25122017 - Scarcity: FG waives port charges on fuel imports

Industry woes deflate appetite for oil & gas coys' shares INSIDE

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL OUR READERS! IN the spirit of the season, your favourite companion will be off the newsstands tomorrow. Back with you Wednesday!

VOL. 25: NO. 63449

We are changing Nigeria from import oriented country

—Alok Gupta, CEO, 30 African Industries Group

MONDAY, DECEMBER 25, 2017

Scarcity: FG waives port charges on fuel imports •Buhari breaks silence, says scarcity is regrettable •Refineries pump 3.8m litres per day —Baru

By Udeme Akpan, Johnbosco Agbakwuru, Mike Eboh & Dennis Udoma

AS fuel scarcity across the country bites harder, the Federal

Government, yesterday, ordered that port Continues on page 5

FUEL TROUBLES CONTINUE

•Black market sellers and fuel scarcity anguish in Abuja, Kaduna, Warri and Port Harcourt, weekend. Photos: Olu Ajayi & Nwankpa Chijioke.

Mr & Mrs

EFCC files fraud charge against Innoson’s boss, brother WEEKS AFTER FORCED Ex-Boko Haram CIO warns TWO MARRIAGE: I killed my Shekau against using girls husband with N40 rat as suicide bombers 8 poison —Housewife 6

COLUMNISTS

OWEI LAKEMFA

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Christmas: Saraki, Ekweremadu, govs, CAN, others preach 14 peace, love, unity HENRY BOYO

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2—Vanguard, MONDAY, DECEMBER 25, 2017

Vanguard, MONDAY, DECEMBER 25, 2017 — 3

C M Y

4—Vanguard, MONDAY, DECEMBER 25, 2017

Vanguard, MONDAY, DECEMBER 25, 2017—5

POCKET CARTOON

FOR XMAS—A chicken vendor for Christmas in Kaduna, yesterday. Photo:Olu Ajayi.

Scarcity: FG waives port charges on fuel imports Continues from Page 1 charges be waived for vessels carrying Premium Motor Spirit, PMS, also known as petrol, to ensure their speedy clearance. These charges include port charges, pilotage charges and landing fees.

Petrol-laden vessels of up to 100,000 metric tonnes (summer deadweight) pay up to US$6,800, vessels from 100,000-200,000 tonnes pay US$10,200, while vessels of 200,000 metric tonnes and above are charged US$13,600. The Nigerian Ports Authority, NPA, charges $0.034 per barrel of fuel.

This came as President Muhammadu Buhari broke his silence on the current scarcity yesterday, sympathising with Nigerians on the excruciating pains they were going through as a result of the scarcity.

Group Managing Director of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, Mr. Maikanti Baru, who disclosed this at a

briefing in Abuja, said the current Landing Cost of PMS was N171 per litre, meaning that at N145 per litre, the Federal Government was currently paying a subsidy of N26 on a litre of the commodity.

Baru stated that the Nigerian Navy, Nigerian Ports Authority, NPA, Customs and the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, NIMASA were currently expediting the clearance of fuel vessels and anchorage services to facilitate speedy product transfers to depots, including during weekends and public holidays.

The NNPC helmsman noted that President Muhammadu Buhari was deeply concerned about the fuel crisis and had ordered all stakeholders involved, including security agencies to ensure speedy resolution of the situation.

24-hour loading, sales

operations He disclosed that the NNPC had commenced a 24-hour loading and sales operations at all depots and its mega stations across the country.

“Major marketers were also advised to carry out 24-hour operations, most of whom have been complying. This has increased load-out from the depots significantly and continuous sales at the filling stations nationwide,” Baru noted.

He affirmed that in addition to the regular supply circle, the NNPC had programmed the delivery of additional 300 million litres in December 20l7 and January 2018 to beef up national reserves to 45 million litres per day, well above the normal c o n s u m p t i o n requirement of between 27 and 28 million litres per day.

He also declared that in the last two weeks, the national truck-out capacity had been

beefed up to an average of l,500 trucks, about 52 million litres per day, which he explained, was higher than the normal consumption of 850 trucks per day.

Furthermore, the NNPC boss stated that currently, 13 vessels, with an average capacity of 650 million litres, were discharging the commodity at different ports across the country, while noting that three vessels with the commodity were coming in before the end of the week, bringing the combined quantity of the product in depots to 814 million litres of petrol to last till the end of the month.

He added that 14 shuttle tankers, with a combined capacity of 187 million litres of the commodity, would also be discharging the product at various destinations across the country in the next three days.

Refineries pump 3.8m litres per day In addition to imported products, Baru noted that the Port Harcourt and Kaduna Refineries are currently contributing about one million litres and 2.8

million litres per day respectively of PMS to the country’s fuel supply respectively, adding that since the fuel crisis began, both refineries had contributed a total of about 61 million litres.

Also, to ensure speedy resolution of the crisis, Baru disclosed that the NNPC had activated the ‘Fuel War Room’, comprising the NNPC, Department of Petroleum Resources, DPR, Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency, PPPRA and the Petroleum Equalisation Fund, PEF. He said the team was tasked with the responsibility of coordinating all intervention activities for supply and distribution of PMS nationwide, adding that with the support of security agencies, the team was already working round the clock to ensure a speedy resolution of the current fuel situation.

He explained that with all these measures, and if full compliance was achieved, the crisis would end within the next two days.

According to him, efforts have been put in place to ensure the crisis did not go beyond this week.

Baru also accused black marketers of sabotaging efforts to end the fuel crisis, stating that most of the peddlers, permanently put their vehicles on queues at petrol stations, and after purchasing, discharge the products into containers and return to join the queues.

He further stated that the normal consumption of PMS in Nigeria had risen to over 50 million litres per day, due to hoarding and diversion, mainly as a result of cross-border smuggling.

Landing cost Commenting on the

landing cost of PMS, Baru said the Cost, Insurance and Freight price of PMS was $620 per metric tonne, adding that at N305 to a dollar, the landing cost translates to N171 per litre.

However, he disclosed that despite the higher landing cost, there was no plan to increase the price of the commodity, adding that even with the current rate, the marketers were being supplied the product at N133.28, giving them ample opportunity to make profit.

Baru, explained that the NNPC would like to see a thriving and vibrant private sector that would participate actively in product importation going forward.

Buhari’s sympathy Meanwhile, President Muhammadu Buhari, yesterday, broke his silence and sympathised with the people.

The President, who said he was being briefed on the fuel situation in the country, assured that the NNPC was making efforts to ease the situation.

Buhari in a statement he personally signed and posted on his verified twitter handle, said the scarcity was regrettable.

He said: “The fuel scarcity being experienced nationwide is regrettable.

I sympathise with all Nigerians on having to endure needless fuel queues.

“I’m being regularly briefed, especially on the NNPC’s interventions to ensure that there is enough petrol available during this period & beyond.

“I have the NNPC’s assurance that the situation will improve significantly over the next few days, as new shipments and supplies

Continues on page 41

6—Vanguard, MONDAY, DECEMBER 25, 2017 :Vanguard News

Enugu Police declare ‘Malaysian Boys’ wanted

E

NUGU State Police Command has declared members of the “Malaysian Boys’’ gang wanted for alleged criminal activities.

Police said the “Malaysian Boys’’ gang have been operating within Nimbo and Adani axis of Uzouwani Local Government Area of the state.

The Command’s spokesman, SP Ebere Amaraizu, said, in a statement yesterday, that the command had issued a warrant of arrest for all the members of the gang.

Amaraizu urged the public to furnish it with information that can lead to their arrest.

He also said the fleeing “Malaysian Boys” had been a thorn on the flesh of the law-abiding members of the public within Nimbo and Adani axis of Uzouwani council.

Varsity student nabbed over murder of colleague

By Peter Duru

M

AKURDI—A 400 Level Psychology student of a middle belt state university, Gabriel Egbe, has been arrested by the Benue State Police Command for his alleged complicity in the murder of a fellow student of the same university, one Philip Adah.

The suspect, who was paraded in Makurdi by the state’s Commissioner of Police, Mr. Bashir Makama, was said to be on the run, but nabbed following a tip-off.

According to Mr. Makama, who was represented by his Public Relations Officer, Assistant Superintendent Moses Yamu, the murdered student was also a 400 Level student of Biological Science.

He said: “Following the cult-related murder of Philip Adah, a 400 Level Biological Sciences student, a suspect, one Gabriel Egbe, a 400 Level Psychology student of the same university, who was accused of the killing and had been on the run, was eventually arrested by our operatives.”

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11 women escorting bride die in auto crash T

HE Federal Road Safety Corps, FRSC, in Kano State, yesterday, confirmed that 11 women, who were escorting a bride, died in a ghastly auto crash in Kano metropolis on Saturday night.

The FRSC Public Relations Officer, Kabir Ibrahim-Daura, told newsmen in Kano that the incident occurred around 8.30p.m. at the old toll gate near Sa’adatu Abubakar Rimi College of Education.

According to him, the women were conveying a bride from Unguwa Uku to Yan’lemu area when the driver lost control of the vehicle and hit the tollgate.

He said eight women died on

the spot, while the remaining three died at the hospital.

“Eight persons died on the spot, because after hitting the tollgate the vehicle divided into two instantly,” Mr. Daura said.

He said three other women

TWO WEEKS AFTER FORCED MARRIAGE:

I killed my husband with N40 rat poison— Housewife confesses Half-brother dies after eating left-over of poisoned meal; sister-in-law survives

...another knifed by boyfriend for jilting him after 5 years of courtship

By Bashir Bello

K

ATSINA—A 15-year-old housewife, Dausiya Abdulmumini, who killed her husband, Saminu Usman in Ungwar Dan Mayaki village, Bakori Local Government Area of Katsina State, has confessed that she used N40 rat poison, because she didn’t love him.

Meanwhile, another lady, Aisha Dikko, 21, is battling to stay alive after her boyfriend, Abubakar Musa Sule, attacked her with a knife and abandoned her in a pool of her blood, thinking she was dead.

Dausiya Abdulmumini and Abubakar Musa Sule were, alongside other suspects, arrested for various forms of crimes and criminal offences, paraded by the state’s Commissioner of Police, Besen Gwana, at the Police Headquarters, weekend.

Dausiya was reported to have murdered her husband, Saminu Usman, aged 27, after adding poisonous substance in the food she served her husband.

While her half-brother, Muhammad Dasa, also died after eating the left-over poisoned meal, the sister-inlaw, Shafa’atu Usman, 23, who ate three spoons of the left-over, survived the incident.

go on.

“His wife, Ina Yahaya, intervened that since I said I don’t love the man, he (my uncle) should allow me be. But he shut her mouth up, saying she cannot take decisions for him and that he has the right and authority over me and not her.

“Our marriage was two weeks old.”

… pregnant for another

Asked why she suddenly rejected her husband as it was reported that, initially, she was in love, Dausiya said: “He had an accident, which affected his brain before the marriage.”

Asked about the pregnancy she is carrying, she said: “Abdulrasheed impregnated me. He is in our village. He lives near our house. He is my boyfriend. He is the one I love.

We are two years into the relationship.”

Asked where she got the poison and how she did it? She

said: “I sent someone to buy it for me. I bought N40 poison.”

The poisoned dish was a rice and bean meal.

… another knifed by boyfriend

In a related development, the Police also paraded one Abubakar Musa Sule, who attempted to murder his girlfriend, Aisha Dikko.

He, also, confessed to committing the crime.

Police Commissioner, Gwana, said the incident happened in Charanchi Local Government Area of the state, when the girlfriend told her boyfriend she was betrothed to another man.

Out of jealousy, Gwana added, he attempted to murder her, using a knife and inflicting serious injury on her.

He said the victim was rescued by a good Samaritan and was rushed to General

Hospital, Kurfi, where she is currently on admission and responding to treatment.

Abubakar, a job seeker, said he committed the crime out of anger because she wants to leave him and marry another man after dating for five years.

His words: “I took her on my motor bike into the bush and used my knife to slit her neck.

Aside that she wants to leave me for another man, she became a spoiler as she go to any lady I try to propose to, to obstruct the relationship.

“After I carried out the act, I was disturbed and couldn’t sleep at night. When the Police came to arrest me in my house, I was awake as I could not sleep. Her mother reported the case to the Police.”

Others arrested and paraded include members of a syndicate that specialised in strangulating motorcycle riders and snatching their bike; and another that specialised in car theft.

‘I was in love with another man’

On why she committed the crime, Dausiya said she was forced to marry Saminu, whereas she was in love with one Abdulrasheed, a neighbour.

Dausiya, who spoke with tears rolling down her cheeks, said she had been dating Abdulrasheed for over two years and that he was responsible for the pregnancy she was carrying at the moment.

In her words: “My Uncle, Yahaya, gave my hands in marriage to a man, Saminu, who I don’t love. And I told them I don’t love him.

“When I told my uncle I don’t love him (my husband), he insisted that the marriage must

REFRESHING LAST MOMENTS: A few minutes after this picture was taken, these cows were slaughtered for Christmas and New Year celebrations in Lagos.

PHOTO: Bose Adelaja.

Vanguard, MONDAY, DECEMBER 25, 2017—7 :Vanguard News

and the male driver were still at the hospital receiving medical attention.

The FRSC spokesman attributed the accident to overspending and urged other motorists to drive with utmost care by obeying all the traffic rules and regulations.

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‘Why I gave goats as prizes to outstanding students’

By Nwafor Sunday

R

EV. Fr. Dr Innocent Nwafor, the parish priest of St. Michael Awgbu, Catholic Church, Awka Diocese, has explained why he decided to give out goats to

distinguished students of Santa Maria Nursery and Primary School, Egbeani-Ezeawulu Nibo, Anambra State.

One of the reasons he gave was that the poor among the distinguished students can sell

the goat for school fees and purchase books that will help their learning.

Recall that last week, the management of Santa Maria Nursery and Primary School splashed gifts (goats) to

Housewife battered, thrown inside well by man who refused to pay N3,000 after sex

By Evelyn Usman

compound to about five buildings away from his. At a point, I was so weak and passed out. The next time I opened my eyes, I found myself inside a well.

“The luck I had was that the water level was just up to my chest. That was when I yelled for help.”

At press time, the suspect, Isaac, was still on the run.

Vanguard observed during a visit to his apartment that the only property he had was a bed.

L

AGOS—MRS Anita Ekpeyong narrowly escaped death after she was beaten comatose and thrown inside a well by a man that she said refused to pay her the N3,000 bargained for sex.

Vanguard gathered that the woman, who lives in an uncompleted building at Aladura Mosque Street, White Sand, Isheri Oshun, Lagos, with her husband, Ifeanyi, and their two children, left their abode two weeks ago, after informing her family that she was going to charge her mobile phone.

According to her, on the way to charge her phone, a man she identified as Isaac requested to take her home for sex, with an agreement to pay her N3,000.

Trouble, however, started for the mother of two following Isaac’s refusal to pay her the agreed sum after having sex with her in his one-room apartment at 4, Kilanko Street, White Sand, Isheri Oshun.

An argument, which degenerated into scuffle, ensued during which Isaac threw Anita inside a well, abandoning her to die.

His rent expired in March —Suspect’s landlord

Brought out of the well

A passer-by said to have been alerted by shouts for help from the well, raised the alarm and Anita was rescued.

Ekpeyong was, thereafter, rushed to two private hospitals in the area, unconscious, but was rejected.

She was then taken to the Isolo General Hospital by the Police, where she was treated for a week before being transferred to another hospital, where she underwent another round of treatment before she was discharged, weekend.

During interrogation, she said: “I did not know the man before. He only stopped me and asked how much I would take for the service and I said N3,000. But when he finished he refused to pay.

“Rather, he threatened to kill me and dump my body in the bush. He started dragging me out of his house and at the same time hit me on my head.

“He collected my Nokia Android phone and the money I had earlier worked for. He covered my mouth with cloth to prevent me from shouting

The victim in hospital and the well (inset). and gave me a hard fist on my off. jaw, which forced a tooth to fall “He dragged me out of his

His landlord, identified simply as Okwuchukwu, stated that the victim’s rent had long expired and that he had issued him notice to quit.

He said: “He moved into this house in January 2016.

His rent expired at the end of March 2017. Since then he has not paid a kobo. The notice to quit issued him expired in October. I have taken him to several places to ensure he leaves my house.

“While we are still on that issue, I came back home from work on December 12 only to be informed that he brought a married woman home, slept with her and instead of paying her, beat her and threw her inside a well.”

Vanguard gathered that Lagos State Police Command has intensified effort in search of the fleeing suspect.

outstanding students for distinguishing themselves academically in their various classes.

Asked how it started, Fr. Nwafor said: “Actually, it is an initiative of an Austria-based NGO called ORA. The programme is ongoing in some Africa countries such as Ghana.

“An office of the NGO happened to be in the community where I worked for some time. Through a friend, it was extended to Nigeria.”

Quizzed on the choice of goats, he said: “It makes the children to be down to earth.

“In Awgbu, where the programme has been going on for three years now, some children are learning for the first time the various kinds of goat’s food.

“Second is for economic value. The children learn to take care of animal till it gives birth. The child sells it and uses the money to pay school fees, if in private school or buy novels among other things.

“So they learn to care for animals. In that way, they can better develop their caring sensibility to follow human beings.

“It will equally help them to develop a positive selfimage. They look at the goat and feel that it is the fruit of my handiwork and make them work harder.”

To reduce poverty and increase the level of education in the school, Fr. Innocent said: “A lot still needs to be done.

“We need computers, whiteboard, standard tables for teachers and scholarships. The school manager can speak better in this regard.”

FUEL SCARCITY

Abuja. PHOTO: Abayomi Adeshida.

Kaduna. PHOTO: Olu Ajayi.

Asaba. PHOTO: Nath Onojake.

Aba Road, Port Harcourt. PHOTO: Nwankpa Chijioke.

8—Vanguard, MONDAY, DECEMBER 25, 2017 :Vanguard News

Ex- Boko Haram CIO warns Shekau against using girls as suicide bombers Says Shekau now crippled

M

AIDUGURI—EXBOKO Haram Chief Intelligence Officer, CIO, Abdulkadir Abubakar, has warned the leader of the group, Abubakar Shekau, to stop using innocent girls, who are being hypnotised as suicide bombers.

Abubakar, also known as Abu Muhammad, disclosed that Shekau had become crippled and warned other factional leaders of the group, such as Mamman Nur, Abbor Mainok, Abu Musad Albarnawi and Abbah Minok to repent from their wicked ways and embrace peace.

Abubakar was the CIO of the terror group and one of its top commanders, until his arrest in June by the military in Buni Yadi in Gujba Local Government Area of Yobe State.

The commander, who spoke to PRNigeria in his cell in Maiduguri, regretted that a lot of innocent young girls were captured, tortured, hypnotised and used by Abubakar Shekau for suicide bombing.

He said: “I am calling on Abubakar Shekau, Mamman Nur, Abbor

Minok and Abu Musad Albarnawi to lay down their arms and stop the senseless killings.

“Shekau has continued to demonstrate his cruelty and atrocities against humanity.

He has killed a lot of souls, destroyed homes and rendered people homeless.

“He continued to exercise God’s authority to himself by killing innocent souls at will without any justification. This was why all his commanders left him.

He doesn’t have pity for the aged, women, children as well as young girls, who are mostly suffering and dying in his camp.

“His followers are raping and committing all sort of atrocities under his nose while he continued to show no concern. Many who dared to question his dastardly acts were promptly eliminated by Shekau.

“Some of his commanders, such as Aliyu and our Chief Mechanic, known as “Paper”, were killed for begging Shekau to provide food to mothers and their children at the time our camp in Abiso ran out of food.

“When Shekau was told

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2017 Christmas, worst ever —PDP Says Nigerians are tired of Buhari’s assurances

By Gbenga Olarinoye & Dirisu Yakubu

A

BUJA—THE Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has described this year’s Christmas as the worst ever in the history of the country.

It also called on Nigerians not to despair, but to use the occasion of the festivities to show love, care and encourage one another, regardless of religious, ethnic and political inclinations.

The party equally urged President Muhammadu Buhari to stop deceiving Nigerians with words of assurances when he had no clue on how to bring smiles on the faces of the governed, having spent almost three years in office.

In a statement issued by the National Publicity

Secretary, Mr. Kola Ologbodiyan, in Abuja yesterday, the party expressed worry over Nigerians’ inability to merrily celebrate the yuletide due to economic hardship being experienced in the country since the assumption of office by the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC. It described the nation’s economic situation as a national embarrassment which could not be glossed with deceit, lies and propaganda, urging Nigerians to overcome this very sordid situation by rallying around one another in true love as epitomized in the birth and teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ.

The party stated: “Indeed, this is the worst

Yuletide ever. There is no way one can sugarcoat the fact that the anguish Nigerians face today is the incompetence of the APC government, which has also amply demonstrated that it does not care about the welfare and happiness of the citizens.

“Our country’s economic situation has astronomically gone from bad to worse in the last two years and painfully, there is no hope in sight under this APC regime.

“As we speak, many families are completely stranded; many more can no longer afford their basic needs. Nigerians have become ravaged by economic hardship because the APC-led federal government has abandoned them and refused to channel the

Power transmission hits 5,222MW—TCN

By Chris Ochayi

A

BUJA—THE Nigerian power industry has attained national peak of 5,222.3 megawatts of electricity effectively transmitted in the national grid on December 18, 2017.

The General Manager, Public Affairs of Transmission Company of Nigeria, TCN, Ndidi Mbah, who announced this in a statement issued in Abuja, said this milestone achievement was the highest ever recorded in the nation’s power sector todate.

She said this surpassed the 5,155.9MW achieved on December 8, 2017 and the earlier peak of 5,074.70MW, achieved on February 2, 2016.

Mba noted that the gradual but steady improvement in the nation’s power sector was attributable to the strategy of the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari geared towards growing the power sector, in line with its policy on

incremental power.

She said: “At the 22nd Power Sector Stakeholders Meeting, the Minister of Power Works and Housing Mr. Babatunde Fashola assured that the current synergy among the Presidency, Ministry of Power, Works and Housing and other major power sector stakeholders working through the Power Sector Recovery Programme, PSRP, would continue to deliver improved power supply to the people.

“To properly key into the incremental power policy, TCN stated that it has developed the Tr a n s m i s s i o n Rehabilitation and Expansion programme to enable it prioritize and execute critical transmission projects.

“This necessitated the clearing of the company ’s stranded containers carrying various transmission equipment at the sea ports, to enable it complete previously abandoned projects to further expand the grid capacity.”

LAUNCHING: From left—Executive Director, Personal Banking, Access Bank, Victor Etuokwu; Executive Vice President, Unilever Ghana Nigeria, Yaw Nsarkoh; CEO, Thistle Praxis Consulting, Ini Abimbola and CEO Lafarge Africa, Michel Puchercos at the launch of Women in Manufacturing in Africa (WiMAfrica)

abundant resources available in the nation for the good of the people. ‘’Instead, they are heartlessly diverting such resources for their selfish political purposes while the people suffer.

“These horrendous realities imposed on us by the APC notwithstanding, we must not become despondent.

“Now that it has become manifest, even by their speeches this season, that those who promised Nigerians El Dorado do not have the littlest capacity to fulfil the smallest of their promises, we as a people must not also abandon ourselves.

Stop deceiving Nigerians, PDP tells Buhari

Meanwhile, the party has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to stop deceiving Nigerians with words of assurances when he had no clue on how to bring smiles on the faces of the governed having spent almost 3 years in office.

The party in a statement by the Deputy National Publicity Secretary, Prince Diran Odeyemi, in.Osogbo yesterday, said Nigerians were tired of empty promises from the President.

Apparently reacting to President Buhari’s Christmas message to Nigerians that “Better days lie ahead of the nation, despite its current challenges”, the party said the perennial fuel scarcity was created to increase pump price.

According to PDP, high unemployment rate, inflation and series of corruption perpetrated under the present administration are enough evidences that President Buhari has failed woefully.

Why we’re airing documentary on Buhari now—Presidency Says FG turned down petroleum marketers' request for pump price increase

By Johnbosco Agbakwuru

A

BUJA—AMID condemnation of airing of the presidential documentary entitled, "Human Side of President Buhari" at a time Nigerians are passing through agony caused by fuel scarcity, the Presidency yesterday described the documentary as a spice for the holiday.

It also revealed that some petroleum marketers have approached government for an increment in the pump price, a request government turned down.

The Media and Publicity Department of the State House had on Saturday in a statement signed by the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, said a 55-minute documentary on President Muhammadu Buhari had been put together.

Adesina explained that the documentary portrayed the President in a light that majority of Nigerians had not seen him.

He said: “It is made up of interviews from close aides of the President and some others who have worked closely with him,

carefully put together to show a side of the President that many would love to see.

“This documentary will air on the Network Service of the Nigerian Television Authority, NTA, on Sunday, December 24 and Tuesday December 26, 2017. It will also air on Channels Television on Monday, December 25, 2017 (Christmas Day) between 8 and 9pm on the days and stations mentioned.”

But this has attracted criticism from some quarters against the government, especially as the President was yet to

comment on the persisting fuel scarcity.

Reacting to the criticism, Adesina in a statement said: “I have read a lot of reactions, particularly online, on the timing of the airing of the documentary on President Muhammadu Buhari, slated for December 24 and 25, 2017, respectively, by 8pm on NTA and Channels Television.

“Some of the comments are borne out of genuine concern, which we appreciate, while others are virulent, coming from inveterate complainers."

VANGUARD, MONDAY, DECEMBER 25, 2017 — 9 :Vanguard News

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EFCC files fraud charge against Innoson's boss, brother As Sagay dismisses speculation of Magu’s removal

By Dapo Akinrefon

L

AGOS—THE Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, has filed a fraud charge against Mr. Innocent Chukwuma, alias Innoson, his company Innoson Nigeria Limited and his brother, Charles Chukwuma.

The charge was dated November 30, 2017, and filed at a Lagos High Court.

In the case, the EFCC is accusing Innoson of obtaining containers of motorcycle spare parts by false pretences between 2009 and July 2011 in Lagos, ‘ with intent to defraud’.

The goods, said to be property of Guaranty Trust Bank Plc, were allegedly obtained from Mitsui O.S.K Lines Limited in Apapa.

The anti-graft agency claims that Innocent Chukwuma and Charles Chukwuma, “with intent to defraud, induced the staff of Mitsui O.S.K and Maersk Line Limited to deliver”, to them through their clearing agents, the motor cycle spare parts, moulds of spare parts and steel structures and raw materials, called polyvinlchlorid, imported from China.

The charge said the accused falsely pretended that they were authorised

by GTB to clear the goods and take delivery of them.

EFCC had on Tuesday arrested Innoson in Enugu, stirring some controversy that the arrest bore some ethnic motive and that the agency should not have waded into a dispute between GTB and the businessman.

Central to this was the story that the parties were locked in a dispute over illegal deductions from Innoson’s accounts by the GTB, with Innoson claiming that the bank was indebted to him and his company to the tune of billions of naira.

In press and TV interviews, he said he had got judgement at both lower and appelate courts and that the GTB has an appeal at the Supreme Court.

GTB responded tersely that it would not join issues with the businessman as the issues between them are in the court.

The EFCC in releasing Innoson on bail Wednesday, explained that he was arrested after he refused to honour invitations by the

commission.

He had been arrested by the commission before and granted administrative bail. But he reneged on the bail and his surety could also not be found.

The agency said Innoson and his brother, Charles Chukwuma (who is still at large), were being investigated by the Insurance and Capital Market Fraud Section of the Commission’s office in Lagos over matters bordering on N1.47 billion fraud and forgery and other infractions. He was also alleged to have used forged documents to secure tax waivers.

"Unfortunately the industrialist resisted arrest and stirred controversy by

bringing six truck-loads of thugs to block the entrance to his Plot W1, Industrial Layout, Abakaliki Road, Emeni, Enugu, home.

“His unruly thugs encircled and manhandled operatives of the Commission who had gone to effect the arrest.

“Consequently, a distress call was sent to the commission’s Enugu Office for reinforcement. ‘’In all of this, the commission’s operatives acted with decorum and civility.

“No one was manhandled or assaulted by the EFCC team, and not a single shot was fired, despite the provocation.”

Meanwhile, Chairman, Presidential Advisory

Committee on AntiCorruption, PACAC, Prof.

Itse Sagay, has described as untrue speculations indicating that acting chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Mr Ibrahim Magu, has been removed from office.

Sagay described the speculation as wishful thinking.

Speaking with Vanguard, the chairman of PACAC said: “I am certainly not aware of it and it is untrue.

It is certainly untrue, he has not been removed.”

He, however, said peddlers of the rumour of Magu’s removal are those who want corruption to thrive in Nigeria.

“It is the rumours of those who wish corruption continues in this country and who want corruption to thrive. It is wishful thinking, he has not been removed,” Sagay said

Finance Ministry, OAGF comply with Fiscal Responsibility Act —Adeosun to adhere to the Fiscal

By Peter Egwuatu

A

BUJA—THE Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun, yesterday, refuted an allegation that its ministry and the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation, OAGF, have failed to comply with the Fiscal Responsibility Act, saying it was untrue and misconceived.

Reacting to a recent report by an online medium, Premium Times, over the allegation, the minister through a statement by Oluyinka Akintunde, Special Adviser, Media & Communications, said : “The online medium further falsely alleged that the Federal Ministry of Finance and the OAGF do not have an annual cash plan for every financial year for the purpose of implementing the Appropriation Act.” According to the statement: “The attention of the Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, has been drawn to a misleading report by an online medium, Premium Times, that the Federal Ministry of Finance and the Office of the Accountant of the Federation, OAGF, failed

Responsibility Act. “The online medium further falsely alleged that the Federal Ministry of Finance and the OAGF do not have an annual cash plan for every financial year for the purpose of implementing the Appropriation Act.” Continuing the statement said; “The OAGF has always prepared a cash plan for payment on a daily and month basis as well as revised it periodically. Both cash payment plan and revised plan are presented to the Cash Management Committee presided over by the Minister of Finance.

Members of the Cash Management Committee include: Minister of State for Budget and National Planning, Accountant General of the Federation, Director-General of the Budget Office of the Federation, DirectorGeneral of the Debt Management Office, Director of Cash Management Department in the Federal Ministry of Finance, a representative of the Central Bank of Nigeria, and some support staff from the Ministry, OAGF and Budget Office.”

2019: APCON moves against use of hate speech AWARD: From left—Chairman, Lagos State Chapter, Nigerian Institute of Public Relations, NIPR, Mr. Segun McMedal; veteran TV broadcaster/producer, Mr. Bisi Olatilo; Group Managing Director, CMC Connect, Mr. Yomi Badejo-Okusanya; his wife, Oyinkansola, during the presentation of 'Bob Ogbuagu Leadership Award’ to Mr. BadejoOkusanya at the Lagos PR Industry Gala & Awards (LaPRIGA) 2017.

Presidency to Kwankwaso's group: Leave Buhari out of Kano APC crisis

By Johnbosco Agbakwuru

A

BUJA—THE Pr e s i d e n c y, yesterday, told Senator Rabiu Kwankwaso’s political group not to associate President Muhammadu Buhari with the internal crisis of All Progressives Congress, APC, in Kano State.

It said the President was not in any way involved in the removal of the former state chairman of the party, Umar Haruna Doguwa.

The Presidency’s reaction came on the heels of allegations by Senator Kwankwaso’s political support group, known as Concerned Members of

APC in Kano State, that had accused President Buhari, at a press briefing, of being behind the sack of the APC’s chapter chairman.

The Presidency in a statement signed by the Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Malam Garba Shehu in Abuja, said: “Let me assure all our Party members and the general public alike that at no time did the President involve himself in the internal conflict of any APC chapter in the country, and would never do so.

“President Buhari would not risk his integrity to support one side against the other in the affairs of the APC or any other political party anywhere in the

country.

“Anybody who knows the President’s principles would not believe any allegations linking Buhari to interference in the election or removal of party leaders across the country.

“In fact, it is an irony that President Buhari, who was accused in the past of not taking control of the National Assembly by imposing the president of the Senate and speaker, two critical institutions in the running of our democracy will now be accused of abandoning those principles to order the removal of the chairman of the Kano APC party chapter."

 Threatens to sanction, publicise erring political parties

By Bashir Bello

K

ATSINA—AS the 2019 general election draws nearer, the Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria, APCON, has warned against hate speeches to save the polity from being over heated.

It also threatened to sanction and publicize any erring political party and practitioners who failed to comply with the rules.

Chairman, Adverstising Standards Panel, Mr. Ade Akinde, dropped the hint during a one day stakeholders’ forum on Political Advertising with the theme, “Regulating Political Advertising: Avoiding Hate Speech,” in Katsina weekend.

Akinde also said political parties which adhered to the rules stood a chance to be recognized and rewarded.

He faulted the use of unqualified and unskilled media publicity officials who he described as school

drop outs.

According to him, these are the set of publicity officials who promote hate speech and over heat the system.

Akinde said further that political parties don’t have to use hate speeches to win election, noting that they even stood a chance of winning when they campaign based on competitive adverts with factual and verifiable facts.

“The best practice is advertising based on developmental issues, competitive adverts (factual and verifiable) and meeting electorate expectations (needs and wants).

“The reality, is deliberate misinformation of the electorates. Use of nontraditional media to promote or attack candidates, sponsorship of the hate materials on media (especially social media) and usage of media publicity officials who are unqualified and unskilled,” Akinde said.

10 — VANGUARD, MONDAY, DECEMBER 25, 2017 :Vanguard News

CAN boss condoles victims of Karina killings

By Sam Eyoboka

N

ATIONAL President of Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, His Eminence, Rev. Samson Olasupo Ayokunle yesterday commiserated with the people of Nimdem in Kaduna State over the attacks on innocent people by some criminals.

A statement by Pastor Adebayo Oladeji, Special Assistant, Media & Communications to Rev Samson Olasupo Ayokunle also decried the report of another herdsmen killing of farmers at Tambo village in Girei Local Government area of Adamawa State yesterday.

“It is very unfortunate that the attacks took place when the whole world is in the mood of Christmas

celebrations. May God console and comfort all the bereaved, heal those who are recuperating in various hospitals, expose the hoodlums responsible and arrest the hearts of our security agents to live up to their billings,” the CAN president said.

According to him, “there is no peace for the wicked'', just as he gave his prophetic words for 2017 Christmas Season. He said: ''Two impossibilities happened during the first Christmas when Elizabeth at her old age and Mary, a virgin, gave birth each to two extraordinary sons. You also will experience extraordinary breakthroughs as God will turn impossibilities to possibilities in your life this Christmas in Jesus.”

PENSION: Lagos pays retirees over N1bn

By Rosemary Onuoha

L

AGOS—THE Lagos State government has announced the payment of over N1 billion to 286 Contributory Pension Scheme, CPS, retirees of batch 46.

Governor Akinwummi Ambode, disclosed this at a retirement benefit bond certificate presentation ceremony in Lagos.

Represented by the C o m m i s s i o n e r Establishments, Training and Pensions, Dr. Akintola Benson Oke, the governor noted that the money had been credited into the accounts of the retirees.

He said, “The State Government is very much committed to the regular contribution of the monthly deduction of 7.5% from the salary of every employee and the payment of the employer ’s 7.5%

contribution. As at November, 2017 the total contributions remitted to the PFAs from April, 2007 to date is about N83 billion. In essence, the Lagos State Government’s funding of employees pension rights under the Contributory Pension Scheme in a period of 10 years is about N150 billion; and today, the sum of N1 billion will be credited into the Retirement Savings Account of the 46th batch of retirees of the Contributory Pension Scheme.”

According to him, in less than three years – August, 2015 to December, 2017, the state had paid accrued pension rights of N33 billion to 8,300 retirees, stressing that accrued pension rights previously paid before the current administration amounted to N33, 645 billion to 7,409 retirees.

Touching Lives Season 4: Airtel calls for nomination

I

F you know an individual who requires help or a community in urgent need of assistance, now is the time to put in a nomination as leading telecommunications services provider, Airtel Nigeria, is calling for nominations for its ground-breaking CSR initiative, Airtel Touching Lives.

According to the company, you can nominate individuals, communities and groups by dialing 367 or sending an SMS to the Short code – 367 before the nomination window closes on 5th of January, 2018.

Airtel Nigeria recently launched the fourth edition of its flagship CSR initiative,

Touching Lives, designed to uplift the downtrodden and offer practical support to indigent Nigerians across the country.

Speaking at the press launch of the initiative, in Lagos, Mr. Segun Ogunsanya, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Airtel Nigeria, said the company was committed to helping the less privileged in the society.

According to him; “While the Government and NonGovernmental Organisations, NGOs, cannot do it all, we have a responsibility to contribute our quota in making Nigeria a better place.''

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Tinubu seeks support for Buhari to overcome economic challenges L

AGOS—THE All Progressives Congress, APC, National Leader, and former Governor of Lagos State, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, yesterday called on Nigerians to support President Muhammadu Buhari, to resolve the country ’s current economic challenges.

Tinubu made the call in a Christmas message signed by his Media Officer, Mr Tunde Rahman in Lagos.

He urged Nigerians to learn from the example of Jesus Christ “ who faced and overcame the greatest evil” by uniting to overcome the country ’s various challenges.

“The challenges facing the country are difficult ones. Let us unite to overcome our challenges and keep the hope alive.

We must support President Buhari and complement his efforts in his resolve to stimulate the economy and reposition the country. The president needs our support, understanding and prayers. We must fully break the terrorism of Boko Haram and completely put down the last vestiges of the terrorists.

“We must continue to pray for the men in uniform who risk their lives to keep us safe and to end this scourge on the nation. I commend our troops battling the terrorists. I thank them again for their courage and bravery. Let us remember those who have been dispossessed of their homes and traumatised by the evil of these terrorists and pray that they all will be able to return home soon and begin their lives a new and better.

“Yet, we must do more than pray. We all have something to give, something to contribute to the greater good. As Jesus gave of himself that we may live better, we must give of ourselves that others around us may have a better life, “ he said.

Tinubu also urged Nigerians to reflect and recognise how Jesus lived and what he lived for while celebrating Christmas.

“Christmas Day, is one of the most precious days of the year for it celebrates the birth of Jesus Christ. Be you Christian, Muslim or just a human being with a soul that yearns for peace, compassion and hope, Jesus Christ belongs to all of us. His teachings are universal in application and speak of truth eternal.

He reached out to all. Jesus fed the poor and healed the sick. He spread compassion and charity and preached love and justice. There are

CHRISTMAS CAROL SERVICE: Governor of Lagos State, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode (3rd right), his wife, Bolanle (2nd right); Senator Solomon Adeola (right); Chief Judge of Lagos State, Hon. Justice Opeyemi Oke (3rd left) and chairman, CAN, Lagos State, Apostle Alex Bamgbola (2nd left); rendering congregational hymn, during the 2017 Christmas Carol Service, with the theme; “The Chosen One”, at the Lagos House, Ikeja, yesterday. no finer aims than these and we can do no better than to do all we can to follow his example,”he said.

The leader urged

Nigerians to embrace and spread the gospel of love, tolerance and forgiveness this season and into the New Year.

“We must commit ourselves to peace and unity. Let us eschew all bitterness and bigotry,” the former governor said.

NOPRIN declares Lagos CP ‘Policeman of the year’ up a multi-stakeholders once again, into a no-go

By Emma Nnadozie, Crime Editor

L

AGOS—THE Network on Police Reform in Nigeria, NOPRIN, has declared the Commissioner of Police, CP, Lagos State, Imohimi Edgal, as the policeman of the year 2017.

Presenting the award to the Commissioner, weekend, Coordinator of the group made up of 49 civil society organisations spread across Nigeria, Okey Nwanguma, said the choice of Mr. Edgal was based on his clear and demonstrable commitment to police professionalism, transparent and responsible policing, respect for and protection of human rights.

According to him, the Lagos CP was equally honoured for the promotion of police community partnership, openness and collaboration with civil society and other critical stakeholders in the criminal justice sector, and his innovative and effective operational strategies for combating crimes.

He explained that this was exemplified in his first week following his appointment as the acting Commissioner of police in the state, saying: “He displayed a rare act of nontolerance for corruption and abuse of human rights when he promptly responded to a petition against a senior police officer and other officers under him alleging human rights abuse, corruption and misconduct. Edgal set

panel (composed of police officers human rights and media representatives) to investigate the complaint.

“He adopted and implemented disciplinary actions as recommended by the panel. By this singular action, he sent a loud and clear message to police officers in Lagos State that under his leadership, abuse and corruption would not be tolerated. This is a radical departure from the prevalent culture of cover up of alleged crimes and shielding of officers accused of infraction.

“Since Mr. Edgal’s appointment as CP, he has adopted innovative measures and strategies to combat crime. One of the challenges he inherited upon assuming office was the resurgence of crime in Oshodi which turned it,

area for people at night. In prompt response to public outcry over the frequency of this menace, Edgal deployed men of the Rapid Response Squad, RRS, to tackle these bandits. Many of the daredevil bandits were apprehended.''

While presenting the plaque for the award to him, Coordinator of Crime Victims Foundation, CRIVIFON, Gloria Egbuji, noted that the CP on the remarkable achievements he had recorded in the short time he presided over the state.

In his brief comment, CP Edgal thanked the organisations for their recognition and dedicated the award to the Inspector-General of Police; Ibrahim Idris who he said gave the Police all the incentives to ensure a crime-free society.

Rep scores PDP convention high

By Simon Adewale

L

AGOS—THE People Democratic Party, PDP, lawmaker representing Amuwo Odofin Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives, Oghene Egoh, has lauded the just concluded PDP convention that produced Prince Secondus as the National Chairman.

Egoh, while addressing newsmen, described the convention as fantastic and the best convention ever by the party.

According to him, in previous conventions when the party was in

power at the centre, the President of the country was always around to direct affairs, but this convention democracy was at play ant it had been the best so far.

Egoh blasted the ruling party, All Progressives Congress, APC, for not been able to conduct any convention in spite that it is part of its constitution that its convention should hold every two year. ''For PDP to have conducted its convention shows that the PDP has done wonderfully well. I urge APC to also do the needful by holding its convention,” he said.

Vanguard, MONDAY, DECEMBER 25, 2017—11

12—Vanguard, MONDAY, DECEMBER 25, 2017 :Vanguard News

We won’t interfere with institutions again, says Ogidi, PDP S-South Vice-Chair

By Oboh Agbonkhese

S

OUTH-SOUTH National Vice Chairman of Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Mr. Emmanuel Ogidi, has said that interfering with institutions was a mistake PDP will not repeat when it comes to power at the centre in 2019.

According to Ogidi, since All Progressives Congress, APC, has failed to bring the change they promised, PDP will make amend in 2019 and ensure the actual change by promoting noninterference in institutions.

Speaking at the justconcluded God’s Kingdom Society, GKS’ Feast of Tabernacles in Warri, Ogidi, the immediate past GKS’ Laity Chairman, said: “We interfered with many institutions.

“However, we will make this country move forward by ensuring that the Police, the three arms of government, the local government and other institutions do their work without external influence.

“We have realised that you cannot take the electorate for a ride.

Everyone must have a say when we return to power, and no region will feel marginalised.”

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Why we supported Secondus' emergence as Nat'l Chairman —PDP govs

By Onozure Dania

S

TATE governors elected on the platform of Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, have explained that they supported the emergence of Prince Uche Secondus as PDP National Chairman because of his strength, character and honesty.

Also, PDP National Chairman, Prince Secondus, has promised

that the new National Working Committee will take the party to the promised land.

The governors stated that Secondus, as National Deputy Chairman, stood for the truth and ensured that rules were adhered to during party primaries.

They spoke at the thanksgiving service in honour of Prince Secondus, National Chairman of PDP, at the Rivers State Ecumenical Centre in Port

Harcourt, yesterday.

Rivers State governor, Mr Nyesom Wike, said that every governor gave testimony on how the National Chairman stood firm for the right thing to be done.

He said as Deputy National Chairman, Secondus relegated monetary considerations and always ensured the promotion of PDP interests.

Governor Wike said that Secondus insisted on his

emergence as PDP governorship candidate because he felt it was in the best interest of the party, even though other groups preferred an ethnic candidate.

He said: “This position is an opportunity to give Nigerians what they want.

I can’t understand why people are suffering untold hardship. Imagine the fuel scarcity with people buying a litre of fuel between N300 and N400.”

Warri Boys task N-Delta govs on conducive business environment

By Tare Youdeowei

W

ARRI Boys Association, Lagos branch, has appealed to governors of the Niger Delta region to put the necessary machinery in place that will create a more friendly and conducive business environment for investors so as to lessen the current economic situation that is biting hard on the people.

Speaking to newsmen immediately after its monthly meeting, the association’s immediate past president and member of the Board of Trustees, BoT, Mr. Pius Enakerakpo, said one of the panacea to fast-track the immediate development of the region, especially Warri, was to encourage

investors and indigenes living outside the region to come home and set up manufacturing industries that will provide employment opportunities for the millions of jobless youths who roam around on a daily basis looking for non-existing jobs.

Enakerapko, said that Warri Boys Association in Lagos and in the Diaspora is made up of members who are industrialists and creating jobs for other states in the country and outside Nigeria, but are afraid to come home.

He appealed to the governor of Delta State to call on the Warri Boys, Lagos, for a meeting on how to create an industrial friendly environment for them to come to the state and establish industries.

PRESENTATION: From left: Sgt. Felix Sadoba; Sgt. Juliet Elegbogun; Executive Secretary/CEO, Lagos State Security Trust Fund, LSSTF, Dr. Abdurrazaq Balogun; Cpl. Ajagbusi Taofik and Inspt.

Olatunji Bakai, during the monetary presentations to 10 gallant officers of the Lagos State Police Command for their outstanding dedication to service in commemoration of the 10th anniversary of the Fund in Lagos.

Oba of Benin, Delta, Edo Speakers felicitate with Christians at Christmas

By Festus Ahon & Gabriel Enogholase

A

S A B A — A S Christians all over the world celebrate Christmas, the Oba of Benin, Oba Ewuare II, has felicitated with Christians in Nigeria.

Also, Speaker of Edo State House of Assembly, Alhaji Kabiru Adjoto, has facilitated the release of two inmates from Benin and Medium Security Prisons by paying their fines even as he donated food items worth millions of naira to inmates of both prisons for their Christmas and New Year celebrations.

In similar vein, Speaker, Delta State House of Assembly, Chief Sheriff Oborevwori, has called on Deltans to live Christ-like lives by showing love to one another.

On his part, the Oba of Benin reminded Christians of the virtues of Jesus Christ which include love, tolerance, forgiveness and

peace just as he advised Christians to use the period of Christmas to forgive and love their neighbour as themselves.

The Benin monarch called on the clergy and their followers to endeavour to pray for the nation’s leaders, so that they would be able to lead the country on the path of peace, progress and development.

In a separate development, Speaker of Edo State House of Assembly, Adjoto, while handing the food items to the state Comptroller of Prisons, Mr Amadi Osayande, in Benin prison, said the gesture was to ensure that the inmates

enjoyed the Christmas and New Year celebrations.

He said, “We are aware that we have more than 2,000 inmates in this prison and they are from this state, so we have come here today to felicitate with them.

"We are also collaborating with International Federation of Women Lawyers, FIDA, with a view to ensure that those of them with options of fines will be paid for and released.”

Also, Speaker, Delta State House of Assembly, Chief Oborevwori called on Deltans to live a Christ like life by showing love to one another.

Felicitating with Deltans at Christmas, the Speaker

stressed the importance of the season and urged privileged citizens to reach out to those in need in the spirit of the yuletide.

Noting that Jesus Christ made sacrifice for mankind, Oborevwori, in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr Dennis Otu, implored Deltans to take advantage of the season to show love to one another.

He said: “I wish all Deltans merry Christmas and a prosperous New Year.

Let us use the yuletide to show one another love. In all that we do now and always, let us be honest with one another and feel the pains of one another.”

Wike fulfills promise to Charkin Maritime Academy

By Mabel Uyebi

R

IVERS State governor, Mr Nyesom Wike has kept his promise of giving a certificate of occupancy, C of O, to the promoters of Charkin Maritime

Academy, CMA, Port Harcourt.

As a way of encouraging investment in the oil and gas rich state, Wike had, during the formal unveiling of the first ever land ship in the country, MV Rivers Pride, on

February 9, 2017 approved a C of O for the land in which the land ship is situated at Ozuoba on the East-West Road, Port Harcourt.

The land ship was built

by CMA, an indigenous privately-owned maritime training institution.

Vanguard, MONDAY, DECEMBER 25, 2017—13

14 — VANGUARD, MONDAY, DECEMBER 25, 2017 :Vanguard News

By Our Reporters

A

BUJA—AS Nigerian Christians join other faithful across the world today to celebrate Christmas, Senate President Bukola Saraki, his deputy, Senator Ike Ekweremadu and former Senate President, Senator David Mark have urged Christians to pray for peace, love and unity of the country.

Similarly, state governors also urged Christian faithful to exhibit the spirit of peace, love and forgiveness, all through the Christmas celebration and beyond.

This came as Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, enjoined faithful to remain fearless irrespective of the socioeconomic and political situations in the country.

This is an opportunity to love, share and forgive — SARAKI Saraki in a statement yesterday in Abuja by his Special Adviser, Media and Publicity, Yusuph Olaniyonu, said: “The yuletide season presents us an opportunity once more to love, share and forgive. I urge all Nigerians to utilize the period to pray for unity, peace and prosperity in the nation.

“We must also rededicate ourselves to the true virtues of faith in God, love for one another, honesty and peaceful coexistence. It is time to make these virtues more evident and practical in our daily lives.”

The Senate President who noted that the 8th Senate and indeed the National Assembly would continue to strive to make life meaningful for all Nigerians, stressed that “the legislature would at all times work to ensure that Nigeria takes her rightful position in the League of Nations through relevant legislations and timely interventions.”

Let’s build a nation where no man is oppressed, says Ekweremadu On his part, the Deputy Senate President, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, in his message through his Special Adviser, Media, Uche Anichukwu, said: “Christmas is a lesson in unusual humility of the divine born as man, and of a king born in a manger. It is a reawakening to that unconditional love and selfsacrifice, which we must all embrace in order to move Nigeria and humanity forward.

“I believe that like Nazareth, many good things will still come out of Nigeria because this is a land of boundless opportunities and great possibilities. But we must first build a nation where no man is oppressed, where justice reigns, where each man is his brother’s keeper, and where every citizen has the latitude to become the best he could irrespective of ethnic, religious, and political background and social status.”

In the same vein, former Senate President, Senator David Mark, in a message by his Media Assistant, Paul Mumeh, said the birth of Christ should be the elixir needed to confront the challenges and provide the road map for economic recovery.

The former Senate President who noted that Nigerians had

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CHRISTMAS: Saraki, Ekweremadu, govs, CAN, Labour others preach peace, love, unity triumphed over challenges in the past called for the reinforcement of that indomitable spirit that had seen her through various travails. He hwever implored Nigeria citizens to embrace the teachings of Christ, chief of which is perseverance, tolerance, love and forgiveness.

Reflect on virtues, teachings of Jesus, says Okowa In Asaba, Delta State, Governor Ifeanyi Okowa, in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr Charles Aniagwu, said “I call on all Christians; indeed, all Deltans and all residents in Delta State, to reflect on the virtues and teachings of Jesus Christ in their lives and activities so that Nigeria and indeed the world would be a better place for all of us. I congratulate all Christians for witnessing yet another Christmas season. I advise all of you to use the festive period for sober reflections and total spiritual renewals and devotion towards living in peace and harmony with adherents of other religions.

“The birth of Jesus Christ being celebrated at Christmas, should be used to promote peace, love, understanding and unity, including the display of the spirit of tolerance in the accomplishment of our vision of building a better State and country. I wish to admonish all Christians to emulate Jesus Christ in words and deeds, imbibe the core lessons of freedom, love, tolerance, sacrifice, generosity and peaceful co-existence, which Christ stood for.”

Spread love and be our brother’s keeper — AMBODE Also, Lagos State Governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode, in a message through his Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Habib Aruna, said: “Christmas is a season that explains the depth of God’s love for mankind and exemplary sacrifice that we should emulate in our relationship with our neighbours irrespective of status and creed. This season is another opportunity to increase our acts of kindness and touch the less privileged in our society.

“Therefore, this Christmas means so much more than just mere merriment. It is a veritable avenue to extend love to the lessprivileged who are disadvantaged in several ways. In this special season therefore, I urge you all to spread love and be our brother’s keeper. Let us reach out to those who struggle to provide for their families. Let us put smiles on the faces of the weak and vulnerable. This is the real essence of Christmas.”

Remember the reason for the season — AMOSUN Similarly, Governor Ibikunle Amosun of Ogun State, in a message, by the state Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Otunba Adedayo Adeneye, recalled the values that Jesus preached and exhibited all through his sojourn on earth.

According to him, “as we mark

AWARD: From left; Ace actor, Saheed Balogun; Comedian Ayo Makun (AY); Chief Executive Officer, Adron Homes, Adetola Emmanuel-King and Managing Director, Adron Homes, Mrs Aderonke Emmanuel-King and Publisher, City People Magazine, Dr Seye Kehinde during the Lemon Friday Mega Party and Award in Lagos. the Christmas, all true Christians must remember the reason for the season as well as the person, whose birth we are celebrating, who is Jesus Christ.”

Akeredolu: Beauty of Christmas is the promotion of love and sacrifice For Governor Rotimi Akeredolu of Ondo State, in his Christmas message through his Chief Press Secretary, Segundo Ajiboye in Akure, said: “The beauty of Christmas is the promotion of love and sacrifice. I wish the Christian community Happy Christmas and congratulate them for the success of this year’s Christmas. My sincere message to the Christian community is to continue to show love to one another which the birth of Jesus Christ symbolises.

“The indisputable maxim that love is superior to law should serve as a guiding principle which our state and country requires at this critical time to forge ahead amid needless agitations by some people among us.

“I therefore urge everyone to remember that with love, which the birth of Jesus Christ symbolises, we can overcome our limitations.

Lalong wants Xtians to love one another In Jos, Plateau State, Governor Simon Lalong, in a statement by his Director of Press and Public Affairs, Emmanuel Nanle, said the world would be a better place if the values and virtues reflected by the Holy birth of Christ, especially the love for one another were imbibed and practiced faithfully.

According to him, “The virtues of love which is the essence of Christmas should be seen to radiate and reflect on the lives of Christians when every dark path and corner of society is lighted up with the love of God for humanity.”

Live Christ-like lives — DICKSON Similarly, Governor Seriake Dickson of Bayelsa State, in a statement urged Nigerians to live a Christ-like life, which he noted was a life of sacrifice, selfless service, love and forgiveness.

He said: “Service to man is service to God; he that serves man well, serves God well.

Jesus Christ used his earthly ministry for the common good of humanity and above all, died for our sins. Our faith would have been in vain if Jesus had not sacrificed himself for us all. I therefore call on political actors and privileged Nigerians to always work for the good of the people and do things that would foster unity in the country.”

Fear not, be hopeful, CAN enjoins Nigerians Meanwhile, while urging Christian faithful to remain fearless irrespective of the socioeconomic and political situations in the country, CAN President, Rev. Samson Ayokunle, in a statement said “to us, the joy of Christmas is not limited to His unprecedented and miraculous birth. It is built even more on the triumph of His death and resurrection that gave meaning to His birth because it was His resurrection that gave us hope against every hopeless situation.”

Making reference to the current hardship Nigerians are going through now, the CAN President said: “I am not unaware of the hardship Nigerians are facing today as many could not travel for the Christmas celebration despite the holiday due to the fuel scarcity, unpaid salaries and other economic factors. But the major theme of the Christmas remains FEAR NOT, no matter what we are seeing or hearing. That was what the angel who broke the good

news told the shepherds. “And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.’’

Emulate Jesus Christ, says TUC Also, Trade Union Congress, TUC, urged Nigerians to emulate Jesus Christ, the symbol of peace to have a peaceful and prosperous country.

TUC in a message by its President,Bobboi Bala Kaigama and Secretary General, Musa-Lawal Ozigi, said: “Christmas is a wonderful time of the year when we celebrate faith, family, our togetherness as a country and the tradition of giving and receiving gifts.

Many things make this season special. One is the fact that as individuals we are alive. Two, as a country we have been able to weather the myriads of storm that threatened our very existence as a country. Jesus Christ is the symbol of compassion, peace, and sacrifice and we are enjoined to emulate him if we must have the country we earnestly desire.

“Travelling is microcosmic component of the Christmas celebration. Unfortunately it has become almost impossible for people to visit their loved ones because of the yearly hike of price of fuel. Sometimes one wonders why everything that tends to bring joy to the ordinary masses is always denied them. Every Christmas season the price of fuel must hit the roof and nobody will say anything let alone do something about it, irrespective of the ripple effect it will have on other commodities (especially food).’’

Vanguard, MONDAY, DECEMBER 25, 2017—15

16—Vanguard, MONDAY, DECEMBER 25, 2017 :Vanguard @ : vanguad rnews

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Lagos gov wants HR counselling for civil servants

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PRESENTATION: From left: Regional Director, Lagos, First City Monument Bank, FCMB, Mr. Oliver Opara; winner of the N2 million star prize at the grand finale of the FCMB Millionaire Promo Season 4 in the Region, Mrs. Mary Adelagun; Zonal Head, FCMB, Lekki, Mrs. Violet Odu and Retail Head, Lagos & South-west Region of the Bank, Funmilola Paseda, during the presentation of cheque to the winner in Lagos.

By Fredrick Okopie

AGOS—THE Governor of Lagos State, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode, said human resources counseling is a form of leadership development training, and how high performances have been known to increase in organisations that expose their human capital to counseling and leadership development through training programmes of this nature.

Governor Ambode made this known at the end of a two-day training seminar to prepare the civil servants in the State on how things are done in the developed countries, and that it is only training and re-training that can put the State Civil Service in the same track with other countries.

He said: “ Counseling engagements help nurture future leaders and organisations need to be

strategic about developing and nurturing future leaders. Without strategy, important roles are often given to the most forward candidates with dominant personalities.

“Quality appointment is a combination of the right qualities and the right training. Identify those who have what it takes and provide them with targeted counseling engagements with leadership training components.

Representing the State Governor at the seminar, Commission, Ministry of Establishments, Training and Pensions, Dr. Akintola Oke, said the State Government is hopeful that this training will examine the implementable counseling strategies that canprovidethegovernmentwith modern and efficient human resource teams that will provide a source of expertise on people, policies, processes and recruitmentcampaigns.

DSO: Kaduna joins Abuja, others working round the clock to

By Ben Agande and Emma Elebeke

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BIRTHDAY: From left: Eldest daughter of the celebrant, Mrs. Adeola Aminu; husband of the celebrant, Dr. Teslim Sanusi; celebrant, Alhaja Modinatu Abiola Sanusi; Chairman of the occasion and former Inspector General of Police, Dr. Musiliu Smith and daughter of the celebrant, Mrs. Sherifat Olawande, during the 70th birthday and 50th wedding anniversary ceremony of their mother in Lagos, weekend.

ADUNA—KADUNA State yesterday joined the three cities of Jos, Abuja and Ilorin to switch on from analogue to digital communication. This followed the official commissioning of the city by the State Governor, Mallam ElRufai accompanied by the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed in Kaduna.

This is coming two days after the switch on of Ilorin, the Kwara State capital, one year of Abuja and twenty months of Jos in line with ongoing government's effort to meet the 100% target of transiting the country from analogue to digital communication. In his address, the minister of information, commended all the stakeholders for

ensure the success of the transition from analogue to digital television across the country, starting in Jos, Plateau State to Kaduna State.

"The National Broadcasting Commission, the Signal Distributors, the Set Top Box manufacturers, the Digiteam and indeed all stakeholders are pulling all the stops to ensure that the DSO train continues unimpeded on its journey across the country. With the Digital Switch Over, he said there will be over 200 channels and probably over a thousand organised production outfits looking to feed them with content.

All these, he said will require infrastructure investment, in production destinations, with studios, graphic and sound hubs etc, adding that at the end of it all, the process would have created millions of jobs.

Xmas: Ashafa preaches hope, love among Nigerians

By Olasunkanmi Akoni

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RETREAT: From left: Mrs. Sesan Ishmail, Director, Industrial Relations, Office of Establishment &Training, Mrs, Omotilewa Ibirogba, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Establishments, Training and Pensions, Dr. Akintola Oke, Commissioner for Establishments, Training and Pensions, Comrade Obafemi Oyenubi, Chairman, Lagos State Public Service and Dr. Subar Muali, Vice Chairman, Joint Negotiation Council, Lagos State, during the 2017 retreat for unions in the state public service, in Lagos. Photo: Bunmi Azeez.

AGOS—AS Christians and Nigerians celebrate Christmas today in commemoration of the holy birth of Jesus Christ, Senator Gbenga Ashafa, representing Lagos East Senatorial District has urged Nigerians not to despair in the current economic challenges in the country, but to keep hope alive for better years to come.

In his Christmas message through his Special Adviser on Media, Mr Olasunkanmi Adebowale, Ashafa expressed felicitation with Christian brothers and sisters in the Lagos East Senatorial district and indeed across

the length and breadth of the country Nigeria, on the commemoration and celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ at Christmas.

He said: "This yuletide season does not only commemorate the birth of Christ “the Prince of Peace”, it also signifies to the Christian community, the arrival of good tidings of love, comfort and joy.

"I therefore seize this opportunity to encourage Nigerians as we move out of economic recession that there is hope in the horizon and call on all Nigerians to meditate and act on on this timeless message. It is a good time to love, by expressing love to one another no matter our religious or ethnic differences."

Vanguard, MONDAY, DECEMBER 25, 2017 — 17

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18 — Vanguard, MONDAY, DECEMBER 25, 2017 Merry Christmas! Today, Monday December 25, 2017, is the day to pause from the complex frenzies of the Yuletide season. It is a day of worship, celebration, relaxation and sharing.

The Christmas season, which culminates in the New Year’s Day, is a month-long period of intense hustling, commercialism, cross-country or cross-continent home-going, community festivals, family reunions and an opportunity to see loved ones again. For most Nigerians living outside the country, it is also an opportunity to come home to the fond embrace of the fatherland. Christmas has long outgrown its Christian essence.

In spite of this, at the core of Christmas is the “reason for the season”. The Bible teaches us that God volunteered His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, to come to the world in human form through

A day to share and be joyful the Holy Virgin Mary, teach the mysteries of the kingdom of God, live a humble, self-denying life and die for the sins of mankind as the final sacrifice to fully reconcile man with God to enable all believers qualify for the kingdom of God. That God fulfilled His promise and gave us the Saviour is an epic event that Christmas is set aside to celebrate.

We, therefore, call on all Nigerians, irrespective of their religious faiths, to downplay their differences and embrace one another in the spirit of the Day. Christmas is best

celebrated when people share their blessings with others, especially those who are not in a position to give back: the less privileged ones.

They are all over the place. This is a time to give more than to receive.

The bounties of Christmas are best shared with those who do not subscribe to the same religious faith with us. Celebrate with those who are celebrating. This fosters unity and brotherhood, which we so badly need in Nigeria.

We wish those who are travelling safe journey. Please, drive carefully, making sure you obey all road

usage laws to arrive alive. Don’t drink alcohol when driving. Be vigilant, especially in recreational centres, bearing in mind the terror alerts the authorities issued recently. Don’t drive if you are not qualified to do so. If in doubt, take advantage of the offer by the Federal Road Safety Corps, FRSC, to loan drivers to those who apply for them. It is a very innovative and noble offer for which we commend the Corps.

We also call on all the law enforcement, security agencies and the Fire Service to strengthen their presence in the cities and on the highways to curtail the excesses of road users and offer prompt emergency services wherever mishaps occur. Everything must be done to safeguard all travellers from robbers, kidnappers and other violent criminals.

Once again, Merry Christmas!

OPINION

By Bobson Gbinije “True love is like ghosts, which everybody talks about but few have seen” - William Shakespeare.

HRISTMAS is the annual ceremonial commemoration of the birth of Jesus Christ by Christians on December 25. The encyclopedia Americana posits in the 1977 edition, volume 6, page 666 that “the reason for establishing December 25 as Christmas day was chosen to correspond to pagan festivals that took place around the time of the winter solstice, when the days begin to lengthen to celebrate the rebirth of the sun.

The roman saturnalia (A festival dedicated to Saturn, the god of agriculture, and to the renewed power of the sun), also took place at this time, and some Christmas customs are thought to be rooted in this ancient pagan celebration”.

The exact day of Christ’s birth is still unknown. Emperor Marcus Aurelius proclaimed the sun god on the 25 December 274. A.D. the principal patron of the Roman Empire and dedicated a temple to him in the campus martins. These ceremonial antics by emperor Aurelius stimulated a bandwagon effect on Christian group and they quickly adopted December 25 as the birthday of Jesus Christ. Another version of the date of Christ’s was assigned the date of winter solstices December 25 in the Julia calendar), because on this day, as the sun began its return to northern skies, the pagan devotees of Mithras celebrated the birthday of the invincible sun (die natails solis invicti).

However, notwithstanding the penumbra of political and semantically mélange surrounding the date of the birth of Jesus Christ, it is clear that Jesus Christ is the reason for the Christmas season. He remains the

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Christmas and financial holocaust lucent diadem on the Christian’s armour. He gave us his all as the son of the living God so that we might be salvaged from the labyrinth of eternal perdition. He explicitly sermonised on the laying down of our lives for one another through love and helping to fortify the basis of a common catholic humanity.

He incarnated humility and warned against materialism and the psychotic love of money.

That the unblemished and innocent Jesus Christ was tortured, persecuted, executed and crucified for the sake of mankind lends credence to the fact that the son of the living god loved us first. He came and was born out of love for us. He remains the quintessential reflection of love. He further admonished us to live and share our love

How can we conscientiously say we are celebrating Christmas when poverty and disease have become the grandiloquent body guard of 99% of Nigerians and nay Africans with one another. He said in 1st john chapter 4 verses 20-21 that “if anyone say “I love God”, yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anymore who does not love his brother, whom he has seen cannot love God, whom he has not seen. And he has given us this command. Whosoever loves God must also love his brother”. But whither goeth mankind and the commemoration of the glorious birth of our lord and Savour Jesus Christ.

Christmas has become a season for the satanic expression of boundless

mercantilism syphiliation of morality, the luciferous rendition of the carols of commercialism and the baptism of financial nightmares and holocaust. The whole world is entangling in the zeitgeist of materialism.

The reader’s digest asserted that “in 1999 America’s commercial exchanges during the Christmas season rose to 70 billion dollars, Canada 30 billion dollars, Britain 34 billion pounds and Australia 15 billion dollars.

Africa and Asian countries are already following suit in this depraved and reckless commercialisation of Christmas.” The Christmas season has become one of the best commercially strategic period for manufacturers, wholesalers and merchants to new and grotesque Christmas carols blaring form music shops, churches and private houses. There is massive noise pollution.

The commercial hype is intensified with salesmen carrying large bags of Christmas knickknacks and souvenirs plying their trade on commuter buses and other public transport contraption. All these Christmas drama compels ‘parents to buy toys and shoes for their children and companies are compelled to invest heavily on corporate gifts as public relations gimmicks. The Father Christmas or grandfather frost is introduced to milk parents dry. There is monumental production sales and hypocritical exchange of gifts. The commercial debauchery is further compounded by the deadly bouts of revelry and saturnalian spree. This is accompanied by sexual carousals and shameless licentiousness. Is this what Christmas should be? Is this the way Christmas should be spent?

It is clear that Christmas has become completely demonised and sunken in the hot cauldron of commercialism. Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour posited that, we can not serve God and Mammon. The world is a state of moral degeneracy and cocooned in theatrical brummagem because of the greed, tenebrous and rancid hypocrisy inherent in our leadership echelon. How can we conscientiously say we are celebrating Christmas when poverty and disease have become the grandiloquent body guard of 99% of Nigerians and nay Africans. Do the poor know that it is Christmas? We live in a world of tragic contrast between the rich and the poor. Why can’t we see free medical health care delivery system, free education at all levels, good road, transparency and honesty in leadership and government, instead of propaganda hypes? We need effective transportation system and a new national healthcare policy.

Finally as we celebrate Christmas, let us spare a thought for the poor in the world.

Our celebration will be hollow if we cannot carry the poor along. We, as a nation must stand for the truth and altruism. In the nomination acceptance speech of Richard Nixon on 8th August he said, “let us begin by committing our selves to the truth, to see it like it is, and tell it like it is, to find the truth, to speak the truth and to live the truth.” Let us all chant glory to God in the highest and on earth peace and good tiding to all mankind:. Where are our good tidings to all mankind? Christmas should be spent in the retreat of the Holy of Holies with our conscience and in the presence of our God. Happy Christmas Fellow Nigerians!

*Mr.. Gbinije, a social critic, wrote from Warri, Delta State.

Businesses, consumers divided over inflation, interest rate in 2018 •Anticipate naira appreciation, improved economy •CBN resumes liquidity mop up with N656bn TBs

By Babajide Komolafe

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USINESSES and consumers are divided in their outlook for inflation and interest rates in 2018.

While consumers expect inflation and interest rates to rise in 2018, businesses, however, expect both rates to fall.

Meanwhile, both categories of economic agents expect further naira appreciation and improvement in the nation’s macroeconomic conditions in 2018.

These were highlights of the Business Expectation and Consumer Expectation surveys for fourth quarter 2017 (Q4 2017) conducted by the Central Bank of Nigeria.

Monetary dynamics in 2017

From a peak of 18.72 percent in January, inflation dropped steadily by 2.82 percent to 15.9 percent in November.

Though interest rates were stable in 2017, they were excessively high, with lending rates of most banks hovering between 25 and 30 percent.

On its part, the naira appreciated from historic high of N520 per dollar in February,

to N365 per dollar last week in the parallel market, buoyed by the sustained intervention of the CBN in the foreign exchange market, and the introduction of the Investors and Exporters (I&E) window, which have attracted over $10 billion into the economy.

Expectations for 2018 In their outlook for the economy in 2018, consumers said they expect reversal in inflation trend and rise in interest rate, but expect naira to appreciate further during Continues on page 21

MONDAY, DECEMBER 25, 2017

Industry woes deflate appetite for oil & gas companies’ shares •Return on Investment down 3.3% year-to-date •Operators point to declining margin, forex crises, ...

By Nkiruka Nnorom

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NVESTORS in the nation’s capital market have continued to demonstrate low appetite towards shares of companies in the oil and gas sector of the Nigerian Stock Exchange, NSE, as the sector’s performance yearto-date, ytd, lagged largely behind the other sectors in the market.

Financial Vanguard’s analysis of activity for the 12 month period ended December 15, 2017 showed that, apart from under-performing other sectors, the oil and gas industry also underperformed the All Share Index, ASI,

which rose sharply by 43.02 per cent within the same period.

Return-on-Investment, RoI, in the sector went down by 3.3 per cent between January 2, 2017 when the market opened for transaction and December 15, 2017, a development, investment bankers attributed to poor perception of the sector among international and other high networth investors.

Investment bankers, who spoke to Financial Vanguard, pointed to myriads of problems, including low oil prices in the international market space, effect of the recession, which

AMCON: Legal luminaries advocate review of debt recovery processes PAGE 22 C M Y

the country just exited, and unavailability of foreign exchange to import their products with the attendant low margin as some of the problems.

The problems, according to them, combined to dull activity and subsequently, negating return in the industry during the one year period.

The operators also insisted that investors stake money only in sectors where returns in terms of either capital appreciation or dividend payout is guaranteed, and argued that the oil and gas sector does not guarantee any of this at the moment.

Equities pricing: Favourable external factors support further rally PAGE 24

Sectoral performance Further breakdown showed that activity in the oil and gas sector fell to 302.53 points from 312.68 points, representing 3.25 percent decline, impacted by huge price decline in five of the companies, including Forte Oil Plc, Mobil Oil Nigeria Plc, MRS Oil Nigeria Plc, Conoil Plc and Total Nigeria Plc. However, the banking sector recorded the highest return on investment at 71.13 percent, closing at 469.44 points from 274.32 points. This was followed by the consumer goods sector, which recorded 37.7 percent return to close at 981.34 points from 712.65 points on January 2, 2017.

The industrial goods sector was the next with 25 percent increase to 1,953.80 points from 1,595.33 points in January, while the insurance sector appreciated marginally by 8.8 percent to 137.35 points from 126.29 points.

Continues on page 20

Spill over of economic recession ruffle insurers in 2017 PAGE 28

20 — Vanguard, MONDAY, DECEMBER 25, 2017

FINANCIAL VANGUARD

Cover

Industry woes deflate appetite for oil & gas companies’ shares

•Akin Akinfemiwa, Group CEO, Forte Oil Plc

Adetunji Adebanji, MD, Mobil Continues from page 19 RoI of individual companies Further inquest into the activities of the companies showed that the lackluster performance pervaded the entire oil and gas entities including those listed in Alternative Securities Market, ASeM. Of the three downstream petroleum marketing companies in the AseM Board, (Anino International Plc, Capital Oil Plc and Rak Unity Petroleum Company Plc) prices remained unchanged within the review period.

For those listed in the Main Board, only two out of the seven companies emerged investors darling and hence recorded positive return.

Forte Oil recorded the worst return during the period as its price fell by 47.2 percent within the review period, followed by Mobil Oil Nigeria (11) Plc which depreciated by 39.1 percent.

MRS Oil ranked third, dropping by 36.6 percent, while Conoil Plc and Total Nigeria Plc were down 25.3 percent and 20.7 percent respectively.

Surprisingly, Oando Plc, which has been engulfed in crisis in the last few months and is presently undergoing forensic audit by the Securities and Exchange Commission, SEC, posted 34 percent return, though the share C M Y

•Mike Adenuga Jnr, Chairman, Conoil Plc

•Mahmud Tukur, MD/CEO, Eterna Plc

Jean Phillipe Torres, MD, Total Plc price has been on technical suspension since October 23, 2017 due to the ongoing auditing of the company’s book.

Eterna Plc towered above all the companies, recording 34 percent returns during the one year period.

Investors are looking at markets where they can make maximum returns in terms of either capital appreciation or dividends

Operators’ take In his view, Mr. Patrick Ezeagu, Managing Director/CEO, Solid Rock Securities, said that besides the general lull in the economy which affected the sector, the individual companies have been posting low margin as a result of the prevailing foreign exchange crises

and shortage of supplies.

He said: “If you look at what is happening in terms of scarcity; there are no regular supplies. It appears that it is only Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, that imports fuel and it also appears that the margins of the companies are going down and when margin goes down, it affects the bottom-line.

“Investors are looking at markets where they can make maximum returns in terms of either capital appreciation or dividends. But when there is no apparent prospect that any or either of the two is going to happen, people begin to grow wary of the sector. If we are having the kind of situation we have in Oando, international investors will always want to minimise their risk”.

He added that most other oil marketing companies are not doing so well, arguing that the margins from their activities are very poor. “The margin they used to make from subsidy has equally disappeared. So, their operating environment has been very harsh more or less,” Ezeagu added.

In his own contribution, Tola Odukoya, Chief Executive Officer, FSL Asset Management Limited, said that besides low oil prices and forex issues, the sector is equally over-regulated,

especially with regards to the prices of PMS. He emphasised that the share price of the stocks were a bit high with the exception of Eterna Plc, which trades at about N4 per share, saying that the pricing could also be another contributory factor. “The companies are heavily reliant on forex to import their products and their prices are strictly regulated unlike other sectors where companies would have the privilege of adjusting prices if there is an increase in the price of raw material inputs.

“NNPC appears to be the sole importer of fuel due to inability of the companies to secure foreign exchange despite the concessionary price given to them by the Central Bank of Nigeria.

“So, these are the issues that created a lot of headwinds that affected them within the year. Lack of availability of forex and lower oil prices. As it is, they are complaining that they are not making enough margins though oil prices are beginning to go up,” Odukoya said.

Forex and lower oil prices In midst of all of this, investors will naturally become wary of the sector given that the challenges of importation, foreign exchange exposure and the inability to get forex has affected both their activity and investors perception of their performance. And remember there are other sector that have posted better results than the downstream marketing companies, some in the banking sector, some in the consumer goods sector. So, those are naturally the headwinds that contributed to the lackluster performance recorded by the sector, he explained.

Outlook for 2018 Odukoya said he does not foresee any major change in the sector ‘because as we go into the election year, the government would not want to tamper with the prices of PMS. So, we will continue to see this trend going forward’.

Ezeagu noted that 2018 may pose more challenges to the sector due to the decision by some of the major economies to phase out hydrocarbon driven automobiles from 2020 and beyond.

Vanguard, MONDAY, DECEMBER 25, 2017 — 21

FINANCIAL VANGUARD

Businesses, consumers divided over inflation, interest rate in 2018 Continues from page 19

the year. They however express increased confidence of improvement in macro economic conditions.

According the CBN’s Consumer Expectation Survey, “Most respondents expect the prices of goods and services to rise in the next 12 months. The major drivers are: Education, electricity, transportation, house rent, medical care, telecommunication, food and other household needs.

Consumers expect borrowing rate to rise and Naira to appreciate in the next 12 months.

“The consumers’ overall confidence outlook improved in Q4 2017, as more consumers were optimistic in their outlook.

The index at 1.0 points was 30.8 points higher than the index in the corresponding period of 2016. Some respondents attributed this moderation in outlook improvement in the family income.

“The consumer outlook for the next quarter and next 12 months were also positive at 28.1 and 34.4 points, respectively. This outlook could be attributed to the anticipated improvement in Nigeria’s economic conditions, expected increase in net household income, and expectations to save a bit and/or have plenty over savings in the next 12 months”.

Businesses in their outlook for 2018, though also expect further improvement in the economy and further naira appreciation, they however express optimism that inflation and interest rates will decline during the year.

According to the Business Expectation survey for Q4, “At 17.7 index points, respondents’ overall confidence index (CI) on the macro economy in Q4 2017 improved, when compared with the level of -29.0 index points recorded in Q4 2016. This was driven by the opinion of respondents from services (8.1 points), wholesale/retail trade (4.3 points), industrial (4.0 points) and construction (1.4 points) sectors.

“The outlook of businesses for the next quarter however, indicated greater confidence on the macro economy at 61.7points. The drivers for this optimism were services (23.8points), wholesale/ retail trade (17.0 points), industrial (14.7 points) and construction (6.3 points) sectors.

“Respondent firms expect inflation rate to rise in the current quarter but fall in the next quarter, with confidence indices of 9.5and-9.8 points for the current and next quarters, respectively.

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Nationwide Consumer Outlook Index

Naira Exchange rates “Majority of the respondent firms expect the naira to appreciate in the current and next quarters as the confidence indices stood at 1.1and 39.2points, respectively. Similarly, respondent firms expect the borrowing rate to increase in the current quarter, but fall in the next quarter as the confidence indices stood at 6.3and -0.2points, respectively.”

CBN resume liquidity mop up with N656bn TBs The CBN last week resumed liquidity mop-up in the interbank money market prompting cost of

The outlook of businesses for the next quarter however, indicated greater confidence on the macro economy at 61.7points

funds to rise slightly.

For two weeks, the apex bank suspended its weekly liquidity mop through issuance of secondary market (open market operations, OMO) treasury bills, leading to upsurge in excess liquidity to N856 billion the previous week, while cost of funds fell to year low.

Apparently worried over the impact of further

increase in excess liquidity on other macroeconomic variables, the apex bank last week resumed liquidity mop up with OMO treasury bills worth N656.88 billion.

The outflow which more than offset impact of inflow of N136 billion from matured treasury bills caused average short term interest rate to rise by 196 basis points (bpts).

Data from the Financial Market Dealers Quote (FMDQ) revealed that interest rate on Collateralised (Open Buy Back, OBB) lending rose by 192 bpts to 5.67 percent last week, from 3.75 percent the previous week. Similarly, interest rate on Call lending rose by 200 bpts to 6.33 percent from 4.33 percent the previous week.

Baring further liquidity mop up by the CBN, analysts expect this trend to be reversed this week due to liquidity inflow of N148.16 billion from matured TBs. Naira appreciates in I&E as CBN suspends intervention The naira last week appreciated by 14 kobo in the Investors and Exporters (I&E) window while the CBN suspended its weekly dollar injection into the interbank foreign exchange rate. Data from the FMDQ showed that the indicative exchange rate for the window dropped by N360.82 per dollar from N360.96 per dollar the previous week.

The appreciation was prompted by upsurge in dollar supply which rose by 92 percent to $1.33 billion during the week from $689.53 million the previous week. The naira, however, remained stable at N365 per dollar in the parallel market.

22 — Vanguard, MONDAY, DECEMBER 25, 2017

FINANCIAL VANGUARD

AMCON: Legal luminaries advocate review of debt recovery processes

By Babajide Komolafe

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EGAL luminaries including the former Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, Hon. Justice I. N. Auta, OFR, and the President of Court of Appeal, Hon. Justice Zainab Adamu Bulkachuwa, CFR, have joined the campaign by the management of Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria, AMCON, in calling for a paradigm shift in debt recovery processes in Nigeria.

Such shift according to them would act as act panacea, if indeed the Corporation were to meet its mandate of resolving its huge outstanding obligation.

Current AMCON management under the leadership of its Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Ahmed Kuru, upon assuming office and reviewing the challenges as well as bottlenecks inhibiting recoveries mounted a strong campaign that the current practice where habitual and recalcitrant debtors are treated with kid gloves, especially by agencies of government would not help AMCON resolve these loans before its sunset date.

According to Justice Auta, the approach to debt recovery and resolution must change at this point in the life of AMCON especially going into 2018 and beyond because the corporation came as a child of necessity at the time it was created with all the good intentions in the world to recalibrate the beleaguered economy of the country at the time.

Poor corporate governance In his words, “Nigeria witnessed the 2007 global financial crisis, which was caused by insolvency, illiquidity, poor corporate governance and outright financial crimes. However, with the creation of AMCON by the federal government, no bank has been liquidated, depositors’ funds are safe and no bank has been subject to collection queues.”

Justice Auta having enumerated the facts argued that it is extremely important for all stakeholders, especially Judges to note the correlation between bank failure, which AMCON saved, and a large concentration of nonperforming loans. He added that Judges have critical role to play in the insulation of the macro-economy from fragmentation since most disputes that relate to banking, which AMCON currently shoulders are presented before them. Describing the AMCON C M Y K

framework as “extremely complex” he said AMCON’s goal can only be accomplished if all stakeholders, especially the entire hierarchy of the bench appreciate the fundamental underpinnings of its regime.

Lending her voice to Justice Auta’s position, Justice Bulkachuwa noted what she described as “deliberate reluctance” of debtors to redeem their obligations to AMCON, stressing, “Having realized deliberate reluctance of debtors to redeem their obligations to AMCON, it would seem that AMCON has limited options other than

resorting to our courts to enforce its enormous powers towards debt recovery. To recover as much debt as possible within its defined lifespan, expediency is essential if AMCON is to achieve its value maximization and financial stability goals.”

Corroborating the position of the two distinguished Justices, Kuru submitted that AMCON is currently indebted to the CBN to the amount of N4.7trillion, which is more than half of the proposed 2018 national budget. Aside that, more than 70 per cent of AMCON’s Eligible Bank Asset

(EBA), portfolio is also locked in one form of litigation or the other meaning that without the support of the judiciary, AMCON cannot see the light of day. On the back of that, he said there is also a rising number of appeals emanating from trial courts on AMCON cases, adding that at this stage in AMCON’s existence, expeditious determination of appeals brought before the courts remains key to AMCON’s ability to resolve all outstanding assets and prevent the undesired economic consequences of failure to recover the assets.

L-R: Team Member, Remittances, Fidelity Bank Plc, Uzezi Igbege; MoneyGram Representative, Yvonne Mzbodile; Product Manager, MoneyGram, Olufunmilayo Coker; Star Prize Winner, Michael Sokunbi; TSD Head, Alagbado Branch, Fidelity Bank Plc, Adanma Wilson; Group Head, Remittances, Fidelity Bank Plc, Desmond Ohamma at the prize presentation ceremony for the Fidelity Bank/MoneyGram Back-To-School promo held in Lagos.

Union Bank donates to VVF centre in Kano State

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NION Bank has once again taken a stand for women with its support for those affected by Vestigo Vaginal Fistula (VVF) through donations to the women’s VVF hostel, Kwali, Kano State.

The donations made by the bank as part of its Corporate

Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives include a refurbished wing of the women’s hostel, a vehicle as well as much needed beddings, medicines and medical supplies. Speaking at the handover ceremony which was attended by the Emir of Kano, HRH Sanusi Lamido

LASEPA, LAWMA supports Ecobank on cleaner Lagos initiative

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HE Lagos State environment regulators have lauded Ecobank Nigeria’s various initiatives towards sustainable and safer environment in the state. The Lagos State Environmental Protection Agency (LASEPA) and Lagos State Waste Management Authority (LAWMA) affirmed that Ecobank’s deliberate policy to rid the state of non-biodegradable materials like plastic bottles and used beverage cans would go a long way in protecting the environment and promote a cleaner Lagos. The two agencies pledged their support to the bank for the initiative.

Speaking during the launch of Ecobank ‘Operation 150,000 bottles and cans’ in Lagos last

week, General Manager, LASEPA, Engr Adebola Shabi, said the action of Ecobank to ensure a safer environment has further portrayed it as a socially responsible organization.

Shabi who was represented by the Chief Scientific Officer, Mrs Sedoten Agosa-Anikwe, said: “This is an organization that is thinking out of the box. A bank that is effectively contributing to the society where it operates. A responsible and caring corporate citizen. We salute Ecobank.”

In the same vein, Assistant General Manager, Special Services Department, LAWMA, Jide Onayiga, called on all corporate stakeholders in Lagos to take cue from Ecobank by partnering the state government to ensure a cleaner Lagos.

Sanusi (CON), the Chief Executive Officer of Union Bank, Emeka Emuwa said: “We are proud to be a part of this project and are pleased to have been called upon to make a difference in the lives of these young women. It is our hope that our contribution will go a long way in making them more comfortable as they seek to repair and rebuild their lives.”

While commending Union Bank for responding promptly to the call for assistance which he had made some months earlier, the Emir of Kano said: “This is a project that has been very close to my heart. It is a matter about which I have great concerns. We thank Union Bank for their tremendous support.

Our hope and prayer is that in a few years, there will be no more women with VVF in Kano.”

Other dignitaries who attended the handover ceremony were the Kano State Commissioner for Women Affairs and Social Development, Hajia Yardada Bitchi and the Permanent Secretary at the State Ministry for Health, Mallam Muhammad Ahmed who represented the State Commissioner for Health.

NDIC achieves three ISO certifications

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HE Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) has successfully obtained three certifications from the British Standards Institution (BSI) after a rigorous process of satisfying the conditions precedent to accreditation. The Corporation in a statement said the certifications were for Information Security Management System ISO/IEC 27001:2013, IT Service Management System ISO/IEC 20000-1:2011 and Business Continuity Management System, ISO 22301:2012.

The statement reads: “The British Standards Institute UK thoroughly engaged and audited the corporation operational processes between April and July 2017 to determine the conformity of the Corporation to the standards. “The formal presentation of these certificates is however postponed till first quarter of 2018. It is worthy to note, that the NDIC is the first public organisation in Nigeria to be so certified with three standards simultaneously.

“By these achievements, the Corporation is poised to enhance the level of operational readiness to deliver on its core mandate while continuously improving on the service delivery to meet the expectations of its stakeholders through sound information security, efficient IT management system and a robust business continuity system.

FBNHoldings renames businesses

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N line with objectives to deliver a consistent customer experience and drive increased stakeholder value, FBN Holdings Plc has announced the renaming of all entities under its merchant banking and asset management group. These are FBNQuest Merchant Bank, FBNQuest Asset Management, FBNQuest Securities; FBNQuest Capital, FBNQuest Trustees and FBNQuest Funds. In a statement announcing this development, the company said: “The merchant banking and asset management group is set to close the year on a positive note, having successfully delivered several landmark transactions in the course of the year.

“Withseveralmoreachievements recorded in the year and over 14 awards received by the Merchant Banking and Asset Management group in 2017, such as Africa Deal of the Year from The Banker Awards, Best Project Finance Adviser from EMEAFinance Project Finance Awards, Most Innovative Investment Firm in Nigeria from BusinessDay, and Best Investment Bank in Nigeria from Global Finance and EMEAFinance Achievement Awards; the FBNQuest companies continue to demonstrate a breadth of capabilities to uniquely support a broad range of clients.

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24 — Vanguard, MONDAY, DECEMBER 25, 2017

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Equities pricing: Favourable external factors support further rally Stories by Nkiruka Nnorom

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S the year rolls to an end this week, capital market operators have said that favourable external conditions bolstered by stability in foreign exchange and energy supply will push the market to a further positive close.

The market advanced modestly last week with the Nigerian Stock Exchange, NSE, All Share Index, ASI, closing 0.22 basis points higher to 38,522.14. The market opened the trading week to losses as profit taking continued to dominate trading activities.

On Wednesday, the bourse staged a mini-recovery midweek driven by strong closes in the oil and gas sector and industrial goods sector.

Consumer demand Gains on the bourse continued at week close albeit marginally with the ASI notching 45 basis points at week close.

The operators believe that receding cost pressure and strengthening consumer demand among other things would present a strong equity market performance going into 2018.

Analysts at Vetiva Capital, said: “The equities market enjoyed a very good 2017, advancing by over 43 per by the close of business last week.

Chief among the drivers of this

surge was the introduction of the “Investors & Exporters” foreign exchange window (“I&E” window) which revived investors’ confidence and boosted liquidity in the foreign exchange (FX) market. Going forward, we anticipate continued progress on this front amidst a positive outlook for FX earnings on the back of stable oil prices and production levels.”

For this week, they projected another marginally trading session, while their counterparts at Cowry Asset Management Limited said that the market would be dominated by a mix of bargain hunting and profit taking following portfolio re-balancing by portfolio managers in a bid to end the year profitably.

Meanwhile, transaction in the stock market closed on a positive note last week with the

The equities market enjoyed a very good 2017, advancing by over 43 per by the close of business last week market capitalisation rising by N31 billion to N13.709 trillion from N13.678 trillion,

representing 0.22 percent increase. The ASI rose by the same margin to 38,522.14 points from 38,436.08 basis points.

Similarly, all the sectorial indices with the exception of the consumer goods sector closed in the positive territory.

The oil and gas sector rose the most driven by 10.43 percent increase in Seplat Petroleum Development Company ’s share. The sector achieved 4.43 percent increase during the week.

The insurance sector rose by 1.14 percent on account of 18.97 percent increase in Linkage Assurance Plc, while the banking sector driven by 6.25 percent and 5.47 percent increase in Fidelity Bank Plc and FCMB Group Plc, followed

with 0.91 percent increase. The industrial goods sector recorded marginal growth of 0.38 percent, while the consumer goods sector fell by 1.37 percent during the week.

At the end of the week, investors traded 2.243 billion shares worth N139.789 billion in 18,466 deals in contrast to 1.852 billion shares valued at N51.523 billion in 23,863 deals.

The financial services sector, measured by volume, led the activity chart with 984.584 million shares valued at N10.588 billion traded in 11,116 deals; thereby contributing 43.89 percent and 7.57 percent to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively.

The industrial goods sector followed with 564.804 million shares worth N125.378 billion in 927 deals. The third place was occupied by conglomerates sector with a turnover of 804.447 million shares worth N561.921 million in 689 deals.

Operators divided on proposed fragmentation of stock market

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APITAL market operators have expressed divergent views on the plan by the Securities and Exchange Commission, SEC, to fragment the stock market.

The SEC had disclosed plan to fragment the stock exchange further to cater for small and medium enterprises, SMEs, in the country that are interested in listing but are encumbered by the stringent listing requirement of the Nigerian Stock Exchange, NSE, as part of efforts to drive equity listing in the stock market.

According to SEC, the

process when completed would lessen the strident listing rules that have been hindering small companies from listing in the stock market.

However, operators who spoke to Financial Vanguard said that creation of multiple exchanges is not enough to propel listing, while others argue that it is the right step in the right direction.

According to Mr. Johnson Chukwu, Managing Director/ CEO, Cowry Asset Management Limited, creating multiple exchanges would have little impact on the quest to get

more companies to list. He noted that what is of utmost importance is for companies to have incentives for listing.

He opined that though it is good to have multiple exchanges, create different listing requirements for those exchanges and have lower standard of listing requirements, but ultimately, “shareholders are looking for liquidity for their stocks; they are looking for appropriate pricing of their stocks and access to long term funds.

Those conditions must be in place to make for the buoyancy of those exchanges”

Appropriate pricing of their shares “We have had two tier market for a long time. We had a second tier market and we now have the ASeM that took over the second tier market and we have seen the performance of the AseM. The basic thing is not for companies to list, there must be incentive for listing and those incentives should include liquidity in their shares, appropriate pricing of their shares and ability to obtain longer term funds by virtue of being listed. These conditions must be in place for companies to signify to list irrespective of the number of exchanges you have.

“Unfortunately, because of the current economic condition, stock prices are not reflective of the intrinsic worth of the companies and shareholders do not have any compelling need to list their companies.

So, until those conditions are in place when the stock market will reflect the intrinsic worth of the companies, stocks

should be appropriately priced, the market will increase liquidity for those stocks, then listing will give companies opportunity to raise long term funds from the primary market, then multiple stock exchanges may not materially affect the number of companies that will list,” Chukwu argued.

In his own view, Mr. Austin Okoye, Member, Channel Sales, Cordros Capital Limited, said the plan is not bad in itself, but the implementation stage might pose a challenge.

He observed that the SEC may not be toeing an unusual line, saying that it is the practice in other climes.

According to him, the creation of multiple exchanges as proposed by SEC would likely create competition among the exchanges leading to more efficiency and effectiveness. He further stated that it would engender more seriousness in corporate governance of the exchanges.

“Multiple stock exchanges will create an element of liquidity and transparency because whether the exchanges know it or not, they are competing in some ways and companies will have to look at which exchange that provide the best opportunity for them before deciding whether to list on NSE or any of the new ones that will be created.

“In the end, it will be good but a lot will depend on the management of all the exchanges, Okoye said.

He added that competition will also drive down cost and create opportunity for companies that are not eligible today to be listed on the NSE to access those exchanges.

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Vanguard, MONDAY, DECEMBER 25, 2017 — 29

FINANCIAL VANGUARD

Spill over of economic recession ruffles insurers in 2017

By Rosemary Onuoha

By Rosemary Onuoha

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EAR 2017, for the insurance industry has been a challenging and difficult business period given that the economy is still reeling from the spill over of economic recession which lasted till first quarter of the year. It will be recalled that in 2016, the sector grappled with lack of foreign exchange to re-insure businesses abroad; scarcity of funds by individuals and corporate organisations to buy insurance covers for their assets; preference for short term cover to long term during renewal periods, among others.

These factors were carried over into 2017 thereby slowing down business activities.

Implementing some regulatory policies have also been a challenge due to the absence of a substantive board for the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) to give speedy approval to the policies. With the absence of a statutory board to coordinate the affairs of the sector, some policies that require board approvals are being put on hold.

Other developments in the sector Approval to operate annuity businesses: In the course of the year, some life companies were re-licensed to carry out annuity business after the National Pension Commission, PenCom, barred all life insurers in 2016 from participating in the business and ordered that all annuity assets be transferred to a Pension Fund Custodian. The development generated controversy between the insurance and pension sectors because annuity is statutorily operated by insurance companies. However, some life companies complied with PenCom directive by transferring their annuity funds to a custodian; hence PenCom gave them approval to continue the business.

Postponement of industry rebranding campaign: The Insurers Committee which had hitherto planned an industry rebranding campaign in the course of the year unceremoniously postponed the project to 2018 due to inadequate fund to kick-off the campaign. The project which is now billed to kick-off first quarter of 2018 is part of efforts to change the negative perception of the insuring public about insurance business in Nigeria.

Release of Bancassurance guidelines: In 2016, NAICOM suspended all Bancassurance partnership deals between C M Y K

BRIEFS Lagos state pays N1bn pension to 286 retirees

From left: Dr. Pius Apere, MD/CEO; Dr. John Eseimokumoh, Chairman; Mr. Moses Omorogbe, Company Secretary and Mr. Inam Udo Udoma, all of Linkage Assurance Plc during the 23rd Annual General Meeting of the company in Lagos. insurance companies and banks indefinitely following a dispute with the CBN. NAICOM took the decision after the CBN refused to allow NAICOM issue licences to

Government must strive to improve on economic performance going forward

banks for the provision of bancassurance services to bank customers. However, in the course of the year, NAICOM released its Bancassurance guideline. The guideline placed a two year limit on bancassurance partnerships

between insurance companies and banks, after two years the partnership can be renewed.

The regulator also pegged the referral commission to be paid by the insurer to a referral bank at 40 percent.

Adoption of ‘no claims bonus’ policy: In the course of the year, some insurance companies adopted ‘no claims bonus’ policy to retain customers due to the resolve by NAICOM, to sanction operators involved in inappropriate pricing of risks or rate-cutting. Under the ‘no claims bonus’ policy, a percentage of premium paid is returned to a customer in the absence of claims after three or more years of insuring a risk.

Increase of flood rates: Also in the course of the year, due to the flood that ravaged some parts of the country, premium rates for flood risks were jerked up by up to 50 per cent. The increase came on the heels of massive claims that besieged insurance operators especially after the floods in Lekki area of Lagos.

Harmonization of financial

accounts: NAICOM and Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) agreed to harmonize financial accounts submission procedures for insurance companies. The move was to relief operators from sanctions that could arise due to late submissions of accounts.

Chief Executive Officer of NSE Mr. Oscar Onyema at the meeting with insurance operators said the Exchange and other regulators will continue to harmonise financial reporting systems, as financial reporting is highly essential to investors as it aids their investments decisions.

The way forward: On the way forward, Chairman of NIA, Mr. Eddie Efekoha said, “Insurance business thrives on the back of the economy. A lot of people who naturally will buy insurance will regard it as a secondary issue. The first issue on the minds of people is survival before they begin to consider protecting and providing for tomorrow. So government must strive to improve on economic performance going forward”

Linkage Assurance commences new phase of growth

By Favour Nnabugwu

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INKAGE Assurance Plc is embarking on a new phase of growth that guarantees greater returns on investment (ROI) for its teaming shareholders.

This is coming from the strategic initiatives of the new management to navigate the organisation towards better performance and profitability even with the challenges of the current market environment.

Speaking at the Company’s 23rd Annual General Meeting in Lagos, Chairman Board of Directors, Dr. John A. Eseimokumoh, said that Linkage is positioning to take competitive advantage of the transformation and regulatory

efforts of the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM), which is intended to deepen insurance penetration in the economy, and provide huge growth prospect for underwriting firms. In addition, the company ’s Chairman posited that the company is gradually introducing affordable (or pocket friendly) retail products with superior value propositions to the insurance market via numerous business channels, especially online platforms, to increase insurance acceptability and improve perception by the teaming population.

Dr. Eseimokumoh stated that as part of the firms strategic initiatives “we have developed and launched a number of retail products, including the

Linkage Third Party Plus, which is a budget friendly motor insurance that provides not only the compulsory third party cover but an additional own damage protection to the tune of N250,000. This is only available from your Company Linkage Assurance Plc”.

“We also have the Linkage Purple Motor Plan, an exclusive comprehensive motor insurance for women; Linkage SME Comprehensive; Citadel Shield, which provides compensation as result of injuries from accident for pupils and students in recognized academic establishments; Linkage Events Xclusive Insurance; Linkage Shop Insurance and the Linkage Estate Insurance.

AGOS State government said it has paid over N1 billion to 286 Contributory Pension Scheme, CPS, retirees of batch 46.

Governor of the State, Akinwummi Ambode disclosed this at the retirement benefit bond certificate presentation ceremony in Lagos recently.

Represented by the Commissioner Establishments, Training and Pensions, Dr. Akintola Benson Oke, the governor noted that the money has been credited into the accounts of the retirees. He said, “The State Government is very much committed to the regular contribution of the monthly deduction of 7.5 percent from the salary of every employee and the payment of the employer’s 7.5 percent contribution. As at November, 2017 the total contributions remitted to the PFAs from April, 2007 to date is about N83 billion.

In essence, the Lagos State Government’s funding of employees pension rights under the Contributory Pension Scheme in a period of 10 years is about N150 billion; and today, the sum of N1 billion will be credited into the Retirement Savings Account of the 46th batch of retirees of the Contributory Pension Scheme,” he said. According to him, in less than three years, from August, 2015 to December, 2017, the state had paid accrued pension rights of N33 billion to 8,300 retirees, stressing that accrued pension rights previously paid before the current administration (2010 to mid- 2015) amounts to N33. 645 billion to 7,409 retirees.

Premium Pension to commence payment of enhanced pension

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REMIUM Pension Limited said it is set to commence the payment of enhanced monthly pension to its retiree-customers with effect from December 2017.

Acting Managing Director/ Chief Executive Officer of Premium Pension Limited, Mr. Kabir Ahmed Tijjani said that the increase of the monthly pension of all retirees on Programmed Withdrawal is due to the income earned on investment of their pension asset being managed by the company.

He said that the essence of the upward review of the monthly pension is to ensure that it synchronizes with growth in pension funds and also respond to the yearnings of the retirees.

Tijjani said, “The upward review for the payment of monthly pension to retirees is a clear indication that Premium Pension fund rate has appreciated and become robust and more competitive in the pension industry.”

30 — Vanguard, MONDAY, DECEMBER 25, 2017

FINANCIAL VANGUARD

We are changing Nigeria from import oriented country — Alok Gupta, CEO, African Industries Group Alok Gupta is the Group Managing Director, African Industries Group. In this interview, he discusses the challenges of exporting steel from Nigeria and a variety of issues affecting the steel industry in Nigeria. Excerpt.

By Franklin Alli

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OW long have you been operating in Nigeria and how much you have invested in the economy?

African Industries Group has been in the country for 46 years, since 1971. From a humble beginning in 1971 as a small unit in Nigeria, we have diversified into a manufacturing conglomerate producing and dealing in items like steel and steel products, power generation, glass, chemicals and industrial raw materials, light engineering goods, plywood and other building and construction materials.

Our 15 manufacturing plants located in Lagos, Port Harcourt, Abuja, Agbara and Ogijo in Ogun state provides direct employment to 8,000 persons and over 100,000 in indirect employment. So far, we have invested $1.1 billion in Nigeria and plan to invest more in upcoming projects. We produce more than one million tonnes of steel a year making our group the largest steel producers in the country.

How do you try to balance the issue of not having enough scrap locally, and you are now talking of export? Which of the markets have you been able to reach out to?

We have been able to produce enough to meet the local market and that is why we are now exporting steel. In fact, there is no need of importing finished iron rods into this country; there is no basis for that.

International standard At the moment, the number of manufacturing plants in steel in this country, if they go into full production, including us, we are not yet doing 100 per cent capacity. We are still doing below 70 percent operational capacity, so by the time we have up to 100 per cent capacity we will have excess.

So the problem is not about meeting up demand but being able to operate at optimum level which we are not doing due to so many reasons. But that does not stop our export because the export driven part of it is a different segment entirely. This is an era where one of the major constraints of Nigerian businesses today is forex scarcity and if you can meet up to international standard, you can sell your product beyond your shores and earn forex for the nation.

Back to your question on where we are exporting to, we are exporting to Ghana, Ivory C M Y K

ties and customs to ease the bottleneck associated with smooth flow of export cargoes through port, reduce the various charges to acceptable level so as to make Nigerian goods compatible in global market.

On fiscal front, we want government to look at provision of current export incentives and make it attractive to induce us for more export. Current export incentive for fully Nigeria manufactured goods are enough to cover the cost incurred due to infrastructural deficiency like high transport cost to port, dollar denominated high natural gas price, abolition of various taxes and levies on export cargoes and export expansion grant.

Nigeria has abundant raw materials for steel production, what’s the level of your local content?

We became pioneer in scrap to steel industry in the country with single motto of waste to wealth creation. We combined steel scrap, littered across the country with abundant local natural gas for liquid steel production to make steel iron bars.

Content innovation •Alok Gupta Coast, Morocco and Egypt. So, for us, that is the breaking news, that for the first time in Nigeria, we are now exporting steel, finished steel, made-inNigeria steel from Nigeria to other countries.

Sea freight from Ukraine to Ghana is $35-40 per metric tonne while from Lagos to Ghana cost $65 per metric tonne, i.e. almost 50 percent more; we appeal to shipping companies operating in Nigeria to remove this abnormality

That is just the news and it has been on for a while. At this very critical time in the country, where people are talking of foreign exchange for importation, they are calling this country import oriented nation, we want to change the wheel, now we are exporting our finished products having meet up international stand-

ards and are accepted globally.

You have been into export for a while, as you mentioned, can you give us an idea how much your activities is saving this country in terms of forex?

The exporting we are doing is saving the nation over $650 million yearly. In the past, many people had been importing steel into this country; nobody talks about that because imported steel cannot compete with our own. We are in the same standard so you don’t need to waste your money importing steel. We have been exporting non-steel products to regional markets for many years. However, our steel products had to compete with big producers from Ukraine, Russia, China and other developed countries.

However, our constant effort in marketing backed by international certification and satisfied products sampling by user made it acceptable in these market. Recent adjustment of naira has made our product more competitive to the extent that a significant amount of our production is in now destined for export.

We are exporting between 150,000 – 200,000 metric tonnes of steel on annual basis to start with. Our export of steel during the first nine months of this year has increased over

three fold by weight and value compared to the full last year 2016.

To put numbers on it, in year 2017 for the first three quarters, our steel export are almost $13.5million compared to $4.1million in 2016 and we are expecting an additional $12 million of steel exports in the final quarter of this year.

Overall we expect over $25 million in the current year 2017. We are proud to achieve this milestone due to combined effort of our team and enabling environment created by domestic industrial policies.

What are the challenges in steel export?

There are many challenges both on logistics and fiscal policy issues. Sea freight between Lagos and other West African countries is almost double of what it cost to bring the steel product from Ukraine or China. For example, sea freight from Ukraine to Ghana is $35-40 per metric tonne while from Lagos to Ghana costs $65 per metric tonne, i.e. almost 50 per cent more.

We appeal to shipping companies operating in Nigeria to remove this abnormality and make a level playing field for us, if we really want Nigeria to emerge as global player in steel sector. We need our colleagues, partners and workforce among port authori-

Since then we are working on content innovation and implementation of later environment friendly technologies in steel making and also diversified the product line to steel billets, steel angles, channels, flat bar, pipe and iron wire rod, nails, wire fencing and other structural steel items.

Steel production is electricity consuming, how are you addressing the challenges?

We are trying our best to address these challenges. To cover electricity infrastructural deficit we started in-house production of natural gas based power generation. Today we are producing over 115 megawatts of electricity for our consumption as well as sale of surplus to various electricity DISCOs in the country.

Finally, made in Nigerian products are usually perceived inferior, how were you able to break into the foreign market?

Our products are certified for best quality by Standards Organisation of Nigeria, SON, and many international renowned agencies. We got International Organisation for Standardisation, ISO 9001, ISO 14001and ISO 18001 certification by RINA Italy and certification from CARES, UK. We are the only company in sub-Saharan Africa to get this CARES certification. This speaks of our commitment to provide best quality products in the market.

Vanguard, MONDAY, DECEMBER 25, 2017—31

FINANCIAL VANGUARD

A catalogue of failures by buhari’s ministers - 1 For the sins ye do two by two, ye must pay for one by one—Rudyard Kipling, 18651936.

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N 2016 and again in 2017, they collectively and individually deceived their Fellow Nigerians. Announcing “the biggest budget ever in the history of Nigeria”, they never told us they were not going to fulfill their promises. We failed to take notice in 2016 when the first budget prepared by this administration was a burst. We were too trusting; or as some of us thought, they lacked experience and would soon learn. But as we crawl to the end of 2017, it is becoming quite clear that these guys really intend to continue to lie to us.

The Chinese have already taught us that “a picture is worth a thousand words.” So, forgive me for presenting part of what follows in a table. One Federal Minister, after another, had gone before committees of the National Assembly, NASS, to tell the same tale of woe in different forms. Before one of their comments, see the table below. It represents the percentage of budget released to the identified Ministries by December this year. It was worse last year.

Ministry of Transportation -

N31bn out of N192bn or 16.5 per cent.

Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment – N3bn out of N16bn or 16 per cent.

When the budget was announced early this year and for most of the year, it was the Minister of Information, Culture and Tourism, my good friend Alhaji Lai Mohammed, who boasted to the entire world that it was a record (at least in naira) and who also promised Nigerians that the budget will usher in great things for the nation. The impression was created that the budget would be implemented as passed.

Dear Lai Mohammed cut a pathetic figure when being drilled

by Senator Raji Rasaki, Chairwoman of the Senate Committee interrogating his Ministry’s budget for 2018. The government’s own spokesman, who ordinarily would not allow a negative word about government to cross his lips had this to say.

“Ma, if you look at what was appropriated and what was released, especially in the area of capital, it is always about 22 or 23 per cent, which means that if we needed to buy two new vehicles and the release could only buy one, we need to seek relief in the next budget. That is why it seems as if it is a ritual. It is simply because we never get

full release of the capital appropriated or the overheads appropriated.” A better definition of a 419 process would be difficult to find. Let us examine some of the implications of what the Ministers and the federal Government have been doing – to us and themselves.

The first is the deliberate lie.

What we have experienced in Nigeria is a situation in which the same set of Federal Executive Council members have done worse in 2017 than they did in 2016

Granted no budget is ever delivered one hundred per cent.

But, when people in very high office - President, Vice President, Ministers and Permanent Secretaries, gather together to write a budget filled with all sorts of mouth-watering projects, get

FINANCIAL VANGUARD

acclaimed for it, and then fund only “about 22 or 23 per cent” (Mohammed), it is not human error but deliberate deception of Nigerians. They deliberately set out to make promises which they know will not be fully redeemed.

The second is the timing. It was in late third quarter of last year that the Minister for Finance finally declared that only N770 billion had been released for capital expenditure out of N1.8 trillion. A little bit more was later released by year-end. But, it was too late and too little and the entire dodgy process contributed in no small measure to the recession in 2016. For God’s sake, people presumed to be intelligent don’t repeat the same mistake two years in a row.

But, what we have experienced in Nigeria is a situation in which the same set of Federal Executive Council members have done worse in 2017 than they did in 2016.

Where is the demonstration of intelligence in that? Like last year, they wait until it is too late to apply any remedy before the Minister for Finance messes up our yearend celebrations with her revelations.

Third, this government is run like a cult; not a public institution. Cult members are always sworn to secrecy.

MICRO-FINANCE

Issues that shaped MfB sub sector in 2017 Stories by Providence Emmanuel

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HE year 2017 started on a good note even though the nation witnessed economic pressure which led to high cost of products and services and harsh operating environment for businesses and organisations across every sector of the economy.

The Microfinance Bank, MfB, sub sector was not left out in the year, as it also struggled to surmount the challenges presented to it by the economic recession that overwhelmed the country. Early in the year, the Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, directed the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, to implement the requirement for Bank Verification Number (BVN) to account holders in the MfBs to facilitate the federal government staff verification exercise.

Meanwhile, the CBN extended the BVN enrollment to December 31, 2017 instead of July 31, 2017 due to the various challenges encountered in the early stage

of deployment of the joint CBN/ NIBSS support to members of the National Association of Microfinance Banks, NAMB. Director, Other Financial Institutions Supervision Department, Mrs. Tokunbo Martins, announced the extension, saying that all

customers without BVN linked to their account would no longer be entitled to debit operations effective from January 1, 2018.

Also, the Development Bank of Nigeria, was established by the Federal Government, as a wholesale development finance

institution to provide sustainable financing through eligible participating institutions, which will in turn lend to Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises MSMEs for the development of that segment.

Three institutions, Fortis

Accion MfB disburses N17.5bn, to open 80 new branches

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CCION Microfinance Bank, AMfB, said it disbursed N17.5billion from January to November 2017.

Meanwhile the bank is set to expand its branch network by 80 new branches in the next four years. The bank has also promised to deepen financial inclusion in the coming year noting that about 53,238 customers benefited from the disbursement.

Speaking at the bank’s Customer Forum in Lagos, Managing Director, AMfB, Mr. Taiwo Joda, said that the bank would be opening 80 more branches in existing states and new ones to have a footprint in the North and FCT. This would cover the whole federation by 2022 as part of its mandate.

Unfavourable information and data are kept out of circulation until it suits the cult members or until they are caught in a dilemma like the Senate public hearing. Then each of them facing a panel alone starts singing like those gang members in police net. Everyone of them knew from January that funds were not being released for effective prosecution of their programmes. None raised alarm – until now. Instead, the public in treated to self-deluding statements like Fashola’s who declared that Nigerian roads are not as bad as people say. “If gold rusts, what then will iron do?”

(Geoffrey Chaucer, 1342-1400).

The best state Governor of his era has morphed into a Minister of Works who does not know what a road is – because anybody who believes we have roads in Nigeria must suffer from a serious case of Aso Rock disease.

All the Ministers waited from January; watched as things got worse and only now in December are they revealing to us what we should have known all along. By so doing, they have violated their oath of office by switching their loyalty to government, self and party instead of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

Henceforth, who in his right senses will ever believe them?

He added that the bank would be introducing new products that would address specific needs of its customers and continue to invest in IT infrastructure to ensure that all services touch points are reliable. Joda said, “Our mandate is to surpass your expectations in 2018 and beyond with a lot of packages such as the launch of new code for AmfB, among others.

“Whatever Accion would become, it is because of the foundation laid by Ms Bunmi Lawwson and her dedicated management staff that worked with her in the last 10 years. By the grace of God, in 2018, we are going to open 80 more branches because we have the system, we have the resources.”

Outgoing Managing Director,

Lawwson, said that the bank which commenced operations in 2007 with one branch and 18 staff have grown to become a National MfB from 2,531 customers to 165,000 as at November 2017. “We are setting out to serve our customers better.

The first thing is to multiply the available channels that our customers can receive services through technology. We are going to deploy a lot of technological changes, they are going to use their USSD code, we are going to make the digits easy to recall by introducing a new USSD code for our customers to be able to do businesses on their internet platform, transfer and receive money both within and outside the country.”

Microfinance Bank Plc, LAPO Microfinance Bank Limited and NPF Microfinance Bank Plc got the first set of loan disbursement of N5 billion each for on-lending to about 20,000 entrepreneurs operating in the MSMEs sector of the economy.

To enhance financial inclusion, the apex bank granted an approval-inprinciple to Inlaks, a financial technology company, to operate as a super-agent in the nation’s financial services system.

Inlaks is a leading system integrator in Nigeria and Subsaharan Africa. The aim is to ensure that informal workers in Nigeria have access to affordable financial services through its agent network which will address social challenges in key areas such as health insurance, credit accessibility, savings, wage payment, among others.

Managing Director/CEO, Inlaks, Mr. Femi Adeoti, said Inlaks would partner CBN to deploy a unified information technology platform for about 1000 Microfinance Banks in Nigeria. “The landmark project which is ongoing will be implemented under the auspices of the NAMB,” he said.

C M Y K

32 — Vanguard, MONDAY, DECEMBER 25, 2017

(08052201997)

P

ETROLEUM marketers threatened, in their communiqué of 29th August, 2017, to commence mass retrenchment, unless government settles over $2bn outstanding invoices, and also settles interest charges, on their delayed payments and the related exchange rate differentials, notwithstanding that the 2017 N7.4tn budget, already contains a crippling N2.32tn or 30% deficit.

Evidently, confusion trails the flip-flops in government’s failed attempts to remove subsidy and deregulate petrol pricing.

However, the $2bn outstanding debt, may technically, alarmingly, rise beyond $4bn (N1.4tn) before year end, if petrol price remains at N145/ litre, for fuel subsidy to ultimately, voraciously consume about 20% of 2017 budget!

Furthermore, in a report in Punch edition of 24/8/17, the Fiscal Responsibility Commission (FRC) also confirmed that Government illegally withdrew over N359bn from the Excess Crude Account to fund subsidy in 2015.

Nonetheless, the FRC is yet to report how much subsidy NNPC has funded between 2016-17, without Legislative approval.

Furthermore, the present fortuitous rise in crude oil price well beyond $40/barrel, should normally be a welcome development for enriching CBN’s depleting dollar reserves; conversely however, if crude price climbs once again and if Naira exchange rate stagnates, the retention of N145/litre petrol price will invariably oppressively escalate the burden of subsidy.

The above title ‘Is Petrol Still Subsidized’ was first published on 31 st October 2016; a summary follows hereafter; sadly, the question posed still remains officially unanswered: please read on:

Is petrol still subsidized?

“Petroleum Minister, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, informed newsmen in Abuja, on 17 December, 2015, that Government would focus on price modulation to ensure efficiency and regular supply of petroleum products; price modulation, according to Kachikwu, “has nothing to do with the removal or existence of subsidy.”

The Minister also explained that petrol price would no longer be fixed, as crude price would continue to determine petrol price. Kaichukwu, however, dismissed speculations that pump price would return to N97/litre in 2016, but, added however, that a band between the earlier discounted price of N87 and the current N97/litre might be adopted. Evidently, quite surprisingly, the Minister at this stage, probably did not fully recognize Naira exchange rate as the critical determinant of domestic petrol price. th However, on 11 May 2016, after 5 months of social anguish induced by acute fuel shortage, Vice President, Yemi Osibanjo, set a new pump price of N145/ litre. Government expressed optimism that the new price would improve supply, and stimulate competition and eventually drive down pump price. The new price, according to Kachikwu, was predicated on a projected exchange rate of about N280=$1; however, barely 2weeks after CBN announced its flexible exchange rate regime, the Naira/Dollar rate rose above N300/$, while crude oil price also climbed and stabilized around $40/barrel; consequently, profit margins were eroded, and the new price became unprofitable for third party importers. Invariably, the over N150/$ present gap between official and parallel

exchange rates, will ultimately spike the official Naira exchange rate well beyond N300=$1 to make the current petrol price of N145/litre unworkable.

Curiously, in a seemingly unsolicited intervention, nine former NNPC GMDs, expressed their fears, in an th NNPC press release on 4 September 2016, after a meeting with the Petroleum Minister that the subsisting N145/litre was “not congruent with the downstream liberalization policy, especially when foreign exchange and other price

How much subsidy is NNPC presently giving away on each dollar allocated for its petrol imports to ‘artificially’ sustain the present N145/ litre price determining components, such as crude oil cost and NPA charges remain uncapped”.

Indeed, prior to the Ex-GMDs’ reaction, oil marketers had similarly suggested, according to a Punch Newspaper report of 07/08/2016, that “if all pricing components are adequately captured, the actual or real cost of petrol was N151.87”.

In consonance with this observation, Mr. Mele Kyari, the NNPC GMD, Crude Oil th marketing, also stated on 24 October 2016, at an oil Expo in Lagos, that “it is impossible today to import and sell the

product at the current fixed exchange rate”. Consequently, Kyari warned that “the burden would become too heavy if NNPC remains the sole importer of petrol”.

However, in order to douse any public anxiety on supply, NNPC’s Director, Public Affairs, Garba Deen Muhammed, quickly, assured Nigerians, at another press briefing, two days later, that the petrol pump price of N145/litre has not been increased.

Muhammed confidently asserted that there couldn’t be petrol shortages with the subsisting, apparent supply glut and very robust stock and long term procurement contract that NNPC has established with suppliers. When asked if NNPC was still subsidizing fuel, the GMD emphatically countered, “No, there is no subsidy”, but boasted however, that “the current availability of PMS was a result of the “diligent application of commonsense with price modulation,” and therefore further assured, that “petrol prices were now being determined by market forces.”

So, the dilemma is that, with the conflicting reports from the NNPC ‘family’ who then, do we believe on the issue of sustainable petrol price, supply and subsidy?

Nevertheless, if NNPC remains sole importer, as suggested by Kyari, and petrol sells below its cost price, then of course, it is inevitable that the corporation’s financial accounts will ultimately look very tattered and ugly. Incidentally, Newspaper publications on forex usage have never thrown up NNPC as purchasing forex from commercial banks for petrol imports. The critical question therefore is, with the adoption of the Single Treasury Account for all government

FINANCIAL VANGUARD

ECONOMY

LASEPA, LAWMA supports Ecobank on cleaner Lagos initiative

T

HE Lagos State environment regulators have lauded Ecobank Nigeria’s various initiatives towards sustainable and safer environment in the state. The Lagos State Environmental Protection Agency (LASEPA) and Lagos State Waste Management Authority (LAWMA) affirmed that Ecobank’s deliberate policy to rid the state of nonbiodegradable materials like plastic bottles and used beverage cans would go a long way in protecting the environment and promote a C M Y K

cleaner Lagos. The two agencies pledged their support to the bank for the initiative.

Speaking during the launch of Ecobank ‘Operation 150,000 bottles and cans’ in Lagos last week, General Manager, LASEPA, Engr Adebola Shabi, said the action of Ecobank to ensure a safer environment has further portrayed it as a socially responsible organization.

Shabi who was represented by the Chief Scientific Officer, Mrs Sedoten Agosa-Anikwe, said: “This is an organization that is thinking out of the box.

A bank that is effectively

revenue, how does NNPC source forex and what Naira exchange rate, applies when NNPC adopts to in-house dollar supply to pay for its substantial petrol imports?

Furthermore, how much subsidy is NNPC presently giving away on each dollar allocated for its petrol imports to ‘artificially ’ sustain the present N145/litre price; indeed, how much of this subsidy is reflected as unbudgeted, public expenditure, without the required legislative approval, since provision for subsidy is clearly conspicuously absent in the 2016 and 2017 budgets.

Conversely also, if subsidy is truly eliminated with NNPC’s price modulation strategy, then we should properly celebrate the Corporation’s ingenuity in hatching this enabling solution to the hydra headed fuel pricing issue.”!

The above piece will be concluded with the following excerpt from another article titled “Fuel Price, The Bone In NNPC’s Throat” published in Punch and Vanguard editions of 25/07/16, see www.lesleba.com.

“Worse still, in place of relief, if crude oil price fortuitously rises beyond $50/barrel and happily increases Government revenue, we will, ironically, become apprehensive that such increase will ‘unfortunately’ instigate much higher fuel prices and bring back subsidy, particularly, if the price cap on petrol remains, or if the Naira exchange rate further depreciates.

“Notably, a plausible resolution to the inflationary and oppressive consequences of rising fuel prices and the avoidance of oppressive subsidy values even when crude prices spiral, will in fact, be a stronger Naira exchange rate.”

•SAVE THE NAIRA! SAVE NIGERIANS!!

contributing to the society where it operates. A responsible and caring corporate citizen. We salute Ecobank.”

In the same vein, Assistant General Manager, Special Services Department, LAWMA, Jide Onayiga, called on all corporate stakeholders in Lagos to take cue from Ecobank by partnering the state government to ensure a cleaner Lagos. He reiterated the determination of the Ambode’s administration to a sustainable environment through the recent signing the Environmental Management and Protection Bill into law.

Earlier in welcome address, Executive Director, Corporate Banking, Mr. Akin Dada, explained that the Bank had set aside a sustainability campaign week as part of its corporate social responsibility (CSR) to give back and ensure a safer community where it operates.

According to Mr. Dada, ‘‘Ecobank is a brand that is committed to sustaining the environment for all. This is part of the universal call to action to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure that all people enjoy peace and prosperity.’

He disclosed that through the

weeklong environment week, the Bank renovated and furnished Agbala Pediatric center in Ikorodu; organized symposium competition for secondary school students to debate on ways to sustain the environment and embarked on tree planting in 14 states of the federation, among others.

Executive Director /Chief Risk Officer, Ecobank Nigeria; Mr. Adebiyi Olagbami, said “protection of the environment is very close to our heart in Ecobank.

Degrading the environment and planet has become a global challenge. What we are doing as a Bank is to make the society and environment nicer much better than we met it.”

Vanguard, MONDAY, DECEMBER 25, 2017 — 33

Send Opinions & Letters to: opinions1234@yahoo.com Cement Company. It claims to have its own court ruling which directed that the status quo ante (which recognises its operations) should be maintained. However, Edo State Governor Obaseki announced that the Federal Ministry has asked that the disputed mines be shut-down. So he directed security agents to

When 2018 comes, let us thank God we survived

T

ENS of millions of Nigerians are in dire need. They do not know where the next meal will come from. They are not lazy, but there are no jobs. So when two industrial giants in a largely deindustrialised country take on each other in a fratricidal war, the death knell is sounded for thousands of jobs and their linkages. This unfolding tragedy is just a few days to the end of the year. This will doubtlessly be followed by hunger for the victims and their dependents.

BUA International Limited is a producer of foods including sugar, rice, pasta, flour and edible oils.

Its tentacles extend to steel, real estate, ports, terminals and cement.

Some years ago, it acquired the Sokoto and Edo Cement companies. In the case of the latter, BUA injected US$500 million for a 2.5 million new production line which will bring its production to 2.9 million metric tons.

But its production is being halted in a bruising fight with another cement giant, Dangote Cement which has three plants in the

country and is expanding into thirteen other African countries.

Dangote accused BUA of illegal mining. It claimed to have an April 27, 2016 injunction seeking to restrain BUA from further mining in the area. It claims ownership of the sites in Obu, Okpella. Its ownership rights, it claims, are based on its acquisition of its predecessor company, Ado Ibrahim and Company, AICO. Dangote claims that the lease granted BUA by the Edo State Governor is null and void as only the Federal Government can grant such licence.

On its part, BUA claims that Dangote is a predatory company which like the vulture, is feeding on carcasses and engaging in underhand dealings. It said that the recent claims against it: “ …by Dangote Group stinks of desperation in its continued attempt to disregard the judicial process and scheme a viable competitor out of business as has been their legendary antecedent.”

BUA claims that it has been operating the mines since 1976 when it was known as the Bendel

By Ali M Ali

‘The joy of a dying father is the presence of a worthy successor'…late Dan Masanin Kano, Yusuf Maitama Sule

H

ISTORY was made last Friday, December 15th, 2017 in Katagum emirate of Bauchi State in particular. The 12th emir was appointed. It was classic.

History beckoned, Governor M. A Abubakar, the advocate and respecter of popular will, hearkened and Emir Baba Umar Farouq, the kingmakers’ choice, was appointed.

Stripped bare, history is no more than yesterday’s events related today. The past is more or less, the action or inaction of men and women of power who defined or shaped the occurrences of that era. Still, history is no more than ordinary mortals doing extraordinary feats, of individuals who rocked the boat for good or bad, and often changed the course of history.

Examples abound.

Webster dictionary defines history thus “the study of past events, particularly in human affairs.’’

The present is the net result of yesterday’s incidences. And so it was with the selection and eventual appointment of Alhaji Baba Umar Katagum. He was a prince, actually the Crowned Prince, destined for the throne of his forebears.

Years before the passage of the patriarch and titan that was the 11th emir, the late Alhaji Muhammad Kabir Umar on December 9th, 2017,it was manifest that Baba Umar Farouq’s majestic WALK to the throne was unstoppable. He had an edge over the others. First, he was the eldest of all the siblings. He was also the district head of Shira. In the traditions of

C M Y

When two industrial giants in a largely deindustrialised country take on each other in a fratricidal war, the death knell is sounded for thousands of jobs and their linkages

ensure the closure in order to maintain security.

In the midst of all these, walked in a delegation of the host community with the wisdom of Solomon. The people are beneficiaries of the mining and are aware that poverty will increase with the closure. They know that when two elephants fight, it is primarily they, the grass, that will suffer. They proposed that rather than stop work, both BUA and Dangote can mine in the area.

They told Governor Obaseki a truth; that the court process he wants to resolve the dispute can

take eternity, and in any case, it would only produce a winner and a loser. They want an Alternative Dispute Resolution mechanism that will not only save jobs but increase them, and ensure a winwin outcome for all.

This is wisdom springing from a community, and hopefully, the federal and state governments will soak themselves in it. However, as things stand, the mine is being closed, jobs are slipping away and many of the workers and ancillary beneficiaries in the EDO BUA may enter 2018 without an income.

That is how tough it has become to be a Nigerian; the struggle for survival is intense. The Year 2018 is so near, yet so far. There are likely to be Nigerians who would be kidnapped from their homes for ransom. When I was young, in almost all cases, those kidnapped were children who can be enticed with sweets and free food. Now the targets are adults who can pay or whose families can pay ransom.

Sometimes, even when ransom is paid, the victim is murdered.

Nigerians are kidnapped anywhere; on the road, at work, in farms, leisure spots and in their homes. Also, the preferred currency of ransom for the major players in the kidnap industry, is the dollar. With the rise of such crimes as kidnapping, trafficking in drugs and human beings, armed robbery is no longer an issue.

Unless it is on a big scale like holding up a number of banks, it goes virtually unreported.

I recall the first time I came across a thief; the man rifled past me as if the devil was on his heels, shortly after, a policeman followed and all around me concluded that luck had ran out for the thief. Once the police was on his trail, he had no chance of escape. In those days,

History and the making of Emir Farouq Katagum Emirate, the occupant of the throne of Shira is more or less, the “king in waiting.” Once on that throne, he assumes the status of the “heir-apparent.”

Unless due to some unforeseen circumstances, he is destined for the royal plum when a vacuum is created. It ceases to be an “if ” and becomes a “ when.’’

As district head of Shira, one is being groomed to eventually succeed his

Governor Abubakar did the needful; he hearkened to history and affirmed the choice of the kingmakers and their Baba Umar Farouq was announced as 12th emir

forebear. For years, the late emir, the colossus that was Alhaji Muhammad Umar Kabir who breathed his last on Saturday, was personally mentoring Farouq, the new emir.

The late emir was indeed, a goliath; a rare breed; an icon of statecraft. An old school that schooled the new school. He was actually a bridge between the two schools. An oasis in a desert. Sojourners questing for knowledge of the here and the hereafter naturally berthed at this oasis to drink from the fountain.

He walked side by side, with the venerated Ahmadu Bello, the first and

only Premier of Northern Region.

An embodiment of humility, his life trajectory at once engenders awe and respect.

WIKIPEDIA, the free encyclopedia, details his earthly sojourn as follows: he was born in 1934 and received his education at the Bauchi Middle School between 1948 and 1949 after which he went to the then Clerical Training College now Ahmadu Bello University, ABU, Zaria where he studied local government administration between 1950 and 1951.

He later proceeded to the UK for another course in local government administration.

He also attended many courses and seminars within and outside Nigeria all in local government administration.

Before his selection as the Emir, he had held various offices as Native Authority scribe at the Central Office in Azare in 1949. He was then appointed as the District Head of Sakwa between 1952 and 1957 and he became the District head of Katagum in 1955. In 1966, he was the NA Councillor for Natural Resources and from there, he was moved to Shira as the District Head. He was also Minister of State, Premier ’s Office, Kaduna (19571960); Minister of Internal Affairs, Northern Nigeria (1960-1966); he had earlier been elected into the Northern House of Assembly (1952-1966) during which he was appointed Parliamentary Secretary, Ministry of Land and Survey in 1957. Between 1976 and 1978, he was the Chairman of Bauchi State Housing Corporation. In the same year, he was appointed Chairman of Bauchi State Development Board, Chairman, Board of the Governing Council of College of

thieves operate mainly in the dead of the night and any alarm raised, led to their scampering away. But we are now in the nuclear age where robbers can write letters to whole streets or a neigbourhood giving notice that they would be the victims of their operation on a particular day.

The challenges we face as Nigerians include a brutal terror war unleashed by the Boko Haram who hardly take prisoners.

There are the quite bloody ‘Herdsmen-Farmers’ clashes across the country in which sometimes, whole villages are sacked. Despite the massacres, I do not know of people undergoing trial for these grisly crimes against humanity.

As the Christmas and New Year holidays set in, we are not sure of power supply. The electricity companies are gods that demand excessive payments through crazy bills, refuse to supply meters, especially pre-paid ones, and to which over N1.3 trillion public funds have been paid as sacrifice.

Yet, they are insatiable. Now we face new challenges; unending fuel shortages that has made travelling during this festive period, a nightmare. If we have a fundamental right to movement, and there is no fuel in our vehicles, how do we exercise such a right?

During the three-year Civil War (1967-70), life was so brutish and short that people behind rebel lines learnt to live one day at a time.

Death stalked the land, kwashiorkor reigned just as bombs did. There was so much uncertainty that people greeted themselves “Happy survival.”

When 2018 comes, let us thank God we survived. I wish you happy survival.

Islamic Legal Studies, Misau (19862001). He was also at different times, the Pro-Chancellor, Provisional Council of Federal University of Technology, Yola; Chancellor, University of Agriculture, Abeokuta and Chancellor, University of Calabar.

As with all history makers, his death at the ripe age of 89, caused shock waves beyond Katagum Emirate. Tears flowed in torrents. It created a vacuum difficult to fill. This is more against the backdrop of the 37 years he spent on the throne. But not to worry. A worthy successor was at hand – Alhaji Baba Umar Farouq, the district head of Shira.

Even before he was appointed officially, the social media was awash with the news of his ascension. I was inundated with calls. Each sought to confirm if the rumour was true. Some of the mongers spoke with authority. They cited tradition to back up their argument. The late emir ascended the throne nearly 40 years ago after being district head of Shira. The eventual successor too, is eminently qualified and prepared for the job at hand.

He is the oldest male of the children of the departed monarch. He is a retired federal permanent secretary. He is the choice of the kingmakers. Except for two contenders, all his siblings rooted for him.

The kingmakers presented three names to the government as required by law.

History beckoned. Governor Abubakar did the needful. He lived up to his reputation of doing the right thing at the right time. He hearkened to history and affirmed the choice of the kingmakers.

And their Baba Umar Farouq was announced as 12th emir. History again, has been made!

*Mr. Ali, is an aide to MA Abubakar..

34 -- Vanguard, MONDAY, DECEMBER 25, 2017

LEISURE

YOUR LUCK TODAY

THOUGHTS FOR TODAY

By Joshua Adeyemo Phone 08056180139

SAGITTARIUS; This is not the right time for you to either gamble with money or take friends for granted.

Secret lovers may be in for an exciting day.

CAPRICORN; It is important you are more practical and seek all important supports of the influential people around you. Be more loving.

AQUARIUS; The more ambitious you are today the better for your cause. And here is a good day to plan for the future but you must do away with whatever can not be placed above board. Yong-at-heart among you may be in for a romantic day.

PISCES; Even if you are tempted to gamble by whoever and/or whatsoever reason you must resist it or else you would be the loser. Being aggressive may help.

When we take on the attitude of “arriving”, we surrender our growth, productivity and meaningfulness along with the opportunity to joyfully thrive. Lee M. Brower Attitude Kindness and compassion are among the principal things that make our lives meaningful. Dalai Lama Kindness and compassion are among the principal things that make our lives meaningful. They are a source of lasting happiness and joy. Dalai Lama - Kindness As adults we have an obligation to guide our children and to encourage them to read books that will improve their lives and inspire them to excel in life. Dr. Marshall Hennington, Words of Wisdom For My Daughter - Children

TERROR MUDA

in “Never say goodbye”

By Kola Fayemi

ARIES; Provided you are willing to co-operate with other people things will not go out of hands but exhibition of inordinate ambition can earn you avoidable trouble.

TAURUS; Element of luck will assist you. Those of you who are more hard working will have more positive things to show for your efforts. Take care of your health.

GEMINI; Many natives of this Zodiac sign will be excited either because of romantic interest within your working arena or practical advancement at work.

CANCER; Reason with those you can take as veterans within your base of operation because if you want to force your way without carrying necessary and more experienced people along it would back-fire now or soonest.

LEO; The more creative you are the better for your cause. However is typical day when too much expectation can bring disappointment. Be more family minded.

DUDU

in

“Rolling Hot’

By A .O. OLAIDE

VIRGO; If your priority is financial success you may not be disappointed provided you prepare for a few challenges. For now both your mental energy and physical attributes are enough to win you love not MONEY. Be more receptive.

LIBRA; This is your day when both good luck and your personal efforts will bring you success. Try to be as caring as possible to those within your base.

SCORPIO; Although there will be challenges at the end of it all you will have genuine cause to smile.

The more secretive you are the better for your cause.

This is not the right time to ignore your sex life. Do away with unnecessary argument.

ASTROLOGICAL COUNSELLING

VIRGINIA

dadadekola@yahoo.com

HOME & ABROAD

By Lawrence Akapa

Send yyour our dat th ttoo the As tr ological datee and place of bir birth Astr trological Counselling, PP.M.B .M.B 1100 00 7, Apapa, Lagos 007,

Should I remain hopeful?

Dear Joshua, I want your in-depth analysis and tell me about my social life, and the time I am likely to have my much desired break-through in life.

I am hopeful though.

Anonymous, Nigeria.

Dear Anonymous, Yes be very hopeful. And what you will find here-under will answer your questions.

YOUR SOCIAL LIFE Social life will always bring you attention good luck envy opposition and possibly fame.

The best way for you not to be constant loser in the social world is to always study situation practically and know that your finance will not suffer (if it can not be beneficiary) from the setting before taking responsibility.

As for influential friends you will have them but never always take them for granted.

Sudden SUCCESS will come your way during your 46th year on earth and will serve as a break-through year you can build great foundation of endless success on. But the same 46th year will bring love related challenges you must manage with all maturity or else it will linger till after your 48th year on earth.

Vanguard, MONDAY, DECEMBER 25, 2017—35

36 —VANGUARD, MONDAY, DECEMBER 25, 2017 08070524223

By John Chukwuma Ajakah

B

ritish journalist and author, George Orwell (1903-1950) in his satirical fable, Animal Farm published in 1945 by Longman Group Limited, portrays the idea of equality before the law as a delusion.

He makes a caricature of political leaders, who contrive utopian ideals and hoodwink the ignorant peasants to crave for a supposed perfect state.

The quest for change in most human societies begins with a dream. So does that of the animals in this classic novel.

Buoyed by the dream of a wizened old pig, Old Major, the animals in this allegory, rebel against their oppressive human owner, Mr. Jones, and overthrow him to form an egalitarian society. However, their vain pursuit for socioeconomic and political utopia is usurped by the maverick pigs whose emergence as political elites elevates to the status of being ‘more equal than others’.

The pigs, led by Napoleon and Snowball, become lords of the farm. Although the novel hinges on the Russian Revolution which features high profile political figures like Tsar Nicholas II, Karl Marx, Vladimir Lenin, Joseph Stalin, Leon Trotsky and Vyacheslav Molotov, it has a universal application and could represent any other society, especially African countries that have had colonial experience.

The citizenry rarely fare better after the change of guard. The emergent political gladiators put the garb of demigods, using obnoxious laws to perpetuate themselves in power and make life more unbearable for the downtrodden masses.

The Storyline The Animal Farm centers on a group of domestic animals, who rebel against their owner, the proprietor of Manor Farm, Mr. Jones, to form selfgovernment, free of any human control. The animals expel Jones and rename the facility, Animal Farm. Jones had angered them by under feeding and exploiting them for cheap labour. One day, a pig named Old Major, calls a meeting of all the animals and narrates a dream he had had.

He believes it to be a revelation of a future without human dominance. He also teaches them an inspirational freedom song, ‘Beasts of England’ which later becomes a National Anthem. They get very excited and begin to imagine the possibility of a life of unmitigated freedom. The dream inspires them to aspire for liberation from their oppressive and exploitative human master.

Old Major dies a few days after, leaving two young pigs, Snowball and Napoleon to lead the other animals in preparation for the foreseen rebellion. Things happen fast.

The animals revolt against Jones and take over the farm.

The purpose of the revolution

The relevance of George Orwell’s Animal Farm to modern politics is to create a fair society in which the animals will live freely on the basis of equality in the spirit of animalism.

They fashion out seven cardinal commandments to this effect. Jones launches an attack to reclaim the farm. He is assisted by the proprietors of two other farms who fear that their own animals might re-enact the rebellion.

On the day of battle, the animals led by Snowball fight bravely and win, forcing the men out. They name it, “The Battle of the C o w s h e d ” d e c o r a t i n g Snowball and Napoleon with the medals, ‘Animal Hero, First Class.’

Things start falling apart as leadership tussle ensues between Snowball and Napoleon. They oppose each other on every move to advance the farm.

S n o w b a l l announces his plans to build a windmill, which would supply electricity and reduce menial labour. Napoleon vehemently opposes him, canvassing for increased farm produce instead.

Their heated debates polarize the animals into two camps.

Napoleon, along with nine fiercelooking dogs, arrive the farm one day and chase Snowball away.

Napoleon, surrounded by his dogs, then reads the riot act in a military fashion that reveals him as a real dictator.

He blames everything that goes wrong on the exiled Snowball, who he claims sneaks around the farm, ruining everything. He surprisingly begins to execute

The 7th commandment: All animals are equal, is extended to amalgamate all the commandments into an over-riding maxim: All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others

the windmill project he had condemned, forcing the animals to work more and eat less. Boxer, the dutiful horse, loses strength due to old age and Napoleon sends him to the abattoir to be slaughtered.

Soon, the pigs begin to behave like Jones, exploiting the others.

They manipulatively use gullible and ignoramus ones like the sheep to cause mayhem. They metamorphose into proprietors of the farm and establish bilateral trade

relations with human beings.

They also wear clothes and mimic humans in every possible way, including walking on hind legs. The maxim, “Four legs good, two legs better” replaces the old one that condemns two legs.

Characterization The few human characters in the novel include Jones, the founder of Manor Farm; Pilkington, the proprietor of Foxwood, a neighbouring farm; and Frederick, the landlord of Pinchfield, a small, but well-kept nearby farm.

They are all depicted as minor characters with neither sterling attributes nor profound roles.

The major characters are Old Major, who inspires the animals and sets the tune for the rebellion; Napoleon, a large boar who becomes the maximum leader of Animal Farm after masterminding the expulsion of his main rival, Snowball, the inventive and visionary political leader, with exceptional oratorical prowess. Snowball is the main hero of the battle with the human beings tagged, ‘The Battle of The Cowshed.’ He

is also the mastermind of ‘the windmill’ which Napoleon installs after his ignominious expulsion from the farm. He is an avid reader and the author of most of the brilliant ideas used in running the farm after the rebellion.

Napoleon considers him a serious threat to his ambition because he is persuasive and easily wins the loyalty of other animals. Napoleon dislodged him by engaging the services of savage dogs who hounded him out of a meeting during a heated debate over his pet project, the windmill.

Squealer is another prominent member of the pigs’ cabinet. He is a passionate and persuasive orator. He serves as the Information Officer and proves to be a loyal spokesperson for Napoleon after the banishment of Snowball.

He twists the language to justify Napoleon’s actions and confuse the animals until they accept whatever Napoleon says as being correct. The pigs are the political elites who plan, make policies and drive other animals to attain set goals.

The horses lead the workforce with their extraordinary strength.

Boxer is a loyal and dedicated horse. He agrees with his partner, Clover, to the philosophy of working harder. He puts extra time, waking earlier than others to work and close late. He believes that ‘Napoleon is always right.’

However, he later grows too weak to work actively.

Napoleon reneges on his promise to provide him with retirement benefits and sends him to an abattoir instead, deceiving others to believe that he is sent to the hospital.

The dogs are the political thugs who man Napoleon’s security unit to deter resistance from the other animals and curtail the ambition of fellow pigs. The pig, Minimus, is one of Napoleon’s loyalists. He composes poems and songs in honour of Napoleon and writes two national anthems to replace ‘Beasts of England’.

He typifies a sycophant who hails the man in power to the detriment of the larger society.

Themes The novel conveys many thematic concerns. The central theme of rebellion is portrayed as the animals revolt against their human owner, Jones, and establish their own government. There is also the theme of power tussle. This is expressed in the unhealthy rivalry between Napoleon and Snowball which culminates in the expulsion of Snowball and enthronement of the

despotic leadership of Napoleon. The theme of social inequality is explored through the elevation of the pigs as superior animals and preferential treatment they consequently receive over others. For instance, apples and milk are exclusively reserved for them. The piglets also receive elitist education as future leaders while puppies are trained as thugs and eggs belonging to hens are sold for money.

Betrayal of trust occurs as the pigs usurp the power reposed in them to the detriment of the other animals. The theme of political apathy is presented through Benjamin, the old donkey, who prides himself with the axiom that donkeys have long life, remains noncommittal to the evolving political system and unperturbed at the intrigues though he is wise enough to know the pigs are insincere.

The theme of religion is realised through Moses, an old raven who visits the farm and like the Biblical Moses, tells the animals stories of a heavenly place called, ‘Sugarcandy Mountain.’ He claims that hard working animals go there when they die. Moses represents a religious leader who preaches faith in an unknown future as palliative measure to ameliorate the immediate suffering of the people. This echoes Karl Marx’s assertion that religion is the opium of the people.

Summary Napoleon systematically jettisons the 7 commandments – the articles of faith, which form the bedrock of the Principles of Animalism.

When the pigs learn to walk on their hind legs, he alters the 1st commandment, ‘Whatever goes upon two legs is an enemy’ to read ‘Four legs good, two legs better.’

The pigs begin to hobnob with human beings. They also start wearing clothes, sleeping in beds and drinking alcohol contravening the 3rd, 4th and 5th commandments: No animal shall wear clothes, No animal shall sleep in a bed, and No animal shall drink alcohol.

The killing of Boxer and other aged animals negates the 6th commandment: No animal shall kill any other animal.’ Finally, the 7th commandment: All animals are equal, is extended to amalgamate all the commandments into an overriding maxim: ALL ANIMALS ARE EQUAL, BUT SOME ANIMALS ARE MORE EQUAL THAN OTHERS. The pigs revert to the old name, ‘Manor Farm’.

Resistance seems needless.

The animals are too intimidated to protest against Napoleon’s dictatorship.

VANGUARD, MONDAY, DECEMBER 25, 2017 —37 08070524223

Masquerades: Art or cultism?

*The Ndiche-Umunakara Masquerade

By Lari Williams

I

f masquerades and the arts are seen as entertainment, it is obviously not right to stigmatise the masquerade by equating it with cultism. This clarification is crucial. Why are

we afraid to encourage the masquerade by letting it get popular as a unit of entertainment?

In today’s entertainment schedule, we find that masquerades are either totally missing or miserably reduced to the foot of the ladder.

Masquerades expertly display captivating dances, songs and acrobatic agility apart from their colourful disposition and the arresting beauty of their esoteric regalia.

Take a look at drama which tells stories of

Ebohon is new president of artists’ guild

S

am Ebohon has been elected as the new president of Guild of Professional Fine Artists (GFA). Ebohon emerged the fourth president during the guild’s sixth convention, held at GFA Secretariat, NCAC Annex, National Arts Theatre, Iganmu, Lagos few days ago.

Other elected members of the executive include Vice-President, Juliet Ezenwa Maja-Pearse; General Secretary, Nobert Okpu; Financial Secretary, Osagie Aimufia; and Social Director, Bimbo Adenugba.

Duke Asidere contested against Ebohon as president while Lekan Onabanjo and Juliet Ezenwa Maja-Pearce opposed each other for the post of the vice-president.

In his acceptance speech, Ebohon traced his membership to the early years of GFA and requested support of the general members. “I joined this association at inception and over the years, it has survived

*Sam Ebohon

through our dedication and passion,” Ebohon said.

“The election this year has given a pointer to the fire that burns inside us and it is very encouraging.”

Despite what he assessed as the gains of GFA, he cautioned that “we all agree there is much more we can do and achieve. I offer my

sincere gratitude to all who believed in my ability to lead. Without you, this experience wouldn’t have been possible.

“As much as I appreciate this opportunity before me, the greatest reward is that we can all work together to achieve the sole aim of rekindling our fellowship for the good of the association.”

men and women as we see them whereas the masquerade’s performance includes mime, sign language, dance, and a strong feeling of audience participation.

In every public display, a captivated audience is encouraged to get in-

A

cclaimed performance poet, Akeem Lasisi, is set to release another album titled Comforti.

This is coming three years after Udeme, his album whose title track combines romance with political satire.

Comforti, the poet says, is a celebration of African sounds in the forms of poetry, songs, and beats. He hopes it will justify the gap between it and Udeme. “Although I did not release any full album in the last three years, my poetry life has always been active. Regularly, I have been producing singles, videos and audios. For instance, it is during the period that I produced videos like Asabi Alakara (off Wonderland/Eleleture album) and the yet-to-be-released House of Memory for Prince Yemisi Shyllon.”

According to Lasisi, “the audios and videos of Onarebu, Jantolo and Mo ri e Lookan’ which are part of Comforti, were also produced in the last three years. These are exclud-

volved consciously or unconsciously. Beginning from childhood, we were made to believe that the masquerade has a spiritual and mystic quality. As we get older, we come to the knowledge and realisation that the masquerade is in fact a masked man supplying a vital entertaining display.

As a child, I followed the Iyeriye and Sokolobo which were Lagos children’s masquerades. In adulthood, I became an ardent follower of Zunguru and Lapampa. I loved their displays and appreciated their entertainment value. Other masquerades were Tarzan, Raimi Jagba and Bamgbose, dreaded but supremely entertaining Lagos Island masquerades. Later, along with Chief Ajanaku II, the Araba of Lagos, I became the first theatre producer to bring Egun Lapampa on stage at the main bowl of the National Theatre, enriching the 1984 production of my play, Awero, with no ritual, no blood spilling, no chicken strangling. It was purely art and entertainment.

In childhood, the spiritual, mystic, dark and occultist connotations behind the masquerade were real to my inexperienced thinking. I accepted them as Ara Orun, entities from the spirit world. They fascinated me from this perspective.

Later, I began to notice

that they had feet like ordinary humans. Some wore socks and soft shoes though their voices were unearthly. Along the line, realisation occurred and the artistic and entertainment value took over in my mature judgment.

Families, age groups and groups of friends operate and maintain masquerades but it does not mean that masqueraders are cultists.

For instance, I run a Playhouse along with a few executives and they are merely actors and actresses and we include a masquerade act in some of our productions. Lagos carnivals in April always include masquerade seasonal displays (Odun Egun) during Fanti fancy carnivals. It goes along with Christian Easter celebrations, adding colour and pageantry.

Masquerades create community identity for the different environments where they belong. This should present no conflict with the church or any other religious group. They are purely cultural entertainment and entertainers.

Surely, we don’t see Lagbaja, a masked musician as a cultist representation but as a musician masked to add colour to his craft and presentation. The boisterous nature of masquerade entertainment makes it unique to keep boys and men on their toes as they dance round villages, towns and cities. Masquerade entertainment can also be seen as a seasonal exercise that is good for youth and the young at heart.

A lady inspired Comforti, my new album – Lasisi ing performances in different parts of the country. But very important is the fact that Kabir Alabi and I also worked on what I regard as a major multi-genre book titled Phenomenal Lagos, which celebrates 50 iconic monuments in Lagos State as part of its 50th anniversary as celebrated by the state government and other stakeholders. Phenomenal Lagos is about photographs, stories and poems centering on the monuments.”

He adds that audio work on Phenomenal Lagos is also being concluded.

“This is evident in the fact that two of the tracks of Phenomenal Lagos are included in Comforti. This is to give listeners a taste of the bumper Lagos poetry to come. The tracks so brought forward are ti-

*Akeem Lasisi tled BRT and Three Wise Men. So, you can see that the fact that I have not released any major album since 2014 does not mean that I have been idle.”

The new album comprises 10 tracks, making it the biggest of Lasisi’s albums. While Eleleture has six tracks, Udeme has five. Some of the other tracks in the new offering are Isabela, Jantolo, Deadlock and His Signature is Bold and Everywhere, for the late artist, culture promoter and Minister of Planning, Chief Rasheed Gbadamosi.

38—VANGUARD, MONDAY, DECEMBER 25, 2017 :Vanguard News

Ikpeazu presents N140bn budget for 2018

By Anayo Okoli

U

MUAHIA— Governor Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia State has presented an appropriation bill of N140.93 billion to the State House of Assembly for consideration as the 2018 working budget of the State.

Christened “Budget of Partnerships and Opportunities”, the 2018 estimates shows an 28.15 per cent increase over that of 2017 outlay of N111.72 billion.

A breakdown of the estimates shows it makes for a recurrent expenditure of N68.47 billion and a capital expenditure of N72.46 billion.

Presenting the appropriation bill to the lawmakers, Governor Ikpeazu said: “We are not expecting a dramatic improvement in the revenue accruing to the

state. The face of the economy at the national level has not changed. The realities of the continuous dwindling of the revenue accruing to the country from the major revenue earner (oil) as well as other macroeconomic indices in Nigeria are very much there. All these are evidently going to impact negatively on the economic activities in the state and by extension the IGR. “The estimated budget outlay is based on the expected revenue from the Federation Account and Value Added Tax, VAT, sources to be complemented by the projected cash inflow from Independent Revenues, Aids, Grants, Credits and other sources. Our funding gaps will be reduced from expected collaboration arrangements with Private Partnerships and Donor agreements.”

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Fuel scarcity, deliberate plan to impoverish Ndigbo—Ohanaeze Advises Igbos to invest home As Udeogaranya, Archbishop Obinna, Nwokolo, urge Ndigbo to pray at Christmas bringing home during

By Chioma Gabriel, Chidi Nkwopara & Chimaob Nwaiwu

O

WERRI—THE President General of the umbrella Igbo organisation, the Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Chief John Nnia Nwodo, has taken a swipe on the Federal Government over the current scarcity of fuel, describing the situation as a deliberate plan to impoverish the Igbo people, who usually travel enmasse during the Christmas period.

Nwodo, who noted that whatever wealth Igbo sons and daughters would be

Christmas would be halved by the the obvious effect of fuel shortage, advised Ndigbo to strive to ensure that they invest at home.

This is as the Catholic Archbishop of Owerri Ecclesiastical Province, His Grace, Dr. Anthony J. V. Obinna and the Bishop Diocese on the Niger, Rt. Rev Dr Owen Nwokolo, urged Ndigbo to use this period of Christmas to intensify their prayers for peace in the country.

The two reverred clerics also urged the Igbos to bring back their wealth to their homeland.

The Ohanaeze President, Nwodo, also said in a Christmas message to the

people that the period provided good opportunity for Ndigbo to pray more to God to send succour to alleviate their sufferings in the country.

Chief Nwodo alleged that knowing what Christmas means to Ndigbo, the Federal Government was very uncharitable to the people to allow fuel scarcity in the country during this yuletide.

He said: “They know that at this period in the year, Ndigbo travel a lot to their homeland; that is when the government chose to close our airport; that is when it decided to allow scarcity of fuel. This is very unfair and insensitive.

“It’s a deliberate policy of impoverishing our people, to ensure that whatever wealth our sons and daughters bring home during Christmas, is

...Grants pardon to 9 prisoners

By Anayo Okoli

U

MUAHIA—ABIA State Governor, Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu has granted pardon to nine prison inmates serving various jail terms in Aba, Umuahia, Enugu and Kirikiri in Lagos.

The nine inmates were convicted by courts within Abia State for various offences, including murder, stealing, assault and advanced fee fraud.

A statement issued by the chairman, State Advisory Council on Prerogative of Mercy and the Attorney of the State, Chief Umeh Kalu, SAN, said that Governor Ikpeazu granted them pardon “in commemoration of the Christmas and New Year celebrations”.

One of the lucky, inmates, a female murder convict serving at the Kirikiri

Prisons, Lagos, who received total pardon was ordered to be released, while five others who also received full pardon and were also ordered to be released.

Three other murder convicts had their death sentences commuted to life imprisonment.

“All the releases were made by the Governor on the advice of the State Advisory Council on Prerogative of Mercy, headed by the Honourable Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice of the State.

“The Governor wishes that the released prisoners will take advantage of the new lease of life granted to them and forever refrain from criminality and remain law abiding citizens”, the statement said.

Pains in Imo over cost of transportation

By Chinonso Alozie

O

WERRI—THE high cost of transportation in Imo State, has continued to increase, with commuters trekking long distances to cut down expenses.

Vanguard monitored the development, yesterday, in Owerri and observed the hardship faced by the people of the state as regards transportation.

Some people who spoke with Our Correspondent

argued that it all started from the time the tricycles were banned from operating in the metropolis, coupled with the scarcity of petrol.

It was gathered that moving within the state capital, which used to be between N50 and N80 per distance, has now risen to between N150 and 200, while outskirts of the town cost higher between N500 and N700, as the case maybe, especially late in the evening.

expended on the obvious effect of fuel shortage and none for investment."

Nwodo warned that any deliberate policy to undermine the economy of Ndigbo would affect the entire country heavily.

He urged Ndigbo not to allow the hardship occasioned by the anti people policy of this administration to affect them in ploughing some fractions of their wealth home.

Let nothing spoil your Xmas — Archbishop Obinna

Archbishop Obinna gave the advice in his 2017 Christmas message “Light up the Candles; Sing the Carols and Jump for Joy. He said: "Let nothing spoil your Christmas, not even the government induced poverty”.

The cleric said that “only recently, with the so called Operation Python Dance, a number of our youthful children were swallowed up, with a number of them are still unaccounted for. “ That Ekeukwu Market in Owerri is now lying in ruins, reflects the dispirited hearts of traders, civil servants, pensioners and the common Imo man, in the face of mass poverty and sadness in our land,” Obinna said.

Bishop Nwokolo preaches peace, reconciliation

AWARD: From left— Chairman, Nigerian Institute of Public Relations, NIPR, Lagos Chapter, Olusegun McMedal; President & Chairman of Council, NIPR, Dr. Rotimi Oladele; Chief Executive Officer, XLR8, Calixthus Okoruwa; and Vice President, NIPR, Mukhtar Sirajo, during the Presidential Award of Corporate PR Practitioner of the Year 2017, to XLR8 by the NIPR, in Lagos. Photo: Akeem Salau

Tension in Anambra, as herdsmen kill farmer

By Vincent Ujumadu

A

WKA—TENSION is mounting in the sleepy community of Anaku in Ayamelum local government area of Anambra State, following the reported killing of a farmer in the area by herdsmen.

Anambra State Deputy Governor, Dr. Nkem Okeke, who visited the community in company of the state Commissioner of Police and the state Director of the State Security Service, DSS, vowed that government would unmask the killers and bring them to book.

The middle aged farmer, identified simply as Atuanya was reportedly

killed in his farm, which made the people to call on the state government to curtail the incursion of the herdsmen, otherwise they would resort to defending themselves whenever such attack occurred.

Addressing the people during the visit, the deputy governor commended them for not taking the laws into their hands, assuring that the state government was committed towards ensuring the security of lives and property of the citizenry.

Describing Anaku as one of the belts of the agricultural revolution in the state, Okeke called on them to allow security agents conclude their investigation into the matter

and announced that the traditional ruler of the community would henceforth, be part of the committee set up by the state government to generate accurate security information on peaceful coexistence in the area.

Anambra State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Garba Umar, in his speech, expressed worry over the increasing cases of herdsmen menace in the state, attributing it to the influx of those he described as new set of herdsmen who were ignorant of the existing agreement between the state government and the Fulani community in the state.

In a similar vein, Bishop Nwokolowho spoke during his Christmas message said the love of God, good will to men and peace on earth were the three cardinal messages that must be emphasised during Christmas celebrations because God loves the world and gave his only son Jesus Christ to redeem mankind.

Udeogaranya calls for Christ-like humility

In a related development, a chieftain of All Progressives Congress, APC, Chief Charles Udeogaranya, in his message urged Christians to rediscover and rededicate themselves to love, peace, unity, equity and justice.

He said: “The lessons of humility, selflessness, love and simplicity learnt from the birth of Jesus should be our guiding principles.

He urged those in position of affluence to return to a more simple life in emulation of the unique experience of our Lord Jesus who was born in a manger.

Vanguard, MONDAY, DECEMBER 25, 2017—39 :Vanguard News

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Use part of $1bn insurgency fund for Ogoni cleanup, FG urged

By Davies Iheamnachor

P

ORT HARCOURT— OGONI Youth Federation, OYF, has pleaded with the Federal Government to divert part of the $1 billion approved for the fighting of insurgency in the NorthEast to the clean up of Ogoni devastated land.

OYF also expressed worry

over the continuous delay in the commencement of the implementation of the Ogoni clean-up, stressing that the process was marred by poor funding.

President-General of OYF, Mr Legborsi Yamaabana, in a statement, weekend, at the annual national congress of the body at Bera Community, Gokana Local Government Area, Rivers State, said that

for over three decades, the people of the area have suffered margilization and devastation, noting that the Federal Government should give priority to the dangers bedevilling the Ogoni people.

He said: “We have been in devastation for over 30 years and the Federal Government has been very slow in the implementation of the United Nations

Environment Programme, UNEP report for over 11 years now, as nothing has been done to assuage the situation of the people.

“A huge amount of money has been approved for the insurgency that started a few years ago. We are saying that part of the money should be diverted to the clean up of Ogoni so that the work can start.”

FUNERAL;

From left: Governor Udom Emmanuel of Akwa Ibom State; former Governor Obong Victor Attah and Senate Minority Leader, Senator Godswill Akpabio, at the funeral of the wife of the first civilian governor of the state, the late Obongawan Imoh Isemin, at Mbioto Town Primary School, Mbioto 2, Etinan Local Government Area, Akwa Ibom State.

IYC demands release of 50 N-Delta activists

By Emma Amaize

W

A R R I— IJAW Youth Council, IYC, led by Mr. Eric Omare, has called for the urgent release of about 50 Niger Deltan activists allegedly arrested and detained without trial for over a year by security agencies in the country.

Noting that spokesperson of Ijaw Peoples Development Initiative, IPDI, Mr Daniel Ezekiel, was recently released by the Department of State Services, DSS, after a year and three months in detention, IYC spokesperson, Henry Iyala, said that the security agencies, especially DSS, have continued to violate the human rights of the detainees.

He stated that the council had written the United Nations Human Rights Council, High Commissioner for Human Rights, Geneva, Switzerland, Mr. Zeid Al

Hussein, Africa Commission on Human, Peoples’ Rights and the National Human Rights Commission, NHRC of Nigeria, urging them to wade into the continued detention of the activists.

Iyala gave the names of some of the Niger Deltans in detention as Alex Odogu (IYC spokesman, Abuja Chapter), Michael John, Gabriel Ogbu, Justus Golubus, Joshua Golubus, Norway Suku, Felix

Mieminiye and John Fortune.

He said: “The IYC states that the continued detention of these Niger Deltans without trial amounts to a violation of the United Nations Universal Declaration on Human Rights, the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights and chapter IV of the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria on fundamental human rights.

“These international instruments and local laws guarantee citizens’ rights to

personal liberty and obligate security agencies to charge anybody that is arrested in suspicion of having committed an offence within 24 hours or a reasonable time.

“The IYC states that most of the Niger Deltans in detention have spent more than a year in detention without trial. In some cases, the courts have made orders for their release, but the relevant security agencies refused to obey the order and release them on bail,” he added.

‘$1bn to fight B’Haram, height of insensitivity to N-Delta’

By Perez Brisibe

O

POROZA—THE Ibibenimowie (Chief Mobilizer) of Gbaramatu Kingdom, Delta State, Chief Godspower Gbanakama, has described the approval by the National Economic Council, NEC, for the Federal Government to spend $1 billion from the Excess Crude Account,

ECA, to fight Boko Haram insurgency in the NorthEast region as the “height of insensitivity to the people of the Niger Delta.”

Chief Gbanakama, who spoke to Vanguard, weekend, during a visit of the Pere of Kabowie kingdom, Erebulo Aduo II to the Agadagba of Gbaramatu Kingdom, Oboro Gbaraun II, who came to pay him homage,

also accused the Federal Government of paying lip service to the development of the Niger Delta region.

Warning of dire consequencies and describing the current situation in the Niger Delta region as a “keg of gunpowder,” Gbenakama noted that the Federal Government needs to have a rethink on the situation in the Niger Delta.

C-River govt to pay 2013 outstanding gratuities

By Ike Uchechukwu

C

ALABAR— CROSS River State Government has agreed to commence the payment of the 2013 outstanding gratuities to affected retirees in the state through a payment schedule.

This was part of the outcome of the meeting between the state governor, Prof.

Ben Ayade and the leadership of the state chapter of the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, held at the state Executive Chambers, Governor ’s Office,

Calabar.

Speaking with journalists after the meeting, the state Chairman of NLC, Mr John Ushie, said that the governor had directed the state Accountant General to partner the union to ensure that the remaining retirees receive their gratuities.

It will be recalled that the NLC in the state had given the state government seven days from December 13, 2017 to ensure the implementation of the Memorandum of Understanding, MoU.

Okowa donates towing van to FRSC

By Festus Ahon

A

SABA— D E LTA State governor, Dr Ifeanyi Okowa, has donated an articulated JAC Towing Van to Federal Road Safety Corps, FRSC, Delta State Command, as part of efforts to ensure free flow of traffic this yuletide.

Making the presentation, Okowa said that effective traffic management was a prerequisite for an improved economy.

The governor, who was represented by the Secretary to the State Government, SSG, Chief Ovie Agas, said that the towing van will assist the

FRSC in its traffic management and removal of broken down vehicles on the roads.

Meanwhile, Delta State Committee on Traffic Management, has flagged off ‘Operation free flow of traffic’ to ease the movement of travellers through Asaba to the South-East, South-South and South-West ahead of the Christmas and New Year season.

Flagging off the operation at Niger Bridge, Asaba, the Delta State Commissioner of Police, Mr Zanna Ibrahim, charged road users to be mindful of the season and avoid any action that would cause regret.

2,500 prison inmates get free medicare in Delta

By Victor Ahiuma-Young

N

O fewer than 2,500 prison inmates in Delta State have received free treatment and medication, courtesy of the partnership between the 05 Initiative, Dr. Isioma Okobah Foundation and medical students from the Georgia State University, Atlanta Georgia, USA. Also, 1,000 of the inmates were treated at Warri Prisons, 500 at Ogwashi Uku Prison, 400 at Kwale, 350 at Sapele and 300 at Agbor prisions.

The inmates were examined, treated and presented with free medication for common ailments such as cold, HBP Screening, arthritis

pains, pneumonia and blood sugar level screening, among others, while those with visual impairment were provided with medicated glasses.

Addressing the inmates before the commencement of the free medical programme, wife of Delta State governor and founder of 05 Initiative, Dame Edith Okowa, represented by the D.G. Mrs. Kewve Agas, reaffirmed the commitment of Delta State Government to meet the health needs of the populace.

She charged the inmates to take advantage of the medicare to attend to their health concerns just as the founder of Dr. Isioma Foundation Dr. Isioma Okobah said that the programme was packaged through a partnership arrangement to give succor to the inmates.

40 — VANGUARD, MONDAY, DECEMBER 25, 2017 :Vanguard News

Only 28% Osun workers receive modulated salary — AREGBESOLA

By Gbenga Olarinoye

O

S O G B O — GOVERNOR Rauf Aregbesola of Osun State has disclosed that only 28 per cent of the state’s total workforce received modulated salary, adding that the remaining 72 per cent of the workers have been earning their full salary and are not being owed any outstanding salaries.

He, however, assured workers in the state that the financial crisis that forced the state government to embark on payment of modulated salary to its work force would be over by the end of March, 2018.

Aregbesola, who addressed the workers at the Civil Service Week programme on weekend in Osogbo, appealed to them to persevere for a little more time for the payment of full salary, just as he commended them for their

perseverance, patience, sacrifice, dedication and labour of love.

The governor said: “There is no better time to acknowledge and tell you this than now. You have done well so far. What is left is just to thank you, particularly the 28 per cent of you who have endured modulated salaries. These are the 20 per cent who earn 75 per cent of their monthly pay and the eight per cent who collect 50 per cent of their salary.

“The remaining 72 per cent, as you all know, have been earning their full pay and are not being owed any outstanding salaries, irrespective of the spin being given to this by our traducers. Even at that, we must thank everyone for the sacrifice you have all made in other areas.

“This is because your relationship as workers is contractual and I want to assure you that everyone will get his or her full pay when this is over.”

Akeredolu presents N171bn Appropriation Bill for 2018

By Dayo Johnson

A

K U R E — GOVERNOR Rotimi Akeredolu of Ondo State, at the weekend, presented an Appropriation bill of N171.2 billion to the state House of Assembly.

The budget tagged ‘Budget of Progress’ according to the governor “is designed to achieve stability, sustainability and to create the base for development.”

Recurrent expenditure stood at N81.5 billion while N68.096 billion is earmarked for capital expenditure.

The sectoral breakdown of the 2018 budget is Economic N77.671 billion which is 45.35 percent,

Social N52.894 billion, Law & Justice N3.389 billion, Regional N6.125 billion and Administration N31.099 billion.

Akeredolu said the budget reflects the collective aspiration of the people of the state, after having consulted widely with a view to incorporating the input of all stakeholders.

He said: “The 2018 budget is designed to achieve stability, fiscal reprioritization and consolidation to create the base for sustainable growth and development. It is focused on reversing the growth of debt, unsustainable deficits and the burden of interest payments which is almost unsustainable.''

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I

BADAN—THE National Association of Road Transport Owners, NARTO, weekend in Ibadan Oyo State, warned Petroleum Tanker Drivers, PTD, a branch of Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers, NUPENG, against conniving with smugglers of petroleum products, noting that anyone caught in the act would face the consequences.

This came as the body

urged the National Assembly to jettison any plan to scrap the Petroleum Equalization Fund, PEF, warning that it would worsen fuel distribution crisis across the country.

In his address at the Branch Executive Council meeting of PTD, in Ibadan, Oyo State, President of NARTO, Alhaji Kassim Bataiya, insisted that the role of PEF in fuel distribution in the country was very vital.

Bataiya said: “We cannot overemphasize the important and invaluable

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Fayose orders sale of fuel at N145/L in Ekiti Govt House A

DO-EKITI— GOVERNOR

Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti State, says he has ordered

80 percent of the petrol in the government house dump to be pumped out and sold at N145 per litre.

The governor, who

GANI ADAMS VISITS GEN DANJUMA: Aare Onakakanfo-designate of Yoruba Land, Aare Gani Adams (left) and General Theophilus Yakubu Danjuma (retd.) during the visit of Aare Gani Adams to him at his Victoria Island, Lagos residence yesterday.

disclosed this in a series of tweets, said he “cannot keep fuel in the government house while people in the state suffer.”

He said he took the action because President Muhammadu Buhari did not have a solution to the scarcity.

In his tweets, Fayose stated: “I cannot be keeping fuel in the govt house dump while our people keep suffering.

“I have asked them to pump out 80 percent of the petrol in the Govt House Fuel Dump to be sold at control price of N145. The maximum a single individual can buy will be 25 litres.

“This hardship is too much for Nigerians to bear at this time and it is obvious that the President does not have solution to the fuel scarcity. People can not travel to meet their families because of the wickedness of this APC government.”

Ekiti APC lauds voters for boycott as Fayose inaugurates new LG chairmen the low turnout of voters in

By Rotimi Ojomoyela

A

DO-EKITI— GOVERNOR Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti State, yesterday inaugurated the 16 newlyelected local government chairmen with a charge to them not to distance themselves from their people.

This was just as the All Progressives Congress, APC, in Ekiti State commended the people, including workers, pensioners, artisans, market women and youths for refusing to participate in what the party described as compromised local

NARTO warns tanker drivers against aiding fuel smuggling contribution of the

By Victor AhiumaYoung

:@vanguardnews

Petroleum Equalization Fund to the availability and accessibility of Petroleum products at the government approved prices to every Nigerian citizen wherever residing. ''In fact, it would have been extremely difficult if not practically impossible for citizens in far North West, North East and some interior places in the south West, east and even South South to have access to petroleum products and buy it at the approved prices if Petroleum Equalization Fund had not been in existence.''

government election, saying the people’s action was a pointer to a total rejection Governor Fayose and the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP. Speaking in Ado-Ekiti, yesterday, at the Government House Pavilion, the governor also announced the immediate appointment of 13 immediate past local government chairmen that were not returned for another term as Special Adviser to the Governor in their respective local government areas.

Fayose said: “Remember that the way up is the way down. If you don’t have the money, make yourself available to the people. The people are not asking for much but a shoulder to lean on. We are a small state and if we stay together we will make a great difference.

“This is not a period to stay aloof from the people you are leading. The people are facing a lot of challenges and we must make every effort to ameliorate their suffering. I pray that we will move into a new year of abundance, victory and accomplishment, “ he said.

APC lauds Ekiti voters for boycotting LG polls Meanwhile, the APC, in a statement by the Publicity Secretary, Taiwo Olatunbosun said that the refusal of Ekiti people to participate in the election was a “confirmation of our

assertion that Ekiti people are only waiting for 2018 governorship election to send Fayose and his PDP into the dustbin of Ekiti political history.”

The Ekiti State Independent Electoral Commission, EIEC, had declared PDP as the winner of Saturday’ s election contested by four other political parties, namely: Action Democratic Party, ADP, Peoples Party of Nigeria, PPN, Social Democratic Party, SDP, and Peoples Democratic Action, PDA. Olatunbosun insisted that

the election was also an indication that “Ekiti people are seriously angry and can’t wait to vote Fayose out in a free, fair and credible election organised by a credible independent.”

The statement reads in part: “What happened on Saturday is a reaction of Ekiti people to their sufferings over nonpayment of pensioners, workers’ salaries, misappropriation and diversion of public funds into personal account, greed and executive rascality through which Fayose has impoverished Ekiti people.''

YULTIDE: Be your brother's keeper, Falabi counsels xtians

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call has gone to the Christians in Osun State to be their brothers’ keepers and live in peace as evidenced in the life and times of Jesus Christ.

This was contained in a Christmas message issued and signed by a businessman and politician in Osun State, Col. Olayiwola Falabi (retd).

Falabi, a prince of Ikire and a retired soldier enjoined the people of Osun State to be grateful to God for His wonderful grace and blessings in their lives in spite of the hardship prevalent in the state, as a result of some avoidable harsh policies of the government.

Falabi saluted the resilience of Osun civil servants for their long suffering, occasioned by an unwarranted “salary modulation.”

He further stated, that despite series of bail out measures rolled out by the federal government to alleviate their suffering, no succour came their way.

Colonel Falabi (retd) therefore called on Osun state citizens to be of good cheer, as better times are around the corner for them.

Wishing Osun indigenes and all Nigerians a merry Christmas and happy new year in advance, he advised the people to be law abiding and live together in harmony.

41—Vanguard, MONDAY, DECEMBER 25, 2017

Scarcity: FG waives port charges on fuel imports

streets to hawk the product in jerry cans.

While a few filling Continues from Page 5 stations that have the product continued to sell are distributed across the at N145 per litre, illegal country. operators sold it at prices “I have also directed ranging from N200 to the regulators to step up N500 per litre, their surveillance and depending on location. bring an end to hoarding Investigations showed and price inflation by that many stakeholders, marketers including tanker drivers, “Let me also assure were on holiday, thus that the relevant causing some marketers agencies will continue to to hold unto their provide updates on the current stocks as they situation. I thank you all were unsure when to get for your patience and new supplies. understanding.”

Uyo The persistent fuel For instance, long crisis, despite queues in petrol filling assurances from there stations still persist Federal Government in across Akwa Ibom, the past three weeks that following what the it was going to be independent petroleum addressed with product marketers immediate effect, left described as “the nonsome people stranded, availability of the especially those product.” travelling for the But observation by Christmas celebration to Vanguard in Uyo showed different parts of the that some major country. marketers, such as the In some filing stations NNPC Mega Station across the country, the and Total, sold the petroleum product was product at normal price. sold above the Federal But the independent G o v e r n m e n t marketers sold it at N180 recommended pump and N210 per litre price of N145. respectively, while the In some cases, same product goes for between N200 and N300 N250 and N300 per litre per litre, while the black in the black market. market price by hawkers A Sales Supervisor at on the streets was above Total Petroleum Filling that. Some Nigerians Station along Ikot have argued that the Ekpene Road in the government has no metropolis, Mr Kufre justification for the Thompson, agreed that scarcity of petroleum they had normal supply, products after increasing explaining that was why the pump price from they were able to serve N97.00 which was the their customers since the price in the last beginning of the chaotic administration to fuel situation in the between N143-N145 per country. litre.

He attributed the petrol scarcity to delay in the Christians and importation of the a bleak Xmas product into the country by the NNPC, as well as Meanwhile, Christians not having enough who looked forward to supply to cater for the having a Merry high demand for the Christmas may not have yuletide. it today as fuel crisis in The same goes for the the country has Sales Manager at the worsened, following the NNPC Mega-Station at drying up of stocks, Itam, near Uyo, Mr leading to the Ekanem Assam who emergence of long said, they had no hitches queues at many filling at all in dispensing PMS stations. to customers.

Our correspondents, According to him, “ we who went out to monitor have no challenge at all the situation in Lagos, as we have enough Abuja, Uyo and other product that can sustain parts of the nation, us throughout the yesterday, also noticed yuletide at N143 per huge presence of illegal litre. As you can see, the traders who hit the

Traffic gridlock at Akwata, Ogbete main market as a result of the last minutes Christmas shopping at Ogbete main market in Enugu, yesterday. Photo: NAN. trucks there have just brought in more supplies.

“So, NNPC has no problem as we are dispensing fuel to our customers successfully but, the only problem is how to control the long queues.”

Senior Special Assistant to Governor Udom Emmanuel on Petroleum Matters, Obong Essien Esema, while reacting to the fuel situation in the country, blamed the NNPC in the delay to import petroleum products ahead of the yuletide knowing that, the process would take a reasonable period of time to avoid the scarcity.

“The truth of the matter is that, if NNPC doesn’t import fuel, it takes the country not less than two weeks for a vessel to arrive.

“That is why, marketers capitalize on the slightest shortage in the depots to hike their prices hoping that, government might want to increase the pump price in the following year but, we thank God the Federal Government had dismissed the rumour and said there was no intention to do so.”

Lagos In Lagos, yesterday, intra-city movement by commuters was a major

challenge as most bus stops in the metropolis were full of stranded commuters. Buses were not on the road as most of them were on queues that caused serious traffic gridlock on major roads.

Fuel diversion: Buhari orders security agencies to beef up surveillance President Buhari has ordered security agencies to beef up surveillance and enforce distribution of petroleum products to intended destinations.

The Group Managing Director, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Dr Maikanti Baru, said this while still briefing newsmen on steps the government had taken to ease persistent fuel diversions around the country.

According to Baru, he had briefed the President on issues surrounding the fuel situation including marketers diverting the product and selling above the cap of N145.

He said: “President Buhari has directed that we contain the situation.

What I can assure is that Mr. President has already responded as part of the discussion we had, yesterday.

“On his Twitter handle, Mr President has indicated that parts of our discussions was to

get the regulatory and security agencies to beef up their surveillance and enforcement of distribution of products.

“Part of my briefing to him was that there is still significant hoarding and diversion where trucks that are loaded to supply products to specific stations get diverted elsewhere as well as smuggled out of the country.

“Mr President’s immediate response was to direct the boarder agencies as well as internally, the security and regulatory agencies to ensure that all trucks that are loading deliver to the stations they were meant to deliver.”

Baru, while fielding questions assured Nigerians that petroleum product was available, adding that in spite of high landing costs, the price of petrol would not increase.

“We need the people to understand that we have products but the issue of diversion, smuggling, profiteering have been brought to the fore.

“Appropriate sanctions would be meted out.

Price would not increase despite landing costs of fuel. The landing cost goes with the Cost Insurance Freight (CIF) price of petrol.

“As of Friday, the CIF price was in the neighborhood of 620 dollars per metric tonne with the official exchange rate of N305 to the dollar, the loading cost should be N171.40 per litre.

“I urge marketers to do what they were doing

before which is selling below the cap of N139 to N145 per liter. If the landing costs is N171 and we sell to marketers at N133.28, they still have profit.

“I urge them to make the lives of Nigerians more comfortable. There would be no price increase of petrol,” he reiterated.

He said the queues would disappear in two days maximum as about 13 vessels were presently discharging petroleum products at various seaports across the country.

He said the Department of Petroleum Resources, Petroleum Equalisation Fund and the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency have scaled up monitoring activities to ensure seamless and compliant loading and dispensing of petrol nationwide.

He said that with the appreciated all stakeholders and urged Nigerian to stop patronising black marketers as adequate products were available to serve all.

Commenting on allegation by marketers that government wants to increase the pump price due to the high Landing cost, he described it as false.

Baru went round various filling stations in Abuja and interfaced with motorists and station managers, urging for calm and assuring that an end was in sight to the long queues.

42 --- VANGUARD, MONDAY, DECEMBER 25, 2017

2019: With his performance, Buhari does not deserve re-election – Osuntokun •APC, PDP have not met aspirations of Nigerians •A Third Force 'll check APC, PDP at the polls •Those demonising restructuring don't wish Nigeria well

By Clifford Ndujihe, Deputy Political Editor

C hief Akin Osuntokun, a renowned journalist, former managing director of the News Agency of Nigeria, NAN and Political Adviser to former President Olusegun Obasanjo, in this explosive interview speaks on why the 2019 elections may be tight on account of moves to form a third force by aggrieved members of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC and main opposition People's Democratic Party, PDP. He also spoke on why Nigeria must be restructured urgently and why President Muhammadu Buhari may beat Alhaji Atiku Abubakar if the 2019 presidential election boils down to Buhari vs Atiku.

O

N the state of affairs in Nigeria The most newsworthy developments in recent times are the national convention of the People's Democratic Party, PDP and the defection of former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar from the All Progressives Congress, APC to the PDP. Of course, both events have great implications for the APC and the anticipated 2019 general elections.

I think the PDP got it wrong by not reserving the national chairmanship position for the South-West geo-political zone.

It looks like a self-inflicted injury. I cannot rationalise it unless you want to regionalise PDP as against being a national party with a potential to win elections at the national level.

The development poses a lot of problems for the PDP and makes calculations towards the 2019 election a little bit problematic.

With what has happened in the PDP, there is an allegation that the South-West is marginalised and poorly treated in the PDP, which makes the APC much more likely to win the election, taking all things for granted because the APC itself is fraught with problems.

There is the likelihood, and I think it is even imminent, of what we call implosion. There are conflicting factions within the party. It is difficult to see how the interests can be reconciled before the elections.

All these taken together compels the emergence of a third party. Personally, that is what I will wish for Nigeria. The

APC and PDP have lost a lot of appeal from Nigerians. The APC has been seen as a big disappointment even within its stronghold in the Muslim North. I don't see how it can positively transform that image between now and the next election. The PDP, even with the baggage of what it acquired when it was in power, was trending towards this general idea that the party in opposition is always the ideal, in other words, you promise everything that the party in power cannot do, which was what the APC did in 2015. The PDP was looking good going forward until it shot itself in the

Realistically, Atiku has the wherewithal financially and viable network to competitively vie for the presidency but if it comes down to a choice being between him and President Buhari, I think the president will carry the day.

However, his coming to the PDP is an asset

foot.

The defection of Atiku to the PDP has long been foretold.

He too is a damaged good.

The magnitude and scope of the failure of the APC government maximize the odds of defection from the party in the run-up to the elections. There is, of course, also an element of opportunism in jumping from one party to the other.

Realistically, Atiku has the wherewithal financially and viable network to competitively vie for the presidency but if it comes down to a choice being between him and President Buhari, I think the president will carry the day. However, his coming to the PDP is an asset. The party will need the additional strength it brings in terms of financial and structural support. It does not mean

he will emerge as the candidate of the party but he is a potential candidate for the party. He still has to go through the rigours of party primaries.

The greatest obstacle he has is that there are formidable stakeholders and game changers in the system such as Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, and Buhari himself, etc, who cannot countenance him as a potential president. That is an albatross for him. How he is going to contend and grapple with that challenge remains to be seen. It is a big and formidable challenge.

Why do you think Buhari will beat Atiku? Don't you think that Atiku's support for restructuring will give him an advantage in the South after sharing northern votes with Buhari?

The Muslim North does not support restructuring. They will oppose Atiku on account of that.

Apart from the national chairmanship seat, don't you think the South-West can be compensated in a PDP government with the vice- presidency, senate presidency, secretary to the government of the federation among others?

A bird in hand is worth several in the bush. Secondly, the chairmanship had for long been zoned to the South-West by assumption, goodwill, and convention. So, it is an act of deprivation because the SouthWest has every right to expect it because it has never produced the chairman. The argument that the PDP does not have a foothold in the SouthWest is self-defeating and contradictory. The way to address that is not by making the party less relevant in terms of organogram and identification.

Yes, potentially, there are other positions but politicians are realistic people. In any case, it is condescending and demeaning for the South-West the way it was treated. There was really no need for it. They just made it easier for the APC or any other party to get the sympathy of the South-West.

As it is today, it will be difficult for people in the SouthWest to say there is anything for them in the PDP. What makes it worse is that it seems a continuation of what had happened when former President Goodluck Jonathan was there. I am wondering what was the political permutation

•Chief Akin Osuntokun that makes trifling with or trivialising the South-West a worthy gamble. Of course, Jonathan paid for it. So, there has been that tendency right from when President Jonathan was there-to trivialise the SouthWest. It is going to be a critical factor. The APC is almost like a choice between the devil and the deep blue sea. That is why a third party is so much compelling and appealing.

There has to be a third party today to give the people something to hope for. I will join others to work for the emergence of such a party.

Which of the other 65 parties do you think will fit the bill of the desired third party? And don't you think such move will further weaken the opposition and boost APC's chances?

No, it won't because the third force will include aggrieved and alienated members of the APC and PDP. It is a very exciting prospect and will catch on given the mood of Nigerians. Even in terms of raw political calculations, stakeholders and gladiators with grassroots support and machinery will see a bright prospect in the third party. The PDP faction that joined the APC was the decisive factor that took APC to victory. The same thing will happen to the third party. Giving a name to the third party is not the issue. The movers can adopt the shell of any party and work with it.

On comments that promoters of the third party are political lightweights without electoral value I know some promoters who have tremendous electoral value. There are people, who are playing critical roles in the APC and PDP that will go to the third party. The sympathies of the game changers will not remain with the APC and PDP. You are going to have idealists and propagandists. You cannot minimise their contribution. Some of them may not have electoral value but can play decisive roles in swaying people's opinion. You need both opinion moulders and those with electoral value in party formation. What the PDP

lacked in 2015 was the presence of an intellectual core that could have advocated and propagated its ideals. The PDP did not have it either by taking the role for granted or choosing to be blind to the intrinsic value. The field was left open for the other party, which had it and knew the value of public opinion That point was made in the last election. There is no party that will, given the experience of the PDP, take public opinion and the role of intellectuals, publicists, and propagandists for granted. It helped the APC a lot because they were able to mobilise the weight of enlightened opinion against Jonathan and the PDP in the 2015 election. While their feet were on the ground, their head was in the air and they were able to maximise the input of both.

Given that the PDP zoned the House of Representatives' speakership to the South-West during the Jonathan administration but it was truncated by the opposition, is it right to say that the PDP trivialised South-West support under Jonathan?

Yes. You can make an amends for it. If you are looking for an excuse, that is an excuse for not doing what you did not want to do. The government could have compensated the South-West since the zone did not get the speakership. Although Jonathan attempted to do it towards the end of his tenure but it was too late.

On the APC claim that its government is doing well in terms of the war against corruption and insecurity, and management of the economy The government is itself, the chief prosecutor against that claim when, like a bolt from the moon, the announcement was made that the Federal Government needed to withdraw $1billion from the Excess Crude Account to fight Boko Haram two and a half years after it got power and repeatedly claimed that it had defeated Boko Haram. What they

Continues on page 43

VANGUARD, MONDAY, DECEMBER 25, 2017 — 43

Buhari does not deserve second term Continues from page 42 have done defeats their claim of defeating Boko Haram, which they claim as one of their strong points. Within a year, the government took delivery of a lot of weapons from the US, which lifted sanctions on the ban of sale of weapons to Nigeria in the belief and conviction that this was what was needed; I read somewhere of the government voting N120 billion for procurement of weapons from the Trump Administration, etc to fight Boko Haram. Less than a year, you are again asking for another $1billion after telling us that Boko Haram had been technically defeated. However, Boko Haram is still strong and resurgent. It has not been defeated except in the imagination of the APC government.

On corruption, little or nothing has been achieved. Look at the Mainagate; has anyone been penalised for that? Look at what the Minister of State for Petroleum, Dr Ibe Kachikwu, said about the rot in the NNPC. There are so many indicators that argue against the rhetoric that this government is fighting corruption. A friend of mine made a very crucial distinction the other day, which I will like to repeat: Probing the past government is different from fighting corruption. If you close your eyes to what is happening within your government that is staring everybody in the face, it becomes difficult to stake a claim that you are fighting corruption. It is all over the place, people talk about nepotism and lopsided appointments.

Nepotism is corruption They are fighting corruption at the level of rhetoric and propaganda, crucifixion, probing, and criminalization of the last government. So fighting corruption is not a strong point of this government. There are infractions on the TSA-as recently claimed that NNPC was relatively exempted from the policy. These are not credentials of a government that is fighting corruption. There is also the perceived incompetence. They said Nigeria is out of recession. That is theoretical because in terms of reality, people have not seen the evidence that Nigeria is out of recession. Even among its supporters you hear comments like the 'president is not strong on economic management and foreign affairs. I cannot see the indices of economic achievement. Look at the Oshodi-Apapa Expressway, probably the most important access road in the Nigerian economy. It has been practically abandoned for years, it has become an albatross and nothing is being done about it. Look at the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, we heard that the money vired to fund it was taken away.

Fundamentally, all these are reflections of the political dysfunction of Nigeria, which people have been saying and it

boils down to the question of restructuring. The way it is currently structured, Nigeria is not likely to be efficient or optimal in the utilisation of resources, and be fairly objective in the allocation of resources.

Until we have a culture where there is a positive correlation between productivity and reward, Nigeria will not go anywhere. Nigeria today is built on the culture of patronage, consumption, and distribution of largesse instead of a reward for hard work. The tragedy of it is that it has been passed down to the lowest level of the society. That is the dead weight hanging on the neck of the country. In a situation where the federal and state governments continue to share allocations on monthly basis from the proceeds of crude oil sales (for sustenance) not internally generated revenue, there is no way the country will make progress.

On his take on President Buhari's stance on restructuring People fear change. There is a misinterpretation, deliberate or not deliberate of what restructuring means and entails.

It is funny when people say they don't know what restructuring means. Anybody who had been in military government of this country and says he does not know what restructuring means does not know what he is saying.

What has happened since 1966 up till now is restructuring. What the governments that took Nigeria from four regions to 36 states did, was restructuring.

The kind of restructuring we are asking for is to undo the damage and restore Nigeria to the principles on which the Independence Constitution of Nigeria was based. The idea of three or four regions did not come out of a vacuum. The reasons for abandoning the principles don't have a lot of logic other than patronages of who you know. States were created based on patronage. So, it is not surprising that most of the states are not viable and cannot be viable units of development. If they don't get allocations from the centre on a monthly basis, many of them will become bankrupt and collapse. Perhaps, that is what should be allowed to happen because they should not exist in the first place. In the last three to four years, the majority of the 36 states have been sustained with bailouts from the Federal Government. Are we going to keep bailing them out? When are they going to develop the capacity to be selfsustaining, which is what federalism entails?

Is it that the states are selfsustaining or they are not allowed to control their resources?

Which resources are they going to control? One of the critical criteria for state creation is the ability for self-suste-

nance. Most of these states were created without regard to that. From the beginning, they were asking for take-off grant, which is antithetical to the spirit of state creation. Being allowed to control their resources is relevant if you are talking about fiscal federalism. But that is not the issue. The issue is the ability to be self-sustaining, thrive and survive without depending on allocation.

Now, states in addition to allocation cannot survive without bailouts. We need to implement policies that are economically rational and serve as an incentive to bring back the culture of hard work and reward. The thing about restructuring is where there is will, there is a way. Let's agree on the principles first and the details can follow. Rather than do that they are demonising restructuring. If we agree that restructuring along the lines of the restoration of the framework of the Independence Constitution is desirable, we can work out the details in the spirit of brotherhood and togetherness.

His take on the government often repeated complaints that the rot left behind by PDP and low oil prices affected its efforts to turn things around for the country It is blaming PDP for its own failure. Anybody can find an excuse for his or her failure.

Nigerians did not elect the government to make excuses for its inability to deliver or develop the country. You have no business offering yourself for service if you are going there to be giving excuses.

Look at Boko Haram, is it Jonathan or PDP government that is making them look helpless and incompetent in addressing the problem? Was it Jonathan that asked them to announce and boast that Boko Haram had been technically defeated?

It is not true that it is only liability that the APC inherited from the PDP government because efforts at securing sufficiency in rice production, for instance, started long before the APC government. They have gone to borrow $5.5 billion claiming the infrastructural problems of the country cannot be addressed without borrowing. And don’t forget that the increase in the pump price of PMS is another source of an increase in revenue. The same PDP government you are blaming took Nigeria out of debt. Now you are taking Nigeria back to that trap.

Anchoring the hope of Nigerians on what happens in the oil market is itself an indication of lack of vision. In the middle to long-term, oil or fossil fuel is going to be redundant; internal combustion engine is being phased out. Anybody who sees all these and is still predicating our survival on what happens in the oil market totally lacks what is required to run the country effectively.

George Weah (left) and Liberian President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf (right), wielding ceremonial spades to perform the ground-breaking ceremony for a new highway in Liberia’s Lofa County.

LIBERIA: Mob Sentiment fuels Weah's ascent

By Lyndsay Barret

A

NALYSTS and observers on the ground in Liberia are predicting that former European footballer of the year George Opong Weah might win a landslide victory in the run-off of the country’s Presidential elections slated for Tuesday 26th December.

They base their predictions on the turn-out of large and excitable crowds of young followers of the sports celebrity in the final phase of campaigning over the last fortnight.

The sentiments expressed by those leading these crowds appear to have gained credence following controversial decisions of the Liberian Supreme Court in

The sentiments expressed by those leading these crowds appear to have gained credence following controversial decisions of the Liberian Supreme Court in response to challenges to the first results announced by the Electoral Commission response to challenges to the first results announced by the Electoral Commission. Although the court appeared to question the competence of the Commission’s handling of the first round of the polls it instructed the body to go ahead with the run-off in order to fulfill constitutional requirements that are time-bound. As a result the Weah organisation has mounted a plethora of street marches and public rallies touting the slogan “It Is Time for Change” throughout the country.

While his opponent, the country’s sitting Vice President and candidate of the ruling Unity Party, Joseph Boakai, has appealed to the electorate to exercise restraint and reflection in making their decision on who to support, the Weah camp has pro-

moted intimidating marches around various communities.

His supporters have made it plain that they are not prepared to accept defeat and many Liberians have expressed fears that if Weah loses there might be a breakdown of law and order. As a consequence many observers believe that these fears will fuel popular support for the sportsman’s ticket in order to prevent a return to the disorder that led to civil war in the past. This suggestion is borne out by the fact that the Weah support group includes hundreds of vocal supporters of former warlord and disgraced national President Charles Taylor whose ex-wife Jewel is Weah’s running mate. In recent days a number of events have roused suspicions reported in national media that the country ’s President Mrs. Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf has recognised Weah’s ascendancy and the likelihood of his victory. When she recently visited the Vice President’s home constituency of Lofa County to perform the groundbreaking ceremony for a new highway it was George Weah who was the special guest of honour, Throughout the entire campaign period, while Mrs. Johnson-Sirleaf claimed that she supported her Vice President’s aspirations, she neither campaigned for him nor did she openly support the Unity Party’s platform.

Many knowledgeable observers of the Liberian polity attributed her reluctance to support the platform of the party on whose ticket she won two terms in office to internal wrangling which had led some party members to criticise her actions in government.

As a result she pledged to remain above the political fray and to allow the electoral process to move forward without undue executive interference.

Ironically in the late stages of the campaign Mrs. JohnsonSirleaf’s support has emerged as a fundamental asset and many of George Weah’s supporters are publicly claiming that their champion has secured this all-important endorsement.

44— VANGUARD, MONDAY, DECEMBER 25, 2017

White House denies report on Nigerians

North Korea says new UN sanctions act of war

T

HE latest U.N. sanc tions against North Korea are an act of war and tantamount to a complete economic blockade against it, North Korea’s foreign ministry said on Sunday, threatening to punish those who supported the measure.

The U.N. Security Council unanimously imposed new sanctions on North Korea on Friday for its recent intercontinental ballistic missile test, seeking to limit its access to refined petroleum products and crude oil and its earnings from workers abroad.

The U.N. resolution seeks to ban nearly 90 percent of refined petroleum exports to North Korea by capping them at 500,000 barrels a year and, in a last-minute change, demands the repatriation of North Koreans working abroad within 24 months, instead of 12 months as first proposed.

Liberia holds presidential election tomorrow

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People take selfies in front of a Christmas tree in Tbilisi, Georgia. REUTERS/ The U.S.-drafted resolution also caps crude oil supplies to North Korea at 4 million barrels a year and commits the Council to further reductions if it were to conduct another nuclear test or launch another

ICBM. In a statement carried by the official KCNA news agency, North Korea’s foreign ministry said the United States was terrified by its nuclear force and was getting “more and more

frenzied in the moves to impose the harshestever sanctions and pressure on our country ”.

The new resolution was tantamount to a complete economic blockade of North Korea, the ministry said.

Several people killed in Christmas eve plane crash in Florida the victims on the plane said.

S

EVERAL people were killed when their twin-engine plane crashed during takeoff Sunday morning at a small airport about 40 miles east of Tampa.

The plane was taking

off from Bartow Municipal Airport just after 7 a.m. in a dense fog when it crashed and caught fire, said Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd. There were no survivors and “ no chance of survival,” he

“It is a tragedy any day of the week. It is a worse tragedy on Christmas Eve,” Judd said.

The number of fatalities or identities of the dead have not yet been released, but Judd said he knew at least one of

personally.

After reviewing video of the crash, Judd said no one should have been taking off in that weather.

The NTSB and FAA will investigate the cause of the crash, he said. Polk County Fire Rescue is also on the scene.

ITALY: PM plans to shift military forces from Iraq to Niger the Sahel region of West proposal the government which includes the armies

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TALIAN Prime Minis ter Paolo Gentiloni said on Sunday he would propose to parliament transferring some of the country’s troops stationed in Iraq to Niger to fight people smuggling and terrorism.

Gentiloni said Italy’s 1,400-strong military presence in Iraq could now be reduced after victories against Islamic militants and instead deployed in

Africa. “We have to continue to work, concentrating our attention and energies on the threat of people trafficking and terrorism in the Sahel,” he said aboard the Italian ship Etna used in the European Union’s “Sophia” operation to counter people smuggling in the Mediterranean.

“For this reason, part of our forces in Iraq will be deployed to Niger in coming months - this is the

will make to parliament,” Gentiloni said.

He did not specify how many people would be sent to Niger. Newspaper Il Fatto Quotidiano wrote on Sunday that the contingent would be “at least 470” as part of a commitment made to French President Emmanuel Macron.

Macron has thrown his weight behind a Frenchbacked West African force known as the G5 Sahel,

Russian presidential vote: Navalny ‘nominated to run’ against Putin

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USSIAN opposition politician Alexei Navalny says he has gathered enough nominations to challenge Vladimir Putin in March’s presidential election.

His supporters met in 20 cities across the country to secure the signatures.

Mr Navalny is still unlikely to run as election officials ruled him ineligible due to a corruption

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HE White House has denied a report that r e s ident Donald Trump suggested Nigerian immigrants would “never go back to their huts”.

According to the New York Times, Mr Trump was said to have made the comments during a meeting with senior staff about levels of immigration in June, at which he complained too many were receiving US visas.

The White House denied to the New York Times that Mr Trump used the words “Aids” or “huts” in reference to immigrants, calling the suggestions “lies based on anonymous sources”.

Sarah Sanders, the White House press secretary, said John Kelly, the White House chief of staff, H.R. McMaster, the national security adviser, and Rex Tillerson, the US Secretary of State, were all in the meeting and denied Mr Trump used the reported words.

She said: “General Kelly, General McMaster, Secretary Tillerson, and all other senior staff actually in the meeting deny these outrageous claims.

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conviction which he says is politically motivated.

Mr Navalny spoke at the Moscow gathering, branding Mr Putin a “bad president”.

He told his supporters in a marquee on a snowy riverbank that he would call a boycott of the election if he were not allowed to stand.

Mr Navalny is widely regarded as the only candidate with a chance of

challenging the president, who is seeking a fourth term that would see him become the longest-serving Russian leader since Joseph Stalin.

Russian socialite and TV presenter Ksenia Sobchak is standing in the election but some including Mr Navalny regard her as a “Kremlin stooge”.

of Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Burkina Faso and Chad, which was set up in October to tackle Islamist militants.

To give the force a boost, Macron held a Paris summit on Dec. 13 attended by the leaders of the five participating countries, Germany and Italy as well as Saudi and Emirati ministers.

FTER a delay of over a month, Liberia will hold a runoff presidential election tomorrow. The contest pits George Weah, a retired soccer star and junior senator, against Joseph Boakai, septuagenarian vice president. Boakai was outpolled in the first round in October and appears to be the underdog.

Originally slated for Nov. 7, the second round of balloting was delayedfollowing an unsuccessful judicial challenge by the Liberty Party, whose candidate, Charles Brumskine, alleged fraud, and finished a distant third with less than 10 percent of the vote.

This is an important milestone in Liberia’s democratic transformation since the end of civil war in 2003.

The great challenge, as Liberian politician and academic Amos Sawyer noted in 2005, is shifting the country’s political mind-set from “zero-sum politics to one that embraces tolerance, accommodation and coalition-building.”

Myanmar to grant families access to two journalists

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WO Reuters journalists detained in Myanmar will be allowed to meet their families once their first 14day period of remand expires, according to local media reports.

Reporters Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo have been in detention for 11 days in an undisclosed location and have had no access to their families, lawyers or colleagues.

They were arrested after being invited to meet police officials over dinner on the outskirts of Myanmar’s largest city, Yangon on Dec. 12. The authorities are investigating whether they violated the country’s colonial-era Official Secrets Act, which has a maximum prison sentence of 14 years.

“After the first remand (expires), they will be able to meet their families. They will be sent to the court for testimonies,” Tin Myint, permanent secretary of Ministry of Home Affairs, was quoted as saying by Radio Free Asia.

In Myanmar, those remanded must be brought to court within 14 days. But it’s not immediately clear when the pair was first remanded and whether the authorities will seek court approval to remand them for a second 14-day period. The Home Affairs Ministry did not responded to several requests for comments.

World’s largest amphibious aircraft take-off weight of 53.5 takes off in the disputed South tonnes and a wingspan

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HE world’s largest amphibious aircraft, China’s AG600, has made a successful onehour maiden flight.

The plane, roughly the size of a Boeing 737 but with four turboprop engines, lifted off from Zhuhai airport in the southern province of Guangdong.

The plane can carry 50 people and can stay airborne for 12 hours.

It has firefighting and marine rescue duties but also military applications, which could be put to use

China Sea region.

The AG600, codenamed Kunlong, can reach the southernmost edge of China’s territorial claims in the area.

State media Xinhua described the plane as “protector spirit of the sea, islands and reefs”.

The take-off of the flight was carried live on state television and its return was greeted by flag-waving crowds and military music.

The plane has been eight years in development, has a maximum

of 38.8m (127ft).

There are 17 orders already from within China.

China’s policy on the South China Sea is hotly contested by a number of neighbouring countries and a UNbacked tribunal last year dismissed Beijing’s claims to much of the region.

The AG600 may be a current record beater but is dwarfed by the famous flying boat of billionaire Howard Hughes.

Vanguard, MONDAY, DECEMBER 25, 2017—45

VANGUARD MERITMARA I, formerly known and addressed as O k e c h u k w u Meritmara Chibuzor, now wish to be known and addressed as Okechukwu Merit Chibuzor. All former documents remain valid. General Public take note.

CHAPEL

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EGUA

OMONZE

OPURUM

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I, formerly known as Miss Omonze Judith Iloyanomon, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs Omonze Judith Godfrey-Addeh.

Former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

AHA TTY AHATTY

LUCKY

I, formerly known and addressed as Mrs Esther Esse Ahatty, now wish to be known and addressed as Miss Eseoghene Esther Umukoro. All former documents remain valid. General public take note.

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THOMAS

EMAKPOR

I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Egua Ofuegbe, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Onovughe Ofuegbe.

All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

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All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

EWETO

ESSUMAI

PRECIOUS

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HONOUR: Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Imohimi Edgal (right) and Bar. Gloria Egbuji of CRIVIFON, during the presentation of Policeman of the Year 2017 award to Edgal by Network on Police Reforms, made up of 49 civil society organisations, at the Command’s headquarters, Ikeja, Lagos.

CALLED: Erere Vera Oghoghome (middle), flanked by her father, Mr. Odafe Oghoghome, and mother, Roseline, during her Call to the Bar in Abuja.

TOURNAMENT TROPHY: From left— Executive Director, Shamsudeen Gbemisola; Managing Director, Damola Gbemisola, both of Fatgbems Group; Captain, Depot Team, Abraham Klove; Chief Operating Officer, Dare Adeola, and Executive Director, Bayo Gbemisola, both of Fatgbems Group, at the presentation of the company's 2017 end-of-year football tournament trophy to the depot team in Lagos.

YA

THIS SPACE IS FOR SALE

CHARITY:

From left—Regional Sales Manager, Edible, South-West, Grand Cereals, Monjanre Sunday; Founder, Rev. Dele George, and Grace George of Donation Office, both of Little Saints Orphanage, during Grand Cereals' visit and presentation of gifts items to the orphanage in Lagos.

46 — Vanguard, MONDAY, DECEMBER 25, 2017

Nigeria has a great squad — Sigurdsson

2018 WORLD CUP:

Moses: I will lead Eagles into promised land *Regrets CAF Awards snub

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uper Eagles and Chelsea of England wing back, Victor Moses has said that his only regret this year was his “being squeezed out of the three-man shortlist to become African Player of the Year ”, behind Gabon’s Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Egypt’s Mo Salah and Senegal’s Sadio Mane - a decision that angered the Nigerian Football Federation.

But Moses is hoping bounce back from the setback to lead Nigeria into more Promised Land next year.

Moses pocketed a championship medal, got married, established himself as ‘the indispensable man’ in manager Antonio Conte’s side and helped Nigeria become the first African nation to qualify for next year’s World Cup. He said: “For me, its

Zidane: No need to change anything

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eal Madrid may have fallen to a 3-0 defeat at home to their bitter rivals Barcelona, but Zinedine Zidane has insisted that major changes are not needed.

The coach admitted that it is a sore loss to take, but preferred to look at the positive first-half performance.

“We made a mistake and defended poorly and at this level that’s significant,” he told BeIN Sports after the match.

“We are not going to go crazy.

It is a very difficult loss to take, but there’s no need to change anything. We started very well and the first half was even, so this defeat hurts. It’s tough for us, but this is what happens in football.”

Zidane then went on to talk of how Los Blancos are refusing to throw in the towel, despite now trailing Barcelona by 14 points. “We will never give up,” he stressed.

“Now we must go on holiday and not think about this, we must enjoy family time and then come back. This is not over.”

definitely the top - my best year so far, on and off the pitch.”

After playing for England from U-16 to U-21, Moses opted for the country of his birth and says: “Nigeria were the first African country to qualify for the world cup.

“We are like Chelsea. We believe in ourselves. Chelsea have loads of games of coming up. We’ve got a great squad, and the manager we have here, we know what we are capable of.”

He however took solace in the fact that he was nominated for the award. In an interview with Daily Star, the Nigeria international said, “I must have done well. It felt good to be nominated. I’ve worked so hard. It’s a bit crazy and shows how far I’ve come.”

He said 2017 has been a wonderful year for him, “on and

I

•Onyekuru off the pitch.

“It’s been a great year for me.

I’ve really enjoyed it, but want to keep it going.”

After playing for England from U-16 to U-21, Moses opted for the country of his birth and says: Moses spoke highly of Super Eagles’ World Cup qualifying exploits.”Nigeria were the first African country to qualify for the World Cup. “We are like Chelsea. We believe in ourselves. Chelsea have loads of games coming up. We’ve got a great squad, and the manager we have here, we know what we are capable of.”I must have done well. It felt good to be nominated. I’ve worked so hard. It’s a bit crazy and shows how far I’ve come.”

Bad news for Rohr E

verton loanee Henry Onyekuru faces a long spell on the sidelines and will have to undergo knee surgery after suffering a ligament injury in Anderlecht’s 1-0 win over Eupen in the Belgian First Division A on Friday.

The Nigeria international was stretchered off the pitch in the 78th minute after a collision with Eupen goalkeeper Hendrik Van Crombrugge.

Anderlecht medical team has contacted Onyekuru’s parent club Everton about his injury to determine where he will have the surgical operation. ‘’The medical staff of RSCA

reports after extensive medical research that Henry Onyekuru has torn his medial bond.

Onyekuru will soon be operated on,’’ the Belgian champions wrote on their official website. ‘’The medical staff is in close contact with his parent club Everton to determine where the Nigerian will go under. ‘’ With nine league goals from nineteen appearances, Onyekuru is the top club scorer at Anderlecht this season.

The 20-year-old had been in contention to be included in Nigeria’s squad list for the World Cup and the news is a big blow to manager Gernot Rohr.

Pique celebrates Clasico win with €5,300 bottles of wine

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here was a cause to celebrate in the Pique household on Saturday night as Barcelona’s 3-0 win at Real Madrid was reason enough to crack open three bottles of wine, totalling 5,300 euros.

“Today it’s worth it,” wrote the Barcelona star on Instagram, along with a picture of his selected beverages.

According to specialist

website Vivino, Domaine du Comte Liger-Belair La Romanee Grand Cru Monopole 2008 has an estimated price of 3,360 euros, the Château Latour Grand Vin Pauillac Premier Grand Cru Classé 2000 has an estimated price of 1,495 euros and the Vega Sicilia Cosecha 1996 Unico has an estimated price of 479 euros.

celand and Everton midfield maestro Gylfi Sigurðsson has commented on the 2018 World Cup draw and thinks that the Nordic country are in a difficult group that also contains Argentina, Nigeria and Croatia.

The 2016 European Championship Cinderella team could be knocked out of the tournament in the first round in the event that they lose to Argentina and Nigeria in their first two Group D matches, but Sigurðsson is optimistic that they can get a result. ‘’As a kid you dream about it. But, at the back of your mind, you remember you come from Iceland and think it will never happen. Now we have qualified for two tournaments in a row and it’s incredible,’’ Sigurðsson told Daily Mail UK. ‘’It’s a tough draw, of course it is. But there are two ways to look at it: you either want a good group or the worst one possible. ‘’It’s a tough group, I tell you. Croatia are fantastic, Nigeria have a great squad. Then first there is Messi.

It will be tough. But why not think we can get a good result?’’

Iceland’s match with Nigeria at the 2018 World Cup will be played on June 22 at the Volgograd Arena.

Serena returns to action on December 30

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erena Williams will make her playing comeback following the birth of her daughter at the Mubadala World Tennis Championship in Abu Dhabi.

Williams has not played since winning the Australian Open in January, while she was six weeks pregnant, but will return to court to play French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko next Saturday.

The 36-year-old, who gave birth to Alexis Jr in September, is planning to make a competitive return at the Australian Open next month.

“I am delighted to be returning to the court in Abu Dhabi for the first time since the birth of my daughter in September,” Williams told the tournament’s official website.

•Serena

Mourinho: My players made childish decisions

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ose Mourinho accused his players of making “childish” decisions after Manchester United suffered last-gasp heartbreak at Leicester to further damage their slim title hopes.

United are now 13 points behind Manchester City at the top of the Premier League after Harry Maguire scored with virtually the last kick of the game for the 10-man Foxes to rescue a 2-2 draw.

Mourinho said: “I had the chance to speak with Ashley Young to tell him the way the team had to be in position

because of Smalling’s difficulty but there was a lack of maturity.

“I cannot stop the game and give a team talk. For the last two minutes the players had to immediately adapt, to read the game, which they didn’t so we had childish decisions in front of goal and bad decisions as it was not just about the goals we missed, or dribbling or hitting the post.

“It was not just about missing chances with an open goal, it was also about decisions. Easy decisions to make in easy transitions to counter attack.

Vanguard, MONDAY, DECEMBER 25, 2017 — 47

C M Y

Vanguard, MONDAY, DECEMBER 25, 2017

Sudoku TODAY’S PUZZLE

QUICK CROSSWORD YESTERDAY’S ANSWER

How to Play Sudoku

YESTERDAY’SOLUTION

TODAY’S CROSSWORD

Across 1 Captivate (7) 5 Ride a bike (5) 8 Take an oath (5) 9 Leaf vegetable (7) 10 Afternoon show (7) 11 Penurious (5) 12 Worthless (2,4) 14 Kidnap (6) 18 Fencer ’s weapon (5) 20 Japanese art of paper

folding (7) 22 Given a reprimand (7) 23 Copious (5) 24 Breakwaters (5) 25 Glowing (7) Down 1 Bridegroom’s attendant (4,3) 2 Cereal (5) 3 Capital of Ontario (7)

4 Team game (6) 5 Room on board (5) 6 French castle (7) 7 Foe (5) 13 Farewell (7) 15 Bandit (7) 16 Cut into three parts (7) 17 Marvel (6) 18 Disrobe (5) 19 Noblemen (5) 21 Greek vowel (5)

Place a number (1-9) in each blank cell. (No line can have two of the same number).

Each row (nine lines from left to right), column, (also nine lines from top to bottom) and 3 X 3 block within a bold block (nine blocks) contains number from 1 through 9. This means that no number can appear twice in any block, column or row.

No mathematics is involved – no adding, subtraction, division or multiplication, just plain logic and your imagination.

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