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18 — Vanguard, THURSDAY, JANUARY 30, 2020 IT is no longer news that Nigerian politicians have very little regard for ideology, morality and integrity. Politics in Nigeria has often been described as a “criminal enterprise” where people with crooked characters and criminal intentions hold sway. The questionable character of Nigerian politicians makes it difficult his defection along with seven other for people who are ready to promote PDP lawmakers to the APC. This brings the noble visions of society to get the total number of APC lawmakers in involved. the house to 18, while the PDP is left So Nigerians were not surprised with eight. when they learnt that nine lawmakers The defections were obviously sequel elected on the platforms of the Peoples to the recent controversial Supreme Democratic Party, PDP, All Progressives Court ruling in which Senator Hope Grand Alliance, APGA and Action Uzodinma of APC, who came fourth at Alliance, AA, had on Tuesday, January the 2019 governorship election in the 21, defected to the All Progressives state, was pronounced as the winner, Congress, APC, in the Imo State House thus displacing the PDP’s Hon. Emeka of Assembly which previously had no Ihedioha who was sworn-in on May 29, APC representation. 2019. As if that was not enough, the Speaker Such an eyesore development has of the Imo House of Assembly, Dr. become a recurring decimal since the Collins Chiji, on Tuesday, January 28, nation returned to democracy in May announced during a plenary session, 1999 when politicians nominated by Imo’s defecting lawmakers various political parties and elected to represent the people do whatever favours their personal interests once they get into office. The saddest part is that they violate Section 68 (1g) of the 1999 Constitution which says the only condition that lawmakers can defect from the parties which nominated and got them elected is if there is factionalisation or their parties go into mergers. This provision means that if lawmakers must defect from their party before the end of their tenure they must first resign their position to allow for a new election and their seat declared vacant. The intendment of the framers of this section of the Constitution is to promote stability in the parties and our democracy at large. Over the years, lawmakers have flagrantly abused this constitutional provision. In spite of the series of legal challenges, most of them go scot-free, thus paving the way for more abuses. We affirm that it is the constitutional right of lawmakers to choose to depart from the parties which got them elected. However, in doing so, the Constitution must be upheld. Where there is no factionalisation or merger as in the cases of PDP, AA and APGA in Imo State, the defecting lawmakers must have their seats declared vacant. They are free to re-contest from their new political party, and if they win, so be it. It is wrong and objectionable for them to remain on their seats as lawmakers representing political parties which did not get them elected into office. It is a rape of our Constitution and unacceptable. Their seats should be declared vacant forthwith. OPINION Bridges we haven’t destroyed 50 years after Biafra By BANJI OJEWALE One should not forget that the war of 1967- 1970 taught everyone, even the victors, a lesson: you cannot massacre a people or destroy their property, even an ethnic minority (without a response)…If you do, they will fight because they have no choice but to fight— Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu (1933- 2011) Biafra war leader. IN both modern and ancient times, we have inspiring annals of nations which emerged from devastating civil wars and grave turmoil and never remained the same again. They destroyed old roads that could tempt them into bigger caves of crisis. Then they embarked upon a long and engaging construction of great bridges that connected their people to a bright and hopeful future. These overhead stretches ensured the society wouldn’t return to the bitter past that gave nothing but anguish and despondency. If we spare ourselves a throwback too deep into the past, we can simply settle for two African nations of contemporary times and prove our point that you don’t come out of a life-threatening storm and still be at the mercy of deadly winds. Rwanda went through a genocidal tide that consumed a third of the population in 1994. A writer says the crisis plunged the land into a “cataclysmic wasteland”. But today the country has been redefined by a united people and selfless leadership building bridges of true reconciliation, reconstruction, rehabilitation and reintegration. Its president, Paul Kagame, has brought forth a new society from ashes to beauty. An observer concludes: “Rwanda is easily the safest, least corrupt, best groomed nation in the region…In other ways the image is a fantasy…” The motto in Rwanda is, ‘never again’. They’ve allowed the harsh winds of war to whip them away from the past into the future. They keep singing, once bitten, forever shy. Go to Ethiopia and you will find the same ashesto-beauty story. After a succession of ‘creeping revolutions’, as the bloody military coups in the Horn of Africa came to be known, Ethiopia fell into the league of the continent’s failing countries. But when visionary leaders lay hold on such circumstances, they sail on the crest of adversarial torrents to turn the tide to favour their people and society. Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has been one such leader. His government has made Ethiopia “overtake Kenya as the economic giant of East Africa”. The International Monetary Fund says the country’s “economy since 2015 has been on an upward trajectory since the government moved to modernise its roads, railway and power plants. They are on cue to have Africa’s biggest hydroelectric dam upon the completion of work on the Grand Ethiopia Renaissance Dam. Even though landlocked, the country continues to make giant strides in trying to industrialise.” It wasn’t a surprise that the country’s PM won the coveted Nobel Peace Prize in 2019, owing to his effort in pulling Ethiopia from an internecine war with Eritrea to peace and thence into full blast postwar reconciliation and development. Now, Nigeria has had its own scorching civil war which ought to have taught us lessons on how to build bridges on which to walk into progress. Hundreds of thousands, millions indeed, lost their souls in the secessionist bid by Biafra. Many more were maimed, while several more incalculable losses were incurred in the conflict. Fifty years after the inferno that nearly brought down our rattletrap structure, we can’t identify any bridge we’ve erected to take us away from the graves of those cut down by the sanguinary conflagration. We’ve been standing at the spot we were in January 1970 when the Biafra War ended. Other nations concluded their hostilities, whether domestic or external, and moved on, improving the lot of their citizens. They didn’t mock the departed as we do when we fail to improve the society they were slain for. Fifty years after Biafra, the wraith of Biafra hasn’t gone home. Every day it threatens us. All what gave birth to this abiku is alive in our politics, in our economy, in our lifestyle, in our home, in our schools. Is it a coincidence that six state governments in the South West of Nigeria are declaring they have no confidence in the security apparatus of the central We must begin to pull down those structures that seem to be taking us down the war alley again administration and that they are pushing for an independent machinery to protect their people? Is it a coincidence that this is taking place in January, the month marking the 50 th anniversary of the end of the Nigerian Civil War? There was this ambience that preceded the war- insecurity, corruption, nepotism, mutual fear among the ‘federating’ units, toxic politics followed by inane military rule, ethnicity, official contempt for the masses, poverty, social discontent, marginalisation of sections of the nation, unchecked violence, dismantling of the principles of federalism for an extenuated and disfigured one, religious extremism, etc. The question is: can we notice that we still have these as our backcloth today, some five decades after the Civil War? Military rule is missing in the murderous mix. But you know Esau’s hands and Jacob’s voice. These are bridges we shouldn’t have retained after the war. When we bulldozed the physical bridges in Send Opinions & Letters to: opinions1234@yahoo.com Biafra land we should have also razed the more dangerous ones threatening Biafrans scores of years after. But we have lacked great leaders to exploit the conflict to go for broke over a radical reordering of Nigeria. Of course, there have been several other missteps in the wake of numerous opportunistic national challenges. Elsewhere, the war would have produced an Abraham Lincoln with a masterly Gettysburg dirge to inspire the mourning folks to look beyond the seeming helplessness and death around them. Surrounded by fallen servicemen and grieving citizens at the dedication of the cemetery for the slain during the American Civil War in 1863, President Abraham Lincoln delivered one of man’s greatest speeches, where he said your duty in crisis was to honour those the crisis had claimed by abolishing what brought about the challenges. He made the point that “in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate-we cannot consecrate-we cannot hallow- this ground…It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us…” In our case, after we mowed down Biafra and all its great promise of giving the Black Race a home-grown technology whose fetuses we saw during the war-a mobile radio station, locally-made rockets with launchers and bombs, improvised refineries, etc., we did not dedicate to the “great task remaining before us”, namely destroying the bridge to Biafra. We have put up more. To honour those who fought for the land, we must begin to pull down those structures that seem to be taking us down the war alley again. Wars, avoidable or unavoidable, are challenges not meant to crush us. They are to guide us into Eldorado as they did for others: Vietnam, South Korea, Rwanda, Ethiopia etc. *Ojewale, a commentator on national issues, wrote from Lagos
Nigeria’s oil, gas earnings up 3% to N5.54trn CURRENCY BUYING SELLING US DOLLAR POUNDS EURO FRANC YEN CFA WAUA RENMINBI RIYAL SDR DANISH RAND $ 102.85 -2.20 $2,728.00 -25.00 $14.51 -0.03 $60.05 0.54 $53.51 0.03 306 306.5 307 398.3202 398.9711 399.4954 336.7224 337.2726 337.8228 313.8462 314.359 314.8718 2.8048 2.8048 2.8139 0.4942 0.5045 0.5142 420.1167 420.8031 421.4896 44.111 44.1836 44.2561 81.5543 81.6876 81.8208 421.0484 421.7365 422.4246 45.0748 45.1485 45.2222 20.9377 20.9719 21.0061 CBN Exchange rate as at 29/01/2020 By Michael Eboh Nigeria’s earnings from the oil and gas sector rose marginally by three percent, year-on-year, to N5.536 trillion 2019 from N5.39 trillion in the 2018 fiscal year. The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) disclosed this in its latest quarterly economic report adding that oil and gas earnings accounted for 54.2 per cent of total federally-collected revenue of N10.21 trillion in 2019. Further analysis showed that the amount the country earned from the oil and gas sector represented 62.06 per cent of the Federal Government’s 2019 budget estimate of N8.92 trillion. According to the apex bank, oil revenue stood at N1.41 trillion in first quarter 2019 (Q1’19) representing 4.1 percent, quarter-on-quarter (q/ q), when compared with N1.47 trillion recorded in the preceding quarter (Q4’18). Oil revenue however dropped by 12.93 per cent, (q/q), to N1.219 trillion in the second quarter of 2019. Oil revenue appreciated slightly by 9.93 per cent, (q/ q), to N1.34 trillion in the third quarter and further rose by 16.4 per cent, (q/q), to N1.56 trillion in the fourth quarter. Giving a further breakdown of components of the country’s earnings from the oil sector, the CBN disclosed that crude oil and gas exports, at N398.64 billion, accounted for 0.07 per cent of total federally-collected revenue, while earnings from petroleum profit tax/royalties stood at N3.529 trillion, accounting for 63.75 per cent of total federally-collected revenue in 2019. By Olasunkanmi Akoni Lagos State Governor, Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu, yesterday, approved the issuance of N100 billion Bond, the third in its series aimed at improving infrastructure in the state. It is the largest bond issuance by any sub-national in Nigeria. Recall, the state government had previously issued bonds under N107.5billion and N167.5billion programmes, respectively. The latest bond, which is already over- subscribed, is under the state’s N500 billion bond issuance programme slated to mature in December 2023. Speaking at the event at the Lagos House, Alausa, Ikeja, Sanwo- Olu, assured residents of judicious use of the bond proceed to improve the state infrastructure, adding that prosperity of the state was paramount to his administration. He said, “We are doing things and it is about prosperity of the state. We made commitment to Lagosians that we will create a greater Lagos. This Bond has helped us to restructure our financial balance sheet. We want to assure Lagosians we will not put their confidence in us to shame. We will ensure Lagosians feel the effect of this intervention in the schools, hospitals and infrastructure we are going to build. “We really appreciate the investing community, whose sustained support of Lagos State continues to spur our resolve to deliver on a Greater Lagos. Our achievement of a very solid outing in terms of the tenure, size and pricing of the Bond, positions Lagos State as very active participant in the development of our domestic capital markets. We remain resolute to upholding our commitment to being the most responsible issuer in the Nigerian markets.” Vanguard, THURSDAY, JANUARY 30, 2020 — 19 Other oil earnings, comprising education tax, customs special levies, federation and non federation and National Information Technology Development Fund (NITF); solid minerals and other mining revenue, stood at N1.609 trillion, representing 29.06 per cent of total earnings in 2019. From left, Lagos Commissioner for Women Affairs & Poverty Alleviation, Mrs. Cecilia Dada; Deputy Country Representative, United Nations (UN Women Nigeria), Mr. Lansana Wonneh and Tokunbo Abiru, Managing Director/CEO, Polaris Bank at the official launch of HeForShe, a UN Women Gender Equality Campaign in Lagos where the Polaris Bank CEO was appointed a UN Gender Equality Champion (GEC). Sanwo-Olu approves N100bn infrastructure devt bond While appreciating the support of the issuance Houses, the Commissioner for Finance, Lagos State, Dr. Rabiu Olowo, said the Bond which is at 12.25 per cent, is the largest Bond issuance by any sub-national in Nigeria. “We acknowledge the unwavering support of investors to the significant growth witnessed by Lagos State, given that the monies raised through our Bonds are being committed to the development of physical and social infrastructure, for the benefit of us all. ’Our partners, especially the issuing houses led by Chapel Hill Denham, have worked tirelessly with us to deliver another successful outcome on this landmark transaction. NSE creates platform for SMEs to access funds in capital market By Peter Egwuatu The Nigerian Stock Exchange, NSE yesterday created a platform for Small Scale Enterprises, SMEs to access long term funds in the Nigerian capital market. The Chief Executive Officer, NSE, Mr. Oscar Onyema stated this while unveiling the NSE Growth Board segment that allows the SMEs to list on the Exchange without much stringent requirements. He said: “This platform is pivotal to our efforts in catering to a segment of the economy that hitherto has been neglected and UBA rewards 100 customers with N10m in ‘Bumper Account’ promo United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc has rewarded 100 customers in the first monthly draw of the ‘UBA Bumper Account’ promo. The bank in a statement said that the ‘UBA Bumper Account’, is a hybrid account, targeted at transforming the lives of its customers. “The new account is in line with the bank’s mission of creating superior value for its stakeholders while encouraging saving cultures among Nigerians. “The account, carefully crafted to improve the lives of the UBA customers, will offer account holders an opportunity to win cash prizes of up to N2 million,” the bank said. Speaking during the launch and monthly draw which was held at the UBA Head Office, in Lagos on Tuesday, the Group Head, Retail Banking, Jude Anele said, the New ‘UBA Bumper Account’ was created with the customer in mind. Anele said, “We have in recent times deepened our focus on the most important aspect of our business – the customers we serve. Hence, our huge investment in technology to make banking easier and seamless, even as we introduce new offerings such as this Bumper Account, that will deliver improved value to stakeholders. He explained that new and existing customers of the bank need to ensure they have a minimum deposit of N5,000 in their UBA Bumper Account to qualify for draws. According to him, current UBA customers are to dial *919*20*1# to migrate to the UBA Bumper Account whilst potential customers should dial *919*20# if interested in opening a UBA Bumper Account. In the first draw which was held live during the official launch in Lagos today, a total of 100 customers emerged winners as the Bumper to Bumper Crooner, Wande Coal serenaded guests with his famous hit songs to the delight of all present. “A total of 100 customers emerged winners at the live draws which took place here today, and as you have seen, some of our customers here present were part of the lucky ones who won N100,000 each. From here on, lucky customers will win from N10,000 to N2 million each in the monthly, quarterly and targeted draws,” Anele stated. perceived as a high risk and low reward venture by most service providers especially in relation to access to capital from financial institutions. The traditional role of the Exchange as an enabler of capital flow from areas of surplus to deficit holds good promise for its capability to support SMEs, as access to capital is the prime challenge faced by companies that are active in the SME sector.” He said: “Without a doubt, the SME space remains critical to the growth of the economy. According to the Nigeria Bureau of Statistics, SMEs in Nigeria have contributed about 48 percent of the national GDP in the last five years. This segment of the economy also accounts for 96 percent of operational businesses and 84 percent of employment. With a total number of about 41.5 million enterprises, the SME segment accounts for nearly 90 percent of companies operating in the manufacturing sector and 50 percent of industrial jobs. Continuing he said: “In line with the Exchange’s focus and drive to deepen the Nigerian capital market and its support for Start Ups and Small and Medium Enterprises, I am pleased to unveil to you today the Nigerian Stock Exchange - Growth Board.
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