13052019 - NSITF: Kokori, Labour tackle Presidency

Companies record 

weak earnings 

amidst sluggish 

economic growth 

INSIDE 

ALLEGED 

FRAUD: 

No money 

lost, says 

CBN 

9 

Insecurity: We’re 

up to the task 

— PRESIDENCY 

•Army, ISWA engage in claims 

and counter-claims over killings 

in Borno 

9 

VOL. 26: NO. 63801 

MONDAY, MAY 13, 2019 

CITY ARE CHAMPS... 

Captain Vincent Kompany lifts the Premier League trophy in company of other City players, for the second season running and for the fourth time in his career 

. City beat Brighton 4-1 yesterday to finish with 98 points, one point better than Liverpool. 

NSITF: Kokori, Labour 

FG’ll deal 

with 

AMCON 

debtors 8 

– OSINBAJO 

TUC planning 

to plunge 

Nigeria into 

darkness 

—TCN tells 

IGP 

8 

SERAP urges 

Ganduje to 

reject Kano 

Assembly bill 

• Ardo asks 

Sultan, others 

to resist 

Ganduje 10 13 

tackle Presidency 

•I was appointed in 2017, Kokori insists 

•Presidency, economical with the truth, Labour 

• NUPENG slams Presidency over Kokori 

Adeboye commissions ICU... 

From Left:Pastor E.A Odeyemi, AGO Training & Education, Pastor Idowu Iluyomade, SATGO CSR & PIC 

Region 20 , Prof Sonni Tyoden , Deputy Governor, Plateau State, Pastor E.A Adeboye, General Overseer 

RCCG, Kuden Deyin , Commissioner for Health, Plateau State at the commissioning of the Enoch and 

Folu Adeboye Intensive Care Unit donated by His Love Foundation at the Plateau Specialist Hospital, Jos. 

COLUMNISTS OWEI LAKEMFA SOBOWALE HENRY BOYO 

31 29 30 

STORY 

ON PAGE 

5 

Mr & Mrs

2 — Vanguard, MONDAY, MAY 13, 2019

Vanguard, MONDAY, MAY 13, 2019 — 3


Vanguard, MONDAY, MAY 13, 2019—5 

POCKET CARTOON 

MARK AT 20 IN SENATE—From left: Former Senate President, Sen David Mark; his wife, Helen; 

Gov Samuel Ortom of Benue State; former Minister of Interior/Senator-Elect, Comrade Abba Moro; 

his wife, Ori, during a Thanksgiving Mass to commemorate Mark’s 20 years in Senate, at St. Augustine’s 

Catholic Church in Okpoku LGA, Benue State, yesterday. Photo: NAN. 

NSITF: Kokori, Labour 

tackle Presidency 

By Victor Young & 

Johnbosco 

Agbakwuru 

A BUJA—Veteran 

Labour leader, 

Chief Frank Ovie 

Kokori, yesterday, 

disagreed with the 

Presidency over his 

appointement as 

Chairman of the board 

of Nigeria Social 

Insurance Trust Fund, 

NSITF. 

The Presidency had, 

weekend, issued a 

statement saying Kokori 

was only appointed as 

Chairman of the board 

of Michael Imoudu 

Institute for Labour 

Studies and not the 

NSITF. 

But reacting, 

yesterday, Kokori said: 

“I first heard about the 

appointment through 

an online medium. 

Within two hours, 

Ngige called to 

congratulate me. Not 

long after, Chief Emeka 

Wogu, the immediate 

past Minister of Labour 

and Employment, also 

called to congratulate 

me. 

‘’Within that week, 

Ngige invited me to a 

dinner. I went with my 

son to the dinner. We 

discussed the 

inauguration and other 

things concerning the 

fund. 

‘’When President 

Buhari, returned, 

Ngige called me to say, 

now that the President 

has come back, let me 

get clearance from him 

because you know that 

the man that appointed 

you was acting 

president. That took 

about three weeks. 

‘’After that, he called 

to say that the President 

said he should 

inaugurate me. It was 

from then on the cabal 

in the Presidency took 

over because they are 

afraid that I am going 

to unearth a lot of 

things that have been 

going on. I can tell you 

that they have spent 

over N2 billion to 

ensure that I am not 

inaugurated chairman 

of the board. 

‘’On June 12, 2018, I 

asked President Buhari 

why I was not 

inaugurated, he asked 

one of his aides, one 

Seriki, to see to it that I 

was inaugurated as 

chairman of the board. 

But the cabal refused to 

have me inaugurated. 

‘’Look, if at the 

beginning I was named 

chairman of the 

Governing Council of 

Michael Imoudu 

National Institute of 

Labour Studies, 

MINILS, I would 

gladly accept. But I was 

appointed chairman of 

the NSITF board by the 

then acting President, 

Yemi Osinbajo. 

‘’But the cabal in the 

Presidency, including 

one contractor of NNDC 

in Delta, another of my 

friend and a leading 

figure in the June 12, 

1993, struggle(names 

withheld), are involved 

in the conspiracy to 

stop me from being 

inaugurated.” 

NLC reacts 

Speaking on the issue 

yesterday, President of 

Nigeria Labour 

Congress, NLC, Ayuba 

Wabba, said the 

clarification from Femi 

Adesina was very 

unfortunate, since it 

was coming rather too 

late. 

He said: ‘’I think they 

are being economical 

with the truth. You can 

recall that on March 17, 

through the NTA, it was 

announced that Kokori 

has been replaced as 

NSITF board chairman 

and named as 

Chairman of the 

Michael Imoudu 

Labour institute 

Governing Board. 

‘’You cannot replace 

somebody you have not 

appointed in the first 

place. This matter was 

on the table for over two 

years. We have written 

several letters for him to 

be inaugurated, nobody 

said he was never 

Continues on Page 41 

By Bose Adelaja,Yinka Latona, 

Dickson Omobola, Tolulope Oke, 

Erinfolami Abdulkudus, Janet 

Somoye 

Banditry, kidnapping occupation of Nigerian youths — Buhari (4) 

The President is not 

far from the truth 

simply because the youths 

are often at the receiving 

end of the hardship, 

poverty and hunger in the 

country after contributing 

so much in bringing the 

government onboard as 

the majority and what do 

you expect of youths who 

are jobless? Of course, all 

sorts of evils are expected 

of them for survival. 

-Wolimoh Olajide 

Warehouse Manager 

The response to this 

is simple, let’s 

tackle unemployment, 

infrastructural decay, 

lack of social amenities 

and growing poverty in 

the land. All past heads 

of state should be held 

responsible for this 

because the situation did 

not start today. 

God bless Nigeria. 

-Mr Dare Oyedele 

Businessman 

The failure of government 

in protecting lives and 

providing jobs and 

security makes youths to 

take advantage of the failed 

situation to get daily bread. 

These youths can be 

absorbed in the security 

organisations and they will 

deliver if employed as 

securitymen and women 

and then banditry/ 

kidnapping will become a 

thing of the past as everyone 

is engaged with daily 

activities and earns daily 

bread. 

-Olamide Abbas, Youth 

Advocate 

We all understand 

the fact that most 

of the evil being 

perpetrated in the 

society are carried out by 

youths but lack of jobs for 

the youths has made 

kidnapping a new 

occupation for Nigerian 

youths and this must be 

addressed before 

making such a 

statement. 

-Mr Mufutau Razak 

Commercial Driver 

Over 30 million 

Nigerians have 

lost their jobs and basic 

means of livelihood; 

businesses have 

continued to be shut 

while cost of essential 

goods and services have 

persistently increased 

with purchasing power 

of citizens worsening. 

Mr President should 

address these first. 

-Mr Peter Akinsolu 

Fisherman 

Iagree with Mr. President. 

The youths have become 

not just unemployed but 

disempowered as a result of 

govt's poor economic policies 

and political crisis in the 

country. As a result, the youths 

have resigned to fate by taking 

laws into their hands and 

empowering themselves 

economically by receiving 

ransom from kidnapped 

victims’ families and other 

negative vices. This is all 

captured by Frantz Fanon in 

his book, The Wretched of the 

earth. 

-Moyosore Lateef Adeyinka 

Security operative

6—Vanguard, MONDAY, MAY 13, 2019 

Fire guts 

SEMA 

warehouse, 

Chronicle 

newspaper 

archive in 

Calabar 

By Ike 

Uchechukwu 

C ALABAR—FOOD 

items, relief materials 

worth millions of naira, 

including mattresses, 

vegetable oil, palm oil, 

and noodles among other 

items were destroyed by 

fire, which gutted the 

warehouse of Cross River 

State Emergency 

Management Agency, 

SEMA, and Chronicle 

newspaper archives. 

Vanguard gathered that 

the fire, which started at 

about 8:30 pm on 

Saturday night destroying 

everything inside the 

warehouse of the agency 

located at 17/19, Barracks 

Road, Calabar was 

caused by vandals who 

broke into the warehouse, 

carting away bags of rice, 

garri and other items. 

Confirming the 

incident, Mr Princewill 

Ayim, Director General of 

SEMA in Cross River said 

he was shocked about the 

report he got at about 8:30 

pm while on official duty. 

His words : “ We got 

report at about 8:30pm 

that one of our makeshift 

warehouses was on fire 

and we called the 

emergency toll free line, 

122, of Nigeria 

Communications 

Commission, NCC, and 

that was when Fire Service 

responded immediately 

and the fire was stopped 

from spreading to other 

departments. 

“From our preliminary 

investigations, we 

discovered that the fire 

was caused while the 

hoodlums were trying to 

cart away relief materials 

from the warehouse. 

We claimed to be cultists to rob our victims, 

ex-convicts, robbery suspects confess 

By Olasunkanmi 

Akoni 

TWO ex-convicts arrested for 

robbery by operatives of Rapid 

Response Squad, RRS, of Lagos 

State Police Command, have 

revealed how they robbed their 

victims under the pretext of being 

cult members. 

Emmanuel Michael, 20 year-old 

and Mohammed Abubakar, 25, 

were arrested in Lekki Phase I, 

Lekki area of Lagos State after a 

robbery operation. 

One of the robbers, Micheal, was 

released from Oke-Kura Prison, 

Kwara State on Friday, April 26, 

2019, and re-arrested on Monday 

in Lekki, Lagos, with his colleagues 

after robbing a 25-year-old lady in 

Lekki Phase 1. 

Suspects' confessions 

According to Michael: “I was 

released from Oke-Kura Prison, 

Kwara State on Friday. I was 

imprisoned for almost four years for 

man slaughter. 

“With the assistance of my brother, 

I came down to Lagos and landed 

in Alaba Rago, Ojo. It was in that 

ghetto I met Mohammed Abubakar, 

who said I should accompany him 

to Lekki. 

“He paid all the transport fare 

from Ojo to Lekki, he didn’t tell me 

he was going to rob. He only told 

me to play along with him.” 

Mohammed Abubakar, 25, who 

is also an ex-convict, while 

pleading for leniency, stated that 

he invited Michael and Simeon 

Michael, 27, for a “student parole.” 

“We were on student parole. We 

saw the lady and our interest was 

to scare her into parting with her 

mobile phone. We told her we were 

Aiye cult members and that the 

colour of her dress gave her out as 

rival cult member. 

“I told Emmanuel to confirm if 

she was truly a member of rival cult 

member. I, thereafter, threatened to 

kill her on the spot if she didn’t cooperate 

with me. I took her phone 

and asked her to go and get us 

drinks. 

“She left to get the drinks and we 

took Okada and bolted. 

Unfortunately for us, we did not 

know that RRS team were patrolling 

The suspects. 

the area. She called for help and 

chased us on Okada. They 

caught up with us at Lekki 

Phase 1 gate and this was 

where the police arrested us. 

“In all honesty, we are not cult 

members. We only use that code 

to dispossess victims. What we did 

is common among teenagers 

raised in Alaba. It is called ‘student 

parole.’ 

Abubakar, who is a stylist, was 

arrested in Maryland, Lagos in 

September, 2018 for robbery. He 

was released in December, 2018 

from Ikoyi Prison. 

He narrated: “It is the source 

of my livelihood. I have operated 

in Lekki, Agege, Bariga, Shitta, 

Okoko, Maryland, among 

others.” 

Fake lovers jailed for Internet fraud 

By Evelyn Usman 

THREE Nigerian youths that 

posed as foreigners to 

defraud their supposed foreign 

lovers, through Internet, have 

been convicted and sentenced to 

prison by Justice Fatun Riman 

of the Federal High Court sitting 

in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State. 

The trio of Daniel Iluobe, 

Ifeanyi Chukwudi Paul and 

Godwin Joseph Ovboke, 

defrauded their supposed female 

lovers of $1,600 and 600 pounds, 

respectively. 

Iluobe,while posing as a 

Chinese, with the name Huang 

Guang, sent electronic messages 

to a Chinese woman promising 

her marriage. In the course of 

the conversation, he demanded 

$200, which his unsuspecting 

victim sent to him via Western 

Union. 

Ovboke, as gathered, 

portrayed himself as Lancelot 

Degory, a United States citizen 

and succeeded in defrauding 

one Cheow Lim of $1,400, after 

How Ambode’s commissioner, Bamigbetan, driver 

narrowly escaped death in auto crash 

By Olasunkanmi 

Akoni 

FEW days to handing over 

to Permanent Secretary of 

the ministry, Lagos State 

Commissioner for Information 

and Strategy, Kehinde 

Bamigbetan, weekend, 

narrowly, escaped death with 

his driver in an auto crash that 

occurred in Osun State. 

Bamigbetan, who in his last 

public official duty represented 

Governor Akinwunmi Ambode 

of Lagos State at the 2019 

Biennial Conference of Nigeria 

Guild of Editors, in Lagos, 

penultimate weekend, 

announced the incident in a 

Facebook post, yesterday. 

His ash colour Sport Utility 

Vehicle, SUV, which he was 

travelling in before the tragic 

accident had its bonnet smashed 

and two airbags blown out after 

ramming into Police Armoured 

Personnel Carrier. 

Bamigbetan posted on his 

facebook post, thus: “His mercy 

endures forever. The driver drove 

into an armoured carrier on our 

way from the farm. I was taking a 

nap in the rear seat. The impact 

flung me at the windscreen. He 

dozed off on speed. But our 

Creator was in charge. He saved 

us from the calamity. To God be the 

glory.” 

When Vanguard spoke with him 

on phone, he was full of thanks 

and praises to God for saving his 

life, saying: “It is only by miracle 

my life was saved. It can only 

be God." 

He told Vanguard that he 

travelled to Ife, in Osun State, 

at the weekend to attend his 

secondary school old students’ 

meeting. 

He explained that after the 

meeting he decided to visit his 

farm to access the stage of 

development and after a tiring 

outing on their way back the 

tragic accident occurred. 

He told Vanguard that he is 

recuperating and in a stable 

condition, even as he thanked 

family members, friends, 

relations, well wishers, and all 

that took time to send him get 

well wishes over his lucky 

escape. 

The suspects. 

he lied to her that he was going to 

meet her in Singapore where they 

were supposed to get married. 

Paul on the other hand, claimed 

he was a Construction Engineer 

based in Syria. He succeeded in 

defrauding one Simone Cardoso of 

£600 with a false promise of 

marriage. 

The convicts were arraigned on 

separate charges and all three 

pleaded “guilty” to the one-count 

charge preferred against them by 

Economic and Financial Crimes 

Commission, EFCC. 

Before they were convicted and 

sentenced, the prosecuting counsel, 

N.K. Ukoha, prayed the court to 

allow his witness take a stand and 

review the facts of the cases. 

How they were arrested 

The prosecution witness, Joseph 

Simon Akor, an EFCC operative, 

narrated how the convicts were 

arrested at different locations and 

on different dates, following 

intelligence gathered during 

surveillance. 

He told the court that Paul was 

arrested on May 5, 2019 at his 

apartment on Charles Effiong 

Close, Satellite Town, Calabar, 

while Ovboke and Iluobe were 

arrested at Itagbor Agbeansa area 

of Calabar. 

“During investigations, 

forensic analysis carried out on 

their laptops showed that they 

were into Internet fraud as we 

saw all the electronic messages 

they used to dupe their victims,” 

he said. 

After leading the witness in 

evidence, Ukoha then urged the 

court to convict and sentence 

them accordingly. 

While delivering judgement, 

Justice Riman sentenced Iluobe 

to two years in prison with an 

option of fine of N50,000, and 

ordered that the convict must 

restitute the entire sum of $200 

to his victim. 

Ovboke was sentenced to two 

years in prison with an option of 

fine of N100,000 and ordered to 

refund $1,400 to the victim as 

restitution. 

Paul was also sentenced to two 

years in prison with an option of 

fine of N100,000. He was also 

ordered by the court to pay back 

£600 to the victim he defrauded. 

The court also ordered that all 

three convicts forfeit every item 

recovered from them at the point 

of arrest to the Federal 

Government.


Vigilantes rescue 2 brothers from 

kidnappers in Delta, kill 3 suspects 

•As mother, aunt of Delta monarch regain freedom 

By Perez Brisibe 

ISIOKOLO—Two brothers 

were rescued from a kidnappers' 

den inside Egbo forest of Kokori 

by a team of vigilante operatives 

from Kokori community in Ethiope 

East Local Government Area of 

Delta State, killing three of the 

suspected kidnappers during a 

gun duel. 

The incident came as the mother 

and aunt of the Pere of Kabowei 

kingdom, HRM Shedrack Erbulu 

Aduo III, were released by their 

abductors three weeks after they 

were kidnapped. 

According to family sources, the 

mother of the monarch, Queen 

Elizabeth Erebulu, and her sister, 

Mrs. Okee Yawoma, were released 

after a ransom of N11 million was 

allegedly paid to the hoodlums, who 

kidnapped them at their respective 

homes on April 17. 

The source, who spoke on condition 

of anonymity, said: “They were 

released on Friday at about 2:35 am 

after the payment of N11 million 

ransom." 

On the rescue of the two brothers, 

a security source at Isiokolo Police 

Divisional headquarters, gave their 

names as Aaron Iliya and Felix Iliya 

adding that they were rescued last 

Friday after spending three days in 

the kidnapper’s den following their 

abduction at Otumara community. 

The source, who spoke on 

condition of anonymity, said: 

“The vigilante operatives 

invaded the den of the 

kidnappers and a gun duel 

ensued leading to the death of 

three of the suspected 

kidnappers identified as 

Richard Omoveke, Onoriode 

Madefo and Samson Ezekiel 

while a fourth suspect identified 

as Efeture Omorite, escaped 

with bullet wounds.” 

Contacted, Delta State Police 

Public Relations Officer, DSP 

Onome Onowakpoyeya, 

directed all inquiries to the 

Divisional Police Officer in 

charge of the area for details. 

... with Emma'nKen (08163121378) 

Men!!! They have ways of calming down 

women's nerves 

CRASHED: Scene of an accident on Enugu-Onitsha Expressway, Amawbia, 

Awka, Anambra State, yesterday. Photo: NAN. 

Police arrest 3 suspected cultists with 

female underwear in Ogun 

•Nab 3 motorcycle snatchers in Lagos 

By Daud Olatunji & 

Esther Onyegbula 

ABEOKUTA—Men of Ogun 

State Police Command said 

they have arrested three suspected 

cultists with one female pant tied 

with assorted charms. 

The Police Public Relations Officer 

in the state, Abimbola Oyeyemi, 

said the arrest was made in 

continuation of the command’s war 

against cultism and other violent 

crimes. 

He said the arrested cultists, who 

have all confessed their membership 

of Eiye confraternity are: Olagboye 

Abidemi, 32; Olasemojo Michael, 

28, and Wasiu Waheed, 23. 

According to Oyeyemi, men of 

Ogun State Police Command, last 

Friday stormed an initiation hideout 

of the Eiye confraternity in Agbowa 

area of Ogijo where three members 

of the group were arrested. 

“The Divisional Police Officer, 

DPO, Ogijo division, CSP 

Muhammed Baba, while leading 

men of Operation Puff Adder on 

routine patrol, got information about 

the hideout of the cult group where 

they usually initiate new members. 

“The place was, subsequently, 

stormed and three members of the 

group were arrested. Recovered 

from them were one jack knife, one 

blood stained silver knife, one 

female pant tied with charms and 

other assorted charms. 

“Meanwhile, the state 

Commissioner of Police, Bashir 

Makama, has ordered the transfer 

of the suspects to Anti kidnapping/ 

cultists section of the State Criminal 

Investigation and Intelligence 

Department for discreet investigation. 

...nab 3 motorcycle 

snatchers in Lagos 

In a related development, three 

suspected armed robbers that 

specialise in snatching motorcycles in 

Ipaja area of Lagos State and environs 

have been arrested by the police. 

The suspects, Lateef Adeleke, 23; 

Lekan Bashiru, 23, and Chinedu 

Uzozie, 21 were arrested after they 

attacked a motorcyclist. 

Police sources said the suspects 

waylaid the commercial motorcyclist 

identified as Saheed Oloyo in 

Ipaja area, weekend, macheted 

him on the head and 

disappeared with the motorcycle, 

a Bajaj with number plate KRD 

310 QH while the victim was 

taken to a nearby hospital for 

treatment. 

Vanguard learned that few 

minutes after the attack, the 

police at Ipaja was contacted and 

the Divisional Police Officer, CSP 

Tokunbo Abaniwodo, led her 

team to the scene after which they 

went on the trail of the fleeing 

robbers. 

Luckily, their efforts paid off 

after they traced the suspects to 

Fagebemi area and arrested 

them. One of the suspects was 

said to have hidden in a septic 

tank before police fished him out. 

...Parade 8 suspected illegal 

refinery operators in Delta 

OPERATIVES of the IGP 

Special Task Force on 

Pipeline Vandalisation, weekend, 

paraded eight members of a cartel 

that specialises in refining local 

AGO, otherwise known as diesel, 

along coastal settlements in Warri 

South Council areas of Delta 

state. 

The cartel, whose network was 

said to have spread across the 

creeks in Delta waterways, have 

been the brain behind the 

conversion of stolen crude oil to 

locally refined products sold to 

some major marketers, who in turn 

dispense to the public at the 

official rates. 

Parading the suspects, 

weekend, Commander, IGP 

Special Task Force on 

Pipeline Vandalisation 

attached to PPMC, Warri 

Depot, SP Mohammed El- 

Yakubu, said the arrests were 

in line with the Inspector- 

General of Police zero 

tolerance on pipeline 

vandalism. 

According to him, “based 

on the intelligence gathering 

from our Abuja office, the sector 

launched an operation to the 

scene of crime at Benneth 

Island in Warri South last 

Friday at about 10pm, where 

the suspects and their 

equipment were intercepted”. 

Hmmmm! Fun spoilers everywhere

8—Vanguard, MONDAY, MAY 13 , 2019 

:Vanguard News :@vanguardnews :@vanguardnews NEWS HOTLINES: 08052867023, 08052867058 

FG'll deal 

with AMCON 

debtors 

—Osinbajo 

NIGERIAN INVESTORS DAY: From left, MD/CEO, CSCS Plc, Haruna Jalo-Waziri; CEO, FMDQ OTC 

Exchange Plc, Bola Onadele Koko; immediate past President, Association of Asset Custodians of Nigeria, AACN, 

Mrs. Kemi Adewole; Governor, Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele; CEO, Rand Merchant Bank Limited, 

Michael Larbie; and MD/CEO, First Registrars Limited, Bayo Olugbemi, at the 8th Annual Nigerian Investors 

Day organised by AACN, in London. 

Corruption allegation: PDP, APC in war of words 

over Bulkachuwa 

By Soni Daniel, 

Omeiza Ajayi & 

Dirisu Yakubu 

ABUJA— PEOPLES 

Democratic Party, PDP, 

yesterday, called on 

President Muhammadu 

Buhari and the leadership of 

All Progressives Congress, 

APC, to clear the air on 

allegations of corruption 

against Justice Zainab 

Bulkachuwa, President of the 

Court of Appeal. 

But Department of State 

Services, DSS, also, 

yesterday, denied ever 

indicting Justice Bulkachuwa 

of any financial crime. 

However, PDP in a 

statement by its spokesman, 

Kola Ologbondiyan, noted 

that on account of the 

allegation and the nefarious 

plot to bring its name into its 

narrative, charged the 

Buhari-led Presidency to 

come clear on the corruption 

allegation it opened on Justice 

Bulkachuwa. 

The statement read: “The 

party says since the Buhariled 

Presidency has alluded 

to issues of corruption against 

Justice Bulkachuwa, contrary 

to issues raised in the PDP 

petition bordering on bias, it 

behoves on the Presidency 

and the APC to make public 

the corruption issues they 

have alluded to. 

“The Presidency should 

also take a step further by 

pursuing these issues of 

corruption just as it did in its 

case of corruption allegations 

against the former Chief 

Justice of Nigeria, Justice 

Walter Onnoghen, instead of 

dragging our party into issues 

that have no bearing on PDP. 

“Now that the Presidency 

has informed the whole 

nation that Justice 

Bulkachuwa has issues of 

corruption, we challenge it to 

do the needful rather than 

engaging in shadow-boxing 

against our party. 

“Moreover, in the face of 

corruption allegations, as has 

now been exposed by the 

Presidency, the burden still 

lies on the same Presidency 

to come clean. 

“In doing that, the 

Presidency will be ranching 

on its established course, 

having hit the records of 

harassing and intimidating 

judicial officials; abuse of court 

processes and disregard for 

court orders." 

We’ve not indicted 

Bulkachuwa — DSS 

However, the Department 

of State Services, DSS, has 

denied ever indicting 

Bulkachuwa of any financial 

crime. 

The open declaration by the 

DSS followed a report by a 

newspaper, which claimed 

that Bulkachuwa was 

purportedly indicted for 

bribery and corruption by a 

certain secret memo of the 

service. 

A statement by DSS 

spokesman, Peter Afunanya, 

read: “Consequently, the DSS 

categorically states that the 

said memo only exists in the 

imagination of the writers and 

should be roundly 

disregarded by the reading 

public. 

“It is unfortunate that the 

newspaper followed 

unethical ways to publish this 

falsehood. It is rather curious 

and, indeed, condemnable 

that the newspaper did not 

reach out to the service for its 

comments as would have 

been expected in a reportage 

of this nature. 

“The service has, 

nonetheless, launched a 

detailed investigation into the 

controversies surrounding the 

said newspaper publication. 

“It is the wish of the service 

that it is left out of the 

•Speak up on Bulkachuwa, PDP tells Buhari, Presidency, APC 

•We’ve not indicted Bulkachuwa over financial crime — DSS 

•PDP should look for something concrete to bring forward—APC 

maneuvers of politicians who 

are hereby advised to abide 

by the rule of law and respect 

the entire process of electoral 

litigation regarding the 

activities of the tribunal. 

“While the service will 

continue to collaborate with 

the media as strategic 

partners in nation building, 

it admonishes practitioners to 

be lawful and professional in 

the execution of their 

responsibility. 

"However, mischief makers, 

intent on causing disaffection 

in the polity, are warned to 

desist from such acts as the 

full weight of the law will be 

visited on defaulters." 

PDP should look for 

something concrete 

to bring forward 

—APC 

In his reaction, APC’s 

National Publicity Secretary, 

Mallam Lanre Issa-Onilu, 

stated: “Do you think 

somebody should be 

responding to such hogwash. 

When will PDP sit to put 

down the names of all justices 

at the Supreme Court and 

Court of Appeal and trace 

their families so that we know 

how many of them who have 

relations who are in politics 

and should be disqualified, 

starting from the Supreme 

Court. 

‘’Then they should point to 

what aspect of the Nigerian 

law that says that if you have 

a relation who is a politician, 

then you are disqualified. 

PDP is indirectly questioning 

the integrity of the people in 

the judiciary and is indirectly 

trying to intimidate that 

institution and undermine 

the rule of law. 

‘’Hardly would you find 

anybody in the judiciary 

today who does not have a 

relation who is a politician. 

From the Supreme Court 

down to the Magistrate 

Court, hardly would you find 

any Nigerian who is a judicial 

officer who does not have 

somebody who is a relation 

that is a politician. 

‘’The world has become 

tired of an opposition party 

that has failed in its 

TUC planning to plunge Nigeria 

into darkness, TCN tells IGP 

By Chris Ochayi 

A Transmission 

BUJA—The 

Company of Nigeria, TCN, 

has alerted the acting 

Inspector General of Police, 

Adamu Mohammed, to an 

alleged plans by Trade Union 

Congress, TUC, to cause 

industrial unrest, which may 

lead to the breakdown of law 

and order. 

The company alleged that 

documents were being 

circulated on social media by 

TUC purportedly to sabotage 

electricity supply in the 

country. 

It, therefore, invited the 

police authorities to take 

proactive measures to forestall 

any breach of public peace or 

breakdown of law and order, 

in the unlikely event that 

TUC insists on proceeding 

with its planned actions. 

A statement issued by the 

company’s General 

Manager, Public Affairs, Mrs. 

Ndidi Mbah, in Abuja 

yesterday, said: “TCN noted 

that issues for which the TUC 

has ill-advisedly declared an 

industrial action are already 

subject to a court action before 

the National Industrial Court 

Abuja Division, in Suit No. 

NICN/ABJ/121/19, which 

processes have already been 

served the TUC. 

“The matter is subjudice 

and TCN is constrained, by 

responsibility to even 

oppose, using logic and 

applying sense into what they 

are doing. I think they want 

to be in the news by all means 

but I think they should do 

better and look for something 

concrete to bring forward.” 

respect for the courts, to 

refrain from divulging 

further details, except to 

enjoin the parties to this 

pending action - the TUC 

and the Senior Staff 

Association of Electricity and 

Allied Company, SSAEAC, to 

show utmost respect to the 

hallowed institution of the 

court by maintaining the 

status quo. 

We can still 

negotiate 

—TUC President 

In his reaction, President 

TUC, Bobboi Kaigama, said: 

“We are picketing from 

tomorrow and if picketing is 

what some people called 

throwing Nigeria into 

darkness, then that is caused 

by MD of TCN. 

“It has been a trade dispute 

case for over one year and he 

(MD TCN) has been 

recalcitrant. Ministry of 

Labour has invited him over 

time and he remained 

stubborn. 

"Obviously, picketing is our 

last resort but there is still 

room for negotiations. We are 

not interested in picketing 

what we want is a situation 

to find an amicable resolution 

to the trade dispute. And if 

there is anyone who is going 

to throw Nigeria into 

darkness, it is the MD of 

TCN.’’ 

By Babajide 

Komolafe 

A BUJA—VICE 

President, Prof. Yemi 

Osinbajo, SAN, weekend 

stated the resolve of the 

Federal Government to deal 

ruthlessly with institutions 

and individuals indebted to 

Asset Management 

Corporation of Nigeria, 

AMCON. 

Osinbajo, who noted that 

one of the measures to be 

deployed against the debtors 

was stopping them from 

doing business with 

government, vowed that 

government would not fold 

its arms and allow AMCON 

debtors walk the streets free. 

“I think the time has come 

for us (Federal Government) 

to set some examples with 

some of these top debtors of 

AMCON, which I believe 

will set a good example and 

serve as deterrent to others,’’ 

the vice president said. 

He said the debtors had 

made it impossible for 

AMCON to resolve its 

outstanding N5 trillion debt, 

thereby holding the entire 

nation to ransom with their 

bad behaviour. 

Osinbajo disclosed this 

while addressing some 

board members and 

management of AMCON, 

led by the Board Chairman, 

Dr. Muiz Banire, SAN, at 

State House, Abuja. 

Osinbajo, who is the 

Chairman of Economic 

Council, said there were 

plans by government to set 

up an inter-agency 

collaboration framework that 

would comprise relevant 

government Ministries, 

Departments and Agencies, 

MDAs, and supervised by 

the office of the vice 

president to ensure that 

institutions and individuals 

that were indebted to 

AMCON were not allowed 

to do business with 

government henceforth. 

He said the Federal 

Government under the 

leadership of President 

Muhammadu Buhari will no 

longer fold its arms and allow 

a few individuals owing 

AMCON huge sums of 

money walk freely on the 

streets in the country. 

Osinbajo, who said he was 

impressed with the 

performance of the executive 

management of AMCON 

under the leadership of 

Ahmed Lawan Kuru for the 

recovery successes that have 

been achieved so far against 

all odds, also promised that 

the Federal Government 

would give AMCON 

whatever support that was 

necessary to enable it go 

after the obligors that have 

remained recalcitrant, 

despite the olive branch 

extended to them over the 

years by the recovery agency 

of the government.


CBN dismisses fraud allegations against top officials 

By Babajide 

Komolafe 

CENTRAL Bank of 

Nigeria, CBN, 

yesterday, dismissed as 

false and misleading 

allegations of fraudulent 

transactions against its top 

officials with respect to a 

purported N150 billion bad 

loan in its accounts for 

2018. 

In a statement issued 

yesterday, Director, 

C o r p o r a t e 

Communications, CBN, 

Isaac Okoroafor, said: “The 

Management of the 

Central Bank of Nigeria, 

CBN, has been notified of 

a purported audio 

recording of selective 

conversations between the 

CBN Governor, Deputy 

Governor and some senior 

UNILEVER'S AGM: From left—Non-Executive Director; Mrs. Abiola Alabi; Non-Executive 

Director, Mr. Atedo Peterside; Independent Non-Executive Director, Mr. Mutiu Sunmonu, and General 

Counsel, Ghana-Nigeria & Company Secretary, Mrs. Abidemi Ademola, all of Unilever Nigeria Plc, 

during the company's 94th Annual General Meeting. 

Insecurity: We’re up to task, 

Presidency 

By Johnbosco 

Agbakwuru 

A BUJA—THE 

Presidency has said 

despite security challenges 

in some parts of the country, 

the Federal Government is 

up to the task of reversing 

the trend. 

Special Adviser to the 

President on Media and 

Publicity, Chief Femi 

Adesina, in a statement in 

Abuja yesterday, 

enumerated efforts by the 


Buhari-led administration 

to tackle the menace and 

affirmed that it was 

government’s 

responsibility to safeguard 

the lives and properties of 

the citizens. 

He said: “These are no 

officials. 

“Contrary to the 

headline-grabbing 

narrative that the discussion 

was about a fraudulent 

transaction, this 

conversation—the 

beginnings of which was 

omitted to create a different 

impression— was simply to 

proffer solutions to a 

misunderstanding that 

affected the Bank’s balance 

sheet. 

“As publicly known, the 

CBN was approached in 

2015 by the National 

Economic Management 

Team and the National 

Economic Council, NEC, 

chaired by the Vice 

President, to assist state 

governments with 

conditional budget support 

in the aftermath of the 

significant nose-dive in 

doubt times of great security 

challenges for our country 

and the President 

Muhammadu Buhari-led 

government is not leaving 

any stone unturned to 

restore sanity and calm.” 

The presidential aide also 

assured that the 

government remained 

committed to its goal of 

beating the criminals. 

Adesina said: “It is the 

constitutional duty of 

government to safeguard 

lives and properties. The 

Buhari administration 

remains committed to this, 

and despite recent spikes 

in the spate of crime and 

criminality, the evildoers 

will be beaten, and badly, 

too. 

“The ravening clouds can 

never be victorious. Soon, 

global oil prices and 

associated FAAC 

allocations. 

“In order to ensure that 

ordinary Nigerian workers 

got their salaries, pensions 

and gratuities, and that the 

economy continued to 

recover from recession, the 

bank provided about N650 

billion in loans at 9% with a 

two-year grace period to 35 

states of the Federation. 

“These monies were 

distributed to the states 

monthly with documented 

approval of the Ministry of 

Finance and the 

Presidency. 

“In closing the Bank’s 

2018 accounts, external 

auditors in their draft 

account, erroneously 

classified about N150 

billion of these loans as 

bad, which negatively 

they shall no longer possess 

the sky.” 

He listed some of the 

security initiatives taken 

since January to include 

Operation Puff 

Adder (Nigerian 

Police), Operation HARBIN 

KUNAMA 3 (Nigerian 

Army) and Exercise Egwu 

Eke 3 (Nigerian Army) 

launched to complement 

the 

existing 

Operations Sharan 

Daji (launched in 2016 by 

the Nigerian Army) 

a n d D i r a n 

Mikiya (launched in 2018 

by the Nigerian Air Force). 

The statement read in 

part: “All of these operations 

are focused on tackling 

banditry and criminality in 

the North-West of Nigeria. 

“Operation HARBIN 

KUNAMA 3 was launched 

on April 1, to ensure the 

complete defeat of the 

bandits fleeing military 

affected the bank’s balance 

sheet and shareholders 

fund. 

“The selective 

conversation being 

circulated was simply a 

discussion to ascertain why 

the auditors took that 

position and next steps to 

resolving it. 

“Obviously, it soon 

became clear that a state 

government loan cannot be 

classified as “bad” or 

“irrecoverable” when the 

state still exists and getting 

FAAC allocations. 

“The bank then reached 

out to the Ministry of 

Finance and they jointly 

gave comfort to the auditors 

who accepted in writing 

that these monies would be 

repaid. 

“On this basis, the 

auditors reversed the 

operations in Zamfara and 

escaping into Kaduna, 

Katsina, Kano, Niger and 

Sokoto states. 

“Hundreds of kidnappers 

and bandits have been 

arrested or killed since 

January, several camps/ 

hideouts destroyed; and 

hundreds of hostages 

rescued. 

“In a two-week operation 

in February (from February 

4 to 14), 80 hostages were 

freed by the Nigerian Army, 

with 37 bandits killed. 

“Aerial bombardments of 

bandits’ camps have been 

intensified in recent 

months. A new Air Force 

Base — the 271 Nigerian 

Air Force Detachment (271 

NAF Det)— was commissioned 

at Birinin Gwari in 

Kaduna State in May, to 

complement the 207 Quick 

Response Group, QRG, 

established in Gusau, 

Zamfara State, in 2017.” 

negative entry and the 

certified that the CBN’s 

2018 accounts were a true 

reflection of the state of 

affairs. 

“Reconciliation of 

balance sheet items are 

regular conversations 

among senior 

management of many 

agencies and should not 

be misconstrued as 

anything but that. 

“Had the online media 

which released the 

selective recordings 

sought the comments of 

CBN as required of 

journalism practice, we 

would have provided it. 

“Clearly, those who 

listened to the audio can 

easily ascertain that the 

conversation had nothing 

to do with anything 

fraudulent as purported.” 

HEALTH TIPS 

By Sola Ogundipe 

Relief for indigestion 

WHEN you have 

indigestion, your belly 

hurts and you may feel sick. 

Indigestion affects the 

lining of the stomach in the 

upper abdomen and can be 

caused by lifestyle choices 

and medication. If you’re 

feeling the unpleasant 

symptoms of indigestion, 

there are simple tips for 

relief. 

A good start is to be aware 

of common causes that 

include spicy, greasy and 

fatty foods, as well as foods 

with a lot of acid like citrus 

and tomatoes. 

Keep a food diary. Note 

that it can take up to 72 

hours for food to cause a 

flare-up of indigestion. 

Note what you ate and the 

time you ate it, it can help 

you deduce what it is that’s 

bothering your belly. 

Eat slowly. It’s not just 

what you eat that can cause 

indigestion; it’s also how 

quickly you eat. Sit down 

Army, ISWA 

in claims, 

counterclaims 

over 

Borno killings 

By Kingsley 

Omonobi 

& Ndahi Marama 

THE Nigerian Army 

and the Islamic State 

for West Africa, ISWAbacked 

Boko Haram 

insurgents were, 

yesterday, locked in claims 

and counter-claims over 

killings, weekend, in 

Borno State. 

While the Army said its 

troops, on clearance 

operations in the North- 

East, engaged Boko 

Haram terrorists in 

several communities in 

Borno, eliminating 

several of them and 

recovering several arms 

and ammunition with two 

soldiers sustaining 

injuries, the terrorists 

claimed that they killed 

11 soldiers. 

However, the Army 

insisted that no soldier 

died. 

Giving details of the 

operations, Col Sagir 

Musa, Acting Director, 

Army Public Relations, 

said: “Troops of 121 and 

192 Battalions of 

Operation Lafiya Dole in 

collaboration with 

Civilian JTF and local 

vigilantes, on May 10 

continued with clearance 

operations to end Boko 

Haram terrorism.” 

when you eat your meals. 

Eat less. Over-eating 

can also trigger indigestion. 

Eating several small meals 

throughout the day can 

help. Avoid eating right 

before bed. 

Swallowing too much air 

while eating is also a risk. 

Avoid that by chewing with 

your mouth closed and 

talking less while eating. 

Avoid drinking with your 

meals. Try to limit drinking 

fluids to 20 minutes before 

or after a meal. Try sips of 

room-temperature water. 

Avoid taking soft drinks, 

alcohol and caffeine with 

your meals. 

Exercise at the right time 

after a meal. 

If indigestion flares, try a 

cup of peppermint, ginger 

or chamomile tea to 

neutralise stomach acid. 

Listen to your body. Pay 

attention to how specific 

meals make you feel—and 

take it from there.

10 — VANGUARD, MONDAY, MAY 13, 2019 

Navy detaining 10 more 

Nigerians without trial, 

Falana writes AGF 

vanguardnews @vanguardnews @vanguardnews 

NEWS HOTLINES 

018773962, 

08052867058 

L AGOS—HUMAN 

rights lawyer, Mr. 

Femi Falana, SAN, has 

raised the alarm over the 

alleged unlawful detention 

of ten more Nigerians by 

the Nigerian navy. 

In a letter addressed to 

the Attorney-General of the 

Federation and Minister of 

Justice, Mr. Abubakar 

Malami, Falana said the 

citizens have been in 

detention since October, 

2018. 

This comes amid the 

criticism trailing similar 

detention of 15 other 

Nigerians by the security 

agency against court order. 

In the letter dated May 

10, Falana said the ten 

citizens were arrested 

aboard a vessel in Lagos on 

the orders of the Chief of 

Naval Staff, Vice Admiral 

Ibok-Ete Ekwe Ibas. 

He gave their names as 

Oloyede Ademola Yisau, 

Omogoye Wasiu Bolaji, 

Edu Fidelis, Richard 

David, Mike Simeon, 

Umoren Daniel, Okoghene 

Asaiki, Udom Victor, James 

Archibong and Umon 

Godswill Emmanuel. 

Falana noted that the 

detainees were crew 

members aboard a vessel 

known as NESO II, which 

was hijacked by a gang of 

pirates. 

He said: “However, the 

detainees were rescued 

while the pirates were 

arrested by the Beecroft 

Naval Base. Curiously, the 

crew members who were 

not indicted in the 

investigation conducted by 

the Nigerian Navy into the 

hijacking of the vessel have 

since been detained aboard 

the ship in Marina, Lagos 

in breach of their 

fundamental rights to 

personal liberty and fair 

hearing. 

“Apart from detaining the 

crew members in a 

dehumanizing military 

facility the Nigerian Navy 

has compelled each of them 

to wear the same dress for 

seven months. 

“Thus, the fundamental 

rights of the detainees to 

dignity and freedom of 

movement have also been 

violated. Since the 

detainees are civilians who 

are not subject to service law 

the Nigerian Navy ought to 

have reported them to the 

Nigeria Police Force if there 

was reasonable suspicion 

that they committed any 

criminal offence 

whatsoever.” 

Falana asked the AGF to 

direct the immediate 

release of the detainees as 

well as the prosecution of 

the Chief of Naval Staff “for 

subjecting the detainees to 

physical and mental torture 

contrary to the provisions of 

the Anti Torture Act, 2017.” 

“Take notice that if you 

fail to accede to our request 

within 48 hours of the 

receipt of this letter we shall 

not hesitate to file an 

application at the Federal 

High Court to secure the 

enforcement of the 

fundamental rights of the 

detainees to personal 

liberty, dignity, fair hearing 

and movement and seek 

an order of mandamus to 

compel you to prosecute 

of the Chief of Naval 

Staff,” he said. 

FG tasked on rapid response to 

rape cases, child abuse in Nigeria 

LAGOS—THE Federal 

Government has been 

urged to set up a rapid 

response squad to swiftly 

respond to emergencies on 

rape cases, child abuse and 

other negative vices against 

the girl child in Nigeria. 

The Trade Services 

Officer, FBN Quest 

Merchant Bank Limited, 

Mr. Olawale Olawuyi made 

the call, weekend, during 

an outreach organized by 

the Daughters of Africa, 

DOA, at Ken Ade 

Secondary School, Yaba, 

Lagos. 

Olawuyi, who spoke on 

the theme: Rape Amongst 

The Girl Child, lamented 

that the incidences of rape 

is on the increase on a daily 

bases as statistics have 

shown that in Nigeria today, 

out of 100,000 people, there 

are 2,000 cases reported on 

rape every day. 

Olawuyi said: “The 

Federal Government 

should set up a rapid 

response team, may be a 

military squad that can 

respond to emergencies 

when there is a sexual 

abuse. Like the one that 

happened in my 

neighborhood, I had to call 

my military friends because 

I know what would happen 

if I go to the police station. 

There should be a 

standby rapid response as 

this will mitigate the cases 

of rape in Nigeria.” 

Also speaking, a 

specialist in Guidance and 

Counseling, Oyinkansola 

Obasorun, stressed that the 

government needs to 

enlighten the parents of the 

girl child to enable them 

carter for their children. 

Obasorun, who spoke on 

the topic: Child Abuse in 

Nigeria lamented that 

parental neglect often times 

lead to the incidences of 

rape of children. 

BASIC HEALTH CARE PROVISION FUND: Niger State Deputy Governor, Alhaji Ahmed 

Mohammed Ketso (left) and the Minister of Health, Professor Isaac Adewole performing the 

enrollment of clients for the Basic Health Care Provision Fund in Minna, Niger State weekend. 

FAT PENSIONS, CARS-FOR-LIFE: SERAP 

urges Ganduje to reject Kano Assembly bill 

•CACOL boss faults bill 

LAGOS—THE Socio- 

Economic Rights and 

Accountability Project, 

SERAP, yesterday sent an 

open letter to Governor 

Abdullahi Umar Ganduje of 

Kano State, urging him to 

“publicly reject life pensions 

and brand-new vehicles for 

lawmakers bill by the Kano 

State House of Assembly, 

and to prevail on the 

members of the House to 

immediately drop the bill, 

and to honour their fiduciary 

duties imposed by the 1999 

Constitution (as amended) 

and Nigeria’s international 

anti-corruption obligations.” 

This came as the 

Executive Chairman, 

Centre For Anti-Corruption 

And Open Leadership, 

CACOL, Debo Adeniran 

declared that the current 

trend in the state Houses of 

Assembly in the country 

where members legislate 

and approve for themselves 

life pension is a dangerous 

development for the nation’s 

democracy. 

SERAP, in a letter dated 10 

May 2019 and signed by its 

Deputy Director, Kolawole 

Oluwadare urged Governor 

Ganduje to “prevail on the 

lawmakers to subordinate 

their own interests to the 

public good, live on fair and 

equal terms with their 

fellow-citizens, and not to 

use their legislative powers 

to convert public resources 

to their own benefit.” 

It, however, warned that 

“Should you assent to the 

bill as passed, SERAP 

will take legal action 

nationally 

and 

internationally to hold your 

government to account 

andensure that you uphold 

the solemn trust committed 

to you by the people of 

Kano.” 

The statement reads in 

part: “This bill represents 

lawmaking in the interest 

and personal satisfaction of 

the lawmakers, which 

flagrantly offends the 

principles of legal justice 

and the rule of law. The 

lawmakers ought to 

subordinate their own 

interests to the welfare of 

the people of Kano. By 

passing the life pensions 

and medical trips abroad 

bill, the lawmakers have 

invariably ‘bought at their 

own sales’, and violated 

their sacred trust. 

“This bare desire by the 

lawmakers of the Kano 

State House of Assembly to 

pass a bill to award to 

themselves life pensions, 

foreign medical trips and 

brand new vehicles every 

four years is oppressive, and 

violates the obligation of 

impartiality to the people of 

Kano they are elected to 

serve and the ideals of 

fiduciary government. The 

bill, proposed by Baffa Baba 

Dangundi, is a textbook case 

of diversion of public 

resources to private 

purposes.” 

“Rather than passing bills 

to divert public resources for 

personal benefits, the 

lawmakers should pass 

legislation that will urgently 

address the chronic 

problem of over three 

million out-of-school 

children in Kano (the 

highest in Nigeria) and 

ensure immediate payment 

of outstanding pensions 

and workers’ salaries, given 

that your government has 

already received N21.7 

billion from the Paris Club 

debt refund, and also 

reportedly received in 2018 

N84.2 billion from the 

Federation Accounts 

Allocation Committee, 

FAAC.” 

“If assented to, the bill 

would lead to a misuse of 

trust property and threaten 

to affect the welfare of the 

people of Kano by diverting 

public funds from 

development and provision 

of access to quality 

education, clean water and 

healthcare to the personal 

benefits of members of the 

House of Assembly.” 

CACOL boss faults bill 

Similarly, Mr. Adeniran 

spoke against the backdrop 

Justice Bulkachuwa told to recuse self from Atiku/Buhari petition 

By Onozure Dania 

L Access AGOS—THE 

to Justice, AJ, 

has urged President of the 

Court of Appeal, Justice 

Zainab Bulkachuwa to reconsider 

her membership of 

the tribunal hearing the 

election petition against the 

declared winner of the 2019 

presidential elections to 

avoid conflicting public 

perceptions on the petition. 

Access to Justice in an 

advisory statement by its 

convener, Mr. Joseph Otteh 

noted that the call becomes 

important not because 

Bulkachuwa will not be a 

fair-minded and impartial 

Justice, but because the 

perceptions of reasonable 

members of the public 

matter the more. 

It was reported recently 

that Justice Bulkachuwa is 

married to a Senator of the 

All Progressives Congress, 

APC, but she has not 

publicly denied the claim. 

Otteh said: “Many 

believe this is the reason 

the government worked 

hand in glove with the 

Code of Conduct Tribunal 

and removed Justice Walter 

Onnoghen as the Chief 

Justice of Nigeria applying 

bizarre legal procedures. 

The dust has not settled 

from that incident. 

“In 

ordinary 

circumstances, there would 

be no question of whether 

the President of the Court 

of Appeal can, or should 

participate in tribunals 

adjudicating election 

petitions involving her 

spouse’s party. 

“But these are no normal 

times. The judiciary is 

facing heightened levels of 

public scrutiny and the 

performance of some 

judicial bodies have 

raised red flags concerning 

judicial independence 

and integrity. 

of the Kano State House of 

Assembly which recently 

approved life pension for its 

Speaker and Deputy 

Speaker 

He spoke in Osogbo 

shortly after he presented a 

paper at a one-day 

programme by CACOL to 

sensitise people of the state 

on their rights to make the 

leaders accountable for the 

resources of the state 

allocated to them. 

His words: “Approving 

pension and gratuity for 

principal officers of the 

states House of Assembly is 

a dangerous dimension to 

our national development. 

First, public service is ought 

to be service to humanity, 

service to public without 

expecting direct reward. But 

since a very long time, that 

spirit has changed 

where people in the public 

service have used their 

positions to amass 

enormous wealth to 

individuals. 

“Politics is not a job but a 

service. It is the regular jobs 

that people engage in that 

should elicit pension and 

gratuity because they are 

serving a company or an 

entity for a period of time 

during which certain 

percentages of their salaries 

would be reserved for them. 

“The people that go into 

politics are supposed to be 

those who have sources of 

income and have 

something they can rely on 

after leaving office, not those 

who are trying to make a 

living. 

“And once you are elected 

into political office, you are 

not a staff; you are a public 

official and you should be 

seen as a shining example 

of those making 

contributions that is not 

based on profit. 

“Political office holders 

don’t deserve the regular 

payment they are paid. 

They don’t deserve 

anything more than 

sitting allowance. ''

STATE OF THE NATION: 

Life and times of Chief Eddie Ugbomah 

What the veteran 

film maker would 

be remembered for! 

By Benjaimin Njoku 

Chief Eddie Ugbomah’s 

death which rocked not 

just the entertainment 

industry, but millions of people 

across the country, at the weekend, 

has left yet another vacuum in the 

annals of contemporary Nigerian 

movie industry. 

Eddie Ugbomah served as a 

bridge between the old and 

younger generation of Nigerian 

film makers. His contributions to 

the growth of the Nigerian film 

industry cannot be 

underestimated. He was one of the 

film makers in the class of late 

Hubert Ogunde, Jab Adu, Ola 

Balogun, Moses Olaiya (Baba 

Sala) among other great 

filmmakers of yesteryears that 

began what is today known as the 

Nigerian movie industry, 

otherwise called Nollywood in the 

60s. 

While most of his 

contemporaries were either dead 

or have quit the business of film 

making, Ugbomah until his death 

was very much involved in the 

business. In fact, it was one of his 

big dreams to build a world class 

film village in Nigeria. 

Ugbomah had approached Delta 

State government under the watch 

of Dr. Emmanuel Udugahan in 

2014, for a collaboration to build a 

multi-million naira film village in 

the capital city of Asaba. 

According to Ugboma, the 

proposed project, which was 

expected to last for five years, and 

fashioned after Hollywood, would 

be constructed by a United Statesbased 

Nigerian company, Califco 

Corp Nigeria. But the project never 

saw the light of the day, just as the 

late film maker did not give up his 

dream no matter the odds. 

Celebrating his 76 birthday, in 

2016, Ugbomah planned to launch 

his autobiography and nongovernmental 

organisation, as 

well as establish two Film Villages 

in Lagos and Delta States as a 

parting gift to the industry. 

The concert, according to him, 

would be “a Goodbye Concert” 

because I’m just going to end up 

with this art foundation. I look 

forward to Lagos State 

government giving me land to 

build a film village. It will be 

different from the existing one. 

Discussions are ongoing with 

investors from America to build it. 

In fact, they are already here to 

invest in our entertainment sector 

and our economy,” he said. 

Looking back at his 

contributions in the movie 

industry, Ugbomah said “I feel sad 

that with my over 50 years on 

stage, no group is coming forward 

to celebrate me or organize a 

special event for me, not even the 

Association of Movie Producers. 

It’s unfortunate that I came from a 

minority group in Delta State. 

Can't you see how Prof. Wole 

Soyinka, Sunny Ade and Ebenezer 

Obey are being celebrated? There 

is even a Wole Soyinka Week. I am 

in the same category of achievement 

with them if not more, but I am not 

celebrated the same way like them 

because I’m from Delta State, not just 

Delta State, a minority group in the 

state.” 

Also, his Filmmakers Hall of Fame 

was another project that was very 

dear to his heart, but which he never 

accomplished before his demise. “I 

was so impressed to see such 

historical records that I began to think 

of replicating them in Nigeria. The 

idea, however, saw the light of the day 

in the year 2000. I am saying the 

Movies and Music Makers Halls of 

Fame should have been established 

since 1960 and not for me to establish 

it with my own money. I had the first 

induction in 2006 and the second in 

2009, which is seven years now. I tried 

to move it to Lagos or Abuja, but 

nobody wants to give me the money 

to hire a movie house, where all the 

portraits would be hung for people 

to see, “ he said. 

Ugbomah would be 

remembered for his love for the 

industry. In 2015, he initiated a 

move to restore peace and 

sanity in the movie industry 

following the unending 

bickering and factionalization 

trailing the industry then. The 

veteran film maker set up a 15- 

man-committee that cuts 

across the three major film 

markets that make up the 

Nollywood industry; Yoruba 

movie sector, Kannywood and 

the English movie sector. 

Speaking on the development, 

Ugbomah who doubled as the 

chairman, Board of Trustee of 

the Association of Movie 

Practitioners,AMP, frowned at 

the idea of multiplicity of 

groups within the industry, 

stressing that the ugly 

development has seriously 

hindered the growth of the 

industry. 

He revealed his plans to 

form a unified body which 

would be known as Motion Picture 

Professionals Council that would 

represent all the interests within the 

sector. ‘Nigeria is awash with all 

manner of names like Kannywood, 

Yorubawood and I think we should 

put a stop to this. If we want 

government to take us seriously in 

what we do, then we should be seen 

to be unified and speak with one 

voice.’ Motion picture covers 

Vanguard, MONDAY MAY 13, 2019 —11 

pursue a career in film making. The 

desire to pioneer a film industry that 

will tell the Nigerian story by a 

Nigerian to Nigerians led to the 

formation of Edifosa Film Enterprise, 

Eddie’s film production outfit. He 

had directed and produced films such 

as the ‘Rise and Fall of Oyenusi’ in 

1979, ‘The Boy is Good and Apalara,’ 

a film about the life and murder of 

Alfa Apalara in Oko Awo, Lagos. The 

plot of some of his films are loosely 

based on real life events, The Rise 

and Fall of Oyenusi. In 1979, he 

produced Dr Oyenusi, the film’s plot 

taken from the headlines is about a 

notorious robber, Ishola Oyenusi 

who terrorized Lagosians in the early 

1970s. The film also delved into the 

menace of armed robbery in Nigeria. 

Oyenusi featured Ugbomah as the 

lead actor. Ugbomah’s next film, the 

Mask was released in 1979. The 

film’s material was based on looting 

of Africa’s artefacts by colonizers 

and the quest to return those 

artefacts back home. In the 

Mask, the protagonist Obi, 

played by Ugbomah tried to 

sneak into the British 

Museum to steal the Benin 

ivory mask and return it 

to Nigeria. Some critics 

likened the character of 

Obi to James Bond. 

Ugbomah’s career 

flourished in the 

early 1980s 

producing such 

films as Oil Doom, 

Bolus ’80 and The 

Boy is Good. 

Most of his 

films were shot 

in 16mm with 

the exception 

of The Mask. 

Later in his 

career 

Ugbomah 

turned to 

Yoruba 

video films. 

In 1988, he 

w a s 

appointed 

chairman of 

the Nigerian Film Corporation. 

There was also an attempt to raise 

N50 million from the sale of his 

autobiography, ‘Eddie Ugbomah 

by Eddie’, in January to cover for 

his medical bills but it did not 

materialise. However, the good 

news is that Ugbomah lived and 

died as an accomplished film 

maker. 

Buhari, others pay tributes... 

Eddie Ugbomah was not only a gifted 

storyteller but a social commentator, activist 

——President 

P 

Buhari 

resident Muhammadu Buhari has 

joined the entertainment industry to 

mourn the demise of veteran filmmaker, 

Chief Eddie Ugbomah, who died at the 

weekend, at the age of 78. In a statement by 

presidential spokesman, Femi Adesina, 

Buhari condoled with family, friends and 

associates of the ace actor, director and 

producer “whose contribution to the 

development of Nigeria’s film industry 

remains indelible, starting out early with 

studies and training in London, before 

returning in the 70’s to promote drama and 

movies. 

“The President believes Chief Ugbomah 

was not only a gifted storyteller but a social 

commentator and activist, as the themes of 

his stage and tube presentations explored 

narratives that directly impacted on many 

lives and advocated better government 

policies and programmes.” 

“Buhari affirms that the departed, who 

served as Chairman of Nigeria Film 

Corporation, understood film as a veritable 

tool for communication, and used it positively 

for national development. 

Buhari prayed that God will grant Ugbomah’s 

soul eternal rest and comfort his family. 

What Ugbomah told me—Shaibu 

Hussein 

In a chat with our reporter, Shaibu Hussein, 

a member of a committee set up to raise funds 

for the treatment of the late veteran film 

maker, said Ugbomah told him that he was 

tired, and was not sure that he would survive 

the surgery. 

Narrating further, he said the late veteran 

everything in the industry and we 

have made extensive contacts 

concerning the formation of the 

proposed council,” he said. 

Ugbomah’s passion for 

filmmaking and for Nigeria was 

evident in his films. The desire to 

expose the ills in the society in order 

to bring about positive changes led 

the veteran film maker to use 

filmmaking as a channel to address 

Late Chief Eddie Ugbomah 

the ills of the society. He revealed 

that his passion for filmmaking was 

fanned at age of 18 by a statement 

made by the late American actor, 

Charlton Heston during the premiere 

of Ben-Hur, an American epic 

historical drama film at the Glover 

Memorial Hall, Lagos Nigeria. 

According to Eddie, Charlton said it 

was a shame that Nigeria (in 1959) 

had no film industry. This led him to 

film maker was due to undergo the surgery, 

but the doctors advised that they w 

ould wait for few days for is health to be 

stabilised before undergoing the surgery. But 

while he was scheduled to undergo the surgery 

on Monday, he died on Saturday afternoon 

following complications resulting from 

High Blood Pressure. 

Eddie Ugbomah: A soldier marches on... 

—Zik Zulu Okafor, Former AMP President 

I never thought he would die. Too strong, 

too resilient, too optimistic. Too, too defiant , 

an epitome of uncommon drama ! May your 

buoyant soul and defiant spirit rest eternally 

Chief. Sad Chief Eddy Ugboma, OON, 

fought all his life to see a better movie 

industry. He fought federal, state 

governments, agencies, all for the film maker 

to find a more conducive space for his trade. 

Well over 70, he remained unshaking and 

indeed unshakable about his hope and faith 

in film. His entire life was a struggle for the 

motion picture bloc in Nigeria. He didn’t see 

his dream turning a reality, not even 

glimpses. From talking, he started agitating, 

then got combative with corrosive comments 

against all and sundry. He became a lonely 

, hoarse voice in the wilderness. None heard. 

He got tired but not disillusioned, but then 

began to struggle to pay his bills. That was 

not the life he envisioned. Not him. Once a 

fully comfortable man, his life diminished, 

frustration, pain, and agony followed. The 

horizon carried a gloomy picture but few saw 

the eerie portrait. A pioneer Chairman of 

Nigerian Film Corporation, NFC, govt didn’t 

see his shadows not to mention see ing his 

ailment and intervening. Thanks to Mr 

Adedayo Thomas, MD, NFVCB, for his 

humane intervention. His awesome efforts 

and those of a few others like the ever 

committed Shuaibu Hussein, Fidelis Duker, 

Seun Olokuntuyi, plus the AMP President 

and his Vice were gallantry. Tragically, they 

couldn’t stop Chief Ugboma’s journey to a 

place called PEACE . I salute you guys for 

standing up. You raise our profile amid 

blinking hopes of many a practitioner. 

Nollywood is still a tragic arena. We give 

smiles to people out there and return home 

to sit with our family searching for same 

smile we give to people. Tragic ! But we will 

press on . With people like the NFVCB boss, 

Mr Thomas , we can still take a step forward. 

He is an amazing protagonist in our 

unfolding drama of hope in a fractured 

journey. That hope must remain robust and 

eternal. Surely, some day, in our time, in our 

finest hour we shall stand solid in the theatre 

of victory to pay tribute to those who paved 

our path. Good bye Chief. Rest Chief 

Ugboma. The sounds of your drum will never 

be drowned. Now you are the might of 

silence. And we shall sustain the magistracy 

of your irrepressible office. Accept my final 

greeting as i bow for you in loud silence. Peace 

!!Eddie Ugbomah was passionate about the 

industry—Charles Novia 

Chief Eddie Ugbomah was one of the early 

filmmakers in the seventies and later the MD 

of the Nigerian Film Corporation in the 80s. 

He was passionate about the industry, with 

the passion sometimes misconstrued for a 

cantankerous slant but he was a man who 

lived by his visions and never stopped fighting 

till he passed on a couple of days ago. He used 

to comment on my political posts on 

Facebook, now and then.Damn stubborn old 

man too! But it was all for a purpose. One of 

the last from the stock of toughies has 

transcended.


Don’t take our peace for 

granted, Tompolo’s 

kinsmen warns Chevron 

By Perez Brisibe demands are met. 

U GHELLI—THE 

Spokesperson for the 

kingdom, Chief 

people of Godspower Gbenakama 

Gbaramatu Kingdom in who spoke to Vanguard on 

Warri South-West Local the outcome of the protest 

Government Area of Delta by the people of Ugborodo 

State, home of Chief against Chevron and 

Ekpemupolo alias decisions reached so far, 

Tompolo, have warned the said: “If they want to only 

state government and oil listen to protest, we would 

giant, Chevron Nigeria follow suit until they listen 

Limited not to take the to us and this might be 

peaceful resolve of inevitable if they do not 

indigenes of the kingdom listen to us.” 

in presenting their Commending the 

demands to Chevron for people and chiefs of 

granted as far as the Ugborodo as well as the 

neglect by government Ologbotsere of Warri 

and company was Kingdom, Chief Ayiri 

concerned. 

Emami, for the way the 

They noted that their protesters conducted 

peaceful disposition over themselves, Gbenakama 

the years was as a result said: “Ugborodo and 

of the directives by the Gbaramatu are both in the 

Pere of Gbaramatu same terrain and are host 

Kingdom, HRM Oboro to Chevron in Warri South 

Gbaraun II on the need West. 

for them not to destabilise “Ugborodo people's 

the existing peace in the demands are genuine, but 

area, saying they might government should not 

be constrained to occupy wait for the people to 

oil flow stations in their occupy flow stations before 

domain until their attending to them.” 

Don’t be distracted from daily ibadah 

AMONG the things that 

can destroy the rewards of 

fasting is allowing oneself 

to be distracted by being 

engrossed in TV shows, 

movies, soap operas, 

football matches, especially 

the popular European 

leagues; playing games, 

idle talk and gatherings, 

among others. 

Most times, these can 

lead to missing 

congregation prayers 

during the day. Some 

fasting Muslims also use 

most time of the day to sleep 

so as to avoid the pangs of 

hunger and thus spend the 

night in entertainment and 

indulging in their desires. 

These acts diminish the 

rewards of a fasting 

Muslim. During the 

month, both day and night 

should be used to the fullest 

in gaining the rewards in 

it. It is important we have 

to work, though even as we 

go about our businesses in 

the halaal way, we have 

to minimise our mundane 

involvements and 

maximise our acts of 

worship. 

Plan your day very well, 

and use your free time for 

acts of ibadah rather than 

seeing movies, football 

matches and playing 

games. 

The 29 or 30 days of 

Ramadan can be used to 

change the sinful lifestyles 

that have crept into our 

lives. We need to exert 

ourselves more in spiritual 

matters this period. It is 

only a month and must be 

used to the fullest. 

We know that in this 

month the prophet, besides 

fasting during the day, 

prayed for longer hours at 

night, exerted more in 

Allah’s dhikr (remembrance), 

humbled himself in front of 

His Creator, and performed 

in a way that showed His 

love and fear of Allah and 

special reverence for this 

month. 

This Ramadan we, too, 

need to take the minutes 

and the hours from our 

schedules to exert more in 

that worship so it can also 

help train us to do so during 

other months. This is the 

only way Ramadan can 

positively change our lives 

for better. 

May Allah give us the 

grace to do what pleases 

Him, accept our fasting and 

other acts of ibadah and 

reward abundantly. Amin. 

I won't use state resources to 

gratify greedy few—OBASEKI 

By Gabriel 

Enogholase 

BENIN—AGAINST the 

simmering crisis 

rocking All Progressives 

Congress, APC, in Edo 

State, the state government 

has insisted that the 

Governor Godwin Obasekiled 

administration “will 

never sacrifice the state’s 

collective patrimony to 

gratify the greed of 

individuals who have 

constituted themselves into 

mischief-makers in the state 

chapter of the party to 

blackmail the government 

and the party.” 

In a statement yesterday, 

By Harris 

Emmanuel 

UYO—AKWA Ibom 

State Government 

says it is ready to 

implement the new 

N30,000 minimum wage, 

as it had been included in 

the 2019 budget, christened 

Budget of Industrialisation 

for Poverty Alleviation. 

State Finance 

Commissioner, Nsikan 

Nkan, disclosed this in 

Uyo, explaining that even 

before it assented to, 

Governor Udom Emmanuel 

had given directive for its 

inclusion in the overhead 

cost of the recurrent 

expenditure component of 

Kaigama, not Dongon-Daji, is Rivers election tribunal chair—Secretary 

By Egufe 

Yafugborhi 

PORT HARCOURT— 

THE Governorship 

Election Petition Tribunal 

sitting in Port Harcourt, 

Rivers State, has said 

in Benin City, Secretary to 

the State Government, Mr. 

Osarodion Ogie, said: 

“Only a handful of 

individuals whose 

insatiable greed the 

governor has refused to 

entertain at the expense of 

the people’s collective 

patrimony have decided to 

employ malfeasant tactics 

to blackmail him, the 

government and the party. 

“They have since been 

advised to accept the fact 

that the people’s interest 

takes precedence over their 

avarice and that is our final 

word to them.” 

Ogie noted that the state 

governorship election was 

the 2019 budget. 

He said: “The budget is 

aimed at actualising the 

economic power base of the 

state through 

industrialisation and 

sustainable private-public 

sector initiative that would 

By Gabriel Ewepu 

ABUJA—NIGER Delta 

Non-violent Agitators’ 

Forum, NDNAF, weekend, 

threw its weight behind the 

re-appointment of the 

Special Adviser on Niger 

Delta Affairs and Coordinator 

of the Presidential 

Amnesty Programme, 

Justice G. K. Kaigama and 

not Justice Umar Dogon- 

Daji, is Chairman of its 

three-man panel. 

Secretary to the tribunal, 

Anefu Simon, in a 

statement yesterday, said 

the clarification had become 

almost a year and half away 

and “Obaseki’s focus is to 

work for Edo people who 

gave him the mandate and 

no form of distraction will 

dissuade him. 

“There is a general 

acceptance of Obaseki and 

his approach to 

governance.” 

He urged the dissenting 

persons to sample public 

opinion to measure how 

Obaseki’s policies and 

programmes impact on the 

lives of Edo people, noting 

that “all that is needed to 

gauge public opinion is to 

walk through the streets in 

any part of the state. 

“The revolution in basic 

open up opportunities for 

wealth generation, 

employment and generally 

advance the economy.” 

Earlier in his opening 

remarks, Head of State 

Budget Office, Out 

Asuquo, said the budget 

Professor Charles Dokubo, 

for another term. 

The group made the call 

in an open letter to 


Buhari, describing 

Dokubo's re-appointment 

as necessity based on the 

achievements Dokubo 

recorded in proffering 

practicable solutions to 

imperative following media 

reports crediting the 

chairmanship of the panel 

to Justice Dogon-Daji, 

who was only involved 

shortly, but had left for 

judicial duties in another 

state. 

education, transparency in 

governance and huge 

infrastructure projects are 

sufficient to erode the effect 

of any fake news or 

contrived controversy. 

“Edo people restated 

their faith in Governor 

Obaseki when they voted 

en masse for APC in the last 

House of Assembly election 

in the state, with APC 

coasting to glory in all 24 

state constituencies, a feat 

never before achieved in 

our recent political history. 

“The message was clear: 

Edo people want an APCcontrolled 

Assembly to 

support the governor’s 

vision for the state.” 

TROPHY: From left— 

Trophy Brand Ambassador, 

Femi Adebayo; Managing 

Director, International 

Breweries, Annabelle Degroot; 

Trophy Brand Ambassador, 

Joseph Yobo (behind); Captain 

of the winning team, Scope 

FC, Lagos, Folorunsho 

Sunday; Trophy Brand 

Ambassador, Folarin Falana 

(behind); Marketing Director, 

International Breweries, Ms. 

Tolu Adedeji, and President 

General Worldwide, Nigeria 

Football Supporters Club, Dr. 

Rafiu Oladipo, during the 

grand finale of Trophy 5-aside 

tournament at the Campos 

Mini Stadium, Lagos Island, 

Lagos. PHOTO: Joe 

Akintola,Photo Editor. 

N30,000 minimum wage captured 

in 2019 budget—Akwa Ibom govt 

preparation was in line with 

the global best practices and 

that the state government 

had adopted the principle 

of International Public 

Sector Accounting 

Standards, IPSAS, in its 

preparation. 

Non-violent agitators back Dokubo 

the various agitations in 

the Niger Delta region, 

which its aid have led to 

peace, development and 

progress in the region 

since he was appointed. 

The letter was signed by 

the group's President, 

Wisdom Ikuli, and 

Secretary General, 

Bennett Emmanuel. 

He enjoined the media 

to take notice that a 

separate National and 

State Assembly Election 

Petition Tribunal, also 

currently sitting in Port 

Harcourt, is being chaired 

by Justice K. A. Ojiako.

Vanguard, MONDAY MAY 13 , 2019 — 13 

:Vanguard News :@vanguardnews :@vanguardnews NEWS HOTLINES: 08052867023, 08052867058 

Secure the lives of Nigerians, JNI 

urges FG 

By Ben Agande 

KADUNA—JAMA’ATU Nasril 

Islam, yesterday urged the 

Federal Government to rise up to 

its responsibility by securing the 

lives and property of Nigerians. 

In a communiqué issued after 

the 2019 Central Council’s 

meeting and the annual Pre- 

Ramadan lecture as well as the 

Conference of the council in 

Kaduna,said inter agency 

rivalry among security 

agenices was negatively 

impacting on the fight against 

insecurity in the country. 

The communiqué which was 

signed by the conference ‘ 

Chairman, Prof. S. W. Junaidu 

and Khalid A. Aliyu,Waziri of 

Sokoto, who is also Secretary- 

General of the JNI further 

charged the government to brace 

up to the challenge of the menace 

of kidnappings, armed banditry, 

and other forms of social vices 

bedeviling the nation. 

“In this regards, the use of 

technology and intelligence 

gathering should be improved 

upon by those concerned and 

Nigerians are implored to give 

credible information regarding 

those perpetrating the heinous 

acts, as they don’t come from 

the sky. 

“The watch word should 

always remain synergy among 

those concerned.Efforts should 

continuously be made to secure 

the release of all those in the 

hands of ransom seeking 

beasts,” it said. 

According to the 

Communique’, the government 

of the North were not doing 

enough about the issue of 

Almajiri in the north. 

The group called on the 

various governments in the 

region to involve the Emirs in 

the proper management of 

schools being attended by the 

Almajiris. 

Sultan, others should resist 

Ganduje — Umar Ardo 

KANO—HISTORIAN and 

former lecturer, Dr. Umar 

Ardo, has called on the Sultan and 

Muslims to resist last week 

creation of four new caliphates by 

Governor Abdullahi Ganduje of 

Kano. 

He said the move would 

destroy the caliphate and accused 

the royal house of aiding and 

abetting the governor. 

In an interview weekend, Ardo 

said: “The Sultan, all members of 

the caliphate, the Muslim ummah 

and the Fulbe people should not 

only condemn it but should stand 

against it. 

“The emirates have already been 

created from the time of Shehu Uthman 

Dan Fodio. And if you now start 

balkanizing them, you are just reducing 

the prestige and effectiveness of the 

emirate system. It is the caliphate 

establishment that is the loser.” 

He said the governor was exploiting 

divisions in the royal house between 

Muhammad Sanusi II, the Emir of Kano, 

and his cousins to undermine the 

emirate and its heritage. 

Ardo said: “Some of the members of 

the caliphate establishment are 

themselves instigators of the problem 

because they are not in good terms with 

their cousins who are on the throne. 

“They are forgetting that they are 

destroying the system of which they hope 

to one day benefit from. They are in fact 

benefitting from it because you do not 

have to be an emir to benefit from the 

emirate establishment.” 

He said though this was not the first 

time the caliphate would come under 

attack, silence would embolden the 

“bulkanisers.” 

Taraba Killings: Gov Ishaku orders security 

agencies to deal ruthlessly with culprits 

•As Red Cross seeks more volunteers for emergency response 

By Femi Bolaji 

JALINGO—TARABA State 

governor, Darius Ishaku has 

given directive to security 

agencies deployed to troubled 

spots in the state to deal ruthlessly 

with those found culpable in the 

killings recorded in the state. 

Ishaku in a statement by his 

Senior Special Assistant on 

Media and Publicity, Bala Abu 

weekend, expressed sadness over 

renewed hostilities between the 

Tiv and Jukun tribes last Friday 

which resulted in the killings 

recorded in some farming 

communities of Jalingo and 

ArdoKola local government areas 

of the state. 

According to the statement, 

“security agencies have been 

instructed to deal ruthlessly with 

those promoting the crises and 

the killings in the state. 

“The Jukuns and the Tiv living 

in the border communities have 

every reason to live together in 

peace because they are both 

farmers struggling to erk a living 

mainly from the produce from 

their farms.” 

He further urged warring 

factions to sheathe their sword for peace 

to reign. 

This came as the Nigeria Red Cross 

Society, NRCS, took to the streets of 

Jalingo, the state capital to woo more 

volunteers into its fold, to ensure more 

hands are available to respond to 

emergencies across the state. 

The State secretary of NRCS, Martin 

Manja who led the procession across 

Jalingo metropolis noted that the reason 

for training and deploying volunteers, 

was to equip and build local capacities 

most especially among young people, 

with requisite skills and first aid kits within 

communities to respond to emergency 

situations. 

CEREMONY: From left — John Kokome, member, Organising Committee, Nigerian Institute of 

Public Relations (NIPR), 2019 Annual Lagos Public Relations Week; Mojisola Olurotimi, Secretary 

Organising Committee, NIPR 2019 Annual Lagos Public Relations Week; Odion Aleobua, Chairman, 

Organising Committee, NIPR 2019 Annual Lagos Public Relations Week; Olusegun McMedal, 

Chairman, NIPR Lagos Chapter; Thelma Okoh, Secretary NIPR Lagos Chapter and Ijeoma 

Oseji, member, Organising Committee, NIPR 2019 Annual Lagos Public Relations Week, during 

the official unveiling ceremony sponsored by Modion Communications in Lagos. 

National metallurgical centre repositioned 

to meet miners’ need its agencies must be equipped with tools 

that will make them perform their roles." 

RCCG donates 

ultramodern ICU worth 

over N70m to Plateau 

Hospital 

By Therese Nanlong 

By Therese Nanlong 

JOS—EFFORTS to reposition the National 

Metallurgical Development Centre, 

NMDC and make it more responsive to 

miners’ needs have received a boost as 

equipment to assist it in research and 

development of minerals and metal 

processing and production chains have 

been refurbished and put into use at the 

centre. 

The centre also received a facelift with its 

staff’s capacity enhanced to conduct basic 

and applied researches which would fasttrack 

development, add value to mining subsector 

and diversity the economy. 

The Minister of Mines and Steel 

Development, Abubakar Bwari who 

commissioned the completed projects 

and inspected ongoing ones executed 

in the centre, reiterated that the federal 

government is determined to ensure 

that the potentials available in the 

mineral and metal sectors are fully 

realized in order to build a robust 

economy. 

He said, “The Metallurgical 

Development Centre is central to 

government’s efforts at diversifying the 

economy because it provides the critical 

research and development work needed 

for value addition in the mineral and 

metal processing and production 

chains. Government is determined to 

ensure that the potentials available in 

the mineral and metal sectors are fully 

realized to build a robust economy. 

“As regulators, our job is to provide the 

enabling environment for operators to thrive 

while also attracting new investors into the 

sector to accomplish this, the Ministry and 

J 

OS— THE Redeemed Christian Church of 

God, RCCG, through its Corporate Social 

Responsibility, CSR project has equipped the 

Intensive Care Unit, ICU of the Plateau State 

Specialist Hospital with medical equipments worth 

over N70million . 

The ICU named "Enoch and Folu Adeboye 

Centre" is also provided with an inverter and a 

standby generating set to ensure 24 hours 

electricity supply. 

Commissioning and handing over the project to 

the hospital, The General Overseer of the Church, 

Pastor Enoch Adeboye who prayed for the salvation 

of sinners and healing of the sick, said the gesture 

was the demonstration of practical Christianity 

and an expression of love. 

Also, the Special Assistant to the General 

Overseer on CSR, Pastor Idowu Iluyomade whose 

department takes care of social responsibility 

disclosed that the project wass one among the 

“58,000 projects provided all over states in the 

country within a year” and prayed that all who 

came in contact with the project would benefit 

from it. 

Appreciating the gesture, the State 

Government through the Deputy Governor, Sonni 

Tyoden and Commissioner for Health, Kuden 

Kamshak commended the Church’s efforts and 

urged others to emulate such as the 

Commissioner said the project was a “divine 

intervention because it is coming as the State is 

contemplating a cardiac centre in the hospital.”


No peace in Nigeria until Igbo 

becomes President—Nwobodo 

By Dennis Agbo 

& Chinedu Adonu 

E NUGU—SENATOR 

Jim Nwobodo has 

declared that peace may 

continue to elude Nigeria 

unless it reverses injustices 

being meted on Ndigbo. 

Calling for Igbo 

presidency in 2023, he 

particularly said one of the 

major injustices against 

Ndigbo was the conspiracy 

of denial of Nigeria 

President to the Igbo, 

noting that peace will only 

return to the country when 

an Igbo assumes 

leadership of Nigeria. 

Nwobodo, who spoke in 

Enugu yesterday, during 

his 79th birthday 

celebration organised for 

him by Ohanaeze Ndigbo, 

said he will continue to 

fight for Igbo unity and 

wished he will still be an 

Igbo in his next life. 

Similarly, he advised 

governments at all levels to 

ensure the provision of jobs 

for youths to avoid 

restiveness. 

He said: “I would be an 

Igbo in my next life. Once 

we can love ourselves the 

sky will be our limit. There 

is IPOB because there is no 

job. Graduates of 10 years 

without jobs can’t just keep 

quiet. 

“I have accepted the 

challenge of uniting 

Ndigbo. Dr Chimaroke 

Nnamani now calls me 

boss and I am overwhelmed 

and surprised at the 

marvellous works of God. 

“There will be no peace 

in Nigeria until an Igbo 

man becomes President of 

Nigeria. Nigeria should 

give Ndigbo their share of 

the country. How can you 

rotate power just among a 

particular set of Nigerians? 

“We won’t fight, but peace 

will elude Nigeria if it 

continues to deny Ndigbo 

their due entitlement. I will 

not disappoint Ndigbo and 

I must always stand by the 

truth.” 

He also frowned at the 

case of the former Chief 

Justice of Nigeria, Justice 

Walter Onnoghen, who he 

said was not treated fairly 

by the government on the 

manner he was booted out. 

He urged the judiciary to 

discharge their duties with 

justice, saying it is only the 

judiciary that can prevent 

the country from collapsing. 

AWARD: From left—Managing Director, Mr. Jordi Bel; Sales Director, Mr. Uche Unigwe, both of 

Nigerian Breweries Plc; winner, National Champion Award, Mr. & Mrs. Kenneth Maduakor (Ken Maduakor 

Group of Companies) and Chairman, Nigerian Breweries Plc, Chief Kola Jamodu, Nigerian Breweries 

2019 Distributor Award in Abuja. 

How women battled fibroid for 20 years in Imo 

By Chinonso 

Alozie 

HUNDREDS 

of 

women in Imo State, 

have been taking herbs 

and other self-help medications 

to cure fibroid for 

over 20 years. 

The development was discovered 

during a free medical 

treatment at Saint Vincent 

De Paul Hospital, in 

Ehime Mbano Local Council, 

organized by Catholic 

Reverend Sisters in collaboration 

with Dr. Benjamin 

Olowojebutu Foundation. 

Dr. Olowojebutu said that 

the outcome of the exercise 

was a reflection of the society 

that it’s leaders ought 

to have provided a scheme 

to take care of the peculiar 

health challenges faced by 

women. 

Apart from fibroid, other 

ailments which some of the 

women had carried for 

years and were operated on 

included breast lumps, lypoma 

and others. 

He said: “Most of the 

women had resorted to selfhelp 

using herbs to manage 

the pains of carrying 

huge mass of fibroid and for 

almost two decades. We are 

happy and fulfilled to have 

contributed to giving these 

women their lives back. No 

joy can compare to the sincere 

gratitude and joy these 

people have expressed. 

“How could a woman carry 

12 kg mass of fibroid for 

18 years, gulping assorted 

herbs and concoctions? 

Why would help be so far 

away even as she tried to 

raise funds to take out the 

mass? And then you wonder 

why would such a woman 

will learn about a team 

coming to Imo on a medical 

mission and not believe 

that it is indeed for free? I 

guess it is a reflection of the 

society.” 

“One particularly strange 

thing about this mission is 

why someone would doubt 

that hernia, fibroid and lypoma 

that ordinarily would 

cost over N250,000 to remove 

depending on the 

hospital could be done for 

them for fee. 

RAIDS ON ABUJA WOMEN: 

NHRC summons AEPB boss 

THE National Human 

Rights Commission, 

NHRC, has summoned the 

Chairman of the Abuja Environmental 

Protection Board, 

AEPB, to appear before the 

Commission on Monday (today) 

over alleged raids of 

nightclubs and relaxation 

centres in Abuja. 

The summons followed a 

protest visit to the Commission, 

Friday by a coalition of 

Civil Society Organisations, 

CSOs, working in the field 

of human rights in Nigeria 

which brought a petition of 

rights violations of women 

against the authorities, FCTA 

and the Nigerian Police. 

The Executive Secretary of 

the Commission, Tony Ojukwu, 

issued the summons 

upon receiving a statement 

of demand by the CSOs led 

by the Executive Director 

Partner West Africa, Kemi 

Okenyodo. 

He said that no human 

rights violations will be swept 

under the carpet and that the 

raids and gender-based violence 

against women in Abuja 

will not be an exception. 

God has been kind to me, 

I won’t run for Senate 

again—Ekweremadu 

By Henry Umoru 

& Dennis Agbo 

Ebonyi launches open 

govt partnership 

By Peter Okutu 

A BAKALIKI— 

GOVERNOR David 

Umahi of Ebonyi State, 

weekend, restated his commitment 

towards transparency 

and accountability in 

governance. 

He stated this during the 

inauguration of the 32 member 

Steering Committee of 

the Open Government Partnership 

and launch of the 

OGP Action Plan for 2018 – 

2020. 

Speaking during the inauguration, 

Deputy Governor, 

Eric Igwe who represented 

the governor reiterated government’s 

commitment to the 

Open Government Partnership 

Programme and assured 

that state government 

would support the Steering 

Committee to actualise the 

state's OGP Action Plan. 

He said that government 

DEPUTY Senate President, 

Senator Ike Ekweremadu, 

yesterday, said 

that at the expiration of the 

9th Senate in 2023, he 

would not seek re-election 

into the Senate. 

According to him, in all 

ramifications, God has 

been kind to him, having 

raised him to address 

enormous challenges 

faced by his people. 

Ekweremadu, who 

spoke, yesterday, at an 

event to mark his 57th 

birthday and to appreciate 

God and his constituents 

for his re-election and 

triumphs, said however, 

that it had not been all rosy 

as he had also faced serious 

political challenges 

and persecutions. 

Ekweremadu said insecurity, 

disunity among 

Nigerians, and growing 

poverty among others 

would form the crux of 

matters before the next 

session of the National Assembly. 

Ekweremadu, however, 

said that after the 9th Assembly, 

he would honourably 

quit the job of a legislator 

at the national assembly. 

He said that he will 

work with every other 

member of the legislature 

with broad mind and zeal 

for statesmanship to ensure 

that current national 

challenges were resolved. 

Saluting his constituents, 

he said: “I acknowledge 

your kindness in 

keeping me in the Senate 

for these 16 years; and as I 

prepare to further represent 

you by your mandate for the 

next four years, let me seek 

your understanding and indulgence 

to now announce 

that this will be my last term 

as your Senator. 

“As we get set for the 9th- 

Senate, be assured that I will 

focus on the completion of 

all ongoing projects we attracted 

and ensure that communities 

yet to benefit from 

our vision in infrastructure 

adequately benefit. 

“I will work with other patriotic 

Nigerians within and 

outside the National Assembly 

and across party, 

ethnic, and religious lines 

to address issues of disunity, 

insecurity, and poverty 

currently threatening our 

nation. I believe together 

we can pioneer a new order 

characterised by peace, 

justice, unity, prosperity, 

egalitarianism, and boundless 

opportunities for all.” 

In a statement by his Special 

Adviser, Media, Uche 

Anichukwu, Ekweremadu 

recalled how he became the 

Chairman of his age grade 

association at age 10, and 

served as President-General 

of Mpu Town Union, pioneer 

elected Chairman of 

Aninri LGA, Chief of Staff 

of Enugu Government 

House, Secretary to Enugu 

State Government, fourth 

term Senator, third term 

Deputy President of the 

Senate, and the first Nigerian 

Speaker of the ECO- 

WAS Parliament. 

had always partnered with 

anti-corruption agencies as it 

had nothing to hide and would 

always adopt programmes 

that will give value for money 

in terms of utilisation of scarce 

resources to develop the 

state. 

He described the OGP programme 

as a unique programme 

that involved the civil 

society and government, and 

was confident that the partnership 

will be sustained for the 

good of Ebonyi people. 

In her opening remarks, 

the Focal Person of OGP and 

Commissioner for Commerce 

and Industry, 

Ebonyi State, Mrs Ugo 

Nnachi, thanked Ebonyi 

State government for 

joining the OGP Global 

family, especially at this 

time when the entire world 

was talking about transparency, 

accountabili-ty 

and good governance.

Why we are protesting 

today — WABBA 

•Ex-labour leader faults NLC's invasion 

of Nigige’s house 

By Victor Young & 

Johnbosco 

Agbakwuru 

LEADERS of Nigeria 

Labour Congress, 

NLC, yesterday insisted that 

today's protest in Abuja 

would go on as planned, 

saying it had nothing to do 

with the inauguration of 

Nigeria Social Insurance 

Trust Fund, NSITF, Board. 

Speaking on the protest, 

President of NLC, Ayuba 

Wabba said: “The protest 

has no relationship with the 

pronouncement they made. 

It is about the brutality 

Ngige meted out on our 

people. That is why we are 

protesting. The 

fundamental rights of every 

citizen to peacefully 

assemble and protest 

cannot be wished away. It 

cannot be breached and it 

is a right that is 

fundamental, that is the 

essence of the action.'' 

This came as the Joint 

Action Front, JAF, a pro- 

Labour Civil Society partner 

of NLC in the Labour and 

Civil Society Coalition, 

LASCO, declared its 

support for the protest. 

In a statement by its 

Secretary, Abiodun 

Aremu, the group said 

among others, “JAF takes 

serious note of the acts of 

Minister Ngige, who 

hired vulnerable members 

of the society as bandits to 

unleash untold violence 

against defenceless 

workers on May 8, 2019, 

who legitimately picketed 

his official residence to 

protest against his failure to 

inaugurate the Board of the 

National Social Insurance 

Trust Fund (NSITF) despite 

the official directive of the 

Presidency. 

vanguardnews @vanguardnews @vanguardnews 

“JAF contends that with 

this condemnable singular 

act of a Labour Minister 

employing violent acts to 

repress workers in an 

industrial relations’ 

disputation, Ngige has lost 

the right to preside over 

and represent the Federal 

Government as regulator on 

Labour matter.” 

Meanwhile, a former 

secretary of the National 

Union of Banks, Insurance 

and Financial Institution 

Employees, NUBIFIE, Mr 

David Azuokwu, has 

condemned the recent 

invasion of the residence of 

the Minister of Labour, Dr. 

Chris Ngige by NLC. 

Azuokwu said NLC’s 

action was alien to labour 

laws, describing the 

invasion of the Minister’s 

private residence and 

threat to his life as criminal. 

He said among others, 

“The NLC actions, led by 

its President, AyubaWabba, 

are unknown to Nigerian 

and international labour 

extant laws guiding trade 

dispute and grievances. 

The illegal invasion in the 

guise of picketing the 

private residence of the 

Minister of Labour is 

highly condemnable 

and should not be 

allowed in the country.” 

Azuokwu said the 

invasion, which was 

supposedly to pressure the 

Minister to inaugurate 

Chief Frank Kokori as 

Chairman of the NSITF, 

was a lawless action. 

“The appointment of any 

qualified Nigerian into 

political office at the federal 

level is at the prerogative 

of the President or by the 

recommendation of the 

supervisory minister, in this 

case, the Minister of Labour 

and Employment.'' 

By Emma Ujah, 

Abuja Bureau Chief 

A BUJA—THE 

administration of 


Buhari has secured Foreign 

Direct Investment 

commitments totalling $220 

billion. 

The Minister of Trade, 

Industry and Investments, 

Mr. Okey Enelamah, 

disclosed this weekend, 

while chatting with 

journalists in Abuja. 

According to him, $ 90 

billion commitment was 

secured last year. In 2017 

and 2016, the commitments 

were $70 billion and $60 

billion, respectively. 

“If you look at the 

investment commitments 

that were announced last 

year for the country at every 

level, which is tracked by 

the Nigeria Investment 

Promotion Council, it was 

over $90 billion, the year 

before it was over $70 billion 

and the year before then it 

was over $60 billion. 

“This shows us that 

Nigeria has potentials and 

is attractive,” the minister 

said in response to a 

question on how much FDIs 

the ministry attracted in the 

period of this 

administration. Now the 

challenge for us as a country 

and definitely for the 

ministry is how much of 

these will we convert,” he 

said. 

The minister said the 

Special Economic Zones 

initiative was very dear to 

his heart and that his team 

had reached an advanced 

stage of its 

implementation. 

According to him, three 

new zones would be created 

at Lekki (Lagos), Enyimba 

City (Abia State) and 

Funtua (Kastina State). 

He noted that the existing 

ones in Calabar and Kano 

would be revamped to make 

the quest for the nation’s 

industrialisation a reality. 

Put together, Enelamah 

said the Special Economic 

Vanguard, MONDAY, MAY 13, 2019 — 15 

NEWS HOTLINES 

018773962, 

08052867058 

We’ve secured $220bn FDI 

commitments — MINISTER 

DAVID MARK’S 20 YEARS IN SENATE: From left: Assistant Parish Priest, Rev.Fr. 

John Okpotu; former Senate President, David Mark; his wife, Helen and Gov Samuel 

Ortom of Benue State, during a thanksgiving mass to commemorate Mark’s 20 years 

in the Senate, at St. Augustine’s Cath Church, Okpoku LGA, Benue State yesterday. 

Zones would generate 

about $30 billion in exports, 

1.5 million direct jobs, 10 

million indirect jobs and 

raise the manufacturing 

sector’s contribution to the 

Gross Domestic Product 

(GDP) from10 per cent to 20 

per cent. 

He said: “This is an 

extremely important 

THE creation of wealth 

in the grassroots as 

sure means of stimulating 

Nigeria’s economy is one 

of the motivations behind 

investments by the Dangote 

Group. 

Group Executive Director 

and Coordinator of Dangote 

Rice Project, Mr. 

Devakumar Edwin made 

this assertion while 

receiving in his office in 

initiative of this government 

and we have worked on it 

with the Senate in the last 

two budget cycles — 2017 

and 2018. 

“We have adopted the 

Public Private Partnership 

model because of the huge 

funds required to 

development them. We are 

looking at $500 million 

Lagos, Iseyin Chiefs and 

Community leaders led by 

the Aseyin of Iseyin, Oba 

Abdulganiyu Salawudeen 

Adekunle, Ajinase 1. 

The Community leaders 

from Oyo State had come 

to show appreciation to the 

Company over the choice 

of Iseyin town for the multimillion 

Naira Youth Rice 

Farm project being 

undertaken by Africa’s 

foremost entrepreneur, 

out of which the Federal 

government will provide 25 

per cent. The balance will 

come from the private 

sector. 

“Many operators in the 

private sector within and 

outside the county have 

indicated interest and we 

are now working on its 

quick implementation.“ 

‘Dangote youth rice project is to create wealth at 

the grassroots' 

Alhaji Aliko Dangote. 

Edwin said the project 

was a deliberate business 

decision to empower the 

youths at the grassroots 

bearing in mind that the 

youths who are more than 

half of Nigeria’s population 

are mostly unemployed. 

He said: ''Many of the ills 

ploughing the nation could 

be traced to youths 

joblessness and that the 

youth rice farm is developed 

to address the issue now 

that the Federal 

Government is diversifying 

the economy by upgrading 

the agriculture sector to 

achieve food self 

sufficiency and as a major 

foreign exchange earner.'' 

Edwin stated that the 

''Dangote Rice Youth farm is 

modeled after the outgrower 

scheme to launch 

the youths back to farm with 

assurance of assistance to 

make farming less 

cumbersome less stressful 

and profitable.'' 

The project, according to 

him was launched 

successfully in Kogi and 

Jigawa and “its a pure outgrower 

scheme, where 

Dangote Rice Company 

provides seedlings, 

chemical, fertilizers, and 

give to the youths to 

prepare the land, cultivate 

the rice paddy which is then 

bought over from them by 

the company at the 

prevailing market rate.'' 

He stated further that 

''The youths are paid 

stipend to keep body and 

soul together for the period 

of the cultivation and 

harvest and to stimulate the 

interest of the youths to be 

dedicated to the project.''


LAUNCHING: From left—Director General, LCCI, Mr Muda Yusuf; Chairman, Trade Promotion 

Board, Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Mr Gabriel Idahosa; CEO, Compass Consulting, 

Mrs Tokunbo Chiedu; President, LCCI, Mr Paul Ruwase; Chairman, Specialised Exhibition 

Committee, LCCI, Mr Leye Kupoluyi; and Founder, Connectnigeria.com, Mr Emeka Okafor, during 

the launch of 2019 ICTEL EXPO in Lagos. 

NASS member-elect calls for decentralisation 

of police to tackle insecurity 

By Alemma Aliu 

BENIN CITY—THE 

elected member of the 

House of Representatives 

for Ikpoba Okha/Egor 

federal Constituency of Edo 

state, Hon Jude Ise- 

Idehen, yesterday urged 

the federal government to 

decentralize the police force 

to effectively combat the 

rising cases of serious 

crimes across the country 

that have resulted into loss 

Nigeria lacks political will to implement human rights 

agreements — Rights groups 

By Emmanuel 

Elebeke 

ABUJA—A coalition of 

the Nigerian Human 

Rights Community have 

said that Nigerian 

government has failed in 

the implementation of the 

126 Universal Periodic 

Review, 

UPR 

recommendations because 

of lives and properties. 

The lawmaker said it 

is regrettable that the 

Nigeria Police force 

saddled with the 

responsibility of policing 

the Country is still suffering 

from inadequate crime 

combating tools when other 

countries of the world have 

acquired modern 

technology to check 

sophistication in crime. 

He said: “There is need 

for government to increase 

… call for quick composition of HRC governing board 

it lacks the political will 

to honour the agreement. 

They expressed worry 

over the inability of the 

government to implement 

the international human 

rights treaties it signed on 

behalf of the citizens. 

They noted that the 

government has been very 

slow in the implementation 

of the recommendations it 

the numbers of policemen 

by recruiting more hands, 

they need more training 

and upgrade the 

equipment they have. New 

technology in policing this 

days is very important and 

not our ways of doing 

things. 

“I strongly believe that 

the federal government 

should do more for the 

police and the army. The 

federal government should 

begin to think of how to 

Aniocha North LG legislative arm 

impeaches leader 

DELSU Don, Dr Adagbabiri to feature at 

Delta strategic political workshop 

D ELTA—PUBLIC 

Administrator and 

Head of Political Science 

Department, Delta State 

University (DELSU), Dr 

Moses Adagbabiri, is ready 

and shall be at the Strategic 

Political Communication 

Workshop put together by 

the Office of the Executive 

Assistant,Communication, 

to the Governor of Delta 

State (EACGOVDELTA) in 

Collaboration with the 

Office of the Secretary to 

Delta State Government (SSG). 

wilfully signed without 

duress and urged the civil 

society organizations and 

the citizens to pile pressure 

on government to live up 

to expectations. 

The group made the 

observation at a 

sensitization workshop 

organised by the 

By Elizabeth 

Uwandu 

DELTA—LEADER of 

Legislative Arm of 

Aniocha North Local 

Government Area of Delta 

State, Nwanoye Francis 

The organisers in a statement 

by Dr Fred Latimore 

Oghenesivbe, said core issues in 

politics shall be in the front burner 

at the workshop which is why Dr 

Adagbabiri vowed to drill 

participants on fundamental 

issues in constitutional 

democracy via a position paper 

titled; “Politics, Power and 

Authority - The Nigerian 

Experience From 2015 to 2019.” 

He further asserted that 

Adagbabiri’s intellectual 

postulations at the workshop will 

constitute intensive interactive 

Partnership for Justice to 

assess the level of 

implementation of the UPR 

recommendations in 

Nigeria held in Abuja. 

The UPR is a unique process 

which involves a periodic review 

of the human rights of all 193 

UN member states established in 

2006 by the UN General 

has been impeached by the 

eight-member House. The 

impeachment was 

preceded by a motion for 

dissolution of the 

leadership signed by eight 

members of the House. 

The eight members out of 

session while group 

presentations and grading shall 

enable participants better 

equipped intellectually for future 

assignment in projecting 

government policies, programmes 

and achievements; especially as 

Gov Okowa's administration 

steps into second tenure 

christened “Stronger Delta.” 

Adagbabiri, is coming to the 

workshop with wealth of 

experience that cut across politics 

and Public administration as well 

as practical experience as a 

lecturer in the field of political 

science. 

break down the federal 

force by localizing it into 

states Police since the 

federal government have 

failed in protecting the lives 

and property of the people” 

The parliamentarian also 

promised to attract the 

presence of federal 

government to what he 

described as the under 

development in his Ikpoba 

Okha federal Constituency 

in the state. 

Assembly in resolution 60/251. 

It is a state driven process under 

the auspices of the Human 

Rights Council, which provides 

the opportunity for each state to 

declare what actions they 

have taken to improve the human 

rights situations in their 

country and to fulfil their human 

rights obligations. 

the 14 councillors or the council 

converged about 6a.m., on 

Friday to impeach the council 

leader with a signed letter of 

impeachment. 

The development may not be 

unconnected to the controversy 

that has been rocking the 

council’s legislative arm with 

accusations and counter 

accusations. 

The eight members in a 

statement alleged that the 

offences of the Leader of the 

House include operating the 

House without House Rule for 

16 months, inability to coordinate 

the affairs of the House, traveling 

outside the country without 

approval among others. 

The statement further stated 

that the dissolution of the House 

was to pave way for effective and 

efficient legislature in the council. 

The members in a unanimous 

decision elected Philip 

Kawekwune as new leader of 

the House, among other 

principal officers. 

IMF says accord with Pakistan to cut 

imbalances, support growth 

THE International Monetary Fund yesterday 

confirmed that it had reached a staff-level agreement 

with Pakistan over a $6 billion bailout package 

backed by a series of reforms to cut yawning deficits 

and improve growth. 

The program would aim to cut Pakistan’s debt through 

tax measures to improve revenue collection as well as 

reforms to its creaking energy sector, with a “marketdetermined 

exchange rate” to help the functioning of 

the finance sector, the IMF said in a statement. 

US, China at impasse over trade, Kudlow 

says new tariffs will remain 

THE United States and China appeared at a 

deadlock over trade negotiations yesterday as 

Washington demanded promises of concrete changes 

to Chinese law and Beijing said it would not swallow 

any “bitter fruit” that harmed its interests. 

The trade war between the world’s top two economies 

escalated on Friday, with the United States hiking 

tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods after 

President Donald Trump said Beijing ‘broke the deal’ 

by reneging on earlier commitments made during 

months of negotiations. 

White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow told 

Fox News on Sunday that the United States needs to 

see China agree to “very strong” enforcement provisions 

for an eventual deal and said the sticking point 

was Beijing’s reluctance to put agreed changes into 

law. 

He vowed the tariffs would remain in place while 

negotiations continue. 

Beijing remained defiant, however. “At no time will 

China forfeit the country’s respect, and no one should 

expect China to swallow bitter fruit that harms its core 

interests,” said a commentary, due for Monday publication, 

in the ruling Communist Party’s People’s Daily. 

Philip Morris suspends social media campaign 

after exposure of young ‘influencers’ 

CIGARETTE maker Philip Morris International 

Inc has suspended a global social media marketing 

campaign in response to Reuters inquiries into 

the company’s use of young online personalities to 

sell its new “heated tobacco” device, including a 21- 

year-old woman in Russia. 

The company’s internal “marketing standards” prohibit 

it from promoting tobacco products with youthoriented 

celebrities or “models who are or appear to 

be under the age of 25.” 

The company told Reuters of the decision late Friday, 

saying it had launched an internal investigation 

into marketing posts and photographs that Reuters sent 

to the company for comment earlier this week. 

They included a paid post plugging the tobacco product 

by social media “influencer” Alina Tapilina in Moscow 

- who listed her age as 21 on Instagram - alongside 

often seductive photos of herself drinking wine, 

swimming and posing with little clothing in luxurious 

settings. 

Uber’s market debut sours most 

anticipated IPO since Facebook 

UBER Technologies Inc’s conservative initial 

public offering could not keep its shares from 

sinking in their trading debut penultimate week, fueling 

debate on Wall Street over whether the outcome 

of the most anticipated listing since Facebook Inc would 

weigh on other Silicon Valley unicorns. 

Uber considered going public for at least four years. 

Yet the ride-hailing company picked a week for its IPO 

plagued by market turbulence fueled by U.S.-China 

trade worries. Moreover, smaller rival Lyft Inc’s shares 

plunged this week after its first earnings as a public 

company. 

Uber was the biggest of a group of Silicon Valley 

startups that have spent years raising money in private 

rounds at record prices. Many of these companies 

are now looking to follow with their own IPO. 

Some, like Uber and Lyft, are unprofitable. 

Workplace messaging company Slack Technologies 

Inc plans to hold an investor presentation on Monday 

in advance of its direct listing next month. Grocery 

and food delivery platform Postmates, WeWork owner 

The We Company and online mattress retailer Casper 

Sleep are among startups seeking to launch IPOs this 

year. 

All stories credited to Reuters


18 — Vanguard, MONDAY, MAY 13, 2019 

INSECURITY has shoved the 

poor economy aside to occupy the 

top spot on the priority list of 

Nigerians, as violent crimes 

threaten to overwhelm the 

country. 

After the general elections, the 

murderous herdsmen are back in 

full force. 

The “bandits” that had held 

Zamfara State by the jugular have 

spread their mayhem into 

adjoining Niger, Kaduna and 

Katsina states, and the fringes of 

Sokoto State, though the Army insists 

they are fleeing from the ongoing 

“Operation Scorpion Sting 

III” in Zamfara State. 

Kidnappers have also taken the 

centre stage, particularly in the 

North where they have forced the 

elite and commoners alike off the 

major highways, thus leading to 

crowded railway stations between 

Abuja and Kaduna. 

Saving Nigeria from violent crimes 

A major affront to President 

Muhammadu Buhari was the abduction 

of a District Head in Daura, 

Katsina State, Alhaji Musa Uba, 

who is also the President’s in-law. 

The Acting Inspector General of 

Police, Alhaji Mohammed Adamu, 

after attending a meeting of 

Northern Traditional Rulers 

Council in Kaduna on April 30, 

2019, disclosed that violent crimes 

have already claimed the lives of 

1,071 Nigerians in 2019. Of these, 

767 deaths occurred in the North. 

Zamfara alone recorded 203 

deaths. The number should be far 

more, as many incidents are usually 

not reported. 

Nigerians were dismayed when 

President Buhari returned from his 

ten-day “private visit” to the UK 

and gave an unsatisfactory answer 

when newsmen asked him: “Are 

we likely to see a different 

approach in the fight against insecurity, 

especially kidnapping, 

which is a big issue now?”. He reportedly 

answered: “You know, I 

have just seen the IG, he is…I 

think he is losing weight, so I think 

he is working very hard”. 

This response to an unfolding 

emergency situation is quite disappointing. 

Nigerians, at this moment, 

need to be reassured that as 

the President prepares for his second 

tenure, he has credible solutions 

to the twin evils that currently 

assail the country and its people: 

poverty and insecurity. 

We call on President Buhari to live 

up to his promise in his inaugural 

address in 2015, that he would “lead 

from the front” in the war against 

Boko Haram and general insecurity 

in the country. The situation now is 

far worse than it was four years ago. 

We strongly believe that a comprehensive 

overhaul of the security setup 

is needed at this time to arrest 

the unsavoury situation. The states 

and the various communities 

should be accommodated in a massive 

push to flush out the armed 

herdsmen, “bandits”, kidnappers, 

and of course insurgents. 

Without this Nigeria risks total 

anarchy. 

Banditry, abduction on red line 

By Carl Umegboro 

ROAD trips along the Kaduna-Abuja 

highway is becoming more than 

nightmares. Simply put, a no-go area. The 

increasing rate of armed banditry, kidnapping 

and sundry heinous crimes taking place in the 

environs demands a state of emergency by the 

governments. Figures of casualties are rapidly 

rising on daily basis. From Abuja to Kaduna is 

approximately 188.7 kilometres, roughly three 

hours drive. By implication, Kaduna shares 

proximity with the seat of power and possibly 

habours some oblique characters that find it 

difficult to operate within the Federal Capital 

Territory owing to heavy presences of all the 

security agencies with their headquarters. 

Recently, the acting-Inspector General of 

Police, Mohammad Adamu, at a Northern 

Traditional Rulers Council meeting in Kaduna 

unequivocally attested that crime rate in the 

country has alarmingly recorded 1,071 persons 

killed, 685 abducted in the first quarter of 2019 

with the Northern region leading with 71.62 

per cent. From the report, North-West recorded 

436; North-Central - 250, largely linked to 

armed-banditry, kidnapping and communal 

clashes; while South-South recorded 130 

casualties. By these figures, indisputably, there 

is fire on the mountain. Thus, the nation’s space 

is under siege. A salient question to ask the 

political-class is: How come such criminalities 

are heatedly resurfacing after the general 

elections, ahead of inauguration of a new 

government. 

Nonetheless, it is bizarre that amid security 

challenges and despite the fact all the security 

agencies: Police, Army, DSS, Navy, Air Force, 

Civil Defence have their headquarters in Abuja, 

security is lax there. For example, tinted-glass 

vehicles are now in vogue in Abuja and 

adjacent states and rarely searched as 

obtainable in other states. Even pedestrians 

with dangerous weapons are hardly ever 

subjected to stop-and-search or questioning 

by operatives. 

There must be obvious justifications to 

authorise tinted glasses in cars except when 

status substantially and convincingly demands 

for it. Authorising cars with tinted-glasses in a 

society without digitalised security system is a 

blunder. So far, most of the crimes are 

perpetrated with tinted-glasses cars, especially 

in Abuja where private motorists do 

commercial runs most times. Numerous 

commuters have been robbed or abducted 

with tinted glass vehicles on account they are 

usually wound-up without see-through from 

outside. 

Even commercial motorcyclists popularly 

nicknamed Okada operate with no 

registration numbers in Abuja, hence no means 

of identification when necessary. Apart from 

the Federal Road Safety Commission, FRSC, 

that mounts check-points, it is rare to find Police 

on the road operating proficiently as it ought 

to notwithstanding that the nation is not yet 

technologically advanced to rely on digital 

security system. Overtime, these oversights 

lead to an upsurge in security challenges. 

Presently, crimes detection in the country is 

mostly analogue which requires proactive, 

physical measures, particularly road-searches 

which is seldom done. Assuming the society is 

technologically advanced, then digital 

detection systems can check people’s baggage 

at strategic points as done in advanced 

countries. Security agencies should brainstorm 

to find a lasting solution to the problems. 

Period! 

Imperatively, the quantum of idle or 

undeveloped land in the North, neither for 

OPINION 

agriculture nor business activities is 

frighteningly as it is indicative that many 

from the region may resort to crimes for 

means of survival except those that are 

employable through education or skilled in 

a field. For example, from Niger State to 

Kebbi State lies an expanse of idle land that 

can comfortably feed the nation and with 

enough for export if judiciously put into uses. 

Unfortunately, no activities are going on there 

– a desert. 

Obviously, there’s need for an industrial 

revolution. Industrial ideas are critically 

germane at this juncture. The National Youth 

Service Corps, NYSC, may be reformed to 

make the one-year scheme accommodate 

industrially-oriented skills acquisition and 

economic empowerment. For instance, 

factories can be built in those deserts using 

corps members as workforces. If this is done, 

Authorising cars with 

tinted-glasses in a society 

without digitalised security 

system is a blunder 

the oranges, carrots, peers, garden eggs, 

tomatoes, cucumber, etc., hawked by children 

can be industrially processed for improved 

valuable products like in other nations. With 

that, scores of youths will acquire diverse skills 

that will upgrade them, and put some in 

employers status. An economy with majority 

of able-bodied youths doing betting is on red 

line. 

Or, is it possible that agriculture and related 

disciplines in our education curriculums are 

parables? Despite the number of universities 

of agriculture in the country, such neglects 

have existed for years. By means of irrigation, 

farming activities can thrive in those areas 

alongside processing factories which can 

ultimately provide jobs to able youths 

roaming the streets. This is one unique way a 

government can transform destinies of its people. 

To provide boreholes within the areas as well as 

farming machinery and incentives is certainly 

a realistic remedial mechanism against poverty. 

By the Federal Government’s stringent fiscal 

policies which have blocked leakages in the 

system through the Treasury Single Accounts 

and others, it is obvious that people who hitherto, 

shortsightedly relied on free money or other 

sinister means may resort to crimes out of 

frustration as the system is tightened up for the 

common good. 

Hence, governments are equally under 

obligations to come up with pragmatic job 

creation schemes towards carrying such 

population along with skills acquisition for their 

survival and essentially, for the general society’s 

interests. 

The numbers of unemployable young persons 

roaming the streets are indexes there are time 

bombs waiting to explode as education that 

empowers people for innovations and selfreliance 

is poorly treasured. Thus, governments 

at all levels have critical works to do, 

particularly skill acquisition and economic 

empowerment programmes. Any grown-up 

without education, trade or skills for survival 

will inevitably survive at the detriment of the 

society either through banditry, kidnapping and 

other heinous means. 

Laudably, UNICEF, pursuant to the UN 

Conventions on the Rights of the Child, CRC, 

having been making significant impacts in 

Nigeria through its Educate-A-Child 

programmes, thus, justifying momentum, 

synergy and sustainability. Child education 

remains a sine qua non to a secured and thriving 

society. Most of societal vices are traceable to 

poor upbringing of children particularly 

negligence on education. 

•Umegboro, a public affairs analyst, wrote 

from Lagos

Vanguard, MONDAY, MAY 13, 2019 —19 

Liquidity mop up, lower TB rate to persist as N173bn hit interbank 

•External reserves maintain upward trend at $44.84bn 

By Babajide Komolafe 

CENTRAL Bank of Nigeria, CBN, 

is expected to continue its liquidity 

mop operations this week as well as 

further reduce stop rates on treasury bills, 

TBs. 

Last week, the CBN, mopped up N630 

billion from the banking system by 

conducting secondary market, Open 

market Operations, OMO, treasury bills 

auctions on Monday, Tuesday and 

Thursday. The auctions were in response 

to inflow of N664.21 billion from matured 

TBs during the week. 

The CBN, however, took advantage of 

the oversubscription triggered by the 

inflow to lower interest rate (stop rate) on 

TBs. 

At the auction on Monday the CBN 

reduced the stop rate for the 364-Days 

OMO rate by 10 basis points (bps) to 12.94 

percent. The stop rate on the 199-day bill 

was also reduced by 7bps to 12.88 percent, 

while the 108-day bill rate was 

unchanged at 11.80 percent. The apex 

bank also reduced stop rates by seven 

basis points (7bpts) across all tenors 

offered at the auction held on Thursday. 

Meanwhile, the liquidity mop up action 

of the CBN prompted cost of funds to rise 

sharply in the interbank money market 

with average short term interest rate rising 

by 396 bpts. 

According to data from FMDQ, interest 

rate on Collateralised (Open Buy Back, 

OBB) lending rose by 385 bpts to 9.14 

percent last week from 5.29 percent the 

previous week. Similarly, interest rate on 

Overnight lending rose by 407 bpts to 10 

percent last week from 5.93 percent the 

Continues on page 21 

MONDAY, MAY 13, 2019 

Companies record weak earnings 

amidst sluggish economic growth 

•Banking, agric, consumer goods sectors under-performed 

•As oil & gas, conglomerates sectors lead profitability 

By Nkiruka Nnorom 

THERE are indications that businesses 

are still struggling to stay their head 

above water given the figures emanating 

from their operations, which also exposed 

the fragility in the economy. 

Figures extracted from companies 

financial reports for the year ended 

December 31, 2018, showed a very weak 

growth in revenue at 6.4 percent, though 

profit before tax, PBT, for the period surged 

170.7 percent. 

Leading companies totalling 88 quoted 

on the NigerianStock Exchange (NSE) 

recorded combined revenue of N9.74 

trillion, a 6.4 percent growth compared to 

N9.16 trillion posted in 2017 financial year 

principally due to decline in the banking, 

agriculture and consumer goods sectors. 

Though marginally higher, but the 

numbers are reflective of slowed growth in 

the economy during the period under review. 

Over 2018, the Nigerian economy grew by 

mere 1.93 percent. 

However, the pre-tax profit jumped to 

N4.14 trillion from N1.53 trillion, 

representing 170.7 percent growth, owing 

largely to outstanding performance in the 

oil and gas and conglomerates sectors. 

Market operators, who spoke to Financial 

Vanguard attributed the weak growth in 

2018 Vs 2017 Revenue (N’trn) 

revenue to several factors, including rising 

insecurity in the country, massive dumping 

of goods from other countries, challenges 

at the Apapa corridor, which limits 

movement of goods, while regulatory 

headwind among other factors posed 

challenges to the banking sector. 

Best revenue performers 

Financial Vanguard’s analysis showed 

that the construction and real estate sector 

towered above others in terms of 

percentage growth in revenue. The sector 

recorded 33.4 percent increase in revenue 

to N201.1 billion from N150.8 billion, 

followed by the oil and gas sector, which 

rose by 31 percent to N1.90 trillion from 

N1.45 trillion. The insurance and industrial 

goods sectors ranked third and fourth with 

19 percent and 12 percent revenue growth 

to N171.1 billion from N142.6 billion and 

N957.9 billion from N850.8 billion 


FSDH Merchant Bank 

projects 11.23% 

inflation rate for April 

Analysts anticipate dim 

equity market outlook as 

investors lose N137bn 

The famine this year and 

next 

— Dele Sobowale 

22 24 

29 

C 

M 

Y 

K


FINANCIAL VANGUARD 

COVER 

Companies record weak earnings amidst economic fragility 

Continues from page 19 

respectively. 

Worst 

revenue 

performers 

The agriculture sector affected 

revenue growth the most as the 

sector declined by 6.9 percent to 

N28.35 billion from N30.45 billion. 

This was followed by the consumer 

goods and the banking sectors, 

which fell 4.9 percent and 0.45 

percent to N1.01 trillion from 1.07 

trillion and N4.43 trillion from 

N4.45 trillion respectively. 

Best PBT performers 

The oil and gas sector and 

conglomerates sectors led in pretax 

profit in percentage terms, 

posting 80.9 percent increase each 

to N1.23 trillion from N67.67 

billion and N16.23 billion from 

N8.97 billion respectively. 

Worst PBT performers 

The construction and real estate 

sector, which incidentally posted 

the best performance in revenue, 

led the decliners in PBT, dropping 

by 1,302 percent to N8.98 billion 

loss against N747 million profit in 

2017 on account of worsening 

fortune of UAC Property 

Development Company Plc and 

Arbico Plc. The healthcare/ 

pharmaceutical sector, closed as 

the second worst performing sector 

in PBT with 36.3 percent decline 

to N1.791 billion from N2.81 

billion, while the consumer goods 

and insurance sectors recorded 

PBT decline of 21.8 percent and 

17.5 percent to N132.9 billion from 

N169.9 billion and N16.3 billion 

from N19.8 billion respectively. 

Banking sector in mixed 

performance 

The banking sector, which 

hitherto has been one of the best 

performers since Financial 

Vanguard commenced this 

review, recorded a mixed 

performance during the year. The 

revenue decreased by 0.45 

percent to N4.43 trillion against 

N4.45 trillion in the previous year 

as all the banks posted only 

marginally increase, while four of 

them - Zenith Bank, FBN 

Holdings Plc, Union Bank of 

Nigeria, UBN Plc, and Unity Bank 

recorded outright decline in 

revenue. 

FCMB Group, Access Bank Plc 

and Sterling Bank emerged the 

top performers in terms of 

percentage growth in revenue, 

with their revenues rising by 77.7 

percent, 15.2 percent and 14 

percent to N177.3 billion, N528.7 

billion and N152.2 billion 

respectively. 

Unity Bank Plc led profitability 

in percentage term, as its pre-tax 

profit rose by 109.9 percent to N1.4 

billion from N14.2 billion losses in 

2017. FCMB followed with PBT 

growth of 72 percent to N18.44 

billion, while Wema Bank Plc 

ranked third with 58 percent 

increase to N4.83 billion. Stanbic 

IBTC Holdings Plc and UBN 

posted 44.1 percent and 33 percent 

PBT increase to N88.2 billion and 

N18.5 billion respectively. 

Consumer goods in negative 

performance 

The consumer goods sector, 

battling with low consumer wallet, 

recorded a very abysmal 

performance as both revenue and 

profitability went down during 

the year. The revenue for the year 

declined by 4.9 percent to N1.01 

trillion from N1.07 trillion as almost 

all the companies recorded 

revenue decline except Nestle 

Nigeria Plc, Unilever Nigeria Plc 

and Cadbury Nigeria Plc which 

posted marginal increase of nine 

percent each. 

The pre-tax profit for the sector 

was also down 21.8 percent to 

N132.9 billion from N169.9 billion 

as huge losses in Dangote Flour 

Mills, Champion Breweries and 

Nigeria Breweries Plc negated the 

performance. Of the 10 companies 

reviewed in the sector, Cadbury 

Nigeria achieved outstanding pretax 

growth of 249 percent, while 

Nestle and Unilever recorded 

marginal increase of 28 percent 

and 19 percent respectively. 

Industrial goods 

Both revenue and PBT in the 

sector saw marginal increase of 

12.6 percent and 4.8 percent 

respectively. Of the nine 

companies reviewed, four of them 

recorded decline in revenue, while 

the rest, with the exception of 

Cement Company of Northern 

Nigeria, CCNN, that posted 62 

percent increase in revenue, 

posted just minimal increase in 

revenue. 

Meanwhile, Meyer Plc and 

Portland Paint Plc led in terms of 

percentage growth in PBT, rising 

by 168 percent to N182.30 million 

from negative N264.8 million and 

148 percent to N307.53 million 

from N123.9 million respectively. 

Insurance sector in a mixed 

performance 

The insurance sector, which has 

always been an under-performer, 

recorded a mixed performance as 

its revenue rose by 19.98 percent 

to N171.1 billion from N142.61 

billion. The pre-tax profit for the 

period fell by 17.5 percent to 

N16.30 billion from N19.76 

billion impacted by losses in 

Prestige Assurance and Sun 

Insurance which fell by 20.3 

percent and 96.1 percent 

respectively. 

Operators’ remarks 

David Adonri, Managing 

Director/CEO, Highcap Securities, 

in his reaction, said: “The 

economy is under-performing, the 

growing security in the country 

A lot of the 

banks are 

carrying huge 

Non-Performing 

Loans, NPLs; 

secondly, the 

sector is 

labouring under 

huge constraints 

is grossly affecting the businesses 

of these companies, thereby 

reducing their turnover. Again, 

there is increase in the rate of 

dumping of the products which 

are produced here in Nigeria with 

imported substitute. Also, the 

cost of doing business in Nigeria 

is one of the highest in the world 

and that cost too is eating into 

their profit. 

“If you look at Lagos, for 

instance, some of the companies 

can no longer collect goods directly 

from Apapa Port. They have to 

make arrangement (like PZ 

Cusson) for the goods to be 

carried through the Lagoon to 

Ikorodu and then to where their 

factories are located. So, these are 

part of the costs the companies 

now have to bear. Those are 

factors that have reduced the 

turnover of the companies and 

their profit.” 

He said the performance of the 

banking sector is a direct reflection 

of happenings in the real sector. 

“The banking sector services the 

real sector. So, if the real sector is 

not performing well, the ability of 

borrowers to pay back their loans 

from the banking sector becomes 

remote. 

“A lot of the banks are carrying 

huge Non-Performing Loans, 

NPLs. Secondly, the sector is 

labouring under huge constraints. 

They are forced under the 

monetary policy to keep 22 percent 

of their liquid asset with the Central 

Bank of Nigeria, CBN, and that 

reduces the amount of cash 

available to them to do business 

coupled with the impact of Treasury 

Single Account, TSA. A lot of their 

operations are disrupted in several 

parts of the country that are in a 

state of war.” 

Doing a sector-by-sector analysis 

of the performance during the 

period, analysts at United Capital 

Plc, a Lagos-based investment 

banking firm, said: “While the 

broader economy continued on the 

path of recovery in 2018 consumer 

goods players were faced with a 

different economic reality as 

consumer wallets remained 

strained. 

“On a year-to-year (y-o-y) basis, 

Nestle and Unilever were the only 

two fast moving consumer goods 

companies to grow revenue and 

profit (Pre and Post-tax) in 2018, a 

performance that was largely 

supported by the inelastic nature 

of their core food segments and 

prior efforts at deleveraging their 

balance sheet. 

“For the brewers, graduated 

increase in excise duties by the 

federal government impacted 

revenue negatively, while for flour 

millers and sugar refiners, Apapa 

gridlock continued to affect their 

performance negatively.” 

They opined that fixing the 

current infrastructural deficits in the 

country would go a long way in 

alleviating the problem in the 

sector. 

For the oil and gas sector, they 

said: “In 2018, downstream 

players struggled with the 

challenges of a fixed price regime 

(N145/litre) amid rising crude 

prices at the global space. A 

sustained uptick in oil prices 

drove Nigerian National 

Petroleum Corporation, NNPC’s 

under-recovery to N487.9 billion 

between January 2018 to August 

2018. This kept private marketers 

on the sidelines while the NNPC 

carried the burden as the sole 

importer of petrol.” 

Shedding light on the 

performance of companies in the 

agriculture sectors, they explained 

that 2018 was particularly a 

challenging year for oil palm 

players as local foreign exchange, 

FX, liquidity, declines in global 

Crude Palm Oil, CPO, price and a 

continued porous border, 

encouraged the smuggling and 

importation of CPO, thereby 

negating the ability of the players 

in the industry to grow their 

revenue. 

2019 outlook 

Continuing, the analysts at 

United Capital said: “Our view on 

the Fast Moving Consumer 

Goods, FMCGs, sector remains 

modestly positive on the back of a 

gradual recovery in the economy. 

However, challenges to volume 

growth may persist due to 

bottlenecks to distribution. Pressure 

on volume growth and transport 

cost is likely to persist as the 

difficulty associated with the 

gridlock at the Lagos Port is 

unlikely to go away in the interim.” 

For the oil and gas sector, the 

analysts stated that a very bright 

spot for the industry remained the 

private refinery being built by the 

Dangote Group - expected to roll 

out completely by 2020. According 

to them, “the project would alter 

the total dynamics of the industry 

through lower cost burdens and 

reduced exposures to external 

shocks. 

“Furthermore, the NNPC is also 

involved in negotiations to improve 

the existing refining capacity. If 

these plans materialize, it would 

support domestic supply and 

underscore a reduction in 

imports.” 

For the agric sector, they said that 

players would continue to benefit 

from favourable government 

policies and cheaper loans this 

year, leaving room for further 

production expansion. 

“Overall, we see slightly higher 

global CPO prices in 2019. We also 

expect this to translate to local 

prices, as the expected slight 

depreciation of the naira in 2019 

should make CPO imports a little 

less attractive,” they stressed.

FINANCIAL 

Liquidity mop up, lower TB rate to persist 

as N173bn hit interbank 

Continues from page 19 

previous week. 

This week, the interbank 

money market will 

experience inflow of 

N140.9 billion from 

maturing TBs, comprising 

maturing primary market 

TBs worth N33.8 billion and 

maturing OMO bills worth 

N107.1 billion. While the 

CBN will issue N33.8 

billion worth of primary 

market TBs to replace the 

maturing ones, it is also 

expected to conduct OMO 

auction to mop up liquidity 

from the maturing N107.1 

OMO bills. 

According to analysts at 

Lagos based investment 

firm, Afrinvest Plc, “We 

expect the CBN to hold 

OMO auctions in the 

coming week, given that 

instruments worth N140.9 

billion are expected to 

mature.” 

Also projecting, analysts 

at Lagos based Cowry 

Assets Management 

Limited, said: “In the new 

week, CBN will rollover T- 

bills worth N33.84 billion, 

viz: 91-day bills worth 

N3.39 billion, 182-day bills 

worth N16.92 billion and 

364-day bills worth N13.54 

billion. We expect their stop 

rates to decrease 

marginally, given the 

increasing preference for 

fixed income assets by 

investors.” 

External reserves 

maintain upward trend at 

$44.84bn 

The nation’s external 

reserves maintained its 

upward trend last week as 

it rose to $44.843 billion on 

Wednesday May 8 from 

$444.792 billion at the end 

of last month. This 

translates to $51 million 

accretion to the external 

reserves in the first eight 

days of this month. 

Explaining the factors 

sustaining the upward 

movement of the reserves, 

analysts at Afrinvest said: 

“We believe that the 

sustained increase in 

foreign portfolio buying 

interest in the fixed income 

market is largely 

responsible for the 

accretions to the reserves 

although we also 

acknowledge that stable oil 

prices and output have 

continued to favour 

increased forex earnings.” 

Naira depreciates in I&E 

as turnover fall by 23 per 

cent 

The naira depreciated in 

the Investors and Exporters 

(I&E) window last week 

following 23 percent decline 

in volume of dollars traded 

in the window. 

Data from FMDQ showed 

that the indicative exchange 

rate for the window rose to 

N360.88 per dollar last week 

from N360.65 per dollar the 

previous week, translating to 

23 kobo depreciation for the 

naira. 

The naira, however, 

remained stable at N359 per 

dollar in the parallel market 

last week. 

The volume of dollars 

traded in the window 

(turnover) fell by 23 percent 

to $770 million last week 

from $1 billion the previous 

week. 

•Yields on FGN bonds 


•External Reserves & Crude oil price 

•Foreign Exchange rate 

•Interbank Interest rates



FSDH Merchant Bank projects 11.23% 

inflation rate for April 

•Advocates support for investment products 

By Babajide Komolafe 

FSDH Merchant Bank 

has projected further decline 

in the inflation rate to 11.23 percent 

in April. 

The inflation rate dropped for 

three consecutive months from 

11.44 percent n December to 11.25 

percent in March. 

This trend according to FSDH 

Merchant Bank continued in April 

but could be reversed in the 

coming months should there an 

adjustment to the pump price of 

petrol. 

Head of Research, FSDH 

Merchant Bank stated this at a 

media presentation of the bank’s 

monthly economic and financial 

markets outlook for May titled: 

“Investment Opportunities in the 

Nigerian Financial Market”. 

He said: “FSDH Research 

expects the April 2019 inflation 

rate to drop marginally to 11.23 

percent from 11.25 percent in 

March. Inflation rate may remain 

in the low double digit in the 

remainder of 2019. Possible 

adjustments to the pump price of 

Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) and 

electricity tariff may shift the 

inflation curve by 2.5 percent.” 

Meanwhile the bank has called 

for increased efforts to enlighten 

the public about the savings and 

investments products in the 

financial market in order to 

enhance savings in the country. 

Akinwunmi said: “Despite the 

growth in the savings and 

investment products in Nigeria, 

the country still records low 

savings and investments 

“The ratio of Gross National 

Savings to the Gross Domestic 

Products (GDP) in Nigeria is one 

of the lowest among some selected 

countries including Nigeria, 

Kenya, South Afica, India, 

•From left, Chief Uche Otiora; Chief Hilary Amande; Chief C.Y Onyekaokwu all of Balogun 

Business Association (BBA) welcoming the Chief Executive Officer/Managing Director, Fidelity 

Bank Plc, Nnamdi Okonkwo to the Annual BBA Market Rally held at Aspamda/International 

Trade Fair Complex, Ojo, Lagos State. 

Malaysia, China, United 

Kingdom, and USA 

The ratio of total investment to 

GDP in Nigeria is the lowest 

among the selected countries 

“FSDH Research notes, 

however, that these investment 

instruments need more supports 

than are currently available to 

enable existing and potential 

investors to fulfil their wealth 

creation and developmental goals. 

“The first support needed is 

enlightenment. But government 

FirstBank achieves N1tr transactions on 

Firstmonie network 

FIRST Bank of Nigeria 

Limited said that its 

Firstmonie network has 

processed transactions worth N1 

trillion since its re-launch in 

January 2018. 

The bank in a statement said: 

“The network also achieved 

nationwide coverage in record 

time, enabling access to financial 

services for many locations that 

never had a way for its residents 

to access financial services. 

“This is in line with the Central 

Bank of Nigeria, CBN’s 

objective of bringing banking 

services close to all Nigerians, 

irrespective of where they live. 

“Firstmonie service provides 

financial/banking solutions to 

Fidelity Bank signs $50m financing agreement 

with AFDB 

By Elizabeth Adegbesan 

FIDELITY Bank and the 

African Development Bank, 

AFDB, have signed a $50 million 

line credit to support small and 

medium enterprises (SMEs), with 

30 percent of the fund to be reserved 

for female entrepreneurs. 

Managing Director/ Chief 

Executive Officer, Fidelity Bank, 

Nnamdi Okonkwo, disclosed this on 

the sidelines of the Balogun 

Business Association rally held in 

Lagos. Okonkwo said: “My team 

and I are actually here to get first 

hand information of what our 

customers’ need and to do a selfcheck. 

Have we satisfied them 

service wise? Are there areas we can 

support them? As you are aware, 

just yesterday, we signed $50 million 

service support fund agreement 

with the AfDB, 30 percent of this 

will be going to female 

entrepreneurs. We have a huge 

number of such entrepreneurs in this 

market. So it is more than just a 

coincidence that we are here today 

to connect with our customers and 

know how we can serve them better.” 

On the criteria for accessing the 

fund, he said: “Fidelity Bank is a 

strong supporter of SMEs. Most of 

them are accessing funds at 

nine percent under the various 

intervention scheme and for those 

who do not qualify for the single 

digit loans they borrow at the 

commercial rate but as much as 

possible, we try to make sure we 

provide a single digit loan for these 

customers using the various 

windows available. 

“As you know, the world is about 

sustainability and inclusion. As you 

know as well women are mostly, in 

the entire world, by culture, 

excluded in a way that they have 

been fighting to actually achieve a 

balance and Fidelity Bank is very 

mindful of this. If you look at our 

executive board, we have the 

highest number of females than any 

other bank in this country in terms 

of Executive Directors. That is one 

way that Fidelity Bank is saying that 

we are a gender-sensitive 

organization. Now for that reason 

as well, when you get a facility like 

the $50 million and thirty per cent 

is set aside just for women 

entrepreneurs, it is another step by 

Fidelity Bank to continue to ensure 

gender balance. That is basically 

why we are doing that.” 

Speaking on the connection 

between the bank and BBA, 

Okonkwo said: “We simply came 

here to connect with our customers. 

This is Balogun Business 

Association Plaza, Lagos Trade fair 

complex. Fidelity as you know, we 

do not only serve the corporate end 

of the market, we also serve the 

middle and the lower class of the 

market. We are very strong in SMEs 

and most of these people here are 

SMEs. They are the engine hub of 

trade and commerce in this country 

and in line with our customer forum 

calendar we do this occasionally, we 

come out here.” 

through the DMO, SEC, CBN can 

embark on publicity, both in the 

television and in the print media 

to create more awareness. They 

have done it before, they can do 

more.” 

rural and semi-urban locations 

across the country, such as 

account opening, cash deposit, 

cash withdrawals, airtime 

purchase, bill payments and 

much more. Through this 

channel, the bank is committed 

to providing convenient services 

that endears trust and provides 

ease of access to banking 

products, thereby saving time 

and travel costs for users of our 

network.” 

According to Dr. Adesola 

Adeduntan, the Chief Executive 

Officer, First Bank of Nigeria 

Limited; “The Firstmonie scheme 

is supporting the federal 

government’s empowerment 

and job creation agenda as over 

22,000 Nigerians, through this 

scheme, contributed to the 

increased economic activities of 

their neighbourhoods. Our 

partner network is growing and 

we are particularly delighted 

about the progress we are 

making in actively driving 

nationwide financial inclusion, 

exposing communities to 

opportunities for growth, jobs, 

empowerment, and improved 

live conditions. Yet again, we are 

delighted to score another first 

in promoting financial inclusion 

in the country. 

“We appreciate our partner 

network and remain committed 

to working together to achieve 

even greater impact on the lives 

of Nigerians”, he concluded. 

Code Wilo: Heritage 

Bank empowers 

potentials in 

creative industry 

HERITAGE Bank Plc has 

restated its commitment to 

empower Nigerian creative 

industry, as well boost the economy 

by hosting a private screening of 

Cut 24 Production’s political 

thriller, Code Wilo. 

The event took place at the 

prestigious Terra Culture recently in 

Lagos and was graced by senior 

members of staff of the bank, some 

of the cast and crew of the movie, 

fans, movie critics and some of the 

industry’s finest celebrities. 

Addressing the audience, Chidi 

Agu, Head of Content and Digital 

Banking of Heritage Bank, said the 

bank hosted the show because it has 

recognised the potentials in the 

creative industry, both in the ability 

to empower the population as well 

as to lift the economy generally. 

He said the bank has been 

involved in some activities that 

championed the interest of people 

in the creative industry and the 

production of creative outputs. 

Agu said the bank has also tried 

to put their works in better 

perspective so that they could be 

measured and monetised. 

Access Bank 

targets 100,000 

subscribers with 

Xclusiveplus 

A 

CCESS Bank Plc has 

revealed plans to increase 

the subscriber base of its 

XclusivePlus, a lifestyle 

proposition designed to provide 

clients with exceptional services 

and exclusive privileges to 

100,000 by the end of the year. 

The proposition was launched 

in October 2018 and already has 

11,000 subscribers on the 

platform. Subscribers to the 

XclusivePlus platform are 

entitled to privileges such as 

access to 800 premium lounges 

globally, 36 exclusive lounges 

within Nigeria which are also 

located in branches or at the 

airport, free multi-trade travel 

insurance and medical 

assistance, free monthly and 

quarterly movie tickets upon 

subscription to the platform and 

upgrade to a visa signature card. 

Dolapo Orelaja, Head, 

Consumer Proposition, Access 

Bank Plc, speaking at a media 

chat, said introduction of 

Xclusiveplus followed a survey 

conducted among the bank's 

customers, which revealed a rise 

in customers' expenditure on 

luxury travel, luxury experiences 

and luxury products. 

“We are deepening our 

relationship with our customers 

as this proposition is our own 

little way of adding value to our 

customers. Our vision for this 

proposition is to grow the base to 

100,000 subscribers by December 

and I believe we are going to 

exceed that number because with 

the merger, we will ensure our 

customers get to partake in this 

proposition.”




Analysts anticipate dim equity market 

outlook as investors lose N137bn 

•Tip insurance stocks to watch 

By Peter Egwuatu 

AS the equity market ended 

bearish last week resulting 

to investors losing over N137 billion 

in five trading days, analysts have 

predicted that the market outlook 

for this week is likely to dim, even 

as they cautioned investors to take 

advantage of the falling prices to 

boost their portfolios. They further 

tipped insurance stocks to be the 

stock to watch this week following 

their low trading prices. 

Analysts at Vetiva Capital 

Management in its market reaction 

said: “As the Nigerian Stock 

Exchange, NSE All Share Index, 

ASI continues to trade comfortably 

below 30,000 points, the outlook 

appears dim. However, we expect 

investors to take advantage of 

beaten down prices at week open 

but do not rule out the possibility of 

further sell-offs.” 

On the stock to watch, the 

analysts opined: “After losing earlier 

last week, Sovereign Insurance Plc 

gained 870 bases points, bps, 

Friday, to settle at N0.25 as investors 

took advantage of the price. The 

Insurance sector declined 322bps 

in the two opening sessions of the 

SHAREHOLDERS of Union 

Bank of Nigeria Plc have 

commended the debt recovery 

drive by its management as the 

bank’s Non Performing Loan, 

NPL ratio declined to 8.1 percent 

for the financial year ended 

December 31, 2018 from 20.8 

percent in the corresponding 

period of 2017. 

While addressing shareholders 

at the 50th Annual General 

Meeting, AGM, Cyril Odu, 

Chairman, Union Bank, 

highlighted some major 

achievements of the bank in 2018 

which included: strengthening 

retail and transaction banking 

offerings and the launch of the first 

Local Letter of Credit to support 

local trade; the launch of the 

inaugural N13.5 billion Bond issue 

and the adoption of the Robotic 

Process Automation (RPA) 

technology – the first Bank to do 

so in Nigeria. 

According to Odu; “We have 

positioned Union Bank to take 

advantage of the emerging 

opportunities in the economy and 

remain optimistic about the future 

of the Bank. We will execute our 

week after which we saw bargain 

hunting in the following sessions. 

The stock has gained 19 percent 

Year to Date, YtD, while the sector 

has shed 6 percent YtD. Other stocks 

include Nem Insurance and 

Prestige Assurance gaining 8.7 

percent and 7.7 percent 

respectively.” 

Analysts at Cowry Asset 

Management in their reaction said: 

“In the new week, we expect the 

local equities market to close 

marginally in green territory amid 


FOLLOWING the protracted 

bearish run in the equities 

market, Prof. Uche Uwaleke, Head, 

Banking and Finance Department, 

Nasarawa State University, Keffi 

and a professor of Finance and 

Capital Market, has said that some 

macro-economic indicators and 

other external factors indicate that 

the days of bears are fast coming to 

an end. 

Uwaleke, who spoke as guest 

lecturer at the Capital Market 

Shareholders commend Union 

Bank’s debt recovery drive 

announcement of the 

reappointment of the CBN 

Governor by President Buhari and 

the readiness signalled by MTN 

to list on the local bourse, given the 

registration of its 20 billion shares 

with Securities and Exchange 

Commission, SEC. Hence, we feel 

investors would take advantage of 

the low share prices to maximize 

their returns. 

Meanwhile, analysis of trading 

last week showed that investors lost 

over N137 billion as market 

capitalisation which represents 

investors’ worth on the Exchange 

declined to N10.842 trillion from 

N10.979 trillion recorded 

penultimate week. 

Similarly, another stock market 

gauge, the ASI declined to 

28,847.81 points from 29,212.00 

points recorded penultimate week. 

Amid sustained profit taking, all of 

the five indices closed in negative 

territory: NSE Banking, NSE 

Insurance, NSE Consumer Goods, 

NSE Oil/Gas and NSE Industrial 

indices fell by 2.77 percent, 1.74 

percent, 0.23 percent, 5.29 percent 

and 0.36 percent to 370.27 points, 

118.63 points, 669.53 points, 264.90 

points and 1,096.75 points 

respectively. 

Positive internal, external factors point to 

equity market rebound in Q3 — Prof Uwaleke 

By Peter Egwuatu 2019-2021 strategic objectives - 

Sweating our Assets, Digitizing 

our Bank, and Positioning for the 

Future - towards being Nigeria's 

most reliable and trusted 

banking partner. We will focus 

on embedding disciplined cost 

management as well as mining 

synergies across business 

segments and functions to 

improve the profitability of our 

business and deliver value to 

all our stakeholders – 

shareholders, customers, 

business partners' and 

employees.” 


SEPLAT 

Petroleum 

Development Company 

Plc, SEPLAT, has announced 

reduction in its finance cost by 38 

percent to US$16 million in its first 

quarter 2019 (Q1'19) ended 

March 31, 2019, compared to 

US$26 million in Q1'18. The 

company explained that the 

reduction in finance cost was a 

positive impact of its 2018 debt 

refinancing and subsequent 

deleveraging. Its net profit for the 

Correspondent’s Association of 

Nigeria, CAMCAN, quarterly 

forum in Lagos, expressed optimism 

that the stock market would rebound 

in the third quarter. He said that 

swearing in of the newly elected 

president and early constitution of 

cabinet members, lowering 

Monetary Policy Rate (MPR) by 

the Monetary Policy 

Committee (MPC), increase in 

minimum wage, increase in oil 

price and continued stability in 

foreign exchange (FX) would 

impact market positively and aid the 

recovery. 

He listed other factors that will 

drive stock market reversal in third 

quarter to include, continued 

moderation in inflation, steady 

growth in Nigeria’s Gross Domestic 

Product (GDP), early signing and 

implementation of 2019 budget, 

improved growth in the non oil 

sector amongst others, adding that 

“all these projections are higher 

than what we saw in 2018” 

He said that the planned 

introduction of derivative 

instruments in the market by the 

Securities and Exchange 

Commission (SEC), which 

preparations have reached 

advanced stage at both SEC and 

the Nigerian Stock Exchange 

(NSE), would help investors both 

foreign and indigenous investors 

to hedge their investments. “The 

NSE is really waiting for SEC to 

finalise the rule for the derivatives 

to be introduced, it will give 

investors room to hedge risks”, 

Uwaleke said. 

He said that the CBN’s MPC 

triggered the market supportive 

move in March 2019 by bringing 

down MPR by 50bps, after 33 

successive months, to 13.50 percent 

from 14 percent, adding that he sees 

prospects of further reduction in the 

MPR. “Lower MPR will free funds 

for investments or lending to firms 

for expansion, which will improve 

their earnings and deliver more 

value to investors. It has a way of 

attracting investors, opening the 

market and hedging risks”, he 

stated. 

Speaking on some external factors 

likely to drive market reversal in Q3 

2019, Uwaleke listed, crude oil 

price, declining trend of yield in the 

US, which will likely bring about 

capital flow to emerging markets, 

easing US—China trade tension , 

and easing Brexit tension, among 

others. 

Seplat drives Q1 finance costs down by 38% 

period stood at US$33 million 

after adjusting for a tax credit of 

US$13 million. 

Revenue of US$160 million and 

gross profit of US$81 million 

represent a 51 percent gross profit 

margin, which remained 

unchanged year-on-year. 

Revenue, according to the 

company, reflects the lower oil 

production and oil price 

realisation of US$61.7/bbl (2018: 

US$65.78/bbl). Commenting on 

the results, Austin Avuru, Chief 

Executive Officer, Seplat, said: 

“Our operations have continued 

to perform in line with expectation, 

with the phasing of our 2019 work 

programme such that the 

production uplift will be felt 

throughout the second half of the 

year as we step up drilling 

activities to focus on capturing the 

numerous high margin and shortcycle 

cash return opportunities 

within our current portfolio. 

“The next phase of growth for 

our gas business is now gathering 

pace following FID for the ANOH 

project, with governments first 

tranche of equity investment 

received. We have continued to 

deleverage the balance sheet and 

self-fund investments into the 

existing portfolio from operational 

cash flow, while retaining the 

financial flexibility and available 

resources that will enable Seplat 

to capitalise on what we expect to 

be an increasingly busy pipeline 

of inorganic growth opportunities 

that fit our acquisition criteria.” 

JB rules 

out plans 

for rights 

issue as 

shareholders’ 

equity hits 

N35bn 

By Peter Egwuatu 

JULIUS Berger Nigeria 

(JB) Plc has explained 

to investors that there was no 

need to float a rights issue at 

the moment as the company's 

shareholders equity has risen 

to N35 billion. 

Speaking at the company's 

investor forum 2019 in Lagos, 

Engr. Dr. Lars Richter, 

Managing Director, Julius 

Berger, who was represented 

by the Finance Director, 

Martin Brack, said that 2018 

was a very successful and 

pivotal year for Julius Berger, 

a business year filled with 

many positive developments 

and achievements. 

“In 2018, Julius Berger 

successfully overcame many 

of the tough challenges faced 

in the recent past and made 

marked progress across all 

aspects of its business, 

moving to greater 

profitability and success. We 

don’t think it is necessary to 

float a rights issue at this 

moment as our shareholders’ 

equity has risen by N35 

billion.” 

Commenting on the 2018 

financial year performance, 

he said: “The company's 

revenue increased by 37 

percent to N194 billion from 

N141 billion in 2017. 

The Profit Before Tax 

increased by 173 percent to 

N10.1 billion in 2018 from 

N3.7 billion in 2017, while 

Profit After Tax also rose to 

N6.1 billion in 2018 from 

N2.5 billion in 2017. 

Similarly, he told investors 

that the Company recorded 

significant progress in its first 

quarter results, saying it 

posted revenue of N35.32 

billion for the period ended 

March 2018 compared to 

N34.15 billion reported for 

the period ended March 

2017. 

Speaking on the Lagos- 

Shagamu Expressway, 

which has seen delays and 

even work stoppage in the 

past, due to funding 

challenges, Richter said since 

the resumption of work, a 

steady pace of progress is 

now the reality. He said, 

“Considering that the 

Expressway is now financed 

via the Presidential 

Infrastructure Development 

Fund, we presume that we 

will be able to achieve an 

uninterrupted pace of work 

with the new funding 

structure






The famine this year and next 

Neglect a fire and it will overpower thee—Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. 

THERE are several fires 

raging in Nigeria today 

which will overpower us 

unless President 

Muhammadu Buhari wakes 

up from his slumber, and 

moves quickly to put them out. 

But, one fire is now on the 

verge of breaking out and its 

consequences will dwarf all 

the others by actually 

escalating them. Famine on 

an unprecedented scale is 

building up in the land and, 

if government fails to take 

pre-emptive steps, it will 

make Boko Haram, herdsmen 

and bandits menaces appear 

like child’s play. Indeed, 

famine will turn virtually the 

majority of our people into 

bandits. 

Just in case you think this is 

an exaggeration and you 

doubt if the hungry masses 

cannot acquire the arms with 

which to unleash mayhem on 

the fortunate few who will 

continue to feed well 

irrespective of what the prices 

of foodstuff are, let me remind 

you of the answer provided by 

a sage over two thousand 

years ago. But, before going 

into the substantive matter 

permit me to draw the 

attention of readers to events 

occurring right now to which 

the governments, Federal and 

States, are not paying 

adequate attention. 

A few weeks ago, several 

newspapers carried the news 

that children in an Internally 

Displaced Persons’ centre 

were feeding on only onion 

leaves. Before that another 

story carried in The Nation 

published pictures of mothers 

whose children die daily in 

their arms on account of 

hunger and severe 

malnutrition. The United 

Nations’ just released a global 

report indicating that Nigeria 

has the third worst life 

expectancy of nations in the 

world. We received the 

“bronze medal” for this misery 

by beating several countries 

which have been at war – 

Afghanistan, Syria, Libya etc 

– for years. The vast majority 

of victims died before the age 

of five and on account of 

dietary deficiencies. Not that 

adults are spared the pains of 

death at an early age due to 

poor feeding habits, but the 

kids die first and lower the 

average life expectancy more 

with each casualty. 

Two major factors are now 

reducing much further the 

food supply available to 

Nigerians. One is man-made; 

the other is mostly natural i.e 

climate change. Together, 

they are setting Nigeria on a 

course we will not like and 

which will likely result in 

break down of law and order 

– unless governments act now 

and decisively. There is no 

time to lose. 

Herdsmen, Boko Haram, 

and now, bandits, have sent 

hundreds of thousands of 

Northern farmers off the land. 

Whereas in the past, as recent 

as 2017, one would observe 

farmers preparing the land 

for planting in February, 

many farms are now left 

fallow. 

Widespread violence all over 

the North have turned 

historical food baskets in the 

region into wastelands now. 

Most of Borno State and a 

great portions of Yobe and 

Adamawa and even Benue 

and Taraba into no-go areas 

for hundreds of thousands of 

farmers. Having reaped the 

harvests of sorrow on account 

of invasion by herdsmen and 

incessant conscription of what 


is harvested by Boko Haram 

and bandits, the farmers have 

no incentive to start anymore. 

FG Moves Against 

Herders-Farmers Clashes In 

The North—Daily 

Independent, Monday, May 

6, 2019. 

The Federal Government 

and its security forces, which 

were slow to act when the 

Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders 

Association of Nigeria, 

MACBAN, was terrorising 

Benue State and slaughtering 

Tiv, Idoma, Bassa and Agatu 

with impunity, according to 

the news report has now called 

for a meeting with the 

MACBAN in Kebbi, perhaps 

Climate 

change and its 

repercussions 

are global 

problems 

which 

nevertheless 

still have to be 

solved locally 

because that state is in the 

“core North” and it is rice 

farmers at Yelwa Yauri, Koko 

and Argungu who are now 

having their farms invaded. 

Meanwhile, several thousand 

farmers in Benue, a real food 

basket, are hesitant to try 

again without firm and 

demonstrable assurances that 

their labours will not be in vain 

once again. 

When our national food 

security is not threatened by 

FG inaction and denials as 

well as the combined effects 

of violence unleashed by BH, 

herdsmen and bandits, we are 


now experiencing the worst 

drought in almost forty years. 

We are in the second week of 

May and farmers nationwide 

have not planted because the 

early rain this year was 

insufficient to start the cycle. 

Planting delayed means 

harvest also delayed and if 

the rain that follows is 

devastating, it will mean 

lower yields all around at a 

time the nation needs more 

food produced. 

Farmers in Wushishi Local 

Government and Zungeru, 

Niger State, early this year 

expressed concerns over this 

year’s food prospects. They 

are not alone. Climate change 

and its repercussions are 

global problems which 

nevertheless still have to be 

solved locally. To the best of 

my knowledge, the FG and 

State Governments are not 

developing options for 

dealing with severe food 

shortage in the country this 

year. Therein lies the problem. 

Anger supplies the arms— 

Virgil, 70-19BC. 

It is now globally accepted 

as an axiom that “a hungry 

man is an angry man”. If so, 

Nigerian political leaders from 

the Aso Rock to all the four 

corners of Nigeria are not 

planning to avert the dangers 

of having millions of hungry 

men, women and children 

roaming around the streets. 

Hunger by itself invariably 

induces many of the crimes 

which society wants to 

suppress - stealing, hijacking 

of food items, food 

conscription by armed troops 

of BH and bandits, traffic in 

selling babies, prostitution (a 

starving female, including 

under-aged ones is an easy 

prey for those with a little 

money) and even murder and 

kidnapping. As serious 

hunger creeps silently into 

every part of the Nigerian 

society, the battalion of 

hungry people increases in 

size and the number of states 

at risk also multiplies. 

For those who might be 

wondering how the hungry 

people will be able to afford 

to obtain the arms with which 

to fight, Virgil provided the 

answer more than two 

thousand years ago. 

Using the kids in IDPs as 

example of what to expect, it 

is clear to me that anybody 

who thinks that the kids 

eating onion leaves in IDPs 

will continue to be satisfied 

eating that rubbish must have 

rocks where brains are 

supposed to be. The older 

boys will break out first to join 

established criminals in their 

domains. The rest will follow 

when they run out of onion 

leaves to consume. 

WAY FORWARD 

Now that Buhari has 

returned from wherever, 

instead of indulging in the 

childish game of “I told you 

so” with media who doubted 

his statements, he should 

urgently convene a Council of 

State meeting with only one 

item on the agenda How to 

prevent mass starvation in 

2019. 

As usual, he can ignore the 

advice because Dele 

Sobowale gave it. But, if we 

experience hunger on the 

scale likely from my trips to 

the Northwest this year, then 

it is not only the traditional 

ruler of Daura who will be 

kidnapped. All traditional 

rulers in Nigeria will be at 

risk. 

A word is sufficient… 

MICRO-FINANCE 

By Providence Emmanuel 

THE Nigeria Inter-Bank 

Settlement System, 

NIBSS, Plc and the National 

Association of Microfinance 

Banks, Lagos State Chapter, 

NAMBLag, have called on 

Microfinance Banks, MfBs to 

embrace digitisation to enhance 

their operations. 

They made this call at a one 

day capacity building 

seminar organised by the two 

organisations to train members 

of the association on “Banking 

and the Digitization 

Landscape.” 

Speaking at the seminar, Head 

of Research and Development, 

NIBSS, Mrs. Aituaz Kola- 

Oladejo, said that Nigeria is 

being shaped by digitization 

which is why findings show that 

its digital economy would 

NIBSS, NAMBLag urge MfBs to 

embrace digitisation 

generate $88 billion and create 

three million jobs by 2021. 

She said that as the future of 

the development of the Nigerian 

market, it becomes necessary for 

the MfBs to embrace IT, adding 

that the most developed sector 

in Nigeria is the financial sector. 

Oladejo stated: “You are the 

future of the development of the 

Nigerian market. The scenario 

for banking is changing, we 

want MfBs to embrace 

digitization. The financial 

services sector in Nigeria is the 

most developed sector and well 

regulated, which is why they 

embrace all types of technology. 

Nigeria is also being shaped by 

digitization, the tech sector 

contribute nine per cent to 

Nigeria GDP.” 

Also, Chairman, NAMBLag, 

Mr. Omololu Fatunbi, said that 

the seminar was organized to 

engineer interest in digital 

banking, adding that the 

association is known for its 

capacity building score card. 

Fatunbi stated: “It is not that 

MfBS are not aware of the need 

to improve on their services 

through technology, we want to 

broaden the scope, that is the 

reason for this training. 

“Recapitalization is part of the 

strategy to get MfBs digitalised. 

By the time the banks are fully 

funded, there would be 

enhanced productivity, they 

would be able to service their 

customers adequately, more 

money would be available for 

trading, in the process, the 

volume increase that we are 

likely to generate from both the 

under-banked, micro customers 

and other sub-sectors would be 

able to help us face the 

reccapitalisation target. 

“In terms of digitization, we 

are not there yet but we are 

making steps to meet the 

expectations. Competition 

would not allow MfBs to be 

digitally backward; this is 

because they also want to meet 

up with the standard. I see a 

growth rate in digital banking 

in the next five years more 

than what we are seeing today. 

“With the capitalisation in 

place, part of our services 

would be direct with the 

Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN 

which is a challenge. Digital 

banking is good for MfBs 

because it is going to enhance 

competition. I see more banks 

going digital even at the MfB 

level,” he said. 

Also speaking at the seminar, 

Managing Director, Supreme 

MfB, Mr. Jide Aremo, said that 

digitization would help 

mitigate against the risk of nonperforming 

loan, NPL, and 

drive productivity in the sub 

sector.


(08052201997) 

IN April 2019, CBN made 

good it’s over a year old 

promise, to tackle the acute 

shortage of lower Naira denominations 

by flooding the market 

with fresh supplies of N50, 

N20, N10, N5 Polymer denominations, 

to facilitate settlements 

and restrain compelled 

higher off-the-shelf prices in 

millions of retail outlets, nationwide. 

It is not clear, if the N100 

paper denomination, which is 

alleged to bear an offensive religious 

symbol, was included in 

the fresh currency profile. 

However, according to Priscilla 

Eleje, CBN Director, Currency 

Operations, who spoke at a 

sensitization programme in 

Abuja in February 2018, “all 

you need to do is to take your 

higher denomination currencies 

to your (Market Association/bank) 

and exchange with 

mint fresh lower denomination 

polymer equivalent.” It is remarkable, 

however, that polymer, 

which has a modest 

lifespan of about 2 years is preferred 

to traditional lower denomination 

hard wearing coins 

with over 30 years lifespan. 

The article “Redenomination 

of Ghana’s Currency”, (see 

www.lesleba.com and 

www.betternigerianow.com), 

which was first published, on 

15/01/2007, discussed the imminent 

redenomination and 

promise of a successful return 

of primary coins (pesewa) in 

Ghana. The Ghana pesewa is 

counterpart to Nigeria’s kobo 

and one pesewa at inauguration 

in 2007, was about US$0.12 

cents. 

Thus, one new Ghana cedi 

GH¢1 (i.e. 100 pesewa=$1.2 or 

N192, when $1=N160). Thus, 

while a Nigerian may forego 

change of N1, his Ghanaian 

counterpart would be reluctant 

to forego one cedi change because 

of its over 160 times 

higher purchasing power than 

Naira! Nonetheless, Nigeria’s 

Central Bank, erudite Governor, 

obviously failed to recog- 

Polymer Currency: Waste, 

Deceit & Commonsense 


nize this commonsense observation 

with regard to currency 

value and proceeded in 2006 

to release the almighty N1000 

note (less than $8 at the time) 

and also released new 50k, N1 

and N2 coins, because the existing 

note forms of these denominations 

were cumbersome 

unhygienic and unsightly, and 

were generally rejected by even 

lowly beggars on our streets! 

However CBN, in its ‘wisdom’ 

ignored this reality that 

the existing 50k, N1 and N2 

paper notes were not rejected 

on grounds of material of construction, 

but as a result of their 

negligible purchasing value! 

Instead, our Professor ascribed 

rejection to the material of construction 

and therefore speedily 

embarked on production of 

coins for clearly valueless currency 

denominations! 

That decision must have been 

motivated by other factors other 

than related professional 

knowledge! Not yet done, and 

as if to force commonsense out 

of nonsense, Soludo directed 

that all banks must accept at 

least two per cent coin component 

for every batch of currency 

supplied from CBN! 

Furthermore, in addition to 

actual production cost, in an 

action akin to throwing good 

money after bad money. CBN 

recklessly spent over N10bn of 

tax payer’s money on massive 

enlightenment and media campaign 

for the public to embrace 

the worthless coins! 

In another article on 26/02/ 

2007 titled “Hurray! The Coins 

are Back, But…” this column 

noted that “the economic wisdom 

in coin production is in 

their long lifespan (as coins can 

last over 50 years)… and that 

initial production cost can 

therefore be profitably amortized 

over its lifespan, if coins 

retain their purchasing power 

and remain in use”. 

Regrettably, however, less 

than three years after, CBN 

Governor has since admitted 

that the introduction of coins 

was misguided; consequently 

coin denominations were withdrawn 

and offered for sale, at 

a heavily discounted price! Oh 

my country! In October 2009, 

as if in demonstration that 

Coin denominations 

are exceedingly 

more cost 

effective, because 

they can last upto 

50 years despite 

any rough handling 

or harsh 

climate 

CBN had not learnt its lesson 

with regard to profligacy with 

public funds, N5, N10 and N50 

denominations which were earlier 

released as new paper note 

issues, were again re-released, 

this time, with much more expensive 

polymer material, 

which has barely 3 years 

lifespan. 

Meanwhile, inexplicably, the 

advantages of cost-effectiveness 

and currency security 

which were touted as the object 

of billions of naira expenditure 

on refurbishing CBN 

controlled “Nigeria Mint and 

Security Co.” were jettisoned. 

The promise that the new mint 

could supply over 80 per cent 

of Nigeria’s currency issues 

(with the exception of the then 

newly introduced and very expensive 

N20 polymer note) became 

an empty boast! The introduction 

of imported N5, 

N10, N50 polymer notes, in 

October 2009, to complement 

the existing N20 note of same 

fabric, probably now means 

that, CBN’s newly refurbished 

mint will produce far below installed 

or efficient capacity! 

Again, what waste! Worse 

still, some Nigerians will invariably, 

lose their jobs to a security 

printing company in Australia! 

Incidentally, (see Punch 

editorial 8/10/2009) Securrency, 

the Australian beneficiary 

printing company for polymer 

notes was lately accused of 

bribing, the proxy of some top 

Nigerian government officials, 

with over US$6m to win Nigeria’s 

2006 polymer printing contract! 

It is not clear whether the 

new polymer notes of N5, N10 

and N50 were part of the 2009 

contract or if the alleged bribe 

relates only to the first batch of 

N20 polymer notes released in 

2006! 

The superiority of polymer 

notes is canvassed, in ongoing 

CBN adverts, as being userfriendly; 

they look better and 

remain crisp over a long period; 

and that they do not stain, 

rumple or tear easily. Furthermore, 

CBN also claims that 

polymer notes will save the 

nation huge sums of money 

used for reprinting. What, the 

adverts do not say, however, is 

that coin denominations are exceedingly 

more cost effective, 

because they can last upto 50 

years despite any rough handling 

or harsh climate. However, 

the Nigerian public, as 

noted in our article “The Putrid 

Mess Also in CBN – 1-3” 

of 28/09/08, (see 

www.lesleba.com and 

www.betternigerianow.com), 

recognize that polymer notes 

fade and peel easily, especially 

when they are wet or folded 

or expose to heat. 

But much more importantly, 

polymer note denominations, 

will also fail because of their 

insignificant purchasing power! 

I recall that eight months 

after this column’s admonition 

to CBN to emulate our Ghanaian 

brothers in an article titled 

“Redenomination of Ghana’s 

Currency” - 15/1/2007, Soludo 

emerged with his Strategic 

Agenda for the Naira in August 

2007. 

The Professor’s agenda also 

included redenomination, 

which once again entailed the 

production of another fresh set 

of currencies!! Indeed, Our 

eminent Professor displayed 

incredible courage in floating 

this kite, especially in view of 

the fact that he had, in the same 

year (2007), produced and lavishly 

promoted note and coin 

denominations, with a structure 

which went against the grain 

of wisdom with regard to value 

being essential to currency acceptability; 

notwithstanding, 

Soludo subsequently, issued 

the N1000 note and also 

changed the design of all other 

note and coin denominations, 

at oppressive public expense. 

It will be a big tragedy if current 

CBN Governor, Lamido 

Sanusi, also hopes that Nigerians 

won’t notice this inexplicable 

folly! Truth is, the Economy 

needs coins (including one 

kobo) with value! Shikena! 

POSTSCRIPT 2019: The 

N1000 is regrettably, now less 

than $3, even when it was over 

$8 in 2007! 

ECONOMY 

Paga partners security agencies to enhance mobile payment 

By Esther Onyegbula 

Paga, a licensed mobile 

payment operator has 

commenced partnership 

with security agencies to enhance 

security of mobile payments in 

the country. 

To this end the company 

organised a security conference 

to intimate security agencies 

about operations of mobile 

payments. Tagged, “Security 

Organisations: What you need to 

know about mobile money and 

payment in Nigeria”, the 

workshop is part of Paga’s 

initiatives to boost financial 

inclusion in the country. 

Speaking at the workshop, Co- 

Founder and Director of 

Business Development, Paga, 

Mr. Jay Albraba stated that the 

country needs clear perspective 

on financial payment processes. 

“At Paga, we constantly seek 

opportunities to learn and 

understand how payments are 

processed and other extraneous 

variables that could hinder a 

successful transaction. 

“This security conference which 

will be held annually is a great 

opportunity for both Paga and 

security agencies to rub minds 

together and have a smooth 

working relationship. As a team, 

we are looking forward to this”. 

Commenting on its benefit to 

businesses, President, 

Association of Mobile Money 

Agents of Nigeria, AMMAN, 

Victor Olojo, explained that, “The 

security forum put together by 

Pagatech is a major step in the 

right direction. Paga as a 

responsible company has taken 

the lead in sensitising security 

operatives and other 

stakeholders on how the 

payment system works in 

Nigeria. 

“More encouraging for us as 

an association, is that the 

measures taken will go a long 

way in correcting the many 

instances of harassment, 

intimidation and detaining of 

agents across the country over 

irregular payment issues beyond 

our control.” 

Also speaking at the workshop, 

the Assistant Superintendent of 

Police, Akinwande Ogundana, 

said: “This workshop is 

expository, informative and 

educative. It makes me 

understand more about the 

importance of mobile money 

operators’ in moving forward the 

economy of a nation like ours. 

The mobile money operators also 

enhance ease of doing business 

in the country and it made me to 

realize that there must be a good 

synergy between the operators 

and security agencies to enhance 

the safety of all Nigerians and 

foreigners in their businesses”.


Send Opinions & Letters to: 

opinions1234@yahoo.com 

Nigerian leaders sowed the wind 

IN my first year at the University 

of Ife (now OAU) a ‘National 

Sailing’ by a secret confraternity was 

scheduled for the campus. On the eve, 

the local branch held a procession 

at midnight. The procession stopped 

an ambulance conveying a student 

to the hospital asking it to switch off 

its lights. Tragically, the student later 

died. A mourning student populace 

was enraged when news filtered that 

the confraternity had stopped the 

ambulance, even though it was for a 

few seconds. 

The Students Union immediately 

banned not only the national 

convention of the fraternity, but all 

such groups on campus. In those 

days, the Union’s decision, was law 

amongst students. To further placate 

the student populace, the university 

authorities instituted a probe and 

meted out disciplinary actions on 

identified members of the 

confraternity. 

Such were the powers of the union, 

that the Alhaji Shehu Shagari 

administration, though elected, 

thought it was better to subvert 

independent student unionism in the 

country. It bribed student renegades; 

some with brand new cars. It also 

tried to stop the 1980 emergence of 

a unified national student body: the 

National Association of Nigerian 

Students, NANS, which covered 

students in all tertiary institutions. 

Partly to achieve this, the 

administration sponsored the 

establishment of a sectarian body, 

the Nigerian Universities Students’ 

Association, NUSA, but it was a still 

birth. 

When NANS was eventually 

established, the government, within 

three months, expelled its leadership 

under Tanimu Kurfi from the Bayero 

University, Kano, and tried to impose 

an illegal “steering committee”. This 

failed. That same period, the Shehu 

Shagari government expelled 13 

student leaders at the University of 

Nigeria, Nsukka and student leaders 

at the Polytechnics in Akure and 

Bauchi, Kwara College of 

Technology and the Schools of Basic/ 

Preliminary Studies in Keffi and 

Makurdi. It also suspended the 

student unions in Ibadan and 

Kaduna polytechnics and the 

College of Education, Ilesa. 

But those were not the most 

dastardly acts of that government in 

its efforts to destroy independent 

student unionism. That 1981, at the 

Ahmadu Bello University, ABU, it 

expelled 30 student leaders and 

rusticated 165 others. The 

government then turned to the 

University of Ife where it killed seven 

students during a protest on June 7, 

1981. Its follow-up attempt to use 

the Justice Salihu Moddibo Alfa 

Belgore Tribunal Report to flush out 

student leaders was firmly and 

successfully resisted by the student 

populace and lecturers led by Dr. 

Biodun Jeyifo, the then National 

President of the Academic Staff 

Union of Universities, ASUU. The 

Shagari administration also tried to 

repress freedom of speech by 

banning and occupying the premises 

of a number of newspapers. 

However, the Shagari 

adminstration was a ‘saint’ 

compared to the succeeding military 

regimes under Generals 

Muhammadu Buhari, Ibrahim 

Babangida and Sani Abacha. The 

Buhari regime was a cyclone which 

smashed through national 

institutions, including the judiciary 

and the media. In the case of the 

Increasingly, 

elections are being 

settled not by votes, 

but bullets; in 

election after 

election, the 

country is drowned 

in rivers of blood 

press, it enacted Decree 4 of 1984 

which made reporting falsehood and 

the truth, punishable offences. It 

enacted Decree 2 of 1984 under 

which Nigerians were detained 

without trial. It turned to smashing 

the campuses; it introduced school 

fees, abolished the Cafeteria System 

which subsidised food for students 

on campuses, and accused lecturers 

of inciting students against its 

dictatorship. 

When students staged a national 

protest against its draconian 

policies, the Buhari regime not only 

went out to smash the protests, but 

also kidnapped the then NANS 

President, Lanre Arogundade, at the 

post office in Ile-Ife. All these were 

concerted attempts to destroy 

independent student unionism and 

consciously or unconsciously make 

way for the emergence of cultists who 

would not be loyal to students, but 

take directives from the regime. 

But it was the Babangida regime 

that consciously destroyed the 

Student Movement; expelling as 

many student leaders as it could lay 

hands on, and most infamously, 

promoting cultists to seize student 

unions across the country. In 1986, it 

killed “only” four students of ABU 

during a protest, and when the NANS 

called a national protest over this, it 

shut down many tertiary institutions 

and banned student unionism across 

the country. 

The Babangida regime also in 

June 1986, occupied the Nigeria 

Labour Congress, NLC, premises 

because labour decided to stage a 

solidarity protest for the students, and 

detained a number of Congress 

leaders. The detention of labour 

leaders was repeated in December 

1987 before the regime banned the 

NLC in February 1988. In its 

attempts to finally smash 

independent student unionism, the 

regime established two Tribunals of 

Inquiry, one led by retired Major 

General Emmanuel Abisoye and the 

second by Justice Mustapha Akanbi. 

Perhaps the most devious move by 

that regime was the establishment, 

by its security services, of Student 

Peace Councils or Peace Committees 

to impose ‘peace’ on campuses. This 

included the sponsorship of cultists 

and sleeper agents to infiltrate the 

student unions, take them over or 

sabotage them. The arrow head of 

these councils was based in the 

University of Ibadan, and it was there 

an epic battle ensued in which the 

student populace took him on, 

flushed him from the campus and 

burnt his room. 

However, it was in the University 

of Benin that the most vicious battles 

between students and the Babangida 

regime were fought. They were so 

bloody that the regime issued a 

directive to the police and security 

forces to “shoot students at sight”. 

Lecturers like then ASUU President, 

Dr. Festus Iyayi and Professor Itse 

Sagay were not even given quit 

notices: thugs simply invaded their 

homes, broke the doors, threw out 

their families and replaced the doors. 

By 1999 when civil administration 

was restored in the country, cultists, 

thugs and security agents had taken 

over some student unions. Things 

degenerated so much that when a 

NANS Convention was held in Abuja, 

matters were settled with guns, and 

genuine student leaders loyal to the 

Student Movement, were overcome. 

Cultists, security agents, traders and 

street toughies have taken over some 

student unions to the extent that a 

few years ago, when I was invited to 

speak with a cross section of student 

leaders, I discovered that the NANS 

President was not a student! Many 

of the student leaders knew and 

whispered it but none was bold 

enough to table it. 

Now, this later generation of 

student leaders have graduated into 

political leadership in the country 

holding executive and legislative 

positions. Increasingly, elections are 

being settled not by votes, but bullets; 

in election after election, the country 

is drowned in rivers of blood, 

especially in Rivers State. Youths are 

said to be ‘the leaders of tomorrow.’ 

The youths produced by our leaders 

yesterday, are taking over today . 

Prophet Hosea might have had 

Nigerian leaders in mind when he 

proclaimed in Hosea 8:7 “For they 

sow the wind, and they shall reap the 

whirlwind”. 

Okorocha, Owerri spirit and contemporary lessons 

By Collins Obibi 

FOR the governor of Imo State, Owelle 

Rochas Okorocha, it is the month of May, 

time to hand over to another. Indeed whatever 

has a beginning will definitely end someday. In 

the past few years of his administration this 

season looked too far, but it is here already. 

Even if his tenure is extended by another four or 

eight years through his son-in-law proxy which 

he attempted to foist on the state, it will still end 

someday. But that is good history, hence it is 

easy to see where his disputation of the recent 

election of Chief Emeka Ihedioha as governor 

of the state is headed. 

But what is the hullabaloo in Imo about this 

particular hand over? The answer is simple: 

Okorocha warmed himself into the heart of 

Imo people by courting the church, the 

traditional institution and the ordinary man 

on the street. He was seen as a lover of education, 

Imo’s pride, and began a scheme which reduced 

the burden of education on some indigent 

families. At a point he sought nomination for 

some of the children through the churches. With 

this he was then able to defeat an incumbent 

governor to enter the Douglas House seat of 

government which he so treasures. Today, go 

back to these constituencies and ask for an 

appraisal of Okorocha’s tenure and get the 

answer you seek. 

By his acts, he has, even if unwittingly, 

strengthened the hand of Ihedioha who will be 

sworn in on May 29. Ihedioha’s election is 

simply put, a call to duty for Imo people. His 

role is basically to utilize the free-flowing 

goodwill of the people at home and in the 

Diaspora and make them own the government 

and achieve the development they need. 

Okorocha’s story is like that of a child who ate 

fat and decided to challenge the gods. Indeed 

he challenged the gods, for instance the 

hurricane Owerri spirit that cut stubborn 

politicians to size. 

The Owerri spirit is more or less the Imo 

spirit. It was the same spirit that installed 

Okorocha after humiliating his predecessor. 

For want of a better definition, I stick to the 

one I made a few years ago: “The Owerri spirit 

is the spirit of justice, fair play and integrity. It 

is conscientious and defends human dignity 

with passion. It has enormous capacity to 

mobilise all classes of people to fight its cause. 

It can be enduring and long suffering, but it 

can also move spontaneously and in such a 

case with great venom. It moves sparingly, in 

fact, only when provoked, but as a virile and 

potent force when it moves it teaches the target 

hard lessons. It is a force that has cut short the 

career of many politicians in the state.” Any 

surprise, therefore, as to the turn of events 

today? 

First, Okorocha has been running a one man 

show and has reduced government to a family 

affair. He repudiated his entry slogan of “my 

people my people” soon after winning the 

election, and adopted a new one: “my family 

my family,” in government patronage. He 

humiliated the first deputy governor, Chief Jude 

Agbaso out of office, and has been hounding 

the current deputy, Eze Madumere. 

Considering Madumere’s sacrificial 

contributions towards his election which all 

attest to, Okorocha is seen as an ingrate. 

Public servants have had a taste of his bitter 

pill through cutting and non-payment of 

salaries and sidelining. He made retirement a 

nightmare for senior citizens and 

superintended a scheme that robbed them of 

their entitlements. Discountenancing the 

sensitivity of the people he lavished public funds 

in erecting statues of individuals in the state 

capital, many of whom are corrupt African 

heads of state some of whom he hosted to state 

banquets. The akpuola gi akpuo phrase will 

live with Imo much longer after Okorocha, 

just as ohashierism which makes its nonadherent 

to end up in Iberiberism. Good lexicon 

from Imo. 

Again, Okorocha did the two terms allowed 

by the Constitution and wanted to forcefully 

install his son-in-law as successor, an indirect 

way of extending his tenure, notwithstanding 

that he is from Orlu Zone that has held the 

governorship position for 16 of the 20 years 

lifespan of the current democratic 

dispensation. If it was by consensus as was the 

case when he came in eight years ago, it would 

not have mattered. But by forcefully pursuing 

it and disparaging the people’s call for equity, 

justice, fairness, mutual co-existence, peace 

and harmony, he stirred the hornet’s nest. Imo 

sons and daughters grouse with him is indeed 

a catalogue. 

Banking on the fact that in this second term, 

his party, the All Progressive Congress, APC, 

won elections in the state and at the federal 

level he converted to an ‘Emperor’ whose words 

are law and sacrosanct. Doing so in a state 

like Imo would definitely yield unpalatable 

results. His quest for a Senate seat, just in a 

Okorocha’s story is like 

that of a child who ate fat 

and decided to challenge the 

gods 

third of the state is even herculean. Without 

prejudice to the exploits of lawyers at the 

election tribunal and the Independent National 

Electoral Commission final decision on the 

matter, what is already in the public domain is 

that the returning officer in his zone was held 

‘hostage for two and half days’ and he 

announced the senatorial election result under 

'duress’. 

However there are some pluses of his eight 

year tenure. For instance, the concept of broad 

roads. He has shown that it is indeed possible 

to dualise link roads to all the senatorial zones 

in the state and have broad network of roads 

particularly in the state capital. There are also 

testimonial buildings and structures too. Even 

if credit is not found in the quality of the 

structures, particularly the roads, the concept 

is commendable. Okorocha will not easily be 

forgotten in Imo. He will be remembered, 

quoting his own words at the recent birthday 

celebration of Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu, 

for “the good, the bad and the ugly”. 

For Ihedioha, the starting point is taking a 

decision on style - either to be humble and 

humane or be proud on the seat. He has living 

witnesses in his predecessors. Compare Chief 

Achike Udenwa with his successors. The 

position of governor is already exalted as the 

number one citizen of the state who holds the 

yam and the knife. No need to push it further. 

Two, times are hard and the governor and 

his aides should not be seen to be living in 

affluence while the people are suffering. No 

matter the projects embarked on, if salaries 

and pensions are not being paid, that 

government has failed. Salaries have better 

spread among the citizens and impact more 

than any project. Non-payment of salaries is 

bad public relations for any government as 

the news reverberates at home and to all 

Diaspora relations who care about the well 

being of their parents and other relations at 

home. The concept of governance as erecting 

of gigantic buildings and edifices at the expense 

of people’s welfare is faulty. 

Ability to identify and embark on policies, 

programmes and projects that appeal to the 

people makes the difference. This is where 

Chief Samuel Onunaka Mbakwe of blessed 

memory excelled. Expectations are high on 

the incoming administration. But where are 

the resources? Has anyone seen the handover 

account of the Okorocha administration? If 

Ihedioha comes plain and makes Imo people 

own the government, improve security and 

emphasize production and agriculture, not 

taxes, then it will be a new dawn for Imo. 

•Obibi is a Lagos-based media professional 

C 

M 

Y


Mina Mangal, Afghan journalist, killed in Kabul 

A PROMINENT 

Afghan journalist 

and parliamentary 

adviser has been killed 

in Kabul, an Interior 

Ministry spokesman told 

CNN Sunday. 

Mina Mangal, who 

had worked as a 

television presenter for 

popular Pashtolanguage 

channels 

before entering politics, 

was gunned down in 

broad daylight Saturday 

morning in southeast 

Kabul, according to 

ministry spokesman 

Nasrat Rahimi. 

Police investigations 

are underway to find the 

attackers who shot 

Mangal, Rahimi added. 

The brazen attack 

sparked an outpouring 

of anger and sadness 

from Mangal’s 

colleagues and 

women’s rights 

activists, who 

condemned authorities 

for failing to protect her 

in the face of threats. 

Afghan women’s 

rights activist Wazhma 

A photo of Mina Mangal shared by the Afghan Presidential Information 

Coordination Center on Twitter. 

Frogh said that Mangal 

had recently posted on 

Facebook that she had 

been receiving threats 

and feared for her life. 

“Can’t stop my tears at 

the loss of this beautiful 

soul. She had a loud 

voice, and actively 

raising voice for her 

people. In this Facebook 

status she says she’s 

threatened & she says 

she she trusts her Allah 

& that a strong woman 

isn’t scared of death. RIP 

Mina Mangal,” Frogh 

said in a post on Twitter. 

Pilot in Myanmar lands plane without front wheels 

MYANMAR pilot 

A safely landed a jet 

without front wheels after 

the landing gear failed to 

deploy. 

The Myanmar National 

Airlines plane skidded 

down the runway at 

Mandalay airport before 

grinding to a stop. 

The pilot of the Embraer 

190 was praised for the 

landing, in which none of 

the 89 passengers was hurt. 

Captain Myat Moe Aung 

circled the airport twice to 

allow air traffic controllers 

to determine if the landing 

gear was down, the airline 

said. 

The aircraft had departed 

from Yangon and was 

approaching Mandalay 

when the pilot was unable 

to extend the front landing 

gear. He followed emergency 

procedures and burned 

excess fuel to reduce the aircraft’s 

weight, the airline 

said. 

A video of the landing 

showed the plane landing 

on its rear wheels before 

the nose touched down on 

the runway. The plane skidded 

for about 25 seconds 

before it stopped. 

“The pilot did a great 

job,” Win Khant, Myanmar’s 

transport minister, 

told the Reuters news agency 

Ṫhe incident was the 

second aviation accident 

in Myanmar this week. On 

Wednesday, a Biman 

Bangladesh Airlines plane 

skidded off the runway 

when it landed in bad 

weather at Yangon’s 

international airport, 

injuring at least 17 people. 

US, China trade impasse: 

Kudlow says new tariffs 

will remain 

THE United States 

and China appeared 

at a deadlock 

over trade negotiations 

on Sunday as Washington 

demanded promises 

of concrete changes to 

Chinese law and 

Beijing said it would 

not swallow any “bitter 

fruit” that harmed its interests. 

The trade war between 

the world’s top two 

economies escalated on 

Friday, with the United 

States hiking tariffs on 

$200 billion worth of 

Chinese goods after 

President Donald Trump 

said Beijing ‘broke the 

deal’ by reneging on 

earlier commitments 

made during months of 

negotiations. 

White House economic 

adviser Larry Kudlow 

told Fox News on Sunday 

that the United 

States needs to see China 

agree to “very 

strong” enforcement 

provisions for an eventual 

deal and said the 

sticking point was 

Beijing’s reluctance to 

put agreed changes into 

law. 

He vowed the tariffs 

would remain in place 

while negotiations continue. 

Beijing remained defiant, 

however. “At no time 

will China forfeit the 

country’s respect, and 

no one should expect 

China to swallow bitter 

fruit that harms its core 

interests,” said a commentary, 

due for Monday 

publication, in the 

ruling Communist Party’s 

People’s Daily. 

It said Beijing’s doors 

were open to talks but it 

would not yield on important 

issues of principle. 

Kudlow said there was 

a “strong possibility” 

that Trump will meet with 

Chinese President Xi 

Jinping at a G20 summit 

in Japan in late June. 

Until last week, there 

were expectations Trump 

and Xi would sign a 

trade deal at the summit. 

However, the trade 

talks suffered a major 

setback last week when 

China proposed extensive 

revisions to a draft 

agreement. It wanted to 

delete prior commitments 

that Chinese laws 

would be changed to enact 

new policies on issues 

from intellectual 

property protection to 

forced technology transfers. 

VANGUARD, MONDAY, MAY 13, 2019 — 33 

AFRICA NEWS 

Attack on Catholic church in 

Burkina Faso leaves six dead 

IX people were killed Sunday during mass at a 

SCatholic church in central Burkina Faso, according 

to state media. 

Gunmen on motorcycles stormed the church in Dablo 

on Sunday morning, killing six men, including the priest, 

before setting fire to the church and buildings in the 

area, the Burkina Information Agency reported. 

In February, CNN reported that the US was 

considering sending additional military advisers as well 

as intelligence and surveillance assets such as drones to 

Burkina Faso to help combat a growing terrorist threat. 

The landlocked country in northwest Africa has been 

beset by extremist violence in recent months as Islamist 

terror groups expand their reach. 

The number of violent incidents in the country linked 

to the local affiliates of al Qaeda and ISIS rose from 24 

in 2017 to 136 in 2018, according to a report by the 

Africa Center for Strategic Studies. 

The Trump administration last year announced plans 

to cut the number of US troops in Africa by around 10%. 

One defense official told CNN that the planned 

reductions would eventually lower the number of US 

counterterrorism troops and their enablers who support 

operations by approximately 20%. 

ANC keeps power in South Africa 

but scandals cost it votes 

HE African National Congress easily won South 

TAfrica’s general election on Saturday but its share 

of the vote fell, reflecting anger at corruption scandals 

and racial inequalities that remain entrenched a 

generation after the party took power. 

It was the worst electoral performance by the late 

Nelson Mandela’s former liberation movement, which 

has governed South Africa since the country’s first free 

election marked the end of white minority rule in 1994. 

The ANC had not previously won less than 60% of the 

vote in a national poll. 

The ANC’s victory secures it enough seats in 

parliament to give President Cyril Ramaphosa another 

five-year term in office but may leave him short of 

ammunition to battle party rivals who oppose his reforms 

to galvanise the economy and counter graft. 

“Let us now work together, black and white, men and 

women, young and old to build a South Africa that truly 

belongs to all that live in it,” he said in a speech after his 

party was declared the winner. 

Results showed the ANC secured 57.5% of the 

parliamentary vote, while the main opposition party, 

the Democratic Alliance (DA), also saw its vote share 

fall. 

.... As Ramaphosa targets reforms 

after election win 

OUTH African President Cyril Ramaphosa led the 

SAfrican National Congress (ANC) to victory in 

Wednesday’s election, but a drop in its share of the vote 

underlines the challenge he faces restoring confidence 

in his party. 

With opponents in the ANC and an emboldened farleft 

opposition party, the former union leader turned 

business tycoon may struggle to deliver on his promises 

to push through tough reforms. 

Africa’s oldest liberation movement won 55.5% of the 

parliamentary vote, according to provisional results 

from 99.9% of polling districts. That was its worst 

parliamentary result since it swept to power at the end 

of white minority rule but an improvement on its showing 

in 2016 local elections. 

Ramaphosa worked closely with South Africa’s first 

black president Nelson Mandela to end white minority 

rule in 1994. He replaced scandal-plagued Jacob Zuma 

as head of state in February 2018 after winning a bitter 

contest to become ANC leader and convincing top party 

officials to instruct Zuma to resign. 

Ramaphosa’s first full presidential term should start 

later this month, after nomination by his party’s 

parliamentary caucus and an inauguration ceremony. 

Iran facing ‘unprecedented’ 

pressure from Int’l sanctions, 

Rouhani says 

RAN is facing “unprecedented” pressure from 

Iinternational sanctions, President Hassan Rouhani 

has said. 

Renewed US sanctions had led to worse economic 

conditions than during the country’s 1980-88 war with 

neighbouring Iraq, Mr Rouhani said. 

His comments came amid rising tensions with the US, 

which last week deployed warships and warplanes to 

the Gulf. 

Mr. Rouhani, who has come under domestic political 

pressure, called for political unity to face down 

sanctions. 

“During the war we did not have a problem with our 

banks, oil sales or imports and exports, and there were 

only sanctions on arms purchases,” Mr. Rouhani told 

political activists in the capital, Tehran. 

“The pressures by enemies is a war unprecedented in 

the history of our Islamic revolution ... but I do not 

despair and have great hope for the future and believe 

that we can move past these difficult conditions provided 

that we are united,” he said. 

President Rouhani has personally come under pressure 

from hardliners in Iran after the US withdrawal from 

the nuclear deal his administration negotiated. 

Under the accord, Iran had agreed to limit its sensitive 

nuclear activities and allow in international inspectors 

in return for sanctions relief. 

US sanctions - particularly those on the energy, 

shipping and financial sectors - have hit oil exports and 

caused foreign investment to dry up.

34— Vanguard, MONDAY, MAY 13, 2019 

In defence of elite educational institutions 

By Ladipo Adamolekun 

Continued from Friday 

AN essential quick fix (pending the 

longer route of constitutional 

amendment) is the issuance of 

Guidelines on the Application of the 

Federal Character Constitutional 

Clause with respect to the public services 

in the form of an Executive Order. The 

Guidelines should include (a) 

affirmation of the primacy of the merit 

principle in recruitment into the federal 

public service (outside positions that are 

categorised as political appointments) 

and obligation of all recruiting and 

appointing bodies to be open and 

transparent in the application of federal 

character, including explicating whether 

states or geopolitical zones are used for 

determining quotas and (b) formal and 

unequivocal exemption of specific rare 

skills from the application of the 

principle (as is the case in India) – senior 

technical posts in research and 

development, specialties in medicine 

and engineering, areas of nuclear and 

space applications in aviation, and 

aspects of electronics. 

Finally, it is important to add that the 

strong case made here for the primacy 

of the merit principle in recruitment of 

staff to public services is also dependent, 

to a considerable extent, on the 

restoration of excellence and meritocracy 

in the education sector. This will be a 

desirable re-creation of the alignment 

that helped ensure good development 

performance in the country up to the 

1970s. 

C. Reinventing and Sustaining the 

Elite Status of Christ's School 

I am aware of the steadfast efforts of 

Christ’s School Alumni Association to 

reinvent the elite status of the School 

since the early 2000s. Chapter 12 of In 

Deed and In Truth (2013) “Reformation 

Agenda: Master Plan, Academic and 

Physical” provides an overview of the 

Report of “Project Christ’s School 

Renewal” Committee constituted in 2003. 

The update provided in the book is that 

the existing Report needed to be 

reviewed, including attention to how 

best to ensure sustainability. 

The incumbent National Executive of 

the Alumni Association has produced a 

new Report (with a detailed 25-year 

master plan) on the transfer of 

proprietorship of the School back to 

Anglican Communion, Ekiti (the original 

owners) to run it jointly with the Alumni 

Association, as a private boarding 

school. The Report was submitted to 

Ekiti State Government jointly by the 

Alumni Association and the Anglican 

Communion, Ekiti on June 17th 2017. 

Predictably, the emphasis in the Report 

is on excellence and meritocracy and 

admission into the School will be through 

competitive examinations open to 

candidates from across the country. This 

contrasts markedly with the School’s 

virtual localisation in recent decades with 

the derisive alternative name, “Agidimo 

High School”. 

I would like to suggest for 

consideration the introduction of a 

Degree Foundation Year Programme 

(DFYP) in the new Christ’s School. 

Concretely, the DFYP will be a one-year 

version of the Higher School Certificate 

(HSC) programme run successfully in 

the School for about two decades 

between 1960 and 1981. Students will 

be prepared for the General Certificate 

of Education (“A” Level) and qualified 

•Prof. Adamolekun 

to seek direct entry admission into 

universities (public and private), that is, 

at the 200-level of degree programmes. 

It is very likely that a well-run Degree 

Foundation Year Programme will both 

enhance the visibility of the new Christ’s 

School and contribute significantly 

towards assuring its sustainability. 

Conclusion 

I would like to conclude by 

highlighting three key messages. 

1. Elite educational institutions that are 

characterised by excellence and 

meritocracy at the higher education level 

contribute hugely to the prosperity of 

their respective societies. This explains 

why emphasis on excellence and 

meritocracy at the higher education level 

is world-wide. Today, the original elite 

higher education institution in the 

For elite educational 

institutions to impact 

positively on national 

development, 

recruitment into public 

services must be based on 

the primacy of the merit 

principle as is the case in 

well-performing 

economies across 

continents 

country barely merits that categorization 

when the country’s goal should be to have 

at least six universities that rank among 

the top 500 in the world by 2030. 

2. For elite educational institutions to 

impact positively on national 

development, recruitment into public 

services must be based on the primacy 

of the merit principle as is the case in 

well-performing economies across 

continents. I have argued that the 

subordination of the merit principle to a 

constitutional “federal character” 

principle interpreted as a crude quota 

system needs urgent radical 

amendment. And I suggest that a couple 

of interim corrective measures should be 

introduced through a presidential 

Executive Order. 

3. Although an emphasis on elite 

educational institutions at the secondary 

education level is not a world-wide 

phenomenon, Nigeria inherited the 

practice under colonial rule and 

maintained it for a few decades after 

independence. I wholeheartedly support 

the on-going efforts to re-invent Christ’s 

School as a private-owned elite boarding 

secondary school run co-jointly by the 

Anglican Communion, Ekiti and Christ’s 

School Alumni Association. 

•Prof. Ladipo Adamolekun writes 

from Iju, Akure North, Ondo State. 

NIGERIA NOTES (New Series) 

(Excerpts from a recent Public Lecture 

delivered at a Christ’s School, Ado-Ekiti 

Alumni Celebration) 

No phony statistics on outlandish 

report'll derail Akwa Ibom State 

By Charles Udoh 

ELECTIONS to a large extent have been 

won and lost but the drumbeats of political 

manipulations and propaganda are still 

echoing in the background. 

The recent barrage of questionable statistics 

released by some otherwise reputable national 

agencies including the National Bureau of Statistics 

(NBS) raise a lot of concerns about the 

professionalism and intentions of such agencies. 

It is more of grave concern that the Federal 

Ministry of Education is also quoted to have 

joined the foray by asserting incorrectly, that 

Akwa Ibom is one of the states with the highest 

number of out-of-school children. Before then, 

the report listing Akwa Ibom as the state with 

the highest prevalence rate of HIV/AIDS was 

not just hilarious but clearly depicted the skewed 

and malicious intent of the proponents of the 

orchestrated reports. From all indications, there 

are more of such scripted reports and phony 

statistics being brewed. 

We are inclined to believe that the latest deluge 

of negative reports about Akwa Ibom State 

is an orchestrated smear campaign aimed at 

putting clogs in the wheels of the state government’s 

glorious march towards transforming 

the state into a destination of choice. 

In one of such reports, Akwa Ibom was listed 

as one of the states with the highest unemployment 

rate of 37.7 per cent (1,357,754) in the 

third quarter of 2018. The same report contradicted 

itself by stating that between third quarter, 

2017 and third quarter of 2018, Akwa Ibom 

was one of only nine states to record a reduction 

in their unemployment rates despite an increase 

in the national unemployment rate. 

It is instructive to note that between 2015 and 

2019, the National Bureau of Statistics has, at 

various times, listed Akwa Ibom as the state with 

the highest volume of Foreign Direct Investment 

in Nigeria only behind the commercial capital 

of Nigeria. During the same period, Akwa Ibom 

has been one of a handful of states in Nigeria to 

offer its citizens and residents within school age, 

free and compulsory education at primary and 

secondary levels including an annual average 

of N600m expenditure on payment of WAEC 

fees for indigenes. 

Alleviating poverty, creating wealth 

and jobs 

In just 4 years, the state has attracted 16 industries 

across various sectors, with an impressive 

value chain that provides direct and indirect employment. 

These industries have elevated the socio-economic 

life of their host communities by 

alleviating poverty, creating wealth and jobs. 

Since the advent of the Udom Emmanuel-led 

government, Akwa Ibom has variously been adjudged 

by security agencies to be one of the safest 

states in Nigeria. This level of security was 

exemplified by the peaceful manner the 2019 

general elections were conducted in the state. 

The agricultural initiatives of the state government 

have seen a proliferation of farms and 

plantations in every nook and cranny of the 

state. If the basic laws of demand and supply 

are to be applied religiously, the quantum reduction 

in the prices of foodstuff in the state bears 

testament to the monumental successes the state 

government has recorded in agriculture and 

food sufficiency. In 2015, a cup of garri sold for 

a whooping N200, today for the same amount, 

you take home between 12 -14 cups of garri 

depending on where you are buying from. 

The spurious reports on unemployment that 

indicated over 1.3m people were unemployed 

in the state, clearly did not take into account the 

over 350 workers in the 11,000 hectares coconut 

plantation spanning the 3 local government 

areas of Mkpat Enin, Ikot Abasi and Eastern 

Obolo; the hundreds of workers in 2,100 hectares 

of cassava plantation in 15 LGAs and over 

1,200 hectares of rice farmlands in Ini and environs. 

The 48,000 rice farmers registered for CBN 

anchor borrowers scheme, 450 youths trained 

and engaged in cocoa maintenance were obviously 

not considered by the NBS as being in 

employment. 

Currently, there are more than 189 road 

construction sites in the state with an average of 

100 workers at each location. Additionally, there 

are over 300 rural development projects across 

the 31 LGAs and over 400 inter-ministerial rural 

intervention projects with an average of 10 

workers at each project site. There is also the 

“small matter” of the recruitment of over 5,000 

teachers into the education sector. 

Also worthy of mention is the fact that the job 

creation agenda of the Akwa Ibom State Government 

encapsulates youth empowerment and 

capacity building. So far, more than 30,000 

Since the advent of the Udom 

Emmanuel-led government, 

Akwa Ibom has variously been 

adjudged by security agencies 

to be one of the safest states in 

Nigeria 

•Gov Udom Emmanuel 

youths have been trained in various vocational 

and entrepreneurial skills while over 317, 000 

people have benefited from the state government 

funded interest free loan scheme for small 

scale entrepreneurs and traders. 

Given the scenario painted above, one wonders 

why the Akwa Ibom State APC had to import 

hundreds of youths as thugs from a midwestern 

state if the youths in Akwa Ibom were so 

jobless, unemployed and out-of-school as ridiculously 

alleged in the phony reports and statistics. 

Going by the outlandish reports being bandied 

around, there should have been a massive 

supply chain of jobless and out-of-school youths 

readily available in the state for that nefarious 

role. 

With reference to the alleged high number of 

out-of-school children (OOSC), It is pertinent to 

note that the OOSC data on Akwa Ibom State 

as purported by the Federal Ministry of Education 

is at variance with 2018 National Personnel 

Audit (NPA) on the state for children aged 6- 

11. The NPA, which was a physical headcount 

and not a cursory extrapolation, revealed that 

between 2016 and 2018, the state recorded a 

40% increase in pupil enrolment. The over 

400,000 increase was evidently due to the intensive 

and dedicated attention the state government 

has given to basic education in the last 4 

years. The same audit report also indicated that 

the total number of children in Akwa Ibom State 

public primary schools, is the third highest in 

the country and the highest in southern Nigeria. 

Despite these glaring and verifiable facts, the 

Federal Ministry of Education curiously listed 

Akwa Ibom as one of the states with the highest 

number of out-of-school children (OOSC). 

As part of its avowed commitment to the development 

needs of its people, the Government 

of Akwa Ibom State, in the last four years, has 

upped the ante in the healthcare sector. From 

the general hospitals in Etinan, Ikono, Ituk 

Mbang, Ikot Okoro to Iquita, Awa and Immanuel 

Hospitals, it has been stories of total transformation 

in the secondary healthcare sector. 

The state Government has not only renovated 

these hospitals but has equipped them with stateof-the 

art medical equipment. To date, over 25 

containers of equipment have been delivered. 

The ongoing medical records digitization of 

these hospitals has raised the bar in the secondary 

healthcare sector in Nigeria. 

From all indications, these remarkable landmark 

strides by the Akwa Ibom State Government 

have obviously been swept under the carpet 

by political antagonists whose only preoccupation 

is to mudsling and cast aspersions on 

efforts of the State Government. 

It is dumbfounding that at a time when our 

nation is in dire need of a reference point in 

people-oriented and sustainable development, 

the strides of the Akwa Ibom Government which 

supersede all expectations are still taking a bashing 

on the alter of political mind-games. 

Despite the recent shambolic statistics, outlandish 

reports and stone throwing antics aimed 

at distracting the Government of Akwa Ibom 

State, His Excellency the Governor, Mr. Udom 

Emmanuel, remains undaunted, undeterred and 

firmly focused on delivering maximum dividends 

of democracy to citizens, residents and 

visitors in fulfilment of his social contract with 

the electorates. The next four years promises an 

even brighter prospect for the state. 

*Charles Udoh is the Hon. Commissioner, 

Ministry of Information & Strategy, Akwa 

Ibom State.


The challenge of a new Nigerian railways 

By Yemi Ogunbiyi 

Continued from Friday 

THE second key factor of the project 

is the scope of its beauty and 

modernity. The sheer joy of watching, 

before our very eyes, Chinese and 

Nigerian engineers ploughing through 

thick and swampy equatorial forests, 

cutting down giant vegetation, and 

painstakingly laying state-of-the-art rail 

sleepers with skill and dexterity, and then 

proceeding to roll out air-conditioned 

passenger coaches in a record two year 

time was a sight to behold. 

The raw details of the project, quantities 

and all, testify to an engineering feat of 

considerable proportion. The entire project 

involved some 24.26million square metres 

of earth work. There are thirty-one 

different categories of bridges in all, made 

up of extra-long bridges, frame bridges 

and steel structure bridges. On its 156 

kilometre stretch, it has 207 culverts, 40 

other Railway-Crossing bridges and 31 

pedestrian overpasses, 708 32m-beams, 

168 groups of single drive turnout and 

one huge 110m tunnel underpass bridge 

at Abeokuta. Apart from the Apapa Habour 

Station, there are nine stations along the 

line: Lagos, Agege, Agbado, Kajola, 

Papalanto, Abeokuta, Olodo, Omu-Ado, 

Ibadan and Apapa Port stations. Although, 

its design capacity is for a 150km an hour 

speed, it could conveniently travel at 

120km an hour. So fully equipped are the 

trains that some of the Executive and VIP 

coaches come with conference rooms and 

modern counter bars. The specially 

manufactured refrigerated freight 

locomotives and livestock locomotives and 

wagons are as modern as any, anywhere. 

Details of the contract include the supply 

of adequate spare parts for the Rolling 

Stock and the supply of maintenance 

equipment for a substantial period of time. 

Knowledge transfer and the 

localising of the manufacturing 

process 

The contract details even go further. In 

order to ensure knowledge transfer and the 

localising of the manufacturing process, 

President Buhari, on the advice of Rotimi 

Amaechi, insisted on the immediate 

implementation of two other aspects of the 

contract from inception, namely, the takeoff 

of the training of young Nigerian 

undergraduates in Railway Engineering 

and other important Transport-related 

disciplines, in China, under a scholarship 

scheme to be paid for by the Chinese, and 

the establishment of a Transportation 

University in Nigeria. As the Lagos – Ibadan 

line rolls off its tracks in December, the first 

batch of young Nigerian graduates would 

be preparing to return home from China to 

gradually begin the task of taking over the 

eventual running and maintenance of the 

industry from the Chinese. And as part of 

its Corporate Social Responsibility, but 

essentially also in response to government’s 

aforementioned demands for local capacity 

building and adequate knowledge transfer, 

Messrs. CCECC Nigeria Ltd has 

established a Transportation University in 

Daura, Katsina State. Again, the first intakes 

into the University would resume later in 

2019. 

The economic benefits of these 

programmes, indeed, of railroad 

infrastructure are too numerous to be 

recounted here. As the example of India 

teaches us, economic miracles come with 

expansive rail-road infrastructure. 

Obviously, rails can carry larger volumes of 

goods, over greater distances, unhindered 

by traffic jams or even weather conditions, 

making it more economical than road and 

even water. In our own unique case in 

Nigeria, the savings to be made by radically 

reducing the carnage on our roads cannot 

be quantified in naira and kobo. It is also 

significant to note that the benefits of 

railroad access far outweigh the 

infrastructure costs. It is even far more 

significant to note that World Bank studies 

demonstrate that the arrival of rail roads 

in many developing nations causes real 

Gross Domestic Product (GDP), especially 

in the agricultural sector, to increase by 

about 20 per cent. Understandably, 20 per 

cent of all monies lent from the World Bank 

to developing nations is earmarked for 

transportation infrastructure projects, 

which is more than for Education, Health 

and Social Services put together. 

Therefore, money expended on the 

development of rail transportation in 

Nigeria is money well spent. 

But there is a consequential sub-text to 

the success so far, of the Buhari 

government’s attempt to radically revamp 

the rail subsector and that is the Rotimi 

Amaechi factor which manifests itself in 

two ways. There is, on the one hand, the 

palpable synergy at play between the local 

Nigerian Railway team, led by its 

Managing Director, Mr. Freeborn Okhiria, 

which is a welcomed departure from 

previous projects, where the local Railway’s 

staff were side-lined, often to the detriment 

of the project. On the other hand, there is 

the passion with which Amaechi has driven 

the project from inception. Relentlessly 

impelled, at all times, by a desire to make 

an impactful difference, Amaechi has 

directed and managed the affairs of the rail 

sub-sector in a practical, down-to-earth style 

that has become the hallmark of his 

exemplary public service. 

Never a man to drift with the tide, Rotimi 

Amaechi approaches public service with 

passionate convictions and a unique style 

and courage that are a counter to cheap 

populism. Under his watch, the Chinese 

contractors working on the Lagos – Ibadan 

project, agree that they have been driven 

to meet deadlines as never before in the 

execution of that contract. For instance, 

barely, months after the commencement of 

the project, Amaechi initiated monthly 

inspection tours of the project, with each 

inspection exercise ending with a Steering 

Committee meeting, held, not in the cozy 

confines of the Minister’s office in Abuja, 

but on the project’s site office at the Ibadan 

end of the rail track. At each of those 

sessions, thorough reviews of the project 

were undertaken, with specific references 

made to targets, timelines and scheduled 

outputs. During the six sessions where I 

was present, the issue of capacity building 

and the effective knowledge transfer 

recurred again and again. Firmly, but 

politely, the Minister put the same question 

at the Chinese contractors: “How many 

more Nigerians have you recruited since 

we last met?” “Are you making sure that 

our Engineers are being carried along?” 

“Are you sure those young Nigerians we 

saw at kilometre 81 site are qualified 

engineers and not artisans?” It was clear 

at these sessions that the Chinese were 

quite unfamiliar with such direct frontal 

engagements from a Nigerian Minister! 

They seemed usually rattled not only by 

•Transport Minister, Rotimi Amaechi inspecting one of the new coaches. 

Never a man to drift 

with the tide, Rotimi 

Amaechi approaches 

public service with 

passionate convictions 

and a unique style and 

courage that are a 

counter to cheap 

populism 

the Minister’s practical methods and 

approach to these matters, but also by his 

grasp of the fine details of the sub-sector!! 

Apparently, that method seemed to have 

yielded results, because, (again, by their 

own admission) the Chinese affirm that that 

approach practically pushed them to their 

limits and ensured that the rail line was 

completed within the two year schedule. 

Amaechi, as the Chinese were to learn, never 

stops pushing!!! 

Unfortunately, Rotimi Amaechi’s methods 

and relentless push for results sometimes 

presents the erroneous image of a man who 

is abrasive, arrogant or even pugnacious! 

But the truth is that Amaechi has always 

been a man of passionate forthrightness and 

deep convictions. When I first met him some 

thirty-five years ago, he was a young 

nineteen-year old at the University of Port 

Harcourt, where I had been invited by my 

friend, Dr. Chidi Amuta, to deliver a lecture 

to his undergraduate Literature class. 

Although, suffused as he was then in his 

half-baked leftist ideologies, he stood out, 

challenging, with almost combative 

forthrightness, some of the tennets of the 

literary canons I had thrown at the students!! 

It is an encounter that I have never 

forgotten!!! I recall that former Bayelsa 

Governor, Timipre Sylva was also in that 

class and reminded me of that lecture a few 

years ago. 

In a society where lethargy and 

obsequiousness have been elevated to 

virtues, being a non-conformist, with the 

courage and conviction to sometimes stand 

alone, could be equated with recklessness. 

In such situations, being brutally frank and 

passionately outspoken are viewed with 

suspicion. Professor Wole Soyinka captured 

this essence of Rotimi Amaechi’s being 

better than I could ever do. In his Foreword 

entitled “The Tyranny of Courage”, to a book 

on Rotimi Amaechi, Soyinka celebrates 

Amaechi’s courage to stand up, almost 

alone (at least, so it seemed at the time) to 

Jonathan’s corrupt-riddled administration, 

even as some castigated Amaechi for being 

a “reckless spoiler”. Writing about the 

‘courage of principled minority’, Soyinka 

•Yemi Ogunbiyi. 

affirms: “In a nation where the meaning of 

courage is the very act of daily survival, 

this is perhaps understandable. But it is 

necessary also to remind the thinking part 

of any electorate that there exist others in 

the ranks of leadership who refuse to 

pander to the lowest denomination of public 

expectations. They lay the foundation for 

a viable future, even at the risk of earning 

the hostility, even of a violent nature of 

others on their, or other rungs, of the shared 

ladder of power”. 

But back to Rotimi Amaechi and the 

Railways! In the end, the real legacy of 

the onfolding revolution in the rail sector 

might not merely be in the ability of the 

Buhari administration to actualise the 

revolution, but in laying a solid foundation 

that can sustain the achievements for all 

time. The future of the sector lies in its full 

privatisation. The very idea of a National 

Railways Corporation is archaic and 

outmoded. The place of the rail industry 

in the development of our economy is far 

too important to be left to the vagaries of 

politics. And one is not even sure that the 

proposed Nigerian Railways Authority Bill 

would go far enough. 

Emergence of regional railway 

networks 

As one of Nigeria’s renowned 

economists, Dr. Teriba, had argued in the 

past, the government must carve the 

country into zones, allow private firms to 

bid for the rights to build and operate 

railways under a new regulatory body. That 

would lead, hopefully, to the emergence 

of regional railway networks. Again, the 

Indian example is helpful here. The Indian 

railway networks, which is one of the most 

complex in the world, is managed at 

regional levels, with the complex divided 

into seventeen zonal railways that are semiautonomous. 

In Great Britain, where our 

current model came from, under its 1993 

Railways Act, the old integrated structure 

was broken up, paving the way for 

passenger trains to run under either open 

franchise or an open access basis. And 

although the Secretary of State for Transport 

still has overall responsibility for rail 

transportation within the United Kingdom, 

neither freight train operators, nor 

passenger train operators have any 

contracts with government. Even the 

Rolling Stock are owned by Leasing 

companies. 

There is work to do here and President 

Buhari needs to sustain the momentum of 

the past three years. But the Transport 

Minister and his team would also have to 

do a lot more. The ultimate objectives must 

be to modernise the entire rail sub-sector, 

no matter how long it takes. In the era of 

speed trains, we should be looking beyond 

the refurbishment of antiquated narrow 

gauge trains and the construction of slow 

moving Standard Gauge lines. And fast 

trains are already here with us. We should 

take full advantage of the latest rail 

transport technology and be driven by the 

same objectives that characterise the best 

prototypes of modern rail travel today: 

speed, comfort, safety and costeffectiveness. 

Dr. Yemi Ogunbiyi, who is a former 

Managing Director of the Daily Times, 

is now Chairman of TANUS Books Ltd.



Arts, culture contents of tourism 

– Runsewe 

•Seeks development of 

Nigerian tourism using 

Dubai model 

•Stakeholders offer ideas 

BY CHINASA AFIGBO 

The Director-General of National Council for Arts and Culture, 

NCAC, Otunba Olusegun Runsewe, recently hosted some 

stakeholders in the culture, arts and tourism sectors from different 

parts of the country in Abuja where they brainstormed on the 

theme: Rebranding culture and tourism in Africa: The Nigerian 

vision. The NCAC management team, tour operators, and travel 

agents were also present. 

A video of a trip by NCAC top management to Dubai led by the 

D-G was played. Dubai remains a model to any country when it 

comes to tourism. 

It begins from the Miracle Garden, a floral landscape of 250 

million plants and 50 million flowers with the tallest flower in 

the world. Then we see the Dolphinarium, a fascinating show of 

dancing dolphins; the Global Village, an architectural grandeur 

of each country’s aircraft, merchandise, cuisines and so on, the 

Old Dubai, and the Dubai Mall with 1,226 restaurants. 

Historically, Dubai was a sprawling desert city with an economy 

that relied heavily on fishing and pearl diving until the mid-20th 

Century when it struck oil in 1966. Oil changed everything for 

this sleepy town and eventually transformed it into gleaming highrise 

towers that Dubai has become today. The history of Dubai 

could be summed up as the popular maxim of nothing is 

impossible, from humble beginnings to one of the greatest places 

to be in the world. 

With tourism, Dubai Government has made everything easy for 

her citizens unlike Nigeria that has rich, nature-given cultural 

tourism but chose to neglect it. It is unfortunate that Nigeria has 

focused on oil, ignoring other sectors which suffer as a result of 

high profile corruption among political leaders. 

“Everywhere you go in the world,” said Otunba Runsewe in his 

opening remarks, “the tourism sector is doing very well. What is 

wrong with us? Today, we must find a solution to the problem in 

Nigeria. Programs like this begin with a vision of one man. And 

every one of us has a role to play in achieving this vision.” 

Having set the ball rolling, Otunba Runsewe called on other 

participants to ask questions or contribute to the discourse: 

Alhaji Rabo Saleh, President, Federation of Tourism Associations 

of Nigeria, FTAN: 

“Tourism cannot flourish where there’s insecurity. Those 

challenges are there but we cannot look at those challenges for 

now. All we need to do is focus on driving our country forward 

and making tourism one of the things that can turn our country 

around.” He commended what NCAC is doing, saying that a team 

needs to be created that will come up with ideas. He also said 

that Nigerian tourism needs a driver for it to flourish, and that a 

minister for culture and tourism needs to be appointed. 

Mr. Bankole Bernard, President of National Association of 

Nigeria Travel Agencies: 

He began his speech by supporting Rabo Saleh’s view on the 

need for a minister for culture and tourism which he believes is 

suited for Otunba Runsewe. He commended Otunba’s relentless 

services starting from when he was the D-G of Nigerian Tourism 

Development Corporation, NTDC, to his present position as D-G 


How Trophy Lager 

drove the African 

Drum Festival 

Pg 38 

Omamo Akpo: The 

pleasure of a life well 

lived in Francis 

Ewherido’s Life Lessons 

from Mudipapa 

Pg 39 

IAAAS harps on 

leadership 

development as 

panacea for Africa’s 

growth Pg 39


OSA MBONU-AMADI 

08070524223 

osaamadi@yahoo.com 

Arts, culture contents of tourism – Runsewe 

Continued from page 30 

of NCAC. “He is making more 

than an impact and pushing the 

frontiers.” Tourism, he said, is not 

an industry that should be 

neglected in any way. 

Bankole also said that tourism 

was wrongly tucked under the 

Ministry of Information because 

the Federal Government did not 

consider it to be important. It is 

time, he said, we took our position 

and write an open letter to the 

President, to let him know the 

importance of tourism in the 

economics of Nigeria, and that the 

ministerial position for tourism 

shouldn’t be given to anybody but 

a person who has been part and 

parcel of tourism. 

Akerri Prosper, representative of 

Oliver Enwonwu, President of 

Society of Nigeria Artists: 

Akerri said for a successful 

project to excel, it first starts from 

the vision of one man and then 

gets supported by so many other 

people. He went on to say that if a 

president of the country is not 

interested in tourism, there won’t 

be any development in tourism. 

He expressed his reservations 

about journalists’ reports of the 

daily crisis in the country, saying 

negative report kills and buries 

the country’s tourism because 

tourism develops from people 

outside, not within. 

Mr. Tarzan Ganiyu Balogun, 

CEO, Tarzan Boat & Jetty Services 

He appreciated Otunba 

Runsewe for his kind gesture in 

donating 500 live jackets to his 

company, then went on to stress 

the need for Otunba Runsewe to 

be appointed tourism minister. 

Hajia Bilikisu Abdul, President 

of Nigeria Association of Tour 

Operators, NATOP 

She asked: “How many of us 

have our country Nigeria at heart? 

When we tell good stories about 

our country, we promote our 

tourism,” she said, urging citizens 

to love their country. “To make it 

right in tourism, people need to 

have their country at heart and 

stop travelling for pleasure but as 

tourists. You don’t necessarily 

have to be a tour operator or be in 

government (to make a 

difference). The D-G travelled to 

Dubai and saw something 

interesting and nice that he 

couldn’t hold to himself. Now he 

is trying to sell it to us. I think if 

every one of us emulates him, I 

believe the government would 

look into this matter.” 

To the media, Hajia Bilikisu 

said: “This is the time to sell our 

country with good news.” 

John Likita Best 

He commended the D-G for 

always leaving a good mark, and 

urged him to do more. “Tourism 

is a huge alternative for financing 

the country. Showing us Dubai is 

not enough unless we can make a 

Dubai in Nigeria.” 

Onifiok O. Ekong 

Tourism needs law and order to 

move forward, he argued. “These 

are little things that matter 

because a visitor will not condone 

the disorderliness we condone in 

his country, especially in the 

transport sector.” He went on to 

say that the government is not 

making good use of our natural 

tourist attractions, such as Aso 

Rock, Zuma Rock and Gurara 

Falls. 

Alhaji Badaki Aliyu, former 

National President, Hospitality 

and Tourism Management 

Association of Nigeria, 

HATMAN: 

“ 

When the drum is beaten, it 

brings out a tone whether it 

is wanted or unwanted we leave 

it in the hands of the drummer. 

The Bata, Omele or Agbamole, the 

story being told is better defined 

through the steps of the dancer” 

– Olumide Akande 

The 

10,000-capacity 

Amphitheatre in Okelewo, 

Abeokuta, Ogun State, venue for 

the African Drum Festival is filled 

to capacity and those in the 

overflow jostle to have a glimpse 

of the action taking place on the 

stage. The stage is glamorous, lit 

up magnificently and has three 

other mini platforms from which 

the drummers can perform. The 

stage also has two large screens 

from which the audience receive 

additional information on the 

performers introduced by the 

masters of ceremony who were 

smartly dressed in white and ash 

native attires. 

As the audience waits patiently 

for the event to kick off, one could 

tell that many have been through 

this exciting experience before 

from the way they comported 

themselves. 

The African Drum Festival is an 

initiative of the Government of 

Ogun State and has been 

celebrated since the year 2016 

when it first held in the state. 

Originally dubbed as the 

Nigerian Drum Festival, it has 

quickly metamorphosed to 

African Drums Festival because of 

the reception and participation it 

received from other African 

countries like Benin Republic, 

Ivory Coast, Uganda, DR Congo 

and a host of others. 

This year’s theme is Drumming 

the Future and it is premised on 

looking at the potential socioeconomic 

contribution of 

Drumming to the future of Africa. 

Senator Ibikunle Amosun, 

Governor of Ogun State and the 

convener of the festival says that 

for development to be meaningful, 

the potentialities of culture to spur 

social and economic 

emancipation and empowerment 

of the people must be 

emphasized. 

The festival celebration 

received sponsorships in different 

forms from corporate bodies and 

one of such is the sponsorship 

•Otunba Runsewe and other stakeholders 

He encouraged the private 

sector to come together and 

support the vision of improving 

•9ice performing at the African Drum Festival 

from International Breweries via 

one of its brand, Trophy. Trophy 

Lager is popularly referred to as 

the pride of the South-West and 

widely accepted as the 

Honourable beer that is deeply 

rooted in the region’s sociocultural 

values which explains its 

sponsorship of the event. 

Legal and Corporate Affairs 

Director, International Breweries, 

Otunba Michael Daramola 

tourism in Nigeria. “It is the duty 

of tour operators and tour 

agencies to put pressure on 

How Trophy Lager drove the African Drum Festival 

remarked that “The African Drum 

Festival is a cultural showpiece 

which demonstrates our 

uniqueness, attributes, our rich 

culture and tradition of the black 

people. Trophy is a beer that is 

closely linked with culture and a 

brand that believes in celebrating 

life and always rising to the 

occasion to make connections and 

bring people together.” We are so 

honoured to be part of this 

government to see the importance 

of tourism,” he said. 

Andrew Okungbowa, President, 

Association of Nigerian 

Journalists and Writers of 

Tourism, ANJET: 

He said: “Creative content 

drives tourism. With the absence 

of content, we have nothing to 

entice people with.” Andrew 

talked about the manner 

government reacts to crisis and 

killings in the country, including 

travel operators. “In our industry, 

tourists have been kidnapped, and 

three weeks after, government 

didn’t make any pronouncement. 

It was some of us that had to force 

the government to make a 

pronouncement.” 

Otunba Runsewe concluded by 

thanking everyone for their 

presence and thoughtful 

contributions. “There is no 

country that doesn’t have its own 

Boko Haram or its own slum. The 

only strategy of selling any 

country in the world is through the 

SWOT analysis and focus on 

building these tourist facilities in 

three or four states. 

international epoch-making 

event,” he added. 

It is now 7p.m. and the 

drumming performances are 

about to start, but not without the 

recital of the National Anthem 

first. The Egbedere Band 

comprising young boys and girls 

with an average age of 12 set the 

ball rolling at the concert. They 

are smartly dressed for the 

occasion and they did not 

disappoint the audience. They got 

down to their drums and 

xylophone from which they gave 

scintillating sounds which drew 

intermittent applause from the 

crowd. The highpoint of their 

performance was the rendition of 

a cover of Teni the Entertainer’s 

hit song Case. While the band 

played, the song’s chorus 

reverberated from the audience 

as they sang “My papa no be 

Dangote or Adeleke but we go dey 

okay yeah”. 

The performance of Moyo Black 

Troupe of Ivory Coast was 

exceptional. The beats they 

produced were so good that the 

crowd sang songs that rhymed 

with the beats. Showing the crowd 

their superb knowledge of 

Nigerian music, they played 

Abami Eda’s evergreen song 

Lady. They achieved this feat by 

combining the beats of drums 

with the amazing sound of a 

Saxophone. The audience 

appreciated their efforts by 

singing along the refrain “She go 

say I be lady oh”. 

The Anambra State Troupe 

came prepared for the event as 

they got dignitaries who graced 

the event dancing. Notably, Sally 

Mbanefo, a former Director- 

General of Nigeria Tourism 

Development Corporation danced 

with so much zeal that she got 

ovation coming her way from the 

audience. With the help of two 

dancers and local flute players, 

their performance left many in 

awe. 

As part of its sponsorship, 

Trophy organised a music concert 

which was headlined by two 

music greats, Pasuma and 9ice 

whose genres resonate with the 

culture of the Ogun people. They 

performed to resounding 

applause of acceptance and joy for 

the opportunity to watch both 

artistes perform.


OSA MBONU-AMADI 

08070524223 

osaamadi@yahoo.com 

Omamo Akpo: : The pleasure of a life well lived 

in Francis Ewherido’s Life Lessons from 

Mudipapa 

By Sunny Awhefeada 

Sometime in the late 1980s, 

Kole Omotoso, university 

teacher, writer and 

newspaper columnist, published 

Just Before Dawn, a lengthy book 

which re-frames the Nigerian 

narrative by subjecting it to 

imaginative distillation to the 

extent that the line between 

history (which thrives on fact) and 

fiction (which is sustained by 

imagination) became blurred. The 

initial response to that book was 

the question of whether it was 

history or fiction. However, 

literary aficionados went to work 

and located Omotoso’s book in the 

hybrid genre called faction which 

is essentially a blend of fact and 

fiction. Other writers intentionally 

or unintentionally have had to 

follow Omotoso’s example. 

Francis Ewherido’s Life Lessons 

from Mudipapa poses the same 

challenge as Omotoso’s book. 

Although, it is weaned off 

historical details, the book is 

replete with real life events, 

characters, dates and places to the 

extent that its appropriation of 

facts is not in doubt. Yet, the book 

is also sustained by imagination 

and anticipatory happenings 

which raise the question of 

classification as to whether it is 

fiction or biography or diary? This 

then is the discursive puzzle that 

readers and literary 

commentators will have to 

contend with as the book gets 

circulated. 

Ewherido’s Life Lessons from 

Mudipapa can be read as a 

biographical fiction, a marriage 

cum parenting guide and above 

all as an inspirational book 

providing nuggets for a life well 

lived which is omamo akpo in 

Urhobo. Among the Urhobo, from 

whom the author hails, life is akpo 

and the world is also akpo. 

Therefore, life and the world in 

Urhobo not only intersect, but 

they are inseparable. How a 

person lives in the world is central 

to Urhobo metaphysics and 

ontology. And this is virtually the 

same the world over. However, the 

density and depth of value 

attached to life and the world vary 

from place to place. 

The story’s protagonist is Chief 

Julius Ferdinand Mudiaga Orien, 

PhD, a retired Accounts Director 

of a multinational company. 

Married to EseOghene (with 

whom he has five children; Tejiri, 

Emesiri, Mado, Edirin and Omo), 

he is also a proud grandfather and 

the nickname, Mudipapa, through 

which he is identified in the 

narrative was coined from 

Mudiaga and Papa by his 

grandchild, Temi. The story 

details Mudipapa’s early conflicts 

regarding the choice of vocation 

and life partner. After courtship 

misadventures he, through his 

elder brother Akpos, meets 

EseOghene with whom he settles 

down in matrimony. What follows 

is matrimonial tension 

manifested in the engagement of 

a nanny or house-help, the 

number of children to be born and 

the attendant rigour and strain of 

bringing up children by working 

class parents in an urban setting 

like Lagos. These put a strain on 

the evolving family of Mudipapa 

and EseOghene. 

However, the family is able to 

overcome such challenges 

through 

dialogue, 

complementarities, collaboration, 

careful planning and prudent 

deployment of resources. 

Mudipapa’s changing his job, 

setting out on his own, and the 

establishment of St. Michael’s 

Crèche – which blossoms into 

O’rien International Schools – 

reflect deliberate planning, focus 

and the agenda-setting motions 

of a purpose-driven family. The 

education of the children, the 

problem of juvenile delinquency, 

indiscretion among the children 

and the choice of future life 

partners are to preoccupy 

Mudipapa and EseOghene and 

test their parenting skills. The 

reader encounters Mudipapa in 

many rewarding and insightful 

counseling sessions with his 

children, prospective in-laws, and 

even friends; on how life, 

especially marriage, should be 

lived. Mudipapa’s success can be 

hinged on two factors, namely; 

deliberate planning and his 

commitment to cultivating an 

intimate relationship with God. 

Both factors reflect in his 

character, his choices, his union 

with his wife, his work ethics and 

reliance on the timely 

intervention of The Creator when 

it is sought. Both factors also 

reflect in the naming of his 

children; Oghenetejiri (God is 

worthy to be worshipped), 

Emesiri (Good children), 

Oghenemado (God is the 

greatest), Edirinverere (Patience 

has rewards), and Omoghene 

(Child of God). 

One after the other, Mudipapa 

and EseOghene watch their 

children grow, go to school and 

marry. The first is that of Tejiri 

getting married to Tosan, a 

marriage which foregrounds 

ethnic harmony between the 

Urhobo and the Itsekiri. The 

marriage ceremonies are not only 

elaborate and splendorous, but 

they are also meant to project the 

traditional significance of 

matrimony. The nuptials of 

Mudipapa’s children also show 

signs of conflicts, but his subtle 

interventions as an experienced 

husband and marriage counselor 

help to stir the young families in 

the right course. He teaches them 

to focus on understanding marital 

differences and the meaning of 

marriage. 

The story climaxes in a 

comfortable retirement for 

Mudipapa and EseOghene with 

huge investments in real estate, 

education and stocks in addition 

to heavy retirement and 

PENCOM accounts. Life has 

become blissful. Their five 

children are also well heeled with 

stable families. He takes up a part 

time teaching appointment with 

a university since, like his father, 

he has a flair for teaching and has 

also obtained a doctorate. Even at 

that age, he sets a new target of 

becoming a professor. He is also 

devoting part of his earnings to 

the service of God and humanity. 

He is a fulfilled man, but as he 

looks back and takes stock of his 

life’s sojourn, he spots a weakness 

which springs from his inability 

to ground his children in Urhobo 

lore and culture. But he consoles 

himself philosophically, “I guess 

you can’t have it all or win on all 

fronts. You simply win some and 

you lose some.” 

Life Lesson from Mudipapa 

makes a good read as it benefits 

from the author’s formal training 

in Mass Communication and his 

practice as a newspaper 

columnist. The language is 

simple, lucid and uncluttered; the 

hallmark of a master storyteller. 

The book’s narrative style, which 

is the third person omniscient 

narrative, gives the reader a broad 

view of Mudipapa’s life from 

childhood to the present. There is 

a strong didactic, even moralistic, 

bent to the book. The influence of 

the Bible, the Catholic Church and 

her teachings confront the reader 

on every page. This conforms to 

the moralistic ideal of literature 

which is to refine the moral tone 

of society. Periodic authorial 

intrusions, which the author calls 

“nuggets,” help to reinforce the 

didactic import of the narrative in 

a way similar to an experienced 

teacher’s handling of classroom 

lessons. The element of epiphany 

which manifests in his choice of 

EseOghene as wife is also 

religious. Yet, the book also has 

many humorous episodes that 

make the reader laugh. 

The book uses dialogue to give 

life, spontaneity and sense of 

immediacy to the events narrated. 

To give credence to the narrative, 

the author mentions real names, 

places as well as incidents and 

inspirational books and their 

authors. This factor will endear 

the book to readers as a reliable 

guide in life’s journey. 

The author’s life also intersects 

with characters, places and 

incidents in the book. The names 

Ukani and Akpos, places like 

Ughelli, Ewu, Ozoro, Osubi, 

Effurun-Otor, Urhobo College, 

University of Nigeria, Nsukka, 

are part of the author’s life’s 

reality which impinge on the 

narrative. The many scenes on 

marriage and youth counseling 

reflect the author’s engagement 

as a family interest newspaper 

columnist and marriage counselor 

in the church. Mudipapa’s niche 

for planning, investment and 

target setting are positive effects 

of the author as an insurance 

broker. The book is enriched by a 

deliberate and unmistakable 

Urhobo flavor evidenced in 

Urhobo names, expressions and 

ethno-philosophy. 

In spite of its artistic and 

functional merits, the book has a 

weakness; which is that life is “too 

sweet” for Mudipapa as he is not 

depicted to have grappled with 

any serious or tragic existential 

crisis to enable the reader see how 

he would have responded. 

Francis Ewherido has come in 

as “writer as counselor”. Life 

Lessons from Mudipapa, 

published by Laddertop 

Publishers and made up of 31 

chapters running into 256 pages, 

will be useful in a multiplicity of 

domains; sociology, psychology, 

literature, marriage counseling, 

church, education, parenting, 

mentoring, and more. The book 

will be very useful in a society 

grappling with social crises 

occasioned by a fast paced 

modernity and socio-economic 

anemia. The book will help to 

consolidate the ideals of marriage 

and family values. The end result 

will be a stable social order for the 

society is made up of families and 

if every family is stable then 

society will be stable. I 

recommend it to everybody; the 

young and the old, not just as Life 

Lessons from Mudipapa, but as a 

guide in the journey of life. 

(Sunny Awhefeada is a Professor 

of Literature and Dean, Faculty of 

Arts, Delta State University, 

Abraka) 

*Participants at the Career Advancement & Leadership seminar 

organised by the International Association of African Authors & 

Scholars, IAAAS held in Port Harcourt, Nigeria. 

IAAAS harps on leadership development 

as panacea for Africa’s growth 

The Executive Director of the 

United States-based 

International Association of 

African Authors and Scholars, 

IAAAS, Mr. Chinedum Igwe, has 

said the socio-economic growth 

and development of the African 

continent lies in the effective 

training of leaders who will take 

up the mantle of leadership that 

will catapult the continent to the 

next level of development and 

nation building. 

Mr. Igwe made this assertion at 

the maiden edition of IAAAS 

Career Advancement and 

Leadership Skills Seminar held 

in Port Harcourt, River state, 

Nigeria. The Nigerian-born, USbased 

trained author and career/ 

leadership expert said for Africa 

to get it right, new crop of leaders 

who will be selfless, committed 

and dedicated to the development 

of various countries in Africa need 

to be trained and given the right 

leadership perspective and 

mentoring that will impact their 

mindset positively. 

He emphasized that the 

training was in partnership with 

two universities in the USA 

(Beulah Heights University and 

University of West Georgia), two 

great institutions who are ready 

to accept African students 

By Elizabeth Uwandu 

In line with President Buhari’s 

cardinal agenda of ‘ease of 

doing business’,The National 

Library of Nigeria, NLN has 

launched an app that will enable 

publishers who apply for the 

International Standard Book 

Number and International 

Standard Serial Number to get 

the number within 48 hours, even 

as they have commenced this 

year’s national readership 

promotion campaign to promote 

reading culture. 

The Chief Librarian/CEO of 

National Library of Nigeria, Prof. 

Lenrie Aina, who disclosed this 

during a press conference in 

Lagos, stated that the application 

was developed by staff of the 

National Library of Nigeria to 

make it easier for book publishers, 

authors and other interested 

persons or organisations to apply 

for, and obtain international 

standard numbers(ISSN & ISBN) 

for their publications within 24 

hours, regardless of time and 

location, without necessarily 

visiting any of their offices. 

According to Aina, the Act 

establishing the National library 

stipulates that all publications 

emanating from Nigeria should 

comply with international 

standard through the issuance of 

ISBN for books and ISSN for 

journals, newspapers and 

magazines. “Before, if you apply 

for ISSN or ISBN, it involves a 

desirous to pursue postgraduate 

programmes designed to 

enhance leadership training that 

will impact on organizational 

growth and nation-building in 

Africa. 

Also speaking at the seminar, 

Franklin Obiagwu, a member of 

IAAAS and motivational speaker 

said the issue of lack of good 

leadership has been the bane of 

the African continent. In his 

presentation, he itemized several 

factors responsible for poor 

leadership in the African 

continent. Amongst the factors he 

identified were the issues of 

excessive greed and endemic 

corruption which have 

contributed immensely in 

stunting the growth of the 

continent. For the upcoming 

leaders, Franklin Obiagwu said 

such leaders must be ready to 

shun corruption and greed, 

adding that they should embrace 

the virtue of selfless service and 

a genuine desire to serve their 

organization, community and 

their countries. 

Aside from organizing seminars 

and training, IAAAS programmes 

in Africa also include promoting 

African authors, book reading and 

library services. 

National library develops ISBN, ISSN apps 

•Commences campaign to promote reading culture 

process; you come either to the 

headquarters in Abuja or to any 

of our branches. We have 27 

branches in Nigeria and it takes 

a minimum of 10 to 30 days before 

you can get the number. But with 

this application, all you have to do 

is go to our website, stay in your 

offices and you will get the ISSN/ 

ISBN within 48 hours.” 

Aina also announced that the 

National Library of Nigeria has 

commenced this year’s national 

readership promotion campaign 

with the theme: Reviving 

Moribund Culture of Reading in 

Nigeria for Sustainable National 

Development. The campaign 

which has already commenced in 

Anambra and Cross River states, 

will go around all the 36 states of 

the federation and Federal 

Capital Territory. The campaign 

will feature reading competitions 

among secondary and primary 

schools; book parties in motor 

parks; advocacy visit to maternity 

homes to encourage nursing 

mothers to introduce reading to 

their children at early age and 

NLN/NYSC reading forums, a 

collaboration that will extend the 

campaign to all the local 

governments through the corps 

members. Aina who pointed out 

the need for more people to 

cultivate the act of reading said 

prizes such as books, shelves, 

computers and reading tablets 

will be given out to studentparticipants 

across locations.


YOUR LUCK TODAY 

By Joshua Adeyemo Phone 08056180139 

PISCES; Those of you who are more firmed are in for a 

rewarding day. In whatever you do today it is important 

you don’t forget both immediate and far future. 

ARIES; You will have more to gain keeping both your 

personal and financial secrets. Take good advantage of 

your sex appeal to enhance your love life positively. 

TAURUS; You are becoming more determined to the 

betterment of your cause. However this is not the right 

time to re-arrange (and/or) re-plan your finances. 

GEMINI; Giving priority attention to either day-today 

working activities or long term career related issue 

is not bad at all but you must be as practical as possible. 

CANCER; It will be wrong to drop ambitious plans 

along your career line because of minor disappointment. 

Take your good friends more seriously. 

LEO; Time is fast approaching for an important actions 

concerning your career and/or business lines. Don’t 

allow friends to mislead you. Be very practical. 

L E I S U R E 

TAKE HEART — ELLA RANDLE 

Surround yourself with people that reflects 

who you want to be and how you want to feel. 

Energy is contagious.”- Take Heart Quotes- 

Being rejected, let down, or betrayed can trigger feelings 

of sadness, anxiety, or anger. It’s important to 

acknowledge these feelings and stay away from situations 

which triggers such happenings. Ella Randle 

TERROR MUDA in “Never say goodbye” 

SAYINGS OF 

OUR PEOPLE 

One thread for 

the needle, 

one love for 

the heart. ~ 

Sudanese 

proverb 

By Kola Fayemi 

VIRGO; It is good to express yourself gracefully , but it 

is equally good to watch what you tell others so that you 

don’t promise what you can not deliver. 

LIBRA; The best for you today is to give priority attention 

to practical way to improve on your working pattern 

and encourage better understanding at work. 

SCORPIO; It is nice to rely on yourself but nobody can 

be an Island on his own; meaning that you will need to 

be as co-operative as necessary to be successful today. 

SAGITTARIUS; Good advice from the veterans within 

your base of operation will go long way to get things 

done the proper way to the betterment of your cause. 

CAPRICORN; If you take good advice from your tried 

and trusted friends you will not have cause to regret but 

if you become reckless it would back-fire. Be loving. 

AQUARIUS; Either you like it or not, domestic related 

issues will become prominent on your mind. Career and 

financial affairs can bring you unexpected success today. 

ASTROLOGICAL COUNSELLING 

ASTROLOGICAL COUNSELLING 

Send your date and place of birth to the Astr 

trological 

Counselling, P.M.B 100 

007, Apapa, Lagos 

Was I born on a Tuesday? 

Dear Joshua, 

I want you to tell me the day of the week I was born, how the 

planets lined up when I was born and what both immediate 

and far future have for me. 

Friday, Mina. 

DUDU in “ROLLING HOT” By A.O. OLAIDE 

Dear Friday, 

You were born on a Monday as indicated by your horoscope 

data as given here under. I hope you will take what you will 

find seriously and utilise them. 

THEHOROSCOPE DATA 

DAY OF BIRTH=MONDAY 

SUN SIGN = CANCER ;SUN IN 6TH DEGREE OF CAN- 

CER. 

MOON SIGN = ARIES ;MOON IN 24TH DEGREE OF 

ARIES 

STELLIUM SIGN = LEO 

MERCURY IN 1ST DEGREE OF LEO* 

VENUS IN 22ND DEGREE OF LEO* 

MARS IN 17TH DEGREE OF LEO* 

JUPITER IN 22ND DEGREE OF SCORPIO 

SATURN IN 3RD DEGREE OF CAPRICORN 

URANUS IN 14TH DEGREE OF LEO* 

NEPTUNE IN 4TH DEGREE OF SCORPIO 

PLUTO IN 2ND DEGREE OF VIRGO 

NORTH NODE IN 8TH DEGREE OF LIBRA 

SOUTH NODE IN 8TH DEGREE OF ARIES 

NUMBERS OF PLANET HOSTED BY GROUP OF STAR 

SIGNS (ACCORDING TO QUALITY & ELEMENT) ARE; 

CARDINAL = 3 FIXED =6 MUTABLE = I 

FIRE = 5 EARTH = 2 AIR = NONE WATER = 3 

PUSHFUL INFLUENCE = 50% 

NON-PUSHFUL INFLUENCE = 50% 

FINAL DISPOSITOR (PLANET AT HOME)= AMBITIOUS 

SATURN 

THE FUTURE TRENDS 

For the past few years you have entered an endless cycle of 

material success. And your 44thyear on earth is meant to be 

a powerful turning point with major emphasis placed on 

MONEY and LOVE. Talking of money, it will come through 

your work . However the great challenge here is how to hold 

on to your profits as there are indications of you expending 

too much of your funds on either women or woman. 

It is not clear if it is on business or your normal responsibilities. 

But mind you if it is on business you will need to tarry a 

while because such may not yield the desired result. Actually 

if you go into joint venture with a woman during your 44th& 

45thyears on earth you are more than likely to be cheated; to 

be fore warned is to be fore armed. 

Romantic aspect of it is if you don’t want another wife you 

will need to be very careful; as romantic escapade can result 

to avoidable trouble and/or sorrow (God forbid). Please take 

me very seriously here, Please! Please!! Please!!! 

VIRGINIA 

HOME & ABROAD 

dadadekola@yahoo.com 

By Lawrence Akapa


NSITF: Kokori, 

Labour tackle 


Continues from Page 5 

appointed. If they are 

afraid of Kokori’s 

integrity, they should 

come out clean. 

‘’In fact, I am aware 

that Ngige met Kokori 

over four times on the 

issues of inauguration. 

In July last year, a 

committee was actually 

set up to inaugurate the 

board. It was at that 

point that Ngige wrote 

a memo to the President 

that with Kokori as the 

chairman, labour would 

have three persons on 

the board, which they 

are not comfortable to 

with. 

‘’Ngige actually sent 

the name of Kokori to 

the DSS for screening 

ahead of the 

inauguration. But if you 

said because Kokori is 

a man of integrity, and 

cannot be bent, it is 

alright. We thought that 

a government that is 

fighting corruption 

should have Kokori on 

board. 

‘’It is not also correct 

that the fund is 100 per 

cent government. It is 

false because employers 

contribute to the fund 

for the social security of 

workers. That is why it 

is a tripartite 

institution.’’ 

On why the NLC 

nominated Chief 

Kokori, Wabba said: 

“No, we never 

nominated Kokori. Let 

me tell you, I have 

repeated this severally, 

our two nominees were 

the Treasurer and the 

Trustee. 

‘’Kokori was 

nominated on his 

personal merit to the 

Presidential Committee 

headed by the Vice 

President, that 

nominated people into 

over 500 boards. 

“Through that process, 

Ngige was appointed 

as Chairman of NDE. It 

was the same Ngige 

that told us that Kokori 

has been appointed into 

the board of the Nigeria 

Social Insurance Trust 

Fund. 

‘’He is not our 

nominee but we 

thought that having 

nominated him from the 

rank and file of labour, 

we should also find out 

why they want to delay 

the inauguration of the 

Board. 

“All the other 500 

boards have been 

inaugurated. All of the 

appointments were 

done the same time. In 

fact, the three executive 

directors and managing 

director were appointed 

through the same 

process. 

“We have said it 

several times that we 

were not even aware that 

he was appointed but 

having appointed him, 

they can’t treat him 

shabbily because he is 

from labour.” 

From The 


Meanwhile, the 

Presidency issued what 

it described as 

clarification on the issue 

yesterday, saying Mr. 

Austin Enejamo-Isire 

was the person actually 

appointed to head the 

NSITF Board. 

In a statement by the 

Special Adviser to the 

President on Media and 

Publicity, Chief Femi 

Adesina, the Presidency 

stated that all actions 

taken by the Minister in 

resuscitation of the fund 

as well as the 

administrative probe 

panel had President 

Buhari’s approval. 

The statement, entitled 

“Facts of the matter, by 

Presidency”, read: 

“Following the 

disagreement between 

the Federal Ministry of 

Labour 

and 

Employment and the 

leadership of the 

Nigerian Labour 

Congress, NLC, over 

the appointment of 

chairman of the board of 

the Nigeria Social 

Insurance Trust Fund 

(NSITF), the Presidency 

wishes to clarify as 

follows: “That the NSITF 

is a hundred per cent, 

Federal Government of 

Nigeria owned 

insurance parastatal, 

under the supervision of 

the Federal Ministry of 


and 

Employment, designed 

for the role of insuring 

workers (employees) in 

the public and private 

sectors. 

‘’The organization is 

empowered by law to 

implement the 

Synod —From right: Delta State Governor, Senator Ifeanyi Okowa; Lord Bishop of Asaba Diocese, 

Rt. Revd. Justus Mogekwu and Bishop, Diocese of Dutse Synod and Guest Preacher, Rt Revd Markus 

Danbinta, during the Diocese of Asaba (Anglican Communion) Ecclesiastical Province of Bende, first 

session of the 15th Synod, at St Paul's Anglican Church, Ubulu-Okiti, Delta State, yesterday. 

E m p l o y e e 

Compensation Act 

(ECA) 2010 with 

mandate to insure 

workers and pay them 

compensation for 

accidents, deaths and 

injuries in the course of 

work. 

“The NSITF was 

bedeviled and riddled 

with corruption 

between 2012 and 

2015, which resulted in 

a colossal loss and 

mismanagement of 

about N48 billion out of 

the total N62 billion 

contributions during 

the said period. These 

were contributions by 

the Employers – viz 

government and the 

private sector for 

payment 

of 

compensation to 

workers and even to 

Employers for loss of 

man-hours by their 

workers. 

“This fraud has been 

investigated by the 

Economic and 

Financial Crimes 

Commission, EFCC, 

and the last chairman 

and some members of 

the former board and 

some officials of the 

NSITF are currently 

being prosecuted by the 

EFCC. 

“All actions taken by 

the Minister of Labour 

and Employment 

towards the 

resuscitation and 

repositioning of this 

ailing agency, 

including the 

Administrative Panel of 

Inquiry into the affairs 

of NSITF and the 

suspension of the 

inauguration of the 

board in 2018 were part 

of the special work plan 

approved for the 

Minister by Mr. 

President. 

“The appointment of 

the Chairman of this 

board, which is in 

consonance with Sec. 

4(a) of the NSITF Act 

CAP N88 of 2004, was 

also approved by Mr. 

President since 23rd 

July, 2018 on the 


Minister. 

‘’Mr. Austin Enejamo- 

Isire, a Chartered 

Accountant, Fellow, 

Institute of Chartered 

Accountants of Nigeria 

(ICAN) and renowned 

Insurance expert, 

Senior Member, 

Chartered Institute of 

Insurance of Nigeria 

(CIIN), Chartered 

Institute of Bankers of 

Nigeria (CIBN) and 

Chartered Institute of 

Taxation of Nigeria 

(CITN) was approved 

by Mr. President for 

this position. 

“Also approved by Mr. 

President were the 

Managing Director and 

three Executive 

Directors who had 

assumed duties since 

April 18, 2017. 

“Others also 

approved as Non- 

Executive Directors are 

two members to 

represent the Nigerian 

Labour Congress, NLC, 

two members to 

represent the Nigerian 

E m p l o y e r s ’ 

Consultative 

Association, NECA, 

and one member each 

to represent the Central 

Bank of Nigeria and the 

Federal Ministry of 


and 

Employment. Members 

of this board are to be 

formally inaugurated at 

9 a.m. on Monday May 

13, 2019 (today) by the 

Minister of Labour and 

Employment at the 

Banquet Hall of the 

Presidential Villa, Aso 

Rock, Abuja. 

“Comrade Frank 

Kokori, our respected 

veteran labour leader, 

has Mr. President’s 

immense respect and 

has also been appointed 

on 

the 



Employment to chair 

the board of Michael 

Imoudu National 

Institute for Labour 

Studies (MINILS), a 

diploma awarding 

labour institution. 

“Finally, the 

Presidency has noted 

with deep concern and 

regrets, the events that 

culminated in a 

skirmish at the private 

residence of the 


Employment, and 

condemns it, in its 

entirety. 

“However, in the 

spirit of reconciliation, 

the Presidency appeals 

for calm from the NLC 

and the Ministry of 


and 

Employment officials, 

as there are ongoing 

efforts to reconcile the 

NLC leadership with 

the Ministry of Labour 

and Employment, led 

by their Minister who 

has doggedly been 

fighting the cause of 

Nigerian workers 

whenever their issue is 

discussed by 

government, the latest 

being the enactment of 

the new National 

Minimum Wage Act 

2019. “ 

NUPENG slams 

Presidency over 

Kokori 

Also, reacting, 

President of Nigeria 

Union of Petroleum and 

Natural Gas Workers, 

NUPENG, Prince 

Williams Akporeha, said 

the claim by the 

Presidency that Kokori 

was never appointed 

was a lie from the pit of 

hell, alleging that it was 

orchestrated by Ngige to 

achieve 

a 

predetermined agenda. 

He said: ‘’The claims 

by the Presidency that 

Kokori was never 

appointed are lies from 

the pit of hell. It is part 

of the conspiracy by the 

cabal that does not want 

Kokori because of what 

he stands for - integrity, 

honesty, transparency 

and straightforwardness. 

‘’Can Ngige swear 

that he never 

congratulated Kokori 

over his appointment? 

Can Ngige swear that he 

never met with Kokori 

for about four times on 

the issue of his 

inauguration? Can 

Ngige swear that he 

never sent Kokori’s 

name to DSS for 

screening ahead of the 

inauguration? 

‘’Look, the statement 

by the Presidency that 

Kokori was never 

appointed was 

orchestrated by Ngige 

for his personal 

aggrandizement.”

42 — Vanguard, MONDAY MAY 13, 2019 

DIRECT LGAs FUNDING: 

FG replacing one evil 

with another evil 

– Attah 

•Says fire brigade approach 

won't work 

By Omeiza Ajayi 

The President Muhammadu Buhari 

administration, last week, announced plans to begin 

direct allocation to local governments from June 1 to stop 

state governors from hijacking those funds through their 

Joint Account Allocation Committees. In this interview, elder 

statesman and former Governor of Akwa Ibom State, Obong 

Victor Attah described the Federal Government’s move as 

unconstitutional, saying it is an attempt to “right a wrong 

with another wrong.” While he conceded that most state 

governments have behaved less than honourably in 

administering the finances of local governments, Attah who 

has been a consistent advocate of true federalism, said the 

federal government has no right to deal directly with the 

third tier of government. He canvasses true federalism as 

the only way out of Nigeria’s numerous challenges. 

•Attah 

You have been a consistent 

advocate of true federalism, 

what is your take on the 

decision of the Federal Government 

to fund the local governments 

directly? 

The issue is, for how long will we 

continue to operate a system that 

forces us to compound one evil on 

another? When you read this 

Vanguard headline ‘FG stops Govs 

from seizing LG allocations’, it 

sounds fantastic because what has 

been going on was solely evil. The 

governors would receive money and 

yet starve the local governments. 

They just treated them as if they did 

not exist; give the chairman small 

pocket money and let him go and 

keep quiet. It is completely and 

totally wrong because the local 

government is the closest to the 

people. It has obligations and 

responsibilities to the people and 

they were not being allowed to 

perform their functions in any way 

because their funds were being 

seized by the states. 

But there is no where in the world 

where you have federalism that the 

federal government relates directly 

with the local governments. Local 

government administration is 

purely and entirely the function of 

the state governments and I am 

surprised because Asiwaju Bola 

Tinubu was the Governor (of Lagos) 

with the Vice President, Yemi 

Osinbajo as the Attorney General 

when Obasanjo did that evil of 

seizing Lagos state local 

governments funds. I joined them 

in the fight because they had also 

joined me in the fight for resource 

control. 

All these things are wrong and 

they all come down to the fact that 

we are not operating a proper 

federal system. So, for how long will 

we persist in this attitude of placing 

one wrong on another? Is it until the 

country explodes. Why don’t we just 

stop, put a halt to all these evil and 

have a rebirth, complete rebirth and 

a complete rethink of what Nigeria 

should be and how its federalism 

should be operated? 

You were a state governor for 

eight years. How did you relate 

with the LGs? 

When I was in government, it was 

clear to everybody that the local 

government in which the state 

capital is located carries the highest 

burden of primary school teachers 

and running of primary schools is 

the responsibility of local 

governments. If the federal 

government sits and sends money 

to my local government, that local 

government, Uyo will not have the 

funds even to pay half the primary 

school teachers in Uyo. While the 

others would be awash with money, 

Uyo will not even have the money 

to pay all. You can say up to 40 

percent of the primary school 

teachers are concentrated in Uyo 

and the other schools are 

redistributed to the other 30 local 

governments. This is just one aspect 

of the responsibility of a local 

government not to mention in 

developing rural roads and other 

things that local governments are 

supposed to do. So, we took a 

decision that we are educating 

Akwa Ibom children and so we 

cannot put the burden on Uyo local 

government only simply because 

the capital is located in Uyo, all the 

civil servants are in Uyo, businesses 

are in Uyo, so Uyo carries, by far, 

the largest number of primary 

schools. What we did was to make 

salaries of primary school teachers, 

first charge. We must take money 

and pay every primary school before 

we redistribute it. But at least, we 

honestly distributed the money 

even though I hear there were 

complaints about what my 

Commissioner for Local 

Government then was doing and 

the Economic and Financial Crimes 

It is illegal and it 

cannot happen in 

a proper federal 

system. There are 

laws made that 

there should be 

an election and 

the tenures are 

stated and you 

must obey. That is 

why I tell you, 

that when you 

apply this 

federalism 

halfway and stop, 

there will be 

issues. A 

governor that 

does that should 

be impeached 

Commission, EFCC, came and 

investigated, and till today I do not 

know what the result of the 

investigation is. 

The allocation formula is there 

with all the other elements but the 

one factor that clearly was lopsided 

was the issue of primary school 

teachers. All the local governments 

participated in designing the 

formula. They participated fully in 

what we did. 

It is so completely and totally 

wrong that in a federal system, the 

central government should have 

direct relationship with the local 

government. It should never 

happen. It is the state governments 

that should even create the local 

governments. It is the state 

governments that administer the 

local governments. The laws for 

local governments are made by the 

State Houses of Assembly. So, we 

just take this federal idea and go 

halfway with this and put another 

half....and we do not operate it 

properly as it ought to be. We really 

must change this system. We must 

agree and emphasize on a new 

arrangement that makes it possible 

for local governments to be what 

they are, have the correct 

relationship with the state 

governments and then we will have 

a federal system that works for all 

of us. 

How about the N500, 000 ceiling 

on daily withdrawal for the LGs? 

What I am telling you is, all those 

should be made by the state 

assembly. The laws that states make 

for their local governments should 

be respected. This shouldn’t be a 

federal government law. 

How about states that have 

refused to conduct LG elections? 

Should they also benefit from this 

direct allocation? 

It is illegal and it cannot happen 

in a proper federal system. There 

are laws made that there should be 

an election and the tenures are 

stated and you must obey. That is 

why I tell you, that when you apply 

this federalism halfway and stop, 

there will be issues. A governor that 

does that should be impeached. 

But the Houses of assembly are 

like rubber stamps. Would you 

advocate financial autonomy to the 

Houses first before the LGs? 

They should not be rubber stamps 

if they were properly elected by the 

people. What I would rather we 

have is true federalism. We had it 

before under the parliamentary 

system and the local governments 

were there under the regions and 

we didn’t have these complaints 

because we operated a proper 

federal system. When we turn 

something upside down, we don’t 

know how to turn it back right up, 

we just turn it halfway up and then 

we have hotch-potch of nonsense. 

Total nonsense and more nonsense 

will come out of more nonsense 

because we are not running a proper 

system. Let Nigerians stop trying to 

think that we continue to panel beat 

this system. Let us go for a proper 

federal system and bring back the 

parliamentary system that we had. 

This is like a fire brigade 

approach to just stop those evil 

governors from seizing their local 

government funds but it is wrong. 

That is why I said we are 

compounding wrong on wrong, evil 

on evil and the only way to kill that 

is having a proper system, properly 

enunciated and properly run. This 

is trying to use wrong to right a 

wrong and it makes it very faulty. 

Don’t try to use wrong to replace 

another wrong.


MINIMUM WAGE: 

SPN blasts Oyo 

governor-elect 

over comment 

By Maryann Michael 

LAGOS—THE Socialist 

Party of Nigeria, SPN, in 

Oyo State has described the 

recent comments by the Oyo 

State governor-elect, Seyi 

Makinde on the 

implementation of the N30, 

000 new minimum wage as 

ambiguous and contradictory, 

saying it smacks of insincerity. 

SPN in a statement by its 

State Secretary, Ayodeji 

Adigun contended that the 

comments suggested that the 

governor-elect, once sworn in 

on the May 29, 2019, would 

attempt to manipulate the 

implementation of the new 

minimum wage of N30, 000. 

The statement reads: “As a 

matter of fact, the comment 

is an indication that it may 

take a concerted struggle of 

workers in the state before a 

Seyi Makinde/PDP-led 

government could be 

compelled to implement the 

new minimum wage. The 

governor–elect claims that the 

state lacks the resources to 

support the implementation of 

the N30, 000 minimum wage 

is not true and highly 

unfounded. 

“As a matter of fact, such a 

claim has not only been 

faulted but also refuted and 

exposed by the singular fact 

that the outgoing APC-led 

government in the state has 

expressed its readiness to 

commence discussion with 

the labour leaders over the 

implementation of the new 

minimum wage and to ensure 

that the implementation of the 

N30, 000 minimum wage is 

effected in the salary for the 

month of April and May in the 

state. Engr makinde has been 

reported to have made 

different comments in recent 

times concerning the new 

minimum wage recently 

signed into law by the 

President Buhari-led federal 

government after a repeated 

struggle of the Nigerian 

workers.” 

Aare Adams cautions Buhari over 

N100bn fund for Miyetti Allah 

By Dapo Akinrefon & 

Rotimi Ojomoyela 

LAGOS—THE 

Aare 

Onakakanfo of Yorubaland, 

Aare Gani Adams, yesterday, 

condemned the proposed N100 

billion allocated to the Miyetti 

Allah Cattle Breeders Association 

of Nigeria, MACBAN,saying that 

such allocation will further 

encourage the rise in additional 

pressure groups across the 

country. 

This came as Governor Kayode 

Fayemi of Ekiti State expressed his 

administration's readiness to 

conduct a registration of 

herdsmen in the state. 

Adams, who cautioned the move 

in a statement, said such funds 

should be channeled to other 

areas that would be benefit the 

country. 

He noted that the proposed 

N100 billion for Miyetti Allah is 

much higher than the total budget 

for the Niger Delta Development 

Commission, NDDC, for three 

years, arguing that the move can 

trigger avoidable crisis across all 

the zones in the country. 

He said: “The issue at stake is 

about the spate of insecurity across 

the nation. It is not limited to the 

•As Ekiti moves to register herdsmen 

North. Therefore, the Federal 

Government needs to be cautious 

on the move. Here in the South 

West, insecurity is raging. 

“For instance, in Akokoland, in 

Ondo State, which happens to be 

my hometown, there were series 

of attacks and kidnapping that 

had been raging and still on the 

increase. People have been killed, 

and kidnapped at will, and the 

situation continues till the present 

moment. 

“Last year, Chief Olu Falae’s 

farm was invaded and destroyed 

by some herdsmen; Chief Alani 

Akinrinade also suffered the same 

fate. In Ijebu Ode, Ogun State, a 

prominent Yoruba son lost several 

millions to the activities of these 

killer herdsmen. Several other 

people in the South-West had had 

the bitter experience.'' 

While reacting to the new 

security measures put in place 

recently by the Minister of 

Defence, Mansur Dan Ali, at a 

meeting with traditional rulers 

which took place at the Arewa 

House, he lamented that 

government has not deemed it fit 

to extend the olive branch to the 

other regions in the country. 

He also called on President 

Muhammadu Buhari to handle 

the issue of true federalism the 

way and manner he handled the 

June 12 issue, which today made 

him a hero. 

He said: “With the new situation, 

I think the President has an idea 

of what we have been saying all 

these days about true federalism 

and restructuring. Nigeria’s 

problems can only be solved with 

true federalism. 

“Many of the problems plaguing 

our nation, especially, insecurity 

can be addressed through 

federalism. For example, if all the 

regions develop at their own pace, 

every other issue, including 

security, power, and health would 

be taken care of at the state level.” 

Ekiti to register herdsmen 

Meanwhile, in a bid to stem 

herdsmen attack on farmers and 

residents, Governor Fayemi says 

he will conduct a registration of 

herdsmen in the state. 

Coordinator of the State Anti 

Grazing Task Force Marshals, Mr. 

Sola Durodola, disclosed this to 

reporters at the weekend, saying 

the move became necessary to 

prevent herder-farmers' clashes 

in the state. 

MEDIA CHAT: From left; Oluwayomi Abiola-Olawaiye, Brand Manager, Consumer 

Propositions, Access Bank Plc; Dolapo Orelaja, Head, Consumer propositions, Access 

bank plc; Abiodun Gaffar, Legal Practitioner; Ihuoma Nwigwe, Fitness Trainer; and Deola 

Rojaiye, Corporate planning Manager, Consumer Propositions, Access bank Plc at the 

XclusivePlus Media chat held at the bank’s head office in Lagos. 

No place for 

corrupt judges, 

says Industrial 

Court President 

A 

D O - E K I T I — 

PRESIDENT of the 

National Industrial Court of 

Nigeria, NIC, Justice Babatunde 

Adejumo has told those aspiring 

to be judges of the court that it 

has no place for corrupt and lazy 

individuals. 

Justice Adejumo said lopsided 

and faulty ways of appointing the 

membership of the court has 

adversely affected the capacity of 

the court in its duties of settling 

trade disputes. 

He said this while delivering a 

lecture entitled: How to become a 

Judge of National Industrial 

Court, to mark the 2019 Attorney 

General’s Colloquium in Ado Ekiti 

in Ekiti State at the weekend. 

Justice Adejumo said: “It is 

important to hint that anyone who 

may aspire to become a judge of 

the court must understand the law, 

most particularly in the area of 

labour and industrial relations 

must be of impeccable character 

who must abhor corruption and 

other related vices, must be 

hardworking and dedicated with 

no moral or professional blemish. 

“The foregoing was in line with 

Rule 4 of the 2014 Revised 

National Judicial Council 

Guidelines and Procedural Rules 

for the appointment of judicial 

officers of all superior courts of 

records in Nigeria.” 

He stated that most of the trade 

disputes being adjudicated upon 

by the court were governmentlabour 

industrial feuds, which he 

said further predispose the judges 

to intensive lobbying and this he 

stressed must be resisted to protect 

justice and integrity of the bench. 

Adejumo revealed that the 

industrial court failed to live up to 

the expectations of the people 

since its establishment via Trade 

Disputes Decree No 7 of 1976 by 

military regime due to dual 

appointment of the members of 

bench of the court. 

He also urged lawyers 

intending to serve as judges of the 

court to be apolitical, shun 

corruption and live a modest 

lifestyle to be able to pass the 

judicial scrutiny that would qualify 

them to the bench of NIC. 

PARIS CLUB FUND: Amosun, consultant set for legal battle 

over $11.7m •Govt keeps mum 

By Daud Olatunji 

A 

BEOKUTA— 

CONSULTANT 

to the Ogun State 

Government on External 

Debt Reconciliation, Bond 

Investment and Holdings 

Limited has threatened to 

drag the state government 

to court if its cummulated 

consultancy fee running to 

$11,740,362.00 is not paid 

within the next seven days. 

Efforts to get reactions 

from the state government 

were unsuccessful as the 

Commissioner for Finance, 

Wale Oshinowo could not be 

reached. 

The consulting firm, which 

supervised the securing of 

Paris Club fund for Ogun 

State Government, said that 

the government is owing the 

firm in accordance with the 

agreement reached with it. 

The seven days ultimatum 

started from last week 

Friday, May 10, 2019. 

Counsel to Bond 


Limited, Bolaji Ayorinde, 

SAN, in his letter to the 

government explained that 

the demand for payment by 

his client has culminated in 

pending arbitration 

proceedings between the 

company and Ogun State 

Government. 

The solicitor, who has 

served Governor Ibikunle 

Amosun the Commissioner 

of Finance, Attorney 

General and Commissioner 

of Justice, threatened that 

the fee must be paid within 

seven days, else a legal 

action will be taken against 

the 

outgoing 

administration. 

His words: “We are 

solicitors to Messrs Bond 


Limited (our client), and we 

have instructions to write 

this letter to you. Our client 

by virtue of agreement 

dated 23rd day of December, 

2009 was appointed as 

Consultants to the Ogun 

State Government with 

respect to Ogun State 

External 

Debt 

reconciliation. 

“Premised upon the above, 

our client has made 

monetary demands in the 

sum of N6,038,624,816.67 on 

the Ogun State Government 

and this demand has 

culminated in pending 

arbitration proceedings 

between our client and the 

Ogun State Government. 

By Rotimi Ojomoyela 

“The receipt of the said 

payment is directly 

connected to our client’s 

work with the Debt 

Management Office, DMO, 

of the Federal Government 

of Nigeria and this fact was 

specifically acknowledged 

in your letter of 1st 

November 2016 to the 

DMO. 

“We, hereby, require that 

you pay to our client 

$11,740,362.00 payable in 

refund currency being 15 

percent of the said sum of 

$78,269,08.70 within seven 

days upon receipt of this 

letter.”


ONONIWU 

I, formerly known as 

Ononiwu Chisom Lilian, now 

wish to be known as Donatus 

Chisom Peridot. All former 

documents remain valid. 

General public please take 

note. 

OTOIBHI 

I, formerly known as Otoibhi 

Felix and Ajayi Felix 

Eromosele, now wish to be 

known as Otoibhi Felix 

Eromosele. Former 


General public take note. 

OKORONKWO 

I, formerly known as Miss 

Oluchi Vivian Okoronkwo, 

now Mrs Oluchi Vivian 

Ighodaro. All former 

documents remain vaild. 


OSEMEKE 


Osemeke Ofenwa Rita, now 

wish to be known as Mrs. 

Chosen Samuel Ofenwa Rita. 

All former documents remain 

valid. General public please 

take note. 

AGBA 

I, formerly known as Agba 

Jacinta Ogechukwu, now wish 

to be known as Ezika Jacinta 

Ogechukwu. All former 


Federal Polytechnic Nekede, 

Owerri and general public 

please take note. 

AYUNKU 


Ayunku Enetimiebi, now wish 

to be known as Mrs Asiyia 

Enetimiebi Hope. All former 



note. 

IRIMONI 

I, Marcus Oghenevwede wish 

to add the name Irimoni to my 

other names. My correct full 

names are Irimoni Marcus 

Oghenevwede. All former 



note. 

UGBODU 

I, formerly known as Ugbodu 

Steve Okosun, now wish to 

be known as Ugbodu Stephen 

Okosun. All former 



note. 

OLUDUNFE 

I, Samuel Oludunfe, formerly known as Sam Oludunfe, Samuel Oludunfe, Samuel O.A. Oludunfe, 

Samuel Olusina Oludunfe, Samuel Adufe Oludunfe, or/and Samuel Olusina Adufe Oludunfe of Third 

Avenue, New Generation Estate, Magboro, Obafemi Owode Local Government, Ogun State, hereby 

declare that my full name is SAMUEL OLUSINA ADUFE OLUDUNFE. All my documents bearing 

Sam Oludunfe, Samuel Oludunfe, Samuel O. A. Oludunfe, Samuel Olusina Oludunfe, Samuel Adufe 

Oludunfe, or/and Samuel Olusina Adufe Oludunfe are same and legally tenderable for all purposes and 

in all matters. Central Bank of Nigeria, First Bank of Nigeria Plc, Wema Bank Plc, the Federal Civil 

Service Commission and general public please take note. 

ARIGBEDU 


Arigbedu Benjamin 

Oluwasegun, now wish to be 

known as Alexander Benjamin 

Oluwasegun. Former 



IJOMAH 


Adaeze Toniafranklyn Ijomah, 

now wish to be known as Mrs. 

Adaeze Toniafranklyn Adise. 



take note. 

OWAIBI 

This is to notify the general 

public that Owaibi Eguono 

Eva and Owaibi Endurance 

is one and the same person 

and now wish to be known as 

Owaibi Eguono Eva. All 

former documents remain 

vaild. General public take 

note. 

OJO 

This is to notify the general 

public that Ojo Kingsley 

Igiebor and Ojo Kingsley 

Ikponmwosa is one and the 

same person and now wish to 

be known as Ojo Kingsley 

Igiebor. All former documents 

remain vaild. General public 

take note. 

IMA 

I, formerly known as Ima 

Friday Francis now wish to 

be known as Imaobong 

Friday Francis. All former 



note. 

ADUHOR 


Aduhor Bridget Eloho, now 

wish to be known as Mrs 

Akpourhobo Bridget Eloho. 



take note. 

EGHWRUDJAKPOR 


Eghwrudjakpor Sophia 

Oghenerukevwe, now wish to 

be known as Mrs Odiakose 

Sophia Oghenerukevwe. All 



take note. 

AREMU 

I, formerly known as Aremu 

Hannah Arinade, now wish to 

be known as Mrs Adeyeye 

Hannah Arinade. All former 


Authorities’ concerned and 

general public take note. 

IGBUTE 


Nkemdilim Igbute, now wish 

to be known as Mrs 

Nkemdilim Benson Obuh. All 



take note. 

OMOKARO 


Omokaro Imuentiyan 

Pamela, now wish to be 

known as Omokaro 

Pamela.All former documents 

remain valid. The general 

public should please take 

note. 

OTUWO 

I, formerly known as Otuwo 

Ngozi Oju, now wish to be 

known as Arunsi Ngozi Ude. 



take note. 

OGBOROGE 

I, formerly known as Ogboroge 

Oghenerukewe Lydia, now 

wish to be known as Ekama 

Oghenerukewe Lydia. All 


valid, any authority it may 

concern and general public to 

take note. 

UWAH 


Uwah Oluchi Precious 

Chiawuotu, now wish to be 

known as Mrs. Ukwunna 

Oluchi Precious Chiawuotu. All 



take note. 

EFIJEMUE 


Efijemue Patience Evi, now 


Ramsey Patience Evi. All 



take note. 

UKUORITSEMOFE 


Ukuoritsemofe Queen, now 

wish to be known as Queen 

Mone. All former documents 

remain valid. General public 


AJIBOYE 

I, formerly known as Ajiboye 

Bukunmi Jumoke, now wish 

to be known as Aroki 

Bukunmi Jumoke. All former 



NWAUZOR 

This is to confirm that my correct 

name is Nwauzor Bartholomew 

Friday and not Nwaruzor 

Bartholomew as wrongly spelt in my 

voter’s card and Nwauzor 

Bartholomew as stated in my BVN. 

All documents with the names above 

remain valid. Banks and general 

public take note. 

OBEKPA 

I, formerly known as Obekpa 

Blessing Eneh, now wish to 

be known as Abba Blessing 

Eneh. Former documents 


take note. 

KWASI 

I, formerly known as Kwasi 

Samuel, now wish to be known 

as Kwasi Samuel Tarilayefa, 

That all documents bearing my 

former name still remain 

Valid. General public, First 

City Monument Bank (FCMB) 

and all relevant authorities 


BALOGUN 


Priscilla Hajiya Balogun, now 


Priscilla Hajiya Okenge. All 


valid or the same.General 

public take note. 

OGHENE 

I, formerly known as Oghene 

Yovbike Yvonne, now wish to 

be known as Ekama Yovbike 

Yvonne. All former documents 

remain valid, any authority it 

may concern and general 

public to take note. 

CLEVER 

My name was wrongly written 

in my BVN as Clever 

Onokoromor, instead of 

Clever Donokoromor, which 

is my correct name. Former 


FCMB Bank Plc. and general 

public please take note. 

OGHENEAKOKE 


Ogheneakoke Ereremena 

Favour, now wish to be known 

as Otitieme Ereremena Favour. 

All documents bearing former 

names remain valid. First Bank, 

other relevant authorities 

concern and the general public 


OLISAH 

I, formerly known as Olisah 

Rita Ifeyinwa, now wish to be 

known as Alilonu Rita 

Ifeyinwa. All former 


Banks, Anambra State Civil 

Service and the general public 

should please take note. 

EJINYERE 


Ejinyere Ebioma Stella, now 


Akpoturi Ebioma Stella. All 



take note. 

FOR ADVERT PLACEMENT VISIT TRINITY MALL, BESIDE ZENITH BANK BALOGUN BUS STOP, 

OBAFEMI AWOLOWO WAY, IKEJA, 

OR MURPHIS PLAZA, SANUSI FAFUNWA STREET, VICTORIA ISLAND LAGOS 

ABDULAZEEZ 

My name was wrongly written 

as Abdulazeez Ganiyat O., 

instead of my correct name, 

Abdulazeez Ganiyat Olayinka. 



take note. 

AKPAN 

I, formerly known as Akpan, 

Emem Monday, now wish to 

be known as Success Peace 

Monday. All former 



note. 

OPREH 

I, formerly known as Efemena 

Emmanuel Opreh, now wish to 

be known as Efemena 

Emmanuel Abraham. All 

former documents bearing my 

name remain valid. General 

public please take note. 

OGUNLADE 


Ogunlade Tosin Helen, now 


Adebayo Oluwatosin Helen. 



take note. 

AVWODI 

I, formerly known as Avwodi 

Oghenekaro and Avwodi Peace 

Oghenekaro, now wish to be 

known as Ezekiel Oghenekaro 

Raymond. All former 

documents remain valid, any 

authority it may concern and 

general public to take note. 

PATRICK 


Patrick Aforkoghene Favour, 

now wish to be known as Mrs. 

Akpofure Aforkoghene 

Favour. All former documents 



DIDEN 


Maureen Banro Diden, now 


Maureen Banro Ogboru. All 



take note. 

SAJINI 


Sajini Okeoghene Gloria, now 


Daubry Okeoghene Gloria. All 



take note. 

OBASI 

I, formerly known as Gift 

Chiagozie Obasi, now wish 

to be known as Gift 

Chiagozie Uzochukwu. All 



take note. 

Confirmation 

of Branbaifa 

as 

substantive 

MD will 

promote 

peace, devt 

— Kpodoh 

By Onozure 

Dania 

Y ENAGOA—CHIEF 

Perekeme Kpodoh, 

the former Security 

Adviser to the Bayelsa 

State Government, has 

described as 

“misinformed” and 

“enemies of the region” 

the politicians involved 

in the series of 

sponsored protests 

against 

the 

management of the 

Niger 

Delta 

Development 

Commission, NDDC, 

led by Professor Nelson 

Branbaifa. 

Kpodoh, a chieftain of 

the All Progressive 

Congress, who spoke to 

newsmen in Yenagoa, 

urged President 

Muhammadu Buhari to 

disregard the series of 

sponsored anti- 

Branbaifa protest, as 

“They are being done by 

the enemies of your 

administration who do 

not want your sincere 

development plan to be 

carried out by the NDDC 

in the region.” 

He said, “The widely 

accepted position of 

stakeholders and youths 

of the region favours the 

present leadership of the 

NDDC led by Professor 

Branbaifa. 

“It is on record that, 

barely three months 

after the Acting 

Managing Director 

came on board, he was 

able to settle all the 

outstanding debts which 

was incurred by the 

previous administration 

and hindered the 

development in the 

region as most project 

were either stopped or 

abandoned. He has 

ensured continuity in 

project execution and 

completion. 

“I sincerely applaud 

the acting Managing 

Director for the approval 

and payment of the 

water hyacinth jobs and 

for approving the 

payment of NDDC 

volunteer youth 

empowerment 

programme which the 

previous administration 

failed to implement. 

“This singular action of 

the acting NDDC 

Managing Director also 

elicited wide jubilation 

across the entire Niger 

Delta region more so 

with zeal of the 

commission to partner 

with international 

organisations in other to 

usher massive 

development that will 

turn around the face of 

the region in terms of 

development.”


Nigeria 15 Niger 0: 

Super Falcons create history 

with biggest win ever 

The Super Falcons rained 

goals on Niger in the 

ongoing WAFU 

Women’s Cup tourney in 

Abidjan, putting fifteen 

unreplied goals past their 

hapless opponents on Saturday 

evening. 

A day after thrashing Burkina 

Faso 5-1 in their first game of 

the tournament, Thomas 

Dennerby’s ladies returned to 

the Parc Des Sports Stadium to 

subject Niger to an annihilation 

in the second group B game. 

With most of the team’s stars 

missing out of the competition 

due to club commitments, the 

Swedish handed captaincy 

responsibilities to Bayelsa 

Queens Osarenoma Igbinovia, 

with the team dominated by 

home-based players. 

Uchenna Kanu, Alice Ogebe 

and Mary Ologbosere were 

some of the players who got on 

Ndidi equals Yobo, 

Moses' EPL record 

Leicester City midfielder 

Wilfred Ndidi has become 

the third Nigerian player in 

history to feature in every 

game played in the Premier 

League in a single season. 

The Super Eagles number 4 

started for the Foxes in their 

last game of the season against 

Chelsea at the King Power 

Stadium, his 38th appearance 

of the season of which 37 were 

starts. 

Joseph Yobo was the first 

Nigerian player to suit up in 

38 games in a single season 

and he did it with Everton 

back in the 2006-2007 

campaign. 

The central defender started 

and completed each game, 

logging 3,420 minutes. 

Nigerians had to wait five 

years before another of their 

beloved player represented his 

team in all the matches and 

the honour fell to Victor 

Moses, who featured in all of 

Wigan Athletic’s matches in 

the 2011-2012 season; his final 

year with the club before 

transferring to Chelsea. 

After eleven weeks of a 

keenly contested 

tournament amongst 1,080 

teams, Scope FC of Lagos have 

won the maiden edition of 

Trophy 5-a-side grassroots 

tournament tagged, “Field of 

Honour” which took place at 

the Campos Mini-Stadium, 

Lagos Island on Saturday. 

Lagos played host to the losersfinals 

and final matches, played 

at the Campos Mini Stadium, 

Lagos Island with full spectators 

stand. For the third place match, 

Amsterdam FC of Obalende 

pummeled Rovers FC 6-0 to 

emerge as bronze winners. 

In an intensely contested final 

•Ndidi 

Scope FC win Trophy 

5-a-side tournament 

Champions: Scope FC displaing their trophy 

Photo by Joseph Akintola 

between Scope FC of Lagos 

and Ifayemi FC of Ile-Ife, 

Scope put up a good fight, 

getting a well deserved 2-0 win 

over Ifayemi FC in the second 

half after both teams failed to 

score in the first half. 

Marketing Director, 

International Breweries Plc, 

Tolulope Adedeji, said that the 

tournament had shown the best 

of Nigeria’s grassroots football. 

“In these 11 weeks of the best of 

5-a-side football, we have 

witnessed grassroots football 

development that is second to 

none. This maiden edition had 

teams drawn from Ogun, Osun, 

Oyo and Lagos States,” she said. 

the scoresheet in the huge win. 

For the records, the win was 

the biggest ever win recorded 

by the senior national teams, 

surpassing the previous 10-1 

victory by the Super Eagles 

against Dahomey in 1959. 

Nigeria, thus booked a place 

in the semifinals of the subcontinental 

competition 

following their latest result and 

will round off group action 

against Mali. 

I’ll play in EPL next season 

– Mikel 

Super Eagles captain, 

John Obi Mikel whose 

short term contract with 

Middleborough has come to 

an end has said he wants to 

remain in England. 

The former Chelsea player 

who spoke with pressmen in 

England said, “I think I will 

prefer to stay in England and 

continue my education in 

football, my family is here and 

it is a country that I have lived 

for more than ten years, so 

preferably I will play in 

England next season 

hopefully in the EPL”. 

Mikel also spoke on his short 

spell at Middlesbrough. 

“I enjoyed my stay in 

Middlesborough, wonderful 

teammates and back room staff 

Jo Bonfrere to lead 

Nigerian Stars at 

The Match for 

Ambode 

Nigeria’s Atlanta 1996 Olympic 

men’s football winning coach, 

Johannes-Franciscus Bonfrere has 

confirmed that he will be available to 

lead former Super Eagles stars in 

Saturday’s The Match for Lagos State 

Governor Akinwunmi Ambode. 

Simply known as Jo Bonfrere, the 

Dutch coach was the engine room of 

Clemens Westerhof’s all conquering 

1994 Eagles that qualified Nigeria for 

her first ever appearance at the FIFA 

World Cup in USA in 1994. 

One of the Organisers of The Match 

for Ambode, ex international Waidi 

Akanni confirmed at the weekend that 

Bonfrere has accepted the invite to 

reunite with some of the players that 

took the world by storm getting 

Nigeria ranked fifth best football 

playing country going to USA’94. 

“We have Jo Bonfrere’s assurances 

already. We have sent his travel tickets 

and done all necessary bookings to 

make his stay in Lagos memorable 

one,” observed the former Nigerian 

midfielder. 

He said Bonfrere’s return to Nigeria 

would be a reunion with some of his 

former players who have retired from 

the beautiful game. 

The Dutch coach was June last year 

presented with the three-bedroom 

apartment promised him by the Sani 

Abacha administration for winning the 

Olympic football gold medal for 

Nigeria 22 years after the feat. 

‘The Match’ aimed to celebrate Gov. 

Ambode’s strides in provision of 

sports infrastructure for Lagos was 

moved from Onikan Stadium under 

reconstruction to Agege Stadium, 

Lagos. 

Super striker, Odion 

Ighalo who has scored 

seven goals in eight 

, but in football mobility is part 

of the job”. 

The former U 20 World Cup 

player concluded, “for now, I 

don’t know the club I will be 

playing for next season.” 

Super 

Eagles 

striker Simy 

Nwankwo was on 

target for his Italian 

Serie B side Crotone in 

their 3-0 win over 

Ascoli at the weekend. 

The goal was his 

14th in Serie B league 

for Crotone who failed 

to secure immediate 

promotion back to the 

top flight division after 

their relegation a 

season before. 

The 27 year old 

scored in the 40th 

matches will be out for two 

weeks after he sustained injury 

in the early minutes of the last 

match which his club drew the 

1-1. 

Ighalo’s injury was expected 

to be a major worry for Gernot 

Rohr as the Nations Cup 

camping draws near. Igalo who 

was the highest goal scorer in 

AFCON qualifiers with 7 goals 

presently has scored 7 goals in 

8 matches for his new club, 

Shanghai Shenhua in the on 

going season before he got 

injured in the last match. 

Coach Gernot Rohr will be 

praying for his quick recovery 

as he remains the only goal 

poacher in the present Super 

Eagles team. His experience 

will be needed by Nigeria to 

progress in Africa’s prestigious 

tournament 

But there is nothing to worry 

about as Ighalo’s participation 

in the 2019 Africa Cup of 

Nations is within the time frame 

for his recovery and his return 

date if he does not suffer a 

relapse, would be on June 1, a 

day before the Super Eagles 

players are expected to begin 

training for the tournament in 

Egypt. 

Ighalo is certain to miss 

Shanghai Shenhua’s next 

league match against 

Shandong Luneng, while he is 

doubtful to face Dalian Yifang 

and Chongqing Dangdai Lifan. 

Nwankwo scores 14th 2019 

league goal for Crotone 

minute to put his side in front, 

before Stefano Pettinari doubled 

Crotone’s lead three minutes into 

the second half and Ahmad Benali 

scored the third goal in the three 

minute before hour mark. 

The win moves Crotone four 

points clear of the relegation zone. 

By Elizabeth Adegbesan 

aliga, a Spanish professional 

Lfootball league, grew its 

revenue by 21 percent to €4.47 

billion in the 2017/2018 season from 

€3.7 billion recorded in the 2016/ 

2017 season. 

The President of LaLiga, Javier 

Tebas Medrano disclosed this at a 

press conference, presenting its 

financial report for 2017/18 season, 

held in Lagos. 

Represented by Guillermo Perez 

Castello, LaLiga Global Network 

Delegate in Nigeria, Tebas said : 

“it is my pleasure to present the 

Financial Report of Spanish 

Professional Football on the 

occasion for the latest complete 

Ighalo out for 

two weeks 

They finished 12th in the Serie B 

log with 43 points from 36 games. 

Nwankwo finished seventh best 

scorer in the Italian Serie B and 

will be hoping to a call up in to 

Nigeria’s squad to the 2019 Africa 

Cup of Nations in Egypt. 

LaLiga grows revenue by 21% in 

2017/18 season 

season, 2017/2018. 

“According to the latest Financial 

Report of Spanish professional 

football, corresponding to the latest 

complete season (2017/18), LaLiga’s 

clubs posted revenue of €4.479 

billion, representing growth of 20.6 

percent over the previous season. 

“This is the largest positive 

annual change in recent years and 

particularly notable given that it 

occurred following several financial 

years in which it has been 

consistently posting double-digit 

growth rates and in which, 

furthermore, we are at the midway 

point of the three-year audiovisual 

cycle for the national market (and, 

by extension without coinciding 

with sudden increases in level or 

discontinuities).”


Burnley 1-3 Arsenal 

Aubameyang 

double in 

Gunners win 

P ierre-Emerick 

Aubameyang scored 

twice as Arsenal beat 

Burnley at Turf Moor, but 

the Gunners failed to 

finish in the top four for 

the third successive 

season. 

Unai Emery’s side 

secured fifth place 

meaning they go straight 

into the Europa League 

group stage next season. 

And they can still 

qualify for the 

Champions League if 

they beat Chelsea in the 

Europa League final on 

29 May in Baku. 

Aubameyang, who 

scored a hat-trick on 

Thursday as Arsenal beat 

Valencia in the Europa 

League semi-finals, 

finished the season with 

22 league goals. 

That saw him tie for the 

Premier League Golden 

Boot with Liverpool duo 

Sadio Mane and 

Mohamed Salah. 

Ben Mee gifted 

Aubameyang his first, 

miscontrolling a pass 

from Jack Cork to allow 

the Gabon striker to run 

in and slot past Tom 

Heaton on 52 minutes. 

He then lashed in a 

volley from close range 

11 minutes later and 

should have had a hattrick, 

but with the goal at 

his mercy, he poked wide. 

Burnley, who had 

already secured a fourth 

straight season in the 

Premier League, pulled 

one back as Ashley 

Barnes met Johann Berg 

Gudmundsson’s pass 

with a glancing header. 

Arsenal’s 19-year-old 

forward Eddie Nketiah 

added a third with the 

last play of the game in 

the 95th minute as he 

poked the ball through 

Heaton’s legs. 

Hazard wins 

Premier League 

Playmaker 

award 

This year the award 

went to Eden Hazard 

after accumulating 16 

assists throughout 2018/ 

19 season with last year’s 

winner being Man City 

midfielder Kevin de 

Bruyne with 16 assists. 

The Premier League 

playmaker award was 

introduced last year to 

award the league player 

to acquire the most 

assists in a season. 

Manchester City 

retained their 


title and finally ended 

Liverpool’s magnificent 

challenge after surviving a 

scare to come from behind 

and outclass Brighton at 

the Amex Stadium. 

Pep Guardiola’s side 

started the day knowing 

victory would ensure they 

would be the first team to 

retain the crown since 

Manchester United 10 

years ago - but any slip-up 

could let in their relentless 

pursuers Liverpool, who 

were hosting Wolves at 

Anfield. 

And when Glenn Murray 

gave the Seagulls the lead 

with a glancing header 

Leicester 0-0 Chelsea 

Chelsea draw 

at Leicester to 

finish third 

Leicester and Chelsea 

played out a typically 

low-key end-of-season 

affair which ended 

goalless at the King Power 

Stadium. 

The result ensured that 

Chelsea finished their first 

Premier League campaign 

under Italian manager 

Maurizio Sarri in third. 

Sarri’s side began 

brightly despite the 

absence of Eden Hazard, 

who started on the 

substitutes bench. 

Pedro and Willian both 

carried a threat, but 

BRIGHTON 1-4 MAN CITY 

City are EPL 

champions! 

from a corner after 27 

minutes, anxiety rose in 

Sussex and hopes rose at 

Anfield that Liverpool 

might win their first title 

in 29 years. 

Manchester City’s 

response was instant, 

emphatic and ruthless as 

they swept Brighton aside 

to end the campaign with 

Gonzalo Higuain missed 

the pick of their chances 

from close range before 

the contest fizzled out. 

Leicester - who have 

enjoyed a renaissance 

since Brendan Rodgers 

took charge in February, 

collecting 17 points over 

the last nine games - end 

the season in ninth. 

a record 14 successive 

league victories, making it 

32 in all, which equals the 

record they set last season. 

Sergio Aguero pounced 

in the area to equalise 

inside 83 seconds and 

Aymeric Laporte arrived 

unmarked on the end of a 

corner to put City ahead 

before half-time. 

Champions League 

finalists Tottenham 

sealed a fourth-placed 

finish in the Premier 

League as they ended their 

campaign with an 

entertaining draw with 

Everton. 

Tottenham knew a point 

was enough to secure one 

of the Champions League 

places for a fourth 

successive season under 

manager Mauricio 

Pochettino, but Spurs 

missed the opportunity to 

record back-to-back thirdplaced 

finishes as Chelsea 

Salah, Mane, Aubameyang share Golden 

Boot award 

The Premier 

League Golden Boot 

for leading goalscorer will 

be shared 

between Mohamed 

Salah, Sadio Mane 

and Pierre-Emerick 

Aubameyang after all 

Van Djik is Player of the 

Season winner award after Nemanja 

Virgil van Dijk won 

this seasons EA 

Sport’s Player of the 

Season award after 

votes from Premier 

League panel, peers 

(20 club captains) and 

the public saw the 

Liverpool defender 

become the third 

defender to receive the 

Vidic and Vincent 

Kompany. 

The Dutch defender 

has already picked up 

the PFA Player of the 

Year award and 

replicates Liverpool 

teammate Mohamed 

Salah who picked up 

both awards last 

season. 

Man City players 

Higuain 

three finished on 22 goals. 

Liverpool forward Salah 

went into the final 

afternoon leading the way 

but was pegged back after 

his team-mate Mane 

scored twice in their 2-0 

win over Wolves that 

proved not enough to win 

the title. 

Aubameyang scored 

twice in Arsenal’s 3-1 win 

at Burnley to take his 

place at the top of the 

leaderboard. 

It is the first time three 

African players have 

shared the award. 

Manchester City’s Sergio 

Aguero scored in their 

title-clinching 4-1 win at 

Brighton but will have to 

settle for second spot in 

the Golden Boot race with 

21 goals. 

Though Salah finished 

the season with more 

Liverpool 2-0 Wolves 

Liverpool finish 

second despite 

victory 

Liverpool’s 29-year wait 

to win the league title 

continues, despite their 2- 

0 win over Wolves at 

Anfield. 

Manchester City retained 

the Premier League title 

with a 4-1 win at Brighton 

to finish on 98 points - one 

ahead of the Reds, who 

have the highest final 

points total of any runnersup 

in English top-flight 

history. 

Many Liverpool players 

looked exhausted at the 

final whistle, but Jurgen 

Klopp’s team were given a 

rousing ovation despite 

the disappointing outcome 

Tottenham 2-2 Everton 

Tottenham seal 

Champions League spot 

assists than his two rivals, 

this isn’t taken into 

account so all three will 

share the honour. 

Indeed, a beaming 

Aubameyang was 

presented with his 

accolade after being 

presented with it at Turf 

Moor. 

It is the third time this 

has happened in Premier 

League history - Chris 

Sutton, Michael Owen 

and Dion Dublin shared 

it in the 1997-98 season 

and Jimmy-Floyd 

Hasselbaink, Michael 

Owen and Dwight Yorke 

were tied in 1998-99. 

Aubameyang’s is 

arguably the most 

impressive total as his 22 

goals came in just 2,731 

minutes of Premier 

League football this 

season at a rate of one 

goal every 124 minutes. 

were held by Leicester. 

Eric Dier capitalised on 

poor Everton defending to 

open the scoring after just 

three minutes as he was 

given ample time and 

space to convert Erik 

Lamela’s corner. 

The visitors recovered 

well from their slow start 

but took until the 69th 

minute to level through 

Theo Walcott’s fine finish. 

Cenk Tosun put Everton 

ahead three minutes later, 

but Christian Eriksen’s 

sublime free-kick after 75 

minutes earned Spurs the 

point they required. 

The result sees Everton 

match their eighth-placed 

finish of the previous 

campaign in Marco Silva’s 

first season in charge. 

Alisson wins 

Golden Glove 

award 

The award goes to 

Alisson after 

Liverpool goalkeeper 

kept 21 clean sheets 

with Brazilian no.2 

and Man City keeper 

Ederson was only 

able to keep 20 clean 

sheets. 

The Golden Glove 

award goes to the 


goalkeeper to keep 

the most clean sheets 

through-out the 

season. 

to their bid for a 19th title. 

Sadio Mane scored from 

close range in each half to 

finish the season with 22 

goals, as he and teammate 

Mohamed Salah 

finished level in the race 

for the Golden Boot as the 

league’s top scorers. 

The victory over Wolves 

was Liverpool’s ninth 

consecutive win in the 

league - their only defeat 

of the campaign came 

when they lost 2-1 to 

City on 3 January. 

Liverpool will have the 

chance to finish an 

impressive season with a 

trophy when the play 

Tottenham in the 

Champions League final in 

Madrid on 1 June. 

Liverpool players 

Man Utd 0-2 Cardiff 

More misery 

for Man Utd 

Nathaniel Mendez- 

Laing scored twice as 

relegated Cardiff City won 

their final Premier League 

appearance to heap more 

misery on Manchester 

United. 

Mendez-Laing opened 

the scoring for Cardiff from 

the penalty spot after being 

brought down in the box 

by Diogo Dalot, before 

scoring his second after the 

break. 

Goalkeeper Neil 

Etheridge proved the 

visitors’ hero as he foiled 

several United chances on 

a frustrating day for the 

hosts, who fielded six 

academy graduates. 

Defeat means United have 

won just one of their final 

seven games of the season 

as city rivals Manchester 

City won the Premier 

League title for the second 

season in succession. 

Cardiff travelled to Old 

Trafford just a week after 

confirmation of their 

relegation to the 

Championship and looked 

set to bid farewell to the 

top flight with a whimper 

as United dominated the 

opening exchanges. 

But it was United who 

finished the match with 

their tails between their 

legs, unable to defy a 

resolute Bluebirds defence 

as they rained chance after 

chance on Etheridge’s goal. 

Cardiff’s victory was their 

first over Manchester 

United since 3 April, 1954, 

when manager Neil 

Warnock was just five years 

old.


Vanguard, MONDAY, MAY 13, 2019 

TODAY’S PUZZLE 

Sudoku 

FRIDAY’S ANSWER 

TODAY’S CROSSWORD 

QUICK CROSSWORD 

THURSDAY’S SOLUTION 

How to Play Sudoku 

Across 

1 Take away (8) 

5 Chilly (4) 

8 Umbilicus (5) 

9 Silhouette (7) 

11 Apart (7) 

12 Called (5) 

13 Mediterranean island (6) 

15 Avoided (6) 

18 High-spirited escapade (5) 

20 Astounding (7) 

23 South African country 

(7) 

24 Rogue (5) 

25 Extinct bird (4) 

26 Perfect (8) 

Down 

1 Father Christmas (5) 

2 Camp out (7) 

3 Annoyed (5) 

4 Groups of singers (6) 

6 Hatred (5) 

7 Greatly feared (7) 

10 Latin-American 

dance (5) 

13 Accomplish a goal 

(7) 

14 Enticed (5) 

16 Make a wry face (7) 

17 Cask (6) 

19 Sixteen ounces (5) 

21 Awry (5) 

22 Surmise (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. 

Printed and Published by VANGUARD MEDIA LIMITED, Vanguard Avenue, Kirikiri-Canal, P.M.B.1007, Apapa. Phone: Newsroom: 018773962. Deputy Editor: 01-4548355. Advert Hotline: 

08027767834; 01-4544821. Abuja office: 7, Dambata Close, Area 7, Garki, 09-2921024. Ikeja office: 73, Awolowo Way. V.I. Office: Murplus Plaza, 27, Sanusi Fafunwa Street. Asaba: 21, Anwai 

Road. Benin City: 4E, Arusa Street. Port Harcourt: 50, Ikwerre Road; Warri: 102, Efurun-Sapele Road. Advert: advertproduction@yahoo.com; E-mail: editor@vanguardngr.com, 

news@vanguardngr.com, letters@vanguardngr.com. Website: www.vanguardngr.com (ISSN 0794-652X) Editor: EZE ANABA. Phone: 01-4548355. All correspondence to P.M.B. 1007, Apapa Lagos.

13052019 - NSITF: Kokori, Labour tackle Presidency

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