THURSDAY 1ST JULY 2021 by THISDAY Newspapers Ltd

PIB’s EarlyBank Passage Threatened as Stakeholders Seek FreshRanking Alterations Zenith Retains Number One Tier-1 Bank

THURSDAY JULY 1, 2021

T H I S D AY

Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja Nume Ekeghe with agency report

Zenith Plc the has been A weekBank before latest ranked astothepass number one deadline Nigeria's long-awaited bank in Nigeria Petroleum by tier-1 Industry demands capital inBill the(PIB), 2021 Top 1000 for big changes, including from World Banks’ Ranking community leaders seeking an

increased share of revenues, published by The Banker could push its passage into Magazine, a publication of late this year, four sources the Times Group haveFinancial told Reuters. of The the United Kingdom. last-minute wrangling over the bill, with whichaaims to The bank, tier-1 moderniseofNigeria's capital $2.64petroleum billion, industry itsand attract retained ranking as thea shrinking pool of global fossil

fuel investment dollars has number one tier-1 bank disappointed those who hoped in political Nigeria alignment for the of third the the consecutiveand year. presidency the National Assembly would break the It, however, emerged as jinx the that stalked the overhaul 454thhas bank globally and the efforts for 20 years. only Nigerian bank in the Among the changes are top 500. proposals to publicly sell

shares in the Nigerian National The bank, in aCorporation statement Petroleum yesterday, and said the ranking, (NNPC) implement which was published in market-based prices for gas to power. July 2021 edition of the Reuters reported at magazine, was basedthat on the acrimonious in 2020 year-endmeetings tier-1 capital the Abuja during the week, of banks globally. community leaders revived

demands to increase their Zenith Bank’s produced financial share of petroleum performance for10the year in their regions to per cent, wasfrom underpinned up 2.5 per cent. by an Communities oil eight per centwith growth exploration in Northern in non-interest income, Nigeria's Chad market region with an Lake improved and the middle of the country share in botha greater retail share and are also seeking

of oil revenues. corporate sectors despite a The National Assembly goes challenging on recess in macroeconomic early July, so if environment exacerbated the package is not approved by the COVID-19 pandemic. within the next two weeks, itTier-1 cannot capital become law until describes September. Continued on page 10 Continued on page 10

Okonjo-Iweala Seeks Lower Trade Cost to Boost Economic Recovery... pagePage 5 8 Stock Market Sheds N1.303trn in Africa’s First Half of 2021...

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ON UT TH H & RE A S

ABUJA 25°C-33°C

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FG MobilisesPetrol Prosecutors Smuggled RisesAgainst to 42m Kanu, Considers Mass Murder Charge Litres Daily NNPC Cries Out Concerns over role of UK in issuing new passports in breach of court bail Says subsidy hits N150bn monthly

Alex Enumah in Abuja

The federal government is raising aAddeh crackinteam Emmanuel Abuja of lawyers to prosecute the leader of National Indigenous People Nigerian Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) of Biafra (IPOB), Mr. yesterday Nnamdi lamented the intercepted escalating Kanu, who was incidence of petrol smuggling in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia across Nigeria’s borders, which on Friday repatriated it puts at aand whopping 42 to Nigeria under the cover million litres per day. of The darkness on said Sunday, corporation the unbridledlearnt smuggling THISDAY last night.has increased estimated Kanu hadNigeria’s vanished from daily consumption of 60 million litres to 102 million

Nigeria after Justice Binta Nyako of the Federal High Court, Abuja, where he was standing trial for a six-count litres. charge, him now bail With granted the menace gaining and in Aprilmore 2017.momentum His bail was illegal dealers more daring, the subsequently revoked in oil company2019 statedfollowing that the September subsidy that the government his from payspersistent on petrol absence every month, court. in order to keep the pump Following his stable breachatofN162 the price of petrol per litre now hovers bail conditions, the between security N140 billion and N150 billion. The development Continued on page 8has made Continued on page 10

PDP Shops for Legal Team to Retrieve Mandate from Matawalle Protests nomination of Onochie as INEC commissioner

Presidency Replies Critics, Washes Hands off Media Bills

Working Committee Deji Elumoye, (NWC) of the main Chuks Okocha and Mohammed stakeholdersparty urge Buhari has AlexCall Enumah in Abujato order,opposition to gag the press. Deji Elumoye in Abuja commenced a search for a swift response, the competent legal team Following Tuesday’s a In Nigerian Guild of Editors The presidency has washed its to retrieve its mandate defection of Zamfara (NGE) and the Nigerian Union hands off the current attempt the Zamfara State Governor, Hon. of Journalists (NUJ) State have by the National Assembly to from governor, THISDAY has Bello Matawalle, from amend the Nigerian Press urged President Muhammadu the Peoples Democratic Buhari to call the Minister Council (NPC) Act and learnt. of Information Culture, leadershipand of the PDP, the National Party (PDP) Broadcasting to the All The Commission (NBC) Act, a Alhaji Lai Mohammed to Progressives Congress order, accusing the10minister move, media on page (APC), the stakeholders National Continued and other Nigerians have condemned as an attempt

COOPERATING AGAINST TERROR… STATE OF THE MATTER...

Chief of Defence Staff, Gen. Lucky Irabor (left), and Inspector-General of the Senegalese Armed Forces, Gen. El hadji Daouda Niang, during theGovernment Senegaleseof defence chief’s visit the Mustapha Defence Headquarters in Abuja…yesterday Secretary to the the Federation, Mr.to Boss (left), and President Muhammadu Buhari during the Federal

Irabor Rallies Stakeholders to Our CurbHands, Transnational Terrorism... We Have Tribal War on Says Gumi... Continued on page 10

Executive Council in Abuja…yesterday

godwin omoigui

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THURSDAY JULY 1, 2021 •T H I S D AY

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NEWS

Group News Editor Ejiofor Alike Email ejiofor.alike@thisdaylive.com. 08066066268

Stock Market Sheds

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equity market. She added that the SKHQRPHQRQ UHGXFHG the average daily value RI WUDQVDFWLRQV IURP WKH LPSUHVVLYH 1 ELOOLRQ OHYHO LQ WKH 4 WR EDUHO\ 1 ELOOLRQ LQ WKH VHFRQG TXDUWHU 4 RI the year. ´1RQHWKHOHVV WKH PDUNHW LV DWWUDFWLYH DW WKH FXUUHQW OHYHO ERWK IURP D WLPH VHULHV SHUVSHFWLYH DQG FRPSDUHG WR IURQWLHU DQG HPHUJLQJ PDUNHW SHHUV µ VKH VDLG

PROTESTING CONSTITUTIONAL BREACH…

L –R: Senate Minority Leader, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe; National Chairman, Peoples Democratic Party, Prince Uche Secondus; and National Publicity Secretary, Mr. Kola Ologbondiyan, during the party’s protest of the nomination of Ms. Lauretta Onochie as a national commissioner of the Independent National Electoral Commission in Abuja…yesterday JULIUS ATTOI

Buhari Approves PenCom’s Payment of Outstanding Workers’ Pension Liabilities Obinna Chima 3UHVLGHQW 0XKDPPDGX Buhari has approved the request by the National 3HQVLRQ &RPPLVVLRQ 3HQ&RP WR SD\ WKH outstanding pension OLDELOLWLHV RI WKH IHGHUDO government under the &RQWULEXWRU\ 3HQVLRQ 6FKHPH &36 3HQ&RP LQ D VWDWHPHQW \HVWHUGD\ VDLG IXQGV had already been made DYDLODEOH IRU WKH VHWWOHPHQW RI WKH SHQVLRQ OLDELOLWLHV 7KH FRPPLVVLRQ OLVWHG FULWLFDO DVSHFWV RI WKH outstanding pension OLDELOLWLHV RI WKH IHGHUDO government the president DSSURYHG IRU VHWWOHPHQW WR LQFOXGH SD\PHQW RI

RXWVWDQGLQJ DFFUXHG SHQVLRQ ULJKWV IRU YHULÀHG and enrolled retirees RI WUHDVXU\ IXQGHG 0LQLVWULHV 'HSDUWPHQWV DQG $JHQFLHV 0'$V that retired but were yet WR EH SDLG WKHLU EHQHÀWV DV ZHOO DV WKH EDFNORJ RI GHDWK EHQHÀWV FODLPV GXH WR EHQHÀFLDULHV RI GHFHDVHG HPSOR\HHV RI WUHDVXU\ IXQGHG 0'$V Buhari also approved the SD\PHQW RI WKH SHU FHQW GLͿHUHQWLDO LQ WKH UDWH RI HPSOR\HU SHQVLRQ FRQWULEXWLRQ IRU IHGHUDO government retirees DQG HPSOR\HHV ZKLFK UHVXOWHG IURP WKH LQFUHDVH in the minimum pension FRQWULEXWLRQ IRU HPSOR\HUV IURP SHU FHQW WR SHU

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THURSDAY JULY 1, 2021

T H I S D AY

NEWS

Irabor Rallies Stakeholders to Curb Transnational Terrorism

Kingsley Nwezeh in Abuja

7KH &KLHI RI 'HIHQFH 6WDͿ (CDS), Gen. Lucky Irabor, yesterday called for concerted HͿRUWV RI VWDNHKROGHUV LQ combating transnational terrorism in the West African sub-region. Irabor, while granting audience to the InspectorGeneral of the Senegalese Armed Forces (SAF), Gen. El hadji Daouda Niang, at the Defence Headquarters, Abuja, said the transnational nature of global insurgency and terrorism required FROOHFWLYH HͿRUWV E\ DUPHG

forces to restrain the movement of criminals operating within the Sahel region and the Lake Chad Basin. A statement by the Deputy Director, Defence Information, Air Commodore Wap Maigida, quoted the CDS as saying that the collaboration would restore peace in the West African sub-region. He commended the SAF for playing a pivotal role in curtailing the trans-Sahelian movements of criminals in Mali. According to him, Nigeria

and Senegal could strengthen the diplomatic and defence collaboration between them by leveraging on their armed forces operational and training experiences for JUHDWHU HͿHFWLYHQHVV DQG H΀FLHQF\ Niang said his visit was to access the operational

engagement of the Armed Forces of Nigeria (AFN). He expressed the commitment of the SAF to work closely with the Nigerian military in order to confront the insecurity challenges bedevilling the two countries. Niang while showering

encomium on the AFN for its past exploits in global and regional peace support operations, said the collaboration between both armed forces would VWUHQJWKHQ WKHLU ÀJKW against insurgency, terrorism and other forms of insecurity facing the two

nations. The visiting Senegalese defence chief, who was on a working tour of military establishments and institutions in Nigeria, had earlier paid a courtesy call on the Minister of Defence, Maj. Gen. Bashir Magashi (rtd) and the service chiefs.

APC Debunks Alleged Plot to Rig 2023 Elections Adedayo Akinwale in Abuja The All Progressives Congress (APC) has denied the allegation that it plans to rig the 2023 general election made by the National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Prince Uche Secondus. The ruling party said that with more than 40 million registered members, it has a solid foundation to successfully contest and win elections against other parties without tampering with the verdict of the citizens. The National Secretary of the Caretaker/Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee, Senator John Akpanudoedehe stated this in a statement issued yesterday in Abuja. The ruling party rejected the allegation of planned rigging in 2023 made by the National Chairman of the PDP, Secondus. Akpanudoedehe noted that APC’s track record in implementing projects and programmes that meet the needs of Nigerians is attracting more members, supporters and sympathisers from all over the country into the party. He said strong internal democracy, transparency and fairness in the conduct RI LWV DͿDLUV ZKLFK DUH demonstrably lacking in the PDP, are additional reasons that make the APC a better option for Nigerians, including serving State Governors, National and State Assembly members who are abandoning the

PDP and joining the APC. The APC secretary stressed that while many APC members were victims of rigging when the PDP was in power, the APC has no record of rigging elections. Akpanudoedehe added: “With more than 40 million registered members, the APC has a solid foundation to successfully contest and win elections against other parties without tampering with the verdict of the citizens as was the case when PDP misruled the country for 16 years. “The PDP is doomed to fail in any future elections because it is rudderless, leaderless and devoid of anything coherent and organisational, thus making it moribund, irrelevant and too feeble to EH DQ HͿHFWLYH RSSRVLWLRQ µ He noted that Muhammadu Buhari-led administration has introduced electoral reforms aimed at ensuring that all loopholes that open the electoral process to possible abuse in future elections are sealed and eliminated. The APC said the only thing that held the PDP together in the 16 years was access to national resources of which it has been deprived of feasting on by the electorates whose trust it lost during two general elections. It added that the Nigerian electorate know that the APC is a party of people with integrity, who are trustworthy and fully prepared to implement policies that will address their interests and enhance their general wellbeing.

RECONCILIATION ON THE WAY…

L-R: Member, All Progressives Congress South-south Reconciliation Committee, Senator Clever Ikisikpo; Secretary, APC Caretaker Extra-ordinary National Convention Planning Committee, Sen. James Akpanudoedehe; Secretary of the committee, Mr. Lucky Imasuen; and member of the committee, Dr. Mariam Ali, during the submission of the report of the reconciliation committee to the caretaker secretary in Abuja…yesterday ENOCK REUBEN

Buhari: Nigerians Responsible for Injustice in the Country Deji Elumoye in Abuja President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday blamed Nigerians for the inherent injustices plaguing the country, saying neither ethnicity nor religion is responsible for the myriad of problems facing the country. The president, in a statement by his media adviser, Mr. Femi Adesina, stated that he came to the conclusion of Nigerians being responsible for the challenges facing WKH FRXQWU\ DIWHU UHÁHFWLQJ on the complexities of the Nigerian condition. “Our problem is not ethnicity or religion, it is RXUVHOYHV µ WKH SUHVLGHQW said. Buhari spoke while receiving members of the Muhammadu Buhari/ Osinbajo (MBO) Dynamic Support Group, who visited the State House, Abuja, to present a compendium of

ÀYH \HDUV RI DFKLHYHPHQWV of his administration to him. He recalled his struggles to get justice at the court, after disputed results of presidential elections in 2003, 2007, and 2011, noting that the people who ruled against him were of his own ethnic stock and religious persuasion, while those who backed him were of other faith and ethnicity. He stated: “After my third appearance in the Supreme Court, I came out to speak to those who were present then. I told them that from 2003, I’d spent 30 months in court. The President of the &RXUW RI $SSHDO WKH ÀUVW port of call for representation by presidential candidates then, was my classmate in secondary school in Katsina. We spent six years in the same class, Justice Umaru Abdullahi. “My legal head was Chief Mike Ahamba, a Roman Catholic and an Ibo man.

When the president of the court decided that we should present our case, P\ ÀUVW ZLWQHVV ZDV LQ WKH box. Ahamba insisted that a letter should be sent to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), to present the register of constituencies in some of the states, to prove that what they announced was falsehood. It was documented. “When they gave judgment, another Ibo man, the late Justice Nsofor, asked for the reaction from INEC to the letter sent to them. They just dismissed it. He then decided to write a minority judgment. That was after 27 months in court. “We went to the Supreme Court. Who was Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN)? A Hausa-Fulani like me, from Zaria. The members of the panel went in for about 30 minutes, came back to say they were proceeding on

break. They went for three months. When they came back, it didn’t take them 15 minutes, they dismissed XV µ He also talked about his experience after the 2007 and 2011 presidential polls saying: “In 2007, who was the CJN? Kutigi; Again a Muslim from the North. After eight months or so, he GLVPLVVHG WKH FDVH µ He added: “Again in 2011, because I was so persistent, Musdafa, a Fulani man like me, from Jigawa, neighbour to my state, was CJN. He GLVPLVVHG P\ FDVH µ “I refused to give up. I had tried to wear Agbada after what happened to me in khaki. Something was done to me because I did something to others. You know it. In the end, I myself was arrested, sent to detention, and they were given back what they had taken. I was there for threeand-a-quarter years.

THURSDAY JULY 1, 2021 • T H I S D AY

THURSDAY JULY 1, 2021

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NEWS

PDP SHOPS FOR LEGAL TEAM TO RETRIEVE MANDATE FROM MATAWALLE led by its National Chairman, Prince Uche Secondus, also yesterday stormed the National Assembly to protest the nomination of a presidential aide, Ms. Lauretta Onochie, as one of the national commissioners of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). This is coming as the defection of the Zamfara State governor to the APC has split some senior lawyers. While some senior lawyers insisted that no law prevents an elected governor from decamping from one party to another, some of their colleagues argued that the governor should relinquish his mandate. One of the PDP governors told THISDAY that one of the preconditions for the choice of the legal team that will handle the Zamfara governor’s case is that members of the team must be lawyers who are not politically encumbered or attached. He disclosed that the legal department of the PDP has been asked to table a consortium of constitutional legal team for consideration

by the party. According to him, the team would be given the Supreme Court judgment on Zamfara State to study and come up with a legal opinion before the party will proceed with the legal action. He also disclosed that the party has asked its legal department to demand a FHUWLÀHG WUXH FRS\ RI WKH Supreme Court on the Zamfara State gubernatorial judgment. “It is after this that the NWC will summon an emergency National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting for their approval. But for sure, PDP will test the defection in court,” he said. Meanwhile, PDP has told President Muhammadu Buhari that the lifespan of his party, APC, will not extend beyond the end of his tenure on May 29, 2023. The party has also counselled the president not to allow himself to be deluded into thinking that by using the instrumentality of coercion to drag those it called feebleminded politicians as well as rejected corrupt persons into its folds, the APC, which it

said has become a derelict pirate ship, could survive beyond May 29, 2023. According to a statement by the party’s National Publicity Secretary, Mr. Kola Ologbondiyan, the party said that the PDP’s position was predicated on the recent ‘laughable statement’ credited to President Buhari and APC leaders that APC has “bounced back to life” and that people are defecting to APC because of the achievements of its administration. The PDP advised the president’s handlers as well as APC leaders to stop pushing him into making such delusional statements as Nigerians are aware that while millions of wellmeaning citizens across the country, are rallying on the platform of the PDP to rescue the nation from misrule, only a few individuals with skeletons in their cupboards are defecting to the APC to JDLQ R΀FLDO FRYHU “After all, when such individuals join the APC, all their misdemeanours, which border on corruption, are immediately pardoned.

“Today, the APC has become a sanctuary of ‘who is who’ in the world of corruption as well as an army of terrorist apologists, election riggers and patrons of bandits, kidnappers and vandals. Zamfara Gov’s Defection Splits Senior Lawyers In a related development, the defection of the Zamfara State governor to the APC has split some senior lawyers. While some senior lawyers insisted that no law prevents an elected governor from decamping from one party to another, some of their colleagues argued that the governor should relinquish his mandate. Speaking to THISDAY on the issue, Mr. Ahmed Raji (SAN), Mr. John Baiyeshea (SAN) and Mr. Dayo Akinlaja, (SAN), all maintained that a governor cannot be removed IURP R΀FH VLPSO\ EHFDXVH he changed the political party WKDW EURXJKW KLP LQWR R΀FH But a former President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Dr. Olisa Agbakoba (SAN), and Chief Roland Otaru (SAN) argued that

when a person elected into D SROLWLFDO R΀FH GHIHFWV WR another he or she must resign RU ORVH WKH R΀FH According to Raji, the constitution of the country gives freedom to governors as well as the president to change his or her party at will. He explained: “For governors and presidents, they have the liberty to change their parties under our laws,” Raji stated, adding that the fact that the APC participation in the 2019 general election in Zamfara State was voided “will not DͿHFW WKH ULJKW GRQDWHG WR WKH governor as pronounced by the courts. “The fact is that he is a governor, who is allowed to change his party. The choice is not in any way curtailed by the judgment that brought him. He can even return to PDP in few months.” Baiyeshea, who described Matawalle’s defection to the APC as a political chess game, gambling and political manoeuvring common with Nigerian politicians and politics said the defection was not something that can sack

him as governor of Zamfara State. According to him, “It’s the same as has happened in Edo State, Ebonyi and Cross River States. “Perhaps more will still happen. That’s the path of political horse-trading and immortality that has characterised the Nigerian political landscape from time immemorial. Therefore, Governor Matawalle cannot lose his governorship seat because of his defection from PDP to APC.” The senior lawyer cum clergyman noted that it does not matter whether the Supreme Court declared Matawalle governor by default. “He was so declared because he was PDP’s candidate. Independent candidacy is not known in Nigeria. So, as it was initially, it is now and may continue in the future, unless the constitution is amended to frontally deal with it. “Presently, I am not aware of any law that prevents what all the defecting governors Continued on page 10

Osinbajo, Tinubu, Fashola,

Others Extol Bello in New Book

Segun James

A journalist-turned-public servant, Mr. Tunji Bello, has been portrayed as a man of prodigious competence, stellar diligence, exemplary character and a staunch defender of family values in a new book of essays featuring prominent Nigerians, including Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, National Leader of All Progressives Congress (APC), Senator Bola Tinubu, and Minister of Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola (SAN). The book is to honour Bello, currently the Lagos State Commissioner for Environment and Water Resources, who turns 60 today. In 2003, Bello transited from journalism as Chairman of THISDAY Editorial Board to become Commissioner of Environment in the Tinubu administration. The 308-page book, entitled “In Pursuit of the Public Purpose,” co-edited by THISDAY Deputy Managing Director, Mr. Kayode Komolafe, and presidential aide, Mr. Louis Odion, also parades contributions by media celebrities as well as childhood friends, former classmates and associates of the celebrant. Contributors from the media

include Mr. Segun Babatope, Mr. Dele Momodu, Mr. Dapo Olorunyomi, Mr. 9LFWRU ,ÀMHK 0U (QLROD %HOOR (Eni B), Mr. Femi Adesina, Mr. Gbenga Adefaye, Mr. Azu Ishiekwene, Mr. Sam Omatseye, Mr. Segun Adeniyi, Mr. Kayode Komolafe, Mr. Lanre Arogundade, Mr. Fred Ohwahwa, Mr. Segun Ayobolu, Mr. Simon Kolawole, Mr. Owei Lakemfa, Mr. RichardAkinola, Mr. Louis Odion, Mr. Ose Oyamendan, Mr. Jonas Agwu, Mr. Yomi Idowu, Mr. Warees Solanke, Hon. Sani Zorro and Mr. Goke Odeyinka. In the foreword to the book, Osinbajo described Bello as a “dogged, knowledgeable and HͿHFWLYH MRXUQDOLVW ZLWK VWURQJ convictions and the courage to back them up.” He said: “I must, however, be partial to Tunji’s role in government, where, in my view, it all comes together. Looking back to 1999, when Nigeria returned to democracy and Bola Tinubu was elected governor of Lagos State, many would recall the great governance challenges he was confronted with. For the administrator of this booming megacity, perhaps the toughest test of them all was in the environment. With the highest population and the smallest landmass of any state in Nigeria, Lagos was literally

churning out mountains of refuge on an hourly basis.” He added: “As we experimented on methods and struggled through these FKDOOHQJHV GXULQJ RXU ÀUVW four years (I was AttorneyGeneral and Commissioner for Justice at the time), it became clear that the Environment Ministry was one that needed a miracle worker to man successfully. It was against this background that the governor came up with the idea of putting 7XQML %HOOR RQ WKLV GL΀FXOW job at commencement of his VHFRQG WHUP RI R΀FH µ In his own contribution, Tinubu hailed Bello as a SDUDJRQ RI VHOÁHVV VHUYLFH and unshakable loyalty. “In GL΀FXOW WLPHV WKH FKDUDFWHU of a person is most revealed. I have seen Tunji in action in such moments. He remained steadfast and intact. A man of principle, Tunji never EDFNHG DZD\ IURP WKH ÀJKW ZRUWK ÀJKWLQJ “A man of integrity to the core, he never took the easy way when that was not the right way. A man of excellence, he never did a partial job or made excuses. He got the work done better than I thought possible. As governor, I knew after giving Tunji an assignment, that I no longer had to be concerned about it.

“His excellence and work ethic allowed me to pile assignment after assignment on him, knowing that he would do more that come WKURXJK +H ZRXOG ÁRXULVK and his work would stand as an example to others. What motivates Tunji is that he has the soul force of a humanitarian. Despite all he is and has done, he is among the most good-natured and kind-spirited of us all. Without hesitation, Tunji is quick to extend a helping hand, providing guidance and instruction to the young workers around him on the one hand, while going beyond the call of duty to help the aged and weak among us on the other,” he stated. Fashola, under whom Bello served as commissioner between 2011 and 2015, hailed him as “the environmentalist, the gogetter” who “deserves every credit he gets for his contribution to the Greening Programme.” +H VDLG ´$V &KLHI RI 6WDͿ to Governor Bola Ahmed Tinubu, I got the opportunity to interact very closely with Tunji Bello as an active “kitchen cabinet” member whose infectious spirit contributed immensely to resolving several challenges at the period.

“It is impossible to render this kind of tribute without UHIHUHQFH WR WKH HͿRUWV PDGH to improve the green cover of Lagos and, by extension, the air quality and quality of life of the people of Lagos and Tunji’s role in that process.” Meanwhile, Tinubu has congratulated Bello as he clocks 60 today. He described Bello as a technocrat, administrator and visionary who has contributed to the growth of Lagos State and Nigeria. In a statement by his Media 2΀FH VLJQHG E\ 0U 7XQGH Rahman, the APC leader said: “Bello deserves nothing but accolades on this day. As a brave and forthright activist, he ceaselessly fought for the democracy we now have today. Bello’s extensive experience and vast knowledge proved particularly vital in the struggle to end military dictatorship. “Bello’s contributions to democracy did not stop there. They merely entered another phase. Due to his belief in public service, Bello has become the most accomplished and durable civil servant in Lagos State of his generation”. He described Bello as an illustrious son of Lagos, who has been an indispensable factor in the socio-economic

progress of the state since the return to democratic governance in 1999. He stated that Bello contributed immensely to the 24-year development plan designed by his administration to accelerate growth, thereby changing the destiny of the state and its people. Tinubu added that Bello’s contributions to urban renewal as commissioner for the environment are also of enduring importance. p g

TOP GAINERS NGN NGN % FIDSON 0.46 5.06 10 VITAFOAM 0.12 13.60 9.6 REDSTAR 0.32 3.67 9.5 VERITASKAP 0.02 0.24 9.0 CHAMS PLC 0.01 0.21 5.0 TOP LOSERS NGN % AIRTEL 75.30 678.00 10 MBENEFITS 0.03 0.38 10 CORNERSTONE 0.04 0.51 7.2 LEARNAFRICA 0.07 1.01 6.4 IKEJHOTEL 0.06 0.91 6.1 HPE Nestle Nig Plc ₦1,420.00 Volume: 218.271 million shares Value: N2.726 billion Deals: 3,524 As at yesterday 22/6/2021 See details on Page 31

THURSDAY JULY 1, 2021 • T H I S D AY

THURSDAY JULY 1, 2021

T H I S D AY

PAGE TEN Pdp Shops For Legal Team To Retrieve Mandate From Matawalle KDYH GRQH DV FRQGHPQDEOH DV LW PD\ DSSHDU WR EH µ KH VDLG Akinlaja submitted that since 0DWDZDOOH LV DOUHDG\ WKH JRYHUQRU RI =DPIDUD 6WDWH the question of the Supreme &RXUW·V MXGJPHQW LV RI QR PRPHQW DQ\PRUH ´7KHUH LV QR SURYLVLRQ LQ WKH FRQVWLWXWLRQ IRUELGGLQJ D JRYHUQRU IURP JRLQJ IURP one party to another as WKH FDVH LV ZLWK OHJLVODWRUV $JDLQ WKH FRQVWLWXWLRQ JLYHV WR HYHU\RQH WKH OLEHUW\ WR join any political party the RQH·V FKRLFH 6R IURP WKH SHUVSHFWLYH RI ODZ WKHUH LV QRWKLQJ , VHH ZURQJ ZLWK WKH GHIHFWLRQ µ KH DUJXHG %XW $JEDNRED DQG 2WDUX FRXQWHU DUJXHG WKDW ZKHQ D person elected into a political

R΀FH GHIHFWV WR DQRWKHU KH RU VKH PXVW UHVLJQ RU ORVH WKH R΀FH ´7KH FOHDU OHJDO UXOH LV WKDW the party is the foundation WKURXJK ZKLFK \RX JDLQ HOHFWRUDO YLFWRU\ DQG LI \RX OHDYH WKDW SDUW\ OHJDOO\ consequentially you lose \RXU VHDW µ $JEDNRED VDLG 7KH VHQLRU ODZ\HU ZKLOH QRWLQJ WKDW VRPH FRQGLWLRQV PD\ ZDUUDQW GHIHFWLRQ VWDWHG that in the instant case of =DPIDUD 6WDWH WKHUH ZDV QR GLYLVLRQ WR MXVWLI\ KLV OHDYLQJ WKH 3'3 ´6R FOHDUO\ WKH FRQVHTXHQWLDO UHDVRQ LV WR OHDYH R΀FH ,W LV a matter of common sense, LI \RX DUH LQ R΀FH DQG \RX OHDYH WKH SDUW\ \RX OHDYH R΀FH µ KH VDLG Similarly, Otaru submitted WKDW LW LV ZURQJ IRU VRPHRQH

to just defect from a party that EURXJKW KLP LQWR R΀FH $FFRUGLQJ WR KLP WKH constitution must be DPHQGHG WR SUHYHQW SHRSOH IURP GHIHFWLQJ IURP RQH SDUW\ WR DQRWKHU ZLWKRXW FRQVHTXHQFHV ´7KHUH VKRXOG EH DQ amendment to the constitution, you cannot just JR LQ DQG FRPH RXW OLNH WKDW You cannot just defect from a party like that there must be PRGDOLWLHV µ KH VDLG $FFRUGLQJ WR 2WDUX HOHFWHG SXEOLF R΀FH KROGHUV DUH LQ WKH KDELW RI GXPSLQJ WKH SDUW\ WKDW EURXJKW WKHP LQWR R΀FH EHFDXVH WKH FRXQWU\·V ODZV DUH QRW ZHOO JURXQGHG PDP Leaders Protest Nomination of Onochie as INEC Commissioner

0HDQZKLOH WKH OHDGHUVKLS RI 3'3 OHG E\ LWV 1DWLRQDO Chairman, Secondus yesterday stormed the National Assembly to protest the nomination of Onochie as one of the commissioners of ,1(& 7KH DJJULHYHG SDUW\ OHDGHUV ZHUH UHFHLYHG E\ 3'3 senators and House of 5HSUHVHQWDWLYHV PHPEHUV led by Senate Minority Leader, Senator Enyinnaya $EDULEH In a letter addressed to the Senate Committee Chairman RQ ,1(& 6HQDWRU .DELUX *D\D WLWOHG ´5HMHFWLRQ RI the Nomination of Lauretta 2QRFKLH µ WKH 3'3 VDLG her nomination has created D ORW RI PLVJLYLQJV LQ WKH court of public opinion DQG MXGJPHQW DGGLQJ

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THURSDAY JULY 1, 2021 • T H I S D AY

THURSDAY JULY 1, 2021 •T H I S D AY

THURSDAY JULY 1, 2021 • T H I S D AY

T H I S D AY • THURSDAY, JULY 1, 2021

COMMENT

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

TUNJI BELLO AT 60

Goke Odeyinka pays tribute to Bello, journalist, lawyer, and Lagos State Commissioner for Environment I have always wondered why some people think I am the closest person to Tunji Bello. But I know I am not. I came to know Tunji when I joined National Concord Newspapers as a reporter in the 80s, and he was on the Features desk. Since he normally passed by the newsroom before getting to his office, he would breeze in on few occasions. There was nothing special about that except for the exchange of pleasantries whenever we met along the corridor or elsewhere. Our “friendship” however started when he was appointed Politics Editor. His office was directly opposite the newsroom, and I visited there regularly for information on happenings in the political arena. Apart from “politricks” (as our Publisher, MKO, would call it), we talked sports (football mostly) and music, especially Abami Eda’s (Fela’s) afrobeat. After close of work, we would ride in his jalopy (Volkswagen beetle) to a joint along Morocco Road, Mushin, Lagos for drinks. From there we would head for Lawanson, Surulere where he normally dropped me off to find my way home at Ijesha, and it could be as late as 11pm, while he headed for his Ilasa abode. When the IBB regime proscribed National Concord at the peak of the June 12 debacle in 1993, I was privileged to be among the few reporters chosen to work on a “new” publication (Lagos News, a publication originally owned by the late Lateef Kayode Jakande, former Governor of Lagos State). Tunji was the Editor and I cannot say why he chose me as a reporter, but I did not disappoint him with my exclusive stories every Monday. Later, after being appointed the Editor of Sunday Concord in 1995, he wanted me to join him but my Editor, Nsikak Essien, would not let go. An incident happened while I served as Chairman of the Concord Chapel of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ). I was to be transferred to Uyo, Cross River State, to take me away from “the scene” of action in order to destabilise the union. It was believed then by some management staff that I was becoming uncontrollable and running a “parallel management”, and the only way to “clip my wings” instead of sacking me was to transfer me to an outstation along with the Secretary. It was Tunji whom I learnt years later, that counselled that it would amount to a witch-hunt to transfer the Chairman and Secretary at the same time and also, it was against the labor law. But, in an effort to cripple the union, the Secretary was eventually taken to Minna, and that was how Jide Oritunsin got transferred and found a new home in the Niger State capital. When the opportunity came, I left Concord for greener pastures and, in the process, lost touch with Tunji and didn’t reconnect until we met at THISDAY Newspapers premises sometime in 2001. I went there to see another good friend, the great grand commander, Kayode Komolafe (KK). I was chatting with KK when Tunji strolled in and he was surprised to see me after some years of separation. Nothing special transpired between us thereafter until he

THE WAY HE GOES ABOUT ASSISTING PEOPLE GENEROUSLY REMINDS ME OF THE LEGENDARY MKO ABIOLA, WHO GAVE FREELY TO ALL AND SUNDRY AND DID NOT KNOW HOW TO SAY NO TO ANYONE IN NEED

became Commissioner for the Environment, Lagos State, in 2003. In a particular year when the list of Editors was being compiled for “Xmas Welfare”, he added my name. This met stiff resistance from some quarters, but he stood his ground and I benefited from it. In 2006, my apartment was burgled, and I didn’t know who informed Tunji. He sent for me and gave me some money. Apart from me, I know of some other persons he had touched with his milk of human kindness, especially ex- Concordians. He bought working tools for some and got employments/admissions for many. He paid school fees, settled hospital bills, and in some cases, assisted some financially when they had important occasions/events. He is a cheerful and silent giver/donor. Sometime ago, a journalist with the NTA approached me, and narrated what she was going through and the need to seek Tunji’s assistance came up. The contact was established and she had cause to smile at the end of the day. Beyond that, I can also attest that Tunji has used his position to assist people whom he never met except through text/WhatsApp messages. There was a time a community leader in Soluyi (Gbagbada, Lagos) complained to me over some environmental challenges in the area and I suggested he should reach out to him. At first, he hesitated for, according to him, “how can a whole Commissioner respond to a text message from an unknown man”? I convinced him and he “tried” his luck. The following day, he not only got a reply, but officials of the ministry went there for a tour/ survey. My friend wrote a letter of appreciation and caused it to be published in Vanguard Newspaper. That’s just one of the many I am aware of. In 2015, the first edition of Concord Family Reunion was held, and Tunji assisted the organizing committee to the best of his ability. The second edition would not have held if not for his support and others. It’s not a matter of being patronizing to him, other members of the committee are alive and can as well debunk my statements if untrue. I remember also how he assisted his first PA to study for his Master’s degree in law in England. I know because the man involved happens to be my in-law. The way he goes about assisting people generously reminds me of the legendary MKO Abiola, who gave freely to all and sundry and did not know how to say no to anyone in need. I am sure Tunji is just hearing about this particular story from a third party from the pages of this book like any other person. As a good Methodist, I have my methods just as my friend has his silent way of making people around him happy. I am sure he would not relent in doing good to those in need, even after he must have left office. Here is wishing him many more years ahead in undiminished glory, good health and prosperity. Ogbeni Odeyinka, an expert in ICT journalism, was a chairman of Concord chapter of the Nigeria Union of Journalists

BADARU’S PASSION FOR YOUTH DEVELOPMENT Jaafaru M. Kaugama writes that the Jigawa State governor is committed to empowering his people

s it is often said, there are different shades of state governors in Nigeria. But clearly in the majority are the ones who acquired the machinery of state power merely for aggrandizement. They are simply after the perks of that office and the empowerment of their families and close friends and business associates. Nothing beyond these. Mohammed Badaru Abubakar, Governor of Jigawa State, does not fall into that group. Here is one governor with a sense of mission which has been demonstrated by his genuine commitment to offering inclusive governance as a way of meeting the expectations of the people. As soon as his administration took off in May 2015, Governor Badaru left no one in doubt about his mission, and his determination to leave behind footprints and lasting legacies that would be hard to match in the history of Jigawa State. First, the administration began by focusing on slaying the dragon of extreme poverty that has constituted a deep source of concern for many people within the state and for observers of the situation from afar. In tackling this monster, the administration rightly decided that economic empowerment was the best possible option available. Consequently, it launched a mixture of well-thought-out innovative, job-creating schemes ranging from industrial growth stimulation, private sector investment generation, improved farmers competitiveness and the development of human capital for sustained economic growth.

These interventions, which are designed to have long and short-term effect on the lives of the people, are now being implemented with the zeal of a leadership that is serious about changing the lives of the people for the better. In the short run, government has rolled out empowerment programmes designed to lift a critical mass of the populace, especially women, youth and other vulnerable groups out of poverty. As a way of avoiding the derailment of the empowerment programme, a standing committee that is being supervised by Governor Badaru himself has a clear mandate of engaging communities to find out what they need and their priorities and then come up with economic empowerment programmes that the people really want to have. It is worthy of note that so successful has the empowerment programme been that in the last six years, 152,593 have benefited across agriculture, artisanship, commerce, transportation and in many other areas with tangible evidence of success. For example, among many other government interventions in agriculture, unemployed youth were trained in mini harvester and thresher operations and pesticide applications. After the training, handheld harvesters, planters, tractors, combined harvesters, mini threshers, sprayers and pesticides were presented to them. This has led to improved efficiency in harvesting and reduced post-harvest loss from manual threshing by over 35%. Thousands of jobs were also created along the value chain for youth that are not directly

engaged in the cluster farming. As part of its deep commitment to the physical, social and emotional well-being of the youthful population, government initiated a set of programmes and interventions that would help the youth of Jigawa grow the way they should grow. This is in addition to its efforts at disseminating valuable and timely information on government policies and programmes to the people while also ensuring the participation of the populace in governance. Some of these beneficial programmes include training young people across the state on HIV prevention in collaboration with Federal Ministry of Youth and Sports Development, thereby creating mass awareness on the pandemic; conducting sensitization workshops against youth participation in political thuggery and other forms of violence targeting with a view to having peaceful elections; the establishment of youth parliament to inculcate legislative norms, construction of youth corps members’ lodge in collaboration with the 27 local governments; collaboration with the National Youth Service Corps for the construction of a Model School in Kazaure, and training and empowerment of youth in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Youth and Sports Development. It must be emphasised that one remarkable component of Badaru-led administration’s inclusive governance, which places it head and shoulder above its contemporaries, is its unprecedented commitment to the development of young people by its demonstration of outstanding

willingness to work with them. To say that Governor Badaru Abubakar, right from the very first day in office, has had his eyes trained on youth development is to belabour the obvious. The evidence of solid footprints of a governor that loves to work with the youth litters the entire landscape of Jigawa State. What more can anyone who is passionate about finding meaning for the lives our youth and allowing them some considerable visibility in leadership positions ask for? Most key positions that were once populated by old people are now filled with young, vibrant people. From his cabinet to the National Assembly, down to the State House of Assembly, local government chairmen and political aides, young people are in the majority, running the show courtesy of a governor that is imbued with a rare leadership vision, and who understands that the future indeed belongs to the youth. If everything is in doubt in the state, one thing that would certainly not be doubted is the fact that this is a governor that is grooming young leaders across all facets of life without making noise about it. Governor Abubakar may be in the old age bracket but has a 21st century mindset. Rather than being anti-intellectual, or antagonistic of the youth, he enthusiastically sources young experts in all fields and is extremely delighted to have them as advisers, assistants and strategic associates to whom we hope one day the leadership baton of our state will be handed over to.

Mr Kaugama wrote from Dutse, Jigawa State

T H I S D AY • THURSDAY, JULY 1, 2021

EDITORIAL CHINA: THE COMMUNIST PARTY AT 100 The party has made a huge diﬀerence in the lives of the people

xactly 100 years today, the Communist Party of China was established. Faced with the challenge of the triumph of the liberal order and global capitalism, the party has had the resilience to oversee the transformation of China from a centrally planned communist economy to a free market economy. The Soviet Communist Party did not survive the chaotic experience of multi-party democracy that came in the wake of Gorbachev’s reforms. The result was the demise of the Soviet Union and the independence of its multiple component republics. Founded in 1921 in Shanghai, the Communist Party of China has 90 million members in a nation of 1.389 billion people. In spite of this relatively slim membership, the party has been in total control of every aspect of the country’s life. It has thus traced the entire trajectory of Chinese history, weathering the crises and turbulence from the revolution to the era of unbridled communist rule and CHINA HAS BECOME the various post Mao THE SECOND LARGEST reforms to the presECONOMY IN THE WORLD ent. Through all of WITH AN EXTERNAL these, the CommuRESERVE OF OVER 3.3 nist Party has served TRILLION DOLLARS AND as a stabilising force MAINTAINED THE HIGHEST along China’s chosen ECONOMIC GROWTH RATE path. It has guided OF OVER EIGHT PER CENT the process of nationFOR 20 UNBROKEN YEARS building, the mouldIN THE 1990S ing of a distinctive national identity and the formulation of policies to adapt China to changing circumstances in the world. To have kept over a billion people faithful to its ideology in spite of massive economic prosperity and diversiﬁcation of perspectives and inﬂuences is in itself a measure of the strength and resilience of the Communist Party and the succession of governments it has continued to inspire and guide.

Letters to the Editor

However, the biggest achievement of the Communist Party is that it has maintained its strict unique control of both the state and society in China. It has regulated and controlled the pattern of political representation as well as the discipline and code of conduct of public ofﬁcials in line with the spartan codes of the communist ideology. As the engine of state policy and governance principles, the Communist Party has remained in ﬁrm control of all aspects of state and society, dictating policy and regulating the conduct of the citizenry in areas as diverse as economic policy, science and technology, foreign policy, defence and security as well as family size and social conduct.

U 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

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

nder this regime of controls and regulations, China has recorded tremendous strides. It has migrated over 700 million of its citizens from poverty in a period of 10 years. It has become the second largest economy in the world with an external reserve of over 3.3 trillion dollars and maintained the highest economic growth rate of over eight per cent for 20 unbroken years in the 1990s. Today, China has the largest standing army in the world with a growing defence spending that has put the United States at a permanent alert. China’s huge manufacturing and export power has also placed it in the forefront of world trade which it uses to advance its diplomatic interests around the world. In its prosperity and economic eminence, China has found a new voice and unique stature in the world. In Africa, China is the source of new credits and aid for infrastructure. This development is coming at a time when aid and support from the West has been in decline for years. It is also coming with relatively more generous conditions. As the Communist Party therefore marks its centennial, it must brace up to challenges bred by its present achievements in the years ahead. It has built up an impressive record of economic success, political cohesion and international prominence in its ﬁrst 100 years. The next 100 years may be deﬁned by the struggle to manage the precarious consequences of prosperity and global pre-eminence.

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

ON MASSIVE JAMB FAILURE…

ecently, the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) released the 2021/2022 students results which turned out to be abysmal. According to the board, 6,944,368 applicants sat for the examination but only 973,384 passed with scores to get into Nigerian universities. This shows that only 14% passed while 86%, representing 5,970,984 students failed woefully. This is not the first time Nigeria recorded this massive failure but this year’s result was devastating and worrying. Out of every 100 students, hardly do you find one getting the usual university cut-off marks. University cut-off points usually start from 180 points and above, except some of the newly established universities that accept 160 points. The board which was established in 1978 to conduct entrance examination and admit students to universities and other tertiary institutions has faced multiple challenges and malpractices. I could remember in 2008 when I wrote my JAMB, someone was telling me about miracle centers in Lagos, Abuja and Kaduna where students pay a sum of N50,000 to get the required points without any challenge. Then JAMB was manual - using paper and pencil with minimal supervision in the centres. Many cases of examination malpractices and impersonations were recorded. Computer-based Test (CBT) was introduced to curtail the challenges where students need only to be biometrically verified and log in to computer and write his/her examination. The process is highly transparent and block the chances of ghost and miracle centres. The availability of mobile phones coupled with the growing

presence of social media handles like Instagram, Tiktok, Facebook and games are bringing huge distractions to students’ reading behavior. Nowadays many young ones spend more time making short videos on Tiktok than reading books. They will not read until the examination period is very close, thinking they will perform miracles to pass. Parents are the ones to blame in this respect because they are the ones that buy mobile phones and load internet data for them in the name of love and care. Its high time will regularised the social media usage among the minors, if not we will continue to have mass failures. Desperation of some parents to get their children into universities is also playing significant role. Many can spend huge amount of money to see their children pass the exam either by bribing the teachers or hiring some people to give them answers. The strict measures put in place by JAMB became their major challenge in realising their dream. The greediness of some teachers in some schools is also a contributing factor. Teachers are now collecting bribes from the students to pass them. My conversation with one private school teacher confirmed that teachers no longer fail students because they pay expensively to graduate with flying colors. No wonder my cousin had 7As and 2Bs in WAEC but ended up with 86 scores from JAMB! Parents should desist from buying smartphones to their children. Emphasis should also be paid to extra moral lessons and computer training which most of our students lack. By putting these measures, the massive failure experienced in last Jamb will be averted. Idris Mohammed, Katsina

PLEASE COMPLETE MAGAMA CATTLE MARKET

want to appeal to Governor Bala Muhammad of Bauchi State to please complete the abandoned Magama Cattle market project. This is because the market can create more than 10,000 menial jobs when completed, apart from those that will be engaging in buying and selling of cattle. It’s nearly eight years since the former governor of Bauchi State, Malam Isa Yuguda, constructed Magama Gumau cattle market but failed to complete it. The project has been neglected to the extent that some of the erected structures have started collapsing. The present administration promised to continue with the project, but it has been swept under the carpet. The community, too, wanted to continue it, but could not due to lack of government support and inadequate finance from the community members. Your excellency, Magama is the largest and most populous town in Toro Local Government area with about 400,000 inhabitants that are mainly farmers and businessmen. Also, their business activities attract people from the neighboring states of Plateau, Kaduna and Kano. Yet Magama has less government infrastructure such as schools, primary healthcare centres, electricity, and water supply. With Magama as a melting point of labourers, businessmen and women as well as entrepreneurs, the cattle market, when completed, will create job opportunities for not only its people but also Toro, Bauchi and Nigerians at large. It will also boost the state’s internal revenue. Ukasha Rabiu Magama, Toro LGA, Bauchi State

THURSDAY JULY 1, 2021 •T H I S D AY

THURSDAY JULY 1, 2021 • T H I S D AY

T H I S D AY ˾ THURSDAY JULY 1, 2021

POLITICS

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

‘The Methods of Agitation Adopted by IPOB is Going to be Costly, Lead to Serious Casualties’ Nseobong Okon-Ekong holds a conversation with Governor Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia State on how he is tackling security challenges in his state and the big move to bring new and more vigorous life, especially in economic terms to Aba, the popular commercial city

bia has been enmeshed in multi-pronged security challenges, how have you been managing these crises? I was trying to say that if I have the privilege of being in charge of the policing of my state, part of what you will see that is different is that from the first day, I will establish a county police force. Every local government will have a Sheriff that will be under the control of the local government chairman with sufficient power to bring criminals down and police their locality. They will also be advised to put intelligence on ground at the community level involving the traditional rulers and everybody that needs to be part of it. We are looking at how to gather sufficient intelligence and ensure that these criminals don’t crystalize and imbed. At the state level, it will be the duty of the state command to undertake research and intelligence; to digitalize and bring science and technology to bear in the operations of those various areas. We are going to have special considerations for border communities to make sure that we don’t allow unfettered filtration of wanted criminals. There is a programme already. We are having a little bit of problem in implementing it. We call it the CPAMS-Crime Prevention and Management Systems-to ensure that somebody who is a criminal and arrested at Osisioma cannot be on bail and become a pastor or a bishop in Obinwa. Every local government DPO, will have a tablet. On that tablet, you do your case file. It will completely abolish writing crime diary on a chalk board in the police stations. That is not the way to go. If you say Chijioke Lawal was arrested for kidnapping-everything about him; his height, complexion, the colour of his eyes, any mark that are outstanding and his picture will be taken, his fingerprints; the IPO investigating the crime takes Chijioke to his village, takes picture of his house and then gets the identity of his parents and their telephone numbers and everything about Chijioke. If Chijioke is granted bail or escapes or something happens and Chijioke suddenly appears somewhere else and begins to commit crime again. Once they apprehend Chijoke, what the DPO there will do; if he decides to bear another name, is to put his height, complexion, colour of his eyes and fingerprint into the system. The name will pop up-the question will come, you were Chijioke Lawal two weeks ago at Obinwa, how come you bear a different name altogether? This is basic. We have bought the computers. We went ahead to do solar panels for powering these things in the various police stations, but because we don’t have the capacity to sanction the Abia State Police Command, assuming they refuse to use and implement it, they can just be looking at it. I tried to get the IGP at that time to adopt this thing and replicate it all over. I don’t know what is difficult in making that to happen. It is possible to study the pattern of crime. For every law enforcement officer that is killed, that should be good enough for a B.Sc thesis in the Police College. As a layman, I can see certain patterns that will be useful in terms of diagnosing and predicting how these criminals operate and what they are doing. Such depth of research can carried out, case-by-case, so that somebody will do an analysis and be able to look at patterns. As a scientist, I don’t believe in coincidence, I believe that action leads to reaction. We need to enrich our data and our capacity to predict. Once you can’t predict a criminal, the criminal will continue to surprise you. These are time tested devices and strategies all over the world. It shouldn’t be a problem for us. Then the reaction time is another issue. A police officer is confronted by somebody

Ikpeazu who is clutching an AK47 and he is waiting for an order. The man that is out there with the AK47 has his order to gun you down. Once that AK47 is fired, it will be too late. I have seen instances when we saw hoodlums approaching and soldiers are in place, but because they had no orders, the soldiers moved away. Policing our space has to come from a home-grown strategy. You can’t possibly copy and paste. Everything you want to talk about, survival and otherwise has a relation with geography-where you are in time and space. Abia, for instance, is almost a confluence state-Abia has a border with seven states. Apart from Kaduna, no other state has as many borders. I have looked at it. It keeps us where whatever happens in Rivers-if they police well, we are in trouble because the criminals will come here. If they don’t police well, we are also in trouble because the criminals will create enclaves around the border. Criminals love the border towns because they can crisscross. They know also that there is a limitation, in terms of what a CP can do beyond the borders of his state.

So, why are we still tying our hands behind our backs and asking ourselves to run? It speaks to everything. People largely decided to sit at home, not necessarily because all of them believe in the ideology of IPOB, when the proscribed asked them to stay at home. For me, I could not rise to say you must go out. I was elected here to protect lives and property. Whenever I see myself unable or incapable of protecting lives and property of my people; I don’t want to put them in harm’s way. Most of the people could not even be persuaded to go out because they looked at how they will make and the value of their lives and they preferred to stay at home. When I drove around town, I didn’t see police officers patrolling or moving around. In some states where police officers ventured out, they were attacked. We are in place where we need to prepare the Nigeria Police Force and the military to do the needful. They are not sufficiently prepared. I do not know how many of us will want our children, I don’t even know many Superintendent of Police who will want their children to go and enlist

They may be enjoying some sympathy from a few people who don’t have the privilege of sufficient knowledge in things like these, who are acting ignorantly. If they were serious, this is the time for them to also have an arm that is capable of engaging. If my phone rings today and I pick it up and it is somebody and the person introduces himself as commander of ESN, I am not going to end the call. I will ask him Mr. Commander, where are you? What is the matter? If he offers to talk to me, I will give him only one or two conditions. The first condition I will give is, let me know what your grievances are. If he tells me the grievances even if he gives some conditions like bringing back my late mother, which is impossible, I will also listen and then it will be my remedy to say I have heard everything I don’t think this one is doable. This is doable and this is how long it will take and all of that. Before I take it from that room, I will ask him to give assurances that if I go into this conversation, there will be ceasefire; that if I achieve results holding this conversation that there will be ceasefire

in the Nigeria Police, the way it is. It has become a very risky job. What we need to do is to step up our game. Can we raise the bar to the point that we equip them sufficiently to do the needful? There is something going for these bandits. Some of them are very fetish. They believe in native doctors. Whether the native doctor’s charm will work or not, it places them where they are psychologically attuned to the risk they want to take and then confronting people who are demoralized and running for their dear lives. This is the time for us to begin a new thinking. At the root of all of these, we must do two more things-one, is to seize the initiative and to be a little bit more creative in terms of providing opportunities for our youths, by engaging them through job creation. The other one is that we must now embark on massive social mobilization strategies. You can’t do security successfully anywhere if the people are not sufficiently mobilized. Social mobilization is everything. It supports governance. It supports security because the people can rise and tell you this is where the criminals are hiding-they are in my farm. They are behind my house. The person is doing so, knowing that they intelligence will be actionable and that it will free him and his children eventually and not to put him at grave risk. You can’t ask people to take risks unless they are very sure their chances for survival is more than 50-50. These criminals that you are talking about have other persuasions, for instance, those who are agitating for independence, for them, criminality is by the way, there real intention is freedom, as it were. Are you exploiting the option of trying to engage them, to hear their grievances or take their grievances to the central government? I am pro-conversion, pro-negotiation, prodiscussion. I know that the fiercest wars, the most difficult of wars end in the conference room. Why don’t we start there? The problem is to say that I won’t listen at all. I have a message for those of them who think that this is the channel. I want to say to them that this can’t work. It has not worked anywhere. It is going to be costly. It is going to bring about serious casualties. If you say a group of people do not like you and that man who does not like, you chose to play with is dog, if his dog bites you, who will take responsibility? I am saying that this route is not the way to go. That is why I think that they may be enjoying some sympathy from a few people who don’t have the privilege of sufficient knowledge in things like these, who are acting ignorantly. If they were serious, this is the time for them to also have an arm that is capable of engaging. If my phone rings today and I pick it up and it is somebody and the person introduces himself as commander of ESN, I am not going to end the call. I will ask him Mr. Commander, where are you? What is the matter? If he offers to talk to me, I will give him only one or two conditions. The first condition I will give is, let me know what your grievances are. If he tells me the grievances even if he gives some conditions like bringing back my late mother, which is impossible, I will also listen and then it will be my remedy to say I have heard everything I don’t think this one is doable. This is doable and this is how long it will take and all of that. Before I take it from that room, I will ask him to give assurances that if I go into this conversation, there will be ceasefire; that if I achieve results holding this conversation that there will be ceasefire. If you are not prepared to change. If you are not prepared to give peace a chance. If you are not prepared to allow the system to move forward, then you also not prepared to engage. Continued on page 19

T H I S D AY ˾ THURSDAY JULY 1, 2021

POLITICS

‘The Methods of Agitation Adopted by IPOB is Going to be Costly, Lead to Serious Casualties’ I can’t embark on an enterprise that does not hold prospects of yielding fruits. I have heard some of the things and I heard people say some of the things that are agitating the mind of our people. I still believe strongly that some of them can be handled, some of them can be done. It will be perhaps unfair to imagine that President Buhari can do everything within two years. That will be unfair. I dare say that he can begin the conversation. There was a 2017 engagement between some South-east governors and Nnamdi Kanu at a peace meeting brokered by Mr. Elliot Ugochukwu-Uko, President of Igbo Youth Movement, what happened? Why did it fail? I do not think I was at that meeting, but I know and I heard from some people who have contacts with Kanu, he reneged on some of the terms of the conversation. I have not had the privilege of going back to Nnamdi or any of his lieutenants to say, why did you renege? I am also sure that he will have some stories to tell. It goes back to trust deficits and lack of it. It borders on who we are. We are structurally defective. Even as the Chief Security Officer of the state, how much do I know in terms of the operations of the armed forces in my territory? I do not have the details of their operational mandate. I do not know their strategy. If I go and stick out my neck and claim to be able to do this and that, what happens if something goes wrong? You remember what happened to Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State? He asked one notorious bandit to come to government house to surrender. He persuaded the guy to leave his location in the forest and the guy was willing, but on his way, in a convoy of state house vehicles, he was attacked and killed. We have to be responsible. We have to be trust worthy. We just have to be intentional about solving this problem because the much that has gone under the bridge already is capable of putting everything we have done in jeopardy. You are dealing with people. Every state, every nation develops with other peoples money-OPM. For you to attract Other Peoples Money, there are certain things you must put in place. There must be peace, then you must have a strong judiciary that can be predictable and trusted. An investor who is coming from Switzerland, his godfather is the law and trust enforcers of the law are his strength. If he comes to a place where a judge can say anything. Court can sit at 9pm. Things can happen and you are surprised and there is no due process, every other thing that you have done collapses. Every investor earned his money and he goes to a place that will give him return on investment and not because of any other sentiment. There are criminal investors. There are people who are in the business of selling arms and drugs to mine diamonds in Congo or they want to plant confusion in Niger Delta and steal Nigerian oil. Those are criminal investors, but any right thinking investor wants to see due process and watch his investment mature and grow and it takes them time. I once went to China to canvass for investor to invest in Enyimba Economic City and the guy that we met has the richest cotton farm in the world. He commissioned a study-two professors to study Africa and Aba and Nigeria and they were sitting in the room. For over six months they did not do any other thing apart from sourcing for pieces of information on Aba. They perhaps knew my place better than me and the man had a facility that once I mentioned a place he put it on Google map. It was not a question of trying to deceive anybody. We were asking him to bring his money. For him to make a decision about bringing his money, he had to employ two professors for six months and beamed the searchlight here. The things we deny are also known. The more we deny those things, the worse it becomes for us. If you have a subordinate who steals your money or takes away your phone, and you say, ‘Old boy where is my phone?’ and he says, ‘I don’t know’, but the phone is in his pocket. He knows he wants to steal it and steal again. If he says, ‘Sir, I put it in my pocket mistakenly’, you can give him a second chance. The CCTV caught him put it in his pocket and he is still denying then you know that he wants to steal and steal again. When we are in denial of some of the issues and challenges, we make ourselves

We have the best of relationships. He is like a father to me. He knows he can’t run Abia for me. If there is something he wants done, he usually concludes with a caveat, ‘Íf you can’t do it, leave it.’ It gives me joy that he knows that I can decide not to do it. I think of this was helped by the fact that he has been in that position before and he saw how not to be somebody’s predecessor.

Ikpeazu a laughing stock. This administration both at the centre and sub-national level have laboured to put a lot of things in place. We can build the best rail and nobody will use it. You can build the best airport and nobody flies there. The greatest thing we needed to do is to mobilize Nigerians and in mobilizing Nigerians every leader must be sufficiently dynamic to listen and to respond frankly. Who will give me information about where these people are, are they not the people? All the drug barons in the world like Pablo Escobar succeeded for a while because right there in his village, he was spending money among his people and they refused to expose him. Once, they see anything strange they tell him and he begins to prepare himself. We must take away the heart of our youths from wandering. We must occupy them with something that they can do, they see and touch and apply their energies. Otherwise somebody comes to preach to them that you do not have a future and if the person wants to buttress his argument he points graduates in that community who are Okada riders, then nobody will go to school again. Nnamdi Kanu is your subject, have you ever met or spoken to him? Has he tried to reach you? I have never met him. Incidentally during Python Dance and all of that he was still around. He has never reached me. Whether he has been trying I don’t know. He should know that I am not averse to conversations I don’t know how to reach him sincerely speaking. I became very worried and a little laid back because of the things he says. I was just trying to see if I can read his psyche from where I stand that would reinforce my confidence in making overtures or trying but he positions himself as a factor against me. How do I even try to reach him? I am not somebody who will say can we meet and then we don’t. May be the opportunity hasn’t come. If he had people around him that can sit down and

talk, not in the manner he talks. If I am coming into a conversation, I come prepared to make concessions and yield ground. I also want to talk to somebody who will be prepared to yield ground too. If you are coming to hold a conversation with somebody that you know ab initio will not yield ground what is the point going into the conversation? What is the secret of your being in a relatively good relationship with your predecessor? I bring everything-every resource, every knowledge available to bear in every assignment I am given. I bring my Christina background. I bring my home training. I bring everything. By the special grace of God, I am somebody who is a little modest about my expectations from people. I take my destiny in my hands. I do things myself. I am also very sensitive to other peoples feelings. I would say also that Senator T. A. Orji is a gentleman. He has said this to people that try to instigate some misunderstanding between us that he knows the red line. He would not cross that red line. If there is an advise, T. A. wants to give to me. He would not choose to advise me on the pages of newspapers. He will try to place a call to me. At some point in the early days, he tried severally to call me on phone and I am not very good with taking calls. I had to go to him and say, ‘Sir don’t judge me by my telephone habits I am not good at taking calls.’ And he said, ‘ I have seen that you are not very good at taking calls.’ He finds a way to talk about it. That is one, the other one is that I am guided by what is true, what is fair and what is best for Abia people; knowing fully well that it is my name that will be written in the space for governors between 2015 and 2023. I don’t make the mistakes when I have to take decisions. If I need to consult him, I consult him first, as a Senator and I consult him as an elder statesman and he has earned some respect. He speaks carefully and he picks his words carefully.

An investor who is coming from Switzerland, his godfather is the law and trust enforcers of the law are his strength. If he comes to a place where a judge can say anything. Court can sit at 9pm. Things can happen and you are surprised and there is no due process, every other thing that you have done collapses. Every investor earned his money and he goes to a place that will give him return on investment and not because of any other sentiment. There are criminal investors. There are people who are in the business of selling arms and drugs to mine diamonds in Congo or they want to plant confusion in Niger Delta and steal Nigerian oil. Those are criminal investors, but any right thinking investor wants to see due process and watch his investment mature and grow and it takes them time

What projects have you done from start to ﬁnish in the last six years? I will like to take you to our pillars of development because I will like to be judged based on my manisfesto and the things I promised to do. It is important that I say this frankly because in 2015, I never promised that I will do everything and it will be foolhardy for anyone to expect me to do everything. I gave myself a set of questions and a marking scheme so that I can check whether I am in line. My first Pillar, because I have Five Pillars of Development, I said I was going to create a better life for Abia people, running on these five pillars and these five pillars, I crafted them based on what I think Abia people can do better than other people, but there was no time to begin to reinvent the wheel, therefore the best thing to do was to reshape the tools available and then use them to create a better life for Abia people. The first pillar was Trade and Commerce; we have the best traders all over the world from this part of Nigeria. What are the things that drive trade and commerce? Chief among them was road. How do you know if you have enabled trade and commerce? You know if you have enabled trade and commerce by what has become of your output. In 2015, nobody could go to Akwa Ibom State from here. There was no road from Aba to Akwa Ibom State. If you try, you will be spending like five hours running through bush tracks and at the risk of being victim of criminals. I know that that the oxygen that drives trade and commerce in Aba is this geography. We are at the centre of South-east and South-south states. If people from Akwa Ibom, Rivers and Cross River can’t come here and we can’t go to these states, then we can’t survive as traders. I decided to do a short-cut between Nto Edino in Akwa Ibom and Abia and connect it to Aba. Akwa Ibom people could come up to the fringes of Aba, but they couldn’t enter Aba; so quickly I did three roads in Aba within the first 100 Days and they eased you into the major roads that take you into Aba. Then the man coming from Akwa Ibom will first of all say, ‘can I get into Ariaria?’ It is not just coming to see Aba that he is coming to do. I had to now come and embark on Faulks Road. People have had problems accessing this road from end-to-end for almost 30 years. If you are coming from Port Harcourt, you need to enter Faulks Road to enter Ariaria, same with Ikot Ekpene, or you are coming from Owerri or Umuahia. You may also need to enter Brass Road to get into Faulks Road into Ariaria, but for almost 30 years that road was impassable. The people at Ariaria were not doing anything. Having opened the road all the way from Akwa Ibom into the city, I needed to open Faulks Road and we dealt with Faulks Road; so today for the first time, you can go into Faulks Road, it is a dual carriage. It is no longer a single lane. It is done and dusted. We needed to enter Ariaria so we had to do Samec, which is the widest road, I have done in Aba. It leads you into the express. We decided to do a ring road. How do we bypass Aba? People have started coming, we did another road. You can come all the way from Ikot Ekpene to Obike Abia Junction, head right and you are in Umuahia, you are in Owerri, you are in Onitsha, you don’t need to come into the city again. All these roads are done and dusted. This is my narrative about roads. We were strategic in tackling roads, we had a vision at the back of our mind that we want these roads to ease up traffic in this market to make sure that people can come into the market and then enable trade and commerce to happen. Along the line of trade and commerce also we supported the establishment of an i-hub, an ICT centre that started grooming traders in the tenets of e-commerce. They could stay at the comfort of their shop and sell their wares. With that came the business of logistics. That ICT hub is doing so well. They have moved from their previous office to somewhere around the GRA.

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FEATURES

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

Sustaining the Fight against Crime With the increasing wave of crime, breakdown of law and order and lawlessness across the country, Chiemelie Ezeobi examines the effort by the police to sustain peace across board

pon assumption of office on April 7, 2021, one thing was glaring to the 26th Inspector General of Police, Usman Alkali Baba, the numerous challenges facing the Nigerian Police Force needed to be tackled and quickly too. From issues of welfare to the worrying attacks on police formations and divisions, as well as the increasing cases of kidnapping and banditry. Even before he was confirmed IG on June 4, he set the ball rolling by initiating kinetic and non-kinetic approaches targeted at re-ordering security in the country. This he hoped would reassure citizens of the renewed commitment of the police force to the fight against crimes and criminality. While calling for sustained support for the police and the security community given that efforts are being intensified to enhance public safety, peace and security, the IG had first gone back to the drawing board with members of his management team to assess the trend and pattern of crimes and other security issues across the country. At the end, they conceptualised a new policing mission, vision and operational agenda aimed at guiding policing services, reclaiming the public space from criminal elements, protecting the citizens with courage and serving the country with compassion. The strategy was also to improve public relations and regain the trust of the citizens through improved community engagements, enhancement of ethical policies and the fight against corruption. Two months down the line, the burning question remains if that strategic policing has paid off given the security situation and whether they have truly realigned the Nigeria Police to citizens expectations. Operation Restore Peace One of the many operations launched by the police as a vehicle in the fight against crime and criminality was Operation Restore Peace. Targeted at the South-east and South-south, the operation kicked off on May 18 and 19 respectively and was built on the premise that it would ensure public safety, restore public order and constitutional authority in the regions. To ensure the goal and directives are achieved, the police are determined the operation would not go the way others did. To achieve this, THISDAY gathered that they are already carrying out operational needs assessment with plans to flag-off this special operation in other states and regions as a national approach to roll-back the increasing wave of crimes, breakdown of law and order, lawlessness, etc. in the country. Control of Proliferation of Arms, Ammunition That crime is on the upward can be blamed on the proliferation of Small Arms and Light Weapons (SALW). This grim revelation does not bode well especially at this critical time when the nation is experiencing grave serious security challenges across all the regions. It stands to reason that with access to illegal weapons, criminals have become more fortified and hence less amenable to entreaties to make peace. Given the porousity of our borders, it has been easy for such perpetrators of crime to access arms and ammunition, which has inadvertently resulted in total breakdown of law and order. The danger it portends is that the proliferation of these weapons fall into the hands of non-state actors such as Boko Haram insurgents, bandits, herdsmen, militants and even kidnappers, who become objects of terror with zero regard for human life. According to United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) which has done extensive studies on the dangers posed by SAWL, "the uncontrolled trade in small arms and light weapons is a matter of life and death to people around the world." Expressing greater concern that it is easy for children to be easily taught how to handle these weapons, which are lethal but light and easy to use yet once exposed to them, UNICEF lamented that what follows is "a vicious cycle of crime

IG Baba

and violence". Reasonably worried about the dangers of such weapons in the hands of non-state actors, the police under Baba embarked on deliberate and well-coordinated nationwide mop-up of illicit weapons to contain the proliferation of Small Arms and Light Weapons (SALW) in the country. Already, they are identifying and have raided factories where assault rifles and ammunition are manufactured locally. Recently, a syndicate whose local fabrication enclave is in Jos, Plateau State was arrested. Also, in identifying and blocking weapon supply chains in and around the country, they have recorded several arrests and recovery of several sophisticated/locally fabricated firearms and ammunition. Tactical Operations It is pertinent to also note that through sustenance of intelligence-driven and tactical operations by the police in collaboration with the Armed Forces and other security agencies, the Abuja-Kaduna highway which had hitherto been vulnerable is now better secured. Given the successes recorded, THISDAY gathered that they are extending the joint efforts to the security of communities, travelers and other road users on major highways nationwide, which has recorded significant reduction in highway armed robbery and kidnappings as the major highways are quite safer than they were before. They also channelled efforts towards containing acts of banditry in the North-west, North-east and North-central Zones. Although acts of kidnapping by bandits have been rife, especially those targeted at school children, the police believe that kidnapping and armed robbery incidents that were prevalent in other parts of the country have also significantly mitigated. Statistics of Successes Though much successes have been recorded,

the police were able to between April and June, 2021, arrest a total of 770 high-profile suspects comprising bandits, kidnappers and armed robbers during various operations conducted across board. They also arrested 173 bandits in a major anti-banditry operation in collaboration with the Nigeria Armed Forces and the local community, just as they safely rescued a total of 152 kidnapped victims including the students kidnapped at the Federal College of Forestry Mechanisation Kaduna. The police also recovered 276 assorted firearms, 16,515 rounds of ammunition of different calibre. Attempts to Contain Actions of Separationist Agenda One challenge that has bugged the police since the beginning of the year was the constant attacks and clashes with separationists especially those clamouring for the sovereignty of Biafra. This crisess manifested into attacks on police stations with wanton destruction of lives and properties. To ameliorate this, the police were said to have evolved new operational strategies which includes the launch of new special operation code named “Operation Restore Peace”. The flag-off of the operation was undertaken in Enugu (for the South-east Operational Theatre) on May 18, 2021 and in Port Harcourt (for the South-south Operational Theatre on May 19, 2021). Despite the dissenting voices that greeted that initiative, the police hierarchy maintained that the operation was targeted at restoring peace and constitutional order in South-east and South-south zones; subduing enemies and criminal non-state actors; protecting security assets and other critical national infrastructure including personnel and facilities of INEC; and expanding well-coordinated intelligence-led operations to confront armed secessionist groups by enhancing intelligence gathering efforts and utilisation capacity.

Others include enhancing intelligence sharing through strengthening inter-agency collaboration with the Military, DSS and other security agencies; deepening community engagement to weaken recruitment drive by secessionists groups; reinforcing of police commands in the South-east and South-south regions with special deployment of police personnel including intelligence operatives, PMF, CTU, NPF Special Forces, IRT and STS); mass mobilisation and deployment of operational assets including the Police Airwing, Marine, and the Explosive Ordinance Department among others. For the police, the gains of the operation far outweighs the perceived loss. Accordingly, they posited that they have re-dominated the public space and reduction of hitherto indiscriminate attacks by secessionists groups; disrupted and destabilised armed campaigns and networks; neutralised the Commander of the armed wing of IPOB, the ESN popularly known as “Ikonson Commander” and his deputy during separate joint operations with the Army and DSS. They also neutralised one Joseph Uka Nnachi a.k.a “Dragon” the Commander of the armed wing of IPOB that took over after the death of “Ikonson Commander” and second-in-command in Imo State on June 6, 2021, just as they recovered weapons during direct confrontation with the secessionist groups including two GeneralPurpose Machine Gun (GPMG), 22 AK-47 rifles, 14 Pump Action rifles, six pistols, nine locally, fabricated rifles, eight locally fabricated pistols, 26 AK-47 magazines, 753 GPMG live ammunition, 2549 rounds of live ammunition, 16 IEDs, camouflage, bullet proof vests, walkie talkies with IPOB insignia, charms and other incriminating items. Despite the vilifying by Nigerians, stakeholders are of the opinion that within the past two months, the police have sustained the fight against crimes and achieved tremendous success in public safety and security, though there is room for more improvement, especially in protecting their stations and divisions.

T H I S D AY ˾ ˜ ͯ˜ ͰͮͰͯ

#THISISNIGERIA - Gbenga Sesan

#TwitterBanInNigeria: The Third Party and the Third Sector

Gbenga Sesan

t is important to situate the debate around the Nigerian government’s suspension of Twitter within the context of ongoing conversations between many countries and social media platforms. The hot topic of social media regulation is understandable because of the twin issues of disinformation (“fake news”) and dangerous speech (“hate speech”) but to avoid creating more problems in the name of solving same, every sensible country where these regulation conversations are happening has benefited from parliamentary oversight, judicial interpretation and citizen participation. Nigeria took a radically different approach with the Buhari-led government’s reckless action on June 4, 2021, when it ordered telecommunications companies and Internet Service Providers to cut off access to Twitter in the country. While much of the focus of the ongoing debate has been on Twitter and the Nigerian government, there is a third party we need to pay more attention to -- citizens. As courts are now beginning to consider cases brought before them on the suspension of Twitter by the Nigerian government, we must be clear about this: citizens are not going to court to defend a company, they are asking courts to defend their human rights. Citizens are not in court to defend a company against their nation but to defend their fundamental right to speak, using any platform of their choice. Citizens are also in court to challenge an illegal “you are directed to” process that is used by governments to clamp down on dissenting voices. Nigerian citizens, assisted by third sector organisations, are in court for three main reasons. First, it is wrong for the government to cut off the right of citizens to speak up using any platform of their choice. Second, if there is a valid concern, the process of addressing such must be subjected to judicial

oversight and not just through a memo asking companies to default on their contract by cutting off access to services. Third, we must challenge the government’s attempt to retroactively use secondary legislation to clamp down on the institutions that support citizen voices. The conversations between social media platforms and countries are not unique to Nigeria, and in addition to the role played by the judiciary, legislature, and media in various countries that are discussing social media regulation, input from citizens and third sector organisations form a major part of the debate. It is important to set this context because there is more to what is going on in Nigeria; it is not just about social media regulation but the continuation of a clampdown agenda. In 2013, Paradigm Initiative (PIN) sued the Nigerian government when it refused to respond to a Freedom of Information (FoI) request regarding an unlawful Internet surveillance contract. Since then, there have been many attempts to restrict the online civic space through problematic bills that focused on clamping down on citizens rights, such as the 2015 Frivolous Petitions Prohibitions Bill, 2019 Hate Speech Prohibition Bill, 2019 National Commission for the Prohibition of Hate Speeches Bill, and 2019 Protection from Internet Falsehood and Manipulations Bill. Many of these bills were met with citizen pushback, as were the government’s attempts at backdoor legislation without judicial or parliamentary oversight. At the instance of overbearing ministers, the formerly independent Nigerian Communications Commission and the National Broadcasting Commission repeatedly exceed their regulatory oversight to clamp down on dissenting voices online. This act of targeting the online civic space does not come as a surprise given the role that the Internet, and social media in particular, has played in Nigeria since 2009. Thanks to growth in mobile Internet access, Nigeria added 33 million Internet users in 2009 alone, to achieve 16% Internet penetration, and it instantly

became a tool in the hands of citizens who had a lot to say about governance or the lack of it. Citizens used the Blackberry Messenger platform to speak up and organize protests in 2009 and 2010. Citizens developed a mobile application to monitor elections in 2011. Citizens used Twitter and Facebook, among other social media platforms, to join the #OccupyNigeria protests in 2012. This wasn’t only happening in Nigeria, by the way; in many African countries, online conversations led to offline action. From #YenAMarre in Guinea and Senegal in 2012, to #ÇaSuffit (“that’s enough”) and #LeBalaiCitoyen (“the citizen’s broom”) in Burkina Faso in 2014, Nigeria’s #BringBackOurGirls in 2014, #FeesMustFall in South Africa in 2015, and #GambiaHasDecided in 2016, citizens have used social media to hold governments accountable. This continues, as seen through recent citizen-led actions like #ZimbabweanLivesMatter, #CongoIsBleeding, #ShutItAllDownNamibia, #EndAnglophoneCrisis in Cameroon and #EndSARS in Nigeria. The clampdown agenda we are seeing in Nigeria and other African countries is focused on the Internet, and social media in particular, because that is the last standing civic space where citizens have found the opportunity to exercise their rights and fill gaps left by opportunistic opposition political parties. Nigeria does not have a strong opposition culture because politicians simply use parties as election special purpose vehicles instead of building ideological structures, so the real opposition that can hold the feet of government to the fire is the citizenry, not politicians who are mostly concerned about the political platform that can help them win their next election. This is a reason the online civic space has been under attack by various governments and why attempts at restricting the use of social media are not really about social media regulation, in the sense of creating standards that will solve the problems of

disinformation and dangerous speech, but about clamping down on dissenting voices. Nigerians are the third party in this ongoing debate and when citizens defend their right to tweet, we should not get hung up on the metaphor but recognise that this is simply to defend the right to freedom of expression, regardless of platform. As this debate continues, the third sector has been supporting the third party, as many non-governmental organisations are registered by Nigerian law to do. The third sector is working with the third party to restore citizens’ rights to free speech, using any platform of their choice, and to make sure that the government does not use illegal processes to solve problems. The twin problems of fake news and hate speech need to be solved, and even though government officials are some of the biggest perpetrators of disinformation and dangerous speech in Nigeria, citizens and civil society organisations have expressed willingness to work with government and other stakeholders to solve the problems while respecting the democratic rights of citizens. The third party, in the ongoing #TwitterBanInNigeria debate, and the third sector will continue to work together using the opportunity of this misstep by the government to right the wrongs and make sure that Nigeria remains a democratic country that respects citizen rights. This is why all arms of government -- Executive, Judiciary and Legislature -- must work with the third sector and the third party, in this ongoing debate, to resolve the issues, provide long-lasting solutions to the problems that we have all identified, and ensure that we don't create a problem while trying to solve another. t(CFOHB 4FTBO JT UIF &YFDVUJWF %JSFDUPS PG 1BSBEJHN *OJUJBUJWF B QBO "GSJDBO TPDJBM FOUFSQSJTF XPSLJOH PO EJHJUBM JODMVTJPO BOE EJHJUBM SJHIUT UISPVHI JUT PGmDFT JO $BNFSPPO ,FOZB /JHFSJB 4FOFHBM ;BNCJB BOE ;JNCBCXF )F JT BMTP B /PO 3FTJEFOU 'FMMPX BU UIF %JHJUBM $JWJM 4PDJFUZ -BC BU 4UBOGPSE 6OJWFSTJUZ

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Quick Takes Phase3 Telecom Begins Network Expansion

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BUSINESS EXPANSION

Huawei, ATU Sign Deal

L-R: Country Manager, MainOne Ghana, Emmanuel Kwarteng; CEO, GIIF, Solomon Asamoah; CEO, MainOne, Funke Opeke; Director, PPBME, Ministry of Communications, Ghana, Mrs. Veronica Rita Sackey; Board Chairman, MainOne Ghana, Aﬁcanus Mensah; Board Member, Mrs. Olusola Ogundimu and COO, MDXi Nigeria, Gbenga Adegbiji, during the launch of MDXi in Appolonia City, Accra, Ghana...recently

‘Modern Advertising Requires New Thinking for Effective Marketing Solution’ Raheem Akingbolu The Vice Chairman of the Troyka Holdings Limited, Mr. Jimi Awosika, has advised advertising practitioners in the country to always put their intellect to task in order to bring about effective marketing solution. Awosika gave this advice while speaking as a guest speaker at the Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria (APCON) graduation ceremony for the Professional Diploma in Advertising and Induction Ceremony for the newly registered practitioners in Lagos. Speaking on how to be outstandingly successful in marketing communications, as a profession in today’s technol-

ADVERTISING ogy disrupted world, Awosika posited: “Periodic admission of professional practitioners is the mechanism on which the sustainability or decline of institutions hinge, much like birth to families keep the human race going.” He added: “If we accept that there are always forces that constantly reshape every aspect of life, as civilization inexorably journeys through time, one key observation is that the first consequence of epochal change is that meanings and understanding get altered and erstwhile relevance begins to wane. “This condition bears con-

siderable implications for the business success of organisations in any practice because when space is constrained, expansion of revenues and profits become difficult. “The first demand at such times is that man puts his intellect to task, provoking it to facilitate solutions by generating ideas that open up new thinking and introduce new frontiers in place of where stagnation or decline has taken root. “New frontiers are essentially thoughts and perspectives that birth radical new meanings resulting in new value both real and perceived.” He said further: “This is what innovation is about; presenting new opportunities. First old ways are corrected and after

that, new territories are created on the altered course that present infinite opportunities. It is as a result of this that one of the grandmasters of this profession, Mr. Biodun Shobanjo, said that leadership is all about innovation.” Driving home his point, Awosika further stated that innovation births leadership and that there cannot be leadership without innovation. In his special remarks at the event held recently, APCON Registrar, Dr. Olalekan Fadolapo, while addressing the graduands encouraged them to work assiduously to improve themselves and support the efforts of the approved governContinued on page 24

A’Ibom Disburses N1.2bn to Cassava Farmers to Boost Food Sufficiency Okon Bassey in Uyo In pursuit of food sufficiency, Akwa Ibom State government has disbursed over N1.2 billion as interest- free loans to 2,000 cassava farmers in the last two years. The state government has equally stepped up efforts to curb the monopoly of market unions in the pricing of foodstuffs in the state. Checks by journalists revealed that government’s drive towards food sufficiency is hampered by the low capacity utilisation of its multi-faceted cassava processing mills and lack of commitment from beneficiaries of government agricultural loans. The State Commissioner for Agriculture, Dr. Glory Edet,

AGRIC who spoke with reporters in Uyo, on the sustainability of the state government’s subsidised sale of garri, said the loan scheme was a deliberate move to reduce the astronomical rise in the price of garri, a staple food in the state. Edet pointed out that the initiative was not limited to increased cassava production disclosing that 1,000 each of maize and vegetable farmers also benefitted from interest free loans. She said her ministry distributed 700,000 cocoa seedlings to cocoa farmers and boosted livestock farmers with improved breeds of goats and other animals. She explained that the pres-

ent utilisation of the cassava mills was dependent on the quantity of cassava from its demonstration farms across the state. Government, she said in addition acted as off-takers by buying from smallholder cassava farmers to increase processing capacity and empower the farmers to sustain production. The ministry, the Commissioner said has sustained the sell of more than 150 bags of 120kg bags of garri per day at a reduced price in different parts of the state to ameliorate the hardship on residents and force the stabilisation of the price of the commodity in the open market. “In the area of cultivation, we have been encouraging

farmers with interest-free loans. Last year, we gave over 2,000 farmers N250, 000 for each of the over 5,000 hectares they cultivated. We also gave them free improved varieties of cassava stem and this has boosted production in the state. “To break the monopoly of market unions we have harvested the cassava we planted in our demonstration farms. “We have also processed them and selling them at three cups for N100 when it was a cup for N100 in the open market and we ensured we take them to major markets around the state in addition to selling at the State Secretariat three times a week,” she said. On the broader initiative, the Continued on page 24

ÒÏ ÐÜÓÍËØ ÏÖÏÍÙ××ßØÓÍËÞÓÙØÝ ØÓÙØ ̙ ̚ ÒËÝ ÝÓÑØÏÎ Ë Ï×ÙÜËØÎß× ÙÐ ØÎÏÜÝÞËØÎÓØÑ ̙ Ù ̚ áÓÞÒ ßËáÏÓ ÞÒËÞ áÓÖÖ ÝÏÏ ÐÜÓÍËØ ÍÙßØÞÜÓÏÝ ËØÎ ÙÜÑËØÓÝËÞÓÙØÝ ÌßÓÖÎ ÍËÚËÍÓÞã ÐÙÜ ÞÜËØÝÐÙÜ×ËÞÓÙØ˛ ØÎÏÜ ÞÒÏ ËÑÜÏÏ×ÏØÞ˜ ßËáÏÓ áÓÖÖ ÚÜÙàÓÎÏ ÞÜËÓØÓØÑ ÙØ ÝÕÓÖÖÝ ÎÏàÏÖÙÚ×ÏØÞ˜ ÓØÍÖßÎÓØÑ ÜÏÝÕÓÖÖÓØÑ ËØÎ ßÚÝÕÓÖÖÓØÑ ÐÙÜ ×Ï×ÌÏÜÝ˛ ÒÏ Ù áÓÖÖ ËÖÝÙ ÝÏÏ ÞÒÏ ÞáÙ ÙÜÑËØÓÝËÞÓÙØÝ ÍÙÖÖËÌÙÜËÞÏ ÞÙ ÝßÚÚÙÜÞ ÖÙÍËÖ ÓØØÙàËÞÓÙØ˜ ÝÒËÜÏ ÓØÐÙÜ×ËÞÓÙØ ÙØ ÖËÞÏÝÞ ÞÜÏØÎÝ˜ ÍÒËÖÖÏØÑÏÝ ËØÎ ÝÙÖßÞÓÙØÝ ÓØ ÐÜÓÍË ËØÎ ÑÖÙÌËÖÖã˜ ËØÎ ÏâÚËØÎ ÞÒÏ ÎÓÑÓÞËÖ ÏÍÙØÙ×ã ËÝ áÏÖÖ ËÝ ÜßÜËÖ ÍÙØØÏÍÞÓàÓÞã˜ ÓØ ÞÒÏ ÍÙØÞÓØÏØÞ˜ ÞÒÜÙßÑÒ ÐßÜÞÒÏÜÓØÑ ÜÏÝÏËÜÍÒ˛ ÚÏËÕÓØÑ ÎßÜÓØÑ ÞÒÏ ÝÓÑØÓØÑ ÍÏÜÏ×ÙØã ÓØ ËÓÜÙÌÓ̋ ÏØãË ËÞ ÞÒÏ ÒÏËÎÛßËÜÞÏÜÝ˜ ÏÍÜÏÞËÜã̋ ÏØÏÜËÖ ÙÐ ÞÒÏ ˜ Ü˛ ÙÒØ ˜ ÍÙ××ÏØÎÏÎ ßËáÏÓ ÐÙÜ ÓÞÝ ÍÙØÞÜÓÌßÞÓÙØ ÞÙ ÐÜÓÍË˛ ÍÍÙÜÎÓØÑ ÞÙ ÒÓ×˜ ˫ ßËáÏÓ ÒËÝ ÞÜËØÝÐÙÜ×ÏÎ ÍÙØØÏÍÞÓàÓÞã ËØÎ ×ËÎÏ Ë ×ËÔÙÜ ÍÙØÞÜÓÌßÞÓÙØ ÞÙ ÞÒÏ ÍÙØÞÓØÏØÞ ÞÒÜÙßÑÒ ÓÞÝ ÓØàÏÝÞ×ÏØÞÝ ÓØ ÎÓÑÓÞËÖ ÓØÐÜËÝÞÜßÍÞßÜÏ˜

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RevolutionPlus Celebrates 7th Anniversary

ÏàÙÖßÞÓÙØ ÖßÝ ÜÙÚÏÜÞã˜ Ë ÜÏËÖ ÏÝÞËÞÏ ÎÏàÏÖÙÚ×ÏØÞ ÍÙ×ÚËØã ÒËÝ ÍÏÖÏÌÜËÞÏÎ ÓÞÝ ÝÏàÏØÞÒ ãÏËÜ ËØØÓàÏÜÝËÜã˛ Þ ËÖÝÙ ÜÏáËÜÎÏÎ ÝÙ×Ï ÙÐ ÓÞÝ ÖÙãËÖ ÝÞËÐÐ áÓÞÒ ÖÙØÑ ÝÏÜàÓÍÏ ËáËÜÎ˛ ÏàÙÖßÞÓÙØ ÖßÝ ÜÙÚÏÜÞã áÒÙÝÏ àÓÝÓÙØ ÓÝ ÞÙ ÌÏ ÞÒÏ Øß×ÌÏÜ ÙØÏ ÜÏËÖ ÏÝÞËÞÏ ÍÙ×ÚËØã ÓØ ÝßÌ̋ ËÒËÜËØ ÐÜÓÍË ËÝ áÏÖÖ ËÝ ÞÒÏ áÙÜÖÎ ÝÞËÜÞÏÎ ÙÚÏÜËÞÓÙØÝ ÓØ ͰͮͯͲ ËØÎ ÒËÝ ÝÓâ ÌÜËØÍÒÏÝ ÓØ ÓÑÏÜÓË˜ ÍÙàÏÜÓØÑ ÏÕÕÓ˜ ÕÏÔË ÌÏÙÕßÞË˜ ÌËÎËØ˜ ÌßÔË ËØÎ ÙÜÞ ËÜÍÙßÜÞ áÓÞÒ ËØ ÓØÞÏÜØËÞÓÙØËÖ ÙÐÐÓÍÏ ÓØ ËÖÖËÝ˜ ÏâËÝ˜ ˛ ÒÏ ÝÏàÏØÞÒ ËØØÓàÏÜÝËÜã ÍÏÖÏÌÜËÞÓÙØ ÝËá ÞÒÏ ÙÐÐÓÍÓËÖ ÖËßØÍÒ ÙÐ ÓÞÝ ÍÙØÑÖÙ×ÏÜËÞÏ ÝÓØÍÏ ÏàÙÖßÞÓÙØ ÖßÝ ÜÙÚÏÜÞã ÒËÎ ÏàÙÖàÏÎ ÞÙ ÌÏÍÙ×Ï Ë ÒÙÖÎÓØÑ ÍÙ×ÚËØã˛ ÒÏ ÍÙ×ÚËØã ËÖÝÙ ÜÏÍÙÑØÓÝÏÎ ÞÒÏ ÍÙØÞÜÓÌßÞÓÙØÝ ÙÐ ÓÞÝ ÜÏËÖÞÙÜÝ ËØÎ ÝÞËÐÐ áÓÞÒ ËáËÜÎÝ ÝßÍÒ ËÝ ÞÒÏ ˩ ÙÚ ÏÖÖÓØÑ ÏËÖÞÙÜÝ˜ ÙÚ ÝÏÖÖÓØÑ ÝÞËÐÐ ËØÎ ÙØÑ ÏÜàÓÍÏ áËÜÎÝ˛˪ ÓØØÏÜÝ áÏØÞ ÒÙ×Ï áÓÞÒ ËáËÜÎÝ ËØÎ ÑÓÐÞÝ ÓÞÏ×Ý˛ ÚÏËÕÓØÑ ËÞ ÞÒÏ ÏàÏØÞ˜ ÞÒÏ ÜÙßÚ ËØËÑÓØÑ ÓÜÏÍÞÙÜ ËÞ ÏàÙÖßÞÓÙØ ÖßÝ˜ Ü˛ Ë×ÓÎÏÖÏ ØËÖËÔË ÝËÓÎ˝ ˫ Ë× ÞÒÏ ÒËÚÚÓÏÝÞ ×ËØ ÓØ ÞÒÏ áÙÜÖÎ ÞÙ ÌÏ ÝßÜÜÙßØÎÏÎ Ìã ÐÜÓÏØÎÝ˜ ÐË×ÓÖã˜ ÍßÝÞÙ×ÏÜÝ ËØÎ ÚËÜÞØÏÜÝ˛ ÙØÏ ÙÐ ÞÒÏÝÏ áÙßÖÎ ÒËàÏ ÌÏÏØ ÚÙÝÝÓÌÖÏ áÓÞÒÙßÞ ÞÒÏÓÜ ÝßÚÚÙÜÞ˛

“Phase3 understands the existential threats posed by cyberspace attacks in a new digital era as well as in a world where business networks are more interconnected than ever before. We are determined to be that team that is at the forefront of protecting their own network and proffering solutions that help other businesses” Executive Chairman, Phase3 Telecom,

Mr. Stanley Jegede

T H I S D AY ˾ ͯ˜ ͰͮͰͯ

BUSINESSWORLD ‘MODERN ADVERTISING REQUIRES NEW THINKING FOR EFFECTIVE MARKETING SOLUTION’ ing council consciously, and in full knowledge that as a stakeholder, their contributions and support are valuable to the growth of the profession.” “I heartily congratulate the graduates and candidates for induction, as well as the associate registered practitioners who will be upgraded to full membership having satisfactorily fulfilled the requirements in accordance with the provisions of the Advertising Practitioners (Registration Etc.) Act, CAP A7, Laws of Federation of Nigerian 2004.” He said: “It is also important to note that APCON recognises the importance of continuous training and constant engagement with young professionals in our industry. We encourage you to consider our training programmes a priority for your personal development and to participate in them regularly.” While conducting the induction, Fadolapo extended his apologies to the old graduands whose graduation ceremonies could not hold in the last 8 years.

A’IBOM DISBURSES N1.2BN TO CASSAVA FARMERS TO BOOST FOOD SUFFICIENCY commissioner said has been on increasing the scope of the state government’s Green House with increased emphasis on the training and empowerment of individual holder farmers, especially youths and women with funds, equipments, agro chemicals, fertilizer and improved varieties of seeds and stems. The ministry, she said has also expanded its swampy rice production capacity to include individual holder farms in Okobo, Uruan, Ibiono Ibom and Nsit Ubium LGAs in addition to existing plantations at Ini Local Council. She maintained that the efforts were a holistic strategy to ensure that the state government’s target of local production of at least 80 per cent of food consumed in the state by 2023 is achieved.

NEWS

Group Writes Buhari to Reverse Suspension Order on Twitter Stories by Emma Okonji Human rights and advocacy group, Paradigm Initiative (PIN), has written President Muhammadu Buhari over the continued suspension of Twitter operations in Nigeria. While appealing to the federal government to rescind its suspension order on the microblogging platform, to enable Nigerians disseminate information freely, using their twitter handle. The group, which also copied the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr. Isa Ibrahim Pantami and the Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, in the letter, appealed to the president to rescind the suspension on the social media network, Twitter which was announced by the federal government on June 4, 2021. According to the letter signed by the CEO of PIN, Mr. Gbenga Sesan, “Twitter, just like many other digital and social media platforms, has become a space for Nigerians to communicate, seek and disseminate information, engage in public debates and legitimate businesses. Like many other governments across the globe, the Nigerian government has leveraged social media platforms to issue critical public information. “A recent demonstration of this is the use of Twitter by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) to

issue information related to the COVID 19 pandemic. “Currently the NCDC Twitter account has a following of 1.1 million. This is an acknowledgement of the importance of social media in reaching a significant proportion of the Nigerian population. “Since the suspension of Twitter services, Nigerians have experienced violations of the freedom to exercise their human rights online.” The letter further stated: “Growing Nigeria’s digital economy is one of the stated

priorities of the current administration which is to help put an end to poverty and mitigate Nigeria’s unemployment challenges. “However, this recent suspension by the current administration shows otherwise as many Nigerians who use Twitter for legitimate business purposes have been unable to do so. “Research by Netblocks has shown that the Nigerian economy loses at least 2,177,089,051.00 ($ 6,014,390.00) each day, since the indefinite suspension was announced.”

The letter noted that with respect to the human rights impacts of the indefinite suspension, the rights provided for under Chapter Four of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended) including the rights to freedom of expression and opinion, press freedom, access to information, and freedom of association and peaceful assembly have been adversely impacted as an estimated 40 million Nigerian users are on Twitter exercising their rights to engage, organise and mobilise at national and global levels.

Sesan stressed that in addition to the rights provided for under the 1999 Constitution (as amended), Nigeria has the obligation to promote, protect and fulfil its obligations under international human rights law. For example, with respect to the right to freedom of opinion and expression, Nigeria is a party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) which provides under its Article 19(1-3) that the rights are protected ‘regardless of frontiers’ with limited permissible restrictions.

REWARDING LOYALTY

L-R: Senior Category Manager, Peak Yoghurt, Orah Egwu; Winners of the Street credibility task powered by Peak Yoghurt, Atigogo Patrick Oghenekevwe; Owoeye Damilare; Chinenye Okam; and Marketing Manager, Peak, Friesland Campina WAMCO, Grace Onwubuemeli, at the Grand Finale of Street Foodz Naija Season Two held in Lagos... recently

FG, Tech4Dev Collaborate on Youth Empowerment Given the growing rate of unemployment in Nigeria in the past couple of years, Technology for Social Change and Development Initiative (Tech4Dev), a non-profit organisation has partnered the Federal Ministry of Youth and Sports Development to up skill 36,000 youths in one year. According to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), the Nigerian economy suffered another coronavirus-induced setback, as unemployment rate jumped from 27.1 per cent in Q2 of 2020 to 33.3 per cent in Q4 of 2020. Correspondingly, the number of unemployed persons rose by 6.4 per cent to 23.2 million as at Q4 of 2020 from 21.8 million as at Q2 of 2020.

The current unemployment rate is the highest ever, with unemployment scourge being magnified by COVID-19 crisis. According to Statista.com, the unemployment rate in Nigeria is estimated to reach 32.5 per cent by the end of 2021. This figure is projected to increase further in 2022. To address the growing unemployment rate, Tech4Dev said it would upskill 36,000 young Nigerians in digital and technology skills over the next one year through the Emerging Markets Model Initiative (EMMI) powered by Microsoft Philanthropies. EMMI is a multi-year private-public-nonprofit partnership necessary to build the capacity of the key

government Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) to offer sustainable, scalable reskilling and employment services aligned to the local labor markets. The initiative focuses on providing access to digital skills training to young persons living in underserved communities in Nigeria. The initiative will also work with government agencies to provide access to livelihood opportunities through job placement, entrepreneurship, and freelancing. It has a strong inclusive strategy to ensure women and ethnic groups are included in the digital economy. Speaking at the MoU signing ceremony held in the Minister’s Office in Abuja recently, the

Minister of Youth and Sports Development, Mr. Sunday Dare, expressed delight over the partnership, while stating the importance of the partnership towards the administration’s youth empowerment objectives. “This is a welcome idea as it aligns with this administration’s youth empowerment objectives and in particular, it aligns with the ministry’s Digital Skill Acquisition, Employability, Entrepreneurship, and Leadership initiative (DEEL), which is aimed at giving the Nigerian Youth an added advantage and a competitive edge in the global workforce,” Dare said. The Executive Director of Tech4Dev, Diwura Oladepo, said: “As an organisation, we are committed to creating

access to decent work opportunities and platforms to help provide economic prosperity pathways for financial freedom and economic empowerment for youths across Nigeria and Africa as a whole.” Oladepo added, “We are a proud proponent of the immense power of digital skills training as a tool to achieve this and improve livelihood. We are honored to collaborate with the Federal Ministry of Youth and Sports Development on the EMMI project to provide digital skills and digital job opportunities to the Nigerian youths. This partnership brings us one step closer to reducing the unemployment rate in Nigeria.”

Facebook Partners Cybersafe Foundation on Safety Tips Group Business Editor

Obinna Chima

Capital Market Editor

Goddy Egene

Comms/e-Business Editor

Emma Okonji

Asst. Editor, Money Market

Nume Ekeghe

Senior Correspondent

ËÒÏÏ× ÕÓØÑÌÙÖß (Advertising) Correspondents

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

ÙÝË ÖÏÕÒßÙÑÓÏ (ICT) Peter Uzoho (Energy)

Nosa Alekhuogie Facebook, in collaboration with Cybersafe Foundation, a non-governmental organisation in the information security ecosystem in Nigeria, recently hosted parents’ roundtable event designed to gather insights on the kind of safety tips parents need, determine how they would like to receive the tips and equip them with digital skills needed to navigate the digital world. The virtual event focused on teaching parents how to use and

access some of the basic safety tools and features available on the Facebook platform to help keep children safe online. According to Facebook, providing parents with the basic digital literacy skills while on their parenting journey would be an important step in helping the next generation of leaders to better understand and utilise the power of digital tools to take full advantage of what the internet has to offer. Speaking at the event, Facebook’s Safety Policy Manager, Africa, Middle East and

Turkey, Sylvia Musalagani, said: “Facebook is committed to the safety of users on our platforms and especially that of young users. We have developed partnerships, policies, tools, programmes and resources that are aimed at keeping our users safe online. ”By teaching parents how to use and access some of the basic safety tools and features on our platform, we are taking necessary steps in ensuring that the next generation are equipped with the online safety training they need to

have better online experiences in the future.” While speaking on the partnership with Facebook, the CEO, Cybersafe Foundation, Confidence Staveley, said: “This roundtable presented a perfect opportunity for parents to provide feedback directly to Facebook on its current child online safety resources and desired additions or improvements that they will like to see. We are pleased that the main sessions and breakout rooms made for very conversations and parents in attendance

shared their opinions freely.” In recent years, Facebook has trained thousands of people on digital literacy skills. In 2021, Facebook is preparing to train over 20,000 participants across Africa on safe, responsible and beneficial usage of the digital platforms. Facebook says it is committed to the well-being of individuals and communities visiting its platforms and has invested in initiatives designed to build awareness on responsible online behaviour, critical thinking and understanding of social issues.

T H I S D AY ˾ JULY 1, 2021

BUSINESSWORLD

ANALYSIS

Enhancing Pay-Tv Industry Financial Inclusion: Govt, Stakeholders’ Responsibility through Innovation Since the determination of the federal government to switch over from analogue to digital broadcasting, GOtv Nigeria has been driving the Pay-Tv industry with technology innovations to sustain digital broadcasting, writes Emma Okonji

Ben Okoye

Digital antenna

he journey towards the transition from analogue to digital terrestrial television broadcasting in Nigeria commenced in 2006 with the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) Regional Radio Conference, which resulted in the Digital Plan for Region 1 of the ITU and the subsequent Geneva 2006 (GE-06) Agreement. The practical realisation of the transition commenced in Nigeria only with the launch of the Pilot Programme in Jos on 30th April 2016 and the subsequent roll out in Abuja on December 22, 2016 and Lagos in May 2021. In spite of these interventions, Pay-Tv players in Nigeria have been at the forefront of driving digital broadcasting, through technology innovations. Migration from analogue to digital broadcasting, comes with a lot of technology innovations in the areas of service delivery, content provision and the facilities needed to provide digital services and contents. In the Pay-Tv industry where technology is fast driving digital broadcasting, GOtv Nigeria is playing a leading role with innovations in technology through its various self-service options and the enhanced decoder functionalities.

Beneﬁts There have been considerable discussions about the benefits of digital broadcasting. A recent report from GSM Association (GSMA), gave details of the benefits of digital broadcast, over analogue broadcast. The report listed the benefits to include: an increase in the capacity of broadcast transmission networks by improving spectrum efficiency, such as more data transmitted per unit bandwidth; provision of better signal quality which increases robustness to interference and picture degradation; The support of High Definition (HD) services and interactivity; a potential reduction in transmission network energy usage; the implementation of single frequency networks (SFNs) instead of the independent parallel networks, which are common in analogue broadcasting. The report added that the take-off of digital TV would likely boost sales of television sets and digital video recorders, and that Digital TV could lead to positive upstream benefits in terms of increased time spent watching television and greater demand for digital content. The consumer benefits arising from digital switchover are widely recognised, happen relatively quickly and are primarily driven by increases in programming and quality, the report said, adding that there are also broader benefits to society of introducing digital television, including the potential to use digital broadcasting to narrow the digital divide, reach unserved areas, and to provide e-government and other digital services. In addition to covering the activities required for the transition to digital broadcasting and its benefits and costs, the GSMA report, also looked at the role of government in achieving digital broadcasting. The report said government’s intervention and management would be

required to drive the digital switchover process. “A market-led approach alone is unlikely to meet universal coverage and timeframe objectives for switch-off, as sufficient, safeguarded funding from government, would provide the foundation for long term planning and would facilitates a smooth transition,” the report added. Self service The GOtv self-service platform enables customers to independently manage their GOtv account online, easily clear error codes, pay or renew subscriptions and upgrade packages thereby reducing the need to physically visit GOtv outlets or dealers. The self-service platforms are designed to enhance customer experience and allow customers quick and easy avenues of resolving complaints and enjoy uninterrupted quality entertainment with their families. The MyGOtv app allows subscribers to clear error codes, check account balances, renew subscriptions, change packages, and update their details, thereby reducing the need to physically visit GOtv outlets or dealers. MultiChoice encourages customers to take advantage of the toll-free customer care lines, which puts them in direct contact with GOtv customer care representatives via phone calls or through any of the GOtv social media accounts like Facebook and Instagram and via its website. Decoder functionality GOtv Nigeria introduced an Enhanced Decoder Notification (EDN) functionality to keep its customers informed and in control of their viewing experience. The EDN functionality refers to a set of icons that appear on the screen containing valuable information like how many viewing days are left before a customer’s next payment is due, the latest special offers and discounts, and information on new content, campaigns, and campaigns and upcoming celebrations. Customers can access this information by pressing the “okay” button on their remote, followed by “messages” on the menu bar, and then use the arrow keys to scroll through the different messages. With the new EDN service, customers will have fewer interruptions whilst viewing. Digital packages In order to make digital broadcasting affordable to all Nigerians, irrespective of their earnings and allowances, GOtv Nigeria came up with packages that gives every Nigerian, access to digital broadcasting. The packages include: GOtv Max, GOtv Jolli, GOtv Jinja and GOtv Smallie. The GOtv is the highest GOtv package available. The package contains all the GOtv channels covering documentaries, sports, shows for kids, music, movie channels, and lots more, and it offers a whopping 75 channels to choose from. NOTE: Interested readers should continue in the online edition on www.thisdaylive.com

he Nigerian government launched a National Financial Inclusion Strategy in 2012 with the goal of reducing the percentage of financially excluded citizens by 20 percent by 2020. Following the launch of the Strategy, the rate of financial inclusion inched forward, albeit slowly, before plummeting in 2015, only to pick up again in subsequent years. According to Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), exclusion has decreased by 10.2 percent as of 2019. Furthermore, Head of Financial Inclusion Strategy, CBN, Mr. Joseph Attah, assured the nation that the ambitious goal of achieving a 20 per cent decrease was still achievable. However, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, pre-planned financial inclusion initiatives had to be halted, as did the possibility of achieving the desired reduction. Also the pandemic and resulting global lockdown greatly affected CBN’s other inclusion targets of 80 per cent by 2020 and 95 per cent by 2024. As a result of the pandemic’s disruption, Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Enhancing Financial Innovation and Access (EFInA), Ashley Immanuel, stated that the goal set for 2020 (80 per cent inclusion) would most likely be met by 2030.In addition to this, the CBN’s official figures on inclusion in 2019 revealed that, without intervention, meeting the 2024 target is not entirely feasible. Given the economic benefits that financial inclusion brings to the nation and its citizenry, it is critical that the journey to making Nigeria an inclusive country does not rely solely on government-led initiatives. If Nigeria is to meet the CBN’s target of 95 per cent financial inclusion by 2024, the government will require assistance. Some institutions have recognised this and have begun to work aggressively to improve Nigeria’s financial inclusion. Banks and other financial institutions, predictably, are at the forefront of these nation-building initiatives. Nigerian banking institutions have leveraged technology and service design to bank the unbanked in recent years. However, with only 29 per cent of adults having accounts, three per cent having mobile money accounts, and three per cent having nonbank financial accounts, the gap still remains enormous. Perhaps this is why some

institutions have expanded their financial inclusion initiatives. These financial institutions have begun to offer customers the opportunity to win millions of naira for either opening a new account and maintaining a certain account balance or maintaining a required account balance in an existing account. Initiatives like these help to reduce the alarming rate of dormant accounts, which undermines the goal of meeting set targets. Existing accounts were dormant in 48.9 million (32 per cent) of cases as of April 2020. This negates the purpose of financial inclusion initiatives. To address this anomaly, some financial institutions have implemented reward systems that reward customers for every interaction they have with their platform. All of these initiatives are things that the government, as represented by the CBN, cannot undertake because it does not have direct financial interactions with customers. Adding to the urgency for increased financial inclusion is the effect it has on the economic empowerment of citizens. People who are financially vulnerable can improve their lives through financial inclusion. Financial inclusion enables these people to save and invest, thereby improving their living conditions. As a result, it is a critical tool in the fight against poverty. Given that financial inclusion also helps in combating income inequality, Fidelity Bank, a leading Nigerian institution at the forefront of the financial inclusion drive, has organisedits Get Alert in Millions (GAIM) Savings Campaign for three consecutive seasons, with the fourth currently ongoing. The campaign has set out to enrich the lives of several Nigerians through a savings promo that requires new and existing customers to save and maintain a specified balance. Beyond enriching the lives of these Nigerians through the benefits that come from saving, the scheme has also empowered them with muchneeded cash prizes and gadgets. Fidelity Bank and other visionary institutions have taken on the responsibility of improving Nigerians’ and the nation’s economic conditions. More institutions must join the already existing ecosystem actors who are accelerating the rate of financial inclusion and reducing economic strains if Nigeria is to meet and exceed all set financial inclusion targets. -Okoye, wrote from Lagos.

T H I S D AY ˾ ͯ˜ ͰͮͰͯ

JET to Reduce Carbon Kaduna, Airtel Partner on Broadband Emission with Electric Deployment Vehicles Stories by Emma Okonji

In a bid to preserve the Nigerian environment of carbon emission from fossil fuel cars, and to align with the world in making a gradual shift from combustion engines to electric vehicles, Jet Motor Company (JET), a tech-focused automobile assembly and design company, had introduced electric vehicles that are fit for Nigerian roads. The eco-friendly mobility is a fusion of European design and Asian technology, designed specifically to address poor road infrastructure in Africa, Nigeria inclusive. Introducing the electric vehicle at a webinar press conference recently, the Founder of JET Motor Company, Mr. Chidi Ajaere, said the electric vehicles are targeted at corporate organisations that manage fleet of vehicles, to help them reduce cost of vehicle maintenance, since the electric vehicles come with premium qualities like Reinforced suspension, Reinforced shocks, Corrosion resistance, Increased ground clearance and Parts availability. According to him, “Road transport contribution to global emission has reached 23 per cent and JET Motor seeks to join forces to reduce carbon

emission on Nigerian roads. With the global projection that 54 per cent of global new car sales will be electric by 2040, while 33 per cent of world’s car fleet will be electric by 2040, Nigeria has reasons to embrace the adoption of electric cars on the Nigerian roads.” He listed some of the features of electric vehicles to include: high capacity lithium-ion phosphate battery of 107.6kwh with a driving range of over 250km; Ingress protection car battery rating of IP68 and a decomposition temperature of 600 degree centigrade; A traction motor with a larger torque of 950Nm, making it possible for the vehicle to accelerate from 0-100 in less than 20 seconds and Supercharger, that can charge a 107.6kwh battery from 0-100 per cent state of charge in less than two hours. Ajaere said the JET Motor electric vehicles have over 80 per cent operating and maintenance cost reduction, Improved health and safety standards due to zero emissions feature, Fewer moving parts resulting in simpler transmission and a quieter driving experience, Fast charging with 2-in-1 power charger, and the cars have the ability to travel across over 250 km on a single full charge.

The Kaduna State government has announced a strategic partnership with Airtel Nigeria, to modernise and digitalise its entire telecoms and network infrastructure as well as deploy broadband services across the state. Speaking recently during an Memeorandun of Understanding (MoU) signing ceremony with the leadership of Airtel Nigeria, Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El Rufai, said the partnership would be a significant step in improving the quality of life and boosting productivity in the state as the entire world has gone digital while noting that the government under his leadership is in a hurry to deliver on its electoral promises as well as empowering and transforming lives. According to El Rufai, the partnership with Airtel, “is a major landmark for us as an administration because since we came into office we have

identified about 41 locations in Kaduna State that are blackspots that have no telecom services at all. We have been pursuing the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) to deploy the Universal Service Provision Fund (USPF) to fill those gaps without much success. “Our aspiration is for every part of Kaduna State to have minimum of 3G coverage. We are very grateful to Airtel for agreeing to be our partners in achieving this aspiration. “3G coverage is the minimum we need in this century for people to pursue quality lives and livelihoods. We believe in that very strongly and we are prepared work with you to achieve that.” The Kaduna State governor also noted that the agreement would build even higher levels of penetration of digital technologies to every nook and cranny of the state, while commending Airtel for not only providing services that enhance

lives and livelihoods, but also providing timely interventions through its corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives. Commenting on the partnership, the Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of Airtel Nigeria, Segun Ogunsanya, said: “Today marks an important milestone for all of at Airtel Nigeria. We are not only excited by this partnership with Kaduna State to deploy broadband services across the State but we are inspired as this project aligns with our corporate purpose of connecting people, empowering Nigerians and touching lives. “With this partnership, Airtel will deploy broadband services in Kaduna and provision 4G services across key cities in the state specifically Kaduna, Kafanchan and Zaria while also upgrading 3G services and providing Internet access and network connectivity across the entire state. “I believe that broadband is a universal human right that should not be denied anyone.

It bridges the gap between prosperity and poverty. It lifts so many people out of poverty. “So many studies on how broadband can transform life has been done and some of these studies say that for every one or two percentage increase in broadband penetration, it can actually increase GDP by up to 10 per cent. For me, access to broadband is as good as connecting to electricity and water. With this project, many will be lifted out of poverty in Kaduna and I really look forward to this project.” Following the MoU signing ceremony, Airtel Nigeria will work with Kaduna State government to immediately commence the project with a timeline of upgrading 3G services across the entire state by end of 2022 and also deploying 4G services across key cities in the state specifically in Kaduna, Kafanchan and Zaria. The project scope also includes deployment of fibre network across the entire state.

Academy Recognises NCC, Others for Supporting Economic Growth The Nigerian Academy of Engineering (NAE), one of the highest professional bodies in the engineering field in the country, has recognised the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and others in appreciation for their support of the activities of the academy towards enhancing economic growth and development. The NAE is a not-for-profit and non-governmental organisation established for the purpose of promoting excellence in technological and engineering training and practice to ensure the technological growth and economic development in Nigeria. The Executive Vice Chairman of NCC, Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta, received the recognition award at the 2021 Academy Technology Dinner/Lecture organised by NAE in Lagos recently, which had the Minister of Science and Technology, Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu, as special guest of honour. Speaking on the theme: ‘Water, The Peculiar Features Earth’s Most Abundant Compound’, Ogbonnaya assured the academy of his support in order to promote its activities. According to him, federal government would continue to provide the enabling environment for a paradigm shift from commodity-based to knowledge-based economy for a sustainable national development. “Government has raised the number of registered intellectual property (IP) from six in 2015 to 184 in

2019, which is an instrument in increasing innovation and economic empowerment,” Ogbonnaya said. Danbatta, who is a Fellow of the Academy, had since 2015, remarkably stepped up NCC’s engagements with the academia and other professional institutions in science and technology towards advancing the socio-economic development of Nigeria. He said NCC was delighted to have been recognised for the modest contribution to the activities of the academy and to the advancement of the nation’s economic development. “On behalf of the board, management and the entire staff of the NCC, I wish to express our appreciation to the Nigerian Academy of Engineering. We see this gesture as an acknowledgement of the little efforts we are making towards the progress of the NAE,” Danbatta said. The EVC also spoke about the various interventions the commission has been making through its concerted initiatives such as the Digital Awareness Programme (DAP) for secondary schools and Advanced Digital Appreciation Programme for Tertiary Institutions (ADAPTI) for tertiary education across Nigeria. President of NAE, Alex Ogedengbe, further appreciated the commission for its consistency in supporting the academy, especially since the coming on board of Prof. Danbatta as the country’s chief telecoms regulator.

Mast

CWG Records N2.6 Billion Profit CWG Plc, which is listed on the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) has declared a gross profit of N2.6 billion in its 2020 financial year. This represented a 13 per cent growth over the N2.3 billion it declared in 2019. The company also declared a net revenue of N11.7 billion in 2020, which was 22 per cent higher than the prior year’s income. Given its financial performance for the year ended 31st December, 2020, the company assured its shareholders of good returns on their investments, in line with its mandate to deliver value to its shareholders who believed and invested their money in the company. The Group Managing Director/CEO at CWG Plc, Mr. Adewale Adeyipo, gave the assurance at the 16th Annual General Meeting of the company, which held recently in Lagos, where the audited

statements of the financial position of the company were discussed, together with the statement of comprehensive income for the year ended 31st December, 2020. Although the company declared zero dividend from its transactions for the year ended 31st December, 2020, it however assured the shareholders of dividend in the coming years. “In the last five years performance of the company’s business, there has been improved year-on-year in its financial results, with great efficiency. But even at that, a lot more needs to be done in order to pay impressive dividend to shareholders in the coming years. “Our performance for last year, showed we are close to dividend payout. I can assure our shareholders that we will tell a better story in our next AGM, as we seek their support,” Adeyipo said.

Analysing the financial performance of the company, Adeyipo explained CWG’s increase in top line by over 27 per cent. He explained that the operational cost used in delivering the results, also reduced, compared to previous years. “There is a new restructuring in our line of business and we are getting the necessary tractions and collaboration, which are factors that are driving the business growth that we see today. Overall, I can say the business is doing very well and I can assure the shareholders of dividend payout in the coming years,” Adeyipo further explained. Fielding questions about the performances of the three subsidiaries of CWG Nigeria Plc in Ghana, Cameroon, and Uganda, Adeyipo said all the subsidiaries were doing well with revenues and business engagement of over 52 per cent, despite the global effect

of COVID-19 on businesses. He said the Pan Africa initiative of all the four hubs of CWG Plc in Nigeria, Ghana, Cameroon and Uganda, remained on course to deliver services to 26 African countries, leveraging the Pan African strength. Chairman, CWG Plc, Mr. Phillip Obioha, said the improved revenue and gross profit were due to the gains from the decision the company took in 2019 to re-invest in some of its platforms and subscription business. “We increased our capacity and staff enablement to provide customised development and consulting services on specific platforms and market segments. The company also invested a lot of time and resources to our Innovation Hub. We engaged skilled developers and came up with a compelling value proposition and product roadmap for most of our software applications,” Obioha said.

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As FCCPC, Discos Resume Talk on Consumers’ Plight Arbitrary billing, mass disconnection of electricity, and others took center stage at a recent stakeholders’ engagement, involving the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission, the Distribution Companies and consumers in Lagos, Raheem Akingbolu reports:

hen Clement Akpene moved into his house in Lekki Gardens Phase 3, some few years ago, he felt fulfilled and was expecting to live life to the fullest. Though he is resident in Lagos, he works as a civil servant in Abuja, hence he spends only a few days with his family in Lagos. However, the fulfillment and happiness he had anticipated with living in the porch area of Lagos seems to have vanished. Not that Clement or any member of his family is having any health challenge or whatsoever, but the problem he has had to battle with over the years seems unbearable. At the Lekki Gardens Phase 3, where he resides, over the years, he had been made to feel the pains of what he called “broad day light extortion” by the Excos of the estate over power consumption. The Excos, according to him, had taken over the responsibility of EKDC by selling power to them at exorbitant rates. While his several attempts to see that justice is done over the years have not been yielding fruits, when another opportunity presented itself last week, Clement joined several other electricity consumers at the five-day Electricity Consumer Complaint Resolution Platform event held in Lagos, organised by the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC), to seek redress. The platform lived up to its expectation as it was a gathering of electricity consumers, representatives of Eko Electricity Distribution Company, IKDC, and the industry Regulators as consumers rolled out a barrage of complaints. The Electricity Consumer Complaint Resolution Platform afforded the Discos, Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, NERC and the consumers come face to face to resolve some of the issues. Looking seriously distraught, Clement, while recounting his bitter experience in the estate, he noted that he had been in darkness for over 10 months as his power supply had been disconnected by the Excos over indebtedness. “While the Eko Disco approved N21.00 per kilowatt of electricity for members of the estate, the Excos bills each household N60.00 per kilowatt of electricity and makes remittance to Eko Disco”. “As of now, they have even increased the tariff from N60 to N80 which is going to be effective from July 1. “What they do is that they have special tools which they used in removing EKDC from the estate and they forced us to be paying for power to them as a third party to EKDC. “They have a special software they use in generating tokens just like EKDC does. They calibrate our meters not to work with EKDC installation but to work on their own installations so that they can be able to control, generate tokens that use the same meters. If you buy an EKDC unit, if you load it on those meters, they would not work. While Clement said the excos have been selling power supplied by EKDC for about five years till date, he said they have disconnected several people in the last two years for missing payment. “For instance, the minimum payment for electricity bill is N41,000 which gives 200 units. “If you travel for about six months, for instance and you miss the payment, when you return, you are expected to pay about N246,000 or get disconnected, ‘’ he lamented. Strangely enough, the complainant noted; “the meters, as programmed by them, (the Excos) run faster than the normal installation by the DISCOS. N41,000 light will give you 200 units and it will not last you up to a week. Accompanied by another aggrieved resident, Aisha Usman, Mr. Akpene said the extortion has gone on for over four years in the estate and while they brought it to the attention of EKDC, the disco referred them back to the executives of their CDA telling them to go and settle with them. According to them, though in one of their meetings with EKDC, the Excos were told to revert to government tariff, but till this date,

Irukera

they have refused. “I have made complaints to EKDC, they never replied, and when they even replied, they would tell me and other residents to go and comply with the excos . This is against human rights. “During one of the meetings we had on 21 January in Marina, with EKDC, the NERC which flew in from Abuja told the excos that they do not have any licence to sell or distribute power to the residents. However, while responding to Clement’s barrage of complaints, the EKDC’s lawyer, who said the case is already in court, said the Disco was working on the matter. He however, explained that the difference of what the members of the estate were paying is for the maintenance of the Estate generator and purchase of diesel. Usman, on her part, said by living in an estate should not mean she does not have the right to have access to the government’s approved electricity tariff. Reacting to the development, the FCCPC Executive Vice Chairman/CEO, Mr. Babatunde Irukera said the scheme by the estate was wrong as he insisted that there should not be middle men between consumers and DISCOS. He promised that the issue of the Lekki Garden Estate would soon be resolved. In his address, Irukera, who said the commission got the highest number of complaints from electricity consumers, charged the electricity distribution companies to show more sensitivity in handling consumer issues given the importance of such utility. He urged the Discos to be more responsive, sensitive and transparent in dealing with consumer complaints as this will go a long way in addressing some of the challenges being encountered by the consumers in their quest

to get services. Irukera pointed out that not getting enough electricity supply was not the major problem rather the manner in which the consumers’ challenges are being addressed and not only called for a change but urged electricity consumers to insist on their rights. In a remark, the Head Consumer Affairs at Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), Mr. Shittu Shuaibu, charged the consumers on estimated billings to pay the amount proportionate to what they consumed pointing out that electricity consumers who are on estimated billings have the right to contest excessive billings and while that is being done, the Discos should not disconnect them. In a reaction, the Head Consumer Service Department at Eko Electricity Distribution Company, Mrs. Iyiola Ezichi, who explained the process of complaints resolution said the prepaid meter remained the solution to some of the challenges. While the train of the Electricity Consumer Complaint Resolution Platform moved to the mainland where IKDC controls, the mood wasn’t different. Several electricity consumers stormed the venue at Alausa and took turns to narrate their displeasure of the Discos officials’ delays in resolving their issues, disconnecting them arbitrarily, giving them crazy billings and collaborating with their Community Development Associations [CDA] to extort them. They also decried poor service, as well as being forced to fund the purchase of electrical installations like transformers by the Discos. Complainants from Community Development Association, CDA Igbelaara Ikorodu, said they mounted pressure on the government of Mr. Ambode (former Lagos state governor) to provide them with a transformer.

Disconnecting when people are exercising their legitimate right to dispute the bill is not different from kidnapping; it is hostage taking because there is a process but the moment you decide to make their lives miserable unless they do as you dictate amounts to hostage

The members of the community noted that though the transformer is there, they are yet to be given power supply. According to the three members representing the community, Isiaka Hassan, Engineer Alilu Usman, and Sowole Mudasiu, the Ikeja Disco in connivance with their CDA is demanding they pay N3,900,000.00 for the installation of the transformer. Speaking at the Ikeja platform, Irukera described a scandalous penchant by electricity distribution companies to disconnect consumers, saying this is tantamount to hostage taking and kidnapping. Condemning the idea of disconnecting consumers from the source of electricity while there is a pending dispute, he likened it to hostage taking and kidnapping. “Disconnecting when people are exercising their legitimate right to dispute the bill is not different from kidnapping; it is hostage taking because there is a process but the moment you decide to make their lives miserable unless they do as you dictate amounts to hostage.” Regretting bitterly that complaints about electricity still tops the complaint list in the Commission, Irukera said that services in the electricity sector continue to define the reputation of the Commission poorly. He noted that electricity is not just any other product but so vital, and “until everyone in that value chain understands and appreciates the importance, that is when we will make significant progress if not we will continue to have electricity as the greatest source of consumer complaints.” “If the Discos can be more sensitive, more transparent in their dealings with consumers I suspect that the complaints we receive may then go down to half.” Regretting the way most of the Disco staff treat electricity consumers, he said it should not be so. “The officials of the electricity Discos should not be arrogant, they should not carry on as if they are divinity because they are not. Their uniform and other apparatus does not confer divinity on them, they should be happy to listen and attend to electricity consumers because that is what they are paid to do.” According to him, “Discos have gotten to a point where no one takes their bills seriously anymore, because they are considered outrageous. I think the pressure on metering will not be so bad if the estimated billing was more transparent and reasonable.” Irukera, while charging the distribution companies to stop the arbitrary billing system, asserted that “connecting balance sheets to an opaque arbitrary metering system is the worst form of abuse, especially for an essential public utility.” He also contended that group disconnection usually adopted by distribution companies because of the debts owed by some members of the affected groups unfortunately disregards and undermines the rights of other consumers in the groups who did not owe. “For me, there’s something fundamentally, absolutely irreparable and inexcusably wrong with penalising people because of the conduct of others. It is just not excusable. “Government should never do that to its people. But if the government does it as a state actor, as inexcusable as it is, it might even be permissible. But one person who has absolutely no right and should never have the prerogative to do it is a private citizen to another private citizen. And that is what Discos do. “They group-disconnect consumers. If there’s one responsible consumer who is being disconnected unjustly, what you are doing is that you are discouraging responsibility,” he added. The FCCPC boss disclosed that the demonstration of huge investments and capital outlay in infrastructure development by the DisCos remained a step in the right direction but the inability to translate those investments into quality service delivery remained a cause for concern. He said consumer complaints are part of what should be expected in any business model but the inability of the DisCos to resolve those complaints in a transparent manner has been a recurring decimal.

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BUSINESSWORLD

INTERVIEW

Shall-Holma: Sealink Will Usher Competitive Shipping Regime in Africa The Chairperson of the Sealink Implementation Committee, Mrs. Dabney Shall-Holma, has said the country must build a legacy in the maritime industry through the Nigerian ExportImport Bank funded- Sealink project which seeks to end the undue exploitation of Africans by the international shipping companies. In an exclusive interview with James Emejo, the former director of commercial shipping services at the Nigerian Shippers Council stated among other things that the project which will be launched by year-end, will boost the country’s drive to diversify the economy and create jobs as well as modernise shipping and make it more competitiveness and affordable in the region and the continent in general

is presently demonstrating adaptability. It is saying okay we have lost one year but it doesn’t matter, we can start running, we can fast-track this project and get it to finish.

hat exactly is the Sealink project? The Sealink project is actually a regional Sealink project that was conceived, studied, prepared to ensure the integration of the west and central African sub region by trade which is trade integration but also to stretch it across the continent of Africa and ensure the improvement in the intra-African trade statistics. What necessitated this concept? We carried out two studies - the first study was motivated by complaints and worries of shipping companies, exporters and importers into the country - whose trade was suffering on account of trans-shipment to Europe. A cargo will leave Nigeria and is going to Liberia or Sierra Leone or Côte d’Ivoire and Senegal - and it would go all the way to Europe and be trans-shipped for weeks and sometimes months before the same cargo is brought back to Africa. Secondly, we also discovered that the cost was three times more because we are allowing then to take it to Europe and bring it back again. So for cost effectiveness, we wanted to do that. Then for competitiveness and survival of whatever exists as a national fleet or the indigenous players, we needed to protect them. So we said, if we create Sealink, all of them will fall into place because they will now be parties to that Sealink. So why do we want to deprive our nation from getting an alternative to what the multinational shipping companies are providing? And that was how we came about the Sealink and NEXIM Bank has been promoting Sealink initiative from when it was a concept of course, it wasn’t a project but when it became a project, it became a PPP and NEXIM set up a special purpose vehicle (SPV) made up of three component parts. What is the composition of the SPV? Well, the SPV has the Sealink consortium partners who are actually owners of either terminals or ships or logistics or also have competences that will help to galvanise and fast track the project. So they are consortium members and there are about 12 of them or more now because we keep signing them on as we need competences in certain areas. Like the person who is responsible for ship vetting and digitalisaion, we just signed him on now. Then you go to the public sector which is made up of essentially government agencies. There are some government agencies that are in the Sealink implementation committee but they relate directly to the maritime industry. They are the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Nigeria Inland Water Ways Authority (NIWA), and the Nigerian Shippers Council (NSC) from where I came, because I was a director, commercial shipping services in the NSC. And all these were happening under me. The complaint unit was in my department. So I knew who brought complaints and I know what they needed. And when the first feasibility study was carried out I participated in it so that I could see for myself and confirm the veracity of the information I was receiving. It gave me clarity on what we needed to do. But when it came to promotion and financial support and grant, it also came to political advocacy and NEXIM had been the one supporting this project and doing very well in supporting the project. You mentioned that there were some

Shall-Holma

hidden costs in current trans-shipment from Europe to Africa, what are these costs? You see, most of the hidden costs are imbedded in the fact that we didn’t have connectivity and we had no access to each other and that’s why there are too many non-tariff barriers. They are non-tariffed because when you are looking for a way out, you now go and meet somebody who says give me N500, 000 I will do this for you. It’s a non-tariffed barrier because it’s not tariffed. If it is tariffed you are paying taxation to government and you will be happy. But you are paying to somebody else and the cost of non-tariff barriers were so much more than the normal cost. So we needed to also look at that. That was why the feasibility study was carried out and it truly revealed that we needed to do something about our maritime industry. We also must do something about creating access. And how do we create the access? We need to create access on the inland waterways so that as we are coming to the inland waterways we can divert traffic from Lagos to Onitsha. We can divert traffic from Lagos to Ajaokuta and then everybody picks his cargo as it’s being diverted. So we thought it actually makes economic sense to do something like that. And we also saw that the British government did this same thing. You know sometimes, when somebody does something in wisdom and you ignore it and push it aside, a time will come when

you’ll have a reflection and say these people just have been clever doing this. They had nothing else, that the inland waterways and to use and was what they were excavating our wealth, carrying and carting them away. And do you blame them? They were our colonial master and they knew what to do. And they expected that when you come in stream, you will go and use the same routine and develop it further so that you can expand the inland waterways and it will became their own Rhine and Danube. But you didn’t do that and they never told you. The chart they prepared they took them back to England and so that’s why we are presently charting. So, you don’t send a vessel that is very expensive into uncharted waters. If we were going to use normal vessels we would not mind, we will just go and put them there so if anything happens to them or they crack open or they run aground, it doesn’t matter. But you can’t bring a $16 million vessel with echoes sounders and you put it in uncharted waters. If fact, nobody will forgive you. Even the classification society will tell you I am not classifying this vessel for this use. So, you’ll come across a lot of obstacles in trying to navigate approvals and get necessary documentation if you don’t chart your waters. So you must chart your waters and that is why Sealink has taken this long to take-off. The year 2020 was collapsed, as far as I am concerned it wasn’t in the calendar of my life because nothing happened. Sealink

We need to create access on the inland waterways so that as we are coming to the inland waterways we can divert traﬃc from Lagos to Onitsha. We can divert traﬃc from Lagos to Ajaokuta and then everybody picks his cargo as it’s being diverted

What are the challenges confronting the Sealink project? One major challenge in the maritime industry is funding. No investor comes into the maritime industry expecting to see results instantaneously. You don’t expect to see return on your investment and so it is a long gestation investment. It’s an investment that you must tirelessly follow through. But you must believe that it has capacity to bring in yields. You must believe that revenue will come at the end. So you will follow it gently and carefully, you don’t rush into it. So when we were talking in the days and years gone by, we were doing advocacy. We wanted people to understand and we were trying to create awareness both in the sub region because we went across the West and Central sub-region: we went to Cameroon and did a road show, we went to Ghana and did a road show. It was to actually demonstrate that this is doable between us as African countries. We need to do something about changing the dynamics of our trade as Africans. Others are trading 40 per cent, 50 per cent with one another but our trade is dismal. It’s still below 11 per cent. And we are not even generating must from that trade as Africans. So we need to do something differently. So we were generating that awareness across the length and breadth of central Africa. And we even had an occasion when we engaged South Africa and it was in South Africa they told us that we needed to start talking to North Africa, which North Africa is also willing to join. The East Africans are always open to this kind of opportunities. East Africans are coming together. I know they are mainly people who are a little bit revolutionary because of their Arusha Declaration and all that. So they think African and will want to do everything African. So in their own case, it’s an easy support. So, before we were able to do all these, it took time, it took meetings, consultation, it took seminars and advocacy and road shows. That was done but to come to the nitty-gritty of the project, we are now looking at establishment of a base because you can’t do shipping without a base. So we have gotten Ajaokuta Second Jetty as the base. It has been ceded to us the Federal Ministry of Solid Minerals and Mines but the main the agreement was signed with the Ajaokuta Steel Complex because they are technically the owners. They are a parastatal under mines. But they needed the support and the blessing of their minister and the minister had been very supportive to the project because he understands it. It’s common and basic economics. You know that if you do something there, if you are able to lift three to 10 million metric tons, you know the kinds of jobs you’ll be creating? Upwards of 25,000 jobs. If we do that and we are able to remove restiveness from Nigeria, even if it is just the restive ness we are able to remove, all of us will be satisfied that we have accomplished something. Because if you get people engaged, people don’t have time to do anything else. Everything a Nigerian wants is to be able to earn a living and once he earns a living legitimately and whatever is happening he is included in it, he would not have any problems. NOTE: Interested readers should continue in the online edition on www.thisdaylive.com

THURSDAY JULY 1, 2021 • T H I S D AY

NIGERIA’S PERSISTENT INSECURITY: A RALLYING CRY FOR DECISIVE ACTION BACKGROUND Nigeria is currently gripped in the throes of an unsettling and enveloping crisis of insecurity and violence. This ugly trend KDV LQH[RUDEO\ GHÀHG YDULRXV DSSURDFKHV DQG VROXWLRQV 7KH situation is menacingly growing daily, with victims cutting across all strata of our society, including the security apparatuses. Undoubtedly, this portends a grievous future for the country WKDW WKUHDWHQV RXU VRFLR HFRQRPLF VSDFH DQG SROLWLFDO ÀUPDPHQW The growing audacity by the bandits to expand their criminal incursions into our educational institutions poses grave danger to education, besides a looming food crisis occasioned by farmers’ abduction and displacements. The sordid revelations about a possible organ trade for those unable to pay ransoms are both scary and revolting. Presently, our agrarian rural spaces and our urban centres are engulfed in the twin problems of kidnappings and unprecedented violence, leading to the collapse and loss of FRQÀGHQFH LQ RXU VHFXULW\ DJHQFLHV This troubling development has also sharpened our misconceptions, intolerance, and polarization along ethnic and religious lines. Thus, there is the compelling need to construct and adopt multifaceted strategies matching, both in synergy and practicalities, to prevent the impending cataclysm. While we appreciate governments’ efforts at various levels, we nonetheless hasten to declare that they have not been very effective in tackling the pervading menace. If the current levels of insecurity and violent crimes remain unabated, they can worsen the existing poverty, internal displacements, movement restrictions, and ethnic tensions. These represent the underlying concerns why our Forum of Former Federal Legislators, is adding its voice to the raging national discourse on insecurity, insurgency, and violence in our polity. We have deliberated on these issues extensively, and posit the recommendations below as possible solutions. RECOMMENDATIONS 1. Governments must listen to the genuine demands of the people and correct perceived areas of injustice, exclusion, and economic alienation. All tiers of government must invest in mass advocacy, education and awareness campaigns to mitigate the youths’ anger and oppositional mentality against the state and society. 2. All levels of Governments should continue to intensify dialogue with non-state actors to assuage frayed nerves and FRQWDLQ DJLWDWLRQV FRQÁLFWV DQG LQVXUJHQFLHV EHGHYLOLQJ RXU society. The authorities must never jettison the age-old policy of stick and carrot approaches. We must resuscitate our brokendown traditional communications and dialogue mechanisms in resolving disputes and differences; and re-establish the themes of patriotism, nationalism and statesmanship. 3. We must vigorously pursue the ranching policy to encourage sedentary pastoralism as a solution to the persistent farmers/ KHUGHUV· FRQÁLFWV $OO VWDNHKROGHUV PXVW HPEUDFH DQG DGRSW necessary engagement, education, and cooperation to design peaceful transition and exit strategies for nomadic pastoralism to achieve a permanent solution. 4. The Federal Government needs to scale up our land borders control measures to police the illegal entry points effectively. The Federal Government should tackle the duplicitous concealment of arms in imported containers and vehicles plying our highways by criminals and warmongers. 5. A timeline to vanquish the menace of the Boko Haram insurgency, using all viable options on the table, including the deployment of private military contractors, must not be waived aside. Our affected communities must not be allowed to wallow in this traumatic and senseless war longer than necessary. 6. The government must end the bloody campaign of secessionists who, through blackmail, assassination, violence, LQFLWHPHQW SURÀOLQJ DV ZHOO DV UD]LQJ GRZQ SXEOLF DQG SULYDWH assets, have created panic in the populace. The government must be worried about the burgeoning proliferation of arms including locally made weapons, and interrogate their sources to block the illegal routes and apprehend the culprits. 7. Special forests rangers and well equipped ‘attack and

defense stations’ should be set up in our forests to work hand in hand with local vigilantes to rid our ungoverned rural spaces of criminal infestations. 8. Our thoughts about the current security impasse squarely rest on a fully equipped, motivated, professional, disciplined and proactive military as well as law enforcement agencies. There is a compelling need to reform and modernize our security architecture by investing in the latest technologies and weapons to tackle the new and sophisticated trends in crimes and violence. Our assessment of the security forces’ capability and level of preparedness in terms of human resources, equipment, technology, and discipline leave so much to be desired. Our law enforcement agencies should embrace and deploy modern security, warfare technologies and strategies to upend these frightening and disastrous security challenges.

war and violence. Creating gainful employment in both our rural and urban communities is an emergency. 15. We strongly endorse and advocate for community participation and mobilization to support the current war on terrorism, banditry and insurgencies to rid our society of this threatening danger. Our grassroots community policing and intelligence gathering should be strengthened to protect our society. We should individually and collectively contribute logistics, vehicles and equipment to our armed personnel to boost their morale and capacities.

16. We urge the Nigeria Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) to upgrade its radar and surveillance resources to effectively monitor all aircrafts in our airspace, in view of reported cases of security compromise and breaches. Helicopters and small aircrafts were allegedly involved in dropping supplies for the :KLOH QRW EHLQJ REOLYLRXV RI WKH IXQGLQJ FKDOOHQJHV ZH ÀUPO\ terrorists and bandits, without interception or information to the believe an HIÀFLHQW GHSOR\PHQW XWLOL]DWLRQ DQG PDQDJHPHQW public. of resources will create the missing synergies that would ensure 17. There is now the ever-present necessity to set up Special the needed motivation and dedication of the security agencies. Courts for the quick dispensation of justice to tackle the growing 10. The government should consider recalling its security and menace of kidnapping, banditry, cybercrimes, insurgency, and military reserves back to services at this perilous time of our other new forms of crimes in our society. national emergency. The numerical strength of the armed forces should be urgently increased to correspond to the country’s 18. Finally, the government should declare a State of Emergency size, population and the involvement of the military in internal on insecurity DQG PDNH VXIÀFLHQW DSSURSULDWLRQV WR IXQG DQG PRGHUQL]H WKH VHFXULW\ VHFWRU IRU HIÀFLHQW SHUIRUPDQFH DQG security matters. delivery. 11. We must FULPLQDOL]H HWKQLF SURÀOLQJ RI FULPHV borrowing from the Rwandan example. We can’t afford to be qualifying CONCLUSION criminals along ethnic identities which crystallizes into hate and In conclusion, we must be more vigilant and heed the ominous revulsion against the groups. Criminals are criminals without signs of potential instability which the lingering crises of insecurity and insurgency portend for our deeply fractured GLVWLQFWLRQ DQG ZH PXVW ÀJKW WKHP LQ XQLVRQ and fragile nation. We call on all Nigerians to eschew the over12. The government’s actions must be ÀUP GHFLVLYH DQG politicization and exploitation of our fragility and challenges appropriate to deter all criminals. Hostage takings and for subterranean political interests. Rather, this moment calls for kidnappings for ransom payments must be made unattractive sobriety, which also demands that everyone needs to be more patriotic and apolitical in the efforts to rescue our country from and the death penalty prescribed on all offenders. imminent, but avoidable cataclysm. 13. The victims of violence, kidnappings, cattle rustling, and LQVXUJHQF\ VKRXOG EH YHULÀHG DQG DGHTXDWHO\ compensated to The National Assembly should remain a relentless partner in PLWLJDWH UHSULVDOV DQG WKH HVFDODWLRQ RI WKH FRQÁLFWV through this campaign, and revisit all resolutions as well as reports on security meetings and retreats with a view to ensure their new recruitment. diligent implementation. The legislators should vigorously 14. Governments at both states and federal levels must brace up engage NEMA and other government agencies whose mandate to avert a humanitarian catastrophe due to increased migrations is to ameliorate the disequilibrium caused by the prevailing of people from rural to urban centres to escape the theatres of security situation.

SIGNED USMAN BALKORE MOHAMMED DR. SHUAIBU HASHIMU ABDULLAHI RALPH OKEKE DAKUKU PETERSIDE ABAYOMI COLLINS MERCY ALMONA-ISIE CHIDI NWOGU NZE CHIDI DURU MOSHOOD SALVADOR SHEHU KAGARA SAUDATU SANI ALIYU MUSA BINDAWA DAVID IDOKO SANI R/DORUWA ABDUL NINGI ALIYU SAIKI MUSA AUSA ABUBAKAR FIDEL AYOGU TAIYE OPALEKE BAKURA LAWAN BELLO SHUGABA EHIOGIE WEST-IDAHOSA AUSTINE NWACHUKWU GARBA DATTI MUHAMMAD ABUBAKAR MOMOH EMMA ARIGBE-OSULA STANLEY OHAJURUKA LUMUMBA DAH-ADEH UCHE EKWE

DR. RABE NASIR CHRIS ETTA SAMSON OSAGIE IBRAHIM ZAILANI TEMI HARRIMAN ABUBAKAR BWARI FARUK MUSTAPHA GARBA SHEHU MATAZU IKE CHINWO ABDULLAHI MUSA IBRAHIM EBBO ABDUL OROH WAKILI ALIYU ALMAJIRI GEIDAM BINTA GARBA MASI IQUO INYANG KABIRU UMAR JEFF OJINIKA BAYERO NAFADA ABUBAKAR CHIKA ADAMU CHIBUDOM NWUCHE PASCAL ODIGWE VICTOR LAR UMARU BATURE ADEYEMI OLUWOLE MAHMOUD BABA BICHI KAWU SUMAILA SANI TAKORI SANUSI DAGGASH

CHUMA NZERIBE, PETER IGBODOR, WALE OKEDIRAN FARUK ABDULLAHI FRANK INEKE ADAMU FANDA LAWAL GARBA GBENGA ELEGBELEYE DURO MESEKO, JANET ADEYEMI CLEVER IKISIKPO AHMED ALIYU WADADA SANI SALE MINJIBIR NASIRU DANTIYE AUSTIN OPARA ISA BIO IBRAHIM ALTINE KAJIJI CAIRO OJUGOH HALIMS AGODA HASSAN JONGA MOHAMMED KUMALIA SULEIMAN ISIYAKU JERRY UGOKWE YAHUZA IDRIS BABAGANA TIJJANI SAIDQ ABDULLAHI LASBRY AMADI ISAH MATORI HAMISU SHIRA

THURSDAY JULY 1, 2021 •T H I S D AY

T H I S D AY ˾ ͯ, ͰͮͰͯ

IMAGES

Photo Editor Abiodun Ajala Email abiodun.ajala@thisdaylive.com

L-R: Vice Chairman, Nigeria Association of the Blind, Lagos Chapter, Mr. Adeola Aina; General Manager; Lagos State Office for Disability Affairs (LASODA), Mr. Ogundairo Oluwadamilare; Chief Executive Officer, Lagos State AIDS Control Agency (LSACA), Dr. Monsurat Adeleke; Coordinator, Lagos State Association for the Deaf, Mr. Dikko Ahmed at the Sensitization Program for the Hearing and Visually Impaired People on HIV Prevention and Stigma Reduction in Lagos...recently

L-R: Group Head Emerging Businesses, Access Bank Plc. Ayodele Olojede; Regional Sales Director, Abuja and North Central, Access Bank Plc. Adebanji Jimoh; and CEO, Bold Artistry/Winner MSME of the year 2021, Abaver Vitalis at the MSME Awards held in Abuja...recently

Governor Dapo Abiodun (right) and his Zamfara State counterpart, Bello Matawalle during the rally to welcome the elected oﬃcials members of Peoples Democratic Party in Zamfara state into the All Progressives Congress at Gusau…recently

L-R: Chairman of the Occasion, Mr. Okezie Okereke; Author of the book Flying Five Flags, Mrs. Lois Otse; President, Nigeria Association of Women Journalist (PNAWJ), Mrs. Ladi Bala and Book presenter, Dr. Raphael James, during the Book presentation of Flying Five Flags in Abuja...recently PHOTO: KINGSLEY ADEBOYE

L-R: Minister of Health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire; Minister of Finance, Dr. Zainab Ahmed; United Nations Deputy Secretary General, Dr. Amina Mohammed; Vice President Yemi Osinbajo; Governor of Nassarawa State, Mr. Abdullahi Sule and Minister of Agriculture, Sabo Nanono during the Consolidatory Dialogue for the United Nations Food Systems Summit in Abuja…recently

The Edo State Governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki (left), receiving a letter from the Chairman, Egbema Clan, Ijaw Youth Council, Toruwei Peter, during a courtesy visit to the governor at the Government House, Benin City... recently

Chief of Staﬀ to Ogun State Governor, Alhaji Shuaib Salisu; Secretary to the State Government, Mr Tokunbo Talabi; Deputy Governor, Engr. Noimot Salako-Oyedele and the State Sector Commander of the Federal Road Safety Corps, Mr Ahmed Umar during an on-the-spot assessment of tanker explosion at Ogere…recently

T H I S D AY ˾ , JULY 1, 2021

HEALTH & LIFESTYLE

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

Cleft Lips and the Pain of Nigerian Children Although over 6,186 children are born with Cleft Lip and Palate in Nigeria every year, amounting to 16 children per day in the country, there appears to be little attention beamed on the public health challenge despite being correctable. Sunday Ehigiator writes

nnually, May 31 marks the celebration of ‘World No Tobacco Day’. The celebration is aimed at informing the public on the risks associated with tobacco use, and what individuals can do to claim their constitutional right to a healthy environment. The theme for this year poses a challenge to smokers by encouraging them to ‘commit to quit’ smoking. And it was in line with the theme that Corporate Accounta Every human is fearfully and wonderfully made, more so are children. The joy of having a child is comparable to nothing ever made or acquired. But then, how quickly this joy runs out when a child is born with Cleft Lip/Palate (CLP) is a source of concern for stakeholders. Their concern is understandable given that the condition can be corrected so the children can live a hearty life devoid of bullying and discrimination, which is often the lot of those with Cleft Lip, with most of them wallowing in low self esteem. Discrimination Discrimination was the case of a 35-year-old Shadrach Aruoture, who at a point in his life saw the condition as a curse. He grew up in isolation and had been treated like an outcast by family and friends, save for his elder brother, Meshach who helped him grow. According to him, Meshach never let him feel less human, as he was always rising to his defense whenever bullies and abusers came calling. “His death was like though my whole life was taken away,” Shadrach recalls with a heavy sigh of deep pain. He continued, “I remember there was a time a boy called me “Aranmu” (someone who speaks through the nose), because I was still not in control of my emotions, I fought with a guy and injured him on his lips too. My brother joined me to beat up a lot of people who abused me then. “It was not funny growing up being discriminated against and treated as a comic object at all. When my brother died, I had to rise up to my own defense and really saw life for myself. I became very hostile to the world due to several abuses and victimisation I suffered. “I also remember when one of my teachers asked the whole class to sing a body-shaming Yoruba song for me. The Yoruba song was ‘Asin bumi ni mu je’ (meaning, rat has bitten off my nose), because of the way I talk. I cried my eyes out. I couldn’t beat my teacher, but if I had my way, I would have beaten him up. But he was sacked though, because my mum took up the matter. “I also remember vividly when one of my lecturers shut me up, and asked me to return to my seat, because he was not hearing what I was saying while answering a question in class. There was also this scenario I will never forget in my entire life. I was asked to recite the English alphabet A to Z. I had difficulties pronouncing consonant letters. “Then, the teacher, a woman, and probably mother, got angry because I was not getting it right, and out of frustration, she hit my mouth on the desk and lied to my parents that I fell while playing roughly, and they believed her.” His parents, Mr. and Mrs. Abel Aruoture had had his lip corrected within the first four weeks after birth, but couldn’t go further with the palate due to baseless myths sold to them by family members and friends. They claimed Shadrach’s condition was a spiritual attack that needed a spiritual approach. Some even claimed he was an evil child born to waste his parents’ money. Shadrach said he grew up being that young kid in an area every parent warned their wards not to go close to “because of my condition, as if I was some kind of plague to be avoided. This really affected my self-esteem as a child”. Regaining Self-esteem The well lettered and multitalented Shadrach, who is now his parent’s only son with two sisters, did not allow his condition deter him. Today, he boasts of a degree in Accounting and Finance

live a normal life.

A CPL child

from Delta State University, Abraka. He said his father played a larger role in helping him regain his confidence and self esteem. “In 1997, my father handed me over to one Mr. Godwin Kpiliboh who taught me how to play drums. In the process of learning to play the drum, Pastor Toba Osuloye, who was our music director, called my attention to the fact that I have a very nice voice. He then asked me to sing while he recorded it on a tape then. “I cried when it was played back to me. I cried because, at first I didn’t believe I sounded better in the recording, and also, it was the first time I was receiving such credit on my voice from an outsider, as he told me I sounded amazing, despite my speech condition, it was relieving. “He also gave us an assignment to write and compose a song which I did. Then not too long after, he asked me to lead the choir on one of the Sunday services in church. That was how the whole transformation started for me. “Facing the congregation to sing back then helped me a lot. After my first appearance to lead the choir then, I discovered I was actually a talkative. So, I used that as an opportunity to talk to people not minding my impairment. This restored my confidence and improved my esteem.” Today Shadrach isn’t just a songwriter, singer, and instrumentalist, he is also leading a gospel musical group of 12, called, ‘Stewards Crew’, with over 10 songs to their credit. On how the group came to being, he said, “I knew I love singing but I was still very timid and not confident to do it on my own. So, I decided to work with a team of talented singers who can do it on my behalf. My intention was to give these guys moral support. All I tell them is, if a guy like me with bad speech can do it, you can do better. So, those who believe in my instinct joined me.” Encounter with Smile Train Shadrach had his palate fixed in 2017 free of charge by Smile Train, world largest cleft-focused organisation with presence all around Africa. Speaking on how he came in contact with the organisation, Shadrach said: “I went for ministration with my crew at one musical concert around Ojuelegba. While I was singing, a lady heard me and came requesting to see me after the event. We met and she told me she could be of help with my speech getting better. That she will recommend me to a doctor and that the surgery is free. “The lady connected me with one Nurse Adesewa who in turn introduced me to the maxillofacial department and I was briefed about Smile Train, to be the sponsor of the surgery. To God be the glory, the surgery which would normally have cost me millions of naira was done for me free of charge. I was also enrolled in speech classes to help me improve on my speech, free of charge by the organisation. “Today, there is a lot of difference between where I was before, and where I am now in terms of my speech. It has drastically improved. Also, I am no longer hostile to people; I have learnt to love myself and this has improved my self-esteem a lot, and being around kids also helped me in a lot of ways to be in control of my emotions regardless of what is said against me.”

Shadrach Aruoture immediately after sugery

Myths about CLP A research titled ‘Social Analysis of Cleft Lip and Palate Abnormality in Nigeria’, carried out by Alice Umweni, from the University of Benin, Kokunre Agbontaen Eghafona, from the University of Benin and Hartwig Sauter Noma, of Children’s Hospital, Sokoto, Nigeria, posited that culture contributes to differences in medical care and the ways in which health is defined. “It also can influence the relative incidence of a disease or disorder (Schaefer, 2005). Researchers have found that diseases are rooted in the shared meanings of particular cultures. “Culture also plays an important role in the widely shared concept of disease in Nigerian society. Nigerians believe that diseases are caused by natural, preternatural, and mystical/mysterious factors. “Preternatural explanations are related to the belief in witchcraft (Erinohso, 2005). The belief in witchcraft is widespread and entrenched in Nigeria. Witches are believed to exist and are reputed to have powers to cause unrest of the mind and illness.” Despite the recognition of the natural explanation of diseases, it is sad that Nigerians often invoke sorcery, witchcraft, or cosmic forces as a plausible explanation for illness. Such is the case of cleft lip and palate in Nigeria. In different parts of the country, there are different wrong perceptions of children born with CLP. In some parts of the southern region of Nigeria, anecdotal evidence suggests that children born with CLP are believed to be a curse from the gods, and parents of the child must immediately seek and pay a native-doctor to help them kill the child before night fall, hence, he/ she will bring bad luck to the community. In some other communities in the western region of the country, if a woman gives birth to a child with CLP, it is assumed that she was promiscuous when pregnant with the child. She is abandoned by her husband and relatives and most times faced with the option of milking life out of the child to save her face and be accepted back into the society. Some other parts of the western region of the country hold the myth that a woman that gives birth to a child with CLP must have mocked another child with similar condition, or offended a powerful individual who then places a curse on the unborn child, who could then be born with a CLP Generally in Nigeria, children born with CLP are treated as though they have a plague that must be avoided, hence the maltreatment, bullying, abuse and all forms of discrimination. Experts View on CLP Speaking with THISDAY, a Medical Expert and the First Oral, Maxillofacial Surgeon in Nigeria, Prof. Olugbemiga Ogunlewe, explained that CLP was a birth defect characterised by a split either in the lip or a hole in the palate. She said: “When a baby is born, the baby just comes out with the discontinuity of the upper lip or a big hole in the roof of the mouth. “Cleft anomaly is not a life threatening anomaly. It is not something that will kill the baby. It is not evil. It is treatable, and the child can also

Causes of CLP Prof. Ogunlewe noted that the causes of CLP are not yet fully understood, and research is still ongoing. However, she said “it is believed that it is caused by interplay between what we acquired from outside and then the genetics, what is internal. “And because we don’t understand the causes we talk about risk factors that are those things that predispose an individual to having cleft. Most often it has to do with what the pregnant mother eats or was exposed to during pregnancy. “If she is exposed to some radiation, takes some drugs that have not been fully studied or takes some concussion that she doesn’t know what it contains, or if she is sick during pregnancy etc. These are predisposing factors. “That is why we advise that a pregnant mother should actually be cautious of what she takes in and the environment she goes to during pregnancy,” she said. Treatment and Management of CLP According to Prof. Ogunlewe, the lip surgery doesn’t take more than 40 minutes or even less, while the palate takes probably an hour. “Because the child who has a CLP has some other associated problems or associated issues. It is not just the lip or the palate. The child cannot feed properly, the child may not be able to hear properly, that is, he or she may have some problems with hearing, the child may not be able to speak properly, particularly if he has that of the palate, and the child may also be malnourished. “So all these things have to be taken care of, it’s not just about closing the gap. This is why the treatment takes some time. We repair the lip at about age three-month, and even at that three-month, the baby must be well fed, and must attain a certain weight level, and a certain blood concentration level etc. “We do the palette when the child is six months old. We do the gum, that is the alveolus between seven and eight months. And even within or before these periods, if s/he has any problem with the arrangement of the teeth, it is taken care of. “And then, by the time the patient has had full eruption, that is, all the teeth has come out of his mouth, they may be badly arranged, there may be a discrepancy between the upper jaw and the lower jaw, so those ones are taken care of when the child is about 20 years old. That is why it takes a while to have a holistic treatment.” Call for Awareness, Solution Prof. Ogunlewe said a child born with CLP anomaly cannot live a normal life if it is not repaired. “Imagine a child that cannot speak or hear very well, he cannot relate very well with his peers. “The quality of life is going to be affected. The child is going to be withdrawn, and may even become hostile to the society due to frequent stigmatisation and bullying. This is why they must be treated. “Without being sponsored, the cost of treatment is difficult to estimate because it is from birth till about 18 to 20 years. Some treatments are so expensive. “In fact, orthodontist treatment alone is over a million. Yet the child is going to feed, do investigation, undergo speech therapy, transport to and fro the hospital, pay for surgery, admission etc. if we are to quantify it, it costs millions of Naira. “We need more advocacies among society members to stop discrimination against theses children, but instead be the solution by linking such child to organisation like Smile Train, that is treating them free of charge. They won’t pay a dime. “Parents should learn to bring the child out, and let them have access to care. They can come to the Lagos State University Teaching hospital, Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, and they will get help.” She said the treatment which is fully sponsored by Cleft Train, from day one till the treatment is completed, is free of charge, even up to their transportation expenses.

T H I S D AY ˾ , JULY 1, 2021

NEWS

Navy Takes Drug Abuse, Dental Campaign to School Students in Lagos Chiemelie Ezeobi The Western Naval Command (WNC) of the Nigerian Navy recently took the campaign against Drug Abuse to the students and pupils of Immanuel Anglican School, Apapa, Lagos. As much as this was part of measures to enhance civilmilitary relations, the medical rhapsody also witnessed a dental campaign that educated the school children on how to take care of their teeth. The navy also carried out other health activities like deworming, while they donated hand sanitisers, branded face masks, insecticide treated mosquito nets, educational materials and a digital infrared thermometer. According to the Flag Officer Commanding (FOC), Western Naval Command (WNC), Rear Admiral Jason Gbassa, the choice of drug abuse was necessary because of the increase in incidents of drug abuse in the society. Therefore, he said bringing it to the students was a way of nipping it in the bud, adding that “the effect of drugs in our society particularly the youths is far reaching with negative

consequences in society. “The navy is a place where we recruit youths each year and if we do not get it right at this point, people will come into the force with a problem of negative drug abuse. “Invariably, this will impact on our operations so, we are in a way, trying to nip the problem in the bud. The importance of eliminating drug abuse is so urgent that even a commission had been set up at the national level to address the issue. “A part of the security problems we are facing is due to youths abusing drugs across the country. It is from this premise that the navy has decided to focus on negating drug abuse among our youths”. On the medical rhapsody, he said the navy has a tradition of regularly reaching out to host communities as part of measures to enhance civilmilitary relations, adding that it was also part of its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), which is a key priority in the vision of the Chief Of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Awwal Gambo. He said: “The vision aims at sustaining partnership

and catering for the welfare of the host communities in which any naval formation is domiciled.” Gbassa said he was optimistic that the medical outreach would further strengthen the

long standing cordial relationship between the navy and the Apapa community. The Vicar of Immanuel Anglican Church, Dr.Fred Ekeke who was represented by Reverend Cannon Basil Iberosi,

while thanking the FOC and NN for the philanthropic gesture, said the medical items and other materials will go a long way to meet the medical needs of the staff, students and pupils of the school.

On the dangers of drug abuse, Iberosi said it was doing a lot of havoc to the society, adding that parents have a role to perform in this regard by monitoring the activities of their children.

FOC Western Naval Command, Rear Admiral Jason Gbassa presenting a school bag to one of the pupils of Immanuel Anglican School, Apapa, Lagos

Mobilising Domestic Resources for Improved Access to Family Planning Services in Nigeria Arinze Chijioke Nigeria is currently the seventh most populous nation in the world with a fertility rate of 5.4 and an annual growth rate of 2.6 per cent. By 2050, the country is projected to become the third most populous nation. With a much lower annual GDP growth rate than the USA, the country’s resources cannot meet the needs of this rapidly growing population. But 15.7 million of the 45 million women of reproductive age in Nigeria want to avoid a pregnancy. Sadly, 9.5 million (60.5 per cent) have an unmet need for modern contraceptives, also known as birth control, which helps women who want to plan their families and prevent pregnancy. This results in the increasing rate of unintended pregnancies which can lead to unsafe abortions which account for five-13 per cent of all maternal deaths and unplanned births. Although the Nigeria Family Planning Blueprint, 2020-2024, outlines the country’s plans

for achieving a revised target modern Contraceptive Prevalence Rate (mCPR) of 27 per cent by 2024, funding remains inadequate to cover the unmet need for family planning services. In addition to the reduction of allocation to family planning in the 2021 budget, there was the recent announcement of an 85 per cent cut in funding to United Nations Population Fund, UNFPA by the UK government, further putting pressure on family planning programmes. To press home the need for improved funding to ensure access to FP services, the Nigeria Health Watch on Thursday, June 24 hosted a family planning Policy Dialogue with the theme, ‘’Domestic Resources Mobilisation for sustained Family Planning Services in Nigeria’’. The need for a strategic objective to improve domestic funding to adequately cover family planning costs countrywide through mobilisation of resources from new public and private sector funding

sources formed the major crux of the discussion. The dialogue brought together speakers and participants from federal and state governments, development partners, civil society organizations, youth groups and the public who discussed the current landscape for family planning services in Nigeria. While delivering the keynote address, Co-founder, Rotary Action Group for Reproductive, Maternal and Child health, Prof. Emmanuel Adedolapo, said there was an impelling need to shift emphasis on reliance on foreign donors and leverage on local sources for funds to tackle family planning needs in the country. He noted that the best way to achieve this would be for critical stakeholders to come together and prepare documents that will convince sources, both private and public, that every penny injected into the services will be well spent. “We shall embark on a massive advocacy campaign to ensure that we get the

proportion we need to inject into FP and sectors such as banking, oil and gas and communications, will be helpful in providing the required funds “he said. Earlier in her address, Managing Director of the Nigeria Health Watch, Vivianne, Ihekweazu, said it was worrying that the Nigerian population is increasing more than the economy, resulting in low investment in critical sectors, such as health which is just 0.6 per cent of GDP. The impact of lack of adequate funding for FP services is far-reaching. Among these impacts as head of Programs, Education as a Vaccine, Nigeria, Toyin Chukwudozie, noted, was the reduction in the availability of commodities for FP services. Chukwudozie said this has resulted in an increasing rate of unintended pregnancies which can disrupt education for young girls and lack of access to economic opportunities. She maintained that there was the need to understand that behind the statistics of women with unmet needs for

contraceptives, are real and young people who form a greater percentage of Nigeria’s population. Lending his voice, Country Director, Marie Stopes International, Mr. Effiom Nyong Effiom said that the reduction in funding for FP services is partly as a result of the impact of COVID-19 on both foreign donors and the Nigerian government. He however regretted that state governments have failed to reflect funding for FP services in their budgets, noting that FP was the cheapest means of reducing maternal death. Part of the reason why several sectors continue to lag behind in Nigeria is the lack of favourable and well thought out policies by the government. If FP services must improve in Nigeria, Country Representative, United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), Ms Ulla Elisabeth Mueller said the right kind of policies and an enabling environment must be in place. “We must think about our

revenue and ensure that funds for FP services are not only captured in the budget but also allocated and prioritised, “she said. She further noted that one of the major impediments to accessing family planning services was the proven dimension between men and women because only 46% of Nigerian women aged 15 to 49 years make their own decisions regarding health care, contraception, and sex with their husbands or partners. Similarly, Chairman, Technical Management Committee, Association for Advancement of Family Planning (AAFP), Dr Ejike Oji, said it was necessary to begin with policy driven investment such as making sure that it is made a legislative agenda at the National Assembly so it can get the kind of attention it deserves. “We must educate our leaders so they can understand the importance of FP and where to invest funds. It is not just about asking them to provide funds. They need to know how important it is for the country, “he said.

Mastercard Partners Africa CDC to Acquire COVID-19 Vaccine for 50Million People Ayodeji Ake The MasterCard Foundation has announced it will deploy $1.3 billion over the next three years in partnership with the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), to save the lives and livelihoods of millions of people in Africa and hasten the economic recovery of the continent. According to the President and CEO of the MasterCard Foundation, Reeta Roy, Saving

Lives and Livelihoods initiative will acquire vaccines for at least 50 million people, support the delivery of vaccinations to millions more across the continent, lay the groundwork for vaccine manufacturing in Africa through a focus on human capital development, and strengthen the Africa CDC. “Ensuring equitable access and delivery of vaccines across Africa is urgent. This initiative is about valuing all lives and accelerating the economic recovery of the

continent. In the process, this initiative will catalyze work opportunities in the health sector and beyond as part of our Young Africa Works strategy. “The African Union’s goal as set out in the African COVID-19 vaccine development and access strategy is to vaccinate at least 60 percent of its population approximately 750 million people or the entire adult population of the continent by the end of 2022. To date, less than two percent of Africans have received at least

one vaccine dose” she said. The Director of the Africa CDC, Dr. John Nkengasong, said the new partnership will build on the efforts of the COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access facility (COVAX), the COVID-19 African Vaccine Acquisition Task Team (AVATT), and the global community to expand access to vaccines across Africa. “Ensuring inclusivity in vaccine access, and building Africa’s capacity to manufacture its own vaccines, is not just

good for the continent, it’s the only sustainable path out of the pandemic and into a health-secure future, this partnership with the MasterCard Foundation is a bold step towards establishing a new public health order for Africa, and we welcome other actors to join this historic journey. “In 2020, Africa faced its first economic recession in 25 years due to the pandemic. The African Development Bank has warned that COVID-19

could reverse hard-won gains in poverty reduction over the past two decades and drive 39 million people into extreme poverty in 2021. “Widespread vaccination is recognised as being critical to the economic recovery of African countries. The initiative builds on an earlier collaboration between the MasterCard Foundation and the Africa CDC to expand access to testing kits and enhance surveillance capacity in Africa” he said.

T H I S D AY ˾ , JULY 1, 2021

NEWS

Organisations Partner to Tackle Endemic Neglected Diseases in Ekiti Rebecca Ejifoma The END Fund, a private philanthropic initiative has partnered IHS Nigeria, a leading telecom infrastructure service provider company, to tackle prevalent neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) in Ekiti state. The END Fund, which is solely dedicated to ending the five most common NTDs, announced this at its recent multi-stakeholder webinar hosted under the aegis of its African NTD Leadership Initiative. The planned donation from IHS Nigeria aims to enable END Fund to deliver thousands of treatments to those most affected by Onchocerciasis, Lymphatic Filariasis, Schistosomiasis and Soil Transmitted Helminthiasis. This will help reduce the suffering, disability and poor health caused by these diseases, and significantly improve the quality of life of the recipients. The Director of Public Affairs, END Fund, Oyetola Oduyemi said: “The END Fund is delighted to collaborate with IHS Nigeria in tackling these diseases that cause cognitive impairment, physical ailments, social isolation, and economic regression.” Through the financial commitment of this partner, she emphasised, “we will make good strides in reducing the burden for these diseases in Ekiti”. According to Oduyemi this is in support of the state government’s drive to enable a healthier populace, and also feeds into the national framework for supporting the sustainable progress of Nigeria, especially in the areas of health and economic advancement. “Combating the NTDs is directly correlated to attainment of SDG 3 on good health and wellbeing while contributing to meeting other SDGs including SDGs 1 and 2 to alleviate poverty and hunger respectively, and SDG 4 - enabling people to pursue an education,” says the director. The event was supported by many critical stakeholders who

are committed to both building and expanding a sustainable and locally driven movement to end NTDs on the continent. At the multi-stakeholder webinar, the Chief Corporate Services Officer, IHS Nigeria, Dapo Otunla said: “Today we are pleased to take this significant step in collaborating with the END Fund to tackle these debilitating diseases. “Our robust programme in Ekiti state involves funding preventive treatment for endemic NTDs, supporting the effective deployment of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) measures, and working to end open defecation and its detrimental impact on the people of the state - including the contribution of this unhealthy practice to the state’s NTD burden.” As a business, IHS Nigeria said it has invested in improving WASH practices across Nigeria in which thousands of households have been impacted. He recalled: “Last year, the Vice President of Nigeria, through the Minister of Water Resources, awarded our Nigeria CEO, Mohamad Darwish, a WASH Ambassador status under the Clean Nigeria Campaign. We know that addressing NTDs is only a logical step in the right direction and this will enable our impact to go further.” Citing the World Health Organisation, Otunla hinted that over 134 million Nigerians require treatment for one or more NTDs, with 48 million children and adults affected by intestinal worms, and 25 million people affected by schistosomiasis, adding, “In terms of impact this disease is the world’s second most devastating parasitic ailment after malaria”. As noted at the webinar, Nigeria bears approximately 40 per cent of Africa’s NTD burden. Hence, the END Fund has been a key partner for the Nigerian national framework for tackling NTDs, and continues to support the country’s plans to eliminate endemic NTDs.

UNICEF, NOA Call for Enactment of VAPP Act in Imo Amby Uneze ÓØ áÏÜÜÓ The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and National Orientation Agency (NOA) have appealed to the Imo State House of Assembly to enact the Violence Against Persons Prohibition Act (VAPP) to save the girl child from all forms of violence and abuse. The agencies made the call at a workshop with community and religious leaders from Njaba and Isu Local Government Areas of Imo State on the need to eliminate Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) in Imo. Speaking at the event, NOA State Director, Mr. Nazzy Njoku commended the Imo Assembly for enacting the Female Genital Mutilation (prohibition) Law (No. 6 of 2017) and charged the State Assembly to expedite action on the VAPP Act. He however said an enactment of the VAPP Act will go a long way in reducing the practice of FGM in the state to its barest minimum.

“FGM may not end without proper legislation and this is why we commend the Imo House of Assembly for enacting the Imo state FGM prohibition Law (No. 6 of 2017) and hope that soon, the VAPP Act will be adopted in Imo”, he said. UNICEF Facilitator for FGM in Imo, Mr. Vitus Ekeocha said the workshop was part of the agency’s communityto-community dialogue with community leaders for the elimination of FGM in the 21 communities of the LGA. Ekeocha who described FGM as a form of violence against persons stated the negative effects of FGM such as low self esteem and sexual dysfunction in marriage can further be avoided with the enactment of the VAPP Act in Imo. UNICEF Programme Officer for FGM in Imo, Mr. Chigozie Orjiako urged community leaders to appeal to residents of their communities to consider ending the practice.

Cerebral Palsy is not a Death Sentence- Rukome Otuoniyo Says Chiamaka Ozulumba The condition known as Cerebral Palsy (CP) is a group of disorders that affects a person’s ability to move and maintain balance and posture. CP is the most common motor disability in childhood and affects approximately 17 million people worldwide ranging from one to nearly four per 1,000 live birth. Rukome Otuoniyo was diagnosed of Cerebral Palsy at infancy, 26 years ago and the condition greatly impaired his motor movement and reflexes but his cognitive

and learning senses were not affected. At the age of 21, he successfully completed his primary and secondary education, passed his WAEC in flying colors inspite of all the health challenges. Rukome gained admission to the Pan-Atlantic University, Lagos, where he did two years in the Mass Communication Department but could not proceed further due to challenges but plans to further his education outside the country. According to him, “ I have always desired to live a satisfied life and that is

what inspired me to write this book. “Life is about service, giving to others, impacting your society, putting a smile on the face of the person next to you. “The book will help you live your potential and carry on the purpose which you were created for”. Rukome added, “It took me years to discover writing as my ability because I had always wished to be a popular singer like Michael Jackson at a very young age. “It happened that I was given an assignment by my

home-lesson teacher and upon assessment, he said to me, ‘This story is excellent’. I was greatly motivated by those words and realized that I have been surpressing the gift in me. “And that motivated me to write and publish my first book, “Are You Satisfied?, 5 Hidden Secrets To Living A Life Of Fulfillment”. The book launch had in attendance, President, Lagos State Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Mrs Toki Mabogunje and the Special Adviser to LASG on People Living With Disability (PLWD), Mrs Adenike Oyetunde.

Understanding Mental Health Ugonna Orji In 2019, the World Health Organisation (WHO) confirmed in a study that one in four people worldwide will be affected by mental or neurological disorders at some point in their lifetime; representing at least 1.7 billion persons worldwide. This estimate was before the COVID-19 pandemic started and devastated millions of homes, economy and governments. Today, not fewer than 450 million people are currently suffering from such conditions; making mental disorders one of the leading causes of ill-health worldwide. Experts believe by the end of COVID-19, this number will shut up by over 100 per cent. To be clear, mental health disorder has been ranked the fourth leading cause of global disease burden. Before the next decade, WHO believed the public health challenge will be ranked second highest disease burden globally - just behind heart problems. Despite being an alarming public health issue due to the large populations affected, studies have shown that mental disorder has not been taken as a priority the world over, especially in low and middle-income countries like Nigeria, where it is still very misunderstood. With the effect of COVID-19, coupled with increased economic constrictions, financial hardships, stretched lockdowns and the accompanying poverty it brings, it is not out of place to say much more persons, in nations like Nigeria, are moving from mental health into mental disorder. Although this scenario is a no-brainer, not many Nigerians, along with some political stakeholders, understand the importance of mental health. Oftentimes when it is mentioned, what comes to mind is the picture of insane men and women with a particular spectrum of behaviour not in conformity with the general form of living. They believed the typical naked and dirty person on the street who picks un-useful things in sight and talks periodically

about 264 suicide cases. It is safe to say that number is only a fraction of the hundreds of Nigerians who have taken their own lives within the last four years, mostly due to depression which could be a trigger from hardships, disappointments, poverty, heartbreaks, among others. It is time for experts, stakeholders and the society at large to beam light on this public health issue.

Ehanire

to himself is the ideal person with mental disorder. What we are yet to understand is that there are several types of mental disorders in the country. One of the commonest is depression which has unfortunately affected 7,079,815 Nigerians, according to the WHO in 2017. Studies have shown that young adults moving into depression by the day have snowballed. Specifically, about 25 per cent of young adults are depressed in the country, 26.2 per cent of adults are depressed, while 17 per cent of persons in Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) are depressed. Research also showed that in various parts of the country, about 20 per cent to 59 per cent of people living with HIV/ AIDS are depressed, with the highest prevalence reported in the North-central part of the country. These statistics have suggested that depression - as a type of mental disorder - is very common in the country. Several persons are also battling with anxiety, schizophrenia, drug addiction, bipolar disorder, eating disorder, among others. Several indications show that over 60 million Nigerians have one form of mental

disorder or the other with only about 20 per cent of persons in such category seen to have the obvious forms of it, which includes what the ordinary Nigerian refers to as madness, schizophrenia, and perhaps extreme case of drug or alcohol addiction; a reason that has largely made mental disorder in the remaining 80 per cent or 48 million Nigerians ignored or poorly understood. This, according to the world health body, represents 3.9 per cent of the entire population of the country, thereby making Nigeria the most depressed country in Africa. Globally, Seychelles has the lowest number of depressed persons with just 3,722, according to WHO. While all forms of mental disorders are being advocated against by the health body as priority by all member nations, including Nigeria, it is believed that the poorly misunderstood types, especially depression, should be tackled head on before they silently destroy mankind. Depression has been tagged the leading cause of suicide globally. 800,000 people take their lives every year across the globe. Within the last four years, the Nigerian media reported

Depression is preventable and treatable According to a new book recently launched in Nigeria - The Morning After - written by a health journalist, Martins Ifijeh and a consultant psychiatrist, depression can be prevented and it is treatable. If understood and spotted on time; every Nigerian developing the condition can timely seek help before it reaches the extreme consequence, suicide. WHO says depression is not just a feeling of sadness but a real illness which affects the brain, adding that feeling of sadness could easily go away, but depression is a serious health condition that requires proper treatment and counselling. Nigeria Has No Deﬁned Mental Health Policy Nigeria must slow down this growing condition by putting mental health policies in place to prevent, identify and treat people suffering from it. Nigeria has no clearly defined mental health policy. There is a Mental Health Bill lying in the National Assembly for over 10 years. This document should be dusted, amended to meet the times, and then passed into law. This way, we can say we are serious about tackling mental health issues in the country. Nigerians who are depressed should visit the hospital. Psychiatric illness is not spiritual. Instead of approaching healing homes, include a visit to the hospital or mental health counsellor, while also praying for healing. Don’t make neuropsychiatric care a last resort when feeling depressed. t0SKJ BO JOUFSOBUJPOBM BOBMZTU XSPUF GSPN "CVKB

T H I S D AY ˾ , JULY 1, 2021

PERSPECTIVE

Eniola Akintunde : Championing Advocacy against Colorectal Cancer After she lost her husband to colorectal cancer, Eniola Akintunde has over the years shouldered the advocacy of cancer with Niola Cancer Care Foundation, majorly streamlined for colorectal cancer. In this interview with Ayodeji Ake, she testified of how she overcame a growing lump on her breast, the misconception between religion and health and her ongoing advocacy for Private Public Partnership to reduce the high cost of cancer treatment

ow did your brush with a growing lump on your cleavage happen? Last year, I had a lump. I was checking the lump. I was actually monitoring it but it’s a small lump like pimple size. It was on my cleavage. As a cancer advocate, I wasn’t comfortable so I was monitoring it from time to time. I spoke to two or three doctors and I explained to them. I was asked to report back to the hospital by February. When I went to the hospital I was told to come in March since it wasn’t paining me, it was just pimple size. Then lo and behold, this thing changed form and I was wandering was it. Then March ending, it became swollen and at that point I was afraid and I went to the hospital and they did test. I went to Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) for a diagnosis but it kept getting bigger. Then I called some doctors. We were waiting for the Biopsy report and that waiting period was tough. I felt for someone who is cancer advocate and with all what I have seen and losing my husband to cancer, not again. And then, the result came out after one week and to God be the Glory I was told that it is just a lump that it’s not cancerous. But it was very painful, I couldn’t turn, I couldn’t stand up. I was using pillow to guide myself for about three weeks. For like a month, I couldn’t do a lot of things, I was indoor. Then I had to go to the LUTH, at a point the doctor opened it and surprisingly, this thing that they cut open close up again and the doctor advised we should keep monitoring it. Whatever it is, we will see the end of it and why I needed to share this story is because most Nigerians have found theirselves in the same situation and some of them will not do what they need to do. They won’t reachout, they won’t get it checked out. They will think it’s just a normal thing. Yoruba will say it is ‘ewo’ (boil). You don’t have to take that decision; you need to get it checked out. Let’s be sure what exactly it is that’s why I need to take this out there. As an advocate, that is what we have been talking about in the advocacy community of Nigeria. The church and other religious centres have a role to play. Yes I saw it, it was fearful, it was scary but this is a lump and what did I do? I went to the hospital to get it checked out and next called my pastors, set up a prayer group for me, log into some online prayer outlets for my healing. I did it, I won’t lie about it. Then people raised prayer points on my behalf but I never neglected my doctor’s advice. And I never missed any of my appointments. I went to all of my appointments till the lump disappeared. It actually disappeared. Though, the doctor advised that the ruminants of the lump need to be removed so I’m going to get it removed since it has shrunk to some extent because it was as big as baseball at the middle of my breast. I got talking to one or two people and they said I need to share this to encourage people out there. You don’t need to hide it or hide yourself. You don’t need to conclude on what it is when you are not sure. How can the gap between religion and health be bridged? The simple truth is to take that advocacy message to our religious centres. In all honesty, some of these things are true about some Christian organisations. It is a known fact and a much tabled fact that if you ask some of our doctors in private hospitals in Lagos state will tell you that some church members, even in the cancer advocacy community, we know some of these things are true. The members, they report at the hospital when it is far gone. Some people come to this foundation and we ask them why are you just coming? This thing is already late. Didn’t you notice? At what point did you notice there was a lump in your breast? And some of them tells us that we were in this particular Christian home that they were there using the handkerchief but I never asked them if the Christian organisation asked them not to go to the hospital. I never asked them and they have never said their organisation

Akintunde

told them not to go to the hospital. What we trying to say is that is why we are calling out to religious leaders to please balance it up. The role of the church and prayers when someone is sick is different. Hospital is where treatment is taken and the two must go hand in hand. None must be abandoned. When the churches are praying for the sick, yes prayer is good. When I had the lump, I reached out to my pastors and they set up a prayer group and I never joked with it and I believed in it and at the same time, I never missed my appointment in LUTH, then all the drugs I was given, I used it. So these are the balance we are talking about. So pastors and Imams should please allow and talk to their members, encourage them to take Orthodox seriously and take their medication as at when due and when necessary. Some do not even have the money to carryout tests so how do we try to address this issue? First and foremost, late presentation is when they have cancer already. But what we are talking about is prevention which the non-governmental organisations, like ours, are so committed to. Pick it early and get screened before it even gets to the level of talking about late presentations because we all know the challenges of the health care system in Nigeria, we can’t over emphasise on it. It’s what everyone knows that it is in jeopardy. But we are hopeful that things will turn around for good. What we advise as an NGO is that everyone has the responsibility to start taking care of their selves and be conscious of what you allow into your body. We encourage as an NGO and tell Nigerians to start eating organic foods. Let your food be your medicine. What are you feeding your body with? Nigerians like party, they like to wear good clothes but going for medical screening they don’t do that. We have to start imbibing such culture. We have to start looking after our body and self, that should be your number one priority. When we start doing this, we can curb the incident of cancer because when you get screened, they can pick it early and when they picked early, it’s not as bad as we think of, we should speak out, let’s know where we can help as an organisation. When it is picked early, it doesn’t need us raising millions of naira, it doesn’t cost us emotional, psychological trauma that we have to go through. But unfortunately Nigerians don’t even go for screening. Tell us about your foundation? Niola Cancer Care foundation is a Colorectal Cancer (Colon Cancer) NGO. We are the first in West Africa with a lot of work to do. There is still minimal awareness on Colon cancer and we are seeing cancer and Colorectal cancer in younger Nigerians. Infact, it is a global challenge that we are seeing our young adults having Colorectal cancer. Research has been linked to what we are eating. And that is what is happening in the country right now, you see us imbibing the eating culture of the western world. So what is Colorectal cancer? It is the cancer of the Large intestine. The tumour starts from the large intestine to the rectum. So we have to go back to what we talked about earlier.

It’s mainly about food. Unfortunately right now Colorectal cancer is tilting towards the third cancer from fourth killing Nigerians. Breast cancer, cervical, prostrate then Colorectal respectively. Colorectal symptoms mimicks ulcer and pile so sometimes they mix it. The symptoms are simple, weight loss compared to normal symptoms do cancer disease, blood in the stool, diarrhoea, sweating and losing weight. When with general physician is treating you of ulcer maybe for six months and you are not getting any results, you should be referred to a specialist doctor and ask questions. Another thing is Nigerians don’t ask questions. We don’t ask the right questions and we don’t ask the right people the right questions. Nigerians will leave their doctors and start asking friends and family. These are the things Nigerians should do and know. We should start doing it. So get a specialist doctor and let them check exactly what is happening. Then our diagnosis too, there are lot of problem, the problem with cancer advocacy is high rate of Colorectal cancer is it multi-facilitates. But we are not going to be tired; we will continue talking about it. Then with the pandemic, it hasn’t made things easier. Globally, attention has been shifted to COVID-19 to the detriment of other diseases. According to global term in 2019, the data for persons that died from cancer global is 10million. Is that not more that COVID-19? So what are we talking about? You can imagine what will happen in 2021 when the focus doesn’t shift back to cancer and everybody is now facing COVID-19. So everyone has to keep the conversation going, we have to keep talking about it, creating the awareness. COVID-19 hasn’t taken more life that cancer. Honestly for me, because of the insecurity in Nigeria, it has affected cancer care. Patients in remote state don’t have access to cancer care. They are afraid of kidnapping, there is no road to go for their treatment. They are in the village, they are afraid, even the doctors too are at risk, and they can be kidnapped too. True, but how can the PHCs help in cancer interventions instead of traveling far? True, the machines are quite expensive but are not all the screening that needs machines. Machines are most times for treatment. Like for colon cancer, the machine is quite expensive but in primary health care centre, there are some primary activities for Colorectal cancer test that can be done . These tests can be carried out in our primary healthcare centre. For breast cancer, the self-examination can be taught in any primary healthcare centre. For cervical screening, right now Lagos state is doing free cervical screening in primary health care centres. So anyone can walk into any PHCs. It is a good one if the government can please continue with this trend because the primary healthcare centre is the first place where someone sick in a community should go to. So it’s the grassroot and it’s the best way to go. During the onset of q COVID-19, we had support from the private sector, how can we charge the private sector to help cancer patents too? I have said this repeatedly and I will say it again all over the world globally, no country leaves the healthcare sector in the hands of the government alone. The private sector needs to key into it. Journalists need to come into it too because they are also stakeholders. But we are not having that in Nigeria when it comes to cancer. We will keep talking about it. We expect more from the private sector because they too are also loosing, because in an organisation if two of your staff has cancer and you need to take care of them, its millions. A patient can take 100 million naira. Would you rather spend that 100milliom on one patient or would you rather start thinking of how we can prevent this thing and spend the 100 million on prevention which we as an organisation is committed in doing? The support the private sector gave and the individual donating to support and curb COVID-19 can be

replicated to change the cancer story globally in Nigeria especially. As a cancer advocate, what effort have you made to incorporate NHIS into cancer system? On that we are still talking with the Nigerian Cancer Society which is a body that we belong to and they are representing us well. Niola Cancer Care Foundation is a body that we belong to. Last two months, there was presentation that the society did at the National Assembly in regards to that and we were told that they are working on it. At that point we got some information that we even have about 10billion naira that has not been spent for cancer control. This information we just heard about the NHIS and we are working but I won’t be able to talk too much on it because it’s a work in progress. Before now, we as an advocate has actually mentioned it several times, it might look like an attack but because we want it done we have to hold them accountable and I think work has started on it now so I won’t want to say too much on that. How differently do you want to ﬁght stigma if everything has been put in place? What we can do as regards stigma is that we won’t stop the advocacy by taking that message out there and tell them that they don’t have to stigmatise a cancer patient. I still want to do a write up that I want to publish. If you have cancer, it doesn’t mean that God does not love you and cancer is not contagious. Nobody is immune to cancer so if you stigmatise someone because he or she has cancer it might be your portion too. It might happen to you. Sadly, when you want to talk to Nigerians about cancer, they tell you “no it’s not my portion” and I ask them whose portion is cancer? So the stigmatisation, we keep speaking about it. I use myself as an example when people talk I tell them my late husband had cancer. We had sex till he died, here I am, and I don’t have cancer. At that point people knew my husband had cancer, people abandoned him, even some of his very close friends, I didn’t see them again. Maybe because of the stigmatisation or maybe because of the cost of treatment. When you mention to someone that a chemo of N360,000 naira is for every ten days, people will run. People ran away. After he passed on, I’m okay and this is me. I don’t have cancer so we just have to be communicating to them out there. You don’t have to stigmatise a cancer patient. It’s not contagious. It’s not your fault that you have cancer. And you can’t control most of these things that cause it but what you can control is what you eat so that is what you can control. You don’t have to stigmatise anybody, what you need to stigmatize is eating processed food. Stigmatise the intake of what you put into your mouth, control the toxins in your environment. Some people will spray pesticides inside their house and stay inside it, go out when you spray it. These are some of the things that cause cancer, we all know. If you live in a high populated industrial estate, you need to know what to do, either you move out of that area or you know how to control yourself or what you eat. So that is what they should stigmatise not people or family of people that have cancer. Infact people that are cured of cancer should be celebrated. This month is for cancer survivors so we celebrate them. In a developed country, they don’t joke with cancer survivors, they allow them to share their story and speak and we are also encouraging them to start coming out too. Nigerians should embrace cancer survivors. This is not the time to stigmatise or run away from them. Because if they come out, there is a lot we can learn from them. They will give hope and if you know how they were able to get cured, they can teach us and we can learn from them. Show them love. NOTE: Interested readers should continue in the online edition on www.thisdaylive.com

T H I S D AY ˾ ͯ˜ 2021

BUSINESS/MONEYGUIDE

UBA Targets 25% Consumer Lending Portfolio Nume Ekeghe The United Bank of Africa (UBA) has revealed plan to aggressively increase its consumer lending portfolio from 10 per cent to about 25 per cent. According to the bank, increasing consumer loans would be a much-needed catalyst to inclusive economic growth. The Group Head Consumer Lending Mr. Anant Rao, said this yesterday, during a virtual media parley where he spoke on the theme: ‘Stimulating Nigeria’s Economic Growth and Impacting People’s Lives.’ He also revealed the bank’s re-launch of its ‘Click Credit’ with a new feature which enables customers access loans in 3 minutes. Speaking on plans to increase its consumer lending,

Rao said: “Our guiding principle, I just want to stress is that we have a customer first philosophy which drives what we do in UBA. “And in everything we do, we are embedding this philosophy weather it is process, technology, compliance risk management and everything has to have the customer first philosophy. “The consumer lending space is an opportunity to grow across Africa and fortunately, Nigeria has the demographic dividend. With more than 200 million population, we can see the opportunity. In fact, every individual has borrowing needs and aspirations. “We want to resize ourselves and our operating model and ensure that in the future, consumer lending contributes a significant portion of our loan portfolio. We want to be very aggressive and

we want to be prudent.” He added: “Today it contributes less than 10 per cent, but our ambition is to go beyond 25 per cent. We have the right under riding infrastructure, right technology platforms and the right recovery infrastructure.” “Our vision is to be most innovative and preferred bank in Nigeria and in Africa in terms of consumer lending, with the best consumer credit in the market. Obviously, we are not going to lend indiscriminately and recklessly as we want to ensure we protect our capital and depositors’ money and ensure that we are very responsible. “We understand the market and we have the ability to under right very well and we have the ability to recover our money very well.

EDC Promotes Financial Literacy amongst Children Goddy Egene The EDC Fund Management Limited (EDC), a part of Ecobank’s Securities Wealth & Asset Management Division, recently concluded its essay writing competition for children between ages 7 and 12 years, in commemoration of the 2021 Children’s day. The essay tagged, “If You Were the President of Nigeria, How Will You Solve the Issue of Insecurity, Particularly Kidnapping, in the Country?” according to the company, was deliberate and timely to gauge the extent to which our children understand the happenings in our society and how to address same. Speaking on the objective of this competition, Head of Distribution at EDC, Mrs. Yemisi Ogunmola, said: “Given the Ni-

gerian demography, we thought it would be apt to read what our children have to say regarding insecurity in our country. “Children are our future and getting them involved in nation building at a very early age is key to the development and unity of our country.” Ogunmola explained that the EDC is passionate about the future of the Nigerian child, saying, the company was excited to provide a way to stimulate them educationally whilst they also learnt how they could provide solutions to our nation’s issues. The competition was open for a period of two weeks in the course of which they received hundreds of entries from children between the ages of 7 – 12 years all over the country. According to her, Miss Ifeoma Ivana Elibe of Chrisland School

Lekki Lagos aged 9 years, won the 7 – 9 age category and Miss Joan Goma of Chrisland School Idimu Lagos aged 12 years won in the 10 – 12 age categories. Both entrants scored the highest marks as it relates to content, structure and style. “As we prepare to receive a child into this earth, we must equally prepare for their education,” Ogunmola said, stressing that the company’s objective of ensuring that all her clients meet their investment goals, EDC pays particular attention to children and the youth. “EDC emphasises the importance of planning for your child’s education as early as possible as well as enabling them develop financial independence in the future. To this end, EDC has provided some solutions that have made this goal seamless.

AellaLaunches e-Wallet Reward SchemeforCustomers Aella App, a financial service and payment solutions provider in Nigeria has announced its introduction of a new daily interest initiative that will see its customers getting paid for simply going about their dayto-day transactions on the App. The new product is accessible only through the Aella App and, provides daily interest for money kept in the Aella Wallet, according to a statement from the organisation. Aella Wallet is an e-wallet that allows customers to store value using the Aella App to perform all financial transactions while earning discounts and rewards. Customers get rewarded with daily interest payments, with the option of cashing out at the end

of the month. The buildup of interest earnings makes Aella Wallet the first of its kind in the market. The CTO, Aella App, Wale Akanbi, said funds domiciled in the wallet gain interest daily and empowers customers by allowing free access to their funds anytime. “We strongly believe that our customers deserve to take credit for their hard work. This is why we focus on creating revolutionary products that put the power back in the hands of our customers, constantly rewarding them for just going about their daily lives. “With the Aella Wallet, there is no need to lock funds. Our customers can access their money at any

time and still cash out the interest at the end of the month,” he added. According to the statement, the Aella App has also simplified loan and bills payment with quick and easy access to loans of up to N1 million, with the App working on both android and IOS platforms to deliver financial services in five (5) minutes. Aella has been positioned to further demystify impediments to payments and quick loan services in Nigeria and Africa. Akanbi said, “Aella is built to simplify instant credit and payment solutions for emerging markets by offering; instant loans, bill payments, micro-health insurance, and investment services.”

Ibom Icon Hotel Organises Capacity Building Programme ICON Hotels and Resorts Nigeria said it has commenced an intensive one-year human capital development program. The programme taking place at Uyo, aims at converting semi-skilled individuals to skillful personnel that can take up opportunities in hospitality and operate at managerial levels anywhere in the world. A statement explained that the training known as ICON Management Training Programme commenced last month with seven pioneer trainees, and had the presence of the

Chairman Board of Directors of the Hotel Mr. Udeme Ufot. Also present at the inauguration were other directors of Ibom Resort and Hotels Limited: Mr. Orman Esin; Imo-Abasi Jacob; Bassey Ekanem, representing the Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Akwa Ibom State; as well as Mrs. Utomobong Inyang, Ag. Company Secretary Ibom Resort and Hotels Limited. Others were the CEO ICON Hotel Group Africa, Mr. Fred Maina; the CEO ICON Hotels & Resorts Nigeria, Mr. Adetope

Kayode; the General Manager Ibom ICON Hotel & Golf Resort, Mr. Charles Masilia, the Head of Operations of the Hotel, Mr. Gilbert Thinji, the Head, Human Resources, Mr. Akan Bassey and the Training Manager of the Hotel, Mr. Awak George. Speaking at the inauguration on behalf of the Board of Directors, Esin, commended the management for initiating the program aimed at developing indigenous talents and preparing them to take up opportunities across the globe.

GMD, UBA, Kennedy Uzoka

MARKET INDICATORS MONEY AND CREDIT STATISTICS

(MILLION NAIRA)

JANUARY 2021 Money Supply (M3)

38,779,455.43

-- CBN Bills Held by Money Holding Sectors

1,039,129.55

Money Supply (M2)

37,740,325.88

-- Quasi Money

21,779,302.69

-- Narrow Money (M1)

15,961,023.19

---- Currency Outside Banks

2,364,871.13

---- Demand Deposits

13,596,152.06

Net Foreign Assets (NFA)

7,414,275.50

Net Domestic Assets(NDA)

31,365,179.93

-- Net Domestic Credit (NDC)

42,916,586.63

---- Credit to Government (Net)

12,304,773.44

---- Memo: Credit to Govt. (Net) less FMA

0.00

---- Memo: Fed. and Mirror Accounts (FMA)

0.00

---- Credit to Private Sector (CPS)

30,611,813.19

--Other Assets Net

3,892,112.74

Reserve Money (Base Money

13,264,585.14

--Currency in Circulation

2,831,167.19

--Banks Reserves --Special Intervention Reserves

10,433,417.96 317,234.17

˾ 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 ˜ Ͱͷ ͰͮͰͯ

The price of OPEC basket of thirteen crudes stood at $73.34 a barrel on Tuesday, compared with $73.84 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).

T H I S D AY ˾ ͯ˜ ͰͮͰͯ

Companies Raise N800 Billion in Bond Market Goddy Egene Nigerian companies have raised over N800 billion bonds from the capital market in the first half of 2021 (H1) just as predicted by Norrenberger in its 2021 Economic Outlook Report. Norrenberger, a financial services group, had predicted in its 2021 economic outlook report published in December 202o that yields on fixed income instruments would remain low

and thus was expected to result in many corporate borrowers to see bonds as a suitable source of capital to cover their increasing cost of operations. The Report titled “Seizing The New Reality,” was designed for local and foreign investors who seek to understand the investment/capital market in Nigeria. The report had explained that while major policies and actions from government authorities and international organisations should

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be enough to restore economies to the growth path, aggregate consumption was expected to grow at a gradual pace. “With the announcement of the federal government’s N5.06 trillion deficit in the 2021 budget and the activities of corporate borrowers, we expect minimal impact on fixed income rates. We also project corporate issues between N2 trillion and N3 trillion, for a meaningful impact on yields. In our opinion, rates

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would remain low over the short term while pressures build-up for an upward movement in yield over the medium term,” Norrenberger had said. Various companies have taken advantage of the low performance in the fixed income market to raise bonds at rates below 10 per cent to the tune of N800 billion. Notably, three issuers namely, Dangote Cement Plc (N300 billion) and MTN Nigeria Plc (N100 billion) and BUA Cement

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Plc (N115 billion) raised over 60 per cent of the total bond raised in the market. Other issuers include:; Fidelity Bank Plc who raised N41.213 billion; Flour Mills of Nigeria Plc raised N29.8 billion; Nova Merchant Bank raised N10 billion; Emzor Pharmaceuticals raised N13.7 billion; while Mecure Industries accessed the market for N3 billion just as CardinalStone Financing SPV Plc raised N5

O F

billion; C& I Leasing Plc (N10 billion); CERPAC (N15 billion); Coronation Merchant Bank (N30 billion). On the equities market, Norrenberger also posited that activities of the bears would outweigh the positives in the equities in 2021 based “on the limited upsides of stocks given the overbought status, mid-term uncertainties, the weak macroeconomic backdrop and thin foreign investors’ participation.”

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THURSDAY JULY 1, 2021 •T H I S D AY

T H I S D AY ˾ ͯ˜ ͰͮͰͯ

TRIBUTE

To My Editor and Brother @ 60

Bello Olusegun Adeniyi

ntil I became the editor of THISDAY, The Saturday Newspaper in 2010, I had worked for a decade as Staff Reporter, Senior Staff Writer, Abuja Bureau Chief, Assistant Editor and Deputy Editor under six different editors. I learnt a lot from each of these men. But my most memorable experience was with Mr Tunji Bello who is 60 today. He invited me to Sunday Concord in 1995, after the late General Sani Abacha had lifted the proscription order placed on some national newspapers and magazines at the time. I started as assistant editor before I became his deputy. In the process, he taught me the rudiments of editing. I learnt how to cut what didn’t fit into a story and how to watch out for possible libel. But much more importantly, Tunji Bello ran a newsroom that was like a family, and he related to reporters as equals. Ever playful, he would hail me as ‘Kwara man’ and had a nickname for everyone. Tunji Bello brought a culture of spontaneity to the newsroom in which impassioned arguments were often translated into story lines. I remember a particularly interesting experience. Following the 28th June 1997 WBA Heavyweight Championship contest between Evander Holyfield and Mike Tyson, which ended on a disgraceful note after the latter bit off part of the former's ear, my friend and colleague, Louis Odion and I held different views on the outcome of that most bizarre fight. Louis is not only a boxing enthusiast, having been an amateur boxer in secondary school, but also a fanatical supporter of Tyson. So, he was naturally defensive of his idol.

On the other hand, I was disgusted with what Tyson did, even while not much of a boxing fan. Overhearing the conversation that lasted several minutes between Louis and I, Tunji Bello challenged us to go and put our conflicting arguments in writing. At the end, Louis and I were featured in the next edition of Sunday Concord under a special section named ‘Crossfire’. I remember the title of my piece which responded to Louis’ canonization of ‘Iron Mike Tyson’ as he was then described by the media: ‘Holyfield, The Iron Bender ’! In addition to being a good leader, Tunji Bello is also a very good person who cares deeply about others. Back in the days at Sunday Concord, I enjoyed his introduction of what I will describe as ‘Nkwobi Journalism’. Not only did he teach some of us how to eat that delicacy, he funded the indulgence. The only aspect I refused to be inducted into was the ‘prospecting for OPEC crude’ (drinking of Stout!) which always accompanied the session, despite the ‘pressure’ from Louis and others. That Tunji Bello ran a newsroom whose personnel related like one big family is reflected in the fact that most of us remain friends till today.

The clan includes Jill Okeke, Yomi Idowu, Waheed Odusile and many others. It was also under his supervision that my wedding was planned right in the newsroom. Louis was my ‘best man’ and the wedding suit I wore was made by a tailor recommended by Tunji Bello. He also helped us to raise the money, in a remarkable story fitting only for my memoir if I live long enough to write one. As it would happen, I resigned my appointment as his deputy shortly after my wedding in December 1998 to join THISDAY. Our paths would later cross again at THISDAY when he became Chair of the editorial board at a period I edited the Saturday title. Tunji Bello left the newsroom 18 years ago to become a commissioner in Lagos State but his transition to the political/public arena was smooth for two reasons. One, as Group Politics Editor of Concord Press before he edited the Sunday (and later the daily) title, he understood the field. Much more importantly, as a close relation of the late Bashorun M.K.O. Abiola, Tunji Bello played a crucial role in the June 12, 1993 presidential election and the agitations that followed its

When I reﬂect on my professional life, I have many people to thank for the little I have accomplished. But today, I pay homage to Mr Olatunji Bello. At a critical period, he inspired me, pushed me, supported me, and helped me to develop my talent and thrive. As he therefore joins the sexagenarian club, I can only wish him the very best that the future holds

annulment. It could also not have been an accident that Tunji Bello was given the Environment Ministry in Lagos State where he has operated for the past two decades. As editor, Tunji Bello would never tolerate any form of dirt or filth within his vicinity and in his office every single item was always in its rightful place. And he loves nature. Despite the huge population that inhabits a small space called Lagos, it is perhaps to the credit of Tunji Bello that there has been no environmental disaster in that city state. As I have shared in the past, whatever credit I now gain for writing a weekly column, it was all because Tunji Bello created my first platform. And perhaps to boost my confidence when I started, he expressed more faith in me than I had in myself. After nominating me as his deputy to replace Mr Sam Omatseye, FNAL (current chair of The Nation editorial board) who had left for the United States, he also asked me to take up the column Omatseye was writing in the Sunday paper. “You cannot write like Sam, so don’t even try. But you have your strengths. You are a reporter with a nose for gist. You are a good storyteller. And you have humour. Play to those strengths,” he told me that day. Incidentally, it was Louis who suggested that the column be called ‘The Verdict according to Olusegun Adeniyi’. When I reflect on my professional life, I have many people to thank for the little I have accomplished. But today, I pay homage to Mr Olatunji Bello. At a critical period, he inspired me, pushed me, supported me, and helped me to develop my talent and thrive. As he therefore joins the sexagenarian club, I can only wish him the very best that the future holds.

T H I S D AY ˾ ͯ˜ ͰͮͰͯ

TRIBUTE

Obaseki @ 64: Celebrating an Unusual Politician Crusoe Osagie

ous. In one instance, Oshiomhole relied on the faulty premise of a non-existent defect in Obaseki’s academic qualification to disqualify the governor from contesting for the APC governorship ticket during a screening aired on national TV. He described himself in that instant as the Supreme Court of the APC, which had the power to make or mar the destiny of an aspirant. He taunted the governor to appeal the decision if he wasn’t satisfied with the verdict. But being quick-witted, the governor dumped the APC, and switched to the PDP for the ticket to contest in the election, a move which inspired Obaseki’s supporters to turn the episode into a sonorous pop song with the sing-along line, ‘Oga Carry Your Ticket Go’. After the election had been won and lost, almost a year later, the Supreme Court delivered its verdict on the alleged certificate forgery saga, which quashed Oshiomhole’s preposterous posturing. A master of political intrigues, Oshiomhole was beaten to his game by the underdog, Obaseki who built a new army of supporters, who were eternally invested in his quest to wrestle the Godfather off his high horse. From defanging political lions and tigers, demobilizing a statewide political machinery to unmasking the façade surrounding his predecessor’s enigma, Obaseki proved too slippery for all the attacks waged by Oshiomhole and his minions.

n a first meeting, he would not seem to you like much. Extremely unassuming, prim and proper. To classify him as a perfect gentleman hardly does justice to the description of his mien. Unfortunately, in a society where bruteness is celebrated as a hallmark of leadership and shameful conduct hailed as glorious, a Godwin Nogheghase Obaseki, until you actually get to know him well, will most likely not be taken seriously. Sometime in 2018, less than a year after he picked me to be his Special Adviser, Media and Communication Strategy, I was walking towards the gate which borders his office and coincidentally his innocuous convoy of just three vehicles drove into the car porch. He stepped down dressed in his usual smart suit. As he saw me walking towards the gate, he beckoned and I approached him. I wished him a good afternoon, he responded and then asked, ‘Crusoe are you free later in the evening?’ I responded, yes sir, and he said please let us have a meeting once you are ready. It was the first of such interactions I had had with him and it set me thinking. From what I had known about many powerful and successful men, it was a relatively unusual way to engage your staff. First, he greets me with genuine interest in my wellbeing and then he asks if I was free to meet him? This sort of attitude elicits different reactions from different kind of people. For me, having studied leadership from a largely unconventional institution, the church, I immediately knew that this was not the kind of man to take for granted. Power can be vicious but power under firm control can change the world. After that day, I kept watching this man who clearly understood the enormity of power in his custody but was not even minutely intoxicated by it. He carried this huge power with so much grace and humility. This is exactly the kind of man to be revered and maybe even feared. Conversely, however, in a broad segment of the political space in Nigeria, such individuals are perceived to be weak. Many in our local political space consider might to be right and rudeness as the currency for measuring the sense of dominance and primacy. I once had a casual conversation with a security personnel, who incidentally was the Chief Security Officer to Governor Obaseki at the time. He was trying to draw my attention to what he believed was one of the possible precursors of all the political battles that the governor had to fight during his first term in office. According to him, it all begins with the convoy of the governor. Crusoe, you think convoys of governors and presidents are long and intimidating for fun? He asked me. There is a psychological angle to it, he counselled. People must fear you as a governor. When a governor passes, the place should shake and people must feel the chills. This drives a sense of awe into the people and they will think twice before picking a fight with you.” This security expert made the comment out of frustration after he had tried repeatedly without success to get this governor to fortify his convoy with bomb squads, heavy artillery and a retinue of bulletproof SUVs. I understood the dilemma of this security man but had he known Obaseki more he would have stopped trying to sell dominance and intimidation as a security strategy. For Obaseki, simplicity is second nature. Whatever assignment he gives you to handle for him, if you cannot deliver

Obaseki

it within the ambits of modesty and simplicity, then you have failed, because for him, it is absolutely unacceptable to display power and lord it over the very people whose mandate you stand on to provide leadership. However, to take this simplicity for weakness when you engage Obaseki has proven to be a costly mistake for many. Otherwise, how can you explain Obaseki’s triumph over nearly all the political heavyweights in the country, who pitted themselves against his reelection in September 2020. Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the Senate leadership, the House of Representatives leadership along with all their hirelings all deployed their full weight against Obaseki’s reelection and they failed woefully. Oshiomhole’s Self-immolation When the story of Obaseki’s political journey is written, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole would get copious mention for the friendship the duo shared, but more so, such a treatise will highlight the high-octane ‘politricks’ that characterised their frayed relationship, which culminated in the demystifying and usurpation of the latter’s political fiefdom. Obaseki became governor of Edo State in 2016, in what many people believed to be the making of Oshiomhole, as he supposedly deployed his political arsenal to ‘install’ his successor. However, the tides turned in a matter of months, resulting in one of the most dramatic

political debacles in Nigeria’s fourth republic, as a political ‘lizard’ in the phrasing of Oshiomhole faced off with a political ‘giant’. The stakes were high. Obaseki rode the storms in a manner that befuddled anyone that was conversant with the Godfather-godson squabbles that dot Nigeria’s political history. Oshiomhole had everything going well for him, or so everyone thought. He was the National Chairman of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), which had at the time just pulled off a political masterstroke with the ousting of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) at the national level. He had just completed two terms as Edo State Governor and had the political machinery in the state wrapped around his palms. While serving as governor, he had defeated the Tony Anenih political apparatchik, amassing massive followership and a reputation as a political bulwark that combined the oratory of a labour leader, the sagacity of a sage and the fame of a pop star into his ever-bubbly frame. All these were brought to bear against Obaseki in the political battle that ensued. In the end, Oshiomhole not only met his match, he was outwitted by the combination of the Governor’s experience as a student of Classics with learnings from ancient philosophers and political strategists; decades of hedging risks in corporate boardrooms and an unassuming mien steeped in the fine traditions of one of the old Benin empire’s aristocratic families. The dramatic highpoints were numer-

For Obaseki, simplicity is second nature. Whatever assignment he gives you to handle for him, if you cannot deliver it within the ambits of modesty and simplicity, then you have failed, because for him, it is absolutely unacceptable to display power and lord it over the very people whose mandate you stand on to provide leadership. However, to take this simplicity for weakness when you engage Obaseki has proven to be a costly mistake for many

‘Edo No Be Lagos’ Another intriguing persona in Governor Obaseki’s political sojourn is the former Governor of Lagos State, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, a kingpin who had mastered the intrigues of Nigerian politics. Touting himself as the ‘father of democrats,’ Tinubu had schemed to stretch his political empire to Edo State, after holding sway in South-west Nigeria since the turn of the century. Few days before the election, he made a broadcast that riled the emotion of Edo people against the APC candidate, Osagie Ize-Iyamu, who was Tinubu’s man Friday. The Obaseki nut proved too hard to crack. During the run-up to the election, on the streets of Benin City, one of the most potent chants to draw hysterical reaction from the crowd was the refrain: ‘Edo No Be Lagos,’ a jibe at the kingpin in Lagos, who Edo people felt was plotting to take over their state and turn descendants of the dominant, old Benin Empire into modern-day slaves. On election day, it was not uncommon to hear crowds erupt in joyous, liberating screams of ‘Edo No Be Lagos’ when the results were announced with Obaseki leading. The role of the Nigerian Senate in the futile efforts to unseat Obaseki is now etched in history. They had sought to take over the Edo State House of Assembly in what proved to be an abuse of legislative function, acting out a script that was hatched by the honchos in the APC. Feeling undone with the crises that resulted from the move, they were joined by the House of Representatives, in the hope that a united National Assembly could muscle the State Assembly and subsequently remove Obaseki. They met a brick wall, nonetheless, with a High Court in Port Harcourt validating the proclamation of the Assembly by Governor Obaseki. The APC National Working Committee also collapsed to the whims of Oshiomhole, who usurped their powers on his vengeful mission to remove Obaseki. These schemes came to naught, turning the Obaseki story into a legend in Nigeria’s political space. On this July first, birthday of an unusual politician and decent Nigerian, Godwin Nogheghase Obaseki, it is with great delight and admiration that I wish him a fabulous birthday celebration. -Osagie, a journalist writes, from Benin City

THURSDAY JULY 1, 2021 • T H I S D AY

THURSDAY JULY 1, 2021 •T H I S D AY

T H I S D AY • THURSDAY, JULY 1, 2021

NEWSXTRA

British High Commission in Talks with FG over Kanu’s Arrest Afenifere, Abaribe, Igbo, Yoruba groups want IPOB leader’s rights protected Deji Elumoye in Abuja, Sunday Ehigiator in Lagos, James Sowole in Akure, and Amby Uneze in Owerri The British High Commission has said it is “in the process of seeking FODULÀFDWLRQµ IURP WKH IHGHUDO JRYHUQment regarding the arrest of the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu. This is coming as the apex Yoruba socio-political group, Afenifere; Senate Minority Leader, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe; pan-Igbo think-tank group, Nzuko Umunna; World Igbo Congress (WIC), and Yoruba Ronu Leadership )RUXP KDYH DOO UHDFWHG WR WKH DUUHVW RI .DQX DQG XUJHG WKH IHGHUDO JRYHUQPHQW to ensure that his constitutional rights

are protected. A spokesperson of the British High Commission, Dean Hurlock, disclosed this in a message sent to TheCable yesterday. Kanu, who is also a British citizen, was arrested on Sunday and extradited to Nigeria to face trial for alleged treason. In the message shared with TheCable, Hurlock said the UK Foreign, &RPPRQZHDOWK DQG 'HYHORSPHQW 2IÀFH ´VWDQGV UHDG\ WR SURYLGH FRQVXODU DVVLVWDQFHµ UHJDUGLQJ WKH PDWWHU “The British High Commission in Abuja is currently in the process of VHHNLQJ FODULÀFDWLRQ IURP WKH 1LJHULDQ JRYHUQPHQW DERXW WKH FLUFXPVWDQFHV RI WKH DUUHVW µ KH VDLG He added that the UK “would expect

any trial or legal proceedings to follow GXH SURFHVVµ DV .DQX·V SURVHFXWLRQ resumes. Reacting to the arrest, Afenifere, \HVWHUGD\ VDLG 1LJHULD·V VHFXULW\ DJHQFLHV KDYH GHPRQVWUDWHG WKDW WKH\ FRXOG EH KLJKO\ HIIHFWLYH LI JLYHQ ULJKW ZHDSRQV DQG HQYLURQPHQW

The organisation said this through the Secretary General, Chief Sola Ebiseni, who spoke with journalists in Akure, Ondo State, capital. ´7KH DUUHVW RI .DQX HYHQ LQ D IRUHLJQ ODQG VKRZV KRZ HIÀFLHQW DQG HIIHFWLYH WKH 1LJHULDQ VHFXULW\ VHUYLFHV DQG IRUFHV FRXOG EH ZKHQ

RSHUDWLQJ XQGHU WKH ULJKW HQYLURQPHQW XQLQÁXHQFHG E\ SROLWLFDO FRQVLGHUDWLRQV and tribal body languages of the political actors in the illegitimate exercise of the powers granted them by the people. ´+RZHYHU WKHUH LV QRWKLQJ FKHHULQJ in the arrest against the backdrop of

the dubious approach of the federal JRYHUQPHQW WR ÀJKWLQJ FULPHV DQG criminality in Nigeria. “Of course, Nnamdi Kanu is answerDEOH WR FKDUJHV DJDLQVW KLP DQG KDYLQJ now been brought before the court, the mode of effecting his arrest has become a mere academic exercise.

Transcorp Energy Presents Alternative Energy Solution to Nigeria Transcorp Energy Limited, a subsidiary of Transnational Corporation of Nigeria Plc, has presented an alternative energy solution to Nigeria as part of its integrated energy strategy. Unveiling the Company’s alternative energy plan at a meeting with the Minister of Science and Technology, Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu, the Head of Transcorp’s Energy Business, Mr. Peter Ikenga, said it will unlock greater value in the power sector. Speaking at the event, Ikenga stated that Transcorp Energy was seeking to collaborate with the federal government, through the Federal Ministry of Science and Technology, to develop nuclear power plants as alternative energy source for power generation in Nigeria using the OPEN100 model. “This project is transformative and a first in Nigeria and would radically change the way nuclear power plants are deployed, offering a substantially less expensive and less complicated solution. It will further provide the country with a reliable and sustainable energy source, devoid of some of the challenges hampering stable and reliable power generation in

Nigeria,” Ikenga explained. Onu, while welcoming the Transcorp team, reiterated the commitment of the federal government to promote the application of science, technology and innovation within Nigeria, in line with the Executive Order No. 5 of the federal government. “We are delighted to see this innovation and appreciate Transcorp for leading the charge in the industry with this initiative. The approach by Transcorp to use small scale nuclear plants is catalytic for achieving the national goals on Science and Technology”, he stated. The minister further affirmed the commitment of the Federal Government, particularly the Ministry of Science and Technology to support Transcorp in the laudable venture and directed that a joint committee comprised of Transcorp, and all the relevant stakeholders be setup immediately to jointly manage execution of the project. The OPEN100 is the world’s first open-source blueprint for nuclear power plant deployment for a small, standard, pressurised water reactor that will accelerate deployment of the modular nuclear plants for power generation.

House Queries NECO over N636m Unremitted Funds Udora Orizu in Abuja The House of Representatives Committee on Finance, yesterday queried the National Examinations Council (NECO) over the N636,778,000, which it failed to remit to the federal government in 2019. The committee has also directed that agencies such as, National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), Industrial Training Fund, National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) and Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF), which failed to show up at the hearing, should appear today unfailingly. The Chairman of the Committee, Hon. James Faleke, at the resumed investigative hearing into alleged $30 billion annual revenue leakages, grilled the Acting Registrar of NECO, Mr. Ebikibina Ogborodi and other top

executives of the examination body. Addressing the lawmakers, Ogborodi who said they had an operating surplus of N1,278, 462,493 of which they were to remit 80 per cent (N1,022, 769,994) to the government, noted that only N385,991,627 was remitted. He said this was because the examination body was being owed by some state governments. According to him, “The balance is because some state governments who did the examinations are yet to pay. Zamfara State was the highest debtor with N1, 220, 34,000. Others are: Adamawa (N281, 455, 500), Kano (N240, 043, 000), Gombe (N7, 214, 150), Bornu (N40,027,675) and Niger (N234,453,157).” He however said they have written to relevant authorities to help with the recovery of the money.

Arrest of Kanu: FG is Competent in Handling Security Matters, Says ACF The Board of Trustees ( BoT) of the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) has said that with the arrest of Nnamdi Kanu, the federal government is competent in handling security matters. In a communique issued after the BoT meeting in Kaduna yesterday, which was signed by the Chairman of the ACF Board of Trustees, Ambassador Shehu

Malami, the group praised the federal government, and the security agencies both local and international, that brought him back to Nigeria. The Board said the action of the government in handling Kanu in such a neat way amidst many other security challenges showed that the government is very competent in handling security matters.

AWARD FOR TRANSPARENCY… L-R: Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Mr. Timipre Sylva; member of the board of Corruption Reporters, Dr. Yunusa Tanko; and Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Petroleum Resources, Mr. Birtus Nabasu; during the presentation of award from Corruption Reporters, at the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Towers, in Abuja…yesterday

Senate to Debate, Pass PIB Today, House Receives Report Deji Elumoye and Udora Orizu in Abuja The Senate will today debate the report of the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) submitted to it on Tuesday and accordingly pass it immediately. President of the Senate, Dr. Ahmad Lawan, who disclosed this during plenary yesterday, further said the upper legislative chamber will also today have an hour closed-door session with

the Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Mele Kyari, who will explain the technicalities of the bill to the lawmakers. He added that after the closeddoor session, the bill will be subjected to debate by Senators ahead of passage later today. Meanwhile, the House of Representatives at the plenary yesterday received a report on the PIB from its Adhoc Committee.

The Speaker, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila had on Tuesday announced that the lawmakers will pass the long awaited Bill before its summer break schedule to begin middle of July. The final report was laid by Chairman of the Committee and Chief Whip of the House, Hon. Mohammed Tahir Monguno. Monguno said: “That the House do receive the Report of the Ad–hoc Committee on

Petroleum Industry Bill on a Bill for an Act to Provide Legal, Governance, Regulatory and Fiscal Framework for the Nigerian Petroleum Industry, the Development of Host Communities; and for Related Matters, 2021.” Gbajabiamila, thereafter told the lawmakers to send their aides to collect copies of the final report on the bill for further study before it will be considered later by the House.

Three Zamfara PDP Senators, Nwaoboshi Defect to APC APC senators now 70, PDP 38, YPP 1 Deji Elumoye in Abuja Senators Sahabi Alhaji Yau (Zamfara North), Hassan Mohammed Gusau (Zamfara Central), Lawali Hassan Anka (Zamfara West) and Peter Nwaoboshi (Delta North) have defected from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC). President of the Senate, Dr. Ahmed Lawan read the letters of Senators Yau, Anka and Nwaoboshi at plenary and also informed his colleagues that Gusau who resigned his membership of the APC on Tuesday has also

joined the APC. With the defection of the four PDP Senators, APC now has 70 Senators, PDP 38 Senators and Young Progressive Party (YPP) 1. The defection letter by the Deputy Minority Whip, Senator Sahabi Ya’u (Zamfara West) reads: “I hereby inform Your Excellency and my Distinguished Colleagues of my decision to move from the Peoples’ Democratic Party to the All Progressives Congress Party. “The decision is necessitated by the endemic crisis that engulfed the Zamfara State chapter of the PDP, which led the national body

to dissolve the State Exco of the party. “This has negatively impacted effective representation of my constituents. Being a representative of my people, and having consulted widely with them, I decided to defect from the crises-ridden party to a more formidable and peaceful party, the APC.” Deputy Chairman, Committee on Senate Services, Senator Lawali Hassan Anka (Zamfara West), on his part, said his defection was informed by the crises in the Zamfara state chapter of the PDP. Chairman of the Committee on Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Peter Nwaoboshi (Delta North)

said his decision to resign from the PDP was due to the implosion within the party. The lawmaker accused the leadership of the party of foisting tyranny, arbitrariness and intolerance. The Senate President, Lawan, who stopped midway while reading the defection letters as a result of interjections from PDP Senators, jokingly remarked that more defections were underway. “Distinguished Senator (Chukwuka) Utazi, I know this is not easy, but you know we have to learn to live with it, because many more will be coming here,” Lawan said.

Seven Journalists Killed, 300 Violations Recorded under Buhari’s Govt, Says Report A 2021 Press Freedom Report has revealed that the media industry recorded seven unresolved killings, 300 violations, affecting about 500 journalists, media workers, and media houses in Nigeria under the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari. The report released by the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) in collaboration with the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ), said the development was of major concern to the union, as journalists and media organisations are targets of attack by both protesters and government. Presenting the report yesterday

in Abuja, the Executive Director, Citizen Advocacy for Social and Economic Right (CASER), Mr. Frank Tietie, said actions like these only bring back unpleasant memories of the long tenure of military rule and the established culture of intolerance against the media when Nigeria recorded her most grievous crimes against the industry. The report said the nation was witnessing actions that seek to undermine the profession by both state and non-state actors. It said Nigeria is fast gaining notoriety for its failure to tackle impunity for crimes against journal-

ists including killings. The report reads in part: “For example, in 2017, four journalists were killed in separate incidents with no credible inquiry yet to find the culprits and their motive for the fatal attacks. The four were Ikechukwu Onubogu, a cameraman with the Anambra Broadcasting Services, Lawrence Okojie of the Nigeria Television Authority (NTA) in Edo State, Famous Giobaro, a desk editor with Glory FM in Bayelsa State and freelance broadcaster, Abdul Ganiyu Lawal in Ekiti State.” It also noted that clamping down on the media was a sign

of weak democracy and a restive government, adding that it is instructive to note that a free and open press is part of the bedrock of democracy and development. Speaking earlier, the President of NUJ, Mr. Chris Isiguzo, decried the incessant attacks on journalists in the country. Isiguzo said the safety of journalists goes beyond killings and physical assault but also include the absence of arbitrary arrest, resorting to exile to escape repression, harassment, destruction and confiscation of equipment and premises, and self-censorship in media.

T H I S D AY • THURSDAY, JULY 1, 2021

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COVID-19: FG to Deny Travellers from India, Turkey, Brazil, S’Africa Entry into Nigeria Olawale Ajimotokan in Abuja The federal government has threatened to deny entry into the country of non-Nigerian passport holders and non-residents who visited Brazil, India, Turkey or South Africa within 14 days preceding their travel to Nigeria. The Chairman of the Presidential Steering Committee (PSC) on COVID-19, Mr. Boss Mustapha

announced this measure yesterday in a revised provisional quarantine protocol specific to those four countries for travellers arriving in Nigeria. The protocol, which does not apply to passengers who transited through the countries, will come into effect from July, 2, 2021. It will be recalled that some weeks ago, the federal government had declared 222 visitors- Nigerians and foreigners, who visited India, Turkey

and Brazil -as persons of interest. In addition to that, it revoked the visas of the foreigners, while the Nigerian citizens had their passports frozen for six months. The specific guidelines for the four countries also warned that airlines that failed to comply with the protocols will mandatorily pay a penalty of $3,500 for each defaulting passenger while non-Nigerians will be denied entry and returned to the country of embarkation at cost to the airline.

Also Nigerians and those with permanent resident permit who visited the aforementioned countries within the 14 days preceding travel to Nigeria shall be made to undergo seven days of mandatory quarantine in a government-approved facility at the point-of-entry city and at cost to the passenger. The PSC stated further that passengers from those countries will within 24 hours of arrival take a COVID-19 PCR test and be admit-

ted within a government-approved treatment centre, in line with National treatment protocols if positive, while the passenger shall be admitted within a government-approved treatment centre, in line with National treatment protocols. The PSC also said that if the test is negative, the passenger will continue to remain in quarantine and made to undergo a repeat PCR test on day-seven of their quarantine. The statement said that pas-

sengers that make false declaration or misleading contact information will be liable to prosecution while those who willfully disregard or refuse to comply with directions of Port-Health staff, security agencies or evade quarantine will be prosecuted in accordance with the law. The revised response provisional quarantine protocol now requires in bound passengers to perform a COVID-19 PCR test not more than three days or72 hours before boarding.

$3& &KLHIWDLQ &ODUL¿HV $OORFDWLRQ of Campaign Funds to Kwara Nseobong Okon-Ekong Former Vice Chairman (North Central) of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Suleiman Wambai, has denied claims that the national headquarters of the party gave the Kwara State Governor, AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, N1 billion to run his campaign in 2019. Speaking yesterday on the recent controversy on campaign funds in the state, Wambai said the funds the party sent to Kwara and other states were for election logistics such as payment for polling agents, supervisors, and canvassers. Wambai told journalists in Abuja that: “That particular money came with a specific template of distribution and various stakeholders, including national officers, were involved in its disbursement. The candidate, like his colleagues in other states, took delivery of the said funds but that was all. Its disbursement followed a template that the party had earlier approved. “As the chairman of the party in the North Central, I was to be there, but I couldn’t possibly be in all the North Central states at the

same time. In any case, we had a national officer of the party, the National Publicity Secretary, who is from Kwara State. We did not have any complaints from Kwara or any other state that the said fund was mismanaged. It was used for the purpose it was meant for.” He said the allegation by the former state Chairman of the party, Bashir Omolaja Bolarinwa, that the governor did not disclose the fund sent to him was “definitely false because the disbursement was transparently done, otherwise, where did the money paid to our party agents, supervisors, canvassers come from? The reports from Kwara and other state showed that all the polling agents and others that were meant to be paid were duly paid as designed.” Wambai clarified that Kwara State did not get up to N1billion, and whatever the state got was disbursed in accordance with the template from the national headquarters of the party. “This matter can only generate controversy out of ignorance. If they were aware of the restrictions the electoral laws imposed on campaign fund donations, they wouldn’t be saying such thing,” he said.

Canada Seeks More Volume of Trade with Nigeria Michael Olugbode in Abuja Canada has shown interest in increasing both bilaterally and multilateral cooperation with Nigeria and subsequently increases the volume of trade with the country. Addressing journalists in Abuja recently to mark the Canada independence from the British on July 1, 1867, the acting High Commissioner of Canada to Nigeria, Nicolas Simard, said: “We look forward to broadening and deepening our cooperation with Nigeria both bilaterally and multilaterally.” Nigeria presently stands as the second largest trade partner of Canada on the African continent, exceeded only by South Africa.

The Canadian high commissioner said: “Nigeria is Canada’s second most important partner in sub-Saharan Africa. “Nigeria is an important partner for Canada. Our bilateral relationship is multifaceted and growing stronger each year through our longstanding cooperation across trade deals, development, diplomacy, education, and security.” On the volume of trade with Nigeria, Simard said as per yearto-date data from statistics, the total merchandise trade between Canada and Nigeria is estimated to be $1.4 billion (Canadian Dollar CAD), with Canadian merchandise imports from Nigeria accounting for more $411 million (CAD) and Canadian exports to Nigeria at more than $539 million (CAD).

PRINTING NIGERIA’S STORY… L-R: Member, Chartered Institute of Professional Printers of Nigeria, Chief Teni Zaccheus; Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Chief Adeniyi Adebayo; and President of the institute, Mr. Malomo Olugbemi, when a delegation of the institute visited the minister in Abuja…yesterday

Former Federal Lawmakers List Ways to End Insecurity The Forum of Former Federal Lawmakers in Nigeria has decried the current state of insecurity in the country and has recommended measures to the government to end the menace immediately. The forum in a public notice suggested ways out of the logjam. It said government must first

correct perceived areas of injustice, exclusion, and economic alienation in the country as part of a robust solution to end insecurity. The former federal lawmakers also advised that government must intensify dialogue with non-state actors in order to assuage frayed nerves across the nation and succeed in

containing agitations, conflicts and insurgencies benefiting the society. The former lawmakers said they were worried about the menace of farmers/herders clash and proffered ranching as the best solution to sedentary pastoralism. Against the backdrop of the porousness of the nation’s borders,

the former federal lawmakers urged governments at all levels to scale up land border control measures. It called on the federal government to issue a timeline during which to vanquish the Boko Haram insurgency amongst others, while also calling for an end to bloody secessionist agitations.

$JDLQ ,1(& /DPHQWV $WWDFNV 'HVWUXFWLRQ RI LWV 2I¿FHV Chuks Okocha in Abuja The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, has listed the destruction of the property and staff of the commission as capable of affecting negatively the November 6, 2021, Anambra State governorship election and the 2023 general election. He stated this as former INEC national commissioner and scholar, Prof. Adele Jinadu, described vote buying as the latest contrived act

capable of undermining the electoral integrity in the conduct of elections in Nigeria. Relatedly, Adele said it has become increasingly clear since the post-2011 general election that state resources are being used with impunity and at an alarming rate as part of electionrelated and electioneering war-chest of governing parties at the federal and state levels. Both spoke at the 2021 annual Abubakar Momoh Memorial Lecture, with the title: ‘Security and Elections:

Implications for Anambra State Governorship and the 2023 General Election’. The INEC chairman, in his welcome address, said the topic of the lecture was quite significant especially with the ongoing security challenges nationwide, and particularly, as there has been numerous attacks on the commission’s offices and property all over the country. According to the Yakubu, “For instance, between 2019 general elections and now, there have been

attacks on 42 INEC offices in the country. “We are, therefore, seriously concerned at the impact of this challenge when the physical appearance of registrants commences at the 2,673 registration centres soon. “This challenge is more pronounced as the commission will deploy 5,345 workers to officiate in the 2,673 registration centres nationwide. Naturally, we are deeply concerned about their safety even more than the security of our property and materials.”

Trial of Eight Suspected Killers 3'3 3UHVHQWV &HUWL¿FDWH WR 2]LJER 6D\V $3& )DLOHG 1LJHULDQV of Unilorin Student Stalled only to the people of state, but the beginning of a new dawn in experienced. Chuks Okocha in Abuja Hammed Shittu in Ilorin The trial of eight suspected rapists and armed robbers, who allegedly raped and murdered a 24-year-old University of Ilorin student, Olajide Blessing Omowumi, could not hold yesterday due to the inability of three of the suspects to produce legal representation. The suspects, Abdulazeez Ismail, Ajala Moses Oluwatimileyin, Oyeyemi Timileyin Omogbolahan, Abdulkarim Shuaib, Kareem Oshioyemi Rasheed, Abdullateef Abdulrahman, Daud Bashir Adebayo, and Akande Taiye Oladoja, were scheduled to be arraigned before Justice Ibrahim Yusuf of an Ilorin high court. The state Police Command had earlier confirmed suspected rape and murder of a 300-level student of the university in her residence at Tanke area of the Ilorin metropolis. The deceased, said to be staying with her elder sister at Tanke area,

until her death, was a student of Agricultural Science department from Oke-Opin community in the Ekiti Local Government Area of the state. The defendants were brought before the court by the state government in suit No KWS/33c/c/2021 on 11-count charge bordering on armed robbery, illegal possession of firearms and rape. Three of the defendants, Abdulazeez Ismail, Ajala Moses Oluwatimileyin (Jacklord) and Oyeyemi Timileyin Omogbolahan, were said to have allegedly conspired among themselves “to rob one Olajide Gloria Blessing Omowumi also known as ‘Wumi’ (now deceased) of her Samsung Galaxy A2 Core phone and carted away other items, including one black Acer aspire, one series laptop, one Samsung drive, one pink wireless mouse, one white handheld mini sewing machine, one Infinix charger and one gold colour Wintouch tablet, while armed with offensive weapons, including a black wooden pistol.”

The National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Prince Uche Secondus, yesterday presented the certificate of return to Valentine Ozigbo as the Anambra State governorship candidate of the party for the November 6 gubernatorial election. Meanwhile, Ozigbo has pledged to commence an immediate reconciliation of all members of the party, stating that his election as the governorship candidate is

the state. While presenting the certificate to Ozigbo, Secondus said: “Today we are presenting the certificate of return to our candidate, Valentine Ozigbo. “We want Nigerians to know that APC has completely failed this country. They made all sorts of promises in 2015 but they failed to fulfill all of them. We are in a mission in Anambra State to rescue Nigerians from the hands of APC. This is the worst Nigerians have

“So we believe that Anambra is a very important state not only for PDP, but for the country. The state hosts the largest number of billionaires, industries and those who have stakes in the Nigerian project. So we want to present our certificate to the candidate that has gone through all the processes and fulfilled all the conditions of our party.” Secondus urged the governorship candidate to go and campaign peacefully and return victory not

all Nigerians. According to the PDP national chairman, “We want to state here clearly that what happened in Anambra State on June 26 is the first time ever that we have conducted a very peaceful primary election in Anambra State since 1999. As witnessed by the media and the good people of the state, our party has gone through all the necessary processes in accordance with our constitutions and guidelines.

UNIBEN Student Killed Hours after Final Exams Adibe Emenyonu in Benin-city A final year Political Science student of the University of Benin has been reportedly shot dead hours after writing his final examination. The student identified as Augustine

Izu was said to have been killed last Tuesday after he was trailed to his off campus hostel located at 5, Image Street, off Federal Road, Ugbowo, Benin-city, by his assailants who shot him dead in his room. According to a source closed to the scene of the incident, the assailants,

numbering four, were said to be fully masked-up when they carried out the dastardly act in the presence of the deceased friend, Walter Emeka, who was also hit by bullet in the arm. In a related development, another student of the institution, Joshua Oginigbo, is also reported to have

been shot on same day (Tuesday) by gunmen. Oginigbo, a student of Computer Engineering, was shot in the head around the June 12 Secretariat on the campus and in a critical condition and receiving treatment at the University of Benin Teaching Hospital.

T H I S D AY • THURSDAY, JULY 1, 2021

NEWSXTRA

House Investigates Non-payment of Allowances to Army Personnel Adedayo Akinwale in Abuja The House of Representatives has ordered an investigation into the non-payment and under utilisation of non-regular allowances of army personnel from 2017 despite increment in budgetary provision for the allowances in 2020 and 2021. The decision of the House was sequel to the adoption of a motion of urgent national importance moved

by Hon. Abubakar Nalaraba at the plenary yesterday. Moving the motion, the lawmaker recalled the signiﬁcant upward review of non-regular allowance of the Nigerian army in 2017 to ensure that serving army personnel are adequately remunerated and motivated for optimum performance in provision of adequate security in the country. The lawmaker noted that the non-regular allowance, which includes payments such as ﬁrst 28 days al-

lowance, operations allowance and duty tour allowance of soldiers and ofﬁcers, was necessitated to mitigate the effects of current economic realities on the welfare of troops and the entire personnel of the Nigerian army. Nalaraba said the increment was captured in the Manual of Finance Administration (MAFA) and approved for implementation

by President Muhammadu Buhari on January26, 2018. He said:“Despite the increment in budgetary provision for non-regular allowances from N283 billion in 2020 to about N380 billion in 2021, the welfare of army personnel has not felt the corresponding effect and personnel of Nigerian army involved in internal security operations,

training and performance of other military duties, who are still being owed various types of non-regular allowances.” The lawmaker pointed out that the country is besieged by several security challenges and the Nigerian army is currently saddled with internal security operations, which include anti-insurgency operations in the

North-east, anti-banditry operations in the North-west, anti-bunkering in the South-south and anti-kidnapping across the country. The House, therefore, mandated its Committee on Army to investigate the disbursement of non-regular allowances to army personnel from 2017 till date and report back to the House in four weeks.

Senate Okays N74.773bn Budget for Police Trust Fund Deji Elumoye in Abuja The Senate has approved the sum of N74,773,601,916 billion as 2021 budget for the Nigeria Police Trust Fund. The approval was sequel to the consideration of a report by the Joint Committee of the Senate and House of Representatives on Police Affairs. Presenting the report, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Police Affairs, Senator Dauda Halliru Jika, observed that the 2021 NPTF budget is the second since the Act came into being in 2019. He disclosed that the total revenue roll-over from 2020 was

N23,632,857,141.30. Giving a breakdown of the budget, the Senator said the sum of N988,279,006.05 is for Personnel Cost; N10,027,610,310.25 for Overheads Expenditure; N11,015,889,316.30 for Recurrent; and N63,757,712,600.00 for Capital Expenditure. He explained that the 2021 accrued revenue are as follows: 0.5 percent of the Total Revenue Accrued to Federation Accounts Revenue at N41,867,680,099.00; 0.05 per cent of Total Value Added Tax (VAT) N8,824,064,676.00; 0.05 percent of the Net Profit of Companies in Nigeria – N 300,000,000; and Aids, Grants, and Donations – N150,000,000.

Abia Alliance Tasks Ikpeazu on Transparency, Welfare of Workers Emmanuel Ugwu-Nwogo in Umuahia A group of concerned Abia State businessmen, technocrats and professionals has urged the state Governor, Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu, to show more transparency in the management of the state finances, saying the current “opaque nature” of governance leaves much to be desired. The group under the aegis of Abia Freedom Alliance (AFA) made the call in a statement made available to journalists in Umuahia, the state capital, highlighting the six years of Ikpeazu administration and 22 years of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) “stranglehold” on the state. The statement entitled: ‘Okezie Ikpeazu at 6: Why we must rise to reclaim our state from political op-

portunists’, was signed by the group Coordinator, Prince Uzor Nwachukwu, and four other strategic executive members, Chief Joe Ezearu, Chief Allen Chunks Wogu, Bishop Bernard Nwaogu and Dr. Jude Ohuche. According to AFA, “The lack of transparency in the Ikpeazu administration has continued to manifest in the high cost of projects in the state and the secrecy in the award of contracts,” adding that Abia people have not enjoyed democratic governance under PDP in the state. Though it did not provide comparative contract figures, the group noted that projects in Abia State “are costing multiple of what similar projects in other South-east states cost even when the topography and other environmental conditions are similar.”

UK Withdraws £150m Tropical Diseases Funding Obasanjo, Jonathan, Gowon, Abdulsalami, 29 others kick Former Presidents Olusegun Osinbajo, Goodluck Jonathan, Yakubu Gowon, Abdulsalami Abubakar and 29 other ex-African Heads of State have lamented the United Kingdom’s proposed withdrawal of £150million for neglected tropical diseases (NTDs). They urged the international community and humanitarian assistance agencies to mobilise the needed aid resources to avoid further loss of life that might result from the UK’s decision. They made the plea in a statement under the auspices of the Forum for Former African Heads of State and Government and other Institutions (Africa Forum), made available by not-for-profit-organisation, Uniting to Combat Neglected Tropical Diseases.

The UK Government’s decision, if implemented, means its aid programme to Nigeria would be cut by 58 per cent. It also means the UK will abandon 77.1million NTDs treatments in Nigeria and over 200 million of Africa’s poorest and most vulnerable people that it had promised to support. Out of the 26 countries affected by these aid cuts, 24 are in Africa, including Nigeria. According to Uniting to Combat Neglected Tropical Diseases, which represents over 100 organisations working on NTDs, the cuts mean 18.3million treatments will not be delivered in Tanzania, 26.7million treatments will be affected in Mozambique and 3.6million in Ghana.

I Don’t Foresee War in Nigeria, Says Cleric The Founder of the Love of Christ Generation Church C&S, worldwide, Rev. Mother Esther Abimbola Ajayi, has urged religious leaders as well as Nigerians to continue to pray for the country in order to overcome challenges confronting her. The Christian cleric made the call during a visit by Executive members of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) Lagos Council led by its Chairman, Mr. Adeleye Ajayi. According to her, there is need

for all Nigerians to be more prayerful because there can never be peace when there are crisis in the land. The cleric said that she would continue to pray for Nigeria as she was optimistic that there would not be any outbreak of war in Nigeria. “He is God of new beginning and nothing is impossible for Him to do. God always had a way of restoring calmness in Nigeria whenever any crisis was looming,” Ajayi said.

COURTESY VISIT… L-R: Secretary, Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ), Lagos Council, Mr. Tunde Olalere; Chairman, NUJ, Lagos State Council, Mr. Leye Ajayi; Founder, Love of Christ Generation, Rev. Esther Ajayi; and Treasurer, NUJ, Lagos Council, Mrs. Iyabo Ogunjuyigbe, during the NUJ, Lagos Council’s visit to the cleric in Lagos...recently KOLAWOLE ALLI

Illegal Arms Importer to Pay N1m Fine as Senate Amends Firearms Act Deji Elumoye in Abuja The Senate yesterday passed the Firearms Act 2004 (Amendment) Bill 2021, increasing the fine for illegal importation and sales of firearms to N1million, from the N1,000 in the extant Act. The Senate passed the bill after it considered the report of its Committee on Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matters. Section 35 of the bill was also amended to increase the fine to N3million or three years imprisonment or both for anyone who

fails to surrender illegal firearms to the relevant authorities during a proclamation for such. The Chairman of the Committee, Senator Michael Opeyemi Bamidele, said the N1,000 fine contained in the extant Act was not punitive enough to deter illegal importation and sales of firearms in Nigeria. He said, “Clause 39 of the Bill, which deals with power to seize and destroy confiscated and illegal firearms, was amended to provide for inclusion of other law enforcement agencies besides the Police and the military.

“This is necessary because the power to confiscate or seize illegal firearms should be all-inclusive and not limited to a particular arm of force or law enforcement agency.” The bill also amended sub-clauses (4) and (5) of clause 39 to allow firearms that are not of military serviceable grades but are serviceable, to be deployed for use by Civilian Joint Task Force and other Registered Vigilantes, under the approval and supervision of the Office of the National Security Adviser. “This is important because these joint efforts are also funded by the

Government,” the Senator added. He said the bill has become imperative in view of the proliferation of firearms, coupled with the security challenges facing the country. The lawmaker said the fine in the extant Act was not commensurate with the gravity of the offence, hence the upward review of the fine in the bill. This, he added, would serve as deterrent and strengthen the current efforts geared towards the control of illicit and illegal firearms influx into the country and in the possession of an individual.

GKS President Buried Amid Encomiums on His Legacies The late President of God’s Kingdom Society, (GKS), The Church of the Living God, Godwin Onukwulunjo Ifeacho, was laid to rest at the weekend with members and friends of the Church heaping praises on him for his services to God and humanity. In a funeral ceremony held at Salem City, Warri, the Church headquarters, where the late president was also interred, the Acting President of the Church, Felix Ekundayo Adedokun, said the late President, who died at the age of 81, was neither materialistic nor vainglorious, his guiding principle being “service to God and humanity.” “He believed that there is dignity in simplicity, and this showed in his general lifestyle, comportment, speech, dressing etc.”

Adedokun said at the occasion which was attended by more than 4,000 members and friends of the Church from various parts of Nigeria, United Kingdom, Canada, United States of America, with the state government being represented by Mr. Emmanuel Ogidi, Special Adviser on Neighbourhood Watch and Chairman of the Delta State Security Trust Fund and Dr. Emmanuel Okoro, Special Adviser on Community and Rural Development, to the Delta State Governor, as well as representatives of the traditional ruler of Agbarha- Warri Kingdom, among other dignitaries. Reading the tribute of the Executive Board, the General Secretary of the Church, Tariola Michael Ekiseowei, stated that the late

President shunned the trappings and paraphernalia of office, adding that he moved about without any security. He added that the late Ifeacho “was unstinting in his determination that the Church remained united and in peace by the grace of God” and that he even “suffered himself to be defrauded for the sake of peace.” Expressing his condolences on behalf of the Agbarha Traditional Council and the entire people of Agbarha kingdom, His Royal Majesty, London Afokerhi Itu, Orhifi Ememoh 11 (JP), the traditional ruler of Agbarha-Warri Kingdom, noted that the succession pattern of the GKS is not hereditary “that is, from father to a spouse, son or brother”, but rather was “universal”, adding

that “this makes GKS unique from several other churches and is highly recommendable”. The speech was read on behalf of the king by High Chief W.A. Digbori, the Okpako r’ Ilorogun of Agbarha-Warri Kingdom. The chairman of GKS Laity, Joel Omare, spoke of the landmark strides attained by the Church in terms of physical development of Branches during the late president’s period in office, believing that he worked hard to strengthen the faith of members by visiting as many Branches, no matter how remotely located. “He served as president with zeal and openness and never feared being criticised, a virtue which will leave indelible marks in our minds”, he asserted.

Obasanjo Felicitates with China’s Ruling Party, CPC at 100 Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has extolled the leadership quality of the Chinese, as the country’s ruling party, Communist Party of China (CPC),clocked 100. The former President in a congratulatory message to CPC at its centenary age, attributed the success and growth of China to the consistency and doggedness of the ruling party in its 100 years of existence. Obasanjo in the message recalled how the decision and policies of the founding fathers of the Peoples’ Republic of China marketed China

to the world and consequently rubbed off positively on global economies, including Nigeria. “The party has led the country from the era of Chairman Mao to become the economic powerhouse it is today. At $16.64 trillion GDP, it’s the second largest economy after USA with $22.68 trillion GDP. “With the founding of the People’s Republic of China, headed by Mao Zedong who is regarded as the Founding Father of Modern China, China’s leaders began their exploration of the road to socialist industrialisation and

modernisation. “Working towards the goal of economic modernisation, their strategy moved from “national industrialisation” to “four modernisations. Mao was responsible for many of the political initiatives that transformed the face of China” The elder statesman boasted of how he enabled a sustained relationship with China during his tenure as the President of Nigeria, a development which he said was able to strengthen the bond between the two countries till date. “Since establishing diplomatic

relations with China in 1971, Nigeria’s relationship with China has developed into one of the most important bilateral relationships maintained by either country. The relationship has broadened and deepened with China’s growing power and interest in securing its regional interests (particularly within the South China Sea), and taking its place as a major global actor. China and Nigeria have signed a number of agreements on trade, economic and technological cooperation as well as on investment protection”.

T H I S D AY •THURSDAY, JuLY 1, 2021

ThursdaySports

Leicester Put Iheanacho, Vardy on Red Alert with Signing of Daka

Femi Solaja with agency report

Leicester City yesterday stepped up their bid for striking options in the coming season following the signing of striker Patson Daka from RB Salzburg. The Zambian international was officially unveiled yesterday morning, when the Foxes confirmed Daka had put pen to paper on a five-year deal. The implication of the addition means that the duo of Super Eagles forward, Kelechi Iheanacho and England striker, Jaimie Vardy will have to sweat it out for a starting line up with new point man in the new season. Daka, 22, had previously been linked with Jurgen Klopp's Liverpool and Arsenal. Speaking to LCFC TV, Daka said: “I'm so, so excited to join this great, historic club. It has been my dream and I'm so happy and looking forward to what's coming next. “I have followed Leicester from the time they won the league. I feel it is the perfect place for me, because it's a team that fights for titles. I know it's

Jaimie Vardy (left) and Kelechi Iheanacho have new threat with the signing of the Zambian Daka. not going to be easy, but I feel ready to face this new challenge. “I will give my best for the Club each and every day, and I look forward to seeing the Leicester City fans inside the stadium soon,” observed the

Zambian. The striker has scored 68 times in 125 appearances for RB Salzburg in all competitions, and rapidly caught the attention of top European clubs as a result. His 27 goals in just 28 appear-

Eguavoen Admits Tough Final Squad Selection to Face Mexico

R-L: Super Eagles officials, Paul Aigbogun and Austin Eguavoen having tete-a-tete with other coaches of the home-based senior national team before their departure for Los Angeles, USA...last night

Duro Ikhazuagbe As the home-based Super Eagles departed Abuja last night for Los Angeles, USA, venue of the international friendly between Nigeria and Mexico on Saturday, Technical Director of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), Austin Eguavoen revealed the difficult task the team’s coaches faced in trimming the squad from 26 to 22 players. Eguavoen who won the AFCON 1994 with the ‘golden generation’ of the Nigerian senior team admitted that it was difficult dropping four of the players in camp because of the commitment and improvement exhibited by all the stars invited from the domestic topflight league. “We had about 26 players in camp and it was difficult trimming it down to 22. Yes, there were lots of improvement. I am not saying that those dropped were the least, but we also want to let them know how we want to play and trying to

figure out what position is best for each player as well. It was tough decision,” observed the ex international fondly called Cerezo in his days as Eagles defender. Eguavoen stressed that coaching a football-loving country like Nigeria demands thick skin by the gaffers as criticisms are what to expect on regular basis. “It has not been easy because it has been very tough. You know when people criticize you, you should be able to accept it once you are in this job. But objective criticisms are welcomed. But Again, this job is open to criticism anyway. “Like I said before that this job is not easy and selecting those players is also not easy.” He however feels elated by the commendations heaped on the coaching crew by the Sports Minister, Sunday Dare, when he visited the team’s training early this week. “When the Honourable Minister of Sports (Sunday Dare) visited us, he gave us a

lot of commendations because it’s not easy working with a whole lot of players from the domestic league.” Eguavoen however apologized to those who thought they ought to be in the squad to the Mexico friendly. “Apologies to those who felt they should be here but are not here. This is not a one-off thing but a continuous thing. Recall that the Minister also told us that we should go back to the drawing board when we have periodic camping,” he noted. The NFF has promised that henceforth, there will be regular invitations of players from the domestic league in a one-year plan where there would be periodic camping for them to fish for those to be included in the ‘A’ team. Enyimba forward, Anayo Iwuala and his teammate goalkeeper John Noble have become regular members of the Super Eagles following their good showings recently.

NPFL

(Match-day 30) Lobi Stars

3-0 Heartland

Rivers Utd 3-1 Plateau Utd IfeanyiUbah 3-0 Adamawa MFM FC

2-1 Kano Pillars

Enyimba

1-1 Warri Wolves

Rangers

2-1 Abia Warriors

Jigawa GS 0-1 Katsina Utd Sunshine

1-0 Wikki Tourists TODAY

Dakkada

v Kwara Utd

Akwa Utd v Nasarawa

ances last season saw him finish as the Austrian Bundesliga's top scorer, as well as being named the league's Player of the Season. Born in Zambia, Daka spent part of his youth career with Nchanga Rangers and Kafue

Celtic in his homeland before joining Austrian side Liefering on loan in 2017. Iheanacho, who was part of Super Eagles’ team to the first round elimination at the last World Cup finals in Russia in

2018 was in a blistering form in the final quarter of last season with several match winning goals that helped the Foxes to win the FA Cup and narrowly missed the chance to play in the UEFA Champions League this coming season. Chelsea legend, Didier Drogba, took to social media to welcome Daka to the Premier League yesterday. Drogba enjoyed a trophyladen career at Chelsea during his eight years at Stamford Bridge. There, he won four Premier League titles, four FA Cups and three League Cups. Also, he won the Premier League Golden Boot twice and set numerous club scoring records, including the most by a non-Englishman (164), the most in the Champions League (36) and the most in cup finals (nine). And now that the African star has officially teamed up with Brendan Rodgers’ men, the former Cote d’Ivoire international formally welcomed Daka to the King Power Stadium. “Congrats to Patson Daka for your Leicester City move. Welcome to the Premier League,” Drogba tweeted.

UEFA Euro 2020 Q’finals Live on DStv, GOtv

Quarter final matches of the ongoing UEFA Euro 2020 Championships are going to be broadcast live to viewers on DStv and GOtv through SuperSport on Friday 2 and Saturday 3 July. The titanic battles will get underway early on Friday evening with Switzerland taking on Spain in Saint Petersburg. Spain have become the rising force of the tournament after scoring 10 goals in their last two matches, while the Swiss are fresh from their upset win (via penalties) over world champions France in the Round of 16 and have started to dream of glory. This clash will air live at 5pm on SS Euro2020 (DStv channel 204 and GOtv channel 32).

The second match on Friday night is an all-heavyweight clash between Belgium and Italy in Munich at 8pm. The Red Devils are looking to justify their world number one ranking, but will likely have to cope without key men Eden Hazard and Kevin De Bruyne, while the Azzurri will again be reliant on their strength in depth. This will be live on SS Football (DStv channel 205 and GOtv channel 31)and SS Euro2020 (DStv channel 204 and GOtv channel 32). Saturday’s early game is the meeting of the two surprise packages of the tournament, with Czech Republic facing Denmark in Baku at 5pm. The Czechs are flying high

after their stunning upset win over the Netherlands, but the Danes are continuing to ride the emotional wave driving them forward in the wake of Christian Eriksen’s collapse early in the tournament. Catch this match live on SS Football (DStv channel 205 and GOtv channel 31)and SS Euro2020 (DStv channel 204 and GOtv channel 32). The Quarterfinals wrap up on Saturday night with the meeting of Ukraine and England in Rome at 8pm. The Three Lions are in ecstasy after a historic 2-0 win over Germany in the Round of 16, but Ukraine’s last-gasp, extra time win over Sweden shows that they are dangerous opponents.

Betway Nigeria Donates Bus to Nile University Community Boxing Gym in Lagos Qualifies for Total-

Premium entertainment and gaming brand, Betway Nigeria, on Wednesday, donated an 18-passenger bus to EliteBox, a boxing gym in Lagos. The donated bus is expected to take care of transportation and tours for members and trainee boxers. “Betway is happy to support EliteBox Gym in their bid to promote fitness and healthy living in Lagos. We hope that this donation will go a long way in contributing to the general well-being of residents and trainees at the facility,” Betway Nigeria’s Director, Chris Ubosi, announced at the presentation of the bus. EliteBox has revolutionized training of boxers with unique equipment inspired by methods of boxing greats like Mohammed Ali, Sugar Ray Robinson, among others. Executive Chairman, Yangabet, Derrick Kentebe, joined Manager, Retail Channel, Betway Nigeria, Clement Okolie and Agency Manager, Betway Nigeria, Dotun Adepegba to

present the bus at EliteBox fitness centre in Victoria Island, Lagos. The founder of EliteBox, Rehia Giwa-Osagie, says; “I founded EliteBox Fitness in May 2016 to provide people with a platform to keep healthy and also as a way to pick up life skills that include techniques on how to defend oneself. “The goal was to improve the boxing culture in Nigeria and have more world champions come out of Africa. I am grateful to the Betway team for supporting us with this bus, and this gesture will go a long way in changing lives,” Giwa-Osagie stressed. The donation, according to the Betway officials, “is in continuation of Betway’s community support programme and contribution to healthy living in Nigeria.” Since the initiative commenced in March 2021, Betway has donated nearly N10 million worth of fitness and sports equipment across Nigeria.

NBBF Division One Finals

Nile University came out smoking on Match- day 5 as they continued their impressive display in the 2021 Total National Division One Basketball league. Still unbeaten in the Savannah Conference, the only university in the league defeated Safety Knights of Abuja by 74-57 points in the local derby. Discovery again lost their game against OS Lions in the Atlantic Conference of the Total National Division league. ABU lost to Yobe Warriors in a game that came down to the wires. It was the Warriors who held their ground to win 68-66pts. Today, Ebun Comets will hope to maintain their unbeaten run when they face Coal City Kings in the first game of the day.

THURSDAY JULY 1, 2021 • T H I S D AY

Thursday, July 1, 2021

Ekweremadu to Nigerians Those who have ruled this country as presidents, do you think their villages are better than others? It’s a psychological thing”—Former Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu on why the 2023 Presidential slot should go to the Southeast

The Tricky Trial of Nnamdi Kanu

fter a four-year interregnum, the trial of the ‘supreme leader’ of the proscribed Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB), Mr Nnamdi Kanu resumed on Tuesday at the Federal High Court in Abuja. First arraigned on 14th October, 2015 before he eventually secured bail and fled the country, Kanu had been slammed with an 11-count charge bordering on terrorism, treasonable felony, managing an unlawful society, publication of defamatory matter, illegal possession of firearms and improper importation of goods. According to the Attorney General of the Federation and Justice Minister, Abubakar Malami, SAN, Kanu is now also accused of inciting violence through television, radio and online broadcasts that resulted in the loss of lives and property of civilians, military, paramilitary, police forces as well as the destruction of civil institutions and symbols of authority in the Southeast. While the security agencies may have scored a huge coup by arresting Kanu abroad and bringing him home to face trial, nobody should be under any illusion that this is a simple case. The trial of Kanu resembles that of his friend-now-turned-foe, Mujahid Dokubo-Asari who was charged with similar offences under President Olusegun Obasanjo. Let’s hope it doesn’t turn out the same way. Although Dokubo-Asari’s case eventually ended with his release from detention by my late boss, President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua on 14th June 2007 (two weeks after assuming office as a prelude to the Niger Delta Amnesty programme), anybody who wants to recall that drama and its lurid details should read the Supreme Court judgement of 8th June 2007. Incidentally, that judgement (on a bail application case) was delivered by Justice Ibrahim Tanko Muhammad, the current Chief Justice of Nigeria (with concurrence by Aloysius Katsina-Alu, Niki Tobi, Francis Fedode Tabai, Pius Olayiwola Aderemi and Anthony Ikechukwu Iguh). Meanwhile, Dokubo-Asari’s lawyer was Festus Keyamo, SAN, the current Minister of State for Labour and Productivity. Let me refresh the memory of readers on that case before I go to the substance of my intervention. Arraigned on 6th October, 2005 before the Federal High Court in Abuja, Dokubo-Asari was accused of managing “unlawful societies of more than ten persons respectively known and called Niger Delta Peoples Volunteer Force (NDPVF), Congress for the Liberation of Ikwere People (COLIP) and Chikoko Movement” with objectives that allegedly include: Levying war on the government of Nigeria; encouraging the killing and injuring of persons and property; promoting the subversion of the government of Nigeria and its officials; committing and inciting acts of violence and intimidation; encouraging interference with or resistance to the administration of law; and encouraging the disturbance of peace and order in the Niger Delta. In one of the charges, Dokubo-Asari was said to have held a meeting on 28th August 2005 at Samsy Hotel in Benin, Edo State capital where he planned to cause civil disorder that would lead to the overthrow of what he reportedly called “the dictatorial government of Chief Olusegun Obasanjo”.

Kanu

And on 10th September 2005, he also granted an interview to the Independent Newspaper where he said: “Nigeria is an evil entity. It has nothing to stand on and I will continue to fight and try to see that Nigeria dissolves and disintegrates and I am ready to hold on to the struggle to see to this till the day I will die. I do not see any reason why I should continue to live with people that have no relationship with me whatsoever.” During the trial on 19th February 2007, DokuboAsari created a never-to-be-forgotten scene when he told Justice Peter Olayiwola who had asked that he be taken out of court for unruly behaviour: “Stupid man! Stupid judge! You want to adjourn this matter again? You want to send me back to the underground cell again? I am sorry for you. Your family will weep when it happens. They will cry and cry. Your family members cannot escape too. I know where they live. And Obasanjo will not be able to protect you.” In the end, that trial catapulted Dokubo-Asari into national and international limelight and perhaps, stupendous wealth as well. However, while the recall is important to situate the issue of Kanu’s trial, I am also aware that the Southeast is not exactly the Niger Delta in the mind of the current dispensation. Obasanjo and Yar’Adua may also have taken different approaches but for essentially economic reasons vis-à-vis the oil factor. There are no such considerations in this case. Besides, the most incensed members among Kanu’s supporters are in the Diaspora. The feeling within the Southeast political circle may be one of relief that Kanu is out of circulation. Indeed, following their meeting in Enugu on 15th September 2017,

the Southeast Governors’ Forum announced the proscription of IPOB activities. The then chairman, Governor Dave Umahi of Ebonyi State also assured Nigerians that “full investigation is ongoing on all allegations of killings, maiming and other unlawful conduct in the (Southeast) zone within this period”. But nobody can deny that Kanu is now a huge factor in Southeast politics. Because some people cannot differentiate between Biafra and the Igbos, Kanu has been able to create a ‘We’ versus ‘Them’ narrative on what remains an emotional injury in the Igbo collective psyche. The tragedy really is that it did not have to come to this, if Kanu had not been consumed by hate-mongering. In my 1st October 2017 ‘Platform Nigeria’ presentation, ‘A Nation on the Edge: Which Way Nigeria?’, I spoke on how Kanu was insulting other ethnic nationalities. Yet those who ought to have restrained him refused to do so. As I asked in one of my columns, when Kanu said “anybody attending a Pentecostal church with a Yoruba pastor is an idiot, a complete fool and an imbecile” before adding, “if your pastor is Yoruba, you are not fit to be a human being” or “Pastor Kumuyi should be stoned and dealt with thoroughly if he comes to Aba for his planned crusade”, was I expected to clap for him as a Yoruba man? However, what provoked my ‘Platform Nigeria’ intervention was the ultimatum given by some ‘youths’ for all Igbos to vacate the northern region, as a result of killings in the Southeast at the time. Let me take excerpts from what I said on that occasion: “On 6th June this year (2017), some old men under the aegis of Coalition of Arewa Youths gave all the Igbo people living in the North till yesterday, 1st October to vacate the region. Even though the quit notice was eventually withdrawn, the damage that ultimatum did to our national psyche would take many years to heal. But then, the action of this group was also a response to the uncontrolled verbal aggression by Mr Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the so-called IPOB. “Egged on by the mob, comprising mostly Okada riders with online support from several of his kinsmen in the Diaspora, Kanu was allowed to take hate speech to an unprecedented level. Even when he was presented a golden opportunity to champion the genuine grievances of his people with civility, following an ill-advised treason trial that catapulted him into national limelight and prominence, Kanu could not rise beyond the mediocrity of the adulation of some street urchins. He felt that by making incendiary statements to offend, insult, intimidate and threaten people from other ethnic groups, he was helping whatever his cause was. At the end, he made a strategic miscalculation. “However, while I do not know why Kanu believes spreading hate and violence would help his cause, the Arewa youth counter-response was also very

By his conduct and utterances in the past six years, Kanu has succeeded in alienating many open-minded Nigerians (outside the Southeast) who appreciate the legitimate demand of Igbo people for fairness, equity, and justice in an inclusive nation they can call their own.

much unfortunate because the inference was that because Kanu is Igbo, all Igbo people must suffer the consequences of his action…Unfortunately, the message that was also lost on the authorities in Abuja is that you cannot build an inclusive society when you react to national security threats in a manner that suggests some people are above the law; although many people across the country also felt let down that some otherwise respected senior citizens from the South-east who ought to have called Kanu to order were practically genuflecting before someone young enough to be their grandson!” In that presentation, I also made it clear that the excessive military show of force in the South-east under the pretext of ‘Operation Python Dance’ was a dangerous gambit that could play into the hands of Kanu given public resentment by the people who were made to pay for what they knew nothing about. Sadly, that was what fed the general angst that eventually turned Kanu into a folk hero within the region. Now, let me come back to the 2017 ‘Platform Nigeria’ intervention for my closing argument: “Admittedly, ours is a fragile polity but the social and economic bonds that unite us are strong and hard to dissolve. Yet the task of conscious nation building has hardly been done. The rights of citizenship are still shackled by boundaries of state of origin and ethnicity. The excessive hangovers of prolonged military rule are still with us in the form of impulsive arbitrariness. Our government still finds it easy to call in military force to quell elementary civil unrest. We are yet to teach our citizens from infancy the values of group living and how to compete as individuals without resorting to primordial hate when we cannot prevail. “However, despite all these, the real challenge is that of creating enough wealth to cater for the need of our huge population. If we remain a poor country with an external reserve that is less than the cash holding of Facebook alone, our competitions might get bloodier and our future more speculative and tentative. Our task therefore is to make Nigeria a land of equal opportunity for all, a nation whose unity is not decreed as non-negotiable but is guaranteed by the practical incentives it offers for all to want to stay in and perfect the union.” ENDNOTE: As we gradually inch towards the 2023 general election and the permutations for presidency in the two leading political parties continue, we are bound to confront the Igbo question in a way that could tie into Kanu’s travails, even if unintended. His trial has now been compounded by the fact that he jumped bail which, in some jurisdictions, is usually deemed a “consciousness of guilt”. But Kanu deserves a proper trial and respect for the rules. The federal government should grant him access to his lawyers, obey the courts, and ensure that he gets justice, according to the laws of the land and the constitution. Meanwhile, Southeast leaders will also do well to reassure other Nigerians that IPOB does not speak for the region. By his conduct and utterances in the past six years, Kanu has succeeded in alienating many open-minded Nigerians (outside the Southeast) who appreciate the legitimate demand of Igbo people for fairness, equity, and justice in an inclusive nation they can call their own.