BusinessDay 01 Apr 2018

C002D5556
Sunday 01 April 2018
8 BDSUNDAY
News
Financial expert urges Cross River
indigenes to be wary of ponzy schemes
MIKE ABANG Calabar
Emem Udoh, a financial
expert, has cautioned
indigenes of
Cross River State
to shun ponzy financial
schemes and take advantage
of credible investment
opportunities which have
revolutionalised the financial
markets.
Udoh said the call has become
imperative because
of the fears and apprehension
by many to key into the
financial markets because of
the loss of their hard-earned
income through fraudulent
financial schemes.
“The mentality of ponzi
schemes such as the MMM
is still in the minds of many
Cross Riverians and Nigerians
at large. I appreciate
their fears. When you want
to succeed in life, you move
ahead. Every successful
man, every successful politician
failed yesterday. If you
are serious, you strive to get
up each time you fall. This
is what makes you a real
man,” he said.
Udoh made the remarks in
Calabar during an exclusive
interview with our corre-
Experts blame increased cases of child
abandonment on poverty, prostitution
Ngozi Okpalakunne
As reports of abandoned
children
become dominate
the news on a daily
basis, some experts have said
that there was a link between
poverty, prostitution and
child abandonment which
they described as a form of
child abuse. They also advocated
severe punishment for
women who commit such
crime.
Oluyemise Alatise, initiator
of Children’s Transit
Centre for Lost but Found
Children, Idi-Araba, Lagos,
condemned child abandonment,
saying it was as an act
of wickedness by heartless
mothers.
Alatise, who spoke with
BDSUNDAY said that noright
thinking woman should
abandon her baby after carrying
her for nine months.
The Crusader, who also is
the president of Inner Wheel
Club of Lagos, wondered
why a woman will abandon
her baby after suffering for a
period of nine months.
“Child abandonment is
common in the Eastern part
of the country where parents
strongly oppose pregnancy
out of wedlock. I am aware
that there is no place in Nigeria
where a young girl will
get pregnant without being
spondent on the advantages
of the Bit Club, a financial
outfit she described herself
as an affiliate partner.
“Bit Club is an investment
company different from
networking which requires
you to move from one level
to another and no matter
how smart you are, you can’t
make it without bringing in
people,” she said.
She explained that Bit Club
is a platform which pays 300
percent weekly and monthly
returns on investment and
urged Cross River indigenes
to take advantage of it.
“We trade on crypto currency”,
she said, adding that
apart from the high returns
on investment [HRI], “it also
affords you the opportunity
to travel even outside
the country without carrying
cash about”.
Udoh urged Cross Riverians
in particular and Nigerians
at large to inquire more
about these opportunities,
key into Bit Club which she
said came into Nigeria last
year, adding that “this club
is founded by professionals”
and “has the potentials of
transforming the economic
fortunes of those who key
into the scheme”.
married and the parents will
welcome it, but parents in the
Eastern part of the country
hate such behaviour with
passion and are ready to kill
such girl with her unwanted
pregnant,” she said.
She noted that “As a result
of the fear of what the parents
and the siblings could
do to her, the moment a girl
gets pregnant she will run
away from the family to an
unknown place and as soon
as she delivers the baby she
will either sell the new born
baby or abandon such baby
in the hospital and run away.”
However, she stressed
the need for parents to
strictly monitor the activities
of their female children
so that they will not get involved
in immoral activities
that will result in unwanted
pregnancy.
“Parents, especially mothers
should properly train their
female children; they should
teach them sex education
as early as possible so that
they will not learn it from bad
friends who will encourage
them to practise sex before
marriage,” she advised.
Blessing Eke, a gender activist,
attributed the high rate
of child abandonment in the
society to male child preference,
adding that female
babies face more abandonment
than male children.
Herdsmen’s menace: Ex-military officer advocates
establishment of regional forces by ECOWAS countries
IDRIS UMAR MOMOH, Benin
Paul Ogbebor, a
retired Colonel
in the Nigerian
Army, has called
for the formation
of a regional force by the
West African Heads of State
to confront the menace of
herdsmen in the sub-Saharan
region.
Ogbebor made the call
while speaking with journalists
in Benin-City in reaction
to a statement credited to
Theophilous Danjuma, a
retired Army General, calling
on Nigerians to defend
themselves against herdsmen.
The ex-military officer,
who noted that the herdsmen-farmers
clashes is a
regional problem that had
also plagued countries in
the West Africa region like
Ghana, Sierra-Leone, Cote
d’ Ivoire, among others described
the Danjuma’s call
as a disappointment taken
too far.
Ogbebor, who advised the
Nigerian government and
its citizenry to put heads together
and proffer solution
on how to solve the problem,
however advocated for a
meeting of Heads of State in
West African region to fashion
out ways of addressing
the issue.
He also called on the Federal
Government to engage
the service of retired military
and police officers who have
retired over 10 years ago to
address the challenge posed
by herdsmen in the country.
“Retirees from the military
and police should be
engaged to hold ground
in their respective local
governments because they
know their areas well. They
don’t need to be armed;
their duty as a result of their
training will be to give early
warning signal to serving
police and the military for
action,” he said.
According to him, “During
the civil war, we recalled
soldiers who fought in the
Second World War and it
worked for us. We are in a
state of war, we should do
the same thing and engage
those that have retired from
the police or military to save
the situation.
“Danjuma is a highly respected
Army General who
contributed so much to the
building of this country. I
am sure that was why he
made the statements about
herdsmen’s killing, indicting
the military and also asking
Nigerians to take up arms
and defend themselves. I
think his disappointment
over what is happening in
this country today, is taken
too far.”
While pointing out that
Lagos honours Airtel for HIV/AIDS
awareness campaign
In recognition of its
awareness campaign
and provision of tollfree
line in response to
HIV & AIDS related health
cases in Lagos, Airtel Nigeria
was recently presented
with the award for HIV &
AIDS Response by Lagos
State AIDS Control Agency
(LSACA).
LSACA, at its maiden edition
of Awards & Dinner
Night recently in Lagos, said
Airtel Nigeria was honoured
for helping the agency re-
L-R: Oluseyi Temowo, CEO, Lagos State AIDS Control Agency (LSACA),
presenting the award for HIV & AIDS Response in the state to Chioma
Okolie, Lead CSR, Airtel Nigeria, at the maiden LSACA Awards & Dinner
Night.
spond swiftly to cases of
HIV & AIDS in the state.
Oluseyi Temowo, chief
executive officer of LSACA,
while presenting the award
to Airtel, said the contributions
of the telco in driving
support for HIV & AIDS
awareness demonstrates
how much the company
is committed to touching
lives of people in Lagos and
across Nigeria.
“Airtel has been a corporate
partner of LSACA over
the years and has made
significant contributions
in the fight against HIV &
AIDS. We hope many other
corporate organisations will
emulate Airtel in supporting
us to end the virus in Lagos
State,” Temowo said.
Aside its toll-free line and
awareness campaign initiatives,
Airtel Nigeria had, in
the past, held a free medical
screening for the people of
Ilaje Community in Iponri,
Lagos, raising awareness
and deepening community
engagement through the
initiative.
the internal security of the
country is in the hands of
the police, he added that the
military had done their best
to ensure that the local governments
captured by Boko
Haram have been taken back
from them and should be
praised for that.
He however, explained
that resorting to self help is
not the solution and that the
statement if not corrected
can cause anarchy in the
country.
“The problem with Nigeria
is corruption and it is behind
the problem happening in
Nigeria today. We don’t have
leadership problem but system
failure. All that we need
to do now is to support the
President,” he said.
Abia contributes a
lot to Nigeria’s GDP -
Governor
UDOKA AGWU, Umuahia.
Governor Okezie Ikpeazu
of Abia has
said that the state
contributes a lot to
the growth of Gross Domestic
Point (GDP) of Nigeria.
He said that over one million
Abians who are involved
in producing shoes, bags and
garments for Nigeria and
other African countries have
contributed to the growth of
the economy.
Ikpeazu disclosed that
the made-in-Aba campaign
mounted by his government
had resulted in Aba producer
proudly stamping his products
made-in-Aba.
The Abia governor, who
stated this in Umuahia during
the first Abia Youth Mega
Summit with the theme ‘A
Productive Engagement for
Impact: Igniting Youth Entrepreneurship’,
appealed to the
various tiers of government
in Nigeria to expunge years
of experience as one of the
requirements for recruitment
in various government
agencies.