SUNDAY 20TH FEBRUARY 2022

Security Agencies Move against Importers of Off-spec Petrol Begin interrogation of suspects Despite NNPC’s efforts, petrol queues persist in Abuja, Lagos

Kingsley Nwezeh and Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja Security agencies have begun the probe of companies and individuals allegedly involved in

the importation of toxic fuel into the country, THISDAY investigation has revealed.

This is coming as many filling stations were still under lock and key in Abuja and Lagos yesterday

while the few that were selling petrol had long queues, despite the desperate efforts by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited to bring the situation under control in the

last one week.

The importation and circulation of adulterated petrol had resulted in damage to vehicle engines across many parts of the country.

It also affected the supply chain,

causing long queues in Lagos and Abuja as filling stations shut down to clean up their tanks.

The situation is considered in security circles to have far-reaching economic and security implications.

THISDAY gathered that intelligence agencies invited companies involved in the scam, and they are presently undergoing Continued on page 6

CBN Has Enough FX to Meet Market Demand, Report Reveals... Page 5 Sunday 20 February, 2022 Vol 27. No 9812

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INEC Allays Fears on 2023 Elections, Says No Plan to Shift Polls Electoral Bill 2022 still inchoate, commission clarifies

Chuks Okocha in Abuja The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has stated that the

2023 general election is not encumbered and will hold as planned, beginning with the presidential poll scheduled for February 18, 2023.

Responding to speculations that it might postpone the scheduled conduct of the 2023 general election if President Muhammadu Buhari signs the

Electoral Bill after February 22, 2022, INEC’s National Commissioner in charge of Publicity and Chairman of Voter Education, Mr Festus

Okoye told THISDAY that the commission was not in any form of dilemma relating to the exercise of its constitutional and legal

powers.

Okoye stated that the commission was focused Continued on page 8

Tinubu Floors Aregbesola as Oyetola Wins Osun APC Primary Minister cries foul, Adeoti heads to court Buhari, APC govs to decide new date for national convention

Chuks Okocha in Abuja and Yinka Kolawole in Osogbo Governor Gboyega Oyetola of Osun State yesterday won the governorship primary of the All Progressives Congress (APC) held in the state.

Oyetola was backed by the National Leader of the APC, Senator Bola Tinubu.

This is coming as President Muhammadu Buhari and the governors elected on the platform of the APC will decide a new date for the party’s National Convention following the clash of the February 26 proposed date for the exercise with some off-season elections earlier scheduled by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

Oyetola also defeated his main challenger for the APC governorship ticket, Alhaji Moshood Adeoti, at Ifofin Ward

8 of the Minister of Interior, Mr. Rauf Aregbesola, in Ilesa East Local Government Area of the state.

The Osun State governor won in Aregbesola’s ward with 309 votes against 146 recorded for Adeoti, the aspirant anointed by Aregbesola.

The two aspirants, who contested with Oyetola were former Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Lasun Yusuff and a former Secretary to the State Government, Adeoti.

Announcing the result in the early hours of today, at the state’s APC secretariat in Osogbo, the Chairman of Osun APC Primary Election Committee and Kwara State Governor, Mr. AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, said accredited voters were 247,207 Continued on page 5

Oba of Benin Receives £2.5m Stolen Artefacts from Britain..Page 6

RETURN OF TREASURED ASSETS… L-R: Nigerian High Commission to United Kingdom, Mr. Sarafa Ishola; Oba of Benin, Omo N’Oba N’Edo Uku Akpolokpolo, Oba Ewuare II; and Director General, National Commission for Museums and Monuments, Prof. Abba Isa Tijani, during the formal presentation of two looted artefacts from Britain to the monarch at his palace in Benin City… yesterday

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REMEMBERING ALUKO… L-R: Principal Partner, Aluko & Oyebode, Mr. Gbenga Oyebode; his wife, Aisha; Vice President Yemi Osinbajo; wife of the deceased, Mrs. A. Aluko; and Supreme Court Judge, Justice Amina Augie, at the 20th Memorial Symposium of Bankole Aluko (SAN) in Lagos…weekend

CBN Has Enough FX to Meet Market Demand, Report Reveals Says inflows from Eurobond, SDR will boost forex supply

Festus Akanbi Amid a spate of measures being put in place by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to reduce pressure on the nation’s foreign exchange market, analysts from Coudros Securities have expressed confidence in the capacity of the apex bank to meet the forex demand with inflows from the recently issued Eurobond and the IMF’s Special Drawing Rights (SDR).

In its Weekly economic and market update titled: ‘Overview of markets in the week ended 18 February 2022,’ the securities company also stressed the need to attract more foreign portfolio investments to sustain liquidity inflow to the economy.

The analysts argued that the current low level of crude oil production has weakened foreign reserves accretion, a development which they said necessitated the implementation of policies that would encourage the inflow of foreign portfolio investments.

According to the report, “the CBN has enough supply to support the FX market over the short term, given inflows from the recently issued Eurobond and the IMF’s SDR. “However, foreign inflows are paramount for sustained FX liquidity over the medium term, in line with our expectation that accretion to the reserves will be weak given that crude oil production levels remain pretty low.”

The report called for additional measures to attract FPIs, insisting that: “Thus, FPIs which have historically supported supply levels in the IEW (53.8% of FX inflows to the IEW in 2019FY) will be needed to sustain FX liquidity levels. Hence, we think (1) further adjustments in the NGN/USD peg closer to its fair value and (2) flexibility in the exchange rate would significantly attract foreign inflows back to the market.”

As of last week, Nigeria’s foreign reserves was $40.7

billion almost at the $42 billion thresholds set by the apex bank for mid-2022.

Last year, Nigeria was able to raise $4 billion through Eurobonds, which financial analysts described as a reflection of investors’ confidence in the economy.

The Debt Management Office (DMO) had in a statement explained that the Order Book

peaked at $12.2 billion, which enabled the Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN) to raise $1 billion more than the $3 billion it initially announced.

The Eurobonds were issued in three tranches, details, namely seven years –,$1.25 billion at 6.125 per cent per annum; 12 years -$1.5 billion at 7.375 per cent per annum as well as 30 years -$1.25 billion at 8.25 per annum.

Also last year, the board of governors of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) had approved the allocation of $3.35 billion to Nigeria as part of a historic general allocation of Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) of the International Multilateral Institution.

SDRs are international reserve assets created by the IMF and allocated to members to

supplement existing official reserves. Holdings of SDRs by an IMF member are recorded as an asset, while the allocation of SDRs is recorded as the incurrence of liability of the member receiving them.

Earlier this year, the CBN announced a new scheme to improve dollar supply, known as Bankers’ Committee “RT200 FX Programme”, which stands

for the “Race to $200 billion in FX Repatriation.”

According to the Governor of CBN, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, “the RT200 FX Programme is a set of policies, plans and programmes for non-oil exports that will enable us to attain our lofty yet attainable goal of $200 billion in FX repatriation, exclusively from non-oil exports, over the next 3-5 years.”

Tinubu Floors Aregbesola as Oyetola Wins Osun APC Primary while the total number of votes cast was 235,550.

Oyetola polled 222,169 votes to beat Aregbesola’s candidate, Adeoti, who scored 12,921, while Lasun came a distant third with 460 votes.

Before the primary election, Aregbesola had attacked Oyetola’s main backer and his estranged godfather, Tinubu, telling him that the same treatment meted out to a former Lagos State governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode, which foreclosed his re-election bid in 2019, would be administered on his brother, Oyetola.

However, Aregbesola was absent from the primary election and was said to have left Ilesa for Abuja yesterday morning for unspecified official duty.

While the minister has threatened to explore legal means to obtain justice, alleging that the results of the primary election were “farcically counted in favour of the governor,” Adeoti has vowed to seek Oyetola’s disqualification in court.

Reacting to the election in a statement issued in Osogbo, the state capital yesterday, Adeoti vowed to head to court to challenge what he referred to as “pyrrhic victory” won by Oyetola.

He accused the governor of rigging the election with the apparent backing of the National Caretaker and Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee (CECPC) of the party.

Adeoti said the ugly development in Osun APC has sent a wrong signal as to whether the APC has a future

in the state.

He also accused Oyetola of using intimidation and violence to ensure that the primary election was not free and fair. ''There was violence in Olorunda Local Government where the Ward 3 Chairman of the Rasaq Salinsile-led APC in Olorunda Local government, Mr. Sala Ademola and his secretary, Mr. Ajisefini were kidnapped.

Our supporters were also disenfranchised in all the wards in Ife East by not being accredited and being intimidated with thugs wielding dangerous weapons.”

He also accused a top chieftain of APC of taking over the electioneering process in Ife and halting the accreditation process, sending out his supporter using thugs, while allowing and counting party members from the governor’s group.

The APC governorship aspirant also alleged that the Osun State government procured the services of armed policemen who aided the well-choreographed rigging of the election. ''There was also a massive influx of unregistered members of the party who voted with the connivance of the heavilycompromised National Caretaker and Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee, of which Oyetola is a member.

Overall, there was a massive disenfranchisement of registered APC members in all my strongholds during the so-called primary election.”

He insisted that there was no way any primary election conducted in the state would be fair if Oyetola remains a member

of the CECPC. “Governor Oyetola’s membership of the NCECPC is against the democratic norms.

We dare say that this is capable of causing disquiet, more than we are facing in Osun APC now, if allowed to pass us by.

“We are reliably informed that Governor Oyetola is the one who hand-picked the Chairman and members of the primary election committee. It is within human reasonability not to trust such handpicked committee by an interested party member. Such committee would never be fair to other contenders.

“We, therefore, express absolute opposition to the outcome of the election because they were chosen

by Governor Oyetola. There can only be point of convergence for us if Governor Oyetola could resign his membership and the process of conducting the primary begins afresh,” Adeoti explained.

Adeoti argued that Oyetola’s participation in the election was a violation of the provision of Article 31(iii) of the APC Constitution (2014) as amended which says: “Any party office holder interested in contesting for an elective office (whether party office or office in a general election) shall resign and leave office 30 days prior to the date of nomination or party primary for office he or she is seeking to contest”.

He said the process had been orchestrated from the beginning to manipulate the outcome in favour of Oyetola, which was why the date of the primary was changed from March 5 to

February 19.

“We have it on good authority that the NCECPC was influenced

by Oyetola to reverse the date to have the primary before the National Convention scheduled to hold on February 26, 2022. It is believed that Oyetola is afraid of contesting a free and fair primary election to be conducted by an objective committee after a neutral leadership of the party would have emerged,” Adeoti alleged.

He however appealed to his supporters to be calm, vowing to seek a legal redress.

Also reacting in a statement by his media’s aide, Mr. Sola Fasure, the interior minister and Adeoti’s main backer alleged that the results of the governorship primary were “farcically counted in favour of the governor.”

He said: “We have received and continue to receive the reports of the shenanigans of the officials who conducted the sham of an election.

“We have been inundated with reports state-wide of how your names were expunged from the party’s voters’ register, which was not made available until this morning, contrary to the convention of making the list available to the candidates before the election.

“We have heard of how party registration cards were being hawked this morning to the supporters of the state governor.

“You are urged not to take laws into your hands. Please leave the rest to the Almighty God and let us explore all peaceful and legal means for addressing the matter in order

to obtain justice,” Aregbesola explained.

The Publicity Secretary of the Aregbesola-backed faction of the party in the state, Mr. Abiodun Agboola, in a statement issued, said: "We strongly condemned the conduct of the primary election because it is nothing but a sham with a fraudulent process to favour Governor Adegboyega Oyetola".

He alleged that there were no records and result sheets in any of the 332 wards of the state.

The Chairman of the antiOyetola faction of the party in the state, Mr. Rasaq Salinsile, who is from Ward 04, Isale-Oba in Iwo Local Government Area also told THISDAY that the election was fraudulent.

Oyetola had expressed confidence that he would emerge victorious in the primary election.

The governor, who applauded the members of the party for turning out in large number said, "losing was not an option for a man commissioned by God for an assignment."

Oyetola spoke shortly after he cast his vote at Ward 1, Boripe Local Government Area, Iragbiji.

He lauded Osun people for conducting themselves peacefully, saying the peaceful conduct of the election has testified to the fact that Osun remains the most peaceful state in the country.

The governor noted that news of violence making the rounds were mere speculations.

"I just want to appeal to all our people across the state to maintain peace. Election process Continued on page 10

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ROYAL VISIT… L-R: Managing Director/CEO, Nike Art Gallery, Mrs. Nike Davies Okundaye; wife of Olu of Warri, Queen Ivie Emiko; Olu of Warri, HRM, Ogiame Atuwatse III; and Nike’s husband, Chief SUNDAY ADIGUN Reuben Okundaye, during the Olu of Warri’s courtesy visit to Nike Art Gallery in Lagos…yesterday

Oba of Benin Receives £2.5m Stolen Artefacts from Britain AU demands return of Africa’s artefacts from Europe Adibe Emenyonu in Benin City There was great jubilation among the royal family and people of Benin Kingdom yesterday following the official handover of two artefacts: Cockerel and a bronze burst to the Oba of Benin, Oba Ewuare II. The returned Cockerel is valued at £2million while the Oba's head is valued and insured for £500,000 pounds.

The two were part of the hundreds of looted artefacts during the British invasion of the kingdom in 1897.

This is coming as the African Union (AU) has added its voice to the call on European countries to return Africa’s artefacts in their possession.

The two artefacts were presented yesterday to the Oba of Benin by the Nigerian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, Mr. Sarafa Isola Speaking during the presentation, Oba Ewuare II, described the return as the beginning of the restitution of the artefacts that were looted in1897 during the military expedition by the British in Benin Kingdom.

The monarch, who spoke through Prince Aghatise Erediauwa, said: "For us, our bronze does not transcend mere art. They are mostly of religious significance to us and these two bronze pieces will return to where they rightly belong.

"I will reiterate that the bronze and other works that were looted from the palace must be returned back here directly or through the agency of the federal government,” the monarch explained.

While expressing appreciation to President Muhammadu Buhari for expressly directing that the two bronzes be handed to him directly, the Benin monarch also commended both Jesus College of Cambridge University and the University of Aberdeen for their pace-setting initiative in returning these two bronzes.

On his part, the Nigerian High Commissioner to the

United Kingdom, Isola, said history was being made as the artifacts were being returned to right the wrongs of the past.

"My assignment here is to directly bring these objects to the Oba of Benin Kingdom.

That is the presidential directive.

"Value has been added to these artefacts. I am not aware of the value as at when it was taken away but as at today, the Cockerel is valued at £2million while the Oba's head is valued and insured for £500,000 pounds.

We will still see many of them come back and it is a great treasure for Benin Kingdom and Nigeria."

Isola also commended the British Government for granting export licenses for the artefacts at no cost to Nigeria, hoping

that more of the looted artworks would be returned.

Also speaking, Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo State, represented by his Chief of Staff, Osaigbovo Iyoha, pledged to support the palace in the return of the artefacts.

He said any institution willing to return the artefacts should liaise with the palace.

Earlier, the Director General, National Commission for Museums and Monuments (NCMM), Prof Abba Isa Tijani, said history had started to take its proper shape during the reign of Oba Ewuare II, as the looted artefacts have started coming to their place of origin.

According to him, these artefacts are living arts, artefacts of the Benin people.

“They are not produced for the sake of money, aesthetics but part of their history, culture and daily life,” he added.

AU Demands Return of Africa’s Artefacts from Europe Meanwhile, AU has added its voice to the call on European countries to return Africa’s artefacts in their possession.

President of AU, Mr. Macky Sall, made this known during his speech at the ongoing EU-AU summit in Brussels.

He said the restitution of African works would remain a matter of high priority, insisting that they were part of Africa’s ‘civilisational identity’.

“If we want to build a new

Europe-Africa relational ethic, based on respect and recognition of historical facts, we must pursue the work already started through the recommendations of the Savoy-Sarr report,” Sall explained.

His position was part of the eight proposals by African leaders as their contribution to the new partnership with Europe.

As colonial masters ‘conquered’ Africa, thousands of its cultural artefacts were stolen. The conquerors took Africans as slaves to work on plantations and to build their countries while the artefacts were displayed in museums.

For instance, in 1897, the British launched a punitive expedition against Benin, in

response to an attack on a British diplomatic expedition.

Apart from bronze sculptures and plaques, innumerable royal objects were taken as a result of the mission and these are scattered all over the world.

While restitution has begun, Sall’s call has reinforced the stance of the African people on the ruins of colonialism and the clamour for the return of their stolen heritage.

Sall also called for a revision of the investment risk evaluation criteria in Africa, noting that, “the risk perception remains considerably higher than the real risk, which results in high insurance costs, penalises investment and reduces competitiveness of our economies.”

SECURITY AGENCIES MOVE AGAINST IMPORTERS OF OFF-SPEC PETROL interrogation.

Presidency sources confirmed to THISDAY that the masterminds of such a deadly importation would be held accountable as heads would roll over the development.

"Security agencies have commenced detailed investigation into circumstances that led to the importation of toxic fuel into the country.

"We are looking at who played what role and who did what. Many heads will roll. So far, all parties concerned are saying what they know. The government is not taking it lightly. Security agencies are on it," a presidency source told THISDAY. "It has security and economic implications. Investigations will involve all of them and heads will roll.

"At corporate and individual levels, they are cooperating and providing information about their involvement.

"It's not out of place to investigate.

Do you expect such a thing will happen without investigation when the president has ordered a probe?

"Critical players are being invited. The probe will be very comprehensive and heads will roll.

Everyone, who played whatever role will be established", another source explained.

The NMDPRA had alerted Nigerians over its discovery of petrol imported into the country that contained methanol above Nigeria’s specification.

The methanol-blended petrol, which is not made for Nigeria, made its way into the country.

The quantity was said to be within the range of 200 million litres.

The NNPC handles all the imports through its ‘Crude-for-fuel’ contracts, also known as Direct Sale, Direct Purchase (DSDP).

The agency conducted the business through a consortium of local and foreign oil firms.

Each consortium is said to have received about 20,000 barrels per day of crude oil in exchange for products, making the combined total of about 320,000bpd of Nigeria’s output.

The consortium, according to NNPC, includes MRS, Oando, EMADEB/Hyde/AY Maikifi/ Brittania and Duke Oil. The NNPC, consequently, accused the four petroleum suppliers it engaged in the swapcrude-for-petrol of culpability.

Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Mr Timipre Sylva, later promised that government would compensate those whose

car engines were affected by the toxic fuel.

But the contractors denied responsibility.

Despite NNPC’s Efforts, Petrol Queues Persist in Abuja, Lagos Meanwhile, many filling stations were still under lock and key in Abuja and Lagos yesterday while the few that were selling petrol had long queues, despite the desperate efforts by the NNPC Limited to bring the situation under control in the last one week.

Majority of the dispensing centres visited by THISDAY in the two major cities did not have the product while those that were selling, including the NNPC, had long queues of buyers lined up.

Recently, the national oil company had taken a multipronged approach to halt the pains encountered by Nigerians as a result of the nationwide fuel shortage.

Among other measures, the NNPC had announced that between last week and the end of February, it was expecting at least 2.3 billion litres of the product to berth in Nigeria.

Although in the last few days, there had been considerable movement of trucks within Lagos and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), many of the streets had remained clogged by traffic due to the prevailing condition.

In addition, the NNPC stated that in collaboration with other stakeholders, it was embarking on a 24-hour service, noting that Nigerians could buy the product round the clock in filling stations.

Besides, it announced that at the moment, the nation has over one billion litres of petrol in stock, adding that all the fuel in circulation in the country is now certified safe after successfully withdrawing the bad fuel that disrupted supply.

But THISDAY observed that many filling stations were still not selling the product yesterday, despite all the measures put in place by the sole supplier.

In both Lagos Island and the mainland, long queues of vehicles were seen at the few filling stations selling petrol.

It was also a brisk business for the ‘black market’ operators, who were selling one litre of the product for N300 – N500, depending on the location.

At Oando in Mabushi, near

the Ministry of Works in Abuja, the gates were still locked while there was no petrol at Total filling station on Sultan Abubakar way, Zone 1, although cars were in the queues.

There were also no sales at the Enyo filling station, near GSM Village, and the Total Filling Station on Herbert Macaulay Street.

But at the NNPC mega station on Olusegun Obasanjo Way, sales were ongoing, but a long queue of almost one kilometre was observed.

However, unlike in the past two weeks when motorists blocked the road, some level of sanity has returned.

In the outskirts of Abuja, motorists and commuters were still largely stranded due to their inability to access petrol to get to their destinations.

Many commuters were forced to abandon their vehicles on the road in frustration.

At the Karshi, Orozo, Jikwoyi axis of the FCT, motorists spent hours in queues waiting to be served in the few filling stations that had the product to sell.

Long queues were also on both sides of the Karshi-Nyanya expressway, causing gridlock that stretched down the roads for kilometres.

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Again, Bandits Storm Zamfara Village, Kill 18, Residents Claim Onuminya Innocent in Sokoto with agency report At least, 18 people were feared dead and several others injured after an attack by bandits in Kadaddaba in Anka Local Government Area of Zamfara State.

The residents claimed that the attack, which lasted from 10 p.m. on Friday to 4 a.m. yesterday, was the first recorded in the village.

Kadaddaba is a few kilometres from the Federal Government College, Anka and is also not far from Anka town.

Bandits have been attacking rural communities, kidnapping people for ransom and rustling cattle for many years in the North-western part of Nigeria.

They recently killed over 200 people in one of their worst atrocities in Anka and Bukkuyum local government areas.

A resident of Anka town, Ibrahim Danda, according to Premium Times, said the bandits stormed the village on motorcycles.

“From what I have gathered, the bandits surrounded the whole village while others went in. They conducted house- to-house search, collecting money, foodstuff and domestic animals before they started shooting sporadically. Some of the residents who ran into the town (Anka) said those killed were either running or trying to resist the bandits’ attempt to take their valuables,” he said.

On the number of those killed, Danda, who is a lawyer, said the residents buried 16 people yesterday (Saturday) morning after the bandits left while two persons died at the General Hospital, Anka.

“Those who were severely injured were brought to the hospital and two of them died today; one immediately he was brought while the other a few minutes before you called

me (3:47 p.m). I was at the hospital, I couldn’t count the number of those who have been admitted,” he said.

Another resident of Anka, Ansar Aliyu, said he heard the

gunshots while the community was being attacked.

“I started hearing gunshots around 11 p.m and though I didn’t know from where it was coming from, I

knew that it was from that axis (Kadaddaba). In the morning, the Imam in our mosque announced that there had been an attack on Kadaddaba.”

The state police spokesperson, Mohammed Shehu, could not be reached for comment as his known phone number failed to connect.

STOPOVER AT COAL CITY… Oyo State Governor, Mr. Seyi Makinde (left), and his Enugu State counterpart, Hon. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, during Makinde’s arrival at the Akanu Ibiam International Airport, Enugu, enroute Anambra State for the Congress of the Peoples Democratic Party…yesterday

INEC ALLAYS FEARS ON 2023 ELECTIONS, SAYS NO PLAN TO SHIFT POLLS and working proactively to deliver on its mandate.

According to Section 28 (1) of the Electoral Bill 2022, INEC is required to issue a notice of election not later than 360 days before the day appointed for an election.

The Executive Director of Yiaga Africa, Mr Samson Itodo, had reportedly stated that in line with the Electoral Bill 2022, the deadline for the commission to issue the notice of election for the 2023 general election will be February 22, 2022, “the reasons being that the total number of days from February 22, 2022, to February 17, 2023, is 360 days.”

But Okoye told THISDAY that the speculations and anxiety relating to the shifting of the date of the 2023 elections were based on the Electoral Bill 2022 which, according to him, is still inchoate.

According to him, the existing and extant electoral legal framework for the conduct of elections remains the Constitution and the Electoral Act. He insisted that the electoral body was in synch with the constitutional provisions relating to the period for the holding of elections, adding that the provisions are sacrosanct and cast in

stone.

"The commission is only permitted to orbit around the constitutional timelines in fixing the date for the holding of elections.

"The commission is a regulatory body guided by the provisions of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as altered), the Electoral Act, 2010 (as amended) and its Rules, Regulations and Guidelines.

"As of today, the existing and extant electoral legal framework for the conduct of elections remains the Constitution and the Electoral Act and the commission will continue to rely on its provisions for electoral continuity, pending any amendment to the said law.

"By the commission's Regulations and Guidelines made pursuant to the powers conferred on it by the Constitution and the Electoral Act, the 2023 general election will hold on the 18th of February 2023,” Okoye explained.

He argued that the scheduled date is in consonance and in conformity with sections 132(1) and 178(1) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria that gives the commission the exclusive right and power

to appoint the date for the holding of Executive and Legislative Elections subject to the timelines and schedule circumscribed in Sections 132(2) and 178(2) of the Constitution.

"By the said sections, election to executive positions shall hold not earlier than December 30, 2022, and not later than April 29, 2023, while legislative elections shall hold not earlier than 10th January 2023 and not later than May 10, 2023.

"By Section 30 of the existing and current Electoral Act, the commission shall give notice of the holding of the elections not later than 90 days to the said election and this remains the law and the commission is in good standing relating to its timelines and schedules,” Okoye added.

The INEC commissioner said that the speculations and anxiety relating to the shifting of the date of the 2023 elections were based on the Electoral Bill 2022 which is still inchoate.

According to him, Section 28 of the said Bill requires the commission to give notice of election not later than 360 days to the said election, stressing that the said 360 days will elapse in the next

few days.

He said that the commission was also aware that Section 58 of the Constitution gives the President 30 days to assent to the Bill or withhold his assent.

"The commission is aware that the Bill was transmitted to the President on January 31, 2022. The members of the National Assembly and the Executive are aware of these timelines in the Bill and the implications of the timelines if the Bill is assented to and these are issues that can be adjusted and streamlined.

"The commission desires an expeditious resolution of the issues surrounding the new electoral legal framework as there are creative and innovative issues and provisions in the Bill that will enhance and advance the electoral process and our democracy.

"The commission is focused and will continue with its preparations for the conduct of the 2023 general election.

If there are challenges with timelines, the commission will meet, assess those challenges and remain within the constitutional and legal confines in sections 132(2) and 178(2) of the Constitution that requires that elections to executive positions to hold

not earlier than December 30, 2022, and not later than April 29, 2023, while legislative elections shall hold not earlier than January 10, 2023, and not later than May 10, 2023," he explained.

Some civil society groups had declared February 22, 2022, National Day of Protest on the Electoral Bill The groups said they were aware that the National Assembly transmitted the Bill to the President on January 2022.

They said that they were also aware the Bill allows for electronic transmission of results, strengthens INEC’s financial independence and empowers the commission to reject falsified election results.

"The bill, when signed, requires INEC to issue Notice of Election not later than 360 days before the day appointed for an election. Therefore, the President has to give assent to the bill on or before 22nd February 2022 if the dates announced for the 2023 elections are to be maintained.

Accordingly, they said that they have resolved to declare Tuesday, February 22, 2022, as the National Day of Protest to demand immediate assent to the bill.

"We urge citizens across the nation to call on President

Muhammadu Buhari to act on this matter of urgent national importance".

The CSOs that signed the statement include Nigeria Civil Society Situation Room, Yiaga Africa, Partners for Electoral Reform (PER), International Press Centre Institute for Media and Society, Nigerian Women Trust Fund, The Albino Foundation, Centre for Citizens with Disability, Premium Times Centre for Investigative Journalism (PTCIJ), Labour Civil Society Coalition (LASCO), Transition Monitoring Group, CLEEN Foundation, and Civil Society, Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC).

Others include: Women Advocates Research and Documentation Centre (WARDC), Nigeria Network of Non-Governmental Organisations (NNNGO), Inclusive Friends Association (IFA), Enough is Enough (EIE), The Electoral Hub, Centre for Liberty, Take Back Nigeria Movement, International Peace and Civil Responsibility Centre (IPCRC),100 Women Lobby Group, Women in Politics Forum, Raising New Voices, Millennials Active Citizenship Advocacy Africa and Ready to Lead Africa.

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NEWS

WOMEN EMPOWERMENT… L-R: Founder/Managing Partner, Aruwa Capital Management, Mrs. Adesuwa Okunbo-Rhodes; Vice President, Investment, Africa Finance Corporation, Ms. Taiwo Okwor; CEO of 100 Women in Finance, Ms. Amanda Pullinger; British Deputy High Commissioner to Nigeria, Mr. Ben Llewellyn-Jones; MD/CEO, ARM Harith Infrastructure Fund Manager, Ms. Tariye Gbadegesin and Partner/COO, Verod Capital, Ms. Nieros Oyegun-Soerensen, at Networking Breakfast organised by British Deputy High Commissioner at his Ikoyi residence to welcome the CEOs 100 Women in Finance to Nigeria with the Working Group in Lagos…recently

Obasanjo: Nigeria Needs More ‘Rebels’ to Challenge Government

James Sowole in Abeokuta Former President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, yesterday declared that Nigeria would require “more rebels” to speak the truth to power for the country to move forward.

Obasanjo also stated that Nigeria needed courage and boldness people who would speak the truth to power without minding whose ox is gored.

The former president spoke in Abeokuta, while unveiling the autobiography of the Babanla Adinni of Egbaland, Chief Tayo

Sowunmi, titled: ‘Footprints of A Rebel.’

Obasanjo concluded that having rebels remains one of the greatest steps towards rebuilding Nigeria.

The autobiography reviewed by Hafsat Abiola Costello, founder of Kudirat Initiative for Democracy, was unveiled as part of the celebration of the 80th birthday of Sowunmi, a former activist and elder statesman.

Shortly before the unveiling of the autobiography, Obasanjo submitted that whoever must live life of honesty and integrity has to be a rebel.

Obasanjo said: “Looking at the title of the book, I ask myself, why would someone call himself a rebel? But it is good.

“But the truth is that if you have to leave a life of honesty and integrity, you have to become a rebel. There would be some time you would be asked to do something, but you would say ‘no, this is not right.’ And when you say that you will become a rebel. You may even become a persona non grata.

“Our country, there is no country that we can call our own except Nigeria. Our country,

Nigeria, needs more rebels. Those who would look at things straight in the face and say ‘this is not right, this, I will not be part of, this is not good for Nigeria.”

He, however, lauded the octogenarian for living “an exemplary life worthy of emulation by the younger generation.”

Earlier in his speech, the Serving Overseer of the Citadel Global Community Church, Pastor Tunde Bakare, called for inter-

generational reintegration between older and younger generations, as part of efforts to rebuild Nigeria.

Bakare, who spoke on 'Worthy Nation Building Legacies' by the older generation of Nigerians, said it was a shame that while younger generations are taking over leadership in other countries, the older generation refuses to leave the stage in Nigeria.

According to Bakare, the nation rebuilding development has suffered because of the

marginalisation of the youth and the progressives who abandoned politics.

He also blamed the nation’s challenges on those he called “moneybags and bullion van politicians.”

Bakare called for generational reintegration, beginning from the households, embracing cultural values that foster nation-building as well as mentoring and leadership development for the younger generation.

FG Willing to Partner Investors Buhari Back in Abuja after Attending on Power Supply, Says Minister EU-AU Summit in Belgium

Deji Elumoye in Abuja President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday returned to Abuja after a three-day visit to Brussels, the capital of Belgium to attend the sixth EU-Africa Summit.

The president, whose official aircraft, Nigeria Air Force 1, touched down at Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, at about 5:25p.m. was received on arrival by some senior members of the administration as well as heads of security and law enforcement agencies.

Those who received the President on arrival at the airport were his Chief of Staff, Professor Ibrahim Gambari; Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT),

Mallam Mohammed Musa Bello; and the Inspector-General of Police, Usman Alkali Baba.

President Buhari departed Nigeria on Wednesday, February 16, to join other African and European leaders to discuss issues of mutual concerns to both continents, including financing for sustainable and inclusive growth; climate change and energy transition, digital and transport (connectivity and infrastructure); peace, security and governance; and private sector support and economic integration.

Others issues discussed at the Summit included education, culture and vocational training, migration and mobility; agriculture and sustainable development and health systems

and vaccine production.

The president also used the opportunity to attend some bilateral engagements with regards to various issues of interest to Nigeria.

He was accompanied on the trip by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Geoffrey Onyeama; Minister of Health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire; Minister of State for the Environment, Sharon Ikeazor.

The National Security Adviser, Maj.Gen. Babagana Monguno (rtd); Director General of the National Intelligence Agency, Ambassador Ahmed Rufai Abubakar and the Chief Executive Officer of Nigerians in Diaspora Commission, Hon. Abike Dabiri-Erewa were also part of the entourage.

Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja The Minister of Power, Mr. Abubakar Aliyu, has disclosed that the federal government was willing to partner investors in the power sector to improve electricity supply in the country This came as the Managing Director of the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading Company (NBET), Mr. Nnaemeka Ewelukwa, said the government was putting reforms in place to ensure stable power supply in the country.

Aliyu, in a statement signed by the Information Officer in the Press and Public Relations Unit of the Ministry of Power, Mr. Mathew Osumanyi Dan’asabe, made this known while receiving the Ambassador of Turkey to Nigeria, Mr. Hidayet Bayratar, in company of two other delegates

Tinubu Floors Aregbesola as Oyetola Wins Osun APC Primary should not be a battlefield or a do-or-die affair. Let everyone exercise his/her right to choose in determining who represents them at the party level and ultimately at the general election,” Oyetola added.

Also commenting on the election, the Chairman of Osun APC Governorship Primary and Kwara State Governor, AbdulRazak, also hailed the peaceful conduct of the exercise.

He applauded APC members for the huge turnout and their peaceful conduct.

He spoke with journalists after monitoring the election

in Iragbiji, the hometown of Governor Oyetola.

He said: “If you open the pages of newspapers today, what was painted was a picture of the war in Osun. But the primaries election has been peaceful. I congratulate the people of Osun and all the aspirants. They have all done well.”

Buhari, APC Govs to Decide New Date for National Convention Meanwhile, President Buhari and the governors elected on

the platform of the APC will decide a new date for the party’s National Convention.

THISDAY gathered that this development followed the clash of the February 26 proposed date for the exercise with some off-season elections earlier scheduled by the INEC. A source close to the APC National Caretaker Committee told THISDAY at the weekend that the clash of the proposed convention with the national elections was brought to the attention of the party after it had written to notify INEC of its intention to hold the

national convention.

"Elections are national issues that cut across political parties and therefore, it is not expected that party affairs should overshadow national elections.

The stakeholders will meet and come up with a new date not beyond two to three weeks," the source explained On whether INEC has been notified, the source said that the electoral body would be notified after the proposed meeting between Buhari, the APC governors and the members of the caretaker committee.

in his office in Abuja.

He said President Muhammadu Buhari’s desire towards the power sector was to ensure that the electricity supply industry is owned by both government and the private sectors.

According to him, Nigeria and Turkey’s relationship is a longstanding one which culminated in the signing of an Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Turkey and Nigeria in October 2021 for mutual benefits.

Aliyu told the ambassador that various interventions were being put into the power sector of the country.

He described the distribution aspect of the power sector in the country as an area worth investing.

The minister urged Turkey and the rest of the world to partner Nigeria and share experience in the fields of energy, renewable energy and energy efficiency.

In his response, the ambassador said their visit was a follow-up to the MoU signed in 2021.

In related development, the Managing Director of NBET, Ewelukwa, has said that the federal government is putting reforms in place to ensure stable power supply in the country.

Ewelukwa made this known at a capacity-building workshop for members of the Power Correspondents Association of Nigeria (PCAN) and Civil Society Organisations in Lagos.

The workshop, with the theme: ‘Building knowledge and Plugging Skills Gap in Power

Sector Reporting’, indicates a worrisome mismatch that government wants to plug.

He said the critical reforms that the government has embarked upon are designed to sustain the financial status of the market, ensure technical capacity to remove the deficit in supply to meet the demand of the country.”

According to him, the federal government has begun the implementation of the transmission expansion plan which works in sync with the government/Siemens Presidential Power Initiative – with phase one – (7,000mw), phase two – (11,000mw) and phase three (25,000mw) supply.

Ewelukwa said “this government is keen to implement these reforms. To be honest with you, we are having sleepless nights to achieve these.”

He said that government plans to keep expanding generation, transmission and distribution capacity to meet the country’s demand.

According to him, the distribution companies are also improving their performances and facilities to ensure improved power supply.

Explaining NBET’s function in the Transition Electricity Based Market, he said the design is to temporary bridge in the electricity market.

He said NBET has a long-term role to drive market competition by ensuring that it is moved from a government-centered market to a private-sector driven electricity market.

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EDITORIAL

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

THE SCOURGE OF RITUAL KILLINGS

The full rigour of the law must be applied to serve as a deterrent

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magistrate court sitting in Abeokuta, Ogun State recently received a huge crowd of sympathisers. They had all come to witness the arraignment of four teenagers who allegedly murdered their 20-year-old female friend for money rituals. “Sofiat called for help when she was struck with a cutlass,” her boyfriend named Majekodunmi Soliudeen, 18, told the police. “It was sudden and prompt. She never expected such a treatment from me.” The offence contravened sections 324 and 316 of the Criminal Code Laws of Ogun State.

Killing for rituals has become the crime of the moment for many desperate young Nigerians angling for quick wealth. And in the past few months, many of these criminals have sent their girlfriends, mothers, fathers, friends and many unfortunate others to their untimely graves.

Last month, a 20-year-old man, Moses Oko, was arrested by the police for allegedly killing his girlfriend, a University of Jos’ 300-level student, Jennifer Anthony, for ritual purposes. Jennifer’s body was found at a hotel with her eyes gouged out and some other body parts missing. Barely five days later, the body of another lady, Plangnam Solomon, was found around the Plateau Radio TV Corporation in Rayfield in Jos. Her eyes and some sensitive body parts were also removed.

Similarly, a 300 Level undergraduate of Delta State University, Abraka, Elozino Ogege was gruesomely murdered by a gang of four Yahoo boys. But unlike Jennifer Anthony who was reportedly drugged before her vital organs were removed, Ogege’s murder was horrifying and vicious.

The assailants allegedly took the young lady to a bush where they plucked out her eyes while she was still alive and screaming.

Amid the prevailing poverty in the land, many

Values reorientation, 21st Century education, responsible leadership and entirely new approach to youth development are the needed critical success factors here

Letters to the Editor

K

illing in the name of Biafra! When did murder become typical of the Igbo stock? When did taking innocent lives become classic in Igbo land?

In Igbo cosmology, murder, ‘Igbu oshu’ is a cardinal sin deserving of banishment. A murderer is banished from the community and the land is cleansed of the abomination.

Have the Igbo settled for this governing abomination? Have the elders been functionally vasectomised?

How can murder, anarchy, and fear reign in the land uncontested? Have we become a people given to bloodletting, beheading and cannibalism?

Have we gone backwards in our evolution as a humane and cosmopolitan people to become savages?

have resorted to doing anything, no matter how weird, for wealth. Superstition and ritualistic practices feed on one another. They work together to create a presumed reality that rests essentially on the belief in the magical and inexplicable, based on the notion of wealth without work and conscious effort. This is not helped by the avalanche of religious leaders and motivational speakers whose preachments now breed a growing population of young citizens who now see the pursuit of quick wealth and material pleasure as the only things worth striving for.

The near deification of wealthy individuals, some of them with questionable means of livelihood, by traditional rulers, religious leaders, and the wider society, has not helped matters.

Chieftaincy titles are now given to people with the deepest pockets. Mammon is now enthroned in the hearts of many who find themselves in places that are presumed to be the house of God. Besides, Nigeria’s prime movie industry, Nollywood, has also thrived on popularising the practices of money rituals in some poorly scripted, low-budget movies and has been a massive tool of communicating these superstitions to a vast demographic of impressionable and gullible citizens. he menace of ritual killings has become so pervasive, yet the police seem helpless. The ritual murder case at a popular hotel in Ife allegedly involving a private university proprietor has been muddled.

A rebirth has therefore become both necessary and desperate. Values reorientation, 21st Century education, responsible leadership and entirely new approach to youth development are the needed critical success factors here. Policymakers must roll out a comprehensive sensitisation campaign to disinfect the minds of young Nigerians and take advantage of the democratised media space in countering these unproven claims of money rituals.

Meanwhile, the fight against ritual killings and other menaces in our society is for all: The federal and state governments, local governments, traditional rulers, parents, and teachers are in the line of fire. The law on murderers as indeed all criminals must be stiffly enforced. Criminally minded persons can be checkmated if the law is strictly applied as it serves as a deterrent. The so-called “invincible” Badoo ritual killers whose blood-chilling activities paralysed Ikorodu, Lagos in 2017 were brought down when the law enforcement agents went after them. We should not relent until we create a culture where we uphold the sanctity of life at all costs and the safety of everyone is guaranteed, irrespective of social status.

But over and above all is the call for true and authentic leadership and genuine moral exemplars. These are painfully lacking today.

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S U N DAY N E W S PA P E R EDITOR DAVIDSON IRIEKPEN DEPUTY EDITORS FESTUS AKANBI, EJIOFOR ALIKE 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 DAY 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

TO OUR READERS Letters in response to specific publications in THISDAY should be brief (150-200 words) and straight to the point. Interested readers may send such letters along with their contact details to opinion@thisdaylive.com. We also welcome comments and opinions on topical local, national and international issues provided they are well-written and should also not be longer than (950- 1000 words). They should be sent to opinion@thisdaylive.com along with the email address and phone numbers of the writer.

KILLING IN THE NAME OF BIAFRA Why has this cumulus of evil persisted and remained hanging over an entire region? A region that was once prosperous, peaceful and bubbling on the growth index is now a slaughterhouse that investors are running away from. The south-east is being destroyed by the same people who claim to be fighting for the people.

Security agents have been killed. Traditional rulers have been killed. Men have been killed and women have been raped and killed by this band of parademons. A few days ago, “unknown gunmen’’ attacked a police station and killed three policemen in Ebonyi.

Last week, gunmen killed seven community leaders in Imo. And the killings persist.

It has now become customary for residents of

the south-east to wake up to severed heads dangling from poles in market squares, roads and community facilities. An unsleeping evil has taken over the land.

On Wednesday, these ‘’unknown gunmen’’ invaded a cattle market at Omumauzor; a community in Ukwa West LGA of Abia. The market is said to be peopled by Nigerians from the north. They came not to buy cattle, but to kill.

By the time they were done, eight citizens were dead. These parademons did not spare anything, they killed cattle and set the market ablaze. What sort of bestiality is this?

According to Abia State government, the gunmen struck around 11pm on Tuesday. “On Tuesday, 15th February 2022 at about 11:35pm, some yet-to-beidentified hoodlums allegedly

invaded traders at the New Cattle Market located in Omumauzor, Ukwa West Local Government Area of our dear state. We are shocked and saddened by this mindless and barbaric act of violence that claimed the lives of about eight innocent citizens of our great country and we totally condemn this dastardly act together with its wicked perpetrators,’’ the state government said.

The attack appears to be ethnically-motivated and targeted.

This makes it very dangerous. These ravagers are not only threatening the lives of Igbo citizens and other Nigerians in the south-east, they are also jeopardising the safety and security of Igbo citizens in other parts of the country.

As I said in the column, ‘Ndi Igbo stand for One Nigeria’, those crusading for the secession of the south-east today are deficient students of history and sociology. Even the late Odumegwu Ojukwu, the captain

of the secessionist struggle during the war, regretted that devastating episode in our history. Ojukwu said: ‘’I don’t think the second war is necessary. We should have learnt from the first one.”

There is no victory in war; only pain, blood and death. Nobody should provoke another pogrom or full-scale war in Igbo land. Ndi Igbo must not let the vocal minority drown them out. They must speak up and be heard.

The Igbo elite and citizens must take a stand to end this fast descent into utter devastation. Instead of angling for the presidency in 2023, we should work at ending the carnage in our home. Onye ulo ya na-agba oku, anaghi achu oke. Our house is on fire we cannot afford to be chasing a will-o-the-wisp.

– Fredrick Nwabufo is a writer and journalist

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OPINION

THE NIGERIAN LEFT AND THE 2023 ELECTIONS

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Ike Okonta canvasses involvement of the left in the forthcoming elections

he 1993 presidential election and General Ibrahim Babangida’s subsequent ‘stepping aside’ from power is the finest hour of the Nigerian Left. There had been significant political victories in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s but the 1993 victory was the culmination of a trajectory that began with Babangida’s ascension to power. The Left had vigorously campaigned against the Babangida junta right from August 1985 when it seized power from General Muhammadu Buhari in a palace coup. It made it clear that the palace coup was not a political movement forward for the Nigerian people but the continuation of a military dictatorship designed to further marginalize and impoverish them.

The Left called on popular movements to continue their campaign of resistance.

When General Babangida inaugurated a public debate to determine what manner of economic system Nigeria should adopt, the Left was on hand to guide the Nigerian people. It asked them to vote for socialism and they obliged. Members of the Political Bureau, carefully selected by the junta beforehand to teleguide the debate and make sure it maneuvered the Nigerian people to opt for untrammelled market forces, were shocked when the latter instead called for increased state participation in the national economy and increased social benefits for the poor who constituted the overwhelming majority. The people were to further emphasize their left-of-the centre position when, in the course of the junta-guided debate whether Nigeria should accept a loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the basket of harsh conditions it came with, the former asked for the loan to be rejected forthwith.

The Nigerian Left gave the Babangida junta no breathing space. When it became clear that the political transition programme designed by Babangida to usher in democratic government was in fact designed to perpetuate the Generals in power, the Left mobilized the people to resist this devious stratagem. With the likes of Bamidele Aturu, Chima Ubani and Emmanuel Ezeazu in the lead, the Left birthed Campaign For Democracy (CD) in 1991, a pressure group composed of several NGOs, trade unions, student organisations and associations of artisans and market women that galvanized the

Nigerian people to take to the barricades and insist that the political transition programme be concluded forthwith to culminate in democratic elections.

The campaign to realize democracy proved long and bloody. Even when General Babangida was eventually forced to step aside on 28 August 1993, the Left did not relent. It turned its fire on Ernest Shonekan who had been quickly shoed-in to continue the absurd political rigmarole where Babangida left off. The Left declared Shonekan’s so-called Interim National Government as illegitimate and called on the Nigerian people to reject it; they obliged. When General Sani Abacha, Babangida’s side-kick kicked away the Interim National Government in November 1993 and assumed power as dictator, the Left was waiting for him. The General who loved dark spectacles and looting the national treasury did not have it easy until he died in August 1998.

There is therefore no debate when I state that the democratic government Nigerians have been enjoying since 1999 is the handiwork of the Nigerian Left, many of whose members paid the supreme price in the bruising and bloody struggle to institute popular democracy in the country. The tragedy though, is that when it came to the hour when power was to be handed over to the new set of politicians in Abuja’s Eagle Square that May morning in 1999, members of the Nigerian Left were not in the arena. They had insisted that the National Question and such other important matters as a truly peoples’ Constitution be thrashed out before elections could be conducted. When the administration of interim Head of State General Abdulsalami Abubakar insisted that time was of the essence and that the National Question would be resolved in due course and that elections must take place, members of the Nigerian Left chose to opt out. The Nigerian bourgeoisie fielded candidates in the subsequent elections and political power was handed to it in May 1999.

Ordinary Nigerians are looking to the Nigerian Left, which in any case made the present democratic regime possible, to come to their rescue

There is still a raging debate within the Left whether the decision to opt out of the elections in 1999 was a wise one. There are some who insist that power abhors a vacuum and that the Left should have moved to participate in the election and capture power while postponing the issues it wanted addressed to another day. I have argued with some of my comrades that choosing to leave the field wide open for the same set of politicians who have looted and destroyed Nigeria since independence in October 1960 is not a wise step. I have further argued that the present strategy of the Nigerian Left opting to remain on the sidelines election after election is a foolish strategy and should be corrected forthwith.

The forthcoming 2023 elections present the Nigerian Left another opportunity to present its case to the Nigerian people. In a recent essay to welcome the new year, the foremost Marxist and journalist Edwin Madunagu made a powerful case for the establishment of a Left political party and the drafting of a ‘Peoples Manifesto for The Nigerian Left.’ I welcome this call. However, the 2023 elections are only 12 months away and it will take a minimum of three years to establish a left-of-the-centre political party and properly introduce it to the Nigerian people.

What I suggest is that members of the Left scan the political landscape for candidates whose manifestoes are sympathetic to a Left position and pitch camp with them. This is a temporary tactical strategy, designed to enable members of the Nigerian Left get used again to the cut and thrust of traditional Nigerian politics with a view to positioning themselves post-2023 when they can strike out with a wholly new political party.

The present atmosphere of despair and apathy evident in the camp of the Nigerian Left must be done away with forthwith. The past 22 years of Fourth Republic democracy have shown that Nigeria’s ruling class has absolutely no solutions for the country’s economic, social and political problems. Indeed, ordinary Nigerians are looking to the Nigerian Left, which in any case made the present democratic regime possible, to come to their rescue.

– Dr Okonta was until recently Leverhulme Early Career Fellow in the Department of Politics, University of Oxford. He lives in Abuja.

NIGERIA AND THE 2023 ELECTIONS Nigeria needs leadership who will live with the consequences of their policies, writes Abu Quassim

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conomist John Maynard Keynes once said that “In the long run we are all dead”. The problem with Nigeria’s economy is that it is being run by people who will be dead all too soon. When a 79-year-old leads a country with an average age of 18, a disconnect between the government’s approach and the people’s interests is inevitable.

The Buhari administration’s short termism and its disregard for what is left for future generations has set us on a path to ruin. Geriatric politicians are enjoying their golden years, treating government money as their pensions to run down, and neglecting thoughts of what inheritance they will leave behind.

Two announcements this week have demonstrated this. First, the National Economic Council declared that the country’s Excess Crude Account has dried up. Every year the government sets a budgeted price for crude oil and when the market price is higher, the surplus enters the Excess Crude Account. Despite having over $20 billion over a decade ago, there is now only $35 million left.

This cannot be explained by low oil prices, as the budgeted amounts are consistently below the market prices. In 2021, the benchmark was $57 per barrel, whereas the average annual price was $71 per barrel.

Mismanagement, wasteful spending, and the callous calculation that the administration is in its final year before the president is term limited, have combined to leave the next generation

without the safety net that they need.

The second example is how they have stored up problems that ordinary people will have to face once the administration is finished. The Buhari administration announcement that it has put off dealing with the fuel subsidy problem yet again is another sign of political cowardice. It is the equivalent of not putting out a fire on a house you are about to bequeath.

Despite being oil rich, chronic underinvestment in the downstream petroleum sector means we cannot refine our oil into usable fuel. This has led to us importing an astronomical amount of fuel. In 2020, the country managed to spend $43.5 billion more importing refined products than it earned exporting crude. The cost of failure to invest in Nigerian refining capacity is now there for everyone to see, as the subsidy programme sends billions of dollars abroad every year and Nigeria gets no closer to self-sufficiency.

Moving to a new model for the energy sector would entail short term pain as funds are diverted from subsidies to developing capacity, but over the long term it is the only economically rationale approach. The real problem is that the current administration will be long gone before the fruits are realized.

We know what happens to countries whose leaderships bury their heads in the sand about the structural problems of subsidy regimes. Venezuela and Lebanon were both subsidizing fuel as their economies spiraled,

right up to the point when there was literally no fuel left.

But at least Venezuela and Lebanon started as middle-income countries, whereas 40% of Nigerians are living below the poverty line. We cannot afford to ignore the fundamentals of economics with the reckless disregard of those who do not need to worry about what will happen in a couple of years. And this is to say nothing of all the other long-term challenges we face, such as rising debt, environmental degradation, and providing jobs for a rising population.

The conclusion is clear. We need leadership that is more in touch with the generations who will live with the consequences of their policies. As a start, that should mean not selecting geriatric candidates for president who are clinging onto life.

Instead, we should choose younger candidates who know the struggles people face in clinging onto their livelihoods. It means having someone who is concerned about what the country will look like in 2050, when Nigeria is the third most populous country on the planet, because they know they will live to see that day.

With the presidential primaries upcoming, this is the moment to call for younger candidates who are in touch with the people they will be responsible for. We do not have the time to delay the decisions we will have to live with for so long.

Quassim writes from Abuja

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LETTERS

ISSUES OF PUBLIC HEALTH AND ACCOUNTABILITY

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or every child that dies in Nigeria from an entirely preventable childhood killer disease, the indictment runs deep. For every woman that dies in childbirth to send Nigeria`s shameful statistics on maternal mortality soaring into the stratosphere, fingers point spiritedly in many directions. Nigeria remains a country where many duck blame including those who are criminally blameworthy. The story is always a familiarly haunting one.

Funds budgeted and allocated for projects beneficial to the public often end up in private pockets.

Queries and inquiries into their whereabouts usually meet a dead end, extinguished by those who prefer shadows to scrutiny, and darkness to light.

Thus, those who live in rural areas find themselves cut adrift from civilization by a dereliction that runs from the highest places afflicting everything and inflicting generational wounds along the way.

The Nigerian Senate recently mandated its Committees on Health, Primary Health Care and Communicable Disease, Works, and Housing to investigate the abandoned N400 billion National Primary Health Center Project initiated by former President Olusegun Obasanjo across the 774

Local Government Areas in the country.

The mandate was predicated on a resolution which itself was pursuant to a motion dubbed ‘Need to investigate the abandoned N400 Billion National Primary Health Center Project,’ sponsored

by Mr. Yahaya Oloriegbe the senator representing Kwara Central.

According to Mr. Oloriegbe, the National Primary Health Center project was initiated by the administration of former President Obasanjo in 2006. The idea was to build in each of the 774 Local Government Areas in Nigeria, a 60-bed Primary Health Center to be complimented with a three-bedroom flat, doctors` quarters, an ambulance, all basic hospital equipment and drugs.

The Kwara lawmaker further added that, “in order to achieve this lofty project, the federal government deducted monies from the excess crude account of all 774 Local Government Areas on a monthly basis, warehoused same with the then Platinum Habib Bank (now Keystone Bank) until the funds required for the realization of the project were realized.”

Continuing, the lawmaker hinted that despite the exhaustive professional pre-contract activities, the

contract for the execution of the projects in the entire 774 Local Government Areas was awarded to Messrs Mattans Nig. Ltd without any known tendering and selection processes. According to him, Messrs Mattans Nigeria Ltd subcontracted out the jobs to consultants and subcontractors as well as released monies to them without any verification of their capacities and capabilities.

Now, by any measure, this must be considered truly alarming for it is simply not true today that in each of Nigeria`s 774 Local Government Areas there stands a 60-bed Primary Health Center complete with a three-bedroom flat, doctors` quarters, an ambulance, all

basic hospital equipment and drugs. Yet, N400 billion was realized, forcefully taken from the excess crude account of all 774 Local Government Areas. Yes, forcefully taken because it is no rocket science to surmise that were all the 774 exhaustively consulted about the deductions, many of them would have balked at another white elephant project conceived to corruptly siphon their funds.

Many of the Local Government Areas would have especially laughed at the irony of such money being deducted from their accounts when they had to go through many months with so little funding for what was arguably the most crucial tier of government as Mr. Obasanjo acting in concert with some PDP governors did his best to erode the third tier of government in Nigeria.

The story of corruption in Nigeria is a deep one which has in its incredible chapters a cast of characters that have combined to leave Nigeria in the bind it is today. While some of them are still active, getting in the faces of Nigeria thanks to some of the funds they successfully stole while in power, many of them now live in `retirement’ where they enjoy their loot and dispense patronage to those who would lick their boots.

Although the National

LONDON BRIDGE NOT GOING DOWN SOON

T

hese days, each time I think about Queen Elizabeth II (QE II), I’d always do a mental exercise of putting the idea of “longevity” in context.

QE II, who called herself “P’incess Lilibet” in her formative years, recently clocked 70 years on the throne, her Platinum Jubilee, being the first of its kind by any royalty of the monarch that traced its bloodlines from William the Conqueror. Yes, that Guillaume de Frank. I once tasked myself, imploring me to see if I could name the monarchs from William the Conqueror to QE II. I used to have a soft copy of the Encyclopaedia Britannica 2015 installed on my desktop computer and I could spend hours reading up the history of the monarch, but I was really enchanted by the succession progression of the 20th century following the death of Queen Victoria in 1901. I read somewhere that we are actually in the Second Elizabethan Era. Thus, I am a part of history and a witness to this moment that would be referenced 500 or 600 years and beyond from now, uh? Wonderment!

Sorry, Your Majesty, did I just say something terribly and perniciously awful? Ma’am, my native tongue is actually Idoma.

Ever heard of that? It is a member of the Niger-

Congo linguistic fraternal tongues spoken by the southern Benue State folks of Nigeria. We are so happy for you, Mama Charlie!

In our jollity, let us not forget that “the time will come” when the code-phrase “London Bridge Is Down” spoken to the Prime Minister by the Queen’s Private Secretary will mean a full closure of the Second Elizabethan Era. But, me and everyone else say “Not Anytime Soon, Secretary!” After all, the Queen Mother clocked 101 years and she was born before 1926! Meaning? “P’incess Lilibet” who was born in 1926 should have access to even modern healthcare services. The army barracks baptismal card recording my child-baptism event of 1971 listed my mother’s birth year as 1953 (my family was originally Methodist so my original baptism was not entirely “enfant-instante” but was within the province of “child-baptism” since I was born on the 10th day of October 1970. When I converted of my own volition to Roman Catholicism at the batcha bivouac of the Nigerian Army at the Ajamimogha area of Warri in 1978, I was primed for a second baptism session in the Catholic faith, one which was conducted on 1st June 1980 at the Pope John

Paul II Catholic Church when Nigerian Army soldiers had moved-in to the new barracks at Effurun. Incidentally, my mother, Lucy Echinema Ogwu-Jonah, was the first to birth a baby, Helen Inyanmu Jonah, at this barracks in 1979; Inyanmu passed away in 2013). My mother was the victim of arranged child-marriage to her first cousin, my father, this union made possible by my maternal grandfather, Ogwu Onyebe Ogbodo, who, no doubt about it was heavily influenced by the prevailing Muslim culture in the domains where Grandpa Ogwu spent his years (the Igala native tribal province of present-day Kogi State).

My mother had a Muslim name, Zainab, ditto her sisters but Grandpa Ogwu apparently never converted to Islam. It was tough in those days to give up your social-drinking custom for a new religion that expressly forbids the drinking of alcohol and the eating of pork.

Grandpa Ogwu’s mother, Onyebe of Obotu, bequeathed groves of palm trees to her beloved son Ogwu. If he converted to Islam, who would supervise the tapping of alcoholic palm wine from the plantation?

Now, Queen Elizabeth II was one year on the

throne when my mother was born (Liz Mitchell of the Bonny M fame was born the year QE II inherited, 1952). This is 2022 and it is over 20 years now since I lost my mother. But Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II is still in fine health and good order. See what I mean by putting “longevity” in context? Me, I wish Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II her centurio plus plus (my personal coinage to say “100 years plus”). It may not be far off into the future before another monarch broke QE II longevity record. Me, I think that one would be her great-grandson of Prince George because by the time Prince George inherits the throne the wonders of medical science at that futuristic time may not have been fathomable to us in 2022.

I only wish my mother was here with me as I write this tribute to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. My eyes are watering this moment. My Ma simply had a short but merry life (that’s a line from the lyrics I penned in memory of Mama, the mourn-dirge Echinema; when am I gonna do this song? I’m aging fast, it seems).

– Sunday Adole Jonah, Department of Physics, Federal University of Technology, Minna, Niger State

Assembly is suspect for the motives of its principal actors and players, Nigerians dearly hope that this probe is got right. There is a crimson sea of red flags, flags reddened by the fact that Nigeria has a public health emergency of some sort exacerbated by a criminal lack of accountability. With all the people, especially children, who die every day from entirely preventable diseases there is no doubt that public health security in Nigeria is very low. This probe may yet take the path others have taken but what remains true is that Nigeria

is running out of time to fix so many things especially public health and accountability It has been 16 years since the project was contracted out and N400bn has disappeared with practically nothing to show for it. There is no doubt that another white elephant project darkens the horizons of the country.

The question is how many more are out there? From all indications, Nigeria may soon be overrun by a herd of white elephants.

– Kene Obiezu keneobiezu@gmail.com

PANTAMI’S PROFESSORSHIP AND 2023 he debate on the legitimacy of Dr. Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami's professorship is back. The National Executive Council of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), said that the conferment of professorship on Dr. Pantami’s didn’t follow the laid-down procedures of the Nigerian university system. The union directed all its members and branches throughout the country not to recognize, accord, or treat Dr. Pantami as a professor of Cybersecurity under any guise. On the other hand, the Vice-Chancellor of the Federal University, Owerri (FUTO), Prof. Nnenna Oti, has said that the management of FUTO will litigate against ASUU’s rejection of Dr. Pantami’s promotion to the rank of a professor of Cybersecurity. When asked to comment on the issue, Pantami simply said, ‘no comment.”

The 2023 electioneering campaigns, horse-trading, politicking, and strategizing have begun. Thus, the debate on Pantami’s professorship will linger especially in the political arenas, notwithstanding the litigation. How Pantami’s political handlers manage the issue will determine the direction and weight of the debate, including the political impact on him while the manner with which FUTO’s lawyers handle the issue will determine the future of Pantami’s professorship.

Isa Pantami ’ – Minister of Communication and Digital Economy, an Islamic Sheik, a UK-trained Ph.D holder has found himself in a triangular situation – a federal political appointee, an Islamic Sheik and an academic. This revered status means any issue that affects his personality will always be a hot one.

Most of the people who criticized Pantami’s appointment as a Professor were academics - so, ASUU’s NEC stand is not a surprise.

Equally, the majority of those who supported the critics were Pantami’s political adversaries and their supporters: Pantami, a minister and a potential political-office aspirant will never escape public censure.

The supporters of Pantami’s

T

professorship are academics who have soft spots for him, members of religious bodies, his students and his political friends, and those who are sitting on the fence.

In retrospect, the FUTO chapter of ASUU had set up a five-man panel chaired

by Prof. M. S. Nwakaudu, with members: G.A. Anyanwu, C. E. Orji, Mrs. O.P. Onyewuchi; and T. I. N. Ezejiofor (Member/ Secretary), which cleared the appointment and asserted that due process was followed, a verdict that gave Pantami and FUTO some respite. Now, ASUU NEC has reversed the verdict, giving Pantami’s political opponents more strength to fire at him more.

Pantami’s political allies, supporters, and students will be prayerful for the courts of law to clear this issue once and for all. This is because to all Pantami’s supporters, his professorship is a big addition to his already ‘unmatched’ credentials in his own rights. Pantami’s supporters are of the view that he is young, highly educated with a PhD. from the Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen, United Kingdom. They argue that politically, Pantami is a good material to balance a presidential ticket. He is from northeast Nigeria and fits into the agitation for the northeast to present the vice-presidential candidate in 2023. He is a household name in the northwest. They will feel at home with him – he is their cousin. He is an Islamic scholar with a large cult-like followership nationwide.

Pantami is Buhari’s strong confidant and ally. The general belief among Pantami’s promoters is; Pantami from the north-east as vice-presidential candidate with any presidential candidate from the south, especially the southwest, will balance a presidential ticket and serve as a strategy for the APC to retain the presidency in 2023. Nevertheless, oppositions against Pantami’s professorship will continue to have a field-day; hitting him hard while his political rivals will clap for them, as the nation awaits the courts’ verdicts on the professorship.

– Zayyad I. Muhammad, Abuja

16

SUNDAY FEBRUARY 20, 2022 • T H I S D AY

17

THISDAY, THE SUNDAY NEWSPAPER FEBRUARY 20, 2022

BUSINESS

Editor: Festus Akanbi 08038588469 Email:festus.akanbi@thisdaylive.com

Boosting Non-Oil Sector’s Capacity through CBN’S RT200 FX Programme The Central Bank of Nigeria’s RT200 FX Programme which encourages banks to source their forex from the export proceeds market, where they may match their import demands with export proceeds will tackle the twin problem of the inadequacy of FX supply and constant pressure on the exchange rate, writes Festus Akanbi

S

equel to the recent unveiling of the Nigerian Banking Committee’s robust foreign exchange repatriation policy, The RT200 FX Programme, members of the Nigerian business community has continueG to seek clariÀcations on a policy that promises to enhance the capability of the non-oil sector as a formidable foreign exchange earner.

The Governor of CBN, Mr Godwin (meÀele, had described the programme as a set of policies, plans and programmes for non-oil exports that will enable Nigeria to attain its lofty yet attainable goal of $200 billion in FX repatriation, exclusively from non-oil exports, over the next three to Àve years.

The Programme The RT200 Programme will have the following Àve key anchors 9alue-$dding Exports Facility, Non-Oil Commodities Expansion Facility, Non-Oil FX Rebate Scheme, Dedicated Non-Oil Export Terminal and Biannual Non-Oil Export Summit.

Under the programme, the CBN, working with the Money Deposit Banks, is to fund the construction of dedicated non-oil export terminals, to eliminate the delays currently experienced by exporters.

Like every other policy that touches on international trade, the RT200 Programme has continued to attract reviews from business groups and individuals seeking to take advantage of the new window of opportunity being created by the apex bank in conjunction with the nation’s bankers committee.

The Nigerian forex market has witnessed a slew of policy changes as the regulatory authorities intervene from time to time to deal with the twin problem of the inadequacy of FX supply and constant pressure on the exchange rate.

Speaking at the special press brieÀng at the end of the 364th Bankers’ Committee meeting on the launch of the bank’s new forex repatriation scheme ‘RT200 FX Programme’ in $buja, EmeÀele had stated that banks must begin to source their forex from the export proceeds market, where they may match their import demands with export proceeds, insisting the decision was by the CBN’s commitment to increase the country’s foreign reserves through non-oil export proÀts.

On its part, the CBN, which announced its readiness to provide loans to farmers who want to expand their plantations, however, warned that raw produce exporters will no longer be eligible for foreign exchange forex rebates, with EmeÀele explaining that granting forex rebates to exporters of raw produce “has the capacity of creating inÁationµ.

EmeÀele said “,f you want to import your plant and machinery, we will give you all the foreign exchange you need to import the plant because we know that when we give the foreign exchange to import the plant it is probably going to be like a one-oͿ and after that, we will now begin to generate that same FX that we use in importing.

We will generate exponential funding for that FX to fund other peoples’ obligations,µ pointing out that entrepreneurs can now go to a bank and get a loan at 5% through any of the bank’s actions.

Ensuring Rates at , E Window are Market ReÁective

Some foreign currency notes

Given the sensitive nature of the foreign exchange market, the charge given to banks to rely on proceeds from non-oil exports for their foreign exchange needs has continued to attract reactions from economic aͿairs commentators. One of them is the CEO of the Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprise, Dr Muda Yusuf, who warned that if the CBN stops the sale of dollars to banks the eͿects would be profound and possibly unbearable. +e said “,f the CBN stops sales of forex to the banks, the shocks on the economy would be very profound and possibly unbearable. To attract foreign exchange from other sources, the CBN needs to ensure that the rates at the ,mporters and Exporters window are market reÁective and Áexible. The signiÀcance of the FD,s and FP,s and diaspora inÁows should not be diminished.µ +e said “The CBN is currently the custodian of the major forex supplies from crude oil sales. Therefore, there should be a window for the CBN to remain a major participant otherwise the shocks on the economy will be unbearable.µ LCCI calls for Policy Improvement On her part, the Director-General of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and ,ndustry LCC, , Dr Chinyere $lmona, said the Central Bank of Nigeria’s new RT200 FX Programme to attract $200 billion in FX repatriation would need additional policy improvement with export infrastructure, Ànancing for exporters and others to achieve the desired result.

She added that the CBN also needs to educate the public, especially potential exporters on the beneÀt of the scheme to enhance the participation of the business

community. $lmona stated that a major challenge in Nigeria’s export chain is the unstructured procedures that cause delays, corruption, and rejection of exports. She said the scheme required critical export infrastructure, international trade diplomacy, and adequate funding to succeed.

“These facilities should be well directed to process targeted products in which Nigeria has some comparative advantage such as sesame, cashew, cocoa into Ànished goods.

“The reason for the low FX revenue from exports is due to the export of primary unprocessed commodities.

“Nigeria must take bold steps to establish a trading system that supports the seamless Áow of trade. “,t must establish the necessary infrastructure, create needed awareness toward exploring the $frican Continental Free Trade $rea $fCFT$ ,µ she said.

She believes the CBN needs to do more than the targeted credit facility, explaining that there are many credit facilities extended to farmers and manufacturers that may suffer non-repayment due to the high cost of production.

Therefore she insisted that Beyond the loans to support value addition to our exports, there is an urgent need to improve the export infrastructure at our ports.µ She urged that the federal government create more digital platforms to reduce the human interface for exports and formulate the right policies, citing that the FG should also accelerate the plan to build domestic export warehouses by the Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC).

Meanwhile, Nairametrics, a Ànancial advisory Àrm quoted two economists as cautioning the CBN against hasty with-

drawals from forex sales to banks and the fact that the policy will bring discipline to the market. $ Ànancial analyst at 4uantum Economics, Olumide $desina, said the policy could be a move to a more Áexible exchange rate system that would aͿect hot money (FP,) to the Nigerian economy. +e said “The (anticipated) move by the Central Bank of Nigeria to suspend the allocation of FX to DMB, will accelerate a market-driven exchange rate mechanism that can most likely showcase the true value of the naira, thereby attracting foreign portfolio investors, that have in recent years primarily stayed oͿboard due to stringent capital inÁows. $ Ànancial manager at Opera NG, Pascal Nkwodimmah, stated that the CBN’s eͿorts in boosting export proceed could give the apex bank conÀdence to adopt a Áexible exchange rate. He said, “the implication of this CBN policy is positively pointing toward a Áoating exchange because of its eͿort to encourage non-oil exports that will be transacted through the import and export window. The CBN intention is to allow the price of FX to be determined within the market.µ Since the Àrst quarter of 2020, Nigeria has faced an exchange rate crisis triggered by the drop in oil prices. ,t started after two of the world’s largest oil producers, Saudi $rabia and Russia, disagreed on how to proceed concerning oil supply cuts, which triggered a price war that pushed oil prices to crash to as low as under zero dollars. ,t is hoped that the new initiative from the Bankers’ Committee will engender the spirit of competitiveness among banks since their access to foreign exchange will largely depend on proceeds from non-oil markets.

THISDAY, THE SUNDAY NEWSPAPER FEBRUARY 20, 2022

18

PROPERTY

Dissecting Development in Real Estate Industry Ayodeji Ake captures the recent brainstorming session of giant players in the real estate industry organised by Fine & Country West Africa Limited, which discussed the 2022 Real Estate Outlook and interrogated issues in the industry, amongst which is the Real Estate Transactions Bill by Lagos State government recently signed into law

R

ecently, the Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu, signed into law three bills that were earlier passed by the state House of Assembly.

The governor signed the law to regulate real estate transactions in Lagos State and the law to provide for the registration of cooperative societies in the state as well as the law to regulate ownership, licensing, and sales of pets and to prohibit and restrict people from having in custody dangerous animals in public places.

“The law to regulate the real estate transactions in Lagos State will help to protect the citizens who fall prey to many real estate professionals and it will also help players in the real estate sector to know what is expected of them and for the government to be able to track who is doing what in the sector.

“The law to provide for the registration of cooperative societies in Lagos State will make it easy to regulate the operations of thousands of cooperative societies in the state for harmonious cooperation,” the governor said.

In an attempt to address the burdens in the real estate and trying to key into the new Lagos State regulatory act, Fine & Country West Africa Ltd, through its recent webinar tagged “Real Estate Outlook 2022: Navigating The Exchanging Landscape of the Luxury Residential and Prime Commercial O΀ce market”, gave some hints on trends and developments in the real estate industry.

In her keynote message, the Chief Executive O΀cer, Fine & Country WestAfrica Ltd, Mrs. Udo Okonjo, did a diagnosis of the changing trends real estate properties, especially concerning the luxury and commercial ones.

“What we see in the luxury segment, especially in the Ikoyi, Victoria Island axis is a rise in tall buildings. There are updates where we will have dollar projects who are active in the luxury apartment which is what we refer to as dollar economy, which is the return around naira is much riskier to work with. For three to Àve years now, the top developers have stayed in the dollar economy.

“However, we have some micro-segments within the luxury area where developers refer to themselves as aͿordable luxury and we can Ànd most of them in the naira space even though they are also tall buildings between eight and 12 Áoors. It’s instructive to know that the taller the building the more sophisticated the structure that is aspired which results in the cost investment, which reÁects on pricing.”

She pointed out: “The average price for residential space in the luxury segment ranges from $2,500 to $4,500 per square meter. For the middle range, $2,850 to $3,500. And when we talk about the exclusive spaces and penthouses, which range from $4,500 and up. That is for the 000.1 per cent. It is important to recognise that most luxury developers are ready to work with their target audience. The typical timeline to work on this project is about four to seven years. The luxury space is actually for patient investors.”

“These investors are either industrialists or investors in other economies or for organisations that have capital in the country and that capital has been dedicated to the Nigerian market. The way they can diversify is to invest in luxury residential because that’s an area that helps them hold the value.

“Moving on to the commercial segment, we discovered that some of these investors are also similar. Some of them are the multinational, public, and public-private sectors, which invest in commercial buildings. One of the characteristics of these investors is that they are patient and are very selective. Some of the developers hold the properties for a long time until they see the

Ojo

Okonjo

Omotimirin

right investors.

“One of the things we see is investors, who worry about their naira being stuck as a result of not being able to convert their naira to dollars but consider real estate as a safe place to invest. They may not have all the funds, but are willing to collaborate for commercial projects and luxury spaces. They depend on the location from Ikoyi to Victoria Island and of course, we have the easement of Grade A o΀ces which we have certain criteria for assessing Grade A o΀ces locally and internationally. We have the Grade B o΀ces and at this point, one begins to see the reÁection of prices in the type of properties they are,” she added.

Speaking further, Okonjo emphasised Áexibility as the rule of Nigeria’s real estate industry as a way of dynastic approach.

“One important thing I want to mention is that: Áexibility is the name of the game. Whereas, many developers and landlords of these o΀ces were inÁexible, in the last two years, COVID, downsizing of o΀ces and all of that, there is a clear sense in which landlords are being extremely practical by giving a lot of concessions and discounts. They will rather give concessions on others rather than give on price per square metre.

“When people say there are a lot of vacant buildings, I always ask, which ones? Like I said earlier, luxury apartments take time. They take four to seven years to construct. Usually, they are sold out within that time. From the luxury developer’s point of view, that is success for preparing a product, presenting to the market and they take it. When it comes to the tenancy aid for those who bought with their investment when we weigh corporate or high net worth individuals who are looking out to occupy those types of building, the idea that there are a lot of vacancies which springs up the question of, which building? There is a Áat to quality and we can’t be overemphasised, that in light of that tragedy that happened last year the Áat to quality was more told.

“From the perspective of the size of the market, in terms of our population, Lagos represents the Nigerian economy, the West African economy, or indeed the African economy and we have not started yet. We don’t have 50 tall buildings in Lagos that we can refer to as luxury residential.

In that point of view, people who invest in that particular segment have accomplished especially in the last two years with the pandemic, there is a more philosophical approach to some of these investors when they chose to invest their money.

“We need to recognise that luxury is not for everyone and yes we have a lot of vacant properties and the question is, what type of properties?

If you check, they are not good quality properties and are not built to the demand and expectations

of the market. Good quality projects have strong demand and therefore are reserved. Some people have a property in VGC and also in Lakowe, which means that the concept of lifestyle is what we should start looking at where it’s not just about the central, Ikoyi for example.

“The straight answer to why we still have vacant properties, the answer is that is not of good quality. It’s more around quality and a Àt for the market,” she said.

standing for the little space we have.

“We want to ensure that investors within the real estate industry can invest properly and meet the worth of their investments. Law and regulations are good but the reality of it all is that we have to ensure that we provide the appropriate land policies so that there will be a kind of interface between the government and the public-private sector. The development of ICT is one area the government has been working on. We have moved far to the point that we can identify some challenges, most of the land use acts, we have had issues with it and people have alleged on some issues. Some people don’t know why they have to approach the governor for consent. We don’t have a choice because if you do not regulate any society, then there will be a lot of problems.

“We have a lot of undocumented properties and other problems that we have identiÀed in the past. The regulations are important as regards what we need to do, but we are at this point to move on.

“We have all our laws out there for people to access easily. We have them online so players and readers understand. We have documents on market value if you want to invest in a property and you want to register for a title. We’ve planned for the small players, those who already own land before the Land Use Act of 1978.

“We have the Lagos State Land registration law of 2015, which has brought several innovations as regards the registration of title, especially quality control, the standard of service to the members of the public, reduction of fake documentation, etc. We have our latest handbook which came out in 2021 on all we need to know about Lagos land registration and it’s available for free.

“We have done a lot and we have realised that we need to do more because it is 2022 and we have a wider outlook for what we expect,” she said.

Speaking on the bureau’s eͿort on incorporating ICT into the system Omotimirin said: “At the bureau, what we are also working on is to ensure that the land registration in Lagos State is automated so that everyone can have access to it from the comfort of their home. It’s an Integrated Land Automated System. The system gives access remotely to make it easy for everyone to access and register their interest without coming to the bureau to carry out their transaction. We are currently at the pilot stage but that will be the real estate outlook for 2022.

“We are also considering more collaboration with our investors. I want to say that the regulations are there for implementation so everyone who is a stakeholder in the regulatory industry must understand the laws and follow them.

We want to again ensure investor conÀdence in the real estate sector.”

Why Monthly Rental Can’t Work In recent times, the Minister for Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, also former Governor of Lagos State, has been quoted, proposing migration from yearly to monthly rent. The Lagos State government also proposed the same migration.

According to the Chief Executive O΀cer, UACN Property Development Company, Mr. Odunayo Ojo, who noted that although the migration did not apply to the luxury real estate industry, but can’t work.

“Generally, across the world, rent editing doesn’t work, especially in a free market. Lagos State has tried rent editing before in the 1990s designating it in certain areas, but nobody is hearing about it anymore even though there was an edit that was enacted. I think this does not apply to the market we are talking about in the luxury end, where restrictions and rent editing are not healthy. These are people who have the means and are ready to go into commercial negotiations and close the deal. Also because the supply is limited, even though there is regulation but also a separate commercial arrangement for such property, “ he said.

The New LASG Regulatory and its Implications Giving a clear picture of the new Lagos State transaction regulatory law and existing laws governing the real estate industry, Head of Legal Unit, Lagos State Land Bureau, Mrs. Omobola Omotimirin, said the laws had been enacted to secure a level playing ground for investors in the industry.

“As we all know that Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu recently gave assent to the real estate regulatory law. The idea, according to the governor, is to improve the landscape of the real estate industry for the beneÀt of the land, property owners, investors, and the public at large.

“We as a government ensure that the activities in the industry tally with the law. We understand why we have a lot of problems within the regulatory industry, especially in the real estate industry which we refer to as ‘Evergreen Opportunity’.

Lagos State has 3,577 square kilometres of land within the state and we have a lot of people

19

THISDAY, THE SUNDAY NEWSPAPER FEBRUARY 20, 2022

INTERVIEW

$5-$1 0,5&+$1'$1,

:LWKRXW 'LYHUVLÀFDWLRQ 1LJHULD &DQ·W $FKLHYH (FRQRPLF 6WDELOLW\ Chairman of Sona Group of Companies, Arjan K. Mirchandani, last week spoke with some select journalists on the planned diversiÀcation of the economy by the federal government, pointing out that over-reliance on oil revenue is no longer realistic in the face of mounting economic challenges. )HVWXV $NDQEL presents the excerpts

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RZ ZLOO \RX UHDFW WR WKH RQJRLQJ efforts of the IHGHUDO JRYHUQPHQW WR GLYHUVLI\ LQWR DJULFXOWXUH? COVID-19 coupled with the rising debt profiles have brought the issue of diversification to a new level of urgency. Due to the whims of the world crude oil market, an oil-based mono-economy like Nigeria cannot achieve economic stability. The relationship between the global oil market and the Nigerian economy means that Nigeria catches a cold whenever the oil market sneezes. For instance, from 2010 to 2015, Nigeria’s GDP grew at an average of 5.53% every year. However, in the aftermath of the oil shocks of 2016, economic growth slowed and the economy went into an outright recession.

Diversification helps to mitigate volatility and provides a more sustainable path for equitable growth and development. &DQ \RX JR LQWR GHWDLOV RI KRZ FRUSRUDWHV OLNH \RX DUH WDNLQJ DGYDQWDJH RI GLYHUVLILFDWLRQ HIIRUWV" Diversifying is even more urgent now given the slower global economy and the pressing need in many developing nations like Nigeria to boost revenue.

Economic diversification entails not just a transition away from reliance on a few commodities, but also structural transformation, as seen by improved productivity, growth, and development. It facilitates the diversification of production, trade, and revenue factors through various dimensions. Coming down to the specific way we are taking advantage of the federal government’s diversification policy, we requested land from the Ogun State Government and they gave us 1,250 acres of land for cultivation because we are going to produce industries-based raw materials like sorghum, cassava and malting. If you go to other small African countries, their food supply is short. Trailers have to find their way to those countries.

That’s why we are exporting foods like soya. We are bringing hybrid coconuts from India. Each coconut after three years will give between 400 and 600 per tree. We are doing cultivation here now that we brought 6,700 coconut trees and they are growing. So, in two years, we should have enough coconuts for the coconut project. How does the coconut help you? You can make oil, get a coconut water and so on and we are looking into items that can be produced quickly. We commend the federal government, which has executed several import substitution strategies, including food import prohibitions, like rice and palm oil. Although production has increased, it has also resulted in sizable supply and a rise in the prices of these agricultural commodities. Import restrictions should be

We try to be clever and innovative.

You can manufacture but if you don’t have a packaging material, it is going to be your biggest problem because the packaging is the key. When you want to sell the goods, you must package them very well in terms of quality, especially and this would allow you to retain your customers and even win more. Following a decline in crude oil price from the ravaging impact of the corona-virus pandemic on the global economy and the recent currency adjustment of the Nigerian Naira uncertainty about a further devaluation continues to weigh on corporates. For use in the manufacturing sector, the concern has been on how to absorb the impact of the increase in the cost of raw material, occasioned by currency devaluation, without necessarily raising the price for our products range. I think we have quite tried a lot. We are, however, encouraged by the optimistic outlook expressed by consumers and hope that spending is likely to improve or move to a high altitude with more jobs created this new year and sectors fueling such spending equally witnessing a turnaround.

However, for economic recovery to be sustained, the government needs to create an enabling environment for positive investor sentiments in the economy. This should be driven by policy, regulation, macroeconomic conditions, and security of lives and properties.

Mirchandani

implemented gradually, especially as the country lacks the production capacity to meet domestic demand.

These measures should be combined with the promotion and encouragement of industries like ours that can replace the large number of manufactured goods imported from other countries.

lucky in our Sona Group because our reliance, which is on local sourcing of raw materials, is on local industry. Yes, it was challenging but in the end, it made us stronger.

6RPH UHDO VHFWRU RSHUDWRUV VDLG &29,' VKRFNV KDYH HVFDODWHG EDUULHUV WR WUDGH DQG LQYHVWPHQW :KDW·V \RXU YLHZ" +RZ KDV WKH SRVW &29,' If I look at 2019 and 2020, I realise RSHUDWLQJ VLWXDWLRQ EHHQ IRU UHDO that we went through hiccups and VHFWRU RSHUDWRUV OLNH 6RQD *URXS it is not so bad at the end of the RI &RPSDQLHV" day. We were able to work on it COVID-19 is something that we, because there were lots of restriclike others, went through and it tions coming. The prices went up was and is still frightening. It was and we were able to make some a big challenge but I realised that margins in terms of price increase whatever difficulties we face, we because the goods were short and had and have to live with it. You it was not so easy for many people. have to thank God for whatever he is giving you because companies 6LQFH \RXU HPSKDVLV RQ UDZ PDand industries were collapsing and WHULDOV LV ORFDO FDQ ZH VD\ \RX GRQ·W closing down, so it was a great chal- KDYH PDQXIDFWXUHUV· GLIILFXOWLHV lenge. Nevertheless, we were so LQ DFFHVVLQJ IRUHLJQ H[FKDQJH"

2QH RI WKH SUREOHPV RI PDQXIDFWXUHUV OLNH \RXU RUJDQLVDWLRQ LV WKH ORZ SXUFKDVLQJ SRZHU RI FRQVXPHUV +RZ GR \RX GHDO ZLWK WKLV LQ IL[LQJ WKH SULFHV RI \RXU SURGXFWV" The market will always determine the cost and what is available and what will be the price. This is the theory of demand and supply. Like other businesses, we cannot deny the loss of key customers and patronage resulting from post-COVID-19 consequences, which threatened the welfare of customers.

7KHUH ZDV DQ RXWFU\ HVSHFLDOO\ E\ PDQXIDFWXUHUV ZKHQ 9DOXH $GGHG 7D[ ZDV UHFHQWO\ UDLVHG WR DQG WKH JRYHUQPHQW LV VWLOO SODQQLQJ WR LQWURGXFH WD[HV WKDW FRXOG DIIHFW \RXU VHFWRU ZKDW·V \RXU YLHZ" The government has its problems.

However, I remember the Finance Minister explaining that the government wants to create employment opportunities as well as stimulate stability and growth in our productive sectors, within the wider context of our quest for economic recovery. Note that they work with the IMF, World Bank and so on. They discuss what is going on in the country vis-a-vis the global economy.

The government may have no choice but to increase the tax because they have to get some money from somewhere for their expenditure needs.

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ͺ͸˜ ͺ͸ͺͺ ˾ T H I S DAY, T H E S U N DAY N E W S PA P E R

CONVERSATION WITH MY BILLIONAIRE FRIEND ayo.arowolo@thisdaylive.com 08086447494 (SMS only) PERSONAL FINANCE SAVINGS BUDGETING COMMODITIES

AYO AROWOLO

GOLD

INVESTING

To Build Sustainable Personal Wealth, You Have to Cultivate the Habit of Continuously Learning impactful for building wealth.

“For instance, I have had to venture into building knowledge in many areas of human endeavour in order to succeed this far in building wealth.

This knowledge gathering should include not only how to build wealth but one must expand into knowledge about history, psychology, sociology and all other related and unrelated knowledge spheres towards expanding one’s horizon, critical thinking faculty and sharpen one’s decision making skills.

Thus, I significantly expanded my horizon, and in that process, I have been able to reason much better, plan better, build better, relate better and take better decisions.

“So, the process of learning involves committing oneself to the continuous process of expanding one’s knowledge, by reading extensively beyond one’s area of specialization. With building wealth, one’s learning must include good knowledge about the basic rules of accounting, economics and finance.

One does not have to learn to become an accountant or economist, but must learn to be able to read and understand publications in finance, economics and investment.”

“I believe it is a normal human desire to be concerned about how we look on the outside. There is nothing wrong with that. What can get us into trouble is worrying more about how we look on the outside than about how we really are on the inside. Our reputation comes from what people believe about our outside. Our character represents who we are on the inside. And the good news is that if you focus on being better on the inside than on the outside, over time, you will also become better on the outside” – John Maxwell.

“It is important to view knowledge as sort of a semantic tree — make sure you understand the fundamental principles, i.e. the trunk and big branches, before you get into the leaves or there is nothing for them to hang on to” – Elon Musk.

G

etting this week’s appointment sorted out was quite simple. As usual, my Billionaire Friend had requested that I share with him the issues the readers would want him to address and the signpost questions. Many questions poured in; below are excerpts of the questions asked: 1. How does the acquisition of knowledge help one in the quest for personal wealth building?

2. How do you know the books to read, training to attend and personal development programmes to go for?

3. How do you cultivate the habit of immediately putting into practice what you learnt from the books read?

4. Should a person invest only in areas of their passion, or should they stretch beyond that horizon?

5. Why do people invest in acquiring material things instead of on their minds?

6. Can you mention the three books that have shaped your life the most?

7. Why should I read to build wealth when I can just obtain oil blocs and become stupendously rich like politicians and military men?

8. Don’t you think that your path to building wealth is rather slow and old school? What of cryptocurrency?

Do you invest in such?

9. Most of our children and youth have a very short attention span. Considering reading as a waste of time. How do you address that?

10. I have a boss who does not read but has more business intelligence than those who read. How do you explain that?

11. What do you intend to do with all the books you have acquired when you are gone?

12. Would you consider travelling a sort of personal learning?

Having reviewed the questions, my Billionaire Friend suggested this topic: TO BUILD SUSTAINABLE PERSONAL WEALTH, YOU HAVE TO CULTIVATE THE HABIT OF CONTINUOUS LEARNING My meeting with my Billionaire Friend this particular weekend followed a totally different path. We had always stayed in the garden up till this time for all our interactions; however, this particular weekend, he suggested he would like me to get to take a tour of his home. I was impressed with the stock of books in the rooms we entered, with virtually no space for other things. It was difficult estimating how much my friend could have spent acquiring the books.

My conversation with him was quite lengthy and it centred on the place of continuous learning in the quest for building wealth. We eventually returned to the garden and over cups of coffee and a bottle of room temperature water for me, our conversation began like a monologue. My friend was not addressing the questions in sequence; so I just allowed him to flow while we both indulged in our drinks and some small chops.

The conversation went something like this: “My boss: Learning should be a continuous exercise in one’s determination to build wealth. Building wealth is like every other human endeavour; it very much requires being driven by knowledge. Learning here includes forming the habit of acquiring knowledge at every stage and covering all related areas towards achieving one’s

ASSIGNMENT Read the entire book of the week: LEARN IT! DO IT! SELL IT! and do a self assessment of your current financial reality.

If you don’t like what came out, then stay glued to this column every week. The solution is on the way

Artist Impression of my Billionaire Friend

“My meeting with my Billionaire Friend this particular weekend followed a totally different path.

We had always stayed in the garden up till this time for all our interactions; however, this particular weekend, he suggested he would like me to get to take a tour of his home. I was impressed with the stock of books in the rooms we entered, with virtually no space for other things.” goal. Learning is the acquisition of knowledge and skills through continuous study, experience or being taught. The aim of this series is to contribute to the learning process of our readers in their quest for building personal wealth.”

For growing wealth therefore, “learning, includes reading, travelling and continuous thirst for gathering as much information as possible towards achieving one’s primary goal of building wealth, as in this case. Learning here requires regularly reading relevant books, journals, economic, financial, money market, stock market publications and the continuous monitoring of local and international economic, fiscal and monetary pronouncements of governments, which relates to and affects finance, investment that will help to provide sustaining knowledge for the purpose of building wealth in the long run.

“We all studied in school to acquire some basics in being able to effectively communicate, relate and interact and do other things later on in life, which all come to be important also in achieving our wealth building goal. Our learning activities, therefore, have to continue, given the dynamic nature about life and the ever evolving developments around human existence.

“There were some of my friends, who while we were still in the university, had made up their minds that once they finish their degree programmes, the only thing they would read would be naira and nothing else. Unfortunately, such people later found themselves earning naira as salaries without knowing how to use their earned naira salaries to build wealth for themselves in the long run”.

Hence, the learning required for building wealth is beyond those acquired during the acquisition of university degrees. It must be continuous and endless. You must thirst for and continuously search for the knowledge that would be

How do you cultivate putting in practice what you learnt from books?

Cultivating this habit requires commitment, focus, determination and ‘a can-do’ spirit. In other words, once the goal has been set for building wealth, then cultivating the habit becomes simple.

From experience, this habit will be increasingly encouraged, as one continuously makes progress and observe the progressive growth of his wealth. Thus from beginning to cultivate this habit, you will be increasingly encouraged by your observation of the fruit of your focused determination at building wealth through this advised knowledge-driven process.

Why do people invest in material things and not their minds?

The question has to do with those who have unfortunately been caught in the unreasonable glamour of consumptive lifestyle without being primarily focused on saving for the rainy day and/or building wealth. Hence generally, those who are committed to building wealth tend to invest in expanding the knowledge base of their minds, rather than on material things. ‘Anyone who has the goal of building wealth must invest in his mind’. Expanding the mind and knowledge base of wealth builders is primarily necessary. Investing in material things eventually does not last long and does not prepare you for the economic and financial vagaries of the unforeseeable future, as most material things do not generate capital gains, incomes and consumptively depleted. Many material things do not provide capital gains and incomes that could be reinvested for building wealth. Therefore, those who invest in material things are more driven by the ignorance of lifestyle glamour, the allure and showoff in owning material things, instead of the personal and societal multiplier gains in acquiring knowledge for building wealth.

“Can you mention four books that have shaped your life?”

One of those books out of the many others, have been mentioned in the last edition, which is

“It is one thing to be wealthy, it is another thing to be methodical, calculated, well informed and skilled in building wealth. Those who attempt to build wealth via shortcuts end up having themselves in prematurely self destruct. Indeed, it is easy to build wealth by investing in Ponzi andYahoo schemes, but those are not the kind of people this series aims to build.”

the “Richest Man in Babylon”, the second book which has shaped my life in building wealth, is the book

by Robert Kiyosaki, titled: “Rich dad Poor dad”. The third book, is the book “Creating wealth” by Robert G. Allen, and of course, if I must say, that the fourth one is the book titled: “The intelligent investor”, by Benjamin Graham. These are books that have shaped my life.

They have propelled me in developing the instinct, the drive, the love for doing what I have eventually done and which further propelled me when good results were accumulating from the beauty of investing in knowledge and building wealth.

“Why should I read to build wealth when I can just obtain oil blocks and become rich like politicians?”

Being rich is one thing. Being knowledgeable, well informed, having a solid reputation and well skilled and talented mind cannot be equated with just having money. Any smart fool can and does have money. This comparison can be viewed in comparative terms, with a first-class or second class upper division graduate from a prestigious university having the same volume of wealth with a stack illiterate. In comparison, the graduate is usually more confident and sure of himself with the ‘can-do’ attitude to life, whereas the stupendously rich politician and military man, who has not developed his mind, would just be like the stark illiterate of earlier comparison. The self-esteem level of a stupendously rich politician or military man, who has not developed his mind, would very much likely be of very low self-esteem.

The level of self-esteem and his behavioural pattern of such poorly informed and developed minds would many at-times be not as refined as that of those who built wealth through extensive learning, developing their knowledge base and knowing as much as possible about their micro and macro knowledge environment.

“Don’t you think that this path to building wealth is rather slow and old school?”

It is one thing to be wealthy, it is another thing to be methodical, calculated, well informed and skilled in building wealth. Those who attempt to build wealth via shortcuts end up having themselves in prematurely self destruct. Indeed, it is easy to build wealth by investing in Ponzi and Yahoo schemes, but those are not the kind of people this series aims to build. We are here addressing those who want to be solid members of their society, who can defend the source of their wealth and who would end up becoming role models to young upcoming youths. This suggested wealth building process may appear slow, but it is as sure as the long universally accepted maxim, of: ‘Little drops of water make a mighty ocean’. That is the maxim behind this process. This process entails living a life of frugality, integrity, honesty, truthfulness and being a reference person to youths who aspire to be great and want to acquire morally defendable wealth and reputation.

Cryptocurrency is not advised at this stage of its development. Cryptocurrency is a wealth-building process that depends on the originated purse of some individuals who, as we have seen in recent times, may end up building their purse with your funds, only to disappear with the invested funds. It is a means of building wealth that is yet to be regulated by national central banks and/or security and exchange agencies of governments and other regulatory agencies. Hence, an investment in cryptocurrency is generally unregulated, highly risky and could just disappear overnight. For reference, please read about the recent cryptocurrency investment experience of Elon Musk of the USA, that of Ali Baba of China and many reported others. Cryptocurrency is a highly speculative investment instrument that is not recommended on this series except for those who are prepared to take unreasonable risks for which consequences they may not be able to recover.

FROM WISDOM TO ACTION Take a week to review what you have learnt so far Come up with strategies for blending them into your life Focus on a few insights and implement with focus Carry your accountability partner along Read the full article at https://www.thisdaylive. com/index.php/2022/02/20/to-build-sustainablepersonal-wealth-you-have-to-cultivate-the-habitof-continuously-learning/at www.thisdaylive.com

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WEEKLY PULL-OUT

20.2.2022

Gbemi Olateru-Olagbegi Transmitting from Wireless to Boundless Opportunities The popular On-Air Personality, Gbemi Olateru-Olagbegi, may have dropped the headphones but her voice on topical issues is very audible in this conversation with Vanessa Obioha on technology, parenting, celebrity culture and its influence on Nigerian youths.

ASSISTANT EDITOR OLUFUNKE OLAODE/victoria.olaode@thisdaylive.com.

T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R ˾ FEBRUARY 20, 2022

65

COVER

People Should Learn to Respect Opinions on Social Media

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he doesn’t like tardiness.

It is the same with me.

But the unpredictability of Lagos traffic can make one a victim of the infamous African Time. Yet, I was conscious of keeping to the agreed time for she had shared her abhorrence of lateness in a recent tweet. Gbemi Olateru-Olagbegi walked into the meeting place five minutes later, donning a short striped dress with wedge sandals. Her hair was bob-styled and the light makeup on her face accentuated her looks.

At first glance, she looked seriousminded but as we settled down in a posh restaurant in Lekki, the corners of her mouth began to spread into a beautiful smile. All formalities vanished and the conversationalist in her emerged. Of course, Olateru-Olagbegi always has that charm. Her cheerful mien made it easier to connect with fans while she was still on the radio. From her early days in Cool FM where she handled the afternoon show to Beat FM, the On-Air Personality (OAP) endeared many with her wit.

Therefore, when she took to Instagram on January 7, 2022 to announce her departure from the radio, many hearts were broken. The comments section of the lengthy Instagram posts were filled with accolades and memories.

To be sure, Olateru-Olagbegi, who hails from the royal Olagbegi family of Owo, Ondo State, didn’t set our to become an OAP. Like every child, she had a truckload of dreams which included being an air hostess. A radio presenter was not on the list and her father’s banking career did not hold so much appeal. She fancied being a newscaster during her National Youth Corps Service (NYSC) with the Nigerian Television Authority but was discouraged by the rigorous process of newscasting.

Radio eventually became the perfect career.

For 16 years, Olateru-Olagbegi dedicated herself to the routine world of radio; from presenting shows on Cool FM to becoming the youngest female Programme Director for Naija FM, the sister station of Beat FM. She became too comfortable with the radio so much that she could plan a radio show in her sleep.

Yet, the decision to leave a passion she has pursued since she left the university was still not an easy one.

“It was a tough decision. It took me some years to make it. I thought a lot about it, the timing wasn’t right but I decided to take a leap of faith,” she explained.

“It’s easy to get used to your comfort zone; what you are used to, what you know you are good at because there will be no stress. But I wondered if I was going to do this for the rest of my life.

And I’m still young.”

Although she officially dropped her headphones on December 24, 2021, Olateru-Olagbegi still struggles to articulate how the radio has shaped her life. She recalled fondly how she listened to the radio as a young girl, enjoying the talks and music. When the time came for her to step into the OAP shoes, the responsibility that comes with the job was not lost on her.

“It gives you some sort of responsibility because you are almost able to influence whatever that person is feeling at the time. Whether it’s from the songs you’re playing, the news you’ve just given or whatever it is. So, it gave me some sense of responsibility. You can’t mess this up. They are counting on you to give them information, to lift their spirits, to basically do so many different things.

“People think you are just there playing music. No, people are actually, you know, for whatever reason, they’re listening. Sometimes they’re not even paying attention per se, they’re just passively listening in the background, and then there’s something that you say or a song that you play or a guest that you interviewed that piques their interest,” she explained.

Perhaps, the biggest change she ever witnessed in the broadcast space is technology. The radio personality joined the sound medium when cassette tapes were still being used.

“I got into radio when we were still

handling cassette tapes to record the aircheck when the person is speaking.

Then listen to it later with your programme director to correct your mistakes. So going from that era, that’s the early 2000s, to now where you don’t have to touch a CD. I can’t remember the last time I touched the CD. When I was in Cool FM we used to play the music manually. So, we have three CD players and you line them up so one song is coming after the other. And you know how CDs are. You may be playing a song and the next thing it scratches,” she mimicked a scratching sound.

“It’s embarrassing. It’s not your fault though. Now going from that era into this era where everything is uploaded in software and all you do is click.

Technology really has changed the radio space and of course, social media has made us even closer to the audience as well as expanded our reach.”

Indeed, the radio is now a global village and is no longer restricted to one’s geographical location. On one occasion, Olateru-Olagbegi received a call from a prisoner during a live show. At first, she thought he was playing a prank but as the conversation progressed, she realised that he was real.

With these advancements in technology, Olateru-Olagbegi discovered other forms of storytelling. A notable one is her podcast show with Tolu ‘Toolz’ Oniru, ‘Off Air’. Triggered by feedback from their listeners who enjoyed their banter during the handover session, the duo created a show where they can air their views without reservations. The topics are daring and the guests are incredible.

At first, they had cold feet. It would take them 10 years to finally put a crew together. They finally went live in 2019.

The show is now in its fourth season.

Beyond radio, she forayed into acting — which she confessed is not an easy job — featuring in the web series ‘Our Best Friend’s Wedding.’ The third season is due later this year. She has also dabbled into experiential marketing and in 2015, explored her entrepreneurial side with the launch of Gbemisoke Shoes.

A conspicuous trait about OlateruOlagbegi is her ‘realness’. It was fully glimpsed when our conversation shifted to the toxicity of social media platforms, parenting, celebrity culture and its influence on today’s youths.

According to her, people should learn to respect opinions on social media.

“Sometimes people argue that after all, the celebrity put themselves out there but I give you an instance. If you live opposite Genevieve Nnaji and you see her come out of her house every day. And you don’t like the skirt she is wearing on a particular day, are you going to cross the road to tell her that you don’t like her skirt? No, because one, you have common sense and two, whatever happens to you is your business, and three, you have some self-respect but with social media, people think they can say whatever they want.

“What makes me laugh is when a celebrity responds and people say, he or she shouldn’t have. Don’t say that. If the celebrity wants to respond, she should.

That person went there in the first place, so whatever you get…” she said, leaving me to my imagination.

She continued: “So it is the people who make it toxic and I feel also the owners of these platforms should find ways where nasty or toxic comments can be curtailed in a way.”

With the growing and disturbing trend of young men engaging in rituals to get richer quickly, I tried to find out from her if the lavish lifestyles of celebrities on social media contributes to the depravity.

“One of my favourite shows growing up was the ‘Lifestyle of the Rich and Famous’. We saw all sorts of riches displayed. They are mostly Caucasians anyway but then Dele Momodu brought it home with Ovation. We used to eagerly wait for my Dad to bring a copy home and we flopped through and marveled at how beautiful the rich personalities live their lives. But I didn’t grow up to become a fraudster or desire to rob, steal or live a life of crime just to have those things. I feel it’s a personal choice and the

Gbemi

family unit.”

She explained her points by recalling a childhood memory when she returned home with a water bottle that wasn’t hers.

“The way I was questioned by my parents. And it wasn’t as if I took it deliberately. My seatmate left it and I took it home to give it to her the next day because I didn’t want it to go missing. My mother questioned me so hard that I wondered if I did a bad thing.”

In another instance, her father grilled her when she bought her first car on lease. Her parents’ concerns about her source of wealth spoke volumes of the moral values they instilled in her.

This, she believed, is missing in today’s parenting.

“If you are a parent and you send your child to school, and they come back home with the latest device, ask questions. If you send your daughter to school with braids, and she comes home with beautiful and expensive wigs, ask questions. Where did she get

the money? So parents, guardians, siblings need to do better. When the child knows he will be asked a lot of questions when he brings expensive things back home, he will think twice.”

Very protective of her private life, the media personality who is married to talent management specialist Femisoro Ajayi, and recently became a parent talked about her motherhood experience.

“It’s been a lot of work. Goodness me!

Nobody told me it was much work. Sleep deprivation is the most challenging. You really don’t know what it is until you experience it. You don’t really have time for yourself.”

A lot of people have been throwing ideas at her on her next move since she announced her departure from radio.

Someone suggested she write a book but the radio personality is not keen on that.

She toyed with the idea of learning how to disc jockeying, just for the fun of it perhaps.

She is keeping her next big move close to her chest but for now, fans can be assured that she will still be operating within the media space.

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GLITZ ENTERTAINMENT

I was Paid N10 for My Biggest Role, Says Abiola Atanda Stories by Vanessa Obioha Beloved for her vivacious roles in television series that was punctuated by a magnanimous headgear, Abiola Atanda, popularly known as Madam Kofo, became a household name in the early ‘90s.

Although she played the role of a leading lady in the breakout series ‘Second Chance’, her take-home pay was a far cry from the make-believe lifestyle she portrayed.

“Those days when we went into theatre in Nigeria, it was the passion that we had for it and not the monetary gains. I didn’t join the theatre for money, I was never even paid.”

She made this revelation during the unveiling of the Tube Awards that was held recently.

“I was part of ‘Village Headmaster’, ‘Mirror in the Sun’, and above all, the one that gave me this name Madam Kofo - today ‘Second Chance’.”

“I remember the highest amount of money I was paid. I received N10. And it wasn’t for just an episode. It was for the entire series.”

Quirky in more ways than one, the veteran actress who started her professional career in 1967 expressed fulfilment at the growth of the television industry as evidenced in opportunities contemporary thespians are exposed to. A case in point is recognition and support of the upcoming continental award.

She stated that the Tube Awards will play a significant role in the advancement of the industry to compete internationally.

“The Tube Awards is a welcome idea in terms of all the innovations it brings. The way that we have carried on today is better than what it used to be,” she concluded.

The Tube Awards ceremony is expected to be held this December.

Abiola Atanda a.k.a Madam Kofo

Fela, Onyeka Onwenu, Others to Be Inducted into the Afrobeats Hall of Fame In a few days, the Afrobeats Hall of Fame induction ceremony will honour the artistry and the contributions made by those who have played major roles in the dissemination and creation of the art of African music.

Slated for February 26, 2022, at The Amore Garden, Lekki, Lagos, the ceremony which is packaged by Estilo Davida, a ground-breaking Nigerian lifestyle, tourism and hospitality consultancy firm, aims to inspire and engage Africans through the power of African music, building a serious level of credibility, respect and acceptance across Africa and the world to celebrate the historic and cultural significance of African music.

For its inaugural class, there are three categories. The first category known as The Early Influencers include musicians like Tunde King, Onitsha Native Orchestra, E.C Arinze, Victor Olaiya, Mamman Chata and Bobby Benson.

It is followed by The Mid-Influencer category. This group comprises musicians from the 60s and 70s. Such music influencers include (Chief Osita Osadebe, Fela Anikulapo Kuti, Rex Lawson, Sikiru Ayinde Barrister, King Sunny Ade, Dan Maraya Jos, Peacock Guitar Band

Fela

International and Bala Miller.

The last category known as the Modern Influencer looks at musicians from the 90s to 2000s period. Unlike the previous categories, this category allows the public to vote. Musicians included in this category are Innocent ‘2Baba’ Idibia, Onyeka Onwenu, Femi Kuti, Daddy Showkey, among others.

There is also the non-performing category that will recognise personalities like Kenny Ogungbe, Dayo Adeneye, Olisa Adibua, Obi Asika, Sunday Are and Eddie Lawan; while Tony Odili, Jimmy Amu, King Sunny Ade, Rex Lawson, Onyeka Onwenu, Ebenezer Obey, Chief Osita Osadebe, Fela Anikulapo Kuti will be getting special recognition for “Lifetime Achievements” in the music industry.

A string of hybrid events is planned for the ceremony, spanning from headline tribute live performances to art exhibitions, creating an immersive and exotic experience designed to meet the entertainment cravings of Africans.

Artists that have been confirmed for the event include Wizkid, Shina Peters, Omawunmi, Flavour, D’banj who will also be co-hosting with comedian Bovi.

Onwenu

Hauwa de Zuzu Unveils Asiwaju

Oreagba and Oba Elegushi

As the demand for Afrocentric style increases in the globe, Hauwa de Zuzu, a Nigerian luxury and lifestyle brand, has taken a bold step of leading the pact as the brand launched its new collection: Asiwaju at Radisson Blu Hotels, Ikeja, Lagos recently.

The collection is lavished with explicit details of couture and enthralling patterns of African-inspired fabrics from Adire to Aso Oke to the alluring feel of silk, and lace that is entrenched with handwrought details was exhibited by dark-skinned models.

The collection speaks volumes of our diversity as the Creative Director, Hauwa de Zuzu, Mrs Adebukola Owoyemi Oreagba noted during a chat. She disclosed that the brand is a celebration of diverse identity, culture, tradition, and heritage.

Since Hauwa means unique, wonderful, and awesome, and Zuzu means beauty and confidence in the Hausa language, she added that all these attributes are merged to describe the perfect aesthetic Hauwa de Zuzu (HDZ) woman.

However, Asiwaju is focused on the appraisal of good deeds, leadership and growth.

The fashion exhibition was graced by notable dignitaries like the Elegushi of Ikate Kingdom, Kusenla III, Oba Alayeluwa Saheed Ademola Elegushi. who remarked that Afrocentric fashion and clothing is big and should be supported. “My advice for the youth is that one must crawl before walking. Unfortunately, our youth are not ready to crawl, they just want to walk. But if we find a bunch of them who are willing to create a lot for themselves in this kind of African-inspired fashion, it is necessary to support them.

African fashion is big”, he retorted.

Echoing similar thoughts, Professor Duro Oni of the University of Lagos commended the brand for projecting African style.

“Oreagba was our student in the University of Lagos, creative art department in 1998. This is the second of her exhibitions that I’m coming to. The first was on furniture. This is phenomenal because we as Africans need to use more and more of our materials to make Nigeria good. We can not keep going to Paris or London to buy things when we have all that it takes to have these things done here. These clothes that are exhibited here are so original and African.”

SUNDAY FEBRUARY 20, 2022 • T H I S D AY

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HighLife

with KAYODE ALFRED 08116759807, E-mail: kayflex2@yahoo.com

...Amazing lifestyles of Nigeria’s rich and famous

Lifestyle King: Inside the Luxury Life of Young Businessman, Nafiu Bala Rabiu

Diri

Douye Diri’s Great Exploits in Bayelsa Very few Nigerians living outside Bayelsa State can claim to understand the doings of Governor Douye Diri. Since coming into power on February 14, 2020, the easygoing governor has proved himself to be as godsent as any other governor in Nigeria might ever hope to be. It is merely two years since he took over from Henry Seriake Dickson but Diri has already attained legendary status in the hearts and minds of Bayelsans.

To understand his achievement so far, one must first begin with his verbalised objectives. Diri came out to be governor in the first place to make Bayelsa the glory of all lands, much like the state’s nickname. Despite being notable for his reservation, Diri’s accomplishments have been very loud. Even louder, of course, are the reactions of the Bayelsa people.

Whether it is in infrastructural development or social progress, the governor has advanced the state’s level of existence such that it stands on equal footing as regards breadth of development with any other State in Nigeria. On this front, we see his completion of Bayelsa International Airport and the construction and reconstruction of a thousand and one roads in the urban and rural parts of the state.

Apart from these, Diri has also proved himself to be a patient and considerate governor. Due to many people criticising him for what they perceived to be aloofness, Diri has been sounded out for his stand on measured advancement. As such, while it originally seemed as if the man was always in his office and doing nothing other than reading newspapers, many foundations were being laid for the state’s march of progress.

Time is the revealer of secrets. Now that many of Diri’s promises to the Bayelsan people have been satisfied, many people have nothing but praises for him.

Do not let anyone tell you otherwise: life is delightful with money. This is a fact that some of the wealthiest people in the world have put on display. So, one cannot expect anything less from someone like Nafiu Bala Rabiu. His funds are reportedly closer to being boundless than they are to being measurable.

For Nigerians who know Rabiu, it is only normal for the young businessman to live a life of luxury, indulgence, and relaxation. After all, when his mates were still wet behind the ears at 18, Rabiu had already begun preparing a foundation for success by working with some of the most industrious minds to come out of Nigeria.

Today, the good-looking Northerner has more going for him than can be seen with even scrying glasses.

Rabiu is the MD of Balnara Universal Ltd, a company with long fingers in real estate, rice production and logistics. Unlike his peers, Rabiu runs Balnara with the big

picture in mind. Thus, he seems to have a solid grasp of the dynamics of marketing, sales, and continuous business breakthrough, making him an evolving young overlord in Nigeria and beyond.

Some people have claimed that if they had as good a start as Rabiu, they would attain the same height as him. But others have countered this logic by asking if these if-it-was-me critics would be able to secure the recognition of indigenous and international organizations for domineering achievements. And this usually ends the arguments.

Although Rabiu tries to be lowkey, he seems to attract the clicks of the paparazzi. It probably doesn’t help that he is never caught unfresh while inside a private jet or shopping in well-lit luxury malls. For every ball of sweat is a cup of expensive wine. What a balance! For all the glitz and glamour, perhaps one should modify Tolstoy’s words to fit the situation: wealthy people are all alike, but their impoverished neighbours stare at them all day.

One good turn deserves another, so goes the saying. But good people never think about what benefits they might reap in the future. They are only concerned about the affairs of others in the now. From what people are saying, this is what SIFAX Group founder and CEO, Taiwo Afolabi, thinks of General Donaldson Oladipo Diya.

And his belief is not unfounded considering that Diya reportedly helped him in the past.

It is almost impossible to imagine that Afolabi faced challenges to get to where he is today. Despite that being abnormal in itself, the average person would look at Afolabi’s massive treasure-trove and amazingly expanding list of businesses and assume that the Ijebu man never had to sweat in his entire life. But this is obviously false. There was a time when Afolabi was nothing like he is now, so say insiders. And it was Diya that allegedly got him up and into the path of greatness.

For those who know Diya, it is not exactly amazing that he could assist one of the nowwealthiest and most influential businessmen in

Strong Bond: Why Billionaire Businessman, Taiwo Afolabi Loves General Oladipupo Diya

Afolabi

Rabiu

Nigeria while the latter was still struggling.

Diya has been virtually everything from Chief of Defence Staff to de facto Vice President.

Diya is a legendary character in the Nigerian Army. His days were the reign (and terror) of the late General Sani Abacha. In fact, so conflicting were their personalities that it is still uttered in hushed tones that Abacha organized the coup against himself which was led by Diya just so that he could do away with Diya. So it is not entirely surprising that this legend would help Afolabi in the latter’s days of struggle.

Although some people insist that Diya and Afolabi are just good friends, insiders have stated that the latter has bowed the knee to the former many times, acknowledging their past. In effect, Diya is Afolabi’s benefactor which is why the Marriott Hotel boss loves him. Those who claimed to know insisted they are no longer close again. More on them later.

When the Elephants Fight, the Grass Gets Trampled Things are happening in Nigeria.

With the tango between Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola and All Progressives Congress (APC) foreman, Senator Bola Tinubu, it might be more accurate to say that things are happening in Osun State. Yet, while the dance of elephants is both a sad and exciting sight, one must sigh at the implications. Case in point: the trampling of the odds of Governor Gboyega Oyetola’s possible re-election.

Say what you may about the people of Osun, Aregbesola’s influence is not something to frown at. Since the man came to power in 2010 and left eight years later, he has beat his chest in pride time and again and claimed to understand Osun citizens. This is especially so for the members of his APC. Now that he has taken a spear against another influential figure, Tinubu, what is to become of the people’s loyalty to one or the other?

Will Osun APC choose to bend the knee to Aregbesola or Tinubu? That remains to be

seen. More pressing is the issue with Governor Oyetola who seems to be on the side of Tinubu and is reportedly unapologetically opposed to Aregbesola’s calculations.

Aregbesola’s move against Tinubu came as a surprise to many Nigerians a few days ago. The minister launched a diatribe against Tinubu, stating that the latter carried himself as God and has consequently stopped thinking well of them (Aregbesola’s camp). And while Aregbesola did not mention his successor in his speech, any sharp onlooker would understand his points.

Tinubu endeared Oyetola to Aregbesola. While the latter pair had a good run, it has been something of a catand-mouse game since Oyetola took over from Aregbesola. So Aregbesola’s recent arrows are not only likely to strike at Tinubu’s presidential ambition but also Oyetola’s re-election bid.

Perhaps Oyetola will pull through

Golden Moment as Wura Adepoju Set to Open Vigold Fashion Academy in Lagos

Adepoju

Great things are happening in Lagos.

Wura Adepoju, the designer with an inborn endowment for needles and fabrics and style, has decided to stretch the baton of fashion greatness to Lagosians. From the information making the rounds on social media, come March 1, 2022, Adepoju and her team will open up a fashion academy in another part of Lagos to teach interested individuals the basics and the best.

Clear your calendars for the arrival of the third Lagos branch of Adepoju’s Vigold Fashion Academy. Similar to the other two, the new academy and showroom (which will be opened on the first day of March) will usher fashion designer trainees and enthusiasts into the colourful world of fabrics and fads. Beyond the fashion-designer-academy norm, Adepoju

Tinubu

with or without Tinubu and get his second term in office. What is sure at the moment is that his loyalty to the ‘Lion of Bourdillon’ has turned him into a training wheel for verbal missiles. also intends to empower her students to plug the gap of unemployment in Nigeria.

This is not the first time that Vigold is throwing open its doors and handing out serendipities. Since the fashion institute took an interest in the education of young men and women, it has been one big win after another. The establishment has managed to train several thousands of fashion designers, most of whom are proudly extending the same opportunities around urban and rural areas in Nigeria.

Score one for providing employment and encouraging entrepreneurship!

Fashion design continues to top listicles of the most lucrative occupations in the world. Thanks to moneybags in the trade like Amancio Ortega and Bernard Arnault, even people with the most determined minds are crowding the industry. Nevertheless, there are a few, like Adepoju, who are there for the job of it all. And that is one of what her establishment, Vigold School of Fashion and Creative Arts Academy, represents.

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HIGHLIFE

Abba Kyari and Obi Cubana: What Suspended Deputy Commissioner of Police and Controversial Socialite Have in Common Politics has been accused time and again of fostering strange bedfellows. Maybe wedding parties and burials are similarly guilty of this charge. Why else would acclaimed socialite and entrepreneur Obi Cubana (real name Obinna Iyiegbu) seemingly tie the knots of friendship with the popular police officer Abba Kyari, especially considering the latter’s newfound status as the first police officer to be dragged between the Nigerian and United States governments? Or could it be the cause for this fatal attraction?

Kyari is not having the time of his life. As someone who at one point was celebrated by the entire nation, Kyari has taken a deep plunge into disgrace. But hark, who goes there?

It is Cubana to the rescue. Or so it seems to onlookers. After all, Cubana has shown himself to be someone who does not care much for

public opinion. Thus, as Kyari faces possible jail time for alleged drug trafficking, the limelight shifts to Cubana and the question of his possible involvement lingers on the mind of everyone.

Kyari is from Borno State and has been working in law enforcement forever. Cubana, on the other hand, is an Anambra man with his fingers in the hospitality industry. But for social media, only a handful might have known that Kyari and Cubana have some sort of connection. The wedding of the son of the Inspector-General of Police exposed this.

It was at the wedding that Cubana stood beside Kyari for a photo and afterwards exchanged pleasantries as one might expect of friends or associates. Or so it seemed. And so the social media space in Nigeria is currently buzzing with speculations of the links between Kyari and Cubana.

Cubana

Arguably, since Cubana buried his deceased mother in the grandest way possible, many Nigerians began to look at him sideways. Add that to his sidling up to Kyari and you might come up with even worse conjectures about his complicity in shady things. But these are just suppositions at the end of the day.

Mohammed Bello Koko Proving His Mettle, Becomes Substantive MD of NPA 2022 is shaping up into a year of serendipity and bounty for many people.

With his recent appointment as directed

by President Muhammadu Buhari, Mohammed Bello Koko has gained a firm footing in one of Nigeria’s foremost federal agencies, the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA). Following Koko’s comment earlier this year that every acknowledgement, appreciation, or award that accompanies him in 2022 will only be on account of his merits, Buhari’s appointment is a recognition of Koko’s work.

There are levels and heights to nearly everything in this life. If this was never clear enough before, it is now. Koko’s diligence and commitment to work while he was the executive director in the Finance and Administration department of NPA set him apart for greater things. Today, he replaces his boss and aims to better refine the agency’s role in the growth and development of the country.

Koko

It has to be said that the NPA has been mired in controversies for some time. First, it was the immediate past NPA MD, Hadiza Bala Usman. The well-decorated Kaduna native took up the NPA mantle in 2016 but had to step aside in May 2021. She had lost her footing when Transport Minister Rotimi Amaechi accused her of refusing to remit an operating surplus of N165 billion.

While Usman was the centre of discussions about work ethics in Nigeria and the importance of lowering heads to workplace superiors, Buhari appointed Koko to temporarily take over her position.

And that is what Koko has been doing ever since. Now that the president has decided to make Koko’s position permanent, one can only say that there was something he (the president) saw that inspired this appointment.

There is no doubt that Koko will revolutionise NPA. Where others could only trek with the agency, Koko will most likely fly with it. This is what ability is.

The Storm is Over as Tolulope Onalaja Celebrate Birthday in Style

Adeola Onalaja

Whether they be good or bad, all things end. This is not an ode to fate but one of the most reliable facts on the earth. This is something that RevolutionPlus Property Group Executive Director, Tolulope Onalaja, evidently knows. After what can only be described as a hectic number of weeks due to reports of rug pulls and honeypots, the businesswoman is back at her game. And the comeback week just happened to coincide with her birthday.

2021 was a buzz of a year. There were so many frauds and scams in Nigeria and outside that people became extra cautious in their everyday dealings. Thus, when RevolutionPlus Property, a notable real estate establishment took a bit too long to respond to its clients, it became a frenetic online chase.

From the reports that came in, RevolutionPlus was supposed to have pulled the rug from under its clients and opted to throw the good reputation it had earned over the years into the bin. People

went as far as to drag in the mud the name of every public figure associated with the company, including Nollywood celebrities Toyin Abraham and Odunlade Adekola. Now that Onalaja has made a stirring appearance with her birthday on February 14, 2022, it looks as if the dust has settled.

Onalaja is not a big name to outsiders, but this is not the case for the stakeholders and aficionados of the real estate industry.

Who does not know the clearest voice in RevolutionPlus, the lady with 18 years of active experience in the industry and enough philanthropic merits to land a global award for the most progressive dogooders?

One can only imagine how relieved Onalaja is at reaching a new age and settling the misunderstandings with RevolutionPlus clients. For her, it is a new year indeed, one that hopefully does not have scheduled dramas waiting to catch us all off guard.

Colour, Glamour as MO Olowu Launches Ruba Beauty in Lagos 2022 is turning out to be a year set for fashion in Lagos. The brilliant British-Nigerian fashion and beauty enthusiast, Mo Olowu, recently opened her makeup brand in Lagos. The brand is named Ruba Beauty and it stands on its lonesome among similarly-focused makeup outlets as it belongs to the luxury vegan and cruelty-free variety. The party that witnessed the emergence of the company had the loudest (most influential) guests around and that started things off really well.

There is something about beauty and fashion that just screams symmetry and glamour! And this is what the party to launch Olowu’s Ruba Beauty consisted of. With the model, content creator, and TV personality, Kie Kie, anchoring the all-white-themed event at the Luxury Beach House, Sencillo, it was a riot of excitement, healthy competition, and grace.

Olowu’s party naturally attracted some of the most successful beauty influencers in Lagos, in addition to makeup artists, models, and other representatives of the

Olowu

parlour of good looks and style. These included big names like the editorial make-up artist, Kazeem of Casskoncepts, a talent that has gone global with his work featured in Vogue and several other international magazines;

Olabisi of Makeup by Olabisi, another bigwig that has left Nigeria’s shores with known products for Julia’s Place and a seat on the 2021/2022 US Sephora Squad, and many more.

Despite the colourful ambience, Olowu made sure to make the whole thing into a refreshing experience for her guests, some of whom had to share their stories to encourage the others to trudge on and never back down.

By doing so, Olowu made an impression on everyone present, an impression that even the tinkling of wine glasses and the passing of luxury makeup kits could not cover.

Of course, Ruba Beauty has been a working concept since 2018 since Oluwu launched it in the UK. But who knew that someone with an academic background in Finance, HR (Human Resources), and IT (Information Technology) would turn to the beauty and fashion industry and distinguish herself? This is what the soul of passion can accomplish and why Olowu continues to shine in her endeavours.

There is a kind of sparkle that is rarely seen in the women in our history books. It is the sparkle that accompanies a determination to be the best at every endeavour, competing with men and women alike, and bringing home the glory and honour of living through, nay, transcending day-to-day troubles. And that is Shade, the youngest wife of the founder of Eleganza, the Aare of Lagos, Chief Razaq Okoya. Now the face of Eleganza, her shine is laid bare for all to see and admire.

Some husbands struggle to let their wives out of the house.

They think the world outside is a dangerous place so they keep the women indoors. Chief Okoya is not one of these men.

He realised that his Shade is a genius with a high consummatelevel grasp of corporate management. So he handed the entire company to her.

In her position as Eleganza Group MD/CEO, Shade’s administrative biceps are humongous. So vast and unrestrained is her authority in the company that she is beginning to replace the Aare of Lagos as the face of the company. But this is not without reason. She is just too good at all things executive, which is why there is a multitude of plaques celebrating her meritorious contributions to business management dating back to 2014.

Shade does not only have a brain for business. In her 40s, the woman is quite the looker, with a charm and grace that could overturn the sky and get the clouds weeping in shame. It is consequently no surprise that she is immeasurably popular among the ladies of society, equally straddling the position of the wife of a very powerful man and the position of a very powerful woman.

There is no doubt that 2022 is going to be a shakeup of positions in the ranking of corporate women and highflying MD/CEOs in Nigeria.

Shade is very likely to become a household name and a paragon for women everywhere in the country.

Okoya

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LOUD WHISPERS

with JOSEPH EDGAR (09095325791)

... And Rauf Aregbesola Too? Ogbeni has exploded o! Nothing can hold him back and he is taking his former mentor and oga to the cleaners o. In a classic Judas Iscariot move, Ogbeni is saying things that are leaving mouths wide open from the Lagos Lagoon to the Sahara Desert. Only God knows what could have angered Baba like this.

I had always known it would come to this point. If you have read Julius Caesar and seen the description of Brutus, and you now look at Ogbeni’s picture, you will see what I am talking about.

They say, scrawny long neck, gaunt look and scattered beards. The only thing that is missing in that description is the ‘sofe’ trouser and pointed shoe with the kembe.

For me, I couldn’t care less even if Senator Remi comes out to tell us that

Baba is a two-minute man. My own is the character of the people who are leading us.

So, if Ogbeni now thinks differently from his ‘daddy’ he cannot fight him with strategy? He cannot lean on issues and on very strong logical positioning to engage and wrestle? Is it all these watery talk that is looking like beer parlor talk that a politician of his standing and posturing will be throwing about?

This whole thing is looking like two ‘Eleran’ fighting in Shomolu market.

The political class in general are just a grouping of people with no character, no color and no panache. Yes, let me generalise because if there are any who do not fit this categorisation, they are not up to six in the whole of Nigeria.

We keep seeing this same scenario across all party lines, across the ages

and across all geographical locations and we still keep flocking behind these clay footed puppets serenading them and giving them mandates to keep making a mockery of our collective nationhood.

Why for the life of me would I even consider someone who speaks like this, my leader by any stretch of the imagination?

Shebi we get the kind of leaders that we deserve. No statement can be more accurate because all I am hearing from observers is Karma. What Karma? Ohh, Tinubu did it to Afenifere, people are screaming, so it’s good for him You see the level of thinking? Nobody is asking what the major issue is in Osun.

Didn’t Ogbeni serve Osun for eight years? What did he leave behind?

If we had sense as a people, would he even be a factor in that state after the carnage he left behind, let alone coming

FEMI GBAJABIAMILA: PLEASE SIT DOWN The dust has not cleared this one has jumped up to go and be ordering probe. Which kind ‘Ntaga’ probeNtaga in Ibibio is like when you say ‘Yama yama’. All of a sudden billions have been squandered in the correctional services. They were not squandered before we started pissing in our agbada o.

These are the things that make people just give up and leave the country to go and be washing corpse abroad. Is it not better you maintain your dignity rather than be a part of this fiasco that is unfolding?

So Ogbeni has dared the Lion of Bourdillon, his toy soldiers, will now be trying to shoot pellets, wasting taxpayers’ money on a probe that will not get anywhere.

My Lord, Chief Gbajabiamila can you kindly just stand clear or if you are not going to stand clear, use your own money and time to probe whatever it is you want to probe.

How do you guys even sleep at night knowing that you are just using our lives to dance Makosa for your immediate benefits? I really am ashamed of this crop of leaders and guess what, it just gets worse.

Just when you think it could not get any lower, something like this comes

up, and they will stand in front of TV Cameras’ and rub powder on their face and be talking about all this ‘crap’ thinking that we are believing.

Mbok, when you finish probing Ogbeni’s ministry, come and probe my tenure as the Family Head of the Amalgamated Edgar/Umo-Etuk enlarged Family of Nsit Ibom/Ikot Abasi of Akwa Ibom.

You never start.

looking back, no emotions, just deal.

Simple and neat.

Gbajabiamila

NOT ANOTHER CHILD Another innocent baby has been killed in Delta. We have not even settled the one in Kano, this one has gone to use cane to kill another baby. What is really going on? Why is there so much evil in the land?

How for the life of me, will you flog a child 31 strokes because, ‘he pushed another child in the head’? Is this person not possessed? What made him take leave of his senses? If our children cannot find protection in schools, where else will they find such?

Things like these make me want to start changing my mind about capital punishment. I am a pacifist and do not believe that capital punishment serves any purpose. But events in this our Nigeria for the last 10 years is beginning to make me want to change position.

In cases like this, we should just do the needful and move on. No thinking, no

Abba-Kyari

ABBA KYARI: MY BROTHER, MY BROTHER Please, I would like to have just five minutes with this person. The man just tries. He and Tinubu will not let us hear word in this country. Both of them are just dragging us in all directions. Both of them are the singular issue in today’s Nigeria.

At least, Tinubu own we understand all the commotion, but this one I don’t really understand and that is why I want to have a session with him. Let me ask him, ‘Who do am’.

Me I first heard about him through a BBC documentary and was really amazed at how an officer could confidently face an international media team and lie. Kai. I was just shouting, ‘Ohhh my God, he is not saying that, ohhh my God noooooo, ohhh shut up’.

But did he listen? He just kept on lying and enjoying himself while doing it.

Today, he has become so popular that if the man stands for election, he can win o like play, like play.

Me I don’t want to be specific in my engagement with this man because the facts are all over the place, but if we think this begins and ends with his big head then we are just a bunch of …….

The whole system, the whole nation

Marwa

Aregbesola

and telling us who is pissing in his pants or not.

Please we should all cover our heads in Shame. Yes, all two hundred million of us. Sad. Really sad.

is sick. For an institution not to have identified such a character quite early, and to even go ahead and nurture him and his ilk, celebrate him, promote him, name streets after him and even label him ‘super cop’ when there was a glaring double life just beneath the surface then IT IS FINISHED. It is over, let’s look for new colonial masters.

I am telling you o. We need to be recolonised. No be this one wey we they see so. This is not a country; it is a colony. Kai. BUBA MARWA FROM A DISTANCE Me, I am just looking at you from a distance. Me, I am not saying anything o, I am just greeting you and celebrating your gallant men.

They have shown tremendous courage in this episode especially with the way they moved very swiftly in apprehending this our brother in this sagaThat press release was a beautiful script. I have read it like eleven times and each time, wondering who or how many people wrote it. Its descriptive powers, garnished with praise of your efforts in the war against drugs and also not forgetting to pull Buhari in for special adulation and then going back to describing the events leading to the capture of the suspect was pure James Hardly Chase territory.

Bala-Usman

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LOUD WHISPERS Marvelous. All for just 25kg of cocaine? By the time, we are seeing the hauls that come in huge containers, that one na Chico Ejiro we will call in to come and write that press statement.

Lord, please let’s get serious. All this patting on the back and self-praising for what we are still looking at critically is somewhat unnecessary. Your boys tried too hard with that statement. Too much effort was put in writing that speech abeg.

Focus. You have not even scratched the surface in this drug war, don’t get distracted. Focus my lord.

HADIZA BALA–USMAN: NO VICTOR, NO VANQUISHED? After nine months of gruelling and intense investigations, if we are to believe the 11-man panel who have come out with a ‘win-win’ verdict in the saga of the Nigerian Port Authority (NPA), then we all really have cotton wool for brains.

As we receive the report, we clap na, abi, what else are we to do. Shebi we are all mumu-mumu just sitting down there and letting them use our head.

From missing billions to insubordination, to suspension and now to the new Managing Director and a final verdict of – nothing happened- Nigerians have been taken on one huge roller coaster ride I swear.

This is the sad tale of Nigeria today where leaders just wheel and deal with shallow interests as currency. The interest of the common man and general good is nowhere near in this equation; just dark motives, leading to an evil game of musical chairs with masquerades as major actors.

Something will definitely give.

Something will give. There will soon be light at the end of this seemingly unending dark tunnel. You just wait and see, except Sampson Alagbara is not my middle name. Wait and see.

FLUTTERWAVE’S BRILLIANT OUTING This firm which recently announced hitting the Unicorn Status- a valuation of $1billion – has just announced that it has raised a further tidy sum of $3billion making it worth much more than almost half of our states all put together.

This kind of story gives you a lot of hope in the striking potential of this country. The beauty of this hope is the resilience of the people. The few that have sense and their ability to pull out these kinds of sparks in an environment of gloom.

It is not only Flutterwave o. Daily, Nigerian start-ups are revving, making hay and better positioning this country. Today, Nigerian startups control a significant percentage of seed funding globally and we are beginning to earn respect globally.

Let our leaders continue to be playing Jankara politics, deceiving themselves and jumping off cliffs, our youths will rebuild this country along very strong economic lines.

Firms like Flutterwave hold this dream and I am very confident that we will emerge, only a matter of time. We will emerge.

AHMED MUSA OPENING OLD WOUNDS So, the Super Eagles striker stumbled on a former colleague. A gold winning member of the wonderful Atlanta Miracle team driving a weather-beaten bus somewhere in the East.

He stopped and gave the guy N2m while requesting for further assistance from his former colleagues and authorities to rehabilitate the man.

Well, this scenario is not isolated as we have heard of the sad stories of our past heroes. Rashidi Yekini, the goal king, readily comes to mind.

For me, I try not to get emotional as I put the blame squarely at the feet of these players. You see, truth be told 90% of Nigerians will never get that 15 minutes of fame that they have. Remember that 15 minute of fame comes with a lot of riches and opportunities. So, if some years down the line, they are driving buses, then what do we do.

I know I will be pilloried for this but it’s the truth. Let me ask, do you see how much they are paid for winning bonuses in a single match. How many Nigerians will earn that in a lifetime?

Tell me how many and then a few years after they fall on bad times.

We will now be shouting – Nigerian Hero!!!!!!!!.

Mbok, who is not a hero? Me, I am a hero o. That policeman chasing armed robbers with bare hands and on N50,000 monthly salary, with no insurance cover na hero ooo. That teacher on N50,000 monthly teaching under horrendous conditions na hero too.

So, let’s be serious. All sorts of

insurance, pensions, health coverage have been muted and pushed all to no avail.

I have personally been involved in several initiatives as an investment banker all geared towards providing future safety nets for our sports men all to no avail. We met with all stakeholders in the system from authorities to players’ unions all to no avail. They will sha scatter it for immediate gains. Then when it happens, we will be shouting – Hero is eating guguru.

Please we are all heroes. Let’s be serious. Footballing stakeholder groups -nay the whole sporting architecture should come together and work with professionals to put in place financial safety nets for our sports men, these stories don’t move me one bit.

Pastor Ituah Ighodalo: A Bold Step Social media is in a frenzy as a result of a post circulating on something my elder brother Pastor Ighodalo had said about Ogbeni Tinubu’s candidacy. Incidentally, I was with the well-respected pastor a day before the post hit pay dirt and even though our

NDIDI OBIOHA: A BRILLIANT SHOUT OUT Let me first confess. Ndidi, who is one of the biggest Event Planners in Africa, had invited me for her birthday. Don’t mind her, she had no plans to. Na me send her chat and she said, ‘Edgar, it’s my birthday today o,’ hoping that I will send her Afang.

I said cool, happy birthday, any party? She said yea. I said, you see yourself, that is how you will not invite me.

She said, I did not know you were in town. I said, common invite me and she did.

That is how I entered the very beautiful venue of her party and she was now introducing me to everybody – this is that mad journalist I used to tell you guys

Obioha

about. Come and see beautiful women. You know I understand beauty. I counted over 20 exotically beautiful women and I thank God say my tattoos are complete and where on show.

The women were now saying, ‘Ndidi, he is such a good-looking young man’. I smile and say ‘correct’.

My people, it’s God that said I should go o. Come and see the rice that they served. The thing was so sweet that I took two plates.

It was a swell evening, classy and cool. Here is wishing Ndidi a wonderful birthday, my sister and God’s blessing. You truly deserve happiness.

conversations didn’t veer towards politics, I still would have been very happy if he had asked for my opinion.

Anyways, that statement has gone really far because of its sincerity. If it was true that it was the pastor that truly made that statement then he has just won a new convert to his church.

He was said to have advised the Jagaban against his ambition and notwithstanding the fact that they were friends for years. He felt that he still owed him a sense of duty to tell him the truth as he saw it. In the statement he went further to give very good reasons for his position while also proffering advice on the way forward.

My joy is not in whether I agree with the pastor or not but the fact that friends like this who will stare you in the face and tell you their minds are very rare in Nigeria of today.

People like Pastor Ighodalo are not plentiful. As a matter of fact, I don’t know plenty of these kinds of people.

Most of us will just colour the truth, tell you what you want to hear and move on to watch Zee world while waiting for you to stumble.

Kudos to Pastor Ighodalo, more powder to your handsome face.

BABALOLA OBILANA: THE PENSION CZAR He came to hug me during our playAwo. He looked vaguely familiar and then he introduced himself and I screamed. Ohh my God, Obilana!!!!. He was one of the most brilliant pension people that I have ever met in my life. He is now the Director General of the Lagos Pension Commission. Wow. How deserving. I had almost worked with him at the very onset of the pension reforms. He had shown uncanny brilliance and clear clarity as to the expectations of the new policy. But you know me na, I failed the interview.

Then, I lost touch with him. So, you can imagine my pleasure when I met him almost 10 years later. He was with my other brother Muyiwa who was a colleague at Magnum Trust Bank and who now incidentally was his Executive Director. See these people o.

They have grown up and me, I am here carrying a script and not combing hair and calling myself Duke of Shomolu.

Well, during the week, I visited their office at Alausa and we discussed the industry very thoroughly. Bro was still very sharp in his positions, especially on defined benefits…. Make I no talk o, before I confuse you people.

Well-done guys. With people like you, there is still hope.

DAVIDO: TWICE A MAN Finally, during the week, it was reported that music star, Davido, had fulfilled his pledge of donating the whopping sum of N250million to various charitable causes all over the country. What else can we say but thank you. That this is earth shaking and phenomenal cannot be contested.

Today, because of this young man’s kindness, many young Nigerians without any hope will aspire. They will be given the oxygen of life which will push them to run.

A Nigerian President will come out of this donation, a Nigerian Astronaut will come out from this donation and the freshness of life will cascade throughout the land.

Mr. David, you have done noble.

Well-done. This is what we are talking about. Real influence. It was my brother Yemi Odusanya that said, ‘Edgar, the problem with our country is simple. We do not love our neighbours.”

That, my people, encapsulates our troubles. All we need is love. Thank you, Mr. David

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T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R ˾ FEBRUARY 20, 2022

Adebayo Adeoye bayoolunla@gmail.com; 08054680651

SOCIETY WATCH

Again, Bayo Adelabu Re-Ignites Governorship Ambition In 2019, Bayo Adelabu, a former Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) top shot had nursed the ambition of becoming the governor of Oyo State.

He had been tipped to succeed the late Senator Abiola Ajimobi, who was then the state governor. But it was a most upsetting development when he was defeated at the primaries. Not a few had foreseen the humiliation.

Until his fate was determined in the primaries, his fans had egged him on and assured him of victory, believing that he could not be challenged because he is the grandson of the late notable and fearless politician, Chief Adelakun Adelabu, otherwise known as Penkelemesi.

His experience coupled with his huge financial war chest was another major factor that many had thought would work in his favour. In fact, most of his supporters, as well as admirers, believed in him so much that they had begun to address him as “Governor”. But Adelabu, who contested on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC), was trounced at the polls by Mr. Seyi Makinde of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Without a doubt, it was a terrible blow to his political ambition.

But today, he seems to be buoyed by the belief that in life, no dream, no matter how beautiful it may be, comes true by magic. He has, therefore, once again picked up the pieces of his political career and resolved to throw his hat in the ring for the state top job in 2023.

Prior to his appointment as Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), he was an Executive Director/Chief Financial Officer (CFO), First Bank of Nigeria Limited (FBN).

He had previously held the positions of General Manager as well as the West African Regional Head of Finance and Strategy (Consumer Banking Business) for Standard Chartered Bank.

He holds a First-Class degree in Accounting from the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife and is a fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) and a member of the Institute of Directors of Nigeria.

The Flip Side of Wealthy Businessman, Prince Arthur Eze

Eze

Oil mogul and philanthropist, Prince Arthur Eze, has a strong belief in the witty saying that “in giving, we receive.” He always gives, and the returns on his ‘social investment’ continue to triple in many folds.

But beyond his famed philanthropy, he is someone who does not tolerate any act of indiscipline. He is ready to give out anything for humanity, but will never allow you to steal from his sweats without fighting back.

This scenario played out recently when the oil mogul fought tooth and nail to recover what was stolen from him by two of his nephews, Olisaebuka Okechukwu Eze and Onyeka Nnadozie Eze, the Administrative and Finance Managers respectively, who were accused of criminal breach of trust and diversion of funds to the tune over N1 billion belonging to the firm.

Consequently, he petitioned the EFCC; and at the end of the trial that lasted about two years, the businessman won.

The anti-graft agency, in the course of the investigation, initiated forfeiture proceedings against the two company officials before Justice I. M. Buba of the Federal High Court, Enugu, which granted an interim order of forfeiture of the said properties, directing the defendants to show cause why the properties should not be finally forfeited.

In the absence of any contrary information, the court on October 18, 2021, ordered that the properties be finally forfeited and returned to the nominal complainant, Eze. An elated Eze could not hide his joy when he visited the Enugu office of EFCC on January 28, 2022. The Zonal Commander, EFCC Enugu, Oshodi Johnson, who received him, commended the investigative and prosecution teams as well as the judiciary for ensuring that justice was served in the case.

Pan Ocean Oil Corporation Boss, Festus Fadeyi’s Entrepreneurial Skill Today, in the nation’s oil and gas industry, Festus Fadeyi’s name evokes a mixture of admiration, envy and respect. He runs Pan Ocean Oil Corporation, a thriving oil exploration and production company in Nigeria incorporated in 1973.

Fadeyi is not one of your run-of-the-mill businessmen; he is head and shoulders above several of his competitors in the industry. In fact, you would be doing yourself some good if you consult him for a tutorial before you embark on the business of oil and gas.

When he floated his business, he resolved to pursue his dream on a global stage.

Though it looked like an impossible task, he was determined to pursue his ambition of ruling the world with unwavering doggedness.

His company is not only recognised around the world now, but he has the world at his feet.

It will not be out of place to say that he has had his own fair share of the bitter-sweet experiences of the typical businessman around the world.

Fadeyi

Recently, he experienced a low moment in his business.

At the time, many naysayers had predicted the collapse of his business empire. But even in the face of it all, the shrewd businessman remained unshaken, believing that he would definitely bounce back.

As predicted, the oil mogul cannot be happier now, as he has been cutting deals upon deals, despite the inclement business climate under which many entrepreneurs around the world have operated owing largely to the outbreak of COVID-19 and uncertainty in the oil sector around the world.

He has successfully sailed untroubled in the entrepreneurial ocean, navigating numerous business boats with the grace and nous of a veteran captain.

But this should not come as a surprise to anyone who has been following his inspiring story with abiding interest.

NDIC Chair, Ronke Sokefun’s Gift to Humanity The Chairman, Board of Directors, Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC), Ronke Sokefun, surely has a lot to thank God for in life.

Think of a lucky woman, and her name will pop up.

Sofekun, who became a lawyer at 21, is one of the emerging gladiators in the nation’s political firmament.

It all started when she was appointed a Special Adviser on Land Matters to a former governor of Ogun State, Senator Governor Ibikunle Amosun. While she held that position, Sokefun performed beyond expectations.

As fate would have it, her diligence and commitment paid off, as she was later appointed the state’s Commissioner for Urban and Physical Planning. In the twilight of the Ibikunle Amosun-led administration, she was lifted, as she was appointed the Chairman of the Governing Board of NDIC by President Muhammadu Buhari.

Indeed, the year 2021 ended on a good note for the intelligent woman, following her appointment as a non-executive director by the leading oil and gas company, Oando Plc. Despite her seemingly intimidating profile, she still tells anyone who cares to listen that she is not fulfilled yet. Her desire, she often says, is to be more relevant to her immediate community.

Little wonder, the brilliant and upwardly woman was all smiles penultimate Friday when the Pediatric Unit of the General Hospital, Ayetoro, Ogun State was inaugurated. The unit is a stand-alone within the premises of the hospital and wellequipped with world-class facilities.

Society Watch gathered that the project was conceptualised through her nonGovernmental Organisation (NGO), M.R.S Foundation, founded in 2020, with the pristine vision to ensure that no community, regardless of its location, lacks the requisite basic social amenities.

The Foundation’s key focus is to act as an interventionist by complementing the government’s efforts in the provision of basic social amenities, specifically in the education and health sectors.

In 2020, when the foundation was set up, with the financial support of NDIC, it delivered on its first major project, a 200-seater ICT Centre, sited in the premises of Comprehensive High School, Ayetoro, Yewa North Local Government, Ogun State.

The centre has since been accredited by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB). It played host to 800 students in the April 2021 JAMB/UTME examinations.

Sokefun

Oil Magnate, Otunba Funsho Lawal’s Next Move

Adelabu

Otunba Funsho Lawal, Chairman of Sogenal Petroleum, is one of the few businessmen in the country whose names open doors wherever they go. He is popular, rich and well-connected. In fact, his presence always enlivens any social function he attends.

But for some time now, he has not been in the news. His reason for keeping a low profile, it was gathered, is for strategic reasons. It was further gathered that he is planning something big that will redefine the sector and change its narratives.

The genial billionaire businessman, who is also the Maaye of Ogbomosho, has earned a name for himself through his contributions to the nation’s oil and gas sector. The two-term President

Lawal

of The Petroleum Club and his team have worked and are still working on their vision to make his company a top-of-the-mind brand.

As a result, they have altered the equation in Nigeria, through innovation, experience and quality corporate culture.

Apart from being born under the proverbial lucky star, Lawal, a former Chairman of the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), has also demonstrated uncommon bravery and doggedness. A philanthropist of repute, he is passionate about lifting the struggling souls around him, without any pecuniary motive.

THISDAY, THE SUNDAY NEWSPAPER ˾ JUNE 24 2012

ARTS & REVIEW A

PUBLICATION

20.2.2022

SINCE THEY LOVE BENIN ARTEFACTS SO MUCH…

In the crypt of St Paul’s Cathedral, London, UK, a 12-foot-high installation, titled ‘Standing Still’ and inspired

by Oba Ovonramwen, is currently – figuratively speaking – confronting Admiral Sir Harry Holdsworth Rawson. Okechukwu Uwaezuoke writes

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t’s high time, the 12-foot-high installation, titled “Still Standing”, seems to proclaim deÀantly in the crypt of St Paul’s Cathedral in London, UK. Put together by the hugely successful contemporary Nigerian artist Victor Ehikhamenor, it could be called a monument to Oba Ovonramwen Nogbaisi, who ruled the Benin Kingdom from 1888 to 1897, when the British punitive expedition abruptly ended his reign. Admiral Sir Harry Holdsworth Rawson, a prominent o΀cer in the British Royal Navy, oversaw the mission, which became one of the darkest chapters of Nigeria’s recent history.

On display since Thursday, February 17, it will remain available for public viewing until Saturday, May 14. The exhibition s opening date was chosen to coincide with the period ² February 9 to 18 ² when a 1,200-strong British army unleashed mayhem on the Benin Kingdom, an incident known infamously as the “punitive expedition.”

One of the most outrageous recollections of that expedition, which was marked by so much wanton destruction of lives and property, was the looting of over 2,500 ivory and bronze objects from the destroyed palace and shrines. Benin was reportedly in ruins with the Oba’s palace razed to the ground. Then, there was the mindless bloodletting, which accounted for the death of thousands, including civilians. Oba Ovonramwen, who was on his way to exile, had witnessed the hanging of six of his chiefs.

The looted items, which included religious, artistic and ceremonial works, are scattered around prominent Western museums and collections, having been given as gifts to participating soldiers.

Ehikhamenor who divides his time between Lagos and Maryland, USA, has been an outspoken advocate of a reparation and restitution as well as a shift in focus from the works of old to those of contemporary Nigerian artists.

Writing on social media and in a widely circulated -anuary 2020 New York Times Op-ed “Give Us Back What Our Ancestors Made,” Ehikhamenor has railed at and called attention to what he has described as “cultural appropriation of Nigerian and African art”.

So, it makes sense that visitors to St. Paul’s Cathedral will Ànd Ehikhamenor’s work next to the plaque of Admiral Rawson in what is being described by Dr. Paula Gooder, Canon Chancellor at St Paul’s Cathedral as providing “an opportunity to reÁect in a diͿerent way on the ongoing task of understanding the complexities of these monuments in 21st-century Britain.”

A statement from St Paul’s Cathedral notes that “the specially-commissioned mixed-media work forms part of 50 Monuments in 50 Voices, a partnership between St Paul’s Cathedral and the Department of History of Art at the University of York to invite contemporary artists, poets, musicians, theologians,

Ehikhamenor beside his installation

performers and academics to showcase their individual responses to 50 historic monuments across the Cathedral.”

Talking about Ehikhamenor’s installation, it was made from about 6000 rosary beads and Benin bronze ornaments. The work, according to Toni Kan, a writer and a close associate of the artist, is a compelling historical confrontation on three levels Àrst as remembrance, then as memorial and Ànally as an interrogation of the past and colonial history. But its power derives mainly from the binaries and

dualities that inform its composition.

“Working with rosary beads and Benin bronze elements, the work embraces animist and -udeo-Christian religions, making it almost ancient and modern in its invocation of a rich world of history and myth, religion and belief, as well as the clash of Western and African worldviews,” he adds.

Admittedly, “Still Standing” compels the viewer relive the haunting memories of that dreadful event in the Benin’s history, which remains one of its most tear-jerking episodes. Even as victors,

did the British soldiers conform to the Law of -ustice?

With this work and exhibition, Ehikhamenor stokes debate about the 1897 event, claiming that “history never sleeps nor slumbers.”

“For me to be responding to the memorial brass of Admiral Sir Harry Holdsworth Rawson, who led British troops in the sacking of the Benin Kingdom 125 years ago, is a testament to this, he adds. The installation ‘Still Standing’ was inspired by the resolute Oba Ovonramwen, who was the reigning king of the Benin Kingdom at the time of the expedition, but the artwork also memorialises the citizens and unknown gallant Benin soldiers who lost their lives in 1897, as well as the vibrant continuity of the kingdom till this day.”

Indeed, there could have been no more Àtting memorial to a resolute warrior king who was vanquished and exiled after being forced to watch as his kingdom was attacked, pillaged and burnt. The curators, Dan Hicks, Professor of Contemporary Archaeology at the University of Oxford and Curator at the Pitt Rivers Museum, and Simon Carter, Head of Collections at St Paul s Cathedral, as well as the artist, are encouraging not just a conversation but a reckoning by positioning the image of the Oba beside Admiral Rawson s plaque.

As Dan Hicks notes in his own comments, “Installed on the 125th anniversary of the attack on Benin City, this speciallycommissioned work opens up a unique space for remembrance and reÁection.

Still Standing reminds us of the ongoing nature of the rich artistic traditions of Benin, of the enduring legacies and losses of colonial war, and of the ability of art to help us reconcile the past and the present.”

Meanwhile, the work which has been acquired by the University of Oxford’s Pitt Rivers Museum will be Ànding a permanent home in a museum which, according to the statement, “holds one of the most signiÀcant collections of Benin royal artworks.”

This implies that long after the exhibition has opened and ended, the conversation will continue and that conversation will not just be a confrontation of colonial notions of ownership and provenance, it will amplify the points made by Ehikhamenor and Hicks to the eͿect that Benin art is alive and well.

Now that the Benin bronze cockerel Okukor has been returned, with the din of clamour for the return others getting more strident, pundits think that it is high time the European obsession with works of antiquity stopped. For if they love the Benin art that much, they should look to acquiring more contemporary works.

That longed-for transition has started Àttingly with Victor Ehikhamenor’s work Still Standing, which pays homage to the past while looking forward to the future with its collage of inÁuences both animist and -udeo-Christian.

EDITOR OKECHUKWU UWAEZUOKE/ okechukwu.uwaezuoke@thisdaylive.com

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SUNDAY FEBRUARY 20, 2022 • T H I S D AY

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THISDAY, THE SUNDAY NEWSPAPER FEBRUARY 20, 2022

CICERO

Editor: Ejiofor Alike SMS: 08066066268 email:ejiofor.alike@thisdaylive.com

IN THE ARENA

Electoral Bill: Time for Buhari to Write His Name in Gold Two weeks after the National Assembly transmitted the re-worked Electoral Amendment Bill to President Muhammadu Buhari, the President was yet to assent to it, fueling speculations that he might once again reject the proposed law. Iyobosa Uwugiaren examines the consequences of the President’s inaction

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resident Muhammadu Buhari is dangerously frolicking with one of the crucial elements of democratic norms that is globally accepted to guarantee free, fair and credible elections, which is the legal framework. Nigeria and their friends, who desire transparent electoral process, ahead of 2023 general election are worried.

Against the huge expectation of many rightthinking members of the society, including the international community, the President has refused or failed to assent to the reworked Electoral Amendment Bill. And in the past few weeks the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has consistently complained to those who cared to listen that the failure to come up with clear Electoral Act – in line with the wishes of the electorate, is frustrating the commission’s efforts to plan well for the 2023 general election.

For many political observers, the current foot-dragging on this all-important electoral Act is not helpful to Nigeria’s democratic space, especially as the nation enters election year.

If anybody is in doubt about the most basic questions why a legal framework is imperative to democratic election - in a developing country like Nigeria - with destructive political culture, the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (NDI) has answered the question.

“Establishing the rules of the game for elections should be a vital concern to political parties, candidates and citizens alike.

Democratic elections serve to settle fairly and peacefully the competition among those seeking to exercise governmental powers as representatives of the people,’’ NDI had reportedly stated. ‘’Democratic elections also serve as the means for citizens to express freely their will as to who shall have the authority and legitimacy to wield the reins of government as their representatives. ‘’It is thus in the direct and immediate interests of electoral contestants – political parties and candidates – and of the population as a whole – citizens and their associations – to ensure that the rules for electoral competition, as well as the way those rules are enforced, guarantee that a genuine democratic election takes place,’’ NDI explained.

The National Assembly had sent the Bill to the President late last year for assent. But President Buhari withheld assent to the bill - in a letter, which was sent to both chambers of the National Assembly. In the letter, the President refused to sign the bill because of the mandatory direct primaries. He further stated eight disadvantages of mandatory direct primaries, which included legal, financial and security concerns.

After the initial grandstanding by the lawmakers to override the President’s veto, they later succumbed to Buhari’s demands, reworked it and transmitted it again to him on January 31, 2022.

Buhari Before they reworked the Bill, Buhari had promised to sign it into law if other options for selecting candidates for elections are included.

“I will sign. All I would like is that there should be options. You can’t dictate to people and say you are doing democracy. Allow them other options so that they can make a choice,” he had stated in a controversial TV interview.

Since 2015, when he was elected President, Buhari had declined assent to the Electoral Act Amendment Bill for five times.

But, in spite of the National Assembly doing his bidding, Buhari has still refused to assent to the all-important bill, leaving people wondering what he really wants. Although the President has not indicated whether he will assent to the re-worked bill or not, the Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of the Federation, Mr. Abubakar Malami (SAN), had hinted that the President might again, withhold assent from the Bill if it is considered to have proposals based on personal interests.

According to the minister, the bill, which the National Assembly transmitted to the Presidency the second time had been sent to him for legal advice.

When asked if he was satisfied with the amendments made to the bill by the National Assembly - after Buhari sent it back to the parliament, Malami said, “In terms of satisfaction, honestly, it is premature for me to conclude, taking into consideration (that) I can admit to you that the electoral bill was only received in my office this afternoon (recently) as I was preparing to come over for this engagement with Channels TV.’’ Malami said he would “certainly advise the President not to assent to the Bill, if he is not ‘’satisfied and of the opinion that it is against the public interest, the national interest; and then against the dictates of democratic process.’’

Amidst foot-dragging on the electoral law, many people believe that Buhari is comfortable with the existing Act, which gives room for manipulation of elections, and may not be interested in ‘’credible, free and fair election in 2023.’’

For the Rivers State governor Nyesom Wike, President Buhari does not have any excuse for not signing the Electoral Act Amendment Bill. He argued that contrary to claims that the President was holding back due to the quagmire over direct and indirect primaries - as embedded in the bill, the main issue remains the electronic transmission of results.

Governors elected on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) had also recently added their voices to several calls for the President to “immediately” sign the revised electoral act amendment bill into law.

The governors in a communique released last Monday after a meeting in Yenagoa, the Bayelsa capital, said the president should sign the bill into law immediately rather than wait for the 30-day duration allowed by the constitution to elapse.

On his part, the Executive Director, Adopt A Goal for Development Initiative, Ariyo-Dare Atoye, enjoined the president to rise above elite’s political conspiracy threatening the legislation and sign it into law.

Atoye stated this in a press statement, titled, ‘’New Electoral Act Bill: Why Buhari Must Act Immediately’’, endorsed by the Centre for Liberty; Raising New Voices, Youth and Students Advocates for Development Initiative; NESSACTION, The Nigerian Alliance, The Art and Civics Table and Speak Out Africa Initiative.

While some experts argued that the “fundamental right next to the right to life is perhaps the right to vote’’, there are those who have also stubbornly submitted that the value of the right to life often depends upon the quality of the circumstances under which the right to vote takes place.

Governor of Sokoto State and Chairman of the PDP Governors’ Forum, Hon. Aminu Tambuwal, stated recently that the only legacy left for the President is to emulate ex-president Goodluck Jonathan by conducting free, fair and credible elections in 2023, saying his credibility is at stake. But, can Buhari really give what many believe that he doesn’t have?

P O L I T I CA L N OT E S

In APC, Their Devil is Resident!

Buni

At the moment, the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) is not a party to envy and that’s without a doubt. This position is evidenced by some of the recent happenings in the party, which seemed to have stymied any form of development or progress.

Although all the active political parties, including the fringe ones, have their respective devils that they are dealing with, expectedly, the devil in the APC is resident there, and it’s also why that devil has remained somewhat unculturable.

After securing multiple extensions just because it has boxed itself into an obnoxious corner, the caretaker leadership of the

APC, which is currently living on extra time, is fast damaging the party and if care is not taken, might ultimately kill it.

Already, it is almost looking like the February 26, proposed date for the APC national convention is no longer feasible. This too is largely due to the fact that the caretaker committee is unwilling to yield power, and in just about a week to the exercise, there’s nothing on the ground to show that a ruling party is planning a convention, where it hopes to elect a new National Working Committee (NWC).

Of course, two things are believed to be stalling the convention. First, is the zoning arrangement, which it is yet to decide and

two, is the choice of its next chairman, which of course, would be made easier after a sound zoning arrangement has been instituted. Those mulling consensus are not making a headway either.

With crises in many state chapters of the party, the controversial consensus option to choosing a national chairman, the troubled zoning debate and the already plagued national convention, whose date is likely to change again, the resident devil in APC is quite comfortable and dedicated to helping the party undo itself. Without a doubt, that devil is effectively in charge of the ruling party and would not stop until the deed is done!

THISDAY, THE SUNDAY NEWSPAPER FEBRUARY20, 2022

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BRIEFINGNOTES Bitter Consequences of Abba Kyari’s Suspension Hoax Nigeria was subjected to another international embarrassment with the recent revelation that the erstwhile Head of the Inspector General of Police’s Intelligence Response Team, DCP Abba Kyari, used his alleged rogue law enforcement team to execute drug deals when the Nigeria Police claimed that he was on suspension following his indictment by the FBI. Ejiofor Alike writes that the police top hierarchy’s tardiness in handling his alleged involvement in heinous crimes has exposed the apparent culpability of the leaderships of some security agencies in turning Nigeria into a crime scene

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igerians were shocked when news broke out in July 2021 that the Head of the Inspector General of Police’s Intelligence Response Team (IRT), Mr. Abba Kyari, a deputy commissioner of police (DCP), was involved in a $1.1million Internet scam carried out by an Instagram influencer, Abbas Ramon, aka Hushpuppi, and four others.

Kyari was indicted by the United States Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI), which recommended that he should be extradited to the US to face trial.

The Dubai Police in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) had in June 2020 arrested Hushpuppi and his gang. They were later extradited to the US for prosecution by the FBI. The FBI Special Agent, Mr. Andrew Innocenti, had alleged that Hushpuppi contracted the services of Kyari after an alleged coconspirator, Mr. Chibuzo Vincent, allegedly threatened to expose the alleged $1.1million fraud committed against a Qatari businessman.

Innocenti, who said he obtained voice calls and WhatsApp conversations between Kyari and Hushpuppi, had also revealed that the alleged fraudster paid the police officer N8 million or $20,600 for the arrest and detention of Vincent.

Kyari had rushed to Facebook on July 29, 2021 to deny the allegations, but he later deleted the post after editing it about 12 times.

The IG, Usman Baba had recommended the suspension of Kyari, which the Police Service Commission (PSC) carried out on July 31, 2021.

The police boss had on August 2, 2021, constituted the Special Investigation Panel headed by the Deputy Inspector-General of Police in charge of the Force Criminal Investigations Department, Joseph Egbunike, to probe the allegations.

Egbunike on August 26, 2021 submitted the panel’s report, which he said “is an outcome of a painstaking, transparent and exhaustive investigative process.”

The Minister of Police Affairs, Maigari Dingyadi, had on September 14, 2021, during a television interview said the findings and recommendations on Kyari had been submitted to the AttorneyGeneral of the Federation, Mr. Abubakar Malami (SAN), for his legal opinion and thereafter for presentation to President Muhammadu Buhari, adding that the final decision would be taken by the PSC. But it took over six months after receiving the report of the Egbunike-led probe panel, before the police authorities forwarded its disciplinary recommendations to the PSC. The tardiness in handling the case had fuelled speculations that the police authorities wanted to shield Kyari from facing the US justice system.

The recommendation by the police high command for mere demotion of Kyari from DCP to the rank of Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) also raised concern that the IG and his team wanted to treat the indicted cop with kid gloves, despite the gravity of his alleged offence.

The police investigative team was said to have also recommended that Kyari should not be extradited to the US to clear his name.

The apparent failure of the police to recommend severe disciplin-

Abba Kyari ary actions to the officer whose alleged crime brought shame to the Nigerian Police and the country, had forced the PSC to order the IG to conduct a fresh probe.

The PSC had announced that it had deferred its decision on the case involving Kyari and ordered the Nigeria police to conduct a fresh investigation on the embattled cop with a different panel and conclude its investigation in two weeks.

Speaking at its 14th Plenary Meeting in Abuja, the Chairman of the commission, Mr. Musiliu Smith, explained that PSC would not take any decision on the embattled cop until a report on further investigation is received.

However, barely 72 hours after the PSC gave the fresh directive, Nigerians were greeted with rude shock following a revelation that Kyari was performing his official duties with his alleged rogue team, which he used to execute drug deals, when the authorities claimed that he was on suspension.

A revelation made by the spokesman of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Mr. Femi Babafemi showed how Kyari initiated drug deals with an operative of the agency after he had sent his team to Enugu airport to arrest drug suspects.

Babafemi had on Monday given damning details of how the supposedly suspended Kyari offered NDLEA operatives a total of $61,400 cash and negotiated the release of 25kg seized cocaine.

He stated that a sting operation exposed Kyari as running an illicit drug syndicate.

He said: “The saga started on Friday, January 21, 2022 when DCP Kyari initiated a call to one of the NDLEA officers in Abuja at 2:12 pm. When the officer returned the call two minutes later, Kyari informed him he was coming to see him to discuss an operational matter after the Juma’at service.

“He appeared at the agreed venue of the meeting with the officer and went straight to the crux of the matter. This was it: His team had intercepted and arrested some traffickers that came into the country from Ethiopia with, according to him, 25kg of cocaine.

“He proposed a drug deal whereby he and his team are to take 15kg of the cocaine and leave 10kg for the prosecution of the suspects arrested with the illicit drug in Enugu.

“In the meantime, the purloined cocaine will be replaced with a dummy worth 15kg. He asked the NDLEA officer to persuade men of the FCT Command to play along as well.”

According to NDLEA spokesman, Kyari also narrated how acting on the tip-off, his team departed Abuja to Enugu and arrested the traffickers, removed part of the consignment on his instruction and replaced same with dummies The fact that Kyari was still in control of the team he allegedly used to execute hatchet jobs during his suspension showed that the suspension was a hoax.

It was an indictment of the top hierarchy of the Nigeria Police as it has exposed the extent they can go to condone the rot in the system.

The mind-boggling revelation was a strong indication of the weak commitment of some heads of the country’s security agencies in the fight against crimes.

No wonder Nigerian has become a crime scene. Kyari was erroneously celebrated as super cop over the years. But the revelations over the past eight months have shown that the alleged secret atrocities his rogue law enforcement team perpetrated against innocent Nigerians and the Nigerian state outweighed the high-profile arrests and other accomplishments for which was widely celebrated with awards, accelerated promotions and commendations.

Kyari’s loyal and trusted team was allegedly audacious, deadly and dangerous as alluded to by the spokesman of the NDLEA, Mr. Femi Babafemi when he alleged threats to the lives of the operatives of the agencies involved in the investigation of Kyari and his officers.

Following the fresh embarrassment to Nigeria and the Nigeria police, he was said to have been arrested and handed over to the NDLEA, alongside four members of his team.

During his glorious days, Kyari would handcuff his victims and subject them to all manners of public humiliations to celebrate his exploits.

But nobody saw him in handcuff or any evidence of his arrest.

Nigerians are also beginning to wonder if his arrest was another hoax like his purported suspension. But the stronger suspicion is the concern being raised that the purported arrest and indictment in drug deals was a ploy to shield him permanently from extradition.

Indeed, the Nigeria Police need to do a lot of work to rebuild its battered image and restore public trust.

NOTES FOR FILE

Between DCP Zango and Citizen Umeh

Baba

For those who have not heard the bizarre story, it was reported that oneVincent Umeh from the South-east innocently bought a house on Mohammad Mustapha Way,Yola, Adamawa State.

While he was looking forward to enjoying his new apartment, Ibrahim Baba Zango, a Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) deployed in Lagos, warned Umeh to steer clear of the sold property, insisting that a southerner was not qualified to be his neighbour.

If this chauvinism-driven threat against Umeh was coming from one local northern villager, it could be easily explicable. But bigotry coming from a law enforcement officer of Zango’s standing in a federal institution as the Nigeria Police Force is a source of national shame.

This condemnable extremism is believed to be holding

down development in the north and should be a source of concern for northern leaders. For instance, Nigeria’s Sokoto Caliphate was founded long before the Dubai of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) was established.

Fifty years ago, Dubai was a desert.Today, it is a tourist destination for development and anything modern. Dubai by all standards is the most digitised city in the world today.

Northern influence peddlers have made it their second home but find it hard to replicate the easy life of Dubai in their region.

Without distorting her Islamic principle, today, Dubai is one of the most technology-driven cities the world has yet seen. Nobody has seen the Émirate make a show of destroying alcoholic beverages the way Kano State celebrates destruction by the Sharia police.

If Dubai was closing up and exhibiting fundamentalism, it would still have been a desert.

The action of DCP Zango against citizen Umeh has justified the action of separatist agitators across the country.

The Igbo businessman has demonstrated that he is a better and a more patriotic Nigerian citizen than the police officer. An officer like Zango is a threat to other Nigerian tribes and the country’s unity and should be retired compulsorily from the police.

Such bigoted officer is an embarrassment to the force and Nigeria.

Adamawa State and federal governments, as well as the Emirate Council under the revered Lamido Adamawa should ensure the safety of citizen Umeh’s life and property.

THISDAY, THE SUNDAY NEWSPAPER FEBRUARY 20, 2022

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Ekiti 2022: APC Drops Rancour, Braces for Victory With 118 days to the governorship election in Ekiti State, the All Progressives Congress, having resolved the crises which bedeviled its primary, is looking forward to winning the poll, Ugo Aliogo writes

F

our months from today, the Ekiti State 2022 election will hold. Already, there are apprehension and tension all over the state because the stakes are very high for all the sides. The All Progressives Congress (APC) which initially showed signs of distress and cracks following the primary has surprisingly pulled itself together and brazened for the big fight ahead.

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), however, is already imploding, with the defection of former governor of the state and gubernatorial contender, Chief Segun Oni, to the Social Democratic Party (SDP).

There are apprehensions that an aggrieved contender for the governorship position, Senator Biodun Olujinmi, who was visibly unhappy about the way the primary election went, has an axe to grind with the party.

The peace that has attended the APC primary in Ekiti is a significant attestation to the determination of the APC to retain the state. Incidentally, such cannot be said to be the case of Ekiti at the national level where contending forces have been at one another’s throats over who controls what in the party.

In neighbouring Osun State, the situation is even worse. Analysts will recommend the Ekiti model of party discipline and crisis management to other layers of the party and the opposition PDP. For instance, while withdrawing from the PDP primary, a senator representing Ekiti South and governorship aspirant, Olujimi, blamed the party for what she called “stripping” her of delegates who would have voted for her in the election.

“I thought it was very unfair, it was unjust, it was disenfranchising me because of my gender or because the party feels I have not done enough for it. Going forward from there would mean that I am condoning what is wrong. So I thought my best was just to pull out and I pulled out. I did not step down. They can continue with it, I will also internalize the problem; there will be some introspection, then I will make a decision,” she said.

In the PDP election, there were rife allegations of vote-buying while delegates were alleged to have been “hijacked,” through camping them in hotels which were outside of the reach of other aspirants. Any aspirant who had delegates that were fewer, like Olujimi, was known to have lost from the beginning.

The Director-General of Chief Oni’s campaign, Yemi Arokodare, similarly alleged that the delegates’ register was mutilated and that delegates in the primary had their names missing. Till today, the PDP is still roiling in the mud of allegation and counter allegations while the APC seems to have moved to the critical phase of the general election.

The APC, however, seems to be moving beyond the crisis that erupted in the wake of the June 18 governorship election primary. For instance, a major contender for the governorship position in the party and Senator representing Ekiti Central Senatorial District, Senator Opeyemi Bamidele, was the first aspirant to thaw the ice with a declaration that he would support Abiodun Oyebanji, the party’s candidate. In his own words emanating from a statement he signed, sheathing his swords and embracing Oyebanji,

Fayemi Senator Bamidele had said: “I have come to some irreversible conclusions and these are the messages I need to pass on to all and sundry today as I temporarily break my silence on the way forward. One is to say that I have chosen to drop the option of going to court to sue the party. The other is to make it crystal clear to everyone that both my supporters and I will not defect from APC.” Before him, the South West Zonal Caretaker Publicity Secretary of the National Extra-Ordinary Convention Planning Committee of the APC, Mr. Dapo Karounwi, had declared in a newspaper interview that his party would weather the storm and go into the election and win as a united family.

“I must state that APC is a party of reconciliation. For us in APC, reconciliation is always work in progress.

Days ago, the national reconciliation committee that was set up to reconcile aggrieved members across the country submitted its interim report at the national headquarters of the party in Abuja. And it is an ongoing thing because for us in APC, reconciliation is inbuilt in our system and it is a continuous exercise. So, those who are aggrieved will naturally be reconciled; they are leaders of our party; respectable personalities that we are not ready to lose. Thank God that they have said that they are not ready to leave the party despite the fact that they are aggrieved. They know their party and they are committed to their party and they want to see the party winning the governorship election.

“Although they made some statements that I consider not too good, I don’t expect statements like that to come from leaders who have benefitted from the party. They were quoted to have said that they would stay in the party and teach the party a lesson it will not forget. Such statement from leaders who benefitted and are still benefitting from the party was not good enough. However, they might have said it out of anger and didn’t

Opeyemi Bamidele mean it, because they are credible leaders of our party. I am aware that Biodun Abayomi Oyebanji has been reaching out to them and extending hand of fellowship and reconciliation to them. I am aware too that some other leaders of our party have been reaching out to them and trying to rally them behind the candidate of the party. I can see that in the nearest future, these leaders are not ready to leave the party and they have made this abundantly clear. They are benefitting from the party and they would continue to benefit from the party. So, I really do hope that the reconciliation and healing process would soon be concluded.”

Oyebanji himself had extended the olive branch to his brothers with whom he contested the primary, stating that the APC was one huge family that would win together for a continuity of the Governor Kayode Fayemi’s government of purpose. Indeed, he expressed optimism that all the seven aggrieved former aspirants in the party would embrace reconciliation and work for APC victory in the poll that is slated for June this year. While hailing the National Assembly members and former aspirants, Senator Bamidele and Femi Bamisile for the decision of theirs not to seek legal redress, Oyebanji lauded the two leaders for what he called their efforts at “putting the interest of the party above other considerations and for demonstrating exemplary leadership qualities.” He also said that what made the decision significant was that it had “further confirmed their commitment to the growth and success of our dear party and this is highly commendable. I hope my other co-aspirants will follow suit in the interest of peace and unity.”

Going a step farther, Oyebanji predicated his optimism of being the next occupant of the Ayobo Government House on what he described as the stellar performance of Governor Fayemi, who will be handing over to a successor in October this year.

Abiodun Oyebanji

He had said: “Dr Fayemi is the leader of the party and whoever emerges the party’s flag bearer naturally becomes his candidate too. If any of my co-contestants had clinched the ticket, the person automatically becomes Fayemi’s and the party’s candidate for the June 18 gubernatorial election. Now back to my person.

I was his Secretary to the State Government, so, there’s no way I can remove myself from his government and I’m going to benefit from his achievements. In that regard, the decision that will be taken on June 18 by the electorate will be a combination of the performance of Governor Kayode Fayemi and the expectation of the people about my person. The two will work together. If a government has done well and a candidate wants to run on the platform that produced the Governor, it is natural he will benefit from the performance of that government.

“I also think my people understand me very well and they know me and this is not the first time we have done things together to build Ekiti. They can attest to my competence, my character and my compassion for them. We will also be campaigning on the manifesto that has been developed. In the next few weeks, we are going to unfold the manifesto and make it very clear to the people but there’s no way Im going to run this campaign without reference to the sterling performance of Governor Kayode Fayemi. He is the APC leader in our dear state and I’m going to run on the APC platform, so the two will go hand in hand and because he has done well, his performance is going to assist my campaign.”

A stakeholder in Ekiti APC said under anonymity that “it has been easy to enthrone peace in the party in Ekiti because the leader of the party in the state, the governor, has largely refrained from inflaming passions. No one can quote him as having said anything against the unsuccessful aspirants, nor for the winner. This has tremendously helped the healing process and making reconciliation and victory further possible and achievable.”

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CICERO/REPORT

2023: Which Southerner Can Fix Nigeria?

AspoliticianspresentthemselvestosucceedPresidentMuhammaduBuhariin2023,ithasbecomeincreasingly imperative to search for a candidate, who in the face of sensitive existential challenges to the Nigerian state, can best stabilise, resonate and connect with the nation’s edgy diversity, Louis Achi, writes

N

igeria has entered a transition period - a crucial leadership changeover phase. This is understandably sparking some frenzy which cannot be decoupled from the nation’s peculiar political history. With the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) scheduling of February 18, 2023, as the presidential Election Day, multi-partisan jostling - both overt and covert - on who succeeds President Muhammadu Buhari, is gaining momentum.

However, Nigerians are largely uncertain of their values, their leadership and their safety as what is unfolding in diverse, critical governance arenas is indeed comparable to an Athenian tragedy but lacking the majesty of a Greek drama. It is against this peculiar backdrop that a major change of political guard beckons. In effect, the countdown to the 2023 presidential election has willy-nilly begun.

However, a key political issue ahead of the 2023 general election, especially the presidential office, is zoning. Since the country returned to civil rule in 1999, the presidential office had been rotating between the Northern and Southern regions of the country. Though not written in the constitution, it has nevertheless provided significant North/South balance.

According to the influential Northern socio-political platform, the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), the issue of rotational presidency is not a constitutional matter but only adopted by political parties for their own convenience.

But ACF’s Southern peers like Afenifere, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, the Pan Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF) and others are strongly pushing back. Their firm consensual position received a powerful boost when Southern governors in a multi-partisan footing backed the position that the next president should come from the South.

Perhaps with some circumspection, they did not flag any particular political party that would produce such candidate - heightening both expectancy and tension. In effect, with what seems to be the nation’s most consequential general election looming, several highly qualified politicians from the South have indicated their interest in succeeding President Buhari.

Who are the key Southern politicians that have signaled their intention to compete for the coveted presidential trophy? The very influential kingmaker who now wants to be king, Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu, a national leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC) is looming large on the stage. His protégé, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, is another big personality. The duo has captured the political limelight in their struggle for supremacy.

Other potential contenders from the Southwest are Governor Kayode Fayemi; Works Minister, Mr. Babatunde Fashola; Pastor Tunde Bakare; Senator Ibikunle Amosun and African Development Bank, (AfDB) President, Dr. Akinwunmi Adesina.

There are strong indications that President Buhari is said to prefer a Christian Southerner and this has affected the potential Southern Muslim aspirants.

From the South-east are the inimitable ex-Governor Peter Obi; former Senate President, Senator Anyim Pius Anyim; Mazi Sam Ohuabunwa; ex-Deputy Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Dr. Kingsley Moghalu. Others include Governor Dave Umahi of Ebonyi State, Senator Rochas Okorocha and Minister of State for Education - Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba.

Jonathan From the South-south are former President Goodluck Jonathan who have not even as much declared his interest in contesting the 2023 presidency but has drawn uncommon speculations of attracting very strong Northern interest.

Other potential aspirants are Transportation Minister, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi; CBN Governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele; Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Mr. Timipre Silva and Governor Nyesom Wike.

According to unconfirmed sources, Buhari is very disposed to allowing Tinubu and Osinbajo neutralise each other through a war of mutual destruction while his option for succession may remain in the South-south where Emefiele, Amaechi and former President Jonathan remain the most viable favourites.

The strong perception that for Northern Nigeria, lack of political power represents a potent existential threat sits pretty nicely within the unswerving logic of the speculated new proactive calculations of enlisting former President Jonathan for the big job come 2023.

This political project which is indeed assuming weightier dimension by the day is also seen by many as essentially satisfying the Southern symphony for power shift. As it were, certain fundamental considerations are speculated to qualify the soft-spoken former president as the North’s beautiful bride: he will do only a constitution-circumscribed single term and then the region can reclaim power in 2027.

Another dimension is that a Jonathan ticket paired with a Northern running

mate will neutralise South-east’s strident clamour for a president of the region’s extraction as the Bayelsa-born politician has morphed into a widely and nationally acceptable force. The North curiously remains cagey about a president of Igbo extraction.

According to the sources, the North does not want or trust Senator Ahmed Bola Tinubu. Many in the South also believe he is a hard-sell. This gaming is tied to the political logic that power will definitely shift to the South in 2023, given the unwritten North/South power rotation agreement. And what’s more Buhari apparently wants to decide who will succeed him.

Not permitting grass to grow under its feet, various influential PDP stakeholders have been reportedly begging Jonathan not to join APC. It could be recalled that the then acting National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Mr. Yemi Akinwonmi, led a delegation to Jonathan’s Abuja residence to appeal to the ex-president not to dump the main opposition party.

It is against the backdrop of these crucial unfolding political calculations ahead of the nation’s arguably most consequential presidential election that the validity of beaming the searchlight on former President Jonathan, now a consummate statesman, comes to the fore.

It’s worth clarifying that statesmanship is not earned by self-proclamation as is the wont of many older Nigerian politicians, retired and active. It is often conferred through enduring merit.

Former President Jonathan who would

typically never claim such status has certainly merited it.

It could be validly posited that indeed some aspects of the formation of the Nigerian state benefited from statesmen and statesmanship.

This position would readily cite the contemporaneous quartet of Nnamdi Azikiwe, Ahmadu Bello, Obafemi Awolowo Tafawa Balewa and a handful others as icons and statesmen - of that era. Today, Nigeria needs a genuine statesman to lead its urgent rebirth.

While not absolutely the only qualified Southern politician who could provide exceptional leadership to kick-start change in the Nigerian story, Jonathan leads the pack - and here’s why.

No less a child of destiny, Jonathan, a scientist from the swamps of Otuoke in Bayeslsa State is an exceptionally self-effacing and very modest leader who rose to the limelight through genuine commitment to the rare ideals of humanity.

His leadership experience, political trajectory and record of achievements, arguably eclipses that of most political actors currently.

He had been Deputy Governor, Acting Governor, Governor, Vice President, Acting President and President. A compelling fact: he wears no air of self-importance around him, despite his exceptional political odyssey. He remains enigmatically human and humble.

Since leaving office on May 29, 2015, Jonathan remains A-Listed on the global invitations circuit, winning numerous awards, performing electoral duties and speaking at several high-profile international events.

An appreciative world apparently can’t get enough of his aura and attractive narrative; that of people-centred governance and politics without bitterness - rare commodities in African corridors of power.

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THISDAY, THE SUNDAY NEWSPAPER FEBRUARY 20, 2022

INTERNATIONAL International Law in an Age of Pandemics: Issues and Challenges for International Publicists

I

nternational law refers to both public and private international law. While public international law deals with inter-state relations and therefore often referred to as law of nations, private international law deals more with foreigners in a country who might have been victims of unfairness and injustice and thus requiring diplomatic protection, though quite distinct from the diplomatic protection provided for diplomatic agents under the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic relations.

Internationallawinanageofpandemicsisnotonlyaboutcodification developments in a given period, but also about how the period, in terms of its environmental conditionings, affects international law.

Put differently, what is the nexus between international law and the current COVID-19 pandemic which began in 2019, especially in the management of the pandemic?

Answers to this question were provided by the Nigerian Society of International Law (NSIL) during its 43rd Annual Conference on ‘International Law in an Age of Pandemics’, held onThursday, 17th and Friday, 18th February 2022 at the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs (NIIA). The NSIL, which was founded in 1968 by Judge Taslim O. Elias, a Nigerian by ius sanguinis and a former Judge of the International Court of Justice, has been addressing many aspects of global governance since 1968 through public lectures and conferences.

Two conferences that are a follow-up to the 43rd conference were the 27th Annual Conference held on August 14-16, 1997, and the 32nd Annual Conference held on October 12-14, 2000. The 1997 conference, the proceedings of which were edited by ProfessorYinka Omorogbe, the current President of the NSIL, focused on International Law and Development: Strategies at theThreshold of theTwenty-first Century. The Challenge of Peace, Security, and Development in the Twenty-first Century was the theme of the 2000 conference. Thus, the NSIL has always been preoccupied with global developments.

It is from this perspective that the 43rd conference was quite interesting for various reasons: First, the conference enjoyed the active support of many Nigerian governors, past and incumbent. Governor Kayode Fayemi gave N2.5 million while Governor Nyesom Ezenwo Wike, CON, GSSRS, who was represented by his Attorney General, Prof.

Zach Adangor, SAN pledged N10m. Governor Babajide Sanwo-Oluof Lagos similarly pledged meaningful support. The fellowship of the NSIL was also conferred on three scholars: Professors Akin Oyebode, Bola A. Akinterinwa, and Momodu Kassim-Momodu. A psychedelic evening characterised by a sumptuous dinner and rendition of oldschool songs topped it all. More importantly, the discussion of the issues raised during the two-day conference was very constructive.

Critical Issues and Challenges Theconferencewasorganisedintofoursessions:openingceremony, working sessions, Annual General Meeting, and dinner/fellowship awards. The first session, the opening ceremony, was chaired by Major General Ike Omar Sanda Nwachukwu, a former governor, one of the patrons of the NSIL and a Fellow of the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs.

The foundational challenge identified by Professor Omorogbe was the issue of COVID-19 being an obstacle to international law activities.

As she explained it in her address, COVID-19 in ‘the last two years has been highly unusual, and for practically all of us, a crash course in adaptation to change and new reality.’Thus, she is saying that the NSIL 43rd conference could not take place in 2021, and therefore by implication, the pandemic is an obstacle to the mise en oeuvre of international law, but this obstacle will not be in 2022.

And perhaps more interestingly, while Professor Omorogbe was looking at the past, the Governor of Rivers State, His Excellency Nyesom EzenwoWike, CON, GSSRS, opted to look forward as a member of the noble profession of law and life bencher to interpret the theme of the conference to imply that‘in an era of global health emergency such as confronts us presently, international law could provide the needed succour not only for the rich, developed and powerful nations but also the poor, developing and largely dependent nation such as ours.’

Governor Nyesom Nwike identified several issues thrown up by COVID-19 within the context of international law. They included‘the mutual obligations that states owe to each other during a pandemic; whether there is a right to international solidarity in terms of‘preventive solidarity, reactive solidarity, and international cooperation, that obligates States and non-state actors to offer assistance to developing and less-developed States that have lesser comparative capabilities’; the extent to which‘the enjoyment of international human rights by individuals can be curtailed or derogated from by right-restricting

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Bola A. Akinterinwa Telephone : 0807-688-2846

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Nwachukwu measures put in place by different nation-states to manage the spread of COVID-19; and the extent of the impact of COVID-19 on the foundational obligation of nation states to protect the right to life.

In the eyes of NyesomWike,‘rights-restricting measures must ensure that the balance of individual and collective interests is compatible with provisions of International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and other related International Instruments.’

Former External Affairs Minister and chief apostle of economic diplomacy, General Ike Nwachukwu, interestingly pushed Wike’s observations further by drawing the attention of what international publicists should be more concerned with in the age of pandemics.

He first noted‘the weaknesses in international law and conventions wherein the developed countries can hoard the technology (in the guise of protection of intellectual property and/or vaccine diplomacy) for producing and distributing the vaccines needed to save lives and return the world to normalcy.

Muchconcernedabouttheneedtodissuadeourselvesfromallowing the mechanistic and mercantile view of human nature from overtaking our most valued humanity - the right to life and to live it to the full and well, even in the face of COVID-19, General Nwachukwu wants the international law practitioners to consider publishing a‘Nigerian YearbookofInternationalLaw,aswellasacompendiumofconventions, codes, values and characteristics for international diplomacy and law, sponsored or co-sponsored, authored or co-authored.’

The first working session, which focused on Global Health Security, was chaired by Professor Akin Oyebode, fniia, fnsil.Three papers were listed for presentation: human rights versus global health security under a pandemic in Third World Nations: An Appraisal by Innocent Onohomhen. This paper could not be presented for reasons of force majeure; COVID-19 and Africa: Economic Implications and Policy Responses by Dr. Chinyere Rita Agu, legal practitioner and Research Fellow at the NIIA; and COVID-19 Pandemic, International Law and

“

Grosso modo, Ike Nwachukwu’s suggestions remind one of what Jean Jacques Rousseau said in his Social Contract that ‘good laws lead to the making of better ones; bad ones bring about worse.’ In the same vein, good suggestions cannot but prompt development, tangible progress while bad suggestions only lead to self-destruction and misapplication of international law. The NSIL will therefore do well to think along the direction of Nwachukwu’s suggestions, with the ultimate objective of not simply publishing a Yearbook of International Law but a Yearbook of International Law and Relations in which commissioned articles on current developments in international law and how they impact on Nigeria, and in which annotated chronology of Nigeria’s foreign policy events will be accommodated. International relations are about interstate ties while international law regulates the relationship.

They therefore go pari passu and constitute two sides of the same coin. Because this challenge requires adequate funding, a collaborative entente with the NIIA may be necessary. The NSIL should be saddled with the aspect of international law, while the NIIA should monitor the chronological aspect of Nigeria’s foreign policy

Women’s Rights in Africa: An Interrogation by Dr Omotola Ilesanmi, a Research Fellow with the NIIA. Dr. Ilesanmi explicated how the period of COVID-19 served as an opportunity for women’s rights to be infringed upon with increasing violence, regardless of the Maputo Protocol and CEDAW which obligate all States to ensure the protection of rights of women to respect her dignity. As Dr. Ilesanmi further put it,‘access to healthcare services for women and girls have been stifled and their sexual and reproductive rights largely left to the side-lines with the prioritisation of COVID-19 prevention and treatment resulting in significant increase in stillbirth, maternaldepressionandmaternaldeaths.Moreimportantly,sheposited that African States have made considerable progress in entrenching the rights of women and girls, however, COVID 19 brought a reversal of the achievements and deepened the pre-existing gender inequalities exposing women to series of human rights violations.’

Dr. Rita Agu raised the issue of bloated numbers of COVID-19 infections and deaths expected in Africa, but which have not come to be. As she explained it,‘as at 28th October 2021, the global COVID-19 death toll stands at an estimated 4,970,435… Africa has recorded 211,853.’

More important, she drew attention to the economic consequences of the pandemic: how GDP has been affected by national and global lockdowns. The challenge is how to explain the resilience of Africans vis-à-vis COVID-19?

The second session addressed human security and climate change and was chaired by Professor Bola A. Akinterinwa. Like in the first working session, three papers were listed for presentation, but again for reasons of force majeure, one of them could not be presented:The Age of Cyber-Pandemics: An Analysis into the Role of International Law in a Cyber-Pandemic by Temitope, whose paper could not be presented;TheplaceofHumanSecurityintheProgressiveDevelopment of a State by Associate Professor Rufus O. Olaoluwa; and COVID-19 Pandemic and Climate Change: The International Legal frameworks

by Dr. Chinasa Ohiri.

Associate Professor Rufus Olu Olaoluwa explicated human security from a multidimensional perspective: health security, socio-economic security, cultural security, politico-religious security, and environmental security. In the eyes of Professor Olaoluwa, focus should be more directed to prevention of insecurity than focusing on prosecution and punishment of offenders. It should also be on the need to form alliances against regional security threats and create general awareness in order to ensure human security.

The third working session was on the controversial questions of Self-determination, Secession, and unconstitutional changes of government.The session was chaired by Professor Momodu KassimMomodu, fnsil. The first paper written by Professor Debo Olagunju and presented by Associate Professor Rufus Olaoluwa, was entitled ‘An Appraisal of the Role of Regional and International Organisations in Agitations for Self-determination and Secession.

Professor Olagunju provided clarifications on the concepts of selfdetermination, statehood, and secession. He explicated the extent to which regional and international bodies have been able to uphold the right of self-determination while preventing the disintegration of States. He noted that‘self-determination is a separate and distinct concept from secession although secession may be an expression of the right to self-determination. However, self-determination doesn’t automatically translate to a right to secede.’

The second paper, on Hopes and Impediments: A Historical Survey of Taiwan’s Diplomatic Relations Across Africa by CharlesTerseer Akwen, examined the trends, composition, and intensity of the Republic of China and People’s Republic of China’s bilateral relationship in Africa since independence.

The last paper by Professor Bola A. Akinterinwa addressed the issue of‘International Law and Unconstitutional Change of Government: The Case of Francophone Africa in an era of Pandemic.’He raised the issues of relationship between international law and how a government should emerge in a sovereign State; reconciliation of Article 2(7) with the African Union (AU) and ECOWAS’requirement for good governance and non-constitutional change of government in Africa.

He noted that AU and ECOWAS sanctions against coupists in Mali, Guinea, Burkina Faso, Sudan, etc, have been to no avail.

Challenges for the NSIL Publicists Many challenges were identified in the various sessions but three of them were noteworthy: how to reverse the recidivist character of unconstitutional changes of government in Africa; self-determination, and secession. On unconstitutional change of government, Professor Akinterinwa noted that international law prohibits unconstitutional change of government by force and by manu militari, but silent on other non-forceful means of changing government. Article 4(p) of the 2000 Constitutive Act of the African Union (AU) requires the‘respect for the sanctity of human life, condemnation and rejection of impunity and political assassination, acts of terrorism and subversive activities.”

Unconstitutional change of government can be rightly considered as fallingundersubversiveactivities,andthereforeunlawfulandprohibited.

Additionally, he said, Protocol III on Peace and Security for All in Burundi requires all Burudian institutions to ensure the ‘protection of all the ethnic communities of the population through specific mechanisms for the prevention of coups d’état, segregation and genocide.’ In other words, the prevention of coups d’état is a condition sine qua non for public protection, which, along with safety, are a desideratum for sustaining non-tolerance of coup-making.

Read full article online - www.thisdaylive.com

“

THISDAY, THE SUNDAY NEWSPAPER FEBRUARY 20, 2022

66

ENGAGEMENTS

with ChidiAmuta e-mail:chidi.amuta@gmail.com

The APC After Buhari

T

he APC was birthed out of Gen. MuhammaduBuhari’sresilientappetite for presidential power. Its victory in the 2015 presidential election was a product of both his regional cultic followership and a nationwide rejection of Dr. Goodluck Jonathan’s bumbling presidency.

Seven years afterwards, Buhari’s appetite for apex power has been fulfilled and arguably squandered.

His pet nativist hegemonic project has come full cycle and overreached itself. And as he begins to gather his belongings to return to the pastoral anonymity of Daura, his APC vehicle now has an existential challenge: how does it survive in and of itself as a political party? How will it persist as a strategic national institution of democratic stability?

The 2023 presidential election holds the key to these questions. If the party prevails in the 2023 presidential election, it will become perhaps Mr. Buhari’s most enduring and consequential political legacy. If, on the contrary, it splinters in defeat as the general retreats home, it will be an addition to his already sagging luggage of deficit legacies. But even in a possible victory, the party is more likely to produce a president whose policies and methods will mostly depart markedly from Mr. Buhari’s conservative stop and slow ways. That also will be a polite repudiation of Mr. Buhari’s political legacy. So, between Mr. Buhari’s political legacy and the future of the APC, there is an umbilical link.

Even now on the eve of the party’s crucial pre-election convention, there is a palpable fear that it is headed into turbulent clouds. It could somehow tinker its way through the convention in spite its many nasty headaches and troubles.

But in whichever direction we look, the party is threatened by internal contradictions and gaping cracks that are difficult to paper over. But it definitely will ride through even more bumpy skies when it comes to selecting an electable presidential candidate. The processes leading up to 2023 will be the defining tests. And the reasons are many and lie embedded in the very origins of the party and the way it has managed itself as a party in itself, as a party in government and as a party in power since 2015.

Looking back, the coalition of parties that gave birth to the APC was an inconvenient marriage of political convenience. There was nothing in common between a pseudo social democratic ACN, an ultra conservative CPC, a nationalist right wing ANPP, an ethno nationalist APGA and a renegade opportunistic centrist NPDP. The cardinal objective was to cobble together a workable coalition to wrest power from the PDP after 16 monotonous years. The idea of a multiparty coalition eventually gave way to the even better idea of a single opposition party.

Mr. Buhari facilitated and galvanised the marriage. He provided the amalgamation with a presidential mascot albeit one with a national name recognition. He also came dressed in an untested mythic garb of leadership prowess, governance prudence, barrack discipline and a reasonable level of personal integrity. Above all, he had managed over the years to build up a huge cultic following among the northern mob of rough uneducated and unemployed youth and regional power fanatics. Part of the motor park fable around Mr. Buhari was the infantile notion that once elected president, he would jail all the corrupt former government officials, recover the ill-gotten wealth and redistribute same among the poor masses.

Thus was born a party tailored more towards wresting power from an effete incumbent than for the effective governance of a country in desperate need for responsible leadership. Given the tenacity of African power incumbents, the APC was more honed for the task of contesting the outcome of the 2015 presidential election possibly up to the Supreme Court. But when the results tumbled in mostly in its favour and Mr. Jonathan conceded defeat to Mr. Buhari, it was an overrated and unprepared APC that had to set up a government and ascend the pinnacle of national power.Victory came as a rude surprise with power as an unanticipated burden. Time has passed.

Buhari has fulfilled his long standing ambition of wearing the toga of president. It is now time for the party to take stock of its stewardship and contemplate its future.

With the benefit of hindsight, the emergence

Buhari of the APC reinforced Nigeria’s historic tendency towards a credible two party architecture.To that extent, it was a positive political outcome, one which promised a great dividend for Nigeria’s democracy. The new party came to power on the wave of expectations greater than its capacity and preparedness.

Even then, having successfully hounded the PDP out of power at the national level, the APC had two tasks. First, it had to develop into a party with a national membership, credible internal democratic structure and a definable ideology to anchor its policies on. It had a mandate to rule and to govern more creditably than the party it ousted.

Regrettably, however, the APC has not grown beyond the logic of its incoherent origins. It has turned out to be just merely a ballot paper alternative to the PDP. It has no ideological identity, no policy coherence, no record of sensible governance at the federal level and state levels.

Admittedly, an isolated number of APC ruled states (Kaduna and Lagos especially) have managed to show signs of some progressive policy direction and a bit of good governance. But the party has hardly tried to galvanize an effective grassroots membership to consolidate seven years of power dominance at the centre.

From the very top, the APC is an embarrassing ideological proposition. I doubt that from Mr. Buhari to the most mundane foot soldiers out there, that the word ideology ever comes up even in casual conversations. But as a political organisation, we need to dress up the APC and its leading lights in some ideological garb in order to make sense of their quarrels or at least give the party a reason to exist. As my friend George F. Will would insist, “We can dignify … disputes among small persons of little learning by connecting them with great debates about fundamental things.”

Let us therefore confront the ideological curiosity of the APC. Here is a so-called ‘progressive’ party led by an unabashed arch conservative in the person of president Buhari. This is one of the greatest ironies of recent political theory and history. Ordinarily, progressivism indicates a bias for social democracy in its dynamic context. It should signal a commitment to continuous social and economic democracy and change along progressive lines. Progressivism is decidedly partisan on the side of the masses while acknowledging the entrepreneurial class as an engine of growth and wealth creation. Instead, Nigeria’s “progressives” are a loose collection of free wheeling brief case capitalists, commission

agents and primitive accumulators.

The party is led by the diehard conservative Buhari. He may be sympathetic towards the plight of the masses who in any case constitute his electoral base but it ends there. He is an advocate of Medieval economics of controls and over regulation of nearly everything from domiciliation of government bank accounts to the distribution of fertilizers to peasants. Here is a president in the 21st century who is still passionately enamored of cattle colonies, ancient grazing routes, groundnut and rice pyramids, pastoral and subsistence agriculture. He remains compulsively nervous about information technology and the predominance of the social media.

For him, the youth are merely a tolerable multitude of irritating subjects who are lazy, want money for doing nothing and indulge in some phantom pastime called cyber consciousness. In his worldview, the state does not owe the teeming multitude of youth graduating from our institutions any jobs because he cannot manage to see the jobs in the huge work of national development.

In an age of globalisation and a borderless world, this conservative leader of Nigeria’s ‘progressive’ party believes in sporadically shutting the borders to pursue self- sufficiency instead of submitting the country’s huge productive capacities to the power of global competition.

For Buhari, the liberal democratic values of rule of law and equality before the law are tolerable irritations only made necessary by the dictates of democracy. Otherwise, he would clamp those perceived as corrupt into jail and throw away the keys. For this leader, the nation spans outwards from his native Daura to the former Northern Nigeria and out towards the rest of the country in measured trickles of patronage depending on how much vote each zone gave him!

Yet in the same party with Mr. Buhari, we have a smattering of some genuine social democrats, left leaning populists as well as some pragmatic idealists and radical anarchists. In Buhari’s party, we encounter the likes of Vice President Yemi Osinbajo who consistently and consciously strikes a progressive pragmatic note. There is Nasir ElRufai, a progressive radical reformist, Rotimi Amaechi, a radical leftish social democrat. There is Bola Tinubu, a friend of the left who is at best a left of centre liberal democrat and voracious capitalist. Of course there are rhetorical leftists like Adams Oshiomhole, Festus Keyamo and a few others. The APC also contains quaint specimens of ideological homelessness and comic fringe elements like Rochas Okorocha, Yahaya Bello and numerous upstarts of no specific nomenclature.

Otherwise, there is no distinction between the APC and the PDP or indeed any other political gang up that exists in the nation today.

In spite of its nationalist pretensions, there is a sense in which the APC has not outgrown the limitations of its fractious and factional origins.

Its soul is still tormented by the pangs of its difficult birth. In good times, the factions wear a semblance of national unity and cohesion. In times of crisis like now, they scamper homewards towards the comfort of their respective ethnic and regional birth places.

The APC as the party in government elicits mixed reactions from Nigerians. There are too many Nigerians who have concluded that the APC federal government under Mr. Buhari has been an epic disaster. They are likely to point to the unacceptable level of insecurity, mounting corruption, the decay and collapse of major institutions of state and the near wholesale collapse of the state itself. For a political party to preside over such monumental ruin and call it the architecture of progress is one of the greatest abuses of political language in recent Nigerian history.

Of course, it is not all negative for Buhari and the APC. The economy has just been reported as having grown by a surprising 3.4% in the last few months against a background of unprecedented poverty and misery among the majority of our people. Diehard Buhari devotees are likely to regale us with rhetorical flourishes and lavish Power Point presentations and holograms on the progress made under Buhari. But the negative statistics are too stark: the abysmal exchange rate, the frightening crime rate, the mass misery, and the democratization of despair as the commonest commodity in free distribution. Not to talk of the health of our polity. Not even in the time of the civil war has the nation been this sharply divided.

No one can deny the kilometres of new railroads and that lead between major centres of our population including to far away Maradi in Niger Republic! Others will point to the Second Niger Bridge at Onitsha, initiated by previous regimes and still uncompleted but already named after Mr. Buhari! There are highways in different parts of the country being rehabilitated.

It is accountability hour. Ordinarily, a democracy should call an incumbent government to account at election time. The APC now has to defend its incumbency and also survive as a party. Above its bad internal conflicts, the party has to struggle to produce an electable presidential candidate from among its rowdy school of rampaging equals. It has to unshackle itself from being just Mr. Buhari’s creaky vehicle of sectional hegemony to become a mechanism for national recovery through the successor president it chooses.

In its present state, leadership in the APC remains along a vertical top- to- bottom axis. Power and authority are still flowing down from Buhari and his overbearing surrogates. This will only hold for as long as Buhari’s incumbency remains in tact. But from the middle of this year when the president becomes a de facto lame duck, I doubt that anyone in the APC will bother with his leadership in party matters, including his suggestions on who succeeds him.

Presidential aspirants who are placing so much value on Buhari’s support may be in for a rude shock. There is nothing in the president’s political method that assures anyone that he will champion any cause other than his own.

He has never gone out of his way to stoutly defend the interests of his party or supporters in places and moments when it mattered most. Under his watch, in the run up to the 2019 elections, factions of the APC litigated the party out of the ballot in both Rivers and Zamfara states.

Once he unleashes his political lieutenants to quit government and go into the field to contest elections by mid year, a horde of political hounds will escape from the cage. Power and leadership will be dispersed along a horizontal plane into a vicious contest among political equals. The APC presidential ticket scramble is going to be a scramble among politicians with almost equal stature and mutually cancelling weaknesses and advantages. But whoever emerges will carry the burden of an unimpressive record of achievements.

(See concluding part on www.thisdaylive.com)

67

THISDAY, THE SUNDAY NEWSPAPER FEBRUARY 20, 2022

Edited by: Ejiofor Alike

The Week in Review...

The Week in Review...

:DQWHG ¶6XSHU&RS· $EED .\DUL Four Others in Drug Mess One of the major highlights of last week was the arrest and detention of the suspended Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), Abba Kyari, over drug dealing last Monday.

Few hours after he was declared wanted by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) over involvement in a cocaine deal, Kyari was on Monday handed over by the police to the anti-narcotics

agency.

Kyari had solved many criminal cases and was until recently among the most celebrated police o΀cers in the country. But he found himself in troubled waters when he was associated with Hushpuppi’s cybercrime case. An American court ordered his deportation to the United States to be prosecuted along with Abbas Ramon, alias Hushpuppi, a

request the Nigerian government was yet to respond to.

A statement by the spokesman of NDLEA, Mr. Femi Babafemi, disclosed that the police handed over the erstwhile Commander of Intelligence Response Team (IRT) at the Force Intelligence Bureau of the Nigeria Police to the drug law enforcement agency. Babafemi also disclosed that alongside Kyari, four other suspects in the matter, namely,

REACHING TO THE YOUTHS… L-R: Deputy Speaker of Imo State House of Assembly, Hon. Amarachi Iwuanyanwu; Governor Hope Uzodimma; and the Governor’s Special Adviser on Social Media Influence, Mr. Paschal Okechukwu, at the Imo Hope for Valentine Concert where 2,700 students received Smart phones at the Admiral Ndubuisi Square Owerri...yesterday

Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Sunday Ubua Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Bawa -ames Inspector Simon Agirgba and Inspector -ohn Nuhu, were driven into the headquarters of NDLEA in Abuja about 5pm yesterday and formally hand them over for interrogation and further investigation.

The NDLEA spokesman stated, “The agency wishes to assure that no stone will be left unturned to ensure that all suspects already in custody and those that may still be indicted in the course of investigation will face the full weight of the law at the end of the on-going probe.”

Earlier, NDLEA had declared the suspended Kyari wanted for running a drug cartel.

Addressing a press conference in Abuja, last Monday, where he equally presented video evidence showing the culpability of Kyari in illicit drug business, Babafemi said though the war by the present administration of President Muhammadu Buhari against drug was uncompromising, “unfortunately, some law enforcement agents who should be partners in the pursuit of the president’s mandate are at the forefront of breaking the law, as they aid and abet drug tra΀cking in the country.

ASUU Begins Four-week Warning Strike Nationwide

Aregbesola Tears into Tinubu, Accuses Him of Playing God

The Academic StaͿ Union of Universities (ASUU) also commenced a four-week nationwide strike during the week under review.

ASUU announced the strike on Monday after a long meeting that started on Sunday evening at the University of Lagos (UNILAG).

The President of the union, Prof. Emmanuel Victor Osodeke said the industrial action was “comprehensive and total”.

Addressing journalists at Tayo Aderinokun auditorium at the University of Lagos (UNILAG), Akoka, Osodeke listed, as reasons for the strike, the government’s failure to implement the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) and Memorandum of Action (MoA) signed between the union and the government the government’s poor commitment to the payment of academic earned allowance (EAA) the continued use of the Integrated Personnel Payroll Information System and refusal to adopt the Universities Transparency and Accountability Solution (UTAS), and proliferation of the universities in the country.

Another major development of the week was the attack by the Minister of Interior, Mr. Rauf Aregbesola, on his estranged godfather and National Leader of All Progressives Congress (APC), Senator Bola Tinubu.

Aregbesola on Monday, tore violently into Tinubu and told him that the same treatment meted out to a former Lagos State governor, Akinwunmi Ambode, which foreclosed his re-election bid in 2019, would be administered on his brother and Governor of Osun State, Gboyega Oyetola.

The minister, who spoke in Ijebu Ijesa, Osun State, while addressing party faithful and stakeholders in the state ahead of the All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship primary, was reportedly attacked by some suspected thugs, during a roadshow in Osogbo, Osun State capital.

House Moves against Aregbesola

APC Govs Divided over National Convention, Choice of Consensus

Barely 48 hours after the Minister of Interior, Mr. Rauf Aregbesola attacked the National Leader of All Progressives Congress (APC), Senator Bola Tinubu, the House of Representatives at the plenary, on Wednesday mandated its Committee on Reformatory Institutions to investigate the deteriorating conditions of staff and inmates of the Nigerian Correctional Service (NCoS).

NCoS is under Aregbesola’s ministry and the probe was seen as retaliation by Tinubu’s loyalists within the leadership of the House against the minister.

The lawmakers argued that the deplorable state of the service did not tally with the N165 billion budget allocated to the agency in the last two years.

The House also observed that the Arms Squad of the Service still parades obsolete and substandard weapons, in spite of over N1 billion budget provision for Prison Biometrics, Arms and Ammunition in the 2020 2021 Capital budget, impeding its ability to detect, prevent or respond effectively to both internal and external threats.

It also emerged on Wednesday that the forthcoming convention of the All Progressive Congress (APC) has split governors elected under the political party into three diͿerent groups.

THISDAY reported that while the group of second term governors wanted the convention to hold as planned and were assiduously working towards settling for a candidate the second group which is made up of mainly Àrst term governors wanted the convention postponed and a mechanism to return the Governor Mai Mala Buni-led Caretaker Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee designed so that Buni can continue. On the other hand, a third group of governors also want the convention to hold, and for Buni to continue or the convention postponed.

(PHÀHOH 7DUJHWV ,QFUHDVH LQ $JULFXOWXUH )XQGLQJ E\ Of note in the week under review was the prediction by the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr. Godwin EmeÀele, that the agricultural sector would witness 10 per cent increase in credit over the next two years.

EmeÀele also said about $2 billion out of about $2.5 billion, earmarked for key initiatives

in the manufacturing, mining and agriculture, services sectors had been disbursed to over three million farmers cultivating over 4.7 million hectares of arable land in the 36 States and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) under the Anchors Borrowers’ Programme (ABP).

Speaking at a dinner session with the board of the United Bank for Africa (UBA) in Abuja,

he noted that over 80 per cent of the fund was targeted at the agricultural sector.

Also, the Chairman, UBA Group, Mr. Tony Elumelu, revealed that the private sector coalition has put together the sum of N100 billion to help Àght insecurity and boost the capacity of security agencies, to be able to deal with the issues challenges facing the country.

1LJHULD 0LVVLQJ DV (8 3ODQV EQ 7UDQVSRUW Network, Other Projects across Africa The European Union (EU) was also reported to be working on a И20 billion ($22.7 billion) Ànancing package to support African transport networks, as well as energy, digital, education and health projects to counter China’s reach in the continent.

Member states, a Bloomberg report disclosed, however, have yet to commit to Ànancing the infrastructure plans, according to o΀cials familiar with the discussions.

The bloc’s plan includes strategic corridors, international submarine cables, new energy interconnections, and investments in renewable sources in Senegal, Cote d’Ivoire, Egypt, Morocco and Kenya, according to a draft of the package seen by Bloomberg.

But Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation and the biggest economy on the continent, was missing on the list of countries to directly beneÀt from the move, THISDAY observed.

Last year, President Muhammadu Buhari said Nigeria’s low share of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) Áow to Africa between 2015 and 2019 was a cause for concern. Buhari, who spoke at a retreat organised by the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) in Uyo, the Akwa Ibom State capital, described the situation as unacceptable.

Despite having the biggest economy in Africa, Nigeria only received four per cent, which was about $3 billion of the $75 billion invested in the continent in the Àrst term of Buhari’s administration.

0DVVLYH 2LO 7KHIW +LJK 3LSHOLQH 5HSDLUV Cost, Bleeding Nigeria’s Economy There was also a report that a combination of huge oil pipeline repairs cost and a high-level crude oil theft were bleeding the Nigerian economy, with losses amounting to at least $29 billion in the last six years, spanning 2015 to 2021.

In February last year, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited disclosed that the country lost an average of 200,000 barrels per day of its crude oil production to saboteurs and illegal pilfering by criminals. At the time, the national oil company’s Group Managing Director, Mallam Mele Kyari, had said, “We have two sets of losses, one coming from our products and the other coming from crude oil. In terms of crude losses, it is still going on. On average, we are losing 200,000 bpd.” Kyari said this in Abuja during a meeting with Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), General Lucky Irabor, to discuss collaborative efforts to curb the menace.

The amount, as revealed by Kyari, excluded NNPC’s intermittent contracts for the rehabilitation of its downstream facilities, ranging from critical pipelines to depots and terminals, and the Build, Operate and Transfer (BOT) financing model, of which 96 companies from various jurisdictions indicated interest in 2021.

Buhari Accuses N’Assembly of ,QVHUWLQJ 1 EQ LQWR EXGJHW President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday criticised the National Assembly for removing crucial projects from the 2022 budget estimates sent to it by the executive and inserting the lawmakers’ projects to the tune of N887 billion in the Àscal document before it was signed into law.

He also accused the federal lawmakers of making unnecessary incursion into the operational areas of the executive.

This was just as the president asked the National Assembly to amend the 2022 Appropriation Act passed by the National Assembly in December, 2021.

The requests were contained in a letter dated February 10, 2022, and read during plenary by the Senate President, Ahmad Lawan.

Buhari in the letter, he also said it was imperative to remove all capital projects that were replicated in the 2022 Appropriation Act. He lamented that 139 out of the 254 projects in the budget totaling N13.24 billion had been identiÀed for deletion.

$W LQ 1LJHULD·V (FRQRP\ 5HFRUGHG +LJKHVW *'3 *URZWK LQ (LJKW <HDUV Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew by 3.40 per cent in 2021, the highest since 2014, when the economy grew by 6.22 per cent, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) disclosed Thursday.

According to the National GDP 44 report released by the NBS, the expansion in economic activities was majorly driven by the non-oil sector.

The report also revealed that the country’s GDP grew by 3.98 per cent (year-on-year) in real terms in the fourth quarter of last year (44 2021), lower than the 4.03 per cent recorded in the preceding quarter.

The performance indicated a sustained positive growth for five consecutive quarters since the recession witnessed in 2020, when output contracted by 6.10 per cent and 3.62 per cent respectively in the 42 and 43 of 2020 under the COVID-19 pandemic.

T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R ˾ FEBRUARY 20, 2022

68

NEWS

News Editor: Gboyega Akinsanmi E-mail: gboyega.akinsanmi@thisdaylive.com,08152359253

Kenyan High Commissioner Collapses, Dies after Lunch in Abuja Michael Olugbode in Abuja Kenya’s High Commissioner to Nigeria, Mr. Wilfred Gisuka Machage, died yesterday in Abuja.

Machage, 65, was said to have collapsed and died at

his home.

According to agency reports, the deceased envoy’s twin brother, Sospeter Magita, who is also a former Kenya Ambassador to Russia revealed on phone that Gisuka died after taking lunch.

Law Professor Faults ASUU’s Withdrawal of Pantami’s Professorial Rank Alex Enumah in Abuja A Professor of Industrial and Commercial Law at the University of Lagos, Joe Abugu (SAN), has faulted the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) over its stance on the conferment of professorial status on the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr. Isa Ali Pantami, by the Federal University of Technology, Owerri (FUTO)

The National Executive Committee of ASUU had set aside the findings by its FUTO chapter which had endorsed the procedure for the conferment of the professorial rank.

In a position paper titled: ‘Of University Autonomy, Meddlesomeness of ASUU and its War Against Prof. Ibrahim Isa Pantami,’ Abugu argued that the local chapter of ASUU did an excellent job in reminding the public that FUTO duly advertised the vacant positions in credible national dailies, and when Pantami applied, the relevant bodies vetted his credentials and gave him the appointment on merit.

He argued further that all over the world and in Nigeria as well, there are no strict general rules guiding the procedure for professorial appointment, which all universities in a country must obey.

According to him, each institu-

tions of learning sets its own rules, adding that the vice chancellor also has certain discretionary powers to use when necessary.

Quoting relevant laws guiding the operations of trade unions like ASUU and universities like FUTO, the senior lawyer said further that there is even nowhere in the statute books where ASUU is mentioned as an important decision or opinion making body in the procedure of appointing university professors.

“By Section 3 of the Federal Universities of Technology Act 1993, the university shall have power to inter alia institute professorships, readerships or associate professorships, lectureships, and other posts and offices and to make appointments thereto; and by Section 6, the council shall be the governing body of the university and shall be charged with the general control and superintendence of the policy, finances and property of the university. It is clear therefore, that ASUU has no power to institute or confer professorship. It is noteworthy that the University Council comprises two representatives of the congregation of teachers. While the Congregation is the body of academics in the University, it is not synonymous with ASUU. It can be taken for granted though that through these representatives of congregation, ASUU may have a voice in the conferment of professorships but not ASUU as a union.

Nigeria Begins Intervention Passport Process for Resident in Germany Segun Awofadeji in Bauchi Nigeria’s Ambassador to Germany, Yusuf Maitama Tuggar, has inaugurated a novel issuance and re-issuance of Nigerian passports in the German city of Cologne.

According to a statement from the Nigerian Embassy in Germany, the initiative came on the heels of the immense difficulties faced

by Nigerian residents in Germany.

The event, according to the statement made available to journalists in Bauchi yesterday, the initiative will be done periodically to reduce the number of Nigerians resident in Germany seeking new passports or re-issuances.

The passport intervention had 150 children in attendance with multitudes of adults who trooped to the Embassy in order to be part of the epoch making event.

The statement contained that, ‘the intervention which is the

first of its kind was an impactful medium to save applicants the inconvenience of travelling to Berlin and Frankfurt to renew their passports, their plans by the Nigerian Embassy in Germany to also take the initiative to other German cities’.

The Ambassador added that, “No Nigerian citizen in Germany in need of a passport should be without one.”

The intervention also derailed a planned protest by some groups, as many of the members planned to be recruited left for the passport intervention.

Ambassador Tuggar who is in his second term as envoy was first appointed in August 2017

by President Muhammadu Buhari.

During his tenure , he has played a key role in attracting investments to Nigeria and most importantly he was instrumental in the success of the 23rd session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change

Magita said his brother, Gisuka had enjoyed relatively good health, but lamented that: “It is a very sad moment that I have today lost my best friend and confidant.”

He further revealed that his brother died while in the company of his wife whom he had been living together with in Nigeria.

Machage, a former senator, was appointed as ambassador

by President Uhuru Kenyatta in January 2018.

He was first elected into Parliament in 2002, representing Kuria constituency. He was re-elected in 2007 on a Democratic Party ticket.

Machage also served as Migori County Senator from 2013-2017.

He had previously held the East African Community Affairs docket as cabinet minister and Assistant Minister

of Home Affairs in the Office of the Vice President.

A statement by Kenya’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced the sudden death of Machage, Machage was also the accredited ambassador of his country to 12 other countries in Central and Western Africa.

The statement revealed that Ambassador Machage collapsed at home and was pronounced dead at hospital

shortly thereafter at around 12.30pm on yesterday in Abuja.

The statement also revealed that his wife was with him when this unfortunate incident happened.

Confirming the passing of Ambassador Machage, the Principal Secretary, Ambassador Macharia Kamau, said the ministry and the country have lost a dedicated and committed leader.

TEST OF STRENGTH …

L-R: Kwara State Governor and Head of Seven-man Primary Election Supervision Team, Mr. AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq; his Osun State counterpart and an aspirant of the All Progressives Congress in the state election, Mr. Gboyega Oyetola; his wife, Kafayat; and others, at Saint Peter’s Primary School, Ward 1 Unit 2-7, Oloti area, Iragbiji, Osun State…yesterday

Osinbajo, A Good Presidential Material, Say Bayelsa Traditional Rulers The Bayelsa Traditional Rulers Council has said Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has the potential to be a good president.

King Malla Sasime, Vice Chairman, Bayelsa Traditional Rulers Council, expressed this view while receiving Osinbajo who paid a courtesy call on traditional rulers at the Bayelsa Traditional Rulers Council Secretariat on Saturday in Yenagoa.

Osinbajo was in Bayelsa to perform the groundbreaking of the construction of Angiama-Oporoma

Bridge, which will link Yenagoa, Capital of Bayelsa, and the Southern Ijaw Local Government Area.

The traditional ruler thanked Osinbajo for the visit and implored him to maintain the cordial relationship with the state.

“Vice President, your name has been called for very good reasons; and the reason why your name has been on is maybe people think that you have been very good and we appreciate your efforts in governance.

“If you come out for president, you will be a good material as those

rumours are all over the place in the social media.

“So, we thank you for being a good vice president; we hope that you keep your relationship with Bayelsa in very good stead; thank you very much,’’ he said.

Responding, Osinbajo, who was accompanied by Gov. Douye Diri, thanked Sasime for his kind welcome and reception.

He said that he was in the state to identify with developmental projects of the governor in collaboration with the federal government.

“As you have heard, I am here at the invitation of my brother, the Governor of Bayelsa, to celebrate the second year anniversary of his government and also to look at some of the works that are going as well as perform the groundbreaking of a very important project.

“We will be driving in a few minutes on the Yenagoa-OporomaUkubie road; and thereafter, we will be performing the groundbreaking of the Angiama-Oporoma Bridge–which are very crucial projects.

Group Decries Burning of Churches, Mosques During Unrest Say 25,000 Mosques, 13,000 Churches were destroyed Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja A joint Christian and Muslim group under the auspices of the Interfaith Dialogue Forum for Peace (IDFP) has decried incessant destruction and desecration of religious buildings and holy sites during conflicts across the country.

Co-Chairman of the group, Alhaji Kunle Ishaq, said during a meeting of the group in Abuja

sthat about 13,000 churches and 25,000 mosques had been destroyed or partly damaged as at the last count The workshop on Protection of Holy sites organized by (IDFP) was organised in collaboration with the King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz International Centre for Interreligious and Intercultural Dialogue (KAICIID).

Ishaq noted that both Chris-

tian and Muslim communities are facing the problems of incessant killings, maiming and general insecurity in the country which has cascaded to the destruction of places of worship with the people inside them adding that some bad elements do not care if the whole world go into flames.

He said, “The real Muslims and Christians are now joining to protect these monuments

adding that in so many areas like Kaduna, Kano and Maiduguri, Muslims go to churches to ensure that churches are not burnt just as Christians do same to their Muslim counterparts. We are succeeding in allowing Muslims know that Christians are their brothers, we are succeeding in allowing Christians know that Muslims are not their enemies. We need to protect our holy places. “

Oba Afolabi, Alapomu of Apomu Marks Two Years on Throne Oba Kayode Adenekan Afolabi,the Alapomu of Apomu will be celebrating second coronation anniversary on February 24, at the Palace Hall, Apomu.

In a press statement signed

by Engr Abbas Soliu, President, Apomu Descendants Union (ADU), programmes have been designed to mark the occasion.

He said some of the activities include a “colloquium on Apomu

in Yoruba History, meant to explore the critical roles Apomu played as an economic hub in the old Yorubaland, a documentaryto chroniclethedevelopmentofApomu, book presentation and fund-raising for the completion of the ultramodern Palace “ Abbas also talked about the contributions of ObaAfolabi andADU to the development ofApomu. He said themonarchwiththesupportofsome

Apomu indigenes has installed over 200 solar lights in different locations of the town.”

ThesecurityarchitectureofApomuland has been deeply re- engineered to enhance the safety of life and property.

Recently Oba Afolabi was honoured by Osun state Commissioner of Police in recognition of his innovative and unrelenting efforts at supporting the security

personnel in the state.”

Apart from the police, Oba Afolabi has attracted Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) outpost to Apomu.

According to the statement, ADU has supported the take- off of FRSC activities by refurbishing an old operational FRSC vehicle and provision of a 40-feet container at Apomu junction

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T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R ˾ FEBRUARY 20, 2022

NEWSXTRA Osinbajo Seeks Sanctions for Incessant Court Adjournments, Delays Deji Elumoye in Abuja Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has called for stricter sanctions “by a more intentional regime for the award of adverse and wasted costs” for delays and adjournment in court cases in Nigeria.

Osinbajo disclosed this at the weekend at the 20th annual memorial anniversary symposium in honour of legal practitioner, Mr. Bankole Olumide Aluko (SAN).

He, however, said the challenges affecting the administration of justice in Nigeria were being addressed, adding that there was much hope for the positive reform of the system as more result-oriented work was going on, while some real changes were expected.

Speaking on the impact of the law on democracy, the vice president noted that the democratic rights of the people and their

confidence in the notion of a government of the people, by the people, for the people, suffers when the system of electoral justice fails to see itself as a handmaid of the democratic process.

Citing the decision of the Supreme Court in the 2019 elections in Zamfara State to buttress his point, he said that to make sense, judicial decisions and reasoning must in most cases meet the common notions of fairness and justice.

According to him, “the court is a taxpayer-funded public resource. The wasting or abuse of its finite time and resources without strict consequence will eventually discredit the system.

Adverse costs are paid to the successful party in a civil case and wasted costs are directed against legal practitioners for poor professional standards in the conduct of a case. Severe costs

Anyim Fit for Higher Office, Say Buhari, Jonathan President Muhammadu Buhari has described former Senate President, Anyim Pius Anyim, as one fit for higher responsibilities if given the opportunity. Buhari noted that Anyim, who was also at a time Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), displayed uncommon leadership qualities while in office. President Buhari’s position was echoed by former President Goodluck Jonathan, who said he never received any negative reports on Anyim while the former served as SGF under his administration.

Buhari and Jonathan spoke separately in Abuja yesterday at a political event organised to mark Anyim’s 61 birthday. In a goodwill message, President Buhari, who was represented by the SGF, Boss Mustapha, said Anyim has got what it takes to be entrusted with higher responsibilities in the future. Anyim is one of the aspirants seeking the presidential ticket of the Peoples

Democratic Party (PDP) for the 2023 elections.

Describing the PDP presidential aspirant as a humble leader who saw the entire country as single constituency, the President added that Anyim rose to the challenges of leadership by putting the nation first. Buhari said: “Senator PiusAnyim is a patriotic Nigerian who always puts his nation first and he is one of the stabilising voices we have today in the politics of our country.”

On his part, Jonathan described Anyim as a unique leader who never allowed the trappings of office to get into his head. The former President observed that the sheer number of personalities that gathered to honour Anyim at the event was an indication of the trust Nigerians reposed in him, even years after leaving office as SGF. Jonathan said: “Having served in that position (SGF) for the period, I know he is fully baked and I didn’t receive too many complaints.”

Former Ghana President, Gowon to Attend Awolowo Posthumous Birthday Lecture As part of activities lined up to mark the 30th anniversary of its establishment, The Obafemi Awolowo Foundation, will hold a public lecture on Sunday, March 6, 2022, to celebrate the Sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo’s posthumous birthday.

The lecture, which will appraise the key values needed for the advancement of the African continent, will be chaired by former President of the Republic of Ghana, John Dramani Mahama, with former Head of State, General Yakubu Gowon (rtd.) as Special Guest of Honour.

According to the Executive Director of the Foundation, Ambassador (Dr.) Olatokunbo Awolowo Dosumu, in a statement on Saturday, the posthumous lecture, entitled, ‘Values for Africa’s Development’, will be delivered by Rt. Reverend (Professor) Adedapo Aoaju, scholar and former Vice Chancellor of Ajayi Crowther University.

The event which will be conducted virtually via Zoom (Meeting: ID 851 0178 9100; Passcode: 942711) at 6.00pm, will be anchored by Professor

Banji Oyelaran-Oyeyinka, Senior Special Adviser on Industrialisation to the President of the African Development Bank (AfDB) and Professorial Fellow, United Nations University.

Dr. Awolowo Dosumu explained that while several activities have been planned to celebrate the momentous occasion, the “...aim is to use these events to review our journey so far, in terms of faithfulness to our mission and desired impact, and to reflect on our present realities in order to appropriately prepare for the journey ahead.”

Explaining further on how the foundation has successfully carried on the promoting the legacy of the Sage, the former ambassador to The Netherlands revealed that, “the Foundation has, over the years, guarded its independence, non-partisanship and commitment to the promotion of a socially-edifying interaction between policy and scholarship, most jealously.

We are convinced that Chief Awolowo translated from a partisan politician to a universal ideal the moment he departed from this mortal realm.

should attend adjournments, there is no greater waste of taxpayer’s funds than for a scheduled case to have to be adjourned. It is only heavy costs that will discourage this malfeasance.

“The system of justice must recognise the larger principles that it serves. In judicial interpretation, the spirit is as important as the letter of the law. Otherwise, judicial decisions become technistic

applications far removed from common sense. The notions of justice that would meet public expectations of fairness and equity are those that promote substance over form. The observance of technicality over merit will always alienate the system of justice from the people it is meant to serve.”

On expectations from judicial officers, Osinbajo said while the best is expected from judicial of-

ficers, the nation must equally ensure that the conditions under which they operate are not only befitting but are good enough to attract the best of minds in the profession.

In addition, the vice president said the institution and infrastructure remain the key to reforming the system, stating that the judge is, of course, central to how our system of justice works.

Commenting on the process for judicial appointments, the vice president stressed that the robustness and transparency of the processes in other jurisdictions provide comfort to the candidates of the fairness of the selection process; and enable the public to have front-row seat in some of these processes, arguing that such a process be replicated in Nigeria.

CAPACITY-BUILDING GUIDE …

L-R: Representative of ICRC, Mr. Pietro Tilli; Commissioner of Police, Mr. Abduyari Lafia; former Assistant Inspector General of Police, Mr. Austin Iwar; Deputy Inspector General of Police, Mr. Dan-Mallam Mohammed; National Programme Manager of RoLAC, Danladi Plang, at the presentation of new Standards of Practice on Custody Management and Investigations, at the Force Headquarters in Abuja…yesterday Kingsely Adeboye

Unilorin Alumni NEC Warn Durosaro, Others against Convening Meeting The National Executive Committee (NEC) of the University of Ilorin Alumni Association, has warned a faction of the alumni, led by Prof.

D.O. Durosaro from proceeding with a planned meeting of the association slated for February 19, 2022.

The NEC in a statement advised the faction to comply with a court order restraining them from going ahead with the meeting scheduled to hold at Savannah Hotel ( along Ajase Ipo road) Ilorin.

The statement signed by the National Publicity Secretary University of Ilorin Alumni As-

sociation, Yeye Bolanle Olatunde, also called on “all the statutory members of the National Executive Council to stay away from the unconstitutional meeting.”

The statement accused a chapter of the association of “working round the clock to abruptly truncate the tenure of the Executive Committee and install their cronies through unconstitutional means.”

The current Executive led by Dr. S.O Fasakin was elected on March 7, 2020. However, Durosaro and some past presidents of the association comprising Mr. J.J. Olorunfemi, Mr. Abdul

Fatai Bello, Prof. Is-haq Oloyede, and Prof A.Y. Abdulkareem .

Prof Jeleel O. Ojuade are being accused of planning an illegal and unconstitutional National Executive Council meeting for February 19, 2022.

The statement noted that in order to stop the faction from convening the planned illegal and unconstitutional National Executive Council meeting, “we, the members of the National Executive Committee have approached the High Court of Kwara State vide Originating Summons in suit No:KWS/66/2022 between Dr. Stephen Fasakin & 6 Ors v.

Prof. D. O. Durosaro & 4 Ors. “We also filed Ex parte application and motion on notice seeking for Court’s order restraining the respondents from convening the National Executive Council meeting scheduled to hold on February 19, 2022”, the statement read in part.

Olatunde argued that since court papers had been served on some of the parties including Durosaro, he believes that “Prof.

Durosaro will not proceed with the illegal Council meeting except he has no respect for the rule of law having been served with the processes”.

Agreements with Twitter Not Censorship, Says FG The federal government says the agreements it reached with Twitter to resume operations in the country were not meant to censor the microblogging site and other social media platforms in general.

The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, who stated this yesterday, added that the agreement, to be extended to other social media platforms operating in the country, would ensure that only wholesome content were published by

the platforms.

The minister was speaking on “Radio Link’’, a phone-in programme of the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN) monitored by the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).

He reiterated the resolve of the government to regulate the social media in a manner that would not stifle the freedom of speech and expression, as well as strangulate the media.

“We are going to regulate the social media not because we want

to stifle the media or we want to violate the right of expression.

“We want to ensure that only wholesome contents were available on the social media.

“Recently we were all shocked when an 18-year old boy, accused of killing his 21-year old girlfriend for money rituals, confessed that he leant the diabolical act on social media.

“The teenager, in collaboration with his friends, cut off the head of the victim and were burning it in a pot when they were ap-

prehended.

“The government has the responsibility to ensure that social media platforms were responsible and the contents they displayed were not harmful to young people, as well as the unity of the country,’’ he said.

On the other agreements reached with Twitter, which the minister said would be applicable to other online platforms, the micro blogging site had agreed to open its Nigeria office within the first quarter of the 2022.

OPGAN Partners Critical Stakeholders on Mapping, Geo-Clustering Sunday Ehigiator Oil Palm Growers Association of Nigeria (OPGAN) has said it is working with critical stakeholders to invest in mapping and creating geo-clusters across the states in order to build and develop a sustainable cooperatives among its members.

The association said it was in the forefront of revamping the oil palm ecosystem in the country, seeking funding for optimisation and development of the sector.

OPGAN President, Mr. Joe Onyiuke, who disclosed this at

the Executive Meeting of the association at National Institute for Oil Palm Research (NIFOR) in Benin City noted that the group was working with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Bank of Industry (BoI), and a number of other development finance institutions (DFIs) with a view to attracting the much-needed funding the grow and boost farm production and yield, repopulating or replacing the old trees with high yielding Tenera species developed by NIFOR. “Our members now have direct link to get supply of high

yielding Tenera seedlings from NIFOR thereby cutting off the unscrupulous middle men that have adulterated the market for a very long time in the past. We now have quality extension services and training from NIFOR unlike what use to happen in the past,” he said.

Besides, the President disclosed the association’s plan to embark on road show across the states “in order to show Nigerians to return back to oil palm production in order to change our lives for good.”

“All civil servants are advised to join OPGAN and develop their own

plantations as the surest retirement plan with 150 per cent guarantee for better life after service,” he enjoined.

Meanwhile, Onyiuke enthused that OPGAN, which the present EXCOs took over about a year with a clean slate, now has a befitting national headquarters in Maitama, Abuja and also set up of computerised state chapter offices in the 27 States of the federation, where the association operates.

“OPGAN have been able to expand the Oil Palm Belt States of the country from the traditional 24 to 27 States.”

ͺ͸˜ ͺ͸ͺͺ ˾ T H I S DAY, T H E S U N DAY N E W S PA P E R

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B AC K PAG E C O N T I N UAT I O N GREAT JOB, MARWA, BUT WATCH YOUR BACK move on the part of Abacha, but, amazingly, Marwa became the darling of Lagosians. The state had been gripped by insecurity, with armed robbers roaming freely, audaciously knocking on the doors of residents and seizing their belongings without let or hinderance. Marwa introduced Operation Sweep, a joint military patrol, and the pervasive insecurity was quickly brought under control. Although the soldiers were also widely accused of extra-judicial execution of suspects, the consensus was that Lagos was a much safer place under Marwa.

Not to forget how he tackled the “area boys” menace: taking them off the streets, rehabilitating them and making them undergo entrepreneurial training. Many of them became artisans and factory hands. Some went into small-scale businesses and I recall once eating what we called “area boys’ bread”. Many were engaged by the state’s direct labour agency and deployed in the reconstruction of the Mile 2-Ikorodu road, although you wouldn’t compare the quality with Julius Berger’s. Unfortunately, the rehabilitation of area boys did not endure as Nigeria transited to civil rule and the street urchins came back in full force till this day, primarily for the purpose of elections.

Lagosians celebrated Marwa for the massive reconstruction and rehabilitation of roads, coming on the heels of years of neglect blamed on lack of bitumen by the previous administrator. Marwa not only sourced for the elusive bitumen, he set up a factory to produce the hydrocarbon.

Armed with two postgraduate degrees — Master

of Public and International Affairs from the University of Pittsburgh (1983-85) and Master of Public Administration from the Harvard Kennedy School (1985-86) — and demonstrating a high emotional intelligence governing what was thought to be enemy’s territory, he did much in his three years to contribute a decent quota to the state’s development.

Having said all these beautiful things about Marwa’s impressive output as NDLEA chairman and his record of competence, I now need to throw in a word of caution: General, watch your back. Going after Kyari and his alleged cohorts may be desirable and commendable as Marwa seems determined to ensure that there are no sacred cows, but I hope the powers that be will not end up making a mincemeat of the NDLEA chairman. There has been an established pattern under the Buhari administration since 2019: many of those working extra time to fight the rot in the system end up in the trashcan.

The evidence is too damning for any change enthusiast to ignore or downplay.

The latest victim is Ms Hadiza Bala Usman, who has just been officially removed as the MD of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA). While on duty, she put up a spirited fight against many enemies of Nigeria’s progress — the entrenched interests working round-the-clock to foist fraudulent agreements on Nigeria, to pillage the national treasury without remorse.

She courageously refused to take the easiest way out; that is, play ball. She needed all the political backing she could get as she was

being bullied and battered. Rather, she was mercilessly flung out of the window. That is her reward. But she should still be thankful that the trumped-up allegation of fraud was thrown out.

Before Hadiza, there was Ms Yewande Sadiku.

She also tasted the bitter pills of pushback by the forces holding Nigeria hostage. Their parish at the Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission (NIPC) tried to wrestle her to the ground, but she gave them a bloodied nose — in the absence of political backing from a government preaching “change”. The enemies of progress fought back in equal measure, adopting the usual tactics, including frivolously petitioning three agencies and taking her to court. Yewande headbutted them all.

She came out untainted but her tenure was never going to be renewed. You don’t fight corruption, waste and indiscipline in Nigeria and expect medals.

The biggest victim without competition is Mr Ibrahim Magu who, like orange, was squeezed, sucked and dumped by this administration in the most exhilarating manner. From 2015 to 2019, the biggest thing President Buhari counted as his achievement was the war against corruption and the recovery of looted funds.

While I was a critic of Magu’s EFCC for the highhandedness and lop-sidedness, the truth is that he was the poster boy of this administration locally and internationally. He must now be living in regret as he vegetates after getting the boot unceremoniously. Up till today, we

have not been told why he was removed. He will retire in May 2022 a sad, broken man.

That is his reward.

Can you now understand why I am advising Marwa to be careful with Kyari? I love Marwa very much. He is an intelligent and result-driven public administrator with a record of service that only a few Nigerians can rival, but I am inclined to advise him to watch his back. Remember Kyari was suspended after the Hushpuppi indictment but nobody touched him thereafter.

All the previous complaints against him were ignored. That says a lot about his connections.

I am by no means saying Marwa should slow down or surrender, but he should know that he is now stepping on big toes. When the chips are down, he may be hung out to dry — as we just saw with Hadiza at NPA. I am not in any sense asking courageous Nigerians in public office not to do their job.

Far from it. If anything, my hope is renewed in Nigeria whenever I think of what the likes of Marwa, Hadiza, Yewande, Waziri Adio and many others have done in public service. I come across patriotic and competent Nigerians home and abroad all the time and my heart is gladdened. We have more than enough ingredients to make Nigeria great. Our biggest problem is that we are a sheepfold without a shepherd. The day we manage to have the right shepherd at the helm, our development will be so accelerated it would be hard to believe that it is the same Nigeria. Yes, a new Nigeria is possible.

And Four Other Things…

BURNING MONEY President Buhari has sent a supplementary budget of N2.55trn to the national assembly.

To fund education? No. To fund public hospitals? No. To build more roads? No. To pay for consumption of petrol? Yes. You get it. We want to “protect the poor”. The entire bill is estimated at N3trn, so the states and councils will pick the rest. This is a country that is borrowing to do virtually everything. At this rate, we will soon start borrowing to pay our debts. Ironically, the bleeding obvious is that we are subsidising the consumption of petrol in other countries as well as feeding the potbellies of those exaggerating the smuggling figures. But we say that we are protecting the poor. Damned.

FLYING SHAME On Thursday evening, I was at the Benin Airport. Mosquitoes treated me with so much disrespect. The ACs did not work. The toilets had no tissue. At the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, the conveyor belts are simultaneously undergoing repairs, and I suppose this is unique to Nigeria. MMIA’s ACs often struggle to work. One sign that you are approaching security checks on arrival is the stench from the nearby toilets. The state of many Nigerian airports is a crying shame.

We do certain things in this country that make it look like we are deliberately trying to advertise our mediocrity and incompetence to the whole world as if there is a trophy to be won. Shameful!

PAID VACATION And so, university teachers are set to embark on what the peerless Dr Chidi Amuta calls “paid vacation”. The routine strikes are usually framed as a struggle to “save” university education in Nigeria. Yeah, right.

Certainly, there are structural and funding issues that need to be tackled creatively and decisively, but why strike is always a popular line of action is obvious: you teach, you get paid; you don’t teach, you get paid.

It’s a perverse incentive. We need to study the irreparable damage strikes do to the intellectual and social progress of our youths.

While government should take most of the blame, ASUU members also need to look at themselves in the mirror. Regressive.

PASSPORTTO SENSE Solutions to some problems don’t require rocket science. Just common sense. The Nigerian embassy in Germany has visited Cologne to issue passports to Nigerian nationals, who typically had to travel to either Berlin or Munich for the service. This is not only time-consuming but could be very uncomfortable. Kudos to Hon Yusuf Tuggar, Nigeria’s ambassador to Germany, for this initiative. He said more German cities are on the cards. Nigerians in the US can testify to the pains they often endure to travel for hours or days and lodge in hotels just to process their passports. I hope our other embassies will learn from this. Application of common sense can solve big problems. Fact.

entire gaps solely from students’ co-payments, the tuition will come to N222, 222 per student per annum.

The common argument is that introducing tuition fees will exclude many, especially the poor. The thing to do is to allow those who have the capacity to pay to pay for themselves (and even subsidise those who cannot pay) and to ensure that all students who want can access work-study programmes, need-based scholarships and concessionary loans. We do a disservice to all, especially the poor who have limited options, when we do not have a properly funded public education system.

The universities can also generate considerable money from other sources such as grants, consultancies, business ventures, returns on investments, and especially from their alumni.

This is an area where many of our universities are

leaving a lot of money on the table. Universities in the West keep a close table on the alumni, provide continuous value to them, and constantly ask them to pitch in. Our own institutions are so glued to federal allocations that they not only ignore their alums but even make them go through excruciating pains for something as basic as transcripts, which can be a money spinner and which you can get on the day of graduation from properly administered schools.

For infrastructure development in our public universities, I will propose two approaches. The first will be to give a one-off infrastructure grant of between N5 billion and N10 billion to each of the 92 public universities. Government can explore raising a bond against the portion for the universities from the annual education tax that goes to TETFUND. For infrastructure that user fees can be charged for, such as decent accommodation for students and lecturers, the universities should consider public-private partnership arrangements.

Beyond ensuring financial adequacy, we need to fully decentralise the operations of our universities and ensure they are primed for efficiency. As Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, a former Commissioner for Education and Minister for Youth and Sport, wrote recently: government needs to let go of public universities. Part of letting go is the need to remove the stranglehold of uniformity and over-regulation. Let each university have full autonomy over its curriculum, its admissions, its structure, and its conditions of service and remuneration.

Also, we cannot continue to run universities like the regular civil service. We need to review the current governance structure and let go of some layers that do not necessarily conduce to good governance. We also need to develop efficiency-driven, students-centred, market-facing metrics for appraising university lecturers and administrators and for ranking and rewarding public universities.

What we need now is not just for ASUU to call off the current strike or for the two parties to reach quick accommodation. That is necessary but not enough. What we urgently need is a bold and realistic reform plan to bring our public universities to financial, operational, and academic health within four to five years. Anything short of that is another form of kicking the can down the line. It is work avoidance.

CHANGING HOW WE FUND AND RUN PUBLIC UNIVERSITIES stated earlier, the salaries are hardly enough to motivate the university staff to put in their best.

When you combine poorly remunerated and poorly motivated staff with grossly inadequate allocation for overhead and capital, you cannot get anything different from the sorry state of our public universities today.

We need to aim for a funding adequacy model that is built around realistically calculated cost of training each student yearly in our public universities, not around just how much is needed to pay salaries. In his 2017 paper earlier cited, Professor Bello stated that in 2005 the National University Commission (NUC) did a study that showed that it would cost between N345, 000 and N680, 000 yearly to train an undergraduate.

It is important to update this study.

What a cost-of-training approach rather than a salary-requirement method does is to reinsert students at the centre of administration of our public universities and to present a full picture of financial need of the universities. Once this cost has been determined, the next step is to ensure that each university has the resources required for it to effectively discharge its obligation each year.

If, for example, the average cost of training each student per year is N600, 000, this then means that with the 45, 000 undergraduate population that Statista says UNILAG has, the school will need an annual budget of N27 billion.

The next question then will be how UNILAG can raise N27 billion or more yearly. This leads to the next and most critical point: our public universities need a more diverse, more robust, and more predictable pool of funding. The fact that a university is publicly owned does not mean that its cost must be exclusively and permanently borne by the government. While a legitimate argument can be made for government to do more, as it has been doing over time, the need to expand the funding base of our universities is now inevitable. The positive externality argument for public education remains valid and compelling, and that is why there is need for public education in the first instance. But restricting the funding of our public universities to only government restricts their capacity to function effectively.

The no tuition or paltry tuition policy in our public universities must have emanated from a good place and must have been appropriate at a time when we had just a few universities and undergraduates and people needed to be

ASUU President, Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke persuaded to go to universities. The context has changed. Based on current realities, the no tuition argument is no longer tenable. Introducing tuition initially at a low rate, increasing it overtime and capping even the peak at a rate much lower than the fees charged by private universities will be a way to go.

If we stick to UNILAG, a tuition of N100, 000 per annum (or N50, 000 per semester) allows the school to generate an extra N4.5 billion per annum. This not only turns the students to real financial stakeholders in their education but also increases their agency as accountability actors in the university system. That N4.5 billion alone will reduce by 45% the funding gap between government’s subsidy (the N17 billion budgetary allocation) and the N27 billion UNILAG needs to fully deliver its obligations for training students for the year. If the school decides to bridge the

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Great Job, Marwa, But Watch Your Back

W

hen the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) declared “Super Cop” Abba Kyari wanted on Monday following his alleged involvement with an international drug cartel, I was very happy. Very, very happy. But my joy had nothing to do with Kyari, the deputy commissioner of police already indicted by the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in the case involving Ramon Abbas aka Hushpuppi, the self-confessed international fraudster. For sure, I was glad to learn that the obviously highly connected police officer was reportedly caught on video in what appears to be a sting operation by the NDLEA. That means we should at least have an interesting case in court.

My joy, rather, was how far Brig-Gen Mohamed Buba Marwa (rtd) has gone in transforming the NDLEA in just one year as chairman. Suddenly, it is as if the NDLEA is a brand-new agency, whereas it was set up 32 years ago by the government of Gen Ibrahim Babangida, with Mr Fidelis Oyakhilome, a deputy inspector general of police, serving as the pioneer chairman. It was initially named National Drug Enforcement Agency (like the US Drug Enforcement Agency) but Nigerian grammar guards argued that “you don’t enforce drug; you enforce the law against drugs”. Oyakhilome left in disgrace in 1991 after a scandal involving him, his lady friend, the late Jennifer Madike, and drug barons.

Marwa Although the agency has had ten chief executives, I am inclined to say no chairman has had as much impact within such a short

period as Marwa. According to insiders, the first thing Marwa did was internal re-organisation.

He also effected long-due promotions and cleared the backlog of allowances in the perennially underfunded agency. He ramped up intelligence-led operations across the country.

With a motivated workforce, the result has been the unprecedented spate of arrests and drug seizures. The agency has also heightened public enlightenment campaigns on the dangers of drug use. I have no hesitation whatsoever in celebrating these wins in this season of despair.

I must at this point admit that I am by no means surprised that Marwa has raised the bar — yet again — in public service. He is kicking asses in the war against illicit drugs. I have been following his career since 1990 when he was appointed military governor of Borno state (now Borno and Yobe) by Babangida.

I recall that he set up the first joint military patrol in the country, codenamed Operation Zaki, to tackle insecurity. Borno had been at the mercy of cross-boundary banditry. Chadian rebels fighting President Idriss Déby — who had just overthrown Hissène Habré — started raiding Borno villages, similar to the current situation in the north. Marwa impressively contained the bandits.

Borno residents started sleeping well, further helped by the fact that Marwa also did quite some job in education, agriculture and infrastructure. He built roads using direct

labour to save costs. The good-looking young officer, barely 38, was setting standards in public administration. His governor colleagues across the country started taking their cue from him, and in no time joint military patrols to tackle insecurity and cost-saving direct labour for road rehabilitation became a trend. In 1991, also under his stewardship, El-Kanemi Warriors FC became the first team from the far north to win the FA Cup (now Fed Cup/Aiteo Cup) since 1953. Incidentally, that was the year he was born.

Marwa soon travelled abroad on military posting as defence attaché at the Nigerian permanent mission to the UN. In 1996, he resurfaced in Nigeria when he was appointed the military administrator of Lagos state by Gen Sani Abacha, then head of state. It was tricky.

At the time, the south-west was still on fire as a result of the annulment of the June 12, 1993 presidential election by Babangida. Bashorun MKO Abiola, the winner, had been arrested and detained by Abacha for seeking to reclaim his mandate. Lagos was the epicentre of the uprising against military rule, with NADECO, Afenifere and other activist groups making life unbearable for the government.

Appointing a Fulani from Adamawa state as governor of Lagos state at the height of bitter anti-north sentiments did not look like a smart Continued on page 70

WAZIRIADIO POSTSCRIPT

Changing How We Fund and Run Public Universities

O

n Monday, the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) declared a one-month warning strike. The last ASUU strike was in 2020 and it lasted nine months, effectively a whole academic year. According to data from a Wednesday report in this newspaper, ASUU went on strike 17 times for a total of 1, 450 days between 1999 and 2020. That means ASUU called a strike every 15 months and for a total of almost four full calendar years out of 21 years, with the attendant negative impact on how long it takes to earn, and the quality of, degrees from our public universities.

Most people are justifiably weary of ASUU’s seeming elevation of strike to a vocation. Even when it continues to couch its disruptive actions as designed to save the ‘system from imminent collapse,’ ASUU sounds increasingly unconvincing and inconsiderate. It has, over time, lost the support and sympathy of many reasonable people. This should give the leadership of ASUU a serious reason for pause. No matter how noble its intentions and how right its cause—and both are open to interrogation—ASUU should know by now that its incessant strikes have not produced the desired result, otherwise the strikes wouldn’t need to be invoked almost every year.

Successive governments are not blameless either, not only for signing agreements they almost always observe in the breach but also for not

standing up to ASUU’s perennial blackmail and, most importantly, for not developing, selling and implementing necessary reforms that will rescue our public universities from the current path of decay. Strangely obdurate and stuck in the past, both ASUU and the government have refused to face the real issues, betraying a strange obsession with an ineffective and inefficient status quo.

The real task, which both government and ASUU always manage to skirt around during their eternal faceoffs, is the urgent need to rethink how we fund and run our public universities.

Until we do this, the value produced by these institutions to both their students, the parents and the country will continue to diminish.

Without a doubt, our public universities are in a sorry state, and this shouldn’t surprise anyone.

The lecturers are poorly paid. The highest paid professor (on CONUASS Grade 7 Level 10) earns N416, 743 per month as net salary, which is roughly about $1000 at official exchange rate.

Even when you make adjustment for purchasing power parity, this is still meagre for someone at the peak of their career. The critical infrastructure for teaching and learning is grossly inadequate: the classrooms are overcrowded; the libraries, laboratories and technological backbone are behind time; and the hostels are cramped and mostly inhospitable. In addition, the schools are afflicted by a host of other ailments that constrain their capacities to deliver cutting-edge learning

in the knowledge age.

Nigerians who can, have chosen to exit option: they send their wards either to universities abroad or to private universities at home. But it is important to bear in mind that most Nigerians are not this privileged and that it is in our overall national interest that we keep public universities as a viable option for quality university education for the majority of Nigerians who are stuck with them.

According to Statista, 1, 854, 261 students enrolled in fulltime undergraduate programmes in Nigeria’s 170 universities in 2019. Of this number, 1, 206, 825 enrolled in 43 federal universities; 544, 936, in 48 state universities; and 102, 500, in 79 private universities. This means that despite constituting 46% of the universities in Nigeria, private universities had only about 6% of the total undergraduate student population in Nigeria in 2019; while state universities with 28% of total universities had 29% of the undergraduate student population; and federal universities with 25% of total universities had 65% of undergraduate student population.

Combined, the public universities—state and federal ones—had 94% of the undergraduate student population in Nigeria in 2019, and it is very unlikely that the situation has changed much by now. One way of reading this is that our public universities are over-stretched, which is a valid observation, but my point here is that the schools with 94% of the undergraduate population

in the country remain too important to continue to trifle with. How do we ensure that such vital public institutions remain fit-for-purpose and that they are positioned to deliver maximum value to the society?

The first thing we need to do is to change how we resource our public universities and, following that, to ensure that they are adequately resourced. That is not the case now. To start with, almost all the money available to our public universities goes into paying the paltry salaries of their staff. A comparative study by Professor Rahamon Bello, a former vice chancellor of the University of Lagos (UNILAG), shows that Nigerian universities devote between 90% to 95% of their resources to salaries as opposed to between 44% and 60% by their peers in the United Kingdom and the United States of America.

A glance at the 2022 budget confirms Professor Bello’s submission: personnel alone will gulp 92% of the N22.57 billion allocated to Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), 94% of the N14 billion allocated to UNILAG, 95% of the N17 billion allocated to the University of Ibadan, and 96% of the N23.9 billion allocated to the University of Nigeria Nsukka. If experience is anything to go by, the personnel budget would be released 100% while the remaining 8% to 4% for overhead and capital would not be released in full. As Continued on page 70

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