MONDAY 13TH FEBRUARY 2023

Atiku to DSS, Police: Invite Fani-Kayode for Questioning Over Coup Allegation Says ex-minister's claims too weighty, insinuations about overthrow shouldn’t be taken lightly Adedayo Akinwale in Abuja The presidential candidate of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP),

Atiku Abubakar, has called on the Department of State Services (DSS), the Nigeria Police, and other security agencies to invite Director of

Special Projects and New Media of the Presidential Campaign Council (PCC) of All Progressives Congress (APC), Femi Fani-Kayode, to explain

his allegations and insinuations about an alleged coup plan by Atiku and top military generals.

Atiku made the call in a statement

issued yesterday by his Special Assistant, Public Communications, Mr. Phrank Shaibu.

The statement was in reaction

to a tweet by Fani-Kayode, which alleged that Atiku met with top Continued on page 5

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Tinubu to CBN: Allow Old, New Naira Notes Co-exist Till 2024 PDP to APC Leaders: Stop Punishing Nigerians By Hoarding Notes Adedayo Akinwale in Abuja The presidential candidate of All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola

Tinubu, yesterday, said he was not against the decision of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to redesign the naira and the drive towards

a cashless economy, contrary to insinuations. Tinubu said he was only against the disruptive implementation of the policy.

But Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) called on leaders of the APC, including Tinubu as well as APC state governors, to

immediately release billions of new naira notes allegedly in their custody in order to halt the anguish being experienced

by Nigerians.

Following the advice of the Continued on page 5

Governors Move to Stall Supreme Court Reversal of Currency Swap Till After Election Using joinder suits of Kano, Ondo, Ekiti to delay verdict, lobby judges Urge FG, CBN to respect rule of law Justice Ministry yet to receive certified true copy of ruling Retaining old notes will jeopardise fight against fraud, corruption, CBN tells Akure court Resist politicians’ vote-buying antics, Catholic Bishops tell Nigerians Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja, Gbenga Sodeinde in Ado Ekiti, Wale Igbintade in Lagos and Ibrahim Shuaibu in Kano As part of efforts to deliberately stall the Supreme Court ruling on a suit by three state governments against the move by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to phase out the use of the old N200, N500 and N1,000, which comes up for hearing on Wednesday, governors of some states in the country have chosen to continue to file for joinder in the matter.

The suit which was originally filed by Kaduna, Kogi and Zamfara states have been joined by Ondo, Kano and Ekiti states, with Rivers state also indicating its preparedness to do same.

Sources at the Federal Ministry of Justice that disclosed this to Continued on page 5

70TH BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION OF SIR NWOSU...

L-R: President, Association of Papal’s Night, Supo Adigun; former Chairman of Zenith Bank, Steve Omojafor; former MD/CEO, Intercontinental Bank, Erastus Akingbola; Celebrant/Chairman, RT Briscoe, Sunny Nwosu; his wife, Lady Comfort; Mrs. Akingbola and Co- Founder, Eko Hospital, Sunny Kuku, during the 70th birthday celebration of Nwosu held in Lagos...recently ABIODUN AJALA

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PAGE FIVE GOVERNORS MOVE TO STALL SUPREME COURT REVERSAL OF CURRENCY SWAP TILL AFTER ELECTION THISDAY yesterday, also revealed that as of close of business on Friday, the ministry was yet to receive the certified true copy of the Supreme Court ruling on the currency issue.

The sources stressed that the design of the state governors, who were joining the Supreme Court suit was to delay the judgement and have the old currency run till after the election.

One of the sources, who pleaded to remain anonymous, said, “It is the design of the governors, who are adding many joinder suits, to delay the judgement and try to keep the state of affairs whereby the old currency would continue to be in use, while they lobby Supreme Court justices so that they cannot reach a judgement, and to push the Supreme Court decision on this matter until after the presidential election.

“They want to use the cash for the presidential election. So, they are adding more joinder suits to delay the outcome of the judgement so that the two currencies can work together. So, what we see is that the vote-buyers are fighting back.”

The revelation came just as governors of the 36 states of the federation rose from a meeting at the weekend in Abuja with a resolution to direct their Attorneys General to review the suit with a view to consolidating the legal reliefs pursued by the states.

The 36 governors also asked the federal government and the CBN to respect the rule of law and halt the currency restrictions, which they argued were causing an economic crisis.

The governors made the assertions in a communiqué issued at the end of a meeting of the Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF), which was signed by the forum’s chairman, Rt. Hon. Aminu Tambuwal.

The Supreme Court had in a ruling on February 8 suspended the

CBN’s February 10 deadline to stop the use of old currency notes. The bank had ordered citizens to swap out old N1, 000, N500, and N200 banknotes for a redesigned currency by the deadline. But the apex court, ruling in an ex parte application by three states – Zamfara, Kogi and Kaduna – stopped the CBN from banning the old notes pending the hearing and determination of the case. It fixed February 15 for hearing.

The move to ban the old banknotes had caused cash shortages, remonstrations and attacks on banks in some places.

Also, yesterday, Ekiti State Government applied to be joined as a co-plaintiff in the suit against the federal government at the Supreme Court on the CBN’s currency redesign.

However, the central bank told the Federal High Court, in Akure, that extending the expiry date for the old naira notes would jeopardise the fight against fraud, corruption and criminal activities in the country.

Meanwhile, ahead of the February 25, 2023 presidential election, the Catholic Bishops under the auspices of the Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria (CBCN) has charged Nigerians to resist the dubious practice of vote buying.

The 36 state governors urged the federal government and the CBN to listen to the voice of reason expressed by Nigerians and several other stakeholders, including the Council of State, before the damage to the economy became too great to fix by the next administration.

The state chief executives accused the apex bank of pursuing a currency confiscation programme and not the currency exchange policy envisaged under Section 20 (3) of the CBN Act, 2007.

The governors stated that although the Attorney General of the Federation promised that the

federal government would comply with the ruling of the Supreme Court halting the CBN’s plan to end the use of the old currency notes, they were yet to observe changes in the financial system.

The communiqué stated, "We, members of the NGF, at our meeting today discussed critical issues of national interest and resolved as follows: "First, we express our sympathies and support with Nigerians who are experiencing great difficulties under the current CBN naira re-design and cash withdrawal restrictions policy. We feel your pain and we are determined to employ all legitimate channels to ease the situation.

"It has become necessary to make a distinction between the CBN naira redesign policy backed by Section 20 (3) of the CBN Act, 2007, and the aspirational policy of going cashless, both of which are mutually exclusive at this time.

"It is our considered view that what the CBN is at present pursuing is a currency confiscation programme, not the currency exchange policy envisaged under S20 (3) of the CBN Act, 2007.”

The communique explained that currency confiscation involved a situation whereby the liquidity provided to the general public was grossly insufficient due to the restrictions placed on the amount that could be withdrawn, regardless of the amount deposited.

The governors’ forum noted that the current approach of the CBN raised concerns about the respect for the civil liberties and rights of Nigerians as it relates to their freedom to use legitimately earned income as they so wish.

The communique continued, “The forum believes that to deploy a cashless policy and deepen digital transactions, the best practice around the world is to create a suite of

ATIKU TO DSS, POLICE: INVITE FANI-KAYODE FOR QUESTIONING OVER COUP ALLEGATION army generals in a possible plan to scuttle the forthcoming general election or perpetrate a coup d'état, an offence that attracts the death penalty.

Atiku described Fani-Kayode’s attempt to recant as belated, saying the allegations are too grave to be ignored. He noted that when the late Deputy Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Obadiah Mailafia, made allegations that a serving governor was a Boko Haram commander, he was invited five times by the DSS and the police until he had to run to court.

The PDP presidential candidate stressed that Fani-Kayode must not be given a preferential treatment because he worked for the ruling party.

Atiku stated, “Ordinarily, we wouldn’t have bothered responding to Fani-Kayode, who has over the years built a reputation of being an inveterate liar so much so that he was even publicly blacklisted by the Nigeria Union of Journalists after his disgraceful outburst at a journalist.

“However, allegations and insinuations of a coup should not be taken lightly given the fact that it is treason, an offence that carries the death penalty. While commending the Nigerian military for effectively rubbishing Fani-Kayode’s barefaced lie, we call on security agencies to invite him to shed more light on the allegations.”

Atiku alleged that the former Minister of Aviation had vilified many people through his lies, and wanted to get acceptance without doing penance for an act of wickedness motivated by finance.

He added, “No! Fani Kayode cannot recant. We refuse to accept that. He who comes to equity must come with clean hands. He who comes to the Lord must come with contrition. Contrition requires remorse and confession. If Fani-Kayode wants Nigerians to take him serious, it is his confession that he lied or his provision of proof that he did not.

“The late Mailafia was invited more than five times by the DSS and the police for saying a serving

governor was a Boko Haram commander. Fani-Kayode has also made an allegation that borders on security and must, thus, be invited to expiate, as failure to do so will be partisanship."

Atiku stressed that Fani-Kayode was well known by Nigerians as a cantankerous and unscrupulous individual who had been unable to shake off allegations of substance abuse levelled against him in a statement signed by Alhaji Lai Mohammed on March 2, 2015.

“In a statement on March 2, 2015, the then APC National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed (now information minister), said Fani-Kayode may have been ‘unhinged, perhaps as a result of a relapse into an unhealthy lifestyle of substance abuse’”, he recalled.

Atiku also stated, “Today, Fani-Kayode has chosen to be the spokesman for Bola Ahmed Tinubu, a man who American authorities accused of laundering millions of dollars for drug kingpins and was forced to forfeit $460,000. Indeed, Fani-Kayode and Tinubu’s new found love is understandable because as the saying goes, show me your friend and I will tell you who you are.”

He said it was ironic that FaniKayode had been missing his corruption trial before the Federal High Court in Lagos, claiming that he was ill and yet continued to play an active role in Tinubu’s campaign.

According to Atiku, “Fani-Kayode is currently facing corruption charges to the tune of N4.9 billion before Justice Abike Fadipe at the Federal High Court in Lagos. For several months he refused to show up in court but went on to forge a medical report of Kubwa General Hospital, claiming to be ill, only for the hospital to deny ever issuing the report.

“This inveterate and ineradicable liar is the same person that Tinubu decided to appoint as his image maker. What a shame.”

Atiku asked Nigerians to remember that Fani-Kayode remained the biggest traducer of APC until last year. He called on Nigerians not to forget that it was Fani-Kayode that had been demonising northerners,

encouraging separatists, and inciting South-west agitators for the last seven years.

Atiku stated, “Nigerians must not forget that it was Fani-Kayode that gave the APC the nickname Almajiri Peoples Congress. This is a man that said he would rather die than join the APC, describing the ruling party as a bloodthirsty, blood-lusting, accursed political association of Boko Haramists, Fulani herdsmen, genocidal maniacs, ethnic cleansers, mass murderers, ethnic supremacists, religious bigots, cow-lovers and corrupt treasury looters that have brought nothing but death, division, misery, poverty, incompetence, shame and destruction to our nation and our people will burn in hell forever!”

“Fani-Kayode has never believed in the unity and prosperity of Nigerians. In a bid to hold the government to ransom, he became a spokesman for IPOB, following Nnamdi Kanu all over the place in order to gain relevance. From there, he jumped to Sunday Igboho whom he was encouraging to attack and kill northerners.

“After he was called to the dinner table by the APC, he suddenly became interested in nation building and became the de facto campaign manager of Yahaya Bello and then moved over to Senate President Ahmad Lawan before settling for Tinubu. For Fani-Kayode, it is ‘anywhere belle face.’”

The former vice president said when President Muhammadu Buhari’s only surviving son, Yusuf, suffered a motorbike accident in December 2017, every Nigerian, regardless of religion and political affiliation, prayed for his speedy recovery but this was not the case with Fani-Kayode.

“Rather than act like a normal human being, these were the words Fani-Kayode had to utter when the president’s only son was struggling for his life: God told Pharaoh to let my people go. Pharaoh asked who He was? God told him ‘I am the I Am, that I Am’ and sent signs of His awesome power. It cost Pharaoh both his own life and that of his son.”

incentives to attract customers; rather than a draconian approach, as we have witnessed in the last three months.

"The argument by the CBN for what it describes as the astronomical increase in the currency in circulation as the basis for this policy is not supported by its own data.

According to the CBN, the currency in circulation increased from N1.4 trillion in 2015, to N3.23 trillion in October 2022. The bank appears not to have taken into consideration the increase in the size of the country’s nominal GDP over this period, the doubling of consumer prices, rising population, and the impact of the humongous Ways and Means advances to the federal government by the Central Bank of Nigeria over this period.

"In the circumstances, it is safe to draw either of two conclusions – the CBN data may be incomplete or in fact, Nigerians may have done exceptionally well in the transition to a cashless economy.

"In addition, considering the sizeable informal sector in the nation, the amount of banknotes created in exchange so far by the CBN implies it vastly underestimated the economy's actual cash needs."

The governors said the inability to use the new notes had engendered far-reaching economic effects, "Leading to the emergence of the naira black market, severe food inflation, variable commodities prices based on the method of exchange, and long queues as well as crowds around Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) and banking halls across the country, with individuals hoping to get a fraction of their money in new notes to meet their daily livelihood."

According to the state governors, the country runs the risk of a CBNinduced recession.

The governors said in the communique, "Consequently, we call on the federal government and the CBN to respect the rule of law and listen to the voice of reason expressed by Nigerians and several other stakeholders, including the Council of State, before the damage to our economy becomes too great to fix by the next administration.

"Members rose from the meeting agreeing to direct their Attorneys General to review the suit at the Supreme Court with a view to consolidating the legal reliefs pursued by states."

Ekiti Joins Suit against Retirement of Old Banknotes Ekiti State Government applied to be joined as a co-plaintiff in a suit against the federal government at the Supreme Court against the deadline issued by the CBN for phasing out old N200, N500 and N1, 000 banknotes.

The application for joinder was filed last Friday at the Supreme Court

by Ekiti State Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr. Dayo Apata, seeking three reliefs.

The suit, with the number SC/ CV/162/2023, had Attorneys General of Kaduna State, Kogi State and Zamfara State as plaintiffs, with Attorney General of the Federation as the defendant.

The three reliefs being sought by Attorney General of Ekiti State were: "Leave of this Honourable Court to join the applicants as a co-plaintiff in this suit; an order of this court joining Attorney General of Ekiti State as a co-plaintiff in this suit; and for such order or further order that this honourable court may seem fit to make in this circumstance of this suit.”

Some of the grounds upon which the application was premised included acute shortage in the supply of naira notes in the state since the announcement of the policy by the federal government through the CBN. The applicant, Ekiti State Government, averred that the directive of the federal government had affected livelihoods and inflicted excruciating pain and hardship on all Nigerians, including citizens of Ekiti State.

The state government equally averred that the directive of the federal government had adversely affected the revenue, levies and taxes accruable to the coffers of Ekiti State Government, as economic activities in the state were now completely paralysed.

Apata further averred that the directive of the federal government on the naira redesign had also created palpable anxiety among the citizens of Ekiti State.

Another ground upon which the application was premised was the fact that Ekiti was a federating state of Nigeria and, therefore, had interest in the determination of the originating summons in the suit earlier filed by the three states in the federation.

Ekiti State Government averred that having common interest as other plaintiffs and also in the outcome of the suit sought the leave of the court to be joined as a co-plaintiff in order to be bound by the outcome of the suit.

It stated that no injustice or embarrassment would be occasioned to any of the parties on record if joined as co-plaintiff to ventilate the grievances of Ekiti State.

The sole issue formulated for determination was "whether the applicant has made a case for the honourable court to favourably consider the application."

This was supported by an argument that the court had always been of the position that anyone whose presence was crucial and fundamental to a suit must be made a party to the proceedings, citing the authorities of Green v Green (1987) 3 NWLR (PT 61) 480; Peenok Inv. Ltd v Hotel Presidential (1983) 4 NCLR 122; and LSBPC v

Purification Tech (Nig) Ltd (2013) 7 NWLR (PT 1352) 82@ 107.

Retaining Old Naira Notes Will Jeopardise Fight against Fraud, Corruption The CBN told the Federal High Court in Akure that extending the expiry date for the old naira notes would jeopardise the fight against corruption and fraud. The apex bank, in a counter-affidavit to a suit filed against it by a group, the Social Rehabilitation Grace and Supportive Initiative (SRG), justified its reluctance to extend the expiry date for the old naira notes, and said it was to save Nigeria's democracy.

The Social Rehabilitation Grace and Supportive Initiative had dragged the CBN before the Federal High Court, asking the court to compel the apex bank to extend the expiry date of the old naira notes by six months.

The group is convened by a Nigeria-born United States medical doctor, Dr. Marindoti Oludare.

The applicants in the suit were Dr. Marindoti Oludare, the Social Rehabilitation Grace and Supportive Initiative, and Omoyele Ishola.

They were praying the court to extend by six months the February 10 previously fixed by the banking sector regulator for the expiration of the old naira notes.

However, the Supreme Court had last week ruled that the central bank should not enforce the deadline until hearing of a suit filed by three states, which comes up on Wednesday.

Reacting to the group's suit before the court, the apex bank, in a counter-affidavit filed by its counsel, Oyetola Atoyebi (SAN), urged the court to dismiss the suit, averring that the plaintiffs have no justifiable reason for filing it.

Atoyebi argued that the extension of expiry date for old naira notes of N200, N500 and N1000 would give room for vote-buying and undermine the forthcoming election.

He argued, "The extension of the timeline will jeopardise the fight against fraud, corruption and criminal activities perpetrated with the use of the old currencies."

The CBN specifically cited the festering kidnapping crime, claiming a change in currency notes will end it.

On the reference to currency change in India in 2016 in which the group said the Indians were given enough time to replace old Indian rupees, the CBN submitted, "The government of India announced the change of their legal tender on November 8, 2016. The entire citizens of India of about 1.417 billion adhered to the timeliness strictly, which has led to positive improvement of the Indian economy.

"The applicants were seeking, among others, an interim injunction restraining, "the respondent, agent, or Continued on page 11

TINUBU TO CBN: ALLOW OLD, NEW NAIRA NOTES CO-EXIST TILL 2024 PDP TO APC LEADERS: STOP PUNISHING NIGERIANS BY HOARDING NOTES Council of States, Tinubu urged the federal government and the CBN to announce that the old and new naira notes, especially the non-withdrawn notes and coins, should co-exist as legal tender for the next 12 months, to follow examples of countries that successfully implemented similar monetary policies, to ease tension in the country.

Tinubu, in a statement he personally signed yesterday, stated that the past few weeks had been challenging for Nigerians, especially small and medium scale enterprises (SMEs), the poor and vulnerable masses and those whose survival depended on daily cash transactions, saying they have felt the brunt of the combined problems of scarcity of fuel and scarcity of the new naira notes.

The former governor of Lagos State said he felt the pains of market women and artisans who had experienced low sales because customers did not have cash to

make purchases.

He added, "We hear the loud cries of farmers in rural areas and hinterlands who have been forced to sell their produce at much lower prices so they don't lose out completely. We hear every Nigerian dealing with the consequences of the roll-out of the cash swap programme."

The APC presidential candidate said while the scarcity arising from the supply limitations of the new naira notes was still on, he was encouraged about reports that the fuel queues across the country were easing out as a result of better supply to fuel stations.

Tinubu pointed out that the country was now confronted with how to bring quick, sustainable solutions, and relief to Nigerians on the challenges still posed by the non-availability of new naira notes, so that social and economic activities could move on unimpeded and normalcy could return to the financial services

sector and overall productivity of the nation.

He said, "For the record, I and my running mate, Senator Kashim Shettima, and our campaign council do not have anything against the CBN naira redesign and cashless policy in principle.

"We are, however, only concerned about its disruptive implementation and the hardship it has brought on the generality of our people who currently can't access their hard-earned money to meet obligations and the attendant consequences on the informal sector, where the majority operate.

"Despite the challenges and current difficulties, we are a country of resilient, bold and courageous people who don't succumb to hard times. We have always overcome our most difficult times and come out better as a people and a nation.

This time will not be different. We will make lemonade out of our Continued on page 12

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MONDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 2023 • T H I S D AY

NEWS

Group News Editor: Goddy Egene Email: Goddy.egene@thisdaylive.com, 0803 350 6821, 08074010580

LAUNCH OF THE LATEEF JAKANDE LEADERSHIP ACADEMY...

L-R: Commissioner for Establishment, Training and Pensions, Mrs. Ajobola Ponnle; Assistant Director, Medical Department, Office of Chief of Staff, Mrs. Olarenwaju Jakande-Adeboye; one of the 30 graduands of the Lateef Jakande Leadership Academy (LJLA), Adepeju Balogun and Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu during the official launch of the Lateef Jakande Leadership Academy, at Lagos…recently

Over 16 Million Passengers Passed Through Nigeria’s Airports in 2022 International carriers airlifted 1.9m passengers from Nigeria last year Flight operations still characterised by delays, cancellations Chinedu Eze The total number of passengers that passed through Nigeria’s airports in 2022, increased to 16, 172, 433, higher than the 15 million passenger movement in 2021, according to statistics released by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA).

Also, the determination of many Nigerians to leave the country in the now well-known japa syndrome boosted the number of outbound international passengers in 2022 to 1, 855,467, recording over 700, 000 increase compared to 2021, which was 1,109,525.

In the same period, inbound international passenger traffic was 1, 648, 225, a significant increase

when compared to 1,109,621 in 2021.

During the period, which was between January to December 2022, domestic airlines airlifted a total of 12, 668, 741 made up of 6, 309, 664 inbound and 6,359, 077 outbound passenger movement respectively and when combined with international passenger traffic, the country recorded 16,172, 433 passenger movement in the period under focus.

The document obtained from the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority, showed that in 2022, 26 airlines carried out a total of 13,003 international operations to and from the Nigeria while 11 airlines operated 80, 328 domestic flights.

The data also revealed that there

YEDI, OVH Energy Seek Increased Awareness against Neglected Tropical Disease Oluchi Chibuzor The Youth Development and Empowerment Initiative (YEDI) and OVH Energy have called for more intervention and awareness on how to prevent and combat Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) in underserved communities across the country.

NTDs are found in several countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America and are especially common in tropical areas where people do not have access to clean water or safe ways to dispose of human waste.

NTDs are a group of diseases that cause substantial illness for more than one billion people globally and affect the world’s poorest people.

Speaking at a medical outreach programme in Lagos, recently, to mark World NTDs 2023, organised

by YEDI in partnership with OVH Energy, the programme manager YEDI, Mr. Usen Asanga, said massive awareness on the diseases were needed urgently.

He stressed that NTDs are really disturbing the people they work for; “you know we serve adolescents and other young people

in underserved communities in Lagos, Akwa Ibom, Rivers, Ogun, Kano and Abuja."

“We have found out that NTDs are also affecting our target population and so we feel we need to educate them and sensitive them.

NTDs, especially for young people, lead to low productivity; they do not perform well in school and are a very critical area we need to intervene.

“We do have a programme where we do a comprehensive education for young people in schools. By the time they finish with that curriculum the child knows basic things about NTDs and how they have been transmitted, prevented and can identify some symptoms," he said.

Commenting on some of the gaps that made the diseases neglected over the years, Asanga explained, “that lack of information is critical as a lot of people attribute it to some fetish beliefs.

For the Head, Corporate Security and Community Affairs, OVH Energy, Mr. Victor Okpo community development programme ought to be beyond CSR projects, but investments.

were 4,628 delays and 82 cancelled flights on the international operations while the number of domestic operations was 47,144 with international operations recording 31 air returns, 48,234 baggage delays against domestic operations 91 air returns and 449 delayed baggage.

The data also disclosed flight cancellations and delays both for international and domestic flight operations in the period of January to December 2022, The highest number of delays on the domestic scene, according to flight operated and delayed as well as passenger traffic was Overland Airways.

The airline operated 2926 flight with 2451 delays, accounting for 84 per cent delays and 11 cancellations in its operations followed by Azman Air, which had a 69 per cent delay percentage as it operated 3,713 and had 2,555 delays with

82 flight cancellations.

Arik Air came next on the list with 9,750 flights and 6,440 delays accounting for 66 per cent of delays in its operations with 110 cancellations.

The United Nigeria, which had 42 cancellations operated 6,097 times and had 4,000 delays also with a 66 per cent delay rate.

Dana Air’s operations had 2,906 delays from 4,440 flights at 65 per cent, with 24 flights cancelled while Air Peace with 24,449 flights delayed 14,908 also averaging 61 per cent and 129 cancellations.

Aero Contractors, which operated 3,106 times, had 1,889 delays and 99 cancellations; its delay percentage was also 61 per cent, while Green Africa operated 4,648 flights with 2111 delays and 79 cancellations with a delay percentage of 45 per cent.

For international operations,

Cronos had the least operation figure of 53 flights but led the pack 41 delays at 77 per cent delay rate, while it was followed

by Turkish Airlines, which operated 654 flights into Nigeria in 2022, with 420 delays at 64 per cent.

Also, Kenyan Airways with 60 per cent delays had 344 flights to Nigeria with 205 of the delayed.

Air Cote D’ Voire operated 609 times into Nigeria with 314 delays at 52 per cent, while EgyptAir equally followed with 706 flights into Nigeria with 350 delays, which was a 50 per cent delay rate.

According to the NCAA, in 2021, the number of international flight departures through the Nigerian airports increased by 54.7 per cent to 1,109,525 from 717,261 in 2020.

Travel expert and the organiser of Akwaaba African Travel Market, Ambassador Ikechi Uko told THISDAY factors that could be responsible to the increase in the

international passenger movement.

He said one of such factors was pent up travel, saying since the lockdown in 2020, many people have stayed back from travel due to hiccups created

by COVID-19 airport protocols, which was significantly eased in many countries in 2022 and that prompted many people to travel.

Uko also alluded to the japa syndrom, which is the drive by many Nigerians to leave the country due to economic crunch and hardship, seeking for better economic well-being in other countries.

On the domestic market, the organiser of Akwaaba Africa Travel Market said insecurity forced many to choose air travel as the only option and economic activates pushed more people to the airports and the third factor was political campaigns in preparation for the 2023 elections.

Rivers Approves N70.25bn for Rural Communities’ Roads Construction Blessing Ibunge in Port Harcourt Rivers State Executive Council has approved N70.25 billion as total contracts sum for the construction and dualisation of two critical road projects that would further connect rural communities and ease movement into the state capital.

The approval was made yesterday, at a meeting held at Government House, Port Harcourt, presided over by governor Nyesom Wike.

Briefing journalists after the meeting, Rivers State Commissioner for Works, Dr. George-Kelly Dakorinima Alabo, said the contract approval was made for the reconstruction and dualisation of the Emohua- Abalama -Tema junction road and the extension of the dualisation of the Ahoada to Omoku Road.

"The executive council ratified the contracts award for the reconstruction and dualisation of

the Emohua to Abalama to Tema junction road. This road is 15.24 kilometers long and will be a dual carriageway with streetlights and it is estimated to cost N21.26 billion," he added.

Alabo spoke further: "In the same vein, the State Executive Council has also ratified the award of the extension of the dualisation of the Ahoada to Omoku Road from Ogbo-Ukordu road junction to Omoku and that is going to cost N48.998 billion.

"This is a 25.4 Kilometer dual carriageway with 7.6 meters lane on each lane and also with streetlights. Both projects will be taken simultaneously, meaning that they will run concurrently."

The Commissioner for Works stated that the contracts were awarded Julius Berger Nigeria Plc and they have 18 months completion period.

"Both projects are estimated at N70.25 billion and the payment

structure will be such that it will be tied to the IGR through an irrevocable standing payment order.

"So an irrevocable standing payment order of N4 billion amount will be made for 18 months. In 17 months, N68 billion would have been paid and by the 18 months the balance of N2.285 billion will be paid."

Alabo also said the state government was looking at the possibility of extending the Emohua-Abalama-Tema road to Ogbakiri community.

According to him, already the feasibility study was ongoing between his ministry and Julius Berger Nigeria Plc. On his part, the Commissioner for Health, Prof. Princewill Chike, disclosed that the council also ratified the Public, Private Partnership arrangements secured for an effective management of the radiotherapy unit of the Dr. Peter Odili Cancer and Cardiovascular

Diagnostic and Treatment Centre, and the Mother and Child Hospital in Port Harcourt.

"So, at this Executive Council Meeting of today, 12th of February 2023, the ratification was given for both facilities; the Mother and Child Hospital, to be managed by the Global Health Managers and a conglomerate of other companies, as well as the Dr. Peter Odili Cancer and Cardiovascular Diagnostic and Treatment Center," he added.

Also speaking, Commissioner for Education, Prof. Chinedu Mmom said council gave approval for the procurement of 1,442,000 textbooks, classics, and encyclopedia that will be distributed to all the public owned primary, nursery, junior secondary and senior secondary schools in the States free of charge.

Also approved for the Nigerian Navy is the Government Model Secondary School, Egberu, Ndoki in Oyigbo that would be used as Naval Headquarters Training Command.

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DEDICATION OF CITY OF DAVID’S TRINITY TOWERS… L-R: Redeemed Christian Church of God(RCCG) Intercontinental Overseer on (CSR)/Pastor-In-Charge of Region 20 and City of David Parish, Mr. Idowu Iluyomade; Wife of the RCCG General Overseer, Mrs. Folu Adeboye; General Overseer, Pastor Enoch Adeboye; Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo; Governor of Lagos State, Babajide Sanwo-Olu and Founder/CEO, Arise Women Foundation Mrs. Siju ETOP UKUTT Iluyomade at the Dedication of City of David’s Trinity Towers in Lagos…yesterday

Vaccines: NAFDAC, Pharmaceutical Firms Partner to Attain WHO Maturity Level Four Status Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) said it has reached agreement with

major players in the nation’s pharmaceutical industry under the aegis of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers GroupManufacturers Association of Nigeria (PMG-MAN) as part

PSN Seeks Stakeholders’ Synergy to Improve Pharmaceutical Services

James Sowole in Abeokuta

The Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN) has stressed the need for synergy among stakeholders in the pharmaceutical industry, for greater efficiency and qualitative service delivery.

PSN President, Prof Cyril Usifoh, made the request, at a two- day annual colloquium of the association with the theme: "Repositioning Pharmacy in an Unstable Economy," held in Lagos.

Usifoh, said the collaboration of stakeholders was key to repositioning the pharmaceutical sector in the country The PSN President disclosed that the colloquium could not have come at a better time than now when the country was grappling with its fair share of financial difficulty with its attendant impact on every sector of the economy including the pharmaceuticals.

He harped on the importance of all arms of the profession, which include hospitals, community, regulatory, academic and industries, working together, to provide what the society desperately need at this critical period of recession.

While saying that no one must be left behind as everyone has something important to add, Usifoh assured that the synergy would avail much good to the pharmacy profession and the society at large.

Usifoh challenged the academia pharmacist to endeavour to produce quality graduates in pharmacy as they remain the future of the profession.

The professor of pharmacy, assured that the association would work with the universities to improve their capacity building

and introduce mentoring programme for young pharmacists.

Speaking at the event, the Chairman of the event, Prince Julius Adeluyi, appealed to members of the profession to stay off the unhealthy rivalry between pharmacists and doctors.

He therefore urged pharmacists to rather focus on how to correct wrong perceptions of the profession and be more committed to rendering qualitative sevices that will boost healthcare of Nigerians.

Speaking at the programme, the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of Fidson Healthcare Plc, Fidelis Ayebae, who lauded the organisers of the colloquium, described pharmacy as one profession that has contributed immensely to national development through.

He harped on the need for researches to grow the profession and develop an action plan to run with. This he said would help to bring in fresh ideas, and of course add value and wealth to the profession.

Ayebae challenged members of the pharmaceutical body to go out there and be impactful not only in contributing to the pharmacy profession, but also identifying with the national polity and relevant authorities for decision making.

Professor of Pharmacy and Vice Chancellor of Chrisland University, Abeokuta, Prof. Peace Chinedum Babalola as well as the Chairman, Planning Committee of the event, Olayinka Oredola, called for more effective science collaboration describing the colloquium as one designed to make pharmacy profession standard and situate itself where it’s supposed to be in healthcare services.

of efforts to attain the World Health Organisation (WHO) Maturity Level 4 status and launch Nigeria into the league of Vaccines and Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs) producers in the world.

The manufacturers, led by the Chairman of PMG-MAN, Dr. Fidelis Ayebae, commended the agency over the achievement of WHO Maturity Level 3, stressing that the group would do everything humanly possible to support NAFDAC to continue to excel in creating an enabling environment for the industry to thrive.

“Let me assure you ma, that if there is one body in foods and drugs and other related chemicals which are under your purview, that want you to succeed more than anything else, that you can call success, it is PMG-MAN,” he said.

Ayebae, who is the Managing Director/ Chief Executive

Officer, of Fidson Healthcare Plc, vowed to galvanise other chief executive officers of pharmaceutical companies in the country to ensure that they have a collaborative relationship with the regulatory body to make its oversight responsibility over the industry most effective and help the industry to grow.

He added that his body would form a technical committee with NAFDAC that would work with the agency to ensure that the industry attains greater heights.

The Director General of NAFDAC, Prof Mojisola Adeyeye, while speaking at the hybrid stakeholders meeting organised by the agency in Lagos, on Pharmaceutical Traceability, disclosed that the nation had to maintain the Maturity Level 3 attained last year by continuing to adhere strictly to the Best Global Practices in regulatory responsibility.

“We are going to strengthen

our operations and be more effective. We are going to get ML4. We are going to get marked for World Listed Authority apart from ML4,” she said.

Adeyeye, in a statement signed by the Resident Media Consultant of NAFDAC, Sayo Akintola, stated that the agency recently met all the requirement of ML3, stressing that, “while doing that we got some requirements also satisfied under ML4, but not all.

Which means our journey is not going to be as difficult as it was for the last four plus years.”

She emphasised the importance of WHO ML4, which according to her would further boost the trade aspect of the Nigeria’s pharmaceutical industry without diminishing its health implications for the Nigerian populace.

The NAFDAC boss said Nigerians would be more confident of the medicines that they take since the process

embarked upon by the Agency is aimed at mitigating against substandard and falsified medicines to a very low prevalence.

She disclosed that it took Ghana 13 years to get ML3, while it took Nigeria four years to attain the prestigious status, adding that achieving ML4 would help the country’s manufacturing industry to grow.

“It will also help importers that are migrating from importation of pharmaceutical products to local manufacturing. It will help in terms of trade,” it added.

She reiterated that NAFDAC would continue to do quality assessment that will lead to trade in the global arena whether in West Africa or globally.

During the COVID-19 Pandemic, Prof Mojisola Adeyeye explained, a Nigerian entrepreneur produced the medical masks that were exported to the U.S.

NNPC, Sahara Group Deliver 24-hour Electricity to Ajoki Community in Edo State Socio-economic growth prospects in Ajoki community, Edo State, have soared following the delivery of uninterrupted power supply to the community by Enageed Resource Limited, a Sahara Group upstream company and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited (NNPCL) According to a statement, available to tens of thousands of beneficiaries, the Enageed Resource Ajoki Gas-to-Power project generates a combined capacity of one megawatt roundthe-clock electricity from gas, in keeping with Sahara Group’s commitment to promoting access to clean energy and spearheading seamless energy transition in Africa.

The project had the NNPC Upstream Investment Management Services (NUIMS) and the Edo State Government as key partners.

“What we initially thought was a pipe dream has eventually

become a reality,” Secretary of Ajoki community, Scott Omasan, was quoted to have said at the handover ceremony.

"The test run has been on since December last year and now the project is in full gear.

Now, small businesses, healthcare, and commercial activities will be transformed in Ajoki. Even residents of neighbouring communities now flock into Ajoki to do one business or the other because of the uninterrupted power in our community," Omasan added.

According to the Head Sustainable Community Development, Olubunmi Lawson, who represented Bala Wunti, the Chief Upstream Investment Officer, NUIMS, the project would foster increase agricultural and economic productivity, higher revenues, better healthcare, and make the environment cleaner.

“NNPC Ltd is committed to timely delivery of social impact

projects across the nation. I want to encourage the good people of Ajoki community to continue to collaboratively work with Enageed Resources Limited to ensure the sustainability of this laudable project,” she said.

The Chief Operating Officer, Asharami Energy (A Sahara Group Upstream Company), Henry Menkiti said: “What we are witnessing today is the product of Sahara Group’s unwavering commitment to seamless stakeholder relations everywhere we operate. We enjoy the support of our host communities where we call home because we continue to work with a shared vision that is centred on making a difference responsibly.”

Menkiti said Asharami Energy remained committed to effectively adapting and responding to climate change trends and positioning the business to harness emerging

opportunities. “Consequently, we measure and monitor Green House Gas (GHG) emissions to effectively manage our Scope 1 emissions and ESG metrics to ensure alignment with best practices and global disclosure standards”.

Also speaking at the event, Ejiro Gray, Director, Governance and Sustainability, Sahara Group, described the project as an outstanding achievement for the energy conglomerate, considering the endless opportunities it offers the Ajoki Community.

“As a responsible organization, one of the key parameters for measuring our progress is to also measure how well our communities are doing. This Gas-to-Power project is so important to us because we’re essentially taking a resource that is available in the community and using it to produce something that is beneficial to Ajoki and its environs” she said.

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THIRD ANNIVERSARY THANKSGIVING SERVICE OF THE DIRI ADMINISTRATION...

L-R: Wife of former Nigerian President, Dame Patience Jonathan, Bayelsa State Governor, Senator Douye Diri and his wife, Dr. Gloria, during the third anniversary thanksgiving service of the Diri administration at the Ecumenical Centre, Igbogene, on Sunday

PDP Urges INEC to Resist Tinubu, APC's Alleged Plot to Postpone Polls NNPP warns against 'fake' opinion poll, says result can stoke violence Adedayo Akinwale and Juliet Akoje in Abuja The Atiku/Okowa Campaign Organisation has called on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to continue to resist the pressure from the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and its presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu, to postpone the forthcoming elections.

In another development, the New Nigeria People's Party (NNPP), has cautioned

unprofessional groups to desist from churning out unsubstantiated opinion polls capable of causing crisis in the country.

Spokesperson of the PDP campaign, Kola Ologbondiyan, in a statement, yesterday, said it was clear that Tinubu, having been demystified and having come to the end of his political games in the face of the dazzling popularity of the Presidential Candidate of the PDP, Atiku Abubakar, was now desperate for a face-saving measure, for

SERAP Seeks ICC Probe of Election-related Violence Udora Orizu in Abuja The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has asked the International Criminal Court (ICC) to seek authorisation from the ICC Chamber to commence an investigation into the situation in Nigeria in relation to the growing cases of pre-election violence, which if not addressed may escalate and lead to post-election violence in the country.

The petition dated February 11, 2023, was sent to Mr. Karim Khan, QC, Prosecutor, ICC. The petition followed reports of election-related violence in several states including, Lagos, Rivers, and Kaduna states.

Over 4,000 cases of violent attacks and 11,000 fatalities were reported across the country between January 1, 2022 and February 3, 2023 alone.

The organisation urged Khan to send the ICC legal team to Nigeria to promote free and fair elections in the country and gather potential proof of electionrelated violence before, during and after the general elections.

The petition signed by SERAP’s Deputy Director, Kolawole Oluwadare, read in part: “SERAP urges you to seek authorisation from the ICC Chamber to commence an investigation into the situation in Nigeria in relation to election-related violence that may be committed during and after the elections scheduled for

February and March 2023.

“SERAP also urges you to identify the suspected perpetrators of election-related violence and those individuals who bear the greatest responsibility for encouraging or facilitating these crimes, and to ensure their effective prosecution by the ICC. “These are not isolated acts, but part of growing cases of election violence, thus constituting crimes against humanity. Seeking authorisation from the ICC Chamber to commence an investigation in relation to election-related violence that may be committed after the general elections is consistent with Article 53(1)(a) of the Rome Statute which allows investigation into ‘a crime which has been or is being committed.

“SERAP notes that the Prosecutor has consistently relied on the provisions of Article 15 of the Rome Statute and Regulation 49 of the ICC to investigate cases of election-related violence in other countries, including Cote d'Ivoire and Kenya.

“The requested investigation is neither frivolous nor politically motivated. Cases of electionrelated violence are rarely investigated by the Nigerian authorities.

“Nigerian authorities are unwilling or unable genuinely to carry out the investigation or prosecution. As a result, suspected perpetrators and those who encourage or facilitate their crimes continue to enjoy impunity.

which his campaign was ready to derail democratic process.

He said: "Our campaign again alerts that the Tinubu/ Shettima Campaign Organisation is desperate for a postponement of the 2023 elections as part of its design to cause panic, create an atmosphere of political uncertainty, destabilise the electoral process and foist an undemocratic situation on our country, having come to a conclusion that its Presidential Candidate, Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has been rejected by Nigerians ahead of the February 25, 2023 Presidential election.

"The Atiku/Okowa Campaign Organisation has been made aware of how agents of the Tinubu/Shettima Campaign, led by a notorious governor of an APC-controlled North West State, were firmly resisted by INEC and other well-meaning prominent personalities in the country in a

recent meeting, where the Tinubu agents had gone to canvass for the postponement of the 2023 polls."

Ologbondiyan stressed that apparently frustrated, the Tinubu/Shettima Campaign has reportedly increased its pressure on INEC while scaling up its notorious resort to public incitements, incendiary comments wild allegations on the policy with the view to further orchestrate violence and heighten tension to justify its demands for election postponement.

According to him, “This accounts for recent reckless allegations by unscrupulous officials of the Tinubu/Shettima Campaign, which has also lined up a series of false alarms, lies and distortions, with the objective of instilling confusion and insecurity in the polity.

Ologbondiyan stressed that what Nigerians expect of Tinubu,

at this time, was to humbly accept his rejection and quit the presidential race, especially now that he has refused to engage in debates or unscripted interviews.

On its part, the NNPP, in a statement signed by the National Publicity Secretary, Agbo Major, claimed that most pollsters connive with politicians to deceive the public, confer undue advantage on some preferred candidates and to deceive undecided voters to move their attention to a dubiously acclaimed winning candidate.

NNPP recalled that sometime in 2011, the country almost went into flames following alleged rigging of elections due to fake opinion polls bandied before the elections, and therefore called on the media to be circumspect in publishing what he called "falsehoods" put together by some faceless groups.

He further charged security

agencies to be alive to their responsibilities by beaming their searchlight on the activities of social media public opinion polls warriors.

"It is disheartening and disturbing the character and result of public opinion polls on the 2023 presidential election being released by selfish and unprofessional groups that don’t have any pedigree, giving misleading results designed to promote certain candidate as a leading contender "More worrisome is that most media houses have fallen for this joke that have many far-reaching implication to the credibility of the elections and the security of the country. One cannot blame the Media for reporting these fake opinion polls, however, the fourth realm of the estate needs to be wary to celebrate these falsehoods in their reportage," he said.

Elections Will Be Peaceful, Defence Minister Assures Nigerians NSCDC CG promises security for corps members Michael Olugbode in Abuja and Blessing Ibunge in Port Harcourt The Minister of Defence, Major General Bashir Magashi (Rtd), has assured the people that the Nigerian Navy as one of the competent armed forces in the country, would fully participate in the general election to ensure a peaceful and violence-free exercise across the country.

At the same time, the Commandant General of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), Dr Ahmed Audi, has expressed the readiness of the Corps to protect members of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), INEC officials and election materials to be deployed for the elections.

Magashi made the assurances, weekend, during the passing out parade of Batch 33 trainees of Nigerian Navy Basic Training School, held at the Nigerian Navy Basic Training School, Onne, Eleme Local Government Area of Rivers State.

Represented by the Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Isiaka Amao, the defence minister stated that the 1562 trainee ratings, who have just graduated from the Navy Basic Training School, have been effectively skilled to combat the present security challenges bedeviling the nation.

He noted that some of them would participate in the elections to ensure successful polls between February 25 and March 11, and charged the newly graduated personnel to be professional in the discharge of their duties during the elections.

"We are not the lead organisation, police is the lead but we are at the periphery to ensure that every activities during the elections are carried out in order.

"We are also to secure every state to ensure that hoodlums do not destroy the activities of the elections. These fine gentlemen and women that have just graduated will be involved in ensuring that we have a save and secured election.

"1562 trainees ratings passed

out. The training commenced six months ago. The young men and women are joining the service at the time our dear country required such trait particularly the members of the arm forces for effectively combating the present security challenges across the country," he said.

The minister, however, advised the graduands, saying, "Certainly, in a few days from today the 2023 general election will take place all over the country and some of you will be deployed to support as part of the military aide to civil authority you must be professional and avoid acts that will bring the arm forces to disrepute."

On his part, the CG of NSCDC, Audi gave the assurance when he played host to the Director General (DG) of the NYSC, Brig. Gen. Yushau Ahmed and some key management staff of the scheme on a courtesy call to the Headquarters of the Corps in Abuja.

Unveiling the purpose of his visit, the DG explained that he was at the Corps National

Headquarters to appreciate the NSCDC for its service to the scheme most especially on the adequate deployment of personnel to NYSC Camps.

He said he intended to strengthen and deepen the relationship between NYSC and NSCDC ahead of the forthcoming elections, because the Corps was a critical partner, and requested it to intensify surveillance that would ensure maximum protection and guarantee the security of Corps members, NYSC camps and places of primary assignments like they do for other critical national assets and infrastructure of government.

Audi was optimistic about the outcome of the scientific synergy existing between the security agencies at the forefront of the elections security management.

He hinted that strategies had been put in place in the interest of national security to address perceived security challenges before, during and after the elections and assured that Corps members would be adequately protected during the exercise.

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TWO MILLION MAN MARCH FOR MBAH...

Governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Enugu State, Dr. Peter Mbah, flanked by Member representing Enugu East/Isi-Uzo Federal Constituency, Hon. Cornelius Nnaji (left) and Director, Support Groups, Enugu PDP Campaign Council, Hon. USA Igweshi, acknowledges cheers from supporters during a "Two Million Man March for Dr. Peter Mbah" in Enugu at the weekend.

Church General Overseer, Theology Student Arrested over Dubai-bound Meth, Skunk NDLEA intercepts 1,430kgs cannabis in LNG truck, others

Micheal Olugbede Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have arrested the founder and General Overseer of Seraphic and Sabbath Assembly, Lagos, Nnodu Azuka Kenrick; a student of Emmanuel College of Theology, Samanta, Ibadan, Udezuka Udoka and their freight agent, Oyoyo Mary Obasi over an attempt to export methamphetamine and skunk consignments concealed in kegs of palm oil through the NAHCO export shed of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, MMIA, Ikeja Lagos to Dubai, United Arab Emirate.

Nnodu was arrested on Saturday, February 11, 2023, at his Seraphic and Sabbath Assembly church located at No 1, Sabbath Close, Ijesha area of Lagos, following the arrest of two suspects: Oyoyo Mary Obasi and the theology student, Udoka, on Thursday February 9, at the Lagos airport in connection with the seizure of 283 parcels of skunk weighing

14.90 kilograms and 204 grams of methamphetamine concealed in four 25-litre kegs of palm oil for export to Dubai.

In her statement, Mary indicted the General Overseer of her newfound church, Nnodu and his son, Chisom Obi, who is presently at large as the persons that gave her the consignments for export after being compelled to take an oath of secrecy as well as a sacrifice of chicken in the church while Nnodu prayed for her for the success of the transaction.

According to a statement from the NDLEA, “spilling the beans on how she was recruited by her church’s GO, Mary said the clergyman and his son used threats to compel her to take the job after they knew she had known their secrets, adding that High Priest Nnodu was always referring to the illicit drugs as Ice and Bible, (Street names for Methamphetamine and Cannabis) in their telephone text message chats.

“The theology student, Udezuka

UNICEF Empowers 18,000 Teachers in North-east with 12 Months Course Kuni Tyessi in Abuja The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) has supported the training of 18,000 unqualified teachers in the north-east in a 12-month course which has improved the standard of education in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe states.

UNICEF Chief of Maiduguri Field Office, Phuong Nguyen, who disclosed this in Maiduguri, during a one-day media dialogue on amplifying the achievements of the Global Partnership for Education (GPE) Accelerated Fund (AP), disclosed that only 29 percent of school teachers have the minimum qualification needed for teaching.

She said with the gesture which was supported by the federal ministry of education, the National Teachers Institute and the Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria, about 1.9 million boys, girls and youth who have been affected by conflict and without access to basic quality education in the region can now be exposed to quality learning.

"Across north-east Nigeria, only 29 per cent of schools have teachers

with the minimum qualification.

The average pupil-teacher ratio is 124 to 1. Almost half of all schools need rehabilitation.

"It is therefore little wonder that, according to the Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (MICS 2012) less than half if children (48.6 percent) complete their primary school education in north east Nigeria.

"About 1.9 million boys, girls and youth affected by conflict are without access to basic quality education in the region. This is inclusive of 56 per cent of all displaced children who are out of school.

"At least one million girls and boys will benefit as these newly certified teachers return to their classrooms equipped with modern and effective teaching methods, including the skills to provide gender sensitive and psychosocial support to learners," she said.

Other aspects of the GPE AF project also target improving access to education with classes in at least 50 schools that have undergone renovation and 50 learning spaces being constructed.

was introduced to Mary to assist her because she was new in the illicit business. Udezuka said he was paid N2million for his role and had to do it because he needed the money for his education.

“Another attempt to send a consignment of skunk and tramadol 225mg to the UAE by a Dubaireturnee, Nnamani Monday Innocent was also frustrated following his arrest at Trade Fair complex in Ojo

area of Lagos, where he had gone in company of his friend Nwanana Emmanuel Ikechukwu with the cargo to a freight company to process the consignment for export on Tuesday 7th February.”

It added: “In the same vein, NDLEA operatives attached to the SAHCO export shed of the Lagos airport same day intercepted a cargo going to London, United Kingdom.

In the consignment containing

food items packed in a carton, the four walls of the carton were used to conceal 1.10 kilograms of methamphetamine while the freight agent, Agholor Emmanuel, who presented the cargo for export was immediately arrested.”

Meanwhile, NDLEA operatives on Tuesday, February 7, intercepted a consignment of 1,340 kilograms of cannabis sativa coming from Ogbese, Ondo state in a liquified natural

gas truck to Okurikang Okoyong in Odukpani LGA, Cross River State.

Following credible intelligence, the movement was monitored for three weeks and upon arrival, 130 bags of cannabis weighing 1.430 tons were recovered from the LNG truck and 13 motorcycles which were hired by the cartel to convey the consignment deep into the forest.

Continued online

Mbah Pledges to Strengthen Community Policing, Deploy Technology in Fighting Insecurity Gideon Arinze in Enugu The governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Enugu State, Dr. Peter Mbah has assured that his administration would strengthen community policing and deploy technology in fighting insecurity as part of efforts to make the state an economic destination.

Mbah, also said if given the opportunity, his administration would also organise the Enugu State Investors Forum geared towards engaging private sector investors within his first 100 days in office, as part of measures to move the state's economy from a public sector to a private sector driven economy.

Mbah, who made this known

yesterday, during an interview monitored on Solid FM’s ‘Freedom Square’ programme, said he remains committed to growing the economy of Enugu State from $4.4 billion to $30 billion.

He, however, noted that part of what was responsible for the fragilities and insecurities across communities in the state were largely unemployment and poverty, hence he has identified programmes in the productive sector that would accelerate employment.

"We can't talk about sustainable development without security," he said.

"We believe that if we can productively engage our youths, then we are able to address these challenges of insecurity effectively.

We have an integrated sector programme that would ensure the acceleration of youth employment," he added.

Speaking further, he said, "If we are able to productively engage our youths, especially across communities where most of the crimes take place, we will have achieved 70 per cent of the problem."

He also said his administration would explore the vast mineral resources in the state, including coal, to grow the state's economy, adding that in a bid to open up rural communities for economic development, he would construct 10,000 kilometres of road across the 260 wards in the state.

"We want to make Enugu the food basket of Nigeria and the

export hub of agriculture and this will also include setting up special agro-allied processing zones across the three senatorial zones in the state," he said.

On the challenge of perennial water scarcity in the state, he said his administration would work with the Enugu Electricity Distribution Company (EEDC), to provide sufficient power supply for the various water schemes and make sure that there is adequate water supply to residents.

"It is not rocket science because we know what we need to meet the daily water consumption of the people which is around 100,000 cubic metres" he said. "We will ensure that rural dwellers are not left out of the scheme of things because for us water is life."

APC Tasks N’West Leaders on Effective Mobilisation Ahead Poll North central group predicts victory for Atiku Says Ortom has no power over electorate George Okoh in Makurdi and Adedayo Akinwale in Abuja The All Progressives Congress (APC) has called on all members of the Presidential Campaign Council (PCC) from the North West zone to join all party leaders at state levels to ensure effective mobilisation of voters on election day.

APC National Vice Chairman for North West, Dr. Salihu Lukman, in a statement, yesterday, reminded party members that all politics was local and victory for the election would be at the polling unit.

This however, is as leader and

conveyer of a top campaign group in the north central states known as Zege Mule U Tiv Vision, Evangelist Hon. Marti Acka, has predicted that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, would win the presidential run.

Speaking on the APC presidential rally held last Saturday in Kebbi State, Lukman said the exercise concluded the phase of the campaign in all the seven states of the North. West zone.

He noted that across all the seven states in the North-West, the leaders and candidates have been able to reconcile with all members and accordingly, resolved all the

challenges arising from internal party contests leading to emergence of candidates for the 2023 elections.

The APC chieftain stressed that the ability of the party leaders to reconcile and forge a united front in the North-West zone was largely responsible for all its successful rallies.

"As we move to Election Day, February 25, 2023, we are confident that our leaders in all the seven states of North-West will give all necessary guide to party members, candidates, and all party supporters.

"We call on all members of the Presidential Campaign Council from the zone to join all our party leaders

at state levels to ensure effective mobilisation of voters on Election Day. We must remind everyone that in the end politics is local and victory for the election will be at the polling unit,” he said.

On her party, Acka, who predicted Atiku’s victory because his presidency is what Nigeria needed at this time to return to the path of glory, also insisted that the Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom, lacked the authority to decide who Benue electorate would vote for in the elections.

Continued online

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FIGHTING CLIMATE CHANGE… L-R: Country Director for French Development Agency (AFD), Xavier Muron; Ambassador of France to Nigeria and ECOWAS, Madame Emmanuelle Blatmann, and Managing Director/CEO, Bank of Industry (BOI), Mr. Olukayode Pitan, during the signing of a grant agreement for €2.5m delegated by the Green Climate Fund (GCF) to fight climate change in Nigeria, held in Abuja...recently

Lagos Orders Closure of Chrisland School over Student’s Death Parents allege negligence

Sunday Ehigiator The Lagos State Ministry of Education has ordered the temporary closure of Chrisland School, Opebi-Ikeja, following the reported death of a student of the School, Whytney Adeyemi.

A statement signed by the State Commissioner for Education, Mrs. Folasade Adefisayo said the closure was ordered pending the outcome of a full investigation into the unfortunate incident.

Adefisayo, on behalf of the State Ministry of Education, commiserated with Mr. and Mrs. Adeyemi, parents of Whytney, and prayed for the repose of her soul.

“We also note the impact of this unfortunate event on family, friends and acquaintance of Whytney and call for calm as we assure that no

effort will be spared in investigating the incident”, the Commissioner stated.

Meanwhile, the parents of the 12-year-old deceased student yesterday, took to the social media to accuse the school of negligence in the death of their daughter, Whitney Adeniran, who allegedly slumped and died during the school’s interhouse sports activities held last week.

In an online post, the Father of the deceased, Michael Adeniran, said his daughter died on Thursday, February 9, 2023, at the Agege Stadium, during the school’s inter-house sports.

According to him, the child had no health condition or sickness when the school bus picked her up for the event and was shocked to see the lifeless body of his daughter when he arrived.

Adeniran, who also said there was

no explanation given to him and his wife from the school, added that his wife was present at the stadium, but the school did not call her attention to the incident immediately.

“To the biggest shock of my life by 1 pm, I got a call from my wife that she was informed that our daughter slumped at the inter-house sport and she was rushed to the clinic.

“My wife was at the venue even before the event started. She was never informed or called until they had conveyed our child out of the venue before they informed her.

“On arrival of my wife at the health centre where they took my daughter, my daughter was lying dead with her lips black and her tongue black.

“My wife called me urgently; I left my office and found my 12-year-old daughter lying dead on

the ground. I asked questions about what happened to my daughter and the school authority could not get me any information as to what happened to my child in their care.

“I gave Chrisland School a healthy vibrant young girl, what Chrisland returned to me was a dead child. My entire family is in deep sorrow but the school authorities claim they know nothing about my daughter’s death and all they know is that my daughter slumped and died.”

In a separate post, the Mother, Blessing Adeniran, narrated that the school was to have its annual sporting competition on February 9 at the Agege Stadium.

The mother said, when she couldn’t find her child in any of the activities at the stadium, she was told she slumped.

The mother said her daughter was already dead when she caught up with the team that rushed Whitney to the health centre.

She raised the alarm that the school had no provision for emergency response, hence didn’t administer first aid.

“No ambulance, doctors, or medical personnel in a place where you have about 500 students and over 100 parents. I rushed in to meet Whitney’s corpse on her deathbed.

This happened in less than 10 minutes,” the mother said.

“I saw the staffer who went with her. I asked the doctor what happened and she said it looks like a cardiac arrest. How does a 12-year-old have a cardiac arrest without any pre-existing medical condition?

“If she was sick with even so much as a headache, I wouldn’t have let

her go for the sport. By the time I got there, my daughter’s lips and tongue had already turned black. I jacked her up onto my chest but got no response.”

Reacting to the parent's accusation through a statement yesterday, Chrisland School said Whitney was ill 20 days before the inter-house sports event.

Chrisland said Whitney had reported “not-too-buoyant” health on January 20. Based on proximity considerations, the school said it opted to take Whitney to a health centre, not a hospital.

“Whitney was one of our day students who opted not to participate in the inter-house sports match-past for reasons we were not very sure about.

Continued online

GOVERNORS MOVE TO STALL SUPREME COURT REVERSAL OF CURRENCY SWAP TILL AFTER ELECTION servants from enforcing the deadline date of 10th February 2023, wherein the old N200, N500, and N1000 currency notes cease to be legal tender, pending the hearing and determination of the motion on notice".

The applicants added that the court should give "an order compelling the respondent to extend the submission of old N200, N500 and N2000 currency notes by a minimum of six months before same are finally called in and cease to be a legal tender, pending the hearing and determination of the motion on notice."

In a 26-paragraph Supporting Affidavit deposed to by the 3rd Applicant, Omoyele Ishola, he stated that the respondent did not give adequate notice to the public and failed to print enough new N200, N500 and N1000 notes to ensure efficient supply and circulation.

He added that the undeniable scarcity of the new N200, N500 and N1000 notes had caused untold hardship on the applicants and the general public. He averred that the respondent had also insisted that the members of the public would not be able to deposit the old N200, N500 and N1000 notes in their possession after the expiration of the 17th February, 2023 deadline.

The deponent stated, "I know as a fact that the respondent disclosed this in an interview with Arise News that upon failure to submit the old notes before the expiration of the deadline, the money would lose its legal tender value.

"That I also know as a fact that while the 2nd Respondent has the power to demonetise the currency,

it has no right to erase the value acquired by individuals.

"That the Respondent has not complied with or acted in accordance with the provisions of the CBN Act, 2007.”

He stated that when the First Applicant visited Nigeria from the United States of America on December 29, 2022, he withdrew old naira notes from an ATM operated

by First Bank of Nigeria Plc, and after completing his assignment in Nigeria, he returned to the United States with the old naira notes.

He stated that the respondent did not have the power to prescribe a deadline for submitting the old N200, N500 and N1000 currency notes, and had failed to provide a means whereby Nigerians resident abroad could exchange their old N200, N500, N1000 notes.

He added that the failure of the respondent to make the new naira notes available had caused untold hardships on the applicants, many Nigerians, both at home and abroad.

Ishola added that the group (2nd applicant) found it very difficult to make proper arrangements for its inauguration coming up on February 11, 2023, and could not access cash to pay for commodities, due to the extremely long queues at the ATMs, and the limited amounts of cash available for withdrawal over the counter and being dispensed by the machines.

He stated that the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan administration also redesigned the N20 and N50 currency notes, following which the old and the new Naira notes were both legal tender for over two

years before the old notes went out of circulation.

Consequently, the applicants sought the following reliefs, "An Order of Interim injunction restraining the Respondent and her Privies, agents or servants from enforcing the deadline date of 10th February 2023 wherein the old N200, N500 and N1000 currency notes cease to be a legal tender, pending the hearing and determination of the Motion on notice.

"An Order compelling the Respondent to extend the submission of old N200, N500 and N1000 currency notes by a minimum of six months before same are finally called in and cease to be legal tender, pending the hearing and determination of the Motion on notice.”

In the alternative, the group asked the court for "an Order of Interim Injunction restraining the Respondent from setting a deadline for submitting old N200, N500 and N1000 currency notes, such deadline being alien to the provisions of the Central Bank of Nigeria Act, 2007, pending the hearing and determination of the Motion on notice."

Resist Politicians’ Votebuying Antics, Catholic Bishops Tell Nigerians However, the CBCN has charged Nigerians to resist the dubious practice of vote buying.

The bishops urged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) not to toy with the confidence and trust Nigerians placed on them by ensuring that

the processes involved in the forthcoming elections are bereft of all forms ambiguity capable of offending the collective sensibility of Nigerians.

In his Pastoral Letter delivered yesterday, at the opening of the conference, CBCN President, Archbishop of Owerri, Most Rev. Lucius Iwejuru Ugorji, urged the electorate to resolve to vote according to their conscience and convictions.

While condemning vote-buying, Ugorji said the practice of inducing the poor and vulnerable voters to cast their votes for a particular candidate in exchange for some financial reward seeks to deny such citizens their real voice and choice in the electoral process.

"More to the point, such brazen use of wealth offends the dignity of the poor and vulnerable while making it increasingly difficult for good but poor candidates to contest and win elections.

“Therefore, we urge Nigerians to stoutly resist the odious practice and resolve to vote according to one's conscience and convictions," he said.

Ugorji while cautioning politicians to be mindful of the tone of their campaign messages, also reminded the leadership of the country's judiciary not to engage in abuse judicial power and office.

He expressed regret that, "judicial corruption has risen as politicians seek to importune judges with unprintable sums of money to overturn the will of the people in fair elections."

Speaking, the president of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) said the association

had provided guidelines to all Christians, urging them to use factors like character, capacity and competence in choosing the preferred presidential candidate.

He said CAN had also concluded the training of total of 1200 observers who would be deployed at national and local levels to monitor the 2023 general elections.

The Archbishop used the occasion to condemn the attack on supporters of the Labour Party presidential candidate, Mr. Peter Obi, by thugs during their rally in Lagos, describing it as worrisome.

In his goodwill message, the Dean of the Church in Nigeria, Anglican Communion, Most Rev. Buns Lamido, who represented the Prelate, enjoined Nigerians to participate actively in the process of governance.

He explained that participation was a key element of good governance system which provides citizens the opportunity to monitor and influence public decision, processes and actions.

Ganduje Shuts Down Wellcare Supermarket over Refusal to Accept Notes Kano State Governor, Dr. Abdullahi Gandjue, instructed the chairman of the State Consumer Protection Council, Dr. Baffa Babba Dan Agundi, to shut down Wellcare supermarket, which sold food products and drugs, for refusing to accept the old naira notes from customers.

Agundi disclosed that after shutting down the supermarket,

legal action would be taken against the company. The order of the closure followed the refusal of WellCare supermarket to accept the old naira notes from customers, contrary an instruction by the Kano State government to residents of the state to continue accepting the old currency.

He warned other marketers in Kano to be aware that the state government had not banned the use of old N200, N500 and N1, 000 as legal tender, stressing that any shop caught not receiving the old notes would be dealt with decisively.

It was gathered that Wellcare Alliance Limited had sent a plea and an apology letter to Ganduje for immediate intervention to re-open the supermarket.

The letter read, “Due to the federal government policy on the new naira notes we gave wrong instructions to our staff that from the 10th day of February 2023, only the new approved naira notes are to be in circulation, on an expansive investigation with our bankers they declined to receive old naira notes on our behalf, unknown to all parties that the state has a policy that the old notes are to be in circulation.

“On this basis we sincerely apologise for our actions and deeply regret any inconvenience this may have caused the state.

“We humbly plead that our business should be re-opened for deserving members of the public as we undertake to receive old notes as valid tender to when the state issues and otherwise directive.

Please do accept our regards and sincere apologies.”

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NEWS

LUBRICANT BRAND OF THE YEAR AWARDS...

L-R: Consultant to Lubcon Nigeria Limited, Mr. Kayode Sote; CEO, MannaBiz Nigeria Limited, Alhaji Azeez Taiwo; Managing Director, Lubcon Nigeria Limited, Mr. Taiye Williams; Representative of Woopet Ogbus Ventures, Mrs. Chioma Anyanwu, and CEO Gold Touch Technologies Nigeria Limited, Mr. Jehu Omoruku during the presentation of West Africa Best Premium Lubricant Brand of the Year Awards to Lubcon Nigeria Limited at the 12th West African Brands Excellence Awards 2023 held in Lagos...recently ABIODUN AJALA

UN: Poll Violence Starts With Divisive Statements, Hate Speech Michael Olugbode in Abuja

The United Nations has warned that election violence often started with divisive statements and hate speech, and therefore, urged all candidates and their supporters in the coming elections to eschew violence, promote peace and be issue-based in their campaigns.

UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Nigeria, Matthias Schmale, said, “Electoral violence undermines inclusive electoral processes, especially, with regard to rule of law and human rights including women’s participation.”

Schmale made the statement, weekend, during a highlevel consultations with key stakeholders and signing of Enugu State Peace Accord, organised by the National Peace Committee, The Kukah Centre, the United Nations, and the Enugu State Peace Committee.

He emphasised that it was important to include and maximize the presence of religious and traditional leaders as well as

active civil society organisations, including women and youth groups in Enugu State, who could disseminate messages promoting peaceful elections all the way down to the state’s 17 local government areas.

The Resident Coordinator acknowledged thus: “We know that peaceful elections in Nigeria start with peaceful elections in Local Government Areas and the States. Enugu must claim its status as one of the prominent states in the nation, where peace reigns and where political differences and intolerance are managed through non-violent means.”

He further warned that the reputation of Enugu would be at stake if violence and insecurity were to take hold in the state before, during, or after the elections.

“Members of the Enugu State Peace Architecture and other stakeholders are already engaged in promoting social cohesion and enhancing the role of alternative dispute resolution mechanisms,”

he said, adding: “I would like to pledge the continued support of the UN for these efforts.”

Representing the National Peace Committee, Emmanuel Nkanka, read out the draft Peace Accord which was also projected on the

screen for all participants to see, and urged all candidates and political parties to live by the letters and spirit of the peace accord they signed.

The Enugu State Commissioner of Police, CP Ahmed Ammani,

assured that the police, in active collaboration with other security agencies, would continue to work hard to maintain security before, during and after the elections.

Resident Electoral Commissioner for Enugu State,

Dr. Chukwuemeka Chukwu, confirmed that his office had received assurances from the security agencies in Enugu State that INEC facilities and personnel would be fully secured before, during and after the elections.

Buni Not Stoned at Any Rally, DG Campaign Clears Air Michael Olugbode in Damaturu The Director General of Yobe State Campaign Council, Senator Mohammed Hassan, has denied rumours that, Governor Mai Mala Buni of the state was stoned during a tour of Gashua, one of the biggest towns in the state.

Some local news outlets had reported that the governor was pelted with stone during his campaign tour of Gashua.

Responding to enquiries from journalists at the weekend, Hassan popularly

called Dambu, said the story making the round that Buni was pelted with stone at the All Progressives Congress (APC) rally was the handiwork of the opposition.

He said the alleged stoning of the governor by some irate youths was a figment of imagination of some mischievous opponents.

"What is being concocted and peddled around was not true. Sincerely, speaking, I was among those standing on the surface of the podium when the whole drama started.

"We gave chance for the Senate

President, Ahmed Lawal to first address the crowd knowing full well that being an indigene of the town, he should say something before any other person.

Unfortunately, immediately after he finished his turn, as Governor Mai Mala stood to take his turn many unwanted elements also took to the podium. Later, we realised that the podium could not withstand the load, so all of us decided to go down in a hurry.

“To my knowledge, that was all that happened, but to everybody's dismay, we learned about so many

negative versions of the story.

Consequently, we smiled that it was the handiwork of the opposition who are out to create mischief by providing false scenarios against our campaign team.

"What they did didn't come as a surprise simply they noticed the way and manner we are conducting our rallies, particularly in major towns of the state, that is why they the (opposition) introduced what they did in Gashua just to reduce our governor and the entire All Progressives Congress, campaign members,” he said.

TINUBU TO CBN: ALLOW OLD, NEW NAIRA NOTES CO-EXIST TILL 2024...PDP TO APC LEADERS: STOP PUNISHING NIGERIANS BY HOARDING NOTES current lemons."

Tinubu also aligned himself with the advice of the Council of State as a necessary starting point to begin redressing the unintended consequences of what would have otherwise been a good policy that required mainstream adoption.

Tinubu added, "We advise the immediate suspension of associated charges on online transactions and bank transfers and payments via PoS until the current crisis is fully resolved.

“This cost should be considered a roll-out expense by the CBN to incentivise the envisaged shift to alternative transaction channels; for both the financial services consuming public and those in charge of implementing the scale-up programme.

"Mobilise all money deposit banks, payment platforms to show clear commitment and timelines on expanding their infrastructure and support services.

"Bring in fintech companies with capabilities into currency swap

programme for the next 90 days to help decongest banking halls and ATM points where people line up for hours."

Tinubu further called on the CBN and other relevant MDAs to form an Inter-Agency Action Committee for immediate oversight over the cash supply gaps from the Nigerian Security and Minting Company and deal with issues around capabilities and turnaround time to meet the needs of the informal sector and unbanked people.

He said the CBN, the National Orientation Agency, and Ministry of Information, State and Local Governments with their relevant organs in both the public and private sectors should commence a major public enlightenment and sensitisation campaign to further educate and empower the people on the new naira and cashless policy for better understanding and mainstream adoption.

"As leaders, our commitment to our country everyday must be on how to make life better for our

people and we are called upon not to waste the opportunity the moment presents to us to ramp up capacity and capability to serve 200 million Nigerians, leaving no one behind and ultimately improve the living conditions of every single Nigerian."

PDP: Tinubu, APC Leaders Should Stop Punishing Nigerians by Hoarding New Naira Notes PDP called on leaders of APC, Tinubu, and APC state governors to immediately release billions of new naira notes allegedly in their custody and halt the anguish being experienced by Nigerians.

National Publicity Secretary of PDP, Debo Ologunagba, in a statement yesterday, said it was instructive to state that the controversial naira redesign and swap policies were programmes of the APC administration, which

was also completely in control of the production and circulation of the new notes.

He noted that the APC leaders, having realised that they could not win in the 2023 general election, sabotaged the system and diverted the new Naira notes so as to create widespread social unrest to justify their plan to derail the elections and truncate the nation's democracy.

Ologunagba noted that it was wicked and unpardonable that the same band of deceptive, sneaky and hypocritical APC leaders allegedly involved in intercepting and hoarding of new naira notes were going about trying to hoodwink Nigerians by posturing as though they were concerned about their plight.

He said, "Our party has been informed by some well-meaning APC members on how six APC state governors led by a particular infamous governor of a prominent state in the North-west region are coordinating the hoarding of new naira notes for the vote buying

scheme of the APC ahead of the February 25, 2023 presidential election.

"The PDP has also been made aware of how APC governors are allegedly warehousing the new naira notes in facilities owned by APC interests in Lagos, Kano, Kogi, Kaduna, Imo and other parts of the country for the purpose of vote buying for Senator Tinubu in the presidential election."

Ologunagba said Nigerians could recall that the APC was recently busted in the process of allegedly swapping the sum of N22.5 billion in old N1000 notes for new ones in Kano State for vote buying, in a deal wherein a substantial part of the old notes was allegedly conveyed to Lagos State for secret swapping with new notes.

He noted that it was, therefore, callous for APC leaders to continue to watch Nigerians spend nights at ATM stands, fight one another in bank halls and ATM centres for cash, with millions stranded

without money to take care of their daily needs.

The main opposition party called on Nigerians to hold the APC and its leaders directly responsible for the pain, economic hardship, social dislocation and psychological distress they were going through on account of APC induced cash scarcity in the country.

According to Ologunagba, APC has again demonstrated that it is a party of very cruel, insensitive and self-centred politicians who delight in inflicting pain, anguish and life-discounting situations on citizens in the last seven and a half years of the APC administration.

PDP urged Nigerians not to allow the deception, lies and shenanigans of APC to detract from their collective resolve to end the era of misery in the country by voting Atiku Abubakar as the next president of Nigeria so that he could commence the onerous task of rebuilding the country from the abysmal misrule of APC.

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I CAN FEEL YOUR PAIN...

Delta State Governor and Vice Presidential Candidate of Peoples Democratic Party, Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa (right), and the family of Inspector Celestine Nwadiokwu, one of the three police officers attached to Government House, Asaba who was killed in Anambra State, during the governor's condolence visit to Nwadiokwu’s family in Owa Ekei…yesterday

N3bn Fraud: Kogi Gov's Wife, Nephew Know Fate as Trial Resumes Today Bawa baselessly fixated on us, says state government Kingsley Nwezeh in Abuja The money laundering trial of two family members of the Kogi State Governor, Yahaya Bello, who were his wife, Rashida Bello (still at large) and nephew, Ali Bello, resumes today before Justice Obiora Egwuatu of the

Federal High Court, Abuja.

But the Kogi State government has lambasted the Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Abdulrasheed Bawa, for what it called baseless fixation on the state's affairs with spurious allegations in a bid to satisfy

New Community Newspaper Unveiled The Question Marker, a media outfit based in Lagos, has announced the launch of IkejaRecord.com, a new community newspaper that aims to cover the politics, business, and culture of Ikeja and surrounding communities.

The newspaper was unveiled on February 10, 2023.

IkejaRecord.com is part of the first cohort of the Nigeria Media Innovation Project (NAMIP), a threeyear initiative working to increase capacity, generate sustainable and diverse revenue streams, and build audiences of independent media in Nigeria, particularly those reaching underserved communities. NAMIP is funded by the MacArthur Foundation.

The news platform, according to a statement, would facilitate access to quality, timely information that is critical to the health of the Ikeja community.

According to the founding member of IkejaRecord.com, Solomon Elusoji. "People want to know who their neighbours are; people want to know if there’s going to be traffic on their way to work; people want to know why there was a protest at the roundabout that leads to their street yesterday and what the government is doing about it; people want to know when the road that runs through their streets will be tarred, when the potholes will be fixed; people want to know why the waste vans haven’t come around in two weeks. People want to know a lot of things. And they are not getting it.”

Elusoji added, “Quality information leads to knowledge; it leads to civic awareness. It helps people to be able to demand more

from their representatives. It can also help to build trust between the governed and the governors, between those who lead and those who are led.

“Because if you demand for more and your representatives can show you how they are responding to your demands, or maybe why they can’t, then you begin to develop some inner ease, some comfort, knowing that something is being done to allay your worries, your fears.”

The vision for IkejaRecord.com is to be more than just a newspaper, says another co-founder, Ikechukwu Onyewuchi.

He added that the goal was for IkejaRecord.com to be an information resource database, where members of the community can go when they need any kind of information - the best restaurants in town, the cheapest spot to buy groceries, what the local government is up to.

The publication also wants to give the community members a voice. So when they feel slighted, when they sense any whiff of injustice, when they don’t like something about the community or the direction it is heading, they want to be able to pass them the mic and get them heard.

The publishers of IkejaRecord. com believe that every member of the community should feel seen, valued, and understand that they are a part — a very important part — of something bigger than themselves. They are excited to be able to provide this service to the community and look forward to growing and evolving with the community.

certain political interests.

Ali Bello was among four defendants remanded upon arraignment on February 8, 2023 on 18-count charge bordering on criminal misappropriation and money laundering to the tune of N3,081,804,654.00.

The other defendants were Abba Adauda, Yakubu Siyaka Adabenege and Iyada Sadat.

Count one of the charge read: “That you, Ali Bello, Abba Adaudu, Yakubu Siyaka Adagbenege, Iyada Sadat Rashida Bello (at large) sometime in June, 2020 in Abuja within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court procured E- Traders International Limited to retain the aggregate sum of N3,081,804,654.00 which sum you reasonably ought to have known forms part of proceeds of unlawful activity to wit: criminal misappropriation, and you thereby committed an offence contrary to sections 18(a), 15(20)(d) of the Money Laundering Prohibition Act, 2011 as amended and punishable under section 15 (3) of the same Act.” Count 3 stated thus: “That you, Ali Bello, Abba Adaudu, Rashida Bello (at large) sometime in November, 2021 in Abuja within the jurisdiction of this

Honorable Court procured E-Traders International Limited to transfer the aggregate sum of $570,330 to account number no; 426-6644272 domiciled in TD Bank, United States of America, which sum you reasonably ought to have known forms part of proceeds of unlawful activity to with: criminal misappropriation, and you thereby committed an offence contrary to section 15(2)(d) of the Money Laundering Prohibition Act, 2011 as amended and punishable under section 15 (3) of the same Act.” Count 17 listed as, “That you, Ali Bello, Abba Adaudu, Rashida Bello (at large) between 26th July, 2021-6th April, 2022 in Abuja within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court procured E-Traders International Limited to remove from the jurisdiction of the Honourable Court to account no. 426-664-4272 domiciled in TD Bank, United States of America, the aggregate sum of $570,330 which sum you reasonably ought to have known forms part of the proceeds of unlawful activity to wit; criminal misappropriation, and you thereby committed an offence contrary to section 15(2) ( c ) of the Money Laundering Prohibition Act, 2011 as amended and punishable

under section 15 ( 3 )of the same Act.” Count 18 further read, “That you, Ali Bello Abba Adaudu, Rashida Bello (at large) between 26th July 2021 -6th April, 2022 in Abuja within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court procured E-Traders International Limited to remove from the jurisdiction of the Honourable Court to account no. 426-664-4272 domiciled in TD Bank, United States of America, the aggregate sum of $845,852.84 which sum you reasonably ought to have known forms part of the proceeds of unlawful activity to wit; criminal misappropriation, and you thereby committed an offence contrary to section 15(2)(c ) of the Money Laundering Prohibition Act, 2011 as amended and punishable under section 15 ( 3 ) of the same Act.” The defendants pleaded not guilty to the charges, and in view of their pleas, prosecuting counsel, Rotimi Oyedepo (SAN), urged the court to give a trial date to enable the prosecution to prove its case.

Defence counsel, Ahmed Raji (SAN), prayed the court to grant his client bail pending the hearing and determination of the case.

But Justice Egwuatu remanded

them and adjourned the case till today, February 13, 2023, for hearing and determination of their bail applications, a statement issued by the spokesman of EFCC, Wilson Uwujaren, said.

Meanwhile, the Kogi State government, in a statement by the Commissioner for Information and Communications, Kingsley Fanwo, said it was sad that an agency charged with the responsibility of fighting graft in the country had turned itself into a pawn in the hands of political opponents of the Kogi State government with untamed desperation to damage the integrity of the governor and the government of the state.

It said the shadow chasing by the EFCC and their known and unknown sponsors would not distract the current administration in the state from serving the people.

In a statement titled: "EFCC has become an embarrassment to Nigeria", the state government called on the Inspector-General of Police to immediately effect the arrest of Bawa and commit him to prison as ruled by a competent court.

Continued online

Jang to Lalong: For Your Ineptitude, Shame Awaits You at Polls Says G-5 govs not supporting, working for Tinubu Seriki Adinoyi in Jos Immediate past Governor of Plateau State, Senator Jonah Jang, has taken a swipe at his successor, Mr. Simon Lalong and his All Progressives Congress (APC), warning that their shame was imminent at the coming polls as Plateau people would not spare them for bringing shame on the state.

He said he was amazed that rather than hiding his face over his abysmal performance in the past eight years, Lalong still had the guts to try to denigrate him, adding that his record of performance in office towered higher for even the blind to see.

Jang had reacted to comments attributed to Lalong at the flag-off of the APC campaign rally in Wase

Local Government headquarters, where he alleged that the G-5 governors and allies including Jang were working for the APC presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu.

Jang, in a statement by his media consultant, Clinton Garuba, said such unguarded comments by Lalong showed he was daydreaming.

According to him, the statement, which sought to disparage and cast the former governor in bad light as well as curry some favour for his anointed candidate and the APC was nothing but the "last kicks of a dying horse."

He added that Lalong, it seemed has just woken up from his slumber of almost 8 years and discovered he has spent these years doing nothing in the interest of Plateau people, hence the degeneration to

daydreaming.

He said the vituperations from Lalong would have been dismissed as the outbursts of a deeply frustrated person, who had taken a difficult task of marketing a bad product all in the need to stay relevant in politics, “but for the misleading comments he made, there was no need to dignify him with a response since we know that anything outside his written speeches are not only disjointed, but profane babbling that makes no semantic sense.”

He clarified that G-5 Governors had repeatedly said they did not have personal problems with the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, but with the process that brought him up and the ensuing

structural imbalance it created in the party.

“Yes, the integrity group has disagreements with the PDP and their withdrawal of support for the PDP presidential candidate’s campaign does not in any way suggest that they support the APC candidate.

Only Lalong and his fellow dreamers think so and will stop at nothing to mislead the public in order to get favourable feedback for a bad product they so desperately want to sell.

“Need we remind the governor once more that this again is a figment of his imagination conjectured to put him in good stead with the Plateau people he long abandoned in pursuit of personal interest that clearly undermine the Plateau people he claims to govern,” he stated.

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T H I S D AY ˾ MONDAY FEBRUARY 13, 2023

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Acting Group Politics Editor DEJI ELUMOYE

POLITICS

Email: deji.elumoye@thisdaylive.com 08033025611 SMS ONLY

M O N D AY D I S C O U R S E As House Parleys with CBN, Others over Currency Swap Udora Orizu writes that the House of Representatives ad-hoc committee on naira re-design and swap policy has been meeting with CBN and other relevant stakeholders to find solution to scarcity of the redesigned currency and deadline for phasing out of the old naira notes

Gbajabiamila

S

ince the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, last October, announced that the apex bank would redesign the N200, N500 and N1,000 banknotes with January 31,2023 as the deadline for the return of the old notes to the banks, he has been on a collision course with many political leaders, particularly members of the National Assembly who wants the deadline postponed and more new naira made available to “ameliorate the citizens sufferings”.

The House of Representatives had last year summoned Emefiele to brief it on several policies of the apex bank, particularly on the newly introduced currency and the withdrawal limit regimes.

The CBN had put cash withdrawal limit at N100,000 per week for individuals and N500,000 for the same period for corporate entity and announced the redesign of N200, N500 and N1000 which were to cease to be legal tender on January 31.

On the day the meeting was supposed to be held, Emefiele informed the House that he was outside the country on official engagement and was re-invited to appear either in person or by proxy.

But he could not come as he said he was still abroad and this time attending to some health challenges and delegated his deputy to brief the House.

Agreeing, the Speaker of the House, Hon Femi Gbajabiamila, urged his colleagues to allow Emefiele’s representative to brief the House as his excuse was health based. After listening to their guest’s explanations and responses to the concerns of the House, Gbajabiamila said the parliament would deliberate on them and take a position.

As the position of the green chamber was yet to be made public, the House had last month called for a six month extension for the exchange of the old notes. It also constituted an ad-hoc committee chaired by the Majority Leader, Alhassan Ado-Doguwa to meet with CBN and Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) of commercial banks over the scarcity of the redesigned currency.

The first meeting was rescheduled, reason for which Doguwa said was late delivery of invitation letters to the financial institutions and it was slated for the next day. But again, CBN did not show up, the deputy governor (corporate services), Edward Adamu, in a letter to the House said the CBN Governor was on President Muhammadu Buhari’s delegation to Dakar, Senegal and could not appear before the ad-hoc committee.

Frowning at the development, Gba-

Emefiele

jabiamila threatened to issue a warrant of arrest on Emefiele and any CEO of a commercial bank that refused to appear before the ad-hoc committee.

The CBN after a meeting with President Buhari announced the extension of the deadline to February 10 to enable the exchange of the old notes.

However, this did not pacify the Doguwa committee as they rejected the extension and insisted that the CBN governor must honour its invitation.

When Emefiele eventually appeared before the ad-hoc committee, he and his team first had a brief closed-door meeting with the lawmakers.

Thereafter the CBN Governor, before answering questions thrown at him by the lawmakers, apologised for not honouring their summons due to some uncertainties and assured that he was on the same page with them.

The Doguwa-led committee, on their part, only expressed regrets over the failure of Emefiele to honour its invitation and softly asked him to stick to the laws in the implementation of the policies.

Emefiele further doused the earlier heightened tension among the lawmakers that the old notes would be redeemed even after the February 10 deadline as they were seen beaming with smiles and calling for adjournment.

Apparently satisfied, Doguwa thanked Emefiele and said if he had given the assurances earlier, there would not have been any need for the meeting.

Doguwa

Ahmed

However, as Nigerians faced more hardships over the scarcity of the new naira notes, Gbajabiamila on February 5 said that the House would have no option but to reconvene before the February 25 elections if the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) failed to address the issue.

The Speaker said the House would continue to monitor the CBN’s implementation of the policy closely following the Green Chamber’s meeting with Emefiele, on the issue.

On February 9, the adhoc committee in continuation of its meeting had invited the minister of finance, Zainab Ahmed, the Managing Director, Nigerian Security, Minting and Printing Company, Ahmed Halilu and the Chairman, Independent National Electoral Commission INEC, Professor Mahmoud Yakubu and the Director of Currency Operations in the CBN to appear before it, but the invitees took excuses for their absence.

However, the National Security Adviser (NSA), Maj. Gen. Babagana Monguno, who sent a representative appealed to the lawmakers to come up with practicable solutions to the attendant economic crisis arising from the scarcity of the redesigned naira notes.

Represented by Rear Admiral Abubakar A. Mustapha, a director in charge of the secretariat that conducts general security appraisal of committee with special focus on elections and other security situations exigencies in his office, the NSA said the policy was affecting military operations in some areas, stressing that some soldiers on the battle fronts were having financial difficulties.

Monguno said, “Because of the sensitivity of some of the information that will come bothering on security, there are things you cannot say in the media. But that being said, globally, military operations even in the first world countries, such policies if not well thought out

will affect some certain things because some of our soldiers are deployed in places where they cannot actually access digital means of paying whatever daily subsistence. One of the main issues that the NSA has been talking about is that this committee sits down and articulate better ways of addressing these issues and he has directed committee in his office which I am part of to write out his position to assist the committee to meet its mandate. On more detailed level, I will be able to talk to the the committee when the press leave”.

Earlier in his remarks, the chairman of the committee, Hon. Alhassan Ado Doguwa, said the CBN policy was unpopular and had subjected Nigerians to untold hardships, adding that it was a threat to the general elections.

He said “We are therefore mandated to continue to follow up not only with the CBN as an agency or as a major regulator of our financial system but to follow up with all other relevant agencies that may have fallen in one way or the other important in the discussions before us.

It is on that note that the committee sat yesterday and we decided that we need to interface with some very relevant agencies that would have a very significant role to play in the implementation of this very important policy. The policy is undoubtedly very unpopular among the people. It has created a lot of hardships among our people and in the economy.

The policy has posed a lot of threat to our security and of course, the upcoming general election coming in the next few days.

“And it is on that ground that we have decided to invite the ministry of finance, being the ministry that controls the fiscal policy of the government. We also found it fit to invite the director of currency operation, who of course, is under the ministry of finance and the printing and minting company. The committee also decided to invite the chief executive of the printing and minting company, the National Security Adviser (NSA) and of course, the Chairman of the National Electoral Commission (INEC).”

Doguwa added that the Committee would be forced to use the legislative instrumentality to cause appearance of any invitee that refused to honour the invitation.

In the coming days, the Committee is expected to continue the meeting with the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Mahmood Yakubu; Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Dr. Zainab Ahmed and Director of Currency Operations at CBN, who were absent at the last meeting.

It is on that ground that we have decided to invite the ministry of finance, being the ministry that controls the fiscal policy of the government. We also found it fit to invite the director of currency operation, who of course, is under the ministry of finance and the printing and minting company. The committee also decided to invite the chief executive of the printing and minting company, the National Security Adviser (NSA) and of course, the Chairman of the National Electoral Commission (INEC)

19

T H I S D AY ˾ MONDAY FEBRUARY 13, 2023

MONDAY DISCOURSE

Nnamani Taking Bullets for Supporting Tinubu For supporting All Progressives Congress presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, a former governor of Enugu State and Senator representing Enugu East Senatorial District in the National Assembly, Dr Chimaroke Nnamani, is being punished by his party, the Peoples Democratic Party, over alleged anti-party activities. Sunday Aborisade reports

Nnamani

S

ince Bola Tinubu, a former governor of Lagos State emerged as the standard bearer of the All Progressives Congress for the February 25, 2023 Presidential Election, his friend who served as governor of Enugu State from 1999 to 2007, has not hidden his preference for the APC candidate above the flagbearer of his own party, Atiku Abubakar, a situation that had earned him, an instant expulsion from the main opposition party.

The National Working Committee of the PDP, weilded the big stick against Nnamani on February 10 after reviewing it’s earlier decision taken on January 28, this year, to suspend the Senator and six others, based on the report of its National Disciplinary Committee, which recommended their suspension.

In a statement signed by Debo Ologunagba, the PDP spokesperson, the party said, “The National Working Committee (NWC) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) at its 566th meeting today, Friday, February 10, 2023, approved the expulsion of the following individuals from the Party for anti-Party activities and other grave offences in violation of the Constitution of the PDP (as amended in 2017) “Those expelled from the Party are: Senator Chimaroke Nnamani - (Enugu State) and Hon. Chris Ogbu (Imo State) “Others are: Ajijola Lateef Oladimeji (Ekiti Central), Olayinka James Olalere (Ekiti Central II), Fayose Oluwajomiloju John (Ekiti Central I), Akerele Oluyinka (Ekiti North I) and Emiola Adenike Jennifer -(Ekiti South II).

“The expulsion takes effect from today, Friday, February 10, 2023.”

The PDP explained that the decision of its NWC was sequel to the recommendation of the National Disciplinary Committee and pursuant to Sections 58 and 59 (1) (g) of the PDP Constitution (as amended in 2017).

“The PDP charges all members of our Party across the country to remain united and focused on the mission of our Party to Rescue, Rebuild and Redirect our nation from misrule,” the party added.

However, in a swift reaction, the Senator who has secured the PDP ticket to contest the Enugu East Senatorial District, in the forthcoming National Assembly elections has described his expulsion from the party as a joke taken too far.

Nnamani in an open letter to the Senator Iyorchia Ayu-led National Working Committee (NWC) of the peoples Democratic Party (PDP) specifically said Ayu and his team had no powers to suspend or expel him from the party.

Nnamani’s letter to the PDP NWC was signed by his Counsel Olusegun O. Jolaawo, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria.

He stated that the NWC has no powers to suspend or expel him except the National Executive Committee (NEC).

Nnamani said the Ayu-led NWC did not follow due process and strict compliance with the provisions of the PDP Constitution and therefore lacked the powers to suspend or expel him as a member of the National Assembly.

He quoted copiously the relevant sections of the PDP constitution breached by the Ayu led NWC. Part of the letter read, “Article 57(7) Not-

Tinubu

withstanding any other provision relating to discipline, no Executive Committee at any level, except the National Executive Committee, shall entertain any question of discipline as may or concern a member of the National Executive Committee, Deputy Governors or members of the National Assembly, “Provided that nothing in this Constitution shall preclude or invalidate any complaint submitted through the National Working Committee to the National Executive Committee concerning any person whatsoever.

“Article 59(3) Notwithstanding any other provision of this Constitution relating to discipline, no Executive Committee at any level except the National Executive Committee shall entertain any question of discipline as may relate or concern a member of the National Executive Committee, President, Vice President, Governors, Deputy Governors, Ministers, Ambassadors, Special Advisers or member of any of the legislative houses.

“On 20 January, 2023, the NWC conducted preliminary disciplinary hearing against our client and approved his suspension from the party for one month, purportedly acting pursuant to Article 57(3) of the Constitution of the PDP. “It is evident on the basis of Articles 57(7) and 59(3) of the Constitution of your party excerpted above, that no organ of the party, including the National Working Committee, has the competence to entertain any question of discipline against our client, except the National Executive Committee of the party.

“Quite apart from the obvious and undeniable fact that the purported proceeding of the National Working Committee of your party held on 20 January, 2023 and the decision reached there at suspending our client from the party is null and void, as our client was neither invited to the meeting nor given the opportunity to be heard before the decision against him was taken.

“See Article 57(6) of the Constitution of your party, the National Working Committee lacks the requisite

Ayu

powers to entertain any question of discipline against our client to the extent of suspending or expelling him from the party.

“The proceeding and decision reached at the meeting of the National Working Committee of your Party which was held on 20 January, 2023 is therefore, both illegal and a nullity.

“It therefore gives us great concern, that your proposed disciplinary hearing of 8 February, 2023 as stated in your letter of 1st February, 2023, is built and erected on the illegal and invalid meeting and decision taken by the National Working Committee of your Party at its meeting of 20 January, 2023, suspending our client from the Party.

“Your letter to our client dated 1st February, 2023 made it abundantly clear that the complaint against our client was made to your committee by the National Working Committee.

“However, by virtue of the proviso to Article 57(7) of the Constitution of your Party, the National Working Committee is required to make complaint on any disciplinary matter against a member of the National Assembly, only to the National Executive Committee of the Party. Your committee has not claimed to be the National Executive Committee of the PDP and in fact, is not.

“Your committee therefore, has no powers under the Constitution of the Party (under which you claim to be proceeding against our client) to entertain or hear any question of discipline against our client as he is a member of the National Assembly. Only a properly constituted National Executive Committee of the party can entertain such question of discipline against him.

“We therefore, urge you to reconsider your proposed disciplinary hearing against our client and abort it immediately.

“We have only requested your committee to comply strictly with the clear provisions of the Constitution of the Party under which you claim to be proceeding. Your proposed disciplinary hearing of 8 February, 2023 is wholly erected on illegality and your committee equally has no powers under the Constitution of the party to invite our client for the purpose of entertaining any disciplinary matter against him.”

Meanwhile, keen watchers of the political developments in the country would obviously notice that Nnamani has been consistently making public statements, explaining why Tinubu should be elected as Nigeria’s next president.

He had defended Tinubu’s health status, his competence and had gone further to tell his kinsmen in Igboland that they should support the APC candidate and wait for their own time in the nearest future.

Keen watchers of the political developments in the country would obviously notice that Nnamani has been consistently making public statements, explaining why Tinubu should be elected as Nigeria’s next president. He had defended Tinubu’s health status, his competence and had gone further to tell his kinsmen in Igboland that they should support the APC candidate and wait for their own time in the nearest future

On November 23, last year, Nnamani in a statement, said Tinubu’s reforms and mentorship as governor from 1999- 2007 transformed Lagos State.

He described Tinubu as a great mentor who has guided numerous mentees from various states, from political boyhood to political adulthood in his capacity as a political mentor.

Nnamani added that Tinubu has repeatedly proven himself to be a professional politician and the greatest political leader and mentor; who built the necessary bridges, paid his dues, and nurtured political heavyweights.

Part of the statement, personally signed by him, read: “Before I talk about the leadership and mentoring philosophies of the governors from the class of 1999, I want to first shed some important insight on what political leadership and mentoring is all about, as opposed to godfatherism, which has been the norm for teeming youths.

We must understand that effective leadership requires a variety of abilities.

“A successful leader, according to Thomas Paine, is one who understands when to take the initiative, follow others and step aside.

Successful strategic plans for the present and future are created by competent leaders who build a shared vision for the future, they discuss how to get what is required while also taking into account what is desired.

“A competent leader develops support for their plans in order to involve people and groups in the decision-making and policy-enactment processes.

“Similar to how different organisations require different kinds of leaders tailored to their needs, local, state, and federal governments require political leaders who can translate divergent viewpoints and conflicting interests into laws and practices that to advance equality and opportunity for all.

“People are believed to follow a leader who will take them where they want to go, but a competent leader will also take them to where they should go.

“I can’t help but feel that when Tinubu and his Transition Working Group began what will be remembered as Nigeria’s largest political reform, which elevated Lagos State to one of the biggest economic centers in Africa, the majority of residents of Lagos State did not envision the city as it is today after living through three decades of military rule, during which they witnessed first hand a crumbling health system, collapsing school buildings, poor social services, and the rest.

“The city-boy (Tinubu) substantially enhanced the lives of individuals who reside in Lagos State with his visionary reforms in the health, school, justice, works, and infrastructure sectors, which we have reviewed in the past weeks.

“Tinubu has guided numerous mentees from various states from political boyhood to political adulthood in his capacity as a political mentor. A trait transformational leaders like Tinubu and the class of 1999 governors have.

Tinubu mentees have gone on to hold various leadership positions in Nigeria.

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

20

T H I S D AY ˾ DAY FEBRUARY 13, 2023

FEATURES

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

In Cross River, Civil Servants Retire into Poverty In Cross River, civil servants are retiring into poverty as government seemingly looks away and ignores their plight, Arinze Chijioke reports

Old and weak protest years of unpaid pension

U

pon the successful completion of his two terms of eight years as governor, Ben Ayade of Cross River State will receive 300 per cent of his annual basic salary as severance gratuity.

This is apart from other allowances including hardship, 50 per cent; constituency allowance, 200 per cent; newspaper, 15 per cent; furniture, medical, security, entertainment and vehicle maintenance among others. This is according to the Cross River State public officer’s remuneration package law 2001.

Meanwhile, five thousand retired civil servants in Cross River State have not been given their pension entitlements from the state government - a violation of section 210 of the 1999 constitution which concerns the protection of pension rights.

Illicit Dealings Just Might be the Root Cause In February 2017, senior special assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari on prosecutions, Okoi Obono-Obla accused the Cross River State government of misappropriating N19 billion that it received as a bailout fund to pay outstanding salaries, pensions and gratuities.

It goes back to 2015 when President Muhammadi Buhari had approved the sum of N338bn for 27 states as part of efforts to end the lingering problem of unpaid workers’ salaries, which had escalated into a crisis. Cross River State was given N7.8 billion in July 2016 and another N11.5 billion as bailout funds.

But a report on the monitoring of state bailout funds released in 2016 by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, ICPC, and the Nigeria Labour Congress showed that the Cross River State misappropriated federal funds.

The report showed that out of the N7,856,400,000.00 it received, it had only disbursed N3,140,883,040.77 with a balance of N4,715,516,959,23, claiming not to have outstanding salaries for workers as of November 19, 2015.

Cross River State also received N19.25 billion including 12.15 billion as the first tranche and N6.75 billion as the second tranche as Paris Club refund, a settlement of long-standing claims by state governments relating to over-deductions from their federation account allocation committee (FAAC) allocation to service the debts. Altogether, the state received over N38.2 billion as bailout and Paris Club refunds.

However, there is yet no explanation as to what the funds were used for. The Senate Committee on States and Local Government Administration and the Organised Labour have asked the government to explain how it expended the fund. The Cross River State chapter of the All-Progressives Congress (APC) had vowed to probe Ayade over the fund. That was before he moved into the party.

In 2017, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) embarked on an investigation into how the Cross River State government applied the Paris Club loan refunds paid to it by the federal government. The commission has been contacted for comment.

In a swift reaction to the allegations

by Obono-Obla in 2017, the chief press secretary to the Ayade, Christian Ita said that the bailout funds were still intact. “Not a kobo of the funds which are lodged in the state government account with the UBA has been touched, “he said. “The governor has directed that the funds be used to pay severance allowances to past political office holders and clear outstanding gratuity to retirees”.

Struggling to Get By James Essien struggles to pay his apartment rent of N400,000 a year.

Sometimes, he borrows more money than he earns from his pension to be able to pay rent and other dues.

Whenever the money comes, he uses everything to pay for debt and starts borrowing again.

“We are helpless and hopeless, some of us have been forced to withdraw our children from school because they cannot pay their fees, “said Essien.

“Some have terminal sicknesses and they cannot take care of themselves”.

In 1979, when he started work in the civil service, Essien hoped that he would build a house for his family in the village and own a flourishing business upon retirement. In October 2014, 35 years later, he retired from the ministry of women's affairs as the director of administration. As a director, he was entitled to a gratuity of N6 million naira which was supposed to come immediately after he retired.

But eight years after he left active service, Essien is yet to receive his gratuity. At 63, he only depends on his monthly pension of N135,000 which he says does not come regularly.

Sometimes, he waits for two months before he gets one. His 32-year-old daughter was discharged this October after his children contributed N250,000 and paid her hospital bill. He could not afford the bills. She was losing blood.

“I look like a failure among some of my friends because I have nothing to show for the years I spent working for the state, “he said. “I looked forward to a better life after work”.

Essien hails from Ekori in Yakurr LG. He shares a two-bedroom apartment in a tree-lined estate in Calabar with one of his daughters and his wife.

To keep his family running, every month, Essien spends 75,000 on food, N6000 on light and N2000 on water. He also spends N4000 for his TV cable subscription service and N12,000 on fuel. Sometimes, he spends more, all from his irregular pension of N135,000.

Mr Daniel, who works at the Sub Treasury of the office of the Accountant General of the state which handles the verification and documentation for payment of pension and gratuity, said that they usually receive complaints from retirees who are not paid even after they have been cleared.

“Most of them are old and sick, yet they come here in their thousands every year for screening and nothing changes,” he said. “A former Chief judge in the state once called to complain that he was yet to receive his pension since September”.

Between August 2016 and February 2017, the Association of Cross River State Local Government Pensioners claimed that 28 of their members died from circumstances related to financial challenges arising from the non-payment of their pension entitlements.

In Ekori, where James hails from, at least three retirees have died without receiving their entitlements. He said that retirees die every two months because they cannot take care of themselves. Out of 50 retired permanent secretaries, as of 11th August 2015, at least 12 have reportedly died without receiving their outstanding benefits.

Last year, an investigation revealed that after the state government had declared people ‘dead’ and stopped disbursing pensions, retirees were told to prove that they were still alive. A worker at the office of the state auditor-general said the office is now trying to resolve the issue of dead pensioners which was published by the accountant-general because some of them have come back to prove that they were not dead.

Several Protests, Little Results On the morning of November 3, 2020, about 50 retirees blocked the Murtala Mohammed Highway in the Calabar metropolis in protest over the non-payment of their wages.

The workers sat in the middle of the road, with their documents in their hands and some of them carrying placards that read: “Governor Ayade pay our pension and gratuities”, “pensioners are dying due to non-payment of pension and gratuities” and “Ayade harmonise pension”.

One year after, the workers protested again after their demands were unmet. This time, they blocked the entrance to the Calabar Government House as they protested the non-payment of their benefits by the state government.

Four years ago, they protested after six of their colleagues died because they could not afford money to pay hospital bills. Essien said that he was part of the protest at the government house that resulted in the payment of gratuities up till 2014. But since then, the government has looked away.

“We are waiting to see if the government will hear our cry,” he said. “Else, we will protest, this time with big banners at the airport so that everyone can see what we are passing through as retirees in the state,”.

In his reaction to the 2020 protest, Special Adviser Media and Publicity to Governor Ben Ayade, Christian Ita, said that no verified pensioner in the state or local government service was owed a pension. The state commissioner for local government Affairs, Mrs Stella Odey was also quoted as saying that every genuine pensioner would be paid once they undergo screening and are captured in the payroll.

On September 2022, some of the retirees came together and set up a committee known as concerned pensioners of Cross River State to adequately represent the interest of the thousands of pensioners in the state.

On October 5, 2022, the committee wrote a letter to the governor detailing some of the issues affecting pensioners in the state, including illegal deduction from the irregular monthly pensions they receive, non-payment of gratuities from 2014-date, non-regularisation and harmonisation of pension and unpaid pension of workers who retired between 2020 and May 2021.

The governor’s office acknowledged six days after, on October 11, but has failed to deliver a response to date. They also wrote a letter on October 6, seeking an appointment with the state party chairman of the All-Progressives Congress, APC Alphonsus Ebe. But he is yet to grant their request. APC is Ayade’s party.

We are helpless and hopeless, some of us have been forced to withdraw our children from school because Ayade’s Monthly N50 Million Sinking they cannot pay their fees... Some have terminal Fund is not Enough sicknesses and they cannot take care of themselves Continued on page 21

21

T H I S D AY ˾ DAY FEBRUARY 13, 2023

FEATURES

In Cross River, Civil Servants Retire into Poverty

First tranche of bailout released to states In November 2021, Ayade established what he described as a sinking fund to enable him to set aside a minimum of 30 to 50 million naira monthly from the budget to be used in addressing the issue of gratuity for retired civil servants in the state. It was to take effect in January 2022.

This was followed by the signing of a memorandum of understanding between the government, organised labour and the Cross River State Traditional Rulers’ Council. Five months later, the head of service in the state, Timothy Ogbang Akwaji inaugurated a nineman committee made up of the government and labour to oversee the disbursement of N200 million said to have been released by the state governor for payment.

However, while Akwaji claims that the state government has been consistent with the payment, several pensioners who spoke to the ICIR said that they were yet to receive any payment.

In an October letter, the pensioner's committee alleged that the disbursement of N50 million allocated monthly to offset gratuity is ‘shrouded in secrecy even as those in charge are partial in their selection of people to receive payment.

The committee said that rather than pick members from retirees- if there was a need because the accountant general already had the details of everyone- to properly represent the interest of everybody, the government chose civil servants who are not transparent in the disbursement.

Millions for Jeeps One of the pensioners who prefers not to be mentioned said that the non-payment of gratuity and inconsistent payment of pension is not because of lack of funds but because governor Ayade has allegedly demonstrated a lack of priority for retirees in his use of public funds.

In 2018 for instance, there were reports of how the governor bought jeeps that cost millions of naira for each of the eighteen paramount rulers in Cross River State. “The same traditional rulers had cars which were given to them by the government and are still in good condition, “he claimed.

This July, the governor bought Toyota land Cruiser Prado Sports Utility Vehicles (SUVs) for three members of the house of representatives who defected from the People’s Democratic Party, PDP to the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Also In 2020, there were reports of how he gave out 54 SUVs to chairmen, their deputies and leaders of 18 local government councils. The SUVs consist of 18 Ford Edges for chairmen, 18 Ford Escapes for Deputies and 18 Ford EcoSport (Council Leaders).

He also gifted vehicles to newly-appointed judges in the state as a way of “appreciating the judges for standing with the truth” and promising to make improvements on their welfare. During a thanksgiving In August this year, the Catholic Bishop of Uyo Diocese, John Ebebe Ayah, rejected Ayade’s N25 million donation and asked him to use it and pay the salaries of workers in the state.

“But each time he sees the wage bill, he expects it to reduce and forgets that others are retiring and entering into the list,” the pensioner said.

“He is gifting cars when pensioners in his state can hardly afford to eat”.

A Weak Union Retired secondary school teacher Peter Ude expected the Nigerian Union of Pensioners to speak up for people like him – he’s a registered member of the local chapter.

But, he says the union has failed.

It has not held a meeting in the last five years, although Rule 13 of the constitution and code of conduct of the NUP asserts that all state and local branches should hold general meetings at least twice a year to hear the grievances of members.

Two years after retiring in 1996, Ude moved on to work on the board of internal revenue and in 2021, he retired from the ministry of land as a planning and research statistics staff.

Ude alleged that the union was aware of certain percentages amounting to over N75 million deducted from the monthly pensions between April and August, adding that it only exists to collect the one per cent check-off dues which every pensioner pays and is deducted automatically every month.

“After the government stopped remitting to the union, they went ahead to deduct another one per cent from pensions, “he said. “We have spoken to them about the deductions, but they claim to be unaware of it, same with the auditor general and the accountant general.

He hoped that after retiring, his four children would get jobs and cater for him. In addition to that, he planned to use his gratuity to start up a business and earn additional income.

But the reality is far different.

His children are back at home, with no jobs. He does not have anything to fall back on. No gratuity. His pension of N125,000 which should come in every month does not come.

“We all depend on the pension for survival, “he said.

Six months before he retired, Ude said that the state government trained them on various entrepreneurship skills as an exit policy but never provided grants to support the skills earned.

More Cause for Alarm A report released by the National Pension Commission, PenCom and

titled ‘status of implementation of the Contributory Pension Scheme' (CPS) shows that as of June 2021, the Cross River state government was yet to commence funding of retiree’s accounts through the contributory pension scheme, thereby failing to domesticate the 2014 Pension Reform Act. The CPS was intended to, among other things, provide a soft landing for retirees while also relieving the states of the burden of having to pay pensions to retired civil servants from the treasury.

The report however revealed that while the state had only drafted a bill on the scheme, it was yet to, among other things, enact a law on the CPS to guide its implementation, establish a pension Bureau, register employees with the Pension fund administrator and commence remittance of pension contributions for the employees.

Of the 25 states that keyed into the CPS, only five, including Lagos, FCT, Osun, Kaduna and Delta states have been outstanding in the monthly remittance of both the employees’ and employers’ portions of the contributions.

This means that as more employees retire, they are being pushed into old-age poverty while workers still in active service gear up to retire into poverty.

A former head of Corporate Communications, PenCom, Mr Peter Aghaghowa said that the autonomy that states enjoy over their pension schemes remains a challenge bedevilling its smooth operation.

“Unfortunately, it is the workers that will bear the consequences of the default in remitting pension contributions because whatever benefit they are going to get at retirement is dependent on what is in the retirement savings account, “he was quoted as saying.

Fighting Outrageous Pension Laws Since the return to democracy in 1999, Nigerian governors, who spend a maximum of eight years in office have taken millions of taxpayers’ naira monthly in form of pensions.

In the twilight of his tenure in 2014, Governor Godswill Akpabio of Akwa Ibom State initiated a controversial bill law that will enable him and other former governors to pocket N200 million in annual pension. The bill was passed, despite the criticism that greeted it.

However, some state governments have been making efforts to cut pensions. Last year, the Lagos State house of assembly approved a 50 per cent reduction of pension paid to former governors after Babajide Sanwo-Olu, the governor submitted a bill to abolish the Public Office Holder (Payment of Pension Law 2007), including the

removal of the law which provides houses in Abuja and Lagos for former governors who were also entitled to six new cars every three years.

Last year, a bill seeking to amend the law on pensions for former governors and their deputies and grant guaranteed life pensions for former governor and their deputies, including their spouses generated controversy in Enugu State.

After protests and public outcry, the state House of Assembly suspended the amendment of the executive bill which had scaled the first reading and billed for the second reading.

We are Committed to Paying GratuitiesGovt When contacted for comments, Cross River State Head of Service, Akwaji said that the state government has been working to clear outstanding payments which are in the region of N18 billion.

He confirmed that the state government sets aside N50 million naira monthly and everybody can't be paid at the same time. He was responding to allegations that some retirees were being side-lined.

He explained that sometimes, there are delays in the payment of pension because the inflows don’t match up with the commitment. On the issue of non-remittance to the contributory pension scheme, he said that the state government was still fine-tuning the aspect of the pension reform act which made the pension administrators king over the contributors.

“We must domesticate it and in doing that, we want to make the contributors king because there is no point why you do your contributions and when you retire, they say you cannot access your money till you are a certain age, “he said.

“We want to be sure it will benefit our workers”.

State Chairman of NUP, Comrade Emmanuel Adie said that the union was working to tackle the issues affecting pensioners in the state, adding that it is also being discussed at the national level.

Push for Reform Head of Transparency International (Nigeria), Auwal Musa Rafsanjani said that corruption remains the major reason why state governors deprive retired civil servants of their legitimate entitlements.

He said Cross River and other states have failed to provide audited reports of how they expended the bailout funds because there is no mechanism for effectively monitoring and evaluating the use of the funds, so he’s been pushing for an investigative hearing.

TI is processing pensioners’ complaints, but according to Rafsanjani, the key to real reform in the system is more transparency and accountability for the management of funds.

“Unfortunately, we have lawmakers who are unwilling to push for the reforms, “he said. “At the state level, assembly members have become political puppets in the hands of governors,” he said.

Meanwhile back in Calabar, Essien has no idea when he will get the pension that he deserves.

We must domesticate it (the contributory pension scheme sic...) and in doing that, we want to make the contributors king because there is no point why you do your contributions and when you retire, they say you -This report was produced with support cannot access your money till you are a certain age... from Tiger Eye Foundation and the MacArthur Foundation and names of some sources have We want to be sure it will benefit our workers” been changed on demand.

24 T H I S D AY MONDAY FEBRUARY 13, 2023 TR

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opinion@thisdaylive.com

www.thisdaylive.com

2023: INEC, YAKUBU AND THE DEEP-SEATED FEARS PAUL OBI urges the electoral body to organise a credible election

See page 25 ELECTORAL CONTESTS AND PUBLIC EXPECTATIONS Bola Tinubu is the Presidential Candidate to beat, contends SALIHU MOH. LUKMAN

See page 25

EDITORIAL

NAIRA NOTES: CBN MUST ACT NOW

26

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Monday February 13, 2023 Vol 27. No 10167

The 2023 election is vulnerable to various security threats that could compromise its integrity, writes FELIX OLADEJI

OF BVAS TECHNOLOGY, ELECTIONS AND DEMOCRACY

Democracy thrives on the willingness and ability of the people to participate in the political process. The political environment is expected to be free of inhibitions that obstruct freedom of expression. Political participation, political culture and political education are all critical elements of successful democracy.

Technology is increasingly playing an invaluable role in encouraging citizens to participate in the political process. It makes information dissemination easy and fast.

Thus, political culture and political education are simultaneously being promoted by technology. Politicians have begun to deploy technology in their electioneering activities.

Nowadays, candidates use social media to attract supporters. Every clever aspirant uses Facebook and Twitters to engage and LQÁXHQFH WKH HOHFWRUDWH 7KH VDPH WHFKQRORJ\ is also used to distribute contents that can put their opponents in bad light. Furthermore, the electoral commission has started relying heavily on technology in the administration of elections in Nigeria. Technology is used to capture the biometric features of voters, manage the register of voters, and verify the identity of voters on Election Day. To a very large extent, technology has eliminated the incidence of ghost voters. In spite of these DIRUHPHQWLRQHG EHQHÀWV WHFKQRORJ\ FDQ DOVR serve negative political purposes.

The 2023 general election in Nigeria presents a unique set of challenges and opportunities for ensuring a secure and fair electoral process. On one hand, the country KDV PDGH VLJQLÀFDQW SURJUHVV LQ UHFHQW \HDUV in improving the transparency and integrity of its electoral system. However, on the other hand, a number of multidimensional security threats continue to undermine the stability and legitimacy of the electoral process.

2QH RI WKH PRVW VLJQLÀFDQW FKDOOHQJHV facing Nigeria in the 2023 election is the threat of political violence and intimidation. This can take many forms, including the use of armed groups to intimidate voters, the use of state security forces to suppress opposition parties, and the use of propaganda and disinformation to manipulate public opinion. All of these tactics can undermine the integrity of the HOHFWRUDO SURFHVV DQG WKH FRQÀGHQFH RI YRWHUV in the fairness and legitimacy of the election.

Another major challenge facing Nigeria in the 2023 election is the threat of cyberattacks and interference. With the increasing reliance on electronic voting systems and the growing use of social media platforms to spread information and propaganda, the risk of cyber-attacks and manipulation of the HOHFWRUDO SURFHVV KDV LQFUHDVHG VLJQLÀFDQWO\ This can include the use of social media bots and trolls to spread false information and propaganda, as well as the targeting of critical infrastructure, such as election servers, to disrupt the electoral process.

As Nigeria anticipates a more transparent election in the upcoming 2023 general election, the Electoral Act (2022) has transferred the

mandate of introducing technology into the electioneering process to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) (Electoral Act 2022). Although voting will still be cast manually via the ballot paper casting and open secret voting method, INEC KDV LQWURGXFHG GLͿHUHQW WHFKQRORJLHV DW VSHFLÀF VWDJHV RI WKH HOHFWLRQ SURFHVV 7KHVH technologies were introduced at the preelection stage, election stage, and post-election stage.

For each of the stages one of the four interdependent technologies will be applied: INEC Voters Enrolment Device (IVED), $XWRPDWHG %LRPHWULF ,GHQWLÀFDWLRQ 6\VWHP $%,6 %LPRGDO 9RWHUV $FFUHGLWDWLRQ 6\VWHP %9$6 DQG ,1(& 5HVXOW 9LHZLQJ ,5H9 However, the outcome of the Tribunal over WKH JXEHUQDWRULDO HOHFWLRQ LQ 2VXQ 6WDWH LV equally a vindication that BVAs only lost the vote count and not the election. This suggest that there is a high tendency that cyber-attacks ZLOO EH IRFXVHG RQ ERWK WKH %9$6 DQG ,5H9 7KH REMHFWLYH RI D F\EHU DWWDFN RQ WKH %9$6 ZLOO EH to prevent the snapped results sheet from being WUDQVPLWWHG WR ,1(& 6HUYHU $ F\EHU DWWDFN RQ WKH ,5H9 SRUWDO PD\ LQFOXGH PRGLÀFDWLRQ RI the results on the portal or the disruption of the ,5H9 3RUWDO IURP WKH SXEOLF 1RWZLWKVWDQGLQJ WKH PRGLÀFDWLRQ RI WKH UHVXOWV VKHHW PD\ RQO\ be possible with the cooperation of a malicious insider, but disruption can be done with or without a malicious insider. The potency of risk that INEC should mitigate lies heavily in the possibility of both the cyber and political actors having an insider within INEC. 7KHUH LV D VOLP FRQQHFWLRQ EHWZHHQ WKH %9$6 DQG ,5H9 SRUWDO ZKLFK LV WKH WUDQVPLVVLRQ RI results. However, the technological process for transmitting the captured election result sheet is a complex process that involves sending the captured sheet through several servers before LW JHWV WR WKH ,5H9 SRUWDO +HQFH WKH QHHG to ensure that the integrity of the captured result sheet is secured. The introduction of technology in the electioneering process now means that the concern in addition to INEC Adhoc personnel will now include the technological devices that will ensure the SURFHVV LV WUDQVSDUHQW :KLOH LW ZLOO EH GL΀FXOW or impossible to bring down all the personnel before the election, it is quite easy to bring down the technologies using a denial-of-

service attack methodology. :KHUHDV 6RFLDO (QJLQHHULQJ ,QVLGHU WKUHDW LV JHQHUDOO\ WKH PRVW LPSRUWDQW DQG GL΀FXOW threat to handle because it is focused on personnel to be used during the electioneering process. All the technological threats outlined above somehow depend on social engineering DQG LQVLGHUV· WKUHDW WR EH HDVLO\ DQG HͿHFWLYHO\ carried out.

The 2023 general election in Nigeria is shaping up to be a critical moment in the country’s political history. As the nation prepares to choose its next leaders, it is essential that the electoral process is fair, transparent, and secure. However, a range of multidimensional threats to election security are emerging that could undermine the integrity of the vote and the legitimacy of the outcome. The 2023 general election in Nigeria LV H[SHFWHG WR EH D VLJQLÀFDQW HYHQW WKDW ZLOO shape the future of the country. However, it is also vulnerable to various security threats that could compromise the integrity of the election.

7KHVH WKUHDWV FDQ FRPH LQ GLͿHUHQW IRUPV One major security threat is the use of cyber-attacks to disrupt the electoral process.

This can include hacking into voter databases, manipulating voter registration systems, and spreading misinformation online. These attacks can undermine the credibility of the election and lead to confusion and mistrust among voters.

3K\VLFDO YLROHQFH LV DQRWKHU VLJQLÀFDQW security threat in Nigeria’s elections. This can include attacks on polling stations, voter intimidation, and violence against candidates and their supporters. These acts of violence can create a sense of fear and insecurity among voters, leading to low turnout and potential manipulation of the election outcome.

9RWHU LQWLPLGDWLRQ LV DOVR D VLJQLÀFDQW security threat in Nigeria’s elections. This FDQ LQFOXGH WKUHDWV RU FRHUFLRQ WR LQÁXHQFH voters to cast their ballots in a particular way or to stay away from the polls altogether. This can lead to a distorted election outcome and undermine the legitimacy of the election.

There are indications that citizens (including ZRPHQ \RXWK LQ RSSRVLQJ SROLWLFDO parties in Nigeria may not have a conducive electoral space for electioneering ahead of the HOHFWLRQV 6RPH RI WKH LQFXPEHQW VWDWH JRYHUQRUV LQFOXGLQJ 5LYHUV $NZD ,ERP etc., are either out rightly denying opposing political parties access to public facilities (such as stadia, schools) for campaigns; or using administrative instruments like H[HFXWLYH RUGHUV WR À[ H[RUELWDQW XVDJH IHHV (N5 million) that are huge enough to side-line WKHP HVSHFLDOO\ WKRVH ZLWKRXW WKH ÀQDQFLDO ZKHUHZLWKDO 7KLV ZLOO OLNHO\ VWLÁH WKH HOHFWRUDO space for active participation of female and youth candidates and will place them at a disadvantage against their competitors in the ruling political parties who have access to the treasury of the state.

Oladeji writes from Lagos

T H I S D AY

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MONDAY FEBRUARY 13, 2023

PAUL OBI urges the electoral body to organise a credible election

2023: INEC, YAKUBU AND THE DEEP-SEATED FEARS “...They say if you don’t vote, you get the government you deserve and if you do, you never get the results you expected.”

- E. A. Bucchianeri In less than two weeks, about 93 million Nigerians are supposed to head to the polls to elect leaders across the two branches of government: the executive and legislature.

The forthcoming 2023 general elections ought to be more transparent than previous ones since Nigeria’s tortuous return to democracy in 1999. This time, the use and deployment of the Bimodal Voters Accreditation System (BVAS) and other critical technologies have now been constitutionally embedded in our

extant laws to prevent the reckless rigging of elections. Such technologies should be capable of stopping political gangs from running amok DQG GLVUXSWLQJ VPRRWK XQLYHUVDO VXͿUDJH BVAS seeks to streamline our elections into sane and transparent polls, worthy of the name: electoral democracy. Yet, the signposts out there are dreaded. Fear, is the denominator gaining currency. All due to the chaotic and fraudulent DNA that runs in most of our public institutions.

For instance, the BVAS technology is developed in a such manner to guarantee credible voting processes, such that underage children won’t be able to vote in places like Kano, nor the suppression of votes in Imo. BVAS is supposed to render an Oba’s threat to throw residents in the Lagoon if they fail to vote his preferred candidate impotent. Or prevent militants in the Niger Delta from stampeding XQLYHUVDO VXͿUDJH WKURXJK JXQERDW GHPRFUDF\ :LWK VXFK WHFKQRORJLHV SKDQWRP ÀJXUHV can’t be manufactured in the night or inside radio stations as in previous cases. Yet, like everything Nigeria, insider abuse, gimmicks and manipulation erected by the deep state syndrome will somehow frustrate the process if unchecked. This has become eminent with the February/March 2023 general elections.

How? Barely two weeks to the elections, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) under the leadership of Prof Mahmood Yakubu has not shown clear-cut commitment that politicians won’t have their nefarious ways. Also, many prospective voters could not collect their PVCs, all due to INEC’s poor planning.

Inside INEC, there is so much concern about the possibility of insider abuse. The fear of ,1(& R΀FLDOV FRQQLYLQJ ZLWK URWWHQ SROLWLFLDQV to thwart the will of the people at the ballot ER[ $OUHDG\ WKHUH DUH UHSRUWV RI VHYHUDO ÀIWK columnists running fronts for some big guys within the system. Politicians’ proxies are capable of turning our electoral system into casino economy with the intent to manipulate the people’s mandate. In Lagos State, INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner, Olusegun Agbaje told the world that INEC would work with the Lagos State Parks Management Committee, headed by Mr Musiliu Akinsanya (A.K.A MC Oluomo) a chieftain of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC). With this there will be logistics issues, and be assured that

on Saturday, 25th February, elections material for places, and stronghold of other presidential candidates like Peter Obi of Labour Party and Atiku Abubakar of Peoples Democratic Party, elections materials will not arrive on time or will disappear. And with that, it’s already a crisis of INEC’s own making, geared towards compromising the elections, particularly, in Lagos.

If there’s any indication of INEC’s lack of QHXWUDOLW\ LW LV WKH ÁDJUDQW DEXVH RI R΀FH DQG impunity, particularly the case of INEC’s Twitter handle liking Seun Kuti’s Tweet that tended to show preference to APC, while disparaging and demarketing other parties and presidential candidates. Everywhere you turn; left, right and centre, there are deep-seated fears that the HOHFWLRQV VSHFLÀFDOO\ WKH SUHVLGHQWLDO PD\ be compromised and manipulated for the cabal who have pocketed Nigeria in the last 62 years.

These fears and concerns are not out of place.

6LQFH <DNXEX WRRN RYHU WKH KHOP RI DͿDLUV LQ INEC, it has been back and forth on the sanctity and neutrality of the electoral umpire. In 2019 general elections, he promised a digital cloud server, and when the D-day arrived, the server disappeared - it was no longer part of the technologies deployed. INEC bungled it.

In Osun State gubernatorial race, there were rampant cases of over voting, leading to the QXOOLÀFDWLRQ RI *RY $GHOHNH·V YLFWRU\ DQG that of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

This is despite overwhelming assurance that BVAS won’t allow over voting. When we add the open day robbery of the 2018 Osun State governorship election, you will then understand the palpable air of unease associated with Yakubu’s reign in INEC. Again, consider the role of INEC in the Supreme Court’s decision in the cases of Godswill Akpabio and Senate President, Ahmad Lawan senatorial races. What you have is the trapping of insider abuse and conspiracies against the common man - the voter.

All over the world, social scientists agreed that one of the greatest challenges with electoral democracy is the role of elections management bodies (EMB). Roland Rich in his classic work, Democracy in Crisis; Where, Why, How to Respond heralded the dangers inherent in elections where the neutrality of the electoral body is in question. The sanctity of every elections must begin with the assurance that R΀FLDOV RI WKH HOHFWRUDO XPSLUH GR QRW LQ DQ\ ZD\ QXUVH DQ\ SDUWLVDQ ÁDLU RI XQGHUFXWWLQJ the will of the voters through any means. Can Nigerian voters trust Yakubu’s INEC in that regards? Can the world beckon on Yakubu to deliver free, fair and credible 2023 elections without interrupting the desire of the teeming voters to have a say in Nigeria’s democratic governance? What is the synergy that INEC has built with the police, military, and other security agencies to provide security but will not meddle in the democratic process? In what way has INEC educated voters about the SRVVLELOLW\ RI D SUHVLGHQWLDO UXQ RͿ DQG ZKDW WKH 1999 Constitution stipulates in that sense? What legal measures have INEC set in place in cases of breach of the electoral processes? These are the unanswered salient questions exacerbating fears ahead of the February 25th presidential election.

After more than six years of pockets of victory in Edo, Ondo and Anambra, colossal failures in 2019 with the phantom server, Osun and Ekiti where massive votes buying held sway, Yakubu now has a date to show commitment and leave behind a legacy worthy of celebration.

Obi LV D MRXUQDOLVW UHVHDUFKHU DQG PHGLD VFKRODU LQWHUHVWHG LQ PHGLD HOHFWLRQV SROLWLFV DQG GHPRFUDF\

Bola Tinubu is the Presidential Candidate to beat, contends SALIHU MOH. LUKMAN

ELECTORAL CONTESTS AND PUBLIC EXPECTATIONS As Nigerians move closer to February 25, 2023, the day the nation will go to polls to elect President and National Assembly members, the public debate is all about possible winners and losers. Understandably, most Nigerians are obsessed with the issue of proving that their preferred candidates will win the elections. Unfortunately, too, the dominant approach in the debate is the old antagonistic disposition, which reduces electoral contests to a competition between the good and the bad.

Consequently, Nigerians blindfold themselves into a game of wit, which overlooked the obvious limitations and shortcomings of chosen candidates. Candidates that are not chosen are damaged, if not criminalised. In the

process, respect is completely lost.

Perhaps, it can be argued, this is the global reality. However, there is the need to elevate electoral contests beyond the game of wit.

Once electoral contests are reduced to game of wit, prospects for democratic development risks being inhibited. I say this with all sense of responsibility and as a Nigerian who is passionate in the political progress of the country as a democratic nation. One of the problematic issues of reducing electoral contests to game of wit is that, by commission or omission, Nigerians tend to take for granted the hard earned successes that have been recorded over the years and throw up some fantasies around candidates who’s only commitment to democracy and political development of the country is limited to the extent that they are on the ballot for election.

The emergence of Asiwaju Tinubu as APC’s Presidential candidate is a product of internal party contest. One of our prides today in APC is that after the Convention that produced Asiwaju Tinubu as our Presidential Candidate, none of the aspirants who contested against him left the party. Instead, all of them are united behind him and are working for his victory. It may also be important to note that the emergence of Asiwaju Tinubu as APC’s Presidential candidate was the product of strong internal contest. There may be temptation to narrow the contest to the dynamics around the question of whether there will be an anointed aspirant who would have been crowned as the consensus candidate, which wouldn’t have been Asiwaju Tinubu.

The reality was that the contest for the choice of APC Presidential candidate started way back during the tenure of Comrade Adams Oshiomhole as National Chairman of the party.

At that time, the issues confronting the party was that of broadening the internal democratic space within the party. Issues of accountability of party leaders under the Oshiomhole-led National Working Committee (NWC) to members were the challenges. Meetings of organs of the party such as National Executive Committee (NEC), National Caucus and Board of Trustees were the key challenge.

At that time in 2019, there were attempts to suggest that many of us raising these issues

were doing so because we were opposed to the emergence of Asiwaju Tinubu as the Presidential candidate of the party.

Thanks to President Muhammadu Buhari’s unbiased disposition, eventually, Comrade Oshiomhole-led NWC was dissolved and a Caretaker Committee under the leadership of Mai Mala was appointed, with a short mandate of six months. At the time of the appointment of Mai Mala-led Caretaker Committee on June 25, 2020, the expectation was that a new NWC for the party would emerged early in 2021 long before the contest for the emergence of candidates for 2023 elections commences. Interestingly, Mai Mala-led Caretaker Committee manipulated its mandate and began to sit-tight into the leadership of the party. It took strong internal contest against Mai Mala-led Caretaker Committee to get it to organise the March 28, 2022 National Convention that elected the current Sen. Abdullahi Adamu-led NWC. Of course, by the time of the March 28, 2022 National Convention, already Presidential Aspirants have emerged.

Many of them had their preferred candidates for the position of National Chairman. Some of the Presidential aspirants were able to expand their lobbies WR VRPH RI WKH LQÁXHQWLDO SHRSOH DURXQG the President and perhaps succeeded to convince President Buhari to nominate Sen. Abdullahi Adamu for the position of National Chairman. And shortly after the election of Sen. Adamu as the National Chairman of the APC, negotiation for the emergence of a so-called consensus presidential candidate was activated.

It may also be important to remind Nigerians that the scheming around emergence of a so-called consensus candidate was ridiculously stretched beyond the APC to include people who are not members of the APC. Eventually, when these schemers couldn’t succeed, the Senate President, Sen. Ahmed Lawan was recruited and promoted. It is on record that Sen. Abdullahi Adamu, on the eve of the Convention that elected Asiwaju Tinubu as the Presidential candidate of the party, announced to NWC members that Sen. Ahmed Lawan was the consensus presidential candidate of the party. Members of the NWC together with Progressive Governors rose against that move and again thanks to President Muhammadu Buhari, the contest for the Presidential candidate of APC was thrown open and Asiwaju won with a wide merging.

Part of the dummy that was promoted within the APC to attempt to popularise the choice of a Northerner, Sen. Ahmed Lawan as a consensus candidate was that since PDP had elected Alh. Atiku Abubakar, a Northerner as its Presidential Candidate, we needed to also elect a Northern so that we can win the votes of Northerners. This is completely inconsiderate of the popular agitation for power shift in the country.

It is also insensitive of the potential instability that the choice of another Northerner emerging as President of the country could cause. Ahead of the APC National Convention, APC Governors from the North had already declared their opposition against a Northerner emerging as APC Presidential candidate.

Lukman is a member of the All Progressives &RQJUHVV 1RUWK :HVW =RQDO 2΀FH .DGXQD

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EDITORIAL

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

NAIRA NOTES: CBN MUST ACT NOW All issues involving the new notes should be resolved quickly

W

e hope the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) will seize the face-saving opportunity provided last Friday by the National Council of State to resolve the logjam created by its implementation of the Naira redesign policy. From schools to hospitals and markets, no sector is immune to the harrowing experiences that the shortage of Naira notes has caused. But following a meeting during which the CBN Governor, Godwin (PHÀHOH EULHIHG PHPEHUV WKH &RXQFLO WDVNHG WKH apex bank to either make available the new notes or EHJLQ WR UHFLUFXODWH WKH ROG QRWHV WR HDVH WKH VXͿHULQJ of Nigerians.

From what has transpired in recent weeks, the CBN has not acquitted itself very well in the implementation of this policy. The issue is not just about having the power or authorisation to do something, especially if the goal is about achieving the desired purpose, it is more important to limit unforeseen adverse consequences. That takes a lot of planning and monitoring. Whatever may have been the intended EHQHÀWV RI WKH SROLF\ V\VWHPLF LQDGHTXDFLHV WKDW PDNH OLIH GL΀FXOW IRU WKH RUGLQDU\ SHRSOH LV LQH[FXVDEOH Meanwhile, we do not believe the cases being instituted at the Supreme Court by some governors ZLWKLQ WKH UXOLQJ $OO 3URJUHVVLYHV &RQJUHVV $3& RͿHU DQ\ SUDFWLFDO VROXWLRQ 7KHVH JRYHUQRUV VKRXOG ÀQG other means to resolve their internal contradictions.

There is no debate about the fact that Section 19 of the CBN Act 2007 empowers the apex bank to issue the national currencies in “such forms and designs and bear such devices as shall be approved by the President on the recommendation of the Board.”

However, as we have consistently argued, for a policy of great strategic public consequence, proper management demands a synchrony of purpose between and among critical stakeholders. That was

where the CBN failed. The alarm bell started ringing when the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, told the National Assembly that she had no idea about the policy. Irrespective of what the enabling Act says, horizontal and vertical engagements ought to have preceded or follow the announcement of a such a policy decision by the CBN. This is a policy we have endorsed, and we are not about to change our position. The challenge with the policy is in the implementation. Although global best practice is for central banks to redesign, produce and FLUFXODWH QHZ ORFDO OHJDO WHQGHU HYHU\ ÀYH WR HLJKW \HDUV the Naira has not been redesigned in the last 20 years.

The challenge, however, is that older generation of Nigerians who were around during a similar currency redesign in 1984 have unpleasant memories that are not helped by the fact that the military head of state at that time is the current civilian president.

With reports of economic and social disruptions from implementing the policy in recent weeks, not a few of them are now drawing unpleasant parallels with when a certain Major General Muhammadu Buhari was military Head of State.

The times may have changed with the introduction of technology, but glitches in online banking and platforms have added to the woes of ordinary people. <HW GHFLVLRQV WKDW DͿHFW HYHU\ 1DLUD LQ SHRSOH·V SRFNHW are a matter of grave public interest. When such a decision creates dissension among those it is meant to serve, there is a problem. Such is the level of desperation that in some states in the North, traders have opted for the CFA franc as their means of exchange, an act seen E\ VRPH DV D YRWH RI QR FRQÀGHQFH LQ RXU PRQHWDU\ policy. :H KRSH WKDW (PHÀHOH DQG KLV WHDP ZLOO GR everything within their power to ensure that all the issues impinging the CBN Naira redesign policy are resolved hopefully within the next few days.

We do not believe the cases being instituted at the Supreme Court by some governors within the ruling All Progressives Congress offer any practical solution T H I S D AY EDITOR SHAKA MOMODU DEPUTY EDITORS WALE OLALEYE, OBINNA CHIMA MANAGING DIRECTOR ENIOLA BELLO DEPUTY MANAGING DIRECTOR ISRAEL IWEGBU CHAIRMAN EDITORIAL BOARD OLUSEGUN ADENIYI EDITOR NATION’S CAPITAL IYOBOSA UWUGIAREN MANAGING EDITOR BOLAJI ADEBIYI THE OMBUDSMAN KAYODE KOMOLAFE

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

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

LETTERS THE SABOTEURS OF A SINKING SHIP If Nigerian politics had a single currency, language, sign language RU GHÀQLWLRQ LW ZRXOG EH PRQH\ %XW YHU\ FORVH WR LW ZRXOG EH WKH concepts of betrayal and opportunism. To preclude political opportunism and fry the chances of its elite practitioners in Nigeria, the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 makes salubrious provisions to arrest the vice of cross-carpeting. Yet, with many of the politicians who have engaged in it over the years succeeding in getting away with their spoil, it appears judicial interpretation and enforcement have failed to arrest the scourge.

So, for many politicians here, especially those who succeed in getWLQJ HOHFWHG LQWR SROLWLFDO R΀FHV DOO WKDW PDWWHUV LV WKH LPPHGLDF\ of their ambitions. They usually adopt the no-frills approach and without much fuss they pursue their goals. They usually spare no thought for what is lost in the process or what is picked apart. For many of them, all that matters is the now and no more. )RU 1LJHULD·V UXOLQJ SDUW\ WKH $OO 3URJUHVVLYHV &RQJUHVV DQG LWV cast of characters, 2015 was a pivotal year. As the year in which the 3HRSOHV 'HPRFUDWLF 3DUW\·V EXPEOLQJ HPSLUH ÀQDOO\ FUDVKHG LW marked the year when power changed hands to herald the promise of a new dawn for Nigeria.

Nigerians had soaked up the promise of change like freezing an-

imals emerging into the sunshine. However, the promise was brutally short-lived. For all the APC promised, it took only a while for Nigerians to discover that the party was nothing more than a hollow husk.

Now, with the country on the verge of the 2023 general elections, Nigerians have had eight years of a leadership that has shown itself to be visionless many times over. Even the anti-corruption war on which President Muhamad Buhari had based his charge for NigeULD·V KLJKHVW R΀FH KDV QRW ERUQH PXFK IUXLWV A mishmash of poverty and insecurity has ensured that Nigerians have never had it tougher anytime than in the last eight years during which the APC has controlled the levers of power.

Maybe, someday, a combination of the gracious light that history casts and the therapeutic aroma of hindsight will take Nigerians to a place where they can remember the eight years of President Buhari and the APC for good.

Beyond the fuel queues and the endless queues at ATMs, it appears that the frustration that currently abounds in Nigeria has also become a staple of the high and mighty. In many ways, Nasir El-Rufai has come to embody the anaemia and amnesia that has plagued the current administration in the country under the ruling party.

(OHFWHG WR WKH KLJKHVW R΀FH LQ .DGXQD 6WDWH LQ DQG UHWXUQHG LQ 2019, the cerebral former FCT minister has been vocal about defending the interests of his party.

He had ridden to power by riding roughshod over Christians in the State when ditching a historic and critical power-sharing agreement between Christians and Muslims in the State. While renewed slaughter has surged through the predominantly Christian SouthHUQ .DGXQD UHJLRQ RI KLV VWDWH HYHU VLQFH KH KDV PDLQWDLQHG D SRVture of dismissive helplessness.

It is not a helplessness he is willing to show as far as Bola Ahmed 7LQXEX·V ELG WR EHFRPH SUHVLGHQW LV FRQFHUQHG +H UHFHQWO\ DFFXVHG unnamed persons within the presidency of working against the LQWHUHVWV RI WKH SDUW\·V FDQGLGDWH LQ WKH HOHFWLRQ ZKLFK LV RQO\ GD\V away. His words hinted at a house divided against itself and how Nigerians wish that that house will crumble completely.

When Nigerians connived to midwife the political demise of the Peoples Democratic Party in 2015, it was based on a general consenVXV WKDW $IULFD·V ODUJHVW SDUW\ KDG IDLOHG ,W ZDV MXVW ZKDW WKH $3& was brought in to do and it exactly what it has woefully failed to do.

Kene Obiezu, kenobiezu

T H I S D AY • MONDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 2023

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This Week In Tech 08097710984

nosakhare.alekhuogie@thisdaylive.com

Nosa

Alekhuogie

Tech Top 5 News MICROSOFT LAUNCHES AI-POWERED SEARCH ENGINE icrosoft has announced the latest version of its search engine Bing, powered by an upgraded version of the same AI technology that underpins chatbot ChatGPT. The company launched the product alongside new AI-enhanced features for its Edge browser, promising that the two will provide a new experience for browsing the web and finding information online.

Unlike ChatGPT, the new Bing can also retrieve news about recent events.

Microsoft calls this the “Prometheus Model,” which is more powerful than GPT 3.5 and gives users more relevant, timely and targeted results with improved safety.

The tech giant further revealed that the new Bing is available in a limited preview on desktop, and everyone can visit Bing.com today to try sample queries and sign up for the waitlist.

The company also said that a mobile experience would also be in preview soon.

It said it spent significant resources trying to make the model safer, including working with OpenAI technology as an adversarial user to try to find potential problems in the system, as well as training the AI model to police itself by rooting out biases, in part by teaching the system to recognise offensive content and, therefore, ideally avoid it.

M

TWITTER OUTAGE CAUSED BY EMPLOYEE’S MISTAKE Last week, Twitter’s major outage occurred because an employee mistakenly deleted important data from an internal service.

The outage left users unable to tweet or retweet and being faced with the error message: “You are over the daily limit for sending tweets.”

According to Twitter’s website, that limit is supposed to be 2,400 tweets a day, but users were still presented with the error if they had not tweeted at all.

In a private message, a Twitter employee described it as “a massive outage.”

About 90 minutes after users began reporting problems, the company tweeted: “Twitter may not be working as expected for some of you, sorry for the trouble, we’re aware and working to get this fixed.”

According to tech newsletter, Platformer, the outage happened because data from Twitter’s internal service for these rate limits was deleted by accident, and the team which worked on that service had left the company in November.

That month, Musk sent all Twitter employees an ultimatum at midnight, telling them to commit to working “extremely hardcore” or leave the company. It told staff they needed to work “long hours at a high intensity” to “build a breakthrough Twitter 2.0.”

The incident is the social media site’s first apparent widespread service disruption since billionaire Elon Musk took over Twitter as CEO in late October.

NCC ADVISES SAMSUNG PHONE USERS TO UPDATE THEIR APPS To save mobile phone users in Nigeria from cyber attacks, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), through its Computer Security Incident

Tech Personality of The Week TEMIE GIWA-TUBOSUN

T

his week’s tech personality is Temie GiwaTubosun.

Temie is the founder of LifeBank, a business enterprise in Nigeria working to improve access to blood transfusions in the country.

LifeBank is a medical distribution company that uses data and technology to discover and deliver essential medical products to hospitals in Nigeria.

The LifeBank App is a web application that connects blood donors to patients in need of blood transfusion during emergencies. It launched in 2013 during the World Blood Donor Day celebration and currently has over 1500 people registered. The Life App is a web app, so people do not need to waste their data to download it. All they need to do is sign up at Lifebank.ng and wait to be called to donate blood or use it to request blood when needed.

The technology and logistics Hub has its headquarters in Lagos and was incubated at the Co-Creation Hub in Yaba.

In 2016, Temie met with Mark Zuckerberg during his first visit to Nigeria. She was one of the two women Zuckerberg referenced in his town hall meeting.

In the past four years, the company has distributed about 26,000 products to more than 10,000 patients in close to seven hundred hospitals in Nigeria.

Utilising multimodal logistics (drones, boats, bikes, and tricycles), the tech hub delivers hospital supplies swiftly.

In 2020, Giwa was awarded the Global Citizen Prize for Business Leader for addressing blood shortages in Nigeria and LifeBank’s work during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In 2019, Giwa was named the winner of Jack Ma’s Africa Netpreneur Prize, which held in Accra, Ghana.

The win for LifeBank was worth $250,000. The Prize got applications from more than 10,000 startups from 50 of Africa’s 54 countries.

Response Team (CSIRT), has advised Samsung users to update their Galaxy App Store.

The commission gave the directive after its team discovered multiple vulnerabilities in the Samsung Galaxy App Store.

This isn’t the first time this body is creating awareness to protect its citizens.

The NCC-CSIRT discovered the vulnerabilities in the Galaxy App Store application on Samsung devices that are running Android 12 and older.

While warning that cybercriminals are continuously devising new means of compromising their targets, NCCCSIRT said, “we advise phone, and computer users advised users not open files from people they do not know, not to click ‘OK’ and immediately exit the application if they receive a warning that opening an attachment or link can damage their computer or files and to promptly share an unknown email they believe to be genuine with a security or Windows administrator to assist in determining whether the file is secure.”

In a related advisory, following the discovery of several phishing apps on the Google Play Store, NCC-CSIRT had also advised users not to give out sensitive information through untrusted platforms.

NCC-CSIRT’s advisory on the discovery said the apps, which have been downloaded 450,000 times in

total, can be games or investment services but are designed to steal sensitive user information.

While some malicious apps have been removed, others are still active on the store.

According to the advisory, after installing and opening the app, it will contact a remote server which will reply with instructions on what to do. These instructions typically include phishing pages that will be displayed to unsuspecting users to collect their sensitive information.

ZOOM SET TO LAY OFF 1,300 EMPLOYEES Zoom has said it will lay off about 1,300 employees, representing about 15 per cent of its workforce.

The Video Communications company has become the latest company hit by the mass layoffs that have rocked the global tech industry since late last year.

In a memo to employees, Zoom’s CEO Eric Yuan said the layoffs would impact every part of the organisation.

Yuan also said he and other executives would take a significant pay cut after acknowledging he made “mistakes” in how quickly the company grew during the pandemic.

While taking full responsibility for decisions that led to the layoffs, Zoom CEO in the memo said, “As the CEO and founder of Zoom, I am accountable for these mistakes and the actions we take today– and I want to show accountability not

just in words but in my own actions.

To that end, I am reducing my salary for the coming fiscal year by 98 per cent and foregoing my FY23 corporate bonus”.

Yuan said executive leadership team members would reduce their base salaries by 20 per cent for the coming fiscal year and forfeit their fiscal year 2023 bonuses.

REPORT: ONLINE LEARNING OPENED NEW CAREER PATHS FOR NIGERIAN WOMEN A recent report by the International Finance Corporation (IFC) has shown that the recent increase in women’s access to online learning has opened new career paths.

The study also found that one in three Nigerian women surveyed reported positive career or business outcomes after taking online courses, including finding a new job, setting up a business, or improving job performance. The research is part of the “Women and Online Learning in Emerging Markets” report from IFC, created in partnership with the global online learning platform Coursera and the European Commission.

It also found that one job is created in Nigeria for every 30 people trained on Coursera.

The study uses data from Coursera to quantify women’s participation in online education, identify challenges to greater participation, and provide recommendations for the public and private sectors to improve lifelong learning opportunities and outcomes for women.

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T H I S D AY ˾ MONDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 2023

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BUSINESSWORLD R A T E S MONEY MARKET

A S

A T

REPO

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

08056356325

F E B R U A R Y

S & P INDEX

1 0 , 2 0 2 3

S & P INDEX

EXCHANGE RATE

OPR

11.25%

CALL

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INDEX LEVEL

613.31%

1/4 TO DATE

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N416.86/ 1 US DOLLAR*

OVERNIGHT

11.50%

1-MONTH

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Foreign Investors’ Outflow in Stock Market Down 20.6% to N183.47bn on Inflation, FX Scarcity

Kayode Tokede Following the scarcity of foreign exchange, a double-digit inflation that eroded investment, political uncertainty, among others, foreign investors’ outflow in the domestic stock market dropped by 20.6 Per cent to N183.47 billion from N229.62billion reported in 2021.

The domestic & foreign

portfolio participation in equities report obtained exclusively by THISDAY from the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) showed that foreign investors inflow also dropped to N195.76 billion in 2022 from N204.88 billion in 2021.

Analysis of the numbers showed that out of the N2.32 trillion total trades in 2022 as against N1.89 trillion in 2021,

foreign investors’ exposure in fundamental stocks such as Airtel Africa Plc, MTN Nigeria Communication Plc, Seplat Petroleum, among others dropped to N379.23 billion from N434.5 billion the previous year.

On the flip side, domestic investors that comprises of retail and institutional’s exposure in stocks increased to N1.95 trillion in 2022 from N1.46 trillion in

2021 and it reflected in some highly capitalised stocks on the bourse.

This means that domestic investors participation in the stock market surpassed foreign investors by 83.68 per cent in 2022 from 77.12 per cent reported in 2021, while foreign investors exposure dropped further to 16.32per cent in 2022 from 22.88 per cent in 2021.

Also, domestic retail investment in stocks moved to N642.73 billion in 2022 from N578.12 billion in 2021, while domestic institutional investors increased to N1.302.31 billion in 2022 from N886.61 billion reported in 2021.

The stock market had closed positive in 2022, gaining N5.62 trillion in market capitalisation and 19.98 per cent in NGX

benchmark All-Share Index.

Foreign investors was dominating the stock market till 2015 but the trend changed in 2016 when gloom dominated global market– falling stock markets, low commodity prices, risks of debt crises in developing countries and risks of deflation.

Between 2016 and 2022, Continued on page 33

Expert: Naira Redesign, Cashless Policy to Increase Nigeria’s Tax Bracket Nume Ekeghe The Head, of Global Markets at Parthian Partners, Ronke Akinyemi has stated that the naira redesign policy, which has prompted an increase in digital banking would enhance tax inclusion and efficiency in NIgeria.

She said this while speaking at the bi-monthly forum of the Finance Correspondents Association of Nigeria (FICAN) in Lagos.

She noted that the naira redesign coupled with the cashless policy of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is expected to see more naira move from private hands into the banking vaults.

She said: “We expect that there will be increased remittances from government-owned enterprises, we expect to see improved tax administration. We expect that if we eventually transition to a cashless

economy, more money is in the bank, the banks would have an idea of who owns what and it will be easier for the tax guys to go after those who have not been paying tax on who has been evading tax because you cannot collect tax from the person that is putting money under his bed. So once all the money is in one place, it creates a clearer view for them. So, in that respect, we expect that there will be improved tax administration and

increased oil outputs, hopefully.”

The governor of the CBN, Mr. Godwin Emefiele had in a press conference in Lagos recently also alluded to the cashless policy enhancing tax collections.

He said: “In addition, the short-term decline in cash holding and the increased formalization of business activities as the cashless policy forces more economic agents to open bank accounts, will also boost fiscal policy. With

more transactions going through e-channels and bank accounts, more agents come within view of the government’s tax net. This enlarges the base of taxable activities and increases the possibility of more tax receipts by various tiers of government.

“In the long-term, the policy improves the sophistication of tax collection and would no doubt reduce tax evasion and tax avoidance. As experiences from other

jurisdictions have shown, effective currency redesign can support regulatory reform, increased legislative reach and coordinated fiscal and structural policies.

“The advantages of the currency redesign is overwhelmingly enormous and will benefit the economy in the longrun. We will take all the necessary steps to ensure that there will be a smooth flow of currency swaps and minimise the inconvenience in the short-term,” he said.

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

10.335, 00 10.339, 00 10.129, 00 11.289, 00 10.543, 00

Change Updated Time (%) 11.02 -0.01 January 13, 2023 January 11.71 0.11 13, 2023 January 11.98 -0.01 13, 2023 January 12.24 0.00 13, 2023 January 12.50 0.00 13, 2023

Yield

BILLS MATURITY

Discount

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

1.53

NTB 11May-23

2.70

1.54 1.83 2.43

Change Updated Time (%) January 1.53 0.00 13, 2023 January 0.00 13, 1.54 2023 January 1.84 0.01 13, 2023 2.44 -0.31 January 13, 2023

Yield

2.72

January -0.54 13, 2023

OTC F X F U T U R E S

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

Change Updated Time (%) January 8.08 8.20 -0.24 13, 2023 January 13.12 13.50 -0.33 13, 2023 January 9.52 9.74 -0.39 13, 2023

Discount Yield

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CONTRACT Current TENOR Contract Rate Updated Time ($/₦) (MONTH) NGUS JAN 25 469.87 January 1 2023 13, 2023 January NGUS FEB 22 2 472.05 2023 13, 2023 NGUS MAR 29 474.23 January 3 2023 13, 2023 NGUS APR 26 476.42 January 4 2023 13, 2023 NGUS MAY 31 478.60 January 5 2023 13, 2023

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MONDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 2023 ˾ T H I S D AY

BUSINESSWORLD

NEWS

S t a k e h o l d e r s L a u d N I M A S A’s Transparent Process to Disburse CVFF The Nigerian Shipowners Association (NISA), Ship-Owners Association of Nigeria (SOAN) and maritime lawyers have commended the Director-General, Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Dr. Bashir Jamoh, for display of transparency and steadfastness in the process currently being carried out to disburse the Cabotage Vessel Financing Fund (CVFF) since the approval was given by the federal government.

Member of NISA and SOAN who preferred to be anonymous , said they were pleased particularly with the seriousness and speed with which the NIMASA DG has treated the issue since the Minister of Transportation, Muazu Sambo conveyed President Muhammadu Buhari’s approval for the disbursement of the fund.

According to the ship owners, they were happy that NIMASA DG and his team have been able to hold different meetings with both the banks and the stakeholders so far on the process.

They revealed that during the meetings, the NIMASA displayed enthusiasm and honesty of purpose in ensuring that the fund is disbursed.

Similarly, a maritime lawyer, Mr Kasarachi Opara, described the steps taken by Jamoh as commendable and reassuring, adding that the decision of this administration to give out cabotage fund to indigenous shipping operators, though belated, should be applauded and Kudos given to the Buhari led federal government for taking that bold step unlike the past administrations.

Opara however expressed

concerns on the implementation of the necessary guidelines by the designated banks as required by the apex maritime body.

He said, “I must commend the DG of NIMASA for his outstanding performance that has raised the hope of practitioners in the industry. My concern is more on the implementation of these processes by the designated banks.

It is one thing giving an order and another thing implementing the order given.

“Nigerian commercial banks are not best of friends when it comes to loans because they make the loans practically impossible for beneficiary to pay back, because of their high and unreasonable interest rates and so many other charges attached to the same loan which largely contribute to failures in repaying loans generally.”

FG Acquires 10,000 Units of Tractors for Mechanised Farming Gilbert Ekugbe The federal government has purchased 10,000 units of tractors and 50,000 units of assorted equipment to drive mechanised farming in Nigeria.

According to the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr. Mohammad Mahmood Abubakar, the ministry is collaborating with the Bank of Agriculture (BOA) to make tractors with implements available to farmers at a concessionary deferred payment terms.

Speaking at the launch of its tractorisation programme in Abuja, the minister noted that farmers would make 40 per cent down payment while the balance of 60 per cent would be spread over a period of three years.

Abubakar said that the vital

role of agriculture in the Nigerian economy has made it necessary for the sector to be re-invigorated through tractor acquisition in order to achieve food and nutrition security.

He pointed out that the tractorisation programme would lead to improved quantity and quality of food per person, reduce drudgery of farmers in Nigeria as well as increase productivity of farmers.

He revealed that Nigeria and Brazil entered into a bi-lateral agreement under the More Food International Programme (MFIP) of Brazil which culminated to a loan of $1.2 billion.

Speaking further, Abubakar noted that agriculture sector remained amongst the key sectors driving the Nigerian economy and it contributed 23.78 per cent of the

Gross Domestic Product (GDP) as well as the largest employer of labour in the country.

In his remarks, the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr. Ernest Umakhihe, who was represented by the Director, Federal Department of Agriculture, Mr. Abubakar Abdullahi, stated that the programme would move agriculture from subsistence to commercial business venture, increase the economy of most farmers, drive development in the agrarian communities, encourage youth participation and engagement among others.

Umakhihe reaffirmed the ministry’s commitment in taking the tractorisation programme to higher pedestal where all and sundry would acknowledge its modest achievement.

New Investor Repositions IEI Ebere Nwoji t New management of International Energy Insurance (IEI) Plc, has said that following recent 100 percent equity investment in the firm by Norrenberger Group, the company is now well positioned to play a dominant role in the Nigerian insurance sector.

Norrenberger Group recently took over the hitherto ailing International Energy Insurance by making full investment in the shares of the company.

IEI Managing Director, Supo Sogelola, said with the new investors injecting fresh funds into the firm it has expended a whooping N1.3 billion on clearing all its outstanding liabilities in terms of claims, taxation, pension, staff salaries and commission to brokers.

He however said the firm was yet to pay its outstanding foreign currency-denominated liabilities because of exchange rate fluctuation.

He however said the company was already compiling the currency-denominated liabilities for settlement in due course.

Sogelola noted that IEI capital base would rise to N5 billion from the projected N7.3 billion, after getting NAICOM approval of its shareholding allotment.

“For 2023 business year, the company is projecting premium income of N5.3 billion and profit in excess of 10 per cent, given its market potential and other favourable indices, ”he said.

The IEI boss said that the new management team had developed a five-year growth plan and a focus

to recapture the market innovatively.

Acording to Sogelola, the insurer is bringing innovation, value added services, business expansion, manpower development and brand equity into the market, to reclaim its position in the sector.

“We will focus on high net worth individuals and medium net worth individuals in terms of personal products.

“While our alternative channels will address the needs of SMEs, MSMEs and co-operatives to effectively address the issue and opportunity of insurance penetration in the country.

“We shall delight brokers by the quality of our innovative products and services and also retool our retail services because retail business has sustained the company over the years.” he said.

Wema Bank Builds Capacity for SMEs in Enugu In its bid to equip small and medium-scale enterprises (SMEs) in Enugu with adequate knowledge and skills to boost their businesses, Wema Bank Plc, Nigeria’s most innovative bank, is hosting its maiden Business Growth and Innovation Conference in Enugu, the Enugu State capital. The conference, being organized in partnership with the Enugu SME Center, the Enugu State Government’s SME development agency, will hold on Wednesday, February 15th and Thursday, February 16th, 2023.

The Head, SME Banking at Wema Bank, Arthur Nkemeh, said that the two-day conference, which will cover key areas of business management, such as strategy and innovation,

digital transformation, sales and marketing, and financial management, will upskill business owners and managers and boost the capacity and growth of SMEs in Enugu.

He added, “The Enugu Business Growth and Innovation Conference is intended to bridge the knowledge gap that exists in the SMEs space.

It will equip attendees with bestin-class knowledge and skills in business management. The capacity building program will be delivered by world-class facilitators who are subject matter experts in various aspects of business management, in keeping to our position as the leading bank in the SME Advisory space in Nigeria.”

He noted that, being the leading

bank in the SME banking segment in Nigeria, Wema Ban has been a champion of the growth of the SME sector in the country through its various financial and non-financial (business advisory) services for SMEs. He said, “As a champion of the growth of the SME sector in Nigeria, Wema Bank has put in place many initiatives that will drive the growth of the sector in the country. We not only have low-cost banking products that speak to the needs of SMEs, but we also ensure that the managers and promoters of these businesses are equipped with top-notch knowledge and skills that will ensure that their businesses thrive in any given situation they find themselves.”

Why Contributory Pension Scheme Remains Panacea for Retirement Challenges in Nigeria The Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) introduced in 2004 addressed the challenges of the Defined Benefits Scheme (DBS), which caused hardship to retirees. Before the CPS, the Federal and State Governments were unable to meet their pension obligations to their retirees because funds were not set aside to meet the retirement obligations of the retirees. The situation led to the accumulation of substantial pension liabilities. In the private sector, retirement plans before the CPS were characterized by low pensions.

The CPS brought the following innovations that completely transformed the PENCOM DG, Aisha Dahir-Umar pension and retirement experience in Nigeria: Furthermore, employees in service before 2004 are assured of their pensions earned under Individual Retirement the DBS, called Accrued Pension Rights. The Savings Account One of the benefits of the CPS is that employees Accrued Pension Rights represent an employee’s are allowed to open individual Retirement benefits for the past years of service up to June Savings Accounts (RSA) where contributions 2004, when the Pension Reform Act (PRA) that are accumulated till retirement; therefore, the CPS birthed the CPS came into being. Finally, RSA is fully funded. Consequently, once an employee holders under 50 who lose their jobs and cannot retires from active service, funds are available secure another job within four months can access for immediate payment of their retirement 25 percent of their RSA balances. benefits. The CPS also permits employees to make voluntary contributions from their salaries Benefits payments under to boost their RSA balance. The mandatory CPS During the fourth quarter of 2022, PenCom requirement that PFAs provide regular/periodic statements of accounts to contributors ensures approved 7,471 requests for retirement benefit that RSA holders are informed on the progress payments. The amount consists of 4,721 payment of their RSAs, especially when their employers requests under Programmed Withdrawal (PW) and 2,750 under Retiree Life Annuity (RLA). pay pension contributions.

The sum of N28,550.54 billion was approved as lumpsum, while the monthly pension and Mobility of Labour The CPS facilitates labour mobility across annuity payment were N593.03 million. PenCom sectors and different tiers of Government. Once also approved PFAs to pay N6.31 billion to RSAs are opened and Personal Identification 9,966 RSA holders under the age of 50 years Numbers (PINs) issued to employees, the PINs that lost their jobs and were unable to secure are tied to each employee throughout their another employment after four months of losing lifetime. Thus, when an employee moves from their jobs in the last quarter of 2022. one employer to another, It suffices for him only to provide the new employer with his Accumulation of Long-term Funds PIN and PFA. The CPS has generated a pool of long-term funds that have been invested in the economy.

Contributors’ Rights Firstly, the CPS allows participants to select The Scheme has generated N14.99 trillion any PFA of their choice to open their RSA. from 9.8 contributors as of 31 December Secondly, the right of RSA holders to transfer 2022. Thus, the CPS has directly fulfilled their RSA from one PFA to another once a year the objective of transferring resources and is guaranteed by the Pension Reform Act 2014. pooling funds efficiently and effectively. The Thirdly, participants retiring under the CPS pooling of funds for long-term investments can decide on their retirement benefit payment significantly impacts capital formation and mode. Specifically, retirees under the CPS can investment, hence Gross Domestic Product choose either the Programmed Withdrawal (PW) (GDP) growth.

In conclusion, the CPS is inevitable given mode or Retiree Life Annuity (RLA) method to receive their pensions. The PW is a product the issues associated with the old DBS, offered and administered by the PFAs under including but not limited to coverage, the regulation and supervision of PenCom. PW funding, transparency, and inability to pay offers a retiree the option of a lump sum and retirement benefits. These challenges led to regular monthly or quarterly pension payments. the accumulation of huge pension liabilities In contrast, the RLA is a product of Insurance that are yet to be fully settled. The CPS has Companies regulated by NAICOM. The RLA reformed pension administration in Nigeria offers periodic payments calculated based on so that workers get their retirement benefits immediately after retirement. an expected life span.

T H I S D AY ˾ MONDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 2023

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BUSINESSWORLD

STATUS REPORT

Julius Berger’s Profits Wilts on Cost of Sales, OPEX

Kayode Tokede

J

ulius Berger Nigeria Plc in its recently released unaudited financial statement for period ended December 31, 2022 on the Nigerian Exchange Group (NGX) reported significant increase in cost of sales and total operating expenses that slow down the growth of its profit.

The construction company show its cost of sales increasing by 33.4per cent to N371.84 billion in 2022 unaudited financial statement from N278.55 billion reported in 2021, while total operating expenses stood at N43.46billion in 2022, about 27 per cent increase from N34.26billion in 2021.

On these two financial parameters, the group’s profit before tax closed 2022 at N15.5 billion, representing an increase of 12.2per cent from N13.82 billion reported in 2021.

Julius Berger, thus, reported N9.45billion profit after tax in 2022 from N9.36billion in 2021.

Data gleaned from Julius Berger financial report showed the profit and revenue reported by the construction firm in the 2022 unaudited financial represent the highest profit and revenue recorded by the company in 10 years, despite increasing cost of operations influenced by inflation rate and scarcity of foreign exchange.

The firm’s revenue grew by nearly 30 per cent in 2022 to report N440.43 billion from N339.58 billion in the corresponding period of 2021.

Furthermore, a breakdown of the firm’s revenue shows that year on year (YoY), the government sector generated the bulk of revenue for the firm.

Revenue from the government grew by 67 per cent to N265.9 billion in 2022 from N159.54billion in 2021, accounting for 60.4 per cent of the firm’s total revenue in the period.

In the year under review, Julius

Berger’s impairment loss on trade and tax receivables increased to N3.89billion in 2022 from N2.1billion in 2021.

This brings operating profit to N21.24billion in 2022, a decline of 14 per cent from N24.7billion reported in 2021.

Its foreign exchange acquisition was at N4.63billion in 2022 from N9.08billion in 2021, while finance costs closed 2022 at N4.49billion from N4.86billion in 2021.

On the backdrop of modest performance in profit, the group’s Earnings Per Share moved from N6.17 per share to N5.47 per share in 2022.

STRONGER BALANCE POSITION Julius Berger’s shareholder’s equity grew by 8.5 per cent to N58.69 billion in 2022 from N54.06 billion in 2021.

Total assets recorded by the Julius Berger also improved by8.2percent

to N504.84 billion in 2022 from N466.77 billion in 2021.

The breakdown of total assets showed a N237.29billion non-current assets in 2022 from N212.32billion in 2021 as total current assets moved from N254.5billion in 2021 from N267.54billion reported in 2021.

Analysis by THISDAY to evaluate the company’s financial leverage shows a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.37 percent.

In 2022, the construction company announced to the market that the pioneer cashew processing plant located in Epe, Lagos State, Julius Berger’s first agro-processing activity, cashew processing, will form the cornerstone of Julius Berger’s diversification activities.

Julius Berger Nigeria is a leading Nigerian company offering holistic services covering the planning, design, engineering, construction, operation, and maintenance of buildings, infrastructure, and industrial projects in Nigeria.

FOREIGN INVESTORS’ OUTFLOW IN STOCK MARKET DOWN 20.6% TO N183.47BN ON INFLATION, FX SCARCITY domestic investors outpaced foreign investors as analysts stated that shields the market from the impacts of funds outflow from emerging markets and global headwinds.

The report further revealed that domestic investors still dominate the stock market in its Year-till-Date performance, trading over 83.19 per cent, the highest so far in many years.

Analysts believe foreign investors have been on the sidelines for a while because of difficulties in repatriating funds over the past couple of years.

“Foreign exchange shortages have meant that some of our clients have been on queues at the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for some time. This has resulted in a loss of appetite from the FPI community and these trades you see are mostly recycled cash. At the same time, PFAs were relatively more involved in the equities market last year, ”said Senior Vice President, FBN Quest, Uwa Osadiaye.

The stock market in 2022 was faced with mixed outcomes following the action of the Central Bank on its monetary policies.

In a dire attempt to douse down the growing inflation rate, the CBN had raised the MPR to 16.5 per cent from 11.5 per cent, and the world economy, according to the World Bank may be edging towards a global recession in 2023 and a string of financial crises in emerging market and developing economies.

Speaking with THISDAY, the CEO Wyoming Capital and Partners, Mr. Tajudeen Olayinka was of the opinion that the issue is not about local investors’ dominance, but the sufficiency of market turnover that is still below the threshold expected from the size of the Nigerian economy.

According to him, “That is to say the level of our market turnover relative to our country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is still insignificant. The market

is still relatively small and needs to attract more local and foreign investors’ participation, to be able to attain an equivalent size of the South African market.

“So, while local investors’ dominance has helped to reduce the usual volatility associated with the market, the near absence or low level of foreign portfolio investors’ participation in the market has denied the Nigerian foreign exchange market the optimum level of liquidity required to support the drive for economic growth. Therefore, local and foreign participations in the good mix are essential for the development of the market, ”he added.

Speaking with THISDAY, the Vice President, Highcap Securities, Mr. David Adnori attributed foreign investors’ decline in the stock market to foreign exchange scarcity, stating that domestic investors have increased their holding in some listed fundamental stocks on the Exchange.

According to him, “Foreign investors are not investing again in Nigeria’s stock market, leading domestic investors to dominate the market. The decline in foreign investors’ confidence in the economy of Nigeria also another key issue.

“If you consider the debt area, a lot of foreign investors usually invest in Nigeria’s public debt.

As it is now, a lot of them have stayed away over looming fear that the government may not be able to service those debts.”

He noted that foreign investors are critical in the global stock market.

He explained that, “With more foreign investors, there will be more foreign currencies you will have in an economy.

What is happening now is that our macro economy has been mismanaged with debt crisis.

The federal government needs new debts to service existing debts. It is a worrisome situation for foreign investors and it is contributing to their existing in the stock market.”

On his part, the Chief Operating Officer, Supra Commercial Trust Limited, Mr. Charles Fakrogha explained that, “Recently, domestic institutional investors have dominated the stock market. I will not blame foreign investors for exiting the market as they are here for a short time. Once there is any negative report in the domestic stock market, the next thing is for foreign investors to move their portfolio to another market.

“We all want foreign investors but at the same time, we have been canvasing that retail/ institutional investors owned the market. With domestic investors surpassing foreign investors, it now shows they are aware of the need to develop their stock market.”

He noted that economic parameters must be favourable for domestic investors to invest in the stock market and drive liquidity.

“However, we have witnessed retail investors losing money during the

global meltdown and it will be difficult to attract them to the market right now. High network and institutional investors always diversify their portfolio to another market and they are well poised to remain in the market.”

In addition, a Stockbroker and Capital Market Analyst, Mr. Rotimi Fakayejo explained that the instability of the naira is eroding foreign investors away from the stock market.

He said, “foreign investors exposed to the stock market currently at its lowest rate. We might not see foreign investors coming back until last quarter in 2023.”

On what is driving domestic investors’ participation in the stock market, he said the market has witnessed price stability.

He added, “The kind of volatility we used to have before is no longer there. Most of the volatility seen before was caused by the foreign portfolio investors.”

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MONDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 2023 ˾ T H I S D AY

BUSINESSWORLD

INTERVIEW

Oyenuga: Jumia Drives Culture of Inclusion that Unleashes Power of Perspective Human Resources Director, Jumia, Enitan Oyenuga speaks on the company’s investment towards building an inclusive and diverse workplace, Ugo Aliogo presents the excerpts Tell us about yourself and the career journey that has led you to Jumia am a Human Resource business leader with over a decade of experience in Human Resource and Organisational Development. I hold an MSc in HR and Organisational Behaviour from King’s College London and Bachelor’s degree in Law. Prior to joining Jumia in January 2022 as HR Director, I worked as an independent HR consultant working closely with SMEs and Founders to drive growth. And before this, I was HR Director at Coca-Cola International and Lafarge-Holcim.

My first role in HR was as a part-time Talent Researcher in a City recruitment firm in the UK. Following my Master’s degree at King’s College London, I joined Diageo (Guinness Nigeria at the time), where I held various senior positions in HR, including leading talent management across West Africa, a short-term assignment in Cameroon and Resourcing globally for Diageo.

becoming obsolete, and as a result, new skills are constantly needed. As a company, we make an effort to concentrate on data and use analytics to guide our talent management. We are aware of the upcoming set of skills, and we have plans to make sure that our system covers those skill sets so that we are prepared to close the skills gap. It is crucial to foresee what will happen and have very specific strategies in place so that our workforce is prepared for the shift well before it takes place.

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Jumia won the Human Resources Best Practice award at the CIPM 2022 award ceremony for implementing diversity and inclusion policy within the organisation. Can you talk more about what powering inclusivity means for Jumia and your purpose as the Human Resources Director?

At Jumia Nigeria, our vision as regards diversity and inclusion is to be a place where people can bring the best of themselves to work without fear of any discrimination and feel a sense of belonging and an essential part of the team. Our client base is diverse and includes a sizable proportion of women both as consumers and vendors, and it is important that we mirror the richly diverse markets we serve.

Therefore, providing women with visible platforms and chances is a no-brainer. For us, it is crucial to create a business that leads the way in promoting female visibility. We are implementing these strategies because we believe Nigeria offers excellent prospects to close this gap. Today we actively track gender diversity at Jumia, but we also understand that diversity is so much more than this.

We want to drive a culture of inclusion that unleashes the power of perspectives.

As such, our hiring processes have been designed to help us attract, develop, engage and retain a diverse talent pipeline.

What are the major guiding principles that drive the culture at Jumia?

Our vision is to use technology to make everyday life easy for Nigerians. However, we can only achieve this through dedicated employees who believe in and are connected to the brand. These teams ensure customer satisfaction and our line managers are central to ensuring our employees experience the same level of passion that they provide to the people they interact with and those they serve.

The bedrock of our culture remains our core values. There are 12 of them and they give us a sense of purpose and keep us grounded daily. Unlying these values are the following beliefs we hold dear: that we are a group of leaders committed to winning the digital landscape in Africa; We achieve impact by thinking faster and executing better than any other place and We grow people who build businesses. As such in Jumia Nigeria we have called out that we want to be an employer of choice - a fun and productive work environment where our employees are excited to come to work and candidates see this and vie to work for us.

There are several reports and stories constantly being told about employee

Personally, and when you look back at the past few years, what company achievements do you believe the people at Jumia are mostly proud of?

Over the past decade, we have worked to improve the everyday lives of Nigerians through our services, the Jumia e-commerce platform, Jumia Food, Jumia Logistics, and JumiaPay. One achievement we take pride in is that Jumia has enabled different entrepreneurs to grow their businesses and open them up to a wider customer base across the country. It makes us proud to say that we are part of the success stories of these businesses. Furthermore, I am proud that we have grown several business leaders. Many of our employees started out their careers in Jumia and are today CEOs, Heads of Functions and Units.

We also take pride in our alumni community, our ex-Jumees, who have gone on to become successful founders and entrepreneurs in their own right by launching companies that are making waves as significant contributors to the tech ecosystem.

Oyenuga

injustice in Nigeria. How is Jumia able to curb systemic inequalities in the workplace to lead change in the industry at large?

As an organisation, we have worked hard over the years to build a company and culture that our employees can be proud of. We conduct pulse checks at different times of the year to get people’s opinions on the company and other matters that affect them.

We take these feedback seriously, developing action plans to close out on areas of improvement and building on identified strength.

people can function best whether fully onsite, hybrid or remote and what is best for the company. These topics remain relevant post pandemic and companies that adapt quickly to these changes are sure to gain a competitive advantage as far as attracting and retaining talent.

Can you give an insight into the size, spread and importance of Jumia as a top employer?

At Jumia Nigeria, we have called out that we want to be an employer of choice for our 1000+ employees and then externally. This implies we Following the pandemic and rapid want our employees to be excited to changes shaping our world today, come to work daily. As such, we are how do you see the role of HR focused on creating a positive work changing in the future, and how environment for our teams, building can organisations embrace that shift? an outstanding brand, and curating Long before COVID, there were a a fun and productive culture. lot of propositions about the future of This ambition is what has driven work and what COVID-19 did was a number of initiatives across the accelerate not only the conversation company including investing in but also the implementation. I believe a best-in-class corporate office, a the pandemic renewed the emphasis strong focus on internal mobility on the ‘human’ part of HR. HR and growing talent from within, was required to understand the providing a blend of opportunities life experiences of employees and for people development and platforms support them not just in their work like weekly reviews, town halls, and lives but also outside of this sphere. pulse surveys which we use to actively As such we saw an increased focus solicit and get feedback. on employee engagement, wellbeing and mental health.

There are ongoing issues and Although HR is still central conversations surrounding the need to discussions on performance, to retain talent because oftentimes productivity and efficiency of the people who have been heavily workforce, it is also imperative to invested in a company jump ship. understand the challenges employees How is Jumia preparing for this face, and struggles inside and outside possible future and still building of work. Also with COVID came winning teams while retaining increased focus on ways of working strong talents across its operations? and the need to figure out how We know many skills are quickly

As a woman holding a top position in a multinational organisation like Jumia, what is your advice to aspiring younger women?

Like most working women, my biggest challenge is finding the right work-life balance, and so many years after, I still can’t say I do this well. However, I have also recently learnt to redefine what work life balance means to me.

Personally, it means allocating time, as required, to the important aspects of my life. There are days that work will come first, and other days it’s family or health etc. It is in this ability to flex my priorities that I find balance. The other typical challenge most women allude to is gender bias. I have been quite lucky to have worked in environments where merit/performance was what won you the ‘ticket to the game’.

When I have competed for jobs, I have never been made to feel that when it came down to it, a man could be the ‘preferred candidate’ simply on the basis of his gender. The one challenge I experience in this space though is the expectation I believe the workplace often has for women to ‘lead like men’ - the ‘Iron Lady syndrome’. This is the more difficult one to combat because it is often unsaid. Personally, I have found it reassuring and inspiring to have had female bosses, mentors and role models that have had a great impact in their spheres of influence by ‘being themselves’. In summary, I will encourage aspiring younger women to understand early that there are so many dimensions to you - work, family, health, social life etc. Nurture them all!

Secondly, be yourself. Stay where you are encouraged to bring your full self to work and find great role models and mentors that give you feedback and really inspire greatness in you.

T H I S D AY • MONDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 2023

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PERSPECTIVE Appellate Court Has Cleared All Doubts on the Issue of Locus in Another Party’s Primaries –Activist Olaoluwakitan Babatunde

As various post-election litigations rage on in the build up to The 2023 general election, the President of Civil Rights Realisation and Advancement Network, CRRAN, Olu Omotayo, says that the Court of Appeal had since the signing into law of the Electoral Act 2022 abundantly established the issue of locus standi in matters relating to challenging the outcomes of the primary election of political parties.

Omotayo said both the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court had also before the passage of the Electoral Act 2022 equally frowned at what he termed the busybody attitude of some political actors, who challenge the primary elections of parties other than their own.

The lawyer and activist, who stated this in an exclusive interview on Sunday said that although the lower courts appear to be divided on the subject, the Court of Appeal had through several recent verdicts shown that the nascent Electoral Act 2022 had not changed anything about who could challenge the processes leading up to as well as the conduct and outcome of primary elections of political parties.

He cited the January 5, 2023 decision of the Court of Appeal Port Harcourt Division in the case ABUEH & Others V. PDP & Others Suit No: CA/ PH/557/2022, where the court held:

“A political party is not allowed by extant Electoral Act, 2022 and the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to sue another political party in a bid to challenge the nomination of the latter party’s candidates elected from primary election conducted by the latter political party and seeking to prevent the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) from acting on the list of candidates submitted to it by the political party sued”.

He also cited a January 23, 2023 decision of the Makurdi Division of the Court of Appeal in PDP & Others V. INEC & Others, Appeal No. CA/ MK/PE/15/2022 where the Court was called upon to interpret the cumulative effect of Sections 77(2) and (3), 82(1), (2) and (5); 84(1), (4)(a)-(c) and (13) of the Electoral Act, 2022.

Justice Biobele Georgewill, who read the appellate court’s judgement stated: “In the light of all I have stated above, it seems clear to me and I so firmly hold that by whatever canons of interpretation employed on the provisions and wordings of Section 285(14) (c) of the Constitution of Nigeria 1999 as amended it can neither accommodate nor confer any locus standi on one political party to challenge the internal affairs or planning, preparations and holding of the primary election of another political party.

“Simply put, the Appellants/

Cross - Respondents, being PDP and its candidates for the House of Representatives in the 2023 General Elections lack the locus standi to challenge by way of instituting their Suit before the lower Court to challenge the planning, preparations and holding or even non holding of primary elections by the 2ndRespondent, APC”.

Furthermore, Omotayo referenced another Court of Appeal, Port Harcourt Division’s judgement of November 29, 2022 in the case of PDP V. INEC & OTHERS, Appeal No.CA/PH/480/2022 where the court went further to add that only aspirants, who participated in a primary, not just any member of a particular political party, could challenge the process of a primary election.

Delivering the judgment, Justice Gabriel Kolawole stated: “The appellant is a member of PDP not APC, and even if he is a member of the APC, he would have no locus to challenge the nomination of the 1st Respondent as he is not one of the Aspirants who participated in the primary election. In my view he is a meddlesome interloper who having assumed the position of hired mourner is crying more than the bereaved”.

The activist added that the decisions were in tandem with the verdicts of the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court before the coming into force of the Electoral Act 2022, citing the

Supreme Court in the Case Alhasan & Ano V. Ishaku & Others in SC.907/2015, which was delivered on January 8, 2016.

The Supreme Court held: “Only an aspirant at the primary election is permitted

by Section 87(9) of the Electoral Act 2010 (as amended) to challenge the selection or nomination of a person for an elective office. Apart from an aspirant who took part in the primary election, no other person is authorized to file an action to challenge the selection or nomination of a candidate by a political party for an election.

“As I said earlier, the appellant is a member of the PDP, not APC and even if he is a member of the APC, he would have no locus to challenge the nomination of the 1st Respondent as he is not one of the aspirants who participated in the primary election.

“In my view, Appellant is a meddlesome interloper who, having assumed the role of a hired mourner, is crying more than the bereaved”.

Omotayo regretted a situation where the judiciary is bugged down by a plethora of litigations even on maters already abundantly decided and eloquently made clear by both the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court, and called on the political parties and politicians to play by the rule to strengthen the nation’s democracy.

•Olaoluwakitan Babatunde wrote in from Abuja

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T H I S D AY ˾ MONDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 2023

HOMES&DESIGN

Eko Pearl Towers Setting Unprecedented Elegance Eko Pearl Towers is a collection of five elegant skyscrapers proposed by Eko Pearl Nig. Ltd. These are Black Pearl, Champagne Pearl, White Pearl, Aqua Pearl and Indigo Pearl. Two of them, Black Pearl and Champagne Pearl, have been built and delivered. Lagos Eko Towers, presented last week, is not promoted by the company, according to its management. Bennett Oghifo writes

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lack Pearl and Champagne Pearl towers rise to full height in a perfect location right in the centre of Eko Atlantic City. This is the same prime location that will host the three other towers - White Pearl, Aqua Pearl and Indigo Pearl.

The Towers that stand tall in their unprecedented elegance are just under 500 meters away from the financial centre of Lagos. “The location is close enough not to endure long drives to work but far enough to enjoy the splendour of quiet living,” the promoter stated.

The developer ensured each tower is unique in name, highlighting the slight difference in their design and outer structure, yet preserving the same state-of-the-art infrastructure and

keen sense of luxury.

For instance, the Black Pearl Tower consists of 24 residential floors; there are four apartments per floor, two on the royal penthouse floors, a technical floor, a ground floor and a basement floor.

Black Pearl Tower consists of apartments from Ist to the 18th floor. The threebedroom apartments have a Marina view: it is 178sqm. The entrance opens to the reception that leads to the dining room and kitchen. There are three master bedrooms, a guest toilet, balconies, and a maid’s room with a bathroom. The 2 Bedroom apartments have an ocean view: 144 sqm. The entrance leads to a reception to the dining and kitchen.

There are two master bedrooms, a guest

toilet, balconies and a maid’s room with a bathroom.

The Royal apartments are on the 19th to 24th floor. They are Penthouse Type Apartment: 248 sqm. The entrance also opens to a reception that leads to the dining and kitchen. There are three master bedrooms - a guest toilet - balconies, and a maid’s room with a bathroom.

The Champagne Pearl Tower consists of 32 residential floors. There are four apartments per floor, a technical floor, a ground floor and a basement floor.

Champagne Pearl apartments are from the first to the 24th floor. There are threebedroom apartments with Marina View: 178 sqm. The entrance has a reception that leads to the dining and kitchen. There

are three master bedrooms, a guest toilet, a balcony and a maid’s room with a bathroom.

The two-bedroom apartments have Ocean View: 144sqm. The entrance flows into the reception, dining and kitchen. There are two master bedrooms with a guest toilet, balconies and a maid’s room with a bathroom.

Its Royal apartments are from the 24th-32nd floor; Penthouse Type Apartment: 248 sqm with big terrace. The entrance leads to the reception, dining and kitchen. There are 3 master bedrooms, a guest toilet, balconies and a maid’s room with a bathroom.

The garden terrace within the towers is 22,738 sqm and comprises a swimming pool, two restaurants, a fully equipped gym, a children’s playground, landscaped paths, sitting areas, and a spa, among other amenities.

T H I S D AY ˾ MONDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 2023

37

BUSINESSSPECIAL

Editor: Obinna Chima obinna.chima@thisdaylive.com 08024557078

Broad Street, Lagos

Bridging Widening Inequality Gap Obinna Chima opines that rising inequality in Nigeria and other parts of the world should be of much concern to policy makers.

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recent report by Oxfam, a global antiinequality movement, showed that the world’s richest one per cent hold nearly two-thirds of all new wealth worth $42 trillion created since 2020, which is almost twice as much money as the bottom 99 percent of the world’s population.

Oxfam is a global movement of people who are fighting inequality to end poverty and injustice across the world. During the past decade, the richest one per cent had captured around half of all new wealth, the report titled: ‘Survival of the Richest’, has disclosed.

According to the report, billionaires have seen extraordinary increases in their wealth. During the pandemic and cost-of-living crisis years since 2020, $26 trillion (63 percent) of all new wealth was captured by the richest one percent, while $16 trillion (37 percent) went to the rest of the world put together.

It stated that a billionaire gained roughly $1.7 million for every $1 of new global wealth earned by a person in the bottom 90 per cent. It further revealed that billionaires’ fortunes have increased by $2.7 billion a day.

“Billionaire wealth surged in 2022 with rapidly rising food and energy profits. The report shows that 95 food and energy corporations have more than doubled their profits in 2022.

“They made $306 billion in windfall profits, and paid out $257 billion (84 percent) of that to rich shareholders. The Walton dynasty, which owns half of Walmart, received $8.5 billion over the last year.

“Indian billionaire, Gautam Adani, owner of major energy corporations, has seen his wealth soar by $42 billion (46 percent) in 2022 alone.

Excess corporate profits have driven at least half of inflation in Australia, the US and the UK. “At the same time, at least 1.7 billion workers now live in countries where inflation is outpacing wages, and over 820 million people —roughly one in ten people on earth— are going hungry.

Women and girls often eat least and last, and make up nearly 60 per cent of the world’s hungry population,” the report disclosed.

Inequality is a social relationship between the haves and the have nots as well as the rich and the poor.

The existence of poverty in a society means individuals and groups are drawn into unequal relations with others who are more powerful or have more privileged positions through which they have an advantage.

For instance, analysts attributed the rising cases of inequality in Nigeria and other parts of the world to the mismanagement of resources.

This has also led to a situation where state resources in some countries are being used to

oppress members of the public.

Poor leadership and greed on the part of the political leaders, weaker institutions that are not independent and in the interest of the less privileged, monumental corruption at all levels in Africa, favoritism, amongst others were some of the factors that fuel inequality.

Clearly, globally, the gap between the haves and the have nots have continued to swell.

On daily basis, thousands of migrants from Africa, mostly Nigerians enter into Europe and other continents in search of greener pastures, in order to get out of what they perceive as the excruciating poverty and seeming uncertainty in the continent.

In the course of this, a lot of them migrate through dangerous routes through to Europe through Libya, with thousands of them getting sucked into a world of violent crime and slavery.

From all indication, Nigeria, which is hit by the ‘japa’ frenzy, appears to be most hit in the continent as the country battles brain drain.

Youths, who are dissatisfied with the state of the nation have continued to seek greener pastures abroad as the country is faced with insecurity, unemployment, among other challenges.

Indeed, extreme inequality is a barrier to prosperity for most people.

In Nigeria and most countries in the continent, prosperity is not trickling down to ordinary people, but up to those at the top, whose exceptional wealth is growing ever more rapidly.

There is a growing consensus in the continent that inequality is a crucial challenge and failure to act is both economically and socially damaging.

Inequality hinders growth, corrupts politics, stifles opportunity and fuels instability while deepening discrimination, especially against women.

The potential benefit of redistributing the wealth of the very richest, by even a tiny amount, tells a compelling story.

WAY FORWARD

However, in order to reverse this trend, the World Bank, highlighted policy options that can help Nigeria address poverty and inequality.

It stressed that Nigeria needs at least three types of deeper, longer-term reforms to foster and sustain pro-poor growth and help raise people out of poverty.

“With Nigeria’s young population continuing

to grow, the urgency of these reforms cannot be overstated. Now is the time to ensure that the country seizes its potential demographic dividend. First, macroeconomic reforms, including to fiscal, trade, and exchange rate policy, could help diversify the economy, invigorate structural transformation, and create good, productive jobs, especially wage jobs that offer the best pathways out of poverty.

“Despite crude oil’s vast contributions to exports and government revenues, less than one per cent of Nigerians are employed in mining and extractives, underlining the need to allow other, more labour-intensive sectors to flourish. Government spending could also be increased for pro-poor causes, such as health, education, and infrastructure—the main concerns among Nigerians themselves—by improving revenue collection and redirecting spending from expensive subsidies that benefit the rich more than the poor.

“Second, structural transformation and the creation of productive wage jobs on a large scale may not happen overnight, so policies to boost the productivity of farm and non-farm household enterprises will be crucial in the meantime. For farms, this includes developing new and more resilient crop varieties, as well as investments in storage, transport, and market access. For non-farm household enterprises, policies that ease credit constraints could be especially important.

“Third, for Nigerians to seize the opportunities available to them, the bedrock of infrastructure needs to be strengthened. The correlation between monetary poverty and access to electricity, adequate drinking water, and improved sanitation is extremely high in Nigeria. Yet information and communication technologies, including mobile phones, could also be used to help boost access to jobs and markets and to support the rollout of social protection programmes and other redistributive government policies,” the Washington-based institution stated.

Also, in a recent report titled, “Nigeria’s Poverty Trap and How to End It,” the Institute for Governance and Economic Transformation (IGET), recommended that the federal government should set aside between N5 trillion and N7 trillion yearly to fund the operation of a thorough, well-managed social security system, as well as a comparable, separate allocation for education, healthcare, water, and sanitation, in order to address rising poverty in the country.

It declared unequivocally that, “poverty is a significant strategic threat to Nigeria’s future. An estimated 95 million Nigerians

live in extreme poverty, with more at risk from deprivation and loss of purchasing power from inflation and a stressed macro-economy, and the country’s population is growing rapidly.”

It also stated that the country required, “a new elite development consensus on development that cuts through partisan political and other divides, as well as a unity of purpose that is focused on the human development of its 216 million citizens, in order to start making meaningful progress in the eradication of poverty.”

The report added: “Abolition of the Land Use Act, civil service and security reforms to improve state capacity and gender empowerment, intensified family planning education and services, and resolution of the conflicts (or ‘silent wars’) in various parts of Nigeria that have caused and exacerbated poverty through internal displacement and decreased food production are all structural changes necessary to enable millions of Nigerians to escape the poverty trap.”

Commenting on the development, an Executive Director at Oxfam International, Gabriela Bucher, stated: “Taxing the super-rich and big corporations is the door out of today’s overlapping crises. It’s time we demolish the convenient myth that tax cuts for the richest result in their wealth somehow ‘trickling down’ to everyone else. Forty years of tax cuts for the super-rich have shown that a rising tide doesn’t lift all ships —just the superyachts.”

Oxfam also called for a systemic and wideranging increase in taxation of the super-rich to claw back crisis gains driven by public money and profiteering. It pointed out that decades of tax cuts for the richest and corporations had fueled inequality, with the poorest people in many countries paying higher tax rates than billionaires.

“Worldwide, only four cents in every tax dollar now comes from taxes on wealth. Half of the world’s billionaires live in countries with no inheritance tax for direct descendants. They will pass on a $5 trillion tax-free treasure chest to their heirs, more than the GDP of Africa, which will drive a future generation of aristocratic elites.

“Rich people’s income is mostly unearned, derived from returns on their assets, yet it is taxed on average at 18 percent, just over half as much as the average top tax rate on wages and salaries,” it added.

Therefore, there is need for governments and policymakers to ensure that economies work for everyone and not just the fortunate few.

Efficient infrastructure, adequate access to financial and human capital, better living conditions, safety and security, good governance and the rule of law are some of the drivers of enabling productivity and must be addressed to ensure equal economic opportunities for all.

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MONDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 2023 ˾ T H I S D AY

BUSINESS SPECIAL

INTERVIEW

Ezemonye: Entrepreneurial Thinking Required to Fight Unemployment The Vice Chancellor, Igbinedion University, Okada, Edo State, Prof. Lawrence Ikechukwu Ezemonye, who is a professor of Ecotoxicology and Environmental Forensics, in this interview spoke extensively about the institution’s entrepreneurial development programme that serves as a tool to fight underemployment and unemployment. Dike Onwuamaeze brings the excerpts: Congratulations for the products exhibition by your students that we just witnessed. How long have you been holding this entrepreneurship exhibition? his exhibition has been on for the past 10 years. As a matter of fact, today’s ceremony is highly symbolic and significant because it is the 10th anniversary of this product exhibition. The real thought behind this product exhibition is the manifestation of the drills and training that has gone on in the past eight months that have materialised and crystalised into this. Again, it reflects the maturity of the entrepreneurial mindset which we intend to inculcate in them. What we have seen today in 13 different skillsets is a clear testament of an entrepreneurial mindset at work here.

What are your university’s strong points that stand it out from others?

The Igbinedion University is very strong in law, medicine, pharmacy and engineering. They are our four flagships. We are the first private university to produce medical doctors in Nigeria. The president of World Medical Association was here to deliver a lecture and he acknowledged the fact that our students outside this country are excellent in very rare fields in medicine both in practice and in academics. In law, we do not always make first class on a regular basis and best graduating students in some of the programmes in the law school but we have SANs on a regular basis from our university, including our dean. Our latest jewel is the Dora Akunyili College of Pharmacy. It is flagship on its own that has now migrated into Pharm D from the Bachelor of Pharmacy. We are among the few universities that are currently running Pharm D and we are phasing out Bachelor of Pharmacy. Igbinedion University started Pharm D this year. We have a drug production plant for antiseptics to produce hydrogen peroxides and methylated spirits here.

During the period of COVID-19 our engineering department provided us with automated COVID protective cubicles that could spray ‘sanitisers’ and take one’s temperature. They even produce the manual version that id foot driven when there is no electricity. And the Departments of Chemistry and Pharmacy produced all our sanitisers. We also produced a Handbook on COVID for Parents.

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How is this year’s edition different from the previous exhibitions?

Every year reflects growth trajectory and that is because of the availability of knowledge because what we know today is not the same as what we knew yesterday. In the recent past thought were born on the analogue entrepreneurial thinking but today the entrepreneurial thinking is more digtalised and ICT driven. What you have seen today is a reflection of the digital revolution. This year’s product exhibition is truly hi-tech driven. It has been embellished so much with the new digital ball hub for innovation and creativity. This is going with the time because the university moves with the time and does not standstill while the stock market sleeps. The university must grow because it is the same global market that we are all shopping from. So for you to remain globally competitive you must go with the time. That is why this university has the mantra of “smart campus.”

Why are you laying much emphasis on entrepreneurship?

First of all, I am worried when those in the industries tell us that university graduates are not fit for purpose. It worries me so much and I began to wonder what is responsible for that? With a few group of intellectuals, we found out that it is not that our students are not properly groomed but there is disconnect between the demands of the industry and the output from the universities because there is no merger. The Nigeria educational system and the industry portfolios have been working in silos. The industry does not want to merge with the universities and the university, as the Ivory Tower, does not have the time for industry. But all that has changed now.

That is why we felt that we must produce students that are feature ready and that is the mantra that I brought, which is the future readiness.

How can a student be future ready?

A student that is future ready is free from three things: unemployment, underemployment and un-employability. And for you to avert these three syndromes you must be entrepreneurially groomed.

So, here in this university, the first thing we do is to inspire and stimulate entrepreneurial thinking amongst our students. The second thing we do is to provide the knowledge exchange for the transaction for entrepreneurial thinking among students. And the third one is the actual exhibition of the products of the inspiration and stimulation of entrepreneurial thinking among our students.

Most times the universities are focused on bringing up students that can research and earn their certificates?

Let me tell you what we have done in Igbinedion University. I have been working in the last 10 years on industry/academia integration. And so in the Igbinedion University, what we have done is to imbibe the principles of co-development of programmes with the industry, we co-design the programme with industry, we co-deliver the programme with industry, we co-supervise the program with industry and we co-graduate the program with industry. In my university all our post graduate programmes are supervised by academic and industry supervisors, which is logical. If an industry expert and an academia designed a program together, delivers the programme together, supervise the program together and in some cases fund the program together and graduate the student together, there is no moral basis to say that that the graduate is not fit for the market.

That is number one. Let me also tell you what we have done in this university and you need to take this away: this university has a board of industry/ academia interface that is headed currently by the director general of National Office for Technology Acquisition and Promotion (NOTAP). We have industry partners and academicians in that board and they

Ezemonye met quarterly to review curriculum and industry demands. Today we have a project with Cutix Plc and we are co-designing dedicated programmes for them in our engineering department. And they are providing opportunities for our students and staff both for sabbaticals and internship. This is the partnership that we have established in this university that has mainstreamed industry and academia interface as a way of life in our university program.

To answer your question, if you get the industry together to participate with you, to tear down the silos walls and remove the toga of ivory “towerism” then we won’t have this trouble. I can tell you for free that before now I used to advocate that un-employability was worse than unemployment. Yes, you graduate and they tell you that you are not fit for purpose. But do you know the worst syndrome that is now operating in the valley of death is underemployment where a graduate earns N30,000. That one is dehumanising. The one singular way of averting them is through entrepreneurship.

How do you define the concept of complete graduate?

A complete graduate is one that is future ready.

What other areas do you exhibit innovations apart from business?

I will look at two areas. They are our ICT hub and our centres for excellence. Starting with the centres for excellence, we have the Buratai Centre for Security Affairs. This particular centre has the representatives of all the security outfits and forces in Nigeria on its board. And this particular centre is on contemporary security affairs on both local and international. It covers gunrunning, cybercrime, racketeering, international diplomacy on crime and every year they have annual colloquium on contemporary issues and we are planning one for this year on trans-border crime. We also have a Centre for Climate Change and SDG. That is the centre that is now driving our soiless farming technique and circular economy. It is highly innovative and contemporary.

Today we are talking about zero waste. We have plastic bailer machine that reduces plastics to bail. And we have a mandate to remove in the next one month 70,000 tonnes of plastics from Okada environment in collaboration with Eko Capital, Coca-Cola Foundation and the

Edo State Waste Management. We have the Centre of Entrepreneurship that is for purely skill acquisition. We have the Centre for Leadership and Governance (CLG). And because of the CLG we have directed all our students to learn government and leadership. We have the Centre for Presidential Studies (CPS). These are areas we are hell bent on innovations. The post graduate school is not left out because it is the one driving industry/academia interface. We have just started partnership with the SMEDAN and by 15th or 16th of this month the university will be visiting them in Abuja. We would like to have a national conference for SMEs on grant assessment.

It is sad to hear at the end of every year that bankers declare that they are returning funds that cannot be disbursed to SMEs. That is what we are taking to the SMEDAN when we get there on Thursday. What we have also done is to infuse this entrepreneurial thinking in all our programs. This university has an executive business school that we are restarting again

by September. We have four associate business schools that have entered into partnership agreement with us.

There are so many of our executives that have been longing for post graduate education if not for anything at least for the knowledge sake. The ICT place is a marvel on its own.

This university runs on an ST One Band weight that is enough to run a village. Beyond that we have affiliated our ICT to the IT Academies the owners of the IT Wall. We are affiliated to CISCO Academy. We have Microsoft and Amazon web services. During the COVID, Cisco gave us the Webex. Every 100 level student of this university has a GS program on IT appreciation. It is professional certificate from Cisco an academic credit unit from the university. Our students here are instructors for Cisco because they have passed the course and can train other people. This is the level we have gone with IT in this place. And because we know that we must protect our bandwidth our system in this university has a fire wall so that it cannot be used for unauthorised purposes.

We have two sets of 250 computer ready system platforms for computer based examinations. That is why in this university all 100 and 200 levels students have mandatory Computer Based Test (CBT) as their continuous assessment. So, our educational program is highly tailored.

What new programs do you have now?

The university has migrated from 29 departments to 34 departments, which is the largest in any private university. We have migrated from 19 to 24 post graduate programs. I don’t know how many private universities that have 24 postgraduate programs. That is the dynamic touch of this university. Our thought is driven by the time. It becomes very relavant that digitalisation will rule the world as we stand. So the new programs that we have introduced were digitally based programs to afford our students the latitude for IT profiling, namely B.Sc Engineering Mechatronics, B.Sc in Cybersecurity, B.Sc in Software Engineering, B.SC in Environmental Engineering, B.Sc in Pharmacology. Then in postgraduate degrees from PGD up to Ph.D covering Computer Engineering, Mechanical Engineering and Sociology. We have introduced 11 new programs. And the beauty of all these programs is that they are all fully accredited by the NUC and all professional bodies that we are affiliated with. When we sit down and talk about qualitative education, I look at qualitative education from the standpoint of regulation and the teaching and learning scenario. Our educational delivery status now is one that suits entrepreneurial thinking because it meets the demands of the time.

Tell us the compelling reasons why students should pick Igbinedion University as their first choice?

The choice of a university can be based on four platforms. The first one is qualitative educational degree programs; the second is our research development; the third one is on our digital facilities and the fourth one, which is also a driver, is the internationalisation. This university thrives on high class internationalisation and has succeeded in maintaining international partners. Any university that does not have global outlook will not attract quality students. This university participates in several international programme. One of them is IVC that is the International Virtual Consortium, We are bonafide member of Global Educational Partnership, comprising of 40 universities all over the world. Because of this partnership our students before COVID have travelled to over 10 countries.

The last place they went to was Japan before the outbreak of COVID-19.

They have gone to Netherland, UK, China, North Carolina in the United States through that programme. This global partnership is where we train and expose our students and international partners to the same course on global understanding.

With our UK partners we have introduced summer classes. Before COVID we had a partnership with Manchester Metropolitan University for our engineering students to come over for Three D Animation studies. Internationalisation is what we need for students mobility. And once they know that it is available in this university they will come. We also have our African base in this internationalisation. The African link is there. These are the reasons we said to the public to come to the Igbinedion University.

MONDAY FEBRUARY 13, 2023 • T H I S D AY

39

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 2023 ˾ T H I S D AY

40

BUSINESS/MONEYGUIDE

TAJBank Revs Up Nationwide Operations Drive, Open Apapa Branch Kayode Tokede

TAJBank Limited has announced that it opened a new branch in Apapa, Lagos in furtherance of its current drive to provide seamless financial transactions and advisory services for its growing customer-base.

The bank secured its national banking license from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) about six months ago and the opening of the Apapa branch is part of the board and management’s initiatives to open new branches within the next few months across the geo-political zones in the country.

Speaking at the opening ceremony, TAJBank’s Founder/ Managing Director, Mr. Hamid Joda, said Apapa was targeted for the commencement of the bank’s branch network expansion in the South West region because of the strategic position in the nation’s business operations and the need to offer customers real-time, technology-powered world class services.

He said: “We are very excited to begin the deepening of our non-interest and customer-focused products and services in Apapa, Lagos as we commence the expansion of our services across the geopolitical zones of the country.

“This is a mega branch based on the investments in technologies and solutions and the quality of human resource we are putting in place here and we intend to put in other branches we are opening very soon because we intend to offer what other banks are not offering in terms of value-addition to our customers.

“With this move, we want to assure Nigerians and other residents and businesses in our country that TAJBank’s only interest is our customers and in line with our business philosophy, we shall continue to offer them products and services that surpass their expectations in the years ahead.”

In his remarks, the bank’s Executive Director, Mr. Sherif

Idi, recalled that the sterling performance of the non-interest lender was recognized both in Nigeria and internationally given “the awards from Business Day and Leadership newspapers and other global rating agencies to TAJBank in recognition of our world-class operational standards and service quality.”

Speaking, the Managing Director/CEO of IAL Nigeria Limited who shares in the vision and business philosophy of TAJBank, Alhaji Ismail Adetola Lawal, commended the Board and management of the Non-interest Bank for opening the Apapa branch for the benefit of business owners and the Nigerian economy.

He said “My prayer for TAJBank limited is that the Almighty God will continue to build the Bank and make it the preferred choice for millions of Nigerians that are looking for interest free banking products and services. I want to assure them that TAJBank will not disappoint them but surpass their expectations.”

L-R: Nigerian Bottling Company (NBC) Ltd. Corporate Affairs & Community Partnerships Manager, Abuja & North, Mallam Mohammed Aminu; Representative of District Head Kumbotso, Alhaji Ahmad Ado Bayero,; Alhaji Lamido Sanusi, District Head Dala & Turakin Kano; District Head of Madobi, Alhaji Saleh Musa Kwankwaso; #NBCEmpowerHer beneficiaries,AbashiyyaIbrahimIshaqandothers,duringtheclosingceremonyofthewomen empowerment initiative sponsored by NBC as part of Coca-Cola Hellenic bottling Company (CCHBC) 1 million eurosdonationtosupportsocialimpactprogramsinNigeriaheldinKanostate....recently

MARKET INDICATORS MONEY AND CREDIT STATISTICS (MILLION NAIRA) AUGUST 2022

Access Bank Empowers 400 Corps Members

Money Supply (M3)

49,356,443.6

Nume Ekeghe

-- CBN Bills Held by Money Holding Sectors

50,601.36

Money Supply (M2)

49,305,842.3

-- Quasi Money

27,869,678.3

-- Narrow Money (M1)

21,436,164

---- Currency Outside Banks

2,680,236.81

Access Bank, in its bid to empower youth, has provided finance and mentorship to 400 Youth Corp members with a view to making them self-reliant and employment creators.

The bank has empowered over 400 National Youth Service Corps members (NYSC) with exceptional ideas, across the country, with over N240 million in seed capital.

The bank made this known at its NYSC Accessprenuer competition held in Lagos.

The programme, which was in partnership with the NYSC also held simultaneously in Kaduna, Anambra, Abuja and Niger, with the star winners receiving N1 million each.

Speaking, the Access Bank Regional Manager Lagos, Olukemi Olayinka, said, “Access Bank has been in a strategic partnership with NYSC since 2016. The relationship further evolved into the launch of Accessprenuer: the NYSC edition in February 2021. So far, we have completed seven editions of Accessprenuer competition, impacting over 400 corps members with over N240 million seed capital.”

She said that we have also created a Facebook community for all Accessprenuer winners to be able to interact freely amongst themselves and inspire other young people with similar aspirations. The Facebook community has about 6,000 members.”

Represented by the branch manager of Access bank, Ikotun,

Omowunmi Falade, added: “The participants are happy and it is good to be a winner. And when you listen to their pitch presentation, it was wonderful because you know that most of them have innovative solutions or business solutions that will impact the economy positively.

“We know that the youths are the future and the hope of our nation, so it is beautiful to be in their presence and listen to all their peach presentations.”

Beneficiaries of the Accessprenuer competition expressed profound gratitude to the Bank for the financial support as this will enable them to contribute to the development of the economy through job creation for other youths.

Group Launch Book to Boost FDIs to Nigeria Nume Ekeghe The Nigerian Grand Book, a researched compendium of the birth and growth of Nigeria, which is expected to engender and accelerate foreign direct investments (FDIs) inflows into the country through a wellcoordinated mix of sustained activities has been unveiled.

The book is curated by the Nigerian project, in partnership with Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission (NIPC) and Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NiDCOM) and Folio Communications.

Scheduled for launch in June 2023, the Nigerian Grand

Book is presented in two broad sections to reaffirm Nigeria’s bond of unity and diversity.

Speaking at a press briefing in Lagos, the General Manager, Folio Communications, Sunny Ikwuagwu said: “We believe that this project provides a powerful platform to showcase pioneering contributions of Nigerians to nation-building and development. We are convinced that this partnership shall deepen the ultimate objective of the project for a wholesome image overhaul for Nigeria.”

Ikwuagwu said, “we recognize the significance of this transformative endeavour to our dear country to brighten the

nation’s chances in the race to the future and in restoring our pride and glory. We welcome partners from the organized private sector on this quest of a global perception management project for Nigeria.”

Speaking to journalists in Lagos, Managing Director, Precise Platform, promoter of the book launch project, Bolaji Okusaga, said the book seeks to restore hope and optimism to Nigerians, Nigerians in the Diaspora and the global investment community, adding that the book chronicles achievement of Nigerians, home and abroad, who are contributing meaningfully to better the world.

Valuejet Partners Kalabash on Payments for Flights Nume Ekeghe Valuejet airlines has Partnered with Kalabash to enable passengers pay for flights in small, manageable installments.

In a statement, The Chief Executive Officer, Kalabash, Ladi Ojuri stated: “We are excited to be working with Valuejet to bring our innovative payment platform to their customers. By making travel more accessible

and affordable, we hope to help more people experience the joy of travel. Over the past year, it can be seen that Pay Small Small has redefined the travel experiences of millions of travelers and stakeholders in the travel industry across Africa. By offering convenience, flexibility, and control to travelers, we create a win-win situation for both Valuejet and its passengers alike”

“We are thrilled to be partnering with Kalabash to offer our customers a new way to pay for their travel with Pay Small Small. With Pay Small Small, our customers can now break up the cost of their flights into small, manageable payments, making it more affordable and accessible for everyone.” says Trevor Henry, Head of Commercial, ValueJet,” he said.

---- Demand Deposits

18,755,927.2

Net Foreign Assets (NFA)

5,074,909.92

Net Domestic Assets(NDA)

27,869,678.3

-- Net Domestic Credit (NDC)

61,195,142.4

---- Credit to Government (Net)

21,001,401.5

---- Memo: Credit to Govt. (Net) less FMA

0.00

---- Memo: Fed. and Mirror Accounts (FMA)

0.00

---- Credit to Private Sector (CPS)

40,193,740.9

--Other Assets Net

6,785,979.22

Reserve Money (Base Money

14,040,351.9

--Currency in Circulation

3,210,664.98

--Banks Reserves --Special Intervention Reserves

10,829,686.9 390,557.8

˾ ÙßÜÍÏ ̋

Money Market Indicators (in Percentage) Month

July 2022

Inter-Bank Call Rate

13.00

Minimum Rediscount Rate (MRR) Monetary Policy Rate (MPR)

14.00

Treasury Bill Rate

2.76

Savings Deposit Rate

1.42

1 Month Deposit Rate

3.64

3 Months Deposit Rate

4.96

6 Months Deposit Rate

5.87

12 Months Deposit Rate

5.76

Prime Lending rate

12.10

Maximum Lending Rate

27.61

˾ ÙØÏÞËÜã ÙÖÓÍã ËÞÏ ̋ ͯͱϱ

OPEC DAILY BASKET PRICE AS AT 10 JANUARY, 2023

The price of OPEC basket of thirteen crudes stood at $82.78 a barrel on Thursday, compared with $81.86 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), Basrah Medium (Iraq), Kuwait Export (Kuwait), Es Sider (Libya), Bonny Light (Nigeria), Arab Light (Saudi Arabia), Murban (UAE) and Merey (Venezuela)

41

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 2023 ˾ T H I S D AY

MARKET NEWS

Stock Market Appreciates by N62bn as Investors’ Sentiment Persist Kayode Tokede The Nigerian equities market ended last week positively, gaining N62 billion in market capitalisation amid weak investors sentiment trading in some highly capitalised stocks.

The likes of MTN Nigeria Communication Plc rose by 1.7 per cent Wee-on-Week (WoW) to N241.90 per share, while Dangote Cement Plc appreciated by 1.16per cent WoW to N270

per share to bring the market capitalisation to N29.591trillion.

Similarly, the Nigerian Exchange Limited All-Share Index (NGX- ASI) advanced by 0.21 per cent W-o-W to close at 54,327.30 basis points.

Across the sectors last week, sentiment was largely downbeat for most of the indices as NGX Insurance, NGX Banking and NGX Consumer Goods indices lost 3.32 per cent, 0.9 per cent and 0.63 per cent week on week

P R I C E S MAIN BOARD

DEALS

F O R MARKET PRICE

respectively.

On the other hand, price appreciation from buying momentum was witnessed in the NGX Oil & Gas index and the NGX Industrial Goods index with a gain of 0.63 per cent and 0.65 per cent week on week in that order.

The market breadth for the week was negative as 24 equities appreciated in price, 45 equities depreciated in price, while 88 equities remained unchanged.

Tripple Gee and Company led the gainers table by 30.48 per cent to close at N1.37, per share.

International Breweries followed with a gain of 25.25 per cent to close at N1.24, while Conoil went up by 20.94 per cent to close to N32.05, per share.

On the other side, FTN Cocoa Processors led the decliners table by 15.15 per cent to close at 28 kobo, per share. Prestige Assurance followed with a loss of 13.04 per cent to close at 40 kobo, while

S E C U R I T I E S

T R A D E D

QUANTITY TRADED

VALUE TRADED ( N )

MAIN BOARD

Japaul Gold & Ventures declined by 11.76 per cent to close at 30 kobo, per share.

Overall, a total turnover of turnover of 944.293 million shares worth N22.710 billion in 18,615 deals was traded last week by investors on the floor of the Exchange, in contrast to a total of 3.789 billion shares valued at N27.500 billion that exchanged hands previous week in 20,333 deals.

The Financial Services Industry

AS O F

(measured by volume) led the activity chart with 634.086 million shares valued at N6.442 billion traded in 8,540 deals; contributing 67.15 per cent and 28.37 per cent to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively.

The Consumer Goods Industry followed with 78.603 million shares worth N2.218 billion in 2,993 deals, while the Conglomerates Industry pulled a transaction of 59.564 million shares worth N110.109 million in 788 deals.

1 0 / 0 2 / 2 3 DEALS

MARKET PRICE

QUANTITY TRADED

VALUE TRADED ( N)

42

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 2023 • T H I S D AY

MARKET NEWS A Mutual fund (Unit Trust) is an investment vehicle managed by a SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) registered Fund Manager.

Investors with similar objectives buy units of the Fund so that the Fund Manager can buy securities that willl generate their desired return.

An ETF (Exchange Traded Fund) is a type of fund which owns the assets (shares of stock, bonds, oil futures, gold bars, foreign currency, etc.) and divides ownership of those assets into shares. Investors can buy these ‘shares’ on the

floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange.

A REIT (Real Estate Investment Trust) is an investment vehicle that allows both small and large investors to part-own real estate ventures (eg.

Offices, Houses, Hospitals) in proportion to their investments. The assets are divided into shares that are traded on the Nigerian Stock Exchange.

GUIDE TO DATA: Date: All fund prices are quoted in Naira as at 09Feb-2023, unless otherwise stated.

Offer price: The price at which units of a trust or ETF are bought by investors.

Bid Price: The price at which Investors redeem (sell) units of a trust or ETF. Yield/Total Return: Denotes the total return an investor would have earned on his investment. Money Market Funds report Yield while others report Year- to-date Total Return.

NAV: Is value per share of the real estate assets held by a REIT on a specific date.

DAILY PRICE LIST FOR MUTUAL FUNDS, REITS and ETFS MUTUAL FUNDS / UNIT TRUSTS AFRINVEST ASSET MANAGEMENT LTD aaml@afrinvest.com Web: www.afrinvest.com; Tel: +234 818 885 6757 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Afrinvest Equity Fund 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 AIICO CAPITAL LTD ammf@aiicocapital.com Web: www.aiicocapital.com, Tel: +234-1-2792974 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn AIICO Money Market Fund 100.00 100.00 13.15% AIICO Balanced Fund 4.65 4.71 36.28% 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 8.62% Anchoria Equity Fund 154.08 155.72 6.30% Anchoria Fixed Income Fund 1.23 1.23 -0.39% ARM INVESTMENT MANAGERS LTD enquiries@arminvestmentcenter.com info@anchoriaam.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 23.50 24.20 7.07% ARM Discovery Balanced Fund 549.51 566.08 5.43% ARM Ethical Fund 46.51 47.91 3.09% ARM Eurobond Fund ($) 1.13 1.13 0.61% ARM Fixed Income Fund 1.12 1.12 1.04% ARM Money Market Fund 1.00 1.00 10.69% ARM Short Term Bond Fund 1.04 1.04 0.72% AVA GLOBAL ASSET MANAGERS LIMITED info@avacapitalgroup.com Web: www.avacapitalgroup.com; Tel 08069294653 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn AVA GAM Fixed Income Dollar Fund 97.46 97.46 2.48% AVA GAM Fixed Income Naira Fund 1,109.09 1,109.09 -1.54% AXA MANSARD INVESTMENTS LIMITED investmentcare@axamansard.com Web: www.axamansard.com; Tel: +2341-4488482 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn AXA Mansard Equity Income Fund N/A N/A N/A AXA Mansard Money Market Fund N/A N/A N/A CAPITAL EXPRESS ASSET AND TRUST LIMITED info@capitalexpressassetandtrust.com Web: www.capitalexpressassetandtrust.com; Tel: +234 803 307 5048 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn CEAT Fixed Income Fund 2.14 2.14 3.75% Capital Express Balanced Fund(Formerly: Union Trustees Mixed Fund) 2.37 2.42 7.76% CAPITALTRUST INVESTMENTS AND ASSET MANAGEMENT LIMITED halalfif@capitaltrustnigeria.com Web: www.capitaltrustnigeria.com; Tel: 08061458806 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Capitaltrust Halal Fixed Income Fund N/A N/A N/A CARDINALSTONE ASSET MANAGEMENT LIMITED mutualfunds@cardinalstone.com Web: www.cardinalstoneassetmanagement.com; Tel: +234 (1) 710 0433 4 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn CardinalStone Fixed Income Alpha Fund N/A N/A N/A CHAPELHILL DENHAM MANAGEMENT LTD investmentmanagement@chapelhilldenham.com Web: www.chapelhilldenham.com, Tel: +234 461 0691 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Chapelhill Denham Money Market Fund 2.14 2.14 3.75% Paramount Equity Fund 2.37 2.42 7.76% Women's Investment Fund 152.42 154.30 4.90% CHD Nigeria Bond Fund 108.20 108.20 10.86% CHD Nigeria Dollar Income Fund 1.06 1.06 9.31% CORDROS ASSET MANAGEMENT LIMITED assetmgtteam@cordros.com Web: www.cordros.com, Tel: 019036947 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Cordros Money Market Fund 100.00 100.00 10.51% Cordros Milestone Fund 142.73 143.63 3.66% Cordros Fixed Income Fund 106.56 106.56 10.00% Cordros Halal Fixed Income Fund 103.98 103.98 6.04% Cordros Dollar Fund ($) 116.74 116.74 5.56% CORONATION ASSETS MANAGEMENT investment@coronationam.com Web:www.coronationam.com, Tel: 012366215 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn 1.00 1.00 11.97% Coronation Money Market Fund 1.22 1.23 2.06% Coronation Balanced Fund 1.37 1.37 -2.51% Coronation Fixed Income Fund EDC FUNDS MANAGEMENT LIMITED mutualfundng@ecobank.com Web: www.ecobank.com Tel: 012265281 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn 100.00 100.00 9.67% EDC Nigeria Money Market Fund Class A 1,000,000.00 1,000,000.00 8.93% EDC Nigeria Money Market Fund Class B 1,114.90 1,117.96 0.67% EDC Nigeria Fixed Income Fund EMERGING AFRICA ASSET MANAGEMENT LIMITED assetmanagement@emergingafricafroup.com Web:www.emergingafricagroup.com/emerging-africa-asset-management-limited/, Tel: 08039492594 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Emerging Africa Money Market Fund 1.00 1.00 13.29% Emerging Africa Bond Fund 1.08 1.08 10.34% Emerging Africa Balanced Diversity Fund 1.13 1.13 40.75% Emerging Africa Eurobond Fund 105.39 105.39 3.52% FBNQUEST ASSETS MANAGEMENT LIMITED invest@fbnquest.com Web: www.fbnquest.com/asset-management; Tel: +234-81 0082 0082 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn FBN Bond Fund 1490.38 1490.38 12.54% FBN Balanced Fund 210.73 212.23 5.53% FBN Halal Fund 124.63 124.63 12.86% FBN Money Market Fund 100.00 100.00 13.21% FBN Dollar Fund 121.08 121.08 6.83% FBN Smart Beta Equity Fund 177.98 180.61 7.47% FBN Specialized Dollar Fund 105.05 105.05 9.63% 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 9.13% Legacy Debt Fund 3.54 3.54 -11.58% Legacy Equity Fund 2.09 2.13 20.14% Legacy USD Bond Fund 1.27 1.27 5.27% FSDH ASSET MANAGEMENT LTD coralfunds@fsdhgroup.com Web: www.fsdhaml.com; Tel: 01-270 4884-5; 01-280 9740-1

Fund Name Coral Balanced Fund Coral Income Fund Coral Money Market Fund

Bid Price 4,354.80 3,744.90 100.00

Offer Price 4,386.60 3,744.90 100.00

Yield / T-Rtn 31.85% 8.07% 12.40%

FSDH Dollar Fund 1.14 1.14 5.80% GUARANTY TRUST FUND MANAGERS LIMITED enquiries@investment-one.com Web: www.gtcoplc.bank; Tel: +234 812 992 1045,+234 1 448 8888 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Abacus Money Market Fund N/A N/A N/A Vantage Balanced Fund N/A N/A N/A Vantage Guaranteed Income Fund N/A N/A N/A Kedari Investment Fund (KIF) N/A N/A N/A Vantage Equity Income Fund (VEIF) - June Year End N/A N/A N/A Vantage Dollar Fund (VDF) - June Year End N/A N/A N/A LOTUS CAPITAL LTD fincon@lotuscapitallimited.com Web: www.lotuscapitallimited.com; Tel: +234 1-291 4626 / +234 1-291 4624 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Lotus Halal Investment Fund N/A N/A N/A Lotus Halal Fixed Income Fund N/A N/A N/A MERISTEM WEALTH MANAGEMENT LTD info@meristemwealth.com Web: www.meristemwealth.com/funds/; Tel: +2348028496012 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Meristem Equity Market Fund N/A N/A N/A Meristem Money Market Fund N/A N/A N/A NORRENBERGER INVESTMENT AND CAPITAL MANAGEMENT LIMITED enquiries@norrenberger.com Web: www.norrenberger.com, Tel: +234 (0) 908 781 2026 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Norrenberger Islamic Fund (NIF) 101.61 101.61 8.92% Norrenberger Money Market Fund (NMMF) 100.00 100.00 11.50% PAC ASSET MANAGEMENT LTD info@pacassetmanagement.com Web: www.pacassetmanagement.com/mutualfunds; Tel: +234 1 271 8632 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn PACAM Balanced Fund N/A N/A N/A PACAM Fixed Income Fund N/A N/A N/A PACAM Money Market Fund N/A N/A N/A PACAM Equity Fund N/A N/A N/A PACAM EuroBond Fund N/A N/A N/A SCM CAPITAL LIMITED info@scmcapitalng.com Web: www.scmcapitalng.com; Tel: +234 1-280 2226,+234 1- 280 2227 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn SCM Capital Frontier Fund 131.80 134.14 0.05% SFS CAPITAL NIGERIA LTD investments@sfsnigeria.com Web: www.sfsnigeria.com, Tel: +234 (01) 2801400 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn SFS Fixed Income Fund 1.00 1.00 11.03% 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 3,800.95 3,832.10 12.13% Stanbic IBTC Bond Fund 246.18 246.18 4.50% Stanbic IBTC Ethical Fund 1.51 1.53 20.63% Stanbic IBTC Guaranteed Investment Fund 334.79 334.79 6.92% Stanbic IBTC Iman Fund 275.67 278.73 17.97% Stanbic IBTC Money Market Fund 1.00 1.00 12.91% Stanbic IBTC Nigerian Equity Fund 12,948.63 13,106.35 18.60% Stanbic IBTC Dollar Fund (USD) 1.37 1.37 6.42% Stanbic IBTC Shariah Fixed Income Fund 121.85 121.85 4.23% Stanbic IBTC Enhanced Short-Term Fixed Income Fund 116.03 116.03 9.07% Stanbic IBTC Absolute Fund 4,607.28 4,607.28 8.30% Stanbic IBTC Aggressive Fund 3,447.27 3,490.99 24.00% Stanbic IBTC Conservative Fund 4,355.13 4,372.07 14.41% UNITED CAPITAL ASSET MANAGEMENT LTD unitedcapitalplcgroup.com Web: www.unitedcapitalplcgroup.com; Tel: +234 01-6317876 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn United Capital Equity Fund 1.02 1.04 7.01% United Capital Balanced Fund 1.54 1.56 12.12% United Capital Wealth for Women Fund 1.21 1.22 3.72% United Capital Sukuk Fund 1.12 1.12 10.02% United Capital Fixed Income Fund 1.97 1.97 7.49% United Capital Eurobond Fund 126.11 126.11 5.56% United Capital Money Market Fund 1.00 1.00 12.74% QUANTUM ZENITH ASSET MANAGEMENT & INVESTMENTS LTD service@quantumzenithasset.com.ng Web: www.quantumzenith.com.ng; Tel: +234 1-2784219 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Zenith Balanced Strategy Fund 14.40 14.54 3.84% Zenith ESG Impact Fund 16.40 16.56 3.74% Zenith Income Fund 23.75 23.75 0.82% Zenith Money Market Fund 1.00 1.00 10.67% VETIVA FUND MANAGERS LTD funds@vetiva.com Web: www.vetiva.com; Tel: +234 1 453 0697 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Vetiva Banking Exchange Traded Fund N/A N/A N/A Vetiva Consumer Goods Exchange Traded Fund N/A N/A N/A Vetiva Griffin 30 Exchange Traded Fund N/A N/A N/A Vetiva Money Market Fund N/A N/A N/A Vetiva Industrial Goods Exchange Traded Fund N/A N/A N/A Vetiva S&P Nigeria Sovereign Bond Exchange Traded Fund N/A N/A N/A REITS NAV Per Share

Yield / T-Rtn

114.09 53.06 101.31 9.92

7.63% 3.98% -13.13%

Bid Price

Offer Price

Yield / T-Rtn

16.61 141.74 110.46 17.40 16.40

16.71 144.21 112.37 17.50 16.50

7.30% 11.07% 10.48% -1.31% 2.88%

NAV Per Share

Yield / T-Rtn

106.75

0.00%

Fund Name

SFS REIT Union Homes REIT Nigeria Real Estate Investment Trust UPDC REIT

EXCHANGE TRADED FUNDS Fund Name Lotus Halal Equity Exchange Traded Fund SIAML Pension ETF 40 Stanbic IBTC ETF 30 Fund MERGROWTH ETF MERVALUE ETF

INFRASTRUCTURE FUND Fund Name Chapel Hill Denham Nigeria Infrastructure Debt Fund

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.

T H I S D AY • MONDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 2023

43

BACKPAGE CONTINUATION TWO STANDS OF DOTTIJO remain legal tender until June. Nigeria Governors Forum, its members from three political parties, called for an extension until end of the year. Several civil society groups called for an extension, as did some major politicians. Major opposition party candidates however opposed an extension, saying it will favour moneybag ruling party candidates.

While some groups were rioting, another group demonstrated in front of the Central Bank, saying it should not extend the deadline.

One NGO obtained a High Court order to stop CBN from extending the deadline.

Three state governments then went to the Supreme Court and asked for an ex parte order to suspend the deadline. Three more states later applied to join them. Supreme Court granted the prayer, said old notes should remain legal tender and all should come back on February 15 to hear the case.

Some lawyers circulated “legal opinion” on social media saying the Supreme Court order “is irrelevant” because CBN Act empowers it to decide on currency matters. Pray, who in Nigeria has the power to quash a Supreme Court ruling, however objectionable it is?

There was suspicion because the first online medium that reported the “legal opinion” attributed it to CBN. The medium later scrambled and said it was not CBN but an anonymous legal opinion, apparently when its attention was drawn to the dangers of associating CBN with it.

After 24 hours’ delay, Attorney General of the Federation said Federal Government would obey the Supreme Court order but that he had already filed an objection to get it overturned. In practice the Federal Government did not obey the order, because

CBN refused to announce that old notes are still legal tender and by Friday no trader will accept them. Zamfara and Kano State governors threatened to arrest anyone who rejected old notes. To compound matters, some traders reported on Friday that banks refused to accept deposit of old notes, even though the original notice said they should continue to do so for a week after they cease to be legal tender.

On Friday, the Council of State, the country’s most eminent advisory body, met in Abuja.

Although Chief Olusegun Obasanjo and General Ibrahim Babangida did not attend, three former Heads of State/president did, including the 89-year-old General Yakubu Gowon. Gowon, by the way, is an authority on currency change because he was the one that replaced the old pounds, shillings and pence with naira and kobo in 1972/73. He did it in two steps; released five and 10 kobo coins in April 1972, then released naira coins and notes in January 1973. There was no crisis that time; old man Gowon, who had concluded the Civil War just two years earlier, was not one to start another crisis.

In addition to ex-presidents, former Chief Justices of Nigeria are also members of the Council of State and there is no way they will encourage disobedience of Supreme Court or any other court order. Apparently President Buhari misjudged the mood of Council of State members; he did not get the outcome he wished for. The part of the resolution that the Presidency liked, which it got some media houses to play up, was that Council of State “expressed support for CBN’s cashless policy.” In the next breath the grand statesmen took this

“support” away because they said if CBN cannot make enough new notes available, it should allow old notes to circulate. For the next 48 hours neither the Presidency nor CBN said whether they will heed that advise. The danger is real that grand old men will no longer come to NCS meetings.

Instead, a dispute arose over a leaked document, said to be the presentation that CBN Governor Godwin Emefiele made at the Council of State meeting. He was reported to have said that the Mint, which has the contract to print the new notes, did not have enough paper to print the N500 and N100 notes. That it went to the paper manufacturers in Germany and UK and they put it on a long waiting list. It was a very alarming claim which CBN hurried at the weekend to disclaim, saying Emefiele said no such thing at the meeting. Instead, it said the Mint has enough paper to print new notes. The question that immediately followed this assertion was, if it has the paper, then why didn’t it print enough notes since October, when this plan was first announced?

Wonder of all wonders, World Bank and International Monetary Fund [IMF] called for an extension of the deadline, the first time ever that Bretton Woods institutions surpassed our local authorities in showing empathy with the people, a 180 degree turn from SAP era.

The initial argument that opposition to the naira redesign deadline was coming only from the elite and vote buyers has since been discarded because elite figures always find their way around, while it is ordinary folks that are trapped in queues.

Let us go back to the counsel of Danzuru,

which clearly arose out of centuries of native rural African wisdom. Ordinarily it is good for an elder to stand by his words. However, the last time that I remember a solid cross section of Nigerians coalescing against a government plan was in 1985, when the Federal Military Government was about to execute Bartholomew Owoh, Bernard Ogedenge and Lawal Akanni Ojuolape who were convicted by a Special Offences Tribunal for cocaine pushing. More than 100 national organisations including prominent clerics, labour and CSOs appealed, not because they supported cocaine pushing but because the decree that made it a capital offence was back dated. FMG however said Nigerians were being sentimental and the men were shot at Kirikiri.

This time around, the “decree” that outlawed old naira notes was not backdated but it was front-dated when replacement notes were not ready and are unlikely to be for weeks and months to come. One banker said CBN never intended to print nearly enough new notes to replace the nearly N2 trillion it mopped up in old notes because it wanted to force an overnight cashless solution on the economy. But then, we have already seen how weak the banks’ e infrastructure is. So why can’t we simply respect the Council of State grandees’ advice and have our old notes back in circulation, until such a time that there are enough new notes? By crashing the economy, are we not actually encouraging vote buying, since desperate folks will now do anything for money as a general election is due in 12 days’ time? When you take a stand on an issue and everyone says it is not the right one, the true mark of a wise African elder is to go back on it.

future role as chief helmsman of Nigeria.

He has therefore most adequately prepared himself for the task ahead. The next time people pose the question: Who are those Atiku Abubakar has headhunted or groomed for national service? I will refer them to Nasir El-Rufai, governor of Kaduna State; Chukwuma Soludo, his Anambra State counterpart and Bonnie Haruna who was chief executive of Adamawa State. I will refer them to Emeka Ihedioha who was Atiku’s aide during his first term as vice president, before his upward climb as deputy speaker, House of Representatives and later, governor of Imo State.

I will tell them that Olusegun Ajuwon, a seasoned medical doctor who would become Obasanjo’s chief personal physician, was first family doctor to Atiku in Adamawa State, before Atiku introduced him to Obasanjo.

Ajuwon rose to become chief medical director, (CMD), of the National Hospital, Abuja. Jide Adeniji, an engineer who lived and worked in the civil service of Adamawa State for decades found himself the pioneer managing director of the Federal Emergency Road Management Agency, (FERMA), on Atiku’s recommendation. I will remind my quizzers that Atiku had already appointed

my good friend of blessed memory, Onukaba Adinoyi-Ojo his media aide in 1999, before Obasanjo reassigned him managing director of Daily Times of Nigeria Plc. When Obasanjo needed a crack cop to pioneer the newly established Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, (EFCC), Atiku found Nuhu Ribadu out. The same Atiku entrusted the management of his media affairs to Garba Shehu, the serving Senior Special Assistant, (SSA) to Buhari, and Deolu Akande, now a professor and Chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission, (NCC), among others. I will also draw their attention to the fact that of all these names, only Haruna and Ribadu come from Atiku’s Adamawa State. Did you observe that virtually all these people are almost all seasoned technocrats and professionals? That is the “unique selling point,” (USP), which Atiku provides. Now, please tell me: Which presidential candidate in today’s Nigeria can be more pan-Nigerian or more qualified for a time like this, than Atiku Abubakar?

BEYOND ATIKU’S SOCIOCULTURAL DEMONISATION a Tinubu president. So what exactly is the grouse about a prospective Atiku Abubakar presidency?

“It is morally wrong,” my friend said. “Atiku shouldn’t have put himself forward for the presidency,” he proceeded. “It is the turn of the south which is why I’m rooting for Tinubu.” I listened patiently to his contributions before I joined issues with him. “If you are so enamoured about a southern presidency at this time, why do you think it is morally correct for the south west to produce one,?” I asked him. Hasn’t the south west previously occupied the presidency? Isn’t the outgoing vice president from the same zone? Don’t you think we Yorubas have had our fair share of presences in Aso Villa in the past 24 years? Have you thought about the serial out-muscling of the north east from the nation’s political scheme? Or which south are you talking about?” We battled ourselves in a telephone conversation which spanned almost an hour.

Atiku is unnecessarily demonised on account of his primal sociocultural origins which he had absolutely no role in determing. He is a kinsman of Buhari whose better forgotten nepotistic, mean-spirited and bigoted rule, has profiled his compatriots of the same ethnographic origins. But haven’t twin children born by the same mother, minutes between one another, manifested extreme opposite, if not discordant attitudinal peculiarities? Atiku’s adversaries have evidently rammed themselves into a cul de sac with respect to all manner of unsubstantiated innuendos, labels, and name tags they’ve sought to hang around his neck.

They are thus foraging for extraneous issues to impugn his political profile which is on the ascendancy.

Point is Tinubu and his choir who picked Buhari up and cleaned him after his earlier three lule-ings to adapt the Tinubu expression, did insufficient due diligence on their product before foisting him on Nigerians. His most uninspiring performance profile which he has remorselessly described as “doing his best,” is misconstrued and misapplied as the operational manual of every other Fulani person who aspires to high office. Buhari apparently conned his benefactors by his initial pretensions as a “born again democrat,” even as his promoters forgot that the same Buhari sounded the death knell of Nigeria’s Second Republic, December 31, 1983. Stereotyping anybody from any ethnic background on account of the misconduct of his kinsmen is against my thought, principles and beliefs.

It is unfair and most untenable. Atiku must be assessed, understood and appreciated on account of the specific sterling strengths and impeccable qualities he brings to the table.

Atiku

Today’s Nigeria urgently needs a pacifist after the tormenting years of Buhari; a unifier after the multilevel shredding of our various strands of national cohesion and a restorer after the nation’s years of locusts. We need an immediately impactful instigator of economic recovery after the holistic ruination of the Buhari years. We should presently be preoccupied with the positives a potential president can proffer and make speedy, positive, far-reaching difference, irrespective of his tongue or origins. Atiku comes with multiple strengths and qualities. His pouch is packed with deep experiences from the public and private sectors. He is a stickler to rule of law; a believer in employment and empowerment to drive the economy. He offers the clearest and most practicable pathway for Nigeria’s rescue, (coincidentally the abbreviation of the key words of his manifesto); recovery and rediscovery.

Over two decades ago, Atiku established the “National Development Project,” (NDP), steered

by Usman Bugaje, a pharmacist, scholar and public intellectual. The organisation discreetly surfed for brains and brilliant minds who could add substantial quality to governance and national development, moving forward.

This was even as Atiku fixed his gaze on a

•Tunde Olusunle, PhD, is Special Adviser, Media and Publicity to PDP presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar, GCON.

MONDAY FEBRUARY 13, 2023˾ T H I S D AY

44

NEWS

DISCUSSING STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP…

L-R: Executive Director, Lagos Directorate, Wema Bank Plc, Oluwole Ajimisinmi; Chief Financial Officer, Wema Bank, Tunde Mabawonku; Chief Operating Officer, Paystack, Amandine Lobelle, Managing Director/CEO, Wema Bank, Moruf Oseni, Cofounder / CEO, Paystack, Shola Akinlade, during a courtesy visit to the bank to discuss strategic partnership in Lagos…recently

Bandits Kill DPO, Four Others in Niger Senator Musa condemns attack, mourns

Sunday Aborisade in Abuja and Laleye Dipo inMinna The Divisional Police Officer for Paiko police station Superintendent of Police Mukhtar Abbas and four other policemen have been killed by bandits in Niger state The policemen were killed when they were mobilised to counter the attack on the Kwakuti Djadugbe Market on Saturday.

Police Public Relations Officer Niger State Police Command DSP Wasiu Abiodun, who confirmed the tragedy in a statement made available to newsmen yesterday, however, said some of the bandits were neutralised.

The Senator representing Niger East Senatorial District, Senator Sani Musa, has condemned the killing of the policemen,describing

the attack as one too many to bear.

According to Abiodun the Police has already sent a reinforcement team to the scene and recovered the bodies of the deceased personnel.

He said the command had condoled with the families of the affected personnel, before reassuring members of the public that the Command will not relent in the fight against banditry and other criminalities in the State In a related development Abiodun said at about 3pm on Friday suspected armed bandits/insurgents attempted to attack the Chibani village market via Sarkin-Pawa, Munya LGA. He said the police tactical teams and vigilance members were mobilised to the market

Labour Party Guber Candidate Joins APC in Kano Ibrahim Shuaibu in Kano The governorship candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in Kano state, Engineer Bashir Ishaq Bashir has dumped the party and joined All Progressives Congress (APC).

Engineer Bashir, dumped his party and endorsed the Presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu.

An associate of the former governorship candidate told THISDAY under condition of anonymity on Sunday night that major reason for their defection is the exclusion of major Northern stakeholders in the decision making process and lack of clear direction on

the interest of Northern Nigeria.

Bashir had two meetings with the APC presidential candidate as well as the vice presidential candidate Kashim Shettima in Lagos and Abuja and agreed on the defection terms.

He confirmed the defection of Engineer Bashir and other party leaders to APC. The former Governorship candidate promised to mobilize his supporters to vote for the APC presidential candidate in the coming few days general elections.

THISDAY gathered that on January 21, the governorship candidate staged a boycott at the party’s presidential rally in Kano.

where the hoodlums were routed and successfully repelled without any havoc.

Meanwhile, Senator Musa has condemned,in strong terms, the incessant attacks

Joseph Diri.

“Pa Abraham Diri departed on Sunday, February 12 at the age of 88 years.

“Pa Diri, a retired Headmaster, a devout Christian and a man of exemplary humility, is father of the Bayelsa State Governor, Senator Douye Diri.

“The Diri family and indeed the entire Sampou community are consoled that our dear brother and father lived a fulfilled life.

Funeral arrangements will be announced in due course.”

He assured his constituents that as a representative of Niger East Senatorial Zone, he would continue to work assiduously with relevant security agencies to ensure security in the zone.

The senator also expressed concern and pain over the attacks that have distorted economic activities in the Niger East known for its contribution to food security of the country.

CAN: We Didn’t Receive N2billion from Peter Obi

Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja

The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) has debunked allegations that it received and misappropriated N2 billion gift from the Presidential candidate of the Labour Party(LP), Mr. Peter Obi. In a statement CAN President,

Archbishop Daniel Okoh, said he was not aware of any N2 billion given to Churches in Nigeria to mobilise votes for any 2023 presidential candidate.

While responding to a petition on alleged misappropriation of N2 billion given by the presidential candidate of LP, Mr Peter Obi to churches under the umbrella

of CAN, Okoh described the claim by the petitioner as false and malicious.

Okoh said: “The attention of the national leadership of CAN has been drawn to a purported letter currently in circulati–on on social media, alleging that a certain sum of N2 billion was given by the LP candidate, Mr. Peter Obi

to Churches under the umbrella of CAN. “I use this medium to categorically state that the so-called letter of petition reportedly signed by one Pastor Frank Onwumere and addressed to my office is illogical and can best be described as a failed attempt to drag the apex Christian body into the politics of 2023.”

CUPP Urges Buhari to Release Kanu to Help Fight Insecurity in South-east Udora Orizu in Abuja The Coalition of United Political Parties (CUPP), has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to immediately order the Department of State Services (DSS) to release the detained leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra

(IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, from custody to help fight insecurity in the South East.

Spokesperson of the group, Ikenga Imo Ugochinyere, who’s also the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) House of Representatives candidate for Ideato federal constituency, said the government releasing him,

would help lay the foundation for peace, reconciliation and addressing all grievances.

In a statement yesterday, Ugochinyere lamented that those who wanted the confusion in South East and Imo State in particular to continue, would always oppose any move for federal government to obey the court

order for Kanu’s release.

Recalling a recent incident in which he (Ugochinyere) was attacked by unknown gunmen in his hometown, he said the nation needed to separate criminals, murderous elements and some state-backed faceless armed groups, who were hiding under all the crises to destroy the land.

Edo Inaugurates Special Tactical Force to Combat Crime The Edo State Government has residents.

He said: “We are on two months of the day for a swift response to inaugurated a Special Tactical Force to bolster the government’s efforts at combating crime and criminality in the state.

The special force, comprising five squads, will work in collaboration with security agencies in the state for a two-month duration to ensure the security of the lives and property of Edo

The Deputy Director, Edo State Security Network, and member of the tactical force, Ohonsa Dolapo, while briefing journalists in Benin City, said the team had been adequately trained on intelligence gathering and weapon handling, among others to ensure a seamless and effective delivery of its mandate.

special duty with our muster point being Ring Road, Benin City. We are going to be supporting the federal security agencies. We are not going to be doing it alone.

“Our scope of operation is Edo South and particularly the nooks and crannies of Benin City. We will always be on ground at our base here at Ring Road 24 hours

any information or call of duty.”

Urging for the support and collaboration of residents, Dolapo said, “We are ready to take the lead. What we need is for the public to give us useful, timely, and accurate information. When you see something, say something and we will respond to it. We need information to work.”

Ekiti PDP N’ Assembly Candidates Slam Ayu over Expulsion

Gbenga SodeindeinAdoEkiti

Gov Diri Loses Father National Assembly candidates of Bayelsa State Governor Douye Diri has lost his father, Pa Abraham Diri. The Diri family said in a statement signed on their behalf by Jonathan Diri that their patriarch died yesterday aged 88.

The statement titled “Passage of Pa Abraham Diri” read:“With a deep feeling of loss, the Diri Family of Kalama-Owei Wari in Sampou Community in Kolokuma/Opokuma Local Government Area of Bayelsa State announces the sudden passage of our patriarch, Lay Reader Pa Abraham Michael

on communities by the bandits.

He commiserated with the state police command and condoled with the families of security officers who lost their loved ones during the attack.

the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Ekiti State have carpeted the party chairman, Iyorchia Ayu, and the National Working Committee (NWC)of party over their expulsion.

According to them, “The lawlessness of the Senator

Iyorchia Ayu led National Working Committee (NWC) will fail ultimately” adding that, “our purported expulsion from the party is inconsequential and clear disrespect for the laws of the party and that of the country.”

Specifically, they said the Ayuled NWC of the PDP lacked the powers to suspend let alone expel

them from the party without due process, adding that name or names of candidates that has been submitted to INEC by a party can be changed or substituted is when the candidate dies or withdraws from the race.

The Ayu led NWC in a statement signed by the National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Hon.

Debo Ologunagba had last Friday approved the expulsion of the candidates, Alhaji Lateef Ajijola (Ekiti Central) as well as House of Representatives candidates, Otunba Yinka Akerele (Ekiti North 1), Lere Olayinka (Ekiti Central 2), Joju Fayose (Ekiti Central 1) and Mrs Emiola Adenike Jennifer (Ekiti South 2)

Mammoth Crowd Welcomes Bauchi Gov to Alkaleri

Segun Awofadeji in Bauchi

Bauchi state Governor, Senator Bala Abdulkadir Mohammed was accorded a tumultuous reception in Alkaleri, his birth local government during his visit in continuation of his campaign

tour of the 20 Local Government Areas in the state.

While in Alkaleri yesterday, the Governor flagged off a N2.3 billion road construction project from that will start from Tudu Hatsi to Sabuwar Gwaram to open up the communities along

the road.

According to the governor, the project is expected to link up with the ongoing road construction of Alkaleri by-pass, the headquarters of the local government.

Governor Mohammed while flagging off the 19 kilometers road,

said that the initiative was aimed at easing difficulties being faced by commuters plying the road, especially during the weekend, maintaining that his administration had awarded the contract to a competent indigenous company at the sum of N2.3 billion.

MONDAY FEBRUARY 13, 2023 ˾ T H I S D AY

45

NEWS XTRA

IMPROVED SECURITIES MARKETS ON THEIR MINDS…

L-R: Executive Commissioner, Corporate Services, Securities and Exchange Commission(SEC), Ibrahim Boyi; Managing Director / CEO, Nigerian Agricultural Insurance Corporation (NAIC), Folashade Joseph; Director General, SEC, Mr. Lamido Yuguda; Executive Director, Operations, NAIC, Bashir Babajo, and Executive, Commissioner Operations, SEC, Dayo Obisan, during a meeting between SEC and NAIC in Abuja... recently

Tambuwal Lauds Army’s Efforts to Fight Insurgency, Other Crimes Onuminya Innocent in Sokoto The Sokoto State Governor, Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, has commended the efforts of the Nigeria Army in fighting insurgency and other crimes in the country.

Tambuwal made the commendation at the West Africa

Social Activities (WASA) 2023 of the Nigerian Army at parade ground of 26 battalion, Ginginya Baracks in Sokoto.

Represented by the Secretary to the State Government SSG), Ahmad Mainasara, Tambuwal saluted the courage and gallantly of the Nigerian Army in combating insurgency and

banditry in the country.

He noted that despite the commitment and engagement of the army, it still organised WASA, which allowed the people to showcase their cultural diversity.

The governor further added that the coming together shows that Nigeria is one that is united

in diversity.

Tambuwal disclosed that his administration would give full support to the Nigerian army in all its operations in the state.

In his welcome address, the General Officer Commanding (GOC) 8th Division of the Nigeria army headquarters in Sokoto,

Major General Godwin Mutkut, said the Nigeria army would continue to remain responsive and committed to the task of defending the country’s territorial integrity.

The GOC reiterated the commitment of Nigerian army to suppress all forms of

insurrections by various criminal elements disturbing the peace of the country.

On the forthcoming elections, the GOC said the army would remain apolitical and adhere to the law of engagement and conducts provided by the Chief of Army Staff.

Kwara Central PDP Senatorial Candidate Sani: ADP ‘ll End Agitations, Marginalisation in Nigeria Promises to Advance Pro-workers Policies Emmanuel Ugwu-Nwogo in Umuahia

Hammed Shittu inIlorin

A former Minster of Youths and Sports, Mr. Bolaji Abdullahi, who is also the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) candidate for Kwara Central senatorial district in the forthcoming general election, said during the weekend that he would advance pro-workers policies in the National Assembly (NASS), if given the mandate to represent the senatorial district.

Abdullahi, therefore, advised members of the organised labour to show keen interest in the choice of the leaders they would elect

during the polls.

Speaking in Ilorin during an interactive session with the joint labour congress at the state’s secretariat of the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) in Ilorin, Abdullahi said that the organised labour has ample time to determine credible leaders now rather than waiting endlessly for salary increase negotiation after the elections.

He regretted that the current state of the economy has shown that the take-home pay of Nigerian workers is grossly insufficient to cater for their needs.

Ondo Monarch Disowns Threatening Audio, Says it’s Misrepresentation of Identity Fidelis David inAkure

The Olowa of Igbara-Oke Kingdom in Ifedore Local Government Area(LGA) of Ondo State, Oba Dr. Francis Adefarakanmi Agbede yesterday dissociated himself from a viral audio where a particular monarch was heard telling the residents that they must vote All Progressives Congress (APC) if they want to keep living and doing businesses in the community.

Reports have it that the Baale of Gbara in Jakande, Eti-Osa Local Government Area of Lagos State allegedly threatened to deal with residents if they failed to vote the ruling APC, which he described

as his party.

However, Olowa in a press release made available to Journalists, said the report was a misrepresentation of identity.

The statement read: “The attention of His Royal Majesty, Oba Dr. Francis Adefarakanmi Agbede, Olowa and Paramount Ruler of Igbara-Oke kingdom in Ondo State has been drawn to news by some blogs, which displayed his picture and details as Baale of Igbara Community in Eti-Osa Local Government Area of Lagos State, in an online story accompanied by an alleged audio recording of his Highness threatening residents in his domain to vote a particular party in the upcoming election.

Working Committee (NWC) and Presidential Campaign Council (PCC), arrived at the venue of the rally in Isi Court, Umuahia, to a rapturous jubilation of party faithful.

He said Nigeria has been reeling in crisis and rising agitations for self-determinations in some parts of the country

due to the absence of rule of law in the way government treats its citizens.

According to him, “Under ADP government, everyone in Nigeria will be treated according to the provisions of the law irrespective of the part of the country the person comes from or the religion he belongs.”

2023: Group Endorses Peter Obi, Izunaso, Chikwem, Others Amby Uneze in Owerri

A group of opinion moulders in Imo State, the Save Imo has has endorsed the Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate, Mr. Peter Obi as one that would win the February 25, presidential election in the country.

Speaking at an event in Owerri, the founder of the

group, Ebubeagu Ekenulo said he also endorsed the candidates for the Imo West senatorial candidate, Osita Izunaso of the All Progressives Congress (APC), the House of representative candidate of LP in Okigwe North federal constituency, Chikwem Onuoha, the APC candidates for Okigwe South federal constituency, Chike Okafor, and LP candidate

for Ideato federal constituency, Paschal Obi among others.

The guest lecturer at the event and a fellow and visiting scholar at Human Rights Institute, Columbia University, New York, Prof. Nnamdi Obiaraeri, counseled politicians seeking elective offices to be mindful and conversant with all the relevant electoral laws to avoid legal infractions and

attendant sanctions, including judicial disqualifications.

He mentioned the laws, such as the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended; the Electoral Act 2022; the political party constitutions and observance of the supremacy of political parties since they constitute the foundation of the success of the candidates.

Okowa Visits Families of Slain Security Aides Obaseki condemns killing

Omon-Julius Onabu in Asaba and Adibe Emenyonu in Benin City

Governor Ifeanyi Okowa yesterday paid condolence visits to the families of the policemen killed by assassins in Anambra State on their way to official assignment in Umuahia, Abia State.

Okowa, who is 2023 VicePresidential Candidate of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) visited families of the deceased officers, including police inspectors Lucky Aleh, Celestine Nwadiokwu and with highest cumulative transaction Jude Obuh, who were, until value within the period would be rewarded.

It said: “The qualifying criteria include:registration on Olusegun Samuel in Yenagoa VULTe;perform either of these transactions; bill payment, interbank Bayelsa State Governor, Senator transaction or airtime purchase and Douye Diri, yesterday, boasted that his performance so far stand a chance of being rewarded. in office as Governor of the On Friday, 17th February 2023, State will earn him second 50 customers with the highest tenure come November in the transaction cumulative value will Governorship election. be announced via the Bank’s Speaking during the Instagram handle.” thanksgiving service to mark

Polaris Bank Unveils Valentine Promo

Polaris Bank has announced plans to delight its existing and new customers this Valentine season with exciting rewards. The campaign is themed: Polaris Purple reward.

According to the bank, existing and prospective customers stand a chance to enjoy a reward of N5,000 worth of data in the Valentine campaign when they perform some transactions on VULTe. The transactions include: bill payment, interbank transaction and airtime purchase.

The bank said 50 customers

The presidential candidate of the Action Democratic Party (ADP), Yabagi Yusuf Sani, has promised that he would enthrone the rule of law in Nigeria if elected president on February 25, 2023.

He gave this assurance at the weekend during the presidential/governorship flag-off campaigns of his party in Abia State, saying the rule of law would be the guiding principle of ADP-controlled federal government.

Sani, who was accompanied by members of the ADP National

the unfortunate incident, attached to Explosives Ordinances Disposal Unit at the Government House, Asaba.

The trio met their untimely death last Friday following an ambush by the assailants along Ihiala-Orlu Road in Anambra State while heading for Umuahia as part of the governor’s advance team.

However, Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki, has condemned the attack and killing of officers.

The governor, in a statement, expressed shock over the killing of the officers, and

prayed for the repose of their souls.

Okowa visited the homes of the deceased in Agbor-Obi and Orogodo-Agbor in Ika South Local Government Area for Aleh and Obuh, and Owa Ekei in Ika NorthEast for Nwadiokwu, where he commiserated with their widows, Mrs Nwamaka Aleh, Mrs Juliet Obuh and Mrs Onyeisi Nwadiokwu, their children and other family members.

He prayed for the bereaved families and urged them to take solace in the fact that the deceased died in active service

for the nation, assuring that the state government would continue to identify with them through the trying times.

In company with the governor were the member representing Ika Federal Constituency, Mr Victor Nwokolo; member, representing Ika South in the State House of Assembly, Mr Festus Okoh and his Ika Northeast counterpart, Mr Anthony Elekeokwuri; Commissioner for Works, Mr Noel Omodon; his Information Counterpart, Mr Charles Aniagwu and other senior government functionaries.

Diri: My Performance Will Earn Me Second Term his third year’s anniversary on Sunday, Diri noted that going by the testimonies of people in the state, he has performed creditably well.

According to the governor, it is not a mistake that he is a miracle governor, because he was ordained to be governor from birth.

He advised the people of the

state to unite and support one another and eschew the pull him down syndrome, because power comes from God. The thanksgiving service, which was graced by Dame Patience, the wife of former President Goodluck Jonathan, and the President of Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN), Bishop Francis Wale Oke, as guest

speaker.

Diri said: “Power always comes from God, there is no mistake that I am a miracle governor, before I was born God has ordained it and even as I was born there was signs all over. It is no mistake that I have to come through Seriake Dickson (predecessor) that is the way God wants it.

MONDAY, ͹ͻ˜ ͺ͸ͺͻ ˾ T H I S D AY

46

MONDAYSPORTS

Group Sports Editor: Duro Ikhazuagbe Email: duro.ikhazuagbe@thisdaylive.com

0811 181 3083 SMS ONLY

Super Eagles Eligible Balogun Extends French Ligue 1 Goals to 15 AC Milan, Villarreal, Marseille amongst clubs seeking his signature

Duro Ikhazuagbe Super Eagles eligible forward, Folarin Balogun, 21, extended his reign as top scorer in the French Ligue 1 yesterday as he helped Reims defeat Troyes 4-0 to take his total goals for the season to 15 so far.

The Arsenal loanee at the French club has continued his incredible form this season, to be ahead of such established stars like Kylian Mbappe and Neymar.

He scored Reims third goal yesterday as the club leapfrogged Lyon and Toulouse to 9th spot on 33 points from 23 games.

Apart from being eligible to play for Nigeria, Balogun is also qualified to star for England where he has been capped at the Under-18 and Under-19, pundits have been calling on USA soccer authorities to get him

into the USMNT. He is currently in the Under-21 team for England which makes him still eligible to play for any of the three countries.

New York-born Balogun has been in the Gunners' academy since 2008 and spent a largely successful spell on loan at Championship Middlesbrough in the final half of last season.

UK’s Daily Mailreports at the weekend that Italian giants AC Milan have renewed interest in prising the starlet away from Arsenal. Milan held an interest in him while he was in Arsenal's youth team. Both Villarreal and Marseille are believed to also be interested in the signature of the enterprising young player.

With Balogun having two years remaining on his deal this summer, Gunners Boss, Mikel Arteta, must decide whether to cash in or not

with suitors hovering around the lad.

Eddie Nketiah has stepped up since Gabriel Jesus' injury at the World Cup, giving the Emirates chief two strong options for the No. 9 role.

Arteta has spoken highly of Balogun's development in France and insists no decision will be made on his future until the summer.

He said: "The plan is that he finishes his period there, assess the situation where he is, where we are, then sit down and plan the next chapter in his developing career."

In Europe's top five leagues, only Erling Haaland, Harry Kane and Victor Osimhen have scored more often for their clubs than Balogun.

Balogun was tied on 14 goals with Barcelona's Robert Lewandowski before adding the 15th yesterday.

Rivers Utd Crumble to Diables Noirs in Congo Nigeria's last team in continental campaign, Rivers United, began their quest for glory in the group phase of the CAF Confederation Cup on the wrong foot with a 3-0 defeat in Congo yesterday evening.

It will be the second time the Pride of Rivers people will suffer such heavy loss after the 6-0 bashing last October to Wydad FC of Morocco which saw the team drop to the second tier of CAF club tournament.

Rivers United conceded the three goals in the first half of the game.

Carl Wunda put Noirs ahead in the 30th minute after putting

RESULTS CAF Confed Cup M’Gallant 4-1 Al Akhdar ASEC 0-0 Motema Pembe Diables Noirs 3-0 Rivers Utd Asko Kara 1-1 Future FC TP Mazembe 3-1 AS Bamako US Monastir 2-0 Young Africans

NPFL El Kanemi 1-1 Akwa Utd Remo Stars 1-1 Plateau Utd Shooting 2-2 B’Insurance Abia War 1-1 Wikki

CAF CONFED CUP the Nigerian side under intense pressure and two minutes later, Jaures Ngombe doubled their lead before the third goal was scored

by Domi Massoumou in the 39th minute.

The Nigeria champions played a bit better in the second half and were rewarded with a penalty but the home goalkeeper guessed right to stop Ebube Duru's penalty for the game to end 3-0 in favour of the Congolese.

Rivers United are now rooted to the bottom of the log and will take on ASEC Mimosas of Cote d'Ivoire next week .

Earlier on Saturday, duo of ASEC and Motema Pembe had settled for a 1-1 draw. Two teams will qualify into the knockout stage from the group.

Former Sports Minister, Abdullahi, Promises to Sustain Grassroots Sports Devt Hammed Shittuin Ilorin A former Minister of Sports and Chairman of the defunct National Sports Commission, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, has reaffirmed his determination to consolidate on

Sunshine 2-0 Tornadoes

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SERIE A Udinese 2-2 Sassuolo Bologna 0-1 Monza Juventus 1-0 Fiorentina

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the gains of his sports development from the grassroots through his Omoluabi Foundation.

Abdullahi who is the People's Democratic Party (PDP) Senatorial Candidate for Kwara Central in the forthcoming election stated this at

High-altitude Athletics Club Registers 75 Runners for Abuja International Marathon Jos, Plateau State-based Nigeria’s most successful marathon, road races, long and middle distances athletics club, the High-altitude Athletics Club, will storm the April 29, 2023, Abuja International Marathon with 75 runners according to the club owner, Stephen Nuhu.

Unarguably Nigeria’s most successful distance coach, Nuhu told reporters in Jos over the weekend that of the 75 runners, 30 of whom are elite men and women runners,

who have dominated the Nigerian running circuit in the last 10 years and have also done well overseas.

Some of the elite men runners that have registered for the Abuja International Marathon include; Emmanuel Gyang Gwom, Adamu Shehu Mu'azu, Gyang Boyi Nyango, Tokbe Christopher Gwet, Okot Friday, Stephen Joshua Dalyop, Istifanus Peter Mahan, Friday Yohanna, Joseph Kumbam and Solomon Dauda.

Rangers 1-0 Doma Utd Lobi Stars 2-1 Dakkada

Folarin Balogun (left) netted his 15th goal of the season to lead the French Ligue 1 goals chart

Mbappe Returns to Training ahead of UCL Clash with Bayern

Kylian Mbappe took part in training yesterday, raising hopes that the Paris St Germain forward could play in tomorrow’s Champions League last16 first leg against Bayern Munich at the Parc des Princes.

Sports daily L'Equipereported last night that Mbappe participated in the collective session although he did not stay with the squad the whole time.

Mbappe picked up a hamstring injury on 1 February and PSG said he would be ruled out of action for three weeks.

Coach Christophe Galtier on Saturday said he would take 'zero risk' with Mbappe.

PSG have been in poor form recently, losing 3-1 at Monaco in Ligue 1 on Saturday for their fourth defeat of the year in all competitions.

Kylian Mbappe returned to training yesterday ahead of PSG’s Champions League Last 16 clash with Bayern Munich on Tuesday

The elite women, according to Nuhu, are Deborah Pam Badung, Elizabeth Nuhu Power, Blessing Shambor Solomon, Charity Agofure, Hudung Gyang Stephen, Rosemary Danlami, Dinatu Yohanna, Monica Ezekiel Mandun, Juliana Usman and Faustina Oguh.

Nuhu thanked Unicentral Resources Generation Limited the licensee of Abuja International Marathon for bringing a proper international marathon to the North.

the weekend while receiving the new leadership of Kwara SWAN under the chairmanship of Ayodeji Ismail at his GRA residence in Ilorin.

He said the Omoluabi Foundation has been championing and bankrolling the sponsorship of Volleyball, Karate, Table-tennis and Handball over the years and will sustain the events to further achieve the purpose for which it was initiated, noting that the idea behind the foundation is to use sports for youth development.

"Omoluabi Foundation is initiated to use sports for youth development and some of those children who passed through the foundation have gone to represent Nigeria in major competitions at the international level," stressed the former minister.

He believes that Kwara State can carve a niche for itself from such games such as badminton, weightlifting, squash, table tennis, middle distance race and the likes, saying that football was never our

game in the state as talented stars and athletes have been produced in racket games rather than football.

Earlier in his remarks, the Chairman of Kwara SWAN, Mr. Ismail, said the visit was to officially introduce the new leadership of the association to him as a critical stakeholder in the sector and to partner him for training and retraining of members to guarantee their efficiency.

He lauded various initiatives of the ex minister while in office, noting with delight, the 2013 AFCON triumph and the U-17 FIFA World Cup victories. Abdullahi introduced some radical changes in Nigerian sports shortly after the failed outings at the 2012 Olympic Games in London but was removed from office before seeing his programmes started producing results. One of such was the initiating of the High Performance Centre as well as the employment of top American coaches and instructors for the various sports in the country.

Current and Past Okpekpe Race, Lagos Marathon Winners for Jos Cross Country Current and past winners of the gold label Okpekpe International 10km Road Race and Access Bank Lagos City Marathon will lead the Nigerian elite cast at the 1st Cross Country competition in Nigeria scheduled to hold on Saturday at the Rhino Golf Course in Jos, Plateau State.

The race will be the first organised cross country event in Nigeria in over four decades.

Top on the list of athletes who have registered for the race is Nyango Gyang Boyi, the first Nigerian finisher at the 2023 Access Bank Lagos City Marathon held penultimate weekend in Lagos.

Also confirmed for the historic race in Jos are Iliya Pam, the best

Nigerian finisher at the 2018 Access Bank Lagos City Marathon and Paul James Pam who won the 10km race at the same event this year.

Emmanuel Gyan Gwom, the 2019 Okpekpe race 'Nigerian' winner will also be competing in Jos as well as Stephen Joshua Dalop who has also registered to join over 200 others who have so far confirmed their participation and make history on Saturday.

Veteran distance runner and multiple Nigerian 5,000 and 10,000m champion, Deborah Pam Badung has also confirmed her participation.

Project Coordinator, Chief Tony Osheku is delighted with the response shown by Nigerian elite athletes and believes the cross

country event will help the athletes to get physically and mentally stronger.

“Running Cross Country will make our distance runners better and stronger. In this way, they can, in a few years time start challenging the east Africans for places in the international circuit and earn some good money which will help their career, their families and of course Nigeria,”said Osheku.

The former Nigeria 1500m champion believes Youth and Sports Development Minister, Sunday Dare will forever be remembered for being the first sports minister in over four decades to take practical steps in developing distance running in Nigeria.

47

MONDAY, ͹ͻ˜ ͺ͸ͺͻ ˾ T H I S D AY

SPORTS

Onuachu’s Coach at Southampton Sacked Nigerian and Southampton forward, Paul Onuachu, may have to brace up to distinguish himself following the sacking of Nathan Jones, the gaffer who signed him in the January transfer window from Genk.

The Saints suffered yet another 2-1 defeat against Wolves to sit at the bottom of the Premier League table.

The sacked Jones, had replaced Ralph Hasenhuttl at St Mary's in November, but was relieved of his duties after just 94 days in charge having won just one of his eight league games in charge.

The 49-year-old led Southampton to the semi-finals of the Carabao Cup, but were eliminated from the competition by Newcastle at the last-four stage.

Jan Bednarek's own goal cancelled

out Carlos Alcaraz's opener, and Joao Gomes struck three minutes from time to hand Wolves all three points.

The result leaves Southampton bottom of the table, and the club's hierarchy have decided to act now to try and preserve their Premier League status.

A short statement posted on the club's official website yesterday read: “Southampton Football Club can confirm it has parted company with Men’s First Team Manager Nathan Jones.

“First Team Coaches Chris Cohen and Alan Sheehan have also left the club.

“First Team Lead Coach Rubén Sellés will take charge of training and prepare the team ahead of next weekend’s game against Chelsea.

Jones was left in a helpless position following Saturday's home defeat against fellow relegation contenders Wolves as the visitors scored twice late-on to secure a surprise victory on the south coast.

Unsavoury chants demanding the Welshman was removed from his post echoed around St Mary's with Southampton remaining cemented to the bottom of the top-flight table and relegation becoming an evermore realistic possibility.

Jones was adamant that he would continue to fight to keep his position following what turned out to be his last match in charge, telling Sky Sports: “I couldn't feel any more pressure than I have been under this week. We have to keep fighting.”

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Paul Onuachu (centre)...along with his Nigerians international Joe Aribo, they are going to work under a new manager following the sacking of Coach Nathan Jones at the weekend

Man Utd Compounds Manager-less Leeds Relegation Worries Manchester United scored twice in the final 10 minutes at Elland Road to leave managerless Leeds deep in relegation trouble.

Five days on from Marcus Rashford netting the Red Devils' first goal as they came back from 2-0 down at home to draw against the same opponents, the England striker broke the deadlock when he met Luke Shaw's curling cross to head in his 21st goal of the season.

Substitute Alejandro Garnacho then outpaced the home defence before beating Illan Meslier at his near post to the obvious joy of manager Erik ten Hag on the touchline.

The result was harsh on Leeds, who created a number of decent opportunities but could not beat visiting goalkeeper David de Gea. However, in the end it was the visitors who displayed an extra touch of class to take them seven points clear of fifth-placed Tottenham in the battle for a Champions League spot.

Leeds are in a far more precarious position at the other end of the table and will drop into the relegation zone if Everton win Monday's Merseyside derby at Anfield.

The Whites need to arrest a damaging nine-game winless run that has brought just four points from a possible 27, with the need to replace Jesse Marsch, who was sacked last week, now more urgent than ever.

For almost 45 minutes, the atmosphere was by some distance

the best element of an afternoon crackling with tension but lacking in quality.

Sadly, the mood around the stadium soured just before the break when chants about the Munich Air Disaster and the murders in 2000 of two Leeds fans in Istanbul were traded between the rival fans.

The clubs released a joint statement after full-timein which they strongly condemned the "completely unacceptable" chants.

On the pitch, Meslier produced

an excellent save with his feet to deny Bruno Fernandes in first-half stoppage time. From the subsequent corner, the ball bounced off Luke Ayling and narrowly wide of the far post, with Rashford inches away from converting.

But in general the first period was a fiery affair lacking in clear opportunities. And it was in keeping with the mood around Elland Road that Jadon Sancho and Tyrell Malacia were the subject of ferocious, but fair, early Leeds tackles.

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Friendly: Flying Eagles Fight Back to Beat Congo The Flying Eagles yesterday came from behind to beat their Congolese counterparts 2-1 in a warm-up game in Morocco ahead of the U20 AFCON in Egypt.

The team led by coach Ladan Bosso have thus gone 18 games unbeaten.

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Wednesday against Central African Republic, who have also qualified for the U20 AFCON. Despite dominating proceedings, the Flying Eagles went behind after 21 minutes after Onianhue Salomon scored for the Congolese.

Both Haliru Sarki and Samson Lawal spurned glorious chances

to get on the scoresheet for the Junior Eagles in the first half.

However, substitute Emmanuel Uchegbu drew the Flying Eagles level in the 66th minute courtesy of a solo effort.

Another sub, Olamilekan Adams, put the game beyond the reach of the Congolese.

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MISSILE George to Former Leaders, Opposition Parties “In all honesty, I cannot decipher the logic of quietness against the cliff edge which the APC govt has plunged the Nigerian state into, where there seems to be no opposing views calling the ruling government to stop and think. I wonder what hate, evil, what madness will propel anyone of sane mind to plunge Nigeria into the present state of hopelessness, annihilation and abject suffering of the citizenry? At the same time, I see it as absolute lunacy for anybody to campaign for APC.. ” –PDP Chieftain, Olabode George, decrying the state of the nation.

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MAHMUDJEGA VIEW FROM THE GALLERY

Two Stands of Dottijo W

hen a wise African elder, a dottijo, takes a firm stand on an issue, should he stand by his word, or should he go back on it? Pondering over this cultural-philosophical puzzle reminded me of Danzuru, the bulky steward who used to clear plates from the dinner table during our student days at the University of Sokoto.

Danzuru was a jovial fellow who went about his work with elan. In addition to efficiently clearing plates, he was also known for intruding into dinner talk. One evening, Danzuru arrived at our dinner table and overheard a discussion about an elderly man who refused to give out his daughter in marriage to our friend despite the intervention of other elders. Danzuru promptly barged into the discussion. He said, “A dottijo is known for taking one stand. A dottijo is also known for taking two stands.”

We were annoyed by Danzuru’s intrusion but as youngsters, we were also puzzled by it, so we asked him for an explanation. He said, “Normally, when a dottijo takes a stand on a matter, he is expected as a matter of honour to stand by it. But if a dottijo takes a stand on a matter and everyone comes

Emefiele

and says that stand he took is not the right one, then the dattijantaka [the mark of a wise elder] is to go back on it.”

President and Central Bank Governor, you

take a firm stand on naira redesign policy.

You mopped up all our old notes. The new notes are in severe short supply. Banks are accused of hoarding them. Security agents

swoop on banks and find some hoarded bundles. A black market springs up to sell new naira notes. Long queues form at ATMs. Fights break out in the queues. Desperate customers ran amok in banking halls, with one woman stripping to the waist and one man going stark naked. Riots break out in some cities. Some hoodlums storm banks, burn and loot them. Big banks responded by shutting down branches for some days, which aggravated the problem. Artisans and small traders’ businesses collapsed because they insisted on collecting new notes and few people had them. Many restaurants, hotels and superstores also demanded payment in new notes. Some said they will accept old notes which they could still bank but no one had old notes. Meanwhile, e-services of all banks became epileptic, with many crashing for days on end. Prices of perishable foodstuff fell because few people had money to buy them. Chamber of Commerce, Manufacturers Association and renown economist Bismarck Rewane all warned that an economic contraction is at hand this quarter.

National Assembly asked that old notes Continued on page 43

TUNDEOLUSUNLE GUEST COLUMNIST

Beyond Atiku’s Sociocultural Demonisation

E

ven before Nigeria’s charismatic former Vice President and presidential flagbearer of the Peoples’ Democratic Party, (PDP) won the ticket as the party’s candidate for the February 25, 2023, I had always been an established Atiku aficionado. In April, last year, I was contacted by a non-governmental organisation, (NGO), to function as Senior Resource Person, for a six-week assignment, in a “Situation Room,” SR for short. Our brief was to commit about five hours everyday, building scenarios about the outcomes of the presidential primaries of the two major political parties, the PDP and the All Progressives Congress, (APC). From the inaugural meeting, I told the conveners I was an unsuitable participant. I’m “unapologetically Atiku.”

I pleaded to be excused from the project.

Surprisingly, I was restrained by the organisers, who thought my aggregate experiences would enrich discourse and disputation.

We sat at conference table every day before a whiteboard, the lead discussant for the day holding a marker, drawing conjectures from one senatorial zone to another; one state to another and one “sub-zone” to another.

Sub-zones, yes. Godswill Akpabio as governor of Akwa Ibom State in 2012, hosted me on a few occasions in the course of official assignments. In one of our engagements, he drew my attention to this critical stratum of the nation’s geopolitical superstructure.

He espoused that in most instances, states which are birthed by brother states, seem to follow the political and attitudinal footsteps of their older “brother states.”

We enjoyed the tea, coffee, biscuits, finger foods and full lunch provided at every sitting, not forgetting the occasional indulgence with respectable wines and passable cognac.

The realities of our findings regularly and repeatedly pointed in the direction of an Atiku Abubakar victory. I refused to re-echo the fact, nor gloat over it, even if this reality was the product of my previous personal and repeatedly rigorous interrogations. You know the kind of humility demonstrated by footballers when they score against their parent club in a match. They don’t jump and punch the sky in revelry. That Atiku eventually won the PDP primary and is the presidential candidate of the PDP, is history.

He has subsequently pursued a decently-

intoned, non-abusive, issue-based, campaign, winning converts in their millions.

I’ve been chased away from a number of sociocultural and professional social media platforms, for evangelising Atiku.

People wonder the nexus between me a through and total Yoruba man, and a Fulani man. True, I’m a Yoruba man who finds himself strangely pooled together with non-contiguous cultures and ethnicities, in the uppermost extremes of Yoruba country, and so wrongfully labelled a “northerner.”

I recall being labelled a “Fulani slave,” by a much younger professional colleague, a sworn Bola Tinubu demagogue, on an alumni chat group. This social media thing is a curious leveler, I must say.

A very good friend of mine with whom I shared the same classrooms, lecture halls and hostels in the university over 40 years ago, called me the other day from Lagos.

He had a copy of The Guardian of Friday February 10, 2023 with him and had just read my article: Atiku, El Rufai, Udenta And The Vindiction Of Esu Odara on the backpage of the newsroom. He availed me a long lecture about the impracticability in

Nigeria of a Fulani successor, to Muhammadu Buhari, after all that Nigerians, especially non-Fulani Nigerians, have suffered under Buhari’s watch. Everything he spoke about: appointments, siting of infrastructures, political patronage and business opportunities, are issues I’ve consistently addressed in many of my media engagements.

He told me Tinubu is not the most perfect president Nigeria needs now, but we need him all the same. He informed me that APC flagbearer will most probably continue with his known penchant for the self-centred empowerment and enrichment of his family and associates. He cited the example of the Alpha Beta tax collection behemoth which continues to consolidate the multibillionaire status of the APC strongman. He also referred to a business product introduced in Lagos in 2002 when Tinubu’s more prominent son, was probably still in secondary school, but which the young man now wields total monopoly in the public space of the mega city. He wouldn’t be surprised if oil licences are freely appropriated to the family and cronies of Continued on page 43

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