THURSDAY 21TH OCTOBER 2021 by THISDAY Newspapers Ltd

Security, Trade Take Centre Stage in Nigeria, Turkey Agreements Buhari, Erdogan sign eight MoUs Countries to collaborate on fight against terrorism Turkish President: Terror group that tried to topple my govt active here Deji Elumoye in Abuja The need to improve security and trade between Nigeria and Turkey formed the highlight of

the bilateral agreements signed yesterday in Abuja between President Muhammadu Buhari and his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

The discussions culminated in the signing of eight Memoranda of Understanding (MoU) between the two leaders. The eight critical sectors that

elicited the MoU between the two nations included energy, defense, industry, mining, and hydrocarbons. This was made known to newsmen by President Buhari

and Erdogan, after a close-door meeting at the State House, Abuja. President Erdogan also requested Nigeria to join his country to forge a solidarity in the fight against terror-

ism, saying the terror organisation, Fetullah Terrorist Organisation (FETO), which was responsible Continued on page 48

El-Rufai: I Wrote Buhari Since 2017 to Designate Bandits as Terrorists... Page 50 Thursday 21 October, 2021 Vol 26. No 9691. Price: N250

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FG in Talks with IMF on Repayment Terms of $3.4bn SDR… Page 5

The Economist: Kidnappers, Zealots, Rebels Making Nigeria Ungovernable Says President Buhari has allowed the rot to deepen Warns country sliding into failed state

Peter Uzoho with agency report

The Economist has expressed concerns about how kidnappers,

zealots and rebels are making Nigeria ungovernable, highlighting the rising incidence of insecurity across the country.

The London-based newspaper, noted in a report that in the north-east, a jihadist insurgency was spreading; rebellion was

brewing in the south-east, pointing out that across most of the country, the rich and poor alike live in fear of kidnappers, warlords or cattle

rustlers. Even the sea provides no haven: the Gulf of Guinea is the world’s hotspot for piracy, it stated.

According to the report, the country was growing ever harder Continued on page 49

#EndSARS: NEC Directs Govs to Prosecute Indicted Persons ProtestersholdcarprocessionatLekkiTollgate,demandjustice,saybrutalitycontinues Police disrupt march to National Assembly We did not stop demonstrators, Lagos insists Okowa inaugurates human rights protection committee Afenifere challenges FG to fulfil promises

Iyobosa Uwugiaren and Olawale Ajimotokan in Abuja; Chiemelie Ezeobi, Segun James, Emma Okonji and Nosa Alekhuogie in Lagos; Blessing Ibunge in Port Harcourt; Fidelis David in Akure; Omon-Julius Onabu in Asaba; and Kemi Olaitan in Ibadan The youth of the nation made good their threat to hold memorial marches yesterday commemorating those who died during the nationwide anti-police brutality protests last year. This was despite warnings by the Nigeria Police that marches to mark the one year anniversary of the #EndSARs protest would not be condoned. Continued on page 48

Eight Alleged Nigerian Cultists Arraigned in S’Africa over Money Laundering, Others...

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WITH LOVE FROM TURKEY... L-R: Wife of Turkish President, Emine Erdogan; President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey; President Muhammadu Buhari and wife, Aisha Buhari, during the Turkish President's visit at the Presidential Villa, Abuja...yesterday PHOTO: GODWIN OMOIGUI

THURSDAY OCTOBER 21, 2021 •T H I S D AY

THURSDAY OCTOBER 21, 2021 • T H I S D AY

THURSDAY OCTOBER 21, 2021 •T H I S D AY

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Group News Editor: Goddy Egene Email: Goddy.egene@thisdaylive.com, 0803 350 6821, 0809 7777 322, 0807 401 0580

NEWS

THEIR HOLINESSES AT GOVT HOUSE OWERRI... L-R: Bishop of Isi Mbano Anglican Diocese, Rt Rev Godson Ukanwa; Catholic Archbishop of Owerri, His Grace, Most Rev A.J.V Obinna; Imo State Governor, Hope Uzodimma; Anglican Archbishop of Owerri, Most Rev David Onuoha; Prelate Methodist Church of Nigeria, His Eminence, Rev Samuel Uche and CAN Chairman Imo state, Rev Eches Divine Eches, who paid a visit to the Governor at the Government House, Owerri … yesterday

FG in Talks with IMF on Repayment Terms of $3.4bn SDR To review sectors eligible for pioneer status PIA's fiscal regime to commence mid-2022 Ndubuisi Francis in Abuja The federal government is negotiating with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on repayment terms for the $3.4 billion extended to Nigeria under the Fund's global $650 billion Special Drawing Right (SDR). As part of further measures to enable member countries cope with the devastating effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, the IMF in had August approved $650 billion in SDR, out of which Nigeria received $3.4 billion based on its quota contribution and economic standing. But the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs. Zainab Ahmed, disclosed recently that although the money

has already been released to Nigeria through the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), discussions on the terms of repayment were still ongoing with the IMF. Responding to a question at the public presentation and breakdown of the 2022 budget proposals, the minister stressed that negotiations on the terms of repayment were ongoing with the multilateral institution. Ahmed explained that the SDR fund has a very concessional window, disclosing that the $3.4 billion would be part of the 2022 External Borrowing Plan. The finance minister also revealed that the federal government was to evaluate the process and policy effectiveness of fiscal incentives,

including a review of sectors eligible for Pioneer Tax Holiday Incentives under the Industrial Development Income Tax Relief Act (IDITRA). The principle of pioneer status as a tax incentive relieves sectors designated as pioneers from paying company income tax in their formative years to enable them to make a considerable profit for re-investment into the business. The pioneer status is administered by the Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission (NIPC). The federal government had in 2017 approved additional 27 industries and products to enjoy the pioneer status, including mining and processing of coal; processing and preservation of meat/poultry

and production of meat/poultry products; manufacturers of starches and starch products; processing of cocoa; manufacture of animal feeds; tanning and dressing of leather, manufacturers of leather footwear, luggage and handbags; manufacturers of household and personal hygiene paper products and manufacturers of paints, vanishes and printing ink. Others were manufacturers of plastic products (builders of plastic wares) and moulds; manufacturers of batteries and accumulators; manufacture of steam generators; manufacturers of railway locomotives, wagons and rolling stock; manufacturers of metal-forming machinery and machine tools,

Tax Dispute: Tribunal Rules in Favour of MultiChoice The Lagos Zone of the Tax Appeal Tribunal (TAT) has ruled that MultiChoice Nigeria has fulfilled the conditions required for the hearing of its appeal against the N1.8 trillion tax bill slammed on it by the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS). MultiChoice had filed an appeal before TAT over perceived wrongful assessment spanning a 10-year period. The tribunal Chairman, Prof A.B. Ahmed, according to a statement yesterday, had on August 24th, directed MultiChoice to make a statutory deposit of 50 per cent of the alleged tax liability before the continuation of the appeal. At the hearing of the matter last month, the FIRS had objected to the continuation of the appeal on the ground that MultiChoice had failed to comply with the earlier directive of the tribunal The FIRS argued that Paragraph 15(7) of the Fifth Schedule to the FIRS (Establishment) Act 2007 compels a taxpayer disputing its assessment to make a statutory payment of 50 per cent of the disputed sum before the tribunal could prosecute an appeal brought before it. The revenue agency argued that in the absence of a proof of deposit, the tribunal should discontinue hearing of the appeal and enter judgment against MultiChoice. MultiChoice, however, stated that it has complied, as the referenced section of the FIRS Act does not compel it to pay N900 billion, but an amount equal to its tax in the preceding year of assessment or one half of the disputed tax assessment

under appeal, whichever is the lesser amount plus 10 percent. MultiChoice further stated that in fulfillment of the condition and demonstration of good faith, it deposited N10 billion with the FIRS, pending the determination of the actual tax liability, if any. Delivering ruling on the objection raised by FIRS the tribunal held: “It is obvious that the appellant has not only complied with the orders of this court but has also provided sufficient evidence before this tribunal that they are credible and ready to pursue this matter with all sense of responsibility and seriousness. “It is only fair and just that they be given the privilege to do so. The appellant has complied with the orders of this tribunal given on August 24, 2021 and is therefore entitled to be heard on merit. It is hereby directed that this matter proceeds to hearing.” Ruling on other issues raised by the FIRS, the Tribunal held: “We have carefully examined the submission of both counsels and we are of the understanding that this tribunal has been called upon to give a ruling on the proper legal interpretation of the relevant sections of provisions of paragraph 15 of FIRS Establishment Act 2017 based on which the orders of this Tribunal of August 24, 2021 was made. “It is our understanding that one of the major functions of this tribunal is to interpret and outline tax laws in specific cases that will come before it. In doing this duty, we will be guided by Superior Courts of Record.

“In a plethora of cases, the courts have often held that in the interpretation of provisions of the law, the court must give meaning to the exact word used by the makers of the law without adding or subtraction. The tribunal is to declare what the law is and not what it ought to be. “This tribunal is unable to agree with the argument presented by the respondent’s counsel because the said portion of the paragraph in the FIRS talks about the ‘preceding year’ and not ‘preceding years.’

“The paragraph under the portion of the FIRS in reference also talks about assessment and not assessments. This tribunal cannot reduce anything from the paragraph as intended by the makers of the law. The paragraph under consideration also talks about ‘assessment’ and not ‘assessments’ therefore this tribunal will not add or reduce anything from the said paragraph,” the TAT ruled. It concluded by fixing 17 November for the commencement of the hearing of the appeal.

manufacturers of machinery for metallurgy, manufacturers of machinery for food and beverage processing. They also included manufacturers of machinery for textile, apparel and leather production; and manufacturers of machinery for paper paperboard production. Manufacturers of plastics and rubber machinery; players in waste treatment, disposal and material recovery; e-commerce services; software development and publishing; motion pictures, video and television programme production, distribution, exhibition and photography; music production, publishing and distribution were included Also on the list were real estate investment vehicles under the Investments and Securities Act; mortgage-backed securities under the Investments and Securities Act; and business process outsourcing. On the review of the 20222024 Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) which led to the recent upward adjustment of the 2022 appropriation bill from N13.98 trillion to N16.4 trillion, the minister said the revision became imperative to reflect the new fiscal terms in the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) 2021, as well as other critical expenditure in the 2022 proposed budget. But she was quick to point out

that the fiscal effects of the PIA’s implementation expected to take effect from January would kick in mid-2022. She said: "The revised 2022-24 Fiscal Framework is premised on hybrid of January-June (based on current fiscal regime) and JulyDecember (based on PIA fiscal regime), while 2023 and 2024 are now fully based on the PIA.” The minister, who also spoke about government's revenue drive initiatives added: "Our target over the medium term is to grow our revenue-to-GDP ratio from about 8–9 per cent currently to 15 per cent by 2025. "At that level of revenues, the debt-service-to-revenue ratio will cease to be a critical concern. It is now critical to fix our revenue challenge, because cutting expenditure is not currently a viable option, as our public expenditure /GDP ratio is also the lowest among some Africa’s leading economies. "We must however continue to rationalise our expenditures as we cannot afford waste. In reality, our largest expenditure items are currently personnel cost debt service and capital expenditure, which between them account for 85 per cent of the 2022 budget." According to her, the most viable solution to the nation's fiscal challenges was to grow revenues and plug all leakages

AfDB, MTN Sign $500,000 Grant Agreement on Women’s Access to Financial Services Michael Olugbode in Abuja The African Development Bank (AfDB) has signed a grant agreement for $500,000 with Y’ello Digital Financial Services (YDFS), a fintech subsidiary of MTN Nigeria, to be used for a study into economic, religious, and social factors hampering access to finance for women in northern Nigeria. The research, which includes a feasibility study, women-focused design and testing, would focus on both agents and customers to provide insights into women’s use of mobile money services and would be funded through the Africa Digital Financial Inclusion Facility (ADFI). The French Treasury’s Ministry for the Economy and Finance and

the French Development Agency (AFD) co-financed and are partners the facility. A statement yesterday by French Development Agency stated: “Despite being the continent’s largest economy, 55 per cent of rural Nigerians still lack access to financial services. The rate of mobile money adoption currently stands at four per cent, with an agent ratio of 228.8 agents per 1,000 adults. “Political instability and conservative cultural norms in parts of northern Nigeria are thought to present barriers to women’s access to finance. Additionally, 80 per cent of agents in the region are men.” The statement quoted the Director of the AFD in Nigeria, Xavier Muron to have said: “The AFD,

through the ADFI is delighted to support this project, furthering our work to financing solutions that contribute not only to the development of a competitive economy that creates jobs and wealth, but also to shared, inclusive and resilient development.” On behalf of YDFS, its Chief Executive Officer, Usoro Usoro, said: “We are truly excited about this partnership with the AfDB and the possibilities for advancing financial inclusion in Nigeria, particularly for the traditionally excluded segment of women in Northern Nigeria.” ADFI is a pan-African initiative designed to catalyse digital financial inclusion throughout Africa with the goal of ensuring that 332 million more Africans, 60 per cent of them women, gain

access to the formal economy. Current ADFI partners are the AFD; the French Treasury’s Ministry for the Economy and Finance; The Government of Luxembourg’s Ministry of Finance; the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation; and the African Development Bank, On the other hand, Y’ello Digital Financial Services is a fintech subsidiary of MTN Nigeria, Africa’s largest provider of communications services, and the operator of MoMo Agent service. YDFS is a financial service provider in agency banking and super-agent operation under the CBN Super-Agent framework and agent banking guidelines to provide amongst other services, agent network to serve financial institutions and Mobile Money operators in Nigeria.

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NEWS

HANDING AND TAKING OVER CEREMONY... L-R: New Chief Executive Oﬃcer, Nigeria Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDRA), Engr. Farouk Ahmed; Chief Executive Oﬃcer, Nigeria Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), Engr. Gbenga Komolafe; Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Petroleum Resources, Dr. Nasir Sani-Gwarzo; Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipre Sylva and Head of Corperate Services, defunct Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), Alhaji Ibrahim Ciroma, during the handing and taking over ceremony of the new agencies bosses, in Abuja ... yesterday.

Sylva Visits DPR, PEF, PPPRA Staff, Insists Nobody Will be Sacked Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja The Minister of State, Petroleum Resources, Mr. Timipre Sylva, yesterday accompanied the new heads of the Nigerian Upstream Regulatory Commission (NURC), Mr. Gbenga Komolafe and the Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (MDPRA), Mr Farouk Ahmed, as they officially resumed duties, reassuring staff of the defunct agencies of the security of their jobs. Sylva who visited the offices of the defunct Petroleum Equalisation Fund (PEF), the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) and the Petroleum Products

Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA), told the workers that their welfare had been fully taken care of by the new law. While stating that there was no need for apprehension, the minister noted that all the workers would be absorbed by the new agencies, explaining that by the end of the year, all outstanding issues relating to their promotion would be sorted out. He maintained that the erstwhile chief executives were not sacked as wrongly perceived, pointing that they only exited in accordance with the provisions of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA).

He said: “This is a very normal transition because the PIA has been passed and the law stipulates that certain actions must be taken; that the DPR has to wind down and two successor agencies have to be inaugurated. Even me as minister had to step down as chairman of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) as you all are aware. “It is all because of what the law states. So, when I hear DPR director has been sacked, PPPRA director has been sacked and PEF director has been sacked, that’s not reflective of the situation. “The PIA has established these agencies to succeed the DPR and

the heads of these agencies have been appointed in the wisdom of the president and they have also been cleared by the national assembly.” According to him, the former CEOs would no longer have any role since the political leadership of the successor agencies have been appointed, effectively putting an end to their tenures. “But I want to assure you that staff have nothing to worry about because the law is very clear on the position of the staff of all the agencies. No job will be lost in this process, no remuneration will be lost in this process. “Of course, the process is ongoing and there's a transition implementation committee which has been sitting and the CEOs will join the implementation com-

mittees. We will work together to ensure that there is a seamless transition,” he added. He stressed that since the leadership of the authority and the commission have now been duly inaugurated, yesterday marked their official physical takeover, which prompted him and the secretariat of the implementation committee to accompany them because of the historic nature of the event. “I have been assured of the cooperation of members of staff and you must give the cooperation you gave to the previous leadership to the new leadership that has taken over. “I want to assure the staff that anything that concerns their welfare will not be compromised and I am aware that there are some issues including your

yearly promotion issues, but I have charged the CEOs to ensure that that is concluded very expeditiously before the end of this year so that it will not affect your promotion in the next year. So, you have nothing to worry about. The law protects you completely,” he said. At the midstream and downstream authority, he reassured the National Association of Road Transport Owners (NARTO) and other organisations which have commitments with the defunct organisations that their concerns would be taken care of as the law provides. Sylva reiterated that the obligations of all other individuals and groups that have dealings with the scrapped agencies will have to be transferred to the new bodies as prescribed by the law.

NARTO Raises Concern over Debts Owed by Defunct Petroleum Agencies

Osinbajo to Youths: Join Politics to Make a Difference

Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja

Deji Elumoye in Abuja

The Nigerian Association of Road Transport Owners (NARTO) yesterday expressed worry over the outstanding debts owed it by the defunct Petroleum Equalisation Fund (PEF) and the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA). In a statement issued in Abuja, the National President of the group, Yusuf Othman, said members of the association were in the dark concerning their relationship with the scrapped entities. The organisation stressed that the federal government had yet to inform its members of what would become of the liabilities, insisting that it must be carried along in order to plan accordingly. NARTO urged the government to be proactive and invite the association for a meeting on the matter, instead of waiting for a threat before doing what is necessary to ensure peace in the oil and gas sector. However, Othman expressed support for the enactment of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA)

and the newly appointed Chief Executive Officers of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Regulatory Agency (NMDRA), Mr. Farouk Ahmed and that of the Nigerian Upstream Regulatory Commission (NURP), Mr. Gbenga Komolafe. "First of all we congratulate the government on the passage of the PIA. We also congratulate the new agencies. However, we want to know our fate as regards our liabilities with the PPPRA and PEF as regards our going forward. "We want to know our fate. We are not averse to the government. We are not against it but we are in the dark," the NARTO stated. It added: "Now that the government said it has scrapped the DPR, PPPRA and PEF, we need to be briefed officially what is the status of our operations now. What is the status of our outstanding monies with PEF and what is the fate of our current operation?" According to Othman, NARTO is a critical stakeholder that hauls petroleum products across the country and operates on credit, resulting in the outstanding debt

that the scrapped agencies are owing members of the association. "This is because as it is today, we haul across the country and we do it on credit and later we are reimbursed. Now that they have scrapped PEF, what is the fate of our cooperation and our outstanding money. We have to be informed going forward so that we can tell our members and plan ahead. "You don't just scrap PEF and keep quiet. Let's be informed about the liabilities of the PEF because we are part of the liability. We want to know what it is because we are critical stakeholders as far as DPR, PEF and PPPRA are concerned. “It is not just scrapping them, when you scrap them what happens to the operation that these organs do? Are they going to be absorbed by the new entities or what happens to us? We need to know. Government needs to be proactive. "It is not that we want to threaten the government. They need to be proactive. The new entities that have come in need to invite us for talks," the body said.

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has called on Nigerian youths to get involved in politics, as the way to transform society is largely dependent on the actions and decisions of those who occupy public offices. Osinbajo, who declared that he became an active civil society campaigner at the age of 24 when he was a teacher, gave the charge yesterday at a virtual forum, where he interacted with Nigerian Fellows of the Mandela Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders. He said while a lot could be achieved in civil society, government still held the ace in terms of capacity and resources to bring social goods to the largest numbers. "Besides, being deciders instead of pressure groups at the table in policy formulation are hugely different positions. The consummation of our great ideas to transform our societies ultimately will depend on “those politicians” as we sometimes

derisively describe them. “African nations and especially our country, cannot afford to have its best minds and most committed social activists remain only in the civil space. No, we simply can’t afford it, you have to get involved in politics. You have to be in the position to make the difference on the scale that is required. "Of course, there are many who will not be involved in politics but those that are inclined should, and there will be many challenges even in the winning or getting heard in politics. But I want to say to you that it should be an objective that you should set for yourselves, to get involved at whatever level of politics so that you can make the difference on the scale that is required," he said. Recalling his days in civil society and later in politics beginning as Lagos State Attorney-General in 1999, the Vice President noted that it took public office for him to be able to get the scale of change that was required to make a difference. His words: “Without public

office, I would have remained a pressure group activist, I would have done some nice things, but I wouldn’t have been able to make the changes that my country required. I was once where you were. I was part of several civil society groups at the time. “I joined the first civil society group when I was 24. I was teaching at the time. I also co-founded the anti-corruption group, Integrity, and then Convention on Business Integrity (which is still existing today and they function out of Abuja and Lagos). “I was chair of the Legal Research and Development Centre, where we worked on civil rights issues and legal defence for the poor. We did a couple of legal defence initiatives, we got funding from donors and tried to do the best we could.” Responding to concerns about the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) test, the VP said relevant government ministries and agencies would work on making things easier for Nigerians.

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NEWS

DIRI'S N310.7BN 2022 'BUDGET OF SUSTAINABLE GROWTH'... L-R: Deputy Speaker, Bayelsa State House of Assembly, Michael Ogbere; Deputy Governor, Senator Lawrence Ewhrudjakpo; Governor Douye Diri and the Speaker, Abraham Ingobere, when the governor presented the State's 2022 Appropriation Bill to the Assembly in Yenagoa ... yesterday

CBN Earmarks N500m Grant to Promote Entrepreneurship in Tertiary Institutions Allots 50% term loans to female entrepreneurs James Emejo in Abuja The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) yesterday unveiled guidelines for the implementation of its Tertiary Institutions Entrepreneurship Scheme (TIES) by setting aside a total grant of N500 million for five top Nigerian polytechnics and universities with the best entrepreneurial pitches/ ideas. The bank said the grant shall apply in the areas of agribusiness, information technology, creative

industry and science and technology. The CBN added that it would constitute a Body of Experts (BoE) from the private and public sector for the biennial regional and national entrepreneurship competitions to evaluate entrepreneurial and technological innovations submitted by Nigerian polytechnics and universities. The BoE shall recommend projects with high potential and transformational impact for the grant award. The CBN also said to promote

gender equality, 50 per cent of the term loan component of the scheme shall be earmarked for female-led or -owned projects. The bank pointed out that the broad objectives of the TIES framework was to among other things, enhance access to finance by undergraduates and graduates of polytechnics and universities in the country with innovative entrepreneurial and technological ideas. Other specific objectives of the scheme included providing an

NDIC Seeks Review of Banks' Deposit Insurance Premium James Emejo in Ibadan

The Managing Director/Chief Executive, Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC), Mr. Bello Hassan, yesterday said an effective methodology for determining a realistic Target Fund Ratio (TFR) was being developed as part of measures to enhance the deposit insurance system and align it with present reality. Hassan said this during the opening of the 2021 NDIC workshop for Finance Correspondence Association of Nigeria (FICAN) with the theme: "Enduring Extreme Disruption: Resilience and Reinvention for Banking System Stability and Deposit Insurance," holding in Ibadan, Oyo State. The International Association of Deposit Insurers (IADI) Funding of Deposit Insurance Systems (2009), stipulates that an appropriate fund target size should be adequate to at least cover the potential losses of the deposit insurer under normal conditions. Essentially, the TFR is the ratio of fund that often determines the optimal fund level that enables a deposit insurer to effectively meet its obligation to depositors. All insured banks contribute a premium to a pool fund which the NDIC utilises for payment resolution in the event bank failure. Hassan said the corporation had commenced the review of

approach to the determination of premium by banks to make it more risk-based, such that, the probability of the risk crystallising, becomes a major factor in the pricing methodology of premium going forward. He said the move was to ensure that the insurance cover remained adequate to support the objective within the banking sector. The MD stressed that the corporation had also evolved a strategy which accentuates the existing framework. He said as economies across the globe continued to grapple with the devastating impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, it had become expedient and highly desirable for supervisors to come up with appropriate strategies that are required to build resilience into the financial system. This, he said, became inevitable as the financial sector seeks to provide the much-needed support to the federal government’s economic recovery agenda. Hassan added: "Our key focus is therefore to scale up the deposit insurance framework; provide timely support to insured institutions as and when required; ensure faster and orderly resolutions of liquidated insured institutions; as well as continue to assist the central bank in promoting the stability of the banking system". He said there had been recent calls on the corporation to enhance the provision of support, to insured institutions that are facing

financial difficulties. To this end, Hassan said, "We have identified the need to reconsider our framework, to provide realistic terms and conditions that will enable qualifying insured financial institution promptly access technical and or financial support, in line with S.(2) (1)(b) of the NDIC Act, whilst also protecting the corporation from possible downside risks." He said the NDIC was equally collaborating with relevant stakeholders, to ensure the corporation discharges its responsibilities efficiently without hindrances, following revocation of licenses of any insured institution by the CBN.

enabling environment for co-creation, mentorship and development of entrepreneurial and technological innovations; fast track ideation, creation and acceleration of a culture of innovation-driven entrepreneurship skills among graduates of polytechnics and universities in Nigeria and promote gender balance in entrepreneurship development through capacity development and improved access to finance. Others are to leapfrog entrepreneurial capacity of undergraduates and graduates for entrepreneurship and economic development in partnership with academia and industry practitioners; and boost contribution of non-oil sector to the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The apex bank stressed that in order to ensure that the scheme achieved its desired objective and targets, the focal targets under the programme shall include Gradpreneur-led innovative startups and businesses where 25,000 businesses would have access to finance under the scheme annually. It stated that sustainable jobs created by 75,000 gradpreneur-led businesses would be financed under the scheme annually while femalegradpreneurs would account for 50 per cent of total projects financed under the scheme per annum. Furthermore, the bank stated that agropreneurs financed as a

percentage of total projects financed under the scheme would constitute 40 per cent per annum while creative entrepreneurs financed as a percentage of total projects financed under the scheme would account for 20 per cent per annum. Also techpreneurs financed as a percentage of total projects financed under the scheme would represent 20 per cent per annum while other gradpreneurs financed as a percentage of total projects financed under the scheme would be 20 per cent per annum. The CBN stressed that priority would be given to innovative entrepreneurial activities with high potentials for export, job creation and transformational impact. On funding for the scheme, the apex bank noted that the take-off capital would be sourced from both the Agribusiness/ Small and Medium Enterprise Investment Scheme (AGSMEIS), adding that the scheme shall be implemented through three components namely term loan, equity Investment and developmental components. Under the term loan component, individual project would access a maximum of N5 million with a five- year tenor and interest rate of five per cent and nine per cent from March 1, 2022. Also, for partnership/company project, loan is limited to N25 million with five-year tenor with a five- year tenor and interest rate

of five per cent and nine per cent from March 1, 2022. The bank said focus shall be on both greenfield (new) and brownfield (existing) projects in ratio 40:60, respectively. The CBN further stated that the scheme shall be operated for a period of 10 years in the first instance, not exceeding 31st December 31, 2031, depending on the complexity of the project. The guidelines among other things spelt out penalties for fractions by stakeholders under the scheme. The central bank stated that the scheme was pursuant to the CBN Act, 2007, and as part of its policy measures to address rising youth unemployment and underemployment. The framework was developed in partnership with Nigerian polytechnics and universities to harness the potential of graduate entrepreneurs (gradpreneurs) in Nigeria. The scheme was also designed to create a paradigm shift among undergraduates and graduates from the pursuit of white-collar jobs to a culture of entrepreneurship development for economic development and job creation. "The scheme thus aims to provide an innovative financing model that will create jobs, enhance the entrepreneurial ecosystem and support economic growth and development," the bank added.

No Dispute over Ownership of Benin Artefacts, Says Oba of Benin Adibe Emenyonu in Benin City The Oba of Benin, Omo N’Oba N’Edo Uku Akpolokpolo, Oba Ewuare II has said there was no dispute over the ownership of thousands of Benin artefacts taken from the palace of the Royal family in 1897, during the British invasion of the kingdom, which are now scattered across Europe, United States and other parts of the world. The monarch stated this when he received in his palace, the Chairman, DAAR Communications, Chief Raymond Dokpesi who paid him a courtesy

visit on his birthday and fifth coronation anniversary where he commended the efforts of the Oba at bringing back the artworks. Oba Ewuare II said: “The good are behind you in all your efforts to ensure that all the artefacts that were taken away from here are brought back and restored.” The Oba also dispelled speculations that some of the works were not taken from the palace but elsewhere just as he commended the federal government and the Director General, National Commission for Museums and Monuments (NCMM) for the support.

While commending Dokpesi for taking the lead in private broadcasting in Nigeria despite the unfriendly environments, Oba Ewuare II revealed that Cambridge University in the United Kingdom which his father, Oba Erediauwa attended would soon return some artefacts from Benin in its custody. “We hear that some researchers in Germany have said that some of them were produced here, some were produced there and so on and so forth, but this here and there, where are these here and there? “Were they outside the Benin

Empire, where they outside the Benin Kingdom, were any of the artefacts produced outside the Benin Kingdom? If they were all produced in the Benin kingdom, why would any researcher try to say some were taken out of Benin Palace and some were taken from elsewhere? All elsewhere or wherever they are talking about, are they not all under the authority of the Oba of Benin? Are they not all under the Benin empire?” He said the planned museum to house the artefacts would be domiciled in a planned building opposite the palace.

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THURSDAY OCTOBER 21, 2021 •T H I S D AY

THURSDAY OCTOBER 21, 2021 • T H I S D AY

THURSDAY OCTOBER 21, 2021 •T H I S D AY

THURSDAY OCTOBER 21, 2021 • T H I S D AY

T H I S D AY • THURSDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2021

COMMENT

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

YEMI OSINBAJO, RUN FOR PRESIDENT, RUN Vice-president Osinbajo has what it takes to be president of Nigeria, argues Emmanuel Olorunda-Otaru

rom 1999, when democracy got rooted in the country, it has been precedential, for religious balance and harmony by rotating the nation’s presidents and Vice Presidents, between the two great faiths, Muslim and Christian, and between the North and South. Where the President, a Muslim comes from the North, his Vice President, a Christian comes from the South. And a Christian President from the South succeeds a Muslim President from the North and vice versa. A perfect arrangement! By this wisdom and mutual relationship, former President Olusegun Obasanjo, a Christian Southern President took over in 1999 with Atiku Abubakar, a Muslim as his Vice President .from the North. Late President Musa Yar’Adua, a Muslim with a Southern Christian Vice President, Goodluck Ebele Jonathan did their turn, and succeeded by the incumbent President Muhammadu Buhari, a Muslim, with a Southern Christian Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo. The only exception was former Vice President, Namadi Sambo (Christian) from the North to President Jonathan. This kind of gentlemanly agreement, though not written in the national constitution, has engendered cohesion, sense of belonging and national unity, in a vast and heterogeneous society like Nigeria. It can also be argued that the spirit and letters of the Federal Character clause in the constitution is a strong backing to this gentlemanly practice. From the foregoing, there is need to maintain this unity in diversity, by allowing a Southern Christian to succeed President Buhari, after his eight years tenure in 2023. Among the strong likely contenders in the All Progressives Congress (APC) from the South for the presidency, are incumbent Vice President Yemi Osinbajo (Christian); APC National leader, Bola Ahmed Tinubu (Muslim); Ekiti State Governor, Kayode Fayemi (Christian), to mention a few. The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on the other hand, may throw up a Southern Christian from among the unapologetic frontrunners governors, as revealed by THISDAY newspaper recently. Apart from the above inherent sensitivity in the nation’s political space, which is for the good of the country, any other sentiments should not be used to determine who should vie for the presidency. The Jagaban of Lagos, Bola Tinubu, is a great politician no doubt. He has laboured for the ruling party and is eminently qualified to vie for the president of the country. But is this enough to cajole him to vie for the presidency? Though he has not come out to say he is contesting for the president, may be because of his health condition, the body language and feelers from his supporters are showing the signs. Earlier this year, his campaign posters surfaced in some parts of Lagos before they were later removed. Even now, a campaign group rooting for his candidature, South-West Agenda for Asiwaju (SWAGA), is already mobilizing and making consultation for the undeclared ambition. Tinubu’s campaign posters have been seen in some strategic areas of the state, even as the electoral umpire, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), has not declared electioneering campaign open

VICE PRESIDENT OSINBAJO, AN ERUDITE LAW PROFESSOR, HAS THE INTELLECTUAL CAPACITY AND SAGACITY, COUPLED WITH ENERGY, GOOD HEALTH AND DETERMINATION TO MOVE THE COUNTRY FORWARD IF GIVEN THE MANDATE

for the 2023 polls. It is a good advice that the Asiwaju of Lagos should rather pay attention to his health challenges, rather than carrying the heavy burden of leadership of the country on frail shoulders. The gargantuan problems of this country are too daunting for any ailing president again. At these trying times in the life of the nation, Nigeria needs a healthy and energetic president, a workaholic president. So that the country can move forward from the current degradation and misrule. One sympathises with Tinubu for his health challenges. The question is, can Nigeria afford another sickly president? When former President Umaru Yar’adu was sick, the country was equally sick, drifting aimlessly, until after his demise, when Jonathan took over, before things began to normalise again. There is an adage which says, “Once beaten, twice shy”. Have we learnt any lesson? In the case of President Buhari, he has been frequenting foreign healthcare and Nigerians have been praying fervently for his good health. Who says the president’s frequent trips for healthcare abroad is not telling on the nation’s dwindling resources? And, invariably impacting negatively on the country’s development by and large? Perhaps, if governments over the years have developed our healthcare facilities, there would be no need for our leaders to run abroad for healthcare, at a huge cost to the economy. The same precedent that disallowed Tinubu from being the vice president to Buhari in 2015 as a Muslim- Muslim ticket, is still the same that will now favour a Christian successor to Buhari. Tinubu has nothing to lose if he throws his weight behind Yemi Osinbajo, his godson, to become the president of the country. He has been a kingmaker in Lagos State. Let him also become a national kingmaker. He has been mightily blessed. Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, an erudite law professor, has the intellectual capacity and sagacity, coupled with energy, good health and determination to move the country forward if given the mandate. From the little time he acted for his principal, he demonstrated sterling leadership qualities, which were noticeable then. Osinbajo would be a good president for Nigeria. He believes in the unity of the country. His loyalty is unalloyed. His acceptability to Nigerians North and South, Christians and Muslims is not in doubt. He has no known baggage weighing him down. No wonder, a Northern governor and other traditional rulers in the North are already campaigning for him and urging him to run for the President in 2023. This writer, as a Nigerian who yearns for quality leadership for this country, ‘God’s own country’, believes in Osinbajo’s leadership qualities. I equally urge him to run for the president. The youths of this great country would support him. The elderly also will support him. And the Almighty God would back him up for victory. So, that this great country would rise from the ashes of inept leadership since independence, and take her rightful place among the comity of nations. Olorunda-Otaru can be reached via emmanuel.otaru@ thisdaylive.com

APC CONGRESSES AND THE RECONCILIATION COMMITTEE Gregory Onazi writes that the Adamu-led committee is expected to reconcile all interests before the national convention

ven before it was inaugurated, the National Reconciliation Committee of the All Progressives Congress (APC) set up by the Caretaker Committee of the party to reconcile aggrieved members of the party had its plate full. As at the time of the inauguration of the committee by the Chairman of the APC Caretaker and Extra-ordinary Convention Planning Committee (CECPC), Governor Mai Mala Buni, the party was already confronting a litany of crises arising from its ward and local government congresses. The friction was so rife that parallel congresses at ward and local government levels held in no less than eight states of Kwara, Imo, Ogun, Zamfara, Lagos, Osun, Enugu, Delta. Factions also began to emerge with members queuing behind certain emerging forces within the party in many states. For instance, in Kwara State, the party was divided between those loyal to the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, and the state governor, AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, while in Ogun State, members were divided between Governor Dapo Abiodun and the immediate past governor, Ibikunle Amosun. In Osun State, the fight was between the Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola and Governor Gboyega Oyetola while in the North, there is a simmering crisis in the Zamfara State chapter of the party with Governor Bello Matawalle on the one hand, and his immediate predecessor, AbdulAziz Yari and Senator Kabiru Garba Marafa, on the other hand, locking horns. Similar situations also played out in Delta

State with the Minister of State for Employment, Labour and Productivity, Mr. Festus Keyamo, SAN and Deputy Senate President, Ovie Omo-Agege, while Governor Hope Uzodinma and his predecessor, Senator Rochas Okorocha in Imo are also feuding. As the committee was settling down to its work shortly after its inauguration, the state congresses of the party, which held last Saturday, aggravated the situation by opening fresh wounds, thereby adding to the tasks before the committee, with no less than 13 states ripped by the fracas of parallel congresses. At the last count, the APC has three chairmen in Akwa Ibom; two in Kano; and two each in Bauchi, Ogun, Kwara, Lagos, Rivers, Abia, Niger, Ekiti, Imo, Osun and Cross River States. The Reconciliation Committee at inception, was charged with among other tasks, reconciling members who were aggrieved, to resolve such differences and to cement cracks within the party so as to approach the forthcoming National Convention of the party with singleness of purpose. This, the committee is supposed to achieve, by identifying and engaging aggrieved groups in each state where there are such disputes, consulting with party leaders and concerned members in order to restore peace, normalcy and stability within the party. There are fears that given the mountain of challenges before it, the reconciliation committee may find it difficult to achieve true reconciliation for party members in the affected states ahead of the national convention. While pessimism abound as similar committees set up by the party in the

past have not achieved considerable success in their assignments, there is great hope that with the calibre of persons in the current committee, much will be achieved. The nine-member reconciliation committee headed by former governor of Nasarawa State and Senator representing Nasarawa West, Abdullahi Adamu, has as members, the Minister of Special Duties and former Benue State governor, George Akume; former Enugu State governor, Sullivan Chime; former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara; and the Third Republic governor of Jigawa State, Ali Sa’ad Birnin Kudu. Others are former Deputy Governor of Lagos State, Oluranti Adebule, Secretary to the Kebbi State Government, Suleiman Argungu, and the Commissioner for Health in Cross River State, Dr. Beta Edu, while Moses Adeyemo will serve as the secretary of the committee. From the lineup of its members, it is obvious that the committee’s members were carefully selected to include people with track records of achievements, who also command respect among party members across various states and regions of the country. This much was alluded to by the Chairman of the APC’s CECPC, Governor Buni, who vouched for the impeccable character, experience and sagacity of the chairman and other members of the national reconciliation committee. He said the committee’s members were selected based on “their track record of excellence”, adding that they had served the party with high sense of commitment and dedication. Governor Buni emphasised that “the task before this committee is very important and crucial. It

is to reconcile, harmonise, integrate and unite members of the party. The committee is also expected to resolve real or seeming differences and to cement all cracks for us to approach the National Convention with a united front”. Undoubtedly, the leadership of the committee and its members are known to be dogged and committed to the cause of the party. There is, therefore, groundswell of optimism that the Senator Adamu-led Committee will spare no efforts in working for the party’s interest. They are also well respected in the party having served the nation in various positions before and have made marks in various ways. Incidentally, the enormity of the task before the APC’s national reconciliation committee was not lost on its chairman, Senator Abdullahi Adamu. In his response to the choice of members of the committee, during its inauguration, the former Nasarawa State governor, while appreciating the confidence of the party’s leadership in himself and other members of the committee, committed to striving hard to achieve the objective of the committee’s composition. Being the humble person he is, despite his versatility, resourcefulness and experience, Senator Adamu solicited the support of the APC’s caretaker committee and all its members nationwide, to enable the committee he is leading realise its mandate. As the Adamu-led national reconciliation committee of the ruling party sets out to undertake the gargantuan task before it, therefore, party faithful are full of expectations that the committee will remain impartial, objective and focused towards stabilising the party for a successful national convention, which will ultimately catapult a vibrant leadership to steer it to the 2023 general elections. Onazi wrote from Abuja

T H I S D AY • THURSDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2021

EDITORIAL GENERAL COLIN POWELL (1937-2021) Powell, statesman, diplomat and former United States Secretary of State dies, at age 84

he death on Monday of General Colin Powell has come as a major loss to the global community. The loss is even more for the Americans of African descent to whom Powell remained a leading light of what is possible for the outstanding person of colour in the country’s kaleidoscope of race and cultures. His passing also resonates with the collective global concern about the lethality of Covid-19. Although vaccinated, Powell died of complications arising from the virus. Born in New York to Jamaican parents, Powell distinguished himself in his chosen military career as a brilliant officer. He rose rapidly through the ranks to occupy major strategic positions in the United States defence and military establishments. Tutelage under several high ranking political and military personalities accelerated his ascent to the high places of power and responsibility where he excelled. In the post-Vietnam era, Powell is credited with refashioning the US strategic doctrine in its involvements in foreign campaigns. FOR THE AFRICAN He became the first CONTINENT, THERE GOES black Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, ANOTHER WORTHY a position which he AMBASSADOR OF THE BLACK RACE IN A WORLD occupied at the critical WHERE INCLUSIVENESS, moment of the first DIVERSITY AND RESPECT Gulf War. He led the FOR EXCELLENCE REMAIN US Army successfully through the campaign UNIFYING ETERNAL that culminated in the VALUES liberation of Kuwait from Iraqi occupation. He brought to that responsibility his great sense of authority while remaining affable and approachable. In retirement, Powell was appointed the first black American Secretary of State by President George W. Bush. His campaign against Iraq on account of being in possession of Weapons of Mass Destruction resulted in a rather anticlimactic drama on the floor of the United Nations. It turned out that Iraq had no such weapons. But

Letters to the Editor

the invasion of Iraq, and the toppling of Saddam Hussein did take place. The consequence has been the conversion of Iraq into a haven for fundamentalist jihadist terror.

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

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EDUCATION AND THE CERTAINTY OF KNOWLEDGE

or years now, feelers have been that education is on a downward spiral in Nigeria. Those who follow the trend and news in Nigeria`s education sector argue that this fact is known to the world and his wife. It is easy to see. It is an aging generation that takes to corners and nurse nostalgia about what Nigerian schools have become. Yet, out of that generation, the same generation which operates the levers of power in Nigeria, have come some of the most ruthless saboteurs of Nigeria`s education sector. There is the egregious dilapidation many public schools wear like a straggling sackcloth. It then falls the lot of hapless school kids , some as young as three, to sit in windowless and chairless classrooms on their first day in school where poorly renumerated teachers grumpily welcome them. At the secondary school level, dilapidation meets indiscipline to concoct a witch`s brew that is every teacher`s worst nightmare. Kids from unstable families who find little joy in education see in public schools the perfect theatre for getting acquainted with the skills and tools needed for future notoriety. With glee they wear the patience of long-suffering teachers thinner. At the university level, academic calendars have become a chilling chronology of ceaseless strikes. Undergraduates, many of whom do not hold out

he diplomatic complexity of the Iraq invasion grated on Powell’s integrity and consumed the greater part of his humongous energy. Although he had reservations about the invasion, his training as a soldier probably compelled him to obey the last command once the president as commander-in-chief had thought it wise to undertake a mission. As the nation’s chief diplomat, he found his conciliatory posture and studied managerial approach frequently at cross purposes with the hawkish disposition of the majority of neo conservatives in President Bush’s cabinet, especially Vice President Dick Cheney and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. A man of charm and remarkable eloquence, Powell was a reservoir of integrity and disarming humility. Politicians and leaders in business courted him. Despite his unabashedly cosmopolitan and pan American outlook, he was eminently proud of both his racial background and heritage. It was a measure of this conﬁdence that Powel once aspired to run for the presidency in the Republican party in 1996. At that point, the Republicans saw him as their saviour in a race that demanded substance and integrity rather than crass partisanship. He withdrew from the contest when counseled by his family. It is also remarkable that at the height of the racist rascality of former President Donald Trump, Powell was one of the voices of authority and reason that rose above partisanship in defence of America’s authentic heritage of diversity and inclusiveness. In the passing of General Colin Powell, the world has lost a great statesman. At THISDAY/ARISE Media Group, we have also lost a friend who had, at different times, graced our events in Nigeria and abroad, including chairing in London the 2008 ARISE Magazine ‘Africa Rising Festival’. For the African continent, there goes another worthy ambassador of the black race in a world where inclusiveness, diversity and respect for excellence remain unifying eternal values.

much hope for the future see their academic sessions summarily interrupted by endless ASUU strikes. When these strikes come out of nowhere some of the students go home never to return. Some return only to listlessly drag themselves over the finish line. There has been government`s inertial body language. Government after government pays lavish lip service to education and the welfare of Nigerian students. However, when push comes to shove, those in charge choose the feathering of their private nests over the funding of the education of millions of Nigerian students. There is no escaping the fact that quality education is panacea for the grave sickness Nigeria suffers from. Education is the brightest light and the most effective of elixirs. Education arms people with the resources to sift the wheat of truth from the chaff of lies. The value of education cannot properly be articulated. It is why quality education is Boko Haram`s worst nightmare. Education has the unrivalled power to deprive them of the raw materials they mould into terror and terrorists. It explains why all over the world, cowardly terror groups reserve their most toxic enmity for education. It is why they do everything to tear down classrooms and disperse students. It is why they do everything to burn books and behead teachers. They recognize in education their invisible but most invincible enemy. Kene Obiezu, keneobiezu@gmail.com

WRONGFUL ACQUISITION OF LANDS IN ANAMBRA

e the representatives of individual family land owners of Odachala camp of Ogbu Village, Ogunzu CampIgbu Village, Akpaka Umuaama Ogbu portion and Umuatuolu portion, Odonete Umuatuolu, Ananeanya Umuatuolu, Obodo-Bunee Camp Umuatuolu, Anamachioji Iruewugbu Umuatuolu and Oguguoma Camp all in Ogbu Village, Umuatuolu Village and Mgbede Village have their own lands. These Villages make up the Ivite Umueri quarter. The lands mentioned above are various families’ lands and they are not the communal land owned by the Ivite Umueri quarter. We hereby state that the land we owned jointly are the lands we donated to the Anambra State Government for the construction of the Mega Anambra International Cargo and Passengers Airport at Ivite Umueri. It is worthy of note that all the above-mentioned camps are the individual family lands we inherited from our fore-fathers and all these are not jointly owned by Ivite quarter of Umueri in Anambra East Local Government Area of Anambra State. We want to state categorically that some

selfish indigenes of Ivite Umueri who call themselves elites who are also serving and retired military officers, serving and retired officers of the Nigeria Police Force, are planning to cook unfounded allegations against the individual land owners of Ivite Umueri and also to intimidate, incarcerate and maltreat us to grab our lands. We also want to state clearly that the officers normally boast that they have contacts of Chief of Army Staff and that of the Inspector-General of Police and as such, they can do anything. The so-called elites are also boasting that nobody will question their illegal activities in Ivite Umueri. Again, we want to state that the land matters are pure civil in nature and not criminal. Therefore, we are appealing to the Presidency, Chief of Army Staff and Inspector-General of Police to use their esteemed good offices to direct the General Officer Commanding (GOC) 82 Division of the Nigerian Army, Enugu and the Assistant Inspector-General of Police (AIG) in-charge of Zone 13 Zonal Command Headquarters at Ukpo, Anambra State to desist from involving themselves in this civil matter as it amounts to unprofessional conduct. Ajamma Akwu, Sunday Nchie, Nmee Adee, For Concerned Citizens of Ivite- Umueri

THURSDAY OCTOBER 21, 2021 •T H I S D AY

THURSDAY OCTOBER 21, 2021 • T H I S D AY

THURSDAY OCTOBER 21, 2021 •T H I S D AY

THURSDAY OCTOBER 21, 2021 • T H I S D AY

T H I S D AY ˾THURSDAY OCTOBER 21, 2021

POLITICS

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

Okonkwo

I Will Spring a Surprise in Anambra Guber Election Dr. Obiora Okonkwo is a major contender in the November 6 Anambra State governorship election on the platform of Zenith Labour Party. He believes that his robust campaign anchored on a well-thought out 10-point agenda for the state, will give him victory at the polls. The astute entrepreneur and businessman, who sits on the Board of United Nigeria Airlines and other leading companies said Anambra people are now wiser and would go for the man who can deliver and not for “White Sepulchers” parading as political parties. Okonkwo said the electorate would vote for individuals and not parties, adding that street shows will not determine the winner of the election. Excerpts:

f the election is held today, what chance do you and your party stand? We have come a very long way since we emerged the candidate of Zenith Labour Party (ZLP) which was relatively an unknown party. And from the progress we have made in the last two months, I am pretty much convinced that if the election is conducted free and fair; we stand a chance of being the winner, for the reason that the reality is dawning on Anambrarians that the three major political parties; All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and All Progressives Congress (APC) are not the best options as things stand today. Apart from the damage these parties have done to themselves because of their previous actions and inactions; the people are also realizing that certain circumstances that have to do with various litigations do not leave the parties in the right positions. They know the situation of things are not getting better daily, this has further become clear to Anambrarians that this race is not about party; it’s about the candidate-his competence, his vision and his dedication to development in Anambra State. Having seen in recent times people jumping from one party to another; so, they are now saying; what is it in parties when one can be in a party today and tomorrow he jumps to another? So, they are saying, let’s follow somebody they can trust and believe in his vision even if it means blindly. People are looking towards individuals and when it comes to individual consideration, with all sense of humility, we are not rated lower than any one of them. A combination of these factors is what gives me confidence that this election is for my party, Zenith Labour Party and I to lose; knowing also that we have entrusted every other thing we do in God. We know that once God has said ‘yes;’ nobody can change it. Though you are quite popular as seen out there in Anambra, but some persons are concerned about your platform; they say that the ZLP doesn’t have the structure to win the Anambra governorship. Don’t you see this as an impediment? Yes, for a party that has not won any election in Anambra State, that concern might be right. But that was two or three months ago. The situation on ground now is different because political structures that we talk about are human beings; they are not concretes. Where human beings move is where the structure moves. As we speak today, we have developed the structure of the party at the grassroots; the 326 wards and 5720 polling units in Anambra State, having completed the list of our agents attached to each of the polling units in the state. We have also set a parallel structure made up of our support group in each polling unit. Those are numbers and when you merge them, they run into hundreds of thousands of people. So, we have been quietly and silently doing the most important thing towards this election, which is building silent, physical human structures instead of doing public show; the ones that eyes could see. We can give you names and list of those who really believe in us that are already dedicated to cast their votes. Beyond that, we have also received within our fold a whole lot of other structures which we are inheriting. These are groups of people who have their own structures who do bulk voting and we have been going into some negotiations; a good number of them we are keeping low and quiet as instrument for upset and few others we will probably make public in the coming days. For what we know, which people do not know; I think that I am quite happy at the stage things are now. Besides, it remains work in progress as a lot of critical things would still happen few days to the election and we are positioning ourselves,

Okonkwo so that when that happens, it will be to our advantage. Some people feel that you have taken a wrong political step by leaving the PDP to vie for governorship in ZLP? Well, if you look at leaving a popular party to a relatively unknown party in a normal political situation, that feeling might be correct. I mean when all the political parties are up and running and all their candidates are brand fire; doing all they have to do, have their own segments of the voters, then if you find yourself in a small party, then that feeling and insinuation is correct. But in this case, and the way things are turning out; I, to the contrary, see more people coming around now, than those who may have thought this same way two-three months ago, to tell us that they can see this is really a divine move; we’ve seen the wisdom and divinity to go to this party; we are now seeing clearer what we didn’t see two-three months ago. And because the three major political parties are in disarray; APGA as a political party is in total disarray and rejected by the greater percentage of Anambra people and they have made up their minds that they are not in any way going to reward their failures with another

succession. There seems to be a common ground and consensus among the voters. APGA members have seen their frustrations and are decamping to parties where they don’t even have any advantage but to express their anger. Then on the side of the other bigger party; which is PDP, and as you may know, PDP in Anambra today, I was the face of the party. I picked PDP from the bottomless pit it was, cleaned it up and rebranded it; put my face on it and made it viable and vibrant until injustice of Peter Obi and his cohorts was meted out to me on June 26. They were afraid of a non-dependent, self-opinionated person emerging as a governor. These are people who are in the business of godfatherism. But I don’t think they will survive that mistake, the last minute injustice they dished out to me because it was a terrible mistake and they will live with the stigma until the end of the election. So, the consequences are visible that even the party; the campaign team has been rejected by a whole lot of people and all those grassroots party members are waiting for the opportunity to show the PDP their anger and they are patient enough waiting for the day of reckoning. So, you will see massive PDP votes coming to my humble self as a payback for what

I picked PDP from the bottomless pit it was, cleaned it up and rebranded it; put my face on it and made it viable and vibrant until injustice of Peter Obi and his cohorts was meted out to me on June 26. They were afraid of a non-dependent, self-opinionated person emerging as a governor. These are people who are in the business of godfatherism. But I don’t think they will survive that mistake, the last minute injustice they dished out to me because it was a terrible mistake and they will live with the stigma until the end of the election

I did for the party. They have remained angry saying that another person cannot just move into an already-made house that someone else built. The greater part of PDP members still prefer us and for what they already know that I stand for; our 10-point agenda, our vision which they have identified with a long time ago; they feel that wherever I go, they will go with me. So, remaining in the party is not the issue. Ten percent of the voters are probably those who are registered party members; the rest 90 percent of them are not affiliated with any political party. The other political party which you know is the APC. There is a whole lot of shows going on here and there; the drama of people decamping and all that. But what do you say when people have made a deal; decamped and then they are not welcome in their constituencies by the electorate? So, the story of people decamping to the APC are just shows for the cameras and the press because these decampees afterwards are scared to return to their constituencies and call meetings of their people to appeal to them to join them to their new party. Then it is of no benefit to the APC in terms of grassroots mobilization which it desires. Have you not heard of cases where those who decamped to the APC were beaten up and chased out of their areas in their bid to convoke meetings in their constituencies to tell them of their new party? They ran away and never went back home again. So, I can tell you that probably many of these decampees may not be home until the election is over. Beyond that, Anambra people are fully abreast of other issues happening in the political parties; the court cases, the faulty nomination processes and all of that which are capable of upturning any electoral victory if by crook or any means, any of them finds himself declared winner of the election. So, any winner from the three major political parties still have a baggage because he has pending issues that can upturn it. Part of the things going for us is that outside the three major political parties, Zenith Labour Party now is next in terms of party popularity; no doubt about that. And in terms of individual candidacy; I think we must be counted among the first. It’s a combination of factors; my name is driving Zenith Labour Party and because the electorate know that we are clean; we don’t have any judicial mines; we are coming with new hope for Anambra people, we are the only party and candidate that has no godfather issue. Anambra people are quite convinced that the issue of godfather has been one of the biggest problems of the state starting from 1999 till date and they feel that it’s enough with godfatherism. To them, that person that they must vote is somebody that is independent and unencumbered with any godfather and also, somebody who has something to show and prove that what he says he will do, that he has done it and people will see it practically. I think that amongst all these candidates, they have nothing to show when they say they will do, and they have nothing practical to show in the past. One criterion that Anambra people are united on is that for you to be voted for; you must not just tell them what you will do as governor, you have to tell them what you do for a living; what’s your source of income. It’s no more a case of former this and that; because they have realized that it’s a big danger allowing the destiny of this state in the hands of someone who has no source of income or will not have any source of income apart from the state government purse. This is one of the criteria already spelt out by Ndi-Anambra which none of the candidates of these three major parties can rarely meet. NOTE: Interested readers should continue in the online edition on www.thisdaylive.com

T H I S D AY ˾ THURSDAY OCTOBER 21, 2021

POLITICS

Sheriff: ‘Survival of APC After Buhari is Paramount’ Former Governor of Borno State, Senator Ali Modu Sheriﬀ in this interview with journalists speaks about his ambition to become the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress. Excerpts from Adedayo Akinwale

hy are you contesting the National Chairman of APC I have been going around the country, making consultations and discussing with leaders of the party before I will come formally to tell the world my intention and aspiration for the office of the National Chairman. You know you cannot do that without the press corps of our party because whatever you decide to do will go a long way to making decisions for the party men and women. After all, you are the first bus stop for our party. Anybody coming to the Secretariat will meet you first and I want to thank you for coming. Having said that, our party, the APC, you all know that today as a political party, we are about six and half years. It is a combination of different political parties that became APC and we also know that President Muhammadu Buhari even before coming into the APC had already made 12 million votes from the ANPP days and CPC days. He brought that to the table and what are we going to face after the exit of His Excellency, the President? It is the APC members that will tell the world that we are capable of getting their trust even when he has finished his tenure. Doing that, you need everybody. You need people who know the history of the party, where we are coming from, who know the history of this country, someone who has been in different aspects of life and we need to work together. We need to build bridges across the country. Today, as a party we are only six years in government, our aspirations are for the APC to be in government in the next 30 to 40 years. Doing that doesn’t come on a platter of gold. We need to put in hard work. Therefore, I believe it is important for me to reach out to all leaders of our party; the youths, the women, different organizations to tell them that we must come together to get our party to run for the next 30, 40, 50 years by the grace of God. And doing that you need a rugged captain, you don’t need a captain that will capsize. A ship has to be navigated by a knowledgeable person who knows the waters and I believe I can do that for our party if given the opportunity by party men and women who are the decision-makers. There

Sheriﬀ are so many people in the field but you can look at everybody and see where you can put your deposit. We don’t want a bank that will collapse after a short period. So, I have been going around the country. After you leave now, I will travel again. I just came in last night. I have been away, traveling from one state to the other and I will continue doing that until everybody in our party is consulted. I meet them in their homes to say that, I want to run for the National Chairmanship of this party and I believe I can lead us well because party politics is different. You and former Borno State Governor, Shettima are not on good terms, have you consultated your current and former governor to sell your aspirations? Everybody in Borno State today without any kind of contradiction is, apart from Governor Zulum who is not my product because he was in the academic, he was not a politician, everybody in any position today in Borno in one way or the other, I’m instrumental to what he or

she is. And I have no problem with any one of them. Maybe, it is just a perception. Everybody in Borno, including Shettima that you are talking about, I discussed with all of them about my ambition. I talk to them one-on-one. The Governor is the leader of the state, I have gone and discussed with His Excellency, Zulum about my ambition and aspiration. So, you don’t go out without talking to your home base. In that respect, I have been talking to all of them. I’m carrying all of them along in my aspiration. Saying that we are not in talking terms is just perception, it’s not correct. I have no problem with any of them. You don’t, for whatever reason, help people or create people and start fighting them. We have no axe to grind. I was a Governor for eight years, I have been in the Senate several times. I’m not looking for any of these positions again because I have already gone past them. I’m not looking for anything that someone from Borno is looking for. Therefore, we will work together to achieve this position for all of us, Nigeria and Borno state in particular There is a group in the party, though is not a creation of the Constitution, that is the APC Governors Forum and we know they decide who gets what in the APC. Looking at your political trajectory, a former Senator, two-term Governor, amongst others but the perception out there is that Modu Sheriff is strong-willed. Will he be a person that the Governors can tell what to do? The Governors are not comfortable with a strong-willed person. How do want to navigate around the APC Governors Forum? As of today, if I haven’t visited any APC Governor, I’m on my way to visit him. I am making consultations with all the Governors. You know, apart from being leaders of the party in the states, they are leaders of this country in all aspects of life. Anybody who can run a state, elected by his people to become a Governor must be

respected. Therefore, I am sure every Governor will like his party to always win. He wants to see a Chairman that if the opponents see, they know that they can not play with our party. They want to build their institutions. They want to put their successors when they leave office. They want to put their Senators and members of the House of Representatives and Houses of Assembly. So, every Governor will be interested to work with somebody that he can relate with and somebody that is one of them. I am one of them. I was a Governor and by that automatically I am one of them. I don’t think I have any problem with any Governor. I respect them that is why I visit them. I don’t go and see them in Abuja. I go to their states to talk to them because they are the leaders of the party, they are leaders of their states. In that respect, they are the entities of this country that will make Nigeria great all the time. Without the Governors, they are what we call the federating units of our nation. What makes Nigeria is the 36 states of the federation. Therefore, I don’t have any problem with any Governor and I will not have by the special grace of God because I have absolute respect for all of them. It is not easy for anybody to become a Governor. Governor is one person in the state that will be in charge of the whole state so there is no reasonable politician that will disrespect a Governor or will look down on him. You can not do that. I am going to work with them as leaders of the states and people that are stakeholders of this party, people who collectively will decide the future of our party with His Excellency, the President on top. I don’t have fear of that at all because I don’t think any Governor will like to see somebody that people will not respect as his National Chairman. Every Governor will like to see a Chairman who will be respected by the larger society. I don’t have any problem with any Governor. I respect them, they are the ones that will make decisions on behalf of the party because it is in the Constitution of our party that they are leaders of our party. NOTE: Interested readers should continue in the online edition on www.thisdaylive.com

Oyintiloye: There’s Serious Disconnect Between the People and Government Special Adviser to Governor Gboyega Oyetola of Osun State on Civic Engagement, in an exclusive interview with Yinka Kolawole shares his thoughts on socio-political challenges such as secession and ethnic suspicion facing the country

hat is your take on the series of socio-political challenges such as secession and ethnic suspicion facing Nigeria? As a matter of fact, no country in the world can be totally insulated from having certain socio-political challenges but most countries have also developed strong Institutional mechanism of addressing them or abating their influence in the polity. Although, in the case of Nigeria, these conundrums are not mitigated but more compounded because people have no inclination to nationalistic values and identity again as this has caused problems of secession from different angle as well as cases of ethnic suspicion and mistrust. Without equivocation, these issues in Nigeria have been largely caused by the obvious disconnect between the government and the people. There’s a serious gap between people and the government as that has precipitated lack of sense of inclusiveness and belonging among the people. Prevailing tension in the society is a direct result of complex issues, but the major one is feeling of alienation among the populace. In short, an effort must be put in place to gradually draw people closer to the government towards bridging the gap as this would offer the government a platform to directly feel people’s pulse and get direct and true popular opinion poll which would help its in policy formulation process and by extension, increase the confidence of the people in leadership. In view of the above, could you point to measures Osun state government has put in place to address these national issues.

Oyintiloye Without mincing words, His Excellency, Governor Adegboyega Oyetola has gotten it right from the beginning. He was well poised for the challenges ahead, especially the area of government-people relationship which he deemed imperative. Oyetola out of his ingenuity and democratic proclivity had understood the preeminence, dynamism and indispensability of people in democratic governance and thought so perfect to create the institution of “Civic Engagement” to directly see to the affairs of the people in relation to the Government. Having observed the seeming gap between government and the people which is not good for every

democratic government, he created the office to serve as a bridge between his government and the people of the state with the intent to draw them closer to his administration, get their tenets as at when due and take corresponding actions almost immediately to sate whatever yearnings and aspirations of the people. At this level, no strata of society is left behind. Oyetola’s administration regularly interfaces with all social strata that make up a society. The regular interface had helped Oyetola’s administration to easily sensitize people on any social issue at any given time for the purpose of re-orientation and value rebirth, as well as address issues coming directly from the people with yielding to policy reviews and action. Oyetola does not give chance to any disconnect between his government and the people let alone having any communal issue that can lead to instability which his government would not have nipped at bud. You can now see how Oyetola’s administration is meaningfully contributing to the general sociopolitical stability, sustainable development and peaceful coexistence in the country. This effort is hinged on the fact that people have sense of inclusiveness and belonging in the current administration. They see it as their own because they get involved anytime and any day. Even the non-indigenes are stakeholders in government too and that’s more reason why Osun anti-open grazing law has been embraced and supported by the Fulani Community because they have

not been left out in the processes of governance. As Special Adviser to Governor Gboyega Oyetola on Civic Engagement, would you canvass for the replication of this at the federal level as well as all other states of the federation? Against the backdrop of the fact that, Civic Engagement Office created by Governor Adegboyega Oyetola has been impactful in Osun State, I would strongly canvass for the establishment of such at the Federal Level and other states of the federation. The institution no doubt, is capable of mitigating all forms of socio-political challenges bedeviling the country because it’s a people centric establishment. This new paradigm should be embraced across board in Nigeria. It will interest you to know that in advanced democracies like US and UK, Civic Engagement is a powerful tool of government used in facilitating peoplecentric development and social engineering. It is used to engender socio-political stability and development through bringing people closer to the government to actively participate in governance process. In Nigeria of today, Civic Engagement if replicated, will help in galvanizing all social strata for the purpose of closing the existing gap between government and the people through routine and direct engagement which by result, promotes nationalistic values needed for a strong nation-building and viable social development. NOTE: Interested readers should continue in the online edition on www.thisdaylive.com

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FEATURES

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

Championing Quest to Boost the Blue Economy Chiemelie Ezeobi writes that in canvassing for a seamless blue economy, Dr. Okechukwu Henry Obi, a Nigerian oil magnet based abroad, has been vocal about the need for holistic safety in the maritime space

to go into our kind of business or any kind of business for that matter, is to first of all look for a mentor and serve that person or do apprenticeship for some time and learn as much as you can learn from that person before venturing on your own. "Our kind of business is very capital intensive, so it takes a lot of time to build up capital. So, you have to be patient and trustworthy. Integrity is the watch word and without integrity, just forget it. You will just be hitting hard rocks, before you know it, nobody will want to do business or associate with you again," he added.

igeria's maritime domain is not just a rich treasure trove of minerals and resources, but also a major factor in transatlantic trading. However, it's been burdened by maritime insecurity, piracy, poor dredging, inadequate berthing space for mother vessels, poor dredging challenges, dock problems, reduced channel width due to silting and unwholesome obstacles, amongst others. Others include inadequate functioning plants and equipment, inadequate financing and funding of port operations, proliferation of government agencies in port activities and waterways doing and duplicating the same work and charging multiple taxations and levies. While canvassing for a seamless blue economy, Dr. Okechukwu Henry Obi, a Nigerian oil magnet based abroad, posited that amongst other things, including maritime safety, regular dredging and maintenance will open ways for business boom. This is not surprising because in his dual capacity as the Managing Director of Florence Petroleum Limited and Ecumenical Investment and Developmental Company Ltd, the safety of the maritime space is important to him. Aside the natural and man-made challenges facing the maritime sector, he lamented inconsistencies in government policy and the numerous stakeholders in charge of the waterways. He therefore charged government to harmonise maritime operation of these agencies "because whatever monies we spend on them, trickles down to the final consumers, which then impacts negatively on the country's GDP." Deep Blue Project On the Deep Blue Project, he commended government's efforts. He said: "Presently the government is doing well with the launch of the deep blue project which, in my honest opinion, is the beginning of good things to come. Right now, there has been reduced incidence of sea piracy attacks up to the Gulf of Guinea. "Government should be eager in the development of the blue economy. Nigeria being a country blessed with a great amount of littoral component states and waterways of great lengths, should strive very hard and concentrate its oil resources and revenues in developing a blue economy. "Blue Economy alone can out perform any other form of economic activities you can think of. The ocean is the largest and most critical ecosystem on earth. The blue economy is the use of sea and its resources for sustainable economic development. It consists of sectors like fisheries and aquaculture, marine biotechnology, renewable energy and shipping, hospitality (like beech side hotels and bars). "Majorly, it centers on trade and actions around large bodies of water. If well harnessed, it will solve Nigerians socio-economic problems because it will help achieve economic diversification, create high value jobs and ensure food security. All the ports in Nigeria should be developed in order to reduce tension and traffic congestion to Apapa port." Engaging Dredgers On his stance about dredging the waterways, he said dredgers should be engaged in regular maintenance. Citing River Niger as the biggest and longest river in Nigeria, he said it was unfortunate it was left unattended to. He said: "The failure of successive government to dredge the river in time has contributed to the impassibility of the river. Dredging of waterways and channels are very big capital intensive projects. Though it can be divided into two, capital dredging and maintenance dredging, which is less capital intensive but requires regular venture. These are not done as it should be. " We have dredgers lying all over the place in Nigeria abandoned, probably procured with bank funds and subsidies, we should engage those dredgers to be doing maintenance dredging regularly, while small scale ports should be developed around the river banks.

Dr. Obi

"There are also fears of those living in the downstream of the lower River Niger who feel that dredging may aggravate the erosion of the river banks and increase flooding incidences. These people had protested against the dredging of the River Niger in the past thereby stalling the work over the years. "Apart from this, silting of the river Niger happens more often, so maintenance dredging should done regularly in order to make the River Niger channel navigable to barges and low draft vessels. With these, I can get a low draft vessels and self propelled barges to lift refined products from say Waltersmith Refinery in Oguta to Onitsha port to deliver to coaches, from there to the North and sub-sahara region. We will create multiple jobs along the waterways. Food supply will be made from the North to the South via same partway. Nigeria is very rich but let's fix our security. Venture into Business On how he veered from medicine to business he said: “I have always loved business and entrepreneurship because of my parents business backgrounds. As a student, I have always engaged in one business venture or the other. I knew I wasn't going to last long in the medical profession because, as a young medical officer in the university of Calabar teaching

Charge on Security Charging government to make Nigeria safe and secure, Obi said: “The only incentive I want government to give us is to make Nigeria safe and secure for everyone. Government should provide enabling environment for investors and entrepreneurs like us to keep faith in the country. " When I started out in 2006, I drive from Saminaka to Jos, Jos to Bauchi, Jos to Kaduna, Zaira, Kano, back to Abuja without fear of killer herdsmen, bandits nor kidnappers, but now, whenever I'm in the country, I dare not travel by road to any part of the country even to the Eastern part of the country. It is that bad. "So, we are not asking the government to give us money, we know how to make our money. All we need is security, peace and peaceful co-existence between the North and the South. My best friends are from the North. In fact, the first ever business support I got was N5 million in 2009 from a Muslim guy called Bashir Inuwa Ali. "I had just met him like a week before then. I was looking for a business loan from a bank and the bank was delaying, so he just asked me what I needed, I said N5 million, he just gave it to me without collateral nor signing hospital and General hospital, Saminaka, any form of agreement with him. Kaduna State, I normally travel to Cotonou " We are family friends now. A.A Rano also those days to buy vehicles and sell to my has given me credit facilities that banks haven’t colleagues, friends and referrals in order to given me. No collaterals, no sales purchase make some cool profit margins . So, when agreements signed. Just go and sell and bring I met people like Alhaji Awalu Rano (AA back their capital. So, why will I not want to Rano) in the year 2008, I knew I wasn't remain in the same country with these guys? going to continue in the medical field again Let the government make the country safe, because it wasn't giving me the satisfaction then, we will all prosper. and freedom that I desired." “The growth of commerce and industry in the present dispensation has been in reverse Making Mark in Nigeria direction majorly because of insecurity. Foreign Noting that "Nigeria is a virgin forest, direct investment has plummeted, USD inflows with population of over 200 million young has dried up. You don't expect any reasonable and energetic youths, making good fortune foreign company to invest in a country where in Nigeria is kind of guaranteed though the security of life and property is not assured. there are so many challenges, and as you My advice for improvement is to get the security solve some of the challenges, you make of the country right, then every other thing more and more money. The market is very will fall into place." huge in Nigeria. About the Entrepreneur "We make good turnovers monthly and Obi is an entrepreneur and the Managing we are not even close to the market leaders. Director of Florence Petroleum Limited and We do business in United Kingdom and Ecumenical Investment and Developmental Ghana, but you cannot compare those Company Ltd. Florence Petroleum Ltd is places with the kind of transactions that registered in Nigeria, Ghana, England and Wales occurs in Nigeria in our industry." and it is into bulk trading of Petroleum products in the West African sub-region and also into Advice to Budding Entrepreneurs marine services and vessel chartering while As an entrepreneur that has gone Ecumenical Investment was incorporated in 2009 through the ropes he offered candid to engage in property developments, importation advice to budding entrepreneurs. "I will and dealers of motor vehicles, medical services, give to up- coming Nigerians that want ago-allied and farming businesses. He has traversed all over the country, from Calabar, Cross Rivers State where he graduated to the General Hospital, Saminaka, Kaduna State where he did his NYSC and was later retained as a medical officer until he ventured into business and relocated to Jos, Plateau State where he used the proceeds of the sale of his clinics to purchase two tanker trucks and rented a filing station where he retailed petroleum products. By 2009, he resigned from employment as a medical officer and concentrated fully in building his oil and gas, trading and real estate business after which he re-located to United Kingdom from where he presently operate and supervises his multi-million naira business enterprises with a work force of over 100 in Nigeria and abroad.

Nigeria being a country blessed with a great amount of littoral component states and waterways of great lengths, should strive very hard and concentrate its oil resources and revenues in developing a blue economy. Blue Economy alone can out perform any other form of economic activities you can think of

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#THISISNIGERIA #EndSARS: Movement, Mandate, MarathonMarathon -Adeolu Adekola

rue patriotism hates injustice in its own land more than anywhere else.” - Clarence Darrow According to the Cambridge English Dictionary, a movement simply is a group of people with a particular set of aims or ideas. On October 3rd 2020, a video surfaced online allegedly claiming that officers of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) shot one Ochuko in front of Westland Hotel, Ughelli, Delta State and drove off in his car. The outrage dovetailed into a warehouse that the #EndSARS movement needed. After falling on deaf ears for several years, the silos of agitation and demand for sincere actions to be taken by state actors to eliminate rogue police officers meant young persons in Nigeria needed to move from just having an idea or an ideology to then ‘soro sókè’. It was unimaginable that a unit of the Nigerian police that had been disbanded multiple times still brazenly carried out its nefarious activities, hence, the consequent ban of SARS with other tactical squads from carrying out their routine patrols by the Inspector General of Police on October 4th was obviously not enough. And then on October 8th, the protests commenced and the internet was awash with numerous accounts of anguish, pain and trauma of relations and friends of persons maimed by the brutality of men of the Nigeria Police Force (NPF). When a system does not place value on the life of its people, and when the

consistent abuse of citizens, especially young Nigerians by a specific unit of the police goes unpunished, it was only a matter of time before the idea behind #EndSARS became a mandate for good governance. The frustrations about police brutality became an avenue to air other concerns. The #EndSARS protest by October 11th , mandated 5 things in the short, mid and long-term to measure the commitment of the Nigerian government in reforming the police. 29 states (and the FCT) constituted Judicial Panels of Inquiry to interrogate the issues as part of the #5for5 demands. According to the monitoring efforts of Yiaga Africa and Enough is Enough (EiENigeria), 25 states have concluded sitting, FCT resumed sitting this week and 4 states have suspended sitting. However, only the reports of the Ekiti, Bayelsa and Ondo panels have been submitted, presented to their respective state governments and are publicly available for scrutiny. The reports from the judicial panels in Abia, Cross River and Nasarawa states, though presented to the state governments, are not available to the public. With over 2,700 petitions submitted across the judicial panels and some compensations recommended to victims of police brutality, there are still concerns that the state actors are not doing enough. Were the judicial panels set up just to tick the box? What is keeping the states that suspended sitting from resuming? Why are the reports of the other states that have concluded sitting not publicly accessible? What

punishment has been meted out to the officers indicted? The tactics adopted by the state to suppress the voices of the movement showed insincerity to the mandate of a reformed police. Several protesters were teargassed, arrested, and killed during the protests. By October 13, Amnesty Nigeria had tracked the killing of at least 10 Nigerians during the protests. Jimoh Isiaka, for example, was killed when police opened fire to disperse protesters in Ogbomosho, Oyo State on October 10 while Mr Iloamauzor was killed on October 12 in Surulere, Lagos State when the police attacked #EndSARS protesters. Sadly, a year after hitting the streets, some protesters are still being incarcerated for protesting. The height of it all is the denial of the Nigerian government to address the occurrence of October 20 2020, when officers of the Nigerian Army at 6:45 pm shot at peaceful protesters at the Lekki toll gate. The media has documented that the #LekkiMassacre happened. Who gave the orders? Why shoot at unarmed protesters? Why hasn’t anyone been held responsible for what happened? These endless questions without answers and several actions to stifle citizens' right to freedom of expression afterwards can only mean that the movement and mandate have become a marathon. According to the renowned Nigerian novelist, Professor Chinua Achebe, “Nigeria is what it is because its leaders are not what they should be.”

The independence anniversary month of Nigeria is forever going to reference the #EndSARS movement. No amount of cosmetic fixes, gaslighting and truth-twisting by government officials will make this go away. Independence depicts freedom, but can this be truly seen by the actions of the government? The #LekkiMassacre happened with protesters singing the national anthem and waving the Nigerian flag. What more can be an irony than this? The state actors and government of the day may not like the idea of the movement and the demands of the mandate, but what is clear is that their suppression of the voice of young Nigerians reeks of undemocratic tendencies. To achieve one nation bound in freedom, peace and unity as contained in the national anthem, some key elements such as justice, freedom and equity must be in place. The popular quote that “eternal vigilance is the price of liberty” can not be more accurate. So in the true spirit of patriotism, the marathon will continue until victory is attained. While the events of October 20, 2020 and the aftermath made some young citizens lose hope in the system, others are keeping the faith by actively taking part in governance by registering to vote, activating their #OfficeoftheCitizen and asking questions to hold power accountable. Young citizens are no longer at ease and there is no backing down from the movement, mandate and marathon of good governance. t"EFPMV "EFLPMB JT BO BDUJWF DJUJ[FO XSJUJOH GSPN -BHPT BOE XPSLJOH BSPVOE BDDPVOUBCJMJUZ JO HPWFSOBODF DJWJD FOHBHFNFOU BOE JOWFTUJHBUJWF KPVSOBMJTN

THURSDAY OCTOBER 21, 2021 •T H I S D AY

T H I S D AY ˾ THURSDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2021

BUSINESSWORLD R A T E S MONEY MARKET

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How Nigeria-based e-Commerce Platform $1.8m Fundraise Will Open New Online Markets for African SMEs, Merchants

Emma Okonji With the Lagos startup ecosystem valued at more than $6 billion, attracting almost $1 billion in FDI annually, e-Commerce Platforms and FinTechs are showing their prospect of becoming the pivot of Nigeria’s economy. Giving fillip to this is the completion of a $1.8 million seed round from foreign investors, including 4DX Ventures, Enza Capital, FJLabs and Golden Palm Investments, early this week by Sendbox, the Nigeria-based

e-commerce platform for merchants in Africa. The effort, the company said, will open up new online markets for small and medium enterprises (SMEs), including merchants across Africa. Sendbox said the fund would be used to further digitise deliveries for African SMEs, and to build out West Africa’s e-commerce operating system. Sendbox, which announced the new funding in a statement said with participation from Flexport and YC Combinator as part of its

2021 winter cohort, Sendbox’s total investment raised has now reached $2 million, following a pre-seed round from Microtraction and 4DX Ventures in 2018. The funding, it stressed, will be used to expand the company’s operations in countries across West Africa, bolster the development of its product range, and hire new talent, the company further explained in its statement. Commenting on Sendbox’s fundraise and growth ambitions, its CEO and Co-founder, Emotu Balogun, said: “No matter where

in the world customers are, we want African SMEs to be able to reach them. Deliveries in Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt and Ibadan have made up a large proportion of business for our domestic merchants. On top of that, affordable access to the UK, EU, US and Canada has created an opportunity to sell products to hundreds of millions of previously unreachable buyers. With this fundraise our aim is to support more and more SMEs and help them grow both locally and internationally, scaling alongside

them as we connect African merchants with a global community of consumers.” According to Balogun, “Starting with logistics and fulfilment, Sendbox is building the operating system for e-commerce in Africa. Launched in 2018, the company provides affordable access to local and international delivery options for small-scale merchants selling on e-commerce and social media platforms. “Accessible to iOS and Android users, via web application, on Whatsapp, Facebook, Instagram and

other e-commerce platforms, and through developer APIs, Sendbox is providing a single location to manage both local deliveries and international shipments to the EU, UK, US and Canada. To date, over 10,000 Nigerian SMEs have sent 200,000 products through Sendbox, saving on average 30-40 per cent per item by eliminating the need to work with separate logistics providers.” Co-founder and General Partner at 4DX Ventures, Walter Baddoo, Continued on page 26

Sophos Report Reveals $1.4m CrytocurrencyTrading ScamTargeting iPhone Users Emma Okonji Sophos, a global leader in next-generation cybersecurity, has released new insight on an international cryptocurrency trading scam targeting iPhone users through popular dating apps, such as Bumble and Tinder. The report tagged: “CryptoRom Fake iOS Cryptocurrency Apps Hit US, European Victims For At Least $1.4 million,” which detailed the latest findings, showed that the

operation has escalated. According to the report, the attackers have expanded from targeting people in Asia to include people in the US and Europe. Sophos said in the report that it uncovered a Bitcoin wallet controlled by the attackers that contains nearly $1.4 million in cryptocurrency, allegedly collected from victims. Sophos researchers have codenamed the threat “CryptoRom.” Analysing the report, Senior

Threat Researcher at Sophos, Jagadeesh Chandraiah, said: “The CryptoRom scam relies heavily on social engineering at almost every stage. First, the attackers post convincing fake profiles on legitimate dating sites. Once they’ve made contact with a target, the attackers suggest continuing the conversation on a messaging platform. “They then try to persuade the target to install and invest in a fake cryptocurrency trading app. At first,

the returns look very good but if the victim asks for their money back or tries to access the funds, they are refused and the money is lost. Our research shows that the attackers are making millions of dollars with the new scam.” The report added that in addition to stealing money, the attackers could also gain access to victims’ iPhones. In this version of the attack, cybercriminals leverage “Enterprise Signature,” a system for software developers that helps

organisations to pre-test new iOS applications with selected iPhone users before they submit them to the official Apple App Store for review and approval. “With the functionality of the Enterprise Signature system, attackers can target larger groups of iPhone users with their fake crypto-trading apps and gain remote management control over their devices. “This means the attackers could potentially do more than just steal

cryptocurrency investments from victims. They could also, for instance, collect personal data, add and remove accounts, and install and manage apps for other malicious purposes. “Until recently, the criminal operators mainly distributed the fake crypto apps through fake websites that resemble a trusted bank or the Apple App Store,” Chandraiah said. Continued on page 26

ATA AASS AT AT WWEEDDNNEESSDDAY, AY, OACUTGOUBSETR 1210, , 22002211 MMAARRKKEETT DDATA ONNDDSS FFGGNN BBO DESCRIPTION 11.668 FGNSB 10.296 15-AUG-2021 13-NOV-2021 10.301 FGNSB 13.390 16-AUG-2021 14-NOV-2021 11.150 FGNSB 9.091 FGNSB 11-SEP-2021 11-DEC-2021 12.364 FGNSB 13.402 12-SEP-2021 12-DEC-2021 12.175 FGNSB 7.144 FGNSB 10-OCT-2021 15-JAN-2022

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3.15 3.35

3.16 0.00 0.00 3.36

100.80 101.42

3.12 3.52

0.00

30-Sep-21 NTB 13-Jan-22

3.25 3.73

0.00

NTB 27-Jan-22 14-Oct-21

3.35 3.83

Price

101.47 100.78

Yield

3.08 3.79

MATURITY

Change(%) (%) Discount Yield Change

26-Aug-21 NTB 28-Oct-21

3.00 3.14

3.00 0.00 0.00 3.14

CONTRACT TENOR (MONTH) 1

Contract

Current Rate ($/₦)

AUG27 252021 2021 420.93 NGUS OCT

SEP 29 NGUS NOV 24 2021 422.38

OCT 29 27 2021 423.83 NGUS DEC

3.26 0.00 0.00 3.76

NOV26 242022 2021 425.28 NGUS JAN

3.37 0.00 0.00 3.87

DEC23 292022 2021 426.73 NGUS FEB

CCPs Ps MATURITY

Discount Discount Yield Yield Change Change(%) (%)

MREP CP CP XII XXXI CMBL 3113-AUG-21 OCT-21 UNCP CP XVII III 27CMBL AUG-21 15-NOV-21 VAAG CP III I 27FSDH 16AUG-21 NOV-21 TTNG CP XIV II 31NBRP 25AUG-21 NOV-21 SIBP CP 2-SEPPARP CPIIA 2621 NOV-21

9.02 4.23

9.03 4.24

0.00 0.00

4.26 5.19

4.27 5.21

0.00 0.00

10.20 6.56

10.25 6.59 0.00 0.00

4.59 6.08

4.60 6.12

0.00 0.00

4.13 8.79

4.14 8.87

0.00 0.00

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2021 ˾ T H I S D AY

BUSINESSWORLD

DEVELOPMENT

Of Nigeria’s Future and Digital Literacy Ugo Aliogo, Shalom Uzochukwu and Favour Edgar, write on the need to drive growth in the country’s educational sector through digital literacy

one are the days when the Nigerian child was only exposed to the three Rs - Reading, Writing and Arithmetic. Today, as the world turns towards the digital age, the overarching needs to ramp up digital competences have become a critical condiment for their success. Although the age-long question of - what would you like to be when you grow up? - still elicits the expected and predictable answers - lawyer, doctor, engineer, and others, however, the ability of the Nigerian child to favourably compete globally, survive and thrive in their chosen careers will greatly hinge on their capacity to leverage the digital space to solve problems. Nigeria, popularly referred to as the “Giant of Africa,” is home to about 211.4 million people, going by statistics from the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). With the huge human and material resources and opportunities across the country, there has never been a better time to invest heavily in digital literacy and skills for the people than now. Children must therefore take a priority position in this, since they are Nigeria’s bright future. Furthermore, the UNFPA data showed that 43.3 per cent of the country’s population are children aged 0 to 14, while 32 per cent are aged 10 to 24 years. Hence, the youthful bulge, which is nearly 70 per cent of the total population, can be converted to material, economic and social prosperity for the country by recognising and harnessing digital literacy through coding, programming, and artificial intelligence (AI). According to a recent joint report by the World Bank Group and International Financial Corporation (IFC), in Sub-Saharan Africa, over 230 million jobs will require digital skills by 2030, resulting in almost 650 million training opportunities. Also, Sub-Saharan Africa has a $130 billion investment opportunity in digital skilling through 2030. The report further revealed that basic skills, including web research and basic software use, are in most demand in Sub-Saharan Africa, with some intermediate and advanced skills like digital marketing and artificial intelligence also a priority. It however decried the significant gap in supply and demand across all skill levels, with a lower availability of skills in the region. “Demand for digital skills is expected to grow at a faster rate in the region than in other global markets. The supply of digitally-skilled labor in Sub-Saharan Africa must increase to meet anticipated labor market needs or Africa’s economies will falter. “80 per cent of industry participants interviewed believe that an undersupply in digital skills would hamper expected economic growth. While governments in Sub-Saharan Africa have taken steps to integrate information and communication technology in education, the policy response has not been sufficient. “Private providers, governments, and investors must consider how to tap into this demand and advance the digital skills agenda in Sub-Saharan Africa,” it added.

REDEFINING DIGITAL EDUCATION

Stakeholders in the education sector are unanimous in their recommendation that digital skills should be embedded in the educational curriculum. The International Finance Corporation (IFC) report, explained that of the different skills needed for the future, socio-behavioral and digital skills are most critical for success. “Advancements in technology are spurring the Fourth Industrial Revolution, driving a significant shift in the skills that will be required for the future workforce,” the report said. In Nigeria, to address and close the yawning gaps in digital literacy, Logiscool offers classroom-based and online courses, camps, and other after-school programmes in 20 different topics related to coding, robotics, and digital literacy for children aged 6 to 18. Founded in 2014, the school became a significant worldwide educational franchise network in just 7 years. The number of Logiscool locations around the world is now over 130 and is represented already in 22 countries.

Elucidating Logiscool’s innovative approach to digital literacy in the education space in the country, the School Manager and Master Franchise Partner of Logiscool Nigeria, Jasmina Marcikic, said: “These days, the media are full of articles about the digital future. They agree that there will be more AI, more robots and the workplace of tomorrow will be full of jobs that do not exist today. As the demand for e-skills is growing in Europe and worldwide, digital literacy cannot be highlighted enough. “Parents see the IT industry and coding education as a path for their children’s future success. Yet the education system cannot keep up with these demands. In the U.S. alone, one million coders are missing. By fusing education with entertainment, Logiscool found the winning strategy to fulfil this gap in the market.”

MOST BOOMING SECTOR

Marcikic further said: “Education is the most booming sector in the world economy and its two-digit yearly growth foreshadows extremely positive prospects for the years to come. In addition to being the safest bet with high profitability, it also creates real value to society: it is an investment in the future generations. “The earlier we can give a taste of digitality to our kids, the higher chance they will transform

from being passive consumers to active creators, ensuring a successful career in a digital world. “At Logiscool, children do what they like the most: spend time with computer games. But they don’t just play with them; they create their own games. And while learning the main principles of coding, they acquire the most important skills of the future: problem-solving, logical thinking, creativity, endurance, and more. “With its uniquely developed, proprietary education platform and scalable curriculum, Logiscool can adapt teaching to the age, knowledge level, and learning speed of students and thus maximize the level of satisfaction both for children and their parents.” She added: “Coding is fundamentally a creative activity, as the same problem can be solved in many different ways. There are good, better and even better solutions, that is why we encourage the kids to try new solutions, dare to find new paths. In our education platform creativity is also induced by the hundreds of available characters and backgrounds, which can help the kids to make their own games even more unique. “Most of the time, we can state that: the bigger the task/problem we are facing, the harder it is to convince ourselves to start working on the solution. Besides programming, kids also learn at Logiscool how they should break down complex

problems to smaller, more easily analysable and solvable subtasks. In the process of making computer games, kids must give precise and unequivocal commands to the computer, in the appropriate order. In written program languages, one missing comma or misspelled command can lead to the computer not understanding what we want from it and our programme not working.” According to her, “Digital literacy will be fundamental for today’s kids and teens for a successful future, and the key to get the needed skills for it is coding, like Forbes announced in one of its articles: ‘Digital education focuses on developing hard skills like programming and computing while increasing soft skills such as problem solving, teamwork, and critical thinking, all while fostering creativity within the individual. As Logiscool managed to keep its role as a global leader in the face of the pandemic, its franchise system proves to be recession-proof. Logiscool’s offer is a ready-made solution: its own classroom management system, proprietary education platform, and 800-plus hours of the uniquely developed curriculum to ensure high lifetime value for each and every student. “The school and equipment design, the trainers’ portal and training, the full-spectrum curriculum, as well as the education and marketing support are all guaranteed. Logiscool places extra emphasis on continuous development, with innovations launched regularly.”

HOW NIGERIA-BASED E-COMMERCE PLATFORM $1.8M FUNDRAISE WILL OPEN NEW ONLINE MARKETS FOR AFRICAN SMES, MERCHANTS said: “African e-commerce is accelerating faster than anybody could have imagined a decade ago and it needs smart solutions to ensure that logistics and fulfilment capacity doesn’t lag behind. Not only were we impressed by Sendbox’s 300 per cent year-on-year

growth since launch, but we are also seeing the market potential balloon with over 40 million Nigerian SMEs and a projected industry value for social and e-commerce reaching $45 billion on the continent by 2025.” According to the statement,

through its delivery management platform, which aggregates logistics providers and enables tracking, Sendbox also offers a solution for merchants who lack the high volumes required to attract discounted delivery fees. The next stage of the company’s

growth will see a move towards financing and payments, followed by e-commerce and marketplace integrations across West Africa. The statement added: “Prolific mobile penetration on the African continent, the rise of social media and knock-on

impacts from the COVID-19 pandemic, have shifted additional momentum towards e-commerce and social commerce, doubling monthly revenues for Sendbox since March 2020. Madein-Africa products are now in higher demand across local and

international markets. With 200 million Instagram users and one million Instagram businesses in Nigeria alone, Sendbox is well positioned to serve this growing market and multiply its merchant count over the coming months.”

users install a security solution on their mobile devices, such as Intercept X for Mobile, to protect iOS and Android devices from cyberthreats.

It is also worth securing all home and personal computers with additional protection such as Sophos Home, the report further advised.

SOPHOS REPORT REVEALS $1.4M CRYTOCURRENCY TRADING SCAM TARGETING IPHONE USERS The addition of the iOS enterprise developer system introduces further risk for victims because they could be handing the attackers the rights to their

device and the ability to steal their personal data. To avoid falling victim to these types of scams, iPhone users should only install apps from Apple’s

App Store. The golden rule is that if something seems risky or too good to be true – such as someone you barely know telling you about some ‘great’

online investment scheme that will deliver a big profit – then sadly, it probably is, the report further said. Sophos recommends that

T H I S D AY ˾ THURSDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2021

BUSINESSWORLD

DEVELOPMENT

Addressing the Needs of Neuropsychiatric Patients Sunday Okobi writes on how best to address the needs of Neuropsychiatric patients with mental disorders, through quality mental health services delivery and easy access to infrastructure

he Federal Neuropsychiatric Hospital Uselu, Benin City in Edo State is a foremost mental health institution established by the federal government to essentially provide mental health services to all Nigerians, but for many years, it had constraints providing the required services for which it was established. However, in a space of one year, the new administration of the hospital led by its Medical Director/Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Imafidon Agbonile, has taken it to a new height by providing professional and quick services, training workers, building major health facilities in the hospital, and ultimately helping the government to curb the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. The hospital has continued to render services to Nigerians mostly those in its catchment area, as its scope covers the South-south geo-political zone of the country because of its location. Apart from being renowned for providing excellent services like Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Community Psychiatry, ConsultationLiaison Psychiatry, Drug Addiction Treatment, Education and Research, Psychiatry, Emergency and Assessment Psychiatry, Psychotherapy, Forensic Psychiatry and Geriatric Psychiatry, Agbonile, told THISDAY recently that the hospital services have been expanded to include general medical services, dialysis, ultrasound, and digital X-ray services. In its efforts to key into the federal and state government strict policy to control the pandemic from spreading further, he disclosed that with the support of the federal government, the current administration has built the intensive care unit, isolation centre, and Molecular Laboratory to handle patients with COVID-19 complications. It is worthy of note here that these laudable projects were part of the proactive steps that the federal government has taken to contain the Coronavirus pandemic. “With our new Molecular Laboratory, we will be able to provide virtually all relevant laboratory services such as testing for all Viral Hemorrhagic Fevers, HBV/HCV Viral Load, HIV Viral Load, Medical Micro-biology, all Chemistry Analysis, and Hematology services,” he said. While reeling out the achievements of the federal health agency, Agbonile, who was appointed the substantive Medical Director/CEO on October 1, 2020, sounded out without any atom of immodesty that since his assumption of office, “the hospital has made phenomenal progress in several areas. It is worthy of note that the state of infrastructure that I met before I took charge of affairs of the hospital was really not complimentary so to speak. I will not close this chapter without mentioning some of these areas we have affected to improve services in the hospital”.

BUILDING PROJECTS

We have been able to construct from scratch some building projects and also completed others that were commenced by my predecessors. These buildings include the Clinical Science Building,

“First and foremost, the issue of funding is not restricted to only this hospital. We intend to tackle this issue headlong by increasing or expanding our services to other areas besides psychiatry.” Molecular Laboratory, Intensive Care Unit, Isolation Ward, New Male Ward II Storey building, reconstruction/tarring of the internal road network within the two sites of the hospital and the School of O.T Building (70 percent). All these were done within one year in office, Agbonile said, adding: “We have been able to do a new roof for the School of Psychiatric Nursing, and also did complete re-plumbing in the hostels, wards, and many of the offices.”

VACCINATION CENTRE

Our hospital is one of the screening/ sample collection points in Edo State. During the COVID-19 lockdown, our hospital was able to partner with the state government to handle the psycho-social aspect of COVID-19 patients, who were in isolation centres, especially those at Stella Obasanjo Hospital, Benin-city. Also, our hospital is one of the COVID-19 vaccination centers where many citizens in the state have been vaccinated against the deadly virus, Agbonile said. In view of the ongoing brain drain of health workers in the country, we have been able to obtain a waiver from the federal government to carry out replacement recruitment of staff to mitigate the effect of personnel shortages, he added.

STAFF WELFARE

According to him, the hospital was able to change the aesthetic view of our hospital from its deplorable state to something that is more welcoming and this has earned us some commendation from visiting guests and clients. One of the visions I had before I assumed office was to change the outlook of the hospital to something more positive and inspiring, to me, the former look was not only old but also depressing. So, we thus commenced the repainting of some of the buildings including the offices, such as: the perimeter fence, Outpatient department block, administrative building, Dater Unit, and the School of Psychiatric Nursing building. Owing to the deplorable power situation in the country, we procured diesel generators 250KVA, 100KVA, and 50KVA to support the existing diesel generators in the hospital. In addition, we purchased smaller petrol generators of 5.5kVA-6.5KVA for some critical service points and offices. Solar inverters were installed in all the wards but one, both at our new site at Idunmwunowina, and Uselu site in Benin-city.

According to him, when he assumed office, staff members were being owed four years promotion salary arrears, but within months of coming on board, we were able to pay three years of the arrears and are currently working on the fourth year which we intend to offset in the next few weeks. Promotion exercises were carried out across cadres with the consequently increased motivation of our staff. Their offices have been made more conducive for them by providing the conveniences and tools to make their work a delight. Also, we upgraded and converted deserving staff who had acquired relevant higher qualifications, some of whom had been stagnated for over 10 years prior to my assumption of office. He further explained that the Federal Neuropsychiatric Hospital in Benin-City is a foremost institution for the training of Psychiatrists, Psychiatric Nurses as well as Medical and Nursing students in mental health. “We train students in mental health in partnership with both public and private institutions such as Wellspring University, Benson Idahosa University, Igbinedion University, Ambrose Alli University (AAU), DELSU, University of Benin, as well as various schools and Colleges of Nursing and Health Technology. Our hospital currently collaborates with three local government areas in the state (Oredo, Egor, and Ikpoba-Okha) on mental health enlightenment, ”Agbonile said.

TRAINING

MEDICAL EQUIPMENT

AESTHETICS

He said within one year of assumption of duty, the hospital was able to organise numerous in-house training for our staff and sponsored several others to different training programmes, workshops, conferences, and seminars. Also, through the support of the NCDC and FMOH, we were able to train our frontline health workers and doctors on COVID-19 safety protocols and IPC measures.

In a bid to reposition the hospital for best global practice, the hospital acquired state-of-theart medical equipment and accessories. These include a Digital X-Ray suite, Dialysis Machines, 4D Ultrasound, Ventilators, Automated Nucleic acid extractor, Blood Bank Ultra Low Freezer, Digital Autoclaves, Blood Culture System, Patient Drug Trolleys, Lab. Vortex Mixer, Automated External De-fabricators, Multi-parameter

monitors, Blood Gas Analyzer, Haematology Analyzer, Chemistry Analyzer, Incubators, Nasopharyngeal Swab, Micro Plate Readers, Sample Transport Bags, Water Treatment Machine, Refrigerated Centrifuge, Microplate washer, Laboratory Oven, Ultrasound accessories, Anaesthetic Machine, Automated ICU Beds and patients’ beds and mattresses, EEG and ECT machines among others. “We have equipped all the offices in the hospital with desk computers, laptops, printers, photocopiers, internet service, modern chairs, office chairs, purchase and installation of air conditioners in all offices to enhance quality services,” Agbonile further said.

BUILDING INTERNAL ROADS

Giving details of internal road construction, Agbonile said the hospital administration was able to reconstruct the entire internal road network in the hospital with an improved drainage system to befit the status of the tertiary health institution. Meanwhile, Agbonile noted that all the achievements recorded by his administration did not come seamlessly without surmountable hiccups. He disclosed that the major challenges his administration had encountered included inadequate funding, uncompleted capital projects at their new (permanent) site, inadequate power supply from BEDC with the consequent drain on their meager resources. According to him, “Staff motivation, the inadequacy of equipment, dilapidated infrastructure due to age in the various departments of the hospital and deplorable access road to our new site were also some of the challenges they had to conquer to move the health agency forward. “First and foremost, the issue of funding is not restricted to only this hospital. We intend to tackle this issue headlong by increasing or expanding our services to other areas besides psychiatry. This is why we have planned to establish dialysis services, and ultrasound, as well as expand general medical services, CSSD, molecular laboratory just to mention a few. With the services, we will double our revenue in a short while. On staff motivation, we have been able to increase the morale of staff through training and recognition of their efforts, payment of promotion arrears, payment of uniform allowance to nurses as at when due, having regular meetings with unions, conversion/upgrading of staff members that were hitherto stagnated but have gone to school to upgrade their career. The last challenge that I have just mentioned has been a reoccurring decimal in that it has lingered for well over 10 years.” He, therefore, appealed to the Federal and State Ministry of Works and Housing to assist in constructing the access road to the hospital’s new site. The hospital boss further hinted of a particular challenge, which is the high rate of abandonment of mentally ill patients in the hospital by relatives leading to a very high debt burden on the hospital.

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2021 ˾ T H I S D AY

BUSINESSWORLD

INTERVIEW

‘Nigeria is Our Biggest Market in Digital Content Broadcasting’ Drivers of the leading edutainment platform, Cliodhna Ryan, Olatayo Olaniyan, and Iman Lipumba, speak about their market expansion plan across the African continent, the need for collaboration, free content training for content developers, especially in Nigeria, their biggest market in digital content broadcasting to schools and homes. Emma Okonji presents the excerpts Ubongo recently organised a training session for content and app developers in Nigeria. What is your mission and what does the training seek to achieve? bongo is non-governmental organisation (NGO) that develops educational contents with entertainment for African schools. Ubongo’s apps are designed with quality contents that are fused with entertainment and story telling that will enhance teaching and learning in schools. Ubongo’s mission is to use top quality and localised edutainment to help African’s 500 million children learn, and leverage their learning to change their lives, through its radio and television programmes, including mobile phones broadcasting. In developing educational contents, we use technology tools to develop digital contents and broadcast same through digital channels that would help enhance quality teaching and learning in schools. The one-day free training for education content developers in Lagos, will give content developers and educators the support they needed to develop more educational contents that schools could adopt.

How do you ensure content compatibility with school curriculum across the various African countries where Ubongo has presence? Our educational contents are in line with government’s curriculum across Africa, aimed at developing the educational content across Africa, using locally sourced materials. As an edutainment company, Ubongo is careful at keeping abreast with the broadcasting codes and regulations that govern content in different African countries, including Nigeria, because from the beginning, the key partner for us has been the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) and our contents have gone through several levels of vetting from them, before broadcasting. NTA is a government owned broadcasting house with very stringent regulations, and they are keen at upholding the standard of education, and they are pleased to broadcast out educational contents that have a mix of technology. We want to inspire a lot more edutainment interventions in Nigerian schools, and we are advocating for the return of quality content in school curriculum. We will continue to invest in order to increase the number of languages, including local languages, through which we can reach out to the schools. During the workshop, we identified the needs of content providers and trained them in that direction free of charge. The essence is to grow more partners that will be developing school contents that will support teaching and learning in schools. During the training, participants were grouped and each group was made to identify some challenges in teaching and learning processes, and to develop solutions on how to address such challenges, through teaching that is combined with story telling and edutainment. For how long has Ubongo been operating and what has been the impact since inception? Ubongo was founded in 2013 in Dar es Salaam in Tanzania by a group of five people from different fields of learning like educators, actors, artists, animators, teachers and entrepreneurs. These people figured out that they had a mutual interest in education and in specifically finding innovative ways to address the learning gap and education challenges in Tanzania in particular at that time. So they decided to come together and bring their different skill sets and found the organization called Ubongo. Their initial goal was to create innovation in education and extend such innovation to several schools in Tanzania, and they later realised the need to extend to other African countries for wider collaboration. They were able to create different contents which were tested with school pupils to see how the contents appeal to their sense of learning. Given the success and wide acceptance of Ubongo’s app in Tanzania, we decided to extend it to other African countries. So how do you apply technology in content creation and distribution? At Ubongo, we create educational entertainment for children and deliver this educational entertainment through accessible technology channels like television and radio, but then we also use mobile and other digital platforms and these channels of delivery increased since the COVID-19 pandemic, including offline channels to reach the most difficult areas where people live and learn. So we used our first television show to

Ryan

Olaniyan target school children between the ages of eight to 14 years, and the content addresses Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM), as well as life skills. We later expanded beyond Kenya, to Ghana, Nigeria, with interest to spread across the African continent. The Ubongo app relies heavily on feedback and research about the audience and parents. Our feedback from onset, shows that both parents and the students, loved the contents of the app as well as the television and radio broadcast of our educational contents. One challenge that we had then, which had since been addressed, was that those below eight years old were also interested in the broadcast and they will join their elder brothers and sisters in watching and listening to the educational broadcast. So what we did, based on the feedback, was to develop content, using local materials that the younger kids could understand better. A year later we designed our second programme, which targeted three to six years old, and it was really focused on early childhood development. So those critical skills that children need to learn between the ages of three to five years or before they begin primary school, were designed and created. So things like literacy, numeracy, social emotional learning skills, motor skills, among others, were built into the content. So we launched it in Tanzania and Kenya, and then soon adapted into other languages, and launched it in different markets in Africa. So our first time airing our contents in Nigeria was around 2017, where we launched a technology driven product in English language. It was later developed in Hausa language, and since then, demand has increased. What has been the coverage area in Africa, and how many schools and households have you been able to reach? So currently, across the markets, we are in 20 African countries and our shows are being aired and we currently broadcast to 24.6 million households a month across Africa, with Nigeria as one of our biggest markets. Although we started from Tanzania, which is our home-base, but right now Nigeria is our biggest market when it comes to the number of viewers we are having. Our desire is to go Pan Africa, making education more relevant the people. Nigeria, no doubt, has the largest population of people in Africa, and her market is big and it has a big need for the kind of service we offer. We are currently looking towards making a lot more investments in Africa and the Nigerian market, and make learning much more fun for the people, through local content development. What does this initiative seek to achieve and how do you intend to achieve it? The essence is to revive the Africa educational system in today’s era of digital transformation where technology is driving virtually everything. The values of the Africa education are fast eroding and we are ready to restore such values as quick as possible, beginning from those in nursery and primary schools.

There is dearth of educational contents in Africa and Ubongo is rising up to that challenge to address it. In Nigeria for instance, children used to learn quality education on television and radio in the past, but not anymore because over the last decade, it appears such value system has disappeared. In can remember in the past when there was very rich local content available for children, but today, a huge gap exists between quality contents and general educational contents. Even though the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) has regulations, we can hardly point at quality educational content for schools. We are seeking for more collaboration to take quality educational content to schools and our mission is to reach these children with edutainment. The free training we organised in Nigeria, will enhance the capability of broadcasters and content developers to develop more entertainment contents for Nigerian schools, and we plan to reach out to more schools and children by 2025. How will you describe the participation of trainees in Lagos and how do you intend to scale it up? The participants in Lagos showed high interest in the free training programme. They were put in various groups and allowed to brainstorm among themselves in identifying challenges in learning and also proffering solutions to identified learning challenges. The essence of the training is to grow content developers and inspire a lot more edutainment interventions by broadcast houses within the country. In achieving this, we are particular about localised content, and we will continue to invest in order to increase the number of local languages that we can reach these children with. When we spoke to broadcasters and educational content developers, we tried to identify their needs because we know that they are very experienced with creating contents. So we looked at what additional support can we give them to help them create better content, specifically for children in schools. During the training session, we took them through a process of human centered design that we use in Ubongo. We believe that this process is really the key to our success in creating content that is both locally relevant to children, and to the school. We believe that children are key part of the creation process, so we also took them through our storytelling process for change approach. We believe that stories are powerful, because children learn best when they are entertained. The key to educating a child through mass media is to ensure that they are highly engaged in what they see and hear while learning. For this reason, we use stories, songs and games for children to become active listeners and viewers when they are engaging with the content rather than passively receiving the content. Our goal is to ensure that broadcasters are equipped to go ahead and take this approach and apply it to create their own content because we have research that shows that this approach works. Our research have shown that when children are engaged in the content that they watch, they will remember the characters and this will make learning a lot more permanent in them.

Lipumba

Can Ubongo partner with trained content developers, by the time they eventually come up educational contents that are attractive to schools? Yes, Ubongo will be ready to partner with any of them with quality educational contents and apps that are appealing to schools, but that would depend also on the details on production capacity on both ends and the timelines of those things. I think our long term vision honestly is for us to run ourselves out of business, because our goal is not to be the only people creating educational entertainment for children across Africa. Our long term vision is that we equip broadcasters and content creators locally to be producing contents in order to create variety of options for children beyond what we produce. Here in Nigeria, we are really seeking to deepen our co-creation partnerships, and by that I mean, gathering a wider variety of children that we can work with to co-create the content. How has technology helped in achieving your set goals for schools? So I will speak to that in two ways. One will be within the content itself, and the other will be around the content. So within the content itself, we have some episodes that specifically look at digital literacy. Also, how children can filter out content that is appropriate for them, how they can question the source of the content they access through the internet, and we believe that digital technology is really essential for this generation. We are also looking at equipping children to use technology to help them to learn, because it’s really a key tool for children’s learning. We saw all that playing out during the COVID-19 pandemic when schools and economies were locked down, and people were able to teach pupils and students through various channels that were powered by technology. Our research has shown that most families have access to at least a basic feature phone. Through that phone, they can access our content through SMS because we have an SMS service that they can access. We recently launched our chatbot, which is a whatsapp chatbot that they can interact with and receive automated messages back to their phone. We also use interactive voice response, which is a free service that parents or children can call the number, and they will hear some clips from our content through the phone for free. In addition to that, we are looking at other offline methods, because sometimes, there won’t be a phone or a radio or television for content broadcast. In that situation, we can find places where people can come together to access it, whether it’s TV or radio. We also make use of USB sticks, where we preload all of our educational contents and take the USB sticks directly to communities and give to somebody who can download the content from the USB sticks and use them to impact knowledge. Since your trainings are free of charge, how do you raise money to fund your projects? Ubongo is a not for profit organisation and we fund our projects through fund raising. We also get a lot of support from organisations, friends, families and donor agencies. NOTE: Interested readers should continue in the online edition on www.thisdaylive.com

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2021 ˾ T H I S D AY

BUSINESSWORLD

PERSPECTIVE

Assessing IBOM ICON Hotel Under New Managers Iﬁok Bassey

here are indications, from stories making the rounds in Akwa Ibom State, that the government may be considering renewing the one-year management contract it signed with Icon Hotels and Resorts Nigeria for the management of the Ibom Icon Hotel and Resort in Uyo, the state capital. The new contract, if it goes beyond the realm of speculation, may be for a period of about 15 years. This should be cheering news for anybody interested in the fortunes of the five-star hotel in particular and development of the hospitality industry in the state in general. The decision to sign Icon Hotel and Resort Nigeria, the local franchise of the Kenya-based Icon Hotel Group Africa to manage the symbol of Akwa Ibom hospitality was perhaps one of the best investment decisions the government has taken in the last six years of its eight-year tenure, beyond its industrialization drive which has seen it establish more than a dozen thriving industries in different parts of the state. Events and developments relating to Ibom Icon Hotel and Golf Resort in the last one year have vindicated the government’s decision to hand over management of the hospitality facility to the third managers since it began operations in 2007. And anybody with a sense of appreciation would acknowledge the fact that there have been some positive and noticeable changes in the operations of the hotel. I have had cause to travel to Uyo on four occasions during the period, and during each of the visits I have been a guest at the hotel. Each stay in the facility has exposed me to something new and different from what I experienced on previous occasions. The Icon Hotel and Resorts Nigeria has applied its well-known expertise in fusing local cultures into service delivery on the African continent to introduce some things that had not been part of the culture of Ibom Icon Hotel and Golf Resorts. For instance, it wasn’t part of the practice to prepare local dishes on demand, in form of a la carte. I

Governor Udom Emmanuel of Akwa Ibom State found that I could order for local delicacies and have them freshly prepared while I wait, and delivered in record time. A regular guest who visited the hotel in the past would not fail to notice a friendlier and more welcoming disposition by the staff, which is obviously the new culture the current managers have brought into the operations at the facility. Their excitement in the course of delivering services in the various departments comes naturally. A man who acts as a tour guide, by name Ime, takes delight in conducting

guests round the hotel and explaining the changes that have taken place in the last one year, missing no opportunity in telling them that Uyo is fast becoming the Dubai of Nigeria, on account of the number of visitors to the state, many of whom have made Ibom Icon Hotel and Golf Resort their permanent choice. The striking difference between the managers of Ibom Icon Hotel and Golf Resort and their counterparts in similar facilities in other parts of the country which are managed by expatriates is that while the management structure in those hotels have

a large concentration of the foreign managers, there may not be more than seven foreigners on the staff of the Uyo hospitality facility. There is a heavy concentration of Akwa Ibom indigenes in senior positions, which reflects the deliberate policy of the board of the hotel to be sensitive to the local content policy of the federal government. The progress Ibom Icon Hotels and Golf Resort has made in the last one year, which has impacted positively on its fortunes, has guaranteed job security for the staff and boosted their morale. This must be considered within the context of the government’s employment policy of creating new jobs while guaranteeing security of existing ones. The current managers have not only equipped the staff with new knowledge and modern skills in hospitality, they have raised the bar in service delivery in the state, setting standards others are trying to emulate. This is good for the industry, as hospitality operators are striving to up their game in order to meet the standard expected by guests who stream into the state almost on a daily basis for sundry activities like conferences, retreats, marriages, or for leisure. Some of these guests have been exposed to the best hospitality standards around the world and would expect nothing less in a state that is fast assuming the status of an investment destination. There is something of a consensus that if Icon Hotel and Resorts Nigeria could achieve the level of success it has recorded in just one year of managing the Ibom Hotel and Golf Resort, then more years on the saddle could significantly transform the fortunes of the hotel and also help in boosting the economy of the state. A renewal of the one-year contract by the government to allow for more years of stewardship by the current managers would certainly be a step in the right direction. With the managers have done in so short a time, the government would certainly not want to go back to the era when it had to give subvention to the hotel to even remain functional. t #BTTFZ MJWFT JO "CVKB

Interswitch Pioneers Innovation, Unveils Whitepaper on Blockchain Technology Emma Okonji Africa’s integrated digital payment and e-commerce company, Interswitch Group, has unveiled its whitepaper on blockchain technology titled, “Blockchain Technology: The Future of Africa’s Digital Economy,” to help drive the growth of African businesses. The white paper document contains details on how businesses can leverage blockchain

technology to transform their businesses and the prospects it portends for the future of Africa’s digital economy. The blockchain technology is a digital ledger that stores transactions. Essentially, it is a digital system for recording transactions in multiple places at the same time thereby making it impossible to falsify the data stored on it. Speaking about the

whitepaper, Managing Director, Transaction Switching and Payment Processing at Interswitch, Akeem Lawal, said: “The whitepaper document was inspired by the need to demystify the ambiguity around blockchain technology for African businesses thereby driving digitization and socio-economic growth across African markets. We are passionate about empowering Africans and advancing the African payment

landscape, and we are consistently identifying opportunities and exploring innovative ways to enable businesses transform and scale.” He revealed that the whitepaper document would encapsulate the benefits of blockchain technology and how it would help strengthen businesses because of its efficiency, better security in keeping records and safety. He further said: “While the

blockchain technology is a relatively new phenomenon in Nigeria and Africa, we are particularly excited about our partnership with Interstellar with whom we are developing a native blockchain infrastructure that is tailored to suit the African market. This initiative will deepen digital payment, lower the cost of local and cross border payment as well as champion the cause for localization of emerging

technology.” He urged everyone to take advantage of the whitepaper document, adding that it addresses existing challenges in the Fintech sector and simplifies the use of blockchain technology in unravelling these challenges. The blockchain technology is evolving globally and businesses are integrating the Blockchain technology into their business infrastructure.

Yield Africa Foundation Trains FG Urged to Provide Digital 650 Youth, Women on Soft Skills Infrastructure Across 774 LGAs Ugo Aliogo Yield Africa Foundation has trained 650 youths and women on different soft skills under a free skills acquisition programme. A statement made available to THISDAY by the Executive Director, Yield Africa Foundation, Olatunde Martins said the free skills acquisition programme is in partnership with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) vocational Education Training Centre in OshodiIsolo Local Government Area of Lagos state. The statement said the programme which started on October,6 and ended on 18 of this month. The statement hinted

that the programme is set to benefit many unemployed graduates, secondary school leavers, and women. According to Martins, the training was due to the rapid increase in unemployment in the society and the need for people to embrace vocational education training as an alternative for wealth creations are the main reason for the foundation. One of the students, from the Cocktail and Mocktail department, Mrs. Oseni Modupe said she has been able to learn and understand how to make different kinds of cocktail and Mocktail drinks. That with what she has learned she can start her business in that field, besides she has started telling people

about her new business. Also, another student from the bag-making department, Miss Faith Odion affirmed that she had learnt a lot through the training, adding that with her skills, she can make different bags on her own. The beneficiaries commended the foundation for giving them the opportunity to learn the skills of their choices without paying for the training and provision of materials. “We are grateful to the Chairman Oshodi-Isolo Local Government, Hon Kehinde Oloyede Almaroof for his support towards the success of the training and for the empowerment StartUp equipment he promised to provide for them during the graduation ceremony,” they said.

Emma Okonji Information and Communications Technology (ICT) journalists in Nigeria has called on the federal government to provide digital infrastructure that can be accessible in all the 774 local government areas (LGAs) of the country, in order to fast track Nigeria’s digital transformation initiative and increase digital literacy. They gave the advice in Lagos during the ongoing training on capacity building for for ICT journalists, organised by the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), which commenced on Monday this week. The ICT journalists numbering 50, said there was need to accessible digital infrastructure like ubiquitous broadband, and high speed internet connectivity across all the 774 LGAs of the country, which Nigerians could leverage to develop digital skills that will drive digital transformation.

They also called for the promotion of telemedicine as national priority and the need to bridge existing gender gap on digital skills, in order to enhance digital transformation. The five days training focused on digital literacy, digital tools for enhanced reportage, general entrepreneurial skills, online security, online communication responsibility, and digital ethics. Speaking at the opening of the training session, the Director Director of NITDA, Mallam Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, who was represented by the Manager, Digital Architecture at NITDA, Mrs. Chinyere Nwankwo, said as most positions today would require technological knowledge, organisations must provide training and education on ICT, or risk having the workforce being left behind. According to Abdullahi, “Employees with digital literacy skills are more competent in their work, as they easily identify important

information, data, patterns and use them efficiently. This is important because we are constantly being disrupted by new information. Digital literacy skills also allow workers to use technology to collaborate and connect with each other and thus strengthen teamwork. Training employees on digital literacy helps the workforce feel onboard and more confident in their work, which increases job satisfaction and engagement.” He said initiative to up-skill 50 journalists from the Nigeria Information Technology Reporters’ Association (NITRA), was in line with the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy (NDEPS) and the mandate of NITDA on Digital Literacy and Skills and the Strategic Roadmap and Action Plan 2021 to 2024, designed to intervene in the development of digital technology by supporting, promoting and facilitating digital skills.

THURSDAY OCTOBER 21, 2021 •T H I S D AY

THURSDAY OCTOBER 21, 2021 • T H I S D AY

T H I S D AY ˾ , OCTOBER 21, 2021

HEALTH & LIFESTYLE

ÜÙßÚ ÏËÞßÜÏÝ ÎÓÞÙÜ˝ Chiemelie Ezeobi ×ËÓÖ chiemelie.ezeobi@thisdaylive.com, Tel: 07010510430

UHC: Need to Finance Primary Health Centres Experts at the Nigerian Health Watch Primary Health Care Policy Dialogue recently harped on the importance of financing Primary Healthcare Centers and services in a bid to achieve Universal Health Coverage, Sunday Ehigiator reports

Chief Executive Oﬃcer of ACIOE Associates, Ekenem Isichei

he World Health Organisation (WHO) describes a Universal Health Coverage (UHC) as the ability of all individuals and communities to receive health services they need without suffering financial hardship. This also includes the full spectrum of essential, quality health services, from health promotion to prevention, treatment, rehabilitation, and palliative care. Achieving UHC was one of the targets the nations of the world set when adopting the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in 2015. The UHC also aims at eradicating generational poverty by protecting people from the financial consequences of paying exorbitantly for health services out of their own pockets, which they most times do by selling their assets and belongings or even borrowing. Achieving universal health coverage requires a Health Insurance Scheme that minimises out-of-pocket expenditure, guarantees the provision of essential health services, and covers the majority of the population. In Nigeria, the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) established in May 1999, and became operational in 2005, is supposed to be the vehicle for achieving UHC in the country. However, despite 16 years of its existence, NHIS enrollment has been very disappointing, just as funding of PHC. Only about five per cent of the population in all the three NHIS programs, namely; formal sector, informal sector and vulnerable groups (pregnant women, inmates, children under five, retirees, aged), have been covered by the NHIS. Recently, this lacuna informed experts deliberations at the policy dialogue titled, ‘PHC in Nigeria: Progress, Challenges, and Collaborating for Transformation’, recently held via zoom. Providing more background to this, the Managing Director, Nigeria Health Watch, Vivianne Ihekweazu said health was a human right and everyone, irrespective of location or socioeconomic status has a right to healthcare at their point of need. According to her, “for a heavily populated country like Nigeria where there are income inequalities, there is a need to examine the healthcare system through the lens of health equity, which is accessible, affordable, and offers healthcare for all that need it. “This brings to the fore the importance of

Managing Director, Nigeria Health Watch, Vivianne Ihekweazu

primary healthcare which is the bedrock of every health system and should be the first port of call for most Nigerians when seeking healthcare.” Speaking on the challenges in the Nigeria healthcare system, despite several policies targeted at PHC deliveries, the keynote speaker, Prof. Tanimola Akande, who is a Consultant at the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital, said it was unfortunate that despite several government interventions, the challenges that limit the effective delivery of PHC services still exist. According to him, these challenges include, “fragmented governance and coordination, poor and dilapidated health facilities, shortage of human resources and poor funding.” In addition to these challenges, the CEO of ACIOE Associates, Ekenem Isichei, during his presentation, highlighted insecurity and rising inflation as other factors mitigating the uptake of healthcare services in the country. According to him, “Affordability and safety are essential requirements to accessing healthcare. “Rising inflation costs are forcing a growing number of families to make the tough decision between using available resources to seek healthcare or purchase other basic needs like food. “Also, several states are immersed in some form of insecurity further hindering access to healthcare for both the patient and the health worker.” He therefore concluded that when we have a stronger and more resilient health

Consultant at the University of Ilorin , Professor Tanimola Akande

system, we save wealth, and make more money. He also harped on the need for the government to fully implement the National Health Act. Speaking on the role of private partnership in improving PHC services, the Chief Medical Officer, EHA Clinics, Dr. Anthonia Hananiya, said Primary Healthcare in Nigeria has received little investment from the private sector over the years. According to her, “Provision of quality, standard healthcare services require resources, epitomising the importance of private sector investment in the health sector, “EHA Clinics, with two health facilities providing quality PHC services in Kano and Abuja, are a clear example of what happens when resources are made available and used shrewdly. “Enormous resources were invested to ensure that the clinics provide patient centred, technology driven, healthcare services.” Speaking on how the state had leveraged the COVID-19 pandemic to improve on PHC service within Ekiti State, the Commissioner for Health and Human Services, Ekiti State, Dr. Oyebanji Filani, said the pandemic was the perfect opportunity for Ekiti State to augment the support of its PHC. “Infection, Prevention and Control (IPC) mechanisms were improved across all the PHCs, in addition to improving vaccination capabilities of PHCs that resulted in Ekiti State being recognised as one of the best performing states for

For a heavily populated country like Nigeria where there are income inequalities, there is a need to examine the healthcare system through the lens of health equity, which is accessible, affordable, and offers healthcare for all that need it. This brings to the fore the importance of primary healthcare which is the bedrock of every health system and should be the ﬁrst port of call

COVID-19 vaccine uptake in the country.” Dr. Filani said in 2020, the state carried out an assessment that examined the reasons for underperformance of the health sector in the state, adding that the results helped the state in designing and implementing targeted plans to effectively address the identified challenges. “Some of the plans being implemented include the Ekiti State National Youth Service Scheme Medical Fellowship program, which involves deploying Corp members who are medical doctors to PHCs across the state, increasing the state health budget by 200 per cent and training of over 600 PHC workers. “The results of these initiatives are beginning to show, with improvements in immunisation and skilled birth attendance across the state,” he said. Speaking on more ways to drive resources for PHC services, the President and Financial Director, Healthcare Innovation in Delivering Financial Analysis and Actionable Business Insights, Dr. Charles Ezuma-Ngwu, suggested the adoption of a cost-effective payment system in the form of capitation. According to him, “Capitation is a method of payment for health services in which a physician or hospital is paid a fixed amount per enrollee, to cover a defined scope of services for a defined period, regardless of actual number or nature of services provided.” On the role of advocacy, the President of Medical Women Association of Nigeria (MWAN) Kano State, Dr. Rahila Mukhtar, said advocacy plays a very important role in both demand and supply of PHC services. According to her, this is proven by the work of MWAN under the PacFah@Scale in Kano State, and its advocacy to both the Kano state Executive and Legislature, which has contributed to the passage of the PHC law in the state, adding that “it also led to the engagement of over 2000 PHC workers and improved funding for PHC services in the state”. She said the advocacy to religious and traditional leaders also improved uptake of PHC services such as antenatal, postnatal, skilled birth attendance and child immunisation in the state. According to the WHO, about 80 to 90 per cent of an individual’s healthcare needs throughout their lifetime could be met at the primary healthcare level. This further echoes the importance of standard, well equipped and well-staffed PHCs, particularly in rural communities.

T H I S D AY ˾ , OCTOBER 21, 2021

NEWS

FERTILITY

Info@lifelinkfertility.com; Website: lifelinkfertility.com 08033083580

Lions Club Donates 32-bed MISSING INTRAUTERINE Dialysis Centre to LUTH Sunday Ehigiator The Lions Clubs International District 404-A1, Lagos Nigeria, has donated a 32-bed Dialysis Centre and Renal Institute to the Management of Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH). The centre, which was commissioned over the weekend at the premises of LUTH, was built in memory of Isaac Olusola Dada, a former district governor of the club, by his family. In his message, Chief Medical Director, LUTH, Prof. Chris Bode, described the newly commissioned Lion Isaac Olusola Dada Dialysis Centre and Renal Institute as the largest Dialysis Centre and Nephrology Institute in the West Africa region, saying it is the biggest philanthropic donation to the institution. According to him, “this novel collaboration is not only the biggest philanthropic donation to LUTH, it has also been cited in the institution as the largest Dialysis Centre and Nephrology Institute in the West African direction. “It has opened a door of challenges to large-pocketed personalities and corporate bodies, pointing the way to how our dreams and commitments can be of benefit to those in need.” Prof. Bode said although Nigeria has over 200 million population, over one per cent of the population will need dialysis at some point in their lives. “Having 32-bed has given us

the bragging right because we have the manpower to cater for these needs. We are hoping we will be doing over a thousand cases per month When It wraps up. “Our gratitude goes to the Lions Clubs District 401-AI, the Dada Family and the many donors who made this great gesture possible. We promise to put this grand edifice to good use for the sake of humanity.” In his address, LUTH Management Board chairman, Alhaji Isa Bello Sali described the edifice as the biggest Independence anniversary gift Nigeria has ever received, while also stressing that the gesture would give all Nigerians the assurance that all hope is not lost in humanity. “We still have people who still think of others and go out of their ways to use what God has endowed them with to assist those in need. “This gesture, perhaps, is the biggest independence anniversary gift that Nigeria has received on the occasion of her 61st Independence anniversary.” Nigeria’s Minister of Health, Dr Osagie Ehanire, who was represented by Permanent Secretary of the ministry, Alhaji Mamuda Mamman, said the project will no doubt improve the overall healthcare delivery system of the country. “This new state of art will contribute to the provision of international best practices that

will eradicate medical tourism. The federal ministry of health is committed to providing efficient and quality healthcare service to the masses. “On behalf of the minister, I especially appreciate the family of late Chief Olusola Dada and the Lions Clubs for increasing the bed capacity and building the dialysis centre. This is worthy of emulation.” Responding to eulogies on behalf of the Olusola Dada Family, matriarch of the family, Lion Chief (Mrs) Omolola Dada, in her welcome address, expressed gratitude to God for the grace to witness the auspicious event. She said her late husband had thought of a hospice initially, but following needs of assessment, the decision to build this dialysis centre was arrived at. “He was convinced that he and the Lions Clubs International could contribute towards the reduction of needless deaths occasioned by the paucity of functional infrastructure or facilities accessible to the common man. “It was a 32-bed dialysis centre but again, God had other plans and today, partnering LUTH and College of Medicine, University of Lagos, it is now a sprawling institute. “I am certain he will be full of smiles. His plan to forge new partnerships in service was fully achieved through this project.”

Rising FX Pushes Prices of Antisnake Venom to N45,000 per Vial 7JDUJNT PG TOBLF CJUF JO /JHFSJB are faced with very slim chances of survival as prices of Anti-Snake 7FOPN "47 IBWF HPOF VQ drastically. A visit to some snake bite treatment centres in Plateau State shows that the cost of treatment has risen drastically with many victims struggling to foot hospital bills. " WJBM PG "47 XIJDI VTFE to cost between N23,000 and N25,000, currently costs more than N45,000, almost double its former price. Dr Nyam Azi, a medical officer with the JUTH Comprehensive Medical Centre, a specialist snake bite treatment outfit in Langtang, Plateau State, BUUSJCVUFE UIF SJTF JO "47 DPTU to rising dollar rates. “It is a hard situation. It is particularly regrettable coming at a time when a high number of cases are being recorded. i" WJBM PG "47 DPTUT BU MFBTU N45,000; it used to be around N23,000 to N25,000. The current price is very high considering that it is peasants that are mostly affected. “There are peak periods for snake bites – the heat season, planting and harvest time. We are entering the peak of harvest season, so the numbers are going up. “We record about 50 cases per month; sometimes we get 20 cases per week. This month alone, we recorded about 40 and the month is not over yet,” he said. Azi, according to freedomonline.com.ng, said that the snake bite victims in his health centre come from Benue, Taraba and

Nasarawa States. He added that the situation was worrisome as patients required four or more doses for standard treatment. “The standard dose a patient requires is four vials of polyvalent or one vial of monovalent, while some patients require even more,” he said. Azi regretted the high cost of treatment, adding that some patients had absconded from the hospital after treatment without paying for the drugs. “Such abscondments lead to huge losses to the hospital,” he said, adding that death was “almost certain and inevitable XJUIPVU UIF "47u FTQFDJBMMZ since most of the victims were usually bitten by carpet vipers, the most common snakes in central Nigeria. )F EJTDMPTFE UIBU UIF "47 produced by ECHITAB remains the only potent vaccine for effective treatment. The physician urged government to resume subsidising the "47 GPS WJDUJNT UP FBTF UIFJS sufferings. “Government used to subsiEJTF UIF SBUFT PG UIF "47 CVU OP one does that anymore. They have stopped. I want to urge them to resume the subsidy to reduce the suffering of the peasants in this area. “Most of the snake bite victims are peasant farmers and children. The cost of treatment is too high and they can barely afford it.” Dr Nandul Durfa, Managing Director of ECHITAP, producFST PG UIF "47 QPUFOU GPS UIF treatment of bites from snakes

in Nigeria, said that the cost of the vaccines went up because of the rise in hard currency. “The vaccine is produced in Liverpool in UK; the rise in the exchange rate of the Naira to the Pound Sterling has pushed up the local cost of the drug. “The only solution is for Nigeria to begin the production PG "47 MPDBMMZ *G XF DBOOPU EP that, we’ll continue to suffer this persistent rise in the cost of this very crucial drug,” he said. Minister of state for Health, Dr Olorunnimbe Mamora, recently said that an average of 20,000 cases of snake bites were recorded in Nigeria every year. Mamora added that about 2,000 of such victims die from the menace annually, while 1,700 lose their legs or arms to the menace. The minister, in an address to mark the 2021 International Snakebite Awareness Day, urged stakeholders to put heads together toward tackling the trend. Snakes bites, especially in the central and southern zones of Plateau and adjoining states such as Benue, Gombe, Nasarawa, have remained a common and worrisome trend over the years. 7BSJPVT BDDPVOUT GSPN WJDUJNT indicate that snakebites inflict a sustained psychological torment with significant level of mortality that result into attendant distortions in family and social structure. Major effects of the menace include loss of breadwinners, prolonged hospital stay and incidental expenses, amputation, loss of income and productivity, among others.

DEVICES (IUDs) Part 1

ast week, we started a topic on intrauterine devices, discussing the functions, types and who needs an IUD. The process of insertion and removal of IUDs were also mentioned. This week, we will be concluding with the benefits, risks and side effects of IUDs and also reasons for missing IUDs.

action of the IUD is diminished.

CAUSES OF MISSING/DISPLACED IUDs When an IUD is inserted, these are the common reasons the IUD strings might appear to be missing: r 5IF TUSJOHT GSPN UIF *6% TPNFUJNFT DVSM themselves up resting against the cervix, thereby, making it impossible to feel it. r 5IF *6% NBZ IBWF GBMMFO PVU PG UIF BENEFITS OF IUDs cervix completely or partially; although it’s not r "O *6% JT NPSF UIBO FGGFDUJWF JO very common. preventing pregnancy. r 0O SBSF PDDBTJPOT UIF *6% NBZ IBWF r *U DBO MBTU VQ UP ZFBST BOE XPSLT TUSBJHIU punctured the cervix or the uterus. This can cause away after inserted properly. severe pelvic pain, pain during sex and bleeding. r *U EPFT OPU EJTUVSC PS JOUFSSVQU TFYVBM BDUJWJUJFT r 5IFZ BSF TBGF BOE JU DBO CF VTFE XIFO SIGNS AND SYMPTOMS OF A DISPLACED breastfeeding. IUDs r .FEJDBUJPOT DBOOPU BMUFS UIF GVODUJPO PG If there is a slight shift in the position of the IUD, an IUD. there may likely be no noticeable signs. However, r 5IF DIBODFT PG HFUUJOH QSFHOBOU BSF CBDL if the IUD gets displaced or lost, the following to normal after removal. signs and symptoms may arise: r *U DBO CF SFNPWFE BU BOZ UJNF CZ BO BQr 6OBCMF UP GFFM UIF TUSJOHT PG UIF *6% propriate health care professional. with your fingers. "MNPTU BMM XPNFO DBO VTF BO *6% r r 'FFMJOH VODPNGPSUBCMF CFDBVTF UIF QMBTUJD including those who have never gotten pregnant. of the IUD is being felt. r :PVS QBSUOFS NBZ GFFM UIF *6% EVSJOH SIDE EFFECTS OF USING IUDs sexual activities. These varies depending on the type of IUD r 0OF NBZ FYQFSJFODF JOUSB NFOTUSVBM one decides to use. Hormonal IUDs may cause bleeding i.e. there may be bleeding in between the following side effects: periods. r 3FEVDFE PS BCTFOU NFOTUSVBM QFSJPET r )BWJOH BCOPSNBM IFBWZ WBHJOBM CMFFEJOH r "DOF r )BWJOH JOUFOTF DSBNQT CFZPOE XIBU r )FBE BDIF is usually experience during normal period. r #SFBTU QBJO r &YQFSJFODJOH TPSFOFTT PS QBJO JO UIF r .PPE TXJOH lower abdomen. r *SSFHVMBS CMFFEJOH r )BWJOH VOVTVBM BCOPSNBM WBHJOBM r 8FJHIU HBJO discharge. r 1FMWJD QBJO BOE DSBNQJOH r &YQFSJFODJOH PS IBWJOH SBOEPN JOGFDUJPOT r 0WBSJBO DZTU The Copper IUD called ParaGard may cause DIAGNOSIS OF A MISSING IUD the following side effects: The missing IUDs may be symptomatic or r "OFNJB asymptomatic. A simple examination of the r #BDLBDIF vagina will confirm the diagnosis while it can r #MFFEJOH CFUXFFO QFSJPET be detected by Hysteroscopy, Uterine ultrasound, r $SBNQJOH Abdominopelvic ultrasound, Hysterosalpinogram r 7BHJOJUJT (HSG), Laparoscopy, Spencer well’s forceps, sponge r 1BJOGVM TFY holding forceps and plain abnormal X-ray with r 4FWFSF NFOTUSVBM QBJO a marker in the uterus. r )FBWZ CMFFEJOH r 7BHJOBM EJTDIBSHF TREATMENT OF MISSING IUDs r *G QSFHOBOU XJUI *6% JU DBO CF USFBUFE RISKS AND COMPLICATIONS OF IUDs with sonographic guided IUD removal. r "O *6% NBZ CF EJGàDVMU UP JOTFSU XJUI r *G UIFSF JT BO JOGFDUJPO TVDI BT & DPMJ women having uterine challenges such as fibroids. with an IUD in place, the device is removed and r 8PNFO XJUI TFSJPVT DPNQMJDBUJPOT drainage of abscess if needed. Antibiotics can be such as sexually transmitted infection, pelvic used to fight infections. inflammatory diseases, unexplained vaginal r *G BO *6% JT QFSGPSBUFE JU TIPVME CF bleeding or any complication that may prevent removed laparoscopically. a woman from getting pregnant in the future r *G UIFSF JT FJUIFS DIMBNZEJB PS HPOPSSIFB may be advised to not use IUD. at the time of IUD insertion, it can be treated r (FUUJOH QSFHOBOU XJUI BO *6% JT OPU without removing the IUD. BEWJTBCMF BT PG TVDI QSFHOBODJFT FOE JO miscarriage. Any woman with an IUD who has CONCLUSION a positive pregnancy result should see her doctor Intrauterine devices (IUDs) are effective and safe immediately. form of birth control. However, the IUD can move r "MTP XJUI UIF )PSNPOBM *6%T QSP- from its position leading to an increase in the risk gesterone-releasing IUDs), reduction in menstrual of one getting pregnant and other complications. If flow and a decrease in painful menstrual period you feel the IUD may have moved from its original are often observed with continued use. This is position or you can’t feel it at all, kindly book because the progesterone hormone present can appointment with your health care professional. cause the endometrium (lining of the uterus) to be Never try to place it back by yourself. thin thereby reducing the occurrence of cramps. It is worthy of note that IUDs does not protect These menstrual changes are not dangerous in BHBJOTU )*7 PS PUIFS TFYVBMMZ DPNNVOJDBCMF EJTFBTFT any way and do not mean that the contraceptive and the side effects often diminish over time.

T H I S D AY ˾ , OCTOBER 21, 2021

NEWS

Dettol, FG Reiterate Importance of Hygiene at 2021 Global Handwashing Day Stories by Precious Ugwuzor In its continuous efforts to increase top-of-mind awareness around hand hygiene habits, and the importance of regular handwashing with soap, Dettol Nigeria recently partnered the Federal Ministry of Water Resources to commemorate 2021 Global Handwashing Day. It was also targeted at highlighting the critical role hand hygiene plays in reducing disease transmission as the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic continues. The Global Handwashing Day is an international advocacy day dedicated to increasing public awareness and understanding about the importance of washing hands with soap, as an effective way of preventing diseases. At the commemoration event in Abuja, with the theme “Our Future is at Hand – Let’s Move Forward Together”, the Minister of Water Resources, Engr. Sulaimon Hussein Adamu represented by the Permanent Secretary, Mrs Didi WalsonJack, while commending the stakeholders for their support, said sustenance of sanitation and hygiene in Nigeria

is vehemently important, therefore it is important to create awareness on the issue of sanitation and hygiene. “Handwashing saves more lives. It reduces the toll of deaths caused by poor hygiene especially for children and admonishes parents to take up responsibilities in handwashing,” she added. While speaking on the role and support of Dettol, the General Manager, Reckitt

Sub-Saharan Africa, Mr. Akbar Ali Shah, stated, “As the world marks the 2021 Global Handwashing Day, Dettol remains committed to ensuring handwashing gets the needed attention it deserves. “ We believe that it’s important to inculcate hand hygiene habits among citizens as a simple act of proper handwashing with soap has

been proven to reduce risks of diseases, particularly respiratory and intestinal, by 20 to 25 per cent.” He stressed further that “Dettol understands the importance of good hygiene and sanitation in the lives of Nigerians. It is one of the reasons we launched the Dettol Clean Naija Initiative in 2019 before there was a pandemic.

“In line with its objectives, we have also recently launched a School Hygiene Curriculum, which is an interactive and engaging hygiene lessons aimed at children in primary schools so as to create sustainable behavioral change at a young age. The curriculum is currently being deployed in schools in Lagos State, with plans to extend to other States in 2023”.

Reckitt Nigeria, through the Dettol brand, has over the years developed several programs committed to tackling public health and hygiene issues. These include the School Hygiene Program, the New Mum’s Program, the #DettolHandwashChallenge through which they have educated over Millions of Nigerians over the past six years.

Handwashing is key

Pfizer Raises Awareness in Nigeria, Ghana to Empower Patients in Fight against Breast Cancer To drive greater awareness around breast cancer, empower and support breast cancer patients in Nigeria and Ghana, Pfizer along with medical professionals held a media roundtable recently. Pfizer held the virtual media roundtable to mark Breast Cancer Awareness Month and Metastatic Breast Cancer Day that falls on the 13th October. Breast cancer is the commonest cancer in women in Nigeria and Ghana, as it accounted for 22.7 per cent of new cancer cases in Nigeria and 18.7 per cent of new ones in Ghana in 2020, according to the Globocan study. Therefore, Pfizer aims to bring greater awareness in Nigeria and Ghana around Metastatic Breast Cancer as the most advanced stage of breast cancer. The roundtable was attended by two reputable medical professionals from Nigeria and Ghana, and addressed local metastatic breast cancer incidence, how it is diagnosed, who is at risk, steps to take to fight

breast cancer and set the right expectation, as well as latest treatment advances. The participants stressed that although great progress has been made in the treatment and care of breast cancer, there is still a lot more work to be done. They agreed that this is especially true within underserved and hard-to-reach communities in places, too often, experience critical gaps in their care. Timely access, affordable treatment options and expansion of resources and programmes that address current disparities across age, race, gender, and location can remove barriers that stand in the way of the most vulnerable people with breast cancer. According to the Globocan 2020 study, breast cancer is the commonest cancer in women in Nigeria and Ghana and accounting for 22.7 per cent of new cancer cases in Nigeria and 18.7 per cent of new ones in Ghana respectively in 2020. Moreover, it impacts over 247,000 people across Africa and the Middle East (AfME).

Early-stage breast cancer is when cancer cells have not spread beyond the breast or axillary lymph nodes. However, in AfME, 50-60 per cent of breast cancer patients are in locally advanced or advanced stages at initial diagnosis.,, Metastatic breast cancer (MBC) is the most advanced stage of breast cancer, and it occurs when cancer spreads to other parts of the body, such as the lung, brain, liver, and bones. Dr. Kodjo Soroh, Medical Director, Sub-Saharan Africa, Pfizer, commented, “At Pfizer, we remain committed to improving patients’ lives and supporting them at each step of their breast cancer experience. “ Across the region, patients are diagnosed with late or advanced-stage cancer at a higher incidence rate than other regions globally. There is a distinct need for more awareness campaigns to regularly encourage patients to check themselves for breast cancer and better understand the disease.

“Moreover, over the past decade, improved diagnostics, and newer treatment options for late-stage breast cancer, including those with different gene abnormalities, offer new horizons and hope for these patients.” He added: “We feel a deep obligation to advocate for people with breast cancer at every stage of their disease. “Through our partnerships and programs we continue to create access to better screening services, clinical trials, treatment options and extended support to mental health and financial resources more so during life’s unexpected events, such as COVID-19.” Dr. Hannah Naa Gogwe Ayettey Anie, National Radiotherapy Oncology and Nuclear Medicine Centre, Ghana commented, “Most women diagnosed with breast cancer do not have any signs or symptoms of the disease. However, there are changes in the breast that some women do not notice. “Therefore, it is hard to

overestimate the importance of conducting self-examination and going for regular checkups. While each case is unique, age, certain genetic mutations (like BRCA1 and BRCA2), getting periods before age 12 or starting menopause after age 55, having dense breasts, and family history are all known risk factors. With better awareness, prevention, treatment, and access to diagnostics, early detection could save between 2.4 and 3.7 million lives each year globally.” Prof. Ifeoma Joy Okoye, Professor of Radiology, College of Medicine, University of Nigeria, Nsukka added, “It is crucial for patients who have been diagnosed with breast cancer or even metastatic breast cancer to have the right information and expectations. “It is our duty to encourage them to have open conversations with their healthcare teams to understand how they can be supported but also how they can participate in their own care – taking an

active role in their treatment can help them feel empowered in making the best decisions for themselves.” In response to such a high incidence of late-stage diagnosis of breast cancer across AfME, Pfizer is joining forces with Breast Without Spot and Breast Cancer International to disseminate educational content designed to encourage and empower individuals, patients, and families to get checked for breast cancer, better understand the disease and have the right expectations and act against it. According to WHO, breast cancer is the most common invasive cancer in women worldwide, with more than 2 million women impacted annually. Most women diagnosed with breast cancer do not have any signs or symptoms of the disease. However, there are sometimes changes in the breast that a woman may notice. While rare, men can also be diagnosed with breast cancer. For men, the lifetime risk of breast cancer is about 1 in 833.

Nizamiye Hospital Inaugurates Advanced MRI Scanner The Nizamiye Hospital Abuja, has inaugurated a GE 1.5 Tesla state-of-the-art Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) Machine to undertake diagnosis and monitoring of treatment for various conditions within significant body components. According to the Chief Radiographer of the Hospital, Bibian Yager, the newly com-

missioned MRI Machine is a multifunctional machine capable of carrying out diagnosis on various parts of the body, including Multiparametric MRI of the prostate gland and the breast. And also, MR spectroscopy. “The hospital, in its quest to continually provide quality services to its patients, invested in a state-of-the-art

MRI machine with provision for multiparametric MRI of the prostate gland, which is the preferred imaging modality for prostate anatomy and risk assessment of prostate cancer, and MpMRI of the breast, which improves diagnostic accuracy in breast cancer, prevents unnecessary breast biopsies, and enables an improved assessment and

prediction of response to neoadjuvant therapy. She added that the hospital also offers Magnetic Resonance (MR) spectroscopy, a non-invasive diagnostic test for measuring biochemical changes in the brain, especially in the presence of tumours. “These are specialised imaging procedures that only an MRI machine of this quality

can perform. This is aside from other imaging functions such as CINE imaging, angiography, cardiac imaging, diffusion tensor imaging, amongst a host of others. “We believe that with this new addition, patients can be assured of accurate diagnosis, which is the core of quality healthcare services.” In his remark, the hospital’s

public relations officer, Mohammed Abubakar, stated that Nizamiye Hospital upgrades its medical facilities in line with best global practices. “ The hospital understands the strategic importance of accurate diagnosis, hence the resolve to upgrade our medical facilities periodically, and in line with global best practices.”

T H I S D AY ˾ , OCTOBER 21, 2021

PERSPECTIVE

Population Immunity Behind Nigerian Vaccine Mandate for Civil Servants

Dr. Faisal

Boss Mustapha Tajudeen Kareem

he quest for population immunity is the underlying reason for the vaccine mandate Nigeria rolled out on 13 October for federal civil servants to increase the number of persons immunised against Covid-19. Secretary to the Government of the Federation and Chairman, Presidential Steering Committee on COVID-19, Boss Mustapha announced the requirement for federal employees to vaccinate or ensure they bring negative vaccine tests from three-days-prior validity. It seemed like a tall order pointing in only one direction. The regulation would take effect from 1 December 2021, more than six weeks from now. Mustapha’s words stated: “With effect from 1st December 2021, Federal Government employees shall be required to show proof of COVID-19 vaccination or present a negative COVID-19 PCR test result done within 72 hours, to gain access to their offices, in all locations within Nigeria and our Missions. An appropriate service wide advisory/circular will be issued to guide the process. Officials explain that the vaccine mandate for civil servants is necessary owing to the nature of their job that requires constant interface with citizens from various walks of life. They are thus a priority for control efforts. Dr Faisal Shuaib, Executive Director of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency, NPHCDA, the agency in charge of vaccination, stated at a press briefing that the measure is not punitive but seeks the protection of the larger populace. Nigeria is following global best practice, aspiring to acquire herd immunity when 70 per cent of the population is vaccinated. Dr Shuaib gave a clarification: In making a pronouncement that by 1st December, all federal government employees would have to

show proof of vaccination or negative PCR test. We are clearly aware that we have to put in place all of the machinery, all of the processes and allow federal government employees access to get these vaccinations in locations that are nearest to them. “You should also be mindful of the fact that a lot of these federal government employees have already gotten the vaccine anyway, but of course this is a small fraction, a minority of these employees that are not taking the vaccine, continue to pose a risk to other colleagues. These are the people that we need to be sure are negative before they have access to the institution. So, we have to emphasize the fact that there is an option for people to take. “It is not that people are being forced to take the vaccine. You have the option of not taking the vaccine but actually showing negative PCR test so that you cannot be among the people that are infecting others.” Mustapha added an advisory and caution as citizens prepare for large religious observances by both Muslims and Christians. “The PSC wishes to put Nigerians on notice that two major religious festivities (Salah and Christmas) are approaching, and we shall be experiencing increased passenger traffic in and out of the country. Similarly, events of large gatherings are likely to hold. While the PSC prepares to escalate surveillance and other control activities, we urge the States and all Nigerians to also increase their vigilance and take measure to moderate activities”, Mustapha cautioned. Nigeria had by 13 October 2021 vaccinated four million citizens. Two million six hundred thousand (2,645,020) persons have received the first dose of AstraZeneca vaccine and 1,407,736 eligible persons got the first dose of Moderna vaccine. Shuaib stated: “To end this pandemic, we

must achieve enough level of population immunity when the virus essentially becomes a nuisance and no longer a threat. The only way to achieve this is if eligible persons come out for vaccination and observe the non-pharmaceutical interventions. The COVID-19 vaccines remain the most effective tool against this virus.” He noted that vaccine mandates have become a global practice. “With the increasing number of cases of COVID-19 globally, we are beginning to see countries instituting vaccine mandates. Some countries have begun asking workers to either present a proof of vaccination or provide weekly COVID-19 PCR negative results to be allowed into public offices”, he stated. The NPHCDA boss points to science and empirical data in support of the measure. “A recent study by the United States Centre for Disease Control which examined 600,000 COVID-19 cases, revealed that people who were unvaccinated were about four and a half times more likely to contract COVID-19. It further showed that those who are not vaccinated against COVID-19 were eleven times more likely to die of the disease and ten times more likely to be hospitalized with the disease. We should also be mindful of the long-term effects of COVID-19 infection, which is characterized by blood clotting disorders, lung, and kidney problems”. Federal health officials tread carefully in managing Covid-19. They are careful to dispel any doubts about the efficacy and necessity for vaccination against the backdrop that nature has spared Nigeria from a feared tsunami. Shuaib emphasised the necessity for the vaccination. He also asked officials at all levels of the chain and citizens to be careful with the vaccines available. For one, do

not mix the vaccines for the first and second doses. If you take AstraZeneca for the first dose, officials must ensure that the second dose is also AstraZeneca. “Let me emphasize that all COVID-19 vaccines are safe and capable of protecting people against the disease. We do not promote preference of one vaccine brand over the other, and we strongly discourage mixing of vaccine brand for first and second doses”, said the NPHCDA boss. The Federal Government urges states to take full control of the vaccine doses they receive and ensure compliance with regulations. Foremost is the fact that vaccination is free to all citizens. No state should charge for vaccination. States also need to ensure they do prevent situations where medical personnel circumvent procedures to sell vaccines or vaccine certificates. Shuaib issued the Riot Act. “Any State found to be condoning acts of corruption will no longer be allocated vaccines. We have received reports of people trying to procure cards from health workers. These reports are being investigated and anyone found wanting would be prosecuted. It is important to emphasize that it is in the interest of public safety and collective wellbeing of Nigerians that the Federal Government has made available these vaccines free for all eligible persons”. The NPHCDA boss also informed Nigerians that corporate vaccination had be instituted to make it easier for workers who are too busy at their workplace to receive the vaccination at their office premises. He stated that the corporate vaccination for Ministries, Departments, Agencies, public and private corporate organizations will be provided free of charge. States and Local Governments are also reminded that no fees/levies should be demanded from the corporate bodies when teams are sent to provide these services. t5BKVEFFO XSPUF JO GSPN "CVKB

Primary Health Care is Theme of Academy of Pharmacy Investiture The Nigeria Academy of Pharmacists is gearing up for the investiture of 15 accomplished pharmacists into its esteemed ranks. The investiture, billed for October 22 will have as guest speaker, respected clinical pharmacy teacher and practitioner, Dr. Teresa Pounds. Dr. Pounds, who is the Pharmacy Residency Program

Director and the Manager of the Clinical Pharmacy Services at Wellstar Atlanta Medical Centre in the United States, is also the President of the Nigerian Association of Pharmacists and Pharmaceutical Scientists in the Americas. Using empirical evidence from several developed countries including the US, Dr. Pounds will be speaking on the imperative of expanding

the roles of pharmacists to incorporate primary healthcare in greater depth, in order to fast-track universal health access by Nigerians. According to Professor Fola Tayo, Pro-Chancellor of Caleb University and Secretary of the Nigeria Academy of Pharmacy, “the health professions are in a continuous state of flux and all over the world, emphasis is increasingly on optimizing the

value which each profession can bring to the table for the benefit of mankind.” Prof. Tayo explained that across the world, it is becoming increasingly evident that with the close proximity and accessibility of pharmacists to the community, there is an imperative to deploy these advantages to help redress primary healthcare challenges. For instance, he said, “Across

the US, millions of Americans are receiving their COVID-19 vaccinations in their neighbourhood pharmacies. “They need not necessarily go all the way to the medical centre or clinic if there is a pharmacy nearby. This is just one indication of how things are changing in the way people access healthcare around the world.” Professor Tayo explained that

“Given the urgency to redress Nigeria’s rather unpalatable healthcare indices, the country’s needs to embrace new thinking and new approaches in redressing its healthcare challenges.” Pharmacists, he said, “are trained at huge cost to the state and are an immense resource which Nigeria can benefit a lot more from than it is currently doing. Enhancing their roles.

T H I S D AY ˾ ˜ Ͱͯ˜ ͰͮͰͯ

BUSINESS/MONEYGUIDE

Expert Calls for Banking Penetration to Unlock ‘Hidden Treasures’ in Rural Economy Emmanuel Ugwu-Nwogo ÓØ ×ßËÒÓË The federal government has been urged to come up with necessary policy instruments to increase the number of financial intermediating institutions in the rural communities to free huge amount of hidden cash that could help in wealth creation. A professor of agricultural economics, Prof. Remy Onyekachi Mejeha made the call yesterday while delivering the 50th inaugural lecture of Michael Okpara University of Agriculture Umudike (MOUAU). He said the huge amounts of “hidden treasures” of different forms abound in the rural areas waiting to be liberated into the economy. He warned that if the hidden treasures were not mobilised and ploughed into the economy greater part of the treasures could either be lost or remain unproductive to the detriment of economic growth.

In his lecture entitled, “Financial Intermediation in Agriculture: Hidden Treasure Mobilised for Wealth Creation,” the university don noted that hoarded cash and stored valuable possessions that constitute the hidden treasures were needed to create wealth. “Keeping huge resources unproductive in a country where resources are very scarce constututes a bottleneck to wealth creation, “he said. Mejeha, who has over the years conducted extensive research on problems facing agricultural development in Nigeria, said that the instruments that could have been used “to liberate” hoarded funds have largely remained ineffective. According to him, cooperative societies that have widespread geographical spread in the rural communities have proved ineffective in mobilising hoarded cash since they depend largely on grants and and support that dried up at a point in time. He also noted that banks

and related institutions have equally failed in hoarded fund mobilisation because they “have not been able to extend financial services(savings mobilisation an extension of credits) to a larger segment of the farming population” hence the option of hoarding cash. “Hoarded cash is not available for investment which gives rise to wealth creation,” he said, adding that in spite of the availability of relevant policies, financial intermediation services are not properly regulated to play their role in ending cash hoarding. Mejeha insisted that identifiable unharnessed treasures in the rural communities have huge values and called for “policy actions on treasure mobilisation” involving government, investors and relevant institutions. He also recommended that designated central authorities should regulate relevant authorities that exercise control over prices of agricultural products and interest payments on cash deposits.

Heifer, NESG to Aid Agri-transformation by Empowering Nigerian Youth By 2050, Africa will have a youth population of over 800 million, with an additional 400 million jobs set to be needed by 2035 for youth across the continent. With agriculture already accounting for an estimated 35% of employment in Nigeria, the sector is ripe for innovation and has the potential to be one of the largest domestic employers, meeting local demands and increasing productivity across the agricultural sector. Against this backdrop, Heifer Nigeria in collaboration with Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG) is organizing a side event on October 26, 2021, at the Nigerian Economic Summit (NES #27) to convene and interact with key stakeholders on the role of youth and technology in the transformation and future of Nigeria’s agricultural sector. The event themed, “Youth and Technology: The Future of Africa’s Agriculture,” is in line with the NES 27 theme: “Securing

Our Future: The Fierce Urgency of Now.” The event will be held October 25-26 at Transcorp Hilton, Abuja. Commenting, Country Director, Heifer Nigeria, Rufus Idris, said, “Youth are the future of agriculture in Africa, and they can bring the much-needed innovation that will enable African farmers to feed the continent’s growing population in the years ahead. Leveraging technology and modern practices will create a pathway for Nigeria to increase productivity and competitiveness of the agricultural sector to curb food insecurity and poverty. Heifer International is committed to supporting a business ecosystem that enables youths to drive innovation in the sector, growing their incomes through sustainable and scalable food, and farming practices.” He added, “For more than 47 years, Heifer International has been working side by side with smallholder farmers in Africa, supporting them to reach a sus-

tainable living income. Investing in infrastructure, facilitating access to finance, supporting ground up innovation and building social capital are central to Heifer’s approach, ensuring that smallholder farmers are able to benefit from agricultural value chains. Heifer International’s programs in Nigeria aim to assist more than one million farmers and mainly youth to reach a sustainable living income by year 2030 through strategic private and public sector partnerships, unlocking demand and market opportunities, leveraging finance across priority value chains, and leveraging innovation and emerging agricultural technologies to reach transformational scale. “A recent Heifer survey across 11 countries revealed that while there is a wide range of agritech innovations that could propel Nigerian farmers to profitability, only 23% of youth engaged in agriculture are using any form of agricultural technology.

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)

Transcorp Emerges Best World Class Energy/Power Brand James Emejo ÓØ ÌßÔË Transnational Corporation of Nigeria Plc (Transcorp), has been awarded the International Standards Excellence Awards for Best World Class Energy/ Power Brand of 2021. The award is in recognition of the corporation’s phenomenal contributions to Nigeria’s power sector through its power businesses – Transcorp Power Limited and Trans Afam Power Limited. Since its significant investment in power generation in 2013, Transcorp had greatly improved the country’s power generation capacity in a consistent, safe and sustainable manner, upholding the highest standards with amazing health, safety and environmental records. The company has in the process, earned the respect,

recognition and admiration of key stakeholders of the power sector. The International Standards Excellence Awards are presented in commemoration of the World Standards Day. The awards promote compliance and adherence to standards while also emphasizing the importance of standardization in all sectors of endeavor. In his reaction to the award, Managing Director, Transcorp Power Limited, Mr. Christopher Ezeafulukwe, said,“We are pleased to be recognized by the International Standards Excellence Awards as the Best World Class Energy/Power Brand of the Year 2021. “Since inception, our purpose has remained to improve lives and transform Nigeria. We recognised early that fulfilling

our purpose require sustainability, hence our obsession with not just pushing the frontiers of power generation but ensuring that our achievements in that space are sustainable through compliance with global best practices and standards. He said the award would serve as a source of motivation for the company to further entrench quality standards in its operations. Ezeafulukwe, said,”I am very proud of what we’ve accomplished in the Transcorp Group, noting that such achievements are only stepping stones towards accomplishing our audacious goal of sustained generation to power Nigerian homes, offices, schools, hospitals, industries and other facilities reliably, and doing same in a way that we remain the preferred choice of our stakeholders.”

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).

T H I S D AY ˾ ˜ Ͱͯ˜ ͰͮͰͯ

Price Appreciation in MTN Nigeria, FBN Holdings Drive Stock Market By N54bn Darasimi Adebisi The stock market of the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) yesterday closed trading activities on a positive note to reverse the previous trading session bearish sentiment, as market capitalisation increased by N54 billion. The market positive performance was driven by price appreciation in large and medium capitalised stocks which are; MTN Nigeria Communications

(MTNN), FBN Holdings (FBNH), Nigerian Exchange Group and GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Nigeria. In summary, the NGX All-Share Index (ASI) increased by 105.04 basis points, representing a rise of 0.26 per cent, to close at 41,249.71 points. Similarly, the overall market capitalisation value surged by N54 billion to close at N21.526 trillion. Sector performances were negative today with the Oil and Gas (-0.39 per cent), Consumer

P R I C E S MAIN BOARD

F O R DEALS

Goods (-0.24 per cent) and Banking (-0.20 per cent) sectors closing in negative territory, while the Industrial (+0.34 per cent) sector closed positive. Similarly, the market breadth closed positive, recording 21 gainers as against 18 losers. Nigerian Exchange Group recorded the highest price gain of 10 per cent to close at N21.45, per share. GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Nigeria followed with a gain of 6.87 per cent to close at N7.00

S E C U R I T I E S

MARKET PRICE

QUANTITY TRADED

VALUE TRADED ( N )

and NPF Microfinance Bank went up 5.85 per cent to close at N1.81, per share. Wapic Insurance up by 4.17 per cent to close at 50 kobo, while FBNH appreciated by 3.83, per cent to close at N12.20, per share. On the other hand, prestige led the losers’ chart by 8.51 per cent to close at 43 kobo, while Academy Press and Consolidated Hallmark Insurance followed with a decline of 8.33 per cent each to close at 33 kobo and 55 kobo

T R A D E D MAIN BOARD

A S

respective, per share. Cadbury Nigeria declined 5.88 per cent to close at N8.00, while Union Bank of Nigeria (UBN) shed 5.66 per cent to close at N5.00, per share. Meanwhile, the total volume of trades increased by 47.47 per cent to 499.508 million units, valued at N5.079 billion, and exchanged in 5,998 deals. Transactions in the shares of FBN Holdings (FBNH) topped the activity chart with 147.602

O F

million shares valued at N1.756 billion. eTranzact International followed with 105.167 million shares worth N215.594 million, while Access Bank traded 27.855 million shares valued at N265.973 million. Transnational Corporation of Nigeria (Transcorp) traded 22.293 million shares valued at N22.783 million, while Guaranty Trust Holding Company (GTCO) transacted 20.595 million shares worth N612.908 million.

2 0 / 1 0 / 2 0 2 1 DEALS

MARKET PRICE

QUANTITY TRADED

VALUE TRADED ( N)

THURSDAY, ͺ͹˜ ͺ͸ͺ͹ ˾ T H I S D AY

Thursday, October 21, 2021

dŚŝƐĚĂǇ ĨƌŝŶǀĞƐƚ ϰϬ /ŶĚĞǆ ZŽƐĞ ϮϮďƉƐ dŚŝƐĚĂǇ ĨƌŝŶǀĞƐƚ ϰϬ /ŶĚĞǆ ĨĞůů ďǇ ϭϰďƉƐ dŚĞ dŚŝƐĚĂǇ ĨƌŝŶǀĞƐƚ ϰϬ /ŶĚĞǆ ƌŽƐĞ ϮϮďƉƐ ƚŽ ϭ͕ϳϰϱ͘ϲϯ ƉŽŝŶƚƐ ĂƐ dŚĞ dŚŝƐĚĂǇ ĨƌŝŶǀĞƐƚ ϰϬ /ŶĚĞǆ ĚĞĐůŝŶĞĚ ďǇ ϭϰďƉƐ ƚŽ ƐĞƩůĞ

THISDAY AFRINVEST 40 INDEX

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t W K ;Ͳϭ͘ϯйͿ͕ ĂŶĚ h ;ͲϬ͘ϳйͿ͘ dŚĞƐĞ ƐƚŽĐŬƐ ĐƵŵƵůĂͲ ƚŚĞ ŝŶĚĞǆ͘

Fundamental Performance Metrics for THISDAY AFRINVEST 40 Index

ƟǀĞůǇ ĂĐĐŽƵŶƚ ĨŽƌ ϭϯ͘Ϯй͘

KŶ ƌĞƐƵŵƉƟŽŶ ĨƌŽŵ ƚŚĞ ƉƵďůŝĐ ŚŽůŝĚĂǇ͕ ƚŚĞ ůŽĐĂů ďŽƵƌƐĞ ƌĞͲ

zĞƐƚĞƌĚĂǇ͕ ƵƉƟĐŬ ƚƵƌŶĞĚ ƚŽ Ă ƉƌŝĐĞ ďƵůůŝƐŚ ŶŽƚĞ ŽŶ ƚŚĞ ŝŶ ďĂĐŬ ,KEz&>KhZ ŽĨ ďĂƌŐĂŝŶ ;нϵ͘ϴйͿ͕ ŝŶ E' D ;нϯ͘ϯйͿ͕ ĂŶĚ & E, ďŽůͲ ŚƵŶƟŶŐ DdEE ;нϭ͘ϮйͿ ĂŶĚ & E, ;нϯ͘ϴйͿ͕ ĂƐ ;нϬ͘ϳйͿ ǁĞůů ĂƐ ďƵǇŝŶŐ ŝŶƚĞƌĞƐƚ ŝŶ E'y'ZKhW ;нϭϬ͘ϬйͿ͘ ĐĐŽƌĚŝŶŐůǇ͕ ƚŚĞ ůůͲ^ŚĂƌĞ ŝŶĚĞǆ ƐƚĞƌĞĚ ƉŽƐŝƟǀĞ ƉĞƌĨŽƌŵĂŶĐĞ ŽŶ ƚŚĞ ůŽĐĂů ďŽƵƌƐĞ ĂƐ ƚŚĞ ůůͲ ĂĚǀĂŶĐĞĚ ϮϲďƉƐ ƚŽ ϰϭ͕Ϯϰϵ͘ϳϭ ƉŽŝŶƚƐ ǁŚŝůĞ ŵĂƌŬĞƚ ĐĂƉŝƚĂůŝƐĂƟŽŶ ^ŚĂƌĞ ŝŶĚĞǆ ƌŽƐĞ ďǇ ŐĂŝŶĞĚ േϱϰ͘ϴďŶ ƚŽ േϮϭ͘ϱƚŶ͘ DĞĂŶǁŚŝůĞ͕ zd ƌĞƚƵƌŶ ŝŵƉƌŽǀĞĚ ƚŽ ϭϭďƉƐ ƚŽ ϯϵ͕ϱϱϬ͘ϯϲ ƉŽŝŶƚƐ͘ ŽŶƐĞƋƵĞŶƚůǇ͕ zd ůŽƐƐ ŝŵͲ Ϯ͘ϲй͘ dƌĂĚŝŶŐ ĂĐƟǀŝƚǇ ƐƚƌĞŶŐƚŚĞŶĞĚ ĂƐ ǀŽůƵŵĞ ĂŶĚ ǀĂůƵĞ ƚƌĂĚĞĚ

ƉƌŽǀĞĚ ƚŽ Ͳϭ͘ϴй ǁŚŝůĞ ŵĂƌŬĞƚ ĐĂƉŝƚĂůŝƐĂƟŽŶ ƌŽƐĞ ďǇ

ƌŽƐĞ ϰϳ͘ϱй ĂŶĚ Ϯϱ͘Ϯй ƌĞƐƉĞĐƟǀĞůǇ ƚŽ ϰϵϵ͘ϱŵ ƵŶŝƚƐ ĂŶĚ േϱ͘ϭďŶ͘

േϮϯ͘ϰďŶ ƚŽ േϮϬ͘ϲƚŶ͘ dƌĂĚŝŶŐ ĂĐƟǀŝƚǇ ǁĂƐ ŵŝǆĞĚ ĂƐ ǀŽůƵŵĞ

dŚĞ ŵŽƐƚ ƚƌĂĚĞĚ ƐƚŽĐŬƐ ďǇ ǀŽůƵŵĞ ǁĞƌĞ & E, ;ϭϰϳ͘ϲŵ ƵŶŝƚƐͿ͕

ƚƌĂĚĞĚ ĚĞĐůŝŶĞĚ ďǇ Ϯϭ͘ϲй ƚŽ ϭϭϬ͘ϴŵ ƵŶŝƚƐ ǁŚŝůĞ ǀĂůƵĞ

dZ E d ;ϭϬϱ͘Ϯŵ ƵŶŝƚƐͿ͕ ĂŶĚ ^^ ;Ϯϳ͘ϵŵ ƵŶŝƚƐͿ ǁŚŝůĞ

ƚƌĂĚĞĚ ƌŽƐĞ ďǇ ϴϴ͘ϱй ƚŽ േϯ͘ϭďŶ͘ dŚĞ ŵŽƐƚ ƚƌĂĚĞĚ ƐƚŽĐŬƐ & E, ;േϭ͘ϴďŶͿ͕ 'd K ;േϲϭϮ͘ϵŵͿ͕ ĂŶĚ E ^d> ;േϱϰϭ͘ϳŵͿ ůĞĚ ďǇ ǀŽůƵŵĞ ǁĞƌĞ dZ E^ KZW ;ϭϭ͘ϵŵ ƵŶŝƚƐͿ͕ & E, ;ϭϭ͘ϭŵ ďǇ ǀĂůƵĞ͘ ƵŶŝƚƐͿ͕ ĂŶĚ K E K ;ϳ͘ϯŵ ƵŶŝƚƐͿ ǁŚŝůĞ E ^d> ;േϮ͘ϮďŶͿ͕

E' D ;േϭϰϱ͘ϬŵͿ͕ ĂŶĚ 'd K ;േϭϯϰ͘ϴŵͿ ůĞĚ ďǇ ǀĂůƵĞ͘ DŝǆĞĚ ^ĞĐƚŽƌ WĞƌĨŽƌŵĂŶĐĞ WĞƌĨŽƌŵĂŶĐĞ ĂĐƌŽƐƐ ƐĞĐƚŽƌƐ ǁŝƚŚŝŶ ŽƵƌ ĐŽǀĞƌĂŐĞ ǁĂƐ ŵŝǆĞĚ ĂƐ ϯ ŝŶĚŝĐĞƐ ŐĂŝŶĞĚ ǁŚŝůĞ ϯ ŝŶĚŝĐĞƐ ůŽƐƚ͘ dŚĞ &ZͲ/ d ŝŶĚĞǆ ĂĚǀĂŶĐĞĚ

ĞĂƌŝƐŚ ^ĞĐƚŽƌ WĞƌĨŽƌŵĂŶĐĞ

ƚŚĞ ŵŽƐƚ͕ ƵƉ ϲϴďƉƐ ĚƵĞ ƚŽ ďĂƌŐĂŝŶ ŚƵŶƟŶŐ ŝŶ DdEE ;нϭ͘ϮйͿ͘

THISDAY AFRINVEST 40

1,745.63

0.22%

18.9%

74.6%

15.0%

3.5%

5.7x

0.8x

5.2%

14.2%

760.00

0.0%

28.5%

-10.8%

12.3%

4.4%

12.2x

1.4x

2.1%

8.2%

67.85

0.0%

10.0%

-12.3%

19.1%

11.2%

32.6x

6.1x

29.60

0.0%

8.7%

-8.5%

24.8%

3.9%

4.5x

1.1x

10.1%

22.2% 29.7%

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

Ğƌ 'ŽŽĚƐ ĂŶĚ /ŶƐƵƌĂŶĐĞ ŝŶĚŝĐĞƐ͕ ĚŽǁŶ ϰ͘ϲй ĂŶĚ ǀĞƌƐĞůǇ͕ ƚŚĞ Kŝů Θ 'ĂƐ ŝŶĚĞǆ ƌĞĐŽƌĚĞĚ Ă ůŽƐƐ ŽĨ ϯϵďƉƐ ĚƌŝǀĞŶ ďǇ ƉƌŽĮƚͲƚĂŬŝŶŐ ŝŶ K E K ;ͲϮ͘ϬйͿ͘ ^ŝŵŝůĂƌůǇ͕ ƚŚĞ ŽŶƐƵŵĞƌ 'ŽŽĚƐ ϭ͘Ϯй ƌĞƐƉĞĐƟǀĞůǇ ŽŶ ƚŚĞ ďĂĐŬ ŽĨ ƉƌŽĮƚͲƚĂŬŝŶŐ ŝŶ E ^d> ;Ͳ ĂŶĚ ĂŶŬŝŶŐ ŝŶĚŝĐĞƐ ĨĞůů ;Ͳϯ͘ϱйͿ͕ ϮϰďƉƐ ĂŶĚ ϮϬďƉƐ ƌĞƐƉĞĐƟǀĞůǇ ŽŶ ĂĐͲ ϵ͘ϭйͿ͕ hE/> s Z >/E< ^^hZ ;Ͳϲ͘ϰйͿ͕ ĐŽƵŶƚ ŽĨ ƐĞůůŽīƐ ŝŶ /Ed Z t ;Ͳϯ͘ϬйͿ͕ hZz ;Ͳϱ͘ϵйͿ͕ h E ;Ͳ

ĂŶĚ D E^ Z ;ͲϮ͘ϮйͿ͘ ^ŝŵŝůĂƌůǇ͕ ƚŚĞ Kŝů Θ 'ĂƐ ĂŶĚ ĂŶŬͲ

ϱ͘ϳйͿ͕ ĂŶĚ ^^ ;Ͳϭ͘ϬйͿ͘

ŝŶŐ ŝŶĚŝĐĞƐ ĨĞůů ďǇ Ϭ͘Ϯй ĂŶĚ ϮďƉƐ ƌĞƐƉĞĐƟǀĞůǇ ĚƵĞ ƚŽ ƐĞůůͲ

ŽīƐ ŝŶ K E K ;ͲϬ͘ϴйͿ͕ E/d, ;ͲϬ͘ϮйͿ͕ ĂŶĚ 'd K ;ͲϬ͘ϮйͿ͘

3.1%

0.6%

21.8%

2.9%

3.4x

0.7x

12.0%

7.0%

14.3%

44.7%

17.5%

14.1x

6.1x

6.2%

7.1%

172.00

1.2%

5.0%

1.2%

143.0%

12.4%

13.8x

17.5x

6.1%

7.2%

1,405.00

0.0%

3.8%

-6.6%

143.5%

17.1%

28.5x

48.8x

4.3%

3.5%

24.90

0.6%

4.0%

18.3%

9.9%

7.1%

11.2x

1.1x

4.0%

8.9%

9.50

-1.0%

3.2%

12.4%

18.3%

1.5%

2.5x

0.4x

8.9%

39.2%

2.3x

0.4x

6.6%

43.6%

10.6%

1.0%

5.7x

0.6x

4.1%

17.6%

8.35

0.6%

2.6%

-3.5%

12.20

3.8%

4.2%

70.6%

47.90

0.0%

1.8%

-14.5%

5.6%

2.2%

40.2x

2.3x

2.0%

2.5%

39.50

0.0%

2.1%

4.6%

17.4%

2.1%

8.5x

1.3x

10.3%

11.7%

-11.4%

-4.5%

4.85

-3.0%

1.3%

-18.5%

29.30

0.0%

1.2%

12.7%

720.00

0.0%

1.9%

79.0%

0.0%

19 Fidelity Bank PLC 20 Ecobank Transnational Inc 21 Dangote Sugar Refinery PLC 22 FCMB Group Plc 23 Sterling Bank PLC 24 NASCON Allied Industries PLC 25 Transnational Corp of Nigeria

30 Guinness Nigeria PLC 31 Custodian and Allied Insurance

Divindend Earnings Yield Yield

6.9%

17 11 PLC 18 Okomu Oil Palm PLC

ŝŶĚĞǆ ƌĞŵĂŝŶĞĚ ŇĂƚ͘ dŽƉƉŝŶŐ ƚŚĞ ůĂŐŐĂƌĚƐ ĂƌĞ ƚŚĞ ŽŶƐƵŵͲ ƟĐŬ ŝŶ E D ;нϯ͘ϲйͿ͕ t W/ ;нϰ͘ϮйͿ͕ ĂŶĚ t W K ;нϬ͘ϲйͿ͘ ŽŶͲ

P/BV

0.4%

14 International Brew eries PLC 15 Flour Mills of Nigeria PLC 16 SEPLAT Energy PLC

28 PZ Cussons Nigeria PLC 29 United Capital PLC

P/E

0.0%

12 Nigerian Brew eries PLC 13 Stanbic IBTC Holdings PLC

ďĞĂƌŝƐŚ ĂƐ ϰ ŝŶĚŝĐĞƐ ůŽƐƚ͕ ϭ ŝŶĚĞǆ ŐĂŝŶĞĚ ǁŚŝůĞ ƚŚĞ &ZͲ/ d ƌŽƐĞ ϱϴďƉƐ ĂŶĚ ϰďƉƐ ƌĞƐƉĞĐƟǀĞůǇ ĂƐ Ă ƌĞƐƵůƚ ŽĨ ƉƌŝĐĞ ƵƉͲ

ROA

24.95

10 United Bank for Africa PLC 11 FBN Holdings Plc

26 Presco PLC 27 Unilever Nigeria PLC

ROE

280.00

8 Lafarge Africa PLC 9 Access Bank PLC

ĐƌŽƐƐ ƐĞĐƚŽƌƐ ƵŶĚĞƌ ŽƵƌ ĐŽǀĞƌĂŐĞ͕ ƉĞƌĨŽƌŵĂŶĐĞ ǁĂƐ dƌĂŝůŝŶŐ͕ ƚŚĞ /ŶƐƵƌĂŶĐĞ ĂŶĚ /ŶĚƵƐƚƌŝĂů 'ŽŽĚƐ ŝŶĚŝĐĞƐ

Price Change Index to Date

Ticker

>ŽĐĂů ŽƵƌƐĞ ZĞďŽƵŶĚƐ͘͘͘ ^/ ƵƉ Ϭ͘ϯй

^/ ƵƉ ϭϭďƉƐ ĂƐ E' D 'ĂŝŶƐ ϯ͘ϯй

Price Previous Current Change Price YTD Weighting Change

Current Price

32 AIICO Insurance PLC 33 TotalEnergies Marketing Nigeri 34 Julius Berger Nigeria PLC 35 Wema Bank PLC 36 Union Bank of Nigeria PLC 37 Oando PLC 38 Notore Chemical Industries Ltd 39 Beta Glass PLC 40 Transcorp Hotels Plc

79.0%

0.9x

-13.2%

0.7x

5.6%

3.1%

1.7%

19.1x

0.6x

5.7%

5.2%

-100.0%

125.40

0.0%

1.1%

37.8%

37.4%

23.6%

9.3x

3.2x

5.6%

10.8%

2.75

0.4%

0.8%

9.1%

12.7%

1.2%

2.4x

0.3x

8.0%

41.9%

7.15

2.9%

0.8%

19.2%

1.5%

0.1%

23.7x

0.3x

17.60

0.0%

0.6%

0.0%

25.6%

12.1%

6.8x

1.6x

8.4%

14.7%

3.15

0.0%

0.5%

-5.4%

1.53

-1.3%

0.3%

-25.0%

8.9%

0.8%

3.9x

0.3x

3.3%

15.50

0.0%

0.4%

6.9%

20.7%

5.9%

15.5x

3.1x

2.6%

6.5%

1.02

1.0%

0.4%

13.3%

-1.3%

-0.3%

0.6x

1.0%

-2.1%

89.00

0.0%

0.4%

25.4%

2.2x

2.2%

13.20

0.0%

0.2%

-5.0%

-4.2%

-2.7%

5.40

0.0%

0.2%

1.9%

4.2%

4.8%

1.2x

25.9%

-3.6%

9.50

-1.6%

0.4%

101.7%

2.1x

7.2%

29.05

0.0%

0.3%

52.9%

1.7%

0.8%

50.3x

0.9x

1.6%

2.0%

7.85

0.0%

0.3%

34.2%

24.7%

7.5%

3.9x

0.9x

7.0%

25.9%

21.6%

3.3%

3.9x

0.4x

0.92

2.2%

0.2%

-18.6%

193.00

0.0%

0.2%

48.5%

25.50

0.0%

0.2%

44.7%

18.3%

2.4%

5.1x

0.74

-1.3%

0.1%

7.2%

11.7%

0.7%

-5.7%

0.0%

-100.0%

7.5%

25.6%

6.1x

2.1%

16.3%

0.8x

1.6%

19.5%

4.2x

0.5x

5.4%

23.8%

0.9%

5.5x

0.6x

5.0%

18.1%

2.2x

5.00

-2.0%

0.2%

35.1%

14.5%

2.6%

62.50

0.0%

0.1%

0.0%

-38.7%

-9.5%

52.95

0.0%

0.1%

-4.4%

12.8%

8.7%

5.97

0.0%

65.8%

5.4x

0.3x

46.5%

2.1x

-21.2%

0.7x

2.0%

18.4%

1.0x

/ŶǀĞƐƚŽƌ ^ĞŶƟŵĞŶƚ ^ƚƌĞŶŐƚŚĞŶƐ

ŽŶǀĞƌƐĞůǇ͕ ƚŚĞ /ŶĚƵƐƚƌŝĂů 'ŽŽĚƐ ŝŶĚĞǆ ǁĂƐ ƚŚĞ ůŽŶĞ ŐĂŝŶͲ

/ŶǀĞƐƚŽƌ ƐĞŶƟŵĞŶƚ͕ ŵĂƌŬĞƚ ďƌĞĂĚƚŚ ĂƉƉƌĞĐŝĂͲ ;ĂĚǀĂŶĐĞͬ Ğƌ͕ ƵƉ ϭ͘ϴй ĂƐ ŵĞĂƐƵƌĞĚ ĚƌŝǀĞŶ ďǇ ďǇ ƉƌŝĐĞ ĚĞĐůŝŶĞ ƌĂƟŽͿ͕ ƐƚƌĞŶŐƚŚĞŶĞĚ ƚŽ ϭ͘Ϯǆ ĨƌŽŵ Ϭ͘ϵǆ ĂƐ ϮϬ ƐƚŽĐŬƐ ĂĚͲ

ƟŽŶ ŝŶ E' D ;нϯ͘ϯйͿ͘

T o p 10 T r a d e s b y V o l u m e

T o p 10 G a i n e r s T ic k er

P ric e

P ric e C hg %

T ic k er

Vo lum e

P ric e C hg %

GLA XOSM IT H

7.00

6.9%

FB NH

147.6

3.8%

NP FM CRFB K

1.81

5.8%

ET R A N Z A C T

105.2

0.0%

WA P IC

0.50

4.2%

A C C ESS

27.9

-1.0%

FB NH

12.20

3.8%

T R A N SC OR P

22.3

1.0%

N EM

2.00

3.6%

GT C O

20.6

0.0%

M B EN EF IT

0.29

3.6%

UB A

16.4

0.6%

J A IZ B A N K

0.62

3.3%

UC A P

15.3

-1.6%

;ĂĚǀĂŶĐĞͬĚĞĐůŝŶĞ ƌĂƟŽͿ͕ ƐƚƌĞŶŐƚŚĞŶĞĚ͕ ƐĞƩůŝŶŐ Ăƚ ϭ͘ϲǆ

ET I

7.15

2.9%

WEM A B A N K

14.8

-1.3%

ƚŚĞ ďĂĐŬ ŽĨ ƚŚĞ ƌĞŶĞǁĞĚ ŝŶǀĞƐƚŽƌ ƐĞŶƟŵĞŶƚ͘

C OUR T VILLE

0.40

2.6%

F ID ELIT YB K

13.5

0.4%

J A P A ULGOLD

0.46

2.2%

Z EN IT H B A N K

11.9

0.4%

ǀĂŶĐĞĚ

E'y'ZKhW

ĂŐĂŝŶƐƚ ;нϭϬ͘ϬйͿ͕

ϭϳ

ĚĞĐůŝŶŝŶŐ '> yK^D/d,

ƐƚŽĐŬƐ͘ ;нϲ͘ϵйͿ͕

/ŶǀĞƐƚŽƌ ^ĞŶƟŵĞŶƚ ^ƚƌĞŶŐƚŚĞŶƐ ĂŶĚ EW&D Z& < ;нϱ͘ϴйͿ ůĞĚ ƚŚĞ ŐĂŝŶĞƌƐ ǁŚŝůĞ WZ ^d/' ;Ͳϴ͘ϱйͿ͕ Dz ;Ͳϴ͘ϯйͿ ůĞĚ ƚŚĞ ůŽƐĞƌƐ͘ /Ŷ ƚŽĚĂǇ͛Ɛ /ŶǀĞƐƚŽƌƐ ;Ͳϴ͘ϯйͿ͕ ĂŶĚ ,/W> ƐĞŶƟŵĞŶƚ͕ ĂƐ ŵĞĂƐƵƌĞĚ ďǇ ŵĂƌŬĞƚ ďƌĞĂĚƚŚ ƚƌĂĚŝŶŐ ƐĞƐƐŝŽŶ͕ ǁĞ ĞǆƉĞĐƚ ƚŚĞ ďƵůůŝƐŚ ƉĞƌĨŽƌŵĂŶĐĞ ƚŽ ƉĞƌƐŝƐƚ ŽŶ

ĨƌŽŵ ϭ͘ϯǆ ƌĞĐŽƌĚĞĚ ŝŶ ƚŚĞ ůĂƐƚ ƚƌĂĚŝŶŐ ƐĞƐƐŝŽŶ ĂƐ Ϯϰ ƐƚŽĐŬƐ

ĂĚǀĂŶĐĞĚ ǁŚŝůĞ ϭϱ ƐƚŽĐŬƐ ĚĞĐůŝŶĞĚ͘ DZ^ ;нϵ͘ϵйͿ͕ D zͲ

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

ŽƌƉŽƌĂƚĞ ŝƐĐůŽƐƵƌĞ < Z ;нϵ͘ϴйͿ͕ ĂŶĚ ,KEz&>KhZ ;нϵ͘ϴйͿ ůĞĚ ŐĂŝŶĞƌƐ

P ric e

P ric e C hg %

T ic k er

Value

P ric e C hg %

P R EST IGE

0.43

-8.5%

FB NH

1756.4

3.8%

ƚŽ ƌĂŝƐĞ ĐĂƉŝƚĂů ĨƌŽŵ ƚŚĞ ŝŶƚĞƌŶĂƟŽŶĂů ĚĞďƚ ĐĂƉŝƚĂů ŵĂƌŬĞƚ ǀŝĂ ƚŚĞ ^dK < ;Ͳϰ͘ϴйͿ ůĞĚ ůŽƐĞƌƐ͘ zĞƐƚĞƌĚĂǇ͕ ǁĞ ĞǆƉĞĐƚ ƚŚĞ ŵĂƌŬĞƚ

C H IP LC

0.55

-8.3%

GT C O

612.9

0.0%

ŝƐƐƵĂŶĐĞ ŽĨ ƚŽ ƵŶƐĞĐƵƌĞĚ ǁŽƌƚŚ h^ΨϱϬϬŵ ĞǆƉĞĐƚĞĚ ƚŽ ŵĂͲ ƐĞŶƟŵĞŶƚ ƌĞŵĂŝŶ ŶŽƚĞƐ ŵŝǆĞĚ͕ ĂƐ ĞĂƌŶŝŶŐƐ ƐĞĂƐŽŶ ŐƌĂĚƵĂůůǇ

A C A D EM Y

0.33

-8.3%

N EST LE

541.7

0.0%

C A D B UR Y

8.00

-5.9%

Z EN IT H B A N K

297.9

0.4%

266.0

-1.0%

T ic k er

&ŝĚĞůŝƚǇ ĂŶŬ WůĐ ;ƚŚĞ Η ĂŶŬΗͿ ŶŽƟĮĞĚ ƚŚĞ ƉƵďůŝĐ ŽĨ ŝƚƐ ŝŶƚĞŶƟŽŶ ǁŚŝůĞ dZ E^ ;Ͳϴ͘ϯйͿ͕ > ^ K ;Ͳϲ͘ϳйͿ͕ ĂŶĚ >/s Ͳ

ƚƵƌĞ ŝŶ ϮϬϮϲ͘ dŚĞ ďĂŶŬ ƉůĂŶƐ ƚŽ ůŝƐƚ ƚŚĞ ŶŽƚĞƐ ŽŶ ƚŚĞ /ƌŝƐŚ ^ƚŽĐŬ

ǁŝŶĚƐ ƵƉ͘

UB N

5.00

-5.7%

A C C ESS

ǆĐŚĂŶŐĞ ĂŶĚ ŚĂƐ ĐŽŵŵĞŶĐĞĚ ŝŶǀĞƐƚŽƌƐ ŵĞĞƟŶŐ ŽŶ KĐƚŽďĞƌ ϭϴ͕

CHA M S

0.22

-4.3%

ET R A N Z A C T

215.6

0.0%

146.6

-1.6% 0.6%

ϮϬϮϭ

R OYA LEX

0.57

-3.4%

UC A P

A B CTRA NS

0.31

-3.1%

UB A

136.2

-3.0%

M TNN

109.2

1.2%

-2.9%

WA P C O

102.6

0.6%

IN T B R EW C H A M P ION

Afrinvest West Africa Limited

4.85 3.00

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

THURSDAY OCTOBER 21, 2021• T H I S DAY

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 18Oct-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 163.12 164.56 0.78% Afrinvest Plutus Fund 100.00 100.00 7.82% Nigeria International Debt Fund 317.08 317.08 -15.98% Afrinvest Dollar Fund 106.35 107.40 -4.01% 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 10.16% AIICO Balanced Fund 3.30 3.36 -4.26% ANCHORIA ASSET MANAGEMENT LIMITED info@anchoriaam.com Web:www.anchoriaam.com, Tel: 08166830267; 08036814510; 08028419180 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Anchoria Money Market 100.00 100.00 5.59% Anchoria Equity Fund 136.66 138.36 3.52% info@anchoriaam.com Anchoria Fixed Income Fund 1.14 1.14 -14.11% 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 20.46 21.08 12.82% ARM Discovery Balanced Fund 446.55 460.01 11.53% ARM Ethical Fund 39.47 40.66 17.08% ARM Eurobond Fund ($) 1.09 1.09 -1.21% ARM Fixed Income Fund 0.98 0.99 -6.17% ARM Money Market Fund 1.00 1.00 8.23% AVA GLOBAL ASSET MANAGERS LIMITED info@avacapitalgroup.com Web: www.avacapitalgroup.com Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn AVA GAM Fixed Income Dollar Fund 106.84 106.84 5.04% AVA GAM Fixed Income Naira Fund 1,044.36 1,044.36 4.44% AXA MANSARD INVESTMENTS LIMITED investmentcare@axamansard.com Web: www.axamansard.com; Tel: +2341-4488482 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn AXA Mansard Equity Income Fund N/A N/A N/A AXA Mansard Money Market Fund N/A N/A N/A CAPITAL EXPRESS ASSET AND TRUST LIMITED info@capitalexpressassetandtrust.com Web: www.capitalexpressassetandtrust.com ; Tel: +234 803 307 5048 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn CEAT Fixed Income Fund 2.07 2.07 -4.92% Capital Express Balanced Fund(Formerly: Union Trustees Mixed Fund) 2.23 2.27 3.21% mutualfunds@cardinalstone.com CARDINALSTONE ASSET MANAGEMENT LIMITED Web: www.cardinalstoneassetmanagement.com ; Tel: +234 (1) 710 0433 4 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn CardinalStone Fixed Income Alpha Fund 1.02 1.02 3.95% CHAPELHILL DENHAM MANAGEMENT LTD investmentmanagement@chapelhilldenham.com Web: www.chapelhilldenham.com, Tel: +234 461 0691 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Chapelhill Denham Money Market Fund 100.00 100.00 9.20% Paramount Equity Fund 17.37 17.60 8.33% Women's Investment Fund 141.75 143.41 6.52% CORDROS ASSET MANAGEMENT LIMITED assetmgtteam@cordros.com Web: www.cordros.com, Tel: 019036947 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Cordros Money Market Fund 100.00 100.00 8.63% Cordros Milestone Fund 2023 123.93 124.75 Cordros Milestone Fund 2028 N/A N/A Cordros Dollar Fund ($) 109.26 109.26 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 8.62% Coronation Balanced Fund 1.23 1.24 2.27% Coronation Fixed Income Fund 1.42 1.42 -10.37% 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 7.51% EDC Nigeria Money Market Fund Class B 1,000,000.00 1,000,000.00 8.07% EDC Nigeria Fixed Income Fund 1,163.91 1,183.24 1.13% assetmanagement@emergingafricafroup. EMERGING AFRICA ASSET MANAGEMENT LIMITED Web:www.emergingafricagroup.com/emerging-africa-assetmanagement-limited/, Tel: 08039492594 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Emerging Africa Money Market Fund 1.00 1.00 7.99% Emerging Africa Bond Fund 1.03 1.03 2.34% Emerging Africa Balanced Diversity Fund 1.12 Emerging Africa Eurobond Fund 103.85 FBNQUEST ASSET MANAGEMENT LTD Web: www.fbnquest.com/asset-management; Tel: +234-81 0082 0082 Fund Name Bid Price FBN Bond Fund 1,431.80 FBN Balanced Fund 196.64 FBN Halal Fund 113.64 FBN Money Market Fund 100.00 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

127.30 172.46

1.12 11.23% 103.85 3.81% invest@fbnquest.com Offer Price 1,431.80 197.99 113.64 100.00

Yield / T-Rtn 11.53% 4.77% 9.28% 9.16%

127.30 4.00% 174.91 14.08% fcmbamhelpdesk@fcmb.com

Bid Price 1.00 3.98 1.69

Offer Price 1.00 3.98 1.73

Yield / T-Rtn 6.55% 2.89% 11.23%

1.19

4.98%

FSDH ASSET MANAGEMENT LTD coralfunds@fsdhgroup.com Web: www.fsdhaml.com; Tel: 01-270 4884-5; 01-280 9740-1 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Coral Balanced Fund N/A N/A N/A Coral Income Fund N/A N/A N/A Coral 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 7.53% Vantage Balanced Fund 2.88 2.94 0.87% Vantage Guaranteed Income Fund 1.00 1.00 4.50% Kedari Investment Fund (KIF) 154.12 154.40 -0.88% Vantage Equity Income Fund (VEIF) - June Year End 1.27 1.32 1.24% Vantage Dollar Fund (VDF) - June Year End 1.06 1.06 1.09% LOTUS CAPITAL LTD ﬁncon@lotuscapitallimited.com Web: www.lotuscapitallimited.com; Tel: +234 1-291 4626 / +234 1-291 4624 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Lotus Halal Investment Fund 1.46 1.48 6.94% Lotus Halal Fixed Income Fund 1,140.60 1,140.60 6.98% 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 12.00 12.09 14.75% Meristem Money Market Fund 10.00 10.00 10.35% enquiries@norrenberger.com NORRENBERGER INVESTMENT AND CAPITAL MANAGEMENT LIMITED Web: www.norrenberger.com, Tel: +234 (0) 908 781 2026 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Norrenberger Islamic Fund (NIF) 100.33 100.34 6.83% Norrenberger Money Market Fund (NMMF) 100.00 100.00 8.06% 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 1.56 1.58 13.36% PACAM Fixed Income Fund 11.22 11.23 -7.69% PACAM Money Market Fund 10.00 10.00 6.03% PACAM Equity Fund 1.46 1.47 -7.76% PACAM EuroBond Fund 111.93 113.97 1.98% 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 135.23 139.58 10.38% 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 10.11% 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 3,498.66 3,536.48 8.94% Stanbic IBTC Bond Fund 233.93 233.93 4.04% Stanbic IBTC Ethical Fund 1.28 1.30 9.32% Stanbic IBTC Guaranteed Investment Fund 309.24 309.24 4.95% Stanbic IBTC Iman Fund 234.85 238.40 7.62% Stanbic IBTC Money Market Fund 100.00 100.00 7.45% Stanbic IBTC Nigerian Equity Fund 11,020.45 11,178.53 5.02% Stanbic IBTC Dollar Fund (USD) 1.28 1.28 4.34% Stanbic IBTC Shariah Fixed Income Fund 116.07 116.07 4.49% Stanbic IBTC Enhanced Short-Term Fixed Income Fund 104.62 104.62 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 1.34 1.36 4.69% United Capital Bond Fund 1.93 1.93 5.36% United Capital Equity Fund 0.92 0.94 15.20% United Capital Money Market Fund 1.00 1.00 8.87% United Capital Eurobond Fund 120.94 120.94 5.63% United Capital Wealth for Women Fund 1.09 1.10 6.50% United capital Sukuk Fund 1.07 1.07 6.58% QUANTUM ZENITH ASSET MANAGEMENT & INVESTMENTS LTD service@quantumzenithasset.com.ng Web: www.quantumzenith.com.ng; Tel: +234 1-2784219 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Zenith Balanced Strategy Fund 13.15 13.27 10.81% Zenith ESG Impact Fund 14.74 14.90 20.79% Zenith Income Fund 24.56 24.56 2.36% Zenith Money Market Fund 1.00 1.00 5.96%

REITS NAV Per Share

Yield / T-Rtn

124.98 53.78

10.62% 6.44%

Bid Price

Offer Price

Yield / T-Rtn

13.73 131.08 101.65 18.11 22.19

13.83 134.34 103.87 18.21 22.29

3.84% 9.01% 2.45%

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

3.95 5.48 17.53 1.00 21.09 156.98

4.05 5.58 17.73 1.00 21.29 158.98

5.23% -3.55% 8.31% 6.60% 2.78% -15.40%

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.

THURSDAY OCTOBER 21, 2021 •T H I S D AY

THURSDAY OCTOBER 21, 2021 • T H I S D AY

THURSDAY OCTOBER 21, 2021 •T H I S D AY

THURSDAY OCTOBER 21, 2021 • T H I S D AY

THURSDAY OCTOBER 21, 2021 •T H I S D AY

THURSDAY OCTOBER 21, 2021 • T H I S D AY

THURSDAY OCTOBER 21, 2021 •T H I S D AY

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2021 ˾ T H I S D AY

FOREIGN DESK

COMPILED BY BAYO AKINLOYE

US-Wanted Taliban Leader Praises Suicide Bombers, Gives Relatives $125 The Taliban’s acting interior minister, listed as a global terrorist by the United States, has hosted a ceremony in Kabul to honour suicide bombers responsible for the killings of thousands of U.S. and allied troops in Afghanistan. Sirajuddin Haqqani, who carries a $10 million U.S. bounty for any information leading to his arrest, met with families of some of the attackers at Monday’s event in an upscale hotel in the Afghan capital Interior Ministry spokesman Qari Saeed Khosty said. Khosty tweeted blurred images of Haqqani praying and embracing the family members of dead suicide bombers and said the minister later hailed the suicide bombers as “heroes of Islam and the country.” Haqqani has not been seen in public in recent years, including since the Taliban returned to power. In August, the Taliban regained control of the country after waging a deadly insurgency against the Western-backed Afghan government and U.S-led coalition forces for almost 20 years. However, the global community has ignored the Islamist group’s calls for recognizing its interim government in Kabul, citing human rights and other concerns. “The advent of the Islamic system is the result of the blood of our martyrs,” said Haqqani, who is better known for leading the Haqqani network of militants that Washington blames for high-profile suicide attacks against foreign troops during the last two decades. “Now, you and I must refrain from betraying the aspirations of our martyrs,” Haqqani stressed. He distributed $125 to the families of the “martyred” and promised a plot of land for each family, Khosty said. Brazilian Senate Panel to Recommend Criminal Charges against Bolsonaro

A special Brazilian Senate committee report will recommend that President Jair Bolosonaro face criminal charges for handling the COVID-19 pandemic that has killed more than 600,000 people. The nearly 1,200-page report drafted by Senator Renan Calheiros accuses Bolsonaro of such actions as pushing the use of unproven remedies such as hydroxychloroquine even after they were shown to be ineffective and delaying the purchase of vaccines. The report concludes Bolsonaro believed that allowing the virus to spread across Brazil would lead to herd immunity when enough of the population becomes immune to an infectious disease through the previous infection and eventually stops it from spreading further.

Senator Calheiros’s report recommends that Bolsonaro be indicted on charges including crimes against humanity, document forgery and inciting crime. But intense opposition by some committee members prompted Calheiros to remove recommendations that Bolsonaro be charged with genocide or homicide. The report, which will be presented to the full 11-person panel Wednesday, is the result of a six-month investigation into Bolsonaro’s response to the pandemic, which he has dismissed as a “joke.” Australian Study Screens Airline Wastewater for COVID-19

Australia’s national science agency has developed a surveillance system to analyze wastewater samples to detect COVID-19 on long haul flights. Researchers in Australia say wastewater testing is another line of defence against COVID-19. The country closed its borders to most foreign nationals in March 2020 and restricted entry and departure to Australian citizens to curb the spread of the virus. However, restrictions will begin to ease in November. As global travel returns, the government’s science agency, the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization, or the CSIRO, believes sewage testing on incoming flights can effectively screen passengers for COVID-19. CSIRO’s Land and Water science director, Dr. Paul Bertsch, says the test is not timeconsuming. The study analyzed wastewater samples from lavatories of 37 Australian government repatriation flights from countries authorities categorized as COVID-hotspots, including India, France, Britain, South Africa, Canada and Germany landing at Darwin International Airport between December 2020 and March this year. The research found that 65% of flights showed “a positive signal for the virus that causes COVID-19” despite all passengers, except children under five, testing negative to the virus 48 hours before boarding. Tortured Reporter Lauds ‘Historic’ Court Ruling Against Colombia

Journalist Jineth Bedoya, who was kidnapped, raped and tortured by paramilitaries 21 years ago, on Tuesday applauded the “historic” decision by a regional rights court to hold the Colombian state responsible for her violent assault. The Inter-American Court of Human Rights ruled Monday that the acts against Bedoya “could not have been carried out

without the consent and collaboration of the [Colombian] State, or at least with its tolerance.” Bedoya, now 47, was working for the El Espectador newspaper investigating a weapons smuggling ring when she was abducted and attacked by far-right militia members in 2000. Bedoya was seized by a paramilitary group from outside a Bogota prison and then raped and tortured for 16 hours before being abandoned on a roadside. SADC Accused of Crafting Cyber Laws Violating Citizens’ Rights

and the government’s hesitancy to tighten restrictions. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the outlook is “very sad,” pointing out the vaccination rates in various regions are especially low. New Airstrikes Target Capital of Ethiopia’s Tigray Region

Ethiopian forces have carried out another airstrike on the capital city of the northern Tigray region Wednesday, two days after an airstrike killed three children there. United Nations spokesman Farhan Haq told reporters Tuesday that one other person was killed in the airstrike on the outskirts of Mekelle. Haq said nine people were reportedly injured in a second airstrike in Mekelle later that day, which also damaged many houses and a nearby hotel. The spokesman said the U.N.’s colleagues “are alarmed at the intensification of the conflict and once again remind all parties to the conflict of their obligations under international humanitarian law to protect civilians and civilian infrastructure.” The Ethiopian government initially denied launching Monday’s attacks, but the state-run Ethiopian Press Agency later acknowledged the airstrikes and said they targeted communications infrastructure.

A prominent professor studying communication in Namibia says member countries in the 16-nation Southern African Development Community, or SADC, have enacted and drafted cybersecurity laws that infringe on citizens’ freedom of expression. Zimbabwe is one of the southern African nations that critics say has drafted strict cybersecurity laws in the region — awaiting President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s signature. A professor in Namibia said most cybersecurity laws in the region infringe on the right to privacy and freedom of expression and are in need of revision. Admire Mare is a professor of communication, journalism and media technology at the Namibia University of Science. This week, he published a report examining how basic freedoms should be Syrian Army Bus Bomb Attack Kills at at the core of policies lawmakers should Least 14 At least 14 people were killed consider when drafting laws. Wednesday when two bombs exploded Putin Shuts Down Workplaces to Combat that were attached to a Syrian army bus in Damascus, state media reported COVID-19 The attack was one of the deadliest in Soaring cases of COVID-19 and related deaths have prompted Russian President the Syrian capital since President Bashar Vladimir Putin to approve a Cabinet al-Assad’s troops forced opposition fighters proposal for a week-long workplace from the capital’s outskirts in 2018. A shutdown. Russia reported a record high decade of fighting continues between 1,028 coronavirus deaths Wednesday over the Syrian government and insurgents the past 24 hours, the highest daily death in other parts of the country. No one immediately claimed toll since the pandemic began, boosting the country’s death toll to 226,353, by responsibility for the attack, which occurred near a bus transfer point where far the highest in Europe. In a televised meeting with government commuters and schoolchildren usually officials, Putin said employees would converge. State media quoted a military source as observe “non-working days” from October 30 to November 7, during which they saying the two bombs had been attached would still receive salaries. He said the to the bus before it began transporting period, in which four of the seven days army personnel and that the army had are state holidays, could start earlier or defused a third device. Shortly before the Damascus bombing, be extended in certain regions. Daily coronavirus deaths in Russia the Syrian army shelled a town in the have been surging for weeks because last rebel enclave in northwestern Syria, of sluggish vaccination rates, casual killing at least 10 people, including four attitudes toward precautionary measures children and a woman.

THURSDAY, ͺ͹˜ ͺ͸ͺ͹ ˾ T H I S D AY

FORTY-EIGHT #ENDSARS: NEC DIRECTS GOVS TO PROSECUTE INDICTED PERSONS As the memorial rallies held in some states yesterday, the National Economic Council (NEC) directed state governors to forward final reports of the panels of inquiry into the protests to their AttorneysGeneral for prompt arraignment and prosecution of the indicted persons. In Lagos State, youths gathered at the Lekki tollgate to mark the EndSARs anniversary. But the rally was marred by police brutality and clampdown on journalists covering the peaceful event. In Abuja, security operatives acting on the order of Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon Femi Gbajabiamila, pushed a procession to the National Assembly complex back. But Delta State Governor Ifeanyi Okowa, yesterday, inaugurated a Committee for the Protection of Human Rights in the state with an appeal for more citizen participation in peace and nation building. In Rivers State, over 200 youths staged a candlelight procession at the popular Waterline junction in Port Harcourt. Minister of Information and Culture Lai Mohammed, who revealed the decision of NEC in Abuja, during a media briefing, also accused those he labelled “champions of a massacre at the Lekki Toll Gate,” including Amnesty International and CNN, of holding on to “their unproven stand.” The federal government said where incidents in the inquests related to matters of discipline, in addition to prosecution, NEC had urged the Nigeria Police to take disciplinary action against the affected officers in line with the provisions of the Police Act 2020. Mohammed spoke on measures that had been taken to improve the efficiency of the police and other security agencies’ architecture. He explained that NEC had called on the leadership of the security agencies to ensure that persons recruited into arms-bearing security organs underwent psychiatric evaluation and drug test before enlistment. He also said personnel of the agencies had been advised to dutifully observe rules of engagement in the discharge of their duties. While acknowledging the various initiatives introduced by the federal government to strengthen police accountability through the Police Service Commission, the minister said the council had urged the government to prioritise the general welfare of security agencies. “In particular, it advocated the review of pension and gratuity of retired police officers and attainment of parity of remuneration by police officers with sister security agencies,” he stated. Mohammed also said the council advised the government to “undertake a comprehensive assessment of all police stations across the country with a view to ensuring that they are fit for purpose. “Nigeria Police Force and other security agencies should deploy cutting-edge technology in the fight against crimes.” The council also urged the police to ensure that all those detained as a result of the #EndSars protests were expeditiously processed with due regard to the principles of fair hearing. However, the federal government maintained its stance that there were no evidence of massacre at the Lekki Toll Gate a year ago. The minister stated, “Today marks the first anniversary of the phantom massacre at Lekki Toll Gate in Lagos, which was the culmination of an otherwise peaceful protest that was later hijacked by hoodlums. “At earlier press conferences, I had called the reported massacre at the toll gate the farce. On Monday, the Judicial Panel of Inquiry that was set up by the Lagos State Government after the #EndSARS protest wrapped up its sitting. “During the sitting, CNN was summoned but it never showed up, thus, missing a great opportunity to prove its allegation of massacre at the toll gate. Also, Amnesty International had a golden opportunity to convince the world, but it rather opted for issuing meaningless press releases.” Mohammed claimed that in its

latest attempt to grasp at straws and, “redeem whatever is left of its battered credibility on this issue, CNN has continued with its baseless report that soldiers shot at protesters. “In a report currently running on the network, CNN brazenly and unashamedly held on to its flawed narrative, relying on an unidentified mother whose son was reportedly shot dead at Lekki, but without convincing evidence of who shot him dead.” The minister said the federal government remained proud of the security agencies for acting professionally and showing utmost restraint all through the #EndSARS protest and the ensuing violence, an action he said saved lives and property.

Police Clampdown on Journalists, Brutalise Protesters in Lagos

Meanwhile, in Lagos, Nigeria Police officers, who ignored warnings to abide by the rules of engagement, unleashed violence on peaceful protesters, passers-by, and even journalists deployed to cover the commemoration. The operatives from the Rapid Response Squad (RRS) and the state taskforce were seen assaulting people gathered at the tollgate, as well as road users. Those who bore the brunt of yesterday’s crude actions by the Nigeria Police in Lagos included an Uber driver, Clement Adedotun; Arise Television crew; an online reporter, Bisola Alawode, and another lady simply identified as Blessing. The police also forced many at the rally into their waiting Black Maria after using tear gas at close proximity to spray their faces. The security operatives, comprising the RRS, Taskforce and Lagos Neighbourhood Safety Corps (LNSC), had brutalised and arrested Alawode and a lone protester before whisking them away to an unknown destination. Attempts by protesters to resist arrest were met by more force by the security operatives. The Uber driver, whose torture video went viral, said he had a passenger in his cab when they heard gunshots. He said, "I abandoned my vehicle and fled. The passenger ran as well. When the situation calmed down, I returned to take my vehicle but couldn't find it. "I asked questions around where I had left the vehicle and I was told to go and meet the security operatives because they towed vehicles off. That was how I came here and the next thing they started forcing me into this truck. "I cannot enter it because I am not a thief. No member of my family has ever entered it. It won't be me that will enter. I did not do anything. I am not even a protester." Prior to the acts of brutality, the youths led by Music Star, Folarin Falana, alias Falz, and Comedian Adebowale Adedayo (Mr. Macaroni), were in their vehicles waving the Nigerian flag and chanting #ENDSARS as they drove through the tollgate repeatedly. However, things turned violent when the procession was about to end. While some dropped off their flags, others refused to vacate, thereby causing traffic congestion. The police were said to have blocked off the tollgate and diverted traffic before they used teargas to disperse the crowd, while vehicles parked on the road were towed away and the tollgate reopened. In the ensuing melee, it was alleged that a thug stabbed a Lagos Neighbourhood Safety Corps official and fled, while the operatives arrested some persons with cutlass, hammers and charms at the venue. Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Hakeem Odumosu, got those wrongfully arrested freed, just as he tendered public apology to those who were brutalised. Addressing journalists at the scene, Odumosu said the security operatives had to use minimal force when they discovered that miscreants had infiltrated the crowd. "No one stopped the car procession. I told them that no one would harass them as long as they do

not obstruct traffic because this is a business area and not a park or garden. They were free to have their banners, stickers on their cars and drive pass as many times as they wanted to, which they did. "I put a call across to one of the organisers to know if they were done and he said yes, that they were through and on their way. I asked if it was true they had another event at Alausa and were going there but he said no, that they had dispersed. "So, you can see that the protesters who have leaders have concluded their exercise and left. These ones who came to block the road now are not known. They do not have leaders and are not organised. That is not to say they cannot protest since peaceful protest is the right of every Nigerian. "What we will not allow is disruption of movement or the infringement on the rights of others because where one person's right stops, another's starts. Now, you can see we have arrested some of them with weapons. Are those protesters? The youths said they were angry with the Lagos State government for trying to stop yesterday’s protest, saying it amounts to gross violation of their human rights. But the Lagos State government denied the allegation of trying to stop protesters. Lagos State Commissioner for Information, Mr. Gbenga Omotosho, said the governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu, had no control over police activities in Lagos, and could not order the police to stop any protest in the state. The Lagos State Police Commissioner reports directly to the Inspector General of Police in Abuja and not to the Lagos State government. Omotosho spoke yesterday on “The Morning Show”, an ARISE NEWS Channel programme, alongside the founder of Stanbic IBTC Bank, Mr. Atedo Peterside, as well as a lawyer and civil rights advocate, Mr. Inibehe Effiong. The information commissioner said different agitations coming from Lagos and other parts of the country since the #EndSARs protest last year

had tended to divide the people of the state. He called for peace, unity and understanding among Lagos youth and, by extension, Nigerian youth, adding that the youth need to collaborate with government to build the country and not disrupt activities and destroy the common wealth of the country. Omotosho said, “Lagos State Government encourages freedom of speech and the right to peaceful protest. I was with the Lagos State Governor three days ago, when he made a call to the owner of Landmark Centre, when #EndSars youths visited him, to complain about how the management of Landmark Centre suddenly reneged on an earlier agreement they had reached with them to use the centre for the one year remembrance of #EndSars protest. “During the telephone conversation between the governor and the owner of Landmark Centre, which I recorded, the owner of Landmark Centre denied getting any instruction from Lagos government to decline the commercial request of the youths to use the centre for their protest. He told the governor that the decision was taken by the management to save lives and property and that it was a pure business decision. “So it is wrong for anybody to think that Lagos State government must have instructed the managers of Landmark Centre to stop the youths from using the venue for their protest.” Asked why protesters were arrested and journalists were rough handled and their drones and cameras seized by the police during yesterday’s protest in Lagos, Omotosho said, “Lagos State governor did not ask the police to stop any protest and arrest protesters and seize the working tools of journalists covering the protest. “ Worried by the action of the police during the protest, Effiong accused the government of insensitivity to the challenges of the people. He said, “The police cannot deviate in their role to protect the

rights of the protesters. Civilians laid down their lives for Nigeria’s democracy when they confronted the military years back and we cannot have a Commissioner of Police in Lagos who will not give instructions to the police to protect peaceful protesters. “If Governor Sanwo-Olu cannot compel the Lagos State Police Commissioner to respect the rights of the people, the governor must write to President Muhammadu Buhari, the Police Service Commission and request the redeployment of the Lagos State Commissioner of Police. Until he has done that, the governor must take full responsibility of the violations of Lagos youths, the harassment of journalists in Lagos and the continued disdain to the rule of law and democracy in Lagos.” On his part, Peterside advised the youth to unite in fighting their course and choose leaders among them who would represent them to dialogue with government in pushing their demands. “The best way to bring about change in a country is through dialogue and there must be leaders who are willing and able to dialogue with government,” Peterside said.

Police Stop #ENDSARS Protest March to National Assembly

A procession towards the National Assembly Complex in Abuja, led by the publisher of Sahara Reporters, Omoyele Sowore, was stopped. The protesters were walking towards the perimeter gate of the complex when they were intercepted by a detachment of policemen, near the Federal Ministry of Justice. The police interception subsequently forced the procession to beat a retreat to Unity Fountain, along Shehu Shagari Way, Maitama, where they continued their protest, which was largely peaceful. The presence of anti-riot policemen, soldiers and members of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps prevented the protest from degenerating into violence. Most of the protesters were clad in black outfits that reflected the

mood of the occasion. The slogan, “We will Not Forget 2010 20 Lekki Massacre”, was boldly inscribed on their outfits. They held various anti-government placards, some of which read: “The Liberator Generation is Here”, “Young Not Criminal”, “Why Does It Look Like it is a Crime to be a Nigerian”, “You Can’t Kill Nobody”, “We Can’t Be the Future of the Nation, if We Are Dead”. However, a few metres from the #EndSARS protesters in Abuja, a pro-government group gathered close to the security operatives and also unfurled a banner describing the shooting of protesters at Lekki as a hoax. They carried banners with inscriptions such as: “EndSARS was an insurrection against the state”. The pro-Buhari protesters stormed the Unity Fountain ground around 10:30 a.m. and berated the #EndSARS memorial protesters for being too critical of the Buhari government. The pro-Buhari group also accused the #EndSARS protesters of projecting Nigeria in a bad light before the world through their mass action in Lagos, Abuja and other major cities in the country. They alleged the #EndSARS memorial protest was a ploy to instigate an unlawful change of government. “We have come here because we found out that some miscreants hiding behind #EndSARS have planned to come here to hold #EndSARS memorial,” their leader said. Later in the day, the anti-government protesters held a solemn candlelight memorial in honour of the victims of Lekki shooting and all those who died during the protest across the country.

Okowa Inaugurates Human Rights Protection Committee

Okowa, yesterday, inaugurated a Committee for the Protection of Human Rights in the state with an appeal for more citizen participation in peace and nation building. The governor was the head Continued on page 49

SECURITY, TRADE TAKE CENTRE STAGE IN NIGERIA, TURKEY AGREEMENTS for the July 15, 2016, failed coup attempt against his government, was still active in Nigeria. On the positive gains of the visit of the Turkish leader to Nigeria, President Buhari said both countries discussed issues and signed agreements aimed at further strengthening the diplomatic relations between both countries, especially security and defense, as well as trade and commerce. He said: “I’m happy to welcome my brother, His Excellency, President Tayyip Erdogan, and his wife, First Lady of Turkey, that have been visiting Nigeria for the past two days. It is a reflection of our warm and cordial bilateral relations that this is the second time I’ve had the pleasure of receiving my brother in Abuja. “During the visit, we had very useful discussions on a number of bilateral issues, aimed at strengthening this cordial relationship between Nigeria and Turkey. The key issues we touched on included a series of bilateral agreements and Memoranda of Understanding that have been finalised. “As a positive outcome, eight major agreements, MoU on a number of the key sectors, including energy, defense, industry, mining, and hydrocarbons, among others, were signed today. We have agreed that implementation is to commence immediately. “In the course of our discussions, we also reviewed the travel ban based on the revised COVID-19 protocols, and removed Turkey from Nigeria's travel ban list. Turkey has indeed achieved remarkable success in addressing the COVID-19 pandemic,” he said. The President commended President Erdogan for providing a safe haven for about four million refugees, who had to flee their war-torn home countries in search to peace and safety. On his part, speaking in his

native Turkish language and interpreted by one of the officials on his entourage, President Erdogan recognised Nigeria as one of the oldest allies of Turkey in Africa, having seen 60 years of diplomatic ties. According to him, steps would immediately be taken to expand the trade volume between the two countries to $5 billion, as the $2 billion mark achieved last year could not be said to be substantial enough. He said: “Thanks for the bilateral discussions we’ve had with Nigerian President, Mr. Buhari, we’ve had the opportunity to observe and to assess all aspects and dimensions of the relations between Turkey and Nigeria and we had also exchanged our opinions and impressions as to how much further we can develop and strengthen our relations between our two countries. It gives me great pleasure to confirm once again that in terms of expanding our cooperation between the two nations, we share the same resolves. “We shall be celebrating the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between our two nations and Nigeria hosts one of the oldest diplomatic missions of the Republic of Turkey on the African continent. Nigeria is one of the outstanding members of international organisations, such as the G8, OIC, ECOWAS and the African Union, as well as being one of the most leading countries of both this region, and the rest of the world. “We should appreciate the tremendous efforts of Nigeria with eventual goal of bringing peace, stability, and economic development to the entire African continent. Nigeria holds the manufacturing position of the entire continent, and our trade volume between the two nations reached $2 billion last year. Thus, Nigeria became our

most outstanding and the biggest trade partner in the sub-Saharan Africa for the Republic of Turkey. “However, we still believe that this level we have achieved is far from being adequate. We hope and pray that we will be expanding our trade volume up to $5 billion immediately. We hope and pray that the relations between the two nations will be further developed on the basis of a win-win scenario, and on the basis of mutual respect”. On the beneficial ties between Turkey and Africa, especially Nigeria, President Erdogan said, “we’ll keep on converging with the African continent as Republic of Turkey on every dimension possible. All relations are based upon the foundation of strategic partnership, and we are gaining new momentum every time we visit the continent. “We have increased the number of our diplomatic missions on the African continent up to 43 recently. The third round of the Turkish-African Business Forum will be hosted in Istanbul on October 21, and the 22nd, only to be followed by hosting of the third Turkish-African Partnership Summit on December 17, and 18th. We are committed to expanding our relations and our cooperation further with Nigeria. “It also gives me great pleasure to be able to observe that many Nigerian youngsters are pursuing their further education, not only in Turkey, but also in the universities of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, and it gives me great pleasure to observe that they're also benefiting from the turkey scholarships available to them”, he said. The Turkish President used the forum to request Nigeria’s collaboration with Turkey in the fight against terrorism in both countries, noting particularly that his nation had been following Nigeria’s fight against

insecurity, particularly the activities of terrorists. He added: “As Turkey, we have been closely monitoring the developments unfolding in Nigeria, our brotherly and friendly nation. The terrorist organisations, the armed gangs and the marine bandits are continuously active in Nigeria and the Nigerian authorities are continuously fighting against them. So, in order to cooperate further in the fields of military, defense, and security, we are doing everything that will be available. “On this occasion, I also would like to take this opportunity, once again, to extend my most heartfelt condolences to our brothers and sisters of Nigeria, who have lost their lives as a result of terrorist attacks and I hope and pray that Allah will bestow upon those who stay behind, the utmost patience and strength. “We are ready to share our ever-expanding capabilities, as the Republic of Turkey, with Nigeria, especially in the field of defense industry and security, which are being praised by the entire globe. “This sensitivity that we showcase in fighting terrorism, I hope, will be reciprocated by our Nigerian brothers and sisters and our counterparts. As we're probably aware of the fact that Turkey has been fighting against terrorist organisations for many decades, such as the PKK, PYD, FETO, DASH and other terrorist organisations. “The perpetrator of the heinous failed coup of July the 15th, FETO, is still illegally active in Nigeria, and we are continuously sharing our intelligence with the Nigerian interlocutors and authorities. I hope and pray that our Nigerian brothers will forge a closer solidarity in this field with us, the Republic of Turkey. I hope and pray that our visit will yield the most auspicious results".

THURSDAY, ͺ͹˜ ͺ͸ͺ͹ ˾ T H I S D AY

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LAYING FOUNDATION FOR SERVICE COMMISSION OFFICE... L-R: Deputy Speaker, House of Representatives, Ahmed Idris Wase; Senate President, Ahmad Lawan; Deputy Senate President, Ovie Omo-Agege and Senator Ibrahim Shekarau, at the foundation laying ceremony of the National Assembly Service Commission oﬃce complex in Abuja... yesterday.

#ENDSARS: NEC DIRECTS GOVS TO PROSECUTE INDICTED PERSONS of the new committee, which he inaugurated in Asaba yesterday, as part of the recommendations of the Justice Celestina Ogisi Judicial Panel of Inquiry on police brutality and extrajudicial killings in the state. Members of the Committee included the Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr. Isaiah Bozimo; Commissioner for Youth Development, Ifeanyi Egwunyenga; Solicitor-General/ Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Justice, Mr. Omamuzo Erebe; and the Commissioner of Police in the state. Others were representative of the youth, Mr. Harrison Gwamnishu; representative of civil societies organisations, Israel Joe; representative of Nigeria Bar Association (NBA), Dr. Jonathan Ekpenisi; representative of National Human Rights Commission, Mr. Alpheus Ngwu; and Permanent Secretary, Directorate of Political and Security Matters, Mr. Theophilus Aguonye, who would serve as Secretary. He thanked God for His intervention in restoring peace following the anti-SARS protest, which he admitted shook the country significantly. Okowa said, "We saw a lot of our youths come out in anger against so many issues as it concerned the nation but particularly against police brutality. "There was a lot of destruction of property as the movements of various civil society groups and youths got hijacked by unscrupulous citizens of this nation. "We believe that the youths who actually set out at the beginning for the protest meant well for this nation because they were actually there to draw the attention of the leadership of this nation both at the national and at the sub-national levels to the ills in the society. "They said they were demonstrating against oppressive tendencies of security agencies, which were impinging on their freedom." Okowa revealed that a lot of discussions took place and in one of the meetings at NEC, headed by the vice president, as chairman, decisions were taken that were far-reaching and they helped to douse the tension. He said the decisions included the need to carry out some enquiry into the issues raised as to police brutality and to also find ways and means of assuaging the nerves of those who may have suffered one loss or the other. "This state and many other states commissioned panels of inquiry to look into the issues of police brutality and extra-judicial killings. "The panel itself had finished its

sitting and the report was sent to my office and eventually a white paper was prepared from the report and decisions were taken just recently at the State Executive Council meeting. "We are very mindful of the fact that we cannot pay for lives lost but we have agreed at the council on the need to show some respect and to also find means of assuaging the nerves of those who have lost loved ones and for those who had to go to hospitals following action from police brutality. "These decisions have been taken and we look forward that at the end of this month the monies, which Exco has approved, should be paid to the various families that were affected."

Youths Stage Candlelight Procession in Port Harcourt

In Rivers, over 200 youths yesterday, staged a candlelight procession at the popular waterline junction in Port Harcourt, Rivers State. The youths, who were peaceful during the procession, alleged that one year after, no action had been taken to penalise police officers indicted in the report by the #EndSARS panel. Chairman, Rivers State Civil Society Organisation (RSCSO) and Convener of the #EndSARS procession, Enefaa Georgewill, stated that police officers alleged to be involved in the brutality of young people across the state were yet to be prosecuted. Enefaa added, "The people are saying that enough is enough. We cannot continue to live in a state of fear. We are demanding that the state should implement its panel called the EndSARS panel. "Until now, the police officer who caused bodily harm and killed young people are yet to be prosecuted. We are saying the people they say they will compensate are yet to be compensated. “#EndSARS is beyond just ending a police unit called SARS, it is a metaphor for evil in our society. It is a symbol for misrule." The youths carried placards with various inscriptions like; "no protester will die in vain under our watch".

Your Boys are Back on the Streets, Protesters Tell IGP in Ondo

Similarly, in Akure, scores of youth from across Ondo State held a memorial procession to mark one year anniversary of the event. The protesters reminded the Inspector General of Police that his “boys”

were back in the streets, alleging that the officers are not after armed robbers, bandits, kidnappers but they are after Nigerian youth. The protesters, who gathered outside the entrance of the Akure City Hall, amid a heavy presence of police officers, walked through ObaAdeshida Road, passing through NEPA roundabout to the Police Command Headquarters, Akure. Addressing journalists, the leader of the protesters, Tope Temokun, said, "The memorial protest is to honour our slain heroes, to demand that our government must continue to tell us the truth, because our government has been feeding us with lies over the years.

"Our coming out today after a year of the protest to end brutality in Nigeria, both from the police and the government, is to remind the government that we need only one thing from them and that is the truth. "We came out on October 20, 2020 to protest against brutality and they told us we were going to get justice, they told us they were going to get to the truth and redress and that victims will get compensation but after one year, we are still in the street. "What we are witnessing today is brutality from government and the police. We have submitted petition to the government of Akeredolu to

implement the recommendation of #EndSARS panel that was submitted to him to address the grievances of the protesters.” He said the youth were not tired of standing up to challenge all forms of injustice.

Afenifere Challenges FG to Fulﬁl Promises

The pan-Yoruba socio-political organisation, Afenifere, yesterday urged the federal government to fulfil it promises to youths during the protests last year. In a statement signed by its National Publicity Secretary, Jare Ajayi, Afenifere said the high handed manner with

which the police treated those who peacefully organised rallies yesterday clearly showed that the government and the police had not demonstrated that the lessons inherent in October 20, 2020, meant nothing to them. “Not only that, the failure of the government to fulfil the promises made by President Muhammadu Buhari on the issue has added to the list of how the government continues to alienate itself from the people,” he said. Ajayi insisted that one year down the line, with governments setting up panels of inquiry to find out what happened, nothing tangible had come out of it.

THE ECONOMIST: KIDNAPPERS, ZEALOTS, REBELS, MAKING NIGERIA UNGOVERNABLE to live or work in. The report disclosed that the share of adults in Nigeria that told Gallup that they wanted to emigrate permanently had risen from 41 per cent in 2012 to 48 per cent in 2018. “Among the young, a clear majority wish to leave. Shell, an oil giant that was long Nigeria’s biggest foreign investor, and which stuck around during the grimmest years of military rule, recently said it would pull out, citing the threat of violence. The army has now been deployed to every one of Nigeria’s 36 states. “Security [in Nigeria] is at its worst since the civil war,” it quoted Cheta Nwanze of SBM Intelligence, a consultancy in Lagos, to have said. This, the report described as a startling claim, stating that the Biafran war of 1967-70, when the Igbos of the south-east tried but failed to secede from Nigeria, claimed an estimated one million lives. “Since then, Nigeria has held together. The country of 200 million people has had mountains of problems, from corruption and ethnic strife to a series of military dictators. But it has been democratic since 1999. And parts of it are thriving, especially in the southwest. Lagos, the commercial capital, is home to vigorous banks, a hip technology scene and a flourishing film industry, Nollywood,” The Economist stated. “Nigeria is not yet a failed state, but large parts of it are failing. This matters not only because one subSaharan African in six is Nigerian. The country also has Africa’s largest economy, whose dire performance holds the continent back. And its conflicts are spilling across borders, destabilising fragile neighbours such as Niger and Chad and amplifying

the jihadist threat across the Sahel. “Nigeria’s instability is largely born of poor governance. Britain, the colonial power, lumped together many groups in one country: Muslims in the north, Christians in the south, numerous and overlapping ethnic groups in different regions. “Politics has long been a tussle to grab petrodollars, the source of nearly all government revenues. All groups gripe that they are short-changed. Most are right—a corrupt elite grabs a huge portion, leaving only scraps for ordinary Nigerians of any group. “Since politics is the swiftest route to wealth, it is a violent business, cursed by candidates who drum up ethnic or religious strife to win support. What has changed in recent years is that the government has grown so rotten that it struggles to control wide swathes of territory. “To understand how, start in the north-east. In 2009 a jihadist insurgency erupted there. The jihadists called themselves Boko Haram (“western education is sinful”). They were fed up with predatory government, eager to establish a theocracy, and not averse to seizing loot and women. Their insurgency has directly cost some 35,000 lives, plus another 314,000 from war-induced disease and hunger, estimates the UNDP. “In 2015 they nearly captured Maiduguri, the biggest city in the north-east. A force of mercenaries, reinforced by Nigeria’s army, pushed them back into isolated swamps and forests,” it explained. It alleged that President Muhammadu Buhari, has failed to address the situation, stating that over the past six years the jihadists have regrouped in the countryside, hoisting their black flags over village after village.

“Now they are once more threatening Maiduguri, this time under the banner of Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), an offshoot of Boko Haram that now outguns it,” it added. ISWAP is “much more dangerous” to the Nigerian state, Vincent Foucher of International Crisis Group (ICG), a Brussels-based think-tank stated. “Nigeria’s unofficial strategy now seems to be to contain the jihadists, rather than to try to defeat them. The government has deployed enough force to control the biggest towns and to escort convoys along the main roads, but not enough to hold, much less govern, the smaller towns and villages. The army is thinly stretched. Trying to pacify the north-east is only one of its problems,” it added. It stressed that kidnappers have made life perilous in much of Nigeria. “In July gunmen shot up a hospital in Kaduna and kidnapped ten people, including two babies. In August, audacious bandits attacked the Nigerian Defence Academy, the equivalent of West Point, killing two soldiers and grabbing a major. “A startling 1,400 schoolchildren and students have been kidnapped this year. After one such incident in September, schools and markets were closed across Zamfara. The government also shut telephone networks and imposed a curfew. All told, about 1m Nigerian students are out of school because of insecurity. “Most of the rest are nervous. A security guard at a university in south-west Nigeria checked the boot of your correspondent’s taxi. It is “in case we kidnapped students”, explained the driver. “The army is trying to fight back, especially in Zamfara. But

it often does so indiscriminately; for example, by calling in air strikes,” it added. Furthermore, it pointed out that Nigeria’s third big security threat was in the south-east, where separatists had been trying to revive Biafra. “Many Igbos feel marginalised and ill-treated by the central government. (As do most people in Nigeria.) The main separatist group, the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB), is demanding a Biafra that includes all of Nigeria’s main oil-producing states, even the ones where Igbos are a minority,” it added. According to the report, even in the south-west, the most prosperous part of Nigeria (bar the capital), separatist feelings were starting to spread, citing the agitation by Sunday Igboho. “A dire economy makes taking up arms more tempting. In 2019 some 80 million Nigerians lived on less than $2 a day. More than half of Nigerians are unemployed or underemployed. Food inflation is 21 per cent. “Bad policies, such as closing land borders to goods entirely in 2019 in the hope of spurring local production, have deepened the pain. The government has made little effort to wean itself off oil, or to prepare for a future when cleaner forms of energy ultimately replace it. “Another cause for optimism is that millions of Nigerians still manage to thrive, despite the chaos. Some start businesses to get around government failures. Security firms are booming, unsurprisingly. So are start-ups. Lagos boasts three fintech firms worth over $1bn each. Most Nigerians would rather earn a living peacefully than fight,” it added.

THURSDAY, ͺ͹˜ ͺ͸ͺ͹ ˾ T H I S D AY

NEWS

El-Rufai: I Wrote Buhari Since 2017 to Designate Bandits as Terrorists Urges FG to recruit 774,000 youths to help fight crime, objects to self-help Report shows bandits kill 343, abduct 830 others in Kaduna Another 32 passengers kidnapped in Niger yesterday John Shiklam in Kaduna and Laleye Dipo in Minna Kaduna State Governor, Malam Nasir El-Rufai, yesterday, disclosed that he had since 2017 written to the Muhammadu Buhari-led federal government to designate bandits as terrorists, because it was the only way to change the game against the criminals. El-Rufai, who expressed sympathy with all those who had suffered pains and sorrow from insecurity “despite our sincere and consistent efforts and investments of hard-earned resources”, urged the federal government to recruit some 774,000 youths to help fight criminality, even as he objected to self-help. This is as the Kaduna State government has disclosed that a total of 343 people had been so far killed, while 830 others were abducted by bandits between July and September 2021. Commissioner for Internal Security and Home Affairs, Mr. Samuel Aruwan, disclosed this while presenting the Third Quarter Security report to El-Rufai yesterday at the Government House, Kaduna. In another development, no fewer than 32 passengers were yesterday kidnapped at Garin-Gabas village near Zungeru in the Wushishi Local Government Area of Niger State. El-Rufai, who spoke on the situation report in his state, however, said his government frowned at the actions of individuals, groups and political actors, who incited citizens to arm themselves. “The rhetoric of self-help is dangerously misunderstood. It is a recipe for descent into anarchy. Individuals, who perpetrate violent attacks are very often not around, when retributive actions are taken by the victims, and so citizens, who are perceived to share ethnicity or religion with the attackers are then targeted in reprisal,” he said. He disclosed that in 2017, his state government wrote letters to the federal government, requesting that bandits be declared as terrorists. El-Rufai however aligned with a recent resolution of the National Assembly on bandits, noting that it was only when they were declared as terrorists that it would allow the Nigerian military to attack and kill the bandits without any major consequences in international law. “We in the Kaduna State Government, have always aligned with the declaration of bandits as insurgents and terrorists. We have written letters to the Federal Government since 2017, asking for this declaration, because it is the declaration that will allow the Nigerian military to attack and kill these bandits without any major consequences in international law. “So, we support the resolution by the National Assembly and we are going to follow up with a letter

of support, for the federal government to declare these bandits and insurgents as terrorists, so that they will be fair game for our military. This is the view of the Kaduna State Government,” he said. El-Rufai said the state government would soon establish a Farmers/ Herdsmen Reconciliation Council in the state while committees would be set up at the local government, chiefdom and Emirate levels, noting that many state governments in the North West and the North Central had adopted an unconventional approach to help the federal security agencies to better protect communities. “There is no alternative to launching simultaneous operations. I call for a consensus between the federal government and the the 36 states on an emergency programme of recruitment into the security agencies. Government can change the game significantly by hiring 1,000 willing youths from each of the 774 LGAs in the country into the security agencies. “This will be a surge in numbers that is unprecedented since the civil war. An influx of 774,000 new boots on the ground will be a significant blow against criminals and an employment boost. I assure you that we are working hard to solve this problem and it is our solemn duty to do so. We offer our condolences to the security agencies and the families of the security officers that have been killed while trying to keep our people safe,” El-Rufai said Aruwan, while speaking on the mid-term report, claimed that 69 of the bandits were “neutralised” during the period under review, lamented that the activities of bandits were crippling rural economy and a threat to education as many schools were under threat by the criminals. In the last two quarters, from January to June, he said a total of 545 people were killed while 1,723 others were abducted by bandits. Aruwan, in the latest report, explained that the Southern Kaduna Senatorial district recorded the highest number of deaths with 193 while Kaduna Central and Kaduna North Senatorial Districts recorded 130 and 20 deaths respectively. “From July to September 2021, a total of 343 persons died due to banditry, communal clashes, violent attacks, and reprisals,” he said, adding that, 50 of the victims were women and 22 were minors. The commissioner said the high number of deaths in Southern Kaduna “is largely made up of victims of violent attacks and reprisals in Zangon Kataf, Kaura and Kauru Local Government Areas. These areas witnessed series of clashes early in the year, which spiraled into a succession of increasingly deadly communal and inter-ethnic attacks across the three LGAs.” Continued on page 53

FAYOSE RIDES ON OKADA TO CATCH A FLIGHT... Former Governor of Ekiti State, Ayodele Fayose (middle) with his Security Aide carrying his travelling bag ride on a motorcycle, popularly known as (Okada) in Lagos in desperate effort not to miss his flight due to serious traffic jam at Ikeja … yesterday

Eight Alleged Nigerian Cultists Arraigned in S’Africa over Money Laundering, Others Samuel Nwite Seven alleged leaders of the Cape Town Zone of the Neo Black Movement of Africa, also known as “Black Axe,” and an eighth man who conspired with a Black Axe leader, were charged with multiple federal crimes relating to internet scams they perpetrated from South Africa, Acting U.S. Attorney Rachael A. Honig announced yesterday. Perry Osagiede, 52; Enorense Izevbigie, 45; Franklyn Edosa Osagiede, 37; Osariemen Eric Clement, 35; Collins Owhofasa, 37; and Musa Mudashiru, 33; all originally from Nigeria, were charged for fraud conspiracy and money laundering conspiracy, spanning from 2011 to 2021. One defendant remains at large.

Perry Osagiede, Franklyn Osagiede, Clement, and Izevbigie were also charged with wire fraud. Also, Perry Osagiede, Franklyn Osagiede, and Otughwor were additionally charged with aggravated identity theft. Toritseju Gabriel Otubu, 41, also originally from Nigeria, was also charged for separate indictment with wire fraud conspiracy, wire fraud, aggravated identity theft, and money laundering conspiracy, spanning from 2016 to 2021. “Americans are too often victimised by criminal organisations located abroad who use the internet to deceive those victims, defraud them of money, and, many times, persuade the victims to wittingly or unwittingly assist in perpetuating the fraudulent schemes,” Honig said.

NSA Seeks Multi-stakeholders’ Approach to Contain Insecurity Kingsley Nwezeh in Abuja The National Security Adviser, Maj. Gen. Babagana Monguno (rtd), yesterday, sought a multistakeholders’ approach in the fight against terrorism and banditry in the country. He said kinetic approach alone would not contain terrorism and other security challenges confronting the nation. Monguno spoke yesterday at a 3-day masterclass on "Strengthening Nigeria’s Implementation of the Policy Framework and National Action Plan (NAP) for Preventing and Countering Violent Extremism (PCVE), in Nigeria". The masterclass was organised for PCVE officers and NAP steering committee members by the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA), in collaboration with the Government of Netherlands. Monguno, who was represented by the Coordinator, Counter Terrorism Centre in ONSA, Rear Adm.

Yaminu Musa, said the government had also adopted the non-kinetic or soft approach by developing a policy framework and action plan for preventing and countering violent extremism. He said the policy framework recognised the integrated roles of government agencies with the larger society as critical by adopting a “whole-of-government” and a “whole-of-society approach”. He said it encouraged the active participation of Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), as well as critical stakeholders from different sectors of the civil society such as religious actors, youth, teachers, women, law enforcement, the media and community-based organisation. “This is essential in order to build networks of peace that create safe and resilient communities across Nigeria, in which human rights and the rule of law guide the approach to combating violent extremism.

“The development and implementation of a policy framework prioritises the strengthening of institutions and coordination; access to justice, rule of law, and human rights approaches; engaging communities and building resilience; and integrating strategic communication in PCVE Programmes," he said. The NSA stated that, “to enhance the coordination of implementation of the PCVE framework and action plan, the government constituted the PCVE steering committee and a functional secretariat reflecting the broad range of stakeholders across government and civil society according to the guiding principles stated in the framework. “The committee is designed to ensure an integrated, coordinated, comprehensive and adaptive approach in implementation of the plan and various levels of government from national, states and local governments." In his remarks, the Envoy of

Netherlands to Nigeria, Mr Henry Van Dijk, said his country was involved in proffering solutions towards addressing violent extremism and handling of the repentant terrorists in the North-east. He said the collaboration was to evolve an effective way to prevent violent extremism and develop a national action plan. According to him, national security remained a dynamic and evolving field ranging from terrorism to climate change, adding that a national security strategy must identify preventive and proactive approach. Speaking at the event, the Coordinator, CTC-ONSA, Rear Adm. Yaminu Musa, said the third masterclass programme was designed to equip and build capacity of the national PCVE steering committee members on the various aspects of implementation of the prevention of violent extremism framework.

“The public should be on guard against schemes like these. And, more importantly, anyone thinking of engaging in this kind of criminal conduct should understand that the US Attorney’s Office and our partners will find them and bring them to justice, no matter where they are. “Transnational organised criminal networks continue to victimise US citizens and threaten the financial infrastructure of the United States, Secret Service Office of Investigations Assistant Director Jeremy Sheridan said. “The Secret Service, alongside our partner agencies, works tirelessly in its global investigative mission to dismantle these groups and arrest those who lead them. “We are proud to be a part of the international law enforcement mission to combat all forms of financial crimes and thank all those involved in this investigation. The U.S. Secret Service extends its gratitude the U.S. Department of State’s Diplomatic Security Service for its assistance. “Foreign nationals who think they can hide in another country or in cyberspace while preying on our citizens need to know one thing,” Special Agent in Charge, George M. Crouch Jr. said. Crouch added: “The FBI has a global footprint and will use every resource available to protect the American people. The strong working relationship among our federal and international law enforcement partners allows us to reach across geographical boundaries. “In other words, anyone who thinks they can avoid American justice simply by operating outside the United States should rethink their strategy.” According to documents filed in the aforementioned cases, Perry Osagiede, Izevbigie, Franklyn Osagiede, Clement, Otughwor, and Mudashiru (the “Black Axe defendants”) were all leaders of the

Neo Black Movement of Africa, an organization headquartered in Benin City, Nigeria that operates in various countries. The Black Axe is organised into regional chapters known as “zones,” and the defendants were all leaders within the Cape Town, South Africa, Zone. It was gathered that Perry Osagiede founded the Cape Town Zone of Black Axe and worked as its zonal head, along with Izevbigie. The Black Axe defendants and other members of Black Axe took part in, and openly discussed, fraud schemes amongst their membership. From at least 2011 through 2021, the Black Axe defendants and other conspirators worked together from Cape Town to engage in widespread internet fraud involving romance scams and advance fee schemes, the documents revealed. It stated that many of the fraudulent narratives involved claims that an individual was traveling to South Africa for work and needed money or other items of value following a series of unfortunate and unforeseen events, often involving a construction site or problems with a crane. According to the documents, the conspirators used social media websites, online dating websites, and voice over internet protocol phone numbers to find and talk with victims in the United States, while using a number of aliases. “The conspirators’ romance scam victims believed they were in romantic relationships with the person using the alias and, when requested, the victims sent money and items of value overseas, including to South Africa. “Sometimes, when victims expressed hesitation in sending money, the conspirators used manipulative tactics to coerce the payments, including by threatening to distribute personally sensitive photographs of the victim. Continued on page 53

THURSDAY OCTOBER 21, 2021 • T H I S D AY

THURSDAY OCTOBER 21, 2021 ˾ T H I S D AY

NEWS

Scores Killed, Houses Burnt as Bauchi, Gombe Communities Fight Segun Awofadeji in Gombe A communal clash between Gungura community in Ganjuwa Local Government Area of Bauchi State and Buriburi community of Dukku Local Government of Gombe State has claimed yet to be identified number of people while houses and farm lands worth millions of Naira were destroyed. The disclosure was made by the member of Bauchi State House of Assembly representing Ganjuwa East Constituency, Gazali Abubakar Wunti, while speaking Under matters of urgent public importance, drawing the attention of the House on border crisis which erupted in his Constituency. According to Gazali Abubakar, in the early hours of yesterday around 3:00am, people from Buri Buri village in Dukku Local Government Area of Gombe State attacked a village called Bara in Gungura ward of Ganjuwa LGA in Bauchi state. He explained that, “So many committees were formed in

the past to resolve the border disputes but all efforts ended in futility. They have been attacking the people of the area and destroying their properties

and now it even included loss of innocent lives.” The lawmaker further stated that people of his Constituency have been patience for so

many years on the damages being perpetuated on them claiming that, “The attackers destroyed the people’s farms and properties worth millions

of naira. The communities now resort to engage volunteers and vigilante to guard their farms” . He then urged the

House to send a committee to sympathize with the community and ask government to take urgent action on the matter.

#ENDSARS ANNIVERSARY…

Some youths marking the ﬁrst anniversary of #ENDSARS Protests

Absence of EFCC’s Witness Mohammed’s Loyalists Fire Back at AbdulRazaq, Stalls Money Laundering Trial Ask Gov to Account for N1bn APC Grant national secretariat of the party of party faithful and supporters APC for the last general election of Wife of Ex-Governor’s Aide Hammed Shittu inIlorin ahead of 2019 general election at the state secretariat of the party in the state. The duo were arraigned for Olusegun Samuel inYenagoa The absence of the witness of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) yesterday stalled the trial of Mrs. Beauty Apere over allegations of money laundering at the Federal High Court, Yenagoa. The accused is the wife to Embelakpo Apere a former aide on Sustainable Development Goals to former Governor Seriake Dickson of Bayelsa State. The EFCC had on October 8th, arraigned Mr. Embelakpo Apere and his wife before a Federal High Court sitting in Yenagoa.

money laundering allegedly carried out in 2015. When the case came up for commencement of trial, Prosecuting Counsel Mr. Mustapha Iko, told the court that the EFCC was not ready to proceed with the trial as its star witness was not released by the Commission’s headquarters. He explained that the case was originally slated for October 19, which fell on a public holiday and when the Port Harcourt zonal office of EFCC in an internal memo requested for the release of the witness, it was not granted as the date turned out to be a public holiday.

Diri Presents N310.7bn 2022 Budget to Bayelsa House of Assembly

Olusegun Samuel in Yenagoa

The Bayelsa State Governor, Senator Douye Diri, yesterday presented a 2022 Appropriation Bill of N310.7 billion to the State House Assembly for consideration. Tagged; ‘Budget of Sustainable Growth” the Ministry of Works and Infrastructure will have the highest allocation of N51 billion to drive the critical infrastructure programme of his administration. The 2022 appropriation bill of the state is to be funded partly

from borrowing and grants from the development partners, according to the governor. The Ministry of Agriculture was allotted N12 billion followed by education and health sectors, which got N4 billion each while the Ministry of Finance was allotted N3 billion. The governor stated that the Ministries of Power, Transport and Information, Strategy and Orientation got N1.5 billion each while that of Housing and Rural Development, Special Projects and Ijaw National Affairs were allotted N1 billion each.

120 Houses Submerge as Flood Sacks Uyo Communities Okon Bassey in Uyo No fewer than 120 houses and 500 residents, including a village head have abandoned their homes along Urua Ekpa road in Uyo, the Akwa Ibom State capital, due to flooding. The flood that has taken over more than three kilometre radius of the village road caused the village head of the community, Ikot Obio Atai, Chief Mkpong

Okon Mkpong, and others to flee the environment. The community stretches between Calabar Itu Road in Itu Local Government Area and Ikpa road in Uyo Local Government Area. The village head, who has relocated to a new place, Udo Usanga Street, reportedly fled from his former palace at No. 85 Urua Ekpa Road more than a decade ago.

Loyalists of the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, in the All Progressives Congress (APC) have fired back at Kwara State Governor, Alhaji AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, and asked him to account for the N1billion grant allegedly received from the

in the state. The members said Mohammed solely sourced for the funds meant to finance the last general election, when there was no positive response from the governorship candidate of the APC and now governor of the state. Speaking to a mammoth crowd

located along Flowers Garden, GRA, Ilorin on Wednesday, the deputy state chairman of the party, Chief Sunday Oyebiyi, accused the governor of blackmailing Mohammed, when he has “failed to give account of N1billion grant he collected from the national secretariat of

“Without any fear of contradictions and with available records at our disposal, the credits of our resounding victory at the 2019 general election should go to the Hon. Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed and other stakeholders.”

Minister, NACCIMA Woo Turkish Investors to Nigeria Goddy Egene

Minister of Trade, Industry and Investment, Mr. Niyi Adebayo and the Nigerian Association of Chambers Of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA) have called on Turkish nationals and business owners to increase their investments in the country. They made the call yesterday at the bilateral business forum between the two countries

during the official visit of Turkish President, Rece Tayyip Erdogen to Nigeria. According to the minister, the Nigerian-Turkey Business Forum will serve as a platform for further strengthening of bilateral ties especially in the areas of trade, industry and investment and other strategic areas beneficial to both countries. Adebayo added that Nigeria and Turkey have enjoyed very

cordial relations since the establishment of diplomatic relations after Nigeria’s independence, adding that the federal government is willing to cooperate and expand on the existing bilateral relations with Turkey. He said: “The robust trade relations between Nigeria and Turkey have been mainly in the areas of Oil and liquefied Naturel Gas. As we encourage the trade in this sector by

seeking further Investment, we are working aggressively to diversify our economy and we also seek to diversify the areas of focus of our bilateral trade relationship. “Turkish investors are encouraged to take advantage of our many incentives and advantages to.invest more in Nigeria particularly with the signing and implementing of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCTA).

JAMB Registrar Explains High Exam Malpractices Victor Ogunje in Ado Ekiti

The Registrar of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, (JAMB), Prof Isaq Oloyede yesterday said preferences placed on paper qualifications by employers in Nigeria was responsible for high incidences of examination malpractices in JAMB. He also said the simple way to make public servants shy away

from corruption and other sharp practices was to make available to them, appropriate minimum welfare packages. The former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ilorin, made the assertion in Ado-Ekiti, Ekiti State, while delivering the 10th Annual lecture of the Forum of Heads of Federal Government Establishments in Nigeria, (Ekiti State chapter). He spoke on the topic,

“Value Re-orientation for Effective Service Delivery: JAMB Perspectives,” saying no worker would chose to remain indolent, disloyal and unproductive, if his working environment was appealing. Oloyede blamed various cases of fraudulent practices in schools, especially during external examinations, on too much emphasis on paper qualifications by authorities while engaging

people for employment. Oloyede, who was represented on the occasion by the Director, Quality Assurance at JAMB Headquarters, Mrs. Mabel Agbebaku, said he had initiated as well as carried out a number of innovations and disciplinary measures which had not only shored up annual revenue generated by the agency, but also eased out bad eggs from the system.

NYSC Makes Concessions to Married, Pregnant, Nursing Mothers Oghenevwede Ohwovoriole in Abuja The National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), has introduced a new policy to the mobilisation process by allowing married women, pregnant and nursing mothers to present documents that show evidence of their being married to camp

officials with proof of their husbands being resident in a particular state, and get registered without approaching the scheme for redeployment. The Director General, NYSC, Brig. Gen. Shuaibu Ibrahim, disclosed this at a press briefing in Abuja on Wednesday. Ibrahim, who was

represented at the event by the Director Press and Public Relations, Mrs. Adenike Adeyemi, said that all married women who can show evidences that they are married and that their husbands reside in a particular state will be registered in the NYSC camp in that state. He said: “All married,

pregnant and nursing mothers not deployed to their husbands’ place of domicile can now proceed to the NYSC camps within their spouses’ state of residence but must present for registration in addition to other documents, evidence of marriage, husband’s Identity evidence of husband’s place of domicile.”

THURSDAY OCTOBER 21, 2021 ˾ T H I S D AY

NEWS XTRA

Use Education to Fight Religious Extremism, Insecurity, Sultan Tells Army Onuminya Innocent in Sokoto The Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar III, has called on the Nigerian Army to use education to douse religious extremism in the country.

Abubakar made the appeal yesterday at International Conference Centre in Kasarawa, Sokoto State, during his opening remark at the second edition of Nigeria Army Education Submit taking place in the state.

EIGHT ALLEGED NIGERIAN CULTISTS ARRAIGNED IN S’AFRICA OVER MONEY LAUNDERING, OTHERS – Cont’d from page 50 “The conspirators used the bank accounts of victims and individuals with U.S.-based financial accounts to transfer the money to South Africa. “On certain occasions, the conspirators convinced victims to open financial accounts in the United States that the conspirators would then be permitted to use themselves. In addition to laundering money derived from romance scams and advance fee schemes, the conspirators also worked to launder money from business email compromise schemes. In addition to their aliases, the conspirators used business entities to conceal and disguise the illegal nature of the funds,” it stated. Otubu also engaged in romance scams and used the victims of those scams to obtain money and to launder the proceeds of

business email compromises back to South Africa. Otubu conspired with an individual identified in the criminal complaint as Co-conspirator 1, who was a founding member and leader of the Cape Town Zone of Black Axe. The wire fraud conspiracy and wire fraud charges each carry a maximum term of 20 years in prison and a maximum fine of $250,000. On the other hand, the money laundering conspiracy charge carries a maximum term of 20 years in prison and a maximum fine of $500,000 or twice the value of the property involved in the transaction, whichever is greatest. The aggravated identity theft charges carry a mandatory term of two years in prison, which must run consecutively to any other term of imprisonment imposed on a defendant.

EL-RUFAI: I WROTE BUHARI SINCE 2017 TO DESIGNATE BANDITS AS TERRORISTS – Cont’d from page 50 The commissioner said of the 830 people kidnapped in the third quarter, 732 people were abducted in Kaduna Central Senatorial District, with many of the kidnappings occurring in Birnin Gwari, Giwa, Igabi, Chikun and Kajuru LGAs. “Chikun LGA had 243 citizens kidnapped, Birnin Gwari LGA 143, while 132 citizens were kidnapped from Kajuru LGA. Igabi LGA had 106 kidnapped, while 98 persons were kidnapped from Giwa LGA. “Southern Kaduna Senatorial District recorded 51 kidnapped persons, with Kachia LGA reporting the highest number of 28. The Northern Senatorial District recorded 47 kidnapped persons, with 16 of these from Zaria LGA in total, 222 women, and 179 minors were kidnapped in the third quarter across the state,” the commissioner disclosed, adding that 77 farms were destroyed across the state. “Various reports were received of farms destroyed by roving cattle in the third quarter. In the third quarter of 2021, there were 77 reports received, relating to destruction of crops across the state, notably in Birnin Gwari, Igabi, Giwa, Chikun, Kachia, Kaura, Kauru and Zangon Kataf LGAs. The actual figure could be higher, taking unreported cases into account,” the commissioner said. Aruwan said such destruction of crops had exacerbated tensions in frontline LGAs, many often resulting in violence. He, however, said, the state government was working on a template to manage the phenomenon. He lamented that banditry has hampered farming activities in the frontline areas of the state as the criminals continued to attack and abduct farmers working on or on their way to their farms, noting that several farmers had been killed, even as the bandits extorted protection levies from some communities in return for permission to cultivate their fields. “Many farmers in these areas, fearing for their lives and safety, have abandoned their fields altogether with an attendant negative impact on crop yields. The most affected communities are in the frontline local government areas of Birnin Gwari, Igabi, Giwa, Zaria, Chikun, Kauru, Kajuru, Kachia, Kagarko, Zangon Kataf, Jemala and Sanga,” he said. Reiterating that primary, secondary, and tertiary institutions

in the state remained under threat from bandits and that “teaching and learning activities in frontline areas have been severely hampered”, he said the health sector had also been affected as hospitals and other health facilities in frontline locations were equally under grave threat from bandits. “Staff of hospitals and health centres have been killed, kidnapped and injured by armed bandits during these attacks, and this constitutes a danger to healthcare service delivery in frontline areas”, Aruwan said. Meanwhile, of the 32 passengers kidnapped at Garin-gabas village near Zungeru in the Wushishi local government area of Niger state, 18 of them were said to be in a Kebbi State Mass Transport Authority bus while the others were traveling in two Sharon buses. THISDAY learnt that the incident occurred at about 2pm, when the three vehicles were heading towards Minna, the Niger State capital. It was further gathered that the bandits numbering over 100 rode on motorcycles and blocked the road shooting into the air to create panic in the passengers. An eyewitness, who escaped from the scene narrated that the bandits surrounded the passengers and forced them into the forest, where they were presently being kept, while their vehicles were abandoned by the road sides in Garin-Gabas. But no life has been reportedly lost. Another report claimed that some bandits were also in neighbouring Kundu village, where they rustled unknown number of cattle. Secretary to the State Government, Alhaji Ibrahim Ahmed Matane, when contacted, said he was just coming out of the weekly executive council meeting and had not heard the news. Police Public Relations Officer, Niger State Police Command, DSP Wasiu Abiodun could not be reached for confirmation of the story. On February 14, not less than 30 travelers in a Niger State Transport Authority NSTA bus were abducted in similar manner in Kundu village of Rafi Local Government Area of the state. A few days later, the government announced that it had secure about 10 of the Passengers while the others did not regain freedom until after three weeks in captivity.

The monarch pointed out that poor or inadequate religious knowledge by most adherents of the two major religions in Nigeria has been blamed for most of the problem facing the country, including the deteriorating security challenges in Nigeria.

He said most preachers and adherents of the two major religions in Nigeria lacked the basics and real knowledge of the religion they profess and preach, thereby misleading and breeding poor understanding among followers and raising

an army of extremists most of whom constitute the bulk of the persons responsible for the security challenges in the country. The Sultan called on the military to adopt functional education and military might in tackling the security challenges.

He said not just education, “but functional education that will change the emphasis on paper qualification to the impartation of real knowledge that will empower the students with the necessary skills to function well in the society.”

PWC,AFRIMA SIGN MOU…

L-R: Partner, Private Wealth Services, PwC Nigeria, Mrs. Emuesiri Agbeyi; President, Afrima, Mr. Mike Dada; Partner, Africa Telcoms Media & Technology, PwC, Mr. Femi Osinubi; Partner, PwC, Mrs. Udochi Muogali; and Jury Member/Associate Producer, Afrima, Mr. Olisa Adibua during the signing of memorandum of Understanding on voting processing for Afrima Award 2021 in Lagos...yesterday ABIODUN AJALA

Okonkwo: Insecurity Caused by Years of Leaders, Followers’Failures David-Chyddy Eleke inAwka Chairman of United Nigeria Airline and governorship candidate of Zenith Labour Party (ZLP) in Anambra State, Dr Obiora Okonkwo, has said accumulated failures of leaders and followers were responsible for insecurity in the country. Okonkwo was at Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, where he unveiled a 10-point agenda for the development of the state, while also calling for votes of members of the university community in the forthcoming governorship election. The Russian-trained Development Economist, spoke during a

townhall meeting with members of the university community on the theme: state of the polity. Okonkwo said: “The security failures we are witnessing today are accumulation of failures of government, about things that should have been done that have not been done. “It could be leadership failure but the followers also have their blames, like their docility in participating in choosing the right leader like the period we are in now (Anambra election). “I’m not happy with the situation of things in Nigeria and Anambra State today, but instead of joining the EndSARS protesters or carrying guns, I have decided

to join elective position.” He stated that for a very long, Anambra’s growth has been retarded, saying it was the reason states like Lagos had transformed most slums in the state to highbrow areas, while the slums in Anambra in the early 90’s have remained the same. “May I use this opportunity to unveil to us today my 10-point agenda. A leader is just a visioner, but the people, who work to make his vision come true are not seen or heard. In Nigeria, our own academicians are people who government now see as unfortunate and who languish with poor salaries. If I become

the governor, I will only be the vision bearer, but I will come to consult with people like you to draw from your knowledge. “I want you to study it (agenda), to analyse it. It is my plan for Anambra, and you know if you don’t have a plan, you are not going anywhere. There is nothing in the 10-point agenda that I have not done in my own private life and in my business, so, it’s an achievable plan.” Okonkwo unveiled his agenda to include rapid rural development, revitalisation of education, human capital development, safety and security, planned urbanisation and urban renewal, among others.

FG Tasked to Probe National Lottery Commission over Fraud Allegation Michael Olugbode in Abuja A member of the Presidency National Lottery Regulatory Commission Governing Board, Abubakar Rajab, has called for the probe of the Lanre Gbajabiamila’s led management for intentional diversion of funds from the Treasury Single Account (TSA), among other fraud allegations.

Rajab, who spoke with journalists in Abuja yesterday, lamented that the management of Gbajabiamila has spent over N26 billion in four years from Internally Generated Revenue (IGR), and called on the federal government to initiate an immediate fiscal audit of the National Lottery Commission. According to him, the Lottery Regulatory Commission as one of

the revenue generating agencies of the federal government has operated as a liability generation agency rather than making income for the government. He alleged that: “The director-general has always spent from the commission’s IGR which ideally should not even be accessible if properly remitted in the first instance. This expenditure on the IGR over

the years has run into billions of naira, funds that should have been remitted to the government coffers for the good of all. “In 2017, over N500, 000,000 was spent from the commission’s IGR. In 2018, over N960,000,000 was spent from the commission’s IGR without appropriation against N73,000,000 appropriated for 2018 as administrative expenses.”

PDP Committee Screens Ayu, Anyanwu, 31 Others Chuks Okocha in Abuja The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), yesterday, screened the consensus candidate fornational chairman and former Senate President, Senator Iyorchua Ayu, as well as the two aspirants for national secretary, Senator Okay Muo Aro from Anambra State

and Senator Samuel Anyanwu from Imo State But, the Director General of the PDP Governors Forum, Cyril Maduabun, in a letter dated October 18, 2021, withdrew from the race to become the national secretary of the Party. In the letter, a copy if which was obtained by THISDAY,

Maduabum said, “I write to inform the committee that I have withdrawn from the contest for the position of PDP National Secretary. Consequently, I have not returned the Expression of Interest and Nomination Form I obtained for that purpose.” The screening committee, headed by a former Minister

of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation, Mohamed Adoke Bello, also screened 30 other aspirants seeking election at the October 30 and 31 national convention. Meanwhile, from the sales of nomination forms, the PDP has reportedly generated a total sum of N63 million.

We’re Stranded in Edo PDP, Laments APC Defector Adibe Emenyonu in Benin City

A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), who left the ruling party with Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo State for the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Mr. Charles Idahosa, has bemoaned their fate in the party, saying they were stranded.

Idahosa, who addressed a press conference in Benin City, yesterday, said rather than blame Governor Obaseki for the lingering crisis in the Edo PDP, the old members of the party, who resisted all moves to integrate the new entrants, should be held responsible for the crisis, because Obaseki had done all he could to ensure that everyone was carried

along. According to him, those of them who left the APC for the PDP were now like political herdsmen in their new party, which has declined tolerating them, even as he posited that the crisis has been affecting the performance of the governor. Idahosa, a former Commissioner for Information in the Lucky Igbinedion

administration and Political Adviser to Governor Adams Oshiomhole, reiterated that those of them, who left theAPC with the governor for the PDP had been stranded, expressing fear that they could become like sheep without shepherd, who roam from one point to the other because of the greed of some politicians they met in PDP.

THURSDAY, ͺ͹ ˜ ͺ͸ͺ͹ ˾ T H I S D AY

THURSDAYSPORTS

Group Sports Editor: Duro Ikhazuagbe Email: duro.ikhazuagbe@thisdaylive.com

0811 181 3083 SMS ONLY

Iheanacho Inspires Leicester from Two Goals Down to Victory in Moscow E U R O PA L E AG U E Duro Ikhazuagbe Nigerian international, Kelechi ‘SeniorMan’ Iheanacho, yesterday inspired Leicester City from two goals down to beat Spartak Moscow 4-3. It was the Foxes first win in the Europa League this season and it has moved Brendan Rodgers side to second spot in the Group C standing until Victor Osimhen’s Napoli take on Legia Warsaw this evening at the Diego Armando Maradona Stadium in Naples. The Super Eagles forward pulled two assists from the hat in the hard-fought battle in Moscow. Alexander Sobolev fired in the first for Spartak via a deflection before former Nigeria and Chelsea wing-back, Victor Moses, set up Jordan Larsson - the son of ex-Swedish international forward Henrik - to slot in the second. With Spartak in the front on two goals, Iheanacho set up Zambia international Parson Daka’s first and second goal. Daka slotted in the first of his four goals of the afternoon after getting on the end of Kelechi Iheanacho's chipped through-ball. Daka who linked up with Leicester last summer from Red Bull Salzburg for £22m, levelled matters soon after the break with another neat finish, again set up by ‘SeniorMan’ Iheanacho. Iheanacho has now recorded three assists in two appearances in the Europa League for the Foxes this season. Just like Iheanacho, Victor Moses also provided two assists for his side. And before the hour mark it was 3-2 as Daka timed his run to perfection to latch onto Youri Tielemans' pass before slotting in low. He was not done yet, though, with James Maddison releasing him to seal the 4-2 win with another side-foot finish with 10 minutes to go. Kelechi Iheanacho... inspired Leicester City to victory in Moscow... yesterday

Super Falcons Edge Ghana’s Black Queens 2-0 Nigeria’s Super Falcons defeated Ghana’s Black Queens 2-0 yesterday in Lagos to gain an edge going into the return leg fixture of the Women’s AFCON playoff next Sunday. Striker Uchenna Kanu fired a firsthalf brace to give the nine-time African champions victory at the refurbished Mobolaji Johnson Arena on Lagos Island. Kanu opened scoring in the 21st minute thanks to an assist by Francisca Ordega, before she doubled the lead in first half stoppage time. Chiamaka Nnadozie produced a fine save to deny the visitors late in the first half. Ghana dominated proceedings after the break but were unable to breach the Super Falcons defence. Captain Asisat Oshoala missed the chance to double Nigeria’s advantage in the 69th minute nodding wide from close range. The overall winners of the reverse fixture on Sunday will qualify for next year’s AFCON in Morocco, which also serves as a qualifying tournament for the 2023 Super Falcons’ two-goal scorer, Uchenna Kanu (centre) celebrating the defeat of World Cup in New Zealand and Australia. Ghana’s Black Queens with Toni Payne in Lagos...yesterday

Chukwueze on Target as Villarreal Hammer Young Boys 4-1 CR7 saves Solskjaer’s job again at Old Trafford Nigerian international, Samuel Chukwueze, scored yesterday as his Spanish topflight team, Villarreal, hammered Young Boys 4-1 away to record their first win in Group F of the UEFA Champions League. The Super Eagles forward came on as a substitute on the 90th minute but two minutes later got on the scorer’s sheet, firing the Yellow Submarines fourth goal in the 4-1 defeat of the Swiss club. It was also Chukwueze’s first goal since April and his second outing for Villarreal since returning

from the injury that sidelined him for months. Elsewhere on the night, Cristiano Ronaldo once again saved Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s job as he scored the winner as Manchester United came from 2-0 down to beat Atalanta 3-2 at Old Trafford. Manchester United now top the Group F table on six points after winning their last two games followed by Atalanta and Villarreal who are tied on four points each. Young Boys are at the bottom of the standings on three points.

Lagos Retains Runners up Spot at National Youth Games The 6th edition of the National Youth Games ended on Tuesday in Ilorin, Kwara State with Lagos State finishing second. The Centre of Excellence state similarly placed second at the last edition in 2019. This edition of the competition was characterised by poaching, use of over-aged players and cheating. Minister of Youth and Sports Development, Mr Sunday Dare,

testified to this during his speech at the closing ceremony on Tuesday. Team Lagos which paraded mostly young athletes, won a total of 72 medals (19 gold, 25 silver and 28 bronze medals). Interestingly, three days before the final day, Team Lagos was far below the top 10 on the medals table as the state's young athletes competed with their seniors. But with determination and their youthful agility, they fought

frantically to finish in the second position. Speaking during the closing ceremony, Director of Sports Development in the Lagos State Sports Commission, Mr Moses Kolawole, described the performance of the state as wonderful, adding that “we prepared very well before we came for this tournament. “Our happiness is that we came here with genuine U-15 athletes and

at the end of the day we performed excellently well and retained our second position. “We will go back to the drawing board to re-strategise for future tournaments. But I must confess, Nigeria can only get better if we can begin to do things right by fielding young athletes for this kind of competition, using over-aged athletes is not the best for this kind of age-grade tournament,” Kolawole concluded.

Samuel Chukwueze...on target for Villarreal

THURSDAY, ͺ͹˜ ͺ͸ͺ͹ ˾ T H I S D AY

SPORTS

Pique Returns Barcelona to Winning Ways CHAMPIONS LEAGUE Gerard Pique scored Barcelona's first Champions League goal this season as Ronald Koeman's side beat Dynamo Kyiv 1-0 to end their losing start to Group E. Pique volleyed in a superb opener from Jordi Alba's cross as the hosts found the net in Europe for the first time in more than four and a half hours. Barcelona were comfortable, if not clinical, and success keeps their hopes of reaching the knockout

stage alive. They sit third, one point behind Benfica, who play Bayern Munich later. Barcelona headed into this fixture on the back of 3-0 defeats by Bayern and Benfica, managing just one shot on target in total. They had not failed to find the net in three successive European games since March 1988 in the UEFA Cup - and Pique made sure that unwanted feat would not be repeated.

Thierry Henry Rates Taribo Toughest Opponent of His Career RESULTS Barcelona Benfica Man Utd Y’Boys Salzburg Lille Chelsea Zenit

1-0 Dynamo 0-4 B’Munich 3-2 Atalanta 1-4 Villarreal 3-1 Wolfsburg 0-0 Sevilla 4-0 Malmoe 0-1 Juventus

EUROPA S’Moscow 3-4 Leicester

TODAY Rangers S’Prague PSV S’Graz Napoli Fenerbahce E’Frankfurt Lazio L’Moscow Betis West Ham Rapid Ludogorets

v v v v v v v v v v v v v

Brondby Lyon Monaco Sociedad L’ Warsaw Antwerp Olympiacos Marseille Galatasaray Leverkusen Genk D’Zagreb C’ Zvezda

Barcelona players mob Gerald Pique in celebration of their ﬁrst win of the season in Europe

Usyk Thinks Titles’ Unification Clash with Fury, Not AJ Oleksandr Usyk is already planning for a fight against Tyson Fury, and wants to face the Gypsy King after his rematch with Anthony Joshua, Manchester Evening News reported on Wednesday. The Ukrainian looks set to take on Joshua once again next year, having dismantled the

former champion last month to take the IBF, WBA and WBO belts. Having had a rematch officially triggered, the pair look set to face each other again around March, ruling out a potential unification bout between Usyk and Fury in the immediate future.

Pele Says He’s Getting 'Closer to the Goal' Former Brazilian soccer player Pele, not long out of the hospital after surgery to remove a tumour, told fans on Wednesday to start celebrating his life because he was getting "closer to the goal." "I suggest you start to catch your breath to celebrate with me, because with each passing day I get closer to the goal," Pele wrote on Twitter. He did not give any details, but the former Brazil, Santos and New York Cosmos player, who will be 81 on Oct. 23, has been in poor health for some time. He is undergoing chemotherapy following September's tumour surgery. That ailment came after hip and kidney problems as well as what his son Edinho last year said was a bout with depression, something Pele later denied. Widely considered to be one

the greatest players of all time, Pele is the only soccer player to hold three World Cup winner's medals, lifting the trophy with Brazil in 1958, 1962 and 1970.

He scored more than 1,000 goals in a glittering career and transcended sport to become of the most recognizable faces on the planet.

Pele...battling ill health associated with ageing

The Gypsy King instead looks set to face Dillian Whyte after successfully defending his WBC crown against Deontay Wilder in Las Vegas. A meeting with Usyk might not be too far away though, with the Ukrainian’s promoter telling Sky Sports that Fury will be his fighter’s next opponent after Joshua. “It will be after Usyk defeats AJ in the rematch,” Alexander Krassyuk said. Asked if Usyk was impressed by Fury’s performance against Wilder, Krassyuk added: “He was. And he was impressed with how the boxers fought without showing boxing skills. They were trying to (badly) hurt each other.” All options could be open for Fury as he makes his next step following his Wilder trilogy, although a title defence against Whyte looks to be his most likely next step. Promoter Frank Warren though hasn’t ruled out another all-British bout with Joshua next year, regardless of the former champion’s result in his rematch with Usyk. A fight against the winner of that encounter would look to be the next logical step for Fury though, assuming he chooses to continue in his career, with some questioning whether he may choose to retire following his win over Wilder.

Former Arsenal and Barcelona striker, Thierry Henry, has picked Nigeria’s Taribo West as the toughest opponent of his career. The former France international admitted he endured a torrid time against the ex-Super Eagles defender during his active days The World Cup winner is the Gunners’ all-time highest goal scorer and was renowned for wreaking havoc on defences for both club and country during his professional career which spanned over two decades. Henry has pitted his wits against some of the world's best centre-halves and full-backs during his active career, but he claims that the former Super Eagles star gave him his most difficult examination. Pressed to name the hardest opponent he has faced, the current Belgium national team assistant coach said on CBSS Sports Golazo: “Toughest as indirect opponent? Or just a guy you don’t like to play against? Paul Scholes. “For direct opponent, I would go back in the days - Taribo West. “Because (at Auxerre), they did man-marking. He followed you everywhere, even in the dressing room.” During his spell at AS Monaco, the Frenchman came up against West who was representing AJ Auxerre. Following Henry’s move to Juventus, he came up against

the defensive lynchpin again, who was plying his trade at Inter Milan having joined the Italians on a four-year contract in June 1997. Although West won two Coupe de France titles and one Ligue 1 diadem with Auxerre, the Olympic gold medallist had disclosed that his deal with the Diplomats was signed "without knowing the content and conditions binding the contract". "I played in Auxerre for free," West said at Footballers Connect, a conference aimed at educating aspiring footballers. "I was playing under a contract for five years without knowing the content and conditions binding the contract. "After the third year, Arsenal, Juventus, Glasgow Rangers, Sevilla and Betis came for me but my contract terms with Auxerre will not allow transfer to happen. “Where my fellow defenders were earning as high as 120,000 French francs, I was going home with 3000 French francs. "I wanted to set Auxerre on fire the day I realized the contract I signed. Immediately, I called my manager who was turning me left and right (while) enjoying himself in Senegal,” recalled the former Nigerian defender. Before drawing the curtain on his career in 2007, the West also represented AC Milan, Derby County, Kaiserslautern, Partizan, Al-Arabi, Plymouth Argyle and Iranian side Paykan.

Thierry Henry (left) dreaded coming face-to-face with Taribo West

Thursday, October 21, 2021

UT H

& RE A S O

Price: N250

MISSILE

El-Rufai to Federal Government

“We in the Kaduna State Government, have always aligned with the declaration of bandits as insurgents and terrorists. We have written letters to the Federal Government since 2017, asking for this declaration because it is the declaration that will allow the Nigerian military to attack and kill these bandits without any major consequences in international law” ––Governor Nasir El-Rufai on the call for president to declare bandits as terrorists

OLUSEGUNADENIYI THE VERDICT

olusegun.adeniyi@thisdaylive.com

The Yar’Adua Study on Subsidies (II) S hortly before the 2011 general election which he lost to President Goodluck Jonathan, then candidate Muhammadu Buhari (now president) was dismissive of subsidy in the downstream sector of the petroleum industry. “If anybody says he is subsidising anything, he is a fraud. So all these people talking about subsidy, who is subsidising who?” he famously asked. That populist position by the president may have now been tempered by reality, but it is shared by many Nigerians. Therefore, as I continue the series I started last week on the report of a study conducted by the late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua on subsidies in five sectors (power, education, health, agriculture and petroleum), I want to reiterate that my intention is not to fly any kite but rather to provoke a conversation about the direction of our economy and how to get critical sectors to work. I am quite aware that proposing the removal of subsidies is difficult under the current circumstance. Last Sunday, PUNCH newspaper published a breakdown of what the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) intends to spend in 2022. It is beyond scandalous. Beginning with N2.8 billion for “uniforms and clothing” it includes N550 million for refreshments, N262.5 million for security votes and a whopping sum of N17.8 billion reserved for “miscellaneous” expenses. Besides the N1.4 billion for electricity charges, N460 million on telephone charges and N1.3 billion on security services, other budgetary items include N2.5 billion for the purchase of land, N3 billion for office furniture, N1.5 billion for photocopying machines, N2.04 billion for computers, N500 million for the construction of sports facilities, N6 billion on new headquarters, N2 billion to purchase new vehicles, N1.3 billion for cleaning and fumigation, N1.4 billion on general maintenance services, N1.3 billion for office stationery, another N3 billion on printing non-security documents while a cumulative sum of N1.8 billion will go for the fueling, maintenance and purchase of new generators. By the time you tally the inordinate amounts of money one federal agency that produces nothing will spend on non-essentials, the only conclusion to draw is that of misplaced priorities. And with that, it becomes difficult for anybody to canvass removal of subsidy in any sector until there is responsible governance anchored on transparency and accountability. But there are still challenges for which we must begin to fashion enduring solutions. Today, I continue with the aspect of the Yar’Adua 2008 report that deals with subsidy in the education sector: As last week, the narrative was extrapolated from bullet points and charts. The only aspect I removed are figures of all the monies released to the National Universities Commission (NUC), National Commission for Colleges of Education (NCCE) and National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) both for recurrent and capital expenditures between 1999 to 2007 or the Education Trust Fund (ETF) interventions for those years. =============================== As at the end of December 2007, a total of 50,800 primary schools, 11,025 secondary schools and 273 tertiary institutions consisting of 92 universities, 181 polytechnics and colleges of education existed

Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu

in the country. 27 of the universities were federal, 31 were state-owned while the remaining 34 were private universities. Enrollment in primary schools rose from 17.9 million in 1999 to 22.8 million in 2006 and 23.5 million in 2007. Likewise, enrollment in secondary schools recorded a substantial increase from 3.8 million in 1999 to 6.7 million in 2007. In Nigeria, the federal government has for decades been committed to tuition free policy in public primary schools, federal secondary schools, and federal tertiary institutions. Ordinarily, the modalities of financing higher education include budgetary transfers, use of voucher either direct to students/ or schools, designing Student Loan Scheme and the use of scholarship schemes as complementary or a combination of all. A breakdown reveals that expenditure on tertiary education accounted for an average of 70.8% of total Federal Government education expenditure between 1999 and 2005. Capital projects of schools is funded by the Education Trust Fund (ETF). Companies assist by paying 2 per cent of their after tax. The highest percentage of federal government expenditure spent on education was in 1999 at 10.7%. In 2000, it was 6.1%, in 2001, it was 5.4%, in 2002, it was 2.9%, in 2033, it was 4.9%, in 2004, it was 3.9%, in 2005, it was 3.7 percent, in 2006, it was 7.4% and in 2007, it was 8%. It must be noted however, that even though the percentages declined, the quantum of money was on the increase. Intervention by the federal government on higher education has been funded through the award of scholarships to deserving students at both undergraduate and post-graduate levels. The number of awards given usually depends on the amount of fund available in the budgetary provision and therefore, varies from year to year. For five years between 1999 and 2003, the number of scholarships awarded totaled 32,141 with the following breakdown: 1999, (108); 2000, (108); 2001, (10811); 2002, (14253)

and 2003, (6861). There were no awards in 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007, due to lack of funds. The arguments for untargeted subsidies in higher education include the need to promote access to all, graduates pay for their higher education through their subsequent higher taxes, it is immoral to charge for higher education, the strong belief that higher education is a right and should therefore attract a minimum of free tuition and mass tertiary education is essential for national growth etc. Going by statistics from the federal ministry of education, the unit cost of training a Monotechnics student was N63,000 whereas they paid N10,500 leaving a fees gap of N42,500 (67.5%). For a Polytechnics student, the unit cost was N76,500 while the average fees paid was N8,500 leaving a fees gap of N68,000 (89.5%). For Colleges of Education, the unit cost was N70,000 while each paid N8,000, leaving a fees gap of N62,000 (88.06%). In public universities the unit cost was N332,000 whereas they paid N9,000, leaving a fees gap of 323,000 (97.3%). Evidence indicate that resources are not optimally used at the school level. Often, the mix of purchased inputs (teachers’ services and other materials) is inefficient. Another major area of ineffectiveness is that administrators, students, and parents play only a marginal role in determining - indirectly through their choice of schools - how school resources are to be allocated. The current financing arrangement has not encouraged competition among the schools in the higher education sub-sector. The inefficiencies in student selection are also partly attributable to the present financing arrangements and we can look at the example of two counties. CHILEAN MODEL: During the 1980s, the Chilean military government initiated a reform programme in the school system to improve the quality of state-financed primary and secondary education. The reform brought about a radical change by shifting the responsibility for financing tertiary education from the state to families. Consequently, state funding of tertiary education was gradually reduced from about 100 per cent in 1980 to 41 % by 2000. Universities were allowed to raise fees to augment the reduced direct transfers from government, while a state loan programme with subsidized interest rates was introduced. Scholarships that provide moderate living expenses were also introduced for the extremely impoverished students. UNITED STATES MODEL: The United States has a highly decentralized education system which is administered by the state governments. Education policies are formulated by the state and local districts instead of the Federal Government. Higher education funding is done largely through student tuition and fees, with private institutions generally charging more than public institutions. The largest student loan scheme administrator in the country is the Federal Family Education Loan Program (FFELP). This is a loan guarantee programme: Stafford loans, directly made to students, Parents Loan for Undergraduate Students (PLUS), which are made to parents and certain graduate students, and Consolidated loans LESSONS FOR NIGERIA: It is both efficient and equitable that students should bear part of the costs of their studies. Cut expenses on tertiary for the development of primary and junior secondary schools on competitive basis. Student loan schemes should be designed and adopted for funding the expenses of tertiary education system. Scholarship management should be decentralized to the university for the benefit of the targeted groups. Tuition fees in tertiary institutions relax the supply-side constraint

and it encourages private sector participation. There is a need for a New Framework for Subsidy Implementation in the Education Sub-Sector. Historical reasons underline the heavy subsidization of higher education in Nigeria. Today, too great a share of public resources goes to higher levels of education relative to lower ones. This new arrangement for higher education may include recovering the public cost of higher education and re-allocating government spending towards the level with the highest social returns; developing a credit market for higher education together with selective scholarships, especially for university education; decentralising the management of public higher education schools while at the same time encouraging the expansion of private universities. We also need to provide the competitive incentives for higher output and quality improvement. One way to increase the efficiency and equity of a public higher education system is to impose selective fees and reallocate the savings to the lower tiers of education. This means redirecting government subsidies from the relatively necessary socio-economic groups to the poorest and therefore, increases efficiency and equity in the system. TUITION OPTION: This may include maintaining a fixed fee to be charged by all the federal universities, variable fees up to a maximum per year with universities competing in terms of scholarships and bursaries, and variables fees not subjected to a maximum but combined with a national bursary scheme. LOAN OPTION. Prior to the 1990s, there was a student loan scheme as an integral part of higher education financing in Nigeria. However, the programme failed due to lack of private sector participation, default, and collection problems etc. Loan schemes are therefore important because they can help very impoverished student to attain higher education thereby promoting equity in the system. Meanwhile, we can also have selective scholarship schemes as sources of competition among students and incentive to work. ENDNOTE: Last weekend, the Times of London published a report, Harvard, the world’s wealthiest university, is even richer after a bumper year for investments swelled its endowment fund to $53.2 billion.” Even though the 27 per cent increase was the smallest among the eight Ivy League universities “because it follows more conservative measures than others”, Harvard’s endowment, according to the report, “is equivalent to the reserves of the central banks of South Africa or the Netherlands.” More noteworthy: “About 70 per cent of students qualify for some kind of scholarship award or other financial assistance partly thanks to the large endowment fund.” In today’s knowledge age, novel thinking must drive new tactics as to how we can revamp tertiary education in Nigeria. Right now, our universities are grossly under-resourced. Of course, I am aware of other challenges, including that of manpower, but we cannot gloss over the issue of funding. I must be clear: The challenge of this sector is not about the essential subsidy but our sole reliance on it for sustainability. This is counterproductive, evident from the practical collapse of university education in Nigeria today. My series will continue next week with the report on subsidy in the health sector.

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