people, they rape our girls and women, others take their cows to our farms to eat and destroy our crops. How can we be living in our community and we are still afraid? It has never been like this in the history of this place.”

When contacted, the Edo State Police Command Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Chidi Nwabuzor, said: “If it is the one that happened by the bypass, the command is fully aware and the Commissioner of Police personally led operatives to the scene this (yesterday) morning and they are still in the forest to actively comb the bush.”

ALGON Wants Four-year Tenure for LG Chairmen Ibrahim Shuaibu in Kano

The Association of Local Governments of Nigeria (ALGON) has called for a fouryear term for local government areas chairmen in the country.

The association also wants the term renewed for another four years.

The ALGON former Deputy National President, Mr. Constantine Ikiako, who made the suggestion when he briefed journalists yesterday during the group’s National Executive Council meeting in Kano, explained that the call was necessary so as to give the chairmen the opportunity to serve their people effectively.

He added that double three-year term or months as obtainable in some states would not be enough for the elected chairman to do the needful for the electorate.

“But we think that the national and state assemblies need to ensure that there is harmonious

tenure for local government areas chairmen. For instance, some spend six months, some two years while some three years.

“So, we have to make it at least three or four years. So, these are the issues we are discussing and ensure we synchronised them,” he said.

According to him, “The major challenges we have now is that ALGON can no longer be an award-contracting establishment, ALGON is supposed to be a place where we discuss with the United Nations, ECOWAS and the international community.

“We want our office to be turned into where ideas are discussed properly. All we hear are the contracts that were awarded before we came in, and the president said it must stop.

“Unfortunately, it was witnessed with stiff resistance, but we vowed it must be stopped so that we can focus on re-engineering in partnership with developmental agencies to grow the local government areas.

WE SHARE YOUR GRIEFS...

Bayelsa State Governor, Senator Douye Diri (left), and Delta State Governor, Senator Ifeanyi Okowa, during Diri’s condolence visit to the Delta State governor over the passing of his father, Arthur Okowa, at the Government House, Asaba…recently

El-Rufai Kicksdestroyed. against Eviction of Herdsmen “This is coming amidst confirm the authenticity of John Shiklam in Kaduna The Kaduna state governor, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai has condemned what he described as the attack and eviction of herdsmen in some parts of the country.

In a statement issued late last night, the governor expressed concern about video clips being circulated on media platforms showing how citizens of a particular ethnic group are being massacred and their property

He said although he was unable to confirm the authenticity of the video clips, he noted that their impact on the peaceful co-existence of Nigerians is a source of concern.

“The government of Kaduna State notes with grave concern, video clips circulating on social media platforms like WhatsApp in which citizens of a particular ethnicity are being massacred and their properties destroyed in parts of Nigeria.

avoidable rhetoric, frenzied ethnic profiling and unlawful eviction of citizens from their places of domicile”, El-Rufai said.

The governor added that many citizens of Kaduna State had reached out to him as their governor to confirm the authenticity of these video clips.

“Some alleged that these incidents have the support of leaders of the places where attacks have occurred.

“While I am unable to

the video clips, their impact on the peaceful co-existence of our people is a source of concern.”

El-Rufai called on all Nigerians living in Kaduna State “ to respect law and order and the rights of all citizens to live in peace and security wherever they reside or work. “ He also appealed to “governor of other states to make similar statements, and disavow these attacks and massacres.

Abiodun Warns Ethnic Bigots, Seeks Nigeria’s Unity Kayode Fasua in Abeokuta Ogun State Governor, Prince Dapo Abiodun, has called on those fanning the embers of discord under the guise of Nigeria’s ethnic diversity to repent, rather, they should leverage on the strength of such diversities for national growth.

Abiodun made the call at a colloquial zoom meeting to mark the 45th anniversary of the state.

He described as unfortunate that some people in the

country were stoking the fire of disintegration of Nigeria through violence.

Abiodun advised that although Nigeria was made of diverse ethnic nationalities, it is imperative to harness all the potential and strength of each group for the good of all.

According to him, “Let us also use the occasion of the 45th anniversary of our dear state to appeal to the rest of Nigerians.

“We must eschew all forms of violence and learn to live together. We must also

appreciate that there can be no development in an atmosphere of insecurity.

“We must learn to manage our diversity and turn it into our strength.

“We must not encourage those stoking the embers of violence for disintegration of our great country.”

The governor said a country where tribes and tongues differ but stand in brotherhood is where unity in diversity thrives.

He added: “We all have duties, responsibilities and

obligations to aid better understanding of our local and national realities. All we need to do is to manage our differences effectively, and Nigeria will be greater.”

Abiodun also urged the rest of the country to take a cue from Ogun State, noting that the state had been able to direct the potential and strength of its over 10 sub-ethnic groups for the benefit of the state.

He added that the state diversity had been one of the major forces propelling its development.

Herdsmen Kill OPC Member in Ondo James Sowole in Akure Suspected herdsmen have reportedly killed a member of the Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC), Adejuyigbe Daniel, in Iju, Akure North Local Government Area of Ondo State.

The late OPC member was one of those mobilised to search for a farm owner, Mr. Solomon Akinmeji, who was abducted last Saturday on his farm at Atoka area of the town.

Akinmeji was said to have been abducted on his farm while other people with him escaped.

The farm was located at the border area between Ondo and Ekiti States.

It was gathered that youths of the town mobilised themselves with some members of the OPC and launched a search party last Sunday.

A source said: “However, when our efforts did not yield the desired results, we reported the matter on Monday at the Iju Police Division.

“The report led to the mobilisation of the police and members of the Amotekun security corps to join the search

party.

“The two security outfits joined the search team and headed into the forest to rescue the abducted farmer only to be engaged in a gun duel by the herders before they could repel the attack.”

He said the late Daniel was discovered to have been missing.

When the roll call was made after the operation, he could not be found.

The state Police Public Relations Officer,, Mr. Tee Leo Ikoro, who confirmed the incident in a telephone

interview, said investigation has commenced in earnest to unravel the killing and the abduction of late Daniel.

However, Ikoro said nobody could identify who killed the late OPC man or the tribe or ethnic group they belong.

“What I can say now is that a farm owner was abducted and a member of the search team was killed,” he stated.

The PPRO further said the state Commissioner of Police has ordered a manhunt for the killer and also search for the farm owner.

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PDP, Anglican Bishop Hail Oyinlola at 70th Birthday Chuks Okocha in Abuja The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has hailed its former National Chairman, Mr. Abubakar Kawu Baraje; and its former National secretary and former Governor of Osun State, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola, as they mark their separate 70th birthday anniversaries.

The Diocesan (Anglican) Bishop of Lagos, Dr. Humphrey Bamisebi Olumakaiye also yesterday urged Oyinlola to continue to fight for the downtrodden.

In a statement by the National Publicity Secretary of PDP, Mr. Kola Ologbondiyan, the PDP said, “Our party rejoices with Alhaji Baraje, noting that his contributions to our dear

APC Govs Mourn Tony Momoh Adedayo Akinwale in Abuja The Progressive Governors Forum (PGF) has expressed sadness over the death of a chieftain of the party, Prince Tony Momoh.

The Chairman of the Forum and the Governor of Kebbi State, Mr. Atiku Bagudu, in a statement issued yesterday, said Momoh, being one of the founding fathers of the APC, all leaders and members of the party would continue to celebrate his inspiring leadership, vision and belief in the unity of Nigeria.

He added that as a former minister, he would always be remembered for his passionate campaigns for national unity and peaceful coexistence.

Bagudu: “We received the death of Prince Tony Momoh with heavy heart and gratitude to God for a life well blessed and spent. We, the Progressive

Governors Forum (PGF), join the Momoh royal family, our party leaders and members, in particular President Muhammadu Buhari, people and government of Edo State and the nation to pray for the repose of the soul of our dear and beloved Prince Tony Momoh.

“His death is a loss to the nation, Nigerian progressive community, the media and all patriots.”

Bagudu noted that as a former CPC National Chairman, Momoh was able to demonstrate that the determining factor for any successful leader is sacrifice.

He stressed that together with the leaders of all the legacy parties, Chief Bisi Akande and Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu, he was able to inspire all of others to make all the sacrifices required to make the emergence of APC in 2013 possible.

FEC Okays N35bn for NEPZA Power Station Approves 20 private varsities Deji Elumoye in Abuja The Federal Executive Council (FEC) yesterday approved N35 billion for the building of power station by the Nigerian Export Processing Zone Authority (NEPZA), in Akamkpa, Cross River State.

The Council in the 32nd edition of its weekly meeting presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari also approved the take-off of 20 private universities across the country as well as N1.3 billion for the procurement of surveillance equipment for Abuja and Lagos airports.

Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Mr. Niyi Adebayo, who made these disclosures while speaking to newsmen after the FEC meeting,

statedcthat the power contract awarded to Messers Mutual Commitment Nigeria Limited, the power station is to power the Calabar Export Processing Zone.

According to him, the extract contract sum is N35,411,119,159.47 with the contractor financing 75 percent of the project, which is in the sum of N26,558,339,337.10 while NEPZA would finance 25 percent which translate to N8,852,779,792.37.

He said council approved a payback period of 10 years of the contractor’s portion.

Adebayo said on completion after 11 months, the plant will be operated by the contractor for five years during which they will build local capacity that will take over the running of the plant.

Marwa Commences Re-engineering NDLEA for Optimal Performance Kasim Sumaina in Abuja The newly appointed Chairman/Chief Executive of National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Brig. General Mohamed Marwa (rtd) has commenced the re-engineering of the agency for optimal performance.

He has also inaugurated a seven-member harmonisation committee to address all forms of distortions hampering the smooth running of the agency.

Marwa, while inaugurating the committee noted that the “step is in keeping with the federal government Circulars and the present reality in the agency that we cannot meet

our objectives without raising the morale of the personnel.

In a statement issued yesterday in Abuja by the Deputy Commander of Narcotics (DCN)/Principal Staff Officer, Public Affairs, Jonah Achema, the NDLEA boss stated that: “One of my early findings is that the morale of the officers and men has dropped to the lowest ebb.”

According to him, “I have noticed distortions in the seniority roll of the agency.

This has made the personnel to become poorly motivated.

“We need a highly motivated personnel to win this war, which we must win by the grace of God.”

fatherland confirm his sense of patriotism as a quintessential democrat and a courageous statesman.”

PDP also saluted the former governor of Lagos and Osun states and former National Secretary of the party, Oyinlola, as he attains the milestone age of 70 years “Over the years, you have demonstrated an uncommon commitment in the service of our

dear fatherland and humanity at large. As a soldier, state governor and party leader, you have firmly established that the essence of statesmanship is in pursuing the good and welfare of others rather than self,” PDP tells Oyinlola.

Meanwhile, the Diocesan (Anglican) Bishop of Lagos, Dr. Humphrey Bamisebi Olumakaiye yesterday urged Oyinlola to continue to fight for the downtrodden.

Olumakaiye, at a thanksgiving service in Lagos to celebrate the 70th birthday of the former governor, charged him to use his influence to continue to live an impactful life, working for God, setting minds on spiritual things and applying biblical wisdom.

He said: “At 70, fight for the oppressed. The country is not going the way it should because we are exploiting the oppressed and that is why our fastings are

being wasted.

“You must work for the Lord.

Set your minds on the things of the spirit. In everything you are doing now, apply biblical wisdom.

“I have known you for over 20 years now and I can say that you are a man that loves God. You are a man full of experience our country needs. You still have a lot to offer our country,” the Bishop said.

SEEKING GREATER COLLABORATION…

L-R: Deputy Comptroller in charge of Administration, Zone A, Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Mrs. MO Aguda; Secretary, Nigeria Union of Journalist (NUJ), Lagos State Council, Mr. Tunde Olalere; Assistant Comptroller General/ Zonal Coordinator, Zone A, NCS, Mrs. Kathleen Chinwe Ekekeze; and Chairman, NUJ, Lagos State Council, Mr. Leye Ajay, during the NUJ officials’ visit to the Assistant Comptroller General/ Zonal Coordinator, Zone A, NCS at Akoka, Lagos…yesterday

Biden Appoints Nigerian-born Ebong as USTDA Director President Joseph Biden of the United States has appointed Nigerian-born Ms. Enoh Titilayo Ebong as the Acting Director of the US Trade and Development Agency (USTDA).

The appointment meant a return to USTDA where from 2004 to 2019, Ebong had

served in a variety of roles, most recently as the Agency’s General Counsel, and Deputy Director and Chief Operating Officer.

As Acting Director, Ebong leads an agency that partners with the US private sector to develop sustainable infrastructure and foster

economic growth in emerging economies, while supporting US jobs through the export of US goods and services.

“It is an honor to return to USTDA. The opportunity to lead the Agency comes at a critical moment when the world is turning to the United States for leadership on clean

energy and climate-smart infrastructure, as well as safe and secure ICT solutions,” said Ebong during her swearing-in ceremony.

“The Agency is one of the most effective, targeted and proven tools within the U.S. government. I’ve long believed in USTDA”

NCC: Emergency Communications Centres will Enhance Public Safety Emma Okonji

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), has disclosed that the activation of its Emergency Communications Centres (ECCs) across the country will enhance public safety.

The Executive Vice Chairman of the commission, Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta, said in a statement yesterday that the centres, located in state capitals,

would enhance the federal government’s drive to improve security of lives and property in the country.

Danbatta noted that, at a time when the country is faced with insecurity issues such as insurgency, banditry, kidnapping, armed robbery and many more life-threatening incidents, including the COVID-19 pandemic, the emergency communications centres,

established by NCC across the states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) have been central to saving lives.

With 19 ECC’s already established in 18 states of the Federation and the FCT, Danbatta said the centres would play a vital role during emergencies as they facilitate response from emergency response agencies such as the Nigerian Police Force, the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC),

the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), Fire and Ambulance Services, National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) and others by dialing 112 from any network.

“The ECC has transformed lives and helped many in handling emergencies today.

It is no doubt having positive impacts on lives, improving security and providing jobs for Nigerian youths,” he explained.

HURIWA Pledges to Collaborate with New Army Chief Chuks Okocha in Abuja A leading civil rights advocacy group, Human Rights Writers Association Nigerians (HURIWA) has pledged to collaborate with the new Chief of Army Staff, Major General Ibrahim Attahiru, in the promotion and protection of human rights of Nigerians.

The group has also

expressed satisfaction with what it described as the indelible human rights legacy bequeathed by immediate past army Lieutenant General Yusuf Tukur Buratai (rtd) to his successor.

HURIWA has also expressed appreciation to the new Chief of Army Staff, Attahiru for publicly pledging to uphold the legacies of his predecessor.

These were the key points contained in a presentation submitted by HURIWA to the new Chief of Army Staff, Attahiru yesterday upon his assumption of duty.

Part of the presentation by the National Coordinator of HURIWA, Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko reads: “Without sounding immodest, we wish to intimate or rather inform

you that our organisation has consistently partnered with your institution in the area of promotion and protection of the human rights of all Nigerians for nearly one decade.

“Be assured that we are open for collaboration, partnership and relationship that will ultimately result in the promotion and protection of Human Rights of Nigerians”.

Babalakin Eulogises Philanthropist, Akin-Olugbade Peter Uzoho The Chairman of Resort Group and Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Dr. Olawale Babalakin, has described the late business icon and philanthropist, Dr. Bolu Akin-Olugbade, as a highly cerebral and courageous man, who lived a very committed and dedicated life.

A statement by the Group

Corporate Affairs Manager,ResortInternational Limited, Mikail A. Mumuni, quoted Babalakin as stating this yesterday at a night of tribute held in honour of the deceased in Lagos.

Dignitaries at the occasion took turns to reel out his many impactful deeds during his lifetime.

Babalakin, who lauded his many achievements, recalled how

humble, humane and pro-people the late Akin-Olugbade was.

“He was a repertoire of information; he was a living compendium, an entrepreneur per excellence. He was always willing to learn from anybody.

He was highly industrious.

“He has achieved his objectives in life. He made his mark, which will stand the test of time,” he said.

Akin-Olugbade, a successful lawyer and businessman, reportedly died on January 13, 2021, after a brief illness.

He graduated with a doctorate in Company Law from Cambridge University and other academic achievements in various fields. He hailed from one of the most distinguished and illustrious families in the South-west Nigeria.

46

THURSDAY FEBRUARY 04, 2021 ˾ T H I S D AY

THURSDAYSPORTS

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

T O K Y O O LY M P I C B A S K E T B A L L

Kida Confident of D’Tigress Survival in ‘Group of Death’ Femi Solaja Despite Nigeria’s senior national women’s team’s pairing along with world number one, USA, European powerhouse France and 2020 Olympics host-Japan in what many have described as the ‘Group of Death’, the leadership of the country’s basketball federation have insisted there is no cause for alarm.

While reacting to the draw conducted on Tuesday, President of NBBF, Ahmadu Musa Kida, insisted that the federation will be focused on preparing both teams well for the challenges ahead in their quest to make Nigerians proud.

Kida said all the 12 teams at the Olympics have reasonable chances of winning the tournament, hence there are no minnows anymore.

“Nothing good can be handed to you on a platter of gold. You have to work hard and be ready to seize the opportunity when it comes because to be the best, you have to beat the best,” stressed the administrator who have created a niche for Nigeria in the continent and the world at large.

The NBBF chieftain

believes a lot can still happen between now and when the games tip off, with Nigeria capable of upsetting bookmakers predictions and the fate of teams.

“We have to be focused on what we have to do as a federation with the help of the Federal Government of Nigeria through the Ministry of Sports to ensure we adequately prepare the team, get the right personnel for the challenges ahead.”

On his part, Head Coach of the D’Tigress, Otis Hughley, described USA and world number five- France as familiar foes.

“We met USA and France at the last World Cup in Spain and again faced USA at the Olympics Qualifying Tournament in Serbia last year where we qualified for the Olympics.”

Otis who led the team to the quarter finals of the 2018 World Cup thereby setting an African record before winning the 2019 FIBA Afrobasket championship noted that, “We are mindful of the threat these teams pose to us including Japan who are ranked 10th in the FIBA ranking. We are going to prepare adequately to

NPFL: Enyimba Upstage Leaders Nasarawa to Reach Summit Enyimba are the new leaders of the Nigerian Professional Football League (NPFL) courtesy of a 2-1 win at front runners Nasarawa United yesterday. Also in another midweek fixture, Abia Warriors recorded their first win of the season and they did it in style – a 4-1 bashing of visiting Sunshine Stars.

According to Scorenigeria, Enyimba, who were reduced to 10 men after Anthony Omaka was sent off, now have 18 points from eight matches.

The other highlight of the day was Abia Warriors big win at home against Sunshine Stars.

Bello Lukman grabbed a brace for the home team with Sadeeq Yusuf scoring the consolation goal for Sunshine Stars and his sixth goal of the season.

This victory should ease the pressure on coach Imama Amakapabo.

Kwara United shot to second place in the standings following a 2-1 win over Lobi Stars in Ilorin.

Enugu Rangers also enjoyed a crucial home win after they beat Dakkada 3-0.

Wikki Tourists stopped MFM FC 2-0 in Bauchi, Akwa United were 1-0 winners at bottom club Adamawa United ad Kano Pillars edged past Jigawa Golden Stars 2-0 in a local derby.

Warri Wolves also won by the odd goal against visitors Plateau United.

MATCH DAY 8 Nasarawa

1-2

Enyimba

Kwara Utd

2-1

Lobi

Abia

4-1

Sunshine

Wikki

2-0

MFM FC

Rangers

3-0

Dakkada

K’Pillars

2-0

Jigawa

Adamawa

0-1

Akwa Utd

Wolves

1-0

Plateau Utd

ensure that when the time comes, we will be ready.”

In an unprecedented fashion prior to any

Olympics, D’Tigress are currently camped in Atlanta, USA months before the games under

the watchful eyes of Coach Otis.

The Olympics games will be held between

23rd of July and 8th of August, 2021 after its initial postponement due to Covid-19.

Nigeria’s D’Tigress focused to make impact at the Olympic Games next summer

Iwobi Battles Rodriguez, Doucoure for Everton’s Goal of the Month Award Alex Iwobi’s goal against Wolverhampton Wanderers has been nominated for the Everton Goal of the Month award for January.

The 24-year-old has been a constant figure in Carlo Ancelotti’s squad this season – scoring just once in 17 Premier League outings.

Nonetheless, his effort against Wolves will compete against Abdoulaye Doucoure’s fine strike in the Goodison Park giants’ 2-1 FA Cup triumph over Rotherham United and

James Rodriguez’s beauty against Leicester City for a chance to clinch the individual honour.

Six minutes into the game against Nuno Espirito Santo’s men, Rodriguez played a crossfield pass to Lucas Digne, before sending it back to the former Arsenal man, who calmly fired beyond goalkeeper Rui Patricio from 20 yards.

That strike ensured Iwobi scored for the first time in 38 English elite division games. The last time he

Alex Iwobi...his strike against Wolves tipped for Goal of the Month Award

found the net was on

September 1, 2019, when Everton laboured to a 3-2 win over Wolves at Goodison Park.

Also in contention are Michael Keane’s header against Wolves, Izzy Christiansen’s effort against Bristol City women, Rhys Hughes’ solo strike in Everton U23’s 1-1 draw with Liverpool U23 in a Premier League Two encounter.

Ancelotti’s men are eighth in the English elite division log having accrued 33 points from 19 outings.

SPORTS BUSINESS

Liverpool Aiming to Overtake Man Utd in Mega Buck Ranking Liverpool are slowly putting the steps in motion to create a long-term blueprint which will see them rival the financial success of Real Madrid and Barcelona.

Often praised for their shrewd business off the field and rapid development despite inferior budgets, Liverpool have emerged as one of the fastest growing football clubs in the world when it comes to monetary terms.

And now the Merseyside club have plans in place to emulate the world leaders Madrid and Barca when it comes to boosting profits and maximising their brand, and aim to storm past Manchester United in the process.

This is according to finance expert Kieran Maguire, who recently explained to

the Liverpool Echo’s Blood Red podcast how the Premier League champions have retained a healthy status throughout the coronavirus pandemic and plan to make huge strides beyond.

“Relative to Real Madrid and Barcelona, Liverpool are in a strong position (because of the pandemic),” he said.

“Liverpool have been at the forefront of digitising the fanbase, finding new ways of engaging with them.

“Once you engage with them, you can offer them things that might cost money and this is a way of generating extra revenue.”

It is also claimed that the club want to make Anfield more of a ‘football destination,’ a constant source of attention with tours and reasons for

daily visits which will further generate proceeds.

The latest Deloitte money report in football revealed that the Reds are well on course to catch both Barca and Madrid, and have already overtaken the likes of Manchester City and PSG. Rapid progress means Liverpool also have one eye on catching bitter rivals United, who have remained at the top of the cash-generating standings.

Maguire added: ‘The Premier League TV deal is the most lucrative in the world and they both have huge stadiums which generate a vast amount - a greater proportion of (Barcelona and Real Madrid’s) revenue comes from matchday things than for Liverpool.

“In terms of seven-day engagement, as well, things like their museums and stadium tours are more lucrative because more money has been invested in them historically.

“It is issues of that nature that Liverpool will want to address in due course.”

The coronavirus pandemic recently saw Liverpool’s plans to expand their Anfield stadium put on hold, though the owners still fully intend to renovate the Anfield Road end of the stadium opposite the Kop, to push the capacity north of 61,000.

The famous stadium is now also multi-purpose, with Liverpool able to stage concerts and events at Anfield while taking a share of the profits.

47

THURSDAY FEBRUARY 04, 2021 ˾ T H I S D AY

ThursdaySports AUSTRALIAN OPEN

Players to Go into Isolation After Hotel Staff Tested Positive for Covid-19 Between 500 and 600 Australian Open players, officials and support staff will go into isolation after a worker at one of the event’s quarantine hotels tested positive for coronavirus.

Thursday’s play at the six warm-up events at Melbourne Park has been cancelled as a result.

But Victoria Premier Daniel Andrews said: “At this stage there is no impact on the tournament proper.”

Players will be free to return to competition after a negative test.

“We will work with everyone involved to facilitate testing as quickly as possible,” said Australian Open organisers.

The Grand Slam tournament, which was pushed back by

three weeks to enable players to quarantine, starts on Monday.

Andrews said a 26-year-old man had tested positive for Covid-19 - which could be the UK strain of the virus - after working at the Grand Hyatt hotel in Melbourne’s Central Business District.

The security guard tested negative after his final shift at the hotel on 29 January, but returned a positive result after he was tested again on 2 February.

This was one of the hotels where some of the 1,000 players, officials and support staff stayed to complete a 14day quarantine period on their arrival in Australia.

Andrews said the 500-600 people connected to the

Australian Open were deemed to be “casual contacts” of the man. “This is one case, there is no need for people to be panicked or alarmed,” said Andrews, who announced the state of Victoria would return to some restrictions including

masks to be worn indoors. “We have proved as a state very successful in managing these sort of outbreaks and issues.”

Australia has imposed some of the world’s toughest restrictions over the past year in a bid to suppress the

coronavirus.

Months of strict border controls - both internationally and domestically - have helped limit Covid-19 cases to less than 29,000 and deaths to less than 1,000.

Asked about the impact of

the hotel worker’s positive test on the Australian Open, Andrews added: “We have one case and we are going to work very hard to keep the numbers as low as we can. The decision has been made and the event will proceed next week.”

Southampton Reject Mike Dean, to Appeal Red Card Southampton have requested referee Mike Dean does not officiate their upcoming fixtures and will appeal the red card shown to defender Jan Bednarek in their 9-0 loss to Manchester United.

Fellow Premier League side Arsenal will appeal defender David Luiz’s sending off in Tuesday’s 2-1 defeat by Wolves.

Saints also do not want Lee Mason, who was the fourth official at Old Trafford, to officiate their games.

Mason was the referee in Saints’ recent controversial 1-0 loss to Aston Villa.

Bednarek was the second player to be sent off for Ralph Hasenhuttl’s side when he brought down Anthony Martial and conceded a penalty in

Players arriving Melbourne for the 2021 Australian Open starting next week have been in quarantine since middle of January

No Singing or Chanting at Tokyo Olympic Games

Top Referee, Mike Dean (left) was at the centre when Manchester United hammered Southampton 9-0 on Tuesday night

the 86th minute.

Referee Dean initially only awarded a penalty to Manchester United but dismissed Bednarek after being instructed to watch replays of the incident on the pitchside monitor by video assistant referee Graham Scott.

Ramos’ Return Boost Real Madrid’s Season Real Madrid captain Sergio Ramos returned to full training for the first time on Wednesday after over two weeks out with a knee injury, boosting the stuttering LaLiga champions ahead of Saturday’s trip to Huesca.

Ramos has not featured for Real since the 2-1 defeat by Athletic Bilbao in the Spanish Super Cup semifinals on 14January and his side have suffered without him.

They were knocked out of the Copa del Rey by third division Alcoyano last month, while last Saturday they suffered a shock 2-1 defeat by home to Levante after having centre

back Eder Militao sent off after nine minutes.

The loss saw them slip behind Barcelona into third in the standings and 10 points adrift of runaway LaLiga leaders Atletico Madrid, who also have a game in hand.

Ramos, 34, is still yet to resolve his future with Real, with less than five months left on his contract with the club where he has spent the last 16 years.

Real coach Zinedine Zidane took the session for a second day in a row after returning to work for the first time on Tuesday following a brief absence after testing positive for Covid-19.

Singing or chanting will be discouraged at the rearranged Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics in a bid to safeguard against the spread of coronavirus.

Instead, those attending the Olympics - due to begin on 23 July - and Paralympics - set to start on 24 August - will be encouraged to clap in order to show support.

The suggestion is one of a number of rules detailed in a ‘Playbook’ published by organisersyesterday.

The first Playbook is aimed at members of international federations and technical officials but further versions due to be published will be aimed at athletes and media.

The move to highlight the processes in place to ensure a safe Games comes as organisers stress they are committed to a “successful and safe delivery”of the Games, despite Tokyo currently being in a state of emergency due to the

coronavirus pandemicUnder a page titled “think hygiene” the Playbook says individuals should “support athletes by clapping and not singing or chanting”.

In addition attendees will have to complete a “14-day activity plan” detailing “all your planned activities”, including travel and accommodation plans.

While the first Playbook is not aimed at athletes, it would also appear competitors may not be

allowed to attend other sporting events at the Games.

It states “you must not visit Games venues as a spectator” and “you must not visit tourist areas, shops, restaurants or bars and gyms” for the first 14 days from arrival.

“You must only leave your accommodation to go to Official Games Venues and limited additional locations,” the Playbook adds.

Mourinho Expects Kane Back Next Week after Ankle Injury Tottenham boss Jose Mourinho says Harry Kane should be back in action next week as he is recovering more quickly than expected from an ankle injury.

Striker Kane, 27, suffered injuries to both anklesin the defeat by Liverpool last week.

“I think it’s not [an overly] optimistic thing to say next week he should be playing,” said Mourinho.

He could return against Harry Kane....expected back next week Everton in the FA Cup on the midfielder was not Wednesday, 10 February, we’re happy too.

“We were scared when allowed to leave on loan or Manchester City the it happened but next to Paris St-Germain. following Saturday.

The England The England captain week we play Everton missed Sunday’s defeat and Manchester City at international, 24, had at Brighton, and will sit the weekend - I believe been linked with a move out the home Premier for one of these matches away from the London club, with former Spurs League games against he should be back.”

Mauricio Meanwhile, Mourinho manager Chelsea and West Brom.

Mourinho added: revealed he held a Pochettino reportedly “He’s happy with the conversation with Dele keen on taking him to progress and of course Alli on Tuesday after the French side.

Alli has been largely frozen out under Mourinho this season, but the manager said: “I had a good conversation with him yesterday and we found very common ground, let’s say.

“He needs to recover from his [tendon] injury.

He needs to get back to training and have a fresh start because in the last few weeks he couldn’t even join in training.

“It’s not just Dele. It’s Dele, Kane, Gio lo Celso.

And without all three we miss a little bit of creation and magic in the attacking areas.

“We have a final to play in April so we need a good Dele back.

And I believe that when physically he is ready I believe that mentally he will be in a good place to go for it.”

TR

Thursday, February 4, 2021

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MISSILE Tunde Bakare to President Buhari

“The expectations of Nigerians, including everyone who woke up to say we need a breath of fresh air, has not been met. There is a feeling of disappointment…We rejected PDP and embraced APC’s Change but it appears we have been short-changed” – The Overseer of the Citadel Global Community Church, Pastor Tunde Bakare on the state of the nation.

OLUSEGUNADENIYI THE VERDICT

olusegun.adeniyi@thisdaylive.com

‘I am Not Your Father’

L

ast Thursday, a Judge of the Delta State High Court released a press statement claiming that Deoxyribonucleic Acid (DNA) tests conducted on the three children from his first marriage (to a woman from whom he is now divorced) reveal that he is not their biological father. In the statement, he offered details as to how he first received an anonymous message questioning the fatherhood of the youngest. When that information proved to be true, DNA tests were extended to the others. His current wife, he added, also had to endure the indignity of their four children being subjected to DNA tests to confirm their paternity. The Judge further explained that his decision to address the press on the matter was “to prevent damaging speculations, half-truths and outright lies from persons who may want to cash in on the tragedy that has befallen” his home while leaving his ex-wife “and her boyfriend or boyfriends to their conscience”.

As a husband and father, I find the development very troubling. Though DNA tests may have brought to light alleged infidelities and lies that have been concealed for more than two decades, the real damage in this saga is to those innocent children who are now young adults. By publicly disowning them, which is what he has done—regardless of whether or not he is still paying their school fees—the Judge has left these children with the ‘bastard’ stigma in a society where victims suffer consequences for the transgressions of others.

Whichever way one looks at it, this is a very serious social problem with implications for the health of our society. Reports exist that many men, especially those in estranged relationships, are seeking to know the paternity of their children. DNA tests have become almost as common as COVID-19 tests in our major cities. But ‘Who’zTheDaddy?’, a United States based company that offers a wide range of paternity test services, believes that a DNA paternity test is not something any man should rush into. “The questions of parenthood are inevitably emotional issues.

Paternity issues can induce feelings of rejection, low self-esteem and identity confusion for the child in question”, the company wrote on its website. “It’s advisable to consider counseling before you decide whether a DNA paternity test is right for you and your family.”

A paper in the international ‘Journal of Social Welfare and Family Law’ contends that once a man has taken on that sacred role, there is no justification for initiating paternity testing, save in the interests of the child. The journal then deals with the all-important issue of who a ‘father’ really is, arguing that if all it takes is to drop a sperm, “a paternity test would be an appropriate test for fatherhood.” Being a father, the Journal concludes, “denotes much more than this.”

This issue is important for two reasons, both having to do with the welfare of the child/ children involved. The first, as I explained, is the stigma that comes from being told by your father that you are not his child. It is a shattering experience that could trigger a wide range of emotions and reactions. The second issue is more complex. In many countries, family law recognizes non-biological definitions

CJN, Justice Ibrahim Tanko Muhammad of fatherhood which include a man’s behavior, intent, stability in a preexisting parent-child relationship etc. “If anything, reproductive technologies like sperm donation and new family forms, like those born of the frequency of divorce, have only multiplied the scenarios in which biology may take a backseat to social criteria” wrote Nara Milanich, a Professor of History at Barnard College, United States.

In Nigeria, to be the biological father, even when irresponsible, creates a feeling of entitlement. In several cases, adult children cannot marry without the approval of these men, even when they made no contribution to their upbringing. But in a rare display of character, the daughter of a popular gospel musician last November said in an interview that the husband of her mother who raised her as his child and whose name she proudly bears is her true father. This despite knowing the circumstances surrounding her birth.

She eulogized the man and dismissed the ‘sperm donor’ who likely considers her his ‘inheritance’ and has been making noise all over the place.

In her piece, ‘Being Blood-Related Doesn’t Make a Man a Dad’, Mrs Brie Gowen, who was nurtured by a man who married her mom after she was born and with whom she has no genetic relationship, wrote about her biological father: “He was unable, incapable, and unwilling to provide me the stability, guidance, and relationship that fatherhood entails. Put simply, he wasn’t meant to be a dad. He donated the sperm, but otherwise he felt his contribution to the whole scenario was complete.” Of the man she considers her true father, Gowen also wrote: “My Dad isn’t my birth father, and while he is so many things to my life, the one thing he is not is a genetic contributor to my conception.

But ask me if that matters when I go to buy Father’s Day cards. Or rather yet, ask me if blood-typing was of any importance when I needed someone to kiss my scraped knee after I fell as a child. Ask me if DNA held any significance when I had my first broken heart and I needed a strong shoulder to cry on. It mattered not one single bit.”

Ordinarily, DNA tests are used in forensic criminal investigations in order to match suspect(s) with evidence collected from crime scenes. They also help to determine victims of mass disasters, (for instance, an earthquake or plane crash) and now also for immigration purposes. While every country has laws governing the use of DNA in paternity matters, Nigeria appears not to have any, leading to a gross abuse of this scientific method. In countries where DNA has become common, there are strict laws to protect the privacy and rights of the child whose paternity may be in question. But in Nigeria, this is an unregulated industry with many laboratories in Lagos and Abuja advertising the services for couples.

Since there is a dearth of legislation on DNA usage, the court bears a responsibly to protect the rights and privacy of citizens (young and old) who may be harassed with spurious claims. A classic example of the court’s evolution in this direction is the decision of the Court of Appeal in the matter between Mr Tony Anozia and Mrs Patricia Onwunwa Nnani (then 82) over the paternity of Ignatius Nnani, then a 57-year old man. Anozia, also in his eighties, had claimed that in 1957, he had a sexual encounter with Mrs Nnani who was then married (but whose husband was terminally ill).

With lurid details of how the sexual act was conceived and consumated, Anozia claimed that Ignatius was the product of that alleged unholy dalliance because the woman’s husband (who later died that same year, 1957) was too ill to engage in sexual act at the material time.

He sought the help of the FCT High Court to compel a DNA test to prove his claim so that Ignatius could “change to the surname of his native father, Anozia Onowu of Umuosu Quarters of Oguta in accordance with native justice, equity and good conscience.”

In his brief to prove that the ‘away game’ he allegedly played in 1957 with a married woman indeed produced the man in question and that only a DNA test could resolve the riddle, Anozia stated: “Whereas one man can engage in sexual acts with a woman for years without the woman conceiving, five minutes of sexual engagement with another man may result in pregnancy.” While Mrs Nnani denied all his claims, declaring that her deceased husband is the father of her son and that a DNA test was unnecessary,

From what has transpired in this matter, our learned Judge may have succeeded in introducing irreparable complications to his relationship with those three children, not to mention their relationship with siblings from the current wife

Anozia countered: “What of a situation where a woman had sex with one man at 8pm and with another at 10pm. How is the paternity to be determined through hearing? It will be impossible. That is why DNA must be resorted to.”

In its judgement on 7th November 2012, the FCT High Court held that Anozia could not use the law to order two unwilling adults to submit to DNA test to “confirm or disprove his wish that a 57-year old man is his child, of an illicit amorous relationship!”

Justice Ita Mbaba of the Court of Appeal, while affirming the decision on 23rd January 2015, stated that “the law has always acknowledged the right of a woman to say who the father of her child is, and of course, where a child is born within wedlock, the presumption is conclusive, that the child is the seed or product of the marriage.” On the DNA being sought by Anozia, Justice Mbaba expressed a doubt “whether that form of proof can be ordered or is necessary to determine the paternity of a 57 years old man, who does not complain about his parenthood, just to please or indulge a self-acclaimed predator, who emerges to destabilize family bonds and poses as a biological father.”

In his concurrence, Justice Ignatius Igwe Abube said he read “the facts of this case with utmost consternation and horror that in this 21st century, a gentleman of the bar can so unabashedly rake up such putrid, scandalous and ridiculous claim before a court of law.”

The conclusion from that case is simple: ‘Sperm does not a father make’. It is therefore worrisome that the Delta High Court Judge (or any man at all) would address a press conference to advertise a matter so private and personal without sober consideration of the consequences for the children involved.

While the moral burden of the revelation remains with the ex-wife (whose side of the story we have not heard), the greater burden of social responsibility still rests on the Judge who has allowed anger, personal humiliation and a certain unforgiving vengeance to cloud his better judgment by making public DNA results that have put three young people in a quandary.

In the age in which we live, people must understand the limits of DNA, current trends in parenting and family dynamics as well as how nurture has literally supplanted nature.

For instance, is DNA relevant in the case of an adopted child who is well brought up, well-educated and rise to become a global icon or major leader?

From what has transpired in this matter, our learned Judge may have succeeded in introducing irreparable complications to his relationship with those three children, not to mention their relationship with siblings from the current wife. My admonition: He should move swiftly to re-establish a true paternal relationship with them, beyond payment of school fees, which he wants us to acknowledge as an act of charity.

In the end, a child brings us comfort and is a product of our love and care. This is certainly more than biological. Besides, there are certain secrets which a man must live with and possibly carry to his grave for the sake of others and the good of society.

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