THURSDAY 18TH MARCH 2021

FG to Spend $1.5bn on Port Harcourt Refinery Rehabilitation Earmarks N3.07bn for NCDC lab equipment Says Enugu-Onitsha highway repair now to cost N8.649bn Deji Elumoye in Abuja The federal government yesterday unveiled plans to spend $1.5 billion to revamp the Port Harcourt refinery.

Minister of State for

Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipre Sylva, told State House reporters in Abuja after the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting that President Muhammadu Buhari had approved the $1.5 billion

for the rehabilitation of the refinery, which will be done in three phases of 18, 24 and 44 months.

The FEC also approved N3.07 billion for the procurement of laboratory

equipment for the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) centres nationwide as well as the increase in the cost of the repair of the Enugu-Onitsha highway to N8.649 billion.

Sylva said the contract for the rehabilitation of the refinery was awarded to an Italian company, Tecnimont spa, which is an expert in refinery maintenance, while the funding will be sourced

from the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Internally Generated Revenue (IGR), budgetary allocations provisions and Continued on page 8

Analysts List Measures to Curtail Inflation... Page 6 Thursday 18 March, 2021 Vol 26. No 9475. Price: N250

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Okonjo-Iweala Seeks Safe Schools Initiative's Restart to Curb Abductions Calls for empowerment of MSMEs, women in exportation Ejiofor Alike in Lagos and James Emejo in Abuja The Director-General of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-

Iweala, has urged the federal government to restart the Safe Schools Initiative launched at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Abuja in May 2014 to protect schoolchildren from

abductions.

Okonjo-Iweala, who is on an official visit to Nigeria said in an interview with ARISE NEWS Channel, the broadcast arm of THISDAY Newspapers,

that she had discussed the programme with President Muhammadu Buhari and the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs. Zainab Ahmed.

At another forum yesterday, she also expressed concerns that the Small and Mediumsized Enterprises (SMEs) as well as women-owned businesses have been relegated

in the country's export drive.

Okonjo-Iweala expressed optimism that a former British Prime Minister and United Continued on page 8

Despite Clamour for Power Shift, PDP Panel Wants Zoning Scrapped Overriding party's interest will determine our next step, says Secondus Chuks Okocha in Abuja The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) may discard zoning as a criterion for picking its presidential candidate for the 2023 election cycle, if the party hierarchy ratifies the recommendation of a committee it set up to investigate its loss in the 2019 general election.

The committee, set up by the PDP National Working Committee (NWC), and headed

by Bauchi State Governor, Senator Bala Mohammed, in its report submitted yesterday, recommended that the 2023 presidential ticket should be thrown open to all Nigerians irrespective of tribe, region and religion.

It, however, acknowledged the clamour for either the North-east or the South-east to

produce the next presidential candidate of the party.

The campaign for the zoning of the presidency to the South-east reached a denouement last year when Ebonyi State Governor, Chief Dave Umahi, left the PDP, on whose platform he got to power, citing alleged marginalisation of Igbo in the party.

Umahi had moved to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) along with some of his cabinet members, members of the state House of Assembly, local government chairmen councillors as well as members of the state executive committee of the opposition party.

However, the PDP had dismissed Umahi's allegation, Continued on page 8

FG, States to Work Out Payment Modalities for COVID-19 Vaccines ... Page 5

HONOUR FOR THE OIL GURU...

Group Managing Director, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Malam Mele Kyari (left), and Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipre Sylva, during the conferment of the fellowship of the Nigerian Mining and Geosciences on Kyari in Ibadan…recently

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

FG, States to Work Out Payment Modalities for COVID-19 Vaccines

Deji Elumoye in Abuja

The federal government is working out the modalities for payment for the COVID-19 pandemic vaccines, the Minister of State for Budget and National Planning, Prince Clement Agba, has said.

He told THISDAY at the end of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) yesterday in Abuja that the federal government has set up a committee to work out the payment mode for the COVID-19 vaccines, explaining that the committee would determine how the states and the central government would share the cost of the vaccine.

According to figures from the Minister of Health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire, the federal government will require about N400 billion to vaccinate 70 per cent of Nigeria’s 211 million population.

Of the amount, N156 billion would be needed in 2021 and N200 billion in 2022.

The Chairman of the

Senate Committee on Primary Healthcare and Infectious Disease Control, Senator Chukwuka Utazi, had also told THISDAY exclusively that the federal government was planning to raise a supplementary budget to tackle the funding gaps for the procurement of the vaccines.

Agba, however, said the committee’s membership was drawn from the presidency, Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning; Ministry of Health and representatives of the 36 state governments.

He stated that it is after the committee might have concluded its assignment that payment for the vaccines can be sorted out.

He said: "The committee is still meeting and before long, it will finish its assignment.

We have representatives of both federal and state governments there. So, it is when they finish and submit their report that we can talk about picking the bill for the COVID-19 pandemic vaccines and the level of commitment of both the federal and state

governments in this regard."

The minister added that the executive will soon present to the National

Assembly a supplementary budget for the procurement of the vaccines.

Ehanire had also told the

Senate that the country, which had successfully fought polio, would use the same storage facilities (cold

chains) to store the vaccine, urging the Senate to have confidence in the plan for the vaccination.

TRIBUTE TO A LATE SAGE...

L-R: Lagos State Deputy Governor, Dr. Obafemi Hamzat; wife of the first civilian governor of the state, Alhaja Abimbola Jakande; and Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, during the Day of Tribute in celebration of Life and Times of late Alhaji Lateef Jakande in Lagos…yesterday

FG Reviews Implementation of Agreements with Varsity Workers Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja Federal ministries and agencies have fixed a meeting for today to appraise the level of implementation of agreements reached with unions in federal universities, THISDAY has learnt.

Those expected at the meeting are representatives of the Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning; Ministry of Labour and Employment, Ministry of Education, Office of the Accountant General of the Federation, National Universities Commission (NUC) and National Salaries, Income and Wages Commission.

A top official told THISDAY yesterday that the meeting would serve as a prelude to another one to be held with the

Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Senior Staff Association of Nigeria Universities (SSANU) and Non-Academic Staff Union of Universities and Allied Institutions (NASU) to be convened in two weeks’ time.

On the federal government’s response to the fresh complaints

by ASUU and non-teaching staff unions over alleged breach of the agreements signed with the government, the source, who was part of the federal government’s negotiating team, said that efforts were ongoing to address such shortfalls.

"Yes, we are meeting as government side to review our implementation timelines. We will do that on Thursday, March 18,” he added.

He said the meeting would look at all the issues contained in the

agreements with the unions and consider the level of implementation of these agreements reached with ASUU on one hand and non-teaching staff on the other.

"We will look at the agreement timelines line by line and assess where we are," he said.

According to him, the reconvened talks will be used to provide the unions with details of the progress made so far in the implementation of the agreements.

On the payment of withheld salaries of university lecturers, he said most of them had been paid except a few, who were omitted.

"Lecturers are paid in line with the agreement but we had complaints from the union that in some of the universities, some people have not been paid

anything at all because they were not captured in the new arrangement, which is now being used to pay them," he stated.

He, however, said the omission was not enough justification for the unions to resume strike.

"If you have 2,000 lecturers in the university as in the University of Ife and about 70 of them have been skipped, 70 out 2,000 is just about three per cent.

Also at the University of Ibadan, about 65 lecturers were left out from the payment schedule out of the estimated 4,000 lecturers," he said.

He added that the omissions can be corrected and today’s meeting will address the issue.

Before ASUU called off its strike, the federal government had said it had fulfilled almost all the demands for which

the union began industrial action on strike on March 9, 2020.

According to the Minister of Labour and Employment, Senator Chris Ngige, “The visitation panels to the universities have been approved by the president and will swing into action once the universities reopen. The office of the Attorney-General of the Federation on the other hand is also rounding off the gazetting of the panels while the National Universities Commission has received the approved list, which will be published later next week."

Also, on the revival of the Renegotiation Committee for the 2009 ASSU/FG Agreement demanded by ASUU, he said a new team had been set up by the Ministry of Education with Prof. Jibril Munzali as chairman.

He replaced Dr. Wale Babalakin (SAN).

“Similarly, the government has also acceded to a hybrid payment platform, which is not 100 per cent IPPIS for the payment of salaries and Earned Academic Allowances/ Earned Allowances, pending the result and conclusion of the integrity and useability test on the University Transparency and Accountability Solutions (UTAS) by the National Information and Technology Development Agency (NITDA) “Besides, government has also processed for payment, the sum of N70 billion, comprising N40 billion for Earned Academic Allowances / Earned Allowances and N30 billion for the revitalisation of the universities,” he had said.

DPR Moves against Petrol Overpricing, Seals 11 Stations in Abuja Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja The Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) yesterday ramped up efforts to stop overpricing of petrol, manipulation of metering devices as well as the diversion of the product in Abuja, following the upsurge of various malpractices after last week’s hoax that prices had been increased.

DPR’s Zonal Operations Controller, Abuja, Mr. Abubakar Buba,

who embarked on an enforcement drive against errant filling stations, said in about 24 hours, the regulatory agency had sealed at least 11 filling stations in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

DPR stated that it was enhancing its surveillance and monitoring functions within Abuja and environs to sustain full compliance with efforts at product availability and ensure unhindered product supply to motorists and other

consumers.

It added that as part of its duties, it is carrying out onthe-spot analysis to verify the quality of products and ascertain that they meet quality specification and make sure that all filling station operators sell at the approved price band.

While insisting that government has not approved any price increase, the agency said part of its aim during the monitoring was to check hoarding, diversion,

adulteration, under-delivery and maintain the safety of personnel and the public.

It stated that this was to make sure that marketers do not short-change the public through sharp practices.

Buba also urged marketers to observe good operational practices to prevent unintended water ingress, with the raining season fast approaching.

He urged station owners to always check for the presence of water using

pastes during discharge and before the commencement of sales, saying that filling station owners should ensure the use of tamperproof manholes and other seal devices on petroleum products’ tankers to prevent sharp practices by tanker drivers who deliberately introduce water into products for greedy gains.

“As is part of our regular exercise, DPR will continue to intensify its surveillance activities on all retail outlets within the zone and

violators will be sanctioned accordingly.

“We want to make sure that filling stations are complying with the rules and regulations guiding their operations. We have noted few infractions and the culprits are going to pay the appropriate fines.

“These range from overpricing to underdispensing. Those were the major infractions and we will make sure that this will be sustained,” Buba stated.

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Analysts List Measures to Curtail Inflation James Emejo in Abuja and Nume Ekeghe in Lagos Analysts yesterday advised the federal government to work in tandem with the monetary authorities to address challenges in agriculture and other variables that continue to put pressure on prices of food and other commodities.

They also called on the government to provide cheaper funds to the real sector, which remains the lifeblood of the economy.

The counsel came amidst rising inflation which peaked at 17.33 per cent in February as against 16.47 per cent in the preceding month.

In separate interviews with THISDAY, the analysts said the government must take steps towards addressing the insecurity in the country in order to boost local production.

They noted that the economy is battling with cost-push inflation emanating from high transport and energy costs, insecurity and high exchange rate.

President, Capital Market Academics of Nigeria, Prof.

Uche Uwaleke, said insecurity aggregated the situation through food supply shortages.

He said the monetary and fiscal policies should synchronise to address the challenges, including ramping up agricultural output.

Also, Managing Director/ Chief Executive, Credent Investment Managers Limited, Mr. Ibrahim Shelleng, said the rising headline Index did not come as a surprise, given that the underlying structural issues still exist.

He said with the rise in petrol prices and further devaluation of the naira,

these would have cost-push inflationary pressures.

"We are unable to produce enough locally to meet domestic consumption, insecurity has prevented farmers from going to the farm, high cost of production and borrowing costs have limited the ability of MSMEs to produce at competitive prices.

"From the fiscal point of view, the government must continue spending in key sectors to stimulate growth," he added.

He stated that monetary policy has so far focused on tackling inflation and controlling the foreign exchange situation but to the detriment of growth.

Besides, he said the costpush inflation could not necessarily be tackled by monetary policy.

On his part, Head of Research at United Capital, Mr. Wale Olusi, stated that current inflationary pressures remained largely driven by structural and cost-push factors, which highlighted the fact that the effectiveness of monetary policy measures remain debatable.

Also speaking with THISDAY, Managing Director, Karios Capital, Mr. Sam Chidoka, said it was important that the economic management team should take drastic actions towards reducing inflation figures.

He said unless drastic measures were taken to reverse the upward trajectory, "we are going to get to 20 per cent this year. But if we are able to turn it around and reduce the issues around security in our food belt, we can reduce food inflation."

He, however, stated that

the remedy was to solve the security challenges hampering food production in order to rein in inflation.

"One other thing I would advise is a holistic approach to managing the economy. From where I see it, it looks to me like the people on the fiscal side are on one side while the people on the monetary side are on another side.

"They need to come together and begin to run the economy together. So, you have high inflation, high unemployment, high exchange rate and high bank interest rate as well," he said.

Managing Director/Chief Executive, Dignity Finance and Investment Limited, Dr. Chijioke Ekechukwu, stated that the solution to the galloping inflation is not only in monetary or fiscal policy, but on other major factors.

He said: "Insecurity remains a bane in the pricing of goods especially, agricultural goods.

Until farmers are all able to go back to their farms unhindered, food inflation will continue to rise.

"Exchange rate is another factor that continues to influence the prices of goods and services. We need to do

everything to reduce our dependence on imported goods so that less pressure will be on our foreign currency and reserve”.

However, Managing Director/Chief Executive, SD&D Capital Management Limited, Mr. Idakolo Gbolade, called on the monetary and fiscal authorities to attack key areas of goods and services by not only creating policies but implementing them.

According to him, the CBN intervention in manufacturing and the aviation sectors should be implemented appropriately, adding that the cost of goods

is due to the high cost of production post-COVID-19 and the attendant losses incurred by manufacturers.

He said: "The services sector like the transportation services like airlines that suffered the effects of COVID-19 and continuous challenges still posed by COVID-19 restrictions on travel needs to be targeted with appropriate reliefs so they can break even.

"The land transportation is also plagued not only by insecurity on the roads but also by the high cost of fuel, which has caused increased transport fares."

WOMEN AFFAIRS...

L-R: Director-General, World Trade Organisation, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala; Minister of Women Affairs, Mrs. Pauline Tallen; and Chairperson, House Committee on Women Affairs, Hon. Wunmi Onanuga, during the visit of the WTO director-general to the Ministry of Women Affairs in Abuja...yesterday

Bandits Kill Two in Kaduna, Attack Emir’s Convoy John Shiklam in Kaduna Rampaging bandits have killed two persons in Kaduna State following multiple attacks on communities, including on the convoy of the Emir of Birnin Gwari, Alhaji Zubairu Mai Gwari II, whose vehicle was riddled with bullets.

In a statement yesterday in Kaduna, the Commissioner for Internal Security and Home Affairs, Mr. Samuel Aruwan, said security agencies had reported “several notable incidences across the state in the past 48 hours.”

He said one person was killed in Kitansa village, Kauru Local Government Area while the second person was killed along the BurukuMando Road, in Igabi LGA.

The commissioner said the attack on the emir’s convoy occurred on Monday about 4:30 pm, adding that the emir was already in Kaduna when the bandits struck.

According to him, only the emir’s driver, Umar Jibrin, and his police orderly, Inspector Sani Yahaya, were in the official vehicle of the traditional ruler and were on their way to Kaduna.

He added that no life was lost.

The statement said: “Security agencies have reported several notable incidences across the state within the last 48 hours.

“According to the reports, on Monday, 15th March 2021, at about 4:30 pm, the official vehicle of the Emir of Birnin Gwari was shot at by bandits

around the Zonkoro axis of the Kaduna-Birnin Gwari road, within Chikun Local Government area.

“Only the driver, Umar Jibrin, and an orderly, Inspector Sani Yahaya, were in the vehicle, on their way to Kaduna. The emir was in Kaduna at the time of the attack.

“No life was lost and the Emirate Council relayed details of the incident to the Kaduna State Government.”

The commissioner added that in another incident, armed robbers barricaded a bridge leading to Kitansa village, Kauru LGA and shot dead one Danladi Goriye, while another, Sunday Garba, sustained gunshot wounds.

Bandits also barricaded the Buruku-Mando Road and

opened fire on vehicles plying the road, during which one Abdullahi Baballe, a resident of Lema area in Mando, was killed.

Aruwan, however, said Operation Safe Haven yesterday rescued two travellers, Ismail Haruna and Isa Mohammed, who were attacked by a mob in Chawai District, Kauru LGA. According to him, the two people were on their way from Bassa Local Government Area in Plateau State to Marwa village, in Bakin Kogi, Kauru LGA, Kaduna State when they were intercepted by the youths who attempted to lynch them.

The commissioner said, in another incident, troops of Operation Safe Haven apprehended a suspected bandit informant, one

Muhammad Sani Abubakar, at Apyimbuu village, Zangon Kataf LGA, who was handed over to the police for further investigation.

The commissioner said in Rafin Rikamba village, Chikun LGA, troops of Operation Thunder Strike neutralised two bandits during a raid on a suspected hideout, adding that other bandits escaped with wounds from gunshots.

He stated that police personnel also intercepted two suspects who are brothers - Abdullahi Samaila and Adamu Samaila, from Toro, Bauchi State, along the Kaduna-Saminaka road with 150 rounds of 7.62mm ammunition concealed in the door of their vehicle.

Aruwan said: “The suspects confessed to supplying

ammunition to three previously arrested suspects - Marcus Danladi, Danjuma Dachi and Ibrahim Haruna (arrested in late February) from Plateau State for onward supply to one Usman a.k.a Gurgu in Kaduna State.

“The trio were arrested with 1,565 rounds of ammunition on February 28th.

Following that, one Suleiman Tukur and his son, Shuaibu Suleiman, were arrested in Karahi as part of the same syndicate. They were in possession of 231 rounds.”

The commissioner said the most recently arrested suspects attempted to escape, and in the process, Adamu was fatally wounded and was confirmed dead in the hospital while Abdullahi was injured on his right leg.

118 Stranded Nigerians Return from Libya Chinedu Eze in Lagos and Michael Olugbode in Abuja About 118 stranded Nigerians in Libya have returned to Nigeria.

The returnees, comprising 51 males, 41 females, 17 children and nine infants arrived yesterday at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja on board Buraq Air.

Their return was facilitated by the federal government in collaboration with the International Organisation for Migration (IOM).

On arrival, they were attended to by officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Nigerian in Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM), Nigeria Immigration Service

(NIS) and National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC).

The returnees were made to observe all COVID-19 protocols, including being camped at the FCT Hajj camp to observe the mandatory 14 days’ isolation.

The Director, Consular and Legal Department, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Bolaji Akinremi,

while addressing the returnees urged them to assist in the government’s efforts in creating awareness of the challenges associated with irregular migration by sharing their experiences.

Despite the efforts to bring back stranded Nigerians overseas, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crimes,

(UNODC) said more Nigerians were likely to become victims of human trafficking as a result of the economic downturn, worsened by the impact of COVID-19.

According to reports by UNODC, Nigeria is the source, transit and destination country for human trafficking.

It also identified the root

causes of trafficking to include poverty, lack of education, globalisation, corruption and gender inequality.

Representative from UNODC, Jessica Ebrard, had stated COVID-19 had drastic economic effect, leading to loss of jobs and making more people vulnerable to be trafficked out of Nigeria.

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PAGE EIGHT DESPITE CLAMOUR FOR POWER SHIFT, PDP PANEL WANTS ZONING SCRAPPED saying the governor was being driven by his 2023 political ambition.

Besides the call on the PDP to dump zoning, which the party has made an article of faith since coming to power in 1999, the committee also called for an immediate restructuring of the country.

Presenting the report yesterday in Abuja, Mohammed said: "In line with certain unwritten conventions of the nation’s history, many people think that for fairness and equity, the North-east and South-east geo-political zones that have had the shortest stints at the presidency, should be given special consideration, in choosing the presidential flag bearer of the party, for the 2023 elections.”

He, however, stated that while his committee admitted that this is a strong argument, the party should also not lose sight of the fact that Nigeria is endowed with many capable and experienced leaders in every part of the country.

He added that the exigencies of the moment demand that nothing should be compromised in choosing a leader with the attributes to reposition the country.

He said: “Therefore, we think that every Nigerian, from every part of the country, should be given the opportunity to choose the best candidate, through a credible primary election as a way of institutionalising a merit-based leadership recruitment process, for the country."

According to him, the

endemic frictions in intergovernmental relations, especially between states and the federal government, indicated that the present constitutional arrangement is grossly inadequate to contend with the changing democratic and demographic challenges.

The governor said his committee also recommended that the PDP should push for either a review or an endorsement of the 2014 Constitutional Conference report or for a new constitutional conference to be organised.

“In short, the party should advocate genuine restructuring that fosters decentralisation, engenders national unity, guarantees the security of lives and properties of all Nigerians, no matter where they reside in the country, and which promotes economic prosperity and the overall well-being of all our people," he said.

He said the main opposition party should encourage the current reforms by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to enhance the commission's independence and to be able to conduct elections devoid of the coercive apparatus of the state, underhand manipulations and outright intimidation of voters.

Mohammed stated that the military should be insulated from the conduct of elections as its presence breeds intimidation and questions the integrity of the process.

According to him, "It denies some of the candidates the

level-playing field that is the singular barometer for ascertaining the wishes of the people. Similarly, the police should be made to be more impartial in the supervision of elections.

"Cognisant of the generational and gender shifts all over the globe and the emergence of a new generation of Nigerians who are not held down by religion, ethnicity or such other primordial considerations but who are determined to mainstream the country into global best practices, the party should set aside a certain percentage of elective and appointive offices, for the youth and women,” Mohammed said.

He said the #EndSARS movement last October was an indication that a new generation of young, bold, ambitious and detribalised Nigerians have taken centrestage and “that their legitimate clamour for inclusion and good governance can only be ignored at the peril of the party and indeed Nigeria."

He urged the party to commit to the promotion of internal democracy, discourage godfathers and ensure that the will of the people prevails in the choice of candidates to run for electoral positions.

"That, in our view, is the pedestal upon which electoral success can be seamlessly sustained.

“Our great party should continue to lead by example.

Our past records, which ushered in an era of economic growth, were only possible

because we had members in elected and appointed positions that performed very well. It goes without saying that those of us who are privileged to hold offices, at this point must see themselves as the image-makers of the party whose actions or inactions could determine the future success or otherwise of the party,” he said.

On why the PDP is still a force to reckon with even after losing power to the APC, the governor said: "We are talking about an era that gave Nigerians the opportunity to buy a litre of fuel at N97 (as against N165 today), a 50kg bag of rice at N9,000 (as against N23,000 today); when a one-way flight between Port Harcourt and Abuja never cost more than N30,000 (as against N65,000 today) and travellers could travel by road between Calabar and Maiduguri without their families losing sleep over their safety unlike the present nightmare scenario where kidnappers have turned every road trip into a journey to the unknown. We are talking about an era when the government said what it meant and meant what it said!"

Responding, the National Chairman, Prince Uche Secondus, said the party would study the report, analyse and adopt what would be beneficial to the party.

He said: "I have no doubt in my mind that your report will form the bedrock of our party’s plan ahead of the 2023 general election. The NWC is going to study and analyse

your report meticulously and come up with a position that will be beneficial to the party."

He added that the PDP will do all it can to reclaim the presidency and the control of the National Assembly, adding that the report will be the take-off point and keystone to its subsequent actions ahead of 2023.

He urged President Muhammadu Buhari and his APC administration to embark on immediate electoral reform to ensure free, fair and transparent elections in the country and put Nigeria in parity with other developed democracies in the world.

"Having failed roundly in the delivery of any dividend to Nigerian people, and having brought the country to the status of a failed nation with an unprecedented collapse of all structures, APC knows as a fact that Nigerians would not want to do anything with them again.

"As a result, they are putting all studs on the way to conducting credible elections.

But we need to warn that the only thing keeping this country alive today is the fact that APC will be history by 2023. They are aware of this reality and they are trying to use their usual propaganda to create a different image of themselves, but Nigeria knows better and cannot be fooled again," he said.

Secondus stated that based on the recommendations of Mohammed’s committee, the NWC will work with think-tanks, consultants

and all critical stakeholders of the party to enhance the new PDP narratives that will help address the absence of leadership in the country.

"We will continue to build the party along the line of the recommendations with a view to cultivating a wide support base with utmost urgency towards 2023.

"Aside from the frightening security situation which we all know, just this Monday, the National Bureau of Statistics released fearful data on the unemployment situation in the country to be over 33 per cent.

By the time you minus minors and aged in our population, you will discover that virtually all our youth population are unemployed," the national chairman said.

The PDP chairman stated that by 2015 when PDP left office, inflation was at 4.31 per cent.

He added: “Why then should we be surprised that the nation is being overwhelmed with banditry when our useful population are ignored and abandoned?”

Secondus charged PDP members and all lovers of democracy to put their acts together ahead of the 2023 general election.

The presentation of the report was witnessed by many stakeholders of the party, including a former Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki; former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Chief Tom Ikimi; and a former Governor of Jigawa State, Alhaji Sule Lamido.

to higher productivity and higher wages.

"But as we speak, even though MSMEs account for 76 per cent of the jobs in the country, they only account for 7.6 per cent of exports - so, very much underrepresented in the export sector," she stated.

Addressing women exporters who made presentations on their efforts to access international markets, she said: "In Nigeria, this reservoir is deep: only about half of the women are part of the workforce and most are in the informal sector.

"Wages of men are 30 to 40 per cent higher than for women in the formal sector.

“So there's a missed opportunity for all Nigerians and for the country in not tapping the reservoir of talents we have in our women.

"The evidence shows that women empowerment is not about moral imperative only, it is good economics and it's smart economics."

She said trade could help improve economic outcomes of women by creating more and better jobs, raising wages and lowering costs.

She noted that the WTO would work with Nigeria to enhance the quality and packing of non-oil export products to boost their accessibility to the international markets.

According to her, the purpose of the WTO is to

create jobs and improve incomes to support sustainability, among others.

She, however, commended recent efforts by the federal government to trade agencies, particularly NEPC, to enhance the quality of export products working with international partners.

She said the organisation would help Nigeria to enhance the quality of its products designed for export.

Okonjo-Iweala also commended the Chief Executive Officer of the NEPC, Mr. Segun Awolowo, for his role in encouraging women entrepreneurs and exporters and giving them platforms to thrive.

Earlier, Awolowo had said the country had come to a defining moment for international trade and shared the council's giant strides towards implementing the zero oil plans to boost exports.

OKONJO-IWEALA SEEKS SAFE SCHOOLS INITIATIVE’S RESTART TO CURB ABDUCTIONS Nations (UN) Special Envoy for Global Education, Mr. Gordon Brown, who was one of the backers of the initiative when it was launched in 2014, on the heels of the global outrage triggered by the abduction of 276 pupils from Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State, and the UN would be willing to support Nigeria to restart the programme.

At the launch, more than 500 schools in the North were targeted to benefit from the initial $10 million fund pledged by a coalition of Nigerian business leaders.

Brown had stressed the need for action to stop the repeated assaults on education in Nigeria.

He said: “The first step in response to this crisis has been to show our support.

The next phase is now to take practical measures to make schools safer.

“We cannot stand by and see schools shut down, girls cut off from their education and parents in fear for their daughters’ lives."

Okonjo-Iweala described the abduction of schoolgirls and young ones as unacceptable, warning that it amounted to the destruction of Nigeria’s future.

“I think it is totally unacceptable to have young girls taken out of school – even young boys. You know, the parents will feel insecure. The more you do this kidnapping,

the more likely they won’t let these children go back to school, especially the girls. You know the country is not going to move unless we educate our girls– educate our young people. So, this kidnapping is something that is terrible and should be stopped. The kidnappers are trying to do damage to our very future,” she stated.

The WTO DG said she had raised the issue with the president and the finance minister.

She said: “I raised the issue because we had started a safe school initiative with the former Prime Minister of the UK, Mr. Gordon Brown, who is a UN Envoy on Education. And I think they are willing to help us restart that initiative and say, how do we protect our schools? What are actually the things that allow bandits or kidnappers to come in at will and abduct hundreds of children, which is unacceptable? How do we better protect them? I think that is what we should look at.

"We spoke about it today. I think the government will be looking at how to improve the safety of the schools through the initiative.”

She also urged the private sector to contribute to the scheme as part of their corporate social responsibility.

Okonjo-Iweala lamented that some schools have no fence or gate or even power supply, adding that the non-

availability of such facilities make them prone to attacks.

She identified the needs of some of the schools to include: “Simple things like making sure you have electricity in all schools so that they are not in the dark for people to come in and abduct them, and having more security and fencing.

These are some very simple things you can start to do.”

The short-term objective of the initiative was to build community security groups to promote safe zones for the stakeholders in the education sector - teachers, parents, community leaders and young people.

The long-term agenda of the Safe Schools Initiative was to improve the safety of schools by providing school guards, training staff as school safety officers and providing counsellors to schools that are prone to attacks.

One of the prominent business leaders to support the initiative and Chairman and Editor-in-Chief of THISDAY/ ARISE Media Group, Prince Nduka Obaigbena, had during the launch of the programme highlighted that the Nigerian business community was behind the initiative.

He had also pledged their readiness to work with the communities, youth, government and the media to ensure the safety of schools.

Meanwhile, Okonjo-Iweala yesterday expressed concerns that Small and Medium-sized

Enterprises (SMEs), as well as women-owned businesses, have been relegated in the country's export drive.

She stated that small business remained crucial in transitioning the country from an oil and gas-based economy to one that relies on other sectors and sources of growth.

Okonjo-Iweala during a visit to the head office of the Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC) in Abuja, said lowering obstacle to businesses of all sizes, especially women-owned companies to participate in international trade would help revamp the economy in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic.

She said while trade could help improve economic outcomes of women by creating more and better jobs, raising wages and lowering costs, a business that engages in cross border trade was likely to employ more women.

She added that MSMEs constitute the major backbone of the Nigerian economy, accounting for over 76 per cent of jobs and nearly 50 per cent of GDP. Okonjo-Iweala stated that when MSMEs thrive and become productive as well as formalised, the people become the greatest beneficiaries.

According to her, connecting to the international market could drive economies of scale and learning and lead

FG TO SPEND $1.5BN ON PORT HARCOURT REFINERY REHABILITATION Afreximbank.

He added that local content would be fully involved in the final execution of the project.

He said: "The Ministry of Petroleum Resources presented a memo on the rehabilitation of Port Harcourt refinery for the sum of $1.5

billion, and it was approved by council today. So, we are happy to announce that the rehabilitation of Port Harcourt Refinery will commence in three phases. The first phase is to be completed in 18 months, which will take the refinery to a production

of 90 per cent of its nameplate capacity. The second phase is to be completed in 24 months and the final stage will be completed in 44 months and the contract was approved.

“The contractor that was approved by council today is Messrs. Tecnimont spa, an

Italian EPC company, that won the bid and that was approved by the council.”

On the contentious issue of operations and maintenance of the refineries, the minister said: “That has been a big problem for our refineries, as we all know; that was also

exhaustively discussed in the council and the agreement is that we are going to put a professional operations and maintenance company to manage the refinery when it has been rehabilitated.

Continued on page 9

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THURSDAY, ͹΀˜ ͺ͸ͺ͹ ˾ T H I S D AY

NEWS

Italian Court Frees Shell, Eni in $1.3bn Malabu Oil Corruption Case Ejiofor Alike in Lagos and Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja with agency report A Milan court yesterday acquitted energy companies, Eni and Royal Dutch Shell, along with some of their past and present managers, including Eni Chief Executive, Claudio Descalzi, in one of the oil industry's biggest corruption scandals.

The judgment read out in court by Judge Marco Tremolada, came more than three years after the trial first began and after a total of 74 hearings.

The judge said the

companies and defendants had been acquitted as there was no case to answer.

Reuters, which monitored the court proceedings, reported that rulings in Italy can be appealed and only become enforceable once they are final.

The long-running case revolved around the $1.3 billion purchase by Eni and Shell of the Oil Prospecting Lease (OPL) 245 offshore oilfield in Nigeria in 2011 from Malabu Oil and Gas, a company owned by a former Nigerian oil minister, Mr. Dan Etete.

Prosecutors alleged that just under $1.1 billion of

the purchase price was siphoned off to politicians and middlemen, including Etete, a convicted money launderer who served as oil minister under Nigerian military ruler, the late Gen. Sani Abacha.

Prosecutors had called for Eni and Shell to be fined and for some past and present managers from both companies, including Descalzi, to be jailed. The defendants all denied any wrongdoing.

Reuters, however, quoted an unnamed Nigerian spokesman as saying that the country was disappointed with the outcome and would consider

its position once it had read the written judgment.

"The Federal Republic of Nigeria will continue to hold those responsible for the OPL 245 fraud accountable, not only to ensure the people of Nigeria benefit from this valuable resource, but also to make clear its commitment to rooting out corruption in all of its forms," said a spokesman for the Nigerian government based in London.

The defendants said the purchase price for OPL 245 was paid into a Nigerian government account and subsequent transfers were beyond their control.

The exploration licence for the field, some 150 km (95 miles) off the Niger Delta, has not been revoked but it has not been converted into a mining licence and no oil has been produced.

Prosecutors had also asked that $1.092 billion, the equivalent of the alleged bribes, be confiscated from all the defendants.

In a swift reaction, the Italian energy company, Eni, in a statement yesterday, welcomed the judgment.

“After almost three years of trial, the judgment by the court has finally established that the company, the CEO,

Claudio Descalzi, and the management involved in the proceedings have all behaved in a lawful and correct manner,” Eni said in the statement from Italy.

The statement added that Eni has throughout maintained its full confidence in the court’s fair and balanced investigation.

“Today, Eni expresses its gratitude for the trust placed by its stakeholders throughout the course of the trial, particularly in upholding the company’s management and the conduct of its business, and respecting its reputation,” the statement added.

Lagos Immortalises Jakande with Leadership Academy Segun James For his indelible achievements, which are considered almost unassailable, the Lagos State government has established a leadership academy to immortalise the late Alhaji Lateef Jakande, the first civilian governor of the state, who died on February 11, 2021, at 91.

The Lateef Jakande Leadership and Fellowship Academy will be backed by an Act of the state House of Assembly. It will be a tertiary School of Leadership and Governance for young people in public service and the private sector to learn the art of leadership through qualities and values bequeathed by

Jakande, who governed the state from 1979 to 1983.

Governor Babajide SanwoOlu, who broke the news at the Mobolaji Johnson Arena, Onikan on the Lagos Island, where eminent citizens and ordinary folks gathered to celebrate the life and times of Jakande, brought together his political associates, senior government officials and leaders from various sectors, including the royalty to honour the late former governor.

Sanwo-Olu described Jakande as “a titan of progressive politics and leadership,” who also built an “outstanding reputation for himself as a journalist.”

He said the former governor

had etched his name on chapters of history given his unrivalled achievements in governance.

According to Sanwo-Olu, “Today, we celebrate a great man, a selfless leader, a rare gem, a quintessential politician, an administrator par excellence, the first civilian governor of our state, the architect of modern Lagos, and one of the leading disciples of the late sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Alhaji Lateef Kayode Jakande, ‘Baba Kekere,’ a sobriquet he earned for taking after the late sage. He was a man who led a life rich not in material things but in the things that truly matter - integrity, honour, service and character.

“Alhaji Jakande’s tenure will continue to be remembered by generations as a reference point in good governance, welfarism, visionary leadership, selflessness, transformational leadership and leadership by example.

“In recognition and appreciation of his outstanding achievements, and as a way of immortalising his name, we are setting up an endowment to be known as Lateef Jakande Leadership Academy. The institute will be supported by enabling act of the state House of Assembly.”

The governor said the decision to establish the academy to immortalise Jakande was thought-through,

given that there have been several public monuments already named after the former governor.

Sanwo-Olu said apart from being a personal beneficiary of Jakande’s visionary leadership, his administration is also pushing forward the legacy of the late governor through the involvement of children of key progressive politicians who served in the late Jakande State Executive Council.

He said: “Baba Jakande died a happy and fulfilled man because he was able to witness the progress that successive administrations, especially civilian governments, made with regards to actualising the Lagos of his dream. The

highest honour we can pay him is to continue to strive to live up to his leadership ideals and to deliver the full dividends of democracy to the people of Lagos State.”

The Deputy Governor, Dr. Obafemi Hamzat, recalled his personal encounter with Jakande, noting that the late former governor attended his convocation at the University of Ibadan (UI) in 1986.

He observed that his family and Jakande’s shared a long history, which was further accentuated by the appointment of the late Oba Olatunji Hamzat (deputy governor’s father) as Commissioner for Transportation in the first civilian rule in Lagos State.

Military Rescues 10 Abducted Staff of FAAN after 11 Days in Captivity John Shiklam in Kaduna The 10 members of staff of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), who were abducted by bandits in March 6, 2021, have been rescued by the military They were abducted at the FAAN staff quarters, Ifira,

Igabi Local Government Area of Kaduna State.

Addressing a news conference, yesterday evening, the Kaduna State Commissioner for Internal Security and Home Affairs, Mr. Samuel Aruwan, said the victims were rescued by troops.

“This briefing has been called to provide an update on emerging developments following the kidnapping of 10 citizens from the Kaduna Airport Staff Quarters, Ifira, Igabi Local Government Area”, the commissioner said.

According to him, “The Kaduna State Government

can confirm that troops of the Nigerian Army have today, Wednesday, March 17, 2021, rescued the 10 victims who were kidnapped from the Kaduna Airport Staff Quarters, Ifira, Igabi Local Government Area”.

Aruwan gave names of the rescued victims as follows: Mr.

Ilori Sunday, Mrs. Celestina Sunday, Miss Beauty Oshaibie Sunday, Miss Miracle Sunday, Miss Marvelous Sunday, Miss Destiny Sunday, Mr. Samuel Sunday, Miss Deborah Sunday, Hajiya Badiyatu Abdullahi Gambo and Bilkisu Gambo.

“It would be recalled that armed bandits breached the

fence of the Kaduna Airport Staff Quarters in the early hours of Saturday, March 6, 2021, and kidnapped these 10 persons from two houses located near the fence.

“Precise details of the rescue location cannot be provided at this time due to operational expediency”, Aruwan said.

not only for COVID-19 but for any other disease outbreak of public interest in the future.”

Works and Housing Minister, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, also said the council approved the revised estimated total cost of the Enugu-Onitsha Highway which is N8.649 billion.

According to him, the 22-kilometre section of the 100-kilometre road is being handled by Niger Construction in order to expedite work on the project.

He said: “Variation was to cater for the change of the pavement surface, the binder course and the wearing course to crease thickness and also to utilise modified bitumen and also to strengthen the shoulders and some bridge works. Council approved the variation of N8.649 billion in favour of Niger Construction.”

Minister of State for Budget and National Planning, Mr. Clement Agba, also said the council approved a memo for

the review of the National Integrated Infrastructure Master Plan 2020 to 2043.

“The maiden Master Plan was from 2014 to 2043 and embedded in it as a living document is that it ought to be reviewed every five years.

There are about seven asset classes that are contained in the master plan. This is in the areas of transportation, energy, ICT, agriculture, water and mining, social infrastructure, housing and regional development, security and vital registration.

“The maiden edition didn't have the macroeconomic framework embedded in it but with the reviewed update that has been approved today by the council, it includes macroeconomic framework. It also allows for the establishment of the National Council on Infrastructure under the chairmanship of the vice president to provide policy direction and infrastructurerelated materials,” he said.

FG TO SPEND $1.5BN ON PORT HARCOURT REFINERY REHABILITATION “In any case, it is actually one of the conditions presented by the lenders because the lenders say they can only give us the money if we have a professional operation and maintenance company and that already is embedded in our discussions with the lenders and we cannot go back on that.”

On the rehabilitation of the three other refineries in Kaduna and Warri, the minister said: “Discussions are ongoing. We want to take one at a time and I want to assure you that before the lifetime of this administration expires, work on all the refineries would have at least commenced.”

On why the government did not go back to the original builders of the refinery, he said: “The first action was to go to the original refinery builders, but you all know, like I do, that if you have a Toyota car, and your Toyota car develops a problem, you don't have

to go to the builders of the Toyota to fix it. Usually, there are people in the business of building Toyota cars. There are also people in the business of maintaining Toyota cars.

“So, we found out from the original refinery builders that they are not in the business of rehabilitating refineries; they are in the business of building refineries. So they actually pointed us to a rehabilitation company that we're dealing with now.”

Sylva added that funds for the rehabilitation of the refinery are available and there are various components to the funding.

According to him, there is funding from NNPC, internally generated revenue, funding from the budget and debt funding.

“For the lenders, we are dealing with AFREXIM Bank and they are very committed to us, we have actually concluded discussions with AFREXIM,” he added.

He stated that the federal government would ensure that the rehabilitation of the refinery complies with the local content law.

"The Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) is fully part of the contracting process and has safeguarded the interest, adequately of our local contractors, so our local people will be fully involved with the Tecnimont spa,” he said.

He, however, dismissed insinuations that the rehabilitation of the refinery was due to labour unions' demand that the deregulation of petroleum price should come after refineries' rehabilitation.

He said: “First, I am not aware of any such agreement that deregulation should only take place after the refineries have been fixed; that was at no time part of our agreement.

But of course, this government, from the very beginning, has

been in the process of fixing and rehabilitating this refinery.

So, it is not because of our discussion with labour, but it is actually the desire of the administration to ensure that our refineries work and that is the process that has borne fruit today.”

On his part, Health Minister, Dr Osagie Ehanire told journalists that FEC approved N3.070 billion for six contracts for the purchase of various laboratory equipment by the NCDC. He said: “The Ministry of Health presented a memo on behalf of the NCDC public health laboratory specialist and for the centre for disease control. It is for six contracts for laboratory equipment and to the total worth of N3,070,892,988 for various equipment and supply to strengthen the work of NCDC in various parts of the country, to be more ready for the work they do in diagnostics preparedness,

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NEWS

Christians, Muslims Clash over Hijab as Kwara Reopens Schools CAN blames gov, seeks FG’s intervention Emir of Ilorin sues for peace Violence yesterday marred the reopening of 10 schools recently closed down by the Kwara State Government over the wearing of Hijab as the Christians and Muslims clashed in many schools.

This is coming as the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) has said that the Kwara State Governor, Mr. AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, should be held responsible for the violence caused by the unrest over wearing of hijab in schools.

The Emir of Ilorin and Chairman of the Kwara State Council of Chiefs, Alhaji Ibrahim Sulu-Gambari, has however, urged Islam and Christian faithful in the state to embrace peace.

In Baptist Secondary School, Surulere, the situation was tense as security operatives had to

disperse the Muslims and Christian leaders who were throwing stones at each other.

However, security agencies such as the police, civil defence corps, and soldiers were deployed to the affected schools to prevent breakdown of law and order.

The affected schools, which were reopened yesterday include: C&S College Sabo Oke; St. Anthony College, Offa Road; ECWA School, Oja Iya; Surulere Baptist Secondary School and Bishop Smith Secondary School, Agba Dam. Others are: CAC Secondary School Asa Dam Road; St. Barnabas Secondary School Sabo Oke; St. John School Maraba; St. Williams Secondary School Taiwo Isale; and St. James Secondary School Maraba.

THISDAY gathered that the

ICPC Arrests Ex-JAMB Registrar, Ojerinde over Alleged N900m Fraud Kingsley Nwezeh in Abuja The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) has arrested a former Registrar and Chief Executive Officer of the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB), Professor Dibu Ojerinde, for allegedly misappropriating N900 million.

A statement issued yesterday by the ICPC said Ojerinde, who was arrested on March 15, 2021, in Abuja, by operatives of ICPC, is alleged to have committed multiple frauds while heading JAMB and the National Examination Council (NECO).

The statement said Ojerinde was detained by the commission for questioning over “allegations of multiple identities, abuse of office, money laundering, tax evasion and making false statements to public officials”.

The former JAMB boss is also being questioned by the commission for allegedly awarding fraudulent contracts

to shell companies which cannot be traced.

The commission said he was alleged to have awarded contracts for the supply of pencil and eraser at the cost of N450 million each, to Double 07 Concept Limited and Pristine Global Concept Limited, respectively, between 2013 and 2014 while heading JAMB. “There is no evidence to show that the items which are examination materials were supplied as the contractors cannot be found,” the anti-graft agency said.

The ICPC said similar contracts were allegedly awarded to Solid Figures Limited, Holywalk Limited and other companies for various sums without any trace of executions.

It said Ojerinde was being held on a remand warrant and would soon be charged to court upon the conclusion of investigation The commission had announced in April 2020 that it had obtained an order of interim of forfeiture of some assets linked to Ojerinde.

10 Feared Killed, 70 Others Injured in Bauchi Multiple Accidents Segun Awofadeji in Bauchi No fewer than 10 persons yesterday lost their lives while about 70 others sustained varying degrees of injuries following a multiple road accidents at two locations in Bauchi State.

THISDAY reports gathered that in the first accident which occurred at Dungulbi village, about 10km away from Bauchi metropolis on the Bauchi-Gombe highway, a nursing mother and one other person lost their lives on the spot.

Also, several people involved in the accident were severely wounded and were rushed to the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University Teaching Hospital (ATBUTH) for prompt medical attention.

The accident involved a Toyota Hiace bus belonging to the National Tourism Development Commission (NTDC), which had a head-on collision with a Sharon commercial bus conveying passengers to Gombe State.

THISDAY checks learnt that personnel of the Federal Roads Safety Commission (FRSC), men of the Rapid Response Squad (RRS) and villagers who gathered at the scene participated in the rescue and evacuation operation of the victims.

An eyewitness account of the accident revealed that the NTDC members of staff were heading back to Abuja having spent few days at the Yankari Games Reserves and Safari on official assignment.

students who were eager to resume could not gain entrance into the schools as leaders of the Christian’s and their members were already at the main gate of the affected schools and asked the students to go back to their various homes.

The Christians were armed with various inscriptions like “O To Ge,” Give us our schools back, “No to Hijab in Kwara”, “Kwara is not an Islaimc state, Kwara is for all”, “Our schools is our heritage,” and “We oppose the Hijab in our schools,” among others Also, some Muslims groups who were also laid siege at the main gates of the affected schools were also shouting “Laillah Illaha Lahu, Laillaha Illah lahu” .

At Bishop Smith Grammar School along Agba Dam Road, a staff of the school, Mr. Abdulraaheed Gambari in an interview with journalists, urged the state government to be firm in its decision and restore normalcy in the affected schools.

He said: “Some of the parents

wish that their wards use hijab to school; and government has already intervened in this matter and made their own stance that the Muslim students who wish be allowed to use Hijab in the Christian schools.

“They are not forcing it on non-Muslims. The issue is that the Christians can’t still be behaving as if the schools belong to them when indeed the government owns the schools, which they also know.

But one of the Christian leaders, Venerable David Babatunde Alao, differed as he insisted that they would not allow any of their students to wear hijab.

He said, “As at last week Tuesday at our meeting, our resolution was still the same - no students would be allowed to wear hijab in any of the Christian schools “It’s in Supreme Court. Why is the government intervening? In fact, it is a contempt of court. The government should allow the court to dispose off the matter

instead of taking a stand.”

In a statement issued in Ilorin by the Permanent Secretary of the State Ministry of Education and Human Capital Development, Mrs. Mary Kemi Adeosun, the state government said it is convinced that “its policy to allow willing Muslim schoolgirls to wear their hijab in public schools will lead to sustainable peace and communal harmony anchored on mutual respect and understanding”.

Meanwhile, CAN has said that the Kwara State Governor, AbdulRazaq, should be held responsible for the violence caused by the unrest over wearing of hijab in schools.

The association urged the federal government and the Inspector General of Police to intervene in the ongoing violence over the hijab policy that has led to violence and bloodletting in Kwara State.

In a statement issued by the General Secretary of CAN, Rev. Joseph Bade Daramola, the body accused the governor of allegedly

making a pronouncement on the issue of hijab wearing in violation of the court directive on the matter.

CAN said: “The Governor of Kwara State, AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, should be held responsible if the matter degenerates because it was his pronouncement on the issue of hijab wearing in violation of the court directive on the matter to maintain status quo until the matter is finally resolved by the court that led to this trouble.

“We learnt that the state government has ordered the reopening of the closed schools without resolving the crisis and consequently, churches and mission schools are being vandalised with impunity by the hoodlums banking on the state government’s support in the pretext of enforcing the policy. Some innocent Christians are being violently abused and attacked under the watch of the Governor who is playing ostrich”.

PROMOTING NON-OIL EXPORTS…

Director General, World Trade Organisation (WTO), Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala (left); and Chief Executive Officer of Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC), Mr. Segun Awolowo, during the visit of the WTO Boss to NEPC headquarters in Abuja…yesterday

Ortom Urges House to overrule Wase on Rejection of Tiv People’s Petition Dabiri-Erewa appeals for calm Michael Olugbode in Maiduguri and George Okoh in Makurdi Benue State Governor, Mr. Samuel Ortom has described as shocking, the rejection of a petition from the Mutual Union of Tiv in America (MUTA), by the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Idris Wase.

Ortom asked the lawmakers to overrule Wase on his unilateral decision to reject the petition.

The said petition was taken to the House by the member representing Gwer East/Gwer West Federal Constituency in

Benue State, Hon. Mark Gbillah.

However, the Chairman/ CEO, Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM), Hon. Abike Dabiri-Erewa has appealed to all stakeholders, especially Nigerians living abroad to remain calm over the controversial rejection of the petition by Wase, promising that the issue would be resolved.

But Ortom said that the action of the deputy speaker amounted to suppression of the people’s voice, pointing out that the development contravenes the very principles upon which

the country’s democracy is built.

He stressed that Nigerians home and abroad have a right as enshrined in the 1999 Constitution (amended) to express their feelings about affairs of their country.

Ortom said the condition of thousands of people who have been displaced from their ancestral homes as a result of herdsmen attacks and now live in camps in Benue State deserves the attention and support of other Nigerians.

He expressed appreciation to the Mutual Union of Tiv in America, as well as other concerned groups for their

solidarity.

He commended Gbillah for his calm disposition despite Wase’s utterances and urged the Gwer West representative not to be discouraged from championing causes in the interest of his people.

Meanwhile, Dabiri-Erewa, in a statement issued yesterday in Abuja, said that the Commission has intimated the Speaker of the House , Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila , as well as the Chairman , House Committee on Diaspora , Hon. Tolu Akande Shadipe, of the numerous petitions and concerns of Nigerians abroad on the issue.

FIRS Director Received over N700m Cash Payment, EFCC Alleges The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has alleged that a former Coordinating Director of Federal Inland Revenue Service, Peter Hena, received over N700 million cash between January 2017 and December 2018.

The anti-graft agency further alleged that Hena and eight others shared N4.5 billion in illegal estacodes and fraudulent Duty Tour Allowances.

Hena and others were on last Thursday arraigned on 42-count before Justice Ijeoma

Ojukwu of the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja.

EFCC accused Hena of accepting N45million cash from one of the accused without going through a financial institution contrary to section 1(a) and punishable under section 16(2)

(b) of the Money Laundering Prohibition Act,2011 as amended

by Act No. 1 of 2012.

Hena allegedly received another N75million cash payment from another accused and N99million from a third accused.

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PUBLIC NOTICE FILING OF PERSONAL INCOME TAX ANNUAL RETURNS BY INDIVIDUALS In compliance with Section 41 of the Personal Income Tax Act (PITA) 2011 (as amended), all Taxable Persons, resident in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) are required to file annual returns of all incomes from ALL sources for the year ended 31st December, 2020 within 90 days from the commencement of the year (i.e. between 1st January 2021 and 31st March 2021), using the prescribed Form A. It is the duty of every Taxable Person, whether self-employed or in the employment of an Organization, Ministry, Department or Agency (MDA) to complete and sign income declaration form (Form A) and return same to the FCT-IRS through any of its Tax Offices in the FCT. Sections 94, 95 and 96 of the Personal Income Tax Act stipulate applicable penalties for non-filing, incorrect/false declaration and late submission.

A copy of Form A can be obtained from any of the FCT-IRS Tax Offices (listed below) or downloaded from the website www.fctirs.gov.ng.

For further enquiries, contact any of the FCT-IRS Offices listed below: LOCATION

ADDRESS

ASOKORO

No. 70, Yakubu Gowon Crescent (AYA), Asokoro Abuja.

CENTRAL AREA

Yobe Investment House, 2nd Floor, Ralph Shondeinde Street, Central Area, Abuja.

GARKI (AREA 11)

No. 12 Port Harcourt Crescent, Gimbiya Street, Area 11, Garki, Abuja.

GARKI (HEADQUARTERS)

No. 3, Abriba Close, off Yola Street, Garki, Abuja.

GWAGWALADA

Plot 613, Paiko Road after University of Abuja, Gwagwalada Abuja.

KARU

No. 30, Eggon Crescent, off Biron Road, Karu Site FCT, Abuja.

KAURA

No. 8, FCT-IRS Drive, off Oladipo Diya way, Behind NNPC Filling Station, Kaura District, Abuja.

KUBWA

Plot No. L219 Cadastral Zone 111, No. 5 Gabriel Oyibode Street Kubwa Extention, F01, Kubwa Abuja

LUGBE

No. 220, 1st Avenue, Federal Housing Authority (FHA) opposite FHA Mortgae Bank, Lugbe, Abuja

MAITAMA

No. 61B, Usuma Street, off Gana Street, Maitama Abuja.

MDA

No. 5, Danbata Close, off Yola Street, Area 7 Garki, Abuja.

UTAKO

No. 35, A.E Ekukinam Street, Opp. ABC Transport, Utako, Abuja.

WUSE (ZONE 6)

No. 26 Sudan Street, Wuse Zone 6, Abuja.

WUSE II

No. 2 Bukana Close, off Aminu Kano Crescent, Wuse II, Abuja.

SIGNED

Abdullahi O. Attah Executive Chairman

THURSDAY MARCH 18, 2021 • T H I S D AY

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T H I S D AY •THURSDAY, MARCH 18, 2021

COMMENT

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

MEGHAN, MEXICO, THE AFRICAN DISPORA AND COVID-19 Joe Biden has his work cut out for him in Mexico, writes Okello Oculi

M

eghan Markel’s resurrection came when Oprah Winfrey lifted tomb stones laid over her and her husband by the British monarchy’s cold-lipped architecture. The explosion of her petals greeted the dawn of 2021’s International Women’s Day. The sprouting of rage across Africa linked the condition of British royalty in 2021 to statements of political resolve

by Prime Minister Abubakar Tafawa Balewa at the United Nations in 1960; and Prime Minister Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana in 1957. Balewa had said that Nigeria would combat the humiliation of peoples of African descent anywhere on the globe. Nkrumah proclaimed that Ghana’s independence would roll over racial domination across Africa.

Here was a case in which a beautiful and very talented young woman had been pulled into marriage by Prince Harry, thereby, re-entering African blood into the topmost symbol of English identity. There were echoes in both her stunning beauty, grace, charisma and non-royal roots to Harry’s globally enchanting mother Princess Diana. Many women across Africa prayed that Markle would not also die from planned motorised assassination as had been Diana’s fate.

It had been speculated that Diana’s crime was being pregnant from a relation with an Egyptian son of a tycoon, thereby threatening to bring Arab blood into the river of an Anglo Saxon dynasty. Meghan and her husband had just announced that she is pregnant.

From her report to Oprah about tongues wagging over the possible horror that her child could be ‘’dark skinned’’, Balewa and Nkrumah must have wondered what might have been said about them when they ate at the Queen’s dinner.

Now they considered nudging Robert Mugabe to shoot down arrows into President Yoweri Museven’s tongue to end Africa’s silence and push back the venom being hurled at that daughter of Africa.

One group of Africa’s Diaspora who have been suffering in silence and global neglect are over three million AfroMexicans. A group of scholars at Rutgers University in the United States of America, in a book titled: ‘’THEY CAME BEFORE COLUMBUS’’, noted that rows of stone faces on the east coast of Mexico have BLACK AFRICAN FEATURES which suggest that when the first Black African explorers arrived, the native people saw them as Divine Kings from the east and venerated them in art works in huge stone sculptures.

The over three million Afro-Mexicans of today are, in part,

THE HIGH RATE OF DEATHS FROM COVID-19 AMONG AFRO-MEXICANS, AFRICANAMERICANS AND AFRO-BRAZILIANS IS AIDED

BY POVERTY, UNBALANCED NUTRITION AND RACIST INDIFFERENCE OF FORMER PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP AND PRESIDENT BOSARIO IN BRAZIL

descendants of this migration. They were met by slaves who rebelled from Spanish exploitation in mining and agricultural enterprises. The record is that they formed military units which over several decades defeated all invasions thrown at them.

The current population of three million puts them in good company with eleven countries in Africa. From Eritrea’s 3, 354, 421 to Equatorial Guinea’s 1, 402, 985, there are 10 countries with populations lower than those of descendants of Black Africans in Mexico. Among them are oil-giants in Africa, namely: Gabon (with 2, 225, 734) and Equatorial Guinea (with 1, 402, 985). Both countries are ‘’kleptocratic dictatorships’’ - to quote a Guinean scholar interviewed by South Africa’s SABC television channel.

Two stars among them are Botswana (with 2,351, 627) and Namibia (with 2, 540, 905). Both of them have invented good governance for their people following long periods of colonial terrorism. Their low population is linked to forced deportation of young men to do slave labour in mines and farms in South Africa. Botswana has added the glamour of cutting their crude diamond carats for export at higher prices in the international market.

Professor Macias-Gonzalez, a Mexican, in a Facebook communication to me (on 11th March, 2021) proposed that ruling white racial groups - who constitute only 20 per cent of the 110 million population –continues to exclude Afro-Mexicans from national development. Films they export limit Black Mexicans to menial roles as cleaners or nannies. Other racial groups are trapped under poverty.

The high rate of deaths from COVID-19 among AfroMexicans, African-Americans and Afro-Brazilians is aided by poverty, unbalanced nutrition and racist indifference of former president Donald Trump and president Bosario in Brazil. This highlights the urgency of intervention by diplomatic initiatives by the African Union.

The Government of Ghana took the lead in lending symbolic support to the storm of rage and pain which followed the barbaric killing of George Floyd by a white policeman.

The resulting storm of multi-racial protests in the ‘’Black Lives Matter’’ movement spread across the Atlantic and hit Britain, France, Scandinavian countries and Australia also rocked Brazil. It is not clear that the ‘’Black Lives Matter’’ protesters in the American heartland noticed the oppressed three million Afro-Mexicans.

President Biden is bashing China over ‘’Human Rights’’.

Africa and Meghan Markle must urge him to dredge out human rights pain in Mexico.

WHY IS UZODINMA MARKING HIS FIRSTYEAR AGAIN? Boniface Umunna argues that the governor is merely appealing to emotions of the public

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overnor Hope Uzodinma of Imo State just rolled out an unplanned celebration in the state. We are told that he is marking his one year in office.

If you have been a watcher of developments in Imo since Uzodinma assumed the reins of governance, you cannot but wonder why. The governor celebrated his first year in office in January. He rolled out the drums then. He is rolling out the drums again two months after. What has changed?

Why the repeat of an old tale? How many times will Uzodinma mark his first year in office? These are some of the questions on the lips of those who have been monitoring developments in the state.

Observers have since situated the reason for Uzodinma’s action. His manner of ascendancy to the office of the governor of Imo State is the issue here. At every turn, Uzodinma is watching his back. He seems to be afraid that the crookedness that defined his declaration as governor will go bust. He does not want to be taken unawares. So, if it means repeating roles, he will not mind doing that. If it means singing the same song over and over again, he will be all for it provided it will appeal to the ears of his listeners. But the cacophony, indeed the noise that is Uzodinma’s second celebration of his one year in office is deafening. It is sending jarring notes to the ears.

As I noted earlier, the governor celebrated one year in office in January, having been sworn in on January 14, 2020. He marked his first year in office then with fanfare. He showcased his achievements, whatever they may be. But again, he is repeating the ceremony.

It is believed that Uzodinma’s tactic here is to appeal to the emotion of the public. He wants to continue to appeal to the eyes and ears of

the people. He wants to continuously and continually be saying the same thing all over again. He does not want any dull moment.

He is afraid that such inactivity will draw attention to his controversial occupation of government house in Owerri.

This brings us to the unfinished issue before the courts over Uzodinma’s governorship. It is a well known fact by now that the Supreme Court of Nigeria delivered a judgment it will not like to be cited in the country’s electoral jurisprudence. The reason is simple. The judgement was a mishmash of contradictions.

It can neither be justified nor be explained away.

Let us attempt a brief recap. On 20th December, 2019, the Supreme Court ruled in a case brought before it over the All Progressives Congress (APC ) governorship primary in Imo State that Uche Nwosu was the authentic APC candidate in the March 9, 2019 governorship election in the state. The same Uche Nwosu was also the governorship candidate of Action Alliance (AA) in the same election. In other words, Nwosu had double nomination for the election in question. His dual candidature was against the law and the electoral act. Based on this infraction, the apex court disqualified Uche Nwosu from the election.

Going by the judgment of the Supreme Court, no other person can claim to have run that election under the platform of APC or AA. Curiously, Hope Uzodinma claimed that he was the APC candidate in that election.

But the December 20, 2019 judgment of the Supreme Court on the said gubernatorial election was supposed to lay to rest the unattainable claim of Hope Uzodinma. It simply means that Uzodinma was not a candidate in that election. Regrettably, the

Supreme Court, in a judgement that is still beating the imagination of all sane minds, declared in its January 14, 2020 judgement that Hope Uzodinma was the winner of the March 9 gubernatorial election in Imo State.

Nobody understood the meaning of the judgment then. Nobody understands it up till this moment. People have continued to ask: how can someone who was not a candidate in an election be the winner of that election? Put differently: can you be a winner in an election in which you were not a candidate? Surprisingly, Uzodinma is sitting in Government House Owerri as governor on the basis of an election he did not contest. This is the strangeness that defines the governor’s occupation of Government House Owerri. That is the strangeness that underlines that judgement of the Supreme Court. The apex court itself has been ill at ease with this strangeness. It has not been able to explain or justify the judgement. The conclusion that has been reached in this is that the Supreme Court was misled into declaring a non-candidate winner of an election.

Both the apex court and the beneficiary of its wrong judgement are uncomfortable with the set-up. But while the court can remedy its wrong judgement through a review or by any other means possible, Uzodinma can only go to bed and sleep if he is disqualified and removed from the office he is occupying illegitimately. The burden is weighing him down. It is making him to act in very strange ways. One of those strange ways is his repeat of a ceremony he marked just two months ago.

Then again, we are told that the governor is showcasing projects. Those who know say that he is trying to divert attention from the real issue before us. He wants to whip up

sentiments in his favour. He wants to be seen as a performing governor so that those who are asking the Supreme Court to do the right thing will stop agitating. But that is turning out to be wishful thinking. The apex court cannot inflict eternal wound on itself because of a man who has misled it. The court, in the interest of justice and fair play, will like to leave not a legacy of fraud but that of integrity and forthrightness.

Besides, the projects which Uzodinma is showcasing are not his. As a matter of fact, he has no projects to commission. One of his predecessors, Rochas Okorocha, has told him that he was only recycling his ( Okorocha’s ) projects and passing them off as his. Where he is not pretending over Okorocha’s projects, he is laying claim to the projects initiated by the immediate past governor of the state, Rt. Hon. Emeka Ihedioha. The undeniable truth is that Ihedioha initiated all the roads that Uzodinma is commissioning. Ihedioha awarded the roads and mobilized the contractors. Appreciable work had been done on most of them before his unjust removal as governor. The right thing for Uzodinma to have done would have been to acknowledge that he completed projects began by Ihedioha. But no. He will not acknowledge the man who laid the solid foundation for a new Imo State.

All said, Uzodinma is in a confused state.

He is just playing to the gallery. But that is mission impossible. It is believed that Uzodinma cannot afford to lead all concerned by the nose. He can deceive some of the people just for some time. He cannot deceive all the people for too long. The Supreme Court may have been misled. But it will not persevere in its own wrong for too long.

Umunna, a public affairs analyst, wrote from Abuja

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T H I S D AY • THURSDAY, MARCH 18, 2021

EDITORIAL SUPREME COURT AND ‘TENURE ELONGATION’ There is no justification to extend the retirement age beyond 70

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t a recent retreat of the Senate Constitution Review Committee to analyse submitted memoranda, the Deputy Senate President, Ovie OmoAgege revealed that the Supreme Court has proposed shifting the retirement age of Justices from 70 to 75. He noted further that there is another proposal to move the retirement age for judges of the states, including the FCT and the Federal High Courts to 70. At present, Supreme Court and Court of Appeal Justices retire when they attain the age of 70. Judges of State High Court and Federal High Court retire at age 65.

While the proposal by the apex court is already facing critical analyses in the public domain, it is good to compare it with what obtains in other climes. For instance, while justices of the Supreme Court of the United States serve for life, in other jurisdictions such as Germany, United Kingdom and Canada, they retire at 68, 70 and 75 respectively. It has been noted by several critical stakeholders that in these countries where life WE DO NOT KNOW expectancy is high, WHAT THOSE WHO even at these ages, SUPERINTEND OVER judicial officers are NIGERIA’S JUDICIARY still of sound minds.

HAVE DONE IN RECENT Since the proposal YEARS TO EARN SUCH was made public, ELONGATION it has thrown up several questions, especially about motives. For us, the most important question is: What is the level of examination required of these judicial officers for us to be able to bank on their mental fitness for such a delicate national assignment at the age of 75 and 70 respectively?

A former President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Isa Ayo Salami sees the proposal as selfserving and has counselled the Senate to ignore it. According to Salami, many of the Judges lack

Letters to the Editor

both physical and mental health. Not only do they regularly travel abroad for treatment, some of them, Salami claims, have memory challenges. A few, Salami added, do not even know their actual age and have been using contentious declaration of age affidavit. He therefore contends that it is dangerous and unproductive for the nation to elongate something that is already predicated on unsure parameters.

N T H I S DAY EDITOR BOLAJI ADEBIYI DEPUTY EDITOR YEMI AJAYI, DAVIDSON IRIEKPEN, MANAGING DIRECTOR ENIOLA BELLO DEPUTY MANAGING DIRECTOR KAYODE KOMOLAFE CHAIRMAN EDITORIAL BOARD OLUSEGUN ADENIYI EDITOR NATION’S CAPITAL IYOBOSA UWUGIAREN MANAGING EDITOR JOSEPH USHIGIALE

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Children And Mozambique’s Islamist Insurgency

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hildren as young as 11 are being beheaded in Mozambique as part of an Islamist insurgency that has killed thousands and forced many more from their homes, a UK-based aid group has said. Mozambique’s northernmost province of Cabo Delgado has since 2017 been home to a festering insurgency, linked to Islamic State (ISIS), that has escalated dramatically in the past year. While beheadings have always been a hallmark of the attacks, throughout 2020 the insurgents began regularly engaging the military to capture and hold key towns.

Brutality also continued, with mass killings including the murder of about 52 people at once in the village of Xitaxi in April. Altogether almost 2,700 people on all sides have died in the violence, according to the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project, a consultancy that tracks political violence. Almost 670,000 people have been displaced, Save the Children said.

United Nations does talk how to tackle Islamist terrorists but focuses on humanitarian crisis created by the terrorists. Under the watch of United Nations, Islamist rebels have taken over Cabo Delgado province in northern Mozambique. United Nations has failed to protect the people of Cabo Delgado. The United Nations, Africa Union and SADC have failed to intervene in the ongoing Mozambique’s Islamist insurgency. And institutions on the continent have not risen to the occasion. The regional Southern African Development Community has failed to step up to the plate and the African Union has not been able to get its act together. Both have obligations, on paper at least, to assist. Although the regional body has recognised the insurrection in Mozambique as a threat to the entire region in May this year, there has been no regional or international intervention. The strength of stability

ot only do we agree with Justice Salami on the issues raised, we are also of the view that at the age of 70, with all other factors considered, our senior citizens are worthy of a deserving rest. Whatever level of professional satisfaction they haven’t attained at 70, we do not believe that additional five years in service can offer such. Besides, we do not know what those who superintend over Nigeria’s judiciary have done in recent years to earn such elongation. There are no landmark judgements. Allegations of corruption are still rife. And as Justice Salami has said, many of them already enjoy ‘elongation’ by virtue of the claims made in their ‘declaration of age’ affidavits.

Meanwhile, we are disappointed that at a time the country is confronted with a barrage of challenges that border on the security and welfare of our citizens, the National Assembly is concerned about the self-serving proposal by judges. Where was the National Assembly when security agents invaded homes of senior judicial officers, assaulted their family members, destroyed their property and took them away like common criminals in 2016?

The National Assembly should get serious.

The idea that Supreme Court and Appeal Court Justices who are increasingly becoming notorious for controversial judgements (most often at variance with justice) they give in political cases should perpetuate themselves in office through any guise is unacceptable. There is no justification for the proposal for ‘tenure elongation.’ It should be thrown out.

in Mozambique is based on cooperation for growth and development.

I am glad that nations can come around the table and discuss pressing issues in Mozambique.

Without engaged regional or international leadership, Mozambique is sleepwalking into a counterterrorism quagmire. The African Union, Southern African Development Community, the U.N., and the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS all have a role to play, but coordination must be ramped up quickly to develop and support an integrated, African-led strategy. A short-term focus may include degrading the insurgents’ ability to plan attacks and close off arm flows and other financing that fortify the militants’ capacity. But a focus on long-term peacebuilding needs to be present throughout to overcome sources of historic contestation, which has impacted Mozambican government capacity to address grievances. It will be critical for regional actors, especially from the Swahili coast, to play a role in supporting dialogue and peace operations and help manage historic divides between the primarily Muslim and Swahili north with the Christian and Lusophone south.

The crisis in Cabo Delgado province is not just as a result of attacks

by Islamist militants, but a failure to distribute vast mineral and off-shore gas revenues to the local population. Cabo Delgado situation is “really dire” and Mozambique’s neighbours and the wider international community should intervene in the long and “invisible” crisis.

“The figures are growing as days go by and this is a situation that is liable to deteriorate. I want to warn that the “terrorist” situation in Mozambique is beginning to resemble the long-running conflict in northern Nigeria, where the Islamist Boko Haram group has caused widespread suffering.

Inwalomhe Donald, inwalomhe.donald@yahoo.com

Kidnappings Incorporated!

Continued from back page etailing how criminals have practically taken over the state, with some of their enablers in the military and police, as well as the colossal human and material losses suffered by Zamfara people in the process, the committee recommended the dismissal of some policemen, including one who is already retired, “for substituting the name of a murder suspect with the name of an innocent person” who was then detained and framed for the murder.

They also recommended that ten military officers be court marshalled “for dirty involvement in escalating the menace of armed banditry, mismanagement of recovered livestock and unholy relationship with criminals.”

If there is anything the Zamfara report reveals, it is the level of collusion between criminals and unscrupulous security and military personnel. That may then explain the ease with which kidnappers now enter schools to ferry away innocent children. The greater challenge is that the population of those we now ‘cannonise’ as bandits (for whom some people seek ‘amnesty’ and ‘reparation’) are growing every day. But the Zamfara report makes several observations and recommendations on how to tackle the menace. I am sure there are similar reports from other states, especially in the North.

At the end, everything still boils down to leadership. There will be no solution to this national crisis until our public officials in these states and Abuja adopt the position of Governor Nasir el-Rufai of Kaduna State that their duty is to “enforce the law, not negotiate with bandits.”

Olusegun Adeniyi, Abuja

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THURSDAY MARCH 18, 2021 ˾ T H I S D AY

NEWS

APC, PDP in Verbal War over Allegation of Corruption Chuks Okocha and Adedayo Akinwale in Abuja The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the All Progressives Congress (APC) yesterday engaged in a verbal war over the allegation by the main opposition party that the APC-led federal government was condoning corruption, the ruling party replied that the administration of President Muhammadu Budari is unsparing and does not condone thieves within and outside the government.

PDP also said that the shameful attempt by the APC National Caretaker Committee to justify and provide cover for looters in their party at a time over 40 million Nigerians have lost their means of livelihood, with many more living in abject poverty because of the unbridled widespread looting

by APC leaders, further confirmed that the ruling party is an irredeemable citadel of corruption.

It stressed that this is a case of corruption in the APC fighting back and justifying its loathsome activities.

The party said that it is not surprising that the Governor Mai Mai Buni-led APC leadership has become the mouthpiece for the treasury looters in the ruling party, whose conduct has brought the nation to its knees in the last five years.

The PDP in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary,

Mr. Kola Ologbondiyan further said; “This is in addition to the reports in the public space of over N3 trillion stolen from various agencies including the Federal Inland Revenue Services (FIRS), National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), the Social Investment Programmes where the First Lady, Aisha Buhari, exposed that N500 billion was siphoned as well as the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), in which a very top APC government official was indicted.

“The APC spokesperson of corruption should answer the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) over its recent report that unemployment had escalated to an alarming 33.3 per cent under the corrupt and treasury looting APC administration; a revelation that shows that claims of massive job creation by the deceptive APC are mere statistic hoax.

But the National Secretary of the Caretaker/Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee, Sen. John Akpanudoedehe, in a statement issued yesterday argued that pervasive corruption, and impunity ultimately ended the PDP administrations’ 16 years of locust.

APC noted that in the past weeks, the main opposition party has laboured to canvass tales of a phantom stolen N15 trillion public funds in the media.

The ruling party said it is not

surprising that the generality of discerning Nigerians have ignored the unfounded and baseless allegation, because it is

The House of Representatives at the plenary yesterday called for the immediate suspension of the acting Director-General of the Project Development Institute (PRODA), Enugu, Dr. Fabian Okonkwo, for alleged gross violation of the provisions of the Public Procurement Act. Adopting a report of the Committee on Public Procurement, the lawmakers said Okonkwo and all principal staff of the Institute involved in the illegal payment of contractors should be referred to the relevant government antigraft agencies for investigation and possible prosecution.

The House also directed that the Head of Accounts, Mr. Patrick Nebuwa, should also be suspended with immediate effect and handed over to relevant government anti-graft agencies for immediate investigation and

possible prosecution.

Nebuwa is to be suspended for allegedly conniving with the acting director general of the institute to make illegal payment and reactivate account with Zenith Bank in total disregard to the president’s directive on Treasury Single Account (TSA) and without approval from the Accountant General’s office.

The House asked the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) and the presidency to sanction the governing board of the institute for interfering in the executive functions of the institute.

Other recommendations approved included: “All the contracts that were awarded by the acting Director-General of Project Development Institute (PRODA), Enugu, Fabian Okonkwo, remain nullified, and all monies paid to the companies that were awarded contracts

Ibrahim Shuaibu in Kano A Nigerian Police Sergeant, Hussaini Sabiu, has been arraigned before a Kano State senior Magistrate Court in Nomans-Land over an alleged murder of a 22 years old man, Musa Sammani.

The first information report read to the defendant before the court yesterday stated that Sabiu, in December 2020, allegedly committed the act of murder

A member representing Egbado North/Imeko-Afon federal constituency in the House of Representatives, Hon. Jimoh Aremu, has defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC) from the African Democratic Congress (ADC).

In a letter read by the Speaker, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila, on the floor of House at the plenary yesterday, the lawmaker said he decided to jump ship as a result of the crisis in the ADC. Aremu added that as a result of the crisis and futile efforts at

resolving them, he, along with his followers, decided to pitch their tenth with the APC. The Deputy Minority Leader, Hon. Toby Okechukwu, while raising a point of order, said the lawmaker’s defection was in breach of the Nigerian Constitution, which states the qualifications for any member to defect to another party.

He pointed out that the letter of defection contradicts itself when it states in one paragraph that there was a crisis in the party, and in another, it states that the state governor was instrumental in his decision

misappropriation and diversion of public funds became the mainstay and pastime of successive PDP administrations.

while observing police duty at a commercial bank in Niger Street in the state.

The charge sheet said: “On December 4, 2020, one Aliu Sammani Abdulmumuni of Zango Dakata quarters in Kano State reported at Nassarawa police division that on the same date at about 1400 hours, you (Sergeant Husainni Sabiu) attached to the Nassarawa police division, while on guard at a Sterling bank in Niger street,

committed the act.

“You intercepted one Musa Sammani, 22, who was driving a white Toyota matrix vehicle with registration No: UGG 76 JQ, allegedly corked your AK 47 rifle and shot him in his neck.

“He was rushed to Muritala Muhammad Specialist Hospital, where he was confirmed dead by a medical doctor. You are hereby arraigned before this court.”

The suspected killer police officer denied the allegation of

murder slammed against him before the court, and told the court that the content of the charge sheet was not true.

The prosecutor, Sa’adatu Ibrahim, informed the court that the investigation was still in progress.

The presiding Magistrate, Aminu Gabari, ordered that the defendant be remanded in prison custody, and adjourned to March 30, 2021, for continuation of the case.

House to Investigate Closure of Warri Refinery Adedayo Akinwale in Abuja The House of Representatives has resolved to conduct investigative hearing over the decision of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to shut down operations at the Warri Refining and Petrochemical Company.

The resolution of the House followed the adoption of a motion moved yesterday by Hon. Ben Igbakpa, at the plenary.

Igbakpa said that the Warri refinery was mandated to produce refined products from mainly local crude.

He noted that the plants were

illegally should be recovered by relevant government antigraft agencies immediately. The freezing of accounts of those companies that were paid illegally was also recommended.

“All contractors, who have completed and verified their jobs under the 2020 Appropriation Act prior to the assumption of office of Okonkwo, should be paid by PRODA Enugu immediately, and all payments should be completed before March 31, 2021.

“The Federal Ministry of Science and Technology, and the SGF should ensure that the affairs of the agency are handed over to the most senior person that is not involved in these allegations, relying strictly on the instant circulars from SGF with regards to the handover of headship of agencies, until the determination of the investigative panel set up by SGF.”

Another Ogun Lawmaker Defects to APC Adedayo Akinwale in Abuja

rackets, unexecuted electricity, CCTV, roads, to arms contracts to fight the North East insurgency, the culture of outright theft,

Police Sergeant Arraigned for Alleged Murder in Kano

House Orders Suspension, Prosecution of PRODA Acting DG Udora Orizu in Abuja

clear that only the PDP believes its deviant tales.

Akpanudoedehe stressed that from petroleum subsidy

to join the APC. Okechukwu said: “Mr. Speaker, you are quite aware that there is no crisis in the ADC.” But the Speaker said: “I am not aware that there is no crisis in the ADC, because I am not a member of the party. In any case, let me ask you, who is the chairman of the ADC? “Let me use the same term I used the last time, and it is legal terminology and that term is a meddlesome interloper. You are a meddlesome interloper, and so you are ruled out of order.”

operating at an output of around 115m3/hour, which translated to about 68 per cent installed capacity, adding that products that were being supplied from the refinery included petrol, gas oil, diesel, kerosene, low pour fuel oil (LPFO) for ships and industrial fuel.

He said: “The refinery has not operated optimally due to allegedly top management decisions of the NNPC to ground the plant for personal benefit of marketers importing

products that can be produced in the refinery.”

Igbakpa expressed concern that the plant had shut down severally due to haulage challenges, neglect in the evacuation of products, lack of functional or operational storage tanks and poor maintenance culture on the part of management, which also constitutes another reason for the refinery non-functionality.

He added: “Aware of the alleged plan to ground the

plant from refining products by members of the top echelon of the Warri refinery in collaboration with the chief operating officer (COO) as well as diverting crude meant for refining.”

The lawmaker stressed that when crude oil is delivered from Escravous tank farm for refining, the products are hoarded for about 14 days and thereafter diverted through the refinery jetty to interested buyers or specific companies they have special interests in who pay less.

THURSDAY MARCH 18, 2021 • T H I S D AY

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POLITICS

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

‘We Have Challenges, We Are Managing Them, But Let Us Stop Abusing This Country’

Nseobong Okon-Ekong holds a conversation with Mr. Folorunsho Coker, Director General of the Nigeria Tourism Development Corporation on the sustained efforts to repair Nigeria’s battered image and other sundry issues related to good governance

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go to that country. What we say and how it is amplified is so important in terms of restoring our image. A lot of the images are not from foreign journalists.

re you concerned about the ability of politicians to deal with the issues that caused the EndSARS riot?

No I’m not. I think it’s a wake up call- not just politicians, public office holders and the public themselves. Everybody suffered. Everybody lost in the protest. And I think everybody is now mindful of what to attack, what affects you. Mindfulness is the vaccine, I believe, for impunity. If we are mindful that this thing affects this person this way. Mindfulness is an antidote to impunity.

If I’m mindful about your well-being, I cannot do anything anyhow. So mindfulness is what I preach, mindfulness to work situations, to domestic situations to so many things that are the genesis of all those problems. EndSARS is a protest that has been going on to end SARS, as the response to police brutality. But it went beyond that. And if you look at it, what were the things they were agitating for? What were their demands? And at the end of the day the government met those demands but the protest went on for a bit too long. And other elements of society that were disgruntled about other things and some were just pure opportunists used that opportunity to hijack it, and carry out their own plans. EndSARS didn’t mean burn police stations EndSARS didn’t mean burn policemen. EndSARS was a statement.

They wanted SARS to end because of some of the issues concerning SARS. They wanted it to end but look at the dimension it took.

How much work will be put into building Nigeria’s battered image?

I think the first thing I will say about that is development journalism. I think we, as a people, need to speak more to our positives. I’m not saying, ignore negatives. Don’t sensationalise our negatives but push, talk more about the positive things about Nigeria, because if you don’t talk about the positive things that you’re doing, you will find out that nobody’s going to come and research your positives and echo them for you.

So the first thing is developmental journalism.

The next thing is public education. When I say public education, I don’t mean school, academic, I’m saying public education. You cannot defecate on the road. That is public education. You cannot drive against traffic. That is public education.

You cannot just drive on the Third Mainland Bridge, going in the opposite direction because there’s traffic, that is public education. These are your rights, if somebody stops you and the person is unconstituted authority, you must be educated about what your rights are and it is in that education, education of the public.

I think that is where we differ with a lot of African countries. The investment in public education is very different from the investment in academic education. Public education is what makes me know that this is wrong, this is right, and public education is not just the responsibility of government. Public education is the responsibility of families, of parents, of their teachers. I mean, a lot of things that make you who you are today, were handed to you, not only through your formal education in school but your domestic education that had a component of public education. When you see an elder you must greet. There’s also something I have to say. If you use your mouth to consistently say the negative about something that is uniquely yours, it is going to happen in that negative way. Let us stop abusing this country. We know we have challenges, we are managing them consistently. I don’t call the president, the president, I call him my president. We must own him. I don’t call the governor, the governor.

Mr. Governor, I call him my Governor. It is that sense of belonging, that sense of ownership and I think that it’s very important to control some of the negatives that are always coming out. I don’t abuse my father. I don’t abuse my mother. My elder brother, I don’t abuse him.

Nigeria is our country. It is an embodiment of

Without trying to sound defensive, it’s my industry, I try to check in places where this profession has been established over the years, centuries in some cases, how they have handled...let’s take, for instance, the infamous assault on the Capitol. How did the American media handle it? Certain things happen and there’s no other way than just to show exactly what happened. Except we want them to say, it didn’t happen or to spin it, even in spinning, you have to be careful otherwise you lose your credibility.

What happened with that attack on the Capitol, is that it was an attack on what America stands for. There was a bipartisan rejection to it.

Democrats said no. Republicans said no. Every young man, woman, they all said no. They were going to kill the Vice President of America. You broke the sacred image of the Capitol Hill by attacking it, and you are only one section. All the immigrants that called themselves Americans, they don’t count. There was a bipartisan rejection of that incident. Secondly, the whole world was also shocked and they started to mock America. And Americans don’t like that. So they went into overdrive, to show people what happened, to show that this wasn’t America, and this was not the America that they stood for. They’re still trying to reconstruct that image.

In the reconstruction, as you said, the multiple injections into one viral story means a lot says a lot about what you believe. Sorry, CNN took Trump down. They amplified his negative and suppressed his positive.

Coker everything that is so much greater than our individual self even though that we make up.. we the collective make it up. So, in terms of public education we need to reimagine who we are, what our country is and how we are going to push forward in that positive light.

I feel that’s very, very important in repairing the battered image of our country. It is about just showing positive images of Nigeria that are constantly echoed, and if we show enough of those images, positive side, it starts to echo

and drown out the negative, and amplify the positive and I think a lot of that work has to be with you the creatives that have the skill and know how to meander this treacherous journey.

It has also all gone digital now. It’s all in the public space. The printers are not printing, printing presses are not selling. Everything is now online. That means a man in Siberia can read your newspaper and see your opinion about your own country and that may help him make the decision that he is curious enough to

Nigeria is our country. It is an embodiment of everything that is so much greater than our individual self even though that we, as the collective, make it up. So, in terms of public education we need to reimagine who we are, what our country is and how we are going to push forward in that positive light. I feel that’s very important in repairing the battered image of our country. It is about just showing positive images of Nigeria that are constantly echoed, and if we show enough of those images, positive side, it starts to echo and drown out the negative, and amplify the positive and I think a lot of that work has to be with you the creatives that have the skill and know how to meander this treacherous journey. It has also all gone digital now. It’s all in the public space. The printers are not printing, printing presses are not selling. Everything is now online. That means a man in Siberia can read your newspaper and see your opinion about your own country and that may help him make the decision that he is curious enough to go to that country. What we say and how it is amplified is so important in terms of restoring our image.

A lot of the images are not from foreign journalists

Let us also look at the way Fox News, which is supposedly pro-Republican handled it. One or two persons resigned after that.

Because they couldn’t sell that news anymore.

And they needed the credibility post-Trump.

And because they left, they have their integrity intact. While those who stayed till the end, the Trump administration, some resigned before he left. I read one article where CNN carried a story: Have you seen what these people did with Trump, and you are an American, can you employ them in any capacity, again? They went that far to say no, this cannot happen in America.

They say, those who stood and watched the Germans kill the Jews are just as guilty as the Germans who killed the Jews. They said they cannot forgive the people who stood by and did not speak up at the right time about the wrong and the atrocities. He was making calls to governors, to rig, giving pardons to people that should not be...all sorts of things that ... it wasn’t Trump. It was the institution of the President of the United States of America that was now at stake and needed to be protected, affecting the sanctity of elections that Americans cannot go out and vote.

But again, it just shows to me that people are the same everywhere.

What was EndSARS? To some extent. It was community action. Community actions that started to say that we must do more for ourselves, we deserve better. On my street, we have a community action, we have an estate group where we talk about issues, the local government, state government, too many miscreants and we concerned about carrying the garbage. It is community action. It is not a negative thing, it’s actually a positive thing. But it should not result in violence, loss of life, loss of property.

That is heading towards anarchy which is not something that any democratic institution like ours will subscribe to. Take note of cancelled flights, international, domestic, the figures are huge. They’re still recovering, if they can ever recover. I mean the whole dimension has changed now. Greater efficiency must be brought to the dwindling assets that we have. Look at

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POLITICS

‘We Have Challenges, We Are Managing Them, But Let Us Stop Abusing This Country’ Ibom Air, Ibom flights come on time. Can we look inward and see how we can amalgamate our airlines to form one solid domestic airline?

Can we look at it and say, why do some airlines fly only within one region?’’ If an airline is flying efficiently, is it wrong for me to give that airline a licence for it to expand its operations if it’s making pure commercial sense to it? Is it wrong for me to say, okay, it looks like they know how to fly, come let’s partner? Let’s make the money together. Not that you just come here and be flying my passengers in and out. It’s time for us to reimagine aviation. It’s time for us to reimagine the marketing of hotels and airlines.

Most people who are flying somewhere, maybe fly to Abuja, they are going to stay in a hotel.

Look at the transportation between the airport, is it something that you can sell as one package like you buy a package to Jerusalem, to Mecca?

Can you buy one package to Abuja where the political and business community are considered very transit. I see Nigerians constantly market on social media trips to Dubai and Kenya. I have only just started seeing packaged trips to Lagos, packaged tours of Abuja, packaged tours from Abuja to Yankari, Ikogosi. You know, and that is the spinning and application of technology into it that makes for one price. I can get a brand and get a good quality holiday. That is the growth and development I’m pushing for.

The digital promotion of multi sectoral packaged affordable holidays. I know that things are tough, where everybody can take a holiday.

If I drive to Epe now, there is a lodge I can go to. I can take a short break from the city. That is what I think needs to be promoted more.

COVID-19 cancelled conferences but COVID-19 made Zoom, Google Meets and conferences where people meet, sit down and exchange ideas and listen to what’s going on in the world, it hasn’t stopped conferences, it’s just changed the dynamics of conferences. I don’t need to get up and attend the conference. I can, in one day, attend three conferences. So the cost of those things...certain industries have fallen by the wayside because they’re not there to be consumed anymore. They are tourism assets but those tourism assets need to reimagined.

That is what the application of technology is.

If I have an event centre, and I’m waiting for Alhaji to come, rent it at the weekend for his daughter’s wedding. And he doesn’t come anymore because of COVID-19 compliance.

Maybe I should have an art exhibition. Call local artists to come and display their art in the place where they can sell it. Maybe I should have a socially distant recitation of classical music or look at our local drummers. The Festival of the Drums, not in huge ways but to keep the business alive because you have nothing else but the bottom line is that your rent is still there. So you’ve got to reimagine the use of your assets.

If there are incidents that threaten the peace, it is for me to identify that incident but it is not for me to resolve. That is a bigger issue than my agency, but that is something that I have had conversations with other heads of agencies that have the command and control of what happens on the roads to innocent travelling citizens. Destruction, looting of restaurants, department stores, quick dining restaurants and bars was very unfortunate. I pray to God that a lot of them carried some insurance. I suspect that a lot of them did not. So, those losses were total losses.

Does the government have the revenue inflow, inclusive of oil to try and compensate or give grants to all those people? I don’t think so. Does the government have the power to for example create tax credits that will encourage you to go back? What we can’t give you in terms of cash, out of the cash you make, we will give you a credit. Can the banks look at softer, cheaper loans and say okay government owes that bridge, all of this infrastructure, those infrastructures, can some commercial value be extracted out of them, or be used as guarantee for cheaper loans.

That is possible.

That’s why I’m suggesting it. But what government doesn’t need to own, they make a concession to somebody that will do much more. Nigerians in diaspora do a lot for Nigeria.

They amplify the things that sometimes we cannot amplify here. Their remittances are a huge source of income especially foreign exchange are a lifeline to a lot of families here. I think what I would like to pitch to the Nigerians in diaspora. I lived abroad for many years before I came home. And whether I like it or not, I would like to think my presence, back in Nigeria

Coker adds some sort of value to the country. I think highly qualified individuals who are taking low paid jobs abroad should consider coming back home. It’s not a bed of roses but nobody’s going to build it for you. The loss of one man, one trained Nigerian to the diaspora is more than him, it’s the wife and the children and the education and all they could be. If I could give you a figure, that is what is lost to another nation. If you look at the academic records of immigrants in America, Nigerians are at the top.

If you look at sports in basketball, Nigerians are there. I know a Nigerian who is the head coach of the Raptors in Canada, a Nigerian is the World Boxing Champion. We need to own him. We need to give him a national award, we need to grab some of these people and entice them back here. Give them a Nigerian passport, give them citizenship straightaway. Even give them access to land to build. The other day I heard Stevie Wonder say he is moving to Ghana.

Wonderful. We need to facilitate those returns.

Nobody has tried to come back Nigeria. Ghana has always put in place policies that help. Rita Marley owns an estate there.

Ghana sells a very beautiful slave story. But

if you watch the ‘Journey of an African Colony’, you will find out that more slaves came out of Nigeria than Ghana. Nigeria’s relevance to the slave industry is greater than Ghana but because we have had oil and all the other assets, selling our slave story was not our priority but now it must become a priority. If you do the DNA analysis of all the people who have returned to Ghana, taking Ghana as their home, you will find out that most of them are Igbos and Yorubas from the Bight of Benin and Gulf of Guinea. So it’s another game that we need to change, and it is from our museums and from the cultural policies that we use to drive our cultural heritage and the immigration and taxation and legislation and regulations that all come up to make it an attractive package for a Stevie Wonder to come and live in Banana Island, Ikoyi-Lagos or wherever he chooses to live in Nigeria What is the impact of the widespread violence that followed the EndSARS campaign on tourism in Nigeria, particularly in Lagos and Cross River State?

First of all, we look at where we were at that

Can the banks look at softer, cheaper loans and say okay government owes that bridge, all of this infrastructure, those infrastructures, can some commercial value be extracted out of them, or be used as guarantee for cheaper loans. That is possible. That’s why I’m suggesting it. But what government doesn’t need to own, they make a concession to somebody that will do much more. Nigerians in diaspora do a lot for Nigeria.

They amplify the things that sometimes we cannot amplify here. Their remittances are a huge source of income especially foreign exchange are a lifeline to a lot of families here. I think what I would like to pitch to the Nigerians in diaspora. I lived abroad for many years before I came home. And whether I like it or not, I would like to think my presence, back in Nigeria adds some sort of value to the country. I think highly qualified individuals who are taking low paid jobs abroad should consider coming back home. It’s not a bed of roses but nobody’s going to build it for you

particular time. We were in the middle of a pandemic. The pandemic was something that the government and the private sector were struggling with. We were already in a difficult situation with the pandemic and EndSARS now came and just compounded it. What’s tourism?

It’s the transportation, it’s the hospitality, it’s the entertainment industry. And what violence does to those industries is to bring them to a halt. People were not moving around, shops were not open, hotels were not open, restaurants were not open, and the image-which is one of the most damaging things was that the image that it portrayed in the pandemic, violence in these cities of Lagos and Cross River- was most negative. Some people would look at it that okay, it was an expression of the frustration of a particular demographic group in Nigeria. Some people would look at it as it was not against just the police. It was against constituted authority.

There are many dimensions to it. To say that tourism benefited from the pandemic would be a foolish thing to say.

We were in a bad situation with the pandemic, EndSARS just deepened it. And the worst people who are affected if we look at the damage to life and property were those same demographic who were agitating.

Nobody’s saying that in a democracy where there’s free speech, people cannot express their opinions and demonstrate, but when it comes to the murder of police men the wanton destruction of both private and public property, it is difficult for anybody to support them. We live in an organised society where your rights are enshrined in the law, like my rights are enshrined in the law. For you to say you are aggrieved, take a position that is detrimental to my own well being, it’s why we have the Constitution and the laws, enshrined, you know, the fabric of what makes our country. Without the law, without the constitution, without the police, and all those things, your life is just as threatened as mine, irrespective of the grievance. So, I felt it just deepened the negative conversation about Nigeria and it also worsened the effect on tourism assets that Nigeria is trying to build.

Can you estimate the cost of the two weeks of EndSARS protests on the local economy and destruction of tourism establishments?

It’s near impossible to give a figure. There were established businesses, there were new businesses, there was the attitude now that it is truly unsafe to go anywhere, and you must understand this is also happening within the ecosystem where we have things like herdsmen and farmers issue.

That is something that has been going on for a long time, but when you add those things, which is a critical mass, critical load, in terms of negative inputs about Nigeria, it becomes worse. We don’t own the vehicles and engines that carry these negativity. They’re carried by global international platforms to help reinforce negativity. Who are the content creators? We are. Who are the people that put them on those social media platforms? We are. Without pooling our own positive platforms we are doing ourselves so much more of a disservice. In terms of value, I would hate to guess but I know that the National Bureau of Statistics put out some figures.

Lagos State government put it at trillions and that was just the Oba’s palace, the police stations, the shopping malls. You can quantify those things in terms of physical structures that need repair. But the man in Lekki who lost his shop, that he just came back from America to open is not included in that loss. The man whose family are now looking for bread and butter because he was one of those killed, the policemen that were attacked, random citizens who lost a lot of properties, supermarkets that were attacked, etc. It’s difficult to put a figure to that. Even if we put it at trillions of Naira, we are looking at physical assets, we’re not talking about the psychological effects of people who are no longer free to go out at will. We are not looking at brand loyalties that have been lost where people have now gone to alternatives, because they are not able to get to those places because those businesses don’t exist anymore. So to give you one compass figure is very difficult.

But to assess physical structures like City Hall, etc. the government can compute that easily.

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

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FEATURES

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

Planning Towards Post-COVID-19

Undoubtedly, the COVID-19 pandemic has affected economies all over the world, Nigeria inclusive. Thus as part of measures to ensure an efficient oil and gas sector post-COVID, the Ministry of Petroleum Resources will on March 29 launch the Decade of Gas Agenda, which is a critical transition to help battle global warming and function as a bridge between the dominant fossil fuel of today and the renewable energy of tomorrow, Nume Ekeghe reports

G

iven the clamour for climate change and renewable energy, the need to transition from the dominant fossil fuel of today to natural gas has become imperative. In fact, the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva, noted that the federal government has strategically focused on our vast natural gas resources, as a critical transition fuel to help battle global warming and function as a bridge between the dominant fossil fuel of today and the renewable energy of tomorrow.

Noting that the federal government is strategising to ensure an efficient oil and gas sector in the post-COVID-19 era, he declared year 2021 to 2030, the decade of gas in Nigeria. According to him, FG’s strategy to strengthen the Nigerian oil and gas industry in a post-COVID-19 world is to transform the national oil company into a diversified energy holding company.

“This will enable us to respond swiftly to the twin challenges of a future crash in crude oil prices and decarbonisation, by moving rapidly to becoming an energy holding company with more diverse interests.

“Consequently, we have strategically focused on our vast natural gas resources, as a critical transition fuel to help battle global warming and function as a bridge between the dominant fossil fuel of today and the renewable energy of tomorrow.

“Natural gas has the intrinsic ability to meet the increasing global requirement for cleaner primary energy use, while at the same time, enabling much needed domestic industrialisation for rapid economic growth in very few endowed countries, such as Nigeria,” he said.

Sylva noted that substituting traditional white products with gas would cushion the effect of the deregulation of the downstream petroleum sector and stimulate economic growth. He added that it would further improve Nigeria’s energy mix; drive investments and create enormous job opportunities for Nigerians.

Hybrid Event Thus, as part of measures to achieve the aforementioned goals, experts will on March 29 converge on the Transcorp Hilton, Abuja under the auspices of Federal Ministry of Petroleum Resources’ Nigeria International Petroleum Summit (N.I.P.S) for a hybrid conference and high-level networking session.

The event, which is a pre-summit conference of the 2021 NIPS, with Nigeria LNG Limited (NLNG) as sponsors, is in furtherance of the Federal Government’s declaration of January 1, 2021 to December 31, 2030 as “the Decade of Gas Development for Nigeria”. “The Decade of Gas” conference with the theme, “Towards a Gas-powered Economy by 2030” will feature President Muhammadu Buhari, as special guest of honour.

Expected speakers include the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva; Bitrus Bako Nabasu, Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Petroleum Resources; Mele Kolo Kyari, Group Managing Director, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC); Mohammad Sanusi Barkindo, Secretary General, Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), Tony Attah, Managing Director/CEO of NLNG, MD of Nigerian Ports Authority – Hadiza Bala Usman.

James Shindi, Chief Executive of Brevity Anderson, organisers of the conference, observed that as a hybrid event, critical stakeholders will be deliberating physically in Abuja, with the public participating actively from the comfort of their homes via the interactive virtual platform.

The sessions will also be recorded and can be assessed on demand even after the event for those who will be unable to follow the event live.

Global Developments According to the stakeholders in the gas industry, global developments have presented an opportunity for the government to reappraise

Buhari

its gas agenda, with a view to increasing its reserves and domestic utilisation, especially for power generation and transportation.

Given the scepticism around oil rebound, they urged that regulations and strategic frameworks be developed to encourage players in the sector.

Managing Director, NLNG, Tony Attah, said the firm would increase its allocation of LPG to the domestic market from 350,000 metric tonnes (MT) to450,000MT by 2021.

He said the move is aimed at supporting the Federal Government’s plan to deepen LPG (cooking gas) penetration in Nigeria. He said: “We have helped to reduce flaring by over 65 per cent, and moved Nigerian from the second position to the seventh having created the avenue to monetise gas. This has also helped us to bring major earnings to the economy. We can become the fourth largest reserve of gas if we exploit and develop the over 600trillion cubic feet (tcf) of gas yet to be explored. “Nigeria is a gas nation but keeps focusing on oil. More than just agreeing to make 2020 the year of gas, we need to declare the decade for gas.

“With the transition in the global economy and the challenge of peak oil, we will have no choice but to shift focus to gas,” he added.

Decrying the paradox of Nigeria’s status as a gas nation, and underscoring the urgency of addressing local LPG supply deficits in the country, Attah noted that some 100,000 Nigerian women and girls in the rural areas form part of the one million fatal casualties of kitchen fumes yearly.

Commitment Towards an Industrialised Nation Meanwhile, the Federal Government of Nigeria has demonstrated its commitment towards the objective of transforming the country into an industrialised nation driven by gas, through policies and projects like the NLNG T7 Project, the National Gas Expansion Programme, Autogas policy and the construction of the 614km Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano (AKK) gas pipeline.

These initiatives and projects are expected to stimulate economic growth, further improve Nigeria’s energy mix, drive investments, and provide jobs in the country.

NLNG Train 7 Project which will increase our production capacity by 35 per cent from the current 22 Million Tonnes Per Annum (mtpa) to 30mtpa.

This expansion will ensure that Nigeria, with

Sylva

its significant gas reserves (202 tcf of proven gas reserves, the 9th largest in the world) remains a top, reliable and preferred supplier of LNG in the ever-expanding energy world.

On December 27, 2019, NLNG’s Shareholders took Final Investment Decision (FID) for the Project and on 13th May 2020 awarded the Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) Contracts for the Project to SCD JV Consortium, comprising affiliates of Saipem, Chiyoda and Daewoo.

Train 7 means growth for the Nigerian oil & gas industry. Over USD10 billion is expected to be invested in Train 7 and the upstream scope of the LNG value chain which will open up new development opportunities in the industry and boost Nigeria’s Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) profile as well as the confidence of foreign investor.

The project is anticipated to create more than 12,000 new jobs during the construction stage, and on completion, it will help to further diversify the revenue portfolio of the Federal Government. It will also increase its tax base.

The Project will also support the development of local engineering and fabrication capacity.

The 614km Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano (AKK) natural gas pipeline, which will traverse Kogi, Niger, FCT, Kaduna and Kano, and feed power plants and industries along the corridor, has taken off. NNPC has paid the 15 percent counterpart funding for the $2.9 billion project, while the Federal Executive Council (FEC) approved the issuance of a sovereign guarantee to cover the rest of the funding, coming from the China Export and Credit Insurance Corporation.

Nigeria LNG Limited concluded Final Investment Decision (FID) on its Train 7 project at the end of 2019, and signed an EPC contract for the project in May 2020. A financing arrangement worth 3 billion US dollars was also concluded, the largest financing deal in Africa so far in 2020.

NNPC owns a 49 per cent stake in NLNG, on behalf of the Nigerian Government.

Push for Wider Adoption of LPG, CNG The Ministry of Petroleum Resources is driving the Autogas project. Sylva has been working hard to ensure a wider adoption of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) and Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) to ease pressure on petrol imports.

Sylva said the conversion of vehicles in his ministry and agencies shows that the government is working on the use of Autogas nationwide

and supports its declaration that 2020 as the year of gas.

To ensure seamless access to autogas, Buhari directed Sylva to work out the pump prices of the CNG and the LNG. The President gave the order at the virtual launch of the autogas scheme, during which he urged Nigerians to embrace gas as alternative fuel for their vehicles.

As a demonstration of the government’s commitment to the project, Sylva had launched the autogas station at the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Lugbe, Abuja which served as a showcase for the launch of the National Gas Expansion Programme and National Autogas Roll-out Initiative.

He also launched the five gas-fueled buses at the venue, which he handed over to the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC).

The five buses were just a tip of the iceberg as Sylva revealed that the government will release 100 of the buses to the union going forward.

At a virtually held event at the State House to unveil the National Gas Expansion Programme and National Autogas Roll-out Initiative, President Buhari urged Nigerians to embrace the use of gas as an alternative to fuel, President Buhari said: “It is no longer news that the vast Natural Gas resources, which Nigeria is endowed with has hitherto been used sub-optimally as a result of a dearth of gas processing facilities and infrastructural connectivity for effective and optimal domestic utilisation.

“With a proven reserve of about 203 trillion Cubic Feet (TCF) and additional upside of 600 TCF ranking Nigeria as the 9th in the world currently, the need for domestic gas expansion and utilisation is apparent,” he said.

The president said the autogas initiative will lead to increased domestic gas utilisation and enrich the trajectory of national economic growth and development, even as he encouraged everyone to embrace gas in form of LPG, CNG and LNG as an alternative fuel for autos and other prime-movers.

The National Gas Expansion Programme was initiated last year to boost the utilisation of gas in the short and medium-term and it is expected to create two million jobs per annum, promote skills acquisition and enhance technology transfer in addition to growing the nation's Gross Domestic Products (GDP).

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#THISISNIGERIA -Ayobami Akinyode Olunloyo

GOOD GOVERNANCE MAKES SENSE (From the blog: ‘My Nigerian Dream’)

N

igeria remains a country of countless contradictions.

Impressive and daring citizens on one hand, yet a shockingly unimpressive leadership on the other. When ‘we the people’ clamour for ‘good governance’, it’s not just a mantra. Why can we not implement seemingly simple yet reasonable strategies?

Good governance is neither just an idea nor an elusive ideal. In its most simplistic and humane sense, it is small everyday steps, taken for the benefit of all citizens, and encapsulated by sensible action and empathy. Another way to say that is that leaders ought to develop policies and act based on a true understanding of the plight of the common citizen with a commitment to ease it. Finito! Not too much to ask, is it?

Recently, I experienced a most vivid example of this contrast. While the very unnecessary and rather unfortunate drama around National Identity Numbers (NIN) continues to unfold in Nigeria, I came to realise that not one, but two US-based companies, both led by African entrepreneurs have announced their impressive achievements of unicorn status.

This is when a company reaches a valuation of $1 billion. What do both companies have in common? Yes, you guessed it – they both have Nigerians at their helms. Having said that, Nigerians have also created local unicorns such as InterSwitch, but such organisations, despite inherent challenges, are more a testament to the ingenuity and resilience of the Nigerian people than they are to the support or enablement of the state.

Calendly is a free online appointment scheduling software system, already boasting 5,000,000 monthly users, with LinkedIn, Zendesk, EMyth and the University of Georgia amongst its customers. Cityblock Health is a community-based healthcare provider that offers a total package of physical, mental, and social care with the aim of improving the experience and quality of care, all while reducing the cost to patients. Tope Awotona who moved to the U.S. as a teenager, is the Nigerian founder and CEO of Calendly. He is proof that education, opportunity and an enabling environment are fundamental to success. Might he have achieved what he now has if he hadn’t moved to the US? Perhaps! Did the move improve the odds?

Certainly! Toyin Ajayi is the Chief Health Officer and one of three Co-founders jointly advancing the vision of Cityblock Health.

While this son and daughter of the soil are busy beaming Nigerian pride abroad, many of us are embarrassed about what is happening at home. Should we not ask questions of the fate of the millions of Topes and Toyins that are right now in Nigeria, players on the sports field of life and capable of the same feats, but hindered by the dilapidated state of the playing field?

Back to the issue of National Identity Numbers. How as a nation do we make decisions? Simple decisions first, not even highly strategic ones yet. OK, let us lay this out. Nigeria is (now) a nation of 211+ million souls. By the way, since the last time I reported that statistic in a blog piece last year (207 million), the number has increased by roughly 2.55%. Staggering isn’t it? Anyway, let’s stay focused. According to statista, the number of mobile internet users in Nigeria in 2020 was 85.26 million and is projected to reach 101.27 million in 2021. If we use this as a proxy for the number of mobile phone users, the latter figure would be approximately 48% of the current population. I have written in the past about the estimated number of Nigerians in diaspora being about 15 million, of which circa 215,000 are in the UK. The point? Some of these folks abroad, I being one, also have mobile subscriptions in Nigeria. We have 36

states. Let’s assume an even spread of people across them (ignore the FCT); that would mean 2.81 million people needing to access NIN registration services in each state. Let’s be even more benevolent and also assume half of all those already have NINs, that would still mean 1.4 million per state needing the service. That’s the data.

Now for the analysis and the policy suggestions. So, a decision is made that all mobile subscriptions, on an individual basis, must be linked to a NIN, supposedly to clean up identity data in order to reduce crime.

Perhaps you buy that reason, perhaps you don’t, but it’s beyond our scope here. This requirement was initially communicated by the Nigerian Communication Commission (NCC) on 15th December 2020 with a 2-week deadline for all registrations to be completed.

Back to the data, rough as it is. 1.4 million people on average per state, to queue up at physical locations, over 14 days, to get this done? I don’t smoke, but a ‘back of a cigarette box calculation’, as they say, would have obviously thrown up the folly of this plan, and its unfairness particularly during a global pandemic. A good thing with a bad plan essentially amounts to a bad thing.

Moreover, the NCC proceeded to threaten mobile operators with the withdrawal of their operating licences, based on what has now been proven and could easily have been foreseen as an impossible task. This, right here, is a typical example of poor execution, leadership, governance, or any other term you choose to call it. It is the case of an unrealistic policy devoid of empathy. Why was empathy needed? One word: COVID. Now, to mop up the tsunami that was unleashed, the Telcos, for

example, MTN, are having to be licenced by the NCC to register citizens for NINs. Does anyone else see the sad irony in that? Anyway, just to bring in the diaspora angle; I have diligently sought to register for my NIN in the UK, but between the dead websites and grossly inadequate number of poorly located registration centres, it is so far proving to be nearly impossible task.

So? What to do? As a person of faith, I find it fundamental to consider any actions prayerfully before proceeding. Once that stage is complete, I suggest the following: r$POTJEFS UIF QSPCMFN UIPSPVHIMZ BOE decide if it is really worth pursuing. r*G JU JT FNQBUIFUJDBMMZ UIJOL UISPVHI UIF policy implications and what they would mean for the population. r* QFSTPOBMMZ MPWF UIF $045 26"-*5: 5*.& triangle (Pick 2) framework. Use it (see below). r*G ZPV XBOU DIFBQ BOE IJHI RVBMJUZ UIFO it will take time. r*G ZPV XBOU DIFBQ BOE GBTU UIFO JU XJMM be low quality. r*G ZPV XBOU IJHI RVBMJUZ BOE GBTU UIFO it will cost you. r%FDJEF XIJDI PG UIF BCPWF JT CFTU GPS UIF situation (hopefully not the second – never a great option in my opinion!). r5BLF UJNF UP DSFBUF B TUSPOH JNQMFNFOUBUJPO plan (always think digitisation!) and test it

for resilience. r*OUSPEVDF UIF BHFOEB BOE HBVHF QVCMJD opinion. r*G GBWPVSBCMF CBTFE PO UJNJOH GVOEJOH optics, etc.) take decisive action and implement. r4JU CBDL XBUDI B HPPE QMBO VOGPME JOUP a good thing, and THANK GOD. Does this consider all the realities? Is it practical or just theory? Could it really be this simple? Perhaps not, but I think it could be – with the right people, doing the right things. Do we as a nation have such people in waiting? Clearly! Will they rise up one day en masse, in a new era of disruption in the sphere of governance? I for one cannot wait for the day, and I am writing this, as much to myself, as I am to ‘them’. If this resonates with you, then perhaps it’s time to answer the call; because good governance makes sense, but it takes good people.

Ayobami Akinyode OLUNLOYO is a passionate Nigerian and African, political enthusiast, and accomplished professional.

He holds an MBA with Distinction from the University of Cambridge, UK and was recognised amongst the 100 Best & Brightest Executive MBAs globally in 2020. He is currently a member of the pioneer cohort of the new unconventional School of Politics, Policy and Governance (SPPG) which resulted from the #FixPolitics initiative.

Twitter: @ayobamiolunloyo | Instagram: @ayobami.olunloyo

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AIICO Pension Debunks Reports

QUICK RESPONSE CODE LAUNCH

L-R: Chief Risk Officer, Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS), Temidayo Adekanye; Executive Director, Business Development, Christabel Onyejekwe; Managing Director/CEO, Premier Oiwoh and Deputy Managing Director, Niyi Ajao, during the launch of the New Quick Response (NQR) payment solution code, powered by NIBSS, in Lagos...recently

Mobile Internet Subscriptions Drop to 150m in Two Months Stories by Emma Okonji The number of mobile internet subscribers in Nigeria, including subscribers to Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), dropped in two consecutive months - December 2020 and January 2021 - according to a recent statistics released by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC).

According to the report posted on the NCC website, in November 2020, the total number of mobile internet subscribers was 154 million, but dropped to 153 million in December 2020, and dropped further to 150 million in January 2021.

The drop also affected VoIP subscribers, which recorded 429,121 subscribers in November 2020, and 415,941 in

TELECOM December 2020, before it further dropped to 387,169 in January 2021.

Although the statistics highlighted a drop in mobile internet and VoIP subscriptions, it however showed an increase in fixed wired internet subscriptions within the same period.

In November 2020, Nigeria recorded 11,459 fixed wired internet subscribers, but the figure increased to 11,468 in December 2020 and a further increase to 11,545 in January 2021, bringing the total number of internet subscribers in the country, both fixed and mobile, to 151 million as at January 2021, according to NCC statistics.

The NCC statistics also

showed a drop in broadband subscriptions and penetration in two consecutive months in December 2020 and January 2021.

According to the statistics, as at November 2020, broadband subscription was 86 million, with a penetration rate of 45.07 per cent, but the subscription dropped in December 2020 to 85 million with a penetration rate of 45.02 per cent, with a further drop in broadband subscription in January 2021 to 81 million with a penetration rate of 42.93 per cent.

Despite the drop in broadband subscriptions and penetration in the months of December 2020 and January 2021, as captured by the NCC’s statistics, the Executive Vice Chairman of NCC, Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta, last week, told

Nigerians during a presentation in Abuja, that the county has achieved tremendous milestone in broadband penetration, given the figure of broadband penetration that was less than 6 per cent penetration when he was appointed the Executive Vice Chairman of NCC in 2015.

“From 2015 to 2020, broadband penetration moved from less than 6 per cent to 45.07 per cent, because of the regulatory measures put in place by the NCC. Today, the projection of broadband penetration is 70 per cent by 2025, and I am optimistic that Nigeria will meet and surpass 70 per cent broadband penetration by 2025,” Danbatta said.

The statistics also gave the figures of active telecoms subContinued on page 24

‘Cryptocurrency Can Correct Financial Irregularities’ The ban of cryptocurrency transactions from Nigeria’s banking and payment system has continued to raise concerns from technology experts.

Participants at a webinar conference organised by the Nigeria Computer Society (NCS) recently called on the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to reconsider its stance and put in place, appropriate measures that will address the financial risk associated with cryptocurrency.

The CEO/Founder, Bitfxt and Boundlesspay, Mr. Franklin Peters, said cryptocurrency was designed in the first place to correct financial irregularities in any financial system.

Giving instances of the

TELECOM weak value of the naira, when compared with dollar, Peters said weak currency would always have negative impact on economy and the liquidity of individuals, adding that cryptocurrency can correct such financial irregularities that could lead to inflation and recession.

Speaking on the advantages of cryptocurrency, Peters said apart from having the ability to correct financial irregularities, it also increases profitability. He said since cryptocurrency is built to operate in a peer-to-peer manner, it eliminates middlemen from every financial transactions, by sending digital money from one wallet to another, thereby

saving time and money in terms of transaction fees.

“It also opens vista of business opportunities for people who trade in cryptocurrency because they have the opportunity to meet foreign investors and they can make purchases of all kinds without the involvement of a third party,” Peters said.

Also, the Executive Director, Centre for Cyberspace Studies, Dr. Uche Mbanaso, while speaking on security issues around cryptocurrency, said it was the fear of the lack of central control of the country’s central security architecture that forced CBN to pronounce outright ban on cryptocurrency.

According to him, “Nigeria is yet to harmonise its secu-

rity architecture. So instead of outright ban of cryptocurrency, Nigeria should harmonise its critical infrastructure architecture in such a way that fraudulent financial transactions could easily be traced and addressed.”

He called for stricter measures on in the part of government and all individuals involved in cryptocurrency business, in order to,address its risks and challenges.

Chief Technical Officer, Digital Encode Limited, Dr. Oluseyi Akindeinde, said one of the major fears of CBN, was that cryptocurrency has no central operation and control, unlike physical cash that has central Continued on page 24

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“Though Nigeria has been known to be second largest market for cryptocurrency transactions, very little percentage of our people are benefitting from it.

This is either because they do not have good knowledge of it or they are afraid of the associated risks” President, Nigeria Computer Society (NCS),

Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola

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BUSINESSWORLD MOBILE INTERNET SUBSCRIPTIONS DROP TO 150M IN TWO MONTHS scribers, which also dropped in the months of December 2020 and January 2021. According to the statistics, in November 2020, the total number of active telecoms subscribers was 207 million, with a teledensity of 108.92 per cent, but it dropped in December 2020 to 204 million with a teledensity of 107.14 per cent, and a further drop in January 2021 to 200 million with a teledensity of 104.89 per cent Some analysts who spoke to THISDAY, attributed the drop in mobile internet subscriptions, Voice over Internet Protocol, broadband subscriptions and active subscriber numbers, to the adverse effect of COVID-19 pandemic, which they said, grounded economies, which led to loss of jobs. They were however optimistic that the figures would pick up again as Nigeria and the rest of the world get over the pandemic.

Telecoms subscriptions and mobile internet had over the years, increased in numbers, which were attributed to low priced mobile phone devices in the market, coupled with the gradual drop in the cost mobile data offered by telecoms operators and internet service providers.

‘CRYPTOCURRENCY CAN CORRECT FINANCIAL IRREGULARITIES’ control from the CBN in terms of regulation.

He, however, said what the CBN needed to do was to create better regulation and control on crypto-trading, instead of outright ban, since the blockchain technology in which cryptocurrency runs, is fully secured with encrypted features. He advised CBN to focus more on the regulation of the virtual wallets, the exchanges and the users and not to regulate the cryptocurrency technology.

Blockchain Solution Architect for Sterling Bank, Mr. Charles Okaformbah, said crypto Adoption was growing fast in Nigeria, until the recent ban and that several persons have invested in crypto exchanges to offer cryptocurrency services to people.

NEWS

UK Partners Nigeria to Enhance Digital Access Stories by Emma Okonji The Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy and the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) in collaboration with UK’s Digital Access Programme recently facilitated a technical conference on digital inclusion for underserved and unserved communities and Persons Living with Disabilities (PLWDs)’.

The conference, which sought to show the UK government’s commitment to support Nigeria in its inclusive digital economic agenda and to promote the growth of the Nigeria tech ecosystem and close the digital divide in Nigeria, was organised to aggregate views and develop quick-win strategies to resolve the issues of populations without access to digital.

The essence was to bring the poor and excluded people into the digital economy, thereby reducing poverty and stimulating economic growth.

The UK has continued to place the development and adoption of digital inclusion at the very heart of its agenda to be a global force for good.

The UK recognises the power of the digital economy to deliver on the Sustainability Development Goals (SDGs).

The virtual conference in collaboration with all levels of government, private sector partners, civil society organisations, and the international development community, was the critical first step to promote the need for affordable, inclusive, safe and secure digital access for underserved or excluded populations, A technical report presented

at the conference, focused on demand, supply and systematic issues, which currently hinder digital inclusion efforts.

The reports by experts also proffered detailed solutions to the issues raised from short, medium to long term.

Delivering the opening remarks, the British Deputy High Commissioner to Nigeria in Lagos, Ben Llewellyn-Jones said: “As our fight against the COVID-19 pandemic goes on, our focus is on supporting a sustainable and resilient recovery across Nigeria.

“Tech has the ability to help us tackle some of the greatest

social challenges of our time, from protecting our environment and reducing carbon emissions, to transforming health systems, saving lives through diagnosing diseases earlier, to aiding economic inclusion by deepening access to underserved populations.”

According to the British Deputy High Commissioner, “To drive this growth, Nigeria needs a combination of increased access to faster and better quality Internet connectivity infrastructure, an upskilled tech talent pool, a vibrant start-up ecosystem, access to investment and partnership

opportunities both regionally and internationally.”

Delivering a keynote address titled ‘Optimising and Prioritising Digital Inclusion in the Face of Covid-19,’ the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr. Isah Pantami said: “The federal government’s priority is developing strategy and policy to provide an enabling environment which supports the private sector to bridge the digital divide. We are supporting the growth of the sector, which contributed 14.70 per cent in to the GDP in Q4 of 2020 and will continue to do so.

“On-behalf of President

Buhari, I want to thank the UK government for their continued support for Nigeria’s digital sector including the development of the national broadband plan which has led to 10 per cent increase in broadband penetration in Nigeria since it was launched a year ago.”

Reacting to the technical study, the Executive Vice Chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Prof Umar Garba Danbatta, also thanked the UK government’s Digital Access Programme for their support in championing digital inclusion in Nigeria.

CSR-IN-ACTION

L-R: Group Managing Director, Custodian Investment Plc, Wole Oshin; Chairperson, Custodian Social Responsibility Foundation (CSRF), Mrs. Mimi Ade- Odiachi; Chief Executive Officer , CSRF, Mrs. Olubunmi Aderemi; SA on Works and Infrastructure, Lagos State, Mrs. Aramide Adeyemo; Member House Of Assembly Constituency 2 Lagos State, Mr. Olaranwaju Oshun, and Executive Chairman , Yaba LCDA, Kayode Omiyale , at the Rehabilitation of Chapel Street Road Drainage and Provision of Street Light by the company in Lagos… recently

Firm Gets Google Funding to Counter COVID-19 Vaccine Misinformation The Google News Initiative (GNI) has named Africa Check as the only African recipient, among a total of 11 projects, to benefit from the new $3 million GNI Vaccine Counter-Misinformation Open Fund, designed to help debunk COVID-19 vaccine misinformation.

The selection of the 11 recipients followed an intensive review process by a 17-person project team. An expert jury then determined the final projects from among the highest-scoring applicants identified during the early review phases.

The Open Fund, which was launched in January, accepted

applications from projects that aim to broaden the audience of fact-checkers, especially amongst specific populations who may be disproportionately targeted with misinformation.

Communications and PR Manager, Google West Africa, Mr. Taiwo Kola-Ogunlade, said: “The global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines is exacerbating a perennial problem of misinformation about immunisation. While the infodemic has been global in nature, some of the available research suggests that the audiences who encounter misinformation, and those who conduct essential fact-checking, don’t necessarily overlap.”

The Open Fund builds on support provided by the GNI in April and December of year, to news efforts fighting pandemic misinformation. They anticipate that the selected projects will also benefit from GNI-supported research into the most effective formats, headlines and sources to counter COVID-19 vaccine misinformation.

A total 309 applications were received from 74 countries, with Africa Check partnering with Theatre for Change for the purposes of their project. They will produce a series of interactive radio drama shows, in Wolof in Senegal and in Pidgin in Nigeria, to present fact-checking in a

more participatory way.

Africa Check, Africa’s first independent nonprofit factchecking organisation, was established in South Africa in 2012 to promote accuracy in public debate and the media across the continent. It has since expanded to set up offices in Senegal, Nigeria and Kenya.

Stressing that facts matter, the organisation points out that people make decisions, big and small, every day across Africa.

“To do this, they rely on publicly available information. Often that information is misleading or just plain wrong,” the organisation cautions on its website.

The GNI was established to work with the global news industry to help journalism thrive in the digital age. Factchecking is crucial to journalists, who play a fundamental role in supporting evidence-based discourse by listening to the concerns of their audiences, and helping correct misconceptions that circulate both online and offline.

“The selected projects stood out for their focus on reaching out to underrepresented audiences, for exploring new formats for fact-checking, and for their rigorous inbuilt strategies to measure impact,” Kola-Ogunlade added.

Zinox Partners Ebony Life to Boost Nigeria’s Creative Industry Group Business Editor

ÌÓØØË ÒÓ×Ë Capital Market Editor

Goddy Egene

Comms/e-Business Editor

××Ë ÕÙØÔÓ Asst. Editor, Money Market

ß×Ï ÕÏÑÒÏ

Senior Correspondent

ËÒÏÏ× ÕÓØÑÌÙÖß (Advertising) Correspondents

ÒÓØÏÎß äÏ (Aviation) ÜÙ×ÙÝÏÖÏ ÌÓÙÎßØ (Maritime) Ë×ÏÝ ×ÏÔÙ (Finance) ÌÏÜÏ áÙÔÓ (Insurance) ÒÓØÏ×Ï ÕËÐÙ (Energy) ××ËØßÏÖ ÎÎÏÒ (Energy) Reporters

ÙÝË ÖÏÕÒßÙÑÓÏ (ICT) ÏÞÏÜ äÙÒÙ (Energy)

Zinox Technologies Ltd. has been commended for its contribution to the creative industry in Nigeria, with the donation of its high-end laptops, desktop computers and other devices to the EbonyLife Creative Academy.

The donation was handed over by the Leo Stan Ekeh Foundation, a Non-Governmental Organisation dedicated to the promotion of quality education, practical entrepreneurship, wealth creation and healthy living.

Commending the donation

of the tech devices, Chief Executive Officer of EbonyLife Creative Academy, Mo Abudu, hailed the tech giant for its contribution, which she noted, would aid the faculty and students of the academy in their learning tasks. The appreciation comes weeks after the donation by the Leo Stan Ekeh Foundation and Zinox Technologies to the academy last month.

In an Instagram post to thank the organisations, Abudu wrote: “The EbonyLife Creative Academy is extremely grateful

to @HP Nigeria and @Zinox Tech for their donations of laptops and computer systems for the use of our faculty and students.”

The EbonyLife Creative Academy is a state-of-theart facility which is aimed at grooming the next generation of creative talents in Nigeria.

The facility boasts eight welldecorated and fully equipped classrooms, two lounge areas for students, a sound room for audio lessons and other resources.

Situated in the heart of

Victoria Island, Lagos, the EbonyLife Creative Academy is focused on the training of entertainment professionals and beginners, such as actors, actresses, scriptwriters, film directors, producers, audio specialists and set designers to help them upscale their skills at no cost to them.

Ekeh has through the Foundation, touched many lives through a long list of noble causes in various parts of Nigeria and beyond.

Among these are charitable works such as the donation

of N100 million to Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in the North-east, donation of N50 million to victims of the demolished Eke-Ukwu market in Imo State, scholarships to hundreds of indigent students across Nigeria to study both at home and abroad, digital skills acquisition trainings and upskilling for young school leavers and the employed respectively, as well as the set-up of a N1.5 billion revolving loan scheme for disadvantaged students and entrepreneurs of Imo origin, among several others.

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BUSINESSWORLD

ANALYSIS

Driving Digital Financial Inclusion Since the inception of digital financial inclusion drive which was initiated by the Central Bank of Nigeria, the Nigeria Communications Commission has put several measures in place to further deepen it, writes Emma Okonji

I

n line with global initiative to promote digital transformation across nations, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in 2012, adopted the National Financial Inclusion Strategy (NFIS), designed to onboard the unbanked and make them financially inclusive, using the digital platform of telecoms operators.

Although the CBN decided to make it a bank-led initiative, which raised some dust at that time as to why it was not telco-led as it was the case with M-Pesa of Kenya and other regions of the world, the CBN, however, licenced telecoms operators to join the banks in driving the initiative with their widespread telecoms network across Nigeria.

Executive Vice Chairman/CEO of the Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC) Prof.

Umar Danbatta, recounted the milestone achieved in the country’s financial inclusion strategies, saying the telecoms sector had further deepened financial inclusion through several measures put in place by the telecoms regulator.

Danbatta spoke as the guest lecturer last week at the 5th Annual The Bullion Lecture, organised by the Centre for Financial Journalism with the theme: ‘Driving Pervasive Broadband Penetration to Deepen Digital Financial Inclusion for Nigeria’s Socio-economic Transformation.’

The journey In 2012, the CBN adopted the NFIS, which defined a set of targets for products, channels and enablers of financial inclusion. The key performance indicators (KPIs) were defined, based on the various dimensions of financial inclusion, including access, usage, affordability, appropriateness, financial literacy, consumer protection and gender.

In line with the 2012 NFIS monitoring plan, a review was carried out from October 2017 to June 2018 based on research reports, data analysis and stakeholder engagements. The exercise aimed to understand the state of financial inclusion in Nigeria, assess past approaches and lessons learnt in order to prioritise the most critical interventions to achieve the NFIS objectives.

According to Danbatta, one of the key findings of the review committee, showed that Nigeria had made significant progress to implement the NFIS because stakeholders regard financial inclusion as a national development tool.

“In 2016, 58.4 per cent of Nigeria’s 96.4 million adults were financially included comprising 38.3 per cent banked, 10.3 per cent served by other formal institutions and 9.8 per cent served by informal service providers.

In 2020, Nigeria plans to have 70 per cent of its adult population in the formal financial services sector and 10 per cent included in the informal sector,” Danbatta quoted the NFIS (Revised), October, 2018.

He said the CBN had further reviewed the financial inclusion target from 70 per cent to 80 per cent, highlighting in the reviewed strategy, the role of the NCC as a strategic partner in promoting access to digital infrastructure and platforms to financial inclusion drive of government, so that the banks, mobile money operators and Fintechs can leverage such digital platforms to offer mobile-based or digital-based financial services to those already in the formal financial service sectors and those outside the financial inclusion curve. Since 2012, Nigeria has made significant improvement in its financial inclusion drive, according to available statistics.

Danbatta, who described financial inclusion as the sustainable provision of affordable financial services that bring the poor into the formal economy, said: “With a population of over 190 million people, research shows that 73.2 million adults, representing 41.6 per cent of the adult population in Nigeria, are financially excluded. However, Nigeria remains one of the countries identified by the ITU to have developed policy directions towards deepening financial inclusion in order to address the challenge of access to formal financial services.”

He said being able to have access to a

Telecoms masts

transaction account would become a first step toward broader financial inclusion since a transaction account allows people to store money and send and receive payments.

“A transaction account serves as a gateway to other financial services. Indeed, financial access facilitates day-to-day living, and helps families and businesses plan for everything from long-term goals to unexpected emergencies.

As account holders, people are more likely to use other financial services, such as credit and insurance, to start and expand businesses, invest in education or health, manage risks, and weather financial shocks, which can improve the overall quality of their lives,” Danbatta said.

Citing global statistics on financial inclusion, Danbatta made reference to a World Bank Report, which stated that great strides have been made toward financial inclusion and that 1.2 billion adults worldwide have gotten access to an account since 2011, with 69 per cent of adults having an account.

However, Global Financial Inclusion Database, otherwise known as Global Findex, which documents how people save, borrow and make payments, states that, close to one-third of adults, about 1.7 billion, are still unbanked globally. About half of unbanked people include women, poor households in rural areas or out of the workforce. This, thus, hinders women from being able to effectively control their financial lives, as financial inclusion has been identified as an enabler for seven of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals 2030. Danbatta however said that financial inclusion had been considered a key enabler to reduce extreme poverty and boost shared prosperity and that countries with high mobile money account ownership have less gender inequality.

Telecoms’ role Giving details of the roles played by the telecoms sector and the telecoms regulator in deepening digital financial inclusion in Nigeria, Danbatta said NCC and the telecoms operators played key roles in providing the needed digital infrastructure and supports for enhancing digital financial inclusion quest for national socio-economic development.

According to him, a number of initiatives were implemented by the NCC towards deepening the frontiers of broadband/digital access to the generality of Nigerians, on a larger scale, such as pervasive broadband penetration, Open Access Model for licensing of InfraCos, establishment data centres, among others.

“NCC has been actively involved in the actualisation of the federal government’s financial inclusion target of 20 per cent exclusion

or 80 per cent inclusion by the year 2020.

However, a recent report by EFInA indicates that even though its data showed that more people have become financially included, the financial inclusion pace was, however, not matching the country’s population growth rate.

“Therefore, to achieve an accelerated financial inclusion target that the country desires, even as the population grows, technology and more importantly, broadband, has to play a massive significant role and what I see technology doing in terms of Nigeria’s financial inclusion is actually to democratize access. In doing this, the NCC embarked on various regulatory initiatives that have continued to increase access to telephone lines and improve access to high-speed Internet or broadband. This is in line with the Commission’s mandate of ensuring universal access to telecoms services in the country consistent with the International Telecommunications Union (ITU’s) goal of achieving digital inclusion, globally,” Danbatta said.

He added that among the regulatory initiatives, is the implementation of the Open Access Model for infrastructure deployment through the competitively selected Infrastructure Companies (InfraCos) called the InfraCo Project. The InfraCo initiative is expected to provide, at a minimum, broadband fibre and connectivity to every local government areas of the federation, totaling 774 fibre Points of Access (PoAs) with a minimum speed of 10 Gbps, which will translate to, at least,38,296km of optic fibre cable to the transmission over the next years.

Danbatta said the Commission has licensed six of the seven InfraCos to implement this project, adding that it is intended that the presence of fibre point of access in each local government area will not only spur development, lower cost of entry for telcos and bring about innovative services and applications, but also, improve the conditions of living in the rural, urban and semi-urban areas, especially with respect to access to financial services.

“The NCC also provided the requisite infrastructure, connectivity and capacity to interconnect four Internet Exchange Points (IXPs) in Lagos, Enugu, Port Harcourt and Kano in order to localise some of the internet traffic in Nigeria and encourage the creation, hosting and interchange of data within Nigeria,” Danbatta said, adding “that this had enabled the local hosting of companies like Google, Facebook, Vodacom, China Telecom, Akamai, Juniper Solutions, among others alongside all major Nigerian Internet Service Providers (ISPs), Mobile Network Operators, sub-Marine Cable Operators as well as major tier I to tier III Data Centres.”

“This has not only reduced cost, which is key to digital financial inclusion and conserved foreign exchange, but also has drastically reduced latency,”Danbatta added.

Socio-economic impact Considering the socio-economic impact of financial inclusion, Danbatta cited the report

by Boston Consulting Group (BCG), a global management consulting firm, commissioned

by Telenor, a multinational telecommunications company. According to him, the report clearly estimated that one per cent increase in financial inclusion increases the real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita by 3.6 per cent.

Danbatta therefore, said access to financial services remained a crucial enabler of economic and social transformation of any country.

“Until recently, policy efforts to develop financial services have focused on the formal banking sector and its intermediating function in converting savings into investment. This meant that the urban population enjoyed access to financial services while financial institutions neglected low-income population segments and rural areas users,” he said, However, he identified some barriers to financial inclusion on the demand side to include: affordability, awareness, accessibility and desirability. He said lack of affordability as a result of high interest rates on loans, high premiums on insurance products, and minimum balances on accounts, affected financial inclusion growth. He also said awareness and understanding, both as to availability of products and how they are structured, priced and used, could badly affect financial inclusion, while desirability, with many products not designed for the needs of low income users, could hamper financial inclusion growth.

Sustaining wireless infrastructure Giving the capacity of wireless infrastructure for rapid advancement and ubiquitous coverage, which can be leveraged for financial inclusion, among other services, Danbatta said the commission was able to put in place a number of guidelines and regulatory measures towards ensuring availability and sustainability of wireless technologies.

He listed some of them to include: spectrum trading guidelines(STG), spectrum frequencies, Tv whitespace(TVWS), 5G network among others.

Danbatta said the commission developed STG to enable operators in possession of un-utilised or under-utilised frequency spectrum to trade such limited assets in the secondary market place, thus freeing resources and eliminating spectrum hoarding.

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Akinwunmi: Oil Sector Won’t Get Okafor: Nigeria Requires Cryptocurrency Regulations Tired of Asking for PIB Passage VicePresident,PolicyandRegulationforStakeholders in Blockchain Technology Association of Nigeria, Mr. Arinze Okafor, speaks on the recent ban of cryptocurrency transactions by the Central Bank of Nigeria. Emma Okonji presents the excerpts:

Okafor

H

ow did you receive the news of the CBN prohibition on banks from transacting with cryptocurrency businesses?

It was a shock to the cryptocurrency industry, not only in Nigeria but across the world. It was not the outright ban that was worrisome; it was the outmoded justification that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) put behind the ban that was a calls for concern. It is quite unfortunate that in a time like this when we should be emulating other strong economic nations of the world who are committing meaningful resources into research for a proper understanding of the digital economy and adoption of innovative technologies, including blockchain technology and its crypto applications such as digital currencies, we appear to be taking many steps back. The CBN had the opportunity to leverage this digital technology to drive a more profitable economic advancement of Nigeria but the fear of the risks and threats often associated with these innovations has overwhelmed our regulators. This calls for a collaborative, multi-stakeholder approach.

What is the immediate impact on your business?

The uproar generated by the recent CBN circular to the Deposit Money Banks (DMBs) and other financial institutions over cryptocurrency transactions has created some level of panic within the Nigerian Blockchain and Fintech space. Cryptocurrency service providers, especially cryptocurrency exchanges, have been the worst hit by the CBN action because there was no prior notice. Many customers of these exchanges and services still have their Naira stock in their accounts with these services, unable to even make withdrawals. There have also been reports that some crypto exchange operators had their bank accounts frozen by some banks perhaps out of unnecessary zealousness or misinterpretation of the circular of February 5th, 2021, that was written by the CBN. On the other hand, since the CBN action, peer-to-peer (P2P) crypto platforms have been experiencing increased transaction volume.

For P2P platforms such as Paxful for example, I would say that the CBN’s action is indirectly a blessing in disguise. The CBN action has created some level of publicity and drawn the attention of many to Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies like Altcoins. It has also effectively redirected the medium/channel of crypto transactions in the industry to P2P transactions, thereby upholding the “Decentralized System”, the original purpose for which Bitcoin was created to serve by Satoshi Nakamoto.

Before the directive was issued, what was the relationship between the market and the regulatory authorities?

The CBN circular was especially a shocker because many stakeholders in the industry had been having productive engagements with other government regulatory agencies such as the Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) and National

Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), among others.. It is particularly worthy of note that CBN is one of the key stakeholders in the National Blockchain Adoption Strategy (NBAS) initiated by NITDA and supported by the federal government. Furthermore, industry stakeholders had worked with the SEC to develop a regulatory approach for digital assets in Nigeria.

This eventually resulted in the SEC releasing a statement on the classification and treatment of digital assets in Nigeria, including cryptocurrencies as commodities or securities. As recent as January 2021, industry stakeholders started working with the SEC on synergies that will help establish a robust regulatory framework, protect investors and curb the activities of a few bad actors operating in the crypto and digital assets space in Nigeria.

One of such engagements was what gave birth to the Blockchain Industry Coordinating Committee of Nigeria (BICCoN), which is a joint committee of various interest groups, with stakeholders in the industry coming together to work and speak as a unified voice for the industry.

Do you agree with the CBN that the crypto market has led to an increase in money laundering and terrorism funding?

That is not correct. You will agree with me that issues of money laundering, terrorism, kidnapping, or arm banditry in Nigeria have been in existence for many years even before the advent of cryptocurrency. Reports by renowned blockchain analysis and compliance organisations such as CipherTrace and ChainAlysis, show that although the use of cryptocurrencies for money laundering, terrorism financing, and fraud is a concern, the rate is low, falling, and small relative to the use of fiat currencies such as the Naira and the Dollar for the same illicit activities. Besides, Nigeria is not known to be a high-risk country when it comes to the use of cryptocurrencies for illicit transactions.

This data is publicly available. Therefore, it is regulation Nigeria needs, not prohibition. Besides, it is important to note that at the heart of the rise in the mass adoption of Bitcoin/ cryptocurrency around the world is the distrust of centralised financial systems and top-down economic control, with government-driven imbalanced monetary policies. These often create persistent hyper-inflation and leave people impoverished, largely resulting in some of the security problems the Nigerian society faces today. Therefore, I will rather say that the cryptocurrency trade has given many youths in Nigeria the ample opportunity to be gainfully self-employed.

Tell us about some of the controls operators and associations like SIBAN in the market has put in over the years to bring some sanity?

It will interest you to know that industry stakeholders /associations such as SIBAN have been at the forefront of fighting against scams and the proliferation of cryptocurrency fraud in Nigeria over the last three years. We had also extended hands of support to some of our African brothers who reached out to us to help them initiate such anti-scam engagements. SIBAN had in the past set up several ad hoc complaint and inquiry committees to check unethical practices as well as possible scams brought before her by some members of the public. We had also in the past, made several public statements against some groups of people and organisations that were involved in promoting questionable investment schemes including Ponzi/pyramid schemes in Nigeria. Some of such awareness campaigns had helped serve as a deterrent to both participants and promoters of such pyramids schemes and saved many from losing their money. Recently, BICCoN, the inter-community working group or joint committee, which SiBAN belongs to, set up Anti-Scam Joint Taskforce saddled with the responsibility of checking the proliferation of crypto scams in the Nigerian market by developing a framework that will assist concerned regulators to identify persons or entities involved in promoting scam projects/activities in the Nigerian blockchain space.

Olatunji Akinwunmi is the Chairman, Society of Petroleum Engineers’ Nigerian Council. In this interview with Chineme Okafor, he talks about the forthcoming 2021 edition of the annual Oloibiri Lecture Series and Energy Forum as well as the commitment of operators to reforms in the oil sector, amongst other issues. Excerpts:

H

ow does it feel to have the Oloibiri Lecture Series and Energy Forum (OLEF) back after COVID-19 pandemic forced its suspension in

2020?

It is true that last year the OLEF was cancelled at the last minute due to the escalation of the pandemic. We had planned a physical event to hold mid-March 2020, but the developments at that time forced us to cancel. As you know, many other events scheduled at that time were also cancelled. I am very happy that we are now able to hold the OLEF albeit in a hybrid format, due to the requirements of the COVID-19 protocols, especially with respect to large gatherings. Accordingly, we will welcome few people at the site while most delegates and participants will have to join online.

Why is your choice of theme this year centered on excellence and optimisation?

Since last year we have been confronted with the situation of pandemic which also led to lockdowns in several countries and resultant downturn in commercial and industrial activities leading to an unprecedented drop in demand for our commodities. At the beginning of this year, we also witnessed the consummation of the biggest asset transfer for several years in Nigeria; I am talking about the transfer of OML 17 assets to Trans Niger Oil and Gas Company. So, we thought about operational excellence in the current context giving us the ability to be low-cost producers and we also thought about portfolio optimisation in the sense of assets divestment and transfer of mature assets from the established players to newcomers. We believe that the exchanges that would be facilitated during our upcoming OLEF workshop would be beneficial to the industry in Nigeria.

So, between technology and human resources, which plays a greater role in operational excellence and portfolio optimisation in this industry?

I believe that at the foundation of every progress in any sphere of life is the human being – his courage, and his hunger for continuous progress. Our resilience, our capacity for adaptation and innovation are all what combine to enable progress, therefore any and every technological advancement is a product of man’s (or woman’s) ingenuity.

The COVID-19 pandemic touched on every sector, how peculiar was its impact on this sector?

No one imagined at the beginning of last year that we could have had a lockdown of the major economies of the world. When movements are curtailed – limitation of flights, maritime activity and even passenger vehicular movements, led to low demand of our products and of course the impact is depressed commodity prices which in turn led to an output cut. So, the impact on the oil and gas industry was and continues to be a major one.

Given these challenges, should the industry prioritise existing assets or greenfield projects?

I believe the focus should be on efficiency, the industry should strive to be efficient both in terms of cost and by way of reduction of emissions in all our

Akinwunmi

activities, exploring for new oil and gas fields, as well as developing and producing both existing and new fields. Having said this, the industry in Nigeria is in dire need of new projects which hopefully the passage of the PIB (Petroleum Industry Bill) should enable.

The troubles of the industry here, do you think it could force players to exit soon?

I certainly hope not, this is one of the reasons why the SPE puts a lot of attention and focus on helping to make our industry stronger by technical inputs and facilitating exchange of ideas for best practices in order to ensure the survival of our industry.

What can government do to help the industry in the midst of these challenges?

I think one clear and obvious message that the industry cannot be tired of passing at this time is to encourage the federal government to pass a PIB that would enable growth of the petroleum industry in Nigeria while taking into account the global realities of the energy transition.

Do you still see a future for fossil fuels?

Oh certainly! There is a future for fossil fuels. With the abundance of the resources we have in Nigeria, there is very good opportunity with the right enabling policies, for us to be able to efficiently develop and produce low-cost high-quality crude oil. As for gas which is a transition fuel, we have a wonderful opportunity to develop and produce this abundant energy resource in our country.

But how is SPE bracing up for a future without vibrant fossil fuel economy?

As I said earlier, fossil fuels still have a future in contributing to the energy mix of an ever-increasing demand, Nigeria as a gas province still has much to offer. And if we can reduce our cost of oil production and improve overall efficiency, the industry still has many years of active operation ahead of it.

What would be your overall assessment of Nigeria’s over 60 years of oil history?

Without a doubt, it has been a checkered history, but the future is indeed bright if we take advantage of digital transformation, efficiency of our operations and relentless pursuit of cost optimisation across our industry.

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Firm Launches Social Commerce Platform to Tackle Unemployment Rabawa has launched the first social commerce platform in Africa to reduce unemployment rate in the continent.

The platform was designed to support African entrepreneurs leverage social media for curating, promoting, and selling their products to end users.

The social commerce platform is expected to give entrepreneurs access to a virtual shop and thousands of products from trusted suppliers. This will enable them to resell their products through a manufacturer or wholesale supplier and share with interested customers after adding a margin.

With Rabawa, users can start earning online without any investment. Leveraging the platform, entrepreneurs do not need to own their own shop or inventory to become very successful in their ventures.

COO of Rabawa, Olayinka Akinkunmi, in a statement, said: “Rabawa aims to provide

21 million Africans with their own businesses by 2023”.

According to Akinkunmi, the basic requirement for any aspiring Rabawa entrepreneur is to possess a smartphone or computer and a basic understanding of business.

“Rabawa is very confident that their business model will lead to accelerating the eCommerce sector and ensuring financial inclusion.”, she added.

If you have a basic understanding of business and aspire to have your own business, becoming a Rabawa entrepreneur can be a good starting point here, she further said.

Rabawa is a global distribution platform offering e-commerce supply chain solutions in Africa to entrepreneurs, committing to helping them quickly and easily launch their online businesses without any investment or inventory. The platform connects entrepreneurs to top manufacturers and wholesalers across Africa, Asia, the USA and UK.

NIBSS Launches NQR Code for Financial Services Providers Stories by Emma Okonji Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System Plc (NIBSS) has launched the New Quick Response (NQR) payment solution code, an innovative payment platform implemented on behalf of all financial service providers.

The New Quick Response code solution offers a robust platform that delivers instant value for P2B and P2P transactions by simply scanning to pay.

It is a solution that will unify the available closed QR Code schemes in the country for consistent user experience and accelerated digital adoption.

This Payment Solution designed to be “low cost” for merchants, would see shoppers scan a QR code generated by a seller to pay for an item. Each code

will have unique details containing the information relating to the transaction and would link with a customer ’s Banking App, already enabled on their smartphone.

Speaking during the event, the Deputy Governor, Financial Systems Stability Central Bank of Nigeria and Chairman, NIBSS, Mrs. Aishah Ahmad, commended the NIBSS team for the trail blazing achievement. She stated that, “the CBN as regulator of the banking and payment system in Nigeria is committed to providing an enabling regulatory environment that ensures interoperability, proper market conduct and continued innovation within the financial services ecosystem to foster healthy competition, high quality service and financial inclu-

sion.”

Against this background, the Bank recently released of the Regulatory Framework for Sandbox Operations in Nigeria and the Guidelines on Open Banking with the objective of opening up the terrain for more transformative ideas and encouraging start-up companies to grow and contribute to the overall economic development in Nigeria.

On his part, the CEO of NIBSS, Mr. Premier Oiwoh, said: “With more people being able to pay for goods and services with just their smartphones, the ‘NQR Payment is about re-creating the Nigerian payment experience whilst deepening financial inclusion in the country.” Digital transactions supported through the NQR code payments will promote

and enhance consumer payment experience while driving growth for business owners, Oiwoh added.

The payment solution made available by banks and other financial institutions has been hailed by financial experts as the ‘future of payments’. It is expected to unlock a wealth of extra benefits that will transform the way Nigerians choose to pay for goods and services at all levels.

As consumers and merchants alike move towards technology-driven solutions, QR Codes are growing increasingly important. Nigeria demonstrates yet again that it has a forward-looking financial services industry, as it drives towards a truly cashless and contactless society with NQR, Oiwoh further said.

Experts Harp on Adoption of Critical Tools for Business Growth Participants at the fourth Annual Agile Nigeria Conference (ANC), organised by The Agile Practitioners of Nigeria and The Agile Advisor Africa, have stressed the need for the adoption of critical technology tools that will enhance business growth.

This year’s virtual conference

delivered the highest quality of seasoned subject matter experts, authors, innovators, practitioners, coaches, facilitators and speakers from within and outside of Nigeria.

During the three-day conference, which held recently, participants appealed for strategic agility, thinking, innovations and

adoption of critical tools such as DevOps, Enterprise Agility, Workplace Efficiency, Agility in Human Resources and Digital Change, amongst others, in order to boost organisational and business growth.

Chief Executive Officer/ Founder, The Agile Advisor Africa, Mrs. Abiodun Osoba,

while declaring this year’s conference formally open, said the conference was an annual event which started in 2017 and is dedicated to forging Agile principles and providing a platform for people and ideas to flourish. She said due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the organisers resorted to a virtual

gathering, where it could provide the Agile culture and still adopt the Agile mindset, adding that the conference has something for everyone, every team, business and organisation.

“Agile Nigeria Conference is a practical agile development conference that allows participants to discuss, connect,

have one-on-one conversations and learn from their peers and leaders in the industry. We are looking at enabling and building new Agile teams within businesses and organisations and helping organisations that are going through an Agile adoption and transformation journeys,” Osoba, said.

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BUSINESSWORLD

NEWS

ASC Trains 600 Nigerians, NADDC Partner Coscharis on Automobile S’ Africans in One Year Designs Kayode Fasua

South Africa-based Africa Skills Centre (ASC) has disclosed that over 600 youths, equitably drawn from Nigeria and South Africa, benefitted from its skill acquisition programmes, in the last one year.

Speaking in a chat with THISDAY, the Director of the ASC, Mr. Honey Olawale, said the body was projecting over 5,000 such beneficiaries for the next two years.

“Our skill acquisition programmes are tuition free and are intended to fine-tune Africa’s educational system, to rise above theory and theory alone, and embrace practical knowledge.

“While we want schools in Nigeria to buoy their syllabi with practical works like wood work, metal work, tailoring, auto engineering and the like, we are first leading by example to attain educational renaissance,” he explained.

Nigeria-born Olawale said

it was for that reason that the ASC set out to organise its first Education Awards and Lecture with theme, “Education and National Development”, slated for Wednesday, March 31, 2021.

“The event, which is going to be virtual in deference to COVID-19 protocls, is designed to address teething problems in Nigeria’s educational system, with a view to presenting our submissions to the federal government,” he stressed.

According to him, the ASC would hold the session in collaboration with Southwest, Northwest and Southeast Awards (SNEAWARDS), a Nigeria’s regional socioeconomic assessment body.

Olawale also disclosed that Nigeria’s Deputy Senate Leader, Professor Borrofice Ajayi, and the Director of Leadership in Obscurity Network in the United States of America (USA), Mr. Jerry Vreeman, are going to be guest speakers, at the March 31 Education Lecture.

Amby Uneze in Owerri The National Automotive Design and Development Council (NADDC) in collaboration with the Coscharis Group Ltd has embarked on a two weeks digital training of south-east youths on automobile design.

Speaking during the opening ceremony, the Director General of NADDC, Jelani Aliyu, said the council decided to partner Coscharis to impact a digital knowledge of vehicle designs using Solidworks and simulation software design to improve the car manufacturing industry in Nigeria.

The Director General who was represented by the Director, Research Design and Development, Mr. F.M.Achiv while urging the participants to take the training seriously, expressed optimistic that the training would help improve the Nigeria car manufacturing industry and thereby given a boost to the country’s economy.

In his remarks, the founder and Chief Executive Officer of Coscharis Group Nigeria Limited, Mr. Cosmas Maduka represented by the company’s Head, Solution business for solid works , Clement Nnedu,

said his company would do everything to ensure the success of the trainees.

While urging the youths to stay focus and be resilient in their training , he noted that the designed components by the youths would be used in Nigeria after its prototype is tested and certified okay it will now be mass produced to meet global market standards.

Maduka, also sought for the federal government’s partnership in this regard, maintaining that as a major representative of Solidworks products and services in Nigeria, it would help boost

the economy of the country and reduce unemployment in the youths.

He noted that a vehicle was made up of about 3,000 spare parts, stressing that if one or two of the parts could be designed electronically and it functions perfectly, then the designer would have written his or her name in gold.

A total of 18 youths participated in the training from the southeast zone. This was in continuation of the training that earlier started in the north-west (Sokoto state) and other geo-political zones of the country.

FBNInsurance Boss Assures Customers of Better Service Ebere Nwoji The Managing Director, FBNInsurance, Mr. Val Ojumah, has assured stakeholders that recent divestment of 65 per cent stake previously held

by FBNHoldings to make FBNInsurance a wholly owned company by the Sanlam Group will further strengthen the company and repositions it to serve its customers better.

Ojumah, stated this at the recent sixth customers’ forum hosted by the company virtually.

He said the forum serves as one of the company’s key strategic initiatives to meet customers to get their feedback on the services of the company and work towards achieving excellent service delivery to the customer.

He also appreciated the customers for creating time to attend the forum and assured them that with the company’s new position as a full member

of Sanlam group, all their requests would be treated promptly.

“With over a hundred years in wealth creation, Sanlam as a financial services group, has businesses that cuts across 42 countries globally and we are glad to be a member of this Group.

“We also want you to know that we are proud of our association with FirstBank and we are delighted FBNInsurance tremendously added value to the bank. Our membership of the Sanlam Group has further strengthened our company as we are better enabled and poised to serve you,” he added.

Ojumah, further added that FBNInsurance, being an innovative company collaborated with a UK-based company, Collinson, to develop a unique and an affordable international healthcare product called SmartHealth International Plan.

He stated that the newly

PRODUCT LAUNCH

L-R: Brand ambassador, Do2tun; National Marketing Manager, Seven-Up Bottling Company(SBC) Ltd, Segun Ogunleye; Supa Komando brand ambassadors, Erica Nlewedim and Pocolee; at the launch of SUPA KOMANDO Energy Drink by SBC in Lagos...recently

Invest in Rural Areas, Monarch Urges Estate Developers Yinka Kolawole in Osogbo A traditional ruler in Osun, Olowu of Kuta in Ayedire local government, Oba Adekunle Oyelude has urged real estate developers to invest in rural areas as this will bring about migration of people back to the rural area.

He made the appeal in Osogbom, recently during the unveiling of Ajisope Golden Estate located along Ikirun road, Ota-Efun.

According to Oba Makama, investing in rural areas will bring back people from urban area to the rural areas.

“This is a new innovation in Osun State. There are lots of private estate in the country but they lack correspondent planning.

“The CEO is introducing a new dimension into real estate.

He has a clear mission and he has said he only want duplex without any alteration. This will also beautify Osogbo

structure.

“The innovation will drew the State government and other big time players in the real estate sector to partner with the firm.

“I wish other people will emulate and built even at the rural areas, so that there could be urban migration back to the rural area,” he said.

Earlier in his welcome address, the CEO, Alhaji Adeoye Abdulkabir Ajisope said the estate, which will be equipped

with state of the art facilities, will not only beautify Osogbo but also take real estate into a new dimension.

He said the estate will house only duplex with tarred roads, drainages, street lights and security gate with occupants having there deed of assignment.

“This estate will be the first of its kind in the state and I can assure you that it will have state of the art facilities,” he added.

SystemSpecs Canvasses for Broadband Winner, Finalists Selected Penetration to Deepen Financial Inclusion for Annecy International Film Festival The pair of Mbuotidem Johnson and Ukpeme Uwakwe have been selected as winner of the 2021 edition of the renowned Annecy International Film Festival in France.

Also, Egbelughe Philip & Stanlee Ohikhuare, Oyikan Odunlami & Temidayo Odunlami, Brian Wilson & Eseme Joseph, Oluwayomi Oluwasegun Samson & Omotunde Akiode have been selected amongst the top five finalists with the best creative animation projects in Nigeria.

They are pitch their works as part of the Nigerian focus during the international film Festival in France.

Annecy International Film Festival is the world’s top

reference for animation films.

It gathers every year in the city of Annecy, based in the French Alps with over 13, 000 industry professionals from all around the world in attendance.

According to a statement, in the wake of its 2021 edition and its focus on Africa, Annecy and the MIFA (Annecy International Animation Market) expressed their interest in Nigeria by offering young talents the opportunity to develop their projects.

“This focus on supporting creatives within Nigeria is hinged on the growing impact of the animation sector in the job market and the Nigerian economy,” it added.

SystemSpecs, has supported calls by stakeholders in Nigeria’s business ecosystem for increased broadband penetration to deepen financial inclusion as a means of social and economic transformation in the country.

This was affirmed recently

by SystemSpecs’ Executive Director, ‘Deremi Atanda, when he served as a speaker at the annual Bullion Lecture, organised by the Centre for Financial Journalism (CFJ), which held both virtually and physically in Lagos.

According to a 2018 World Bank report, financial inclusion means that individuals and businesses have access to useful and affordable financial products and services that meet their needs,

including payments, savings and credit in a responsible and sustainable way.

A Boston Consulting Group (BCG) report had stated that a one per cent increase in financial inclusion increases real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita by 3.6 per cent.

“We must continue to focus on those things we regard as national issues. If we say financial inclusion is an opportunity to bring the economically disadvantaged persons into the economic network that can improve their lives, then it should be at the forefront of all we do,” Atanda said.

He said although the Central bank of Nigeria, the Nigerian Communica-

tions Commission and other relevant government agencies have done a lot in improving financial inclusion, there was still a lot to be done.

“How do we leverage technology to make sure that disadvantaged Nigerians can have their quality of lives improved and a sense of belonging as Nigerians?

What are the strategies to ensure that the average Nigerian can be economically empowered?” he asked.

Strongly recommending that stakeholders begin to more actively consider the country’s burgeoning fintech community as a key contributor to the attainment of the desired financial inclusion goals, he said the digital economy is an enabler of

social transformation and economic empowerment.

Further in his comments, Atanda analysed the interception between broadband penetration and financial inclusion as well as the consequence on socio-economic improvement, saying “As we deepen the collaboration between stakeholders within and outside government, we need to know what has worked what is not working and what needs to be done differently.”

“I think there is still a lot more to be done. The engagement of regulators and non-governmental stakeholders should be very clear and be continuously progressive,” Atanda added.

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BUSINESSWORLD

Council Restates Commitment to Support Nigeria’s Economy Emma Okonji The American Business Council (ABC) has restated its commitment to support trade in Nigeria.

The council stated this in its recent survey, tagged ‘2020 Nigeria Economic Impact Survey’, which it administered in collaboration with the United States Embassy, Verraki, KPMG and PwC. The survey analysed the economic effect of US companies on the Nigerian economy between 2019 and 2020. It measured changes in business revenue, foreign investment, job creation, gross value added and plans for expansion within the period.

According to the survey report, over 65.12 per cent of US companies operating in Nigeria, identified Nigeria as the regional hub for their operations in West Africa. Yet, the report showed that there was a drop in the creation of direct and indirect jobs in 2019 by American companies, compared to what was obtained in 2018.

The report also showed a decrease in generated revenue from $1.47 trillion in 2018 to $1.08 trillion in 2019.

The survey report further explained a reduction in the amount of planned investments in the next three years to $2.37 billion, compared to the over $2.57 billion that was spent on expansion in the last five years.

Although the report identified government policy implementation and specific industry regulation as some key factors

that were responsible for the drop in business activities in 2019 and 2020, the President, American Business Council, Mr. Dipo Faulkner, while analysing the report during the presentation at a virtual meeting recently, also attributed that challenges faced by American companies, to include the effect of COVID-19 pandemic and the global economy restructuring.

He, however, said the ABC would not be deterred by the challenges, since most of them were global in nature.

“The effect of COVID-19 and the global restructuring affected the impact of American businesses on the Nigerian economy in the areas of job creation, expansion of investments and revenue generation, but ABC is creating jobs in Nigeria through the over 100 American companies operating in Nigeria, thereby impacting the Nigerian economy with direct and indirect jobs, which has helped in addressing unemployment in Nigeria,” Faulkner said.

Partner at PWC, Mr. Chijioke Uwaegbute, who presented the report, however called on the Nigerian government to address some of the challenges that were traced to policy implementation and specific industry regulation.

According to him, policy development and implementation should be driven by the right data and there must be conscious efforts of the government to collaborate with the people that will be directly impacted by the policy, such as the organised private sector.

NEWS

UAE Commences Trade, Investment Promotion Activities Michael Olugbode in Abuja The United Arab Emirates Embassy has commenced a series of trade and investment promotion activities in the country aimed at bolstering the bilateral trade and investment volume between Nigeria and the UAE. The trade promotion initiative which is coordinated in collaboration with the UAE International Investment Council (UAEIIC), the UAE Ministry of Economy and the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment in Nigeria, focuses on attracting key industry stakeholders and investors across all sectors in Nigeria and the UAE in a bid to develop and explore future trade opportunities.

According to a statement from

the UAE Embassy in Nigeria, the country has been chosen among the 34 selected countries globally participating in the initiative because of its pivotal position as a top investment market in the West African region and its overall economic influence in Africa.

The UAE Minister of State, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation (MOFAIC), Sheikh Shakhboot Bin Nahyan Al Nahyan, while describing the strength of the UAE/Nigeria economic relations as enduring, expressed satisfaction with the level of trade, political and cultural partnership that exists between both countries.

He said: “As the ninth largest exporter to Nigeria globally, the

UAE continues to see Nigeria, the largest economy in Africa, as an important, trusted partner.

“For decades, both countries have continued to nurture strong bilateral relations, particularly in the areas of trade and investment.

To date, we remain Nigeria’s largest trade partner in the Middle East region, accounting for 35 per cent of Nigeria’s total trade with the region.

“Over the past few years, there have been high-level political exchanges amid continuing mutual trust between both countries, which has led to the signing of several key agreements aimed at solidifying overall bilateral relations.

“It is my desire that the existing relationship continues to grow as the global economy

gradually recovers from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, and I hope that investors in both the UAE and Nigeria will take advantage of our increasingly close ties to benefit from our strategic geographical location and the opportunities across both conventional and new emerging sectors.

“With non-oil trade between our nations valued at $1.4 billion in 2019, I would like to see this increase and look forward to working towards this in a mutual beneficial manner.”

On his part, the UAE Minister of State for Foreign Trade, Dr. Thani Ahmed Al Zeyoudi, expressed confidence that the UAE/Nigeria ties will continue to grow in areas of trade and investment.

Experts Seek Regulation of Cryptocurrencies in DoGood.Africa Gets $94,000 Grant Nigeria Balogun market

Sunday Ehigiator Some economic experts have urged the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to seek measures to regulate cryptocurrency transactions in the country.

Senior Economist with Nigerian Economic Summit Group, Wilson Erumebor, said this during an interview with THISDAY. He explained: “My view aligns more with that of the Vice President. We should have an open mind towards crypto currency and not just assume that it is just used for fraudulent activities.

“There are a lot of legitimate people who are into crypto currency and I think rather than just banning it, we should take out time to study it very well and create a kind of regulation around it.

“The world is evolving and Nigeria can’t be left behind.

We need to first understand it very well, and see how we can also maximise its potentials to the fullest while also forming regulations around it.”

Also speaking, Lead Consultant with one of the cryptocurrency companies in Nigeria, Dr. Albert Ehizogie, factored the rising unemployment in the country as a major driver for career seekers in the Nigerian crypto industry.

“Nigeria recorded 27.1 per cent growth in unemployment in the second quarter of 2020

Sunday Ehigiator

compared to the 23 per cent in the third quarter of 2018, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed. Youth unemployment makes up a huge chunk of that number.

“Nearly 14 million young people are out of work in Nigeria, which has one of the world’s largest youth populations, with more than a third of its 200 million people aged 24 or under, according to United Nations’ data.

“Economists forecast the rate of unemployment may rise further to 30 percent on the back of the COVID-19 pandemic-induced job losses.

“Job opportunities in the cryptocurrency market have continued to grow on a yearly basis as more investors pour into the market bringing funds and new companies along, hence regulating the industry is rather appropriate.”

Ehizogie said companies like Binance, Bundle, BuyCoins, Luno, and Quidax have stepped up the industry by introducing programs that enable them to deepen their knowledge of the market and become professionals.

“Binance has hosted over 400 free events in 2020, getting attendees in more than 40 countries - many in Africa - online and offline. Usually, a crypto masterclass undertaken by any private entity could cost as much as $200 per student,” he added.

DoGood.Africa, a registered non-profit social enterprise, in partnership with HB Imagino has been awarded a $94,000 grant by the Coca-Cola Foundation (TCCF).

The funding is aimed at improving the livelihood of 300 waste pickers and sorters in impoverished communities through economic empowerment under a recycling project titled ‘Waste to Wealth’.

At the official announcement of the project held in Lagos recently, the Co-Founder, DoGood.Africa, Toni FolaAlade, explained that the project was designed to contribute to

several of the SDGs and tackle some of the economic effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on the people.

“DoGood.Africa, with the technical expertise provided

by HB Imagino, is taking action by providing a cleaner environment, while also contributing to economic growth and most importantly tackling the adverse effects caused by indiscriminate disposal of the PET bottles.

“DoGood.Africa Foundation is proud to be involved yet again in another project that not only saves the environment but also adds economic value to members of the community, especially women in Africa,” he said.

Toni, added that the project whose pilot phase is to kick off within the Lekki axis of Lagos State, would run for a year, and would recover over 500 tons of plastic waste at source by leveraging technology.

Also speaking, the Managing Director, HB Image Innovation, Harold Okonoboh, said, the project would revolutionise the way plastic waste is recovered in Nigeria.

“For the first time in Nigeria, PET bottles will be recovered from the source and converted into food packaging.

“This grant from TCCF will also help us facilitate a project that will impact the community tremendously through the

provision of jobs and the protection of our environment,” he added.

Addressing journalists, the Head, Public Affairs, Communications and Sustainability for Coca-Cola Nigeria Limited, Nwamaka Onyemelukwe, revealed that since its inception in 1984, TCCF has awarded more than $1 billion in grants to support global sustainable community initiatives.

“We are proud to support DoGood.Africa in partnership with HB Imagino to create the type of change needed to improve people’s lives, build sustainable communities and enhance our environment for future generations,” she said.

Enterprise Group Opens Life Assurance Company Ebere Nwoji The Enterprise Life Assurance Company Limited, a subsidiary of Enterprise Group Plc Ghana, has opened operations in Nigeria.

Speaking during the company’s formal unveiling in Lagos recently, the Managing Director, Funmi Omo, stated that the company intends to reframe the way Nigerians see Life Insurance by making it an appealing proposition that is easy to accept, embrace and adopt as part of life’s necessities.

She said Enterprise Life is about people and its products

are carefully designed to help people plan their lives and fulfil their dreams.

She said though Enterprise Life Assurance Company is new in Nigeria, the company is not new in the Life Insurance business.

“Enterprise Life has, in key West African markets, built decades of experience and expertise in delivering innovative Life Insurance solutions that support customers’ quest for a fulfilled and quality life across key West African markets.

“Enterprise Life understands that Nigerians are resourceful

and ingenious people who need to be supported with the appropriate platforms, products and services that will enable them face the future with confidence.

“Thus, its business model focuses on the needs of the customer and delivering exceptional value that gives them advantage in the pursuit and fulfilment of their aspirations”, Omo stated.

Speaking further on the company’ product offering to Nigerians, Omo stated, “We will put the customer’ needs at the heart of all operations by delivering life insurance solutions

in an unconventional manner.

“We have a team of trained field officers called Life Planners who just graduated from our Life Planner’s Academy after months of intense training.

These Life Planners will sit with customers, take time to understand and distil their needs, and then work together with each customer to develop bespoke solutions that suits their individual needs, lifestyle and aspirations.” she noted Enterprise Life is a member of Enterprise Group Plc with headquarters in Ghana, with roots dating back to 1924.

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IMAGES

T H I S D AY ˾ ˜ ͯͶ˜ ͰͮͰͯ

Photo Editor ÌÓÙÎßØ ÔËÖË Email ËÌÓÙÎßØ˛ËÔËÖË̶ÞÒÓÝÎËãÖÓàÏ˛ÍÙ×

L-R, Managing Director/ CEO, Aliko Dangote Foundation, Zouera Youssoufou, Lagos State Commissioner for Health Prof, Akin Abayomi, Chairman African Industries Limited, Raj Gupta, and Medical Director, Lagos Inventor Disease Hospital ( IDH), Dr. Abimbola Bowale, at The Private Sector Coalition Against COVID-19 (CACOVID) Presentation of Inscanator and Oxygen to the Lagos State Government in Yaba Lagos... recently SUNDAY ADIGUN R-L: Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje of Kano state with Minister of Trade and Investment, Mr. Adeniyi Adebayo, during the Governors visit to Minister in Abuja ...recently..

Kingsley Adeboye

L-R, US Ambassador to Nigeria Mrs Mary Berth Leonard, National Coordinator, Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS in Nigeria Mr Ibrahim Abdulkadir, Executive Director, UN AIDS Mrs Winnie Byanyima and Director General National Agency for the Control of AIDS Dr Aliyu Gambo during the Engagement of People Living with HIVCommunity and Launch of Nigeria’s Maiden Community Led Monitoring Report and the National Community Led Monitoring Framework in Abuja...recently

L-R: Chief Executive Officer, Evercare Hospital Lekki, Mr. Rajeev Bhandari, Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu and Evercare Executive Director, Finance, Admin & Strategy, Temilade Awogboro during an official unveiling of Evercare Hospital Lekki Limited at Lekki Peninsula Scheme I, Lagos...recently

NLC protest against the removal of minimum wage from exclusive legislative list at the National Assembly in Abuja...recently julius atoi L-R: Publicity Secretary, Association of Lagos State Retired Heads of Service and Permanent Secretaries (ALARHOSPS), Mr. Fola Adeyemi; New President of ALARHOSPS, Dr. Femi Olugbile; Head of Service and Special Guest of Honour, Mr. Hakeem Muri-Okunola, presenting Award of Excellence to Immediate Past President, Chief Ajibola Olagbaye, during the 7th Annual General Meeting (AGM), and Inauguration of the 3rd Executive Committee, at Adeyemi-Bero Hall, Alausa, Ikeja, Lagos...recently ETOP UKUTT

L-R; Chairman, Aspira Nigeria Limited, Alhaji Ahmadu Haruna Danzago,; Kano State Governor, Dr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje; CEO, Aspira Nigeria Limited, Mr. Maher Jaafer and Managing Director, Aspira Nigeria Limited, Mr. Sami Jaafer during the commissioning of a new plant of the company by the governor in Kano State...recently

L-R: Speaker, Abia State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Chinedum Enyinnaya Orji; Chief of Staff to the governor of Abia State, Dr. ACB Agbazuere; his son, and wife, Lolo Onyinyechi Agbazuere, during the Speaker’s visit to the residence of the Chief of Staff to honour God Almighty for the complete healing of Lolo from an undisclosed illness...recently

31

THURSDAY MARCH 18, 2021 • T H I S D AY

Date: March 17, 2021

REGIONAL COMPETITIVE BIDDING FOR THE REHABILITATION OF THE NEW COURT OF JUSTICE OFFICE IN ABUJA, FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA RCB/01/WORKS/COURT OF JUSTICE/2020-21

INVITATION FOR BIDS 1.

The ECOWAS Court of Justice has allocated own funds towards the cost of the Rehabilitation of the New Court of Justice in Abuja, Federal Republic of Nigeria.

2.

The ECOWAS Commission therefore invites sealed bids for the Rehabilitation, in one Lot, of the Court of Justice new Office in Abuja, Federal Republic of Nigeria.

3.

The Bidding documents may be obtained from the ECOWAS Cour t of Justice , Directorate of Administration and Finance Administration, ECOWAS Court of Justice, 23 Agadez Street, Wuse 2, Abuja, Nigeria upon the submission of a written request via electronic mail to ECOWAS Court of Justice and payment of a non-refundable fee of a total amount of Two hundred US Dollars (US$200).

NB:The Audited financial statement shall be duly signed by the Auditor with indication of the contact address of the Audit Firm for the purpose of possible verification; 9 Have executed as main supplier at least (01) similar contract during the last Five (5) years (2015,2016,2017,2018,2019) in the value equal to at least two times the amount of its Bid . For that purpose, the bidder has to provide the certificate of job execution issued by the client.The Contact address of the Client shall also be provided for verification.

Concrete Mixer of 500 L 3 Tipper Lorry - 2 Nr Water tank truck - 4 Nr UtilityVehicle - 4 Nr PokerVibrator - 10 Nr Frontend Loader - 1 Metal Cutting Device - 1 Welding Plant - 2 Excavator - 2 Dumper - 0 Mobile crane - 1 Roller - 2 Set of material for civil engineering equipment (to be listed by each bidder)

The Bidding Document shall be delivered via electronic means to all interested Bidders upon payment (by Transfer) of the non-refundable fee of US$200.00 to the ECOWAS Court of Justice (transfer charges borne by the bidder).

(Account Details available on request.)

4.

Interested Bidders may obtain further information at the address below, during office hours: Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 9.00am (8.00am GMT+1) to 4.00pm (3.00pm GMT+1). All requests are to be made to ECOWAS Court of Justice, Email: w t o w a h @ c o u r t e c o w a s . o r g a n d m u s t c o py d_towah@yahoo.com ; sbangoura@ecowas.int ; cimah@courtecowas.org; charlesiv_2001@yahoo.com; NB: There will be a mandatory site visit on 12th April 2021, at 10.30 am. All bidders shall ensure to be represented (at their own cost) at this site visit; any bidder that does not attend the site visit will have the bid rejected by the Evaluation Committee. There would also be a pre-bid submission conference th on the 19 April 2021 at 4.00pm, via virtual platform.

5.

Bids shall be valid for a period of 120(days) after Bid Opening and must be accompanied by a bid security of US$15,000.00 (Bank Guarantee or Insurance Bond).

6.

The Post Qualification Criteria is as follow: 9 Provide an audited financial statement showing an average turnover in the last five years (05) years (2015,2016,2017,2018,2019) at least equal to the amount of its Bid ;

7.

Bids shall be delivered in sealed envelopes and deposited in ECOWAS Tender Box located in the Annex office, Directorate of Administration & Finance, ECOWAS Court of Justice, 23 Agadez Street, Wuse 2, Abuja, Federal Republic of Nigeria on or before Monday 17th May, 2021 at 11. 00 AM (Nigeria Time, GMT +1) and clearly marked ''Regional Competitive Bidding for the Rehabilitation of the New Office of the ECOWAS Court of Justice in Abuja” Do Not Open, Except in the Presence of the Evaluation Committee.

8.

In consideration of the covid-19 pandemic, bids will be opened in the presence of the bidders who wish to attend via virtual platform on Monday 17th May, 2021 at 11. 30 AM (Nigeria Time, GMT +1). All interested bidders are to request for the virtual platform details at least a day before the opening date.

The President, Community Court of Justice

32

T H I S D AY ˾ , MARCH 18, 2021

HEALTH & LIFESTYLE

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

Fresh Fears, Concerns Over Safety, Efficacy of Astrazeneca Vaccine In the last few days, complaints over a possible after effect of the COVID-19 vaccines type - Astrazeneca came from no less a place than European Union countries. The alarm raised by some of these countries though largely unsubstantiated has created panic among those who have taken the vaccine and those hoping to do so. Onyebuchi Ezigbo writes on the positions of the WHO, NAFDAC and NPHCDArepudiating claims of adverse side effects

T

he world was awoken to yet another unsubstantiated safety concern over the use of COVID-19 vaccine. The countries alleged that there were observed serious side effects like blood clotting on some of those administered with the Astrazeneca vaccine. Although such side affects are yet to be proven or backed with official pharmacovigilance report, all the same, the alarm raised by some European countries like Denmark and Netherlands has led to the suspension of the deployment of the vaccine by some countries in Europe.

The issue also sent fears and jitters into the spines of most people of the world including those in Africa and Nigeria, who have just started the introducing Astrazeneca vaccine to its people.

WHO’S Response As expected, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has responded swiftly to the matter.

It said it was aware that, as a precautionary measure, a few countries in the European Union have suspended use of a specific batch of the AstraZeneca vaccine distributed in the EU, based on reports of rare blood coagulation disorders in persons who had received vaccine from that particular batch.

This was decided as a precaution whilst a full investigation is finalised.

WHO said: “It is important to note that the European Medicines Agency’s Pharmacovigilance Risk Assessment Committee position is that the vaccine’s benefits continue to outweigh its risks, and the vaccine can continue to be administered while investigation of cases of thromboembolic events is ongoing”.

WHO further said that its Global Advisory Committee on Vaccine Safety (GACVS) systematically reviews any vaccine safety signals and concerns related to COVID-19 vaccine safety, and meets every two weeks to advise on any new safety signals or concerns. It said GACVS is carefully assessing the current reports on the AstraZeneca vaccine.

“As soon as WHO has gained a full understanding of these events, the findings and any changes to current recommendations will be immediately communicated to the public”, the world health body said.

As of March 9, WHO said over 268 mil-

Astrazeneca Vaccine

lion doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered since the start of the pandemic, based on data reported to it by national governments. In all these, it said no cases of death have been found to have been caused

by COVID-19 vaccines to date.

AstraZeneca Plc’s Safety Review WHO’s reassurance was followed by a clean bill of health from AstraZeneca Plc, the manufacturers of the COVID-19 vaccine.

The firm said on Sunday that a review of safety data of people vaccinated with its COVID-19 vaccine has shown no evidence of an increased risk of blood clots.

AstraZeneca’s review, which covered more than 17 million people vaccinated in the United Kingdom and European Union, said: “A careful review of all available safety data of more than 17 million people vaccinated in the European Union and UK with COVID-19 Vaccine AstraZeneca has shown no evidence of an increased risk of pulmonary embolism, deep vein thrombosis”.

NAFDAC Weighs In Also, the Nigeria’s food and drug approving agency, the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC)

Google

weighed in to give its assessment of the Astrazeneca vaccine.

NAFDAC Director General, Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye while recieving her vaccination in Abuja last week Thursday, explained that agency went through the requisite investigations as soon it got the dossier of the vaccine before it was approved them to be administered on Nigerians for the treatment of COVID-19.

She said: “When we got the dossier or the application package of the vaccine, we went through it line by line. But before we got the application itself, we went through other assessments. I am talking about their assessment report so that we are prepared and guided when we start our own and that was exactly what happened.

“We conclude based on quality, safety and efficacy because we have to depend on the report. This particular AstraZeneca vaccine, over 20,000 people were involved in phase three of the report”.

Adeyeye said from NAFDAC’s assessment and findings, the effectiveness of the AstraZeneca vaccine outweighs the risk”.

However, Adeyeye said that COVID-19 vaccine, just like other vaccine types may come with some allergies which can easily be observed and treated.

NPHCDA’s Stance On its part, the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) issued a statement signed by its Executive Director, Dr. Faisal Shuaib, saying that since the country commenced its COVID-19 vaccination, no Nigerian has observed any adverse reaction.

The agency said that all side effects reported by those who have taken the jab have been mild.

“We are aware of precautionary concerns that have been raised regarding one specific batch of the AstraZeneca vaccine, namely ABV5300. We understand that investigations are being conducted to determine if the batch is in any way linked to an observed side effect. While we await the outcome of the investigations; it is important to clearly state that Nigeria did not receive any doses from the batch of vaccines with issues”.

Shuaib said that the federal government is satisfied that the clinical evidence indicated that the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine is safe and effective.

“Our assessment is in line with countries such as Spain and the UK; who have indicated that they will continue to administer the vaccine because it remains an important tool to protect against COVID-19.

“The safety of vaccines delivered to Nigeria is paramount to the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19. For this reason, it has enhanced multi-sectoral collaboration among stakeholders and technical entities; such as the Federal Ministry of Health (FMOH), NPHCDA, NAFDAC, the WHO and UNICEF; whose cooperation ensures the highest global standards are met for vaccines delivered to Nigeria before they are distributed to Nigerians. Clear, rigorous protocols are being followed to safeguard the health of Nigerians”.

In as much as the reassurances by these health authorities are very timely and may go a long way to restoring peoples’ confidence in the safety and efficacy of the Astrazeneca vaccine, there is also the need for an intensified sensitisation campaign to inform Nigerians, especially those in the rural areas and are aware of current issues regarding the COVID-19 vaccines.

The fact some people still believe that that there is nothing as COVID-19 virus even with reports of high rate of Infections means that any negative report about the side effects of the vaccine will put a final nail on its acceptability.

Second African Sickle Cell Congress Holds Virtually Mary Nnah Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the second African Congress on Sickle Cell Disease holds virtually from May 25 to 29, 2021, according to the health guidelines established by the WHO and other health authorities.

The Congress which has established itself as the foremost inclusive community and impactdriven event on sickle cell disease in the African region successfully held its inaugural event in Lagos in 2019.

Under the high patronage of Former President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, GCFR, the

five-day Virtual Congress will encourage global participation and create an immersive experience, from plenaries, parallel sessions and workshops to abstracts and company presentations, partner exhibitions and networking, all in real time and on-demand.

The congress will also be hosted on a virtually rich online platform geared to provide a truly immersive experience that will enable sponsors, exhibitors and attendees to network and engage with exhibitors directly on the virtual booths and with fellow delegates around topics of interest and listen to speakers virtually.

The year 2020 marked the cycle end of The WHO African

Region Sickle Cell Strategy 2010 -2020 which was adopted by the Sixtieth session of the WHO Regional Committee for Africa (RC60).

Against this background, the call for ACSCD 2021 with the theme; “Working To Overcome Sickle Cell Disease – What Next?” invites presenters to put these developments into perspective with submissions that address structural, emerging and topical issues and causes for current challenges together with the innovative ideas, initiatives and recommendations for effective sickle cell prevention and control.

The ACSCD 2021 Congress program will be made up of diverse presentations, organised

to stimulate dialogue around the congress theme and the WHO African Region Sickle Cell Strategy report.

And will bring together government representatives, inter-governmental organisations, leaders of industry, civil society, academic institutions, donors, the private sector, media and people living with sickle cell from across Africa and the rest of the world with aligned interest in exploring sustainable solutions to the challenges of sickle cell disease and also individuals and organizations who are committed to not just the patient/caregiver experience, but also committed to overcom-

ing sickle cell disease in Africa.

The overall goal of the congress is to facilitate active exchange of information among scientists, researchers, policy makers and other key stakeholders, to highlight challenges and opportunities, and enhance strategies to further sickle cell control.

The congress also creates unique opportunities for women living with sickle cell through the Women Overcoming Sickle Cell Summit, a parallel event of the congress which will focus on sickle cell disease in women while highlighting key issues affecting women and also acknowledging women luminaries living with sickle

cell and women-led sickle cell representative organisations who are contributing tremendously to tackling sickle cell through high impact advocacy, treatment and community commitment on the African Continent and beyond.

The ACSCD Congress is organised by the Doctor SickleCell - Center for SCD and supported by the World Health Organisation Africa, Ministry of Health Nigeria and Grant from Global Blood Therapeutics. It encourages a strong global partnership among science, leadership, industry and community in building a congress programme that will explore innovative ways to address the challenges and further sickle cell control in Africa.

T H I S D AY ˾ , MARCH 18, 2021

33

NEWS

Poor Stress Management Killing the Economy, Reveals Healthcare Expert A Nigerian plant-based nutrition healthcare expert, Dr. Deji Alabi has said the economy is being largely impacted by poor stress management.

He disclosed this while taking a deep dive into why remedies adopted by many people to manage stress continue to fail, sometimes leading to grave health and lifestyle consequences.

Alabi, the lead consultant at Nutraceutical Health Solutions, a health and wellness advisory company that provide services in the management, reversal and prevention of health conditions through diet and lifestyle modification, observed that the perennial struggle to achieve a stress-free life inspite of huge resources expended by many has at its root the lack of adoption of a holistic approach.

As a critical intervention on the subject, the Canada Calgary-based Nigerian healthcare expert has released a new book to the public on Amazon entitled Super Health in Stress Environment: Maximising your health while working fast-paced jobs.

A 2019 report by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) rate the life expectancy of most developing nations very low due to several critical factors compounded by stressors.

Occupying the three lowest in the world, the figure for Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Chad and UIF $FOUSBM "GSJDBO 3FQVCMJD BSF BOE respectively. Similarly, a World Health Ogranisation (WHO) report on Nigeria identified depression as a significant public health problem, and at a QSFWBMFODF SBUF PG QFS DFOU NJMMJPO /JHFSJBOT currently suffer from it.

According to Alabi, “The state of being healthy is never achieved as a stand-alone process. Any protocol for healthy living must be holistic.

Expansive in its approach and far-reaching in its coverage.

“Some people have taken to the use of medications and supplements only. They are busy making money for Pharmaceuticals Company and multi-level marketing schemes using products with little or no long-term benefits.

“Stress is one of the leading causes of downtime in work places according to researches and studies

Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome: PCOS Part 3

Dr Alabi

by the United Kingdom NHS. Productivity is heavily impacted by poor stress management.

Work place efficiency dwindles when effective stress management is not intentionally built into the culture of an organisation.

Giving more insight, he said, “Every holistic approach to health must take into account lifestyle, diet and the use of supplements or medications.

Where the first two are in balance, the last two will be unnecessary in most cases except where a condition is involved.”

“Several human capital management in developed countries are awoke to these reality.

Unfortunately, developing countries who need this most are yet to adapt their culture. Nigeria as a case study is an abnormal situation where living and working conditions are sub-human.

“No human should go through the stress Nigerians go thru twice in a life-time. The reason for this book at this critical time as we see longevity potentials decrease in developing nations. Less than five per cent of Nigerians make it to age 5IBU JT BO BMBSNJOH TUBUJTUJDT u IF TVCNJUUFE

International Hearing Centre Urges Nigerians on Annual Hearing Evaluations Rebecca Ejifoma The CEO, International Hearing Centre Nigeria, Dr. Irene Okeke-Igbokwe has urged Nigerians to have regular hearing checks to reduce the increasing number of hearing losses in the country.

Okeke-Igbokwe, a fellow of the American Academy of Audiology (FAAA), made the call recently while addressing participants receiving free hearing screening and hearing health counseling in IHC’s centres across Nigeria as part of activities marking World )FBSJOH %BZ PO .BSDI Irrespective of their ages, the CEO harped on the need to pay special attention to their hearing status by undergoing hearing screening annually. This, she said, would reduce the increasing number of Nigerians suffering from all levels of hearing loss.

She cited the World Health Organisation FTUJNBUFT UIBU CJMMJPO QFPQMF JO UIF XPSME live with some degree of hearing loss, out of which around over five per cent of the world’s QPQVMBUJPO PS NJMMJPO QFPQMF SFRVJSF SFIBbilitation to address their ‘disabling’ hearing MPTT NJMMJPO BEVMUT BOE NJMMJPO DIJMESFO

The CEO and current President of Nigerian Audiology Association (NAA), said, “It also QSPKFDUFE UIBU CJMMJPO QFPQMF XPSMEXJEF PS one in four people will be living with some EFHSFF PG IFBSJOH MPTT CZ u Okeke-Igbokwe, a Fellow Academy of Doctors of Audiology (ADA), claimed that nearly 80 per cent of people with disabling hearing loss live in low and middle income countries.

“Nigeria, with the largest population in Africa, falls into the category of low and middle income countries.”

According to the IHC boss, “IHC as a IFBSJOH IFBMUI DBSF QSPWJEFS GPS PWFS ZFBST in Nigeria is supporting World Hearing Day 2021 by providing free hearing screening, free hearing aid checks all through the month of March 2021.

FERTILITY

with DR. KEMI AILOJE Info@lifelinkfertility.com; Website: lifelinkfertility.com 08033083580

Dr. Irene Okeke-Igbokwe

“The centre provides counseling on hearing health care and advocacy through seminars at its centres in Abuja, Enugu, Ikoyi, Port Harcourt, and Yaba.”

She, however, lamented the increasing wrong use of earpiece from cell phones, exposure to loud noise, and ototoxic medication, while warning that Nigeria may witness an unprecedented population of people with hearing loss in the next 10 years.

Okeke-Igbokwe outlined some of the strategies for reducing hearing loss to include annual hearing screening, new born hearing screening, good maternal and childcare practices, genetic counseling, identification and management of common ear conditions, occupational hearing conservation programmes for noise, and chemical exposure.

Other strategies include the reduction of exposure to loud sounds in recreational settings and the rational use of medicines to prevent ototoxicity.

L

ast week, we discussed symptoms and diagnosis of Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome with its effects on the body. This week, we will conclude on how PCOS can affect fertility and its management.

Pregnancy and PCOS PCOS interrupts the normal menstrual cycle and makes it harder to get pregnant. This condition can also increase the risk for pregnancy complications. Women with PCOS are twice as likely as women without the condition to deliver their baby prematurely. They are also at greater risk for miscarriage, high blood pressure, and gestational diabetes. However, women with PCOS can get pregnant using fertility treatments that improve ovulation. Losing weight and lowering blood sugar levels can improve the odds of having a healthy pregnancy.

PCOS can cause problems during pregnancy for you and for your baby. Women with PCOS have higher rates of Miscarriage, Gestational diabetes (Diabetes in Pregnancy), Preeclampsia (high levels of proteins and blood pressure) and Cesarean section (C-section). Your baby also has a higher risk of being heavy (macrosomia) and of spending more time in a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU).

You can lower your risk of problems during pregnancy by: r3FBDIJOH B IFBMUIZ XFJHIU CFGPSF ZPV HFU pregnant. r 3FBDIJOH IFBMUIZ CMPPE TVHBS MFWFMT CFGPSF you get pregnant. r5BLJOH GPMJD BDJE r.BOBHFNFOU PG 1$04 Treatment for PCOS usually starts with lifestyle changes like weight loss, diet, and exercise. Weight loss can also improve cholesterol levels, lower insulin, and reduce heart disease and diabetes risks. Studies comparing diets for PCOS have found that low-carbohydrate diets are effective for both weight loss and lowering insulin levels.

A low glycemic index (low-GI) diet that gets most carbohydrates from fruits, vegetables, and whole grains helps regulate the menstrual cycle better than a regular weight loss diet. Thirty minutes of moderate-intensity exercise at least three days a week can help women with PCOS lose weight.

Exercise is even more beneficial when combined with a healthy diet. Diet plus exercise helps you lose more weight than either intervention alone, and it lowers your risks for diabetes and heart disease.

Common Medical Treatments Birth control pills and other medicines can help regulate the menstrual cycle and treat PCOS symptoms like hair growth and acne.

Birth Control: Taking estrogen and progesterone daily can restore a normal hormone balance, regulate ovulation, relieve symptoms like excess hair growth, and protect against endometrial cancer. These hormones come in a pill, patch, or vaginal ring.

Metformin: Metformin (Glucophage, Fortamet) is a drug used to treat type 2 diabetes. It also treats PCOS by improving insulin levels. One study found that taking metformin while making

changes to diet and exercise improves weight loss, lowers blood sugar, and restores a normal menstrual cycle better than changes to diet and exercise alone.

Clomiphene: Clomiphene (Clomid) is a fertility drug that can help women with PCOS get pregnant.

However, it increases the risk for twins and other multiple births. The use must be monitored by a doctor. )BJS 3FNPWBM .FEJDJOFT " GFX USFBUNFOUT DBO help get rid of unwanted hair or stop it from growing. Eflornithine cream is a prescription drug that slows hair growth. Laser hair removal and electrolysis can get rid of unwanted hair on your face and body.

Surgery: This can be an option to improve fertility if other treatments don’t work. Ovarian drilling is a procedure that makes tiny holes in the ovary with a laser or thin heated needle to restore normal ovulation.

When to Seek Specialist Care: r.JTTFE QFSJPET BOE ZPV BSF OPU QSFHOBOU BGUFS a pregnancy test done. r:PV OPUJDF TZNQUPNT PG 1$04 TVDI BT IBJS growth on your face and body. r6OTVDDFTTGVM BUUFNQU BU USZJOH UP HFU QSFHOBOU despite unprotected regular sexual intercourse for more than 12 months. r:PV IBWF TZNQUPNT PG EJBCFUFT TVDI BT FYDFTT thirst or hunger, blurred vision, or unexplained weight loss. r*G ZPV IBWF 1$04 QMBO SFHVMBS WJTJUT XJUI your specialist. r:PV XJMM OFFE SFHVMBS UFTUT UP DIFDL GPS diabetes, high blood pressure, and other possible complications.

In Summary: What women especially the young need to know about PCOS r 1$04 DBO EJTSVQU B XPNBO T NFOTUSVBM cycles and make it harder to get pregnant. r)JHI MFWFMT PG NBMF IPSNPOFT BMTP lead to unwanted symptoms like hair growth on the face and body.

Lifestyle interventions are the first treatments specialists recommend for PCOS, and they often work well.

Weight loss can treat PCOS symptoms and improve the odds of getting pregnant and having healthy babies.

Diet and aerobic exercise are two effective ways to lose weight.

Medications are a likely option if lifestyle changes don’t work.

Birth control pills and metformin can both restore normal menstrual cycles and relieve PCOS symptoms.

In vitro fertilization (IVF) may be an option if medication does not work.

You need to consult with your Gynecologist/ Fertility specialist to see what treatment option best suits you.

TO BE CONTINUED

34

T H I S D AY ˾ , MARCH 18, 2021

PERSPECTIVE

PTF Pushing Effective Vaccine Distribution against COVID-19 in Nigeria Tajudeen Kareem ËØÎ Maureen Chigbo No fewer than 2.3 million Nigerians registered their preparedness to receive the AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine jab within 48 hours of the registration of the e-portal in the first week of March as Nigeria received samples. Their enthusiasm was at variance with the initial scepticism that visited the idea of the vaccines in Nigeria.

A survey of 1100 Nigerians between October and November 2020 by the Edelman Trust Barometer 2021 found that vaccine hesitancy was a high 59 per cent in Nigeria. Reluctance was 64 per cent globally. Hesitancy combined with a low trust environment where only 24 per cent of Nigerians believe in government and trust overall is at 49 per cent.

Proactive communication and reaching persons at the grassroots made a difference in changing Nigerians’ attitude to the vaccine.

Experts and manufacturers rolled out the vaccine in December 2020 globally. It came one year into the devastation the virus first spotted in Wuhan, China wrought on the world. The rollout happened rapidly in China, Europe and the United States of America, among other countries.

Nigeria secured four million doses of the AstraZeneca brand from India, courtesy of the Covax Facility. It arrived in Nigeria on 2 March 2021. The government and citizens alike were excited.

Before the vaccine’s arrival, the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 (PTF) worked assiduously to prepare Nigerians to accept the vaccine despite a few misguided comments on its safety and efficacy. Secretary to the Government Boss Mustapha led the PTF to collaborate with other agencies to prepare the grounds.

PTF understood the public’s genuine scepticism about the new vaccine and their resistance and undertook the daunting task of reversing such perception many weeks before its arrival in the country. It directly sent out messages to counter the negative perceptions of the vaccine’s safety and efficacy and that it has no adverse effect on recipients. In charge of the vaccination programme in the country, the National Primary Healthcare Development Agency engaged in sensitisation and awareness programmes to correct the negative perception. It reached out to critical stakeholders, especially traditional rulers and leaders of major religions, to accept and convince their subjects and brethren on the vaccine’s safety.

These efforts must have yielded fruits. Nigerians welcomed the arrival of the vaccine with great enthusiasm. Moreso, the top-bottom approach vaccination strategy adopted by the PTF for administering the vaccine has helped build confidence in the masses that there will not be any adverse effect.

The phased distribution to the States began with the vaccination of all frontline health workers, supporting staff and strategic leaders. As a mark of leadership and confidence building, President Muhammed Buhari and Vice President Yemi Osinbajo were vaccinated in the glare of television cameras before the members of the PTF and some journalists took their turn.

COVID-19 Vaccine

NJNJǂLJǀ

So far, the vaccine distribution across the 36 States is on course with no noticeable hitches.

By 8 March 2021, about 33 states and the FCT had taken delivery. It is noteworthy that the PTF has mapped out the deployment of vaccines to the States based on assessing their level of preparedness.

Some of the parameters used for the assessment include adequate maintenance of their cold chain storage facilities, proper preparation of logistic transportation to the ward/ health facility, sufficient security in place during transport and at vaccination sites, completion of training of health workers, efficient social mobilisation activities, and adherence to the protocol for vaccine deployment.

It is equally encouraging that the PTF will be working with the private sector-led CACOVID, which has provided a cargo plane to transport the vaccines to all local airports across the country.

States without a functional airport, according to the PTF, will have their vaccines transported by road using vans with fitted Cold Cabins from the nearest airport. They will store the vaccines at the State Cold Stores, from where they will transport them by road to LGA Cold Stores.

The PTF also plans to monitor activities once the vaccines are in the States strictly. PTF would work with the Federal Ministry of Health, NPHCDA and independent bodies such as the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Department of State Security, Independent Corrupt Practices

Commission and Civil Society Organizations. The PTF would ensure compliance by States/health facilities/health workers and sanction defaulters who deviate from the standard protocol and guidelines for the vaccination programme.

The PTF plans to ensure the vaccination of about 70 per cent of the population n the next phase.

The plan involves vaccination of the elderly from 50 years and above. There are two sub-groups; the vaccination of persons 60 and above first, followed by 50 – 59 years. Eligible citizens who have not registered electronically, PTF says, would be assisted at the designated health facility to ensure a seamless exercise.

The third phase of the vaccination process will take care of those between 18- 49 years with co-morbidities (such as hypertension, diabetes, lung disease, other heart diseases, liver or renal disease). Immunisation of individuals ages 50 and above with co-morbidities would happen with their age groups.

The fourth phase would involve vaccination of the rest of the eligible population between 18-49 years. It is worthy to note that the authorities would assess the level of preparedness of the States before deploying vaccines at each stage.

The Federal Government assures that it has placed accountability measures to ensure strict compliance with the vaccination process. Their health providers will evaluate pregnant women to weigh the benefit versus risk.

Another significant development in the vaccination programme of the PTF for the country is the bid for vaccine production in Nigeria.

In the first week of March, the Central Bank of Nigeria gave out N253.4million in grants to sundry researchers under the Healthcare Sector Research and Development Intervention Scheme, HSRDIS. The grant is part of measures to support the Nigerian healthcare sector’s growth and, significantly, develop a Nigerian-produced vaccine against coronavirus.

It is not surprising that Mustapha commended the CBN for what he described as the bank’s modest efforts at helping future generations to combat any outbreak of health pandemic. Before then, the SGF and chairman of the PTF continues to assure Nigerians that the COVID-19 vaccines now in the country “are safe and efficacious”.

He has continually urged members of the public to avail themselves of the opportunity to get vaccinated.

Indeed, the well-thought-out programme for vaccination of Nigerians, part of the National Response Strategy to combat COVID-19, is commendable. Experts advise that the PTF leave nothing to chance and closely follow up the vaccination process, especially at the sub-national levels. The measure would ensure the effective and efficient distribution of the vaccine among the populace. t,BSFFN BOE $IJHCP BSF POMJOF QVCMJTIFST

Subscriber Base for Health Insurance Hits Over 10.2 million, Says NHIS Onyebuchi Ezigbo ÓØ ÌßÔË Over ten million Nigerians have now subscribed to the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS). The scheme said that so far about 10,269,996 have enrolled into the scheme.

In his progress report presented at an informal engagement with health correspondents in Kaduna at the weekend, the Executive Secretary of NHIS, Prof.

Mohammed Nasir Sambo said the organisation has been able to make huge recoveries from it’s cost saving reforms.

On the progress made in raising the subscriber base of the scheme, Sambo said that “the population of Nigerians that have enrolled in the health insurance scheme has risen to 10,269,996 from 6 million

earlier reported by the National Demographic Health Survey (NDHS)”.

He explained that as part of strategies to increase its subscriber base, NHIS has mapped the entire segments of the Nigerian population including the Nigerian Youth Service Corp (NYSC).

“We have mapped the population and we are engaging the management of the NYSC to ensure that they are covered in the framework of the national health insurance scheme.

“You know that there was a presidential directive in the past that all NYSC members should covered by the scheme but due to budgetary constraints, it was not implemented,” he said.

Sambo also said that NHIS is making efforts to retrieve about N11 billion mistakenly

trapped in the federation account.

In the same vein, he said that the scheme is working with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC,) to recover another N10 billion lodged at Heritage Bank by previous leadership of the scheme.

Sambo who delivered a speech highlighting the achievements recorded by NHIS since his appointment in November, 2019,said that the problem of the health insurance scheme has been that of poor enrolment.

However, he noted that there has been a remarkable progress in the reform efforts at NHIS which has resulted in increase in patronage by Nigerians.

According to him, the management of the scheme has embarked on a reform to

decentralise it’s operations by strengthening state and zonal offices of the health insurance scheme.

He said that the much expected bill to amend the NHIS Act and make health insurance scheme mandatory on all Nigerians has scaled through the National Assembly and is now waiting for presidential assent.

Sambo said that contrary to insinuation that NHIS has not been to achieve much in terms of teaching the universal health insurance for all in the last 20 years, the major impediment is the law limiting its utilisation.

According to Sambo, since the law setting up NHIS makes it optional, many people who would have enrolled into it chose not to do so.

He explained that due to this optional nature of the insurance scheme, most

employees in the formal sector who would have formed the bulk of the enrollees refused to enlist into it.

He also said the entire informal sector was left out of the scheme merely because, most organisations did not see it as mandatory.

Sambo said that as long as the Act establishing the NHIS is not amended to make the scheme compulsory, the goal of significantly increasing the coverage in the country will remain a mere dream.

He said that 70 percent of health insurance funding is coming through user fees which is not sustainable.

Sambo said that the best way to fund health insurance is by pooling resources through mass enrolling in the health insurance scheme at all levels.

The Executive Secretary said that while appreciable progress is being made at the federal

level, not much is happening in the state and local government areas in terms of enrolment into state health insurance scheme.

He disclosed that one of the recent decisions taken by the management is to ensure NHIS is fully automated to make for seamless operations.

He also spoke about the decision by the management of NHIS to decentralise it’s operations by strengthening the state branches with more staff postings from the headquarters.

“What we did was to say, what will be the functions of state offices and we drew an organogram for state offices of the scheme so that they can function in a most effective manner. We also posted staff from the head office to the state offices, to fill the gaps,”he added.

35

T H I S D AY ˾ , MARCH 18, 2021

PERSPECTIVE

COVID-19 and Nigeria’s Vulnerable Economy Onyeka Akpaida It’s been almost a year since Nigeria recorded its first case of COVID-19, and since then, the country has witnessed a barrage of economic as well as societal shocks that have changed life as we know it. In 2018, the World Bank tagged Nigeria as the poverty capital of the world and the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated what was already a critical issue. A recent World Bank study revealed that over 7 million people in the country are expected to be tipped into poverty this year and that by 2022 the number of poor people in Nigeria might hit 100 million.

All across the world, the COVID-19 pandemic has rolled back some of the key progress that governments, private players and development actors had made in the pursuit of financial inclusion and improved socioeconomic outcomes as well as the attainment of other development goals. For the average Nigerian, this reality is not theoretical, it is their lived experience. Many families now rely on government palliative care or relief packages from non-profits and social enterprises. It is not far off to attribute some of this decline in standards of living to the latent and lasting economic effects of the first lockdown and restrictions on businesses to members of the informal economy, of which women form a significant number.

This strain on the informal economy is tangible and is not relegated solely to the workforce but has strong effects on the economy itself. Nigeria, like most developing countries, is driven and sustained by a thriving informal economy. The ever-expanding nature of this sector has been fundamentally threatened by the uncertainty of the pandemic. For these millions of workers, even before the pandemic, informality already posed a multi-faceted challenge that restricted access to both private and public sector services. The absence of comprehensive social protection and access to, as well as awareness and uptake of existing financial services has exacerbated an already precarious situation. These socio-economic shocks and the absence of relevant support has led to increasing vulnerability for members of the informal sector, most especially our women including those that have been forcibly displaced. In a sample study organized by the World Bank, Nigeria was one of the four countries including Malawi, Ethiopia and Uganda that saw households record a significant loss in income– with business income being the most susceptible due to the pandemic. Women have it worse, a separate report on Kenya, South Africa and Nigeria by the Centre for Financial Regulation and Inclusion, revealed that more women than men suffered income cuts and loss of livelihood.

The extensiveness of the informal economy has meant that business across several sectors– from agriculture to retail– have been impacted.

In December 2020, Nigeria’s Government Enterprise and Empowerment Program (GEEP) and 60 Decibels with the support of the Rockefeller Foundation launched an interim report, detailing the results of a survey “Investigating the Effects of COVID-19”

Akpaida

between August and December 2020. The survey was administered amongst 4,940 GEEP clients spread across the six geopolitical zones of the country. It is important to highlight that the GEEP beneficiary survey is ongoing with a target to have completed 11 rounds of surveys and publish a final report by May 2021 that will provide verifiable COVID-19 impact insights from more than 11,000 GEEP clients.

Using the 60 Decibels vulnerability index designed to measure how shocks affect families, the GEEP survey results showed that COVID-19 severely impacted the income levels, poverty levels, financial situation and coping mechanisms of informal workers.

The report showed that 9 out of 10 GEEP clients are experiencing drops. 35% reported business closures and 66% reported reduced patronage which further exacerbated their financial situation and pushed them further down the poverty ladder. As a way to adapt and cope with challenges, 84% had to fall back to their savings and 46% reduced the percentage of their income they would have ordinarily set aside for savings.

Many of these workers, most especially women, lack robust savings and other financial safety nets and because of this, income cuts

are extremely consequential and impactful.

For Mary, a trader, her business selling food items was thriving before the pandemic. She was able to contribute to her family’s income alongside her husband who was a taxi driver.

Following the government-mandated lockdown which was crucial in slowing the spread of COVID-19, the family lost two major sources of income and have struggled to pay for their rent or buy foodstuffs. While Mary was fortunate that stalls selling food were allowed to open, she witnessed a significant drop in sales and her husband now sells bread. Both incomes proved insufficient to support their 3 children who were at home due to school closures and the number of meals they ate daily reduced to 1, so did the types of items they consumed.

During the pandemic, many businesses were forced to shut down due to lockdown restrictions. In the US, research gathered by Yelp has shown that up to 60% of businesses which closed down during the lockdown never reopened. This development is attributed to a rupture in income flow leaving many business owners in debt and an already deficient system. Preliminary findings from the December 2020 GEEP report indicates that micro business owners are having to rely

heavily on savings and borrowing to reduce the impact of economic shocks. In the long run, these coping mechanisms are not beneficial for business continuity. For many businesses that were able to reopen, the impact of high prices coupled with a weakened economy has led to reduced patronage from customers and subsequently reduced demand. At the same time, for many small businesses in the informal sector, these new financial constraints have led to job losses as many businesses simply cannot afford to keep them on the payroll.

For Habibah, a young widow, who ran a successful petty business selling snacks to school children, the impact of the pandemic coupled with the school closures drove her business to a complete halt. Today, putting food on the table has become extremely difficult as the prices of food have not only increased but her income and business prospects have diminished. Government support and relief programmes intended to alleviate the plight of low-income Nigerians have been beneficial for some and the cash transfer scheme has shown promising results in NIgeria, particularly for women.

Despite being severely impacted, the informal sector is a crucial tool for the country’s economic rebound. Nigeria’s Ministry of Labour and productivity have estimated that approximately 80% of Nigeria’s workforce is employed by the informal sector. With millions of Nigeria’s agile labour force contributing significantly to this sector, there is a sizable tax base that will remain untapped without formalising this segment of the economy. Even as we discuss formalisation, it is important to recognise that formalisation itself is not one single thing or solved simply by registration and identification (although these components are fundamental). Formalisation is an agreement that allows all parties to benefit - the government from an increased tax base, and for members of the informal economy, its legal recognition, social protection, tax incentives potentially, and the type of access enjoyed by the members of Nigeria’s formal economy. Any formalisation project that simply seeks to register and tax without a quid pro quo will have limited success not only because of the hurdles around duplicity, harmonisation, infrastructure and scale- but simply because of the lack of incentive for anyone to change their current status from informal to formal.

In Nigeria and across the continent the sheer force of the informal sector is often overlooked. This is largely due to the fact that on mere observation it might seem like a herculean task, trying to streamline millions of people into a comprehensive database.

However, this is a task that must be done if we want to spur development and boost the economic potential of our informal sector.

Ensuring economic stability and social protection is fundamental to poverty reduction as it will create the necessary infrastructure to promote formalization, improve the standards of living for millions and consequently have a considerable impact on our nation’s GDP. t"LQBJEB JT UIF 'PVOEFS BOE $IJFG *NQBDU 0GmDFS 3FOESB 'PVOEBUJPO

How PTF Plans to Monitor COVID-19 Vaccination Campaign Onyebuchi Ezigbo ÓØ ÌßÔË The Presidential Taskforce on Control of COVID-19 (PTF) said it has put in place a means of monitoring the movement of the COVID-19 vaccines across the country to ensure that they are deployed in an equitable and secured manner.

The blueprint for equitable and effective distribution of COVID-19 vaccines contains several layers of checks and balances.

The National Primary Healthcare Development Agency (NPHCDA), which is focal agency responsible for

implementing the vaccination, said an independent monitoring will be recruited at the state by the World Health Organisation (WHO).

It said the independent monitors will generate information/data using the Open Data Kits (ODK), which will be collated and analysed at national level by the national data team.

According to NPHCDA, the findings will be shared with stakeholders at national, state and LGA level for action.

“There will be two sets of independent monitors that will conduct monitoring at different phase of introduction

of COVID-19 vaccination.

“One set will conduct InProcess monitoring while the other set will conduct the End-Process monitoring, using monitoring form that is on the ODK,” it said.

The agency further said that the selection of the independent monitors will be by competitive process.

It said Four In-Process monitors, and four End-Process monitors shall be recruited per local government area.

The agency also said that a protocol has been developed in line with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC)

and Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC) Acts to ensure accountability of the vaccines. It said the team Fromm EFCC and ICPC will ensure eligibility and vaccination guidelines are adhered for the benefit of all eligible Nigerians.

NPHCDA added that “appropriate security outfits, Civil Society Organisation (CSOs), partners, independent monitors and other guides will be deployed to ensure transparency, accountability and fairness in reaching eligible Nigerians with COVID 19 vaccines based on the nationally approved

prioritisation algorithm.

While speaking on the need for an equitable distribution plan, Minister of Health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire said Nigeria will not recover from COVID-19 pandemic if there is inequity in the distribution of the vaccines across all the states.

Ehanire disclosed that the Federal Ministry of Health has developed a very intricate distribution plan for monitoring and evaluating the vaccination exercise. Ehanire explained that officials of NPHCDA will drive a lot of experience from the polio eradication initiative for addressing all the logistics

and difficulties required to ensure delivery of vaccines to every eligible person.

He said: “I am satisfied that the National vaccine deployment plan (NDVP) will be properly executed and the advisory of starting with frontline health workers, the elderly and the vulnerable population will be adhered to.” On his part, the Executive Director of NPHCDA, Dr Faisal Shuaib said, “This is a key part of our commitment to the Nigerian people to ensure full transparency, as we distribute and introduce safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines.”

T H I S D AY ˾ ˜ MARCH 18, 2021

36

BUSINESS/MONEYGUIDE

Elumelu Calls for Strategic Long-term Investment to Tackle Poverty Dike Onwuamaeze A philanthropist and the Founder of the Tony Elumelu Foundation (TEF), Mr. Tony Elumelu, has called for a framework that will widen the circle of prosperity in Africa rather than littering the continent with lone star billionaires.

Elumelu made the call when he spoke at the, “World Government Summit Dialogue: Africa’s Future Post 2021,” where he said the continent needs massive investments in infrastructure, electricity, digital technology and healthcare delivery to address the massive positive in the continent, adding that future Bill Gates could come out of Africa if access to electricity is provided.

He said: “We can see more billionaires. The ones that are there are getting stronger climbing the league table while new ones are coming up. But we need to move the emphasis away from these so called billionaires.

“We should be talking about how many young Africans will be impacted in the next five or 10 years’ time?

“Instead of us having a pyramid of few billionaires I will prefer that we have a large

base that has prosperity, happier people and people whose basic human needs are met. I think that is what that will give us the sustainability and the lasting peace that we need in Africa.

“That will also address the insecurity that we have in Africa and stop the migration of our younger people. That will stem extremism and all the kidnappings we hear every day all around us because of poverty and hopelessness as people do not see a better future. We need to reset our mind to think in a better ways to improve society and mankind.”

Elumelu noted that poverty anywhere is a threat to mankind everywhere and called for support for the development of entrepreneurship and the SMEs so that the continent could address the challenge of poverty in a significant way.

“Without access to electricity we cannot digitalise our local economies and communities where most of our people live in. Also this is significant in terms of informal businesses that drive the African economy.

“If we must empower our people out of poverty we must invest in electricity. The pandemic

presents an opportunity for us to reprioritise and make sure that we invest in electricity. We must set for ourselves a timeline and the way we declared war on COVID-19, on polio is the same manner we need to declare war on poor access to electricity in Africa. For me, it is at the centre of poverty alleviation,” he said.

He also said strategic long-term investments by his business group, which he said is at the centre of his Africapitalism, is one of the ways to deal with poverty in Africa.

“That is the only way we can deal with the issue of poverty alleviation and create massive employment for our people.

And that is the only way we can actually empower the economy.

“For us, investment in energy, and we are looking at integrated energy strategy because power cannot be dealt in isolation. For us the $1.1 billion investment that we made in January is to further help to achieve our vision for a prosperous Africa built on solid access to electricity for everyone.

Africa at a time like this needs proper investment in power and access to healthcare for us to correct the poverty level we see on the ground,” he added.

Wema Bank Launches Gender-focused Loan Offerings Wema Bank Plc has launched a special gender discount loan offering to mark this year’s International Women’s Day (IWD).

The Divisional Head, Retail Business, Wema Bank Plc. Dotun Ifebogun launched the unique gender loan offering at a webinar with the theme: ‘Challenge Today for an Equal Tomorrow’ held recently to mark the IWD. Highlighting the offer’s significance, Ifebogun was quoted in a statement to have said it was more than a loan, as it also involves in-depth training.

“With this package, women can now access business loans at a single-digit interest rate.

They have insurance cover for the business and themselves. A particular business owner will also have the opportunity of five days of business training at Wema Bank SME Business Training School,” Ifebogun said.

He affirmed that Wema Bank would continue to support women to confront challenges and promote gender inclusion through thoughtful initiatives such as the new loan package, health schemes, business advisory, financial education, among others.

“This year, we have challenged the lack of access to finances for women, with an emphasis on cheaper loan and financial literacy for women through focused training.

“With this offer, we are going beyond just giving funds and raising finance; we extended it to training and expanding the knowledge base of these women to be sure that the people we give this loan can build on it and grow,” Ifebogun said.

The Executive Director, Business Support, Wema Bank, Folake Sanu, opened the webinar that addressed

women’s challenging societal norms to reach their potential in entrepreneurship and the workplace.

Team Lead, Business Process Re-Engineering, Wema Bank, Chika Adun moderated the webinar.

Among the panelists at the webinar were Founder, Green Investment Club and certified financial education instructor Tomie Balogun; Global Leadership Development expert Dupe Akinsiun, and Chief Knowledge Officer, Wofin Tech Limited, Omilola Oshikoya.

Reiterating the importance of building capacity and confidence, Akinsiun said women needed to be clear on expectations and standards they set for themselves.

“Avoid cultural limitations and mindsets, acknowledge your weaknesses and leverage your strengths through the help of others against all odds to rise.

Engineers Task Lagos Govt on Parking Policy Oluchi Chibuzor The Nigerian Society of Engineers, Victoria Island (NSEVI) branch has called on the Lagos State government to speed up the implementation process for its parking policy.

According to the group, the initiative would further ensure that the traffic management and transportation agenda of the Governor Sanwo-Olu’s administration is realised.

This is also coming as the population of the state continues to explode, growing at about 3.44 per cent per annum.

Engaging the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA) recently, at an interactive meeting with other key members, the Chairman, NSEVI, Engr. John Audu, said the NSEVI wants the current administration

to consider revamping parking policy in line with its THEME agenda.

He also said the NSEVI is developing mobile technology applications that could be deployed to influence behavioural change among commuters that would track violators within the state.

The visit was part of the association’s drive to interact with government agencies and proffer engineering solutions across several sectors in line with its visions. According to Audu, “Considering the congestion on the roads, we think the Lagos government should consider reviewing the parking lot policy to help reduce traffic on the roads and also foster investors to leverage the value chain within the transportation sector.”

“We believe the state government must pursue scientific

transportation management in solving these issues we encounter on a daily basis,” he added.

Commenting on the parking policy, he noted that LASTMA would partner with relevant stakeholders that would bring about change on Lagos roads, stressing the need for NSEVI to work with the Ministry of Transportation and other key government institutions.

“Whatever measures that will make traffic disappear in the state in line with the administration of our governor are welcome, so I would like you to partner with other key government ministries in the state. “You cannot achieve zero per cent traffic anywhere in the world but you can change behaviour and facility and from the engineering perspective I believe NSEVI should be thinking on behalf of the government,” he said.

Elumelu

MARKET INDICATORS MONEY AND CREDIT STATISTICS

(MILLION NAIRA)

JULY 2020 Money Supply (M3)

36,822,751.47

-- CBN Bills Held by Money Holding Sectors

3,476,121.25

Money Supply (M2)

33,346,630.22

-- Quasi Money

120,764,479.02

-- Narrow Money (M1)

12,582,151.19

---- Currency Outside Banks

2,002,026.89

---- Demand Deposits

10,580,124.31

Net Foreign Assets (NFA)

7,637,137.23

Net Domestic Assets(NDA)

29,185,614.24

-- Net Domestic Credit (NDC)

39,711,115.95

---- Credit to Government (Net)

19,521,851.08

---- Memo: Credit to Govt. (Net) less FMA

0.00

---- Memo: Fed. and Mirror Accounts (FMA)

0.00

---- Credit to Private Sector (CPS)

-130,189,264.87

--Other Assets Net

3,472,017.70

Reserve Money (Base Money

13,421,827.07

--Currency in Circulation

2,395,917.03

--Banks Reserves --Special Intervention Reserves

11,025,910.04 317,234.17

˾ ÙßÜÍÏ ̋

Money Market Indicators (in Percentage) Month

March 2018

Inter-Bank Call Rate

15.16

Minimum Rediscount Rate (MRR) Monetary Policy Rate (MPR)

14.00

Treasury Bill Rate

11.84

Savings Deposit Rate

4.07

1 Month Deposit Rate

8.82

3 Months Deposit Rate

9.72

6 Months Deposit Rate

10.93

12 Months Deposit Rate

10.21

Prime Lending rate

17.35

Maximum Lending Rate

31.55

˾ ÙØÏÞËÜã ÙÖÓÍã ËÞÏ ̋ ͯͱϱ

OPEC DAILY BASKET PRICE ˜ ͯʹ ͰͮͰͯ

The price of OPEC basket of thirteen crudes stood at $66.89 a barrel on Tuesday, compared with $68.18 the previous day, according to OPEC Secretariat calculations.

The OPEC Reference Basket of Crudes (ORB) is made up of the following: Saharan Blend (Algeria), Girassol (Angola), Djeno (Congo), Zafiro (Equatorial Guinea), Rabi Light (Gabon), Iran Heavy (Islamic Republic of Iran), Basra Light (Iraq), Kuwait Export (Kuwait), Es Sider (Libya), Bonny Light (Nigeria), Arab Light (Saudi Arabia), Murban (UAE) and Merey (Venezuela) SOURCE: OPEC headquarters, Vienna

37

T H I S D AY ˾ ˜ ͯͶ˜ ͰͮͰͯ

Investors Stake N2.7 Billion on 177.4 Million Shares Goddy Egene Investors staked N2.677 billion on 177.396 million shares in 4.103 deals yesterday.

This represented a decline compared with the N4.206 billion invested in 220.857 million shares in 4,192 deals.

Also, the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) All-Share Index (ASI) depreciated marginally by 0.04 per cent to close at 38,706.13,

just as market capitalisation shed N7.7 billion to N20.3 trillion.

The most traded stocks by volume were Guaranty Trust Bank Plc(34.2 million shares), Zenith Bank Plc (28.5 million shares) and United Bank for Africa Plc (17.7 million shares) while GTBank (N957.8 million), Zenith Bank Plc (N572.1 million) and Seplat (N265.6 million) led by value.

Profit taking in Guaranty Trust

P R I C E S MAIN BOARD

F O R DEALS

Bank Plc Guaranty Trust Bank Plc led to the marginal depreciation.

However, NCR Nigeria Plc led the price gainers’ chart with 9.7 per cent, trailed by Neimeth International Pharmaceuticals Plc with 9.0 per cent.

Vitafoam Nigeria Plc went down by 5.1 per cent, while AXA Mansard Insurance Plc went down by 5.0 per cent. NEM Insurance Plc and NAHCO Plc dipped by 4.5 apiece.

S E C U R I T I E S

MARKET PRICE

QUANTITY TRADED

VALUE TRADED ( N )

On the positive side, Coronation Insurance Plc led the price gainers with 9.9 per cent, followed by Oando Plc with 9.6 per cent. Unity Bank Plc and Livestock Feeds Plc shed 9.0 per cent and 2.6 per cent.

Zenith Bank Plc, which paid a final dividend of N2.70 per share on Tuesday was also among the price gainers. Shareholders of Zenith Bank Plc had on Tuesday approved the N94.19

T R A D E D MAIN BOARD

A S

billion dividend paid the year ended December 31, 2020 and commended the board and management of the bank for the improved financial results and dividend payment , which translated to N3.00 per share.

The shareholders were highly exited that despite a challenging macroeconomic environment exacerbated by the COVID 19 pandemic, Zenith Bank Plc posted profit before tax (PBT)

O F

of N255.9 billion in 2020 and profit after tax of N231 billion.

Some analysts had said Zenith Bank’s performance was above their expectperformance. According to them, they had had expected that the combination of a slowdown in business activities due to the pandemic and continual sterilisation of funds by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) would result in weak income generation.

1 7 / 0 3 / 2 0 2 1 DEALS

MARKET PRICE

QUANTITY TRADED

VALUE TRADED ( N)

38

˾ THURSDAY, MARCH 18, 2021

ଂ

ଂ

ଂ

ଂ

ଂ ଂ

7 R S 7 U D G H V E \ 9 R O X P H

7 R S * D LQ H U V P ric e

P ric e C hg %

Vo lum e

P ric e C hg %

WA P IC

0.55

10.0%

GUA R A N T Y

34.2

-1.8%

OA N D O

3.29

9.7%

Z EN IT H B A N K

28.4

1.0%

UN IT YB N K

0.72

9.1%

UB A

17.7

0.0%

LIVEST OC K

1.95

2.6%

T R A N SC OR P

17.6

1.2%

P R EST IGE

0.44

2.3%

A C C ESS

10.5

0.0%

H ON YF LOUR

1.25

1.6%

FB NH

8.3

-1.4%

UA C -P R OP

0.79

1.3%

F ID ELIT YB K

7.0

-1.8%

T R A N SC OR P

0.82

1.2%

ST A N B IC

5.0

0.0%

UC A P

4.55

1.1%

M A N SA R D

3.4

-5.1%

F ID SON

4.90

1.0%

OA N D O

3.3

9.7%

T ic k er

T ic k er

7 R S 7 U D G H V E \ 9 D O X H

7 R S / R V H U V T ic k er

Value

P ric e C hg %

-9.7%

GUA R A N T Y

957.8

-1.8%

1.90

-9.1%

Z EN IT H B A N K

572.1

1.0%

VIT A F OA M

7.35

-5.2%

SEP LA T

265.6

0.9%

M A N SA R D

0.94

-5.1%

ST A N B IC

201.9

0.0%

N EM

2.09

-4.6%

D A N GC EM

123.7

0.0%

NA HCO

2.10

-4.5%

UB A

122.1

0.0%

F ID ELIT YB K

2.19

-1.8%

A C C ESS

82.0

0.0%

GUA R A N T Y

28.00

-1.8%

FB NH

59.7

-1.4%

43.6

0.0%

24.4

0.0%

T ic k er NCR N EIM ET H

Afrinvest West Africa Limited

P ric e 2.79

P ric e C hg %

WEM A B A N K

0.59

-1.7%

D A N GSUGA R

FB NH

7.20

-1.4%

F LOUR M ILL

Brokerage

Asset Management

Investment Research

Adedoyin Allen | aallen@afrinvest.com Robert Omotunde | romotunde@afrinvest.com Abiodun Keripe | AKeripe@afrinvest.com Taiwo Ogundipe | togundi-

Christopher Omoh | comoh@afrinvest.com

THURSDAY, MARCH 18, 2021 ˾ T H I S D AY

39

MARKET NEWS

Global Spectrum Energy Services Projects Revenue of N183m in Q2 Goddy Egene

Services Plc has said it would record a revenue of N183.073 million for the second quarter

Global Spectrum Energy A Mutual fund (Unit Trust) is an investment vehicle managed by a SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) registered Fund Manager.

Investors with similar objectives buy units of the Fund so that the Fund Manager can buy securities that willl generate their desired return.

An ETF (Exchange Traded Fund) is a type of fund which owns the assets (shares of stock, bonds, oil futures, gold bars, foreign currency, etc.) and divides ownership of those assets into shares. Investors can buy these ‘shares’ on the

(Q2) ending June 30, 2021. In a notification to the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), the

floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange.

A REIT (Real Estate Investment Trust) is an investment vehicle that allows both small and large investors to part-own real estate ventures (eg.

Offices, Houses, Hospitals) in proportion to their investments. The assets are divided into shares that are traded on the Nigerian Stock Exchange.

GUIDE TO DATA: Date: All fund prices are quoted in Naira as at 16Mar-2021, unless otherwise stated.

company said it would spend N169 million as total expenses.

It projected profit before tax

of N12.703 million and profit after tax of N12.449 million.

The company operates in a

niche but very competitive sector of the oil and gas industry.

Offer price: The price at which units of a trust or ETF are bought by investors.

Bid Price: The price at which Investors redeem (sell) units of a trust or ETF. Yield/Total Return: Denotes the total return an investor would have earned on his investment. Money Market Funds report Yield while others report Year- to-date Total Return.

NAV: Is value per share of the real estate assets held by a REIT on a specific date.

DAILY PRICE LIST FOR MUTUAL FUNDS, REITS and ETFS MUTUAL FUNDS / UNIT TRUSTS AFRINVEST ASSET MANAGEMENT LTD aaml@afrinvest.com Web: www.afrinvest.com; Tel: +234 818 885 6757 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Afrinvest Equity Fund 147.63 149.09 -8.74% Afrinvest Plutus Fund 100.00 100.00 3.74% Nigeria International Debt Fund 351.95 351.95 -11.58% Afrinvest Dollar Fund 110.77 110.77 -1.17% ALTERNATIVE CAPITAL PARTNERS LTD info@acapng.com Web: www.acapng.com, Tel: +234 1 291 2406, +234 1 291 2868 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn ACAP Canary Growth Fund 1.01 1.03 12.78% ACAP Income Funds 0.65 0.65 -11.07% AIICO CAPITAL LTD ammf@aiicocapital.com Web: www.aiicocapital.com, Tel: +234-1-2792974 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn AIICO Money Market Fund 100.00 100.00 2.21% AIICO Balanced Fund 3.19 3.35 -10.07% ANCHORIA ASSET MANAGEMENT LIMITED info@anchoriaam.com Web:www.anchoriaam.com, Tel: 08166830267; 08036814510; 08028419180 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Anchoria Money Market N/A N/A N/A Anchoria Equity Fund N/A N/A N/A Anchoria Fixed Income Fund N/A N/A N/A ARM INVESTMENT MANAGERS LTD enquiries@arminvestmentcenter.com Web: www.arm.com.ng; Tel: 0700 CALLARM (0700 225 5276) Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn ARM Aggressive Growth Fund 17.89 18.43 -1.34% ARM Discovery Balanced Fund 399.26 411.29 -0.28% ARM Ethical Fund 35.31 36.37 4.74% ARM Eurobond Fund ($) 1.20 1.20 -1.86% ARM Fixed Income Fund 1.04 1.05 -6.89% ARM Money Market Fund 1.00 1.00 1.30% AVA GLOBAL ASSET MANAGERS LIMITED info@avacapitalgroup.com Web: www.avacapitalgroup.com Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn AVA GAM Fixed Income Dollar Fund 103.10 103.10 1.37% AXA MANSARD INVESTMENTS LIMITED investmentcare@axamansard.com Web: www.axamansard.com; Tel: +2341-4488482 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn AXA Mansard Equity Income Fund 118.53 119.36 -6.06% AXA Mansard Money Market Fund 1.00 1.00 2.22% CAPITAL EXPRESS ASSET AND TRUST LIMITED info@capitalexpressassetandtrust.com Web: www.capitalexpressassetandtrust.com ; Tel: +234 803 307 5048 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn CEAT Fixed Income Fund N/A N/A N/A Capital Express Balanced Fund(Formerly: Union Trustees Mixed Fund) N/A N/A N/A CHAPELHILL DENHAM MANAGEMENT LTD investmentmanagement@chapelhilldenham.com Web: www.chapelhilldenham.com, Tel: +234 461 0691 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Chapelhill Denham Money Market Fund 100.00 100.00 3.03% Paramount Equity Fund 14.79 15.07 -7.50% Women's Investment Fund 126.99 128.37 -4.61% CORDROS ASSET MANAGEMENT LIMITED assetmgtteam@cordros.com Web: www.cordros.com, Tel: 019036947 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Cordros Money Market Fund 100.00 100.00 2.00% Cordros Milestone Fund 2023 125.66 126.51 Cordros Milestone Fund 2028 N/A N/A Cordros Dollar Fund ($) 110.38 110.38 CORONATION ASSEST MANAGEMENT investment@coronationam.com Web:www.coronationam.com , Tel: 012366215 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Coronation Money Market Fund 1.00 1.00 0.84% Coronation Balanced Fund 1.14 1.15 -5.05% Coronation Fixed Income Fund 1.45 1.45 -8.40% EDC FUNDS MANAGEMENT LIMITED mutualfundng@ecobank.com Web: www.ecobank.com Tel: 012265281 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn EDC Nigeria Money Market Fund Class A 100.00 100.00 1.98% EDC Nigeria Money Market Fund Class B 1,000,000.00 1,000,000.00 1.98% EDC Nigeria Fixed Income Fund 1,161.06 1,164.68 -3.22% FBNQUEST ASSET MANAGEMENT LTD invest@fbnquest.com Web: www.fbnquest.com/asset-management; Tel: +234-81 0082 0082 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn FBN Fixed Income Fund N/A N/A N/A FBN Balanced Fund 179.31 180.55 -4.46% FBN Halal Fund 110.24 110.24 4.62% FBN Money Market Fund 100.00 100.00 0.00% FBN Nigeria Eurobond (USD) Fund - Institutional N/A N/A N/A FBN Nigeria Eurobond (USD) Fund - Retail 123.84 123.84 2.78% FBN Smart Beta Equity Fund 144.85 146.68 -4.18% FCMB ASSET MANAGEMENT LIMITED fcmbamhelpdesk@fcmb.com Web: www.fcmbassetmanagement.com; Tel: +234 1 462 2596 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Legacy Money Market Fund N/A N/A N/A Legacy Debt Fund N/A N/A N/A Legacy Equity Fund N/A N/A N/A Legacy USD Bond Fund N/A N/A N/A FSDH ASSET MANAGEMENT LTD coralfunds@fsdhgroup.com Web: www.fsdhaml.com; Tel: 01-270 4884-5; 01-280 9740-1 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Coral Growth Fund 3,738.23 3,786.61 -1.70% Coral Income Fund 3,335.68 3,335.68 1.69% FSDH Treasury Bills Fund 100.00 100.00 1.71%

GREENWICH ASSET MANAGEMENT LIMITED assetmanagement@gtlgroup.com Web: www.gtlgroup.com ; Tel: +234 1 4619261-2 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Greenwich Plus Money Market Fund 100.00 100.00 0.95% Nigeria Entertainment Fund 126.91 127.44 18.21% GROWTH & DEVELOPMENT ASSET MANAGEMENT LIMITED assetmanagement@gdl.com.ng Web: www.gdl.com.ng ; Tel: +234 9055691122 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn GDL Money Market Fund N/A N/A N/A INVESTMENT ONE FUNDS MANAGEMENT LTD enquiries@investment-one.com Web: www.investment-one.com; Tel: +234 812 992 1045,+234 1 448 8888 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Abacus Money Market Fund 100.00 100.00 1.86% Vantage Balanced Fund 2.61 2.67 13.64% Vantage Guaranteed Income Fund 1.00 1.00 4.50% Kedari Investment Fund (KIF) 153.14 153.52 -1.48% Vantage Dollar Fund (VDF) - June Year End 1.08 1.08 5.31% LOTUS CAPITAL LTD fincon@lotuscapitallimited.com Web: www.lotuscapitallimited.com; Tel: +234 1-291 4626 / +234 1-291 4624 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Lotus Halal Investment Fund 1.36 1.38 -0.69% Lotus Halal Fixed Income Fund 1,142.59 1,142.59 1.70% MERISTEM WEALTH MANAGEMENT LTD info@meristemwealth.com Web: http://www.meristemwealth.com/funds/ ; Tel: +234 1-4488260 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Meristem Equity Market Fund N/A N/A N/A Meristem Money Market Fund N/A N/A N/A PAC ASSET MANAGEMENT LTD info@pacassetmanagement.com Web: www.pacassetmanagement.com/mutualfunds; Tel: +234 1 271 8632 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn PACAM Balanced Fund 1.59 1.62 7.49% PACAM Fixed Income Fund 12.24 12.36 0.04% PACAM Money Market Fund 10.00 10.00 1.74% PACAM Equity Fund 1.56 1.57 -1.49% PACAM EuroBond Fund 109.58 112.29 0.16% SCM CAPITAL LIMITED info@scmcapitalng.com Web: www.scmcapitalng.com; Tel: +234 1-280 2226,+234 1- 280 2227 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn SCM Capital Frontier Fund 125.66 127.80 4.22% SFS CAPITAL NIGERIA LTD investments@sfsnigeria.com Web: www.sfsnigeria.com, Tel: +234 (01) 2801400 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn SFS Fixed Income Fund 1.01 1.01 3.19% STANBIC IBTC ASSET MANAGEMENT LTD assetmanagement@stanbicibtc.com Web: www.stanbicibtcassetmanagement.com; Tel: +234 1 280 1266; 0700 MUTUALFUNDS Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Stanbic IBTC Balanced Fund 3,058.55 3,082.80 -4.90% Stanbic IBTC Bond Fund 227.10 227.10 1.00% Stanbic IBTC Ethical Fund 1.11 1.13 -5.08% Stanbic IBTC Guaranteed Investment Fund 297.52 297.53 0.97% Stanbic IBTC Iman Fund 210.31 212.95 -3.75% Stanbic IBTC Money Market Fund 100.00 100.00 1.84% Stanbic IBTC Nigerian Equity Fund 9,700.69 9,825.68 -7.62% Stanbic IBTC Dollar Fund (USD) 1.24 1.24 1.19% Stanbic IBTC Shariah Fixed Income Fund 112.73 112.73 1.49% UNITED CAPITAL ASSET MANAGEMENT LTD Web: www.unitedcapitalplcgroup.com; Tel: +234 803 306 2887 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn United Capital Balanced Fund 1.30 1.32 -4.99% United Capital Bond Fund 1.91 1.91 1.18% United Capital Equity Fund 0.87 0.89 0.13% United Capital Money Market Fund 1.00 1.00 4.66% United Capital Eurobond Fund 118.55 118.55 1.25% United Capital Wealth for Women Fund 1.05 1.06 -3.41% United capital Sukuk Fund 1.02 1.02 2.39% QUANTUM ZENITH ASSET MANAGEMENT & INVESTMENTS LTD service@quantumzenithasset.com.ng Web: www.quantumzenith.com.ng; Tel: +234 1-2784219 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Zenith Equity Fund 11.86 11.97 -0.04% Zenith Ethical Fund 13.20 13.31 8.01% Zenith Income Fund 24.21 24.21 0.96% Zenith Money Market Fund 1.00 1.00 2.01%

REITS NAV Per Share

Yield / T-Rtn

122.01 52.85

1.05% 0.86%

Bid Price

Offer Price

Yield / T-Rtn

12.42 113.50 91.81

12.52 113.50 93.53

-6.02% -6.77% -7.61%

Fund Name SFS Skye Shelter Fund Union Homes REIT

EXCHANGE TRADED FUNDS Fund Name Lotus Halal Equity Exchange Traded Fund SIAML Pension ETF 40 Stanbic IBTC ETF 30 Fund

VETIVA FUND MANAGERS LTD Web: www.vetiva.com; Tel: +234 1 453 0697 Fund Name Vetiva Banking Exchange Traded Fund Vetiva Consumer Goods Exchange Traded Fund Vetiva Griffin 30 Exchange Traded Fund Vetiva Money Market Fund Vetiva Industrial Goods Exchange Traded Fund Vetiva S&P Nigeria Sovereign Bond Exchange Traded Fund

funds@vetiva.com Bid Price

Offer Price

Yield / T-Rtn

3.62 5.28 16.51 1.00 19.14 176.00

3.66 5.36 16.61 1.00 19.34 178.00

-4.02% -7.22% 1.04% 0.40% -6.71% -20.25%

NAV Per Share

Yield / T-Rtn

107.40

13.11%

INFRASTRUCTURE FUND Fund Name Chapel Hill Denham Nigeria Infrastructure Debt Fund

The value of investments and the income from them may fall as well as rise. Past performance is a guide and not an indication of future returns. Fund prices published in this edition are also available on each fund manager’s website and FMAN’s website at www.fman.com.ng. Fund prices are supplied by the operator of the relevant fund and are published for information purposes only.

40

THURSDAY MARCH 18, 2021 ˾ T H I S D AY

INTERNATIONAL

Tanzanian President, John Magufuli, Dies Opposition leader suspects COVID-19 Tanzanian President, John Magufuli, has died aged 61 from a heart condition, his vice president said in an address on

state television Wednesday, after days of uncertainty over his health and whereabouts.

“It is with deep regret that I

Spain Probes Death of Patient after Astrazeneca Jab

inform you that today on the 17th of March, 2021 at 6 p.m. we lost our brave leader, the President of the Republic of Tanzania, John Pombe Magufuli,” said vice-president Samia Suluhu Hassan.

She said Magufuli had died of a “heart condition”, which he has suffered for a decade, at a hospital in Dar es Salaam.

He had first been briefly admitted to the Jakaya Kikwete Cardiac Institute on March 6, but was subsequently discharged, Hassan said.

But Magufuli had again felt unwell and was on March 14 rushed to hospital again.

Confirmation of Magufuli’s death comes after weeks of uncertainty and wild rumours

over his absence, as he was last seen in public on February 27.

Opposition leader, Tundu Lissu, had raised questions about his health, citing sources that the president was suffering from COVID-19.

Magufuli, who was first elected in 2015 and then again in a disputed poll last year, had for months insisted the virus no

longer existed in Tanzania, and had been fended off by prayer.

He refused to wear a face-mask or take lockdown measures.

But a week before he was last seen, Magufuli conceded the virus was still circulating, after the vice-president of semi-autonomous Zanzibar was revealed to have died of COVID-19.

EU plans digital COVID-19 certificate for safe travel Spanish health officials said Wednesday they were investigating three cases of people who suffered from thrombosis after receiving the AstraZeneca vaccine, one of whom died.

This is as the European Union on Wednesday unveiled a plan to set up a travel certificate to help restore freedom of movement within the bloc for citizens inoculated against the coronavirus.

The announcement by Spain’s AEMPS medicines agency came two days after the government suspended use of the vaccine for at least a fortnight as a precautionary measure.

The three cases occurred between late Monday and early Tuesday.

Local press reports said the person who died was a 43-yearold teacher with no pre-existing health conditions who died of a cerebral haemorrhage.

Neither health authorities nor the clinic where she was admitted would confirm details, citing data protection laws.

Monday’s decision to suspend all AstraZeneca shots came just hours after Germany, France and Italy announced similar moves linked to fears the vaccine could generate serious side effects such as blood clots which can cause swellings, heart attacks and haemorrhages.

In a statement, the AEMPS said the three cases might be linked to the “formation of blood clots in areas of the body where they are less common” without

drawing firm conclusions.

Its investigators were “gathering more information and carrying out an exhaustive investigation to find out whether there was not only a causal link to the administration of the vaccine, but also a possible temporal link”.

Until the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine was suspended, 975,661 people in Spain had received a shot, official figures show.

Spain, which is also administering the Pfizer/BioNtech and Moderna vaccines, has so far recorded more than 72,500 coronavirus deaths from more than 3.2 million cases.

For now, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) has said it is “firmly convinced” that benefits of AstraZeneca’s vaccine outweigh potential risks, insisting there was no evidence linking it to blood clots.

Its experts are nonetheless looking into “adverse events” associated with all vaccines, and the regulator is due to publish its conclusions on Thursday.

Meanwhile, the European Union unveiled a plan Wednesday to set up a travel certificate to help restore freedom of movement within the bloc for citizens inoculated against the coronavirus.

The certificate will show “whether the person has either been vaccinated, or has a recent negative test, or has recovered from Covid, and thus has antibodies,” EU Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said.

Mourners Pay Tribute to South African Zulu King Clad in leopard skins and colourful beads, hundreds of mourners on Wednesday gathered to pay their respects to the king of the Zulus, South Africa’s largest ethnic group, who died of illness last week.

King Goodwill Zwelithini was the longest-serving monarch in Zulu history, reigning for half a century through years of apartheid and democratic transition.

He died early on Friday in the eastern city of Durban, aged 72, after weeks of treatment for a diabetes-related illness.

His remains have been taken back to his birthplace, the small southeastern town of Nongoma in Kwa-Zulu Natal province, where he will be laid to rest after midnight.

The intimate ceremony, to be conducted behind closed doors at the KwaKhethomthandayo royal residence, is referred to as a “planting” rather than a burial.

Women in elaborate necklaces and headbands danced and sang as they paraded towards the mortuary where Zwelithini’s body is being kept.

Men known as “amaButho”, Zulu regiments, followed the

maidens in traditional leopard skins and ostrich feathers — wielding spears, shields and clubs known as “knobkerries”.

The procession marched behind a banner that read “thank you for being the shining light of hope”.

Although his title did not bestow executive power, the charismatic king still had moral influence over more than 11 million Zulus, nearly a fifth of the country’s population.

Zwelithini basked in the legacy of famous and defiant Zulu kings — his ancestors — who inflicted one of the British Empire’s worst defeats in 1879.

But he was also accused of playing into the hands of the apartheid system’s fight against the then banned African National Congress party, which opposed white minority rule.

Following his death, a local newspaper described him as the “custodian of Zulu culture” but also as a “useful idiot in the hands of the apartheid government”.

South Africa’s traditional leaders have been constitutionally recognised since the end of apartheid, and continue to play important symbolic and spiritual roles.

TOAST TO NIGERIA’S FILM INDUSTRY...

British Deputy High Commissioner, British Deputy Commission, Lagos, Mr. Ben Llewellyn-Jones and his, wife, Laura, at the premiere of Mildred Okwo and Rita Dominic’s The Audery Silva Company’s latest movie, La Femme Anjola, at the Ebony Life Place, Victoria Island, Lagos...recently

Benefits of AstraZeneca Vaccine Outweigh Risks, Says WHO World Health Organisation (WHO) has again cleared the air on the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine, saying the benefits of vaccine outweighs risks Some countries in the European Union have temporarily suspended the use of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine as a precautionary measure based on reports of rare blood coagulation disorders in persons who had received the vaccine.

Other countries in the EU – having considered the same information – have decided to continue using the vaccine in their immunization programmes.

In reaction to these developments, the yesterday it is routine for countries to signal potential adverse events following immunization in extensive vaccination campaigns.

In a communique WHO however noted that “this does

not necessarily mean that the events are linked to the vaccination itself, but it is good practice to investigate them. It also shows that the surveillance system works and that effective controls are in place.”

While stressing that vaccination against COVID-19 will not reduce illness or deaths from other causes, the WHO said it is in regular contact with the European Medicines Agency and regulators

around the world for the latest information on COVID-19 vaccine safety.

“The WHO Global Advisory Committee on Vaccine Safety is carefully assessing the latest available safety data for the AstraZeneca vaccine. Once that review is completed, WHO will immediately communicate the findings to the public,” the organization’s statement further read.

Russia Recalls Washington Envoy after Biden Comments Russia said Wednesday it had summoned its Washington ambassador to Moscow for consultations on its ties with the United States, but stressed it wanted to prevent an “irreversible deterioration” in relations.

The announcement from the Russian foreign ministry came after US President Joe Biden said Russia would “pay a price” for meddling in US elections and he agreed with the assessment that his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin is a “killer.”

“The Russian ambassador in Washington, Anatoly Antonov, has been invited to come to Moscow for consultations

conducted with the aim of analysing what should be done and where to go in the context of ties with the United States,” Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in a statement.

Zakharova said the most important thing for Moscow was to determine how to mend Russian-US ties “that have essentially been driven by Washington into a dead end in recent years”.

She said Russia was interested in preventing the bilateral relations’ “irreversible deterioration if Americans understand the risks associated

with it.”

The foreign ministry did not reference Biden’s remarks on Putin, but said Moscow wanted to analyse the results of Biden’s first 100 days in office.

In an interview with ABC News broadcast on Wednesday, Biden was asked about a declassified US intelligence report that said Putin tried to harm his candidacy in the November 2020 election and promote that of his rival Donald Trump.

“He will pay a price,” the 78-year-old Biden said.

Asked if he thought Putin, who has been accused of poisoning political opponents,

is a “killer,” Biden said: “I do.”

The statement marked a stark contrast with Trump’s steadfast refusal to say anything negative about the Russian president.

Also on Wednesday, the US government announced that it would expand the export restrictions imposed on Russia earlier this month as punishment for the poisoning of jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny.

The new measures, effective Thursday, prevent export to Russia of more items controlled for national security reasons, including some technology, software and parts, the Commerce Department said.

In Ghana, Fears over Pandemic Rise in Teenage Pregnancies Gifty Nuako has just turned 18, an age when a young person stands on the threshold of life.

Instead, her future looks bleak.

Last December, she became pregnant — “a mistake,” she says in a whisper.

She wanted to have an abortion, but her boyfriend’s family refused.

Today, in the back streets of Jamestown, one of the poorest neighbourhoods in the Ghanaian capital Accra, the teenager hides

her barely rounded stomach under a long skirt and scarves.

“Now I can’t work, I can’t go back to school. I don’t know what to do any more,” she said.

Unwanted teenage pregnancy is a major problem in Ghana, simultaneously disempowering girls and entrenching them in poverty, say campaigners.

Activists estimate that nearly one woman in seven in the country becomes pregnant before the age of 19.

And, they say, anecdotal evidence suggests the numbers soared last year after the authorities closed schools to help curb the spread of Covid.

“Schools were a form of protection,” said Sarah Lotus Asare, who volunteers with disadvantaged teenage girls.

The schools also gave a sense of purpose to many girls — a crucial compass point that was taken away when education was shut down.

“Many found themselves idle, without adults to supervise them,” she said.

Classes reopened in midJanuary after a 10-month closure — one of the world’s longest continuous educational shutdowns prompted by the coronavirus crisis.

While teenage sexual activity increased during the school shutdown, the vast majority of girls in Ghana do not have access to birth control.

THURSDAY MARCH 18, 2021 ˾ T H I S D AY

41

NEWS XTRA

Yoruba Global Alliance Rallies Support for Adebanjo A group of eminent Yoruba leaders under the aegis of the Yoruba Global Alliance (YG) led by an emeritus ProChancellor/Chairman, Ondo State University of Science and Technology, Dr. Amos Akingba, has called on Yoruba people at home and abroad to rally support for the former deputy leader and now new Yoruba Leader, Chief Ayo Adebanjo.

In a congratulatory message released yesterday after an emergency meeting of the YG Leaders’ Council chaired by veteran journalist and Yoruba nationalist leader, Chief Tola Adeniyi, and signed by YG Secretary General, Prof. Anthony Kila, the group expressed its joy at the emergence of Adebanjo as the new Yoruba leader.

The congratulatory message

noted that Afenifere, the pioneer Yoruba group in the history of Nigeria remains the most consistent and most disciplined Yoruba group in the past 70 years.

The group noted that it is a privilege for all those alive to witness the ascension of Adebanjo, a true and genuine Awoist with a track record of struggle, sacrifice and success.

The association called on the Yoruba people at home and abroad to note that in all his life, “Pa Ayo Adebanjo has never justled for a position nor sought cheap popularity; rather he has always worked hard, sticking to principles and ideals without compromise and remaining consistent even when those ideas and principles appear unpopular

with many.

“Chief Ayo Adebanjo is a trustworthy man that never ran away, never gave up and never pretended to be what he is not,” YG explained.

The group urged the Yoruba people to use Adebanjo as reference and benchmark of leadership and to be wary of fake self-serving and selfproclaimed leaders.

It also called on the Yoruba people to work with leaders with a track record of consistency and verifiable landmark achievements.

“YG remains hugely indebted to Pa Reuben Fasonranti for leading the Yoruba nation this far and wishes him longer life and robust health in his retirement,” the group added.

Electricity Subsidy, Fraudulent, Labour Alleges Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has described the position of the federal government that it is voting huge sums of money to subsidise electricity supply in the country, as indefensible.

NLC said the idea of subsidising private sector concerns is economically wrong.

Against the background of concerns being expressed

by Nigerians over huge amount spent by the federal government as subsidy until recently, NLC stated that there was no justification for such ‘a waste’.

Speaking in an interview with journalists in Abuja yesterday, the Deputy President of the Congress, Joe Ajero, said

the labour movement never accepted that electricity tariff was being subsidised, adding that it has been their position in all discussions with the government.

According to him, “Take the electricity distribution company for example, when it was operated by the governmentowned National Electricity Power Authority (NEPA), the tariff was down, as no one was giving NEPA any subsidy. It was running the lowest tariff.

Now, the companies (Discos) have been sold to some people, and they have increased tariff five times, and are still telling you that they are subsidising.

Something must wrong there.”

Ajero noted that organised labour has always opposed the issue of subsidy because

it believed that it is a mere contraption with no economic basis.

“We told you that there is no subsidy. How do you subsidise a commodity that is produced by the private sector? Do you subsidize Garri, plantain and banana?Unless they are being blackmailed by the operators,” he said.

The issue of frequent increase in electricity tariff in the country has given rise to threat of industrial unrest, with organised labour vowing to declare nationwide strike if the federal government approved any new hike in tariff.

The issue has resulted in series of negotiations between the government and the leadership of the organised labour.

NSCDC Establishes School Safety Programme to Tackle Abduction of Students Michael Olugbode in Abuja The Commandant General of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), Dr. Ahmed Audi, has announced the establishment of the School Safety Programme (SSP) to ensure the safety of all schools across the country.

Audi said yesterday that the introduction of the SSP would curtail the incessant abduction of students in their school compound.

Recently, there has been series of abduction of students in the North, which have constrained some

state governments to close down schools at the risk of exasperating the high level of literacy in the educational disadvantaged region of the country.

The incident has equally made some humanitarian agencies to forecast that there may be huge increase in child marriages across the North since many school age children may be withdrawn from schools by their parents.

Audi said while declaring open a two day workshop organised by the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung for the corps’ state commandants

in Abuja that the SSP was introduced by the NSCDC’s personnel who had undergone military training in combating asymmetric warfare to curb the increase rate of insecurity in Nigeria.

He said the workshop would boost and strengthen the capacity of the sate formations of the NSCDC who are drivers of the core mandate of the corps, adding that the corps had adopted a new credible approach of intelligence gathering that is based on scientific collaboration with the sister agencies in tackling insecurities head on.

Buhari Condemns Tillaberi Massacre in Niger Republic Deji Elumoye in Abuja President Muhammadu Buhari has condemned the horrific attack on a convoy returning from a weekly market in Niger Republic’s Tillaberi region in which many citizens were killed, expressing his condolences to families of victims and all citizens of the neighbouring country.

The President, in a condolence message issued yesterday by his Media Assistant, Malam Garba Shehu, strongly denounced the heinous attack, saying Nigeria will continue to stand by all its neighbours in the fight against terrorism.

He noted that the mass killings underscore the enormous security challenges facing Niger Republic as they prepare to inaugurate

their new President, Mohamed Bazoum, and indeed the entire sub-Saharan region which needs to work more closely to end the scourge of terror.

Armed men in South-Western Niger intercepted a convoy returning from a weekly market and attacked a nearby village in the Tillaberi region, which is near the border with Mali and Burkina Faso

42

THURSDAY MARCH 18, 2021 ˾ T H I S D AY

NEWSEXTRA

Lawan Seeks Saudi’s Help to Repatriate 10,000 Detained Nigerians Deji Elumoye and Udora Orizu in Abuja

President of the Senate, Dr. Ahmad Lawan, has appealed to the government of Saudi Arabia to assist in bringing back over

10,000 Nigerians detained in Saudi Arabia.

Lawan made the appeal yesterday when the Saudi Arabian Ambassador to Nigeria, Faisal Eebraheem Alghamdi, paid a visit at the National Assembly,

UK Donates Vessel to NDLEA Ejiofor Alike

The British Deputy High Commission in Lagos, working in association with the UK Border Force, Ministry of Defence (MoD) and the National Crime Agency (NCA), has donated a Rigid-Hull Inflatable Boat (RHIB) to the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA).

The Rigid-Hull Inflatable Boat was presented to the NDLEA Chairman, Brig. Gen. Mohammed Buba Marwa by the British Deputy High Commissioner in Lagos, Mr. Ben Llewellyn-Jones on the US Consulate General’s Jetty in Walter Carrington Crescent, Victoria Island, Lagos, on Tuesday.

The US Consul General, Claire Pierangelo and the Director of Sea Ports, Omolade Faboyede were also in attendance during the hand-over.

The UK Embassy said in a statement issued yesterday that the provision of this fully operational rigid inflatable boat (RHIB) will greatly improve the NDLEA’s already effective capability to patrol and intercept vessels of interest and detect criminality that operates in and around the waterways surrounding Lagos.

According to the statement, the deployment of the NDLEA patrol RHIB will deter criminals and reduce maritime crime such as drug smuggling, piracy, robbery and kidnapping.

It noted that smuggling represents a significant risk to Nigeria, which is a major transit route for large volumes of illicit drugs and trafficked people transported by West African organised crime gangs (OCG’s) in sea freight and commercial vessels to Europe.

“For example, an estimated 125 tonnes of cocaine flows into West Africa each year destined for European markets. And in 2018, 48 per cent of human trafficking victims identified in France were Nigerian, and 80 per cent of all female Nigerian migrants in Italy were likely to fall into the hands of sex traffickers,” the statement explained.

The statement added that the donation is one element of the UK Border Force’s strategy to develop our capacity building activity in Nigeria and is an extension of the UK’s longstanding and successful cooperation with the NDLEA in the fight against organised drug crime in Nigeria.

Speaking at the unveiling event the Head of Mission at the Deputy British High Commission in Lagos, Llewelyn-Jones said: “Sadly, we know that Nigeria and specifically Lagos port can be both a destination point and a transit location for illegal goods and the illegal movement of people. We have already seen the significant impact that Nigerian law enforcement can have to tackle these crimes.

FG: No One is Blacklisted By Nigerian Embassy in Switzerland Michael Olugbode in Abuja The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) has stated firmly that no Nigerian was backlisted by the Nigerian Embassy in Switzerland.

A press release on Tuesday and titled: “Re: Defamatory Video against the Nigerian Embassy in Berne, Switzerland” that was signed by the Spokesman of the MFA, Mr. Ferdinand Nwonye, noted that the attention of the ministry has been drawn to series of videos that were circulated in the social media by a Nigerian citizen resident in Switzerland, Mr. Agbaeze Francis Chinedu, in which he falsely claimed to have been blacklisted by the Nigerian Embassy in Berne, Switzerland.

Nwoye said that “the ministry wishes to state that contrary to Mr. Agbaeze’s claim, the embassy did not blacklist him or any individual from receiving consular services at the mission.”

He explained that Agbaeze visited the embassy on Thursday, March 11, 2021 for his earlier booked appointment and was duly attended to like every other applicant, and was issued a collection slip and asked to return for his passport on Monday, March 22, 2021.

He alleged that Agbaeze, rather

than complying, insisted that his passport must be issued to him immediately since he was not satisfied with the date generated by the system.

Nwoye further alleged that the man subsequently proceeded to release “another unwarranted video where he made false and disparaging comments against the ambassador and staff of the embassy.”

He recalled that the ministry via a “Press Release No. MFA/ PR/2021/07,” dated February 1, 2021, had addressed an earlier video by Agbaeze where he falsely accused the embassy of negligence.

He said: “It was revealed then that Agbaeze had no prior booking with the embassy and was advised to abide by the online booking system of the embassy and refrain from disorderly conduct.”

Nwoye urged the general public to kindly disregard the misguided claims and utterances of Agbaeze, as he was never blacklisted by the Nigerian Embassy in Berne, adding that the embassy has assured the public of its continued commitment to ensuring that consular services are efficiently provided to all.

Abuja.

The Senate President, while underscoring the role of the Ninth Assembly in ensuring compliance to bilateral and multi-lateral agreements entered into by the Nigerian government, disclosed that ongoing efforts were underway to evacuate citizens held back in Saudi Arabia.

He said, ‘’This legislative arm of government is always conscious of ensuring that our government plays its role in bilateral and multilateral dispositions that our government has decided

to go into. Saudi Arabia and Nigeria established a very solid relationship for a long time, and the relationship has been growing every year. I want to assure you that this arm of government will work with you as the Ambassador of Saudi Arabia. ‘’We are aware that some of our pilgrims in the past had issues in Saudi Arabia, thousands of them are in detention and, therefore, as a country we have taken conscious decisions to ensure that we continue to educate and enlighten our citizens, especially

those going to Saudi Arabia for Ummrah of Hajj, that when they get there, they perform their religious rites and return to Nigeria. This is to minimize and possibly avoid people going there and not coming back. I want to assure you that we will continue to support the National Hajj Commission in educating our pilgrims and, of course, the State Welfare Boards across the country.’’

Lawan also appealed to Saudi Arabia to use its influence as a major player in the Organisation of

the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to increase Nigeria’s crude oil production quota.

According to him, doing so would enable Nigeria meet with the country’s infrastructural demands needed to match its growing population.

He said: ‘’As OPEC members, we need the support of Saudi Arabia in so many respects. Even though it is not Saudi Arabia alone that can determine the quota cut for any OPEC country, but Saudi Arabia is the major country in OPEC.

WOMEN EMPOWERMENT…

L-R: Wife of the Governor of Osun State, Mrs.Kafayat Oyetola; representative of Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Dr. Mathew Dada; and a beneficiary of the Federal Government Special Grant for Rural Women, Mrs. Omolade Odun, during the presentation of cash grant to the beneficiaries in Osogbo, Osun State… recently

Three Soldiers, Five Villagers Killed as Bandits Attack Zamfara LG No fewer than three soldiers and five villagers lost their lives following an attack by bandits in Kabasa village of Zamfara State.

The victims were killed while repelling bandits’ attack in Magami District, Gusau Local Government Area of the state.

A source who confirmed the incident to Channels TV yesterday said the bandits were engaged in a fight with the people of Kabasa village who came out in their large numbers to protect themselves when the bandits entered their

village.

“The bandits and the villagers fought for more than three hours before the military men who were stationed in Magami town came to the scene for help,” he said.

The bandits also lost many of their members but they took away their dead bodies.

Reacting, the Zamfara State Government expressed shock at the reported attack by the recalcitrant bandits who unleashed mayhem on innocent people in Kabasa village.

In a statement by the state

Commissioner for Information, Ibrahim Dosara said, “The Executive Governor is saddened and disturbed by this sad event and strongly condemned it which led to the loss of lives in the village.”

The governor also extended his heartfelt condolences to the families of the victims and prayed to God to grant the souls of the departed, eternal rest.

“The government has already directed security agencies in the state to carry out a full investigation into the incident and report back to the

government for action.”

Meanwhile, the standing committee for the assessment of damages constituted by the state government has been instructed to visit the community to assess the level of damages inflicted on the community.

People of the affected community in particular and the state in general, are also advised to remain law-abiding and go about their normal businesses.

All efforts to get comments from Operation Hadarin Daji proved abortive.

Masari: Nigeria Has Become Economically Attractive to Kidnappers Governor Aminu Masari of Katsina State has stated that Nigeria has become economically attractive to kidnappers and bandits within the Sahel region of the continent.

The governor who was yesterday on Channels Television’s Politics Today strongly opposed the idea of granting blanket amnesty to the bandits, stating that the idea is enabling the miscreants to continue with their crimes.

Masari argued that the

security situation in the country has improved since the All Progressives Congress (APC) took over power.

“When we started in 2015 in the North-West, it was cattle-rustling. Gradually, it now developed into banditry, rape, kidnappings. When all that they (bandits) can steal from the villagers along the fringes finished, they moved to the rustling of goats, sheep, and even chicken.

“What we should do and what the government should do now is (about) high-profile

kidnapping. In my state, they kidnapped four relatives of very senior government officials. When they cannot get anything to sustain themselves, they resort to high-profile kidnappings for money in cities and towns.

That is the danger, that is something we must work hard to stop,” the governor said.

Masari also kicked against the intervention of the Kaduna-based Islamic Cleric, Sheikh Ahmad Gumi in quelling the banditry activities

in the North-west.

He questioned the cleric’s knowledge on security issues.

“Was he there? What did he know about what we did in Kaduna? I challenge Gumi to come and tell us if he knows what we did in Kaduna,” the governor asked in reaction to Gumi’s stance on how the state government should handle banditry.

Speaking further on why he does not support Gumi’s intervention, Masari said the cleric did not go about it the right way.

House Investigates Extortion, Victimisation of Kwara Communities By Soldiers Adedayo Akinwale in Abuja The House of Representatives has ordered the investigation of the incident of incessant extortion, harassment and victimisation of people of Baruten/Kaiama by soliders deployed to mount check points at the border.

The House also called on the Chief of Army Staff, Lt-Gen. Attahiru Ibrahim, to discipline

the soldiers involved in shooting and killing of harmless citizens in Baruten/Kaiama Federal Constituency under the Armed Forces Act. The resolutions of the House was sequel to the adoption of a motion on ‘Need to Stop Incessant Extortion, Harassment and Victimisation of People of Baruten/Kaiama Federal Constituency, Kwara State,

by Soldiers and other Security

Forces,’ that was moved by Hon. Mohammed Bio, at the plenary on yesterday.

Bio said that the soldiers’ roadblocks have become revenue collecting points at the expense of the security reasons they were constituted maintain.

He expressed concern that the soldiers extort motorists by charging fixed rate depending on the category of the vehicle - motorcycles are charged

N100, small cars N200 while tankers are charged N1500, stressing that these illegal fees are collected from several roadblocks in Baruten/Kaiama constituency.

The lawmaker lamented that the illegal fees collected by soldiers are greatly affecting the economy of the people leading to 50 per cent increment in transport fare, foodstuffs and fuel respectively.

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Drama as Senate Steps down Armed Forces Service Bill

Deji Elumoye and Udora Orizu in Abuja

A mild drama played out during Senate plenary yesterday when a Bill for an Act for the establishment of Armed Forces Service Commission was stepped down by the Senators after a heated debate that forced them into an executive session.

The Bill, which was sponsored

by Senate Minority Leader, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe, seeks to get

the National Assembly to give effect to the clear provisions of Section 219 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 as amended, giving the legislature the powers to manage the affairs of the Nigerian Armed Forces.

Abaribe in his lead debate, said with respect to the powers exercisable by the President under Section 218 of the Constitution; the Bill seeks to establish a body that shall comprise such members

Ayade Inspects 12,000 Litre-per-hour Vegetable Oil Processing Factory Bassey Inyang in Calabar Cross River State Governor, Prof Ben Ayade, has expressed delight with the progress of work at the groundnut oil processing factory in Nyanya, Bekwarra Local Government Area of the state.

The 12,000-litres-per-hour groundnut oil processing mill is part of Ayade’s one industry per local government area policy.

Speaking shortly after inspecting the ongoing work at the factory, the governor disclosed his reason for siting the mill, hinting that “this local government area is known

to be the largest producer of groundnuts, and indeed the best quality in Nigeria.

“A lot of people from northern Nigeria call me to send Bekwarra groundnut to them, so I started wondering what was so special about Bekwarra groundnut.”

In fulfillment of his promise of an industry to the people of Bekwarra, Ayade said: “So, as part of my industrialisation policy of one industry to a local government area, we took advantage of the raw material in Bekwarra. So, being the largest producer of groundnut in Nigeria, I decided to set up a vegetable oil plant.”

SON Proposes Bilateral Agreement to Curb Substandard Goods

Emma Okonji and Nosa Alekhuogie

The Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) has stressed the need for bilateral agreement between Nigeria and other countries to address the influx of substandard goods into the country.

The Director-General of SON, Mr. Farouk Salim, who spoke yesterday on the Morning Show of Arise News television channel, raised the concern of influx of substandard products into Nigeria, despite measures put in place by SON to address such issue.

According to him, “If people

can go to other countries, import substandard products and bring them into the country, there is no reason why we should not sign an agreement where we should be able to have them take those bad products back to the country where they came from, and hopefully the country should be able to penalise the factory or industry making those substandard products.”

He, however, said to achieve result, there must be an agreement between two governments to punish those involved in producing, exporting and importing substandard products.

as the National Assembly may determine and which shall have power to ensure that the composition of the Armed Forces of the Federation reflects Federal Character of Nigeria in the manner prescribed by Section 217 of the Constitution.

According to him, the establishment of the Commission is informed by the imperative to give effect to the provisions of Section 217 of the Constitution to ensure that the appointment of Service Chiefs of the Armed Forces of the Federation reflect the said section.

He also said the Bill seeks to recommend to the President the best and most qualified of the

Armed Forces of the Federation for appointment as Service Chiefs as well their removal on grounds of misconduct.

Shortly after his presentation, some Senators took turns to air their views with some supporting the Bill, while others rejected it on grounds that it offends the Constitution and will create disunity.

The plenary however took a rowdy turn when the President of the Senate, Dr. Ahmad Lawan put the Bill to a voice vote and ruled that the majority of the lawmakers rejected it.

But the Bill’s sponsor, Abaribe, raised Standing Order 73, claiming a division and demanding

individual vote.

Responding, Lawan said he didn’t rule inappropriately, adding that it was not correct for Abaribe to refute the fate of the Bill, insisting that the nays outweighed the ayes.

Abaribe, however, insisted that all members must get up and vote saying, ‘’Mr. President, I have been in this Senate since 2007 and anytime anybody claims a division, it’s voted upon. I’m not saying that you did right or wrong; just give me my right.’’

This caused commotion on the floor with the Senate President calling for an executive session to settle the issue privately.

Reconvening twenty five minutes later, Lawan said the Senate have appealed to Abaribe to withdraw the standing Order 73 and look into that Bill in the future for more consultations so that variety of ideas can be added to the Bill such that when it comes, it will have a jet-speed passage.

Accepting the invitation to withdraw the Standing Order and the Bill, Abaribe said, ‘’In order to preserve the dignity of this Chamber I wish to withdraw my Order 73 and for us to be able to do further consideration of the Bill, I wish to also step down the Consideration of this Bill.’’

EYES ON NEW CONSTITUTION...

L-R: Deputy Governor of Kogi State, Mr. Edward Onoja; Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi State; and a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, Prof. Mamman Dahiru (SAN), during the meeting of APC Constitutional Review Committee for North Central Zone in Lokoja…recently

Counterfeit: Kano Consumer Protection Impounds N300m Worth of Drugs Ibrahim Shuaibu in Kano The Kano State Consumer Protection Council last Tuesday impounded counterfeit drugs worth N300, 000 million.

The acting Managing Director of the council, Mr. Baffa Babba Dan Agundi, while displaying the drugs to journalists yesterday, said a good citizen of the state blew the whistle on the drugs to the council about a warehouse where the drugs were stored in Muhammadu Abubakar Rimi

markets in Sabongari, Kano.

Agundi, who was represented by the Senior Special Adviser to the governor on KAROTA, Mr. Nasiru Usman Na’ibawa, said teams of volunteer inspectors with security backup got to the market at about 9:30p.m. last Tuesday immediately after receiving the information.

He added that the council would not relent in its efforts toward making Kano State free of counterfeit drugs.

While commending the people

for their cooperation, he called on them to continue to help the council in order to achieve its objectives.

Also, the state Ministry of Health Task Force Committee on Counterfeit Drugs and Unwholesome Processed Foods has intercepted fake juice and expired cigarettes at a market in the metropolis.

Receiving the items from the Chairman of the Committee, a pharmacist, Gali Sule, the state Commissioner for Health, Dr.

Aminu Ibrahim Tsanyawa, called on the public to be cautious in taking packaged food substances and drinks considering the recent happenings in the state where many people fell ill after consuming suspected adulterated food items.

Tsanyawa urged the committee to work round the clock in collaboration with all necessary stakeholders to rid the state of the menace of counterfeit drugs and unwholesome processed foods.

DPR Seals 10 Filling Stations in Navy Trains Personnel on Weapons’ Handling Bauchi over Illegal Pump Price to Curb Collateral Damages Segun Awofadeji in Bauchi As part of efforts to stop overpricing petrol and manipulation of metering devices, the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), Bauchi State, has sealed 10 filling stations in Bauchi, the state capital, and Azare town for illegally increasing the pump price of petroleum product.

The state Comptroller of DPR, Abdullahi Iliyasu, placed the stations under seal yesterday during a patrol and enforcement drive on errant filing stations, which he led in some parts of the state.

According to him, many of the sealed petrol stations sell petroleum over the approved N162 per litre, noting that the rest were shut down due to safety issues.

He said: “Last week, we had serious problem of price hike of petrol in Bauchi State, even when

the government has not increased the price of petroleum products.

So we have a directive from the zonal comptroller that all of them (filling stations) must revert to the N162 per litre pump price.

“So since that time, we have been going round the state to ensure that they all comply. Some of them are selling at N170 per litre. So we are going to penalise them. They will pay fine before we unseal their stations.”

Iliyasu lamented that “some of them have safety issues. Their fire extinguishers had expired.

There is evidence that they are operating in an unsafe condition.

We have to seal them to make sure that they are put in order.”

The DPR comptroller explained that the sealed filling stations would be fined N100, 000 per pump, urging all fuel stations operators in the state to go to the department to get licences.

Onungwe Obe in Yenagoa

The Central Naval Command based in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, has begun the retraining of its men in marksmanship and weapons’ handling to reduce collateral damage in their engagement with civil duties.

The exercise, which was held at Elele 5 Battalion barracks of the Nigerian Army, is in small arms firing and range classification.

The Field Officer Commanding (FOC) of the Central Naval Command, Rear Admiral Suleiman Garba, who led officers and ratings to the training exercise, said continuous qualitative training of its manpower would effectively safeguard the country’s territory integrity and resources.

Garba, who was represented by the Chief Staff Officer, Rear Admiral S.O. Agada, said the exercise involved the firing

of Tavour rifle, AK47 rifle, pistol and GPMG at different distances.

According to him, “Considering the current national security situation and the multi-theatre operating involvement of the Nigerian navy, it became imperative to continue to re-classify our weapons and refresh ourselves with the weapons.

“The best form of welfare for troops is first rating training. It is

the essence of providing critical skills to military personnel during this time.

“Training and team work are an important part of the Chief of the Naval Staff effort towards repositioning the Nigerian navy.

“Additionally, the current security situation in the country also lays credence to the need to continue to conduct focus training on Nigeria navy personnel in order to improve their weapon handling skills.

Ganduje Seeks House of Assembly’s Approval to Access N20bn CBN Loan

Ibrahim Shuaibu in Kano

The bill that will grant the Governor of Kano State, Mr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, the approval to access N20 billion loan from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has scaled second reading in the Kano State House of Assembly.

The bill scaled the second reading yesterday during the assembly’s plenary session that was presided over by the Speaker, Mr. Hamisu Ibrahim Chidari.

The Majority Leader of the State Legislature, Mr. Labaran Madari, who read the Kano State Supplementary

Appropriation Bill 2021, said the request was approved in 2020 but the government did not access it.

Madari said: “It is a law that when the assembly approved a government request to access such loan, but did not access and the year run-out, the governor

has to present the request again before the assembly.

“The governor cannot access such a facility until the assembly approves its request. That is why on Monday, March 15, the governor submitted his request again seeking our approval.”

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Insecurity: House Urges NSA to Stop Issuing Licences for Importation of Explosives Udora Orizu in Abuja The House of Representatives has asked the office of the National Security Adviser (NSA) and the Ministry of Mines and Steel Development to immediately stop issuing licences to oil serving

companies for the importation of explosives.

The Chairman of the House Committee on Mines and Steel Development, Hon. Micheal Enyong Okon, gave the directive in his ruling at an investigative hearing on licencing and sale of explosive

Igbo Group Asks Adebanjo to Use Afenifere to Help Build Nigeria An Igbo think-tank, Nzuko Umunna, has congratulated Chief Ayo Adebanjo on his emergence as the new leader of the apex Yoruba socio-political group, Afenifere.

The group in a statement said Adebanjo will use his experience to “position Afenifere, especially for the challenges of nation-building.”

Adebanjo was named acting leader of Afenifere after Chief Reuben Fasoranti stepped down on Tuesday.

In the statement issued yesterday, the Coordinator of Nzuko Umunna, Ngozi Odumuko, described Adebanjo as a “relentless Awoist and confidante of the late sage.”

“The rancour-free exercise is a testament to Pa Adebanjo’s engaging pedigree, widespread acceptance and the confidence reposed in him by the Yoruba Nation,” the statement read.

“We align fully with this position and have no doubt whatsoever that Pa Adebanjo, who has forged a historic handshake especially with

Nzuko Umunna and generally with Ndigbo, will acquit himself most creditably in this latest national assignment.

“Pa Adebanjo has always placed a premium on cementing the historic bond of brotherhood and solidarity between the Ndigbo and their Yoruba brethren. Instructively, Pa Adebanjo participated actively at the “Handshake Across the Niger” conference jointly hosted by Nzuko Umunna and Afenifere.

“While assuring Pa Adebanjo and the new Afenifere leadership of our unalloyed support and solidarity, we are confident that his experience, courage and uncommon sense of history will position Afenifere especially for the challenges of nation-building and in confronting the threats that assail our peoples.

“We urge the entire Yoruba Nation to accord him the same support. We also congratulate Oba Oladipo Olaitan, the Alaago of Kajola Ago, on his election as the Deputy Leader of Afenifere.”

New WEF African Global Leaders to Get Dangote Fellowship Eleven young enterprising Africans, among them two Nigerians, who have been named Young Global Leaders (YGL) by the World Economic Forum (WEF) for 2021, are to benefit from the Aliko Dangote Fellowship endowed to support African Young Global Leaders.

The beneficiaries are among 112 persons under 40 years of age, selected as Young Global Leaders by WEF, from across 56 countries.

The two Nigerians, Dr. Abasi Ene-Obong, founder, 54gene and Obi Ozor, the founder of Kobo360, joined the ranks of past Nigerian winners, Ambassador Debo Adesina, former Editor-in Chief of the Guardian Newspapers and current Nigerian Ambassador to Togo, and Mr. Simon Kolawole, CEO of Cable Newspapers Limited.

While announcing the winners, the WEF confirmed that the African YGLs will benefit from the Aliko Dangote Fellowship, made possible by the Aliko Dangote Foundation (ADF). Till date, 73 Young Leaders from Africa have benefitted from the fellowship.

The aim of the fellowship is to increase the quality and quantity of young African leaders by supporting the engagement of African YGLs

in the community, such as those from small enterprises or the non-business sector.

The fellowship, WEF added, supports YGLs from Africa to participate in global YGL and Forum events.

The YGL award, according to WEF, “is to recognise and create a platform for a dynamic community of exceptional people with the vision, courage, and influence to drive positive change in the world.”

“We are excited to welcome 112 Young Global Leaders for the Class of 2021. From a gender justice and human rights activist to a multiaward winning artist and advocate for indigenous literacy, to a celebrated leader from the world’s youngest country as well as leaders from business, civil society, healthcare and government.”

Giving a breakdown analysis of the winners, the WEF said among the 56 countries represented in the award, eleven leaders hail from Africa and their work brings the promise of a brighter outlook at a difficult time. “They join a group of Nobel Prize recipients, Pulitzer winners, Heads of state and chief executive officers committed to improving the state of the world”, it noted.

devices by chief executives of some oil servicing companies in Nigeria.

He said some companies were not complying with the extant laws, and with the prevailing security situation in the country, there is the need to ascertain the adherence of these companies to extant statutes and regulations on explosives control vis-a-vis the administration and utilisation generally.

The lawmaker said the companies were importing more than authorised, fearing that the explosives could get into the hands of terrorists who may use it against the country.

Okon said: “It is important that we educate them on the need to ensure that the administration and utilisation of explosives is in accordance with the Explosives Act of 1967 as contained in the laws of Nigeria. The permit

is issued by the Ministry of Mines and Steel, and the end users certificate is also issued by the office of the National Security Adviser (NSA).

“The end user certificate would also show the items you brought into the country.

You can have less of these products. It is not a problem, but when you have more than what was authorised, what you were allowed in the permit, it therefore means that you

are importing these explosives illegally into the country, and that is worrisome, especially in the prevailing security situation in the country. So, we want to know the whereabouts of these explosives. We want to make sure these particular items do not end up in the wrong hands-it can be terrorists, aliens. That’s why we are here to make sure there is a corresponding inventory from the end users.’’

READY FOR THE VACCINE...

L-R: Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu State; Director General, Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), Dr. Chikwe Ihekweazu; and Enugu State Commissioner for Health, Dr. Ikechukwu Obi, when the NCDC boss visited the governor, at the Government House, Enugu … yesterday

‘Umahi Has Transformed Ebonyi from Rural to Investors’ Destination State’ Ebonyi State Commissioner for Information and Orientation, Mr. Uchenna Orji, has stated that Governor David Umahi has succeeded within just six years to transform and reverse the fortunes of the state and people to investors’ delight and destination, from the shackles of a guinea worm-infested, poverty-ridden backwater state.

Orji stated this during an unscheduled courtesy visit to the National President of the NUJ, Comrade Chris Isiguzo at the National Secretariat, Abuja.

Speaking at the occasion, Orji, said he came to thank the NUJ President and journalists in Ebonyi State for their good work and support given to the

administration of Umahi.

The commissioner stated that the role of the Media in Ebonyi and indeed Nigeria at large cannot be over emphasised, saying that the world may not have known the unprecedented transformations going on in the State since the 6years now without the media.

Orji enumerated some of the achievements of Umahi to include, the biggest Shopping mall in Africa, The Light Tunnel named after President Buhari, Ebonyi Water Fountain arena which can accommodate more than 2,000 persons, Ebonyi International Market, the biggest in South-east Nigeria, Concrete Express Roads, first of its kind, 25 Kilometre roads

in each of the 13 Local govt areas.

Other completed projects, according to him, include the biggest Rice Milling Plant in subSaharan Africa, and the mother of them all, the beautiful Flyovers and the ongoing International Airport which is a signature project of Gov. Dave Umahi, which was graciously approved by President Buhari.

The information Commissioner explained that the list is endless, thanking the leadership of the NUJ for their timely intervention during a media issue in the State, saying that the NUJ President has done very well so far within his period in office.

Orji urged the Press, the people of Ebonyi State and

Nigeria in general to key into the Transformation Strategies of Ebonyi Government, saying that Gov. Umahi has all it takes to turn around the Polity and Fortunes of the Country.

Responding, the NUJ President, Isiguzo thanked the Honourable Commissioner for finding time to visit the NUJ National Secretariat, saying it was very thoughtful of him.

The NUJ President commended the government of Umahi’s quantum transformations in Ebonyi State, saying that no one would have believed that Abakaliki, the capital of Ebonyi is part of Nigeria compared to what it used to be.

EFCC Nabs Company Worker over Diversion of N20m Kingsley Nwezeh in Abuja The operatives of the Uyo Zonal Office of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), yesterday arrested the Head of Sales for Procter and Gamble Company, Mr. Emmanuel Chigozie Eze, 35, for allegedly embezzling over N20 million company funds, which he claimed to have spent on online sports betting.

An EFCC statement said that Eze was arrested along ‘K Line area’ of Ewet Housing Estate in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, following a petition.

The petitioner alleged that Eze used his position as the head of Sales for Procter and Gamble to supply goods worth over N20 million to customers and converted same for personal use.

According to the complainant, the suspect

between March 2020 and January 2021, sold goods worth the said amount and fraudulently collected monies from various customers using his personal account rather than the company’s account.

The EFCC said that investigations into the matter revealed that the suspect had severe gambling problem as he spent over N4 million placing bets on daily basis with almost nothing to show for it.

It was also discovered that between July and December 2020, the suspect received over N18 million from one of the company’s major customers (name withheld) for goods, which were not fully delivered.

The customer is still expecting the balance of goods worth over N8 million.

The statement said that the suspect would be charged to court as soon as investigations were concluded.

Nasarawa Gold Mining: Minister Warns against Zamfara Experience

Kasim Sumaina in Abuja

The Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Mr. Olamilekan Adegbite, yesterday said the ministry had resolved to avoid a repeat of the Zamfara State experience in Nasarawa State, in which bandits were largely in charge of the gold mining in that state (Zamfara).

This is even as he assured the Nasarawa State governor of the ministry’s intention to develop the mineral resources in the state.

Adegbite gave the assurance during the visit of the Governor of Nasarawa State, Abdullahi Sule, to the ministry.

The minister in a statement issued yesterday in Abuja

by his media aide, Ayodeji Adeyemi, revealed that gold had been discovered along the Abuja-Nasarawa axis through the National Integrated Mineral Exploration Project (NIMEP) programme undertaken by the ministry.

He noted that the NIMEP project, which had cost the ministry N15 billion, had

generated troves of geoscience data that had foreign investors excited about the juicy mining prospects in the country.

According to the minister, “It is a pleasure to receive the governor of Nasarawa State in my office today, and this should not be a surprise because the state is the home of solid minerals in the country.

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THURSDAY MARCH 18, 2021 • T H I S D AY

The Admiral Sails Home It is with devasta ai that I write to a o e the assi o o r ather, brother, e a d ra d e

/DWH 5HDU $GPLUDO -2( 2 $,.+208 FSS, MSS, DSS, GSS, psc, mni (Rtd)

1955 - 2021

h rsday,

ebr ary

He is res i the ar s o o r ord es s hrist FUNERAL ARRANGEMENTS ARE AS FOLLOWS:

1.

Service of Songs - Lagos Date: 29 March 2021 Venue: Strictly for Family Members, others should please join virtually via zoom & YouTube live. Link to be provided in due course.

2.

Requiem Mass - Lagos Date: 30 March 2021 Venue: Divine Mercy Catholic Church Admiralty Way, Lekki Phase I. Time: 10 a.m.

3.

Date: Venue: Time:

Service of Songs - Irrua 8 April 2021 Idumebo Primary School, Idumebo, Irrua 5:00 p.m.

4.

Date: Venue: Time:

Lying in State - Irrua 9 April 2021 Admiral Joe Aikhomu's country home 8:00 – 9:00 a.m.

5.

Funeral and Thanksgiving Service – Irrua Date: 9 April 2021 Venue: St John Catholic Church, Idumebo Time: 10 a.m.

Internment at his country home (family only)

Reception immediately after service Venue: Idumebo Primary School, Idumebo, Irrua

Wilson Omogbale Aikhomu For the Family

Covid protocols will be strictly observed at all ceremonies

46

THURSDAY MARCH 18, 2021 ˾ T H I S D AY

THURSDAYSPORTS

Group Sports Editor Duro Ikhazuagbe Email duro.ikhazuagbe@thisdaylive.com 0811 181 3083 SMS ONLY

AFCON QUALIFIERS

Onuachu Gets Eagles Late Call up as French Clubs Hold on to Simon, Kalu Duro Ikhazuagbe

KRC Genk top striker Paul Onuachu has again been handed a late call up to the Super Eagles camp following the uncertainty surrounding the homecoming of two of Nigeria’s players from the French Ligue 1.

Onuachu has scored 25 goals in 29 Belgian Jupiler league games for Genk is the country’s leading marksman in Europe but does not enjoy good rating of Super Eagles handlers.

He was earlier listed on standby when Gernot Rohr released his 24-man squad

C O N F E D E R AT I O N C U P

Orlando Pirates’ Mabasa Deny Enyimba Share of the Spoils Nigeria’s last team standing in continental campaign this term, Enyimba FC of Aba yesterday fell 2-1 to South Africa’s Orlando Pirates in a CAF Confederation Cup Group A tie in Johannesburg.

Pirates’ Tshegofatso Mabasa snatched all three points with his goal in the 89th minutes.

The South Africans had shot into the lead in the 27th minute through Deon Hotto.

Enyimba however drew level on the dot of half time when skipper Austin

Oladapo put away a penalty after speedy winger Iwuala Anayo was brought down inside the box on his way to goal.

“The Sea Robbers’ however continued to pile on the pressure for a winning goal and they were rewarded a minute from time when Mabasa scored to make up for a missed penalty in the 77th minute.

The loss means Enyimba slipped in the group standings, while Pirates climbed to top place on four points after two rounds of matches.

for the double header against Benin Republic and Lesotho.

But yesterday, the Nigeria Football Federation announced the invitation of Onuachu on its social media Twitter handle, less than 10 days to the March 27 clash with the Squirrels of Benin in Port Novo.

NFF’s statement reads: “Following the uncertainty regarding the availability of players based in France (due to Covid-19 laws guiding the country), Super Eagles Coach Gernot Rohr has extended invitation to KRC Genk striker Paul Onuachu. Henry Onyekuru was earlier called up to replace injured Samuel Kalu.”

Onuachu’s call up must have been precipitated by Nantes’ refusal to release their Nigerian forward, Moses Simon.

Yesterday, FC Nantes announced they will not release Moses Simon for the trip to Nigeria for the AFCON 2022 qualifiers involving the Super Eagles due to the travel restrictions caused by the Coronavirus Pandemic.

Nantes said in the press statement that their Moses Simon (Nigeria) as well as Kalifa Coulibaly, Charles Traore (Mali) and Jean-Charles Caselletto (Cameroon) will not be allowed to leave France for the AFCON qualifiers.

“Like several clubs in France, FC Nantes will not release its selected international players for matches outside of Europe during the next international break, scheduled for the end of March” , the press statement said. The Ligue 1 club insisted that the absence of health guarantees in accordance with the requirements of the French government in force to date, FC Nantes will not be able to release its internationals outside the limits of the European area.

Bordeaux winger Samuel Kalu was the other Francebased player named on the main squad and has since been replaced by Henry Onyekuru of Galatasaray after he suffered

a thigh injury at the weekend.

Nigeria’s opponents in the AFCON qualifier, Benin Republic failed to name their squad as scheduled on Tuesday.

Squirrels’ French Coach Michel Dussuyer was forced to move announcement of a final squad for these matches to Thursday (today) because of the uncertainties surrounding the availability of their top foreign pros from the French Ligue1.

Both bottom of the league club Dijon and Brest had similarly denied their African stars the permission to travel out of France for international duties.

StarTimes Lowers Subscription for Europa League, Emirates FA Cup Pay TV channel, StarTimes, has scaled down its premium sports channel, World Football, to lower bouquets.

It said in a statement yesterday that from Monday, March 15, World Football channel is now on Basic Bouquet for N1700 monthly on DTT (antenna users) and on Smart Bouquet for N2200 monthly for DTH (dish) users.

World Football Channel’s premium sports content includes Europa League, The Emirates FA Cup, Copa del Rey, Coppa Italia, Bundesliga, among others.

AC Milan are set to welcome Manchester United for a Europa League round of 16 return leg tonight live on StarTimes’ World Football channel.

Arsenal will face Olympiacos while Tottenham are away to NPFL (Match-day 16) Akwa Utd

1-0

IfeanyiUbah

Rivers Utd

2-0

MFM FC

W’Wolves

0-0

Jigawa

Heartland

2-0

Wikki

Adamawa

1-1

Abia Warriors

K’ Pillars

2-0

Kwara Utd

Nasarawa

v

Dakkada

Plateau Utd

v

Sunshine

Katsina Utd

v

Rangers

TODAY

Dinamo Zagreb.

Three days later, Manchester United will square-up against Leicester in the Emirates FA Cup’s quarter-final.

Man City will seek to maintain their winning streaks as they are away to Everton on Saturday. Bournemouth seek glory against Southampton while Chelsea will face Sheffield United. All matches are live on StarTimes’ World Football channel.

PR Manager, StarTimes Nigeria, Lazarus Ibeabuchi, said that the initiative fits in with StarTimes’ strategy which focuses on making premium pay-TV content available to every home.

“StarTimes recognizes the impact of Covid-19 on family finances and the disruption of socio-economic life. Likewise, live sports were paused and when they resumed, spectators were restricted. StarTimes cares.

As the best part of Europa League and other sports events gear-up, we have lowered World Football channel to Basic/Smart Bouquet to make everyone relax in the corridors of premium entertainment.

“This initiative spices up our ongoing price reduction promo via which prospective subscribers can buy decoders at massively discounted prices.

StarTimes DTT decoder goes for N7,400 while DTH decoder goes for N11,200. Both come with a one-month free subscription.“

Paul Onuachu (2nd left) mobbed in celebration of his debut goal against Egypt during a friendly played in Asaba...recently

AFN Disowns Trials for World U-20 Championships, World Relays The Athletics Federation of Nigeria Secretary General, Prince Adisa Adeniyi Beyioku, has asked athletics stakeholders in Nigeria including all states athletics associations, clubs, military and para-military sports agencies to disregard a media release by one SY Pepple purportedly on behalf of the federation calling for entries for a national athletics trials in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.

“The attention of the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN) has been drawn to a media release by one SY Pepple asking state Athletics Associations to send entries for a national

trials to purportedly select Nigeria’s representatives to the forthcoming CAA Senior Athletics Championships in Algeria, the World U-20 Championships in Nairobi, Kenya and the World Relays in Poland and the yet-tobe sanctioned Region Two event in Kaduna, Nigeria.

“The media release did not emanate from the Secretary General of the AFN who has the sole authority to issue such letters of invitation. Mr SY Pepple who claims to be the Director General of the federation, a position unknown to the constitution of the AFN, has no capacity to the effect of inviting

athletes to some selection trials in Port Harcourt,’ the AFN said in a statement signed by Prince Beyioku.

The AFN also revealed that the National Trials to select Nigerian athletes to the African Senior Championships and the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games will hold in May while some of the athletes have qualified for the World U-20 Championships at both the AFN All Comers and the Evaluation Meet held in Akure last month and last weekend respectively. ‘’The AFN /Making of Champions (MOC) have secured the Sports Ground of

Yaba College of Technology (YABATECH) for its second All Comers Meet and the 3rd MOC Grand Prix to further prepare the athletes for the Championships/ Games ahead and to achieve more qualifications.

The event will hold on the 30th and 31st of this month,” revealed Beyioku in the statement.

The AFN also revealed in the press statement that Engr Shehu Ibrahim Gusau has ceased to be the president of the AFN and Honourable Olamide George is now recognised by the laws of Nigeria as the acting president.

CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

Chelsea Defeat Atletico to Reach Q’finals First Time in Seven Years Chelsea reached the quarterfinals of the Champions League for the first time in seven years with a 2-0 (3-0 aggregate) win over Atletico Madrid.

Having established a slender first-leg lead,Emerson Palmieri’s late strike sealed the win after Hakim Ziyech had earlier put the hosts firmly in control with a low effort after good work from Kai Havertz

and Timo Werner.

Until then their dominance in possession had not translated into chances in front of goal, and in a nervy opening they also appeared fortunate to survive a penalty appeal after visiting winger Yannick Carrasco was pulled back by Blues captain Cesar Azpilicueta.

Italian official Daniele Orsato

waved away the claim, and the incident was not examined

by VAR. Atletico knocked Liverpool outof the competition in dramatic fashion at the same stage last term, but the La Liga leaders rarely looked capable of recovering after Ziyech’s goal.

Instead Chelsea, who remain unbeaten in 13 games since Thomas Tuchel took charge,

had opportunities to extend their lead before Emerson’s stoppage-time effort and deservedly progressed against an Atletico side that had Stefan Savic sent off late on for elbowing Antonio Rudiger.

The Blues join Premier League rivals Liverpool and Manchester City in the draw for the quarter and semifinalson Friday at 11:00 GMT.

47

THURSDAY MARCH 18 2021 ˾ T H I S D AY

ThursdaySports CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

Guardiola’s Eyes on the Trophy After Reaching Q’finals Again Manchester City booked their spot in the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals on Tuesday night with a convincing win over Borussia Monchengladbach - and City fans will be hoping this is finally their year.

Goals from Kevin de Bruyne and Ilkay Gundogan gave them a 2-0 second-leg win on Tuesdayto complete a 4-0 aggregate success

and take them into the last eight for the fourth year in a row.

However, Champions League success has eluded them, with a 2015-16 semi-final defeat by Real Madrid - when Manuel Pellegrini was in charge - the closest they have got.

Since Pep Guardiola replaced him for the following season, City have gone out in the last 16 to

Monaco, followed by quarterfinal exits against Liverpool, Tottenham and Lyon.

“The first year I arrived here I was told we had to win the Champions League,” said Guardiola.

“I’m not thinking about the semi-finals. I’m thinking the first good game and the second game (in the quarter-finals). This is all

I’m concerned about.”

As well as being in the Champions League last eight, City are 14 points clear at the top of the Premier League, in the FA Cup quarter-finals and face Tottenham in the Carabao Cup final in April, as they pursue an unprecedented quadruple.

But ex-City striker Paul Dickov believes the Champions League

was the one the club’s Abu Dhabi owners will be craving.

“The Champions League is the big one,” said Dickov on BBC Radio 5 Live. “Since the owners first came in 10-11 years ago, they’ve made no secret it’s the Champions League they wanted.”

If second-placed Manchester United - the only team to beat City in 32 games in all

competitions - do not drop any points then the earliest City could win the English title would be on 8 May. City have kept 26 clean sheets in all competitions this season and only conceded one goal in eight Champions League games, while Guardiola has been able to rotate his squad and rest key players.

Europa: Zlatan’s Magic Awaits Red Devils at San Siro Tonight Zlatan Ibrahimovic looks set to face Manchester United in AC Milan’s Europa League showdown with the English giants tonight as the resurgent ‘Rossoneri’ aim to announce their return to the big stage.

The Swede should be in good spirits after announcing his return to international football after nearly five years away on Tuesday, and appears to be winning the race to face his old club in the second leg of their last-16 clash at the San Siro.

The tie is locked at 1-1, with Milan having the slight advantage thanks to Simon Kjaer’s stoppagetime away goal in the first leg at Old Trafford last week.

Italian media reported on Tuesday that the veteran forward trained with the rest of the Milan squad and should be available for the first time since he left his side’s 2-1 win at Roma with a

thigh injury at the end of last month.

Since then he has made headlines on a different kind of stage, co-hosting the Sanremo music festival which is possibly Italy’s biggest pop cultural event.

With 14 goals in 14 league games, the 39-year-old was a major reason behind Milan occupying top spot in Serie A for large periods of this season and his return to Old Trafford for the first leg had been highly anticipated before he picked up his injury.

Coach Stefano Pioli knows that he doesn’t need Ibrahimovic to get past United after a superb display in Manchester last week, and his side could well start the game with their talisman on the bench.

United boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has Marcus Rashford back after the England forward

played the full 90 minutes of their 1-0 win over West Ham at the weekend.

Of the remaining ties tonight, only Rangers’ match with Slavia Prague looks to be in the balance as they will kick off at Ibrox all square at 1-1 following their draw in the Czech Republic last week.

Four-time European champions Ajax and Roma are both virtually assured of passage into the next round as they are 3-0 ahead in their ties with Young Boys and Shakhtar Donetsk.

Also strong favourites to go through are Tottenham Hotspur, Arsenal, Villarreal and Granada thanks to their two-goal leads going into their second-leg matches.

Olympiakos head to the Emirates to face Arsenal, who are fresh from a derby triumph over Tottenham, but face a battle at 3-1 down.

Piety Lucky...fired century at the National U-17 Female Cricket Championships in Benin City

Obaseki Using Cricket as Sports Devt Masterstroke

Sam Emehelu

Nigeria’s 105 years recordsmashing U-19 World Cup qualification in cricket in 2019 has carved a new level of interest for the game among the country’s youth as well as presented the game as an easy reach for sports development experimentation.

Barely seeded, and deep in the second division rank of the African cricket league, by the International Cricket Council (ICC) Africa’s classification, Nigeria was not the bookmaker’s choice for a World Cup ticket before the campaign kicked off in 2019.

However, riding on some underestimated revival championed by Professor Adams Ukwenya’s team at the Nigeria Cricket Federation, the jinx-breaking feat has opened up new possibilities and developmental model that can be stretched, explored, rinse and repeated across board. And this is what Edo State government has leveraged through its Sports Commission that is led by Barrister Godwin Dudu-Orumen.

“Cricket in Nigeria today is an interesting case, the game’s response to developmental efforts in the state has been exceptional.

First, it has to do with the passion, focus and innovation that has been displayed by the team running the game in Edo State and the willingness to run with developmental guidelines cascaded from government.

“Second, I guess because they have within them a lot who have genuine grasp of

the game’s local challenges. It was easy to come up with a model that caught-on for the game. We must admit that what they have can be improved upon and transposed to other sports” stressed Dudu-Orumen who has been working to replicate the success stories in the state.

Edo State has shown interest in using sports and its values as touchpoint for social, economic and even structural revival in the state.

Governor Godwin Obaseki has consistently posited that beyond active engagement, statistics of the state’s performance in sports over the years put it in an unusual advantage to lay a lasting structural reform around the sector that can benefit its people and the entire country both in the short and long run.

Dudu-Orumen insisted that the story of hosting the national sports festival was hinged on the many layered advantages that is embedded for the state and how is can be used as a developmental tool for other aspects of the economy.

“Governor Obaseki is very focused on tapping into the power of sports that is why we have made the level of investments we made and also been steadfast despite the odds presented by the pandemic,” he added.

But while uncertainty looms around the activation of the larger sporting goal, there has been a quiet experimentation with a number of sports internally on the side, one of which is cricket.

Uyi Akpata, the Chairman of

Gov Godwin Obaseki...silently revolutionizing sports in Edo State Edo State Cricket Association, also sits on the national body as Vice President. He has brought administrative insight and experience from his different turfs to bear on the sport. This includes his position as former Captain of the golf section of Ikoyi Club 1938 in Lagos; the biggest membership club in Sub-Sahara Africa.

According to Dudu-Orumen, “Cricket came easy for us, Edo State has some legacies around the game, and some structures, and we just needed to revamp.

We have latent cricket power that we tapped into. But I guess the biggest positives for the game for us in Edo was the strength of manpower available especially that of the current Chairman, Uyi Akpata and the team he assembled, their vision and experience for grassroots development, ties perfectly into what we have set as agenda.

“The state had interest in Football, Boxing, Rugby, Athletics, Golf and a few others that we can use for our developmental

modeling, but cricket has been far more available and cheaper because of the commitment, passion and alignment the Edo State Cricket Association had.”

During the Under-19 World Cup qualification campaign by the developmental team that the federation presented, only four players were from Edo State.

Two years down the line and Edo State Cricket Association (ESCA) backed by the government alone can field a national team of teenage cricketers that are ready to take on the world.

Uyi Akpata, the ESCA Chairman said it was not that the state came out to dominate, but that the impact of the two years of focused investment and support by the government through the Sports Commission is beginning to yield fruits.

“The government and some sports philanthropists based in the state, especially PETS Foundation, have come to our aid, because some parts of the project need constant resources

and facilitation which no aspect of the state is equipped with for now.

“Our first call was developing our own unique programme and roadmap with all the projected benchmarks and timelines. We were very fortunate to have great resources from the government and support from the Sports Commission who we are directly reporting to,” Akpata further hinted.

With the right tools, the state empowered the ESCA to adopt Edo Boys High School as the first centre for the experimental Cricket High Performance Centre, which is the first in the country.

“We needed to use that facility as our rallying point for the state cricket revamp” Uyi added.

The High Performance Centre which the Deputy Governor, Philip Shaibu, inaugurated last year has simultaneously become a national asset as the Nigerian Cricket Federation has adjudged it the best in the country following the upgrade works currently going on all major cricket ovals across the country.

Uyi said, “Beyond the High Performance Centre, In Edo State we set out to break the jinx around standard turf wicket construction in the country. This limitation has capped our talent development and the myth that we only needed some engineering sophistication to get it delivered in the country. So for a long time the best turfs has always been of concretes which has hampered our play once we take our players for international events.”

During the lockdown, there was a six-week online training with some turf experts from ICC, which

culminated in the development of homegrown solutions for the age-long problems.

“We had support of the state and the Sports Commission and today, what we developed has turned the state into the centre for cricketing excellence. And we are working with other states to replicate these solutions now.

The Unilag (University of Lagos) Oval and the Tafawa Balewa Square (TBS) Oval are adopting our solutions and should be open soonest,” he added.

For some time to come apart form the Edo State’s team and developmental purposes, the Edo Boys High School’ High Performance Centre would be the rallying point for all national events and teams.

“If we want to conditions our national cricket players for future international events, Governor Obaseki has made the state the place to be through this developmental project.

And that is what we intend to achieve with other sports as well,”Dudu-Orumen reiterated.

Expounding on the implications of the state’s strategic move through cricket, the Vice Chairman of the state’s Cricket Association who oversees operation at the High Performance Centre, Barrister Abraham Oviawe, said that the level of progress achieved is hugely underrated.

“At the last National Under-17 Boys and Girls’ Championship, which the national body understandably hosted on the facility, the winning teams for both categories were predominantly home groomed players.

“Continued online”

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MISSILE El-Rufai to Public Officers “We will not engage with bandits or kidnappers. Private citizens like clerics and clergymen can do so in their individual capacities, to preach to them and ask them to repent. We also want them to repent but it is not our job to ask them to do so. Our duty is to enforce the law, not negotiate with bandits.”

– Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State has reaffirming his position.

OLUSEGUNADENIYI THE VERDICT

olusegun.adeniyi@thisdaylive.com

Burna Boy, Wizkid and Nigeria I

t’s strange but I actually fell in love with Burna Boy before I even knew his name or what he does for a living. Stranger still is that I was attracted by his promotion of alcohol, which I don’t take. Okay, some of my friends would argue that Star Lager beer doesn’t fall into the category of alcohol because it’s a ‘beverage’. I won’t argue with that.

Whenever the ‘shine shine, come to the brighter side’ advertisement featured in the course of the European Champions League football match television broadcast, I would smile and say to myself: I love this young man. Until I could match the face with the name and began paying attention to his international media, I actually thought he was from Nollywood!

I still cannot claim to be very familiar with his music (those who know me are quite aware I am of the Old School, more at home with Odolaye Aremu, Haruna Ishola, Christy Essien-Igbokwe, Salawatu Abeni, Sunny Okosun, Bongos Ikwue et al), but I make sure I read anything written about Burna Boy, as well as his interviews. I even follow his controversial duels in the take-no-prisoner Nigerian social media landscape. I am aware that the song track, ‘Destiny’ from his 2019 album ‘African Giant’ was included in the playlist at the inauguration of the United States President Joe Biden in January. Last October, TIME Magazine named him among the 2020 ‘Next Generation Leaders’. Four months earlier in June 2020, he featured in ‘One World: Together at Home’—a benefit concert curated by Lady Gaga and put together by several artistes to support the World Health Organisation (WHO) in the fight against COVID-19 pandemic.

Hailed by the Los Angeles Times as “savvy and modern but undistracted by obvious crossover moves”, the Grammy nomination sums up Burna Boy’s music as “seamlessly blending styles and genres and fearlessly fuelling the fire heating the melting pot of pop, Afrobeat, dancehall, reggae and more,” while his ‘Twice as Tall’ was extolled as “a masterclass in the vibe and hustle that

Burna Boy

Wizkid

have made Burna Boy an international musical force”. It therefore came as no surprise when last Sunday in the United States, he won his first Grammy in the ‘Best Global Music Album’ category.

I join millions of our people to congratulate Burna Boy. It is even more heart-warming that he was not the only Nigerian who shined at the 63rd Grammy Awards. Wizkid also did. His duet song, ‘Brown Skin Girl’, with Beyonce won the ‘Best Music Video Award’. Beyond the fact that I have on different occasions found myself ‘Pakurumo-ing’ while driving when the melodious track is played on radio, I can also not claim to be into Wizkid’s music. But as a student of the Nigerian entertainment industry, I know quite a bit about ‘Star Boy’ and others by following their stories in the media. For a young man who chose his career path from age 11 with the ‘Glorious Five’, a group he co-founded with church friends,

Wizkid has really done well. Not only is he one of the biggest names in African Music, he also boasts of no fewer than 4.7 monthly listeners on Spotify, with many local and international awards to his credit.

That the Nigerian music scene is replete with emerging global superstars is no longer in doubt.

For instance, Davido is featured as a singing actor (appearing as himself) in the recently released American comedy, ‘Coming 2 America’, a sequel to the 1988 ‘Coming to America’ starring Eddie Murphy. The ‘Koroba’ song by Tiwa Savage is also featured in the same movie. And then you have Yemi Alade and other artistes who bestride the African continent, using their talent and creativity to project a more positive image of Nigeria.

In a recent piece, I wrote of the contradictions of a nation where military officers were heads of state, governors and federal ministers in their thirties and professionals were appointed

federal permanent secretaries in their twenties.

Yet people in those age brackets are now practically excluded from crucial decision making in all spheres of our national life. The achievements of both Burna Boy and Wizkid are therefore worthy of celebration because they are by dint of their personal efforts. At 29 and 30 respectively, either of the duo can claim to be a face of the new generation of Nigerian youth who excel despite all odds. Not failed ‘Ta ta ta’ governors who gallivant all over the place, claiming to be seeking the presidency as a Nigerian ‘youth’!

Meanwhile, there is a needless debate on social media about who is the first Nigerian to win a Grammy. Some give the record to the late Michael Babatunde Olatunji. The reputable drummer, who died in 2003, was part of the group whose album, ‘Planet Drum’, won the Grammy Award for ‘Best World Music Album’ in 1991—the year the award was first given. It is also on record that Olatunji left Nigeria in 1950 and was already at the time an established American, renowned for his literary works, including teaching. That of course does not diminish his Nigerianess but Burna Boy and Wizkid were ‘made in Nigeria’ before exporting their craft to the international stage.

We savour their achievement and that of other compatriots in different fields of human endeavour, including literature, science and technology. But we must interrogate why it is easier for our people to more easily excel as global citizens than within their local environment. In fact, given the rate at which people of Nigerian descent are recognised and elected/appointed into important positions abroad, we need to look not only at the reward system for creativity in our country but also the recruitment criteria for leadership.

These are some of the things holding our country back from peace and prosperity. Bottom-line: We must begin to enthrone meritocracy by looking for qualities that transcend ethnicity, religion etc. so that the best of us can lead the rest of us, in the interest of all.

Kidnappings Incorporated!

A

lthough I have heard tales from victims of kidnappings who were released after ransom was paid, this was gripping. Nuhu Tanko is a gardener at the Shehu Musa Yar’Adua Centre whose two brothers were kidnapped on 31st December 2020 on the way from their village (Dakunu in Chukum local government of Kaduna) to the state capital.

According to their account, the kidnappers, clad in military camouflage, were more than 50 in number, all on motor bikes, with each carrying at least two guns. They were all masked. The two brothers were also on a motor bike which was burnt by their abductors after they were kidnapped.

At the Katarimape forest where they were taken, the duo met three other victims who, like them, had their hands and feet tied. Each day, the five captives were given a cup of water each and some local biscuits to share. When the kidnappers eventually reached the Tanko family, they demanded a ransom of N10 million. After selling their small piece of land and everything else the family could sell, negotiations spanned three weeks. They reached out to Tunde Ahmadu,

the Yar’Adua Centre Chief Operating Officer to help raise money. Tunde was allowed to listen in on one of the calls with kidnappers who threatened to kill the two boys if the ransom money was not produced on time.

After gathering N900,000 in cash for the two (and having been warned never to involve the police if they wanted them back alive), a Tanko family ‘emissary’ took the money to a specified location in Katarimape forest as directed by the kidnappers. A few hours later, the two brothers returned home. Tanko lamented while giving me the narrative of how the tragic saga evolved, “Most people have left our village because of kidnappings. It’s like bandits have taken over our village and the surrounding communities.

They kidnap people, kill and rape women, even if the women are pregnant.”

The pathetic picture painted by Tanko is not different from the account of Mallam Iliya Gwaram, father of one of the abducted Jangebe school girls in Zamfara State, who himself was in captivity at the time the female students were brought to join them. “l saw the school girls being brought into where we were camped by our abductors. At first, l didn’t know who they

were or where they were coming from, until l saw the face of my scared daughter looking at me. I quickly told some of the girls who were brought along with her and sat near me to tell my child not to show any indication that she even knew me” Gwaram recounted after his release a few days later. “The girls were brave enough and they kept our little secret up to the last day of their four days stay with us. l never cried in the whole of my life like l cried the day the girls were taken back because l felt it was the last time l would see my daughter.”

Asked whether the state government paid any ransom before securing his release, Gwaram gave a rather clever answer: “Look at those two women that were rescued along with me; two million naira was said to have been raised by their relatives to give to the bandits more than two months ago. But the money could not be traced as it was suspected that a different gang intercepted the man bringing the money and took it from him.”

Yesterday, I obtained from Senator Saidu Dansadau, the chilling report of the Zamfara State committee established to find solutions to banditry and the spate of kidnappings. Dansadau

and other stakeholders in the state, including the former Inspector General of Police, M.B. Abubakar who chaired the committee, made a number of critical observations. One, the pauperisation of local government through the hijack of their funds by governors has in turn led many frustrated young people to use drugs as their only means of escape. Two, deployment of these young people as political thugs during electioneering campaigns and their abandonment after elections has left them no other vocation except banditry. Three, the ease with which suspects of heinous crimes get released from police custody indicates collusion with powerful people in the state. The committee claimed in its report that at the instance of a former governor, (name withheld), a High Court Judge in the state (name withheld) granted bail to three criminal gang leaders who were arrested at Sultan Abubakar International Airport, Sokoto.

“Three days after their release, they attacked the village of the person who volunteered information to the governor and killed six people,” the report stated.

NOTE: Piece concluded on page 15

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