11042019 - INSECURITY: Senate condemns killings; insists on State Police

Vanguard, THURSDAY, APRIL 11, 2019—45
Reginald Ihejiahi at 60: Tribute to a
‘human being'
By Emma Esinnah
MOST people know Reginald Ihejiahi,
immediate past Managing Director
of Fidelity Bank, as a very brilliant banker.
They talk about his academic exploits at ABU
Zaria, where he studied accounting and
London School of Economics, where he
obtained his M.Sc. in Finance and went on to
become a fellow of the Association of Chartered
Certified Accountants, ACCA, of England and
Wales. Many people also know he holds the
national honour of Officer of the Order of the
Federal Republic, OFR, and a Doctor of
Business Administration, DBA, (honoris causa),
UNN. Most people also know that his
performance in Fidelity Bank was nothing
short of spectacular. Under him shareholders’
funds grew from N3billion in 2003 to
N167billion in 2013; branch network grew
from 17 in 2003 to 213 in 2013; customer base
went from 150,000 to 2.5million and capital
base rose from N20billion to N1trillion.
But the things that really define Reginald
Ihejiahi are more than those. I served as head
of marketing communications and his special
assistant in all his 10 years as CEO of the bank.
And after office, we have remained close. I have
seen him in grief and in glee. As he clocks 60
years, today, Thursday, April 11, 2019, I
consider myself fairly qualified to talk about
him. I will proceed to highlight some lesstalked-about
aspects of him:
A big heart, and a large heart: About four
months into Ihejiahi’s tenure as the CEO of
Fidelity Bank, Prof. Charles Soludo, then CBN
Governor, announced the consolidation
programme that shrank the Nigerian banking
industry from 89 banks to just 25 in 18 months.
Most people did not give Fidelity a chance of
survival. But it was something that revealed
Ihejiahi’s mettle. He was able to galvanize the
board and the staff to undertake a
capitalization programme that astounded
many. More importantly is how he managed
the integration of the banks (FSB and Manny)
that he brought together under the Fidelity
umbrella. He truly saw himself as head of one
big family, and never allowed the incidents
reported in other banks
where the acquiring
If you
banks saw the acquired
banks and their staff as relate with
conquered. Everybody
him, he
either rose or fell on
their individual merit. would
Insightful
encourage
leadership: During the
2008/2009 economic you to love
meltdown, most banks
your own
in the country downsized.
A proposal was family
brought to Ihejiahi that
Fidelity should lay-off
20 per cent of the staff.
He rejected that. His reason was that no proper
assessment had been done to determine who
this 20 per cent should be. He said “if I tell you
supervisors now to supply the names, you will
quickly bring the names of people who are not
greeting you well. The 20 per cent you want to
bring their names did not cause the global
melt down. So, all of us, not some of us, will
bear the pain.” He then approved that
everybody, including himself, should take a
temporary 20 per cent salary cut. That was
how everybody’s job was protected. More
importantly, when the situation improved, not
only that the 20 per cent was restored, but also
the deduction was gradually refunded.
Man of faith and self-discipline: Ihejiahi
does not wear his religion on his sleeves. But
his simple faith in God and devotion to Him
serve as compass for his life. Throughout his
first year in office, he would first attend the
6.30am church service at Falomo, Ikoyi, and
still get to the office for 8.00am. In over
15years that I have worked closely with him,
he has never missed a flight or been late to a
meeting. At a point he was the only CEO in the
Nigerian banking industry living on Lagos
Mainland and working on the Island. Yet, he
was never late to work.
A compassionate leader: One morning in
•Reginald Ihejiahi @ 60
2007, I entered his office and narrated how
one of our female staff in the operations
department who had closed late was attacked
on her way home. I could see the agony in his
face. He quickly called the Corporate Services
department to arrange to buy an additional
bus for the sake of staff working late - to take
them to bus stops closest to their homes. That
was the origin of Fidelity’s second night bus.
A family man: It’s not just his family that he
loves. If you relate with him, he would
encourage you to love your own family. The
family is so important to him that his dictum
is: before you vote for the politician seeking to
govern you, find out how he governs his own
family.
Love for community: Perhaps ones of the
best stocked public libraries in Nigeria today
is Eziachi Secondary School library, Orlu,
Imo State, Ihejiahi’s hometown. He personally
built and stocked the facility with diverse books.
Beyond education, some elderly and indigent
people in his community are on his roll of
periodic assistance, which he does very quietly.
A thinking man: One of the things that stand
him out is what he calls “thinking time”.
Biographies of
famous leaders
He must devote some time daily to
uninterrupted thinking and reflection. He
hardly says or does anything that he has not
reflected on.
A reading man: At every point in time,
Ihejiahi is reading at least three books. In
addition to professional books, his favorite
subjects include biographies of famous leaders,
history, travelogue, geography, people. It was
from him I came to I know about the Peruvian
writer, Mario Vargas Llosa. From him I knew
about the works of Suetonius – Lives of the
Caesars/The Twelve Caesars, the biographies
of Julius Caesar and the first eleven emperors
of Rome.
A man of order: Ihejiahi does not leave
anything to chance. Everything is orchestrated
and choreographed with the outcome in mind.
If he wants to communicate an important
message to you, he would send you a text, call
you to ask you if you got the text, and discuss
with you and ask if there is anything you did
not understand. No room for excuses.
His kindness is purposeful: He believes that
the best support is to assist them have a
graduate. He did it for his first driver from
Kogi State, who got an accountant and another
graduate, in addition to retiring into his own
house. His current driver’s son has also just
graduated.
He truly cares: Many of his former staff in
the bank testify that they own the piece of the
earth they occupy today because he guided
them. He would call you into his office and ask
you “what investments do you have?” He would
remind you that your honest income is enough
for you to invest and live happily if you shun
living other people’s lives.
He does big things: He does not settle for
half measures in anything. He can’t stand
small-minded people - those he calls “men of
straw.” And nothing peeves him as much as
seeing somebody who has been challenged
with big things quarreling about small things.
Continues online
•Esinnah, a media executive, wrote from
Lagos.
You can’t win
Nations Cup
with Uzoho
– Oparaku tells Rohr
Former Super Eagles
right fullback Mobi
Oparaku says the chances
of Nigeria winning the
Africa Cup of Nations is slim
because the team presently
don’t have a goalkeeper
they can rely on in times of
difficulty.
Mobi who is team manager
of Nigeria Professional
Football League side
Heartland FC after their 0-0
draw against Plateau United,
Oparaku didn’t mince words
in his submission on the
Super Eagles.
“You can’t win the AFCON
with that goalkeeper
(Uzoho). It’s impossible to
Impact Kiddies Basketball seeks
N10m to go to Italy
By Jacob Ajom
Arrangements are on for
the staging of the 28th
edition of the Mini Basket Piazza
in Italy, holding between
June 16 and 22. Sixty three
countries, including Nigeria
will take part in the event
which is meant for kids of
between 8 and 12 years old.
Nigeria’s participation,
however, hangs in the balance
due to lack of funds. Coordinator
of Impact Kiddies
Basketball, Joel Adams who
is responsible for organising
the Nigerian team to the
event said money was a big
problem. “We require at least
N10m for the trip but as we
speak, we are yet to get responses
to our appeals,” Joel
said, adding that the kids they
have already assembled
could make the country
proud in Italy.
Nigeria will be represented
at the week-long
event by a mixed team of12
kids, made up of boys and
girls, three coaches and
head of delegation.
Joel disclosed that he has
been coordinating Nigeria’s
participation in the tournament
in the past five years.
“But in the last two years we
have not been going. In the
past it has been children of
rich parents who always
paid their way to Italy. But
each time they went we don’t
ernot Rohr has revealed
that the Super Eagles
don’t want to be among the
favorites to win the upcoming
Africa Cup of Nations, as it would
put unnecessary pressure on the
team.
‘’We had the youngest team at
the World Cup but we learned a
lot,’’ Rohr told a foreign fm station,
Gold FM Bordeaux Métropole.
‘’We have found other young
players including Samuel Kalu,
he will soon come back, I hope for
Bordeaux and Nigeria. We have
just played two matches, we
qualified for the AFCON since
November.’’
The German continued :
‘’Nobody wants to be favorite of
this competition, it is always a
particular pressure. We are not,
we are number''''.
be honest and this am
saying despite the fact that
Uzoho originated from the
state where I control most
of the youth teams. He is
not fit enough to be first
choice”, he said.
“Ezenwa is a bit better and
his record for the team is
decent but he isn’t someone
you can rely on. Akpeyi is
someone I knew right from
his days at Nasarawa
United. He’s a goalkeeper
who feels like running away
from the post whenever the
Eagles are under pressure.
We’ve a big problem “.
win anything. That is not
what our participation was
out to achieve. We need laurels
and glory for our fatherland.
That is why I went to
public schools and picked
this group. These are children
of poor parents. They
need help.”
FIFA officials arrive
for Women’s World
Cup trophy tour
fficials from world
Ofootball –ruling body,
FIFA have arrived in
Nigeria with the original
FIFA Women’s World Cup
for a trophy tour scheduled
for today, in the Federal
Capital Territory, Abuja.
Acting President of the
NFF, Barrister Seyi
Akinwunmi received the
officials in company with
Ademola Olajire (Director
of Communications),
Sunday Okayi (Assistant
Director, Competitions),
Ruth David (Head of
Women’s Football),
Emmanuel Adesanya
(Competitions) and other
Federation officials.
While Nicole Fisch (lead
for women’s football
project) and Sarai Bareman
(chief women’s football
officer) flew into Abuja
aboard an Ethiopian Airline
flight, Vanessa Marques
(lead for marketing project)
arrived aboard an Emirates
Airline flight.
AFCON 2019: We don't want
to be favourites – Rohr
G Golden Eaglets
off to Tanzania
for U17 AFCON
F
ive –time world
champions, Nigeria flew
out of Abuja yesterday on their
way to Tanzania to take part in
the 13th Africa U17 Cup of
Nations taking place in that
country, 14th – 28th April.
Players and officials were
seen off at the airport by Acting
President of NFF, Barrister
Seyi Akinwunmi, who charged
them to do the nation proud
by lifting the U17 AFCON
trophy in Dar es Salaam on
28th April.
2019 AFCON
draw: Three
countries
Nigeria
should avoid
he Super Eagles of
TNigeria were seeded into
pot 2 alongside Morocco, DR
Congo, Algeria, Mali and
Guinea ahead of the draw for
the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations.
This means the Eagles won't
face any of these countries in
the group stage of the
competition in Egypt.
Gernot Rohr's men will draw
one country from first, third
and fourth pot respectively.
Allnigeriasoccer.com
studied the teams in each pot
and comes up with a
comprehensive list of top three
countries the Super Eagles
should avoid in the group stage
if they must progress to the next
round of the tournament.
Pot 1: Senegal
The first pot contains Egypt,
Ghana, Tunisia, Ivory Coast,
Cameroon and Senegal. It
consists of major powerhouses
in African football but the
Teranga Lions of Senegal are
the team to avoid.
Senegal are unbeaten in
their last six games, and they
are first in the FIFA ranking.
The team are definitely going
to be a huge test for the threetime
African Champions, so it
is better to avoid them at such
early stage.
Cameroon are better option,
considering the fellow West
African country were defeated
4-0 in Uyo during one of 2018
World Cup qualifying
matches.
Pot 3: Guinea-Bissau
The third pot contains
Uganda, South Africa,
Guinea-Bissau, Zimbabwe,
Angola and Burundi.
Guinea-Bissau qualified for
the AFCON tournament as
group winners with 9 points
and lost once throughout the
qualifying series.
The Super Eagles should
pray to avoid the team from
western part of the continent.
Meanwhile, It will be
interesting if Rohr's men meet
South Africa in Egypt.
Pot 4: Tanzania
This is the last seed and it
consists of Mauritania,
Namibia, Benin, Kenya,
Tanzania and Madagascar.
There is no team capable of
causing harm to Super Eagles
on paper, however, the West
African side shouldn't
underrate the power of
underdogs.
Tanzania can't boast of top
stars but they have Emmanuel
Amunike - who knows
Nigeria's style of play - as
manager, which is an added
advantage.
The Nigeria-born Tanzania
manager has worked with most
of the current Super Eagles
players; therefore he knows how
to prevent them from wrecking
havoc against his team.
21 EAGLETS FOR U17
AFCON FINALS
Sunday Stephen,
Shedrack Tanko, Ogaga
Oduko, Samson Okikiola
Tijani, Clement Chigozie
Ikenna, David Akulo
Ishaya, Olakunle Junior
Olusegun, Mayowa David
Abayomi, Wisdom Ubani,
Adrian Akande, Mubaraq
Gata Adeshina, Shuaib
Abdulrazaq, Akinkunmi
Ayobami Amoo, Olatomi
Alfred Olaniyan, Charles
Etim, Suleman Shaibu,
Peter Agba, Divine
Nwachukwu, Ibraheem
Olalekan Jabaar, Fawaz
Abdullahi, Ayomide
Oluwabusola
C
M
Y
K