FRIDAY 8TH OCTOBER 2021

PDP’s NEC Backs Governors, Zones Chairmanship to North Signalling a southern presidency Defers attempt to present Bala report Let the people decide, says Atiku Northern members disagree over micro-zoning

Chuks Okocha in Abuja

The 94th National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting of the Peoples Democratic

Party (PDP), yesterday, rose in support of the governors of the party, and unanimously adopted the report of the National Convention Zoning

Committee (NCZC), chaired by the Enugu State Governor, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, which last week, zoned the national chairmanship of the party

to the north.

By implications and standard practice in the PDP, the development might have further brightened the

possibility of a southern presidential candidate, being the fallout of other zoning options that could be open to the party as it journeys to

the 2023 elections.

The meeting also pulled a smart one, when it declined to Continued on page 10

UK Rules Out Quarantine for Fully Vaccinated Travellers from Nigeria... Page 6 Friday 8 October, 2021 Vol 26. No 9678. Price: N250

www.thisdaylive.com TR

UT H

& RE A S O

N

Buhari: Petrol Subsidy Eroding Revenues Available to Fund Budget Presents N16.39trn appropriation bill to N’Assembly Says defence remains priority To finance deficit with fresh N5.01trn borrowings Lawan flays high level of budget shortfall Gbajabiamila assures of quick consideration of appropriation bill APC: Proposed spending will accelerate economic diversification PDP: More pain, suffering for Nigerians Fiscal plan has high-sounding figures clothed with borrowings, says CUPP

Deji Elumoye, Chuks Okocha and Adedayo Akinwale in Abuja

For the first time since the inception of his government in 2015, President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday

acknowledged how much petroleum subsidy had eroded national revenues, making it impossible for the country to adequately fund its annual budget, despite significant Continued on page 8

...Lawmakers Express Divergent Views on 2022 Expenditures Proposed estimates uninspiring, says House Minority Caucus Others endorse spending plan

Deji Elumoye, Adedayo Akinwale and Udora Orizu in Abuja

There were mixed reactions yesterday to the N16.39

trillion 2022 Appropriation Bill presented to the National Assembly by President Muhammadu Continued on page 8

BUDGET OF CONSOLIDATION...

President Muhammadu Buhari lays the 2022 budget proposal on the table before a joint session of the National Assembly GODWIN OMOIGUI where he officially presented it to the lawmakers at the NASS Complex, Abuja...yesterday

FG Not Contemplating Emergency Rule in Anambra, Says Obiano After Meeting President... Page 10

2

FRIDAY OCTOBER 8, 2021 •T H I S D AY

FRIDAY OCTOBER 8, 2021 • T H I S D AY

3

4

FRIDAY OCTOBER 8, 2021 •T H I S D AY

5

FRIDAY, ΀˜ ͺ͸ͺ͹ ˾ T H I S D AY

NEWS

Group News Editor: Goddy Egene Email: Goddy.egene@thisdaylive.com, 08033506821, 08097777322

SEPLAT ENERGY SUMMIT...

L-R: Chairman & Editor-in-Chief of the THISDAY Media Group/ARISE News Channel, Nduka Obaigbena; Independent Non-Executive Director, Seplat Energy Plc, Bello Rabiu; Chairman, Seplat Energy Plc, Dr ABC Orjiako and CEO, Seplat Energy Plc, Roger Brown, during the Seplat Energy Summit 2021 titled: “Global Trends In Energy Transition and The Africa Perspective" in Abuja...yesterday AYO AJAYI

Analysts Laud Timely Budget Transmission, Say Projections Realistic James Emejo in Abuja Analysts yesterday commended President Muhammadu Buhari for the timely transmission of the 2022 Appropriation Bill to the National Assembly.

They also expressed satisfaction over the benchmarks in the appropriation, describing them as realistic.

In separate interview with THISDAY, the analysts, however expressed hope that the legislature would reciprocate the president's gesture by concluding work on the budget before the end of the year to enable implementation to commence in January following the president's assent.

Buhari, yesterday presented the N16.3 trillion 2022 Appropriation Bill to the Joint Session of the National Assembly.

Reacting to the development in a chat with THISDAY, Chairman, Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN), Abuja Branch, Prof. Uche Uwaleke, said the mending of the hitherto broken budget cycle remained a major achievement by the current administration.

He said, "I think the budget benchmarks are largely realistic with respect to crude oil price of $57, exchange rate of circa N410 and real GDP growth rate of 4.2 per cent.

"First, let me commend the President for presenting the 2022 appropriation bill in relatively good time.

He also called on the National Assembly to expedite action on the bill.

He said, "Indeed, the mending of the hitherto broken budget year is a major achievement by this administration."

Uwaleke, however, pointed out that inflation projection of 13 per cent appeared unrealistic considering the implementation of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) requiring the complete removal of fuel subsidy.

He said, "As the president admitted, the concern about increasing deficit financing through borrowing is justified.

"The consolation however is that all new borrowings are tied to critical projects.

"It's equally noteworthy that the government has made provision for use of Green bonds

as well as PPP arrangements in financing infrastructure."

Also reacting to the budget proposal, Managing Director/ Chief Executive, Dignity Finance and Investment Limited, Dr. Chijioke Ekechukwu, said with enough fiscal discipline, the anticipated gains from the

oil price differential could fund part of the budget deficit, thereby reducing the amount of money to be borrowed.

He said, "First, I commend the president for sending the budget on time to the National Assembly so that the fiscal calendar could still be maintained.

"I am satisfied with the benchmarks of oil price of $57 per barrel and the output level of 1.88million barrel per day, exchange rate at $410.

"Unfortunately we will continue to operate at the whims and caprices of oil price volatility."

On his part, Managing Director/Chief Executive, SD&D Capital Management Limited, Mr. Idakolo Gbolade, pointed out that the, "N16.3 trillion is going to throw Nigeria into more debt trap as a substantial part of it will be financed by additional borrowing."

He noted that this comes at a time when almost 100 per cent of the country's revenue was being used for debt servicing, adding that the price of crude oil though high at the moment, could still be affected, leading to lower returns from oil revenue.

FG: Energy Transition Must Take Cognisance of Nations’ Peculiarities Seplat unveils new brand identity, incorporates renewables into operations

Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja The federal government yesterday insisted that it would be unfair for richer nations to stampede developing countries like Nigeria into abandoning their resources for the current energy transition, urging its advocates to consider the peculiar circumstances of every nation.

Speaking at the Seplat Energy Summit 2021 with the theme “Global Trends in Energy Transition and the Africa Perspective,” the Minister of State, Petroleum, Chief Timipre Sylva, maintained that the continuous exploitation of the country’s oil resources would be crucial in supplying world markets with a broad portfolio of energy options.

During the hybrid event, Sylva noted that Nigeria requires fossil fuel as its base-load energy source.

He explained that while this was a major concern for climate activists in developed nations, the clamour to emphasise only renewable energy as the sole pathway to energy transition was a source of concern for African countries.

Sylva explained that Nigeria was still working to achieve industrialisation, address energy poverty and ensure reliable power supply, emphasising that the call to jettison fossil fuels all together may not be feasible for now.

“This is why in Nigeria, we reject the concept of a single pathway to the energy transition.

Indeed, we prefer the concept of ‘just’ energy transition which takes into cognisance the specific circumstances of each nation in developing the energy transition pathway that best achieves the environmental, social, political and economic objectives of the transition in that specific nation.

“Multiple pathways to the energy transition should and must exist in order to ensure that no country is left behind in the process of achieving net-zero by 2050.

“In Nigeria, the position above recognises the possibility of a structural decline in the price of oil and consequential fiscal vulnerabilities that may arise, as well as the increased risk exposure therefrom, and is responding to it in several ways,” the minister explained.

The former Bayelsa governor pointed out that Nigeria would continue to focus on gas, which he said is at the heart of the energy transition and represents the first step in the journey to renewables away from oil.

Sylva averred that gas was not just a transition fuel for Nigeria, but also represents a destination fuel, as the country envisages that it will be part of its energy mix by 2050, given the vast resources that can be commercialised and utilised.

Furthermore, he stressed that generous incentives have been proposed in the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) 2021 to enable development, distribution, penetration and utilisation of gas.

“Our proven gas reserves are sufficient to cover current demand levels and support plans for the construction of nine new gas-fired power plants with a combined name-plate capacity of nearly 6,000 MW by 2037,” he added.

While congratulating the leadership and staff of Seplat on the formal unveiling of the new brand identity, he noted that it bears testament to the company’s movement with the times, evidenced by its full transition to an energy company.

He stated that the PIA would assist in harnessing Nigeria’s potential to achieve its plan of increasing oil production to four million bpd and oil reserves from 37 billion barrels to 40 barrels while also drawing on the country’s estimated 600TCF of natural gas reserves to provide clean and efficient energy.

Sylva noted that the provisions relating to voluntary conversion, production allowances, lower royalties and taxes, cost optimisation focus in the PIA have been enshrined to address the envisaged fiscal vulnerabilities.

The Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, who was represented at the event by the Minister of State, Environment, Sharon Ikeazor, said over the next decade, every aspect of national energy system was expected to be affected by changes in climate and energy policy, financing, continuous technological advancement, and shifts in energy supply and demand.

He argued that energy transition could no longer be limited to incremental steps, but must become a transformational effort based on rapid upscaling and implementation of all available technologies to innovate for the future.

Osinbajo said Nigeria has now developed its energy transition plan, through the Cop 26 plan which has the three core objectives of achieving universal access to energy by 2030, net zero emissions by 2050 and industrialisation to alleviate poverty and drive economic growth.

He added that the transformation of the energy sector offers ample opportunities for sustained economic development, social inclusion, energy security, improved health,

job creation, and other societal benefits if achieved in a just and inclusive manner.

“However, this would require careful management and broad engagement in order to balance delicate and diverse interests. This brings to the fore the vulnerability of workers, communities, government sectors, and enterprises.

“It also underscores the necessity for comprehensive and coherent policies and measures to address the multifaceted challenges involved and to pursue environmentally sustainable growth, while at the same time ensuring a just transition for those affected,” he noted.

The Group Managing Director, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Mallam Mele Kyari, in his comments, argued that the mistake being made all over the world was that people see net zero as zero fossil fuel in the future.

He noted that there must be fair and practical steps to close the energy gap in Africa, explaining that there must also be a transition fuel in form of gas to close the huge energy poverty in Nigeria.

According to him, even in the next 50 years, oil and gas would still be relevant, noting that what should be done was to make them much more climate friendly with efficient mechanisms in place, assuring that the NNPC would continue to lead the conversation in that direction.

In an executive dialogue session anchored by the Chairman, THISDAY Newspapers and Founder Arise News Channel, Prince Nduka Obaigbena and the Chief Executive Officer of Seplat, Mr. Roger Brown, noted that the company would continue to

evolve as it embraces renewables.

He said that Seplat has a strategy as summarised in its upstream oil and gas, in which it is continuing to cut costs, the midstream which is mainly gas processing business and the third which is its renewable energy side.

Brown noted that the focus on renewables remains real, describing it as the energy of the future, but maintained that one fuel source was not the solution to the transition, but a combination of many sources.

He stated that solar power has bright prospects in the country, noting that Seplat was looking at both on-grid and off-grid sides of the business which has gone beyond paper work.

Also on the panel, a nonExecutive Director of Seplat Energy, Mr. Bello Rabiu, noted that 80 per cent of emissions were being carried out by the industrialised nations, while the rest of the world does a paltry 20 per cent, saying that African countries cannot suffer for the irresponsibility of some developed nations.

According to him, Africa has to continue to deploy its resources efficiently, arguing that net zero in 2050 does not mean oil and gas will no longer exist.

Rabiu said that monies from fossil fuels when spent on importation is not sustainable, explaining that Nigeria needs technology, investment and the cooperation of the international community.

Obaigbena who got intermittent applauses for his handling of the session, however argued that none of the factors mentioned was within Nigeria’s control, which again raises the issue of over-reliance on foreign aid.

FRIDAY, ΀˜ ͺ͸ͺ͹ ˾ T H I S D AY

6

NEWS

SERVICE OF SONGS FOR OKUNBO...

L-R: Son of the deceased, Osahon Okunbo; widow, Mrs. Nosa Okunbo; daughter, Esohe Okunbo; son, Ryan Okunbo, and Bryan Okunbo at the service of songs for late Captain Idahosa Wells Okunbo, held at his GRA residence in Benin, Edo State...yesterday

Take Advantage of PIA to Promote Your Investments, Buhari Tells ExxonMobil, Others Deji Elumoye in Abuja President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday urged operators in the petroleum industry to take advantage of the new Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) to promote their investments in the oil and gas sector.

Speaking while playing host to a team from ExxonMobil Corporation led by its President on Upstream Oil and Gas, Liam Mallon, at Abuja, the President said: “I will expect the ExxonMobil companies in Nigeria to avail themselves of the opportunities created by the Petroleum Industry Act and invest in further development of the Nigerian assets in line with our national interest.

“It is our expectations that your company will also support our desire to deepen gas utilisation and monetisation aimed at reducing our carbon footprint and facilitating economic growth and development of our country.”

Buhari also enjoined the ExxonMobil chief to collaborate on a bigger scale with the NNPC to realise the full potential of the

abundant gas resources in Nigeria.

“We look forward to ExxonMobil engaging in deeper collaboration and partnership with the New NNPC and other Nigerian institutions to ensure optimum exploitation of the abundant Oil and Gas resources in Nigeria while also aligning the processes with the global drive towards carbon neutrality,” said the President.

He commended his guests for their commitment to continue to be a bigger player in the downstream sector of the petroleum industry: “We thank you very much for the reassuring words on your continued presence in Nigeria with the promise of expanding your investments in the Deepwater.

“This will no doubt be further facilitated by the provisions of the Petroleum Industry Act which is designed to provide a competitive fiscal framework and a world class regulatory framework that is at par with our global peers.”

Mallon had earlier told the President that ExxonMobil, which has done business in Nigeria for over 60 years, remained as

US to Build New Lagos Consulate with $319m Michael Olugbode in Abuja The United States has awarded a contract of $319 million for the building of a new Consulate in Lagos.

A statement signed by the Information Specialist, Public Affairs Section (PAS), US Consulate General in Lagos, Temitayo Famutimi, stated that the Bureau of Overseas Buildings Operations announced the Design-build award for the U.S. embassy in Lagos.

The statement further revealed that the Department of State has awarded Federal, LLC of Lombard, Illinois the $319 million design-build contract for the new U.S. Consulate General in Lagos, Nigeria.

The statement noted that the 12.2-acre site for the new Consulate General was part of Eko Atlantic, a development led by South Energyx Nigeria Limited in collaboration with Lagos State.

It stated that the location would provide the future diplomatic

campus and its neighbors with access to sustainable, modern infrastructure, including an 8.5 km seawall designed to protect the city from rising sea levels and coastal erosion.

According to the statement, Ennead Architects of New York, New York is the design architect, revealing that the new Consulate General would provide a modern, resilient platform for diplomacy in Nigeria and is expected to be completed in 2027.

The statement noted that since the start of the Department’s Capital Security Construction Programme in 1999, the Bureau of Overseas Buildings Operations (OBO) has completed 168 new diplomatic facilities, adding that OBO currently has more than 50 active projects, either in design or under construction worldwide.

It stated OBO provides safe, secure, functional, and resilient facilities that represent the US government to the host nation and that support U.S. diplomats in advancing US foreign policy objectives abroad.

committed and strong as ever, though it was divesting from the Joint Venture (shallow water) with NNPC. He assured the president that whoever emerges buyer, “must

be a capable operator. We won’t compromise on that at all. The party must have the capacity to make growth vision happen.

And we will be very transparent about it.”

He commended President Buhari on the successful way the country handled the COVID-19 pandemic, and also for the passage into law of the Petroleum Industry Bill.

“We started work on the PIB about 20 years ago, you have now brought it to a closure. I know how much effort went into it. We are proud of your leadership,” he said.

Family, Friends Pay Tributes to Late Capt. Hosa Okunbo Celebrate his passion for humanity Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja Last night, family and friends converged at the Benin, GRA, residence of the late Captain Idahosa Wells Okunbo, for a second night running, to pay their last respect to the billionaire businessman, who passed on in August, in London, after losing battle to pancreatic cancer.

The atmosphere was stimulated with awe-inspiring words as guest after guest shared compelling stories of their personal experiences, sacrifices, and endeavours made by the man they regarded as a pillar and a colossal symbol.

A majority of those, who spoke acclaimed that, “Cappi was everything to everyone.”

The creme-de-la-creme of Nigeria's political class, who were present, also paid their last respect to the late billionaire businessman.

Among them were the Deputy Governor of Edo State, Philip

Shuaib and his wife; former Governor of Delta State, James Onanefe Ibori and his wife; former Governor of Edo State, Adams Aliyu Oshiomhole; and former Commissioner for Information and Orientation inEdo State, Kassim Afegbua, who represented former Military President Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida.

The event started with an opening procession led by the Eclectic Praise Group and Pastor Emma Ogidiolu.

Mr. Greg Uanseru was the first among the guests to pay his tributes. The billionaire oil mogul expressed his deep regrets at losing someone he refered to as his twin brother, anddescribed Cappi as "a man of his words; very kind to a fault."

He outlined "integrity and unwillingness-to-be-deceptive" as the key to Captain's success.

A family member said, "Cappi was known with many titles, but being called a father and husband

were his favourites."

In admiration of Captain's contributions to national development, Hon Rasak Bello Osagie, a former member of the House of Representatives, described Captain as "passionate about this country with a nationalistic fervour, and his actions were powered by passion, integrity and purpose."

The night was equally a testimony of how Cappi cherished and nurtured friendships all through his sixty-three years of existence.

Many close friends, confidants, and old-time friends were present to pay their last respect.

His close friends, which included Captain Mike Williams, Mr Garth Dooley, Mr Peter Okundaye and Tony Idighie, among others, shared fond memories with Captain Hosa.

They spoke about him as "a man that lived well" and further remarked that he "will be missed

not just by my family but the family of all Nigerians, because he was a great Nigerian.”

Old friends from the Federal Government College, Warri, led by Mr. Oladimeji Garuba, Mr.Frank Longe, and Mrs. Roseline Ehanire, were also present to pay their last tribute and likened him to "a lion, who would never retreat" and "a lily of the valley that would continue to live even after it was cut down."

Siblings of the deceased expressed their gratitude beyond grief, describing their brother as "a candle that knew how to share his light with others."

Declaring their love for Captain, the quartet of Edith, Bright, Morrison, and Dandisson, lauded their brother's brave accomplishments and giant strides and claimed to be consoled by the destination of Cappi’s soul in the bosom of the Lord as they have learned to continue without him.

UK Rules Out Quarantine for Fully Vaccinated Travellers from Nigeria Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja The United Kingdom (UK) has ruled out quarantine for Nigerian travellers to the European nation who have been vaccinated against COVID-19 infection, from Monday.

This was disclosed by the British High Commission in Nigeria in a post titled, “UK Changes Travel Rules for Fully Vaccinated Travellers from Nigeria,” posted on its website.

It stated that from Monday, October 11, 2021, fully vaccinated travellers from Nigeria would be able to come to England without needing to provide a pre-departure test, undertake a day eight test or self-isolate for 10 days. But such persons would still need to book

and pay for a day two test.

The High Commission said this policy applied to those fully vaccinated with AstraZeneca (including Covidshield), Pfizer, Moderna and Janssen (Johnson and Johnson).

It explained, “Fully vaccinated means thAat you have had a complete course of an approved vaccine at least 14 days before you arrive in England.

“The day you had your final dose does not count as one of the 14 days. You must be able to prove that you have been fully vaccinated under a vaccination programme and have a valid proof of vaccination recognised by the British government (for Nigeria, the certificates with valid QR codes

as issued by Nigeria’s National Primary Health Care Development Agency are recognised.”

The British High Commission further explained that if the traveller from Nigeria to England is not fully vaccinated, he must take a pre-departure COVID-19 test, which must be taken three days before date of travel.

The traveller must book and pay for day two and day eight COVID-19 tests, which would be taken on arrival and he must complete a passenger locator form anytime within 48 hours before his arrival.

“After you arrive, you must quarantine at home or in the place you were staying for 10 days; take a pre-booked COVID-19 test on

or before day two and on or after day eight.

Reacting to this new development, acting British High Commissioner, Ben Llewellyn-Jones said, “The exemption of fullyvaccinated Nigerians travelling to the UK from providing a predeparture test and self-isolating for 10 days, is a very welcome development. To make this happen, we have been working closely with Nigeria’s National Primary Health Care Development Agency on recognising Nigeria’s vaccine certification, which we have now done.

“The UK remains committed to opening up international travel and enabling those who wish to enter the UK, to do safely.”

FRIDAY OCTOBER 8, 2021 • T H I S D AY

7

8

FRIDAY, ΀˜ ͺ͸ͺ͹ ˾ T H I S D AY

PAGE EIGHT BUHARI: PETROL SUBSIDY ERODING REVENUES AVAILABLE TO FUND BUDGET appreciation in crude oil prices.

Buhari made the revelations in Abuja while presenting a N16.39 trillion Appropriation Bill for the 2022 fiscal year to a joint session of the National Assembly.

But Chairman of the National Assembly and President of the Senate, Dr. Ahmad Lawan, flayed the rising level of budget deficit.

Nevertheless, there was hope of an early passage of the 2022 budget proposal, as Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila, assured the president of quick consideration of the estimates by the National Assembly.

Similarly, the ruling party All Progressives Congress (APC) yesterday said the proposed 2022 budget was designed to accelerate government's on-going efforts to diversify the economy.

But the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) described the proposed budget as another budget of sorrow and pain to Nigerians.

Coalition of United Political Parties (CUPP) slammed the budget presented by the president, saying though his last full year budget, it does not have items that can at least see him leave office with some element of pride.

The 2022 Appropriation Bill was tagged "Budget of Economic Growth and Sustainability."

Buhari recalled that in March 2020, the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) had announced that market forces would henceforth determine the price of petrol.

He stated, "However, as the combination of rising crude oil prices and exchange rate combined to push the price above the hitherto regulated price of N145 per litre, opposition against the policy of price deregulation hardened on the part of labour unions in particular.

"Government had to suspend further upward price adjustments while engaging labour on the subject. This petrol subsidy significantly eroded revenues that should have been available to fund the budget."

Buhari said allocations to Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) in the budget were guided by the strategic objectives of the National Development Plan of 2021-2025. He said the plan prioritised diversification of the economy with robust Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) growth; investing in critical infrastructure; strengthening security and ensuring good governance; enabling a vibrant, educated and healthy populace; reducing poverty; and minimising regional, economic and social disparities.

The president stressed that the security sector would still take a chunk of the 2022 budget, saying, "Defence and internal security will continue to be our top priority.

"We remain firmly committed to the security of life, property and investment nationwide. We will continue to ensure that our gallant men and women in the armed forces, police and paramilitary units are properly equipped, remunerated and well-motivated."

The president commended the National Assembly for the expeditious consideration and passage of the supplementary

appropriation bill 2021. He said that underscored the federal legislature’s commitment to collective efforts to contain the COVID-19 pandemic and address the various security challenges facing the country.

He also commended the National Assembly for the quick consideration and approval of the 2022-2024 Medium-term Expenditure Framework and Fiscal Strategy Paper.

The president said, "Our hope is that the National Assembly will continue to partner with the executive by ensuring that deliberations on the 2022 Budget are completed before the end of this year so that the Appropriation Act can come into effect by the first of January 2022."

Buhari said over the past few days, consultation was made with the Presidential Steering Committee on COVID-19 and the leadership of the National Assembly on how best to present the 2022 budget proposal, keeping in mind the deep-rooted tradition in place and the guidelines for safe mass gatherings.

He said it was decided that the most responsible and respectful approach was to hold a shorter than gathering while allowing the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning to provide fuller details of the proposals at a smaller event.

According to him, the 2022 to 2024 Medium Term Expenditure Framework and Fiscal Strategy Paper (MTEF/

FSP) set the parameters for the 2022 Budget.

He noted that oil price benchmark was pegged at $57 per barrel; with daily oil production estimate of 1.88 million barrels (inclusive of Condensates of 300,000 to 400,000 barrels” per day projected.

Buhari said the exchange rate was pegged at N410.15 per dollar; and projected Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth rate of 4.2 per cent and 13 per cent inflation rate. He added that based on these fiscal assumptions and parameters, total federally collectible revenue was estimated at N17.70 trillion in 2022.

The president pointed out that total federally distributable revenue was estimated at N12.72 trillion in 2022, while total revenue available to fund the 2022 budget was estimated at N10.13 trillion. This includes grants and aid of N63.38 billion, as well as the revenues of 63 government-owned enterprises.

Buhari noted that oil revenue was projected at N3.16 trillion; non-oil taxes estimated at N2.13 trillion and FGN independent revenues were projected to be N1.82 trillion.

The president explained that a total expenditure of N16.39 trillion was proposed for the federal government for 2022.

He said the proposed expenditure comprised: Statutory Transfers of N768.28

billion, Non-debt Recurrent Costs of N6.83 trillion; Personnel Costs of N4.11 trillion; Pensions, Gratuities and Retirees’ Benefits N577.0 billion; Overheads of N792.39 billion; Capital Expenditure of N5.35 trillion, including the capital component of Statutory Transfers; Debt Service of N3.61 trillion and Sinking Fund of N292.71 billion to retire certain maturing bonds.

Buhari stated, "We expect the total fiscal operations of the federal government to result in a deficit of N6.26 trillion. This represents 3.39 per cent of estimated GDP, slightly above the three per cent threshold set by the Fiscal Responsibility Act 2007.

Countries around the world have to of necessity over-shoot their fiscal thresholds for the economies to survive and thrive "We need to exceed this threshold considering our collective desire to continue tackling the existential security challenges facing our country."

Buhari said the federal government planned to finance the deficit mainly by new borrowings totalling N5.01 trillion, N90.73 billion from privatisation proceeds and N1.16 trillion drawdowns on loans secured for specific development projects.

The president stated, "Some have expressed concern over our resort to borrowing to finance our fiscal gaps. They are right to be concerned.

However, we believe that the debt level of the federal

government is still within sustainable limits. Borrowings are to specific strategic projects and can be verified publicly."

Buhari explained that the country had witnessed two economic recessions within the period of his administration, stressing that in both cases, the country had to spend its way out of recession, which necessitated a resort to growing the public debt.

"It is unlikely that our recovery from each of the two recessions would have grown as fast without the sustained government expenditure funded by debt," he said.

On parameters and fiscal assumptions, the president said the target over the medium term was to grow the country's revenue-to-GDP ratio from about eight per cent currently to 15 per cent by 2025. He said at that level of revenue, the debt service-torevenue ratio would cease to be worrying.

"Put simply, we do not have a debt sustainability problem, but a revenue challenge which we are determined to tackle to ensure our debts remain sustainable," Buhari said.

The president noted that his government had used loans to finance critical development projects and programmes aimed at improving the economic environment and ensuring effective delivery of public services to the people.

He said his government focused on: the completion of major road and rail projects; the effective implementation

of power sector projects; the provision of potable water; construction of irrigation infrastructure and dams across the country; and critical health projects such as the strengthening of national emergency medical services and ambulance system, procurement of vaccines, polio eradication and upgrading Primary Health Care Centres across the six geopolitical zones.

Buhari said his government in 2022 would further strengthen the frameworks for concessions and public private partnerships (PPPs), adding that capital projects that are good for PPP by their nature would be developed for private sector participation.

On the performance of the 2021 budget, Buhari said in the 2021 Fiscal Framework, a total revenue of N8.12 trillion was projected to fund aggregate federal expenditure of N14.57 trillion (inclusive of the supplementary budget), while actual revenues were 34 per cent below target as of July 2021, mainly due to the underperformance of oil and gas revenue sources.

Buhari pointed out that the federal government’s retained revenues (excluding Government Owned Enterprises) amounted to N2.61 trillion against the proportional target of N3.95 trillion for the period.

Earlier in his welcome address, Lawan said the Continued on page 12

...LAWMAKERS EXPRESS DIVERGENT VIEWS ON 2022 EXPENDITURE Buhari. While some federal lawmakers, especially the House of Representatives Minority Caucus, described the budget estimates as drab and uninspiring, others, including senators and House of Representatives members, said the appropriation bill signified hope for the teeming populace.

The House Minority caucus, in a speech by its leader, Hon Ndudi Elumelu, at the 94th National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting of PDP in Abuja, said the budget had no solution to the challenges facing the nation.

Elumelu said the president “ridiculously” asked for debt forgiveness, on the one hand, and on the other, he was busy seeking more loans, thereby making a mockery of the country as an, "unserious country led by a clueless government."

He assured that the caucus would do all in its powers to lobby for the redirection of the budget for the benefit of Nigerians.

Elumelu said, "As representatives of the people, our caucus took the president to task on his speech, in which he failed to present the ugly reality of the failures of his administration to the world body.

"As we speak, innocent and defenseless Nigerians are being killed on daily basis by terrorists and bandits. Our citizens can no longer move freely across their country.

Today, our economy is in shambles; there is anger, frustration and hopelessness everywhere.

"Most Nigerian families can no longer afford their daily meals and other basic necessities of life; they go to bed on empty stomach and wake up with no hope of breakfast or even lunch.

Our productive sectors have been wrecked by the APC. Their only hope of survival is to have the PDP back in power."

In his reaction, Hon. Babatunde Ayeni said the main expectation was on security, saying the country is going nowhere without adequate funding of the security sector.

Ayeni stated, "On the budget of N16.39 trillion, our expectation is especially on security. This time around, everybody in Nigeria is talking of security and if you do not fund that aspect of the budget well, we are not going anywhere.

"The police need more funds that even last year. I am the Deputy Chairman of Police Affairs (committee. If you say police must perform, automatically they must be funded."

In his reaction, Senator Ayo Akinyelure said he believed that the budget was aimed at fixing the country, saying the lawmakers have done their best to meet the January December budget cycle.

Senator Olamilekan Adeola described the fiscal plan as a budget of hope.

According to him, "We hope it will take us out of misery, given critical attention to education and security. He (Buhari) has given assurance that the deficit will be financed by borrowing. He has said we have nothing to fear, the borrowed tied to specific verifiable projects. We are convinced it will take care of our needs."

Adeola said he was not bothered about the debt profile, because the president had given an outline of how to finance the loans, adding that with time the direction of the budget will take would be unveiled.

On his part, Senator

Opeyemi Bamidele said the budget estimate as laid yesterday showed consciousness on the part of the leadership that it was not yet Uhuru.

He stated, "We must spend our ways out of recession.

Recurrent is taking more money, and giving the government a human face.

But capital spending will help to develop our infrastructure.

"By and large, what is important is implementation by ensuring that MDAs are able to implement diligently and we don't fail in our oversight to monitor the spending and for Nigerians at large, to monitor in their various constituencies.

"We must all ensure that every naira borrowed is spent on capital projects that will percolate to the ordinary Nigerians and take us out of recession."

Adding his voice, Senator Uba Sani said infrastructure development and education were key to the country's growth and development.

According to him, the National Assembly needs to increase the level of oversight to ensure that key revenue generating agencies add value to the federation account Senator Ishaku Abbo said, "The 2022 budget is to stimulate economic recovery.

By the passage of the PIB, we are confidence that Nigeria will now have more money.

"I believe the budget should be more. I know you will ask about the issue of borrowing.

Nigeria is not the only country that borrows money."

Abbo said he had no problem with borrowing to fund the budget in as much as money borrowed would not be used for payment of salaries, but for infrastructure development.

In his contribution, Senator

Abdullahi Adamu said since the budget was the last budget the present administration would implement fully, the government would ensure that projects started were completed.

Adamu said, "Every country is borrowing. England is owing over €3 trillion. So, we must borrow about N6 trillion to fund the budget.

Every country is borrowing."

On her part, House Deputy Chief Whip, Hon. Nkiruka Onyejeocha, expressed excitement that the 2020 budget had gender issues incorporated in it.

According to Onyejeocha, "The president said this is the first time that gender issues are being included in the budget. I'm excited because what it simply means is that this president has decided to work the talk. We are going to look at the details and key in from there."

Onyejeocha said the budget gave her hope that the president had been listening to women, saying all Nigerian women are excited about this budget.

She added, "This is about the second time that the budget is being released 100 per cent. I don't know if you know what that means. What it simply means is that we are not going to have abandoned projects because when you release 40 per cent, it means the work will be done 40 per cent, but when you release 100 per cent, it means a lot of projects will be concluded."

Onyejeocha also highlighted the president’s political will to fund the projects.

She added, "People are saying it is loan, everybody takes loan. The most important thing is that when you take the loan, then you use it judiciously and as parliament, we are going to make sure

that we track our money."

Hon. Ben Igbakpa said there was need for the lawmakers to assist the president through their oversight function in ensuring that the MDAs were monitored to ensure that there was no revenue leakage.

Igbakpa said, "A budget is a statement of intention, so we hope to get 100 per cent.

We are going to ensure in our oversight function that every MDA does what they are ought to do and stay on the executive to ensure, especially those revenue generating agencies to ensure that they bring the funding because if there is no money, there is nothing anybody can do. We must ensure that the revenue comes in to ensure the implementation of the budget as envisaged by Nigerians. We are looking at 100 per cent."

Adding his voice to the debate, Hon. Babajimi Benson stressed that no country could develop without infrastructure.

Benson said, "They say that a nation that has infrastructure is a rich nation. Nigeria should do whatever it can to ensure that borrowed funds are used to fund infrastructure.

I'm happy today that Mr. President also said that the 2021 budget will be funded 100 per cent and that before the end of his administration all on-going infrastructure will be completed, that is good news for Nigerians. It is good news if we complete all the road projects, it is good news when we complete all the rail projects.

"At the end of the day, it is for the betterment of our citizenry. We should all pray that Mr. President completes these projects as said. So once that is done it will be a new dawn of prosperity for us in Nigeria."

FRIDAY OCTOBER 8, 2021 • T H I S D AY

9

FRIDAY, ΀˜ ͺ͸ͺ͹ ˾ T H I S D AY

10

NEWS

NDUBUISI KANU’S COMMENDATION SERVICE...

L-R: Senator Oluremi Tinubu; Lagos Deputy Governor, Dr. Obafemi Hamzat; his wife, Oluremi; Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu; his wife, Ibijoke; wife of the deceased, Mrs. Gladys Ndubuisi Kanu; first daughter of the deceased, Mrs. Simone Abiona; wife of Late Lateef Jakande, Mrs Abimbola Jakande; representative, Lagos State Chief Judge, Mrs. Oluwatoyin Oyekan and 4th child of the deceased, Miss Paula Kanu, during a commendation service in honour of ex-Military Administrator of Lagos State, Rear Admiral Ndubuisi Kanu, at the Chapel of Christ the Light, Alausa ... yesterday

FG Not Contemplating Emergency Rule in Anambra, Says Obiano after Meeting President Lambasts Malami for ignoring security crisis in north Deji Elumoye in Abuja President Muhammadu Buhari has foreclosed a possible declaration of a state of emergency in Anambra State ahead of the November 6, 2021 governorship election in the state, Governor Willie Obiano has said.

Obiana, who spoke with newsmen Thursday after a closed door meeting with the president at the State House, Abuja, declared that the reported threat of a possible state of emergency in his state was not President Muhammadu Buhari’s idea.

He, however, hinted that he had since reported the AttorneyGeneral of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, to the President over the matter.

Describing the threat as

unfortunate, the governor said he wondered why Malami had not mooted the idea of emergency rule in some Northern states, where he observed there had been a lot of killings.

“Well, that's a very unfortunate comment by the AttorneyGeneral Malami. Very, very unfortunate. I also reported that to the President and this is not in the books for the President because he knows that Anambra has been the safest state in Nigeria for seven years plus. These invaders from outside Anambra State, from the neighbouring towns, we are going to deal with them.

We're already working, there's nothing really.

“Even to contemplate state of emergency is unfortunate.

Look at what is happening in the North; they kill dozens

every day, because less than 15 people were killed in Anambra in two weeks, is that a reason for somebody to call for a state of emergency? That's a very unfortunate comment by Malami. I will call him to express reservation on those kinds of comments. He shouldn't try that.

“Anambra is doing well and don't forget that Malami is on the National Campaign Committee for the APC candidate. So, if that's their strategy, then, they failed already. Come to the ballot box, APGA will win and win hands down. They are trying to see how they can destabilise us. No, APC has no room in Anambra; there’s no party called APC in Anambra. Anambra is APGA “I just finished meeting with the President and I mentioned it and the President didn't

suggest that. The President is firm. He wants a peaceful election in Anambra State. He wants a free and fair election in Anambra State, that's the President for you. But if people in his party are going around making insinuations, using his name to do things, the President clearly told me that he does not support that.”

He, therefore, wondered why the Attorney-General would make such a comment about his state, which he noted has been the safest in the country, and has not made a similar call for Northern states, where the security situation had for long been fierce and dangerous.

"We don't have any challenge in Anambra. What happened for the period of two weeks is just a flash in the pan. Anambra has always been the safest state in

Nigeria under my leadership for seven and a half years, so this little hiccup will not warrant his comment there.

“Why didn't he make those comments in Kaduna, in Jos, Imo State, in Zamfara? Why is he making that kind of assertion and we have an election by the corner? There's no reason to make that assertion.

“When you have malaria and when you have cancer, they are two different treatments. What we have in Anambra is malaria, so you don't have to use a sledge hammer to kill that. We are not near, in terms of confusion and security challenges, compared to Zamfara and co, so they are not good examples.

“The Army, police Navy, other arms-bearing people should consider the quantum of force to use. As a strategist,

you don't sit down here and order the Army to carry the whole army in Nigeria to go to Anambra.

“In summary, what I'm saying is, what is happening in Anambra and this election that must hold, the crisis and challenges are far from being close to challenges in the North West and in the North East, as the case may be. They are not going to use an overwhelming force, that's what we're saying, overwhelming force. But use the force required to be able to get the job done.

“The guarantee we are given for this election is that this election will hold, we'll have enough security to back the people and APGA; Professor Chukwuma Soludo, will be the next governor of Anambra State,” he said.

meeting, Atiku said fairness should decide the party's presidential candidate. He stated, "The Peoples Democratic Party has the right to determine its rules on how the party should be governed. The people of Nigeria also have the right to determine who governs them. Where the president comes from has never been the problem of Nigeria."

He spoke on how PDP had managed the question of zoning, saying, "I can cite examples, neither will it be the solution.

There is no such thing: he is a president from southern Nigeria, or a president from northern Nigeria. There is only one, a president from Nigeria, for Nigeria and by Nigerians.”

Continuing, Atiku said, "Talking about inclusions, I would like to see a new National Working Committee of our great party that has sizable numbers of our youths and woman. The decision of NEC today will either see PDP into the villa in 2023 or not. Since inception, this party has faced serious challenges, and has risen above sentiments to solve those challenges and move forward.”

The former vice president narrated, "Now, let me come to historical events, which I said I was going to cite. Those of us who served in the constitutional conference, which drafted the current constitution of Nigeria, should remember that after we finished drafting the constitution, we all met as members of the constitutional conference and resolved to correct the injustice that was done to a particular part of this country.

"And we said, in whichever

party you found yourself, your presidential candidate must come from the South-west, because Abiola had won election, it was annulled. Not only was he annulled he was killed.

"So, we all agreed as members, and we went out of the constitutional conference and we formed our parties: those of us who formed PDP from PDP; those who formed AD from AD "At the end of the day, two parties emerged. PDP picked General Obasanjo and AD picked Olu Falae. All of these showed you that Nigerians have a sense of fairness. Professor Jerry Gana, is that not what happened? More or less?

"Distinguished members of NEC, in 2003, all the PDP governors met at the villa and said they were not going to support President Obasanjo for a second term, that I should run. I now referred them to the resolution of NEC, where NEC decided that power should remain in the South-west for eight years.

How do you now want me to go against the resolution of NEC? And I turned it down. And we moved on.

"So, this country has a sense of fairness. This country has a sense of justice. This country has a sense of equity. Therefore, this thing that is inbuilt in our party, we should be able to use it, to imbibe it to make sure today’s deliberations are in the best interest of our party, in the best interest of Nigeria, which will ultimately give us the victory that we asked for, to go back to the villa.”

Minority Leader of the House

of Representatives, Hon. Ndudi Elumelu, said the recent political reports and speculations on the PDP had generated widespread public debate regarding the direction of the party ahead of the national convention and the 2023 general election. He explained that such public interest in activities of the PDP strongly pointed to the huge confidence Nigerians reposed in the party.

Elumelu lamented the current security and economic challenges faced by the country under the All Progressives Party (APC).

Interestingly, a meeting of the Northern PDP stakeholders, held last night, has thrown up another challenge over its national chairmanship, with many of their major players already showing interest in the office.

The meeting held at the Bauchi State governor's lodge, Abuja, saw the northern stakeholders reject the proposals by the governors of Bauchi State, Bala Mohammed; Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom and the Governor of Sokoto State, Aminu Tambuwal, that the North Central zone should swap offices with those in the South-south zone.

After the stakeholders had rejected the swapping of the offices between the North Central and South-south, the meeting decided that what position to micro-zone to which state should be among the 19 northern states.

“There was a disagreement.

They tried to zone it to the North Central, which was rejected by the committee. So, what they did was that the 19 states and the FCT nominated one person each into a committee.

PDP'S NEC BACKS GOVERNORS, ZONES CHAIRMANSHIP TO NORTH consider a report by the Governor Bala Mohammed committee, which recommended throwing the presidential ticket open, but deferred the decision to yet another NEC meeting at a later date.

These, nonetheless, former Vice President and presidential candidate of the PDP in the 2019 general election, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, has lent support to the idea of open presidential ticket, insisting that the people should be allowed to decide who their presidential choice would be.

This is as the meeting of the Northern PDP stakeholders and their elected governors, last night, failed to reach an agreement on the micro-zoning of the office of the national chairman, because everyone wanted to take their chances at the opportunity.

In a related development, the suspended national chairman of PDP, Uche Secondus, said he was in court to stop an alleged blackmail, planned hijack, and plot to destroy PDP. His case is currently at the Court of Appeal.

Briefing newsmen after the NEC meeting, National Publicity Secretary of the party, Kola Ologbondiyan, said the report of the Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi committee was unanimously adopted.

Ologbondiyan maintained that the zoning committee was given the mandate to zone national offices to be contested by all PDP members at the party’s National Convention scheduled for October 30 and 31.

Though the decision was unanimous, it was gathered that Senator Abdul Ningi from Bauchi State and Shuiabu Oyedokun

from Osun State spoke briefly against the zoning of the party's leadership offices. But Oyo State Governor Seyi Makinde was said to have quickly countered Oyedokun, stating that anyone from the South-west, who spoke against the zoning arrangement was speaking for himself.

Another NEC member told THISDAY that most of the party’s stakeholders from the North could not present any strong opposition to the zoning, because some of them had started seeing themselves as national chairmanship candidates.

The NEC meeting mandated the stakeholders to meet at the zonal level and share the offices allocated to them and thereafter inform the party of the decisions reached.

But on the zoning of the presidential ticket, Ologbondiyan said the report was referred to another NEC meeting, where it would be decided.

Another source at the meeting said although the northern PDP members wanted to initiate a discussion around the Bala Mohammed committee report, knowing full well it would lead to discussing the presidential ticket, the meeting immediately shut it down and insisted it should be moved to the next NEC. The NEC meeting had a large attendance.

Meanwhile, Secondus, in a statement by his media aide, Ike Abonye, claimed his legal effort was to stop the hijack of the party.

He alleged that he had been the subject of blackmail since the onset of the plan to hijack the soul of PDP by one of the governors.

The statement said, "First was the baseless lies that Prince Secondus as National Chairman was not meeting up with his obligations at his ward level in Rivers State. It was based on such ridiculous lies that they approached the court to get the purported interim order. After the interim order based on such frivolous story, the said governor and his errand boys went ahead to get the court ruling against Prince Secondus.

"For being so treated and victimised without any justification whatsoever after almost four years of selfless service to the party, Prince Secondus is left with no option but to fight for his fundamental rights by approaching the court to seek redress and correct the blackmail and concoctions.

"Notwithstanding the frivolous nature of the allegations, Secondus on his own as a strong believer in the rule of law decided to respect the court by staying away while seeking the necessary right that should correct the judicial ambush against him and the party.

"While awaiting the outcome of the case presently at the Court of Appeal, the blackmail has continued unabated with fabrications and all kinds of laughable lies to the fact that Prince Secondus is romancing with the opposition.”

The statement said Secondus had maintained a clean record in the party from his days as State Chairman, National Organising Secretary, Deputy National Chairman, to National Chairman in December 2017.

Speaking earlier at the 94th NEC

FRIDAY OCTOBER 8, 2021 • T H I S D AY

11

FRIDAY, ΀˜ ͺ͸ͺ͹ ˾ T H I S D AY

12

NEWS

REBRANDED CERTIFICATE OF COMPLETION AND FITNESS FOR HABITATION...

L-R: Lagos Deputy Governor, Dr. Kadri Obafemi Hamzat; Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu; House Committee Chairman, Hon. Nureini Ayinde Akinsanya and Managing Director of Mac Folly, operator of Lagos Marriot Hotel, Ikeja, Mr. Chike Ogeah, at the presentation ceremony of rebranded Certificate of Completion and Fitness for Habitation at Adeyemi Bero Auditorium, Alausa, Ikeja, Lagos...recently

Group Alleges Shut Down of Telecom Services Worsening Insecurity in Katsina El-Rufai seeks understanding over stiff security measures John Shiklam in Kaduna and Francis Sardauna in Katsina Residents of Daudawa community in Faskari Local Government Area of Katsina State have alleged that the shutting down of telecommunication services by the state government hasworsened the security situation in the state. he residents under the auspices of Daudawa Area Council Unity Development Association, lamented that bandits had killed many people in the area due to non-availability of telecoms services.

But the Kaduna State Governor, Mallam Nasir ElRufai, has pleaded for more understanding and support of the people of the state in the collective bid to tackle insecurity, following the new security measures.

According to the Daudawa residents, on October 3rd, 2021 at about 6:pm bandits attacked the community and killed no fewer than nine people, set ablaze many cars, houses, shops and abducted many residents.

In a letter addressed to the office of the Secretary to the State Government, Dr. Mustapha Inuwa,; Commissioner for Police, Sanusi Buba; Director of DSS,

Katsina and Emirate, they called on government to review its Security Containment Orders.

The letter, signed by Hassan Daudawa and made available to THISDAY Thursday read: "We write this letter with tears in our eyes due to the worsening level of insecurity in our community.

"We are facing the most crucial security challenge now, where bandits will organised all their teams and attack our villages with sophisticated weapons. They normally take long period of time doing their operations.

"Daudawa village was attacked on Sunday October 3rd, 2021 around 6pm. A lot

of people were killed and kidnapped. A lots of cars and shops were set ablaze by the bandits after packing all that they wanted from the shops.

"Now people are migrating to nearby towns, where they thought it’s safe for them. We are calling on the state government to look into the matter, especially, the shutting down of network because the problem is getting worse than before. We are in a cage and bandits are killing us".

Telecommunication services have been shut down in 13 Local Government Areas of the state that were on the fringes of the Ruggu forest, where most of the bandits were believed to

be hiding.

The affected council areas included Sabuwa, Faskari, Dandume, Batsari, Danmusa, Kankara, Jibia, Safana, DutsinMa, Kurfi, Funtua, Bakori and Malumfashi.

Meanwhile, a Government House statement stated that the governor spoke through his deputy, Dr. Hadiza Balarabe, who represented him at first anniversary lecture of the Emir of Zazzau (Zaria), Ambassador Ahmad Bamalli on Thursday in Kaduna.

According to the statement, the governor expressed regrets over the inconvenience that the shutting down of

telephone networks in some parts of the state and the ban on the use of motorcycles had caused the people, but stressed that the measures were aimed at complementing military operations against bandits and other criminal elements.

“These are tough times and we need to continue to support the security agencies to end the killings and pillage criminals are inflicting on our people,” he said, noting that, the emir has “demonstrated remarkable candour and deep passion for the safety and wellbeing of the people in the last one year in office.”

more pains to Nigerians because it would be financed from loans, thereby inflicting the people with more loans.

The PDP urged the National Assembly to refocus the budget by making it a people-oriented fiscal plan.

"At N16.39 trillion, the budget contains debt service of N3.61 trillion, non-debt recurrent costs of N6.83 trillion while there is only capital expenditure of N5.35 trillion. New borrowing in the budget is totalling N5.01 trillion with an extra N1.16 trillion drawdowns on loans secured for specific projects.

This is the highlight of the uninspiring speech of the president as it cannot add any productive value to the economy."

CUPP said a close look at the budget speech would show Nigerians that Buhari had been perpetually funding the same set of projects without ever completing them. "After borrowing over N33 trillion, Buhari is still declaring to Nigerians that he is borrowing to fund Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, Abuja-Kano Expressway, East-West Road, 2nd Niger Bridge etc. Nigerians should, please, ask President Buhari when will these projects which have been in the budgets since 2016 ever be completed?

"Nigerians are hereby called upon to bear yet again another year of suffering but have hope that when the opposition takes over, Nigeria will get back on its feet."

BUHARI: PETROL SUBSIDY ERODING REVENUES AVAILABLE TO FUND BUDGET 2020 and 2021 budget provided for significant infrastructure development across the country. He added that it was imperative that the government prioritises the completion of on-going projects on the development of infrastructure, adding that the 2022 budget should be targeted at completion and consolidation of the projects embarked upon.

Lawan lamented that generating and collecting revenues had remained major challenges in the country's quest for development.

He said for the deficit in the country’s budget to be drastically reduced, concerted effort must be made by the executive and legislature to explore alternative sources of funding to reduce borrowing.

The senate president explained that such sources of funding could come by way of Public-Private Partnerships on infrastructure projects, as well as compulsory remittances of generated revenues by MDAs. Lawan stressed that equally important was the recent position taken by the legislature and the executive to insist on zero allocation for MDAs that failed to remit/ upload their revenues for the 2022 Appropriation.

He said he saw an increase in

the contribution of the MDAs by over N400 billion, saying he believed that MDAs could contribute to the federation account much more than that.

Lawan added, "Mr President, the need to enhance revenue generation and collection cannot be overemphasised. The level of budget deficit is high, and both the legislature and the executive should work to reduce this deficit through the availability of more revenues."

According to him, the security of life and property of Nigerians was still a challenge.

She assured that the National Assembly was ever willing to work with the executive arm for better security for the citizens.

He said, "The recent changes in the leadership of the armed forces is a clear testimony of the collaboration between the legislature and the executive to overhaul the security architecture for better outcomes in our fight against the myriads of security challenges."

Gbajabiamila assured that the National Assembly would give the 2022 Appropriation Bill prompt consideration. He warned heads of ministries, departments and agencies that the determination of the National Assembly to deliver a timely budget

would not derogate from its responsibility to ensure exhaustive consideration of the bill.

According to him, “We will demand a thorough accounting for the funds previously appropriated, disbursed and expended. And we will take steps to hold to account those who fail to provide the records we need to make informed decisions on the Appropriation Bill. This is the responsibility of the National Assembly, and we will live up to it.”

APC: 2022 Budget Proposal Will Accelerate Economic Diversification The All Progressives Congress (APC) yesterday said the proposed 2022 budget was designed to accelerate government's on-going efforts to diversify the economy.

National Secretary of the Caretaker/Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee of the party, Sen. John James Akpanudoedehe, in a statement, expressed confidence that the ninth National Assembly would sustain the patriotic disposition by speedily considering and passing the 2022 Appropriation Bill into law to meet the

January-December budget cycle achieved by the Buhari-led administration.

He added, "The proposed budget is designed to accelerate government's on-going efforts to diversify the economy through more support for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs); continued investment in vital infrastructure; strengthening security; enabling a vibrant, educated and healthy populace; reducing poverty through targeted social investments and ultimately ensuring good governance."

The ruling party called on Nigerians to keep track of the progress being made by this administration in delivering services and countless dividends of democracy all over the country.

PDP: Another Budget of Pain, Suffering for Nigerians In its assessment of the 2022 Appropriation Bill, PDP described its contents as another budget of sorrow and pain to Nigerians.

In a brief reaction on the budget presentation, the National Publicity Secretary of the party, Kola Ologbondiyan, said the budget would cause

CUPP Says Proposed Budget Empty CUPP criticised the content of the budget presented by the president. In a statement, the spokesperson of CUPP, Ikenga Ugochinyere, said the only highlight of the budget was that the government has allegedly admitted that it was overwhelmed by its failures and has no solution at hand.

According to the CUPP spokesman, "The only thing the budget is clothed with is new loans and borrowings and nothing more. It does not inspire any hope in Nigerians rather it sinks the country further into economic woes.

"Recurrent expenditure and capital expenses, like purchase of cars, computers and accessories, and other unnecessary and white elephant projects, are all the budget contains because the ruling party will use the budget to fund their 2023 election campaigns.

FRIDAY OCTOBER 8, 2021 • T H I S D AY

13

14

T H I S D AY • FRIDAY, OCTOBER 8, 2021

COMMENT

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

ANAMBRA VIOLENCE AND THE CASE FOR ELECTRONIC ELECTORAL SYSTEM Electronic voting would put merchants of electoral violence out of business, argues Bolaji Adebiyi

I

t promises to be an interesting duel. A three-horse race maybe.

But even as the contest draws near many are still not sure who would eventually be on the ballot of the three major parties that are bidding for the number one job in Anambra State. No thanks to the plethora of court cases disputing the conduct and outcome of their primaries.

For now, Valentine Ozigbo is flying the flag of the main challenger, the Peoples Democratic Party; serial contestants, Andy Uba and Charles Soludo are the torchbearers of the All Progressives Congress and the ruling All Progressives Grand Alliance respectively. All three still have dates in courts, saved presently by the Court of Appeal. While the APC appears confronted by the Zamfara situation as the Independent National Electoral Commission has indicated that it has no record of the conduct of the party’s primaries, related factional duel have put in equal suspense the bids of the PDP and APGA. However, in a matter of few days, the picture would become clearer.

In the meantime, the atmosphere in the state that prides itself as the light of the nation remains charged. Fatal political violence is becoming the main feature of the contest. The most recent victim of the violence is Chike Akunyili, the Diaspora medical doctor-husband of Dora, Nigeria’s anti-fake drugs Czar who died some years ago. Though the source of the violent death is yet to be ascertained, it nevertheless signposted the nature of the state.

Actually, politics in Anambra had always been marked by violence, a logical extension of the pre-Peter Obi era of high crime rate. It used to be said that it is the one with the superior firepower that wins the electoral contest. Although Obi restored some measure of peace, it is difficult to say that he banished political violence since he did not conduct any local government election in eight years until the eve of his exit. So, the resurgence of violence in Anambra is actually the return of its kind of politics. The complication, however, is the emergence on the turf of the separatist Indigenous People of Biafra, which is now threatening to disrupt the election.

It is significant that despite the rising violence and IPOB’s threat, INEC has indicated that it would go ahead with the election, calling on the security agencies to do the needful to secure the environment for the electoral exercise to take place. Yet it has expressed concern over the safety of its materials, equipment and staff that would be conducting the election. The anxiety is real. The electoral agency has been a direct victim of the violence in the South-east, losing some of its offices and priced materials and equipment to arson attacks.

Earlier in the week, the governors of the South-east rose from a meeting, threatening to rise to the occasion by ending the spate of violence and the intermittent stay-at-home order by IPOB. It remains to be seen how this would be done without a direct confrontation between the security forces and the separatist group.

It is the reality of the impending confrontation that cannot but be violent between IPOB and the security forces that brings to the fore the advocacy of INEC for a more technology-driven electoral process. The argument of the electoral agency is that the less human engagement in the process, the more transparent it would become. Since 2015, therefore, it has been experimenting with electronic accreditation of voters. It started with the smart card reader. Though it had a shaky beginning it nevertheless showed some promise of improving accountability in the electoral process. INEC improved on its accreditation process in 2020 with the introduction of ZPAD, an electronic device that

AN ELECTRONIC VOTING REGIME WOULD HAVE RENDERED THE RAGING VIOLENCE AND THE NO-ELECTION THREAT OF IPOB IN ANAMBRA STATE A USELESS ENTERPRISE SINCE CITIZENS COULD HAVE VOTED FROM THE COMFORT OF THEIR HOMES

enables it to transmit results from polling units to its server. The device was deployed in the Edo and Ondo States governorship elections last year to the praise of Nigerians for its transparent outcomes. Buoyed by the incremental success of electronic applications, INEC has moved forward with Bi-modal Voter Accreditation System.

The biometric device enables both thumb-print and facial mode of identification of voters. With this, according to Mahmud Yahaya, the commission’s chairman, the use of the controversial incidence form has been completely eliminated. So, if the smart card reader cannot read a voter’s thumbprint, the ZPAD would read his face. If both fail, then the fellow would have to go home. This innovation developed by INEC’s IT engineers was deployed in the recent Isoko Constituency 1 election in Delta State with commendable success and was ready for deployment in the forthcoming governorship election in Anambra.

“Henceforth, no biometric accreditation, no voting,” he told the press recently.

But despite the efficacy of these electronic devices and their promise to engender a more transparent electoral process in the country, the Supreme Court has ruled that they are not part of the nation’s electoral legal framework. This curious ruling which many legal luminaries and academics have criticised having regards to the power to organise elections donated to INEC by the 1999 Constitution as altered cast a doubt on the legality of the devices. Yet in one of its numerous paradoxical rulings, the apex court had held that INEC was guided by the constitution, the electoral law and its guidelines. That being the case, should it not be sufficient for the electoral agency to simply include the use of the devices in its guidelines?

In an apparent move to clear all doubts, INEC decided to be surplus to requirement by including electronic accreditation and transmission of results in the Electoral Act Amendment Bill 2021. This effort to merely formalise the legality of the electronic devices as advised by the Supreme Court has now run into a hitch in the Senate, which after serious upbraiding by the public grudging accepted the devices subject to National Assembly’s and the Nigerian Communications Commission’s approval for use. This obvious constitutional infraction is now subject to review by a conference of both chambers of the federal legislature.

The contradiction between the Senate’s acceptance of electronic accreditation and objection to electronic transmission of results has been properly put by all knowledgeable people as a curious behaviour by a bunch of politicians who ought to be interested in clean electoral contests. Yet the more radical way to go is to embark on a completely electronic process from voter registration to voting.

At a parley with the media last month, Yakubu agreed that INEC has the capacity and capability, including the technical infrastructure to conduct electronic voting nationwide, meaning voters could from the comfort of their homes or offices cast their votes. “The impediment is not infrastructure but the law,” he said.

The challenge to this fundamental and radical electoral development, however, is the decadent politicians in the National Assembly and their allies in their political parties who continue to reap bountifully from an equally decadent electoral regime. The fact is that an electronic voting regime would have rendered the raging violence and the no-election threat of IPOB in Anambra State a useless enterprise since citizens could have voted from the comfort of their homes.

Adebiyi, the managing editor of THISDAY Newspapers, wrote from bolaji.adebiyi@thisdaylive.com

GIVE LAGOS ITS ONE PER CENT

Abolaji A. Abolaji writes that the federal government should accord Lagos a special status

W

hether the Federal Government of Nigeria formally acknowledges it or not, Lagos is special among all states in the country.

Call it a first among equals and you won’t be wrong.

When it was the nation’s capital, it had federal government presence, with all its baggage to boot, constantly attracting other Nigerians. But after the capital was moved to Abuja in 1991, the rush to come to Lagos by other Nigerians to seek the proverbial Golden Fleece did not wane.

That Lagos is the most economically viable state in Nigeria is not news. That with a population of over 20 million, it hosts the most Nigerians, despite being the smallest in terms of land size, is also not news.

But the fact that its contribution to the federal purse does not match what it gets from it has pitched the state against the federal government for a while. It has been a constant source of rancour between both parties. Yet, the federal government has not budged.

Recently, the Rivers State governor, Nyesom Wike, celebrated a court judgement which empowered his state to collect Value Added Tax, a move which didn’t go down well with the federal government.

While Lagos followed Rivers and enacted its VAT laws, other states like Edo, Taraba, Ondo, Delta, Akwa Ibom and Oyo are considering similar moves.

Hence, when the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC), the body charged with sharing funds to states, decided it was time to review the sharing formula, there was renewed optimism for states like Lagos which have felt cheated. Currently, out of the revenue generated

in the country, the federal government takes 52.68 per cent, states get 26.72 per cent, and the Local Governments get 20.60 per cent.

Speaking in Lagos on Monday at the opening of a two-day South-West Zonal Public hearing on review of revenue allocation formula, Lagos State governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, said the review was long due and would guarantee national development. To him, a fair formula would ensure Lagos prospers more, creating multiplier effects across the country too. But what exactly is motivating this and what does the governor really mean? Hear him.

“Our demand is a sharing formula that is just, fair and equitable; reflecting the contribution of stakeholders to the common purse; and also one that enhances the capacity of state and local governments to deliver high-quality services and the full dividends of democracy to the greatest number of our people,” said Sanwo-Olu, who also used the opportunity to repeat the call to accord Lagos a special status because of its financial commitments and burdens.

“Lagos State is no doubt the nation’s commercial capital, and population centre. The level of funding required to service the state’s social and public infrastructure is so significant that it will be difficult for the State to bear the burden for much longer under the present arrangement.

“I should say that it will actually be unfair to expect the state to bear this heavy burden on its own.

It is, therefore, necessary to give due consideration to all the variables that support our advocacy for a Special Status.

“The call for a special status for Lagos is not a selfish proposition; it is in the best interest of the

country and all Nigerians, for Lagos which accounts for about 20 per cent of the national GDP and about 10 per cent of the nation’s population to continue to prosper.” The governor also reiterated that Lagos, unlike other states, is a mini-Nigeria.

“As the former capital of the country for 77 years (compared to the 30 years that Abuja has been the Federal Capital Territory), Nigeria’s largest metropolis still bears the heavy brunt of being home to all Nigerians; irrespective of age, class, gender, religious affiliation or tribe,” Sanwo-Olu said.

“There are several statistics that show the number of people that comes into Lagos every day, however, there are clear indications that most of these people migrate with the intention to make Lagos their new home and in pursuit of personal dreams due to the opportunities the city-state seemingly possesses, and this portends additional responsibilities on the government.” To understand how Lagos represents Nigeria, think of some dispersion of citizens from various states of the country. You can’t talk about Mile 12 market, a large hub for food stuffs in Lagos, without mention of northerners. Around the abattoir in Agege, the main cattle suppliers are of course Hausas. How about the Mallams trading in Forex?

Igbos populate markets like Ladipo which specialises in auto parts and Alaba which specialises in electrical fittings and electronics. They are also the ones mainly involved in importing goods from overseas. All these people work and live in Lagos. Of course, Lagos also hosts other groups of Nigerians. On weekends, it can be guaranteed that all sorts of town meetings are held amongst various kith and kin from across the country residing in the state. Name any ethnic group

in the country and chances are that some of them are in Lagos. In summary, in addition to being the commercial hub of the country, Lagos is also home to many Nigerians from other states. These people will need schools, hospitals, recreational facilities, transportation and guarantee of safety of lives and property. Funding these would not come cheap, at least, not from the resources shared to Lagos in the current arrangement.

But aside from being home to many ordinary citizens, the governor also noted: “Additionally, Lagos still harbours a huge number of federal establishments which could not be moved to Abuja. These include military cantonments and barracks, Police, Customs, Immigration, Civil Defence, Prisons, Road Safety and security/intelligence establishments.

“There are several reasons to justify the call for a special status for Lagos apart from the aforementioned factors and by extension, a review of the Revenue Allocation Sharing Formula.”But beyond normal times, Lagos also faces emergencies. During his presentation, Sanwo-Olu recalled the horrors of the destruction which followed the ENDSARS protests in October 2020 as well the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. “Although we have put that experience behind us and forged ahead, the reality of this unfortunate incident remains with us; resources that should be committed to other areas of need are now being used for the restoration of these public facilities,” he said.

“It will be totally unfair for Lagos State to be left alone to bear these huge expenses without assistance from the Centre.

Abolaji wrote from Ikorodu

15

T H I S D AY • THURSDAY, OCTOBER 8, 2021

EDITORIAL

MALNUTRITION AND NIGERIAN CHILDREN The authorities must do more for the country’s hungry and ill-fed children

G

oing by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) projection, at least 1.15 million Nigerian children between one and five years may suffer from acute malnutrition this year in the Northeast alone, with more than half of them expected to be severely malnourished. Over 123,000 pregnant or lactating women are also expected to suffer from acute malnutrition. “Today, we are facing a most dramatic situation for children living in northeastern Nigeria,” says Dabagai Dabagai, director of Action Against Hunger in Nigeria. “Projections for 2021 show acute malnutrition rates require immediate action to save lives. Between insecurity, displacement, lack of access to food and hygiene, as well as inadequate health care practices, the factors leading to this disease are numerous.”

Sadly, even though malnutrition is the underlying cause for a third of child mortality in the world, it is yet to receive the nature of high-profile campaigning and investment necessary GOVERNMENT, AT to address it effectively PRACTICALLY ALL in Nigeria. MeanLEVELS, NEEDS TO SIT while, stunted growth UP BY ADDRESSING implies a marked THE CRUSHING INDICES increase in the child’s AND CAUSES OF susceptibility to infecMALNUTRITION THAT tions and contributes HAVE CONTINUED TO to child mortality.

DEPRIVE OVER HALF OF Invariably, pregnant OUR CHILDREN (AND women who are not MOTHERS) OF A HEALTHY adequately nourished AND PRODUCTIVE LIFE eventually give birth SPAN to babies with low weight, thus putting their survival at risk. The costs of disregarding this issue in human and economic terms cannot be quantified.

That is the situation we are in today in Nigeria. Data from a recent Nigeria Demographic Health Survey (NDHS) reveal that more than five million newly born in Nigeria lack essential nutrients and antibodies

Letters to the Editor

that would protect them from diseases and death. In low and middle-income countries like Nigeria, the age 3-24 months is a time when growth falters for too many children. An inadequate diet during this period increases the risk of stunting, micro-nutrient deficiencies, illnesses, and death. Some of the factors identified include poor infant feeding and attitude of mothers to exclusive breastfeeding.

P T H I S DAY EDITOR SHAKA MOMODU DEPUTY EDITOR WALE OLALEYE, OBINNA CHIMA MANAGING DIRECTOR ENIOLA BELLO DEPUTY MANAGING DIRECTOR ISRAEL IWEGBU CHAIRMAN EDITORIAL BOARD OLUSEGUN ADENIYI EDITOR NATION’S CAPITAL IYOBOSA UWUGIAREN MANAGING EDITOR BOLAJI ADEBIYI THE OMBUDSMAN KAYODE KOMOLAFE

T H I S DAY N E W S PA P E R S L I M I T E D EDITOR-IN-CHIEF/CHAIRMAN NDUKA OBAIGBENA GROUP EXECUTIVE DIRECTORS ENIOLA BELLO, KAYODE KOMOLAFE, ISRAEL IWEGBU, IJEOMA NWOGWUGWU, EMMANUEL EFENI DIVISIONAL DIRECTORS SHAKA MOMODU, PETER IWEGBU, ANTHONY 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 TO SEND EMAIL: first name.surname@thisdaylive.com

olitical commitment is therefore necessary to ensure advocacy on the adverse effects of malnutrition. Partnership with civil society and academic institutions with focus on food and nutrition is also an imperative while there should be a commitment to establishing a road map and coordinated mechanisms for implementing activities for up-scaling nutrition in the public sphere. This road map should consist of clear roles and responsibilities for the various stakeholders, as well as implementable strategies, with milestones for mainstreaming nutrition into agriculture, fortifying basic foods with essential minerals or vitamins, and mobilising communities for action on growing more beneficial foods.

For effective health and social protection, mothers must also be encouraged to adopt exclusive breastfeeding habits for their babies for the first six months.

Thereafter, complementary feeding can be introduced for 24 months, and the consumption of various nutrients such as Vitamin A, iodized salt and zinc, among others.

From all the available reports, government, at practically all levels, needs to sit up by addressing the crushing indices and causes of malnutrition that have continued to deprive over half of our children (and mothers) of a healthy and productive life span. Unless the government as well as other critical stakeholders take immediate steps to address hunger and malnutrition, especially in children and pregnant women, the poor indices on maternal and child mortality will only further worsen. That precisely is the challenge of the moment. Nigerians, as a minimum, deserve a life free from hunger.

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.

NATIONAL ASSEMBLY AND BILLS SPONSORSHIP TRACKING

T

hree months ago, OrderPaper Nigeria, known for its dedicated reporting, tracking and archiving of legislative activities for the digital age, began disseminating data on the Nigerian National Assembly (NASS) midterm report card. The buzz generated from the postage of these reports questioned the necessity of bills sponsorship tracking in the

legislature.

The NASS Midterm Report. The data analysis for this exercise was a review of the ninth Assembly federal lawmakers’ performance in terms of the volume, quality, and productivity of bills sponsored in both chambers of the NASS. The period under review was from May 2019 to June 2021. These midterm report cards are shared across multiple social media platforms, web pages, print, television, and radio media.

Interestingly, the categories of bills sponsorship scorecards covered areas such as bills tally of each senator and rep member by state; top 10 new bills, female lawmakers, and “not too young to run” bills sponsorship tallies for both senators and rep members; top 10 senators and reps by bills productivity, which measures not just the volume but the quality and progression of moving these bills to become laws; executive bills, establishment bills, senate and reps bills record tallies and progression.

And ex-governors bills tally, bills tally by geopolitical zones, among others.

As expected, the release of these scorecards generated reactions from all quarters of the country. Ranging from largely positive comments to criticism of the data, lawmakers and Nigerians had something to say.

Several of these comments from persons who engaged with the data

commended it and likewise pointed out areas for improvement.

A section also pointed out that they had not been accurately represented in the data, either in terms of bills tally or progression. Largely such comments emanated where responders were not cognisant of the period under review. However, where any data was posted in error on the part of OrderPaper, corrections were swiftly carried out.

The other segment of comments came from a quarter that was of the opinion that highlighting bill sponsorship by lawmakers is not a sufficient yardstick upon which lawmakers’ performance should be measured.

Irrespective of the comment, the levels of engagement and reactions primarily showed that Nigerians were paying attention, thereby connoting an appreciation of the data provided.

Lawmakers have an encompassing line of duties, including committee oversight visits to respective MDAs and ongoing federal projects, budget defence hearings, constituency projects, policy representation, and lawmaking.

It is worthy of note that bills sponsorship is an essential aspect of the lawmaking process and a core function of our lawmakers’ duties.

While the volume of bills sponsored in itself might not be the core aspect of legislative responsibilities, ultimately, we are governed by laws. So it is relevant to know who is pushing for what and how.

Similarly, spotlighting the volume of bills sponsored helps expand the scope of data analysis and conversations into other areas such as bills quality and productivity as captured in the scorecards. Thus focusing the spotlight on bills sponsorship does not in any way negate the strides made by lawmakers’ in performing their other legislative

duties.

Tracking the sponsorship of bills provides not just the overall tallies per lawmaker. Still, it gives insight as to the nature of these bills. So constituents can decipher the relevant impact to them when their representatives can push such bills into law. Likewise, it provides insights that evaluate the volume of the bills versus the level of productivity.

We get to know if our lawmakers are just raking in the numbers or are they likewise matching it by ensuring the bills sponsored are not left as mere drafts but are progressing onto becoming tangible laws.

Additionally, bills sponsorship tracking spotlight on new lawmakers has also been highlighted. It is an excellent way to inform constituents of how well they have fared in representing them and if they will be suitable for re-election. In like manner, the data on ex-governors and long-time members’ performance is also analyzed as their level of political expertise is expected to set them ahead in carrying out their legislative duties.

Subsequently, female lawmakers’ performance by bills sponsorship helps open up another critical conversation on Nigeria’s dismal strides towards political gender inclusion. Lastly, bill tracking aid the analysis by geopolitical zones to provide a bird’s eye view on the current state of affairs of the constituencies in their regions vis-a-vis lawmaker’s efforts.

Therefore, though OrderPaper can expand the scope of its NASS reports in subsequent issues, the necessity of bills sponsorship tracking in the legislature is a core aspect of legislative reporting that must be given room to flourish.

Regina Korinjoh wrote from Abuja

16

FRIDAY OCTOBER 8, 2021 •T H I S D AY

FRIDAY OCTOBER 8, 2021 • T H I S D AY

17

T H I S D AY ˾ FRIDAY OCTOBER 8, 2021

18

POLITICS

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

Okunbo: The Hand That Fed Many Funmi George honours the memory of the late Captain Idahosa Okunbo, the businessman and philanthropist, who touched many lives positively

I

t was a night of extolment at the inaugural ceremony held in honour of Captain Idahosa Wells Okunbo at his residence in GRA, Benin, on Tuesday, October 5th, 2021. Here, friends, family, well-wishers, colleagues and Royal dignitaries converged to reminisce on the immense contributions of the great businessman and philanthropist who made tremendous impact in the lives of Nigerians.

Through the Wells Hosa Greenhouse Farms Limited - the largest greenhouse farm in Nigeria and West Africa - he has built a legacy that will forever commemorate his name.

Captain Idahosa or “Cappi” (as fondly called by family and friends) was born in Edo State to a distinguished clergyman and community leader, where he imbibed the values of community service and benevolence. He rose from these humble beginnings to become a great Iroko tree that sheltered the lives of many.

The guests, most of whom were employees from a multitude of companies he owned, all attested to how much of an icon Captain Hosa was. With teary eyes, his “work family” called the general public’s attention to Cappi’s disciplined yet considerate leadership style, and expressed how it inspired most of them to live their dreams and excel in their diverse careers. He inspired enthusiasm for development across sectors, nationally and internationally.

In 2016, Cappi achieved another impressive entrepreneurial milestone, when he unveiled a 22 000 Acre state-of-the-art facility worth $750 million (150 billion Naira). The facility, which eventually became a greenhouse farm, was established in the heart of Edo State, Nigeria.

Cappi’s dream for agriculture to penetrate every nook and cranny of Nigeria’s ecosystem led to him creating a world-class farm in the state known as “the Heartbeat of Nigeria ‘’ - a move that highlights the importance of the state towards socio-economic development.

Beyond the physical positioning, the nature and capacity of the farm are noteworthy, underlying Captain Idahosa’s ingenious abilities.

At the celebration of the first harvest from the farm, Captain Hosa noted, “for me... people are seeing tomatoes but I’m seeing more than tomatoes, I’m seeing jobs for the youth, I’m seeing empowerment for our people, I’m seeing food security, I’m seeing exports and foreign exchange to support our GDP. So, it’s more than tomatoes. First harvest but it’s something that we can replicate around this country”.

This farm is impressive because it came at the right time when the current President Muhammad Buhari-led administration is harping on the importance of agriculture to diversify the country’s revenue base. What’s more, the initiative also has appealing features to lure our youth back to the farm, but this time with modern agricultural practices. The farm created a whopping 85,000 direct jobs in a measure of impact while indirectly employing thousands of youth and women.

This is highly commendable for a country groaning under the weight of a high unemployment rate and

several job losses.

At the tribute held in his honour, those that worked closely with him recounted these stories and many other experiences that

made for Cappi’s achievements.

The Managing Director of Wells Hosa Farms, Engr. Franklin Owegie, who spoke highly of Captain Hosa’s outstanding

efforts and humanitarian impact, said: “Being one of the business outfits through which the great Edo business icon provided a platform for numerous families to earn a living; the staff of the Wells Hosa Greenhouse Farm are very much beneficiaries of the special growing love with which Captain Hosa (as he was fondly called) related with everybody. Penetrating the world with selfless kindness and establishing endearing friendships without regard to social status, religion, and political affiliations.”

Truly, a man’s life is not characterized by the paraphernalia of physical qualities that surround him but by the virtues he exuded for the benefit of all. The more lives he touches, the longer his legacy stays. From the food on our tables to the agricultural opportunities that abound in the country, the presence of Captain Hosa is forever felt.

The four-day event celebrating Cappi’s final flight kicked off yesterday in Edo State. The program of events continues throughout the week until he is laid to rest in a ceremony in his hometown, Benin City, Edo State, Nigeria, on October 9th, 2021. The general public, media and well-wishers from home and abroad are invited to stream the event virtually; via the YouTube channel “Captain Hosa Tribute” or visit www.captainhosa.com to access the Zoom link daily.

We wish him a safe landing in the great beyond.

In Memory of Keniebi Okoko Who Sought to Change Bayelsa Nuel Nnaya celebrates the impactful life of the late multibillionaire Keniebi Okoko, who contested for the governorship seat of Bayelsa State in the last election

I

f there was a man in recent times who kindled the flame of hope and expectation of a brighter future from both old and young alike in his community, it was the late multibillionaire Keniebi Okoko, who contested for the governorship seat of Bayelsa State in the last elections.

Keniebi in his short 42-year sojourn on earth did a lot to inspire particularly the youths of the Niger Delta region, who rallied around him in order to help make his aspirations come true, before being denied the ticket in the party primaries as a newbie politician.

His was a story of passion driven by a desire to enrich his people, as he visualised them sitting on idle opportunities that if properly mined, would create jobs for most youth and give them that leverage to live above poverty for life.

He identified the key socio-economic needs of a people that only leaders could see and was keen on transforming the fortunes of his people.

Keniebi however, did not wait to hold political office before touching the lives of those around him, a graduate of prestigious institutions of learning, including Harvard University, he divested proceeds from his successful business empire to provide and cater to the needs of the less privileged.

Realising that there was only little an individual could do to impact the lives of others economically, compared to a state’s impact, Keniebi threw his hat in the ring to

become governor and manage the resources of Bayelsa, to yield optimal economic benefits for the people.

The excitement his interest elicited was palpable, as the impact of his personal efforts was used as a yardstick to measure what he would deliver, if elected into office.

During his political campaigns and rallies, he gave clear insights on how he intended to govern if given the opportunity, they were highly articulated plans by a brilliant mind, who had built a multibillion naira business from scratch and they made practical sense from every angle.

Indeed, in his footprints in such a short span of time, he left a template for the kind of leadership that will usher any state into a bright economic future and security of lives and properties.

While the exploits of Keniebi may not be

taught in schools, his legacies have been well curated on a micro-website for those who care to learn more about leadership values and strategies, to glean invaluable insights from.

Keniebi will also be remembered for building a business that provided jobs for lots of youth. Especially in the Niger Delta region in the area of marine and construction.

He created the kind of value and awareness in and about his environment that many people who had the opportunity before him did not. He was able to create an inspirational brand around himself that many have attested continues to inspire young people, in the areas of business and political leadership.

He not only brought inspiration to the young but stirred up hope in parents and elders of the region for a better tomorrow. Even though he will be missed, the consolation is that like every great man that has walked the face of the earth and inspired generations to do greater things, the life of Keniebi as much as possible has been curated and documented to serve as a source of inspiration for every young and aspiring leader.

Perhaps someday young leaders will emerge and ascribe their successful impact on their state or the nation at large, to their study of Keniebinomics.

-Nnaya is a Socio-Political Analyst and writes from the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja

T H I S D AY ˾ FRIDAY OCTOBER 8, 2021

19

PERSPECTIVE

How Afe Babalola, Kayode Adaramodu See Ekiti State Who Owns You; Instagram, WhatsApp or Facebook?

Chido Nwangwu inquires into the gripping world of Mark Zuckerberg

F

acebook is the most influential media company in the world, today! It’s market capitalization value is currently US$922

billion.

From Belgrade to Baghdad, from Zamfara to Bangalore, from Jerusalem to Jakarta, from Zurich to Aba, the most visited social media sites are owned by Facebook led by Mark Zuckerberg.

The three most visible and almost unavoidable platforms on the Internet are Instagram, WhatsApp, and the ubiquitous social app itself, Facebook!

There are, at least, 30 other smaller companies with critical technology engagement functions working and ferreting information for the behemoth call Facebook.

Only four days ago, the influence, power and leverage of the Facebook corporation were manifested in the form of a worldwide outage.

Zuckerberg & Company classified the curious outages as an error from a “configuration change.“ The fact of the matter is that some people did not believe that Facebook would let three of its megasites to go down, at the same time — arising from some configuration updates! Anything is possible.

The world was largely quiet on Monday October 4, 2021. This was the day after the Sunday, October 3 explosive interview on the mostrespected and highest-rated news show in America, ‘60 Minutes.’

Facebook critic at this time came in the person of Facebook’s former product manager Frances Haugen.

She’s the evidently credible and persuasive whistleblower! She appeared before the U.S Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Subcommittee on Monday. That is, regardless of the global outage.

She argued that the acquisition and retention of millions of users are the foremost driving factors for the social media giant. She specifically made it clear that Facebook puts profits over safety and wellbeing of its users — including teenagers on Instagram. Repeatedly, Haugen said Americans deserve transparency and respect for privacy from the tech powerhouse.

Therefore, she called on the law-

makers to pass new, tough regulations for all of America’s social media corporations. She called out what she categorized as Facebook’s reckless disregard for public safety, citing the point that only a few days before the January 6th Capitol Hill insurrection unleashed mainly by the supporters of ex President Donald Trump, Facebook turned off internal settings meant to fight election misinformation.

The bottom line is that Facebook has two faces.

There is the face of Facebook which opens and connects people to Instant and live social interactivity across the world.

The second face of Facebook is the one which relentlessly and without any meaningful and consistent restraints to its deviously calibrated addictive digital packages to get more clicks, more hits and more users and exponential financial returns!

Anyway, for now, it is Mark Zuckerberg’s world and we all live in it.

At least, he’s running a “democracy” of sorts because the young man allows us to like and comment on cat videos, taco brands…. And, you never know, maybe tomorrow he may add a new feature to allow us to like and comment on which of the Taliban leaders has the longest and sexiest mustache?

-Dr. Nwangwu is the Publisher of the first African-owned, U.S-based newspaper on the internet, USAfricaonline.com

There is the face of Facebook which opens and connects people to Instant and live social interactivity across the world.

The second face of Facebook is the one which relentlessly and without any meaningful and consistent restraints to its deviously calibrated addictive, digital packages to get more clicks, more hits and more users and exponential financial returns

Sunday Olubunmi, an indigene of Ekiti State expresses his concerns about who will succeed Governor Kayode Fayemi in 2022

I

was going through the usual seasonal speeches and messages for this year ’s Nigeria’s independence and Ekiti State at 25 celebrations. Most of them are mere repetitions, wishful thinking and fallacies of history.

But out of the lot, two stood out!

The two are devoid of self deception and delusion, characteristic of this period. They both show sincere desire to admit that there are lapses, yawning gaps between expectations and actual deliveries. Between what the actual is and what it can be. They show genuine concerns and expressed the uneasiness of those who are truly committed to the overall well-being of Ekiti State. Fortunately, their proprietors represent two remarkable divides. As in one handling the batton of continuity to the other.

The two pieces are from Aare Afe Babalola (a critical contributor to the Ekiti Agenda), and Kayode Adaramodu (an Ekiti enthusiast and a PDP governorship aspirant in the Ekiti 2022 election).

The two pieces are recommended for readers. To me, it shows there’s hope for Ekiti if we could just do the right thing.

One of the reasons sick people get healed in our health facilities is that, medical personnel don’t engage in gambling or assumptions or window dressing. They try to be as clinically exact as possible, going into the very root of the problem through laboratory tests and investigations; armed with verifiable facts, they determine the best way to solve the problem and then boldly (not blindly) embark on prescribed procedures. No rhetorics.

No trying to impress. No lethargy or inaction. No pretence. No cajoling. r 5IFZ BENJU UIFSF T B DIBMMFOHF r 5IFZ JEFOUJGZ UIF DIBMMFOHF r 5IFZ GJOE PVU UIF DBVTF BOE DPTU r 5IFZ QSFTDSJCF TPMVUJPO r 5IFZ UBLF JOGPSNFE BDUJPO But, one fact must be noted: each aspect of the procedure is handled by appropriate personnel. There’s no impulse, no emotion, no sentiment; life

Both show sincere desire to admit that there are lapses, yawning gaps between expectations and actual deliveries. Between what the actual is and what it can be. They show genuine concerns and expressed the uneasiness of those who are truly committed to the overall well-being of Ekiti State. Fortunately, their proprietors represent two remarkable divides.

As in one handling the batton of continuity to the other. The two pieces are from Aare Afe Babalola (a critical contributor to the Ekiti Agenda), and Kayode Adaramodu (an Ekiti enthusiast and a PDP governorship aspirant in the Ekiti 2022 election)

is involved.

That’s why I am also pleading passionately to all stakeholders in Ekiti to get involved in next leadership recruitment of a governor for Ekiti. The process has started. Let all lovers of Ekiti, especially those who have invested all or most of their resources to secure good life for Ekiti get interested and be involved.

For now and to the best of my knowledge, Kayode Adaramodu presents the best credential and option for the job.

His deep understanding of the challenges confronting the state and how to tackle them frontally is convincing and enticing. In some of his releases that I have read and interviews I have listened to, it’s clear he knows that it’s not going to be a jamboree and no unprepared person can make any meaningful impact. He usually says a prayer that God should give the best to Ekiti. So, after reading his Independence Day speech, I interrogated his exposition and suggestion the more. I inquired if he is really ready to subject himself to the scrutiny and rigorous selection processes jeopardizing his comfort zone? The findings really dazed me - His response is from a Bible verse “Thus shall ye say unto them, The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth, even they shall perish from the earth, and from under these heavens,” Jeremiah 10:11.

“Sir, did you notice that the Almighty GOD was sure of Himself?” I said yes?

He continued, “Sir, what I am saying is that whosoever will have a negative impact on Ekiti, someone with selfish, injurious, ignoble intentions, God will prevent him/her at all cost from getting the governorship seat.”

According to him, 25 years ought to have produced greater visible results if all stakeholders had shown involvement and supervision of the affairs of the State.

Read Baba’s view. Note the sincerity.

Note the heartfelt pain and feeling of unfulfillment relative to the actualization of the Ekiti dreams. The founding fathers had their projections. But as things stand now, it’s obvious these dreams have remained unfulfilled.

Now that we have an aspirant working with the sense of history, also eminently qualified by all standards and well prepared, all well meaning, opinion leaders, stakeholders from all strata; in fact, all and sundry should embrace and endorse him, and work for his emergence as next governor of Ekiti in 2022.

Through him, it is certain that the dreams of the founding fathers of Ekiti State will be fulfilled.

-Olubunmi writes from Ado-Ekiti

20

FRIDAY OCTOBER 8, 2021 •T H I S D AY

FRIDAY OCTOBER 8, 2021 • T H I S D AY

21

22

FRIDAY OCTOBER 8, 2021 •T H I S D AY

T H I S D AY ˾ FRIDAY, OCTOBER 8, 2021

23

BUSINESSWORLD R A T E S MONEY MARKET

A S

A T

REPO

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

08056356325

S E P T E M B E R

S & P INDEX

3 0 , 2 0 2 1

S & P INDEX

EXCHANGE RATE

OBB

9.00%

CALL

4%

INDEX LEVEL

564.02%

1/4 TO DATE

5.82%

N413.03/ 1 US DOLLAR*

OVERNIGHT

10.75%

1-MONTH

6%

1-DAY

–0.17%

YEAR TO DATE

– 15.85%

*AS AT LAST FRIDAY

3-MONTH

10%

MONTH-TO-DATE

0.19%

TOWARDS URBAN DEVELOPMENT…

L-R: Manager, Project Implementation, Axxela Limited, Samuel Akintola; Head, Regulatory Liaison Axxela Limited, Henry Sanyaolu; Head, Environmental, Health, Safety and Quality (EHSQ) Axxela Limited, Uchenna Okpala; Ogun State Governor, Prince Dapo Abiodun; and CEO, Pelican Valley Nigeria Limited, Dr. Babatunde Adeyemo, at the 2021 World Habitat Day event organized by Ogun State Ministry of Physical Planning and Urban Development and sponsored by Axxela Limited… recently

Travellers Defy UAE/Nigeria Flight Regulations on COVID-19 Protocols, Travel to Dubai Through Neigbouring Countries Chinedu Eze Many Nigerian air travellers have taken advantage of the diplomatic impasse between the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Nigeria over COVID-19 protocols, as they now defy flight regulations emanating from both countries, THISDAY investigation has revealed.

THISDAY observed that many Nigerian air travellers now travel to UAE’s popular destination, Dubai

through the airports in Accra, Ghana, Lome, Togo and Cotonou in Benin Republic.

The Nigerian travellers go through tortuous broken roads through Badagry to aforementioned cities where they then board Emirates Airlines flights to Dubai.

Besides those that fly to Emirates, THISDAY also learnt that there are Nigerians who travel to other destinations that Nigeria has stringent COVID-19 protocols,

including South Africa.

Earlier in the year, UAE had directed that Nigerians travelling to Dubai must undergo Rapid Antigen Tests (RTD) 24 hours before boarding their flights and UAE said that no other airline emanating flights from Nigeria should take Nigerian passengers to Dubai.

The obviously discriminatory policy was opposed by the federal government, which insisted that Emirates must abide by the Nigerian

government’s protocol, which is that passengers must under go PCR (polymerase chain reaction) 72 hours before their flight.

THISDAY investigation revealed that everyday, hundreds of Nigerians travel through Accra, Cotonou and Lome and most of them board Emirates flights.

This was confirmed by the Director, Research, Zenith Travels Limited and the Assistant Secretary General, Aviation Round Table

(ART), Olu Ohunayo, who told THISDAY that Nigerians travelling to those countries are those going to Dubai.

This, he stated, is because Emirates has not started their operation in Nigeria.

He explained that Nigerians travel through those routes to go, “and do things that are important in their lives, including business, education and health.”

“What they have done now

is how to circumvent COVID-19 protocols and directives of Emirates concerning the Lagos and Abuja routes. That’s why when they get into these countries they are having their passport entries stamped and backdated for them to get to Dubai to get whatever they want. I don’t think that there are people who are going for shopping among those that travel now; it is people Continued on page 24

AfCFTA: Central Bank Assures e-Naira Would Increase Cross-border Trade, Tax Efficiency

Eromosele Abiodun, James Emejo and Nume Ekeghe

In the wake of the implementation of the African continental free trade area (AfCFTA), the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has stated that another component and incentive of the E-naira, which is slated to launch soon, would be its ability to enhance tax efficiency as well as improve cross-border trade.

The Director Monetary Policy Department, Dr Hassan Mahmud said this yesterday at the 31st

seminar for finance correspondents and business editors in Enugu where stakeholders converge to discuss, “Trends in the Nigerian System: Regulating the Fintech Digital Playing field.”

Presenting his paper titled Implications of trends in the digital financial ecosystem for monetary policy implementation virtually, Mahmud said that part of the motivation to launch the digital currency is the ability to aide Cross-border trade and boost tax efficiency amongst others.

He said: “The Central Bank of Nigeria in partnership with Bitt Inc., an international fintech firm, is set to launch its digital currency, e-Naira and this would increase crossborder trade, accelerated financial inclusion, bring about cheaper and faster remittance inflows. It would help with easier targeted social interventions, improvements in monetary policy effectiveness, payment systems efficiency and efficiency in tax collection.”

He further noted that the CBN digital currency will offer parity

of value and will operate as a non-interest-bearing asset and that Nigeria’s digital currency will function under a tiered AntiMoney Laundering and Know Your Customer (AML/KYC) structure with different transaction limits.

He added: “The AML/KYC pyramid will reportedly encompass unbanked citizens to provide their national identity-linked phone numbers for verification and users in this category will be limited to a daily transaction limit of N50,000 (about $120).”

He further added that the Fintech space in Nigeria is growing rapidly and that it is estimated that Nigeria’s Fintech landscape consists of around 250 Fintechs.

He added: “From 2014 to 2019, Nigeria’s Fintech scene raised more than $600 million in funding and their core functions have been to facilitate payments using wallets, processors, merchant service providers for maintenance of mobile, domestic and cross border transactions.

“Savings and wealth management

platforms offering investment options in diverse industries. Retail and MSME lending activities offering instant, unsecured, short-term loans to retail customers leveraging alternative credit scoring algorithms and data and automate processes for personal finance, merchant solutions, and financial institutions.”

The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr. Godwin Emefiele, had at the event on Tuesday emphasised on the Continued on page 24

M A R K E T D ATA A S AT T H U R S D AY, O C T O B E R 7 , 2 0 2 1 FGN BONDS DESCRIPTION 12.175 FGNSB 10-OCT-2021 11.244 FGNSB 16-OCT-2021 10.296 FGNSB 13-NOV-2021 13.390 FGNSB 14-NOV-2021 9.091 FGNSB 11-DEC-2021

Price

Yield

BILLS Change (%)

MATURITY

OTC FX F U T U R E S

Discount Yield

Change (%)

100.08

2.85

0.00

NTB 14-Oct-21

2.88

2.88

0.00

100.20

2.92

0.00

NTB 28-Oct-21

3.04

3.04

0.00

100.70

3.25

0.00

NTB 11-Nov-21

3.20

3.21

0.00

101.04

3.26

0.00

NTB 25-Nov-21

3.36

3.37

0.00

NTB 13-Jan-22

3.92

3.96

100.97

3.59

CONTRACT TENOR (MONTH) 1

Contract

Current Rate ($/₦)

NGUS OCT 27 2021 420.93

2

NGUS NOV 24 2021 422.38

3

NGUS DEC 29 2021 423.83

0.00

4

NGUS JAN 26 2022 425.28

0.00

5

NGUS FEB 23 2022 426.73

C Ps MATURITY

Discount Yield

Change (%)

CMBL CP XV 11-OCT-21 UBNP CP VIII 18-OCT-21 CMBL CP XII 31-OCT-21 CMBL CP XVII 15-NOV-21 FSDH CP III 16NOV-21

6.27

6.27

0.00

7.91

7.93

0.00

4.14

4.16

0.00

5.15

5.18

0.00

6.52

6.57

0.00

24

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 8, 2021 ˾ T H I S D AY

BUSINESSWORLD

NEWS

L-R: Head of school, Ebonylife creative Academy, Mr.Theart Korsten; head, sales and branding, SLOT Systems Limited,Mr. Jonathan Uzomba; Manager, integrated marketing communications, TECNO, Oluwaseun Badmus; Public Relation Communications and Media Manager, TECNO, Vincent Uzoegbu;and Chief Executive Officer,SLOT Systems Limited, ETOP UKUTT Mr.. Nnamdi Ezeigbo, at the launch of the TECNO CAMON 18 recently held in Ikeja, Lagos

Facebook Set to Bring One Billion People Online with New Connectivity Initiatives Emma Okonji Facebook, a technology company with a mission to give people the power to build community and bring the world closer together, yesterday, unveiled its new connectivity initiatives, designed to bring the next billion people online and enhance existing infrastructure projects.

Since 2013, Facebook Connectivity has helped bring more than 500 million people online to a faster internet and now aims to enable affordable, high-quality connectivity for the next billion people with emerging technologies.

Speaking on the new connectivity technologies, during a global virtual conference, Vice President of Facebook Connectivity, Dan Rabinovitsj, said: “We have seen that economies flourish when there is widely accessible internet for individuals and businesses. In Nigeria, increased broadband connectivity resulted in a 7.8 per cent increase in the likelihood of employment for people in areas connected to fiber optic cables.

While increased connectivity led to a 19 per cent increase in GDP per capita in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Facebook Connectivity works with partners to develop

new technologies for access to high-speed internet. Today we’re sharing the latest developments on some of these connectivity technologies, which aim to deliver major improvements in internet capacity across the world by sea, land, and air.”

According to him, some of the Facebook’s new connectivity technologies include: Investment in improving subsea fiber optic cables and expanding their reach to better connect more people. Facebook and its partners recently launched the first-ever transatlantic, 24 fiber pair subsea cable system, which will connect Europe to the U.S.

This new cable provides 200 times more capacity than the transatlantic cables of the 2000s and builds on Facebook’s recent news about 2Africa Pearls, the subsea cable which connects Africa, Asia, and Europe and makes the 2Africa cable system the longest in the world, with a capacity to provide connectivity for up to three billion people.

“Using robotics for faster fibe deployment. We are making fiber deployment significantly more economical through Bombyx, a robot that can climb the medium voltage power lines that already exist in so much of the world and

install fiber onto them. Today, Bombyx is lighter, faster, and more agile than our first-generation design. We are also making Bombyx fully autonomous, using machine vision sensors to better navigate around obstacles. Bombyx aims to make the single biggest drop in the cost of terrestrial fiber deployment by combining innovations in the fields of robotics and fiber-optic cable design to increase the amount of terrestrial fiber on land — without the expense of trenching to lay fiber underground,” Rabinovitsj said.

Facebook also intends to use Terragraph in achieving last mile

internet connectivity to homes.

Fiber connections through the air, known as Terragraph, is a wireless solution, which beams fiber-like connectivity through the air. It has already brought highspeed internet to more than 6,500 homes in Anchorage, Alaska and deployment has started in Perth, Australia. We license Terragraph for free to original equipment manufacturers (OEMs). To date, these partners have shipped more than 30,000 Terragraph units to more than 100 service providers and system integrators around the world, Facebook managers said at the virtual conference.

FG Reiterates Commitment to Make Nigeria Self-sufficient in Food Production, Wealth Creation Hammed Shittu in Ilorin The federal government has reassured Nigerians of its commitment to make the country self-sufficient in food production, employment and wealth creation.

The Minister of Water Resources, Suleiman Adamu gave the assurance in Ilorin, Kwara state capital on Tuesday during the North-Central regional workshop on establishment /strengthening of water association for management of public irrigation schemes.

He said that, the move will be achievable through promotion of

Group Business Editor Eromosele Abiodun Comms/e-Business Editor Emma Okonji Aviation Editor Chinedu Eze Asst. Editor, Money Market Nume Ekeghe Senior Correspondent Raheem Akingbolu (Advertising) Correspondents James Emejo (Finance) Ebere Nwoji (Insurance) Chineme Okafo (Energy) Emmanuel Addeh (Energy) Reporters Nosa Alekhuogie (ICT) Peter Uzoho (Energy) Ugo Aliogo (Development)

all-season farming via irrigation.

Adamu added that, “We have also taken a giant stride towards attaining food sufficiency and security.

“This is achievable through irrigated agriculture by promoting all season farming, which is also one of the primary mandates of the department of irrigation and drainage of the Federal Ministry of Water Resources, in partnership with River Basin Development Authority.

“Consequently, a wholesome change in irrigational institution management framework as proposed by the transforming irrigation management of the Nigerian project including the reorganization of sector water user associations and formation of water user’s groups along hydraulic structures is inevitable in order to sustain the systems of the farmers in the irrigation scheme.

“The training project is a World

Bank sponsored programme under the Federal Ministry of Water Resources with the principal aim of transforming irrigation management in Nigeria. I therefore want to use this medium to call on this workshop to brainstorm and deliberate on the challenging issues and constraints affecting the full realization of the Federal Government’s commitment in achieving food sufficiency,

employment generation and wealth creation through irrigated agriculture, ”he said.

In his remark, Kwara state Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq represented by his Deputy Kayode Alabi said that the programme is an attempt by the Fderal Government to ensure farmers’ involvement in irrigation.

AbdulRazaq said that “let me use this medium to inform Kwarans as well as other guests

that this is the beginning of another timely intervention by the Federal Government in introducing the concept of participatory irrigation management (PIM) for our farming communities.

He added, “The scheme is to ensure Farmers’ complete involvement in irrigation right from conceptualization (the planning stage) to the implementation and management level with a view to sustaining it.”

AFCFTA: CENTRAL BANK ASSURES E-NAIRA WOULD INCREASE CROSS-BORDER TRADE, TAX EFFICIENCY need for an increased and intensive regulatory scrutiny on the part of regulators to proactively monitor developments in electronic and digital payment systems amidst the growing impact of financial technology companies (Fintechs).

He said regulators must also ensure the continuous safety and soundness of the financial ecosystem adding that by its sheer population estimates, the country remained primed to be an active playground for digital transformation

and could not afford to ignore the Fintech challenge.

This is as he also clarified that contrary to speculations, the planned unveiling of the Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) also known as the eNaira, would not exacerbate inflationary pressures on the economy.

The CBN governor noted that discussions had increased around the issue of the digital economy as more opportunities have emerged for financial institutions and other

players within the payment ecosystem to innovate and provide more efficient options for payments and settlements.

Emefiele, spoke in Enugu State while declaring open the CBN’s 31st Seminar for Finance Correspondents and Business Editors, themed, “Trends in Nigerian Payments System: Regulating the Fintech Digital Playing Field”.

He however said that regulators must keep pace with these exponential developments in the

digital financial landscape and leverage new knowledge and technology tools to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of their mandate.

He pointed out that from all indication, digital revolution would remain a focus for financial institutions in the months ahead, therefore making Fintechs a major driver of the industry.

Represented by CBN Deputy Governor, Corporate Services Directorate, Mr. Edward Lamekek

Adamu, the apex bank boss said technology had continued to change the face of the financial services industry adding that the advent of digital financial services had created faster, more efficient, and typically cheaper transactions compared to traditional financial services.

According to him, “As the global economy recovers from COVID-19, it is obvious that Fintech will play a more important role towards resilient and sustainable recovery.

TRAVELLERS DEFY UAE/NIGERIA FLIGHT REGULATIONS ON COVID-19 PROTOCOLS, TRAVEL TO DUBAI THROUGH NEIGBOURING COUNTRIES who are travelling for things that affect their lives, such as business, health and education. You cannot stop people doing things that will improve their lives. That is why you see them paying the extra cost of travelling through the neighboring countries,” he said.

Ohunayo noted that some of those who travel that way include those who have Emirates tickets with them who know how difficult it is to get their money back from the airline and they cannot afford to buy new

tickets so they are forced to use the tickets by re-routing the tickets through Cotonou, Accra or Lome.

He said that the travellers incur less expenses because airfare from Lagos is the highest in West Africa so even when they pay for re-routing the don’t spend much “because the fare in Lagos is higher than the fairs in the neighborhood, the owner of the tickets have nothing to lose. They travel by road to the city and pay for the protocols and immigration but the re-routing cost

is insignificant because the cost of ticket in Lagos is higher than that of other routes.”

Explaining why Emirates flights were banned from Nigeria, the Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika, said recently that the federal government has no issue with the United Arab Emirates (UAE), rather against the preferential treatment of adopting double standards in the enforcement of its COVID-19 protocols for visitors, saying the government just decided to prevent

Nigerians from travelling straight from the country to Dubai and other cities.

The Minister said the COVID-19 protocols set for Nigeria was not the same as what UAE announced for other nations despite the achievements Nigeria recorded in the fight against the virus.

According to him, investigations revealed that the protocols set for the country were different from the West African nations and this is the reason many Nigerians

now travel through the country’s neighbours, Benin Republic and Ghana airports.

“Nigeria has no issue with Emirates, rather against the preferential treatment that UAE government gave to other countries aside from Nigeria.

The UAE government allowed other countries, including Benin Republic and Ghana citizens to travel directly from their country to the commercial capital, Dubai, as against Nigerians,” he said.

T H I S D AY ˾ FRIDAY, OCTOBER 8, 2021

25

BUSINESSWORLD

AIR WATCH

House of Reps to Meet with NCAA over New Handling Rates Chinedu Eze The House of Representatives has said it will have a closed-door meeting with the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) on the new rates for handling services for domestic and international airlines.

Chairman, House Committee on Aviation, Hon. Nnolim Nnaji at a meeting with the representatives of the Aviation Ground Handling Association of Nigeria (AGHAN), Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON), Airline Operators Committee (AOC), International Air Transport Association (IATA), the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) and NCAA in Abuja on

Wednesday, said that the meeting with the regulatory agency was necessary because of the importance of the new rates.

Nnaji assured that the committee would continue to protect the interest of Nigeria and business entities operating in the country.

He said: “The meeting with the Director-General of NCAA is important because we believe his inputs is necessary for us to take a decision. The issue at hand is very important for the growth of the Nigerian civil aviation industry.

Whatever we are going to come out with as a committee will be for the good of the industry.’’

However, no new date had been

fixed for continuation of hearing on the matter, but Nnaji assured that the committee would reconvene a meeting soon.

The House Committee on Aviation had last week adjourned meeting for this Wednesday on the new safety threshold handling rates for ground handling companies in Nigeria.

The House of Representatives Committee on Aviation led by Nnaji had advised that the new aircraft ground handling rate of $3900 be temporarily be put on hold till after the next meeting with the stakeholders.

AON and AOC had earlier petitioned the committee for its intervention over the new rate.

IATA Laments COVID-19 Travel Restriction for Air Passengers

BPE, SAHCO Bicker over Payment Modalities for N1.8bn Benefits nn nnn Many ex-workers of the Skyway Aviation Handling Company (SAHCO) are dying, as there is no hope in sight on who pays the severance benefits of the workers.

At least, more than 15 of the 982 ex-workers have died while majority are incapacitated, disclosed Ochai Adamu, who spoke on behalf of the retirees at a press conference at the headquarters of National Union of Air Transport Employees (NUATE) at Lagos Airport on Wednesday.

He said they want the Bureau for Public Enterprises (BPE) intervene in the matter immediately as the SAHCO has handed off payment of the benefits.

He explained that when the computation of the amount accruable

to the workers were done, it was N3.5 billion but was later reduced to N1.8 billion, adding that none of the workers has been paid anything almost 12 years after the privatisation of the company.

“The issue is who will pay this money? SAHCO MD said it is BPE that will pay the money. They said we did not work for SAHCO but for government. The first money was paid in 2013 bit it was a peanut, our lawyers took up the matter in 2013 but majority of our people have died, more than 15 people; some are unable to walk. ” There was an understanding that both SAHCO and BPE will work out the payment modalities but nothing has been done since then. They only keep our case in view for more than 11 years

“The issue got to the court but we settled out of court and now at Industrial court but the court is frustrating the matter as the presiding Judge gets transferred few days to the judgment day, this has been the case and we are tired of waiting on Industrial court even though the case is coming up again in November.

We want the BPE to intervene now”, the workers said.

It would be recalled that the workers had petitioned Minister of Aviation, Senate and House Committee on Aviation, Director General Bureau of Public Enterprises over refusal of the Skyway Aviation Handling Company (SAHCO PLC) to pay over N1.8 billion redundancy benefits to 982 ex-worker 12 years after the company was privatised under the guidance of BPE.

Nigeria’s Tourists Sites to be Announced at AkwaabaAfrican Travel Market The 17th Edition of the leading travel and tourism expo in West Africa, Akwaaba African Travel Market will be held on November 29 and 30, 2021 in Lagos, Nigeria.

The organisers of the event said it would serve as the venue for the unveiling of the shortlist for the 7 Natural Wonders of Nigeria.

The search for the Seven Wonders of Nigeria was launched last year to draw attention to the tourism attractions in Nigeria.

A committee was put together by the organisers of Naija7 Wonders to handle the search. The committee was made of 150 Top Tourism Practitioners in Nigeria who are

all members of the elite group of Tourism 100 Club. They have shortlisted 35 destinations for the public to choose from and the winners will be announced at Akwaaba.

Akwaaba is the largest gathering of travel professionals in West Africa with over 3000 delegates attending. It has over the years become the meeting place for travel and tourism practitioners in Africa. It has drawn attendance from over 20 nations. Many VIPs have graced the event in the past including former President Olusegun Obasanjo, former President of The Gambia Late

Dawda Jawara, the former Vice President of Nigeria late Alex Ekwueme, the former Secretary General of the Commonwealth of Nations Sir Emeka Anyaoku, the former Governor of Lagos State Senator Ahmed Bola Tinubu, former Governor of Cross River State Senator Liyel Imoke and Governor Ben Ayade of Cross River State. Serving Ministers of Tourism from Ghana, Gambia, Uganda, Zimbabwe and Seychelles have all attended past editions of Akwaaba. The current President of South African Football Dr. Danny Jordaan had made a presentation at Akwaaba.

TECNO Launches CAMON 18 Ultra-steady Camera Phone Emma Okonji TECNO, a global smartphone brand, on Wednesday in Lagos, launched its newest CAMON18 series - CAMON 18 Premier, CAMON18P and CAMON18, pushing the boundaries for what it means to be a professional camera smartphone with anti-shake feature.

The new CAMON 18 Premier brings together the best of the CAMON series, such as TAIVOS, Super Night Mode, Selfie Mode to combine with an all-new Ultra-steady Gimbal Camera, a 60X Hybrid Zoom and even more enhanced AI features for achieving professional videography. Featuring AMOLED screen with 120hz refresh rate makes every touch experience

faster and smoother. Furthermore, TECNO’s CAMON 18 Premier with Low Blue Light Certification from TÜV Rheinland, will provide consumers with best eye care possible.

The smartphones are powered by the latest MediaTek Helio G96 chip and supported by a redesigned HiOS 8.0.

Speaking at the launch, the General Manager of TECNO, Stephan Ha, said: “We always seek for breakthroughs of product and technology to inspire our consumers to unlock the world of possibilities.

The digital revolution with the rise of new generations brings the latest trend of film making through a smartphone device. The CAMON 18 Premier is the first TECNO product to take Ultra-steady Gimbal Camera technology innovations to

create brand-new experience to users. With “Stop At Nothing” as TECNO’s brand spirit, we aim to continually make breakthroughs in product and design innovations as we have delivered through CAMON 18 Series.”

He said users of all levels, from casual users to professional content creators, would have a new tool to achieve that perfect video. The CAMON 18 Premier is now imbued with unparalleled anti-shake technology at 300 per cent more effective than other smartphones without the anti-shake technology.

When combined with a wide-angle lens, the CAMON 18 Premier is now capable of 109° wide-angle shooting, allowing users to create truly beautiful videos anywhere, while doing anything, with sublime clarity.

Chinedu Eze The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has reported that air travelers are increasingly frustrated with the COVID-19 travel restrictions.

A survey commissioned by IATA of 4,700 respondents in 11 markets in September demonstrated confidence that the risks of COVID-19 could be effectively managed and that the freedom to travel should be restored.

IATA said 67 per cent of respondents felt that most country borders should be opened now, up 12 percentage-points from the June 2021 survey.

The survey stated that 64 per cent of respondents felt that border closures were unnecessary and have not been effective in containing the virus (up 11 percentage points from June 2021) and 73 per cent responded that their quality of life was suffering as a result of COVID-19 travel restrictions (up six percentage points from June 2021).

“People are increasingly frustrated with the COVID-19 travel restrictions and even more have seen their quality of life suffer as a result. They don’t see the necessity of travel restrictions to control the virus. And they have missed too many family moments, personal development opportunities and business priorities. In short, they miss the freedom of flying and want it restored. The message they are sending to governments is: COVID-19 is not going to disappear, so we must establish a way to manage its risks while living and traveling normally,” said IATA’s Director General, Willie Walsh.

IATA also noted that the biggest deterrent to air travel continues to be quarantine measures, disclosing that 84 per cent of respondents indicated that they would not travel if there is a chance of quarantine at their destination. A growing proportion of respondents support the removal of quarantine if a person has tested negative for COVID-19 (73 per cent in September compared to 67 per cent in June); a person has been vaccinated (71 per cent in September compared to 68 per cent in June).

“With the vaccination rates globally increasing, 80 per cent of respondents agree that vaccinated people should be able to travel freely by air. However, there were strong views against making vaccination a condition for air travel. About two-thirds felt it is morally wrong to restrict travel only to those who have been vaccinated.

Over 80 per centof respondents believe that testing before air travel should be an alternative for people without access

to vaccination,” IATA said.

The global body added that while 85 per cent are willing to be tested if required in the travel process, several issues remain, which include that 75 per cent of respondents indicated that the cost of testing is a significant barrier to travel; 80 per cent believe that governments should bear the cost of testing and 77 per cent see the inconvenience of testing as a barrier to travel “There is a message here for governments.

People are willing to be tested to travel.

But they don’t like the cost or the inconvenience, but both can be addressed by governments. The reliability of rapid antigen tests is recognised by the World Health Organization (WHO). Broader acceptance of antigen testing by governments would reduce inconvenience and cost—costs that the WHO’s International Health Regulations stipulate should be borne by governments.

It is also clear that while people accept testing and other measures such as maskwearing as necessary, they want to return to more normal ways of travel when it is safe to do so,” said Walsh.

IATA said that among those who have traveled since June 2020, 86 per cent felt safe on board the flight owing to the COVID-19 measures; 87 per cent believed protective measures are well implemented and 88 per cent felt airline personnel are doing a good job in enforcing COVID-19 rules There is also strong support for wearing masks, with 87 per cent of respondents agreeing that doing so would prevent the spread of COVID-19.

IATA noted that with more markets starting to open to travel, an area that needs to be addressed is the COVID-related travel rules and requirements, as 73 per cent of those who have traveled since June 2020 found it challenging to understand what rules applied for a trip (up from 70 per cent in June) and 73 per cent felt the COVID-19 paperwork was challenging to arrange (also up from 70% in June).

“People want to travel. 86 per cent expect to be traveling within six months of the crisis ending. With COVID-19 becoming endemic, vaccines being widely available and therapeutics improving rapidly, we are quickly approaching that point in time. People also tell us that they are confident to travel. But what those who have traveled are telling us is that the rules are too complex and the paperwork too onerous. To secure the recovery governments need to simplify processes, restore the freedom to travel and adopt digital solutions to issue and manage travel health credentials,” said Walsh.

T H I S D AY ˾ FRIDAY, OCTOBER 8, 2021

26

BUSINESSWORLD

AVIATION

Addressing Cost of Aircraft Maintenance for Nigerian Airlines Chinedu Eze writes that without expertise, maintenance facility, Nigerian airlines will continue to pay more for aircraft checks, which will erode their profitability

H

igh cost of maintenance has been a perennial challenge for Nigerian airlines because major checks are done overseas and they have to face the vagaries of unstable forex.

About five years ago it was projected that Nigerian airlines spend about $2 billion overseas on aircraft maintenance. But with increased fleet that amount has risen to a projected $3 billion in 2021. So it is a huge capital flight from Nigeria.

Instability of the naira in relation to its value against other major currencies has been a protracted problem that is getting worse as the nation’s economy plummets.

So, not having major Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) facility in Nigeria has forced the airlines to be at the mercy of such facilities at other parts of the world. Conducting maintenance overseas has three major disadvantages: one it is relatively costly due to forex, two, it causes delay and three, it gives rise to logistics challenge. Above all, sourcing the foreign exchange has become extremely difficult for the airlines.

Inevitably the airlines have to pay more. Ferrying the aircraft overseas costs money, keeping the pilots in hotels and moving inspectors from the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) to the maintenance facility also costs money. The Nigerian carrier has to also queue, as the maintenance organsiation may have other priorities and the Nigerian carrier will continue to pay for parking space while at the facility.

From 2019 to 2021 some Nigerian airlines aircraft ferried for maintenance had to be delayed because some MRO facilities were on lockdown and even when some started, they had to conduct the checks on first come, first served or other priority basis. That led to paucity of operating equipment for months in Nigeria.

The under capacity gave rise to outrageous airfares, flight delays and cancellations. Industry insiders noted that if Nigeria had major MRO facilities they could have worked why majority of other countries were on lockdown because Nigeria was not adversely exposed to COVID-19 after the lockdown was lifted at the time many other countries were still on lockdown.

CAPITAL FLIGHT

The Director of Engineering, Ibom Air, Lukeman Animaseun, told THISDAY that one of the greatest mistakes made by those who managed the aviation industry over the years was not to see the urgent need to have major aircraft maintenance facility in Nigeria.

He said this was major drawback to the growth of the industry, adding that as long as Nigerian airlines conducts major checks overseas, there would continue to be capital flight.

Animaseun noted that in the effort to develop the aviation industry, decision makers tended to look at other areas of aviation without acknowledging the critical importance of establishing aircraft maintenance organisation, adding that without major MRO facility in Nigeria, the aviation industry is still underdeveloped.

“After the provision of airport and other infrastructure in

the aviation sector, the next need is MRO. Every year so much money is expended by airlines as capital flight as aircraft are taken overseas for maintenance.

Nigeria as of today has only Aero Contractors maintenance facility as the only place to maintain commercial aircraft, the Boeing classics. The facility there is even inadequate. If Aero commits 50 per cent of what it has put in schedule airline service to its MRO, it would go a long way in equipping the facility. Most of the existing hangars that we have in Nigeria are for small body aircraft. It is only 7 Star Global Hangar that is sizeable and the facility needs to be expanded for long airplanes.

“To solve this problem, government should encourage investors to invest in aircraft maintenance facilities in the country. If government devotes 50 per cent of the energy it has deployed in airport concession on MRO, we can have major maintenance facilities in Nigeria. We can have three major facilities in Abuja, Kano and Lagos. In the next two to three years, Akwa Ibom would have developed its MRO and put Nigeria on a high pedestal, as far as aircraft maintenance is concerned. If we maintain majority of our aircraft locally, capital flight will significantly reduce,” he said.

MANPOWER DEVELOPMENT

However, Animaseun remarked that it is not just having maintenance facility, but there is also the need to train technical manpower, which Nigeria presently lack the needed number and if the facilities are built expatriates would have to be engaged to work in those facilities and this calls for urgent need to training more aircraft engineers.

“We have engineers but they need recurrent and type rating training on particular aircraft types,” he said.

THISDAY gathered from Ethiopia Airlines MRO facility that training indigenous manpower is critical in bringing down the cost of aircraft maintenance because, in the case of Nigeria, everything could be expended in the naira. An airline will pay for the MRO service in naira, pay the workers in naira and only expend foreign exchange on spares.

The facilities when established in Nigeria can offer services to airlines of other countries in West and Central Africa, which would pay in foreign exchange. In a recent visit to Ethiopian Airlines MRO in Addis Ababa, the General Manager, MRO Sales and Marketing, Mr. Henok Haile told THISDAY that besides maintaining most of its 127 fleet, the facility conducts checks for airlines from many other countries up to D-check. For several years the Ethiopian Airlines MRO has been conducting checks for Nigerian airlines, from Chanchangi, Bellview, Medview and other local airlines and recently Arik Air, Air Peace and others. For over 20 years, Nigerian government has not facilitated the establishment of such facility in Nigeria by

providing incentives to investors to build similar facility.

“We conduct checks on almost all aircraft in our fleet and we have B777 and A350 aircraft. We also have B737 and B787 hangar. We also have a paint hangar. We paint aircraft here, as you can see, there is an Arikaircraft that is being painted currently.

“We have capability of repairing airframe, engine and components of the aircraft. We repair Bombardier Q400, Boeing B777, B787, Airbus A350. We have base maintenance and line maintenance capability.

For the engine, we have engine used for 787 and 737, we have an overall capability for these aircraft.

We also have an overall capability for Q400. We have an overall capability for GTCP 131 and 331.

On the component side, we have more than 200 components. We have a repair and overall capacity in our MRO. We have approval from different Africa regulatory body, Middle East, Europe and America. We can perform any maintenance on our facility. We perform maintenance for Arik Air. We have the capability,” he said.

THISDAY also observed that all the technical personnel in Ethiopian Airlines MRO are indigenes of that, as an engineer in the facility told THISDAY that the airline has maintained a long tradition of training with internationally recognised training school that are attended by foreigners from different parts of the world.

COST OF MAINTENANCE

The Managing Director of Flight Logistics Solutions, Amos Akpan, “From my over 30 years experience at the senior management cadre of airlines, maintenance is the costliest component after fuel and funds. No component of aircraft is manufactured, fabricated, or overhauled in Nigeria.

You have to keep the aircraft serviceable to fly at least 12 hours a day to make sensible economic utilisation. You constantly have to repair and change units/parts in the aircraft. Some by calendar, some by hours, some just snag, as it is common with machines. You need forex (which is in very short supply in Nigeria) to buy the parts from where these parts are produced, fabricated, or overhauled.

“Problem is that at the time you carried out your business plan and budget, the exchange rate would have been N200 per dollar. At that time you are likely to plan with N300-350 per dollar. How do you adjust your planned income to accommodate N550-580 per US dollar? The airline management has to balance the rising cost of maintenance versus the limitation of increasing fare in a society where the travellers purchasing ability has a ceiling,” he said.

SOLUTION

In his suggestion to the solution of this challenge,

Akpan noted that Aero has capacity to carry out categories A, B, and C maintenance on Boeing 737 series as certified

by NCAA, observing that by physical inspection, Aero facility is small, so the company can’t admit many aircraft that require maintenance. However, he remarked that there are some underutilised hangars with aprons in federal and state airports that could contain more aircraft because they have space.

“Why do we not team with Aero, NCAA, and owners of these facilities to increase and improve the capacity of Aero Contractors maintenance capacity?

Also, we have to walk the talk on “ease of doing business” over partnership with foreign maintenance companies. We need to attract them to bring in their equipment and skilled manpower to partner with us. MRO investors have been coming but we drive them to Ghana, South Africa, Rwanda, and Ethiopia,” he said.

Akpan also noted that the Nigerian College of Aviation Technology (NCAT) is training technicians and engineers, but the process of getting this technical manpower to acquire the skills takes too long and it is too expensive.

“A fresh aircraft maintenance engineer need hours on duty line to become proficient and certified. Right now, I’m told they pay operating airlines to allow them log hours on the line because you can only be employed when you have a certain number of hours online. The hours you log in working on an aircraft type is what an airline uses to engage you. Those that cannot afford the money are staying unemployed, while the airlines are short of skilled maintenance manpower. Are we putting the cart before the horse?”

Akpan said the industry should encourage small and medium scale maintenance workshops, adding that one company can specialise in overhaul and repair of aircraft brakes, another on wheels, another on pneumatics and another on electronics.

“All we need is international certification and continuous inspection by NCAA,” he said.

Akpan also noted that some airlines have chosen to escape the burden of high maintenance cost by acquiring new aircraft. New aircraft have lower maintenance cost than older aircraft. But they have to contain with high cost of scarce forex because they still need parts as needed by operating machines, especially the ones that must change by manufacturers specifications/bulletins.

“You have to import the rotables like oil, tyres, brakes.

Review of records reveals that what they gained by lower maintenance cost they pay for in high cost of working capital and investment funds in Nigeria. Cost to secure finance in Nigeria is high. We agree that the type of Maintenance Repair and Overhaul facilities in Ethiopia should be our aim, but let us take these low hanging fruits seriously. This will reduce the frequency aircraft are ferried out for minor maintenance. We need adequate funding to establish storage facilities for the spare parts of the aircraft types we are operating in the West African region,” he added.

27

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 8, 2021 ˾ T H I S D AY

BUSINESSWORLD

INTERVIEW

Idoru: Collateral Biggest Challenge Facing SMEs in Nigeria The Head, Consumer, Private and Business Banking, Standard Chartered Bank, David Idoru in this interview with Darasimi Adebisi said the bank aims to grant 5,000 loans in one year under its Smart Business Loan. He also talked about some of the challenges Small and Mid-Size Enterprises (SMEs) are facing in Nigeria and the need to address the issue of collateral.

With Smart Business Loan, who is your target market?

Our target market is small businesses and must be those involved in trade. We are a bank that supports trade; these are companies that do trading or supplying of goods and services to other companies.

We are keen on supporting them to do more.

What are the challenges SMEs in Nigeria are facing? ne of the biggest challenges SMEs in Nigeria are facing has to do with collateral.

That is why we introduced Smart Business Loan. The other part is the perfection process. For example, if a client gives us security, sometimes, the registration process takes time.

O

In the last one year, how many loans has Standard Chartered bank granted to those in the SMEs? Our lending to the SMEs business in the last year has increased by over 5 times.

Lending to SMEs is one segment of our banking operations that is growing very fast in Nigeria.

Traditionally Standard Chartered Bank Nigeria focused on Corporate Banking.

However, in 2019, the CEO and the Board in Nigeria decided we should do more in the Consumer and Business Banking side. In 2019 we introduced our digital Bank; this transformed the way customers interact with us.

From the time we launched the App, we have been able to have clients open accounts from all 36 states plus Abuja.

We are very happy with the progress the digital space has enabled. We are passing the benefit to clients through lower or no transaction charges.

Apart from excluding collateral in your Smart Business Loan, what other features do you offer customers?

Some of the benefits of banking with Standard Chartered Bank is that we do not charge account maintenance fees in Nigeria.

We do not have many branches and because a lot of our banking is done digitally, it means transactions can be done in a cheaper way. We at Standard Charted believe in passing the benefit of digital banking to customers.

When you open an account, you should transact as much as possible digitally.

We don’t charge for transfer of money within Nigeria and we have been able to achieve this because of the investments we have made in digital.

How about the bank’s high-interest rate?

For us, since we are largely digital, by design, we can offer greater services via digital and transfer those benefits to the clients. As long the client can transact digitally, they should get a better interest rate.

Can you give us a brief description of this product?

It is a Smart Business Loan (SBL) and is targeted at SMEs. It is a non- secured lending product.

For now, we do a lot of lending to small businesses, but they are secured lending products. We wanted to close a gap as most new clientsdon’t have security or collateral.

So, for a first loan, you should be able to take a business loan to finance your business operations up to N20million without security.

If you want to borrow above N20million, that’s when we’ll ask for collateral but below N20million, we’ll check your ability to repay.

What we are really interested in is loans to support business growth because business play a very big part in the economy. We want to support many more businesses to succeed as part of our support to the growth of the economy in Nigeria.

How many SMEs are you targeting on your Smart Business Loan in the next one year?

Our plan is to grant 5,000 loans in the first year. We shall consider that success because when you support a business, you not only supporting one person, you support the families of the employees as well.

In Nigeria, most of the companies we lend to tend to employ over 20 staff. If you employ 20 people in a business in Nigeria, you have supported more than 20 families.

Every family is an average of 5-6 persons.

That way, it is a win-win situation for us, the business owners and the economy/ families in Nigeria.

What value is Smart Business Loan offering to the bank in the next one year?

Business has to be a win-win situation for the clients, the bank, and the economy.

The advantage this will give us is growth.

The consumer business part is the fastest-growing part of our bank. It is very important for us as a bank that has been in business for over 150 years, to do things that benefit all the key stakeholders; the country, bank, and client.

What factors influence the launch of this product at this time of Covid-19?

The influence is the desire to support businesses to grow. Our purpose as a Bank is driving commerce and prosperity. This is why we exist as a Bank.COVID has made it much more important to support businesses to succeed.

Standard Chartered Bank has been

Do you hope to target SMEs where the bank does not have branches?

With digital, it is not necessary for us to have branches everywhere. Standard Chartered Bank operates physically in 3 cities: Lagos, Abuja and Port Harcourt.

However, our clients are in all 36 states and FCT. This is the power of digital banking.

Idoru operating for 150 years through good and bad times. So, for us, we look at activities beyond just the instance of COVID-19. With or without COVID-19, we take a long-term view that is why we have decided to introduce SBL. Aren’t you considering the current economic challenges and the ability to pay back?

During the COVID-19 pandemic, there are businesses that are doing

extremely well, for example businesses thatsupport telecommunications companies. Through good or bad times, there are businesses that actually do well.

We take a long-term view to supporting businesses. We don’t cut any product just because of a particular instance. We have also accelerated our investment in technology.

We encourage our clients to do a lot more using our digital channels.

What makes Smart Business Loan stands out among the bank’s other initiative tailored towards SMEs? Smart Business Loan SBL fills the gap for us at Standard Chartered. At least, we have a way of beginning a relationship with a client. We can support a business at early stage when they don’t have security/ collateral. It gives us the opportunity to support businesses that are at early stages of growth.

How are you going to monitor loans granted under Smart Business Loan?

Our relationship managers are trained to support our clients. We have invested a lot in training our relationship Managers so that they can better support the growth aspiration of our clients. We also bring experts from different fields to support our clients.

28

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 8, 2021 ˾ T H I S D AY

BUSINESSWORLD

INTERVIEW

Teniola: National Cyber Security Awareness Will Address Online Fraud President, Africa Digital Economy Forum, Mr. Olusola Teniola in this interview that was monitored on Arise TV, spoke on the strengths and weaknesses of the country’s National Cybersecurity Policy, and the need to sensitise Nigerians about cyber laws, and local content. Nosa Alekhuogie brings the Excerpts: when it concerns national security. One way of actually addressing high rates of crime, or where there’s challenging issues is to obviously break communication. That has always been the case before, mobile phones were introduced into the society. But now that they are reliant on the devices and the technology, if the security deems it fit that they need to actually infiltrate with the organisations, then, one of the ways to address it, is to try and disconnect them from being able to communicate. I think going forward, improved synchronisation of information, intelligence information across not only within the security apparatus but those local communities will improve the way and manner they can actually address the challenges that they’re currently facing right now.

Can you take us through the details of the country’s National Cybersecurity Policy and Strategy and what the plans are with regard to the sensitisation programme that has been planned to hold later this year? he Cybersecurity policy and strategy document that was launched on the 23rd of February 2021 by President Muhammadu Buhari in Abuja, literally stated that we needed to ensure that digital infrastructure needs to be protected with plans to be introduced to protect those assets because that is critical.

As you know, we are transitioning into the digital economy, which is viewed as the next frontier for Nigeria and we obviously need to ensure that the infrastructures that are underpinning digital economy are secured.

These structures are not only Information and Communications Technology (ICT) structures but they are also relating to power, the health sector, the environment and other critical systems that need to be inter worked to ensure that any difficult cyber threats are curtailed and have citizens that are not exposed to threats as they try to transact their daily living on the digital frame work. We have new technology being introduced, 5G for instance, and that technology opens up a lot more areas of application services that need to be encompassed with cybersecurity plan.

So, the document itself highlights a strategy of how Nigeria will address these potential threats.

T

What’s your assessment of Nigeria’s current cyber risk exposure, and also what do you make of news around the world of ransomware attacks against various governments and corporations?

Yes, I think, with Nigeria, we have a situation where some of our organisations, even government organisations are still not really connected in a coherent manner so it’s rather mixed. We do have incidences where business emails are compromised, and that seems to be the area that has been targeted heavily in certain segments of our society. They see that social engineering is an easy way of actually accessing certain systems but then, that might be in place though what we have in terms of assessment was still lower than the list of those that are heavily prepared, because obviously we need to focus on educating, create an awareness across not only those businesses that are impacted but those that interact with our systems so it is a work in progress. I truly believe that the workshop that we are kicking off this month actually starts to address some of the issues in terms of co-ordination and synchronisation with the defense and military apparatus, and then that obviously will spill over to another dialogue with other sectors over the next three months and as you mentioned, seven sectors, actually, that we see as priority that we need to actually engage to ensure that there’s synchronization of how we address the cyber threats that might appear, and obviously that will improve readiness and assessments, going forward.

How do we use local content to drive Cybersecurity conversations because we can’t keep outsourcing cybersecurity conversations when we have viable software developers. So how can we use local content to drive inclusion for developers?

I think that your question around local content is a poignant one, you’re right. I think that we have to start to trust that local talents that exists in the ICT sector and other sectors are able to produce the type of software, the type of solutions and

Teniola

to a certain degree, the frameworks that are in line with the way we operate in Nigeria. I think as a starting point, we do obviously need to work with foreign organisations because we will have to interconnect our systems to foreign systems as well. So, actually, learning from their past experiences, learning from some of the security firms out there that have had to deal with some of these challenges is a good point, but I think we shouldn’t end there. We need to have the transfer of knowledge to local entities to ensure that we are also contributing to the burgeoning digital economy. And then finally, I think that the issue around, artificial intelligence is very important. We know that at the moment artificial intelligence is biased, it depends on those that have developed the algorithms. We need to as Nigerians, also engage in that process so that we develop our own artificial intelligence algorithm. So yes, we will continue to push the local content part and that’s to ensure that we have a structure and a framework that is Nigerian centric.

Cybersecurity is not just about preventing hacking and the integrity of the cyber space. The policy is also meant to promote economic activities, such as e-commerce, and financial inclusion. So, isn’t there a contradiction in what your group plans to do, as you begin this your sensitization workshop?

It’s really difficult to get the balancing act. What do I mean by this balancing act? On the one hand, the cybersecurity industry is about the industry. Since the 1990s, we’ve seen tremendous growth in the cyber tools developments, the awareness development areas, to the tune of hundreds of billions of dollars that is worth on a per annum basis . So the cyber security, as the ecosystem is large, is growing, and the global trend is that it will only increase with the further adoption

of mobile devices especially smart devices, and vulnerabilities that comes along with adopting those devices. So, Nigeria being the largest telecommunications market in Africa is a prime landscape for us to also contribute and develop our cybersecurity tools and frameworks, that’s one point so it is essentially an opportunity to generate revenue from that by creating a cybersecurity ecosystem in Nigeria. The other part really is, there is always going to be this urge to ensure that our citizens are safe online. Even, there’s a recognition that online abuse, especially towards gender issues, children as well, and other types of crimes are on the internet. There’s a dark side of the internet that we want to try and avoid and that includes hate speech, fake news, etc, as technology develops as we go forward so we need to have a framework as well to restrict the bad side of the internet, to ensure that those that want to continue to live their lives digitally are able to do it in a safe environment. So there’s always going to be this balance, because there are other platforms as well, that obviously have rules and procedures as how they engage with their communities. So, this is going to be a journey to ensure that the introduction of these tools, and the way and manner that Nigerians interact is done in a safe manner, deemed by government obviously and civic society going forward.

What’s your position on the telecom shutdown in Zamfara State and 13 Local Governments in Katsina states.

Do you see it as a good mechanism for combating banditry and terrorism in the country?

You know there are many ways to skin a cat, and I don’t want to go against what the security agencies have done in terms of Zamfara and maybe other states but the telecoms industry takes its guidance and obviously instructions from the federal government, especially

In all of these engagements that you are going to be having, will it address the planned 5G rollout, and what is the state of spectrum in general in Nigeria, and cyber security conversations around spectrum?

In terms of the infrastructure, 5G is a technology just like 4G, 3G, 2G and in the past 1G. So we are addressing the current issues, and obviously, addressing the foreseeable issues. 5G is at our doorsteps and we need to ensure that its adoption is deployment, its impact on the current cyber security landscape isn’t significant to overwhelm us. As I said earlier, 5G will enable other services, other applications in cases, in terms of the telecommunication space, use cases that are new. So it brings a new dimension to the current situation we find ourselves in, so yes, 5G will be considered. Spectrum has always been a scarce in Nigeria, and across Africa in general because, obviously, in Nigeria in particular, we rely heavily on wireless communication and not fixed line communication. So yes there will be a discussion around how we can improve on the fixed line infrastructure, as well as the wireless infrastructure. So, the case of spectrum being a security issue has been addressed in terms of health issues. But in terms of how we actually utilise it to ensure that it’s used for good, rather than bad will be another discussion going forward over the next three months.

Can you give more details about the sensitisation workshop you are starting over the next three months. What is the structure, who are the participants, where is the location and more importantly, are cybersecurity companies in Nigeria involved in all of these?

I can tell you that we will be talking about identifying Critical National Information Infrastructure, (CNII), and we will also be describing fully, the CNII and also drawing out plans to protect and mitigates threats against our CNII. The outcome really is to have a dialogue and synergize our plans.

There are various types of organisations who are trying to play in this field as it’s a very dynamic space. They will probably be involved but what we didn’t want, is the massive role, and that is why we are breaking them down into sectors that we will focus on to try and address specific issues in the sector and in the case of today, it’s the military and defense so it’s pretty wide I can’t mention names of those that will be participating but I can assure you that the Office of National Security Adviser (ONSA) will obviously give the major necessary press brief as to the outcomes after the deliberation and it’s happening in Abuja.

FRIDAY OCTOBER 8, 2021 • T H I S D AY

29

30

FRIDAY OCTOBER 8, 2021 •T H I S D AY

FRIDAY OCTOBER 8, 2021 • T H I S D AY

31

32

FRIDAY OCTOBER 8, 2021 •T H I S D AY

THIS WEEKEND WEEKLY MAGAZINE

NEWS METRO THISLIFE ART WEEKEND ENTERTAINMENT Group Features Editor: Chiemelie Ezeobi chiemelie.ezeobi@thisdaylive.com 07010510430

Segun Runsewe: Globally Showcasing Nigerian Arts, Culture and Tourism

T H I S D AY ˾ Ͷ, 2021

34

COVER

Segun Runsewe: Globally Showcasing Nigerian Arts, Culture and Tourism Otunba Segun Runsewe, a former Director-General of Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation, and currently the DG, National Council of Arts and Culture, is a man on a mission.

Chiemelie Ezeobi reports that from championing tourism, he has extended same midas touch to the arts and culture agency where he is showcasing the nation’s rich cultural trove to the world

F

or those who know Otunba Olusegun Runsewe, his physical prowess and cosmopolitan personality have remained constant in his over three decades of different national assignments. This staying power has been attributed to his intellect, strong willpower and dexterity in turning the profile of any agency given to him, thereby producing landmark results.

A long standing advocate of diversifying from oil, Otunba’s innovative skills, and capacity in turning dead agencies into functional and profitable entities stands him out.

Also known as a detribalised Nigerian, he preaches unity for all regions while remaining a constant phenomenon in Nigeria’s culture and tourism sectors by virtue, dint of hard work and foresight.

Independence Day Exploits

Recently, that passion to showcase Nigeria received a boost. As part of activities to mark Nigeria’s 61st Independence Day, President Muhammadu Buhari paid a visit to an exhibition stand set up by the National Council for Arts and Culture (NCAC) with the theme ‘The Treasures of Our Beloved Country’.

The president was accompanied by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo; Senate President, Dr. Ahmed Lawan; Speaker, House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila; Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Mr. Boss Mustapha; and Minister of Trade, Mr. Niyi Adebayo, to the Banquet Hall, Aso Rock Villa Abuja, venue of the historic inspection.

He commended NCAC DG, Otunba Runsewe, who conducted him and his team round the massive display of artistic and cultural artifacts reflective of the six geopolitical zones of the country, for a great job done to showcase Nigeria to the world.

Sitting on a traditionally carved throne in a palace-like environment, the president endorsed the exhibition specially put together to celebrate the rich cultural history of Nigeria- the first by any Nigerian government within the precincts of the seat of power.

Speaking after the presidential visit to the very colourful exhibition, Runsewe, stated that the president’s visit with the full complement of his team and the top officers of the National Assembly, would send signals to Nigerians to treasure the full values of Nigeria’s culture and history, which clearly defines our nation and people.

“It was a tight schedule for the President who was involved in the activities of celebrating Nigeria at this auspicious period in the life of our nation, yet found time to visit, introspect and endorse the display of the rich diverse exhibition of Nigerian cultural tourism components. It is clearly an indication that the President believes and loves Nigerian culture, which we at NCAC wish to transform into a viable economy, bigger and better than oil,” Runsewe said.

Annual Arts And Crafts Expo

Meanwhile, the DG boosted the annual International Arts and Crafts Expo (INAC), which has emerged as crafts and culture exhibition ground for many countries across the world that queue up to participate in the yearly event.

Apart from job creation, INAC has also become an effective tool for networking, marketing, and promotion of arts, crafts, and cultural products of Nigeria and many other countries.

He has also brought rare innovations to the National Festival of Arts and Culture (NAFEST), rebranding the festival and making it a prime national cultural event state governors enthusiastically lobby to host.

Every edition of the festival always witnesses youth participants engaged in skills acquisitions, waste-to-wealth programmes, free medical services with the distribution of hundreds of eyeglasses.

International Engagements To strengthen international partnership, Otunba Runsewe ensured that the council participated in foreign mission activities such as the first

L-R: Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo; President Muhammadu Buhari; and Otunba Runsewe during the Independence Day cultural exhibition at the villa Asian Film Festival in Abuja and the French Institute animated films festival.

While his first tenure also saw some NCAC staff enjoying training, workshop and seminar in China, the council also enjoyed the partnership and cultural exchange programmes with notable foreign missions like India, Iran, South Korea, Ghana, Russia etc.

It is on the basis of his inputs and bridge building approach that he was named China Man of the Year, an award conferred on him at a mid-autumn festival, National Day celebration, Nigeria’s first SGEL Cup Chinese Wushu Championship final performance and award night in Lagos. The event was organised by Hauxing Arts Troupe in Nigeria, the Chinese community, the consulate and the WUSHU Development Association of Nigeria.

On how he won the award, Dr Matthew Uwaekwe, Coordinator, Nigeria-China Business Council said Runsewe emerged winner after a voting session within the Chinese consulate, adding that the Chinese community in Nigeria were elated at the pace and passion at which Runsewe brought to bear in his assignment as Nigeria culture chief.

He added that Runsewe had worked tirelessly to build a strong cultural tourism relationship between Nigeria and China.

Runsewe has in various ways, convinced the world that Nigerian culture in its diversity has the capacity to foster unity and peace among the people of both countries and the world.

In his remarks at the event, Runsewe

expressed NCAC’s commitment to continue serving as a catalyst for consolidating and sustaining China and Nigeria’s bilateral business, cultural and diplomatic relations for years to come.

He stated that the relationship between NCAC and the Chinese community was simply a true reflection of the overall bilateral relations Nigeria and China had in all facets of economy and life.

He noted that this was due to both countries’ shared similarities with regards to their strategic positioning in their respective continents; their political and economic influence; as well as population strength.

FTAN Honour The Federation of Tourism Associations of Nigeria (FTAN) organised the maiden edition of the First Nigeria Tourism Award to set the pace to reposition the allied tourism industry.

The incentive event was a night of glowing tributes to an ardent tourism, art and culture icon, Segun Runsewe, who was honoured by the federation with the ‘Nigerian Tourism and Culture Brand Icon Award’ for his enormous contributions to the growth and development of practical and people inclusive tourism in Nigeria.

The award night which drew dignitaries from core and allied tourism stakeholders to the Eko Hotel and Suites in Lagos, was a new step by the FTAN to raise the bar of pro-activeness among the public and private sector participants in the industry.

Runsewe has in various ways, convinced the world that Nigerian culture in its diversity has the capacity to foster unity and peace

Speaking during the award ceremony, the President Federation of Tourism Associations of Nigeria, FTAN, Mr Nkereuwem Onung, stated that FTAN instituted the first Nigerian Tourism and Culture Brand Icon Award to honour Otunba Segun Runsewe for his immense contributions to the growth and development of Tourism, Art and Culture in Nigeria.

New Golf Federation President Runsewe is a lover of sport. So it was only fitting that he just emerged as the new President of Nigeria Golf Federation, with a promise to promote the sport’s grassroots development.

Air Commodore Davis Solomon with 10 votes defeated Suleiman Bello from North-East zone who garnered only one vote to emerge as Vice-President.

Otunba Runsewe said he would concentrate on grassroots development of golf in the country, as well as introduce some innovations into the game.

“We are going to develop a youth programme that will capture the Nigerian golfer from the grassroots because golf is about the only game in which if you don’t start early you can never connect well.

“I am also going to continue from where my predecessor, Olagunsoye Oyinlola, stopped. I intend to introduce some innovations into the golfing arena.Today, golf has gone beyond just playing it manually. It is now IT-based. So, I will be bringing a lot of experts from the PGA to come and open more doors for us.

“I can also tell you that there is over six billion dollars in the offing for golfers in the world which the country has not been able to take advantage of. So, my plan is to set up a platform where Nigeria can access a major chunk,” he said.

Runsewe also thanked the media for its support for the development of golf, adding that he had also done a lot to promote the game in the country.

35

T H I S D AY ˾ Ͷ, 2021

Contestants Flood Audition Venue for Mr & Miss Pageant Stories by Mary Nnah Students from various tertiary institutions in Lagos and its neighbourhoods, recently flooded venue for the audition/screening for the 2021 edition of the Mr and Miss Campus International (MMCI) pageant.

Held in Victoria Island, Lagos, the screening had both young males and females display their talents on the runway with high level of creativity.

The pageant, which started seven years ago was instigated by the President / Founder, MMCI pageant, Oteri Agboro, an experienced pageant organiser and producer who has also contested and won a number of pageants.

The Pageant Director, Barrister Ihua Armstrong, said the pageant is purely for students and meant to bring out the best in them.

“The kind of education we have now is different from

what we used to have back then. Today’s generation, whether we like it or not, have moved on because of globalisation.

“They are not sticking to reading and learning alone.

You need other things to entice them while they are at school”, he added.

He explained that students from various institutions contest not just for beauty alone but intellectual strength as well as glamour.

He noted further that the MMCI pageant is bedrock for grooming young boys and girls, adding that the winners are exposed to different things to understand the essence of education.

“While they are in camp we make them understand that they have talents. The essence is not just getting a certificate to benefit the students and society; we are basically empowering the young one with skills and knowledge to rediscover themselves.

“So, when they get back

they will begin to see things with a better perspective and practicalise as well as add positively to the values and

virtues given to them.”

“We have done the casting for the Northern zone and we are casting for the southern

zone now. So, we have expanded the inflow of students that are contesting this year.

The grand prize is two cars,

one for the male and another for the female overall winners.

There would be other prizes too”, Armstrong added.

Mr and Miss Campus International ... some of the contestant at the audition

Rite Foods Sponsors Felabration 2021 in Commemoration of Afrobeat Legend, Fela Anikulapo Kuti Rite Foods Limited has taken another giant step in promoting the entertainment industry by sponsoring this year’s Felabration, commemorating the late Afrobeat Legend, Fela Anikulapo Kuti, taking into cognisance the legacy the music icon left behind for posterity.

With the theme, “Viva Nigeria Via Africa” and to hold from October 11 to 17, Felabration is a one-week annual festival of music and art conceived in 1998

by Yeni Anikulapo-Kuti

in celebration of the life and times of her late father, Fela, who was also a human rights activist.

The event, which will take place at Fela’s New Afrika Shrine in Ikeja, Lagos, has a line-up of captivating activities from the commencement of the festival to its end.

Speaking on the sponsorship, the Managing Director of Rite Foods Limited, Mr. Seleem Adegunwa, said the late megastar, who was an epitome of courage and justice for the citizenry, is

worth celebrating, considering the message of hope and equality propagated through his songs.

He pointed out that the truly world-class and proudly Nigerian company will continue to identify with well-meaning initiatives like Felabration, which continually renews what the late megastar stood and fought for during his lifetime.

Adegunwa stated that the leading food and beverage company would use the entertainment platform

to provide maximum refreshment to music lovers, with its 12 Bigi variants of carbonated soft drinks, Bigi Table water, Fearless energy drink brands, which consists the Fearless Classic and Fearless Red Berry, and Rite sausages, that has been the hallmark of distinctiveness in the Nigerian market.

Rite Foods’ contribution to the memorable event will include a posthumous award for the late Afrobeat king, who was at the forefront against

injustice, inequality, and other depravities.

The beautifully designed award would be part of the company’s posthumous honor for the megastar, who left an indelible mark in the entertainment industry and earned global recognition for his unrivaled stage performance in his genre of music.

Other programs to mark Felabration include Afrobics dance competition, a show where contestants will compete by showcasing afrobeat dance

moves with any song of their choice from any of Fela’s songs, like “Colonial Mentality,” “Teacher No Teach Me Nonsense,” “Mr. Follow Follow,” “Zombie o Zombie,” among others.

There will also be schools’ debate with the topic “COVID-19 is a Blessing”, “The National Question Devolution or Evolution” for the Felabration Symposium, with the moderator/chairman Femi Falana amongst prominent speakers like Senator Shehu Sani.

Late Foursquare General Overseer, Wilson Badejo, for Burial October 8 General Overseer of the Foursquare Gospel Church, Rev. Sam Aboyeji has said the church will celebrate the life and times of his predecessor, late Rev. Wilson Badejo who passed on to glory on Saturday, August 7, 2021.

Unveiling the funeral activities for the late cleric during a press conference at the church headquarters at Yaba recently, Aboyeji

revealed that the funeral will begin with a Night of Tribute on October 6, Christian Wake Keeping on Thursday October 7 at the church national headquarters at Alagomeji, Yaba and a funeral service at the Jelili Omotola Multipurpose Hall of the University of Lagos, Akoka on Friday October 8, 2021.

He described late Badejo as a ‘hero of faith’ whose

leadership expanded the gospel of Jesus Christ in Nigeria and the missionary work of the church.

Aboyeji revealed that Foursquare Gospel Church has over 5000 branches in Nigeria out of which 1000 of the branches were planted during the leadership of Late Dr. Badejo, who was the leader of the church from 1999 to 2009.

The General Overseer

who was flanked by Rev. Tunde Lemo, a former Deputy Governor of Central Bank and CoChairman of the Funeral Planning Committee, Rev Yomi Oyinloye and Rev. Adedimeji Adegbesan, South West Coordinator of the Church and Chairman of Burial Planning Committee also said the church has invited dignitaries from government,

the private sector and other religious leaders to celebrate the transition onto glory of “a hero of faith with outstanding accomplishments in the service of God and humanity”.

The three-day funeral programme has the theme “The Badejo Coronation: Chosen. Called, Crowned.”

In the words of Rev.

Aboyeji, “Rev. Dr. Wilson Badejo worked diligently to grow our church: he identified, developed, mentored and motivated men and women to great leadership and also dynamically repositioned the Foursquare Gospel Church in Nigeria, nationally and internationally. He was well-loved and admired even as his leadership style was admirable.”

Anambra Fellowship Appeals for Unity, Peace at National Harvest The President, Anambra State Anglican Fellowship, Archbishop Vining Memorial Church Cathedral (AVMCC), Chris Obuekwe, has called for unity and peace in the country especially in the period of widespread insecurity and banditry issues.

Obuekwe, who disclosed this recently during the celebration of the AVMCC National Harvest tagged: ‘Harvest of Restoration’

said the fellowship is using the harvest to ask God to restore Nigeria back to its glory, deliver her from the calamities taking place in the country, bring unity, peace and restore the country.

Speaking on the objective of the harvest, Obuekwe stated the event was quite significant for Anambra fellowship because it was time to celebrate the state and

showcase its culture, while uniting and fellowshipping with people from other states that are church members of AVMCC. Anambra State Fellowship set aside a day yearly to organise New Year thanksgiving to thank God for what He has done for the fellowship.

The objective of the fellowship is to have a good relationship with

members of the church from other states to contribute significantly to the church.

Another goal of the fellowship is to support indigent churches in Anambra State to meet their basic needs such as repairs of church buildings, and providing financial aids to support the priests.

In his remarks, one of the patrons of the fellowship, Mr. Mallinson Ukatu,

noted that the fellowship is passionate about service to humanity, and support to the churches in the rural communities in Anambra State.

Ukatu explained that with the contributions of the fellowship, they are able to provide life support, and help the churches in the local communities back home in Anambra State.

He added that the aim

of supporting the local churches back home is to ensure that they are able to benefit from the urban church especially when the need arises.

Chairman, National Harvest Organising Committee Anambra Anglican Fellowship, Don Samuel Uchechukwu, expressed the need for the state to be governed by a God-fearing leader that can accommodate persons of other faiths.

36

T H I S D AY ˾ Ͷ, 2021

E-TRENDS

MUSIC SHOWBIZ

…Your weekly entertainment delight

NOLLYWOOD

BBNaija Maintains Record-breaking Streak Vanessa Obioha Since its return in 2017, the popular reality TV show Big Brother Naija has continued to shatter voting records. Each season records a higher number of votes. For instance, the ‘Pepper Dem’ edition, recorded 240 million votes.

That number was almost quadrupled in the ‘Lockdown’ season which recorded 900 million votes across different voting platforms.

More than a billion votes were however recorded in the just concluded ‘Shine Ya Eye’ season that saw WhiteMoney take home the grand prize of the season. He beats Liquorose, a popular dancer who many hoped would become the second female winner of the competition.

Female contestants often occupy the first runnerup position but in 2019, Mercy Eke broke the jinx, clinching the number one position.

Although the organisers MultiChoice Nigeria restricted voting to DStv and GOtv mobile apps as well as the Africa Magic website, the voting records showed that the SMS voting which was scrapped this season did not impact negatively the voting numbers.

“The impact of this shift meant that our viewers could enjoy the show and vote for favourite housemates at no extra cost,” said Executive Head, Content and West Africa Channels, MultiChoice Nigeria, Busola Tejumola, during

Whitemoney, Big Brother Naija Shine Ya Eye winner

the prize presentation.

The records also spoke volumes of the show’s popularity on the continent and beyond. For the first time, the show was streamed to a UK

audience via the online subscription videoon-demand service Showmax. In addition, a new recap show The Buzz hosted by media personality Toke Makinwa was streamed on

the platform. The show featured a secret diary session where housemates aired their thoughts on different topics without filters.

The season retained some of its elements of last edition owing to the coronavirus pandemic.

Guests were not allowed into the house and had a particular game for the Head of House challenge, although there were modifications this season.

A significant record in this season is that housemates won a total of N63 million in task presentations sponsored by different brands.

“That’s a first; the biggest we’ve had,’’ said the Chief Executive Officer, MultiChoice Nigeria, John Ugbe. “We can’t forget the fans who voted and created the atmosphere for the show; online and offline. They are the kingmakers that made this day possible by helping us pick a winner.”

Thirty fans who predicted the winner accurately were rewarded with One Million Naira each.

Now that the season is over, fans are looking forward to the reunion where housemates will air and attempt to settle their differences. The drama is already unfolding as some of the housemates are already grabbing headlines for unfollowing one another on social media platforms. It is an indicator that the ‘Shine Ya Eye’ housemates may have a more explosive reunion session.

AMAA’s New Initiative to Empower Young Creatives Vanessa Obioha The Africa Movie Academy (AMAA) is launching a new initiative that will empower young creatives. Called 100 Film Project, the initiative will tackle unemployment and help creatives produce films that meet international standards.

“To tackle the perennial unemployment many youths are facing, we, at African Film Academy, are committed to creating a platform that gives African creative voices and access to the global market.

“This, we believe can be achieved through partnerships and collaborations with big brands across the continent. Thus, we introduce our 100 Film Project as our next project targeted at the creative industry and also increasing brand value,” said Abiola Durodola, a new member of AMAA and coordinator of the initiative during a press parley to announce activities for the 2021 AMAA. About 10,000 creatives will be engaged in all the projects which will be created in 18 months and create at least 100,000 jobs for creatives.

Also, the initiative will incorporate a three-week Film in A Box training that has been structured by the Africa Film Academy.

Peace Anyiam-Osigwe(standing) at AMAA media event

To avoid copyright infringement, participants are asked to only provide a three-sentence synopsis of their stories. Those whose stories make the cut will receive support from the Academy as well as work with other industry greats to

realise their dreams.

Founder Peace Anyiam-Osigwe, at the parley, added that the project will create sustainable employment and empower young people to “do what they love to do best.”

The initiative will kick off this month and will run for the next two years.

The 100 Film Project is in line with AMAA’s consistent vision to create a market space for filmmakers. Since its debut in 2005, theAMAAhas created an enabling environment for filmmakers to market their ideas and network with key players in the industry.

More so,AMAAprides itself on celebrating the best of African films. A notable example is ‘The Milkmaid’ which became the first Nigerian film to be submitted for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (also known as the Oscars). The film which was considered for the International Feature Film category, however, did not make the shortlist.

-Osigwe reiterated that the AMAA is keen on films that tick every criterion in its jury list. Former Commissioner for Tourism, Arts and Culture in Lagos State, Steve Ayorinde will be president of the jury for the 17th edition of the awards. He is a pioneering member of the awards.

OyinkanTalabi,who is the new project manager of the awards, disclosed that AMAA 2021 is scheduled for November 28 while nominations will be announced on October 21. The main ceremony will be a hybrid event as most countries are yet to relax COVID-19 guidelines.

EkoTurns on for Independence Temple Company, Balmoral Group Announce LIFE Ahead of 62nd Independence Day Day Show Iyke Bede To commemorate Nigeria’s 61st Independence anniversary, the Lagos State government, through the Ministry of Tourism, Arts, and Culture, will host the Eko On Show festival at the Muri Okunola Park on October 15, 2021.

The full-on exhibition of the rich cultural heritage and values of the people of Nigeria through arts, fashion, music, and food, will showcase the works of creatives from the various aforementioned fields with hopes to rekindle the spirit of patriotism while positioning Lagos as the choice destination for tourists the world over.

“It is in the spirit of hope and optimism that Lagos has continued to break new grounds and achievements,” said the commissioner for Lagos State

Ministry of Tourism, Arts, And Culture, Uzamat Akinbile Yusuf, in her address.

“This event is about sending a direct message to the entire world, that Lagos, apart from being a land of creativity and innovation, is also the soul of entertainment, fun and relaxation, that is rich in culture and hospitality. The show will feature an exceptional experience of good music, fashion, food, and dance extravaganza.”

Musical acts confirmed for the festival include Ara, Teni, Dede, Davido, Tiwa Savage, D’banj, KWAM 1, Shina Peters, and other indigenous acts. It will also parade an array of established and up-and-coming comedians.

With the focus on boosting the local economy, Eko On Show will be opened to artisans to sell their merchandise, thus increasing visibility for their brand.

Iyke Bede The Temple Company, in collaboration with Balmoral Group, has announced plans to roll out the maiden edition of the Lagos Independence Festival of Excellence (LIFE).

Conceptualised around Nigeria’s Independence Day, the three-day festival aims to celebrate, promote, and preserve the heritage and culture that collectively make up the fabric of the most populous black nation using arts, fashion, music, and film to mention a few.

The all-inclusive event will be open to the general public irrespective of age or socioeconomic status. To achieve this, the organisers have planned engaging activities during day and night-time.

The daytime activities will focus on entertaining and educating the younger generation, while the nighttime activities

L-R: Head of Strategy,TheTemple Company,Winifred Okpapi; GCE/founder,TheTemple Company, Idris Olorunnimbe; MD/CEO, Balmoral Group, Ezekiel Adamu and Sales/Event Manager, Balmoral Group, Mimi Barts

are moulded to impact nostalgia and appreciation of Nigerian cultures. Founder, The Temple Company, Idris Olorunnimbe, emphasised the crucial need to promote Nigerian artists, who serve as culture custodians.

“Most of our children know the international artists, but who is going to help us celebrate our artists? The idea is very simple: the convergence of all of us, regardless of age, will experi-

ence Nigeria’s independence in a new, more impactful light.

Our children will learn, in a fun way, about our country and our people, and our culture, and then, at night, the adults can experience a unique nightlife that celebrates Nigeria.”

Working for several months with the in-house team at The Temple Company, and securing collaborations from third-party

creatives, Olorunnimbe is confident of the event’s smooth run next year.

He expects the event will pool guests from around the globe. He further disclosed that plans for logistics and lodging have been given top priority.

The festival has also entered partnerships with various corporate and government entities to help subsidise the entry fee for the festival.

37

T H I S D AY ˾ Ͷ, 2021

ART WEEKEND

…For pure art enthusiasts

At 2021 Qfest, Medical Student Clinches the Quramo Writers’ Prize

Mavin Records Supports the Young Bookworms for International Literacy Day

After the suspense, punctuated by some Afrobeats, came the announcement. Akinimi Akintomiwa Oluwaseun, a final year medical student at Obafemi Awolowo University, IleIfe was named the winner of the Quramo Prize for Writers at the grand finale of the Quramo Festival of Words held in Lagos. Yinka Olatunbosun reports

To mark the 2021 World Literacy Day, Mavin Records in partnership with the Young Bookworms thrilled out-of-school children in A gala community, Apapa, with a series of activities in Lagos. The Young Bookworms, an NGO that is supporting displaced children to access basic education have adopted the indigent community of Tarkwa Bay since 2018. After the Tarkwa Bay eviction of January 2020 that displaced over 2,000 families, most settled in a neighbouring community called ‘Agala’.

Young BookWorms and its partners have committed about N2m to construct a Learning Resources Centre (LRC) for the children in Agala which was formally launched on August 14.

The Learning Resource Centre has become a hub providing basic education for the displaced children in the community.

The Mavin Records team, led by her Head of Human Resources, Jennifer Imion paid a visit to the community and students on the International Literacy Day. The Learning Resource Centre is an enclave bristling with the typically excited chatter of young students. It is furnished with recyclable materials and converted into functional space elements. ‘They were made by the children’, Mr Godson Emezi, the project’s coordinator said during a guided tour.

During a book reading session, Jennifer Imion engaged the students in conversations about moral values, their hobbies and conducted a mini talent show.

The team also met with the community head on how the students can gain better exposure through community growth and some extracurricular activities. TheAfrican entertainment powerhouse sponsored a spelling bee competition, rewarding the winners with an all-expense-paid trip to do some back-to-school shopping, a stop at the cinema, and the amusement park.

“I

t is ironical that words got me here but now I am short of words,’’ was the unforgettable remark from Akinimi Akintomiwa Oluwaseun, the 25-year old final year student of the Medicine and Surgery at the Obafemi Awolowo University on the podium where he received his prize. With the giant dummy cheque of N1m and the prospect of publishing his winning entry titled “Looking Glass Bullet,’’ with Quramo Publishing, Akinimi involuntarily edged Cynthia Nnadi’s ‘Fate of the Forlorn’ and Ifeanyi Ekpunobi’s ‘Dark Spots of Light’ into second and third positions respectively. Others in the top five include Ishola Oyinkansola Hubaidat and Cynthia Chukwuma. Akinimi would have missed out on this competition but for his good friend, Peter Aladeyelu- also a medical student- who gave him some heads up. Prior to writing the winning story, he had been busy with non-fiction and motivational pieces. ‘Looking Glass Bullet’ was the end product of his writing executed on his mobile phone.

“I had too much time on my hands during the lockdown. I was at home without nothing to do so I just picked up my phone and started typing until it became what has earned me a prize. There was a lot of hesitation on my part.

But I have a friend that was that involved, and believed in me and he pushed me to submit.

We are both medical students and he didn’t have time to read it before I submitted it.

He just kept encouraging me all through,’’ he recounted.

The former ‘straight A’ student of the junior school at Maryland Comprehensive School, Ikeja is aware that he is indeed art-oriented.

When asked if he would eventually work as a doctor, his response was non-committal

L-R: Head Judge, Jude Idada; CEO, Quramo, Gbemi Shasore, the winner of Quramo Writers’ Prize, Akinimi Akintomiwa Oluwaseun; Lolade Alaka, Editorial manager, Quramo Publishing and the Festival Director, Iquo Diana-Abasi

yet insightful.

“I am doing well at the medicine school but I have never really felt like I belonged there. I have always known words are what I would work with. I like writing music and fiction.

I hope one day I could be a musician. I love words,’’ the winning writer said, adding that he considers the prize as his 25th birthday gift.

The poet-playwright Jude Idada, who served as head judge of Quramo Writers’ Prize described his role as a singular honour.Alongside co-judges Lechi Eke and Adam Abubakar Ibrahim, who read the citation for each of the finalists, Idada conveyed a message laded with optimism.

“Some of the issues explored by the entries received revolved around religion, cultural issues, the passage of love and hate, fantasy,

migration and multi-cultural. In the onset of being presented these manuscripts, it was challenging. Everyone that submitted, whether on the longlist or short list is a winner for it takes perseverance and self-belief to be counted deserving. Keep writing, keep knocking on doors. Success comes in different forms,’’ he said. The CEO, Quramo, Gbemi Shasore expressed her delight that in spite of the pandemic, words are celebrated at 2021 Qfest with the theme “Transcendence: Words Defying.”

“This global experience is beyond normal, it is transcendent. It is business and leisure unusual. Only our power to connect with words will ensure that the global community, Africa especially, defies the ill effects of today’s times. Words are leading the way,” she said.

Unravelling 1851 Agidingbi Game Yinka Olatunbosun 1851 Agidingbi Game, Nigeria’s first indigenous variant of the chess game based on historical events in Lagos is set to be launched.

The game, available as a board and an app, is named after the year 1851 because of its historical milestone- the year Lagos was invaded by the infamous HMS Bloodhound from England.

The app comes in a single and multi-player mode. Afully immersive expressive, this chessstyle game is a contemporary-styled medium of exporting Lagos to the rest of the world via the digital landscape.

With checkered board design, it comes with the six pieces such as Erelu- Kuti of Lagos as the Queen Mother, Oba of Lagos as The King, Adamu Eyo as The Rook, Omo Ogun Eko as The Pawn, Eletu- Odibo as The Bishop and Abagbon as The Knight.

Users can play on either sides that is as the Eko Defenders or the British Invaders. Before venturing into playing the game, the gamers need to understand the simple story of the Lagos invasion segmented as the feud, the envy, the greed and the invasion. The feud started as a battle between Oba Kosoko and his uncle, Oba Akitoye. Plans are in top gear for the launch of the game board in December to commemorate the 170th year anniversary of the British invasion of Lagos.

The Creator of the 1851 Agidingbi game

1851 Agidingbi game board

board and app, Oludamola Adebowale revealed how this project was transported from just a dream to a reality.

“The 1851 Agidingbi game is a very personal project. Agidingbi actually started like an experiment from an exhibition that I had in 2017 at the Lagos Book and Art Festival. I did something around Lagos history and we had over 20 art illustrations that were displayed. The game board that gave birth to this app was actually on display. I saw the way people interacted with it and it was beautiful. At that moment, I saw an opportunity and I saw a product. I

have worked towards it. People won’t invest in an idea unless if it is a product,’’ he revealed.

The lockdown occasioned by the Covid-19 pandemic created some free time for Adebowale to work on the legal and design component of the app which he described as his “pandemic experiment.’’

He intends to infuse history culture and technology to form an educational or innovative tool to boost the economy and preserve history.

The game app will be available for download after the October 16 launch at Red Door Gallery, Lagos.

Yinka Olatunbosun

BIC Announce Winners of ‘Art Master Africa’ Competition Yinka Olatunbosun BIC, a leading global stationery brand, has announced the winners of the fourth edition of Art Master Africa competition. The competition encourages talent across Africa and the Middle East to showcase their creativity and create a piece of art, using the famous BIC Ball Pen. The winners included one continent-wide winner as well as 11 winners from countries within the Africa region. Ugandan artist Gayi Eric was named the 2021 BIC Art Master Africa champion. His portrait titled ‘Circle of Life’ was created using four BIC Ball Pens and took a total of 210 hours to complete.

Announced as a second place winner, was Kamgaing from Cameroon, who developed the art piece titled ‘In My Room’ while the Nigerian artist Odaro Franklin Osaivbie holds down the third place with his art piece ‘Entranced’.

National winners across Africa were also announced and include Badr Labied (Morocco) for the artwork ‘Enchantez la vie africaine’; Astral Msekeli (South Africa) for the artwork ‘Ubuntu’; Stanley Were (Kenya) for the artwork ‘Life is what you make it’.

Similarly, the top ten Art Masters of Africa were announced, including Andrew Nathan (Nigeria) for the art piece ‘Value’; Thuso Modikela (South Africa) for the art piece ‘Flowers of the universe’; Ashaba Gabito (Uganda) for the art piece ‘Enchant everyday life’ Brandon Ponen (South Africa) for the art piece ‘Roll the Dice; Omphile Sefako (Botswana) for the art piece ‘Liminal Confinement.’

The creative artwork was chosen from 6,350 entries submitted by more than 3,700 artists from 52 countries across the Middle East and Africa. The work was shortlisted by a panel of judges including experts from BIC, renowned artists from the region, winners from previous Art Master Africa competitions, and art experts from Europe.

ͱͶ

T H I S D AY ˾ Ͷ, 2021

METRO

…Your city life in print

Dr. Wilson Badejo: Fare Thee Well Tunde Lemo, OFR

T

he news of the home call of our departed father Dr Wilson Adebogun Badejo, the former General Overseer of Foursquare Gospel Church in Nigeria on Saturday August 7, 2021 at the age of 74 hit many like a thunderbolt. He was much loved by so many, not just because he was a committed General in the Lord’s vineyard, a consummate administrator, encourager and incredible church planter; he was also very much loved as his leadership style was remarkable.

On completion of the Youth Service in 1985, I was visiting many bible believing churches in Lagos, looking for a warm campus-like fellowship like the one I was used to in the university. Fate brought me to the Yaba Headquarters Church in 1986 where I met Dr Badejo and it was love at first sight. The rest is history! I made up my mind to join the church after listening to his very powerful sermon, deep in theology with admirable oratory prowess.

Dr Badejo was a Pastor, father and committed senior Friend. I will not forget his support when I was appointed Managing Director/CEO of Wema Bank Plc in 2000 under a very difficult and controversial circumstance. He visited the office with a strong prayer team and the support continued throughout our 3 year stay in the office.

He repeated the same feat when I was appointed Deputy Governor, CBN in 2004. He visited my office in Abuja to encourage me with prayer and counseling.

Born in Ijebu-Ode to the family of Mr Williams Adewale Badejo and his wife, Florence Ebunoluwa on May 19, 1947, he commenced his primary education at St Paul’s Primary School, Ago-Iwoye, then proceeded to Princess Day (Primary) School, Aba, Holy Ghost College, Owerri, Government College Umuahia and Government College Ibadan, where he won academic laurels all the way. He gained admission into the premier University of Ibadan in 1968, where he obtained a degree in Veterinary Medicine (DVM) in 1973. He obtained a post-graduate qualification in Management from the University of Connecticut, USA. His work experience took him to the Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation, Ibadan ( now NTA, and FRCN, 1967, Nigerian Airports Authority and Food & Commodity Production Company - a subsidiary of the Ibrahim Organization between 1977 and 1986.

Late Rev Badejo He came to know the Lord at a crusade at the University of Ibadan. Young Wilson Badejo was a leading Students Union Activist, who missed being hit by police bullet by whiskers committed his life to Jesus Christ

and therefore turned his zeal from students unionism to evangelism. He joined the Foursquare Gospel Church after his graduation and rose to become the Pastor-in-charge of the National Headquarters Church in 1989.

He was installed the General Overseer 10 years later, in 1999, the position he held till 2009. He embarked on aggressive church planting under the program code-named Barley Harvest. This saw the church growing in leaps and bounds as over 1000 churches were planted in just 4 years.

This rare feat was acknowledged by one of his close friends- Bishop Okonkwo of TREM, in his tribute ‘Badejo was blessed with a rare gift of church planting as he almost took over the nation which made his church explode’. Corroborating this, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, another close friend of his described Dr Badejo as ‘a spiritual force….

I know that the Foursquare really grew under his leadership.

The current General Overseer of Foursquare Gospel Church, in his tribute said ‘Rev Dr Wilson Badejo worked diligently to grow our church. He identified, developed, mentored and motivated men and women to great leadership and also dynamically repositioned the church nationally and internationally. He encouraged me, and sent me to Warri . The Lord prospered the work and the 18 year-sojourn was the preparation I needed to assume the role of the General Overseer almost 2 years ago.

Dr Badejo also made remarkable achievements outside of the Foursquare family. He was a recipient of the award of excellence by the Bible Society of Nigeria, President, Nigerian Evangelical Fellowship (NEF), Member, Nigerian Inter-religious Council, Member, Board of Governors Nairobi Evangelical Graduate School of Technology and Member, Governing Council of Bells University of Technology, amongst others.

As we bid him farewell, we celebrate the grace of God upon his life and rejoice that after serving his generation, he deserved a rest and eternal bliss in the bosom of the Lord his maker. I will end this tribute with the words of Horatius Bonar , in his popular hymn, Only Remembered ‘ fading away like the stars in the morning, losing their light in the glorious sun; thus would we pass from this earth and its toiling ; only remembered for what we have done.

Adieu our quintessential father in the Lord, a compassionate leader, energetic church planter and incredible giver. We shall forever remember you for what you have done. Sleep on till we meet on the resurrection morning. FARE THEE WELL! t3FW 5VOEF -FNP B GPSNFS %FQVUZ (PWFSOPS PG $FOUSBM #BOL JT DP $IBJSNBO PG UIF 'VOFSBM 1MBOOJOH $PNNJUUFF

FG Agriculture Farm Input Distribution in Lagos Benefits over 4000 Farmers Precious Ugwuzor

O

ver 4000 farmers in Lagos State whose farmlands/ crops were affected by 2020 Flood disasters in the state will benefit from the direct distribution of the federal government’s agricultural farm inputs to farmers.

The Commissioner for Agriculture, Lagos State, Miss Abisola Ruth Olusanya, made this disclosure during the flag off of the distribution of farm inputs at the state Ministry of Agriculture Farm Centre in Oko Oba, Agege.

According to her, the federal government through the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) in response to the incidence of flood experienced across the country in 2020 has provided assistance to famers and farms affected in order to reduce the effect on their livelihood.

She explained that the items to be given to each farmer include Fertilizers, Growth Enhancers, Herbicides, Pesticides, Knapsack sprayers, water pump and seeds.

“Physical enumeration and verification of the affected farmers was carried out in the state earlier between 24th June and 28th June 2021. This verification was carried out by a joint team of federal and state agencies to ensure transparency.

“4,354 farmers were identified from this exercise consisting 2,085 maize farmers, 1,550 cassava farmers and 719 rice farmers.

“It is my belief that the little gesture from the Federal government will go a long way in bringing some succour to the affected farmers and in the long run and help to mitigate against food shortage as a result of the flood incidence”, she added.

Abisola reiterated the commitment of the Lagos State government to continue to support agricultural value actors across the state.

The Director-General of the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency, LASEMA, Dr. Olufemi OkeOsanyintolu commended the Lagos State Governor, His Excellency Babajide Sanwo-Olu, for giving

Ibrahim Farinloye, NEMA South-west Coordinator with one of the beneficiaries, as DG LASEMA, Dr. Oke-Osanyintolu looks on agriculture the desired attention to ensure food security which is important to the well being of the people in Lagos State. “ The farmers are well taken care of in terms of data collection and all the data are with the Lagos state ministry of agriculture.

“We are doing a lot of things in terms of sensitisation and training. When I’m talking about building capacity, I’m talking about giving them equipment and giving them some funds, as well as encouraging them to be in a sort of cooperative.

“We are handling the cooperative society in another form which means, they have data collections, they have clear association,we interact

with them, we have officers that visit them and we will make sure that we document all these our intervention”, he added.

Also, Ibrahim Farinloye, the South-west Coordinator, National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) said the volume of income has increased and “when you talk of farmland, the location of farmland, especially in Lagos State, you know most parts of Lagos State are under sea level so what we have in place is enlightenment.

“Lagos, few months ago never had anything about disaster risk reduction because reactions to disaster occurrence is not the best but now we are working together with Lagos state Emergency

Management Agency and other agencies like State Ministry of Environment, State Ministry of Agriculture to see what we can do in reducing the frequent occurrence of various disasters. “ It’s more economical to reduce the disasters than to react to disasters because most of the disaster victims never recover from them. We are working towards integrating disaster risk production strategy in Lagos State.

“The pumping machine is meant to reduce and encourage dry season farming. We have record already of those farmers who have been affected so far this year. We are working with them and we are giving them encouragement and training on what to be done and not be done to reduce loss.”

39

T H I S D AY ˾ Ͷ, 2021

POLSCOPE

áÓÞÒ ÎÎã ÎÓàáÜÓ ÏÎÎã˛ÙÎÓàáÜÓ̶ÞÒÓÝÎËãÖÓàÏ˛ÍÙט ͸΀͸ͽ ͻ͸; ΁ͻͽ;

Anambra: As Election Ground Canticles….

When Our Yesterday Becomes a Killing Field Looks Better than Today

D

Did you listen to the 61stIndependence Anniversary nationwide address of our dear President, Muhammadu Buhari last Friday?

Why do I have to waste my time doing that? Isn’t there a better thing to do with my time? In any case, there was no electricity and my generators have been bad.

Why can’t you fix the generators?

Why can’t the Federal Government fix stable electricity supply?

Do you know the cost of running my generators every week? Are you not in this country? You think it is easy?

But Mr President raised the hope of Nigerians that things are not only getting better, that they will indeed be a lot better in no distant time.

Did you believe him? Do you think he means those things merely said to impress the klieg light. Those speech writers of Mr President just cobbled together some verbiages that will pretenciously appear nice to the ears. And that’s where it ends.

Dr Chike Akunyili

E

ver since the snake got pregnant, did we know that its baby would be a long creature.

About six months ago, on a quiet Sunday morning, it was people going to church that discovered that a truck which fell and spilled its content was actually carrying loads of live ammunition. That was on May 10, 2021. The driver of the truck was arrested by the Police while its assistant fled at the sigh of the police. As many things go in Nigeria, we did not hear anything again concerning that incident.

But the unanswered questions were the identity of the owner of the lethal goods, what they were meant for, where were they to be used? Was/is the owner licensed to import ammunition etc.? It is also befuddling that even the Police have kept mute over their so-called investigations on the matter. Why did they fail to feed Nigerians with their findings. Why was the matter literally swept under the carpet?

Without responding to those questions, we are inadvertently finding answers to them as the governorship election in Anambra State draws near. The avalanche of killings and general disquiet in the state is a clear indication of a long term plan by desperate men to cause mayhem and tension in the state.

The blood-letting spree got to its height with the recent killing of Dr Chike Akunyili, a surgeon and husband of late former NAFDAC DG, Dora Akunyili Dr Akunyili was not a politician. Reports say Dr Akunyili was returning from a meeting of his Alumni.

Two days after he was shot, the convoy of a House of Representatives member, Hon Chris Azubogu was attacked on his way back from Awka where he had gone to declare for membership of the All Progressives Congress (APC). His driver was shot dead in the attack.

Before then and even after, several police stations have been attacked, burnt and even killed some policemen. Many other individuals have been killed in gruesome manners. The scale of danger and unrest is remarkably high.

The killing spree is coming after the litigation phase where almost all the political parties had gone to court to

challenge the emergence of one candidate or the other in the primaries. The courts have reversed themselves several times on account of who will be the standard bearer of some of the political parties.

The confusion was huge.

It thus looks like the resort to killing is akin to saying what the courts could not settle, the bullets have to settle. And the bullets are really flying here and there. There is so much scare right now. Already, many Anambra sons and daughters—within and outside Nigeria—are expressing concern over the safety of coming home, as they usually do, during the coming Yuletide season.

The feeling of danger and unsafety is thick and strong.

In fact, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has raised the alarm that if the killing spree continues, it could affect the conduct of the November 6 election, barely a month away.

Rather than intensify political campaigns, to win more and more support, there is a festering orgy of violence rocking the state.

It is a state where money, more than ideas, make sense. And many are they with deep vaults in the state. But should the governorship seat be merely for the highest bidder?

It is ironically sad that a state that produced the Great Zik of Africa, Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe (first President of Nigeria), the doyen of Democracy, and even celebrated politicians like late Dr Alex Ekwueme (former Vice President of the country), late Dr Chuba Okadigbo, (former Senate President), late Professor Chinua Achebe, and a host of other egg-heads, is struggling with the basic ethos of democracy. There is an ungodly desperation to become the governor, not through the ballot, but through the bullet and even through other metaphysical means.

Back to the murder of Akunyili: why was he killed? He was not a politician.

Was he seen to be supporting any of the candidates? Even if that was the case, did he not have such right? Was it a carry-over of the failed attacks on his late wife, Dora, while she served as the Director General of NAFDAC? Was

the killing as a result of a business deal gone awry? Was he a victim of random killing? Just why was he killed? The Police have vowed to find the killers.

The police themselves are terrified.

Many of them have been killed and burnt. There’s tension in the Anambra air. Governor Willie Obiano has placed a N 20 million bounty on the killers of Dr Akunyili. Will that amount be enough to unearth the killers? In a state where money is the greatest measure of means and capacity, will N20million break the ice? We are waiting.

The chaos and trauma caused by the activities of Independent People of Biafra (IPOB) was already bad enough. Coming to further complicate it with the bloody fog of politics just worsens the political landscape in the state.

In the months preceding the killing of Dr Akunyili, there have been several cases of attacks on police stations as well as INEC offices across the state, and even beyond. Many of the attacks had been carried out by people suspected to be advocates of the IPOB agenda.

Perhaps beyond the immediate task of finding the killers of Akunyili and the purveyors of violence in the state, will be the greater concern of blocking the source of illegal arms in the state. Few years ago, the Nigeria Customs had intercepted container loads of arms and ammunition (packaged as doors from Turkey and other parts of Europe) from the Apapa/Tincan ports.

As usual, we never got to know what happened to those seizures. Were they later released? Who were indeed the importers? Where are they—in jail or they settled themselves out of the noose?

Is it that the importers of guns have become smarter, hence there have been no more discoveries and seizures in recent years by men of the Nigeria Customs?

Have the Nigeria Customs officials lowered their guards and spectre of vigilance?

In all, the blockage of the source of the tons of illegal arms in Anambra and indeed the entire country, will be the ultimate panacea in dealing with the menace of marauding killers on the streets of our towns and cities. We cannot afford to descend to the age of the Mafia in Sicily, Italy. No, we cannot! Save Anambra, save Nigeria!

No, the President highlighted some of the achievements of his administration, and truly, many of the things he talked about are infallible. You can’t fault them.

It is true that he’s invested huge on infrastructure. If you doubt, call and ask Mr Babatunde Fashola, the Minister of Works.

If you don’t believe Fashola, ask Hon Rotimi Amaechi. And the magnitude of the works done to connect various parts of the country on Rail transportation will amaze you. You cannot also deny the fact that we are gradually achieving food sufficiency. If you doubt it, ask Indonesia, how many Rice factories they have shut down, because Nigeria no longer imports rice from them.

Even in energy sector, there is a tremendous improvement in the… (cuts in) There is tremendous what? Electricity supply has improved? Where? In your own house?

Did I not just tell you that I couldn’t have even listened to the Independence Broadcast because there was no light in my entire neighbourhood? So, which light has improved tremendously? Why are you playing the role of Lai Mohammed?

Look, we are all in darkness most of the day and night. What has improved is the megawatts of darkness beamed every night. Is that not why the demand for diesel and even petrol keeps rising? Do you know that the price of a litre of diesel now sells for N300, almost?

Don’t blame that on President Buhari. Blame it on the exchange rate, which is largely governed by market forces. Therefore… (cuts in again)… Therefore what?

Who is in charge of market forces?

Did you say we should not blame President Buhari for the high cost of diesel? Pray, who is controlling the exchange rate? Is it the National association of carpenters or is it NUT members? What else is the major role of the Central Bank of Nigeria?

Is the CBN not a government-owned organisation? Does the CBN no longer control the forex market?

Or who is it that appointed the CBN governor? Do you know how Nigerians are suffering in the hands of Dollars or Pounds? Do you know how the price of things are going up everyday? Do you know how families are groaning? Cost of things

Buhari

are going up everyday, but salary figures remain the same? Imagine those who don’t even have a job!

Why is the government of Buhari making yesterday we complained about look like a new heaven? Was yesterday not largely better than today? Just tell me one thing that appears better today, apart from this communication thing. Even then, the sitting government cannot take the credit for it.

But you will agree with me that there is far more money in circulation than before. There are many more millionaires in today’s Nigeria than ever before.

Can’t you see the quality of cars on our roads these days?

Raw rubbish!. More millionaires?

You mean these miserable millionaires? Do you not know that the more money we are having, the poorer and even more dejected we turn out to be? Imagine Nigeria proposing an annual budget of N16.4 trillion. Just where are we going? And you talk about quality of cars on the Nigerian streets. How short-brained you are!

You take glory in theseTokunboand refurbished cars? Have you realized that many of these so called Tokunbocars were damaged cars?

Can’t you see how we are excited at the arrival of such battered cars? Do you not know that Nigerians once reveled in driving brand new cars?

Did we not call them tear-rubber cars? Today we drive damaged and oversea-rejected cars and we are feeling giddy. Is it not true that yesterday was better? At 61, we are largely a Tokunbo -oriented country. We are retrogressing: wearing second hand clothes (including bras and pants), reading second-hand books, driving second-hand cars (including even bicycles), sleeping on second -hand mattresses, using second hand pots and kitchen utensils etc… what is all that!

Calm down! That is why we are described as a developing country.

You should learn to be grateful for little mercies. Can you thank God enough for the Nigerian weather?

Can you thank God enough that we are saved from earthquakes and earth tremors? After all, we have been delivered from the blight or military rule. Unlike some West African countries like Mali, Guinea, Chad etc.

Yes, we must thank God but we must also beseech God to deliver us from the hands of Boko Haram, Bandits, Kidnappers, IPOB Killers etc. True, we are a developing country.

God Have Mercy!

40

FRIDAY OCTOBER 8, 2021 •T H I S D AY

FRIDAY OCTOBER 8, 2021 • T H I S D AY

41

42

FRIDAY OCTOBER 8, 2021 •T H I S D AY

FRIDAY OCTOBER 8, 2021 • T H I S D AY

43

44

T H I S D AY ˾ Ͷ˜ 2021

BUSINESS/MONEYGUIDE

Abubakar: Sustainable Energy Vital to Energy Needs of Big Corporates Ugo Aliogo ËØÎ Shalom Uzochukwu The Managing Director, Steing Bank Plc, Mr. Abubakar Suleiman, has stated that sustainable energy remains vital in meeting the energy needs of big corporates, and organisations.

Suleiman, who disclosed this yesterday in Lagos, during a media briefing said as the bank commitment to promoting sustainable energy, they would be embarking establishing a data center at the head office which he described as the most sensitive use case of solar powered energy.

He also stated that the bank is partnering with Creative Youth Community Development Initiative (CYCDI) on a campaign tagged #NaijaClimateNow, to implement solutions towards climate change adaptation in Nigeria as part of its commitment and significant contributions to a better and safer ecosystem.He noted that the bank has been promoting practices that protect the environment for the

benefit of humanity through its corporate social responsibility initiative known as the Sterling Environmental Makeover (STEM).

Suleiman further explained that STEM, which was launched more than a decade ago as a cleaning exercise promoting sanitation and hygiene, has over the years evolved into a national movement championing the cause of the environment.

In his words: “We have built the core of our business strategy around what is known as the HEART sector. The acronym stands for Health, Education, Agriculture, Renewable and Transportation.

The R in the acronym stands for renewable energy. The goal is that by putting renewable energy within the HEART sector is that all the other four sectors will gravitate towards using renewable sources because it is part of our business.

The programme currently covers public enlightenment campaigns, partnership with waste management agencies in almost all the States of the federation, tree planting initiatives to combat

desertification in parts of Northern Nigeria, and an annual national cleaning exercise. Within the renewable energy space, we have done some activities with government. We have funded quite a few businesses that have helped government in putting solar street lights instead of running generators in the streets.

At the lower end of it, there is a transaction we closed this year, where we are collaborating to power 1,000 homes that are currently offgrid working with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) as our commercial partner. This is important because if you don’t get those 1,000 homes clean energy, by the time they get on the grid, they will be getting dirty energy.

“Sterling Bank has committed more than a billion Naira to the programme since its inception.

Whenever we have a conversation about climate change it is something that we should take serious and be committed to, because it is a conversation that we will live to see the consequences if we don’t do anything about it.

Access Bank Promotes Saving Culture with Promo Nume Ekeghe In a bid to promote savings culture among Nigerians and reward loyal customers during the festive season, Access Bank Plc is set to reward one lucky customer daily with N1million from December 6 to December 24, 2021.

Also, the bank plans to reward another lucky customer with Salary for Life N100,000 every month for 20years on December 25th 2021as well as other consolation prizes to reward their customers.

The Executive Director, Retail Banking, Access bank Plc, Victor Etuokwu, in a statement said: ” There’s no better way to celebrate Christmas and the end of year than with a big win. Beginning in the month of October, we will be giving our loyal customers and new customers the opportunity to save and qualify for the daily DiamondXtra Mega draw which

will be a daily draw in December for N1million naira for a lucky customer, culminating in the jackpot draw on Christmas Day for the Grand prizes.

“All you need to do to qualify for the draw is to open a DiamondXtra account and fund up to N50,000. For every N50,000 you save, you get a ticket into the Mega draw and increase your chances of becoming a Millionaire in the DiamondXtra Mega Draw.

“To open a new account, simply dial *901*5# and if you have an existing DiamondXtra account, just dial *901# to fund the account with N50,000 or more.

Victor concluded.”

Reiterating Victor’s comment, Group Head, Consumer Banking, Access Bank Plc, Adaeze Umeh confirmed that more than 31 customers will be rewarded with over N60million during the campaign period.

In her words “We want to

change more lives and that is why we have taken the DiamondXtra scheme to another level. we want to empower more Nigerians financially during the festive period so that they can take care of their needs and loved ones too. We will be creating one millionaire every day in December and 2 lucky winners will go home with the grand prize money of N10million and Salary4life N100,000 for 20 years.

This is our own way of celebrating Nigerians and ushering them into the yuletide season. We urge all our customers to take advantage of this great opportunity and join the winning train.”

He added, “All you need to do as an existing Diamondxtra customer is to increase your account balance with a minimum of N50,000 or more to qualify. New customers can also walk into any of our branch or dail *901*5# to open a DiamondXtra account with a minimum of N50,000.”

Citi Launches New Report on Holistic Digital Policy Nume Ekeghe Citi bank has launched its latest Global Perspectives & Solutions (Citi GPS) report titled, “Holistc Digital,” in its bid to assist policy makers on the process of moving to a more digital economy.

The report sets out a number of focus areas designed for countries and governments to assist in the process of moving to a more digital economy, including artificial intelligence (AI), inclusive finance, digital infrastructure, private sector incentives, and regulations.

Citi bank in a statement noted that each nation state develop and implement a Holistic Digital Policy that complements monetary and fiscal goals and facilitates sustainable economic growth and inclusion.

It goes on to explain that

Holistic Digital Policy also seeks to incentivise and align other stakeholders such as corporates, financial institutions, civil society and individuals to achieve the collective economic and UN Sustainable Development Goals.

It outlines five focus areas that adopted alongside digital policy including digital infrastructure, data, AI and biotech, technology monopoly, and digital finance.

Chairman, Institutional Clients Group, Citi, Naveed Sultan stated: “We believe that we are at a unique point in time where there are major transitions underway, driven by varied and complex externalities and the rapid development of a broad range of general purpose technologies.

We therefore need new policy tools and business approaches to address the challenges and opportunities presented by these externalities. We believe that a

Holistic Digital Policy is a new tool that will complement monetary and fiscal policies, which are currently showing signs of stress, and also improve their efficacy.”

Sultan added: “There is evidence that countries which have established a holistic approach to digital policy and execution have realized significant economic, social, and political benefits.

These countries have also seen a thriving public private sector collaboration. That’s in addition to continuing to engage in crossagency, cross-government, and private sector collaboration on topics such as the development of central bank digital currencies, cybersecurity, and data privacy.

Ultimately, forward-thinking governments need to take decisive steps to close the gaps in digital skills, infrastructure, and research and development.”

The Managing Director, First City Monument Bank (FCMB), Mrs. Yemisi Edun (2nd left), with the “Platinum Service Ambassador” and “Best Participating Financial Institution with the Most Impact on Total End-Borrowers Financed 2020” awards won by the Bank during the Service Ambassadors Awards event organised by the Development Bank of Nigeria (DBN). She is flanked from left by Asset Product Officer, FCMB, Mr. Augustine Ibelegbu; MIS/Analytics Officer of the Bank, Toyin Ajibulu and Head, SME Asset, Mr. Oluremi Agboola (all winners of Service Ambassador Awards), during the ceremony in Lagos on October 7, 2021

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 ˜ ͵

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).

45

T H I S D AY ˾ Ͷ˜ 2021

NGX Group to List 1.96bn Shares by Introduction on Exchange Darasimi Adebisi The Nigerian Exchange Group Plc. (NGX Group) yesterday confirmed its intention to list 1.96billion shares on the main board of the Nigerian Exchange Ltd. (NGX).

The planned listing follows successful completion of the demutualisation and restructuring of the NGX and related operations within NGX Group.

The Group Managing Direc-

tor/Chief Executive Officer of NGX Group, Mr Oscar Onyema in a statement said that shares of NGX Group would be expected to begin trading on NGX following their listing by introduction.

According to him, all regulatory requirements had been fulfilled and the listing had received the approval of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

He said a total of 1,964,115,918

P R I C E S MAIN BOARD

F O R DEALS

shares are expected to be admitted to trading and the shares will trade under the ticker NGX Group.

“I am pleased to confirm that the group intends to move ahead with its Listing

by Introduction on the Main Board of NGX Exchange.

Together with many other listed companies, NGX Group will take advantage of the strategic opportunities open to quoted companies in Ni-

S E C U R I T I E S

MARKET PRICE

QUANTITY TRADED

VALUE TRADED ( N )

geria. As a listed entity, the group will have access to the widest range of new investors, including the growing pool of institutional investors.

Demutualisation has created many new possibilities for the group and our listing is just one more step in our evolution,” Onyema said.

The Group Chairman of NGX Group, Chief Abimbola Ogunbanjo, said that the listing would bring signifi-

T R A D E D MAIN BOARD

A S

cant benefits to stakeholders, according to the statement.

“The group expects the listing to bring significant benefits to its business and its stakeholders.

NGX Group will enhance its strategic flexibility by creating new financing opportunities and partnership possibilities, while diversifying its shareholder base.

This milestone will open up the group’s capital to new investors within the Nigerian investing public as well as international

O F

institutions, thereby reinforcing NGX Group’s presence in international capital markets,” he said.

The stockbrokers to the listing of NGX Group are Chapel Hill Denham Securities Ltd. and RMB Nigeria Stockbrokers Limited.

The issuing house(s)/financial adviser(s) are Chapel Hill Denham Advisory Ltd. and Rand Merchant Bank Nig. Limited.

0 7 / 1 0 / 2 0 2 1 DEALS

MARKET PRICE

QUANTITY TRADED

VALUE TRADED ( N)

46

˾ FRIDAY, OCTOBER 8, 2021

Friday, October 8, 2021 Thisday Afrinvest 40 Index fell Roseby34bps 14bps The dŚŝƐĚĂLJ ĨƌŝŶǀĞƐƚ ϰϬ /ŶĚĞdž ĚĞĐůŝŶĞĚ ďLJ ϭϰďƉƐ ƚŽ ƐĞƩůĞ Thisday Afrinvest 40 Index extended gains, up 34bps

THISDAY AFRINVEST 40 INDEX

at 1,674.89 ƚŽ ĐůŽƐĞ Ăƚ points ϭ͕ϳϬϳ͘Ϯϰ dueƉŽŝŶƚƐ to sell-pressure ĚƌŝǀĞŶ ďLJ on ďƵLJŝŶŐ ZENITH ŝŶƚĞƌĞƐƚ (-0.6%), ŝŶ WAPCO (+0.4%), ZENITH (-1.3%), and WAPCO UBA (+1.5%), (-0.7%). These and ACCESS stocks (+1.1%). cumula-

Fundamental Performance Metrics for THISDAY AFRINVEST 40 Index

ƟǀĞůLJ ĂĐĐŽƵŶƚ ĨŽƌ ϭϯ͘Ϯй͘ dŚĞƐĞ ƐƚŽĐŬƐ ĐƵŵƵůĂƟǀĞůLJ ĂĐĐŽƵŶƚ ĨŽƌ ϭϯ͘ϵй ŽĨ ƚŚĞ ŝŶĚĞdž͘

Local Gains...

ASI up 16bps ASI upBourse 11bps Extends as DANGCEM Gains 3.3%

Yesterday, /ŶĚĞdž ƚŽ ϰϬ͕ϴϮϵ͘ϭϱ zĞƐƚĞƌĚĂLJ͕ the All-^ŚĂƌĞ ƉƌŝĐĞ ƵƉƟĐŬ ƌŽƐĞ ϭϲďƉƐ ŝŶ ,KEz&>KhZ points to buying;нϯ͘ϯйͿ͕ interest ĂŶĚ in FBNH (+9.8%),due E' D & E,(+3.1%), (+0.7%)WAPbol-

THISDAY AFRINVEST 40

1,707.24

0.34%

16.3%

70.7%

15.0%

3.5%

760.00

0.0%

29.1%

-10.8%

-10.8%

12.3%

4.4%

66.00

0.0%

10.0%

-14.7%

-14.7%

19.1%

11.2%

31.7x

6.0x

28.40

0.0%

8.5%

-12.2%

-12.2%

24.8%

3.9%

4.3x

1.1x

10.6%

23.1% 30.7%

1 Airtel Africa PLC 2 BUA Cement Plc 3 Guaranty Trust Holding Co PLC 4 Zenith Bank PLC 5 Dangote Cement PLC 6 MTN Nigeria Communications PLC 7 Nestle Nigeria PLC

േϯϯ͘ϯďŶ േϮϭ͘ϯƚŶ͘ dƌĂĚŝŶŐ ĂĐƟǀŝƚLJ ǁĞĂŬĞŶĞĚ ĂƐ ǀŽůƵŵĞ 11bps toto39,550.36 points. ŽŶƐĞƋƵĞŶƚůLJ͕ zd ůŽƐƐ ŝŵͲ ĂŶĚ ǀĂůƵĞ ƚƌĂĚĞĚ ĨĞůů ϭϱ͘ϯй ĂŶĚ ĐĂƉŝƚĂůŝƐĂƟŽŶ ϭϯ͘ϲй ƌĞƐƉĞĐƟǀĞůLJ ƚŽ proved to -1.8% while ŵĂƌŬĞƚ ƌŽƐĞ ďLJ

8 Lafarge Africa PLC 9 Access Bank PLC

and WEMABANK ;ϭϱ͘Ϯŵ ƵŶŝƚƐͿ ǁŚŝůĞ FBNH ƚƌĂĚĞĚ ƌŽƐĞ ďLJ ϴϴ͘ϱй ƚŽ േϯ͘ϭďŶ͘ The most;േϭ͘ϯďŶͿ͕ ZENtraded stocks ITH ;േϮϴϭ͘ϰŵͿ͕ ĂŶĚ GTCO ;േϮϬϮ͘ϯŵͿ ůĞĚ ďLJ ǀĂůƵĞ͘ by volume were dZ E^ KZW ;ϭϭ͘ϵŵ ƵŶŝƚƐͿ͕ & E, (11.1m ƵŶŝƚƐͿ͕ ĂŶĚ K E K ;ϳ͘ϯŵ ƵŶŝƚƐͿ ǁŚŝůĞ E ^d> ;േϮ͘ϮďŶͿ͕ E' D ;േϭϰϱ͘ϬŵͿ͕ ĂŶĚ 'd K ;േϭϯϰ͘ϴŵͿ ůĞĚ ďLJ ǀĂůƵĞ͘ Mixed Sector Performance WĞƌĨŽƌŵĂŶĐĞ ĂĐƌŽƐƐ ƚŚĞ ƐĞĐƚŽƌƐ ƵŶĚĞƌ our coverage was mixed asSector 3 indices gained, 1 lost, while the AFR-ICT and Oil Bearish Performance & Gas ŝŶĚŝĐĞƐ ĐůŽƐĞĚ ŇĂƚ͘ dŚĞ ĂŶŬŝŶŐ index led the gainAcross sectors under our coverage, performance was ĞƌƐ͕ ƵƉ Ϭ͘ϳй ĚƵĞ ƚŽ ƉƌŝĐĞ ĂƉƉƌĞĐŝĂƟŽŶ ŝŶ & E, ;нϯ͘ϭйͿ bearish as 4 indices lost, 1 index gained ǁŚŝůĞ ƚŚĞ &Z-/ d ĂŶĚ h ;нϭ͘ϵйͿ͘ ^ŝŵŝůĂƌůLJ͕ ƚŚĞ Consumer and Industrial ŝŶĚĞdž ƌĞŵĂŝŶĞĚ ŇĂƚ͘ dŽƉƉŝŶŐ ƚŚĞ ůĂŐŐĂƌĚƐ ĂƌĞ ƚŚĞ ŽŶƐƵŵͲ Goods indices rose 0.1% apiece on the back of bargain er 'ŽŽĚƐ ĂŶĚ Insurance indices, down 4.6% and ŚƵŶƟŶŐ ŝŶ /Ed Z t ;нϭ͘ϭйͿ͕ s/d &K D ;нϬ͘ϯйͿ͕ ĂŶĚ ϭ͘Ϯй ƌĞƐƉĞĐƟǀĞůLJ ŽŶ ƚŚĞ ďĂĐŬ ŽĨ ƉƌŽĮƚ-ƚĂŬŝŶŐ ŝŶ E ^d> (t W K ;нϭ͘ϱйͿ͘ DĞĂŶǁŚŝůĞ͕ ƚŚĞ Insurance index declined 9.1%), hE/> s Z (-3.5%), >/E< ^^hZ (-6.4%), ϭ͘Ϯй ĚƵĞ ƚŽ ƐĞůů-ŽīƐ ŝŶ D E^ Z ;-ϱ͘ϮйͿ͕ // K ;-Ϯ͘ϭйͿ͕ and D E^ Z (-Ϯ͘ϮйͿ͘ ^ŝŵŝůĂƌůLJ͕ ƚŚĞ Kŝů Θ 'ĂƐ ĂŶĚ ĂŶŬͲ ĂŶĚ t W/ ;-Ϯ͘ϭйͿ͘ ing indices fell by Ϭ͘Ϯй ĂŶĚ ϮďƉƐ ƌĞƐƉĞĐƟǀĞůLJ ĚƵĞ ƚŽ ƐĞůůŽīƐ ŝŶ K E K (-0.8%), E/d, (-Ϭ͘ϮйͿ͕ ĂŶĚ 'd K ;-Ϭ͘ϮйͿ͘ Investor ^ĞŶƟŵĞŶƚ ^ƚƌĞŶŐƚŚĞŶƐ ŽŶǀĞƌƐĞůLJ͕ ƚŚĞ /ŶĚƵƐƚƌŝĂů 'ŽŽĚƐ ŝŶĚĞdž ǁĂƐ ƚŚĞ ůŽŶĞ ŐĂŝŶͲ er, 1.8% driven by ďLJ price Investorup ƐĞŶƟŵĞŶƚ͕ ĂƐ ŵĞĂƐƵƌĞĚ ŵĂƌŬĞƚ appreciaďƌĞĂĚƚŚ

ƟŽŶ in E' D (+3.3%). ;ĂĚǀĂŶĐĞͬĚĞĐůŝŶĞ ƌĂƟŽͿ͕ ƐƚƌĞŶŐƚŚĞŶĞĚ ƚŽ ϭ͘Ϯdž ĨƌŽŵ Ϭ͘ϵdž ƌĞĐŽƌĚĞĚ ƉƌĞǀŝŽƵƐůLJ ĂƐ Ϯϯ ƐƚŽĐŬƐ ĂĚǀĂŶĐĞĚ ǁŚŝůĞ ϮϬ ƐƚŽĐŬƐ declined.

UPL (+9.9%), PRESCO (+5.9%), and /ŶǀĞƐƚŽƌ ^ĞŶƟŵĞŶƚ ^ƚƌĞŶŐƚŚĞŶƐ CHAMS (+4.8%) led the gainers while BOCGAS (-9.9%), /ŶǀĞƐƚŽƌƐ ƐĞŶƟŵĞŶƚ͕ ĂƐ ŵĞĂƐƵƌĞĚ ďLJ ŵĂƌŬĞƚ ďƌĞĂĚƚŚ CAVERTON (-9.7%), and MANSARD (-ϱ͘ϮйͿ ůĞĚ ƚŚĞ ůŽƐĞƌƐ͘ ;ĂĚǀĂŶĐĞͬĚĞĐůŝŶĞ ƌĂƟŽͿ͕ ƐƚƌĞŶŐƚŚĞŶĞĚ͕ ƐĞƩůŝŶŐ Ăƚ 1.6x /Ŷ ƚŚĞ ĮŶĂů ƚƌĂĚŝŶŐ ƐĞƐƐŝŽŶ͕ we expect market to sustain its ĨƌŽŵ ϭ͘ϯdž ƌĞĐŽƌĚĞĚ ŝŶ ƚŚĞ ůĂƐƚ ƚƌĂĚŝŶŐ ƐĞƐƐŝŽŶ ĂƐ Ϯϰ stocks ďƵůůŝƐŚ ƌƵŶ ŽŶ ŝŵƉƌŽǀĞĚ ƐĞŶƟŵĞŶƚ͘ advanced while 15 stocks declined. MRS (+9.9%), MAY-

Price Change Index to Date

Ticker

CO (+1.5%), and UBA (+1.9%).the Accordingly, return stered ƉŽƐŝƟǀĞ ƉĞƌĨŽƌŵĂŶĐĞ ŽŶ local bourseYTD as the AllƐƚƌĞŶŐƚŚĞŶĞĚ ƚŽ ϭ͘ϰй ǁŚŝůĞ ŵĂƌŬĞƚ ĐĂƉŝƚĂůŝƐĂƟŽŶ ƌŽƐĞ ďLJ Share index rose by

ϯϯϵ͘ϯŵ ƵŶŝƚƐ ĂŶĚ േϯ͘ϬďŶ͘ dŚĞ ŵŽƐƚ ƚƌĂĚĞĚ ƐƚŽĐŬƐ ďLJ ǀŽůͲ േϮϯ͘ϰďŶ ƚŽ േϮϬ͘ϲƚŶ͘ dƌĂĚŝŶŐ ĂĐƟǀŝƚLJ ǁĂƐ ŵŝdžĞĚ ĂƐ ǀŽůƵŵĞ ume were FBNH ďLJ ;ϭϯϮ͘Ϭŵ FIDELITY ;ϮϬ͘ϲŵ ƚƌĂĚĞĚ ĚĞĐůŝŶĞĚ Ϯϭ͘ϲй ƵŶŝƚƐͿ͕ ƚŽ ϭϭϬ͘ϴŵ ƵŶŝƚƐ ǁŚŝůĞ ƵŶŝƚƐͿ͕ value

Price Previous Current Change Price YTD Weighting Change

Current Price

0.7x

5.4%

3.2%

-2.6%

-2.6%

21.8%

2.9%

3.3x

0.7x

12.5%

7.2%

14.3%

14.3%

44.7%

17.5%

14.1x

6.1x

6.2%

7.1%

174.90

0.0%

5.2%

2.9%

2.9%

143.0%

12.4%

14.1x

17.8x

6.0%

7.1%

1,480.00

0.0%

4.0%

-1.7%

-1.7%

143.5%

17.1%

30.0x

51.4x

4.3%

3.3%

23.35

1.5%

3.8%

10.9%

10.9%

9.9%

7.1%

10.5x

1.0x

4.3%

9.5%

9.40

1.1%

3.3%

11.2%

11.2%

18.3%

1.5%

2.5x

0.4x

9.0%

39.7%

2.2x

0.4x

7.0%

46.0%

10.6%

1.0%

4.7x

0.5x

4.4%

21.4%

7.90

1.9%

2.6%

-8.7%

-8.7%

10.00

3.1%

3.6%

39.9%

39.9%

49.50

0.0%

1.9%

-11.6%

-11.6%

5.6%

2.2%

41.5x

2.3x

2.0%

2.4%

39.00

0.0%

2.1%

3.3%

3.3%

17.4%

2.1%

8.4x

1.3x

10.5%

11.9%

-11.4%

-4.5%

4.55

1.1%

1.2%

-23.5%

-23.5%

29.20

0.0%

1.2%

12.3%

12.3%

710.00

0.0%

1.9%

76.5%

76.5%

0.9x

-14.1%

0.7x

5.7%

3.1%

1.7%

18.8x

0.6x

5.8%

5.3%

-100.0%

115.50

2.4%

1.1%

26.9%

26.9%

37.4%

23.6%

8.5x

2.9x

6.1%

11.7%

2.62

1.2%

0.8%

4.0%

4.0%

12.7%

1.2%

2.3x

0.3x

8.4%

43.9%

6.00

3.4%

0.7%

0.0%

0.0%

1.5%

0.1%

19.9x

0.3x

17.40

0.0%

0.6%

-1.1%

-1.1%

25.6%

12.1%

6.7x

1.6x

8.6%

14.9%

3.04

0.3%

0.5%

-8.7%

-8.7%

1.46

-1.4%

0.3%

-28.4%

-28.4%

8.9%

0.8%

3.7x

0.3x

3.4%

15.20

0.0%

0.4%

4.8%

4.8%

20.7%

5.9%

15.2x

3.1x

2.6%

6.6%

0.94

-3.1%

0.4%

4.4%

4.4%

-1.3%

-0.3%

0.6x

1.1%

-2.3%

85.00

5.9%

0.3%

19.8%

19.8%

2.1x

2.5%

13.20

0.0%

0.2%

-5.0%

-5.0%

-4.2%

-2.7%

1.2x

5.40

0.0%

0.2%

1.9%

1.9%

23 Sterling Bank PLC 24 NASCON Allied Industries PLC 25 Transnational Corp of Nigeria 26 Presco PLC 27 Unilever Nigeria PLC 28 PZ Cussons Nigeria PLC 29 United Capital PLC 30 Guinness Nigeria PLC 31 Custodian and Allied Insurance

-3.6%

9.15

-2.1%

0.4%

94.3%

94.3%

35.5%

4.2%

7.0x

2.2x

7.7%

0.0%

0.3%

55.8%

55.8%

1.7%

0.8%

51.3x

0.9x

1.6%

2.0%

6.70

0.0%

0.2%

14.5%

14.5%

24.7%

7.5%

3.3x

0.8x

8.0%

30.3%

21.6%

3.3%

3.9x

0.4x

-2.1%

0.2%

-18.6%

-18.6%

0.0%

0.3%

47.7%

47.7%

25.50

0.0%

0.2%

44.7%

44.7%

18.3%

2.4%

5.1x

0.77

1.3%

0.2%

11.6%

11.6%

11.7%

0.7%

-2.0%

0.0%

-100.0%

7.5%

0.0%

0.2%

40.3%

5.19

38 Notore Chemical Industries Ltd 39 Beta Glass PLC 40 Transcorp Hotels Plc

40.3%

2.1%

16.4%

0.8x

1.6%

19.5%

4.4x

0.5x

5.2%

22.9%

0.9%

5.4x

0.6x

5.1%

14.5%

2.6%

2.2x

0.3x

62.50

0.0%

0.1%

0.0%

0.0%

-38.7%

-9.5%

0.0%

0.1%

-4.4%

-4.4%

12.8%

8.7%

5.43

0.0%

0.0%

50.8%

50.8%

2.1x 5.4x

-21.2%

0.7x

2.0%

18.4%

0.9x T o p 10 T r a d e s b y V o l u m e

T ic k er

Vo lum e

P ric e C hg %

1.44

9.9%

FB NH

132.0

3.1%

85.00

5.9%

F ID ELIT YB K

20.6

1.2%

CHA M S

0.22

4.8%

WEM A B A N K

15.2

1.3%

UN IVIN SUR E

0.22

4.8%

ET I

15.0

3.4%

ET I

6.00

3.4%

T R A N SC OR P

13.8

-3.1%

M B EN EF IT

0.31

3.3%

UB A

13.0

1.9%

FB NH

10.00

3.1%

A C C ESS

11.7

1.1%

A B CTRA NS

0.34

3.0%

Z EN IT H B A N K

11.7

0.4%

2.10

2.4%

C OUR T VILLE

9.1

-4.9%

115.50

2.4%

VER IT A SKA P

7.6

0.0%

OKOM UOIL

18.5% 44.7%

P ric e C hg %

P ric e

14.3%

25.6%

6.1x

52.95

T o p 10 G a i n e r s

C H A M P ION

27.2%

29.60

0.92

36 Union Bank of Nigeria PLC 37 Oando PLC

5.0%

4.9%

192.00

34 Julius Berger Nigeria PLC 35 Wema Bank PLC

UP L

14.9%

2.1%

6.8%

21 Dangote Sugar Refinery PLC 22 FCMB Group Plc

P R ESC O

Divindend Earnings Yield Yield

0.4%

19 Fidelity Bank PLC 20 Ecobank Transnational Inc

T ic k er

5.4x

P/BV

0.0%

0.0%

32 AIICO Insurance PLC 33 TotalEnergies Marketing Nigeri

P/E

24.15

12 Nigerian Brew eries PLC 13 Stanbic IBTC Holdings PLC

17 11 PLC 18 Okomu Oil Palm PLC

ROA

280.00

10 United Bank for Africa PLC 11 FBN Holdings Plc

14 International Brew eries PLC 15 Flour Mills of Nigeria PLC 16 SEPLAT Energy PLC

ROE

T o p 10 T r a d e s b y V a l u e

T o p 10 L o s e r s

BAKER (+9.8%), and HONYFLOUR (+9.8%) led gainers P ric e

P ric e C hg %

T ic k er

Value

10.50

-9.9%

FB NH

1334.1

3.1%

C A VER T ON

1.58

-9.7%

Z EN IT H B A N K

281.4

0.4%

M A N SA R D

2.36

-5.2%

GT C O

202.3

0.0%

-4.9%

A C C ESS

109.4

1.1%

UB A

103.1

1.9%

T ic k er

while ABCTRANS (-8.3%), LASACO (-6.7%), and LIVESTOCK (-4.8%) led losers. Yesterday, we expect the market ƐĞŶƟŵĞŶƚ ƚŽ ƌĞŵĂŝŶ ŵŝdžĞĚ͕ ĂƐ earnings season gradually winds up.

Afrinvest West Africa Limited

B OC GA S

C OUR T VILLE

0.39

P ric e C hg %

SOVR EN IN S

0.22

-4.3%

J A IZ B A N K

0.60

-3.2%

OKOM UOIL

98.3

2.4%

T R A N SC OR P

0.94

-3.1%

ET I

88.9

3.4%

UA C N

10.20

-2.9%

N EST LE

73.2

0.0%

R EGA LIN S

0.38

-2.6%

SEP LA T

70.6

0.0%

P H A R M D EKO

2.60

-2.3%

P R ESC O

66.6

5.9%

Brokerage

Asset Management

Investment Research

Adedoyin Allen | aallen@afrinvest.com

Robert Omotunde | romotunde@afrinvest.com

Abiodun Keripe | AKeripe@afrinvest.com

Taiwo Ogundipe | togundipe@afrinvest.com

Christopher Omoh | comoh@afrinvest.com

Damilare Asimiyu| dasimiyu@afrinvest.com

FRIDAY OCTOBER 8, 2021• T H I S DAY

47

MARKET NEWS A Mutual fund (Unit Trust) is an investment vehicle managed by a SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) registered Fund Manager.

Investors with similar objectives buy units of the Fund so that the Fund Manager can buy securities that willl generate their desired return.

An ETF (Exchange Traded Fund) is a type of fund which owns the assets (shares of stock, bonds, oil futures, gold bars, foreign currency, etc.) and divides ownership of those assets into shares. Investors can buy these ‘shares’ on the

floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange.

A REIT (Real Estate Investment Trust) is an investment vehicle that allows both small and large investors to part-own real estate ventures (eg.

Offices, Houses, Hospitals) in proportion to their investments. The assets are divided into shares that are traded on the Nigerian Stock Exchange.

GUIDE TO DATA: Date: All fund prices are quoted in Naira as at 06Oct-2021, unless otherwise stated.

Offer price: The price at which units of a trust or ETF are bought by investors.

Bid Price: The price at which Investors redeem (sell) units of a trust or ETF. Yield/Total Return: Denotes the total return an investor would have earned on his investment. Money Market Funds report Yield while others report Year- to-date Total Return.

NAV: Is value per share of the real estate assets held by a REIT on a specific date.

DAILY PRICE LIST FOR MUTUAL FUNDS, REITS and ETFS

MUTUAL FUNDS / UNIT TRUSTS

AFRINVEST ASSET MANAGEMENT LTD aaml@afrinvest.com Web: www.afrinvest.com; Tel: +234 818 885 6757 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Afrinvest Equity Fund 159.18 160.57 -1.66% Afrinvest Plutus Fund 100.00 100.00 7.63% Nigeria International Debt Fund 317.21 317.21 -15.98% Afrinvest Dollar Fund 105.39 106.44 -4.85% ALTERNATIVE CAPITAL PARTNERS LTD info@acapng.com Web: www.acapng.com, Tel: +234 1 291 2406, +234 1 291 2868 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn ACAP Canary Growth Fund N/A N/A N/A ACAP Income Funds N/A N/A N/A AIICO CAPITAL LTD ammf@aiicocapital.com Web: www.aiicocapital.com, Tel: +234-1-2792974 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn AIICO Money Market Fund 100.00 100.00 10.13% AIICO Balanced Fund 3.38 3.54 -0.64% info@anchoriaam.com ANCHORIA ASSET MANAGEMENT LIMITED info@anchoriaam.com Web:www.anchoriaam.com, Tel: 08166830267; 08036814510; 08028419180 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Anchoria Money Market N/A N/A N/A Anchoria Equity Fund N/A N/A N/A Anchoria Fixed Income Fund N/A N/A N/A ARM INVESTMENT MANAGERS LTD enquiries@arminvestmentcenter.com Web: www.arm.com.ng; Tel: 0700 CALLARM (0700 225 5276) Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn ARM Aggressive Growth Fund 20.17 20.78 11.24% ARM Discovery Balanced Fund N/A N/A N/A ARM Ethical Fund 39.13 40.31 16.07% ARM Eurobond Fund ($) N/A N/A N/A ARM Fixed Income Fund 0.98 0.99 -6.50% ARM Money Market Fund 1.00 1.00 8.38% AVA GLOBAL ASSET MANAGERS LIMITED info@avacapitalgroup.com Web: www.avacapitalgroup.com Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn AVA GAM Fixed Income Dollar Fund 106.62 106.62 4.83% AVA GAM Fixed Income Naira Fund 1,040.38 1,040.38 4.04% AXA MANSARD INVESTMENTS LIMITED investmentcare@axamansard.com Web: www.axamansard.com; Tel: +2341-4488482 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn AXA Mansard Equity Income Fund N/A N/A N/A AXA Mansard Money Market Fund N/A N/A N/A CAPITAL EXPRESS ASSET AND TRUST LIMITED info@capitalexpressassetandtrust.com Web: www.capitalexpressassetandtrust.com ; Tel: +234 803 307 5048 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn CEAT Fixed Income Fund 2.08 2.08 -5.21% Capital Express Balanced Fund(Formerly: Union Trustees Mixed Fund) 2.17 2.21 0.44% mutualfunds@cardinalstone.com CARDINALSTONE ASSET MANAGEMENT LIMITED Web: www.cardinalstoneassetmanagement.com ; Tel: +234 (1) 710 0433 4 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn CardinalStone Fixed Income Alpha Fund 1.02 1.02 3.60% CHAPELHILL DENHAM MANAGEMENT LTD investmentmanagement@chapelhilldenham.com Web: www.chapelhilldenham.com, Tel: +234 461 0691 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Chapelhill Denham Money Market Fund 100.00 100.00 8.90% Paramount Equity Fund 17.02 17.33 6.41% Women's Investment Fund 140.01 141.64 5.21% CORDROS ASSET MANAGEMENT LIMITED assetmgtteam@cordros.com Web: www.cordros.com, Tel: 019036947 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Cordros Money Market Fund 100.00 100.00 8.92% Cordros Milestone Fund 2023 122.40 123.21 Cordros Milestone Fund 2028 N/A N/A Cordros Dollar Fund ($) 107.88 107.88 CORONATION ASSEST MANAGEMENT investment@coronationam.com Web:www.coronationam.com , Tel: 012366215 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Coronation Money Market Fund 1.00 1.00 8.88% Coronation Balanced Fund 1.23 1.24 2.34% Coronation Fixed Income Fund 1.44 1.44 -9.36% EDC FUNDS MANAGEMENT LIMITED mutualfundng@ecobank.com Web: www.ecobank.com Tel: 012265281 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn EDC Nigeria Money Market Fund Class A 100.00 100.00 7.60% EDC Nigeria Money Market Fund Class B 1,000,000.00 1,000,000.00 7.85% EDC Nigeria Fixed Income Fund 1,165.47 1,184.14 1.23% FBNQUEST ASSET MANAGEMENT LTD invest@fbnquest.com Web: www.fbnquest.com/asset-management; Tel: +234-81 0082 0082 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn FBN Bond Fund 1,425.74 1,425.74 11.56% FBN Balanced Fund 194.38 195.69 3.57% FBN Halal Fund 113.28 113.28 9.28% FBN Money Market Fund 100.00 100.00 9.05% FBN Dollar Fund (Retail) FBN Smart Beta Equity Fund FCMB ASSET MANAGEMENT LIMITED Web: www.fcmbassetmanagement.com; Tel: +234 1 462 2596 Fund Name Legacy Money Market Fund Legacy Debt Fund Legacy Equity Fund Legacy USD Bond Fund FSDH ASSET MANAGEMENT LTD Web: www.fsdhaml.com; Tel: 01-270 4884-5; 01-280 9740-1 Fund Name Coral Balanced Fund Coral Income Fund Coral Money Market Fund

127.17 164.57

127.17 4.00% 166.78 8.86% fcmbamhelpdesk@fcmb.com

Bid Price 1.00 3.98 1.65 1.19

Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn 1.00 6.35% 3.98 2.77% 1.69 8.60% 1.19 4.84% coralfunds@fsdhgroup.com

Bid Price N/A N/A N/A

Offer Price N/A N/A N/A

Yield / T-Rtn N/A N/A N/A

GREENWICH ASSET MANAGEMENT LIMITED assetmanagement@gtlgroup.com Web: www.gtlgroup.com ; Tel: +234 1 4619261-2 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Greenwich Plus Money Market Fund N/A N/A N/A Nigeria Entertainment Fund N/A N/A N/A GROWTH & DEVELOPMENT ASSET MANAGEMENT LIMITED assetmanagement@gdl.com.ng Web: www.gdl.com.ng ; Tel: +234 9055691122 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn GDL Money Market Fund N/A N/A N/A INVESTMENT ONE FUNDS MANAGEMENT LTD enquiries@investment-one.com Web: www.investment-one.com; Tel: +234 812 992 1045,+234 1 448 8888 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Abacus Money Market Fund 100.00 100.00 7.63% Vantage Balanced Fund 2.85 2.91 -0.24% Vantage Guaranteed Income Fund 1.00 1.00 4.50% Kedari Investment Fund (KIF) 153.78 154.05 -1.11% Vantage Equity Income Fund (VEIF) - June Year End 1.25 1.29 -0.75% Vantage Dollar Fund (VDF) - June Year End 1.12 1.12 9.19% LOTUS CAPITAL LTD fincon@lotuscapitallimited.com Web: www.lotuscapitallimited.com; Tel: +234 1-291 4626 / +234 1-291 4624 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Lotus Halal Investment Fund N/A N/A N/A Lotus Halal Fixed Income Fund N/A N/A N/A MERISTEM WEALTH MANAGEMENT LTD info@meristemwealth.com Web: http://www.meristemwealth.com/funds/ ; Tel: +234 1-4488260 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Meristem Equity Market Fund 11.86 11.89 13.14% Meristem Money Market Fund 10.00 10.00 10.31% PAC ASSET MANAGEMENT LTD info@pacassetmanagement.com Web: www.pacassetmanagement.com/mutualfunds; Tel: +234 1 271 8632 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn PACAM Balanced Fund 1.54 1.56 13.56% PACAM Fixed Income Fund 11.19 11.19 -7.99% PACAM Money Market Fund 10.00 10.00 6.41% PACAM Equity Fund 1.42 1.44 -9.96% PACAM EuroBond Fund 111.75 113.76 1.81% SCM CAPITAL LIMITED info@scmcapitalng.com Web: www.scmcapitalng.com; Tel: +234 1-280 2226,+234 1- 280 2227 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn SCM Capital Frontier Fund 131.70 134.03 9.62% SFS CAPITAL NIGERIA LTD investments@sfsnigeria.com Web: www.sfsnigeria.com, Tel: +234 (01) 2801400 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn SFS Fixed Income Fund 1.06 1.06 10.10% STANBIC IBTC ASSET MANAGEMENT LTD assetmanagement@stanbicibtc.com Web: www.stanbicibtcassetmanagement.com; Tel: +234 1 280 1266; 0700 MUTUALFUNDS Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Stanbic IBTC Balanced Fund 3,461.97 3,499.55 7.80% Stanbic IBTC Bond Fund 233.59 233.59 3.89% Stanbic IBTC Ethical Fund 1.25 1.27 6.78% Stanbic IBTC Guaranteed Investment Fund 308.63 308.63 4.74% Stanbic IBTC Iman Fund 232.45 235.95 6.52% Stanbic IBTC Money Market Fund 100.00 100.00 7.46% Stanbic IBTC Nigerian Equity Fund 10,630.56 10,779.84 1.29% Stanbic IBTC Dollar Fund (USD) 1.28 1.28 4.16% Stanbic IBTC Shariah Fixed Income Fund 115.91 115.91 4.35% Stanbic IBTC Enhanced Short-Term Fixed Income Fund 104.29 104.29 UNITED CAPITAL ASSET MANAGEMENT LTD Web: www.unitedcapitalplcgroup.com; Tel: +234 01-6317876 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn United Capital Balanced Fund 1.32 1.34 3.09% United Capital Bond Fund 1.93 1.93 5.12% United Capital Equity Fund 0.89 0.92 12.28% United Capital Money Market Fund 1.00 1.00 8.99% United Capital Eurobond Fund 120.71 120.71 5.44% United Capital Wealth for Women Fund 1.07 1.09 5.29% United capital Sukuk Fund 1.06 1.06 6.46% QUANTUM ZENITH ASSET MANAGEMENT & INVESTMENTS LTD service@quantumzenithasset.com.ng Web: www.quantumzenith.com.ng; Tel: +234 1-2784219 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Zenith Equity Fund 13.06 13.17 10.03% Zenith Ethical Fund 14.51 14.66 18.85% Zenith Income Fund 24.43 24.43 1.84% Zenith Money Market Fund 1.00 1.00 6.69%

REITS

NAV Per Share

Yield / T-Rtn

124.98 53.61

10.62% 6.12%

Bid Price

Offer Price

Yield / T-Rtn

13.85

13.95

4.80%

127.52 100.51 17.71 19.49

130.69 102.71 17.81 19.59

6.05% 1.31%

Fund Name SFS REIT Union Homes REIT

EXCHANGE TRADED FUNDS Fund Name Lotus Halal Equity Exchange Traded Fund SIAML Pension ETF 40 Stanbic IBTC ETF 30 Fund MERGROWTH ETF MERVALUE ETF

VETIVA FUND MANAGERS LTD Web: www.vetiva.com; Tel: +234 1 453 0697 Fund Name Vetiva Banking Exchange Traded Fund Vetiva Consumer Goods Exchange Traded Fund Vetiva Griffin 30 Exchange Traded Fund Vetiva Money Market Fund Vetiva Industrial Goods Exchange Traded Fund Vetiva S&P Nigeria Sovereign Bond Exchange Traded Fund

funds@vetiva.com Bid Price

Offer Price

Yield / T-Rtn

3.92 5.60 18.06 1.00 20.80 157.26

3.96 5.68 18.16 1.00 21.00 159.26

3.90% -1.55% 11.17% 7.50% 1.35% -28.47%

NAV Per Share

Yield / T-Rtn

107.40

13.11%

INFRASTRUCTURE FUND Fund Name Chapel Hill Denham Nigeria Infrastructure Debt Fund

The value of investments and the income from them may fall as well as rise. Past performance is a guide and not an indication of future returns. Fund prices published in this edition are also available on each fund manager’s website and FMAN’s website at www.fman.com.ng. Fund prices are supplied by the operator of the relevant fund and are published for information purposes only.

48

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 8, 2021 ˾ T H I S D AY

FOREIGN DESK

COMPILED BY BAYO AKINLOYE

UK to Reduce Travel Red List Countries from 54 to 7

The number of countries on England’s Covid travel red list will be cut from 54 to seven, the government says.

South Africa, Brazil and Mexico come off the red list, which requires travellers to quarantine in an approved hotel at their cost for 10 full days.

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said the changes begin on Monday and “mark the next step” in opening travel.

This latest move will be seen as a boost to the airline industry and families separated during the pandemic.

Panama, Colombia, Venezuela, Peru, Ecuador, Haiti and the Dominican Republic remain on the red list.

Pandemic travel rules in the UK have recently been simplified, with the amber list cut, and advice against holidays changed for 32 countries.

Arrivals from 37 more destinations will have their vaccination status certificates recognised, meaning they can avoid more expensive post-arrival testing requirements.

Vaccinated travellers from Brazil, Hong Kong, India, Pakistan, South Africa and Turkey will be treated the same as returning fully-vaccinated UK residents so long as they have not visited a red-list country in the 10 days before arriving in England.

All arrivals will still complete a passenger locator form.

Strong Earthquake Hits Tokyo A strong earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.1 jolted Tokyo and surrounding areas late on Thursday, stopping train lines and causing sporadic power cuts, but there were no reports of major damage, Japan’s public broadcaster NHK said.

The tremor, at 10:41 p.m. (1341 GMT), registered “strong-5” on Japan’s intensity scale, a level that could cause some damage to buildings and power cuts, the Japan Meteorological Agency said.

The quake had an epicentre in Chiba prefecture, to the east of the capital Tokyo.

There was no danger of a tsunami from the quake, NHK said.

The government set up an emergency response task force.

NHK showed new Prime Minister Fumio Kishida rushing back to his office. He told

reporters he had instructed the task force to “find out about the latest situation, coordinate with local authorities on response,” and to provide information to the public in a speedy manner.

100-year-old Ex-Nazi Guard Docked for Assisting Murder of 3,500 Prisoners Seventy-six years after the end of World War Two, a former concentration camp guard has gone on trial for assisting in the murder of 3,518 prisoners at Sachsenhausen near Berlin.

Josef S is accused of complicity in shooting Soviet prisoners of war and the murder of others with Zyklon B gas.

Ten years ago, the conviction of former SS guard John Demjanjuk set a precedent enabling prosecutors to charge people for aiding and abetting Nazi crimes in World War Two. Until then, direct participation in murder had to be proven.

Identified as Josef S, because of German privacy laws, the defendant was led into a specially adapted sports hall at a prison in Brandenburg an der Havel, where the trial began amid strict security.

His lawyer, Stefan Waterkamp, told the court that the defendant would make no comment at the trial on the allegations against him. He would, however, speak about his personal circumstances at Friday’s hearing.

Josef S was 21 when he first became a guard at Sachsenhausen in 1942. Now almost 101, he is considered able to appear in court for up to two and half hours a day.

The trial is due to continue until January.

Google to Spend $1bn in Africa to Support Startups Google plans to invest $1 billion in Africa over the next five years to ensure access to fast and cheaper internet and will back startups to support the continent’s digital transformation, it said on Wednesday.

The unit of U.S. tech company Alphabet Inc made the announcement at a virtual event where it launched an Africa Investment Fund, through which it will invest $50 million in startups, providing

them with access to its employees, network and technologies.

Nitin Gajria, managing director for Google in Africa, told Reuters in a virtual interview that the company would target startups focusing on fintech, e-commerce and local language content.

“We are looking at areas that may have some strategic overlap with Google and where Google could potentially add value in partnering with some of these startups,” Gajria said.

In collaboration with not-for-profit organization Kiva, Google will also provide $10 million in low-interest loans to help small businesses and entrepreneurs in Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa so they can get through the economic hardship created by COVID-19.

Media Associations Condemn Cambodian Court for Jailing Journalists The sentencing last week of a Cambodian publisher has been condemned by local media associations, who say jailing journalists sends a troubling message.

Youn Chhiv, who runs the news website Koh Kong Hot News, was sentenced to one year in prison and fined $500 (2 million riel) on September 30.

Sok Sothy, a deputy provincial governor in Koh Kong province, filed a complaint against Chhiv accusing him of defamation and fake news over his reporting on a land dispute, according to a provincial court official.

The article in question, posted on the Koh Kong Hot News’ Facebook page, alleged that villagers were being evicted illegally.

Deputy prosecutor and spokesman for the Koh Kong Provincial Court Vei Phirum confirmed the sentencing to VOA. “The case was already tried,” Vei Phirum said, adding that the journalist was convicted “on charge of incitement to commit a felony according to Article 494 and Article 495 of criminal code.”

“Youn Chhiv now is serving a jail term in Koh Kong provincial prison,” he added.

Twitch Users’ Massive Data Leaked, Server Error Blamed

Livestreaming site Twitch says an “error” caused the unprecedented leak that posted vast amounts of sensitive data online this week.

The data appeared to include Twitch’s internal code and documents, as well as the payments made to thousands of top streamers.

Twitch now says the breach was caused by a “server configuration change” that “exposed” some data.

But it has not confirmed if all the data posted online is genuine.

The Amazon-owned company said the breach had involved “a Twitch server configuration change that was subsequently accessed by a malicious third party.”

“As the investigation is ongoing, we are still in the process of understanding the impact in detail,” it said.

UK Residents to Pay More for Energy Energy bills will rise to reflect soaring wholesale energy prices, the energy regulator has warned.

A price cap limits the impact of rising energy costs for customers, but Ofgem said this would increase.

Chief executive Jonathan Brearley said the cap was “designed to reflect fair costs and therefore will need to adjust over time”.

Nine UK energy suppliers collapsed last month and Mr Brearley said more could follow.

“Given the continued volatility in the market, it is likely more suppliers will exit the market,” he told a conference organised

by Energy UK. Natural gas prices are at record highs as economies around the world begin to recover from the Covid crisis.

As a result, firms are running into trouble because they have agreed to sell gas at less than the price it now costs them to buy it.

More than 1.7 million customers saw their energy provider go bust in September.

They have already seen annual bill increases of hundreds of pounds when they moved to a new provider and away from whichever low-rate fixed deal their supplier had offered.

FRIDAY OCTOBER 8, 2021 • T H I S D AY

49

50

FRIDAY OCTOBER 8, 2021 •T H I S D AY

FRIDAY OCTOBER 8, 2021 • T H I S D AY

51

52

FRIDAY OCTOBER 8, 2021 •T H I S D AY

FRIDAY OCTOBER 8, 2021 • T H I S D AY

53

54

FRIDAY OCTOBER 8, 2021 •T H I S D AY

FRIDAY OCTOBER 8, 2021 • T H I S D AY

55

56

FRIDAY OCTOBER 8, 2021 •T H I S D AY

FRIDAY OCTOBER 8, 2021 • T H I S D AY

57

FRIDAY, ΀˜ ͺ͸ͺ͹ ˾ T H I S D AY

58

NEWS

Anambra Poll: INEC Clears All 18 Governorship Candidates Chuks Okocha in Abuja The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), yesterday, released 18 names of candidates for the governorship election slated for November 6.

None of the candidates was disqualified In a statement by a National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, Festus Okoye, stated that, "In line with the Timetable and Schedule of Activities for the election released on 19th January 2021, the Commission, has today, 7th October 2021 implemented two additional activities.”

The Final Register of Voters for the Anambra governorship election was presented to the 18 registered political parties participating in the election at the headquarters of the Commission in Awka, Anambra State.

The Commission also released the final list of candidates for the election and has pasted same in the state office of the commission in Awka, Anambra State".

INEC said the list has also been uploaded on the commission’s website and social media platforms.

"In its unwavering determination to conduct a credible election, the Commission will tomorrow, 8th October 2021 hold an

emergency consultative meeting with the leadership of all the registered political parties in Nigeria at the Commission’s Headquarters in Abuja," it said.

The Commission further assured the people of Anambra of its resolve to secure the preparation processes for the governorship election and ensure that their

right to vote was in a safe and secure environment, adding that, the commission would today meet the leaders of the political parties to inform them of the situation in the

state.

Some of the names in the final list included the PDP candidate, Valentine Ozigbo, Andy Uba of the APC, Ifeanyi Ubah of YPP,

Obiora Okonkwo of ZLP, Maduka Cosmos of Accord party, Akachukwu Nwankpo of ADC, Ume-Ezeoke of ADP and Chukwuma Soludo of APGA, among others.

REVIEW OF REVENUE ALLOCATION FORMULA...

Imo State Governor, Hope Uzodinma (L) with the Federal Commissioner representing Abia and Imo State at the Revenue Mobilisation and Fiscal Allocation Commission, Chris Alozie Akomas, when the Commission flagged off its stakeholders meeting on the review of the existing revenue allocation formula in Owerri...recently

Again, CBN Assures NIREC Wants Killers of Pastor Shuaibu Yohanna Prosecuted on Safety of eNaira Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja

Urges Nigerians to embrace innovation James Emejo and Sonia Mayomi in Abuja The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) yesterday reassured the business community and Nigerians in general that the upcoming Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) also known as the eNaira remains safe.

The apex bank, therefore, encouraged Nigerians to embrace the digital currency when it is finally launched.

CBN Director, Corporate Communications Department, Mr. Osita Nwanisobi, who reinforced the bank's assurances, added that the CBN under the leadership of Mr. Godwin Emefiele, would not rest on its oars until Nigeria gets to its destination of inclusive economic growth and sustainable development.

Speaking at the CBN Special Day at the ongoing 16th Abuja International Trade Fair, with the theme: “Exploring the Opportunities of Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA),” Nwanisobi said the bank would continue to take active steps and make policies to encourage economic growth and restore confidence in the economy and effectually conserve the country's reserves.

He charged Nigerians to heed Emefiele's call for local production of items which the country has comparative advantage as well as buy Nigerian made products to grow the economy and make it totally self-sufficient in the production of what is consumed.

He said this would boost job creation for youths and would ultimately drive sustainable growth that would make life better for all citizens.

Nwanisobi while commending the chamber for its efforts which had crystalised in the current massive infrastructure at the exhibition complex, said the bank was delighted that the ACCI had been at the forefront of driving pragmatic conversations on exploring the opportunities of the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).

According to the CBN director, with the coming into effect of AfCFTA on January 1, 2021, Nigeria and other African countries that are signatories to the agreement were expected to benefit from the elimination of tariff and non-tariff barriers (lowering trade costs and simplifying customs procedures) among member nations.

He said the AfCFTA also provided the country with access to a large market, as movement of capital, people, goods and services would become easier within the free trade area.

He said this would facilitate increase in trade volumes, competitive prices and technological transfers among member countries; and serve as potential to boost intra-African trade and lift over 100 million Africans out of poverty while increasing wages of unskilled workers if implemented successfully.

Among other things, Nwanisobi said the bank’s critical objective was to restore stability in the economy by providing assistance to individuals, SMEs and large corporates that had been severely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic and the lockdown measures associated with it.

The Nigeria Inter-Religious Council (NIREC) has asked the Kano State Command of the Nigeria Police Force and other relevant security agencies to properly investigate those responsible for the gruesome murder of Pastor Shuaibu Yohanna in Masu community in Kano state.

The organisation said they have already met with Kano State Chairman of CAN, Rev. Adeolu Adeyemo and the Emir of Kano, His Highness, Alhaji Aminu Ado Bayero, as part of efforts to achieve justice.

In a joint statement signed

by NIREC co-chairmen, the President-General of the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA), the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar,

and the President of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Rev. Dr. Samson Olasupo Ayokunle, the organisation said the police should do the needful by ensuring that those involved in the criminal act were dealt with in accordance with the law of the land.

"NIREC condemns the killing of the Pastor, the attack on the Church building, School, staff office and the destruction of his house. No reason can justify this criminality.

"NIREC appeals to the Kano State Command of the Nigeria Police Force to honestly do the needful. NIREC also calls on all the relevant security agencies to properly investigate this gruesome murder and ensure that those found culpable are made to face justice," it said.

While condemning the killing of Yohanna, the attack on the

church building, school, staff office and the destruction of his house, NIREC said : "We received the sad news from the Kano State Branch of the CAN on Wednesday, September 22, 2021 that Pastor Shuaibu Yohanna was murdered by some irate youths of Masu community where he had lived and pastored the New Life for All Nations Church for about 10 years.

"NIREC aplauded the leadership of Kano State branch of CAN for being proactive in visiting Masu to manage and preventin further conflicts and reprisal."

NIREC said it also appreciates the role of the security agents in ensuring peace by protecting lives and property in the community since the incident occured.

"Those who did not take

the law into their own hands by contacting the DPO of Gani Police Division are well appreciated.

"NIREC therefore condoles with the family of Pastor Shuaibu Yohanna and prays that God grant him eternal repose. We pray that those arrested and all those involved in this criminal act must be seen to be dealt with in accordance with the law of the land.

"NIREC calls on the citizens of Kano and Nigeria to continue to strive for peaceful coexistence in the various communities of the nation. We call for calm as NIREC is already in touch with Rev. Adeolu Samuel Adeyemo, CAN Chairman, Kano State, and the Emir of Kano, His Highness, Alhaji Aminu Ado Bayero, to find the way forward out of this unfortunate incident," it said.

Maina’s Son, Faisal, Bags 14 Years' Jail Term for Money Laundering Alex Enumah in Abuja Justice Okon Abang of the Abuja Division of the Federal High Court, yesterday handed down a 14 years jail term to Faisal, a son of the former Chairman of the defunct Pension Reformed Task Team (PRTT), Abdulrasheed Maina.

Justice Abang handed down the sentence after convicting Faisal on all three count criminal charge preferred against him by the federal government.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) had in 2019, arraigned Faisal before a Federal High Court on a three count charge bordering on fraud and money laundering.

He had pleaded not guilty to the charges and was admitted to bail in the sum of N60 million with a surety in like sum who must be a member of House of Representatives.

The sentencing which was made in absentia came two years after Faisal and his father were first arraigned on corruption charges, although their trial was later separated.

The court in count two sentenced Faisal to 14 years after finding him guilty on allegations of money laundering.

The court, however, handed down five years jail term each on counts one and three respectively.

The sentencing are to run concurrently, according to the

judge.

Justice Abang had on July 16, fixed October 7, 2021, for judgment after EFCC's lawyer, Mohammed Abubakar, adopted his final written address and urged the court to find the defendant guilty in all the three counts charge.

However, Faisal’s lawyer, Mr A. A . Onoja, who did not file any final written address, had sought for an adjournment on the grounds that he was not briefed on the development in the case.

Responding, Abubakar had objected to the request for adjournment, claiming that when the case was adjourned on March 17, one Anayo Adibe, who appeared for Faisal, did not apply to file any written

address, even after the ruling was delivered, adding that “four months since that day, the defence has not done anything.”

In a short ruling, Justice Abang dismissed the request for adjournment because he said it was made in bad faith.

It would be recalled that Faisal had jumped his bail around September 2020, and had stopped attending his trial.

Subsequently, Justice Abang revoked his bail, ordered his arrest and directed that his trial should proceed in absentia.

The judge also ordered the surety to forfeit the property which he used as a bail bond to the federal government, having failed to produce Faisal in court to continue his trial.

FRIDAY OCTOBER 8, 2021 ˾ T H I S D AY

59

NEWS

We are Under Siege by Bandits, Niger Commissioner Cries Out Laleye Dipo in Minna Niger state Commissioner for Information Alhaji Mohammed Sani Idris, has cried out that the state is now under the siege of bandits which has paralysed economic and social activities in the affected areas.

Idris, however, declined to confirm or deny the killing of five mobile policemen, burning down of two vehicles and a Primary Health Care centre in the Pangu community of Rafi Local Government Area of the state on Tuesday evening just few days after two soldiers and some civilians were killed in Zungeru town. The Zungeru town incident was confirmed by Governor Abubakar Sani Bello during his visit to IBB Specialist Hospital Minna to commiserate with 12 injured soldiers in the same incident.

Idris, who fielded questions from newsmen after he and some of his colleagues addressed the press after the State Executive Council meeting, however, confirmed that “ there have been attacks here and there” without being specific.

The commissioner declared: “ There is a rise in bandits’ attacks, nobody is safe anymore. We are already in a full-fledged war and there would certainly be

casualties but we have taken measures to reduce the number of casualties on our side. The attacks are emanating from within communities not from bushes.”

The commissioner stated that despite the precarious situation the government has found itself

as a result of the activities of bandits, government would not be overwhelmed by the insecurity situation in the state and would not allow bandits to dictate to it its policies and programmes.

Idris, however, said: ”Government is doing everything

possible” to bring the bandits menace to a halt pointing out that the administration has been engaging heads of security agencies in the last two weeks on how to end banditry in parts of the state.”

He denied that the government

is not adequately funding the security agencies which has resulted in their refusal to be proactive in the war against the bandits saying “ we are doing the needful to the security agencies”.

On the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Transport, Dr

Ibrahim Garba Musa and his son who were abducted from their homes in Zungeru town over a week ago, Idris disclosed that government was doing whatever it takes to rescue them unhurt without compromising the policy of the government.

WORLD HABITAT DAY…

L-R: Manager, Project Implementation, Axxela Limited, Mr. Samuel Akintola; Head, Regulatory Liaison, Mr. Henry Sanyaolu; Head, Environmental, Health, Safety and Quality, Mr. Uchenna Okpala; Ogun State Governor, Prince Dapo Abiodun, and Chief Executive Officer, Pelican Valley Nigeria Limited, Dr. Babatunde Adeyemo, at the 2021 World Habitat Day event organised by Ogun State Ministry of Physical Planning and Urban Development and sponsored by Axxela Limited in Abeokuta…yesterday

Plateau Insists on Council JOHESU: FG Appoints Seven-Man Panel to Resolve Dispute over Salary Structure Polls Despite Security Challenges Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja

Seriki Adinoyi in Jos Plateau State citizens have expressed grave concern over the insistence of the Plateau Independent Electoral Commission (PLASIEC) to conduct local government council polls on Saturday despite the glaring insecurity in the state.

Giving a word of caution in a press statement, Plateau Initiative for the Development and Advancement of the Natives (PIDAN) called on the citizens and all political actors in the state to conduct themselves calmly and remain peaceful during the elections.

The statement, signed by PIDAN Secretary General, Mr. Nanle Gujor, added that “We have had too many crises.

We therefore call on citizens to avoid anything that will rear the ugly face of any crises”, the statement said, adding that any disagreement should be settled amicably, through genuine channels, instead of taking the law into your hands.

“We appealed to the politicians to guards against reckless utterances and to avoid actions that may breach of peace.”

On its part, Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) Youth Wing, led by Markus Audu observed that, “The history of elections in Plateau State, particularly Jos North LGA has been very volatile, characterised by crisis and unrests transforming into violent conflicts and disruption of civil activities.

The federal government has set up a seven-man technical committee to fine-tune adjustments in the new Consolidated Health Salary Structure (CONHESS) for members of Joint Health Sector Unions (JOHESU) and the Assembly of Healthcare Professional Associations (AHPA).

Yinka Kolawole in Osogbo The Ooni of Ife, Ooni Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi Ojaja II, has pleaded with politicians and their followers to ensure that peace reign before, during and after the forthcoming gubernatorial election next year in Osun State.

Ooni Ogunwusi made the call in his palace while playing host

to withhold its industrial action, which would have commenced this week, pending the outcome of the committee’s meeting. .

In a statement signed by the National Chairman of JOHESU, Josiah Biobelemoye in Abuja yesterday, the union said it was necessary to give government the benefit of doubt in the implementation of CONHESS.

to a gubernatorial aspirant of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Senator Ademola Adelekeat his Ile Oodua palace, Ile-Ife. The Ooni, who is the Co-chairman of the National Council of Traditional Rulers of Nigeria, stated that most crisis that characterised previous elections in the state and Nigeria in general, were instigated by

followers.

“It is your fans, admirers and followers that hear and say a lot to direct your leaders’ minds, I want to urge you to act with all sense of responsibility as violence won’t pay anyone. Do not mount unnecessary pressure on your leaders to prevent them from giving empty promises.

Be diligent at all times and it

shall be well with you all,” The Ooni admonished.

Earlier in his speech, Senator Adeleke, who described the Ooni as a worthy father, lamented the poor state of roads and other amenities in Ile-Ife, assuring that fortunes of the ancient city would be turn around it he is given the chance of governing the state.

Rivers CP Hails DPO for Saving Bolt Driver’s Life Blessing Ibunge inPortHarcourt

Kingsley Nwezeh in Abuja

The Rivers State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Eboka Friday, has commended the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) in charge of NkpoluOroworoko Divisional Police Headquarters in Port Harcourt, CSP Christaina Cyril for her gallant effort in saving the life of a Bolt driver from hoodlums’ attack in

The police high command yesterday denied reports that it revived the disbanded Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS). There were reports that SARS was revived by police authorities and given new operational conditions.

The squad was disbanded following the #EndSARS protest stemming from its notorious conduct and involvement in extra-judicial killings, illegal arrests and brutality.

The police lost 39 personnel during the protest which was hijacked by hoodlums while considerable police infrastructure was destroyed.

Wages Commission (NSIWC), Budget Office, Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment (FML&E), Federal Ministry of Health (FMoH), Head of Civil Service of the Federation (HOCSOF), Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System (IPPIS).

The setting up of the committee came just as JOHESU has decided

Osun 2022: Ooni Preaches Peace as Adeleke Visits Palace

Police Deny Reviving SARS The former Inspector General of Police (IG), Mr. Mohammed Adamu, had last year, set up a new Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) team to fill the gap created by the disbandment of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS).

But a statement issued by Force Headquarters denied reviving the defunct police team and any such plan to bring it back.

The statement signed

by Force Public Relations Officer, Mr Frank Mba, a Commissioner of Police, said the force had since reorganised its operational structure to fill the vacuum created by the disbandment of SARS.

CONHESS salary scale applies to health sector workers which includes nurses, pharmacists, physiotherapists, medical laboratory scientists, and radiographers.

Membership of the committee comprises of two representatives of JOHESU and one representative each of the National Salaries Income and

the state.

The CP made the commendation yesterday , during a programme in honour of the DPO as excellent officer by E-hailing service drivers (Bolt Drivers).

Represented by the state Police Public Relation Officer, SP Nnamdi Omoni, CP Eboka said the Police management is not surprised to get such excellent report of CSP

Christiana from members of the public, noting that the DPO has been an outstanding officer.

He said the award is a step in the right direction to motivate the police.

“I appreciate you the organizers for picking our DPO as your first choice to be awarded today. It is not by mistake. We the Police know the officer you are honouring today,

she is a distinguished Police Officer.

During our management meeting when her name is featured in the meeting she is always commended, “ he said.

Earlier, at the award presentation, the Bolt driver victim, who gave his name as Clement Edet described the DPO as divine for saving his life from suspected car snatchers in the state.

Group, Rotary Club Partner to Support Troops Fighting Terrorism Sunday Okobi A group, which represents unity and values for all Nigerians from different works of life, tribes and religions, Brothers Across Nigeria (BAN), has partnered with Rotary Club International to provide support for Nigerian troops fighting terrorism in the North-east region of Nigeria.

The value-oriented group, which launched the ‘Support our troops against terrorists (SOTAT) in its Rivers and Bayelsa State chapter in 2014, as a vehicle to mobilise the citizens to play nationalistic roles by supporting the efforts of troops in fighting against terrorists and criminal elements in the country, visited the widows of fallen soldiers at

the 6th Division of the Nigerian Army in Bori Camp.

The programme, according to group, has become one of the focuses of BAN as it identifies with the original ideals of the group.

At this year’s event, which took place on October 1 in the Rivers and Bayelsa States chapter, BAN, in collaboration

with Rotary Club International, visited widows of fallen soldiers at the 6th Division of the Nigerian Army in Bori Camp and showered them, led

by Nigerian Army Officers Wife Association (NAOWA), with gift items, cash gifts and words of encouragements, describing their husbands as true heroes of Nigeria.

60

FRIDAY OCTOBER 8, 2021 ˾ T H I S D AY

NEWS XTRA

One Killed as Amotekun Rescues Cement Dealer from Kidnappers in Ondo Fidelis David in Akure Men of the Ondo State Security Network Agency, codenamed ‘Amotekun Corps’ yesterday rescued a popular cement dealer in Ogun waterside, Folorunsho Sakirudeen from the den of kidnappers.

The state Commander of Amotekun, Adetunji Adeleye, while parading the suspects in Akure the State capital, explained that “Sakirudeen was kidnapped on Wednesday around 8pm by three-man gang at Antonio junction in Ogun waterside.

“He was moved from the spot to Ajebamidele in Ondo state, where they were tracked

by Amotekun operatives”.

Adeleye noted that “one of the kidnappers, identified as Kunle was killed in a gun duel, while Funmi Adenuoye escaped through the bush”.

He said: “They were able to Kidnap the victim, bundle him into his Highlander vehicle and drove recklessly out of Ogun State to Ondo State.

Our credible intelligence network were informed, and at that point, we didn’t know

what was inside the vehicle but the way he was driving presupposes that there were problems. So, we laid manhunt for them and we were able

to apprehend the team. They engaged our men in a shoot-out but we were able to secure the release of Alhaji Sakirudeen and recover his vehicle.

“We arrested Tayo Ibrahim, who narrated the story of how they negotiated with the victim to a ransom of N10 million, while on the road.

“Thereafter, they contacted his family to bring a negotiated amount of N2 million to a particular point in the riverine area of Ondo State”.

The Amotekun Commander explained that the third member of the gang, Tayo Ibrahim, was one of the six suspects arrested

by Amotekun corps.

LEAP AFRICA INNOVATORS…

L-R: Director, Governance and Sustainability, Sahara Group Limited, Mrs. Pearl Uzokwe; Guest Speaker/ Chief Executive Officer, TASCK Creative Company, Mr. Jude Abaga (MI); Head, Strategic Communications, Union Bank of Nigeria Plc, Mrs. Kemi Ogunleye; Chief of Party, Palladium, Mrs. Lydia Odeh, and Democracy Officer, Peace and Democratic Governance Team, USAID, Mr. Sterling Roop, at the Leap Africa Social Innovators programme and Award 2021 in Lagos… yesterday ETOP UKUTT

Hoodlums Attack Ebonyi Police Commissioner Promises Tight Security in Benue Community, Injure 10 George Okoh in Makurdi

Benjamin Nworie in Abakaliki Suspected Hoodlums yesterday night invaded Nkalagu community in Ishielu Local Government Area of Ebonyi State and attacked villages injuring over 10 persons, destroyed buildings, set ablaze motorcycles, cash and carted away other valuables worth millions of Niara.

Some of those whose buildings were destroyed by the hoodlums include; the Acting Traditional Ruler of Nkalagu community, Eze Livinus Umeanu; the Town Union President, Nkalagu community, Mr. Omaba Joseph; the Village Chief of Imeoha, Chief James Mbagu.

Others are the Councillor Representing Nkalagu ward, Hon Ofor Awara and the traditional Prime Minister, Nkalagu community, Chief Emmanuel Agaeze.

THISDAY gathered that

motorcycles numbering about five were set ablaze, undisclosed amount of money were also burnt while other items destroyed by the thugs includes, four deep freezers, water tanks, two generating sets and other household appliances.

Narrating their ordeal, the Town Union President, Mr. Omabe Joseph, said that trouble started when the community rose against, a youth leader in the community, Mr. Emeka Onukwube and his gang who specialise in vandalising the properties of Nigercem Company in the community.

Omaba regretted that despite the efforts of Chief Cletus Ibeto to revive the premier cement factory in the community, Mr. Onukwube and his gang go into the factory armed, cart away equipment of the company and sell them as scraps to waiting buyers.

New Benue State Police Command Commissioner, Tunji Akingbola, has stressed that the command will not rest on its oars in leaving behind a solid security infrastructural base in the State.

CP Akingbola, who said this during his maiden briefing with newsmen yesterday, stated

that the Police will emplace a combination of Kinetic and non-kinetic strategies to deter people from crime and criminalities.

He decried the security challenges prevailing in the state including, farmers/herders conflict, vandalism of critical infrastructure(rail slippers), local armed militia gangs, armed robbery, kidnapping, scourge

of cultism, violent communal clashes, illicit consumption and trafficking of drugs, trafficking of arms and light weapons and unhealthy political activities.

The CP intimated that he will embark on constructive engagement and community partnerships, public campaigns and advocacy, intelligence led policing, recovery of illegal firearms a d light weapons

We Can’t Perform without Stipends, Police Constabularies Tell Buhari, IG Victor Ogunje inAdo Ekiti Following inability of the Police to effect payment to members, the Ekiti State Special Constabularies of the Nigeria Police Force have appealed to President Muhammadu Buhari and the Inspector General of Police, Usman Alkali, to recognise the imperative of earmarking stipends to members of the squad to perform optimally.

In similar manner, the Ekiti State General One (G1) of the Special Constables, Temitope Adeoya, pleaded with Ekiti State Governor, Dr Kayode Fayemi, to consider the plights of the men recruited and serving in the state at this time of security challenge “to consider payment of remunerations to us”.

In an emotion-laden tone, Adeoya, who addressed journalists in Ifaki Ekiti , Ido/Osi

Council, yesterday, revealed that the constables had not received a dime from any quarter since they resumed duties, saying : “payment of stipends to us will definitely boost our morale”.

He added further: “We hereby appeal to the President, the IGP and Governor Fayemi, who is the Chairman, Nigerian Governors’ Forum, to have compassion on us and give us pay to compensate

Ogun State Governor, Prince Dapo Abiodun, yesterday reiterated that his administration has never tampered with the monthly allocation of the 20 local governments (LGs) in the state from the federal government.

The governor said rather than shortchanging the LGs, the state government has been assisting them by augmenting their allocations to enable them perform their constitutional roles and function effectively.

Abiodun, who spoke at a meeting with the 20 LG chairmen, in Abeokuta,

said the clarification had become imperative in the face of allegations that the LGs funds were being tampered with by the state government.

He explained that his administration has always made up for the shortfalls from the federal allocation to the local governments to be able to pay staff salaries, pensions and execute developmental projects.

Abiodun stressed that lLG chairmen as heads of a tier of government should be allowed free hands to run the affairs of their respective LGs, noting “they are closest to the people and know the needs of the people at the grassroots”.

for the services we are rendering”.

The G1, who described service as a voluntary assignment, stated that the Nigeria Police Force Community Policing Handbook right stated that “the dynamics of our society have changed as a result, government either local, state or federal may have to look at the possibility of paying stipends to those to be engaged.

FG Accuses Broadcast Organisations of

My Administration has Fanning Embers of Disunity Never Tampered with and Culture, Lai Mohammed, misinformation being peddled Ibrahim Shuaibu in Kano this in his keynote by certain broadcast media LG Fund, Says Abiodun The federal government stated address at the opening of the constitute a great risk.

James Sowole in Abeokuta

as well as her tolerance for corruption and respect for human rights.

While reeling out his achievements, Akingbola said 15 suspects were arrested with 255 railway slippers, arrest of 20 robbery suspects, arrest of 20 cultists, arrested suspected bandits, arrest and death of kidnappers and rescued of several kidnapped persons.

yesterday accused some broadcast media organisations of lending their platforms to some disgruntled elements whose stock-in- trade is to promote hatred and disunity among Nigerians.

The Minister of Information

75th General Assembly of the Broadcasting Organisations of Nigeria (BON) in Kano.

“At a time that our nation is facing a big challenge of insecurity and threats to national unity, divisive and hate messages as well as

The minister represented by Director General of National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) Mr. Balarabe Shehu Illelah, said: “Apart from during the civil war, I cannot think of any other time in our nation’s history that the role of

the media in general, and the broadcast media in particular, has been more important in dousing tension and forging national cohesion.

He, therefore, called on broadcast organizations to continue to leverage on their power and reach to foster national unity and development.

Project against COVID-19 Spread Takes Off Research and Development global, non-state, not-for-profit states in through citizens led

Community Collectives and Citizens led Action Against COVID-19 Project (COMCOVID) has taken off in Nigeria. The project is being implemented as a part of Citizen’s Action and Accountability for COVID-19 (CAAVID) project led by African Health Budget Network (AHBN) in partnership with Centre for Health Sciences Training,

(CHESTRAD).

With funding support from the MacArthur Foundation. The project will be piloted in three Southwest States namely Lagos, Osun and Oyo. The organisation said in a statement that implementation of COMCOVID activities will be coordinated by CHESTRAD; a

social enterprise organisation registered as a corporate limited Guarantee in Nigeria.

CHESTRAD’s Programme Officer Miss Heritage Oni confirmed that COMCOVID activities will be implemented for initial period of 18 months.

“The project will engage stakeholders across the three

action on access to COVID-19 testing, treatment and vaccination. Project activities will further build on efforts at sub-national platforms towards effective responses to COVID-19 infodemic; vaccine hesitancy as well as access to vaccination and essential life-saving immunization.

FRIDAY OCTOBER 8, 2021 ˾ T H I S D AY

61

WORLD OF ISLAM

NEWS XTRA

Zamfara Police Rescue 187 Kidnapped Victims 10 Ways Praying Benefits Your Health from Forest

Edited by: MJO Mustapha Email deji.mustapha@thisdaylive.com

Onuminya Innocent in Zamfara

The Zamfara State police tactical operatives, in a joint operation with other agencies, yesterday, rescued 187 victims of kidnapping from Tsibiri Forest in Gora village, Maradun local government, Rini village in Bakura local government, as well as Sabon Birni village and Shinkafi in Shinkafi council areas of the state, respectively.

Police in the state and other security agencies had been carrying out offensive on identified bandits’ locations in different parts of the state with a view to riding the place of all criminal elements.

This was believed to have

followed the implementation of the new security measures

by Zamfara State government.

In a statement by the command’s public relations officer, a Superintendent of Police,Muhammad Shehu, said the abducted victims, who spent many weeks in captivity, were unconditionally rescued following an extensive search and rescue operations that lasted several hours.

He further said the Commissioner of Police, Ayuba Elkanah, had immediately handed over the rescued victims to the representative of Governor Mohammed Bello Matawalle of the state, and Secretary to the State Government, Alhaji

Kabiru Balarabe.

Balarabe, while receiving the victims, said, the new security measures in the State had been yielding tremendous result, because it had led to successful rescue of many abducted victims that run into hundreds The CP further briefed the SSG that the exercise had even led to an arrest of some bandits and their collaborators.

He said some bandits had already been charged to court while others were undergoing discreet investigation at the State CID, Gusau, adding that they would continue to put in their best to ensure the return of lasting peace and security in the state.

Uba: Emergency Rule Threat Meant to Push Obiano to Sit Up David-Chyddy Eleke in Awka Governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Anambra State, Senator Andy Uba, has said the statement of the Attorney General of the federation, Abubakar Malami, on imposing an emergency rule in Anambra could be likened to a wake up call on the Anambra State Governor, Chief Willie Obiano.

Uba said there were signed that Obiano was playing politics with the security situation in Anambra, and as such, had for weeks been prodding him to sit up.

In a press statement by the Director of Media, Andy Uba Campaign Council, Uba lamented that for weeks, he prodded Obiano to “come off the high horse he bestrode and frontally tackle the deteriorating insecurity in the

state,” saying the threat of an emergency rule, had forced the governor to woke up.

“As typical of anyone, who wakes up from the wrong side of his bed after a deep slumber, Obiano, like an intemperate workman, who quarrels with his tools, is blaming everyone else but himself, for the threats by the federal authorities to declare a state of emergency in Anambra if the current state of anomie persists,” he said.

Sanwo-Olu Flags Off SWAGA 23’ in Lagos, Eulogises Tinubu Segun James The Lagos State governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu

CHANGE OF NAME I, formerly known and addressed as BANKOLE DEBORAH TOLULOPE, now wish to be known and addressed as ADEGBUYI DEBORAH TOLULOPE. All former documents remain valid. The general public should take note.

I, formerly known and addressed as SUNDAY PRECIOUS AMINA, now wish to be known and addressed as OLOWOKANDE AMINA PRECIOUS. All former documents remain valid. The general public should take note.

yesterday flagged off the South-west Agenda for Asiwaju 2023 (SWAGA ‘23), a group championing the ambition of former governor of the state, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu to be become Nigeria’s president.

Declaring his total support for the group’s agenda, Sanwo-Olu said SWAGA was formed based on the belief in Tinubu’s vision

CHANGE OF NAME I formally known and address as ISOH ANDREW ABIAMUWE now wish to be known and address as SUNDAY ANDREW ABIAMUWE. All formal document remain valid.

The general public should please take note.

I, formerly known and addressed as MARYBEST EKPOR, now wish to be known and addressed as MARYBEST RICHARD OKENYEHIKE. All former documents remain valid. The general public should take note.

I formally known and address as AJIMAKIN IFEDAYO ADESOLA now wish to be known and address as ADEGOKE IFEDAYO ADESOLA. All formal document remain valid. The general public should please take note.

I, formerly known and addressed as VICTOR SAMUEL, now wish to be known and addressed as UDOH VICTOR SAMUEL. All former documents remain valid. The general public should take note.

I, formerly known and addressed as EHIAGHE ELIZABETH OGBEIDE, now wish to be known and addressed as EHIAGHE ELIZABETH INGWU. All former documents remain valid. The general public should take note.

I formerly known and addressed as KIKELOMO MONSURAT ABOLARIN now want to be known and addressed as KIKELOMO MONSURAT WILLIAMS. All former documents remain valid. The general public should please take note.

I, formerly known and addressed as PETER OLUWASEUN FLORENCE, now wish to be known and addressed as DOSUNMU OLUWASEUN FLORENCE. All former documents remain valid. The general public should take note.

I, formerly known and addressed as JAMILA HAMZA, now wish to be known and addressed as JAMILA HAMZA ABDULAZEEZ. All former documents remain valid. The general public should take note.

I formerly known and addressed as DAVID SARAH TAMARAPREYE now want to be known and addressed as DAVID TAMARAPREYE EMOMOTIMI. All former documents remain valid. The general public should please take note.

and political philosophy that prioritise development of human capital and economy.

The governor, who deployed full political machinery in the state to host the carnival-like event held in Lagos, was accompanied by all members of the state executive council, lawmakers in the state’s House of Assembly, and members of Conference 57 to formally unveil the political group.

Sanwo-Olu described the APC National Leader as a “core political thinker” of the contemporary generation, noting that Tinubu’s constituency in progressive politics stood him out as a beacon and rallying figure capable of delivering directional leadership to the country in the next dispensation.

He said: “Asiwaju Tinubu’s story has been a legend in vision, passion and action. These three values stand him out among his contemporaries in national politics today. It is no wonder the man stretches his arm of fellowship beyond Lagos, the state he led for eight years as a Governor and in which he bequeathed the legacy we are building on. He is nationalist in thinking and progressive in action.

“The SWAGA we are launching in Lagos today is a demonstration of Tinubu’s enduring political principles and strong vision. Those behind the movement took the three values and pushed them with passion.

What we are witnessing today is the action from the vision and passion; this is what SWAGA represents. By the grace of God, we will drive this agenda to a logical end and we will all witness the inauguration of our political icon come 2023.”

By: Ashir/IslamiCity

F

or many religious muslims, praying is not necessarily a big deal. Engaging in consistent salah is pursued for the sole purposes of making Allah happy as well as bringing peace and contentment into an individual’s life. However, did you know that praying also benefits your mental and physical health as well?

Yes, you heard me right! In a study conducted

by Dr. Lisa Miller, a renowned psychologist from Columbia University, it was found that people who prayed regularly had thicker cortices. For clarification, the cortices are the outer layer structure of the brain, and cortical thickness is found to be correlated with a high IQ. The cortices, when thinned out can lead to mental illness, especially depression.

Praying, as has been scientifically proven and as personally experienced by myself, is a very spiritual experience that can help you in a number of ways. Individuals can learn a number of things that include self-gratitude, understanding of your existence, and most of all, it helps put your life into perspective.

While praying in itself is a very spiritual experience, it would be an object of interest to illustrate the added health benefits of prayer in the Islamic tradition. In this article, I have listed down 10 ways praying will benefit your physical and mental health!

Prayer Makes You a Better Person Praying is an act of religious activity where the aim is to please God Almighty. When a person prays, he or she automatically tries their best through their actions to become a better person. By that, I mean not lie, hurt anyone, be kinder, etc. And collectively, all of these actions are conducted in an effort to please God, therefore humbling an individual with their sense of purpose.

It is important to realize that every religion teaches us these basic core values, but within Islam especially, the concept of prayer goes beyond these basic laws. Islamic prayer motivates a person to not be greedy and give out to the poor, which helps a person not become materialistic or too engrossed in the material affairs of the world.

Prayer Improves Your Physical Health A Muslim has to pray five times a day. There is a specific way they have to pray that involves some physical activity. Be it the bending of the knees in ruku, or the prostration of the body in sujud, prayer in the Islamic tradition is an active process. Each action of the prayer is great for blood circulation and your body parts. So, when you hear a prayer call, signifying prayer timings for Muslims, go quickly as it will not only improve your spiritual being but your physical health too!

Imagine getting up five times a day, specifically for the morning prayer call when the sun is coming up. This gives you a better sense of routine and helps you become active for the better part of the day as well. For a point of comparison, the Islamic prayer is similar to that of yoga, which is also a form of meditation and prayer, sharing similar yet less comprehensive benefits.

Prayer Increases Your Lifespan This might come as a shock to some, but it is true. Praying can possibly increase one’s lifespan!

Allah has truly given humanity the ultimate medicine to prolonging life! How cool is that?

Given the above stated material, many are wondering how praying increases one’s lifespan.

However, it can be claimed that prayer does so by reducing one’s cortisol or stress levels and improving your body’s health by keeping you active through physical exercise five times a day.

All in all, prayer will help one live a happy, active, and healthy lifestyle, which will only prolong your lifespan.

Prayer is Beneficial for Blood Circulation The actual form of praying is well known for improving blood circulation, which helps regulate your heart better and eventually reduces one’s stress levels as well. When you go into the ‘sajdah form or the prostration form, it is the best form of exercise for you due to the abundant circulation of blood in your head.

Prayers Can Make You a Happier Person

According to a study conducted by Dr. Andrew Newberg, praying regularly makes a person happier. Why? Well, one can theorize that it makes a person motivated with a sense of peace knowing that he or she has pleased God. As humans, we love that we can make someone happy, and making someone happy often makes us happy. And when coupled with the fact that in Islam the ultimate goal is to worship Allah, an individual is much better able to understand their purpose.

In fact, in the abovementioned study, Dr. Andrew Newberg states that praying increases the levels of dopamine in your brain, which makes an individual a happier and more peaceful human being.

Prayer Helps you with Post-Surgical Recovery Many studies have found that prayers can help in quick surgical recovery. It is often recognized that prayer helps with the healing of surgical scars quicker as compared to when you are not praying. Why is that? This may be due to the fact that when one is praying, it relieves stress, thereby helping an individual with a quicker healing process.

Prayer Saves You from Depression and Anxiety A number of individuals are sometimes met with the answer that they should pray in response to mental health issues that they are dealing with [such as depression, anxiety]. To which some individuals get annoyed, however, it is true that if you are a true believer and pray, it will help you with your depression and anxiety.

According to a UK-based study published in the British Journal of Health Psychology, “praying can reduce your risk of developing depression and anxiety.”

Prayers Keep You Away from Chronic Diseases Prayers are also a great way of helping individuals with chronic diseases such as ulcers, headaches, migraines, hypertension, and even diabetes. Given the fact that many of these diseases can often be tied to internal stress as well as overall lack of mental health well-being, praying can help to alleviate these diseases. This is simply due to the positive feeling praying gives to the worshipper.

Prayer Gives us a Positive Outlook on Life If you believe in religion, a common motif that is present is the concept of hope. It can definitely help to have a positive outlook on life, because when an individual believes in pleasing God almighty, it leads one to believe in his ultimate plan and to deal with all the worldly affairs not so seriously.

A number of issues occurring within this world can put us in a hopeless position. But the belief in God and his plans can give us hope in dealing with all the things that go wrong and the courage to do the right actions within this temporary world.

Prayer Reduces our Stress levels Last but not least it is important to realize that everything within our entire lives is planned by God, and that you can only accept and believe in Him and His doing. This knowledge will help us reduce stress and deal with our personal and professional life situations that can often stress us out.

Conclusion Unfortunately, in the current contemporary paradigm, individuals have been sadly putting prayer and religion on the back end. Yet with a plethora of recent studies that have come out, scientific evidence has presented the public with data to prove that it is beneficial for humans to worship a supreme being. It is with the sincerest intentions, that this article helps to motivate everyone to become better Muslims and engage in consistent prayer.

FRIDAY, ΀˜ ͺ͸ͺ͹ ˾ T H I S D AY

62

FRIDAYSPORTS

Group Sports Editor: Duro Ikhazuagbe Email: duro.ikhazuagbe@thisdaylive.com

0811 181 3083 SMS ONLY

CAR’s Wild Beasts Shock Eagles in Lagos, Throw Group Open W O R L D C U P Q UA L I F I E R S Femi Solaja

and goalkeeper Prince Samolah had an inspired game.

Table-toppers Nigeria were expected to make a mincemeat of the visitors, who were bottom of the pool before the game, but the Eagles failed to find a way past a rearguard of Captain Saint-cyr Ngam-Ngam, Peter Guinari, Flory Yangao, Sadock Ndobe and Melky Ndokomandji.

In the 16th minute, Osimhen got too much purchase on his first touch and saw goalkeeper Samolah scoop the ball, and seven minutes later, Ngam-Ngam came to the rescue for a timely block as the Napoli of Italy man was about to pull the trigger.

In the 29th minute, Nigeria had a strident penalty appeal rejected by referee Abdel Aziz Bouh from Mauritania, when it appeared the ball clipped the hand of Ndokomandji after a shot by Chidera Ejuke.

Ejuke ran, turned, dribbled, sizzled and shielded the ball in a creditable performance, but his efforts and those of his team-mates failed to yield the much-needed goal until disaster struck in stoppage time.

With Cape Verde’s Blue Sharks winning 2-1 away against Liberia in Monrovia, the Super Eagles cannot afford any slip-up on Sunday in the reverse fixture in Douala, Cameroon.

Central African Republic’s Wild Beast shocked hosts Super Eagles 1-0 at the Teslim Balogun Stadium in Lagos yesterday to record a famous victory against Nigeria in the 2022 World Cup qualifying series.

Karl Namnganda delivered the killer goal in the 90th minute, when he cashed in on a mix-up between Leon Balogun and William Troost-Ekong.

Although Nigeria remain top of Group C on six points, both the CAR and Cape Verde who pulled a similar 90th minute winner against Liberia in Monrovia are tied on four points apiece. Liberia are fourth on three points.

CAR’s victory was the first time since October 10, 1981 when Eagles lost 0-2 to Algeria in the final World Cup qualifying match to Spain ‘82 that Nigeria will be beaten at home in the race to the Mundial.

And 40 years later, a mistimed pass between Balogun and Ekong was all that the visitors needed to break the back of Nigeria.

Kelechi Iheanacho, Moses Simon, Victor Osimhen and Chidera Ejuke, and later on Taiwo Awoniyi, Ahmed Musa and Samuel Kalu, threw everything at the Wild Beasts, but the visitors defended in numbers

Cape Verde Bounce Back with Victory in Liberia

Super Eagles forward, Victor Osimhen (centre) failed to convert any of the opportunities that came his way as Central African Republic snatched a famous 1-0 win in Lagos...yesterday

Arotile Immortalised with Flying Officer’s Cup Olawale Ajimotokanin Abuja

The late first female helicopter combat fighter in the Nigeria Air Force, Tolulope Arotile has been immortalised with the Flying Officer’s Cup that begins in Abuja on October 10.

The President of Ratels Sports Development Foundation (RSDF), Paul Edeh, announced this yesterday at

the FIFA Goal Project, MKO Abiola National Stadium, Abuja at the draws ceremony for the tournament and the Heroes Award scheduled for October 24.

He said the tournament, which used to be known as Ratels Pre-season Tournament was renamed the Flying Officer’s Cup to immortalise Arotile, whose remarkable

achievement and impactful story of courage, heroism and gallantry has continued to inspire many girls to achieve their dreams regardless of challenges.

The Flying Officer’s Cup started in 2019 with four teams and grew to eight teams last year, while it will feature 16 teams this year.

Edeh expressed optimism

Sanwo-Olu, Dare Sign on for Ajunwa's Golden Anniversary Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, and Sports Minister, Sunday Dare, will join other top dignitaries to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Chioma Ajunwa winning the women's long jump Olympics gold at Atlanta 1996.

Also on hand to grace the occasion billed for tonight at the MUSON Centre on Lagos Island are former President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, Rev. Mother

Esther Ajayi and Prince Ned Nwoko a sports philanthropist who will spearhead the launch of a N6billion Sports and Youth Development Centre being championed by the Chioma Ajunwa Foundation in conjunction with the Ikukuoma Foundation.

“We are all set to go for this event which will celebrate sports excellence and champion the cause for grassroots development.

“During the course of our going round the country in search of talents, we discovered that there are many kids who are just wishing to participate in sports.

This is why the Chioma Ajunwa Foundation and the Ikokuoma Foundation are on the drive to raise awareness for grassroots development,” said Prince Henry Amike, former Nigerian 400m hurdles champion and record holder.

that the tournament touted as the biggest pre-season cup in Africa will help showcase women football as a strategic development in Nigeria.

The first Group A match holds in Area 3 Sport complex between Naija Ratels and Ghana Police Ladies FC. There will also be posthumous awards for Flying Officer Arotile, female journalist, Henrietta Ukaigwe, Chief Larry Eze of Larry Angels and Chief Sunny Ineh of the defunct Ineh Babes.

The lifetime achievement awards will be bequeathed to Princess Bola Jegede, coach Ismalia Mabo, Elderson Kuejubola, Hon Ayo Omidiran, while Edo State Deputy Governor, Philip Shaibu will receive the Women Football Promoter Award.

Seyi Akinwunmi will receive the Women Football Grassroots Icon award, Aisha Falode Women Trailblazer of the Year and Leah Sharibu, the Heroic Icon of the Year Award.

The Blue Sharks of Cape Verde have bounced back to top reckoning in the Super Eagles 2022 World Cup qualifying group after they won 2-1 in Liberia today.

Both Cape Verde and Central African Republic both now have four points from three matches, two points behind leaders Super Eagles with Liberia on three points.

Yesterday in Monrovia, the home team took the lead in first half added time through Van-Dave Harmon.

Cape Verde restored parity

on 52 minutes through Jamiro Monterio, before Gary Rodriquez snatched the winner in stoppage time.

RESULTS Nigeria 0-1 CAR Liberia 1-2 Cape Verde Rwanda 0-1 Uganda DR Congo 2-0 M’gcar Tanzania 0-1 Benin E’Guinea 2-0 Zambia

GROUP C Team

P

W

D

L GF GA GD PTS

Nigeria

3

2

0

1

4

2

2

6

Cape Verde

3

1

1

1

4

4

0

4

CAR

3

1

1

1

2

2

0

4

Liberia

3

1

0

2

2

4

-2

3

France Stun Belgium in Comeback to Reach Final Theo Hernandez scored a superb 90th-minute winner as France hit back from 2-0 down to stun Belgium 3-2 and reach the UEFA Nations League final.

Didier Deschamps' side looked out of contention at the break after conceding two goals in the space of four minutes, but a thrilling second-half fightback set up a meeting with Spain.

AC Milan full-back Hernandez was the match-winner, collecting

UEFA NATIONS LEAGUE the ball on the edge of the box and firing home a finish into the far corner to spark joyous scenes at the Allianz Stadium in Turin.

It started well for Belgium, who took a 37th-minute lead when Yannick Carrasco cut in from the left and drilled in a finish at the near post, wrongfooting goalkeeper Hugo Lloris.

63

FRIDAY, ΀˜ ͺ͸ͺ͹ ˾ T H I S D AY

SPORTS

327 Athletes from 14 Countries to Attend Chief of Defence Staff, OSMA Sports Tournament Kingsley Nwezeh in Abuja

President, Organisation of Military Sports in Africa (OSMA), Brig.-Gen. Mikado Abdullahi, said yesterday that 327 athletes from 14 countries are expected to participate in the maiden Chief of Defence Staff/ OSMA tournament in Abuja.

Abdullahi, who spoke at a briefing in Abuja, said adequate logistics arrangements were in place preparatory to the maiden edition of the games entitled: “Sahel Countries Military Games for Peace and Solidarity”.

He said that the tournament was designed with the aim of promoting peace and friendliness among the participating armed forces in the Sahel region.

The 14 countries that will be participating according to him are Mali; Burkina Faso; Nigeria; Niger; Libya; Chad; Cameroon; Tanzania; Benin Republic; Kenya; Congo

Brazzaville; Congo Kinshasa; Guinea Bissau and Guinea Conakry.

Abdullahi said the game was aimed at fostering peace and solidarity among the eight Sahel countries that were mostly affected by activities of extremists and insurgents.

"If you could remember in my campaign promises after I won the election, I suggested that we are going to have Sahel military games.

"The CDS has approved the hosting of this game and asked my organisation to carry out all the necessary activities so that we can achieve our dreams.

"We sent invitation to about eight OSMA countries and the event we proposed to be completed for include; golf, football and marathon race", he said.

“We deliberately chose golf because of the high calibre of officers that are going to be involved and we have chosen marathon because of

AIU Files Three Fresh Dope Charges against Okagbare Nigeria’s sprint queen, Blessing Okagbare, 32, has been slammed with three fresh charges by the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU).

Okagbare was suspended during the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games in Japan for testing positive for human growth hormone in an out-of-competition random tests carried out on 19 July. She was handed four-year ban.

Although she called for the testing of her “B” samples to ascertain her innocence but a statement issued yesterday by AIU revealed that the double Commonwealth Games sprint champion at Glasgow 2014 has again tested positive for another banned substance, recombinant erythropoietin (EPO), which increases red blood cell count.

She has also been charged for not co-operating with the AIU's investigation.

“The athlete failed to comply with a formal requirement to produce relevant documents, records, and electronic storage devices, which was issued to the athlete by the AIU on 15th September,” the statement said.

Okagbare - a rival to Great Britain's Dina Asher-Smith - had won her 100m heat in Tokyo before being pulled out of the Games.

Okagbare, Olympic long jump silver medallist in Beijing in 2008; silver and bronze winner at 2013 World Championships in Moscow, has denied all the charges. She is likely to face a lengthy ban from track and field.

Westend Whips Niger School 5-1 in Opening Game ZENITH/DELTA PRINCIPALS’ CUP The 5th edition of the Zenith Bank Principals' Cup kicked off yesterday at St. Patrick’s Grammar School, Asaba with Westend Mixed Secondary School defeating Niger Mixed Secondary School 5-1.

Declaring the ceremony open, the Secretary to Delta State, Chief Patrick Ukah, who represented Governor Ifeanyi Okowa, said that the state was totally committed to using sports as a tool to solving the present social economic problem that is bedeviling the country.

Ukah said: "I want to welcome everyone to yet another edition of the Zenith Bank/ Delta State Principals' Cup holding at the state capital Asaba. We are happy to be part of this historic football event. It an opportunity for our young ones to showcase their football artistry."

"The Executive Governor of the state, Senator Ifeanyi Okowa, has directed that all principals and games masters of the various schools should use this opportunity to scout for raw talents that would be nurtured into maturity. Delta State believes in catch-them-young,” stressed Ukah.

Zonal Head of Zenith Bank, Delta State, Mr. Lucky Ighade, applauded the participants for keeping faith with the sponsors, adding that the organization was totally committed to the overall development of the state through sports. He urged schools to advantage of the opportunity provided by the bank to showcase their sporting skills. " I welcome everyone present here most especially the schools that are taking part in this edition of Zenith Bank/Delta State Principals' Cup. We have been in this for the past five years, and will continue to partner Drlta State government in this youth developmental Sports programme. I want you all to be good ambassadors of your various schools."

Also the Commissioner for Secondary School Education, Mrs. Rose Ezewu, said: "I'm highly delighted to welcome you all to the official kickoff ceremony of the fifth edition of the 2021 Zenith Bank/ Delta State Principals' Cup football championship. The competition from inception aimed at identifying budding talents and nurturing them into world-class future football stars.”

the mass men that are going to be involved.

"We are going to receive continents from about 14 countries and these countries will start coming from the night of Saturday and will all arrive in Abuja on Sunday", he said.

According to him "the opening ceremony is going to be on Oct. 11 while from Tuesday to Friday will be competition where football and golf will take place.

“The last day which is on Saturday is going to be closing ceremony and the marathon will take place that day.

“The starting point is going to be Aguyi Ironsi Cantonment and it is finishing at the Cantonment also".

“This time around is going to be full marathon that’s 42.95 kilometres and 10 countries are participating in this marathon championship including Nigeria,” he said.

Brigadier-General Abdullahi said that only Kenya would be participating in invitational relay race with invited participants from the sister security agencies.

The OSMA president noted that in marathon, there won’t be team champion but individual from first, second and third with consolation prizes for up to sixth position.

“There will be peace trophy that is going to be given to all participants from all the 14 countries,” he said.

Abdullahi gave assurance that adequate preparations had been made to ensure a successful and hitch-free tournament.

He said that the competition would be held annually going forward across member countries.

He commended the chief of defence staff, service chiefs and other individuals and organisations for their support and sponsorship.

Blessing Okagbare...her track & field future in the balance

Saudi Arabian-backed Consortium Completes Newcastle Takeover Premier League club Newcastle United have been taken over by a Saudi Arabian-backed consortium, the league announced in a statement yesterday.

"Following the completion of the Premier League's Owners' and Directors' test, the club has been sold to the consortium with immediate effect," the Premier League said.

The consortium includes the kingdom's $430 billion sovereign wealth fund PIF, chaired by Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin

Salman, which is at the centre of plans to transform its economy by creating new sectors and diversifying revenues away from oil.

The investment group, which also includes PCP Capital Partners and Reuben Brothers, had previously made public a £305 million bid to buy the northeast club from British businessman Mike Ashley on 9 April, 2020.

However, that deal collapsed in July 2020 amid scrutiny from the Premier League, which came

Newcastle United ....taken over by Saudi Arabian consortium

under pressure to stop the sale due to concerns over alleged broadcast piracy in Saudi Arabia.

"The Premier League, Newcastle United Football Club and St James Holdings Limited have today (Thursday) settled the dispute over the takeover of the club by the consortium of PIF, PCP Capital Partners and RB Sports & Media," the league added.

"The legal disputes concerned which entities would own and/ or have the ability to control the

club following the takeover.

"The Premier League has now received legally binding assurances that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia will not control Newcastle United Football Club."

The piracy dispute involved Qatari-owned beIN Sports, the Premier League's broadcast rights holder across the Middle East, which had been barred from operating in Saudi Arabia.

Saudi Arabia lifted that ban on Wednesday, clearing a major hurdle to the Newcastle deal.

Friday October 8, 2021

TR

UT H

& RE A SO

N

Price: N250

MISSILE Buhari to Loans Critics

“Some have expressed concern over our resort to borrowing to finance our fiscal gaps. They are right to be concerned. However, we believe that the debt level of the federal government is still within sustainable limits. Borrowings are to specific strategic projects and can be verified publicly” – President Muhammadu Buhari responding to the critics of government’s policy on external borrowing.

PATUTOMI GUEST COLUMNIST

Not All Superheroes Wear Capes

I

f you grew up on comics, or followed the television series and movies; from Superman, Batman and Robin, Spiderman and their types, you may believe that all superheroes wear capes. You may also believe, as one superman film was promoted, that if you see the movie you will believe a man can fly. I was not one for believing those but I once met Nigerian public servants who almost could fly without capes. They were the superheroes of nation building. Their types are sadly so scarce today.

The privilege of watching nationbuilding from a ringside seat as a student activist, academic researching political economy matters, entrepreneur trying to build enterprises in several sectors, and playing business angel mentoring young entrepreneurs has thrown up for me, with the benefit of hindsight,a great sense of indebtedness to these men.

My epiphany in how nations are built came from engaging with these group of men of the right stuff who we can truly celebrate as superheroes. The challenge is they do not wear capes.

In this vast wasteland of people parading themselves as leaders in the quest for plunder, it is so very easy for consciousness to be fixated in search of capes and lose sight that we have had heroes amongst us.

The recent passing of a super patriot and pioneer public sector Architect, Chief Fola Alade brought this quickly back to me and I began to remember them from researching my PhD thesis about 1981. Extraordinary and simple but passionately committed people from an era that understood service.

They were significantly in the public bureaucracy. What is interesting is that we have even mocked some of them at different points in time. Thank God that hindsight can be 20/20 and that academic research for an embedded activist can provide insights not generally easy to see on the streets. I feel fortunate to have beenso privileged.

I can therefore remember many of the men and women of yesterday from sitting before them for hours, probing the depths of the challenge of nation-building, economic policy choice, and leadership priority. That journey which took me across Nigeria and even to Europe in search of then self-exiled former Head of State, General Yakubu Gowon, opened for me a window not commonly available. Even though I was a precocious 24-year-old PhD candidate with a cynical view of power and its use by the poorly formed and character challenged, that window showed me the profundity of the commitment and the assiduousness

Asiodu

in the task of nation-building by a majorly technocratic elite in the federal bureaucracy. I found then but kept it my secret waiting for the time of passages of personages so worthy.

In due course, I had always said, I would share the fact that these men were superheroes who wore no capes.

Time would confirm the validity of my disposition as Nigeria stumbled, fell into wrong hands and upon thorny fields.

It was obviously not a shortage of textile materials that saved the superheroes from the awkward fashion statement of dorning capes, but those who wore the right goggles could see the capes, that knowledge, love of country and hard work strung across the shoulders of these men sometimes called super permanent secretaries.

Like night vision goggles you saw these men only with lenses that pulled aside their humility.

When Chief Fola Alade passed, it was signal to me that the time had

come to carve unto the stones of time the path to immortality for these men who, valiant as they were, walked gently as if in accord with scripture which uses the metaphor of the servant returning from a hard day’s sweat to first wait on his master at table before checking if hunger pangs lurked in his own belly; a reminder that to serve is duty and praise for the servant, happenstance, far from entitlement, for the diligent servant.

They came from the regions, Chief Simeon Adebo, Chief Jerome Udoji, Mallam Abubakar Imam, and at the centre, the legendary Abdul Azeez Attah, Allison Ayida, Philip Asiodu, Ime Ebong, Ahmed Joda, and even those sacrificed in the heat of policy crisis like Ibrahim Damcida.

Few can imagine what it took for the Architect, Fola Alade, and the planner, John Odigie-Oyegun to create Festac Town out of pure jungle and both fail to become rich, possibly with neither owning a plotof land or house in Festac.

In this vast wasteland of people parading themselves as leaders in the quest for plunder, it is so very easy for consciousness to be fixated in search of capes and lose sight that we have had heroes amongst us

The remarkable Ime Ebong presiding over tireless planners of enormous courage and outstanding intellect who manned the planning department, Chukwuemeka Ezeife, before retirement and Anambra politics made of him a villager living in the city, but never short of capacity to see the tree from the forest; John Odigie-Oyegun, before APC Chairmanship in retirement exhausted him as he watched the democratisation of mediocrity from his window, a cruel punishment, and even the ‘younger ’ bright sports like John Edozien, and the pool of talent in that ministry.

I watched them play Tennis at the Lagos Lawn Tennis Club, share the glass of beer and talk about what was right for Nigeria even after some of them had been unfairly kicked out of service in the prime of their lives.

It is altogether an undeserved farewell to these dream merchants that the Autumn and Winter of their time of being would see a Nigeria faltering so badly that even governor ’s call it a failed state on national television.

But their passion inspires me to believe Nigeria will rise up again.

The youth have a duty to honour the days of youth of these aging superheroes so that their own old age may not be like the final days of the once feared lion who the weariness of time make easy prey to the hyena and the patient vulture.

As many nations draw on the legend of their founding fathers and the waves of their spirit in ascent, to face today’s challenges and construct brave new futures, we are obliged to dance to the drum beats of the days of the unsullied confidence of these civil and public servants, and vow a regeneration of the Nigerian spirit.

The spirit was as diverse as it had common purpose when the superheroes bestrode the nation building landscape like colossuses.

Debonair sharp witted Philip Asiodu of a voluble intellect and wry humour; practical but very thoughtful Allison Ayida, wise, calm and kindly Ahmed Joda, and urbane energetic Ime Ebong.

This country had a gift in these so different men who cared much for Nigeria. It is hard sometimes to understand how the sheep looked after by such shepherds got to where we are today.

Nigeria should and can rise again.

That passage from rot to regeneration will depend much on understanding how the characters of these men were moulded. r6UPNJ B QPMJUJDBM FDPOPNJTU BOE 1SPGFTTPS PG &OUSFQSFOFVSTIJQ JT GPVOEFS PG UIF $FOUSF GPS 7BMVFT JO -FBEFSTIJQ

Printed and Published in Lagos by THISDAY Newspapers Limited. Lagos: 35 Creek Road, Apapa, Lagos. Abuja: Plot 1, Sector Centre B, Jabi Business District, Solomon Lar Way, Jabi North East, Abuja .

All Correspondence to POBox 54749, Ikoyi, Lagos. EMAIL: editor@thisdaylive.com, info@thisdaylive.com. TELEPHONE Lagos: 0802 2924721-2, 08022924485. Abuja: Tel: 08155555292, 08155555929 24/7 ADVERTISING HOT LINES: 0811 181 3085 0811 181 3086, 0811 181 3087, 0811 181 3088, 0811 181 3089, 0811 181 3090. ENQUIRIES & BOOKING: adsbooking@thisdaylive.com