29092020 - Anger as labour leaders abort strike, mass protest

N2.67bn 

school feeding 

funds found in 

private account 

— ICPC 8 

SEX-TOY SHOP SAGA: 

Abuja court slams 

N50m fine on 

senator for 

6 

assaulting woman 

8 

Buhari seeks 

stronger 

collaboration to 

end corruption 

DEREGULATION: 7 

NNPC paid itself 

N1.53trn subsidy 

for petrol in 3 years 

— REPORT 

PoS, mobile transactions decline as experts blame banks 19 

VOL. 27: NO. 64168 TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 2020 

Anger as labour leaders 

abort strike, mass protest 5 

•Labour sold out – Group •Ex-NHRC chairman, Odinkalu blasts Labour •JAF disowns Labour •NLC, TUC 

officials fault suspension •A colossal disappointment, say Kogi workers •We’re surprised, by Kwara workers 

•Ibadan residents protest suspension •Labour leaders protest strike suspension in Edo •‘FG’ll incur IMF, 

World Bank’s wrath, if...’ •Labour has long been very patient with this govt – Esele, ex-TUC president 

ABORTED STRIKE... 

Mr & Mrs 

Protests and security siege in Ibadan (TOP), Calabar (ABOVE) and Lagos (RIGHT) over the failed nationwide strike called by 

Labour, yesterday. Photos: Dare Fasube, Ikechukwu Uche and Bunmi Azeez. 

FG lobbies NASS for 

urgent passage of PIB 

COLUMNISTS ODUMAKIN 16 OZEKHOME 17 

8 

FG to build walls round 

River Kaduna, sympathises 

with flood victims 

14 

TENIOLA 

18 

8 

See 

inside

2 — Vanguard, TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 2020


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Vanguard, TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 2020 — 5 

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JONATHAN BRIEFS BUHARI ON MALI—President Muhammadu Buhari 

welcomes former President Goodluck Jonathan as he receives update on Mali 

crisis from the ECOWAS Special Envoy in State House, Abuja, yesterday. 

State House photo. 


abort strike, mass protest 

By Victor Young, 

Demola Akinyemi, 

Perez Brisibe & 

Boluwaji Obahopo 

LAGOS — Anger and 

disappointment by 

workers and the 

public yesterday trailed 

Organised Labour’s 

suspension of the proposed 

general strike and mass 

protest against the 

recent hike in the pump 

price of petrol and 

electricity tariff by the 

Federal Government. 

Most Nigerians had 

gone to bed prepared 

that the strike, scheduled 

to start off at midnight 

yesterday, would be in 

full swing by daybreak. 

But this was not to be as 

labour leaders reached a 

compromise with 

government even before 

the strike commenced. 

From Lagos to Oyo, 

Benin to Kogi and other 

states, the general 

feeling of workers and 

other Nigerians was that 

of betrayal by labour 

leaders who had in the 

last three weeks insisted 

that nothing would stop 

the strike and mass 

protest from holding, if 

government failed to 

reverse the hikes. 

Pro-labour civil society 

organizations, CSOs, 

under the umbrella of 

Joint Action Front, JAF, 

some state councils of 

Nigeria Labour 

Congress, NLC, and 

Trade Union Congress of 

Nigeria, TUC, also 

rejected the suspension 

of the strike. 

Similarly, some 

national officials of both 

the NLC and TUC, who 

spoke to Vanguard, 

expressed disgust over 

the suspension without 

recourse to the organs of 

the two labour centres that 

gave the ultimatum for the 

strike. 

The resolutions 

that made NLC 

suspend 

nationwide strike 

The resolutions 

reached by both sides at 

the meeting include: 

•A fund to be accessed 

by 240,000 workers 

under the NLC and TUC 

for use in agricultural 

ventures through the 

Central Bank of Nigeria 

and the ministry of 

agriculture 

•No tax on minimum 

wage as a way of 

cushioning the effect of 

the pandemic on the 

lowest vulnerable 

•FG to provide 133 

compressed natural gas 

and liquified petroleum 

gas mass transit buses to 

labour and provide to the 

major cities across the 

country on a scale-up 

basis thereafter to all 

states and local 

governments before 

December 2021. 

•10% of the ongoing 

ministry of housing and 

finance initiative to be 

allocated to Nigerian 

workers through the 

NLC and TUC. 

•Nigerian National 

Petroleum Corporation 

(NNPC) to integrate the 

leadership of Nigeria 

Union of Petroleum and 

Natural Gas Workers 

(NUPENG) and 

Petroleum and Natural 

Gas Senior Staff 

A s s o c i a t i o n 

(PENGASSAN) into an 

already established 

steering committee. 

•NNPC to expedite the 

rehabilitation of the four 

refineries in Port 

Harcourt, Warri and 

Kaduna. 

•Port Harcourt refinery 

to reach 50 percent by 

December 2021 and a 

steering committee to 

determine completion 

date for Warri and 

Kaduna refineries. 

•After rehabilitation, 

NNPC to involve 

PENGASSAN and 

NUPENG in the process 

of establishing the 

operational model of the 

refineries. 

•NNPC to expedite 

work on the build, 

operate and transfer 

framework for the 

pipelines and depots 

network 

for 

transportation and 

distribution of petroleum 

products to match the 

delivery timelines of the 

refineries. 

•FG to facilitate the 

delivery of licensed 

modular and regular 

refineries, involve 

upstream companies in 

petroleum refining and 

establish a financing 

framework in the 

downstream sector. 

•FG to ensure delivery 

of one million CNG/LPG 

AutoGas conversion kits, 

storage skids and 

dispensing units under 

the Nigeria Gas 

Expansion Programme 

by December 2021 for 

cheaper transportation 

and power fuel. 

•A team comprising 

the representatives of 

the NNPC, NUPENG, 

PENGASSAN, Nigeria 

Extractive Industries 

Transparency Initiative 

(NEITI) and 

Infrastructure 

Concession Regulatory 

Commission (ICRC), will 

be established to 

monitor the progress of 

the rehabilitation of the 

refineries and the 

pipelines/strategic 

depots network and 

advice the steering 

committee. 

•FG, labour unions to 

set up a technical 

committee to examine 

the justification for a new 

cost-reflective tariff 

introduced by the NERC, 

advise FG on the issues 

that have hindered the 

deployment of the six 

million meters, examine 

the tariffs imposed by 

DisCos in comparison to 

NERC’s order and 

examine the NERC act 

with a view of expanding 

its representation to 

include labour 

•Suspension of new 

electricity tariff while the 

committee concludes its 

assignment 

•FG’s 40 percent stake 

in DISCOs should be 

reflected in the 

composition of the board 

of the DISCOs. 

•An all-inclusive and 

independent review of 

the power sector 

operations as provided 

in the privatisation 

MOU will be carried out 

before the end of 2020, 

with labour represented. 

•The moribund 

National Labour 

Advisory Council, 

NLAC, be inaugurated 

before the end of 2020 to 

institutionalise the 

process of dialogue on 

major socio–economic 

and labour matters to 

avoid crisis. 

‘FG’ll incur IMF, World 

Bank’s wrath, if...’ 

Prior to Monday night’s 

meeting, the Federal 

Government had told 

Organized Labour that it 

would incur the wrath of the 

International Monetary 

Fund, IMF, the World 

Bank, and other 

international lending 

institutions to which 

Nigeria is indebted, should 

it reverse the hike in 

electricity tariff and petrol 

Continues on Page 35 

By Bose Adelaja, 

& 

Olayinka Latona 

On FG's plan to spend $1.96bn on Kano-Niger Republic rail line(2) 

Can you leave 

the log in your 

eyes to go and assist 

your friend to remove 

the speck in his eyes? 

This is the exact 

situation with the FG. 

This is a misplaced 

priority and it should 

be dead on arrival 

before they plunge us 

into more debts. 

— D a n i e l 

Nwachukwu, 

Businessman 

The plan by the FG 

to spend $1.96bn on 

Kano - Niger Republic 

rail line is a wrong idea 

and a movement in the 

wrong direction in the 

sense that the Covid-19 

pandemic has adversely 

affected our economy. All 

we need is to ameliorate 

the sufferings of 

Nigerians, not adding to 

it. 

— O l a k u n l e 

Odeseyitan, 

Businessman 

I 

think the Federal 

Government has 

denied it. They, 

however, said the rail 

line will stop at the 

N i g e r 

Republic border with 

Nigeria. I laugh 

because I don't know 

who is deceiving who 

here. 

This is a highly 

misplaced priority, 

period! 

—Osoba Adeniyi, 

Businessman 

The UN COMTRADE 

database shows that 

our exports to Niger was 

$111.12m in 2018. 

Considering the approval for 

the establishment of a 

refinery in Katsina with hope 

of sourcing crude from Niger 

Republic which will use 

Nigeria and its ports for its 

annual $1.15bn import, I 

believe the FG is positioning 

Nigeria to take advantage of 

the AfCFTA agreement so the 

rail line will benefit us in the 

long run. 

—Jude Oseh, 

Youth Advocate 

I 

feel the FG plans 

to borrow this huge 

sum it plans to spend 

on Kano – Niger 

Republic rail line. This 

is not the right thing to 

do at the moment. The 

amount of money when 

exchanged to Naira is 

almost N800bn; that 

can do a lot to our 

economy. 

—Ogunkunle 

Emmanuel, 

Content Hub Creator 

If we clamour for a boost in 

the economy, easy 

transportation between Nigeria 

and neighbouring countries is 

a necessity. This project is from 

Kano to Niger Republic border. 

Nigeria is not building a rail for 

Niger Republic as widely 

misconceived. I will advise the 

FG to look into pressing issues 

that have direct and immediate 

implications on Nigerians like 

the hike in electricity tariff and 

pump price of petrol. 

—Olalekan Omowonuola, 

Researcher

6— Vanguard, TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 2020 

Air task force 

kills scores of 

terrorists in 

Borno 

IN continuation of the sustained 

offensive against terrorist 

elements in the North East zone of 

the country under subsidiary 

Operation Hail Storm 2, the Air Task 

Force of Operation Lafiya Dole has 

eliminated several terrorists and 

destroyed their structures, including 

logistics facilities, at Arina Woje, 

Warshale and Valangide in Borno 

State. 

A statement by Major-General 

John Enenche, Coordinator, 

Defence Media Operations, said: 

“The air strikes were executed on 

26 September 2020 following 

credible human intelligence reports 

as well as confirmatory Intelligence, 

Surveillance and Reconnaissance 

(ISR) missions indicating a 

resurgence of terrorists’ activities at 

the three locations. 

Enenche explained: “At Arina 

Woje in Marte Local Government 

Area, where Islamic State of West 

Africa Province, ISWAP, elements 

were confirmed to be hibernating, 

the identified targets were attacked 

by Nigerian Air Force, NAF, fighter 

jets and helicopter gunships, 

resulting in the destruction of some 

structures and the neutralisation of 

several terrorists. 

“In the same vein, terrorist 

elements responsible for recent 

attacks in the Dikwa general area 

were tracked to Warshale and taken 

out as the NAF attack aircraft took 

turns in engaging the settlement." 

Provide robust 

protection for 

Zulum, security 

expert urges FG 

By Evelyn Usman 

THE Federal Government has 

been urged to provide robust 

protection for Governor Babagana 

Zulum of Borno State, as part of 

measures to prevent deaths and to 

forestall future attacks on him by 

terrorists. 

Reacting to the latest attack on 

Zulum’s convoy near Baga, 

President of the Association of 

Industrial Security and Safety 

Operators of Nigeria, AISSON Dr 

Ona Ekhomu, yesterday, in Lagos, 

said the incessant attacks on Zulum 

by members of the Boko Haram sect 

portrayed a negative assumption on 

the security architecture of the state 

in particular and the country in 

general. 

Ekhomu in a statement signed by 

his Personal Assistant, Tope Adesuyi, 

called for the need to strengthen the 

governor’s convoy whenever he 

was travelling to high risk areas such 

as the northern Borno, as well as 

vetting people who had access to 

his schedule. 

He said: “There is need for robust 

protectional intelligence including 

technical intelligence to learn about 

plots against the governor. All 

indications were that someone gave 

information about the governor’s 

itinerary to the enemy. 

"The ferocity of the line ambush 

and the high number of military, law 

enforcement and vigilante 

personnel deaths shows that the 

terrorists believed that the governor 

was in the convoy." 

Sex-toy shop saga: Abuja court slams N50m 

fine on senator for assaulting woman 

A 

High Court sitting Abuja, the 

Federal Capital Territory, FCT, 

has ordered Elisha Abbo, Senator 

representing Adamawa North, to 

pay N50 million as compensation 

to Osimibibra Warmate for assault. 

Recall, in 2019, the police 

arraigned Abbo before a 

magistrate's court in Zuba on a onecount 

charge for assaulting 

Warmate at a sex toy shop in Abuja. 

Despite a video evidence of the 

incident, Magistrate Abdullahi 

Ilelah upheld the no-case 

submission filed by the lawmaker 

and dismissed the case. 

However, Warmate proceeded to 

file a fundamental rights suit 

marked CV/2393/19 before the FCT 

high court. 

According to Premium Times, 

delivering judgment, yesterday, the 

judge found Abbo guilty and 

ordered him to pay N50 million to 

the complainant. 

Lugard Tare-Otu and Nelson 

who identified themselves as 

Warmate’s lawyers confirmed the 

court’s verdict on Twitter. 

Police nab couple, two others for 

possessing human skull 

By Esther Onyegbula 

OPERATIVES attached to 

Ogun State Police 

Command have arrested four 

persons for unlawful 

possession of human skull. 

The suspects, identified as 

Muyideen Tolubi, Niyi 

Folorunso, Sonubi Taiwo and 

Remilekun Folorunso were 

arrested on September 24, 

2020, following an information 

from Odogbolu division that 

some people were digging a 

grave with the aim of removing 

corpse who was not in anyway 

related to them. 

Sequel to the report, the 

Divisional Police Officer, 

Odogbolu, Afolabi Yusuf, led 

his detectives to the scene but 

the suspects had already 

removed the head of the 

corpse and left. 

The police later embarked on 

intelligence based 

investigation, which led to the 

arrest of the couple, Niyi and 

Remilekun Folorunso, as well 

as Muyideen Tolubi. 

Confirming the arrest, Police 

Public Relations Officer, Ogun 

State Police Command, 

Abimbola Oyeyemi, said three 

of the suspects confessed to 

committing the crime by 

digging the grave and 

removed the head of the 

corpse. 

They later took detectives to 

Ikenne where the fourth 

person, who asked them to 

bring the head for ritual 

purpose, was apprehended. 

Meanwhile, the 

Commissioner of Police, 

Edward Ajogun, has ordered 

immediate transfer of the 

suspects to the State Criminal 

Investigation and Intelligence 

Department for further 

investigation and prosecution. 

Four feared dead in Anambra road mishap 

By Vincent Ujumadu 

AWKA— FOUR persons 

reportedly lost their lives 

in a motor accident, yesterday, 

at Obosi in Idemili North Local 

Government Area of Anambra 

State. 

The state Sector Commander 

of Federal Road Safety 

Commission, FRSC, Mr. 

Andrew Kumapayi, who 

confirmed the incident 

through the Public Relations 

Officer of the corps, in the 

state, Mr. Kamal Musa, said 

the crash was as a result of 

brake failure and loss of 

control involving a 911 M/ 

Benz with number plate, JJT 

168 XG , a Toyota Camry car 

with number plate FST 122 

DQ and a white Toyota Hiace 

bus belonging to Izuchukwu 

Motors with number plate, 

ABN 430 YN. 

According to Musa, 13 

persons (eight males and five 

females) were involved in the 

crash, adding that two males 

and two females who 

sustained varying degrees of 

injury were rushed to Unity 

The suspects. 

Scene of the accident. 

Hospital, Obosi, by FRSC 

rescue team from Oraifite Unit 

Command, while the corpses 

of the dead ones were 

deposited at the mortuary after 

they were confirmed dead by 

the doctors in the hospital. 

The accident led to chaotic 

traffic situation in the area 

before emergency responders 

subsequently, restored 

normalcy. 

Kumapayi, while 

commiserating with the 

deceased families prayed to 

God to grant them the 

fortitude to bear the loss and 

urged motorists to ensure that 

their vehicles met the 

minimum safety standards 

before putting them on the 

road to avoid undue crashes. 

“Remember that video of a 

Nigerian senator slapping/ 

assaulting a young lady at a shop? 

Well justice was served today with 

the court slamming the sum of 

N50m against the senator. 

‘’I am delighted to have 

represented that young lady in this 

suit. We say no more to oppression,” 

Nelson said. 

Extra-judicial 

killing: How 

hoodlums 

‘hijacked’ our 

officer’s gun to 

kill Ogun panel 

beater 

— Customs 

By James 

Ogunnaike 

ABEOKUTA— The Ogun 

Area 1 Command of Nigeria 

Customs Service, yesterday, 

cleared the air on the death of 

Idowu Moses, who was 

reportedly killed by a stray bullet 

fired by some of its officers on 

Saturday. 

Recall that Moses, a panel beater, 

was hit by stray bullet in his head 

at Oja Odan, Yewa North Local 

Government Area of Ogun State, 

and eventually died on Sunday. 

The Nigeria Customs Service in 

a statement, through its 

spokesperson, Hammed Oloyede, 

said its men from Zone B, Ogun I 

Command, intercepted 18 bags of 

foreign rice from some suspected 

smugglers along Oja-Odan, Egua 

axis. 

He said the officers also seized 

a motorcycle left behind by one of 

the suspected smugglers, who 

absconded after sighting its officers. 

Oloyede narrated: “On their 

way out, our officers were 

ambushed and attacked by a mob, 

armed with dangerous weapons, 

including dane guns, bottles, 

stones and charms, which were 

used to launch a vicious attack on 

our officers and men. 

“One officer, an Assistant 

Superintendent of Customs II, AK 

Usman, was abducted along with 

his rifle by the hoodlums. The team 

immediately called for 

reinforcement of both Customs and 

other security agencies for 

assistance in restoring law and 

order. 

“The reinforcements were timely 

as the Police contingent were able 

to rescue the abducted officer in a 

bush path. 

“Upon his rescue by the Police, 

the abducted officer was found to 

have been beaten to stupor. The 

magazine of his rifle loaded with 

19 rounds of ammunition was 

found empty of the ammunition 

and was damaged. 

“Consequently, a suspect in 

connection to the mayhem that led 

to the ugly incident was arrested 

at the scene and had been 

detained for further 

investigation”. 

While expressing regrets over 

Moses’ death, Oloyede insisted 

that the victim must have been shot 

by the suspected hoodlums. 

He added that “investigation is 

ongoing and the outcome shall be 

made public.”


:Vanguard News 

:@vanguardnews 

:@vanguardnews 

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DEMONSTRATION—From left: INEC's National Commissioners, Mrs. May Agbamuche-Mbu, Dr. 

Mustapha Lecky, and Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, during the demonstration of Electronic 

Voting Machines, EVMs, at the INEC headquarters, by vendors, in Abuja, yesterday. Photo: NAN. 

Deregulation: NNPC paid itself N1.53trn 

as subsidy for petrol in 3yrs 

By Michael Eboh 

ABUJA — The Nigerian 

National Petroleum 

Corporation, NNPC, paid itself 

N1.53 trillion as subsidy 

on Premium Motor Spirit, 

PMS, also known as petrol, 

in three years and six months, 

from January 2017 to June 

2020, according to documents 

obtained yesterday 

from the corporation. 

According to the documents, 

in 2017, 2018 and 

2019, the NNPC paid itself 

N144.53 billion, N730.86 billion 

and N551.22 billion respectively, 

while from January 

to June 2020, it deducted 

N106.992 billion from its total 

remittances as subsidy. 

In 2016, no amount was 

spent on subsidy, while in 

2015, the government had 

paid N306.917 billion to oil 

marketers and the NNPC as 

subsidy. 

The NNPC called the payments 

under recovery, another 

name for subsidy, and deducted 

it from the proceeds of 

its domestic crude oil sales, 

before making remittances to 

the Federation Account. 

To ensure it does not go contrary 

to the law, the NNPC 

coined the term ‘under recovery’, 

because subsidy was not 

appropriated for in the budgets 

of the affected years. 

In addition to the amount it 

said it incurred as under recovery, 

Group Managing Director 

of the NNPC, Mallam 

Mele Kyari, in a statement by 

the corporation in Abuja, stated 

that government spent 

N2.13 trillion from 2016 to 

2019, as subsidy on foreign 

exchange for marketers. 

The NNPC became the sole 

importer of petrol in Nigeria 

in 2016, after the Federal 

Government introduced the 

price modulation mechanism, 

which saw the pump 

price of the commodity rise 

to between N143 and N145 

per litre, from N97 per litre. 

Irrespective of the hike in the 

pump price of the product a 

few months after, marketers 

Osinbajo calls for overhaul of tax system 

ABUJA — Vice President 

Yemi Osinbajo has 

called for an overhaul of the 

international tax system to 

tackle the scourge of illicit financial 

flow, IFF, and related 

vices negatively impacting 

progress in developing countries, 

especially in Africa. 

He made the call at the virtual 

press launch of a publication 

by the United Nations 

Conference on Trade and Development, 

UNCTAD, on the 

impact of illicit financial 

flows, IFFs, on African development 

yesterday. “The enormity 

of efforts required to tackle 

illicit financial flows is evident 

in the many dimensions 

the scourge presents itself. 

‘’It manifests through harmful 

tax policies and practices, 

abusive transfer pricing, trade 

mis-pricing and mis-invoicing 

illegal exploitation of natural 

resources as well as official 

corruption, and organized 

crimes. We have to pay 

particular attention to efforts 

to reform the international tax 

system,’’ Osinbajo said. 

On the need for an effective 

reform of the system, the Vice 

President said: ‘’The commercial 

form of illicit financial 

flows, especially tax evasion 

and aggressive tax avoidance, 

accounts for up to 65 per cent 

of illicit financial flows. 

‘’This means that we must 

pay particular attention to 

these issues which are aided 

by things such as tax treaties, 

tax havens, and financial secrecy 

jurisdictions and, indeed, 

tax competition which 

leads to a ‘race to the bottom’ 

in terms of tax rates among 

developing countries.” 

Calling for an urgent global 

action, Osinbajo said leaders 

of destination countries of 

illicit funds and their proceeds 

must demonstrate the will to 

tackle the menace. 

He said: “Another important 

issue that we must pay attention 

to is the identification 

and return of proceeds of illicit 

financial flows back to 

countries of origin as an effective 

deterrent to the scourge 

of illicit financial flows. 

‘’Certainly, exposing those 

involved in practices that facilitate 

illicit financial flows, 

and retrieving proceeds of illicit 

funds are efficacious in 

deterring perpetrators, rebuilding 

the confidence of the 

citizenry, and compensating 

for the damage caused by 

such crimes. 

“I encourage all leaders, 

whose countries are considered 

absolute outliers for illicit 

financial flows, to join 

forces and take the responsibility 

of combating the 

scourge by insisting on the 

repatriation of illicit funds 

and their proceeds. 

“Let me also avail myself of 

this opportunity to call on 

leaders, whose countries are 

the main destinations for illicit 

financial flows, to take 

concrete steps to prevent and 

stop the receipt of illicit funds 

into their countries, and to 

assist in freezing, seizing, and 

returning such funds and its 

proceeds already in their 

countries.” 

On the way forward, the 

Vice President called for cooperation 

and synergy 

among “the private sector, civil 

society, trade unions and 

professional groups to work 

with governments in tackling 

illicit financial flows.” 

His words: “The private sector 

must support our efforts 

by adhering to international 

best practices in their operations 

and by ensuring that 

their tax and trade practices 

comply with local laws while 

professional bodies, including 

those for lawyers, accountants, 

auditors, and bankers 

must observe ethical professional 

standards and hold 

their members to account if 

they abet tax evasion and aggressive 

tax avoidance.” 

While appreciating the immediate 

past President of the 

United Nations General Assembly, 

Prof. Tijjani Muhammad-Bande, 

and Amb. Mona 

Jul of the Economic and Social 

Council, ECOSOC, for 

taking the initiative to establish 

the first global Financial 

Accountability, Transparency 

and Integrity Panel (FACTI 

Panel), Prof. Osinbajo called 

on the United Nations system 

to facilitate the establishment 

of clear rules and enforcement 

mechanisms on all aspects of 

illicit financial flows. 

Making reference to the 

Mbeki report on Illicit Financial 

Flows during an interactive 

session with journalists at 

the event, the Vice President 

called for concerted efforts 

among African leaders and 

cooperation between Africa 

and multilateral organizations 

to end the scourge of Illicit 

Financial Flow from the 

continent. 

backed out of its importation, 

citing difficulties in accessing 

foreign exchange and government’s 

interference in fixing 

the price of the commodity 

below the actual price determined 

by the forces of demand 

and supply. 

A few months after the hike 

in May 2016, the value of 

crude oil in the international 

market soared, while the value 

of Nigeria’s currency, the 

naira, slid to almost N500 to 

the dollar, from about N197 

to the dollar. 

This affected the landing 

cost of petrol, which skyrocketed, 

and in a short while, the 

country, not wanting to hike 

the pump price of the commodity 

again, returned to subsidizing 

the product. The 

NNPC, therefore, resorted to 

deducting the shortfall, that is, 

the difference between the actual 

cost of the product and 

the pump price of the product, 

from its earnings. 

In the statement by the 

NNPC, Kyari stated that concrete 

steps had been taken to 

address the main concerns of 

marketers, especially the issue 

of availability of foreign exchange, 

stressing that the Central 

Bank of Nigeria, CBN, 

had already taken the first step 

of merging all foreign exchange 

windows to have a 

unified exchange rate. 

He said: “It is really not in 

our interest to be the sole importer 

of PMS in the country. 

We have taken definite steps 

to exit the situation. This is a 

definite step taken and the 

details would be communicated 

to stakeholders like Major 

Oil Marketers Association of 

Nigeria, MOMAN; Depots 

and Petroleum Products 

Marketers Association of Nigeria, 

DAPPMAN, Independent 

Petroleum Marketers Association 

of Nigeria, IPMAN, 

and others outside this forum.” 

Kyari added that there are 

plans by the government to 

inject about N2.7 trillion into 

the Nigerian economy to 

stimulate production, stabilise 

the exchange rate and 

cushion the inflationary effect 

of the pump price increase. 

He noted that the Federal 

Government was keen on driving 

the deregulation programme 

to create value for 

the country and ensure that 

Nigerians enjoy the benefits 

of the policy. 

Mali: Jonathan briefs 

Buhari at Aso Rock 

•ECOWAS to deliberate again on 

grey areas 

By Johnbosco 

Agbakwuru 

By Nkiruka Nnorom 

ACCESS Bank Plc in 

partnership with Lagos 

State government, has 

unveiled the Victoria Island 

– Lekki traffic circulation 

project under a Public 

Infrastructure Improvement 

Partnership, PIIP, programme. 

The project, which was 

flagged off on December 

2019, is aimed at addressing 

the volume of traffic 

and eliminating perennial 

flooding issues around the 

Oniru axis. 

Speaking at the Commissioning 

of the project in Lagos, 

Babajide Sanwo-Olu, 

Governor, Lagos State, 

said the most critical challenge 

experienced on daily 

basis by residents/road users 

along the Oniru axis 

was the heavy traffic volume 

and added that with 

the delivery of the project, 

there would be improved 

traffic flow, reduced travel 

time, and elimination of 

perennial flooding issues, 

which is a boost for health 

and socio-economic wellbeing 

of the people. 

Sanwo-Olu said that despite 

the difficult health 

and economic challenges 

occasioned by the COVID 

19 pandemic experienced 

worldwide in the last few 

months, his administration 

remains fully committed to 

bringing economic prosperity 

to Lagosians by developing 

and facilitating 

delivery of world class infrastructure 

to serve as the 

critical development driver 

of a greater Lagos vision. 

“Some of the roads delivered 

under the project are 

Ligali Ayorinde, Muri 

Okunola - Aboyade Cole, 

ABUJA — THE special 

envoy of the Economic 

Community of West African 

States, ECOWAS, to 

Mali and former President 

of Nigeria, Dr. Goodluck 

Jonathan, yesterday briefed 

President Muhammadu Buhari 

at the Presidential Villa, 

Abuja, on the political development 

in Mali. 

This is even as the Heads 

of State and Government of 

ECOWAS at the behest of 

their Chairman, President 

Nana Akufo-Addo of Ghana, 

may meet again with 

President Buhari to to discuss 

outstanding grey areas 

in the Mali political situation. 

Mali has appointed a civilian 

as Interim President, 

who will stay in office for 18 

months, and lead the country 

back to constitutional 

order, after the military had 

taken over power in the 

country. 

That was part of irreducible 

demands by West African 

leaders before sanctions 

imposed on the country 

could be lifted. 

However, according to the 

Special Envoy, the military 

leaders were yet to satisfy 

ECOWAS demand of a full 

civilian as Vice President, 

and what his roles would be 

in government. 

That position is currently 

being held by a serving military 

officer, who was also 

one of the leaders of the takeover. 

In a statement by the presidential 

Spokesman, Femi 

Adesina, President Buhari 

counseled the Special Envoy 

to present a formal report 

to the new ECOWAS 

Chairman, President Nana 

Akufo-Addo of Ghana, “who 

will then write us officially, 

and we then determine the 

next steps.” 

The President said with 

about two-thirds of Mali 

currently under occupation 

by terrorists, “the priority of 

the military should be to secure 

their country,” rather 

than hold on to power. 

Access Bank unveils upgraded 

Victoria Island-Lekki traffic 

circulation project 

Yesufu Abiodun Oniru, Ligali 

Ayorinde/Akinbolagbe/ 

Okene amongst others”, he 

said. 

While appreciating the 

bank for its collaborative 

efforts in delivering the 

project, Sanwo-Olu said 

with the partnership, Access 

Bank has reinforced the 

importance of the Public- 

Private Partnership (PPP) at 

delivering public infrastructure. 

He noted that the government 

is willing to give incentives 

such as tax holidays, 

branding and advertisement 

concession to corporate 

organisations that 

are ready to partner with 

the government. 

In his address, Herbert 

Wigwe, Group Managing 

Director, Access Bank Plc, 

while expressing pleasure 

at the delivery of the project, 

said the bank is driven by 

desire to provide quality 

service, customer relationship 

and community service. 

He added that the bank 

had transformed Oyin 

Jolayemi, and other roads 

around Victoria Island, but 

described the commissioned 

project as the greatest. 

He, thereafter, urged other 

corporate organisations 

to collaborate with Access 

Bank to protect the amount 

of work that the bank has 

put into delivering the 

project. 

Earlier in her welcome 

address, the Special Adviser 

to Governor Sanwo-Olu 

on Works and Infrastructure, 

Aramide Adeyoye, said 

Lagos State would continue 

to partner with the organised 

private sector for sustainable 

road infrastructure 

development.

8 — Vanguard, TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 2020 

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

FG lobbies National Assembly 

for urgent passage of PIB 

•We can’t give time for passage 

— Gbajabiamila 

By Henry Umoru 

A BUJA—THE 

Federal Government, 

yesterday urged Nigerians to 

make effective use of oil, saying it 

would soon become worthless. 

Speaking in Abuja at an 

interactive meeting with the 

leadership of the National 

Assembly, Minister of State for 

Petroleum, Timipre Sylva, 

cautioned that based on a 

forecast in the global oil industry, 

oil would be worthless in the next 

20 years. 

The meeting, presided over by 

the President of the Senate, 

Senator Ahmad Lawan, with the 

Speaker, House of 

Representatives, Femi 

Gbajabiamila and other leaders 

of the National Assembly in 

attendance was aimed at 

discussing the details of a draft 

copy of the Petroleum Industry 

Bill (PIB). 

However, Sylva, who sought 

the cooperation of the National 

Assembly for speedy passage of 

the PIB forwarded to both the 

Senate and the House of 

Representatives, said the 

country needed to quickly pass 

the PIB to make the best of 

investments from the sector 

before 2040 , already forecast for 

50 percent loss of relevance of 

crude oil in global market . 

He said: “It is quite unfortunate 

that since year 2000 when 

attempts were made to come up 

with draft copy of PIB to 2007, 

2009 and 2012 when draft bills 

were submitted to different 

sessions of the National 

Assembly by the executive arm 

of government, we are yet to put 

on ground the required laws for 

effective regulation of the oil 

industry. 

“20 years have been wasted in 

putting the laws in place for a 

sector that has 20 more years of 

full relevance going by forecasts 

already made. Forecasts in oil 

40 coys demonstrate electronic 

voting machines as INEC moves 

towards e-voting 

By Omeiza Ajayi 

A Independent BUJA—THE 

National 

Electoral Commission, INEC, 

has again taken steps to ensure 

full automation of the electoral 

process, saying the move was to 

ensure transparency of the 

process. 

Chairman of the Commission, 

Prof. Mahmood Yakubu disclosed 

this yesterday when 40 

companies in the Information 

and Communication Technology 

sector demonstrated the use of 

their Electronic Voting 

Machines, EVM, before the 

commission. 

The 

demonstrations were done 

behind closed doors. 

Yakubu described the occasion 

as another giant step in the 

commission’s continuous effort to 

deepen electoral integrity in 

Nigeria through the deployment 

of technology. 

He said over the years, the 

commission had been automating 

the critical pillars of the process, 

adding that the biometric 

register of voters has 

industry circles indicate that oil 

will play less and less role in global 

economy. Specifically, by year 

2040, which is 20 years away, 

relevance of oil in global economy 

will reduce by 50 per cent.” 

According to Sylva, the PIB as 

drafted and passed to both 

chambers of the National 

Assembly, if expeditiously 

considered and passed, will serve 

as the foundation of investments, 

adding that one of the central 

aims of the bill is to make Nigeria 

an attractive investment 

destination.” 

In his opening remarks, the 

Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, 

said that though the PIB seemed 

to be jinxed since 2007, the fresh 

effort will surely see the light of 

the day, adding that it is difficult 

to put a time frame on when the 

the jinx would be broken through 

the passage of the bill because 

details of its contents must be 

understood and thoroughness 

applied in its consideration . 

He said: “The essence of this 

meeting between the leadership 

of the National Assembly and 

officials of the Ministry of 

Petroleum and NNPC is to 

discuss the essence and focus of 

the Petroleum Industry Bill that 

has been sent to the National 

Assembly about two weeks ago. 

‘’We announce that the Bill is 

now in the National Assembly, 

even though it is not before the 

National Assembly. By tomorrow 

when the letter of transmission 

is read on the floor of the Senate 

and House of Representatives, 

we will know what is in the Bill. 

“The essence of this meeting 

is for us to understand what is in 

the Bill. That is the essence and 

purpose of the meeting. This is 

just for us to interact with you on 

the content of the Bill so that we 

have some first hand information, 

understanding and idea of what 

is in there. From there the 

interaction will continue with our 

committees for the processing of 

the Bill by the National Assembly 

leading to its eventual passage.” 

continuously been updated. 

“At the moment, the INEC 

register of voters is the largest 

data base of citizens in Nigeria. 

In addition, the combination of 

biometric voters’ cards commonly 

known as the Permanent Voter’s 

Card, PVC, and the Smart Card 

Reader, SCR, have revolutionised 

the accreditation of voters during 

elections. 

‘’More recently, the 

introduction of a number of portals 

has facilitated the seamless 

nomination of candidates for 

elective offices by political parties 

as well as the accreditation of 

observers and the media. 

‘’Most significantly, the 

commission now uploads polling 

unit level results in real-time on 

election day to a portal for public 

view. These are significant 

innovations that have deepened 

the transparency and credibility 

of elections and the electoral 

process in Nigeria,” he said 

According to him, with the 

demonstration of the 

machines, the commission is 

taking yet another decisive step 

towards the full automation of 

the electoral process. 

FAILED ROAD: Bad portion of Berger Yard along Mile 2 - Apapa expressway causing truck and 

tanker accidents and endless traffic gridlock.. Photo: Joe Akintola, Photo Editor. 

Buhari seeks stronger collaboration to end 

corruption 

By Johnbosco 

Agbakwuru 

A BUJA—PRESIDENT 

Muhammadu Buhari 

yesterday sought stronger 

collaboration among the three 

tiers of government to fight 

corruption in the country, saying 

his administration was 

determined to end the menace 

of corruption in all sectors. 

The President stated this in his 

remark at the 2nd National 

Summit on Diminishing 

Corruption, with the theme, 

‘’Together against corruption’’ 

and launch of the National Ethics 

and Integrity Policy at the 

Council Chamber, Presidential 

Villa, Abuja. 

This is even as Senate 

president, Dr. Ahmad Lawan, 

tasked the judiciary to help in the 

fight against corruption by 

ensuring that cases that bordered 

on corrupt practices were 

dispatched expeditiously. 

The event was organised by 

Office of the Secretary to 

Government of the Federation, 

SGF, in collaboration with the 

Independent Corrupt Practices 

and other related offences 

Commission, ICPC, as part of 

activities to mark Nigeria’s 60th 

independence anniversary and 

the 20th anniversary of ICPC. 

In his remark, President Buhari 

called on all Nigerians to join 

government in fighting 

corruption to return the country 

to its good values of honesty and 

integrity. 

He said: “As military Head of 

State, I fought corruption 

headlong and held public officers 

who abused their offices or 

misused public funds to account. 

Furthermore, I introduced the 

War Against Indiscipline, WAI, 

one of which cardinal objectives 

was promotion of our cherished 

culture of ethical conduct, 

integrity and hard work. 

“I recognised in 1984 as I do 

even more now that corruption 

poses a clear danger to Nigeria, 

so we cannot relent in efforts to 

eradicate it from our society. As I 

have often reminded Nigerians, 

If we do not kill corruption, 

corruption will kill Nigeria. 

“In my inaugural speech in 

2015, I affirmed the 

determination of this 

administration to rebuild and 

reform the public service to 

become more effective and 

serviceable. 

“I charged public servants to 

apply themselves with integrity 

to stabilize the system and 

solicited the cooperation of the 

legislative arm to maintain their 

brief of making laws and carrying 

out oversight functions. 

“We must all join hands 

together to fight corruption and 

return to our traditional values of 

honesty and integrity. I hereby 

use the opportunity of this summit 

to launch the National Ethics and 

Integrity Policy as a fresh roadmap 

to return Nigeria to these critical 

national values.” 

The President, who 

underscored the significance of 

setting up ICPC, also called for a 

reform of the s judiciary, to boost 

the fight against corruption. 

“This year marks two significant 

hallmarks in the history of our 

country. A few days from now, we 

will, by the grace of God, be 

celebrating Nigeria’s 60th 

anniversary as an independent 

sovereign nation. 

“This summit also 

commemorates the 20th 

anniversary of the Independent 

Corrupt Practices and other 

related offences Commission, 

ICPC. The commission emerged 

as part of the measures that 

successive administrations in 

Nigeria have put in place over the 

years to fight corruption. 

“In my inaugural speech in 

2015, I called for the reform of the 

judicial system and for the 

judiciary to act with dispatch in 

cases, especially cases on 

corruption, serious financial 

crimes and abuse of office. 

“I believe that it is when the 

three arms and the three levels of 

government work together that 

government will be enabled to 

serve the country. We will also see 

the positive impact of our efforts 

reaching all and sundry across the 

country.’’ 

Meanwhile, in his remarks, the 

Senate president, Ahmad Lawan, 

said the judiciary could help in the 

fight against corruption by 

ensuring that cases on corrupt 

practices were dispatched 

expeditiously. 

Speaking to State House 

correspondents after the Summit 

at the Council Chambers, 

Presidential Villa, Abuja, Lawan 

stressed the need for citizens to 

join in the fight against corruption. 

He also harped on the need for 

all organs of government to work 

together to facilitate fasttrack 

treatment of corruption cases to 

enhance the war on the menace. 

Lawan, who dismissed the 

notion that the present 

administration’s fight against 

corruption had been selective, 

said: “The emphasis is to ensure 

that all hands are on deck. First, 

without the legislature, there 

wouldn’t have been the ICPC. 

‘’In the fourth session of the 

National Assembly, the ICPC bill 

was passed, which was assented 

to by the then President, that 

is to tell you the level of the 

need and imperative for 

togetherness in the fight 

against corruption. 

“When you have a judiciary 

that works to ensure that cases of 

corruption are treated with 

dispatch, you will agree with me 

that that will help in the fight 

against corruption. 

“If a case of corrupt practice or 

alleged corrupt practice will last 

up to four, five, six or ten years or 

so, you’ll know that something is 

wrong and that is giving some 

kind of tacit support to corrupt 

practice. 

“But if there’s always dispatch 

in the treatment of such cases, 

that will expedite action by the 

Judiciary to give support to the 

fight against corruption.'' 

N2.67bn school feeding funds 

found in private accounts — ICPC 

By Johnbosco 

Agbakwuru 

ABUJA—THE Independent 

Corrupt Practices and 

Other Related Offences 

Commission, ICPC, said 

yesterday it uncovered N2.67 

billion in personal accounts, 

being payment made to some 

federal colleges for school feeding 

during lockdown. 

According to the ICPC, the 

money was paid when children 

were not in school. 

Chairman of ICPC, Prof. Bolaji 

Owasanoye, disclosed this in his 

keynote address at the 2nd 

National Summit on Diminishing 

Corruption with the theme: 

“Together Against Corruption 

and Launch of the National Ethics 

and Integrity Policy” at the 

Presidential Villa, Abuja. 

Prof. Owasanoye said N2.5 

billion appropriated by a deceased 

senior civil servant to himself and 

his cronies in the Ministry of Agric 

was also discovered. 

The anti-graft agency listed 

other assets recovered in the 

ministry to include 18 buildings, 

12 business premises and 25 plots 

of land. 

He said under Open Treasury 

Portal review carried out between 

January to August 15, 2020, of 

268 Ministries, Departments and 

Agendas (MDAs), 72 had 

cumulative infractions of N90 

million. 

He said while 33 MDAs 

tendered explanations that N4.1 

billion was transferred to sub- 

TSA, N4.2 billion paid to 

individuals had no satisfactory 

explanations. 

“We observed that transfers to 

sub-TSA was to prevent 

disbursement from being 

monitored. Nevertheless, we 

discovered payments to some 

federal colleges for school feeding 

in the sum of N2.67 billion during 

lockdown when the children were 

not in school, and some of the 

money ended up in personal 

accounts. We have commenced 

investigations into these 

findings,’’ Owasanoye said. 

Tech driven agriculture’ll 

transform Africa — Ighodalo 

CHAIRMAN, Board of 

Directors of Sterling 

Bank Plc, Mr. Asue Ighodalo, 

has identified technology as 

one of core areas that should 

be articulated in the quest to 

transform the agricultural 

sector in Nigeria and on the 

African continent. 

Ighodalo stated this at the 

virtual Agriculture Summit 

Africa (ASA) organised by 

Sterling Bank with the theme: 

Fast Forward Agriculture: 

Exploiting the Next 

Revolution,” held online with 

synchronized broadcast studios 

from Lagos and Abuja. 

According to him, “to be able 

to effectively transform the 

agricultural sector, feed the 

continent’s growing population, 

boost her economies, create 

massive employment for millions 

of its young and not so young 

people as well as absorb the 

shocks of the on-going 

pandemic, the involvement of 

key stakeholders across 

public and private sectors in 

developing the right policies 

to aid the growth of the 

agribusiness value chain 

must increase.”

Sanwo-Olu storms Ondo, rallies monarchs for 

Akeredolu of votes 

By Dayo Johnson 

LAGOS State Gover 

nor and Chairman, 

All Progressives Congress, 

APC, National Campaign 

Council for Ondo State 

Governorship Election, 

Babajide Sanwo-Olu, has 

solicited support for the 

Governor Rotimi Akeredolu, 

in the October 10 poll. 

Sanwo- Olu said this at a 

meeting with traditional 

rulers in lkale areas of the 

state during a campaign 

tour with Akeredolu, the 

APC standard bearer. 

While drumming support 

for the party and its candidate, 

the Lagos governor 

said “he is very optimistic 

that APC will win the poll 

convincingly following the 

achievement of Akeredolu 

during his first term in office.’’ 

“There is no gain saying 

that our candidate has 

done well in his first term 

as governor of Ondo State. 

Without sounding immodest, 

Governor Akeredolu 

will defeat his closest rival 

by more than 30 per cent 

of the ballots. 

“The people of Ondo 

know our party and I dare 

say that we are the only 

party they trust to deliver 

the goods to them. That’s 

exactly what the government 

of Rotimi Akeredolu 

has been doing in the last 

three and half years. 

“When they commissioned 

the Ore flyover I 

wasn’t there but when I got 

there recently I was surprised. 

Lagos State people 

and APC governors in the 

Southwest are solidly behind 

Governor Akeredolu, 

I have come here to campaign 

for my brother based 

on the good work he has 

been doing and we see that 

he deserves another four 

years.” 

Governor Akeredolu 

while addressing the traditional 

rulers said God gave 

him the ability to work in 

the last three years for the 

good people of Ondo. 

Vanguard TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 2020 — 9 

*Says Akeredolu will beat his closest rival with more than 30 per cent 

On the perennial blackout 

in the Southern senatorial 

district, Governor 

Akeredolu promised that 

his administration would 

not relent until electricity 

return fully to the area. 

Speaking on behalf of 

the traditional rulers in 

the area, the Abodi of 

Ikale land, Oba George 

Faduyile, assured that 

Governor Akeredolu has 

no problem as far as people 

of Ikale are concerned 

saying “Come October 10 

our votes are for you”. 

Oba Faduyile said that 

the Akeredolu led government 

has done well in the 

last three years and should 

be re-elected. 

Ondo seaport project is 

enough to re-elect Akeredolu 

— House of Rep 

member 

Meanwhile, a member of 

the House of Representatives, 

Hon Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo 

has said that the reelection 

of Akeredolu will 

lead to approval and take 

off of a sea port that will 

give the state economic 

emancipation. 

Tunji-Ojo who is representing 

Akoko North-East/ 

North-West federal constituency 

of the state said this 

in Akure. 

The Chairman, House of 

Representatives Committee 

on NDDC pointed out 

that the project would also 

secure a brighter future for 

future generations in the 

state. 

The lawmaker said his 

constituents would not forget 

the efforts of the Akeredolu 

administration 

with the construction of 

Oke Alabojuto and ongoing 

dualisation of Ikare- 

Akoko township road. 

He explained that the 

October 10 2020 governorship 

election is not all 

about just re-electing Akeredolu 

but to enhance the 

smooth approval of life 

impacting projects by the 

federal government. 

SECURITY: Ondo will be better than Edo — IGP 

*Meets with Civil Society Situation Room 

By Clifford Ndujihe 

THE Inspector-Gener 

al of Police, IGP Mohammed 

Adamu, has assured 

the nation, and the 

people of Ondo State in 

particular of a peaceful 

governorship election on 

October 10, promising 

that the Police would replicate 

and advance the 

gains recorded by the 

Force and other security 

agencies during the recent 

Edo governorship poll 

The IGP gave the assurance, 

yesterday, when the 

Convener and Co-convener, 

Nigeria Civil Society 

Situation Room, Mr. 

Clement Nwankwo and 

Barr. Esther Uzoma respectively, 

led other representatives 

of Civil Society 

Organizations in Nigeria 

on a courtesy call on him 

at the Force Headquarters, 

We’ve not foreclosed alliance with Mimiko 

— PDP leader * Says Ajayi, a minor irritant on 


THE Peoples Democrat 

ic Party PDP has not 

foreclosed an alliance with 

the immediate past governor 

of Ondo State , Dr Olusegun 

Mimiko of the Zenith 

Labour Party, ZLP, ahead of 

the October 10 governorship 

election. 

A former spokesperson of 

the Atiku Campaign Organisation, 

Segun Sowunmi 

said this during an interview 

with newsmen in 

Akure. 

Sowunmi also lashed the 

governorship candidate of 

the ZLP, Hon Agboola Ajayi 

describing him as “a minor 

irritant on the ballot. 

He said leaders of the party 

are still mounting pressure 

on Mimiko to collapse 

the ZLP structure into PDP 

to dislodge Governor Rotimi 

Akeredolu of the ruling 

*Gov Sanwo-Olu 

the ballot 

All Progressives Congress, 

APC, in the state. 

According to him, Mimiko 

remains a key actor in 

ensuring the collapse of the 

structures of ZLP into PDP, 

saying withdrawing the aspiration 

of ZLP candidate 

to join hands with PDP candidate, 

Eyitayo Jegede, 

would help to oust the APC 

government in the state 

“We are not foreclosing 

alliance with Mimiko, in 

fact we are still on it and we 

have been begging everybody 

that has any voice to 

help us beg Mimiko. Mimiko 

is too precious to PDP. I 

am saying this with every 

sense of responsibility that 

Olusegun Rahman Mimiko 

is too precious to PDP as 

an individual and we will 

continue to beg him to 

come and provide leadership 

and direction.’’ 

*Gov Akeredolu 

“Mimiko is one of the finest 

materials from the 

South-West region in terms 

of intellectual capability 

and I can guarantee you 

that whatever little frayed 

nerves we need to calm, our 

leaders will try hard to calm 

them and I believe that at 

the thirteenth hour, Mimiko 

will sit and choose the 

best from the candidates. 

“We are talking of two 

personalities of Senior Advocates 

of Nigeria in the 

race, men of quality character, 

running neck to neck 

and praying that one of 

them should win, most 

likely we pray Jegede wins, 

and you’re talking about a 

man who at best there is a 

court order that whatever 

he is presenting as certificate 

is a matter for conjecture. 

I believe that every 

contraption after this two 

great parties is just a minor 

irritation on the ballot.’’ 

Abuja. 

Force Public Relations 

Officer, DCP Frank Mba, 

in a statement said members 

of the Nigeria Civil 

Society Situation Room 

were at the Force Headquarters 

to congratulate 

the IGP on the recent reforms 

and achievements of 

the Force, especially the 

new Nigeria Police Act, 

2020 which repeals the Police 

Act Cap. P19, Laws of 

the Federation, 2004 and 

secondly, the recent commendable 

outing in the 

September 19 Edo poll 

and ‘’called for sustainability 

and improvement 

on the Police culture in 

managing elections as was 

evident in Edo State.’’ 

DCP Mba said ‘’the meeting 

availed the Police leadership 

ample opportunity 

to carry out post-election 

analysis and general overview 

of the just concluded 

Edo State Guber Election, 

in addition to getting feedback 

especially from the 

Civil Society Organizations 

(CSOs) and Human 

Rights Community on necessary 

gains to advance 

and observed lapses to correct 

in subsequent elections. 

The IGP, while appreciating 

the CSOs for their 

commendable roles in the 

electioneering processes 

and their invaluable contributions 

toward the passage 

of the Nigeria Police 

Act, 2020, reassured that 

the Force will continue to 

partner with the Independent 

National Electoral 

Commission, INEC, and 

other critical stakeholders 

in election management 

towards ensuring free, fair, 

peaceful and credible elections, 

not only in the Ondo 

Election but also in subsequent 

elections in the country.’’ 

APC, PDP, other youth leaders 

kick against political violence 


YOUTH leaders of the 

17 political parties 

participating in the Ondo 

governorship election on 

October, 10 have been advised 

to preach against 

acts that could ignite political 

violence and bloodbath 

in the state. 

The appeal was made in 

Akure, the Ondo state capital 

during a sensitization 

workshop put together by 

the International Republican 

Institute, IRI, to engage 

youth party leaders 

on the need for peaceful 

electoral process 

Speaking at the workshop, 

the Youth Leader of 

the All Progressives Congress, 

APC, Olutayo Babalayo, 

who lauded the initiative 

emphasized that all 

will be done to prevent 

APC youths from engaging 

in violent acts capable 

of disrupting the electoral 

process. 

The workshop was in 

partnership with the Independent 

National Electoral 

Commission, INEC, and 

Kimpact Development Initiative, 

KDI. 

Risk factors that could 

generate tension and violence 

in the build-up to the 

polls were identified as 

political thuggery, votebuying, 

undue interference 

by party agents were identified 

during the workshop. 

The Youth Leader of the 

People’s Democratic Party, 

PDP, Folorunso Makinde, 

said: “We don’t want our 

members to be thugs because 

we are the future of 

this state and this country.” 

Other participants at the 

workshop also towed the 

same line. 

Earlier, the representative 

of IRI, Sunday Alao, 

and that of KDI, Folashade 

Gbamigboye said 

that the workshop was 

aimed at ensuring parties’ 

youth leaders and agents 

join forces to forestall violence 

in the state ahead of 

the election. 

Folashade said: “We 

have seen previous elections 

in Ondo State being 

marred by violence. In the 

last local government election, 

we saw ballot boxsnatching, 

and thuggery 

among others. We have 

never had a forum where 

youth party agents are 

brought together to discuss 

and brought together 

for peace. 

“So, the aim of the workshop 

is to discuss and proffer 

solution that the stakeholders 

will come up with 

which will be like a peace 

pact among the youth leaders. 

I have nothing 

to hide over 

COVID-19 Fund 

–Akeredolu 


GOVERNOR Rotimi 

Akeredolu of Ondo 

State has denied alleged 

diversion of N700million 

COVlD-19 intervention 

funds received by the state. 

Spokesman of the PDP 

National Campaign Council 

For Ondo Governorship 

Election, Mr. Kola 

Ologbondiyan had challeneged 

Akeredolu to speak 

out on the allegation. 

Responding via his Twitter 

handle, Akeredolu said 

whoever wanted to find any 

information to reach out 

''to @4lowthemoney. We 

already gave them the entire 

bank statement. We are 

not 4th in the World Bank’s 

State Fiscal Transparency 

Accountability and Sustainability 

Index for nothing. 

We have nothing to 

hide. “


By Rotimi 

Ojomoyela 

A DO-EKITI— 

CHAIRMAN, House 

of Representatives’ 

Committee on Federal 

Road Maintenance 

Agency, FERMA, Femi 

Bamisile, has disclosed that 

the Federal Government 

has approved the sum of 

N60 billion for rehabilitation 

of roads across the nation 

in the next dry season. 

Giving hope that the 

deplorable states of roads 

across the country would 

soon change, Bamisile 

said: “I can assure 

Nigerians that there will be 

massive rehabilitation 

across Nigeria soon. A sum 

of N60 billion has been 

earmarked by FERMA for 

LAGOS—PZ Cussons 

Shareholders have 

approved the resolutions to 

authorise their Board of 

Directors to enter into and 

execute, on behalf of the 

company, the sale and 

transfer 

to 

FrieslandCampina Wamco 

Nigeria Plc., a portion of 

land situate within its 

Ikorodu Industrial Estate, 

where NUTRICIMA 

factory conducts its 

business operations. 

The shareholders 

approved the resolutions 

unanimously at their 

Extraordinary General 

Meeting held, Thursday, at 

its Ilupeju premises, in 

:Vanguard 

News 

FERMA to spend N60bn on 

roads nationwide —Lawmaker 

the project. 

“It is N10 billion per 

geopolitical zone. Over N2 

billion is to be spent on 

roads infrastructure in Ekiti 

alone. I want to assure our 

people that they will 

experience total 

transformation of all roads 

across the country.” 

The parliamentarian 

revealed that a sum of 

N700 million would be 

expended on solar power in his 

federal constituency to boost 

power supply in the area and 

improve commercial activities. 

The lawmaker, representing 

Ekiti South Federal 

Constituency II, spoke in Omuo 

Ekiti, headquarters of Ekiti East 

Local government, yesterday, 

during an empowerment 

programme he organised for 500 

widows to mark his 55th birthday. 

Post-COVID-19: Cleric calls for 

people-oriented policies 

By James 

Ogunnaike 

A BEOKUTA— 

BISHOP, Catholic 

Diocese of Abeokuta, Most 

Rev. Dr. Peter Odetoyinbo, 

has advocated for more 

enduring policies that will 

assist Nigerians to cope 

after the COVID-19 

pandemic. 

Odetoyinbo, who made 

the call at a One-Day 

seminar organized by 

Justice Development and 

Peace Movement, JDPM, 

on the effects of coronavirus, 

advocated for people 

oriented welfarist approach 

to cushion the effect of the 

pandemic on the masses. 

He equally called on 

government at all level to 

urgently look into ways to 

salvage the nation’s 

economy from the impacts 

and factors that are likely 

to cripple the economy of 

the country. 

Bishop Odetoyinbo, who 

was represented by the 

Director of Social 

Communications in the 

Diocese, Rev. Fr. 

Gregory Fadele, said 

“contrary to the notion that 

the world is being rebooted, 

the lessons learned from the 

pandemic is that the grace 

of God always abound with 

the saints. 

We've treated over 20,000 

petitions in 20 years —ICPC 

By Shina 

Abubakar 

O Independent SOGBO—THE 

Corrupt 

Practices and Other Related 

offences Commission, ICPC, has 

disclosed that it has treated over 

20,000 petitions since it was 

established 20 years ago. 

This is as the Commission’s 

office in Osogbo presented prizes 

to students who emerged among 

the best five in its National Essay 

competition to mark its 20th 

anniversary. 

Speaking during the 

presentation of prizes at its 

Government Reservation Area 

office in Osogbo, the State 

Commissioner, Baba Alaro 

Shuaib, who spoke on behalf of 

the commission’s Chairman, 

Professor Bolaji Owasanoye, said 

over 5000 of the petitions were 

investigated while over 1000 

cases are at different stages of 

trials in courts across the country. 

During the same period, he 

added that assets worth billions 

of naira have been recovered, 

forfeited and restrained including 

cash, landed property and 

vehicles. 

PZ sells property to WAMCO 

Lagos. 

In his statements to the 

shareholders, the 

Chairman, Chief Kola 

Jamodu, explained that 

the operations of 

NUTRICIMA in some 

respects integrated with 

those of the PZ Cussons 

Nigeria, as land assets, 

used by NUTRICIMA for 

its operations, is owned by 

PZ Cussons Nigeria. 

He briefed the shareholders 

of the benefits derivable from the 

sale of the immovable assets. 

This included an increase in the 

retained earnings of PZ 

Cussons ‘by unlocking value in 

the company’s real property 

assets’. 

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

HAND OVER—From left: Provost, College of Medicine, University of Ibadan, UI, Prof. Olayinka 

Omigbodun; Group Chief Executive, FCMB Group Plc., Ladi Balogun; Founder, FCMB Group, 

Otunba Subomi Balogun; Vice-Chancellor, University of Ibadan, Prof. Idowu Olayinka, and CMD, 

University College Hospital, UCH, Ibadan, Professor Jesse Otegbayo, during the signing of 

Memorandum of Understanding, MoU, and official hand over ceremony of the Otunba Tunwase 

National Pediatrics Centre, Ijebu Ode (financed and constructed by Otunba Balogun), in Ogun 

State, to UI and UCH, at the Otunba's residence, in Lagos. 

18 professors jostle for UI VC post 

By Adesina Wahab & 

Adeola Badru 

Iprofessors, BADAN—EIGHTEEN 

11 of them 

from the University of 

Ibadan, UI, are now in the 

race to become the next vice 

chancellor of the institution, 

Vanguard’s checks have 

revealed. 

Apart from the 11 

applicants from UI, there 

are three from the 

University of Ilorin, one 

each from Obafemi 

Awolowo University, Ile-Ife; 

Federal University of 

Technology, Akure; 

University of Port Harcourt; 

and Ladoke Akintola 

University of Technology, 

Nigeria leadership selection process 

flawed —Senate spokesperson 

By Shina 

Abubakar 

O SOGBO—SENATE 

Spokesperson, 

Senator Ajibola Basiru, has 

described the process of 

electing political leadership 

in the country as flawed, as 

he admitted that morality is 

a necessary virtue lacking 

in the society. 

He said many Third 

World countries are lacking 

quality leadership with 

ability to think outside the 

box to drive development. 

Ajibola disclosed this on 

Monday during a public 

lecture titled: “Leadership 

in a decadent society: 

Treading the solitary road,” 

held inside the 

Olagunsoye Oyinlola 

Auditorium at Osun State 

University, main campus, 

Osogbo, in honour of the 

Vice-Chancellor, Prof 

Labode Popoola’s 60th 

birthday. 

He stressed the need for 

persons of impeccable 

character with adequate 

knowledge to venture into 

politics else the country 

would continue to be led by 

people without vision or 

mission. 

He said though politics is 

•LASU begins selection process 

Ogbomoso. 

The 11 from UI are 

Kayode Adebowale of the 

Department of Chemistry, 

Abideen Aderinto of 

Sociology Department, 

Olusegun Ademowo of the 

Institute of Medical 

Research and Training 

(IMRAT), Ebenezer 

Farombi of Biochemistry, 

and Temitope Alonge of the 

Department of 

Orthopaedics and Trauma. 

Others are Oluwabunmi 

Olapade-Olaopa of the 

Department of Surgery, 

Kolapo Hamzat of 

Physiotherapy, Oladele 

Layiwola of the Institute of 

tough, there is need for those 

in academics to venture into 

it with a view to re-engineer 

it and improve the quality of 

leadership in the country. 

His words: ‘What is lacking 

in the leadership of the third 

world countries is that they 

lack the capacity to think out 

of the box. But Professor 

Popoola has brought 

innovation to administration 

and governance of the Osun 

State University. I must 

congratulate you for being 

able to have the courage to 

Lagos East by-election: My major goal 

is to empower youths, women —Abiru 

By Yinka Ajayi 

LAGOS—LAGOS East 

Senatorial candidate of 

the All Progressives 

Congress, APC, Mr. 

Tokunbo Abiru, has said 

that he would accord youth 

and women empowerment 

a top priority in the 

senatorial district, if elected 

in the October 31 byelection. 

Abiru, former executive 

director of Polaris Bank, 

made the pledge in Ikorodu 

area of the state during a 

town hall meeting with 

African Studies, Clement 

Kolawole of the Department 

of Arts and Social Science 

Education, Babatunde 

Salako of the Department 

of Medicine, and Aderemi 

Raji-Oyelade of English 

Department. 

Applicants from other 

universities include Femi 

Mimiko of the Department 

of International Relations, 

Obafemi Awolowo 

University; the trio of Lateef 

Adeleke, Adebayo Lawal 

and Hassan Saliu are from 

the University of Ilorin. 

Other non-UI applicants 

are Hakeem Fawehinmi of 

the University of Port 

drive the university with 

innovations. 

“The process of 

leadership selection in our 

country is challenged 

particularly the political 

leadership. The process of 

selection, the process of 

attainment of leadership is 

absolutely flawed and that 

is why it is very important 

for us to encourage people 

of goodwill, intellect and 

sagacity, and uncommon 

morality to get engaged in our 

political sphere." 

stalwarts and members of 

the APC in the constituency 

as part of his on-going 

campaign programme. 

He said his candidacy 

came with huge experience 

that would raise the bar of 

representation in Lagos 

East. 

Abiru said: “I have seen 

the energy and industrious 

personality of our youths. I 

have put together a 

comprehensive programme 

that will duly empower 

them to be self-dependent 

and gainfully employed. 

“I won’t take the 

Harcourt; Rasaq Kalilu of 

the Department of Fine & 

Applied Arts, Ladoke 

Akintola University of 

Technology, Ogbomoso; 

and Kayode Onifade of the 

Department of 

Microbiology, Federal 

University of Technology, 

Akure. 

Already, 16 of the 

contestants have presented 

their agenda to the 

university community via 

Zoom (virtual platform) to 

boost their quest for the top 

ivory tower job. 

It was gathered that the 

interview of the 18 VC 

aspirants initially 

scheduled for this week has 

been adjourned till further 

notice. 

Meanwhile, in what could 

be described as a keenly 

contested election for the 

2020/2025 term, Senate 

Representatives on the 

Joint Council/Senate Joint 

Selection Board for the 

appointment of the 13th 

Vice Chancellor of the 

University of Ibadan, Prof. 

Peter Olamakinde 

Olapegba of the 

Department of Psychology 

and his colleague in the 

Department of 

Mathematics, Prof Ezekiel 

Olusola Ayooola, have 

emerged winners. 

aftermath of September 3, 

2020 affirmation and 

endorsement for granted 

because they come with a 

lot of responsibilities and I 

want to let you know that I 

will keep the ideals of the 

party. I have no choice than 

to perform. I don’t have 

reason to under-perform as 

a Senator. 

“I am bringing on 

board quality 

representation because I 

am adequately prepared 

for this role. My 

experience will speak for 

me.”

Vanguard, , TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 2020 — 11 

NEWS HOTLINES: 08052867023, 08052867058 

FESTIVAL: 

From left— 

MD/CEO, 

Sujimoto 

Construction 

Ltd., Sijibomi 

Ogundele, 

with Arolè 

Oodua, the 

Ooni of Ife, 

Oba Adeyeye 

E n i t a n 

Ogunwusi, 

during the 

Olojo Festival 

in Ile Ife, 

Osun State, 

over the 

weekend. 

Lagos financially, economically viable 

—Govt 

....Releases 2019 financial statement 

By Olasunkanmi Akoni 

LAGOS—CONTRARY to the 

publication by BudgIT, a 

public finance analyst, the Lagos 

State Government said it is 

economically and financially 

solid. 

The state Commissioner for 

Finance, Dr. Rabiu Olowo, made 

the assertion in a statement on 

Monday in reaction to BudgIT, 

publication, titled: ‘Ability of 

States to Meet Monthly 

Recurrent Expenditure and Loan 

Repayment Obligations, 2019’, 

which the state Governor, 

Babajide Sanwo-Olu 

administration described as 

“misinformation”. According to 

Olowo, BudgIT has apologized 

for its error in the report. 

According to Olowo, the facts 

are: “Lagos State continues to 

meet all its recurrent and loan 

service obligations and the 

information that was published in 

incorrect, inaccurate and a gross 

distortion of the actual facts. 

“The accurate information that 

ought to have been stated in the 

table published by BudgIT is total 

revenue: N644,762,788,340.04, 

recurrent expenditure and loan 

repayment obligation: 

N554,241,725,038.00, while 

surplus or deficit is 

N90,521,063,302.04. 

“As indicated in Lagos State’s 

published Financial Statements 

(and as extracted above), the 

information in the table published 

by BudgIT should have correctly 

indicated a surplus of N89 

billion. 

“Lagos State Government 

continues to efficiently explore 

options in both the Financial and 

Capital Markets, to extract 

optimal funding solutions, which 

will enhance the administration’s 

ability to deliver on the 

construction, renewal and 

improvement of the deficit in 

social and physical infrastructure 

for the benefit of Lagosians; who 

Nigeria at 60: Lagos cuts ferry fares by 40% 

LAGOS—AS part of activities 

to mark the nation’s 60th 

Independence Anniversary, the Lagos 

State Government, through the Lagos 

Ferry, LAGFERRY, has reduced ferry 

fares by 40 per cent in the state. 

The Managing Director, 

LAGFERRY, Abdoulbaq Balogun, who 

disclosed this at a press conference, 

yesterday, in Lagos, to highlight some of 

the activities lined up for the celebration 

of independence said passengers using 

the Lagos ferries would pay 40 per cent 

of the normal fare, on all the routes. 

Balogun further stated that the events 

were organised to “specially celebrate our 

Independence to showcase our history, 

culture and heritage. 

“Let me once again reiterate the Lagos 

State government’s commitment to 

continue to pay high priority to safety on 

the waterways. 

“At LAGFERRY all passengers on our 

boats are fully insured, the boats are safe 

with strict adherence to all COVID-19 

safety protocols and other safety 

regulations of compulsory wearing of life 

jackets by all passengers before boarding, 

washing of hands, among others.” 

He added there would also be boat 

cruises to landmark places in the state 

such as 'Point of No Return' in Badagry, 

the first storey building in Nigeria, and 

other interesting places. 

He said, “As part of efforts to celebrate 

Nigeria's 60th Diamond Independence 

represent 10 per cent of Nigeria’s 

population. 

“In 2019, Lagos State 

restructured all existing internal 

loan facilities to 14 per cent per 

annum, from between 18 per cent 

and 20 per cent per annum. These 

rates have even more recently 

been re-negotiated to circa 12 per 

cent per annum.” 

Olowo maintained that Lagos 

State is the only State that is not 

reliant on the allocation from the 

Federal Account Allocation 

Committee, with Internally 

Generated Revenues 

representing circa 72 per cent of 

the State’s aggregate revenues to 

enable it address challenges 

faced by mega cities world over. 

“As at August 2020, Lagos State’s 

Internal Revenue Service is doing 

103 per cent above budget, and 

well above 2019 figures, despite 

the COVID-19 pandemic which 

demonstrate the fiscal resilience 

of the Sanwo-Olu’s administration for a 

Greater Lagos, he affirmed. 

Tinubu hails Oyetola at 66, applauds 

achievements 

LAGOS—NATIONAL Leader 

of All Progressives Congress, 

APC, Bola Tinubu has 

commended Osun State 

Governor, Adegboyega Oyetola 

for his giant strides in all sectors 

in the state. 

Tinubu, through his media 

aide, Tunde Rahman, gave the 

commendation on Monday, in a 

congratulatory message released 

in Lagos to Oyetola on the 

occasion of his 66 years 

anniversary. 

According to him: “The welfare 

and wellbeing of the people ought 

Lions club visits children at LUTH 

LAGOS—THE Ikeja Viva 

L’amour Lions Club in District 

404B2 Nigeria, in partnership 

with The Dorcas Cancer Foundation, 

Friday, visited the Children’s Oncology 

Ward at the Lagos University Teaching 

Hospital, LUTH, in Idi-Araba, Lagos, for 

a ‘Hand of Gold’ support group meeting, 

to mark Childhood Cancer Awareness 

Month. 

The meeting, led by Lion Yetunde 

Olowoyeye, with Cynthia Iwu, President 

of the club, Lion Scholatica Onyeyiri, Lion 

Uchenna Chigozie-Okeke, and Lion 

Jane Akinbi, engaged the children and 

their parents in interactive discussions, 

playtime, as well as presentation of gifts 

to those in attendance. 

Anniversary and keeping in line with 

one of the core pillars of Governor 

Babajide Sanwo-Olu’s T.H.E.M.E.S 

Agenda of Transportation and Traffic 

Management, the Lagos State 

Government, through its agency, Lagos 

Ferry Services, LAGFERRY, has lined up 

activities to celebrate the day. 

to be the raison d’etre of any 

government. It should be at the 

core of its very existence, and at 

the heart of democracy itself. 

Democracy must work to create 

and enhance the provision of its 

dividends to the people. 

Osun State government has 

taken this guiding principle as an 

article of faith. That is the way it 

should be. 

“Governor Oyetola has been 

doing just that in the last two 

years. He has demonstrated his 

financial ingenuity and 

administrative expertise. With 

little, the governor has done 

much. 

“He is quietly but effectively 

making the difference in the lives 

of the people of the state. 

"Governor Oyetola’s giant 

strides in all sectors ranging from 

the economy, provision of 

infrastructure and the 

environment to health, security, 

justice and law are particularly 

remarkable." 

Monkey dey work, baboon dey chop! 

Laycon... 

Watch 

out 

ooo! 

O Lord, keep my helpers strong!

12—Vanguard, TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 2020 

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

Uduaghan returns to PDP, says he's 

back to make PDP stronger 

•His return homecoming —Party 

By Festus Ahon, 

Akpokona 

Omafuire, Perez 

Brisibe & Paul 

Olayemi 

A SABA—IMMEDIATE 

past governor of Delta 

State, Dr Emmanuel 

Uduaghan, yesterday, 

returned to Peoples 

Democratic Party, PDP, after 

about two years in All 

Progressives Congress, 

APC. 

Uduaghan formally 

rejoined the PDP after he was 

officially handed the party 

membership card by his Unit 

1, Ward 6 chairman, Kingsley 

Ogio, at his Abigborodo 

community in Warri North 

Local Government Area of the 

state at 12:33 p.m. 

Uduaghan in his facebook 

post, entitled: “I am back 

home,” said, “I am back to 

join forces with other party 

leaders to strengthen our 

party, the largest party in 

Africa, PDP. 

“Having tasted the other 

side, it feels refreshing to be 

back home. Thank you all for 

receiving me back. It feels like 

I never left. God bless you.” 

Addressing the party 

faithful, Uduaghan, after 

receiving his PDP 

membership card, said he 

was back at the party to make 

it stronger, saying: “I just 

stepped out for a few days to 

find out what is happening 

outside there and I had come 

back to strengthen our party, 

the PDP. 

“Today (yesterday), I have 

come to reactivate my 

membership of the party, I 

came to pick up the card that 

I left behind while I was gone. 

I have been hearing that we 

have a few challenges, 

politics is always about 

challenges, whatever 

challenges we have, we shall 

all sit down, put our heads 

together and deal with 

them.” 

Assuring his ward PDP 

members, supporters, party 

leaders in the state, he said: 

“We have the manpower, we 

have the experience, we can 

be in the forefront in Delta 

State, that we shall do. 

“We are going to get what 

belongs to us and that we 

shall do,” saying as a former 

commissioner, Secretary to the 

State Government, and a 

governor in the state, “there 

is very little I don’t know in 

the state.” 

Earlier, ward Chairman, 

Ogio, said Uduaghan was 

never away, adding that 

though he is the party ward 

chairman, he had always 

looked forward to the former 

governor’s return. 

His return 

homecoming 

—Party 

Meanwhile, the state 

chapter of the PDP has 

applauded the decision of 

Uduaghan to return to the 

PDP. 

The party in a statement by 

its Publicity Secretary, Dr 

Ifeanyi Osuoza, described 

the move as timely and a sort 

of homecoming, adding that: 

“We are excited that our 

Why APC lost Edo gov election 

— Oyegun 

By Ozioruva Aliu 

BENIN 

CITY— 

FORMER National 

Chairman of All Progressives 

Congress, APC, Chief John 

Odigie-Oyegun, yesterday, 

broke his silence on the justconcluded 

September 19 

governorship election in Edo 

State, saying his party lost 

because of impunity reigning 

in political parties in Nigeria 

and the imposition of 

candidates. 

Speaking to journalists in 

his Benin City residence, Edo 

State, Odigie-Oyegun said 

he did not campaign for the 

party because his conscience 

was against the way the party 

was being run without 

following due processes. 

He commended the roles 

played by the Oba of Benin, 

Oba Ewuare II; National 

Peace Committee, NPC, 

headed by former Head of 

State, General Abdulsalami 

Abubakar (retd) and some 

Western countries that 

threatened sanctions against 

election riggers. 

He said: “The greatest 

problem we have in this 

country has been lack of due 

process, impunity, lack of 

respect for our constitution, 

whether within the various 

parties or outside them. 

"To my mind, we have 

regressed as far as party 

politics is concerned because 

we have departed from due 

process, allowing free and 

fair selection processes within 

parties and if parties don’t 

practice democracy, I don’t 

see how they can preach 

democracy to the people of 

this nation. 

“Fortunately, Edo State is 

the heartbeat of the Nigerian 

nation, so this election has 

proved one more time that we 

are truly the heartbeat of the 

Nigerian nation and we hope 

it is something that will be 

copied for future elections in 

this nation. You will find that 

when that happens, court 

cases will be less because 

there will be much fewer 

grounds for such." 

“What happened is 

democracy within the parties 

and impunity within the 

parties, attempts at imposition 

within the parties; these are 

the issues, just let things flow." 

We disconnected C-River water 

board over N177m debt 

—PHED 

By Ike 

Uchechukwu 

CALABAR 

—THE 

management of Port 

Harcourt Electricity 

Distribution Company, 

PHED, yesterday, denied 

allegations by Cross River 

Water Board, CRSWB, that it 

was supplying epileptic 

power in Calabar occasioning 

the water corporation to spend 

N150 million on diesel 

monthly. 

PHED said the 

disconnection of CRSWB 

power supply was because it 

has an outstanding debt of 

N177 million till date as well 

as involved in an illicit 

practice of “meter bypass.” 

It would be recalled that 

former governor is back home. 

Politics is about the people; 

recent political developments 

in Nigeria have also shown 

that power and relevance 

come from the people. 

“The Uduaghan we know 

is not unmindful of this fact, 

this is in addition to the fastchanging 

political 

atmosphere in the country. As 

a political party, we fully 

appreciate the fact that his 

return journey back home 

may also not be unconnected 

with the desire to be reunited 

with his friends, political 

soulmates and supporters." 

CROWNED: High Chief William Atete, the most senior Unugbrogodo 

of Idjerhe Kingdom (right) crowning HRM (King) Monday Obukowho 

Whiskey Udurhie I, as the Ovie of Idjerhe kingdom at the Oguedion Hall 

in Idjerhe as other Inugbrogodos look on. 

the management of CRSWB 

had earlier disclosed that it 

spends N150 million 

monthly on diesel due to 

arratic power supply by 

PHED. 

A statement by Manager, 

Corporate Communications, 

PHED, Mr John Onyi, 

yesterday, said CRWB has an 

outstanding debt of N177, 

730,978.52 as at date. On 

January 24, 2020, the agency 

was disconnected for nonadherence 

to payment plan 

as agreed in a series of 

meetings held with its 

management. 

“The above action attracted 

media outrage orchestrated 

by the agency aimed at 

incurring public sympathy, 

hence a meeting was held 

arising from its outcry and a 

temporary reconnection was 

effected thereafter." 

NDDC: Group slams Gbaja, 

Lawan over alleged inaction 

against corrupt officials 

By Tordue 

Salem 

ABUJA —A civil society 

organisation, Act for 

Positive Transformation 

Initiative, has lambasted the 

leadership of the National 

Assembly over alleged 

indifference to allegations of 

graft against the Interim 

Management Committee, 

IMC, of Niger Delta 

Development Commission, 

NDDC. 

The group in separate 

letters, addressed to the 

Senate President and the 

House of Representatives 

Speaker, yesterday, called on 

the legislature to, as a matter 

of urgent public importance, 

take necessary steps to save 

Niger Delta from going into 

developmental oblivion, 

occasioned by alleged 

u n m i t i g a t e d 

mismanagement of funds 

meant to develop the Niger 

Delta region. 

The letters dated 

September 28, 2020, by the 

Head, Directorate of 

Research, Strategy and 

Planning, Mr Kolawole 

Johnson, noted that several 

billions of naira have been 

siphoned from the coffers of 

the commission despite efforts 

by the National Assembly to 

investigate pending 

allegations against the IMC. 

The letter read, “Your 

Excellency, barely one month 

after the alarm was raised, 

new records show that over 

N27 billion was looted 

between June 29 and July 29, 

2020. This fact can be 

confirmed officially from 

relevant agencies of 

government. 

“After the commission's 

many diatribes against the 

institution you lead and an 

open walk-out on your 

investigative committee, Mr 

Speaker, came out openly to 

tactically shield the acting 

MD of the commission, Prof 

Pondei, from interrogation 

after a poorly orchestrated 

fainting drama. 

"While the hearing was 

going on, the management of 

the commission has the 

effrontery to continue the 

looting of the peoples’ 

resources through extrabudgetary 

expenditures. Yet 

the National Assembly has 

looked away as though it is 

acting in connivance with the 

looters. 

NBA president urges lawyers 

to resist temptation to cut 

corners 

By Francis Efe 

WARRI 

—National 

President of Nigerian 

Bar Association, NBA, Mr 

Olukunle Akpata, has urged 

lawyers in the country to 

resist the temptation to cut 

corners in their quest to 

become successful 

practitioners. 

Akpata, who made this call 

in Warri, Delta State when he 

paid an unscheduled visit to 

the NBA Effurun Branch 

monthly meeting, said 

cutting corners would only 

lead to disaster. 

It was a stop-over visit on 

his way from Port Harcourt, 

where he attended the burial 

ceremony of renowned jurist, 

Justice Karibi-Whyte (retd). 

He said: “Whatever you do 

in this life, do not despise your 

humble beginning. You 

should also listen to your 

moral compass wherever you 

are. Some of my friends who 

started this journey together 

with me are no longer in the 

journey. 

“Whatever you do in life, 

don’t follow short cut because 

it will lead you back to where 

you started. Resist any 

temptation to cut corners.” 

He also thanked members 

of the NBA Effurun Branch 

for the support they gave him 

during his election, saying,:“I 

am so grateful for the support 

and I promise you that I will 

not disappoint you, people.” 

Abandoned projects: A’Ibom 

communities send SoS to 

NDDC 

By Harris 

Emanuel 

UYO—Oil producing 

communities in Akwa 

Ibom State have called on 

Niger Delta Development 

Commission, NDDC, to 

expedite actions in 

completing its projects 

abandoned in the state, 

describing as alarming, the 

spate of abandoned projects 

in the state. 

The communities in their 

separate calls, sent Save our 

Soul, SoS, to the commission 

as some of the abandoned 

roads projects were 

becoming death traps, while 

the coastal communities were 

exposed to the danger of 

coastal erosion due to 

abandoned shoreline 

protection projects. 

They noted that some of the 

projects have been abandoned 

for as long as 15 years. 

For instance, a 

comprehensive water project 

in Nduo Ndu Okon Eket 

village in Eket LGA of the 

state awarded in 2017 by 

NDDC to Mangrove Swamp 

Limited to provide portable 

drinking water for the people 

is far from coming true due to 

the none completion of the 

water project, exposing 

community members to water 

borne diseases and other 

health implications. 

In Ikot itak in Ibeno LGA of 

the state, the hopes and 

aspirations of commuting for 

a good motorable road has 

been dashed as the Inua 

Eyet Ikot-Itak Ukpa Okposo 

road and a bridge awarded 

to Movanni Global Services 

Limited and Cadlink 

Associates Consultant are still 

uncompleted after four years.




MEETING: From left—Former Governor of Niger State, Dr. Babangida Aliyu; Governor of Bauchi State, Sen. 

Bala Mohammed; former Deputy President of the Senate, Sen. Ike Ekweremadu; former Minister of Special 

Duties, Tanimu Turaki, SAN, and former Governor of Jigawa State, Alhaji Sule Lamido, when Governor Mohammed 

led members of the PDP 2019 Post-election Review Panel to a closed door meeting with Ekweremadu at his 

Abuja residence, yesterday. 

Lets go back to regional, parliamentary 

system —Mbazulike, Nwodo, ADF 

• Say current system is not working 

By Anayo Okoli, 

Chimaobi Nwaiwu 

& Ikechukwu Odu 

ENUGU—THE First 

Republic Minister of 

Aviation and elder statesman, 

Chief Mbazulike 

Amechi, former national 

chairman of the People's 

Democratic Party, PDP, Dr. 

Okwesilieze Nwodo, have 

called for the return to regional 

system of government 

in Nigeria as a panacea 

for the economic and 

political insecurities in 

the country. 

Also, Igbo elite group, 

Alaigbo Development 

Foundation, ADF, has recommended 

regional system 

of administration as 

the best way forward, saying 

that it will give regions 

comparative advantage 

and propel faster development. 

Mbazulike Amechi 

urged Nigeria to drop the 

unitary system of government 

which he said was 

a creation of the army because 

it was convinient for 

them. 

"Let the country go back 

to the original design 

whereby the states managed 

their own affairs. It's 

easier to control. Let us go 

back to the parliamentary 

system of government 

because this Presidential 

system is not working. 

The unitary system of government 

was the brain 

child of the military because 

it was convinient 

for them.` 

“In the parliamentary 

system, with a mistake of 

a majority vote of one in 

the House of Representatives, 

the Prime Minister 

goes.But this time, it is almost 

impossible to remove 

a non performing President, 

it will be almost impossible 

to remove a non 

performing governor from 

office”, Amechi said. 

He also contended that 

there is so much corruption 

in Nigeria which is 

the reason Presidential 

system of government is 

not working, adding that 

the people expected to 

steer the affairs of the 

country are very corrupt, 

and also making it impossible 

for the fight against 

corruption to succeed. 

"The fight against corruption 

has to start from 

the top. No doubt, the job 

of fighting corruption will 

not be easy because the 

people who are in power 

or in control of things 

are the corrupt people. 

There are the former 

governors who stole their 

states dry finding themselves 

in the Senate and 

wielding power and control 

in the Senate and in 

the country. 

"So, very soon, you will 

have a Senate that is almost 

65% former corrupt 

governors and so, it is 

not going to be easy for 

the man in charge of the 

country. They will circumvent 

any effort he is 

making to fight corruption. 

"Look at what they are 

doing with the former 

Chairman of Economic 

and Financial Crime 

Commission, EFCC, Mr 

Ibrahim Magu. That was 

a man the Senate rejected 

two or three times 

based on the reports 

against him, yet the 

President imposed him 

on the country. He ended 

"Maguing" the country. 

"Yes, everybody has 

seen the way he was exposed, 

that was a lesson 

for Nigerian leaders. 

The Senate had the boldness 

to say we reject this 

man, no we do not want 

him; DSS wrote a report 

against him and exposed 

the man to the 

Senate, that they were 

going not to allow him to 

head EFCC. The government 

insisted on having 

him and his name was 

sent to the Senate again 

and they said that he 

should not be made EFCC 

chairman but the government 

insisted on him. So, 

he did what he did and 

do you blame him? It is 

the government that you 

should blame. 

"This is the only country 

where rats and other animals 

swallow millions of 

Naira and Dollars and it 

is swept under the carpet. 

How can you run a country 

like that? 

“There is injustice and 

marginalization against 

some sections of the country 

particularly the Igbos, 

while some sections of the 

country behave and are 

treated as if only they own 

Nigeria. 

"So, if there will be peace 

in this country, there 

must be equity, because 

what the government is 

doing now is very unfair. 

There is a very powerful 

section of Nigeria, the 

Igbo side of Nigeria, you 

cannot say they do not 

exist but you don't care 

about them. You will never 

have peace because 

their brothers know what 

they are going through 

now. 

"If there will be peace in 

this country, there must be 

an assurance to Ndigbo 

that they belong to this 

country and by this, there 

must be an Igbo President 

of Nigeria, a Nigerian 

President of Igbo extraction. 

"The Igbos on the other 

hand must accept the reality 

that the North has 

the majority population 

and that broken bridges 

between the Igbos and 

the North must be repaired 

if we will have 

anything in this country”, 

Amechi declared. 

Current system 

of governance 

not working 

—Nwodo 

Nwodo, in his view, said 

the crude oil which is the 

mainstay of Nigeria's 

economy was no longer 

sustainable and therefore, 

the need to return 

to the system of government 

which enables each 

region of the country to 

exploit their divergent 

natural resources to develop 

at their own pace. 

Nwodo who was a 

former governor of Enugu 

State also said that 

parliamentary system of 

government would save 

Nigeria from collosal 

wastage of funds during 

elections. 

"In the first republic, 

even though there was a 

Nigerian constitution, 

the federating units had 

their constitutions as 

well. So, the states were 

semi-autonomous and 

independent. Therefore, 

they raised their internally 

generated revenue 

from the resources in 

their regions. They were 

able to meet their regional 

budgets and at the 

same time, contribute a 

quota to the central 

purse of the federal government. 

"They had opportunities 

to partner with foreign 

investors and to exploit 

the natural resources 

within their regions 

and there was no exclusive 

list as such that debarred 

them from venturing 

into any aspect of 

governance and economic 

activity which 

they wanted to do. 

"Today, the reverse is 

completely the situation. 

Here, all funds accruing 

from our natural resources 

are gathered in a central 

purse and now, we 

have one feeding bottle, 

feeding the 36 states and 

the the federal capital 

territory, Abuja. The 

main source of the revenue 

happens to be a single 

economy: oil and gas 

and as the market value 

of the commodities are 

dwindling in the international 

market and with 

coronavirus shutting 

down the world economy, 

that feeding bottle cannot 

go round again. 

"Since the federating 

units have no power to 

utilize the natural resources 

in their states or 

engage in the development 

of key infrastructure 

which can help them 

to develop because of the 

exclusive list of the federal 

government, they 

are all tending towards 

malnutrition. Only six of 

them now are self-sustaining 

without federal 

allocations. 

"So, you can see the 

magnitude of the difference 

between the regional 

government 

which we had in the first 

republic and the states as 

we have them today. The 

current situation is neither 

providing economic 

nor political stability as 

we had it in the first 

republic.That's why a lot 

of people are clamouring 

for the restructuring of 

the country. 

“We need to restructure 

Nigeria into a proper 

federation. We can't be 

having a unitary government 

and call it a federation; 

it is an abnormality. 

In a federation, the 

units agree to survive 

and having survived, 

come together for common 

interest and provide 

for that common interest. 

I think, it is a better arrangement," 

said. 

While talking about different 

milestone 

achievements recorded 

during the first republic, 

Nwodo said: "Let me 

start with the North. 

They had large farmlands 

and because of 

that, they farmed cotton 

which they added value 

to by producing cotton 

materials and exporting 

the cotton raw as well. 

The Northern Region 

also farmed groundnuts 

and because of that, they 

had groundnut pyramids. 

They also exported 

hides and skin from 

their cattle business. 

They made a lot of revenue 

from agriculture 

from which they built the 

Ahmadu Bello University 

and constructed many 

roads across the region. 

"Their revenue was 

largely agrarian. They 

provided healthcare and 

other basic amenities to 

the people of the region. 

They didn't lack anything. 

“Western Nigeria exported 

cocoa and rubber 

and they were the mainstay 

of their economy. 

Because of the rubber, 

some tyre factories such 

as Michelin were set up 

in Lagos and Port Harcourt 

for the production 

of vehicle tyres and other 

components. The region 

made their money 

from that. 

"The first television station 

in Africa was built in 

Ibadan from that revenue. 

They built the University 

of Ibadan and 

good road network from 

the revenue. They provided 

basic amenities 

and gave free education 

to their people, from primary 

up to university 

level from the revenue. 

There is no state in Nigeria 

that is doing that 

now. 

"If you come to Eastern 

Nigeria, we depended 

mainly on palm produce. 

From the revenue, we 

built the first university 

in Nigeria, the University 

of Nigeria, Nsukka. 

The East had the biggest 

network of roads in the 

whole of West Africa; we 

had electricity generated 

from coal in the region; 

coal was equally mined 

and exported for foreign 

exchange. Indeed, Eastern 

Region was the fastest 

growing economy in 

the world under Michael 

Okpara. We built the 

first iron and steel industry 

in Nigeria at Emene 

and we had our television. 

In fact, when I was 

growing up, I didn't 

know anything like 

blackout because of the 

quality of electricity we 

enjoyed in those days 

"These regions survived 

very well on their 

own and were favourably 

competing to outperform 

one another. We 

have really lost it with 

the system we are operating." 

On the need for parliamentary 

system of government, 

he said: "I am 

one of those who want us 

to go back to the parliamentary 

system of government. 

The amount of 

money we are spending 

to elect our political office 

holders is colossal. 

"In parliamentary system, 

you become the premier 

of your region or 

the prime minister of the 

country by winning election 

in your region; not 

in the whole federation. 

You become prime minister 

because you are the 

leader of your party and 

you appoint ministers 

from those who had won 

elections in their constituencies. 

"You can imagine the 

amount of money it costs 

a member of the House 

of Assembly to contest 

election in his constituency 

and then he becomes 

the governor of a 

state, compare to what 

somebody spends under 

the system we operate 

now to be governor." 

Also yesterday, ADF 

through its spokesman, 

Abi Onyike said that in 

the regional system of 

administration, regions 

would cash on what they 

have and develop at 

their place. 

He cited the First Republic 

when the Eastern 

Region leveraged on 

comparative advantage 

in palm oil and agriculture 

to develop.




Creation of chiefdoms: Channel 

your grievances appropriately, 

Ishaku tells antagonists 

By Femi Bolaji 

J 

A L I N G O — 

GOVERNOR Darius 

Ishaku of Taraba State has 

advised those unhappy with 

the creation of new chiefdoms 

in the state to channel their 

grievances through the 

appropriate channels. 

Ishaku, who spoke when he 

received a delegation of Ndola 

People Worldwide yesterday 

that he embarked on the 

creation of new chiefdoms to 

fast track development across 

the state. 

The governor spoke against 

the backdrop of complaints in 

some quarters over the 

exercise. 

He, however, urged those 

aggrieved with the 

development to channel their 

complaints appropriately 

which, according to him, will 

be addressed if found to be 

genuine. 

Ishaku further promised 

the Ndola people that he 

would continue to assist 

Ngada Special Development 

Area with infrastructure and 

other amenities. 

Earlier, the Coordinator of 

the Special Development 

Area, Joseph Nagombe, 

who led the delegation to the 

governor thanked Ishaku for 

giving them a sense of 

belonging. 

Vanguard reports that the 

Ndola People, who are 

domiciled in Ngada Special 

Development Area, were 

discovered by the wife of the 

governor, Anna Ishaku, and was 

created in September 2016. 

Buratai present new Innoson Hilux 

vans to 16 Army Warrant Officers 

By Kingsley Omonobi 

ABUJA—THE 

Chief 

of Army Staff, Lt. General 

Tukur Buratai, yesterday 

presented keys of brand new 

Innoson Motor Hilux vans to 16 

recently promoted Army Warrant 

Officers drawn from the Defence 

headquarters, Army 

headquarters, Division and Corps 

headquarters. 

Speaking during the 

presentation of the vehicles, the 

COAS, who was represented by 

the Chief of Policy and Plans, 

Army, Lt. Gen Lamidi Adeosun, 

noted that the vehicles were 

meant to provide enablement for 

the Army Warrant Officers to do 

their work 

While stating that the 

presentation of the vehicles was 

in compliance with the 

harmonized terms and conditions 

of service of the armed forces, the 

Army chief said: “If he, COAS, 

didn’t provide these vehicles, he 

would have had valid reasons. 

We are at war. 

‘’We need more equipment, 

more logistics requirements yet 

he deemed it important to abide 

by provision of these vehicles.” 

17,000 communities submerged 

by flood in Niger — SSG 

M 

O K W A — 

SECRETARY to 

the State Government in 

Niger State, Ahmed Matane, 

has said about 17,000 

communities have been affected 

by flood in the state. 

Matane spoke during an onthe-spot 

assessment of the flood 

situation in Mokwa Local 

Government Area of the state. 

Local government areas, 

including Mokwa, Lapai, Edati, 

Lavun, Shiroro, Munya and 

Wushishi, were also submerged 

in floods. 

Matane also said about 60,000 

people in the council have been 

affected by the floods which led 

to the collapse of houses and 

destruction of farmlands. 

He said the state government 

has begun the distribution of 

2,400 bags of assorted grains 

to communities affected in 

Mokwa to cushion the effect 

of the flood. 

The SSG assured the 

people of Muregi, worst hit by 

floods, that government 

would expedite action 

towards relocating them to a 

new area before the end of 

the Abubakar Bello-led 

administration. 

He was accompanied on the 

visit by Abdullahi Gbara and 

Salihu Tama, members of the 

state house of assembly 

representing Lavun and 

Edati constituencies, and 

other government officials. 

In Bauchi, Bala Mohammed, 

the governor, had said at least 25 

people have been killed and 22 

others injured in flooding 

incidents across the state. 

The governor added that over 

5,000 houses and farmlands were 

also destroyed, saying the 

flooding may pose a threat to food 

production in the state. 

LAUNCH: From left; MD/CEO, Cognitio Communications, Sam Osunsoko; former SA to Lagos State Governor 

on Revenue and Taxation, Bola Shodipo; Winner of N1million, Emmanuel Umoga; Deputy Director/Coordinator, 

National Lottery Regulatory Commission, Priscilla Onuzulu; and Managing Director, Humber International, 

Andrew Humber-Osofisan, at the grand launch and cheque presentation of TYLGAMES in Lagos. 

FG sympathises with flood victims, to build 

walls round River Kaduna 

By Ibrahim Hassan 

A Federal BUJA—THE 

Government 

has said help was on the way 

for flood victims in Kaduna, 

following plans to build flood 

walls around River Kaduna to 

protect the people and their 

properties. 

The Acting Director, 

National Water Resources 

Institute, Kaduna, Dr. Martin 

Edufie, who disclosed this 

yesterday, regretted that 

Kaduna had in recent years 

suffered spates of floods, 

leading to loss of lives and 

properties, including houses, 

crops and even farmlands. 

While addressing the ‘2020 

World Rivers Day’ yesterday in 

Kaduna, with the theme: 

‘’Waterways in our 

Communities’’, Edufie said the 

Federal Government’s plan was 

based on yearly study on flood in 

Kaduna State. 

He said: “Very soon, we are 

going to have a flood control 

project in Kaduna. We are going 

to have flood walls on both banks 

of River Kaduna to protect the 

people. 

“This is as a result of our yearly 

study on flood in Kaduna State. 

Every year, we study the flood in 

Kaduna and submit our report to 

our Minister. The Minister has 

taken steps to address the 

challenge. 

‘’People are encroaching on 

flood lane, we need to respect the 

waterways and ensure quality of 

water. Water serves several 

purposes. World River Day 

started in 2005, every fourth 

Sunday of September to 

highlight the importance of 

rivers.’’ 

In his remarks, Kaduna State 

Commissioner for Public Works 

and Infrastructure, Hajiya 

Balaraba Aliyu Inuwa, who was 

represented by the Permanent 

Secretary, Alhaji Bashir Umar 

Lere, on the occasion, said river 

pollution and climate change 

were the challenges facing river 

development. 

“The other major challenge is 

climate change and its pursuant 

effects. Climate change is having 

a multitude of immediate and long 

term impacts on water resources 

across the world. 

“These include flooding, 

drought, sea level rise in 

estuaries, drying up of rivers, poor 

water quality in surface and 

groundwater system. Even here 

in Kaduna, we are experiencing 

excessive rainfall which leads to 

flooding and damage to life and 

Labour issues Kwara govt 14-day strike 

notice over 30,000 minimum wage, others 

By Demola Akinyemi 

I L O R I N — 

ORGANISED labour 

unions in Kwara State under the 

aegis of Joint Kwara State Labour 

Congress (JKLC), yesterday 

issued Kwara state government 

14 days ultimatum to sign the 

N30,000 new minimum wage into 

law or risk industrial action. 

The state government in a 

swift response said in a statement 

by the governor’s Chief Press 

Secretary Rafiu Ajakaye that 

negotiation is ongoing based on 

the existing mutual relationship 

between the government and the 

organized labour unions in the 

state . 

The organised labour gave the 

ultimatum in a resolution at the 

end of its congress signed by the 

state chairmen of Nigeria Labour 

Congress (NLC), Trade Union 

Congress (TUC) and State Joint 

Negotiating Council (JNC), Aliyu 

Issa Ore,Ezekiel Adegoke and 

Saliu Suleiman respectively. 

Labour also accused the state 

property across the city. 

‘’The solution pivots on taking 

urgent action to utilise science 

technology and innovation 

policies relevant to water audit 

and management,” she said. 

In his remarks,the Managing 

government of not remitting 

union dues and third party 

deductions and other sundry 

allegations. 

The resolution reads: “We 

observe that the state 

government after the negotiation 

of the new minimum wage has 

refused to sign the agreement for 

immediate implementation to all 

workers in the state despite our 

several letters to this effect.'' 

Vets seek end to rabies by 2030 

THE 

President, 

Commonwealth 

Veterinary Association (CVA), Dr 

Olatunji Nasir has called on the 

policy makers to work towards 

ending rabies by 2030. 

He said: "It is indeed shameful 

that humanity is still talking 

about rabies in the year 2020 

when it is obvious that rabies kills 

faster than AIDS. 

A press statement released to 

commemorate 2020 World Rabies 

Day, disclosed that the occasion 

began 14 years ago to bring 

Peter Arotiba, AFSS bag Gamaliel 

Onosode award for academic 

excellence 

MR. Seunara Peter 

Arotiba, a graduate of 

Air-force Secondary School 

(AFSS), Ikeja has been awarded 

the Gamaliel Onosode Award for 

Academic Excellence. 

Air-force Secondary School 

(AFSS), Ikeja was also awarded 

the Gamaliel Onosode Award for 

Academic Excellence at a 

ceremony held ín Lagos recently. 

Peter is currently a 200-level 

medicine and surgery student at 

the University of Ibadan and was 

the best student in West Africa in 

the 2018 West African Senior 

School Certificate Examinations 

(WASSCE), recording nine 

distinctions (As) in the 

examination. 

According to the spokesperson 

for the Gamaliel & Susan 

Onosode Foundation, Mrs. Toyin 

Olanrewaju, ''the Gamaliel 

Onosode Award for Academic 

Excellence has rewarded 

exceptional academic 

performance in WASSCE since 

2015 and in remembrance of our 

founder, Mr. Gamaliel Onosode.'' 

The award includes a 

monetary prize for the best 

student and an equipment 

donation to the school. 

Director, Kaduna State Water 

Corporation, Malam Sanusi 

Maikudi, said mankind should 

respect river because it is source 

of employment, food, economic 

activities and recreation. 

“It is time to start dredging 

river to make them navigable 

and improve water 

transportation,” he said. 

“The congress having critically 

analysed the economic 

implication of the present 

situation on the agreed 

minimum wage, therefore 

demands for immediate signing 

and implementation of the 

already agreed minimum wage for 

all categories of workers of the 

state and as review of the 

negotiated minimum wage by 

50% for the state workers. 

together everyone who has been 

involved in the objective of the 

control and eradication of the 

vaccine preventable scourge. 

He said: "Yearly, it has provided 

opportunities to once again 

remind us of the responsibilities 

to our various communities in the 

area of collaboration to eliminate 

rabies." 

The CVA President said this 

year's theme, "End Rabies: 

collaborate, vaccinate," further 

reemphasised the need for the 

different players in the 

community to collaborate and 

vaccinate to end rabies. 

Nasir, who is the first Nigerian 

to lead the association expressed 

optimism that the Office 

International des Epizooties 

(OIE/WHO) proposition to end 

rabies by 2030 is achievable, "if 

we all subscribe to diligently 

pursue the goal and I urge 

everyone concerned to walk and 

work towards this lofty goal in 

order to save humanity from the 

preventable disease." 

He said the CVA is committed 

to the elimination of rabies and 

through OIE reference laboratory 

in Bangalore, India, "we are able 

to support researchers from the 

Commonwealth countries and 

beyond that they are ready to 

contribute their didactic inputs 

into measures that will aid the 

eradication of the disease.''

Vanguard, TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 2020 — 15


•Obaseki 

Edo election and our 

unconstitutional players 

THE September 19 Edo 

gubernatorial polls was not 

just about electing a governor but 

more of stopping a major affliction 

that has put democratic order under 

siege in our county: the rule of 

godfathers . When I called my brother 

and friend who was the symbol of 

that struggle three days after God 

won a big victory for anti-lawless 

movement, he opened my eyes to a 

major dimension of this scourge that 

we have not seriously addressed. 

Said Governor Godwin Obaseki: 

“You know, as a governor, I am 

governed by the Constitution and 

every action I take can be measured 

by the provisions of the Constitution; 

but a godfather is not known to the 

Constitution but operates by his own 

rule”. 

Godfathers have truly established 

unconstitutional order and they 

operate like the mafia. They have 

wrecked states and they are major 

contributors to our poverty index 

.They drill holes into the treasuries 

of states and they are not seen in any 

budget line. They use the fingers of 

others to pull the chestnut from the 

fire. Their myth is sustained by 

manipulation of the system,the 

control of reward system and the use 

of violence when necessary are their 

weapons of warfare all the time. 

Taking control is key for them; that 

is why they don’t allow the system to 

function except according to their 

manipulation. Lamidi Adedibu who 

used to be a godfather in Oyo State 

once made a faux pax when he told 

journalists that he once asked Ladoja 

to give him the lion share of the state 

security votes because “ what 

insecurity can come outside of me 

?”. At the peak of his reign in Oyo 

State, he practically burnt down the 

state the way the Uba brothers did in 

Anambra when they put the state 

under siege. 

The characters who play 

godfathers in Nigeria are mostly 

outlaws with no enervating values 

and it takes people of low esteem to 

put themselves under their whims 

and caprices.I saw a time bomb in 

the waiting from the moment I saw 

Obaseki on the scene. He was suave 

and thoroughly polished and you see 

a God-fearing man in him if you are 

very perceptIve. 

My sympathy was with his 

opponent in 2016 when he first ran. 

I never trusted his cover that time 

right from the time he ran the Labour 

movement and was using the fate of 

workers to cut deals. He became 

governor dealing in sophistry. Like 

a spirit producing holy witness, he 

started his deception with one -manone 

-vote. But you can’t deceive all 

the people all the time.He organised 

a rally in Benin on April 29, 2010 

and invited the Nobel Laureate, Prof 

Wole Soyinka and leading 

“Democrats” in the Action Congress 

to witness the event.They were 

already in the stadium before 

You don’t get men of 

conscience like that in this 

environment ruled by the 

end justifies the means; I 

hope the rest of the 

country takes the 

necessary lessons from 

Edo and make 

godfatherism an 

anathema 

realising that the annuller of June 

12, 1993 presidential election, 

General Ibrahim Babangida, was 

already in the background and 

Senator David Mark who vowed that 

Abiola would only assume his 

mandate over his dead body was to 

play a key role. Soyinka took to his 

heels and the AC leaders followed 

suit before Oshiomhole could fully 

execute his coup.They spoke clearly 

that they could not in good 

conscience be participants at a 

democracy rally that has Gen 

Babangida playing a key role. But 

Oshiomhole defended the invitation, 

saying it was time Nigerians 

shunned exclusion for inclusion 

.Those who still had any illusion in 

the former sweet -talking labour 

leader could not have read him well 

as a “salad man”. 

There was no adjective he did not 

committee together 

which said they 

disqualified Obaseki 

because he lacks 

certificates. I laughed my 

head off because I know 

Mr Mike Orobator who 

was Obaseki's teacher in 

1972 unlike the man who 

wanted to chop his head 

whom we cannot trace his 

teachers. Senator Daisy 

Danjuma once told me 

where he did his youth 

service somewhere in the North 

Central. The only worry was if 

Obaseki would have the testicular 

fortitude to 

engage the 

godfather and rub 

his nose in the 

dust. As this all 

started festering, I 

w a t c h e d 

Obasaeki on 

Channels TV and 

he was saying the 

right things. He 

listed all the good 

things which he 

had started for 

Edo and could not 

afford to walk 

away from. I said 

to myself that if the 

man I declared 

my guy of the year 

for 2019 was 

speaking from the 

heart, he deserved 

all the support in 

whatever decision 

he takes. 

He was to take 

a position that 

would pose a 

challenge to me. 

He was to declare 

for the PDP where 

a man I had 

known when I was 

a little over 20 at 

Ife was a front 

runner for 

governorship. 

K e n n e t h 

Imasuagbon was 

not only my friend 

at Ife but a strong 

pillar of support 

when I ran for 

union leadership, 

which I won. I owe 

him support in his 

endeavours. But 

the Obaseki 

situation was to 

put me in a 

situation where I 

had to plead with 

him to shelve his 

ambition for now. 

use to describe Obaseki 

when he sold him four 

years ago. But that he was 

ready to do to him what 

godfathers are known for 

four years after shows that 

the successor must have 

tried to be a governor 

which godsons don’t have 

the right to be. 

He was going to throw 

him outside the process. 

It was too tedious 

orgainising to defeat him 

at the primaries. The 

godfather put a screening 

I remember I told Pa E.K. Clark 

that I know Kenneth to be so strongwilled, 

but we have to try our best to 

talk to him.When I first broached the 

topic with him I knew it was the 

mutual respect we have for each 

other that made his response not to 

be as fierce as it would have been. I 

followed up on Ben TV where 

Godwin Obaseki was to appear on 

Zoom meeting but sent his brother 

Don Pedro Obaseki.There was hot 

exchanges between Kenneth and 

Don but I poured water 

intermittently . When Kenneth said 

“Godwin will have to defeat me o”,I 

told him strongly that: “You and 

Godwin will not run against each 

other “. The breakthrough came 

when I visited my friend and brother, 

Governor Bello Matawale of 

Zamfara in Abuja. I called Kenneth 

and told him I was with Matawale 

who happens to be his good friend. I 

gave him the phone and they spoke 

lovingly .The Governor said Kenneth 

was the first person he would see in 

Benin and he should not take any 

decision yet. Twenty-four hours after, 

Kenneth and the two other aspirants 

had stepped down for Obaseki. 

Aftermath was the focus on 

September 19 which promised to be 

a serious war. But God took control 

All hail our Labour dealers 

IN A Farewell To 

Arms, the 1929 novel of Ernest 

Hemingway, an authorial question 

came through one of the characters 

on why the masses are not fighting 

for a better deal. The answer he got 

was that it could be because they are 

not organised. The follow-up was 

that even if they get organised,their 

leaders would sell out. 

That has been the tragedy of 

organised labour in Nigeria. Save 

for the Michael Imodus, Hassan 

and it was only a battle between the 

will of the people and the impunity 

of the manipulators. All worked 

together and God won it for Obaseki 

and the Oshiomhole machine was 

beaten silly by Edo people. 

On the eve of the election, Obaseki 

said God should give victory to his 

opponent if his own victotry would 

cost the blood of any Edo man or 

woman. He won with a clear gap 

without the death of any soul. 

The tendency for any man who had 

the kind of support he got was to 

become swollen-headed but not 

Obaseki. In victory, he extended 

hands of fellowship to Oshiomhole, 

indicating that the battle was over, a 

profound statement that God forbids 

that he should nurse the ambition of 

becoming a godfather. The other 

thing he has said that impressed me 

about him after his victory is that it 

would be highly immoral of him to 

use PDP in his time of need and return 

to APC in his victory. You don’t get 

men of conscience like that in this 

environment ruled by the end justifies 

the means. I hope the rest of the 

country takes the necessary lessons 

from Edo and make godfatherism 

an anathema. Congratulations, 

Obaseki. 

Sunmonus and Frank Kokoris, they 

have mostly been led by dealers who 

call action only to call it off once it is 

gathering steam for the deals they 

have cut. 

Now they have moved to the next 

level of just taking their members 

through foreplay and never go 

through the real action. That was the 

symbolism of the latest action on fuel 

price and electricity tariff hikes that 

never took off. All hail our Labour 

dealers. 

C 

M 

Y 

K

Me celebrate Nigeria at 60? Sorry, no!!! 

BY MIKE OZEKHOME 

MANY Nigerians at home and abroad, 

including elder statesmen and women, 

rights activists, NGOs, journalists and social 

media czars, have severally called upon me in 

the last one week to comment on my personal 

feelings about “Nigeria at 60”. I had hitherto 

resisted this invitation, lest I painted a horrifically 

gloomy picture of despondency. However, because 

the questions will not stop cascading 

in like a torrential rainfall, I am now compelled 

to share my honest, but very modest, 

thoughts about Nigeria at 60. I am extremely 

sad about Nigeria at 60.Very, very sad 

indeed.Surely, a 60-year and above old man 

or woman, is already a senior citizen; a 

grandfather, or grandmother. I am one. This 

means such a man or woman has grown; or 

is at least, presumed to have grown, in maturity 

and development. 

But, I am sad that Nigeria, “our own dear 

native land” (words taken from the beautiful 

lyrics of the unfortunately discarded old 

National Anthem), has neither developed 

nor matured. I am sad that she has not even 

been allowed to take full advantage of the 

various constitutions fashioned out by our 

colonial masters and various indigenous 

governments to give her meaningful nationhood, 

after she was named “Nigeria” in 

1897. She was so named by a young British 

journalist, Miss Flora Louisa Shaw, who 

later married Lord Sir Barton Frederick 

Lugard, the Governor – General, who amalgamated 

the Southern and Northern Protectorates 

to found Nigeria, on January 1, 

1914. Flora Shaw(1852-1929), had written 

an essay in the LONDON TIMES on January 

8, 1897, where she suggested the name 

“Nigeria” for the British Protectorate on the 

Niger River. She had coined Nigeria as a 

name, because she desired a shorter name 

for the “agglomeration of Pagan and Mohammedan 

States”, to replace the rather 

lengthy official title of Nigeria, “Royal Niger 

Company Territories”. This name, to 

her, was too long to be used as the name of 

a “Real Estate Property” under the Royal 

Niger Trading Company. She therefore 

coined Nigeria (from “Niger-Area”, in preference 

to such names as “Central Sudan”, 

“Niger Empire”, “Niger Sudan”, etc. I am 

very sad that at the time we were forcibly 

coupled together in the manner described 

above, Nigeria was made up of already independent 

and autonomous nations and 

nationalities. 

Absence of 

social justice 

The entity called Nigeria already had, in 

no particular order, the great Benin Empire, 

Oyo Kingdom, Ife Kingdom, the 

Hausa city States, Kanem-Bornu Empire, 

the Afemais, Ijaws, Urhobos, Itsekiris and 

the Esans. We already had the 

Opobos,Ebiras, Tivs, Idomas, Igalas, 

Gbagyis/Gwaris, Zulus, Fulfudes, Ogonis, 

Efiks, Ibibios andIsokos. There already existed 

the Igedes, Mandaras, Baburs, Beroms, 

Mangus, the Bachamas, Eggons, Andonis, 

Chiboks, Bekwaras, and Atyabas. 

The Shuwas, Kanuris, Bassas, Nupes, Alagos, 

Aokos, Owans, Balis; the Komas, the 

Jukuns, Agatus and the Angas, already lived 

their lives jeje. 

I am, therefore, sad that some new Sherriffs-in-town, 

erroneously believe we must 

live together, willy-nilly, by fire and by force, 

whether we like it or not.It does not matter 

that there is absence of social justice, equity, 

egalitarianism, mutual respect, religious 

and inter-ethnic tolerance. I am sad that 

we never utilized, altruistically, the 1922 

Clifford Constitution, 1946 Arthur Richards 

Constitution, 1951 Macpherson Constitution, 

1954 Littleton Constitution, 1960 Independence 

Constitution, 1963 Republican 

Constitution, 1979 Obasanjo Constitution, 

the 1989 unused IBB Constitution and the 

1999 AbdulsalamiAbubakar Constitution 

(Decree No 24), which has already been serially 

amended and is still currently undergoing 

further amendments. I am sad indeed. 

I am surely sad that Nigeria is still practising, 

at best, “feeding - bottle – democracy”, 

or “come - and- chop – democracy”. I am 

quite sad that of the pluralistic 374 ethnic 

groups in Nigeria (OniguOtite), only three 

to four are given primacy and preferential 

treatment –the Fulanis,Hausas, Yorubas 

and Igbos, in that order. We operate in Nigeria 

as if the other 370 ethnic groups count 

for nothing, or as if they were created by 

God in Nigeria, to be mere clappers, playground 

spectators, bystanders, hewers of 

wood and drawers of water. 

I cannot join Nigeria and Nigerians in 

celebrating our 60th year anniversary of our 

mere “flag independence” that has made 

I cannot join Nigeria and 

Nigerians in celebrating 

our 60th year anniversary 

of our mere “flag independence” 

that has made us 

remain as nothing but an 

ordinary appendage of 

neo-colonial interests 

us remain as nothing but an ordinary appendage 

of neo-colonial interests. I am indeed 

sad because our successive leaders 

have woefully failed the nation, the present 

generation and future generations. I am 

indeed sad that we live by the river, yet wash 

our hands with sputum. I am sad that we 

are blessed with the best natural, human 

and material resources, yet, live in crass 

poverty, abject penury, ignorance and ignoble 

despondency. 

I am quite sad that we grow geometrically 

in population, yet, arithmetically in 

growth and development. Nigeria, by available 

UN data, at mid-2020,ranks number 

7 (2.64 %) in the list of most populated countries 

of the world, with a population of about 

206,139,589 people. I am sad indeed that 

we only operate civilian governments, but 

never democratic governments. I am sad 

that we only practise elections, but not democracy. 

Elections are carried out routinely 

as a mere ritual EVERY four years. 

Nigerian elections do not translate to 

democratic dividends; not even democratic 

profits. I am indeed sad that inspite of all 

government pretentions and propaganda 

to that effect (Hitler ‘s Goebel must be green 

with envy in his cold grave since 1945), Nigeria 

is today, according to latest Transparency 

International, TI , Corruption Perception 

Index, the number 146 out of 180 

countries of the most corrupt countries of 

World. Nigeria unenviably ranks number 

three in West Africa. I am sad that inspite of 

our abundant natural, human, mineral, agricultural 

and crude oil resources, Nigeria, 

once one of the fastest growing economies 

in the world and the richest country in Africa 

(which actually overtook South Africa), 

with over $500 billion rebased economy, 

is today gasping for sheer existence as 

the poverty capital of the world. 

It has since snatched that smelly diadem 

from India. I am sad that Nigeria, once a 

very safe country, where citizens could drive 

out, or walk leisurely in orchards, bush 

paths, dark alleys, forests and highways, 

is today so unsafe that hapless and hopeless 

citizens are mindlessly waylaid, kidnapped, 

robbed, raped, murdered and burnt 

along high ways, footpaths and even in their 

very homes and farms. I am very sad that 

Nigerians (happily before now), were once 

united in religion, ethnicity, marriage, 

sports, hope, aspirations, and common 

goals and objectives. This was because of 

the lyrical rendition of the old National 

Anthemthat “though tribe and tongue may 

differ, in brotherhood we stand”. I am sad 

that today, however, Nigeria is pathetically 

and haemorragingly polarised, divided, disunited 

and dislocated, along primordial 

fault-lines. 

I am very sad that the Nigeria of today 

literally drips with deep mutual suspicion, 

aggression, hatred, animosity, antagonism, 

vitriol, repulsion, cronyism, nepotism, ethnocentrisms, 

tribalism and sectionalism. I 

am quite sad that Nigeria is now ravaged 

by provincialism, protectionism, clanishness, 

cliquism, regionalism, favouritism, 

prebendalism and neo-patrimonialism. I 

am indeed sad that mutual distrust and 

mistrust now reign supreme. I am sad that 

our children are still struggling to obtain, 

literally through agonising ”trial by-ordeal”, 

a mere first degree, at ages 26-32; 

whereas the same Nigeria had, once - upon 

- a – time, in the '50s and '60s, produced 

ministers, military governors and heads of 

state at the same 26 - 32 age bracket. I am 

sad that there are no jobs for the teeming 

millions of Nigerian youths who eventually 

struggle to graduate from our beleaguered 

tertiary institutions. They never find 

gainful employment; whereas in the '50s 

and '60s, local and multinational companies 

waited long hours at the gates of universities 

on graduands’ last days at the university, 

to recruit them immediately. Such 

graduates were automatically given cars, 

houses and placed on handsome living wages 

and mouth - watering perquisites of office. 

I am deeply sad that most of the wellknown 

multinationals that once dotted the 

industrial and business landscapes of Nigeria, 

have either died, or folded up completely; 

or have since been downgraded; or 

they have relocated to small nearby neighbouring 

countries. Some of them however 

exist only as mere museum relics and antiquities 

in the form of administrative office 

carcasses. Some of these olden days 

companies include the UAC, Leventis, Kingsway, 

UTC, Standard Bank, Barclays Bank, 

Lever Brothers (Unilever), PZ, John Holts, 

CFAO, Dunlop, Michelin, Volkswagen, Peugeot 

Automobile, Cadbury, NTC, May and 

Baker, RT Briscoe. 

Political 

brinkmanship 

There were airlines like Okada, Sosoliso, 

Flash , Triax, Nigeria Airways, ADC, Afrijet, 

Albarka, Bellview, Capital, Dasab, Slok, 

EAS , Harco, Harka Oriental, Hamza Air, 

Wings Aviation , Spaceworld, Chrome, New 

Nation, etc, etc. I am sad that no one can 

today show me the once famous Ajaokuta 

Steel Mills, the Itakpe Iron Ore, Delta 

Steel Company, Oshogbo, Jos and Katsina 

Rolling Mills; the famous Northern 

Nigeria Kano groundnut pyramids, cotton, 

hides and skins; the Western Nigeria 

cocoa; the Eastern Nigeria palm oil produce; 

the Midwestern Nigeria rubber and 

timber produce, Okpella Cement Factory, 

Ughelli Glass Industries, etc, etc. 

I am indeed very sad that our leaders 

Vanguard, TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 2020 —17 

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opinions1234@yahoo.com 

who were in power in the '50s and '60s 

(some,over 70 years ago), are still today 

ingloriously clinging to power, either directly, 

or indirectly, through their proxies, 

acolytes, minions, school mates, or 

village kindred, kinsmen and kinswomen. 

So, I am a sad Nigerian. I am greatly 

saddened that in the 1980s, even the Naira 

was exchanging for one naira to two dollars; 

that we did not require visa to travel; 

and that my first journey to London 

cost me less than N350 only. I was respected, 

as a very young lawyer at Heathrow 

Airport, and treated with king courtesies. 

We have frittered away rare countless opportunities, 

mismanaged our economy, 

abused and thoroughly misused our natural, 

human and material resources. We 

have since birthed, nurtured and enthroned 

a dangerous regime of impunity, 

government’s wanton breach of citizens’ 

fundamental rights, reckless disregard to 

court orders, and brazen desecration of 

the rule of law. 

We have glamouralised moral decadence, 

primitive acquisition and a rentier 

economy. We have encouraged mediocrity, 

nurtured ‘yahoo boys’, festered 

youth brigandage and criminality, and 

promoted female prostitution and girlchild 

labour and marriage. I am very sad. 

I am too sad that we still practise what 

late Professor Claude Ake and other eminent 

economists, refer to as a “disarticulate 

economy”, an economy where we produce 

what we do not consume (crude oil) 

and consume what we do not produce 

(fuel and gas). 

We have bred mass unemployment, untrammeled 

corruption, intellectual dishonesty, 

academic squalor, social disequilibrium, 

political brinkmanship, executive 

lawlessness, legislative rascality, judicial 

injustice and electoral brigandage. 

In the Nigeria of today, the votes are neither 

counted nor allowed to count. I am 

very sad because there is no transparency, 

accountability and responsibility in 

government or governance. I am utterly 

depressed and sad that the proverbial 

common man and woman continue to 

wallow in ignorance, dejection, melancholy 

and hopelessness. 

I am very sad that we practise religion 

vociferously but without being religious 

or Godly. I am very sad that the hoi polloi 

continues to be repressed, oppressed, suppressed, 

marginalised, subjugated, denied, 

traumatised, ignored, rejectedand 

dejected.The Frantz, Fanons “Wretched of 

the Earth”still wallows in searing pains, 

pangs, blood and sorrow. I am indeed a 

very SAD NIGERIAN. NIGERIA WE 

HAIL THEE. GOD BLESS NIGERIA. 

AMEN. 

•Ozekhome, SAN, human rights lawyer 

and political activist, wrote from Lagos 

Telemedicine and malpractice insurance (3) 

This concludes the piece continued from 

yesterday with the way forward for 

telemedicine practice in Nigeria 

By FEMI OBIKUNLE 

ALL insurance companies need to 

establish telemedicine benefit plan that 

provides flexible coverage options for 

individual and family coverages. And 

physicians should make affordable provisions 

for patients who are not able to make payment. 

• There is the need for the provision of stateof-the-art 

technology to attain operational 

excellence, while contributing to prompt 

service delivery. 

• Provision of effective health risk 

management solutions and financial services 

to both individuals and corporate bodies. 

• Plan to militate against cyber exposure to 

telemedicine platforms, and guide against 

medical fraud abuse. 

• Provision of flexible healthcare plans where 

clients can have access to an array of 

healthcare benefits, including telemedicine 

within a given insurance network throughout 

their branches within the country and 

understands cross border implications as well. 

•Medical group practices need to properly 

address the legal issues that will minimize their 

liability exposure for providing telemedicine 

services. In addition, clinical settings needs to 

give careful scrutiny to telemedicine contracts 

when negotiating managed care contracts. 

Conclusion 

Telemedicine has introduced a new 

dimension to healthcare delivery system in 

Nigeria. As a result, salient issues that come 

with the implementation need to be understood 

by healthcare practitioners, insurance 

companies, lawyers and the governing bodies 

associated with insurance and healthcare 

delivery ecosystem. These governing bodies 

include the Nigeria Insurance Association, 

Nigeria Insurance Commissions, Chartered 

Institute of Insurers of Nigeria, Nigeria 

Insurers Brokers Association, and Nigeria 

Medical Board. All these stakeholders need to 

work together in setting standards, procedures, 

guidelines, billing templates, and so on, in 

ensuring a successful telemedicine adoption 

within the country, in order to minimise the 

tendency for malpractice liability and medical 

fraud. 

•Dr. Obikunle is a Certified Telehealth 

Clinical Presenter, CTCP, and Doctor of 

Business Administration - Healthcare 

Management (Telemedicine), USA.


IVORY Coast, the world’s largest 

cocoa producer, is sick again politically. 

Tension is rising back to the 

2011 levels when a disputed election 

led to the death of over 3,000 people 

through widespread violence. 

A presidential election which mainly 

pitched former President Laurent 

Unfortunately, Ouattara and his followers 

have submitted themselves to 

Gbagbo’s Ivorian Popular Front, IPF, 

and Alassane Ouattara’s Republican 

the same demon that prevents African 

leaders from peacefully leaving 

Rally, RR, ended in the latter’s favour, 

but the Constitutional Court upturned 

the seat of power; the very same issue 

that led to the disgrace of Gbag- 

the vote in Gbagbo’s favour. The ensuing 

impasse and violence sparked 

bo, his immediate predecessor. 

off the Second Ivorian Civil war in 

After exhausting his constitutional 

March 2011. The bulk of the country’s 

military, with the full backing of 

two terms, Ouattara had initially 

anointed his Prime Minister, Amadou 

former colonial master, France and 

Gon Coulibaly, to succeed him. But 

the international community which 

when Coulibaly suddenly died of a 

backed Ouattara, flushed out Gbagbo. 

heart attack on July 8 this year, Ouattara 

shockingly decided to run for a 

He was arraigned at the International 

Criminal Court, ICC, at the 

third term. 

Already, (just like in 2011) the Ivorian 

Constitutional Council has, based 

Hague while Ouattara was sworn-in 

as president. 

on a court ruling, cleared Ouattara for 

Ivory Coast: No to Ouattara’s third term bid 

his third term bid. Ouattara’s party 

insists that a 2016 tweak of the laws 

makes the third term bid legal. Also, 

the electoral umpire has made rules 

forbidding people convicted of 

crimes from running for office. This 

effectively disqualified Laurent Gbagbo 

(who has been conditionally freed 

by the ICC) and a handful of others 

from running in the October 31, 2020 

presidential election. 

That narrows the field to two very 

old men: RR’s 78-year-old Ouattara 

and 86-year-old former President, 

Henri Konan Bedie, who flies the 

Democratic Party of Cote D’Ivoire- 

African Democratic Rally, PDCI-RDA, 

flag. 

From all indications, the highlymeddlesome 

France, which had advised 

Ouattara against the third term 

bid, has fallen ominously silent. Also, 

the Economic Community of West 

African States, ECOWAS and Nigeria’s 

Muhammadu Buhari, only advised 

West Africa leaders to desist 

from tenure extension, unlike the military 

threats used to get rid of Gbagbo. 

Meanwhile, the seeds of violence 

are already sprouting. At least, 17 

people have died due to clashes arising 

from Ouattara’s unholy ambition. 

We call on ECOWAS and the international 

community to exert the same 

pressure they applied on Gbagbo and 

prevent Ouattara from standing for 

third term. If he succeeds in imposing 

himself on the Ivorian people, it 

may negatively affect transition in other 

countries of the sub-region. 

Worst of all, Ivory Coast might be 

plunged into a third civil war. 

The first part of this piece published last 

week ended with Decree No. 8 and Decree 

No. 3 of 1984 promulgated by the military 

regime of General Muhammadu Buhari. 

THIS Decree(No.8) may be cited as the 

Recovery of Public Property (Special 

Military Tribunals) (Amendment) Decree 

1984 and shall be deemed to have come into 

force on December 31, 1983. 

The Decree 3 says: “ WHEREAS by section 

5 (1) of the Recovery of Public Property 

(Special Military Tribunal) Decree 1984, the 

Head of the Federal Military Government is 

empowered, by instrument under his hand, to 

constitute special military tribunals for the 

purpose of the trial of certain public officers: 

AND WHEREAS by section 5 (2) of the 

Decree it is provided that each tribunal 

appointed under the Decree shall consist of — 

(a) a Chairman who shall be an officer in the 

Armed Forces not below the rank of Colonel 

or its equivalent; (b) three other officers of the 

Armed Forces not below the rank of 

Lieutenant-Colonel or its equivalent (c) a 

serving or retired judge of a High Court or 

any court of like jurisdiction who shall, 

amongst other things, assist the tribunal in 

determining questions of law. 

General Buhari later constituted five 

military tribunals to try the detained 

governors. The Lagos tribunal (Lagos State) 

was headed by Brigadier Paul U. Omu with 

Brigadier M.M. Nassarawa, Navy Captain 

J.N. Kanu, Lt-Colonel Yinka Martins and Mr. 

Justice T.A. Oyeyipo as members. The Ibadan 

zone (Oyo, Ogun, Ondo, Bendel and Kwara 

states) was headed by Brigadier C.B. Ndiomu. 

Other members are Commodore I.J. Ogohi, 

Lt-Colonel Y. Madaki, Wing-Commander 

C.C. Ohadumere and Mr. Justice S.U. Minjibir. 

The Kaduna Zone (Kaduna, Kano, Niger and 

Sokoto states and the Federal Capital 

Territory) had Navy Captain M.A. Elegbede 

OPINION 

Historic perspective on the pardon 

of Alli and Enahoro (2) 

as the Chairman while the members were Lt- 

Colonel I.D. Gumel, Lt-Colonel M. Maina, 

Wing-Commander J.P. Obakpolor and Mr. 

Justice P.P. Nwokedi. It was the Kaduna zone 

headed by Navy Captain Muftau Adegoke 

General Buhari later 

constituted five military tribunals 

to try the detained governors; the 

Lagos tribunal was headed by 

Brigadier Paul U. Omu 

Babatunde Elegbede (1939-1994) that jailed 

the former Kano state governor, Alhaji Sabo 

Bakin Zuwo (1934-1989). He was tried and 

sentenced to 23 years in prison on charges of 

corruption by the Kaduna Zone. Alhaji Bakin 

Zuwo was released from jail in January 1988. 

He died on 16 February 1989 in a German 

hospital, where he had been taken after a fall. 

He was buried in Kano, his beloved city, in 

whose politics he had featured prominently for 

several decades. Alhaji Bakin Zuwo was 

survived by three wives and 26 children. 

Sadly, Captain Elegbede was assassinated 

by gunmen on June 19, 1994 along the 

Gbagada/Oworonsoki expressway in Lagos. 

It was the Ibadan Zone that jailed Professor 

Ambrose Folorunsho Alli. The Zone was 

headed by Major General Charles Bebeye 

Ndiomu (1934-2002) from Odoni in 

Sagbama Local Government Area of Bayelsa 

State. Professor Alli from Ekpoma in the then 

Bendel State was educated at the Immaculate 

Conception College in Benin City before going 

to St. Patrick’s College, Asaba and to the 

School of Agriculture in Ibadan. He trained 

as a medical laboratory technologist at the 

University College, Medical Laboratory, 

Ibadan, from 1950-1953 and studied 

Medicine at the University College of Ibadan 

from 1953 to 1960. Alli did further medical 

studies in Britain after that and worked in 

hospitals there and in Zimbabwe (1960-1962). 

Professor Alli returned to Nigeria in 1966 to 

begin a distinguished academic career. He was 

a Professor of Morbid Anatomy at Ahmadu 

Bello University, Zaria from 1969 to 1971, 

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and at the University of Ibadan from 1971 to 

1974. From 1974 to 1979, he was Head of the 

Department of Pathology, University of Benin. 

He was tried on corruption charges and 

sentenced to a total of 66 years imprisonment. 

The sentence was later reviewed and reduced 

to seven years. His health deteriorated while 

in jail. Alli was released on February 13, 1988 

only after the payment of N983, 000.00 raised 

by his friends into the government chest. He 

died on September 22, 1989 (his 60 th Birthday) 

at the Lagos State Teaching Hospital. On page 

17 of his book titled MY DIALOGUE WITH 

NIGERIA, the former Chief of Army Staff, 

General Julius Alani Ipoola Akinrinade wrote 

that: “Some people have pointed out seeming 

contradictions in the trial of former public 

officers. For instance, they say that while some 

former governors were jailed for accepting 

money from contractors, the contractors 

themselves were not jailed; and while Abba 

Musa Rimi and Wilberforce Juta were jailed 

for giving money to legislators, the legislators 

themselves were not jailed for taking the money. 

I believe that in both cases, the governors were 

wrong to have taken the money and spent 

public funds in a way not permitted by law. 

People are confused because the government 

has not bothered to explain and they are in 

fact, edgy because they regard the judgments 

as contradictory. The government has to be 

open and, at least, brief the people on why it 

takes certain actions. I don’t think this 

government has someone to do public relations 

for it properly”. 

It was Governor Lucky Igbinedion of Edo 

state who renamed Bendel State University to 

Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma. The 

governor was assisted following a motion 

moved by Honourable Pascal Ugbomeh 

(Etsako Constituency 1) of the Edo state House 

of Assembly while the right honourable 

Thomas Okosun presided as Speaker in the 

then Edo House of Assembly, in 1999. 

Continues next week

PoS, oS, mobile transactions decline, as exper 

xperts 

ts 

blame banks 

By Elizabeth Adegbesan 

MONEY MARKET 

THE volume and value of 

transactions through Point 

of Sale (PoS) terminals and Mobile 

Interscheme transfers (Mobile 

phones) declined in August. 

Analysis of the current Electronic 

Payment Channels data 

from Nigeria Interbank Settlement 

System (NIBSS) showed that the 

volume of PoS transactions fell 

month-on-month (MoM) by 3.2 

million or six percent to 50.7 million 

in August from 53.7 million 

in July. 

Similarly, the value of PoS transactions 

dropped by N30.33 billion 

or seven percent to N386.4 

billion in August from N416.7 billion 

in July. 

The report also shows that in 

August, the volume of mobile 

transfers fell by 2.0 percent to 

11.99 million from 12.22 million 

in July while its value declined by 

eight percent to N253.1 billion 

from N275.12 billion in July. 

Commenting on the development, 

National Chairman, Centre 

against Impunity in Nigeria, Shina 

Loremikan said: "I think the inability 

of the system to meet customers' 

satisfaction is the cause of the 

decline in PoS and Mobile transfers 

transactions. 

"If you transfer a sum to somebody 

elsewhere, sometimes, it 

takes three days or a week, there 

are instances of 10 days before the 

person will get the cash transfer, 

but while you are yet making the 

cash transfer, they instantly deduct 

your money and other hidden 

charges including stamp duty 

charge. 

"So people keep asking, 'how long 

would we continue with paying 

these hidden charges' that is a sign 

of frustration in business transactions. 

People decided to use other 

means such as doing manual 

money transfer where you fill a 

form in a physical bank and not 

by ATM, PoS or mobile phone so 

CURRENCY BUYING SELLING 

US DOLLAR 

POUNDS 

EURO 

FRANC 

YEN 

CFA 

WAUA 

RENMINBI 

RIYAL 

RAND 

109.90 -3.75 

2,601.00 +33.00 

12.66 -0.34 

$41.92 0.00 

40.14 -0.11 

379 379.5 380 

482.6168 483.2553 483.892 

440.8907 441.4724 409.2623 

408.1852 408.7237 415.1191 

3.5924 3.5972 3.6019 

0.6564 0.6664 0.6764 

532.8352 533.5382 534.2411 

55.4847 55.5584 55.632 

101.0451 101.1784 101.3117 

22.1136 22.1427 22.1719 

CBN Exchange rate as at 28/09/2020 

that whoever you are sending the 

money to can quickly have it. 

"It is rather unfortunate. Instead 

of the banks to explain the unfolding 

dilemma, they didn't. It is until 

you constitute a nuisance that is 

when they will find a means to address 

it and most times they will 

tell you branches cannot resolve 

the issue but can only be resolved 

at the headquarter. Sometimes 

they will say it is not the fault of the 

banks but Interswitch. Whereas, 

when the bank customer came 

NBS set t to conduct national business 

sample census 

By Yinka Kolawole 

ECONOMY 

THE National Bureau of Sta 

tistics (NBS) said it has concluded 

plans to conduct a national 

business sample census (NBSC), in 

collaboration with the World 

Bank. 

Statistician General of 

the federation, Dr. Yemi 

Kale, announced this in a 

statement shared on his 

Twitter handle, adding 

that the exercise will be 

conducted across the 36 

states between October 

12 and December 12, 

2020. 

Kale noted that the last 

survey was conducted 

22 years ago, between 

1998 and 1999, despite 

recommendations that 

the exercise be carried 

out every 10 years. 

He explained that the 

census has four objectives 

aimed at providing 

comprehensive and detailed 

information about 

the structure of the Nigerian 

economy. 

He stated: "NBS has 

commenced the process 

of implementing the 

2020 National Business 

Sample Census (NBSC) in 

Nigeria," the statement 

into the contract, he didn't know 

Interswitch." 

On his part, President, Association 

of Mobile Money and Bank 

Agents in Nigeria (AMMBAN) 

Olojo Victor said: "The effect of 

COVID-19 which has dampened 

business activities in the country 

is telling on payment channel patronage. 

This has resulted in the 

fall in mobile transfers and PoS 

transactions." 

However, Loremikan noted 

that unless the regulatory bodies 

read. 

"The survey which is coming 

after a similar one conducted 

twenty-two years (1997/98) ago 

is apt, especially now that the current 

government is re-structuring 

the economy for faster growth 

through support to small, medium 

and large scale enterprises 

in order to increase their productivity." 

Kale said that the main objectives 

of NBSC include: "To compile frame, 

develop instruments and concepts, 

establish standards and 

methodology for industrial and 

business surveys in Nigeria; to 

serve as benchmark for updates of 

subsequent commercial and industrial 

sector statistics; to develop a 


national directory of commercial and 

industrial business establishments with 

all their associated social and economic 

characteristics and; to provide 

the country with comprehensive and 

detailed information about the structure 

of the Nigerian economy." 

The statistician-general noted that 

conditions that must be met by businesses 

before their establishments are 

considered. 

He listed them to include: "Fixed 

structure and location, a separate shop 

with a different entrance and enclosed 

from dwelling place (in the case of residential 

areas), shops should have locks 

and keys for a market setting, while 

kiosks and shops under umbrella are 

not to be listed during the census". 

Lagos Assembly urges Sanwo-Olu to create MSMEs hubs 

By Ebunoluwa Sessou 

ECONOMY 

LAGOS State House of As 

sembly has called on the 

Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu to 

create Micro, Small, and Medium 

Enterprises, MSMEs, hubs in the 

three senatorial districts in the 

state. 

The call was part of the Motion 

entitled; "Call on the State Government 

to Establish Micro, Small 

and Medium Enterprises MSMEs, 

Commercial Hubs In All The Senatorial 

Districts of Lagos State," 

raised by a member represent- 

sanction banks for breach of contract 

with customers, bank customers will 

continue to opt for transactions in 

physical banks. 

"To ensure confidence building on 

the part of the end users of the bank 

services, the supervising institutions 

have to assert their authorities on 

banks and the customers should be 

compensated for breach of contract. 

If the banks breach their contract 

with customers and they get sanctioned 

by their supervisory authority, 

they will sit upright", he said. 

COURTESY VISIT: From left — Managing Director, Bank of Industry, Mr. Kayode Pitan; 

Sec. Gen. AfCFTA, H. E. Wamkele Mene and Director-General, Nigeria Office of Trade 

Negotiation, Victor Liman, during a courtesy meeting with the management of the 

Bank in Lagos. 

•Last conducted 22 years ago 

ing Kosofe constituency 1, Mr. 

Ganiyu Okanlawon during yesterday 

plenary. 

Moving the motion, Okanlawon 

opined that, life will become bearable 

if MSMEs grow, stating that the idea 

of SMEs as conceived by China 

brought about growth in the nation's 

economy. 

According to him, establishing 

commercial hubs in places including 

Epe, Ibeju Lekki among others would 

grow the economy of the state. "We 

have people who specialize in fish 

farming, coconut among others and 

we can support such businesses to 

grow", he said. 

CBN's Corporate 

Communication 

is like a battle 

front —Okoroafor 

…Says 'I'm fulfilled' 

By Emma Ujah, Abuja 

Bureau Chief 

MONEY MARKET 

MR Isaac Okoroafor, Direc 

tor at the Central Bank 

of Nigeria, CBN, is due to bow 

out after over 15 years in the 

Corporate Communications 

function of the apex bank. 

The Abuja Branch of the University 

of Nigeria Nsukka 

Alumni Association (UNAA) 

gave him an award in recognition 

of his being a worthy ambassador 

of the UNN, having positively 

impacted the institution 

and members of the association. 

In a brief chat with journalists 

at a ceremony where he was honored 

by the University of Nigeria, 

Nsukka alumni, he share his 

experience, and said, "I look at it 

from the point of view of National 

Service. National Service comes 

above every other thing, after the 

worshiping of God. National Service 

takes precedence above every 

other thing. It has been more 

than 15 years. 

"I came in from the private sector. 

I told my people before I left 

Businessday Newspaper that I 

was going for national service. 

"Our country needs to be 

served. Whether we like it or not; 

whether we are happy in it or 

not; we must do whatever we can 

for the people of Nigeria, especially 

the ordinary people, who 

do not have the opportunities 

that some of us have. We must 

continue to work for the betterment 

of their lives. 

"I am very happy , I am very 

fulfilled that I am coming to the 

end of my public service. But 

national service continues. I will 

continue to do that because until 

all of us come out to serve this 

country, this country will not 

make progress. 

"For me my sleeping pattern 

will now change. For 15 years, I 

have been waking up at 3. 00 

am to look at what some of you 

(media) write and to prepare for 

it the next day. My phones don't 

go off. Even when I am sleeping. 

That is the spirit and I am happy 

I will have some time to rest now. 

"Running the corporate communication 

is like being in the 

battle front. Every day, you are 

on duty. There is no weekend, 

no vacation, no public holiday. 

Even when I travel outside the 

country, my phones will be ringing 

and I had to operate from 

there. 

"It means a whole lot. It denies 

you your private life, your community 

life and all that. At a 

time my town union granted me 

leave and told me I should come 

whenever I wished to come because 

they understood what I was 

going through.” 

While commending Sanwo- 

Olu, the House called on him to 

call on the Commissioner for 

Commerce and Industry to create 

SME hubs in the different 

senatorial districts in the state 

and to provide the necessary 

structure for their survival. 

"This House notes the efforts 

of the Federal Government in 

the recognition of MSMEs as the 

engine room for driving the Nigerian 

economy and establishment 

of Eko fashion hub at Ikeja, 

making it a one-stop centre for 

fashion designers to share facilities 

and resources.''






Vanguard, TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 2020—25 

NEWS HOTLINES: 

08052867023, 08052867058 

Okowa's determined to complete Asaba 

Leisure Park, Film Village —Ejiofor 

By Festus Ahon 

SABA—DELTA State 

ACommissioner 

of 

Culture and Tourism, Mr. 

Lawrence Ejiofor has 

restated the commitment of 

the Governor Ifeanyi 

Okowa's led Government to 

the completion of the Asaba 

Leisure Park and Film 

Village, saying it would set 

the government on strong 

revenue generation scheme. 

Speaking in Asaba during 

a press briefing to 

commemorate the World 

Tourism Day with the theme 

"Tourism and Rural 

Development", Ejiofor 

stressed the importance of 

Tourism, adding that it was 

a means of revenue 

generation for government. 

He said when completed, 

the Asaba Leisure Park and 

Film Village would take a 

lot ofyouths off the streets, 

saying "the movie industry 

in Nigeria is growing and 

we are going to attract these 

movie Producers through 

the standard film village". 

He held that interested 

Deltans were also going to 

be trained in all forms of 

cinematography as part of 

the State Government's 

human capital development 

effort. 

Lamenting the effect of the 

pandemic on global 

economy, he noted that 

tourism was capable of 

increasing income potential 

of local residents. 

Ejiofor said: "Tourism is 

not only capable of creating 

employment but to also 

Correspondents Chapel hails 

Obaseki on election victory 

By Ozioruva Aliu 

ENIN CITY—THE 

Bleadership 

of 

Correspondents Chapel of 

the Edo State Council, 

Nigeria Union of 

Journalists, NUJ, has 

congratulated Governor 

Godwin Obaseki on his 

victory at the September 

19, 2020 poll. 

In a congratulatory 

message signed by the 

Chairman and Secretary of 

the Chapel, Mrs Nefishetu 

Yakubu and Osaigbovo 

Iguobaro, the Chapel said 

the governor's victory was 

a manifestation of his 

services to the people with 

his several interventions in 

different sectors of the 

state. 

The congratulatory 

message addressed to the 

Edo governor said: "the 

election has given us and 

many others, a renewed 

faith in the nation’s 

electoral system that a free, 

fair and credible poll is 

possible if the people are 

united, determined and 

supportive. 

"As the fourth estate of 

the realm and Watch Dog 

increase community 

visibility and cultural 

opportunities for residents." 

of the Society, we are not 

unaware of political 

developments in the State in 

the last one year. 

"However, in your 

conviction for egalitarian 

Edo State, you were 

apparently inspired by the 

words of Roy T. Bennett, 

thus- “Tough situations build 

strong people in the end.” 

"You ran a good, clean 

campaign against a 

formidable opponent. We 

therefore, urge you to be 

magnanimous in victory 

because power belongs to 

God and the almighty God 

has so bestowed such on you 

for the benefits of all Edo 

people irrespective of 

political party, religion or 

sex. 

"The Chapel urge you to 

continue in your 

determination for State 

policies on child’s right 

especially the girl child, 

illegal migration, social-justice and 

accountability in governance 

which were your hallmark in the 

past four years. 

"You have our confidence and 

support. And if there is anything 

the Chapel can do to help move 

your programs forward, please let 

us know".




PRESENTATION: President Muhammadu Buhari (right) presenting an award 

to the winner of Essay Competition (Junior Secondary Category), 

Chiekezie Favour, of Mountain Crest School, Owerri, at 2nd National 

Summit on Diminishing Corruption in the Public Sector, at the 

Presidential Villa, in Abuja, yesterday. 

PRESENTATION: From left—Spencer Onosode; Mrs. Toyin 

Olanrewaju; Seunara Arotiba, 2018 Best WAEC candidate in West 

Africa; Group Captain Oguntunde, Commandant, Air Force 

Secondary School, Ikeja, and Ese Onosode, during the presentation 

of the Gamaliel Onosode Award for Academic Excellence, by Gamaliel 

& Susan Onosode Foundation, in Lagos, weekend. 

VISIT—From left: Lion Yetunde Olowoyeye, Cynthia Iwu, President of the club, 

Lion Scholatica Onyeyiri, Lion Uchenna Chigozie-Okeke, and Lion Jane Akinbi, 

during their visit to the Children’s Oncology Ward at the Lagos University 

Teaching Hospital, Idi-Araba, Lagos, to mark Childhood Cancer Awareness 

Month, Friday. 

BIRTHDAY—From left: Mrs. Balo Omotosho; Prof. Oluwademilade Akpata, 

G.O, Ewulomi Church; Mother-in-Israel Oluwatobiloba Akpata, and Dr. 

Balo Omotosho, during the 50th Birthday Thanksgiving Service for Motherin-Israel 

Akpata, at Ewulomi Church, Mende, Maryland.

Vanguard, TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 2020 ---- 29 

Social, environmental factors behind 

Africa’s low COVID-19 cases — WHO 

By Sola Ogundipe 

DESPITE the fragile 

health systems, 

African countries have so 

far been spared the worst 

of the COVID-19 

pandemic, even though 

this is not to say that there 

have not been fatalities. 

But the fact is that Africa 

is much less affected by the 

coronavirus than the 

Western world. The rates 

of infection are lower and 

Africans seem twice as 

likely to get infected with 

the virus without suffering 

any illness according to 

preliminary results of 

ongoing studies by the 

World Health Organisation 

WHO. Already, the 

downward trend in 

COVID-19 cases and the 

low number of deaths being 

witnessed in Nigeria, 

Kenya, Madagascar, 

Senegal and South Africa 

over the past two months, 

has been described as a 

positive development. 

The WHO Regional 

Director for Africa, Dr 

Matshidiso Moeti, who 

made 

this 

observation,however 

warned against 

complacency. 

“The downward trend 

that we have seen in Africa 

over the past two months is 

undoubtedly a positive 

development and speaks to 

the robust and decisive 

public health measures 

L-R: Representative of Ogun State Commissioner for Health, Dr Yusuf Qudus; 

Chairperson Trauma Care International Foundation, Dr. Deola Phillips; Director, 

Ogun State Ambulance and Emergency Services, Dr. Hassan Adelakun; Member 

Central Executive Council, Loveworld Incorporated, Revd Tom Amenkhienan; and 

Perm Sec, Ministry of Community Development & Cooperation, Ogun State, Madam 

Oluseye Fatudimu at the groundbreaking ceremony of the Loveworld Medical Centre 

held in Aseese, Ogun State recently. 

taken by governments 

across the region. 

“Africa has not witnessed 

an exponential spread of 

COVID-19 as many 

initially feared, but the 

slower spread of infection 

in the region means we 

expect the pandemic to 

continue to smoulder for 

some time, with occasional 

flare-ups.” 

Moeti said COVID-19 

transmission in Africa has 

group, interacting to 

accentuate their 

individual effects, are 

likely contributing to the 

pattern seen in Africa. 

“But we must not 

become complacent. 

Other regions of the 

world have experienced 

similar trends only to 

find that as social and 


are relaxed, cases start 

ramping up again.” 

COVID-19 threatens food security in Lagos, 

FCT, 2 other States — EXPERTS 

By Chioma Obinna 

AS nations continue to 

battle the impact of 

COVID-19 pandemic, 

nutrition experts and other 

stakeholders in the 

agricultural sector have 

raised the alarm over the 

impact of the pandemic on 

the food supply chain in 

Nigeria even as they 

lament that it is having 

severe consequences on 

the nutrition of children, 

lactating and pregnant 

mothers and women of 

reproductive age. 

This is coming on the 

heels of the latest report of 

the National Bureau of 

Statistics, NBS, on the 

impact of the COVID-19 

which showed that food 

insecurity appears to be 

prevalent across the 

Federal Capital Territory, 

Kano, Lagos and Rivers 

states. 

The report which 

contained results from the 

labour force survey of the 

second quarter of 2020, 

showed that in Rivers State 

and the FCT, 79 per cent of 

and 72 per cent of 

households respectively 

reported having to skip 

meals since the start of the 

pandemic. 

Speaking during the 4th 

Protein Challenge 

Webinar Series, with the 

theme: "COVID-19 and 

Nigeria's Protein 

Deficiency Situation", the 

experts expressed worry 

that the current 

development would 

worsen protein deficiency 

in Nigeria. 

The experts noted that 

specifically, Nigeria’s 

protein deficiency situation 

revealed that the pandemic 

is disrupting the 

agricultural sector coupled 

with the negative effect on 

nutrition. 

They posited that the 

situation was grim with 

supply chains for 

agricultural activities 

occasioned by the 

lockdown, which has 

skyrocketed food prices 

across states. 

been marked by relatively 

fewer infections, which 

have been on the decline 

owing to a variety of socioecological 

factors as well 

as early and strong 


taken by governments 

across the region. 

“A mix of socioecological 

factors such as 

low population density 

and mobility, hot and 

humid climate, lower age 

A Clinician and Public 

health Physician, Dr 

Adepeju Adeniran, said 

the COVID-19 pandemic 

severely threatened food 

supply chains as the 

movement of farmers, food 

transporters and sellers 

was restricted. 

Recounting how it affects 

the supply chain, she said 

month-long disruptions 

have created effects that 

cannot easily be reversed. 

Linking COVID-19 to 

protein deficiency, 

Adeniran explained that 

both animal and plant 

sources of protein are 

important dietary 

components of food and 

that while animal proteins 

take a long time to produce, 

husbandry and agricultural 

practices have improved to 

reduce the rate of 

production but only to an 

extent. 

"Humans consume 

mostly the adult form of 

animal proteins so it must 

take time to produce. Even 

dairy and eggs can only be 

produced by adult animals, 

which must have time to 

grow and develop. 

On her part, a 

nutritionist, at the 

Department of Home 

Economics, Adeniran 

Ogunsanya College of 

Education, Mrs. Beatrice 

Oganah-Ikujenyo, who 

recalled that the first 

reaction was the 

lockdown nationwide, 

said it led to farm 

produce being trapped at 

storage and points of 

production leading to the 

deterioration of 

perishable foods and a 

disconnect in the supply 

chain. this led to food 

scarcity and increase in 

the price of available foods. 

Noting that the 

pandemic has also affected 

food choices in terms of 

quantity, variety and food 

preferences, she said: 

"Specific nutrient deficiency 

is likely to occur, especially 

protein deficiency among 

the vulnerable such as 

infants, young children, 

pregnant and lactating 

mothers." 

New trauma centre boosts 

emergency care for road 

accident victims 

By Chioma Obinna 

TRAUMA care and 

emergency response 

services in Nigeria recently 

received a boost with the 

unveiling of a multispeciality 

hospital by the 

Loveworld Medical 

Missions Services. 

At the groundbreaking 

ceremony, a member of the 

Central Executive 

Council, Loveworld 

Incorporated, Revd. Tom 

Amenkhienan said the 

hospital, located at Aseese, 

along the Lagos-Ibadan 

Expressway was built to 

help victims of road 

crashes and emergency 

response services in 

Nigeria. 

“Injuries are a major 

cause of morbidity and 

mortality in developing 

and developed countries. 

About 5.8 million people 

die each year as a result of 

injuries; overall, injuries 

are estimated to be the third 

most common cause of 

death globally. 

“Today road traffic 

injuries are a leading 

cause of premature death 

and disability worldwide 

and in Nigeria, resulting 

in enormous physical, 

social, emotional, and 

economic implications on 

society. 

“Road traffic crashes 

involving motorcycles and 

commercial buses are 

among the leading causes 

of injuries. Victims of such 

crashes form a quota of the 

patients that will be 

managed in this hospital. 

“We are poised to change 

the narrative on trauma 

management in Nigeria 

through this great 

initiative, ” he added. 

The Chairperson Trauma 

Care International 

Foundation, Dr Deola 

Phillips explained that the 

establishment of the centre 

was informed by the need 

for integrated and targeted 

interventions to reduce poor 

management of traumatic 

injuries as well as medical 

complications. 

“We had embarked on 

interventions including 

public safety education 

programmes through the 

Trauma Care International 

Foundation and medical 

outreach programmes 

championed by the 

Volunteer Medical Corps. 

He said through the 

project, efforts are on to mee 

the needs of critically ill or 

injured patients, by 

providing access to 

resuscitation, emergency 

surgical procedures, 

specialised medical and 

diagnostic facilities, 

intensive and high 

dependency care wards, 

blood banking, and other 

allied services; all of which 

will be delivered by highly 

trained team of specialists.” 

Twitter partners African 

organisations against suicide 

By Gabriel Olawale 

WORRIED by the 

alarming rate of 

suicide in Africa, Twitter is 

teaming up with 

organisations in Nigeria, 

South Africa and Kenya in 

towards addressing the 

burden. 

The new initiativeis 

designed to make it easier 

for people to find support 

resources online for issues 

on suicide or self-harm on 

Twitter. 

The notification includes 

contact details of the South 

African Depression and 

Anxiety Group, SADAG, in 

South Africa; Mentally 

Aware Nigeria Initiative, 

MANI, in Nigeria, and 

Amref Health Africa in 

Kenya. 

Speaking on the concept, 

Head of Public Policy for 

Sub-Saharan Africa, Twitter, 

Emmanuel Lubanzadio 

said that the open Twitter 

community can be an 

important source of realtime 

support for anyone 

struggling with thoughts of 

self-harm or suicide. 

"Addressing mental 

health requires 

collaboration between all 

stakeholders – public, 

private and not-for-profit. 

We’re pleased to partner 

with SADAG, MANI and 

Amref Health Africa to 

encourage people in need 

to reach out for help, and 

are grateful for their 

collaboration and support." 

Founder of MANI, Victor 

Ugo, said it was founded 

in 2016, to serve as 

Nigeria's most influential 

youth-led mental health 

network and biggest 

provider of crisis support 

services for mental health. 

“Prior to this moment, we 

had focused on a sustained 

approach of mental health 

education to help Twitter 

users in Nigeria identify as 

‘spotters’ and share with us, 

Tweets that they come 

across which suggest 

possible suicide risk or 

mental health crisis. 

“So far, this has been an 

effective enough approach, 

but we would love to reach 

more users and on time too 

and so we are excited to 

partner with Twitter to 

connect users in Nigeria 

needing support with their 

mental health to our 

services in real time and on 

time.”



NLPGA ignores PPPRA's N2.5bn ‘Administration Tax' on LPG 

By Ediri Ejoh 

THE Nigeria Liquefied 

Petroleum Gas Association 

(NLPGA), has rejected moves by the 

Petroleum Product Pricing 

Regulatory Agency (PPPRA), to 

impose N2.5 billion 

Administrative Levy or 

'Administration Tax' on LPG. 

In a message obtained by 

Vanguard, Executive Secretary, 

NLPGA, Mr. Olakunle Oyebanjo, 

stated: "Earlier this year, following 

a 10-year battle by NLPGA, the 

Federal Inland Revenue Service 

(FIRS), finally conceded to 

removing Value Added Tax (VAT), 

from domestic LPG (Cooking gas). 

"The VAT burden at the time was 

worth N1 billion annually and was 

removed in an effort to support the 

Federal Government's stated 

objective to deepen the adoption 

of gas as a clean fuel for cooking 

in Nigeria. 

"LPG has over the last 10 years 

been a fully deregulated petroleum 

product and as such, the PPPRA, 

being a price regulatory agency, 

has no business whatsoever with 

LPG. 

"Yet, before the industry could 

celebrate, and despite a grand 

announcement by the Minister of 

State for Petroleum Resources, 

Chief Timipre Sylva, identifying 

2020 as the "Year of Gas," the 

PPPRA silently imposed a N2.5 

billion 'tax' on housewives and 

poor low income earners through 

the imposition of an 

'Administration Tax'. 

Continuing, Olakunle, said: 

"What does PPPRA need N2.5 

billion for? If they need money to 

operate, why did they not get it 

from the government? Why are 

housewives, the poor and rural 

consumers the best source of 

income for PPPRA? Why is PPPRA 

blockading terminals from 

loading out gas? How well did the 

PPPRA administer subsidies on 

kerosene under its previous guise 

of regulation?" 

Referring to its members, he 

added: "Say no to PPPRA extortion! 

Say no to unfair taxes on the poor! 

Say no to re-regulation of LPG 

through the backdoor." 

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 2020 

Oil firms spill 3,346 barrels of crude oil in eight 

months --- Investigation 

•Cleanup, remediation of 66 spill incidents to cost N25trn --- Expert 

•PCOVID-19 slows down firms’ response 

By Michael Eboh 

OIL and gas companies 

operating in Niger Delta 

spilled 3,346.94 barrels of crude oil, 

an equivalent of 532,078 litres, in 

eight months, from January to 

August 2020, according to data 

obtained from the National Oil 

Spill Detection Response Agency, 

NOSDRA. 

The agency established by the 

National Assembly of the Federal 

Republic of Nigeria Act of 2006 as 

an institutional framework to coordinate 

the implementation of the 

National Oil Spill Contingency 

Plan (NOSCP) for Nigeria, 

regularly embarks on Joint 

Investigation Visits and ensures the 

remediation of impacted sites. 

Breakdown 

A breakdown showed that the 

volume of oil spilled in the first eight 

months of 2020, represented a 

decline of 82.84 per cent, compared 

to 19,505.07 barrels of crude oil 

spilled in the same period in 2019. 

The value of crude oil spilled in the 

first eight months of 2019 stood at 

$780,202, an equivalent of 

N288.675 million. 

For 2019, the series of data from 

NOSDRA revealed that 28,969.86 

barrels of crude oil were spilled by 

oil and gas companies, valued in 

monetary terms, at $1.159 million, 

an equivalent of N428.754 million. 

Companies involved 

On a company by company basis, 

the report revealed that Shell 

Petroleum Development Company, 

SPDC, recorded the highest spills, 

with 1,335.05 barrels of crude oil 

spilled in 17 incidents; followed by 

ND Western, with 1,280 barrels of 

crude oil spilled in five incidents. 

Others on the list include Chevron 

Nigeria Limited, one barrel of crude 

oil spilled in three incidents; 

Enageed Resources Limited spilled 

15 barrels of crude oil in three 

incidents; First Hydrocarbon 

Nigeria spilled 62 barrels of crude 

oil in six incidents; while 

Guaranteed Petroleum Limited 

spilled eight barrels in one incident. 

In addition, Heritage Energy 

Operational Service Limited 

spilled 264 barrels in five incidents; 

Midwestern Oil and Gas 

Corporation spilled 37 barrels of 

crude oil in three incidents; 

Nigerian Agip Oil Company, 

185.17 barrels in 12 incidents and 

Nigerian Petroleum Development 

Company, NPDC, two barrels of 

crude oil spilled in one incident. 

The rest are Neconde Energy 

Limited, 12.58 barrels in one spill; 

Pan Ocean Corporation Nigeria 

Limited, 20 barrels of crude oil 

spilled in one incident; Seplat 

Petroleum Development Company 

Limited spilled 85.14 barrels of 

crude oil six incidents; and Total 

Upstream Nigeria, 40.01 barrels in 

two incidents. 

Giving a breakdown of oil spill 

by volume, the report stated that in 

January, February, March, April 

and May 2020, 777.73 barrels, 51 

barrels, 46.50 barrels, 586.93 

barrels, and 105 barrels of crude 

oil were spilled respectively; while 

38 barrels, 1,737.77 barrels and 

4.01 barrels were spilled in June, 

July and August 2020 respectively. 

In comparison, 5,325.32 barrels, 

4,075.84 barrels, 1,290.16 barrels, 

1,273.89 barrels, 1,133.63 barrels, 

2,240.95 barrels, 1,997.72 barrels 

and 2,167.56 barrels of crude oil 

were spilled in January, February, 

March, April, May, June, July and 

August 2019 respectively. 

Cleanup, remediation cost 

In an interview with Energy 

Vanguard, Prof. Hilary Inyang, an 

internationally renowned 

Environmental Scientist, Explorer 

and Educator, who has led many 

environmental expeditions 

globally, said: "It would cost 

between $1 million and $30 million 

to clean up one spill incident, 

depending on some factors, 

including location and size of 

contaminated site. 

"It is expected that clean up would 

cost more in the Niger Delta 

because most of the spills take place 

in the swamp not on land. It is not 

about going to the various locations 

to clean surface oil. It would cost 

much money to get to the 

contaminated sites, engage with 

communities, do fencing, 

investigation, hire or procure 

equipment, technology, recruit and 

train personnel, carry out the 

exercise as well as do 

demobilisation and remediation." 

Specifically, with 66 spill 

incidents involved in the first eight 

months of 2020, it was gathered 

that it would cost at least $66 

million to cleanup the spills, which 

translates to N25 trillion at the 

current Exchange rate of N380 per 

dollar. 

Investigation 

Nevertheless, investigation by 

Energy Vanguard indicated that the 

outbreak of Coronavirus pandemic 

has slowed down the pace of 

cleanup and related activities. 

In its latest Oil Spill Data, 

obtained by Energy Vanguard, 

which attributed many of the 

incidents to vandalism and oil theft, 

stated: "In order to ensure that the 

individuals involved in the 

remediation of oil spills are not put 

at risk of COVID-19 infection, 

SPDC, after due consultation with 

relevant Government regulators is 

currently restricting its oil spill 

response activities to only those sites 

where containment and recovery of 

oil from new releases is required. 

"At sites where containment and 

recovery has been achieved, but 

remediation of residual oil impact 

has not yet been completed, 

activities have been suspended for 

the safety of workers and 

community members. This 

approach will be reviewed on a 

regular basis and in consideration 

of advice from Nigerian and 

international health officials." 

Experts 

Explaining the damage of oil 

spills to the Nigerian economy and 

the environment, Programme 

Coordinator of the Nigeria Natural 

Resource Charter, NNRC, Ms. Tengi 

George-Ikoli, disclosed that the 

Niger Delta is currently suffering 

from poor response to oil spill and 

lack of capacity of government's 

agencies to tackle environmental 

issues. 

She warned that unless issues of 

environment protection are taken 

seriously, the Niger Delta might 

suffer immense negative 

consequences and abandonment 

when global attention shifts away 

from fossil fuel. 

George-Ikoli lamented that oil 

exploitation had always presented 

a huge negative impact on the 

ecosystem of the Niger Delta 

region, giving rise to intense land 

degradation, rapid agricultural 

decline, fisheries depletion, 

rampant and destructive oil 

spillages, continuous gas flaring 

and toxic water contamination 

among others. 

This, she added, had negatively 

affected the health, environment and 

livelihoods of the Niger Delta people. 

George-Ikoli, also lamented that 

NOSDRA, the agency set up to 

address some of the grave 

consequences of oil exploitation, who 

is also mandated to respond to oil 

spills, was currently hampered by an 

almost debilitating lack of capacity. 

She further stated that there is 

currently poor response to oil spills 

because of NOSDRA's lack of 

capacity, adding, however, that the 

capacity gaps in NOSDRA were not 

due to a lack of expertise but instead 

lack of funding and punitive powers. 

Also speaking, Dr. Sam Kabari, a 

Lecturer in Environmental 

Management and Pollution Control, 

Nigeria Maritime University, 

Okerenkoko, Delta State, stated that 

the country needed a NOSDRA 

which functions as an environmental 

regulator in the issuance of 

guidelines and standards and able to 

address all manner of spills, noting 

that at the moment, NOSDRA can 

only detect oil spills but cannot 

respond.


32 — Niger Delta Voice, TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, , 2020 

VOL. 1: NO. 254 TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 2020 

NDV INVESTIGATION: 

Why abandoned NDDC 

projects litter N-Delta 

•Service providers borrow money to execute jobs with harsh bank conditions 

•Commission pays contractors with connection in presidency, NASS 

•Some banks run by NDDC’s APG funds —Mutu, ex-House c’ttee chair 

By Chancel Sunday 

W 

ARRI—MORE 

revelations have 

emerged on why over 9,000 

abandoned projects awarded 

by the Niger-Delta 

Development Commission, 

NDDC, clutter the Niger-Delta 

region. 

NDV investigation revealed 

that many abandoned NDDC 

projects in the region were as 

a result of stringent conditions 

given by financial institutions 

to contractors, particularly the 

indigenous ones, in the 

payment of NDDC’s 

Advanced Payment 

Guarantee, APG. 

APG is issued as a security 

against a payment being made 

upfront to the contractor by the 

procuring entity to facilitate 

mobilisation for the contract 

awarded. 

Contractors, who lamented 

their frustrations occasioned 

by unfavourable dealings with 

NDDC and financial 

institutions, told NDV that 

NDDC should be blamed for 

the huge number of neglected 

projects. 

Payment procedure 

is the problem 

—Talbort, MD 

Managing Director, Talbort 

Ebi Construction Co., a 

contracting firm handling 

NDDC projects in Bomadi 

Local Government Area of 

Delta State, Mr Ebi Talbort, 

said: “The main issue is 

payment system of the 

commission. If you do not have 

a minister, National Assembly 

member or somebody in the 

presidency as a friend or 

relative, you find it difficult to 

get paid by NDDC. 

“APG is in two forms: 

counterindemnity and 

collateral security, and what 

the NDDC is doing with 

contractors is the counterindemnity. 

“Counter-indemnity is the 

form in which the bank will 

guarantee collection of the 

money, that is, the bank will 

buy the liability and have 

control over use of the money. 

Collateral security, on the 

•Eckankar-Olomu-Bou road, Bomadi, in a state of 

abandonment for over 10 years. 

other hand, is that the 

contractor provides the 

collateral and no bank stops 

DELTA... THE BIG 

HEART OF THE NATION 

By Emma Amaize, 

Jimitota Onoyume & 

Perez Brisibe 

FORMER Minister of State for 

Education, Olorogun Kenneth 

Gbagi, said he has reported an 

official of Delta State Government, 

who he accused of sponsoring 

damaging lies against him, in 

recent time, to the Governor of Delta 

State, Senator Ifeanyi Okowa. 

The ex-minister eyeing the 

governorship seat in 2023, who 

spoke to reporters at his Oginibo 

country home in Ughelli South 

Local Government Area, also 

urged the Inspector-General of 

Police to investigate all the 

allegations and bring the culprits 

to book. 

According to him, he had 

reported the said official several 

times in the past to the governor 

over other fabrications and actions 

against his person and would take 

necessary legal action. 

I will resign from 

politics if … 

He swore that he never stripped 

you from using the money. 

“Contractors have an 

understanding with NDDC 

that if the commission failed to 

pay after 60 days, one per cent 

demurrage will be paid to the 

contractor. NDDC does not pay 

indigenous contractors that 

demurrage when they breach 

the agreement; only expatriate 

contractors are paid when they 

failed within the period. 

“The first certificate of my 

contract was paid after two and 

a half years and some of my 

APG fund is still trapped in 

Zenith Bank,” he disclosed. 

Contractors borrow 

money to execute 

projects —Rev Egbebo 

Most Rev. Hyacinth Egbebo, 

leader of the Catholic Diocese 

of Bomadi, disclosing his 

financial strain occasioned by 

completed NDDC projects with 

money sourced from 

elsewhere, said: “I am not a 

contractor, there is this NDDC 

road project leading to the 

Catholic Cathedral, Bomadi, 

which the contractor found 

difficult to execute. 

“So, in 2015, we entered an 

understanding with the 

contractor that we would help 

source funds from elsewhere 

to complete the project 

because of the deplorable state 

of the road pending payment 

for the job and which we did. 

“Until this moment, the 

contractor has not been paid 

and our money is caged in 

NDDC. There are similar 

completed classroom block 

NDDC projects without 

payment. 

“My candid appeal is that 

NDDC should pay contractors 

who have genuinely done their 

jobs,” he added. 

Contractors lack 

money to execute 

jobs —Mutu, ex-NDDC 

House c’ttee chair 

However, former House 

Committee Chairman on 

NDDC, Mr Nicholas Mutu, 

speaking with NDV, said: 

“Most of the indigenous 

contractors lack the financial 

capacity to do these projects. 

“Even when they are given 

APGs, the banks give a lot of 

conditions and most 

contractors cannot meet those 

conditions to access the 

money. 

“So, most banks are run by 

NDDC APG funds and that 

was why when I was House 

Committee chairman, I was on 

the move to recover those 

monies from the banks. 

“The banks hardly released 

those monies to contractors, 

even if they released it, they 

hardly released 60 per cent to 

contractors. So, most 

contractors are frustrated and 

ended up abandoning the 

projects because of the 

stringent conditions given by 

the banks. 

“Secondly, around 2011 or 

thereabout, NDDC stopped 

mobilising contractors. So, 

when NDDC stopped 

mobilising, most contractors 

could not raise funds for 

project execution, and those 

who were able to raise money 

to execute their jobs are not 

paid by NDDC. 

“Indigenous contractors who 

raised money to execute their 

projects, about 80 per cent of 

them are not paid by NDDC 

because it’s not easy to get 

payment. 

“When I became House 

Committee Chairman, I saw 

that NDDC was under-funded 

and what I did was to see how 

I could pursue proper 

funding. I did a lot to ensure 

NDDC was properly funded, 

but we met a lot of challenges. 

“First of all, oil companies 

were not paying their dues, 

even up till today they are not 

paying as and when due,but 

doing better than before I took 

office. The major oil 

companies are paying now.” 

DAMAGING LIES: Gbagi reports 

alleged chief sponsor to Gov Okowa 

•Gbagi 

any lady as alleged in the viral 

video, saying he would resign 

from politics if the allegation is 

substantiated. 

He maintained that he never 

stripped anybody naked, saying: 

“…If you have followed the news 

lately, you would have seen a 

TVC news channel story where 

one of these girls stated that we 

arrested her because she collected 

a tip of N20, 000 from a guest who 

paid N25, 000 for his hotel room. 

“Who gives a N20, 000 tip for a 

hotel room? It is a standing rule in 

all my hospitality establishments 

not to accept payment from guests 

into personal accounts. We are a 

•Urges IGP to bring culprits to book 

reputable business and do not 

allow the slightest deviation from 

professional standards. Workers or 

contract staff are not allowed to 

mess with the hard earned 

reputation of our hotel. 

“I request experts to forensically 

search for anybody contacts on the 

persons paraded in the 

photographs, including myself 

who was alleged to have touched 

them. 

“The photographs when viewed 

properly, showed persons who 

were not in the least remorseful, 

but whose facial expression 

revealed that they had willfully 

stripped themselves naked in the 

process for political photographs 

and gimmickry to smear my name 

and character, as well as extort 

money from me. 

“A copy requesting for N1 billion 

is hereby attached and marked 

annexure 1, written and issued by 

a lawyer, who two years ago, by 

his own sponsors for the same 

political fame, parked his car on 

my property and sued me to the 

Effurun High Court,” he said. 

People calling me to 

extort money 

“He made himself known to me 

and asked that I give him N50 

million at that time for settlement. 

I ignored him just as I have done 

in this instance, with over 40 

people having called me to 

negotiate with him to reduce the 

ransom from N1 billion to N100 

million. 

“As a father of six daughters, who 

has tremendous respect for the 

women, I consider those behind 

such accusation and blackmail the 

most evil minds and they must be 

identified and brought to face the 

full wrath of the law. 

“Gentlemen of the press, I 

challenge you to produce any 

photograph of anybody, including 

myself, stripping any political 

agent present or having any form 

of body contact with them... I urge 

journalists to investigate how these 

obnoxious videos entered social 

media. Did it come from anyone 

close to me or from these lawyers/ 

activists?”

Niger Delta Voice, TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, , 2020 — 33 

Ths creek blocked by water hyacinth 

Residents protest as water hyacinth 

barricades Bayelsa creek 

•Govt move to tackle menace —Ewhrudjakpo 

BAYELSA… 

THE JERUSALEM OF 

IJAW NATION 

By Samuel 

Oyadongha, Yenagoa 

ONOPA- RESIDENTS 

of Onopa, Yenagoa Local 

Government Area, Bayelsa 

State, have protested the takeover 

of Epie Creek, by water hyacinth, 

which poses a threat to their means 

of livelihood. 

The creek runs through the entire 

length of Yenagoa, the state capital, 

from Igbogene and empties into the 

Ekoli River. 

Sad turn of events 

NDV finding revealed that the 

initial plan of the pioneer civilian 

administration of the late Chief 

Diepreye Alamieyeseigha and his 

successor, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, 

was to transform the creek into a 

tourist haven by making the water 

navigable all year so as to encourage 

residents to take a boat cruise from 

the gateway town of Igbogene to the 

heart of the capital, thereby easing 

pressure on the Mbiama-Yenagoa 

expressway. 

It had planned to plant whistling 

palms along the creek to give the 

capital city the look of a mariner, but 

today, the reverse is the case, as the 

creek with rich tourism potentials for 

the state, is in a sorry state. 

Sadly, in most sections of the creek, 

THE TEAM 

Emma Amaize - Editor 

Samuel Oyadongha - Yenagoa 

Jimitota Onoyume- Warri 

Gabriel Enogholase- Benin City 

Festus Ahon- Asaba 

Egufe Yafugborhi- Port Harcourt 

Emmanuel Una- Calabar 

Akpokona Omafuaire- Warri 

Paul Olayemi- Sapele 

Harri-Okon Emmanuel- Uyo 

Chioma Onuegbu-Uyo 

Ike Uchechukwu- Calabar 

Davies Iheamnachor- P/Harcourt 

Emem Idio- Yenagoa 

Brisibe Perez- Ughelli 

Theresa Ugbobu- Agbor 

Ochuko Akuopha- Oleh 

Chancel Bomadi Sunday - Bomadi 

Alemma-Ozioruva Aliu- Benin City 

Nath Onajoke, Asaba 

Chijioke Nwankpa, Port Harcourt 

Barnabas Uzosike, Benin City 

apart from during the flood season, 

there is hardly any water. Instead, 

household wastes, overgrown 

grasses, shrubs and trees dominate 

the creek. 

This creek which could have been 

of enormous benefits to the residents 

as natural drain during the flood and 

means of transport for the farming 

folks as well as income to anglers is 

completely blocked. 

Pained by the turn of event, 

indigenes of Onopa were forced to 

stage a peaceful protest penultimate 

week, to draw government attention 

AKWA IBOM … 

THE LAND OF 

PROMISE 

By Chioma Onuegbu 

ETINAM- AKWA-IBOM State 

Government-owned College of 

Health Technology has curiously 

been neglected by government, over 

the years. 

NDV finding showed the 32-yearold 

institution is housed in some 

makeshift and dilapidated 

structures built by preindependence 

missionaries of Qua 

Iboe Church with only one bus 

serving as the provost’s official 

vehicle and general purpose for the 

institution. 

Until recently, ex-students of the 

school have no prospects and hardly 

eligible for employment in the state’s 

health sector because of poor 

training occasioned by lack of 

facilities, non-accreditation of 

courses and lack of qualified 

professional lecturers in appropriate 

departments. 

It was gathered that even some 

professional lecturers hired on parttime 

are paid stipends from the 

meagre sundry fees the students pay, 

as government allegedly stopped 

paying imprest and subvention to 

the school since September, 2016. 

Gov yet to sign bill 

However, the general opinion in 

the state is that the many problems 

to their plight as some of their folks 

who went to their farmlands were 

trapped in the forest as they 

navigated through the blocked 

creek. 

We’ll find lasting 

solution to Menace 

—Bayelsa Govt 

Meanwhile, the state government 

while empathizing with 

communities along the Epie Creek, 

promised to find lasting solution to 

of the school could have been solved 

if the government assents to the Bill 

for a law to establish Akwa Ibom 

State College of Health Technology, 

which had been passed into law by 

the state House of Assembly. 

Unfortunately and like many other 

laws passed by the state House of 

Assembly, the College of Health 

Technology Bill, is gathering dust on 

the governor’s table despite the 

enormous benefits it would have 

brought to the institution. 

Reacting, the sponsor of the bill, 

Mr Aniefiok Dennis, representing 

Etinan State Constituency, explained 

that the idea of changing the 

institution from school to college 

was to enable it attract project from 

TETFund and other interventionist 

agencies like the Niger-Delta 

Development Commission, NDDC. 

He further explained that it would 

enable the institution have its 

governing council, employ qualified 

lecturers and increase the number 

of courses, which is currently nine in 

number. 

How I administer 

college —Udoh, provost 

Fielding questions from reporters, 

provost of the college, Mr David 

Udoh, explained that he was able to 

run the school because of his 

expertise as a health professional. 

Udoh, who denied allegation of 

extortion in the school published by 

some local tabloids, which caused 

the Ministry of Health, Uyo, to query 

the school management, said: “As a 

government-owned health training 

institution, all fees paid by students 

Some residents clearing thewater hyacinth. 

the problem. 

Speaking at a meeting last week, 

with some community leaders of 

Epie Kingdom, the Deputy 

Governor, Lawrence Ewhrudjakpo, 

lamented the negative impact of 

water hyacinth in the Epie creek on 

the livelihood of the people and 

urged them to cooperate with 

government to address 

environmental challenges in their 

area. 

His words: “While we empathize 

with the communities over what has 

happened, it does not mean that we 

are not willing to do something 

about the water hyacinth. The water 

hyacinth on your river has become 

a source of embarrassment both to 

you and to us. 

“I also need to let you know, even 

before the flood, I and Honourable 

Oforji have been working together 

to clear water hyacinth since 2012. 

It was only last year we couldn’t do 

so because of the demands of 

election. 

“Already, we have a paper before 

us on how to remove this water 

hyacinth. I have also sent it to the 

appropriate quarters, so it is not a 

question of government not being 

mindful of the problem you are 

facing.” 

Also speaking, Member 

representing Yenagoa-Oforji-Oboku 

remarked that government was 

are prescribed and approved by 

government through the Ministry of 

Health. Students are given 

government receipts on 

presentation of bank tellers/ 

printouts. 

“Authority to pay are usually given 

to students to effect any payment. 

Let me tell you what happened. In 

2017, somebody was involved in 

fraud by embezzling examination 

money here. We reported to the 

ministry, he was punished, 

suspended and removed from this 

school. 

“He has been the brain behind 

these allegations and even the 

publication in the press. Since he left 

here, I have faced about five panels 

and each time I was cleared because 

I am not here to lie.” 

We want govt 

presence —Enoobong, 

Benjamin, students 

A 200-level student of the 

Department of Community Health, 

Esther Enoobong, lamented: “It 

appears that the state government 

has forgotten about the school. We 

want to feel the presence of 

government through the provisions 

of infrastructure. It will give us a 

sense of belonging when 

government participates in our 

programmes. 

“This is a government-owned 

institution. Where there are health 

challenges in the state, government 

should use us as volunteers. 

Currently, the bulk of academic 

staff are on part-time basis and as 

students, we do not have access to 

concerned about the plight of the 

people of Epie and assured that a 

long term solution is imminent. 

He called for calm on the part of 

the people in the face of the 

difficulty caused by the water 

hyacinth, saying government is 

equal to the task and would take 

appropriate steps to address the 

problem. 

Also, Secretary to the State 

Government, Rt. Hon. Konbowei 

Benson, noted that the presence of 

the water hyacinth in Epie creek was 

of great concern to the government 

because of its multiplier effect on the 

state at large. 

Villagers call for 

temporary solution 

Various 

community 

representatives, who spoke at the 

meeting, suggested the engagement 

of youths to clear temporary paths 

through which farmers can access 

their farms in the short term, while 

in the long term, the water hyacinth 

should be cleared when the water 

recedes. 

Speaker after speaker including 

the Commissioner for Environment, 

Hon. Iselema Gbaranbiri, the 

Paramount Ruler of Onopa 

Community, Chief Morris Tamama 

and his Amarata counterpart, Chief 

Ignatius Buseri-Edege, identified 

A’Ibom govt neglects 32-yr-old health institution 

•Students study in makeshift, dilapidated structures built by missionaries 

•Stopped paying subvention, imprest to College of Health Technology in 2016 

them whenever we need them for 

assistance”. 

Similarly, a 200- level student of 

Department of Health Information 

Management, Benjamin noted: 

“The major problem we are facing 

in this school is insufficient 

classroom blocks. The 100-level and 

200-level students most times use 

one hall during lectures, and the 

consequence is noise making 

because different lecturers will be 

teaching at the same time. 

“We need free WiFi for online 

learning and power supply. In my 

department, we have only three 

professional staff out of 10 

recommended. This is grossly 

inadequate as we do not have extra 

classes. As students, we need vehicle 

to ease transportation problem 

whenever we have competition with 

our sister institutions in other states 

like Cross River State,” he asserted. 

Community leader 

appeals intervention 

A community leader identified as 

Rev. Idongesit Etukudoh appealed 

to the state government to salvage 

the school from poor state of 

infrastructure, noting that the 

community has even donated a land 

for the main campus. 

Health commissioner yet 

to speak 

Meanwhile, the state 

Commissioner for Health, Prof. 

Augustine Umoh, requested that all 

areas of media interest be sent to him 

for robust response, but despite 

several reminders, he was yet to 

respond to the enquiries.




PRESENTATION: From left, Ajayi Oladapo; Kelstorm Kelvin, an Oracle Records artists; Don Owuka, 

MD/CEO, Oracle Records Entertainment; Sogir Issah, an Oracle Records artiste, and Alex Okoh, 

Logistic and Transport Manager, Oracle Records, during the Don Owuka presentation of cars and 

apartments to Oracle Records artistes, in Lagos, yesterday. Photo: Kehinde Shonola. 

Amaechi, Wike renew verbal war 

By Egufe 

Yafugborhi 

PORT HARCOURT— 

GOVERNOR Nyesom 

Wike of Rivers State and his 

predecessor and Minister of 

Transportation, Rotimi 

Amaechi, have renewed 

their verbal war over the 

state of governance and development 

in the state. 

Amaechi drew first blood 

Saturday on the renewed 

verbal attack during the funeral 

for eminent jurist, Adolphus 

Karibi-Whyte at 

Abonnema, Akuku-Toru Local 

Government Area of the 

state, where he said Rivers 

people, under Wike, have 

lost their voices to speak on 

the state of Rivers as opposed 

to the freedom of expression 

that was obtained 

in his days at the helms. 

He said, "You have lost your 

voice. The sage (the late justice) 

has gone under and 

nobody is speaking. When I 

was governor, I gave people 

voices, but they have 

blocked those voices. Everyone 

is scared. 

"We are going back to when 

Ateke Tom held sway. We are 

going back to the period 

where we run away from our 

people. We are back to a period 

when nobody could 

speak. But from next year, I 

Nnewi Princess empowers widows 

By Onozure Dania 

AWKA—THE wife of the 

Crown Prince of Nnewi 

Kingdom, Anambra State, 

Princess Ebele Orizu has 

charged wealthy Nigerians 

to reach out to widows and 

the oppressed in the society 

as a way of giving back 

to society. 

Speaking at weekend 

during the empowerment 

of widows as part of activities 

marking her birthday 

in Abuja, Princess Orizu 

noted that the passion to assist 

widows was borne out 

of her desire to give back to 

society. 

She said that the Desire 

For Widows Organisation 

with a slogan Big Blue 

Heart started a few years 

ago in her community 

Nnewi but that over the 

years, she decided to expand 

it to other widows 

will begin to speak, if nobody 

wants to speak." 

Reacting, his predecessor, 

Wike, yesterday, said, 

"Amaechi does not have the 

moral ground to talk about 

development in Rivers when 

he wasted so much money 

on non-existing projects. 

"Go round the state, you will 

never see anything that looks 

like Justice Karibi-Whyte 

Hospital. It was a scam that 

never existed. Again, tell me 

what the traffic situation is on 

Azikwe Road that a 1.2Km 

Monorail Project would be 

awarded for over N65billion. 

"When I came into office, I 

was told that it will cost about 

N30billion to complete that 

project. If I had such money, 

I will build more infrastructure 

across the state. His Economic 

Advisory Council led 

outside Nnewi. 

Princess Orizu said, “I 

started out few years ago 

with giving Christmas gifts 

to widows at the women's 

end of year meetings and 

silently, giving alms in 

monetary forms to whoever 

my heart sees. 

“I got moved when I first 

saw someone called out few 

women at a function and 

tagged them (JESUS Wives 

) to bless them with gifts. I 

asked for the meaning of 

Jesus Wives and I was told 

that they are widows and 

have only Jesus as their 

husbands and that was 

how my desire to help widows 

started out. 

“As it is always said, charity 

begins at home. And that 

is why I started in my community 

but with time, I plan 

to go to other communities 

through Christ who 

strengthens me. 

by Prof Nimi Briggs published 

a document. The 

records covered activities of 

his administration from 2007 

to 2014. 

"On education, the council 

recorded that 485 primary 

schools were proposed for 

construction. Some existing 

old schools were demolished 

when they required rehabilitation. 

Work started on 478 

schools but only 116 schools 

were completed across the 

state. 

"Amaechi also awarded 15 

Modern Secondary Schools 

for 15 local government areas 

at over N4billion each. 

Only the Ambassador Nne 

Krukrubo School in Eleme 

council was completed and 

functional before he left office." 

“My aims and objectives 

are to provide different free 

services such as vocational 

training, aids in business 

start up, support in health 

care services, alms giving 

and counseling. 

“My mission and vision 

is to be the primary support 

and platform for the 

oppressed widows. I decided 

to stop doing it silently 

and be loud about it 

so as to reach to as many 

women as I can. No one 

person can solve the 

world's problem but every 

little helps. 

“We just had the inauguration 

of the non governmental 

organization, Desire 

for Widows Organisation 

and to celebrate my 

birthday with them, I gave 

out parliatives and money. 

We prayed and ate. They 

were advised and counseled.” 

On Amaechi's notion of renewed 

fear among Rivers 

populace under Wike, he 

said, "Rivers State is safer 

than any other state. See 

what is happening in 

Bornu, Kaduna and Plateau 

States where bandits have 

taken over their areas. 

"When Amaechi was governor, 

Julius Berger Nigeria 

Plc was chased away because 

of insecurity. But they 

are here now, constructing 

roads all over the state without 

fear. 

"Amaechi's hometown, 

Ubima is a place you have a 

large number of cultists he 

uses. The heads of security 

agencies he influences their 

postings, come here and see 

the reality on the ground that 

the state is safe." 

Uzodimma deploys 10 mobile 

clinic trucks to Imo rural areas 

By Chinonso 

Alozie 

OWERRI—THE Imo State 

governor, Hope Uzodimma, 

yesterday, deployed ten 

mobile clinic trucks to Imo 

rural areas. 

The trucks which were 

launched in partnership with 

the church took place at the 

government House in Owerri. 

The governor while giving 

reasons for launching of the 

ten mobile clinic trucks said 

that the decision came after a 

medical survey conducted in 

the communities and that it 

was discovered that 70 percent 

of the causes of deaths in the 

rural areas were from avoidable 

sicknesses. 

He pointed out that only the 

poor and the indigents are to 

benefit from it . 

According to the governor, 

""this is to strengthen our 

health insurance scheme and 

posting our drug revolving 

funds so that at any given time, 

we have quality heath care to 

give to our people. 

"We did a medical survey on 

the deaths in the rural areas and 

we discovered that 75 percent 

of the causes of deaths in the 

rural areas are from avoidable 

sicknesses. That is why we 

launched these ten trucks to 

Nigeria at 60: We must allow states to manage their 

affairs —Prelate Mbang 

By Chioma 

Onuegbu 

UYO—THE Prelate Emer 

itus of the Methodist 

Church of Nigeria, Dr Sunday 

Mbang, has said that Nigeria 

must be restructured by 

allowing states to manage 

their affairs and resources. 

Mbang in Uyo, while responding 

to question on how 

Nigeria has fared at 60 years 

of independence, stressed that 

Nigerians have been deceiving 

themselves with the unitary 

structure that was 

brought by the military. 

He said, "We have not arrived 

there yet. And the number 

one sickness of Nigeria is 

Nigerians themselves. The 

second sickness is the structure 

of Nigeria. We've been deceiving 

ourselves with the unitary 

structure that was 

brought by the military. We 

must leave the military philosophy 

completely. 

"When I was a young man 

when the colonial masters 

were here before they left us, 

the regions were looking after 

themselves. We were the 

Eastern region then and all 

the palm fruits we had, we 

sold ourselves, not the Federal 

Government. Then the West 

had the Cocoa house. They no 

longer have the Cocoa house, 

because we are now running 

a unitary government. 

"The unitary system of government 

is what is killing Nigeria, 

so we must restructure 

Nigeria and allow states to 

manage their affairs. It annoys 

me to see that every 

month, the representative of 

the governors go to stand in 

the line to collect money from 

the Federal Government. It 

never happens anywhere, 

only in Nigeria." 

The Prelate Emeritus regretted 

that Nigeria had copied 

the presidential system of 

America but still fails to do 

one-third of what the system 

stands for, stressing that in a 

presidential system, people do 

their things, and the Federal 

Government 'is a very thin 

thing.' 

He questioned why the Federal 

Government must be involved 

in the security of the 

states, agricultural sector 

among others. 

"The thing that they have 

done now to deceive all of you 

is community policing. Is it 

going to be managed by the 

people around the area? 

These are the questions I ask. 

Community policing is one of 

the deceits we are having in 

Nigeria today. I don't believe 

in it and it is not going to work. 

"What is Federal Government 

doing in agriculture in 

the states, roads? That is why 

you see most of the roads are 

not fixed because they are being 

fixed from Abuja. So, if we 

want to copy the presidential 

system of America, let it be 

done properly. 

"In America, if the president 

talks of law and the governors 

say you cannot do that in my 

state, that is the end of the story. 

That is a presidential system. 

Can the governors disagree 

with the president here 

in Nigeria? They cannot. 

"So we need to restructure 

Nigeria and face the fact that 

states should pay tax to the 

Federal Government. That is 

the number two problem of 

Nigeria. I have talked of the 

citizens, I have talked of 

structure, now, the third one is 

politicians. Nigeria politicians 

must understand that 

politics is for service, it is not 

for them to be rich. 

"At 60, we are still struggling 

to find who will lead us 

well. And when you have a 

corrupt, bad system, all you 

are going to introduce are 

corrupt, bad people, unless 

you have a person once in a 

while that comes in and try to 

do things well. Of course, the 

corrupt system will never allow 

him to do well," Mbang 

added. 

move them into the rural areas. 

"And according to report that 

to put up the health centres in 

Imo State to function fully, that 

it requires a minimum of eighteen 

months, we have entered 

a memorandum of understanding 

with the church. We 

decided to use the church not 

only because they are critical 

stakeholders but they are already 

on humanitarian 

grounds providing humanitarian 

services. 

"For entrusting our medicare 

in their hands ,we have no 

doubt that it would boost their 

strength and boost their professional 

medicare to our people 

at the rural areas to the indigents, 

impoverished and the 

poor." 

The governor pointed out 

that, "Every mobile clinic is 

provided with 4 nurses and two 

doctors and our transition 

committee chairmen in the 

different local government areas 

will monitor the process 

and make sure that the drugs 

and treatment are given to the 

indigents, impoverished and 

poor people. 

"Let me warn that treatments 

are free of charge. Nobody 

should commercialize them 

and if you are caught, you will 

be dealt with for doing so." 

Ebeano political group pledges 

support for Ugwuanyi, says 

he’s done well 

By Anayo Okoli 

ENUGU—AFTER years of 

crisis, the powerful 

Ebeano political structure in 

Enugu State has regrouped 

with a pledge to strengthen the 

structure now and ahead of 

2023 elections. The formidable 

and solid political structure 

which has been producing 

the governors of Enugu 

State since 1999 was however 

hit by internal crisis which 

forced it to lie low for some 

time. 

However, the crisis has been 

resolved, according to the coordinator 

of the Ebeano, Dr. 

Dan Shere. “We have quarreled 

too much; we don’t want 

to quarrel again. We have resolved 

our crisis and everybody 

is on board now in the 

effort to move Enugu State to 

higher height”, he said and 

assured that the group was 

poised to move forward and 

carry everybody along. 

“Ebeano is about a dream 

for Enugu and its development; 

it is about a dream to 

develop Enugu and make its 

people happy. Ebeano has 

provided leadership in the 

state since 1999. Governors 

Chimaroke Nnamani, Sullivan 

Chime and currently, 

Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi; they all 

interpreted the dream". 

To mark the return of 

peace and resolution of the 

crisis, Ebeano decided to 

pay a solidarity visit to the 

governor of Enugu State, Ifeanyi 

Ugwuanyi who is a 

product of the structure 

which was founded by 

former governor Chimaroke 

Nnamani. 

According to Shere, the 

group decided to visit the 

governor to commend him 

for his good governance efforts 

in the state and let Ndi 

Enugu know that there is no 

more crisis in Ebeano political 

structure, insisting that 

“it has nothing to do with 

2023. It is just to commend 

him for his development effort 

and encourage him to 

do more. We want to take 

politics out of it. We want to 

support him for doing well, 

representing us very well”.

vanguardnews @vanguardnews @vanguardnews 


NEWS HOTLINES 

018773962, 

08052867058 

UDUAGHAN GOES BACK TO PDP—Mr. Kenneth Ogio, Warri North PDP 

Ward 6 Chairman (2nd left) presents PDP card to Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan, 

immediate past Governor of Delta State, as Aduge Okorodudu, Warri North 

Council Chairman (left), and Chief Thomas Eriyitomi, Member House of 

Representatives look on. Photo: Akpokona Omafuaire. 

Anger as labour leaders abort 

agreement 

strike, mass protest 

Continues from Page 5 

pump price to the old 

prices. 

A source at last 

Thursday’s meeting 

between the Federal 

G o v e r n m e n t 

representatives and 

leaders of Nigeria Labour 

Congress, NLC, and Trade 

Union Congress of 

Nigeria, TUC, had told 

Vanguard that the 

g o v e r n m e n t 

representatives confided in 

the labour leaders that 

government’s hands were 

tied by international 

financial institutions that 

the country is indebted to. 

The source who pleaded 

anonymity, had said: “The 

disclosure confirmed the 

long-held belief that the 

Bretton Woods institutions 

have been responsible for 

most of the economic 

policies of our government. 

“They told us bluntly that 

Nigeria will incur the 

anger of IMF, the World 

Bank and other 

international leading 

institutions. In fact, they 

refused to discuss the issue 

of price reversal and rather, 

asked us to nominate 

representatives to discuss 

palliatives. 

“It is obvious that they do 

not have mandate to 

discuss issue of price. We 

bluntly refused refuse to 

nominate which was the 

major cause of the stalemate 

of Thursday meeting. 

“You could see that 

against the usual practice 

where it was the Petroleum 

Products Pricing and 

Regulatory Agency, 

PPPRA, that was 

announcing new prices of 

petroleum products, since 

the beginning of this socalled 

market-driven prices 

in March or thereabouts, it 

has been the Petroleum 

Products Marketing 

Company, PPMC, an arm 

of the Nigerian National 

Petroleum Corporation, 

NNPC, that has been 

doing so. 

“Again, unlike the PPPRA 

where Labour and other 

stakeholders have 

representatives on the 

board, stakeholders are not 

on the board of PPMC. 

Only the Federal 

Government appoints the 

management team. 

“As you aware, NLC has 

two representatives on the 

board of PPPRA, National 

Union of Road Transport 

Workers, NURTW, Nigeria 

Association of Road 

Transport Owners, 

NARTO, oil markers, 

NECA, Nigeria Union of 

Petroleum and Natural Gas 

Workers, NUPENG and its 

Petroleum and Natural Gas 

Senior Staff Association of 

Nigeria, PENGASSAN, 

counterpart, are among the 

stakeholders in the board 

of PPPRA.” 

“On the issue of electricity 

tariff, we have insisted that 

the Nigeria Electricity 

Regulatory Commission, 

NERC, has become an 

agent of government and 

private capital in the power 

sector. We demanded that 

Labour and other critical 

sectors must be members of 

the commission. 

‘Minister announced 

strike suspension’ 

However, the 

communique announcing 

suspension of the strike 

yesterday was read by 

the Minister of Labour 

and Employment, Dr 

Chris Ngige, who 

disclosed that the 

decision to suspend the 

strike followed an 

Naira stable to N386/$ I&E window 

By Elizabeth Adegbesan 

The naira yesterday was stable at N386 per dollar 

in the parallel market. 

Data from FMDQ showed that the volume of dollars 

(turnover) traded in the window rose by 57 percent 

to $133.73 million from $85.43 million last week 

Friday. 

Similarly, the naira yesterday was stable at N467 

per dollar in the Investors and Exporters (I&E) 

window 

reached 

between both parties. 

According to him, the 

agreement was designed 

to stave off the industrial 

action which would have 

grounded economic 

activities in the country. 

Organized labour, 

however, warned that the 

strike was suspended 

and not called off, 

adding that it could be 

recalled if government 

failed to fulfill its part of 

the agreement after two 

weeks.. 

Labour leaders protest 

strike suspension in 

Edo 

Rejecting the 

suspension, labour 

leaders and members of 

the civil society in Edo 

State expressed 

disappointment with the 

national leaders of NLC 

and TUC.. 

Led by the Chairman of 

the NLC, in Edo State, 

Sunny Osayande and 

TUC counterpart, 

Marshall Ohue, the 

labour leaders and other 

aggrieved workers and 

activists, stormed the 

King’s Square Arena in 

Benin City, the state 

capital, in protest. 

According to the 

displeased state labour 

leaders and their 

members, the decision to 

suspend the planned 

strike was hurriedly 

taken by the national 

leaders without 

consultation with NEC, 

members and key 

stakeholders across the 

country. 

They chanted slogans 

such as “No to Electricity 

Hike”, “No to Fuel 

Hike”, “Kill Corruption”, 

among others, the 

protesters who 

assembled at downtown 

Ring Road, slammed the 

government for 

increasing the price of 

fuel and electricity tariff. 

Speaking, former 

presidential candidate 

of the National 

Conscience Party, NCP, 

Dr. Osagie Obayuwana 

and state chairman of 

NLC, Mr. Sunny 

Osayande, insisted that 

they would embark on a 

total strike if the 

government refused to 

reverse the increment in 

two weeks. 

Obayuwana said: “We 

say no to the increase in 

electricity tariff, fuel and 

VAT. We say no to 

privatization where our 

wealth is given to a few 

persons. They are just 

buying time but before 

you know it, two weeks 

will be over.’’ 

He said the union 

decided to embark on 

the peaceful march to 

express its displeasure 

over the manner the 

unions called off the 


On his part, NLC 

chairman in the state, 

Sunny Osunde, warned 

that in the event that the 

government refuses to 

listen to the grievances 

of organised labour in 

two weeks time, the 

union would have no 

choice but to embark on 

a total strike. 

He added: “We took to 

the streets to tell the 

masses that what the 

federal government 

brought is nothing. The 

hike in VAT, fuel and 

electricity tariff should be 

reversed within two 

weeks, otherwise we will 

go on strike.” 

A 

colossal 

disappointment, say 

Kogi workers 

In Kogi State, workers 

described the lastminute 

decision by NLC 

and TUC to suspend the 

strike a colossal 

disappointment. 

One of the workers, Mr. 

Philip Rotimi, said the 

labour leaders had with 

the latest development 

emboldened the people 

about perceived 

insinuations that they 

could easily be 

persuaded by 

government of the day to 

do its bidding. 

Mr. Philip, a GL-09 

officer in the state said: 

“The decision to suspend 

the strike is a colossal 

disappointment. In truth, 

we have lost trust in our 

labour leaders. 

“We don’t even know 

the reasons behind 

calling off the strike, 

aside the insinuation 

that they have 

compromised. We hope 

they don’t call for any 

strike again because it 

will be an insult on us and 

we may not honour it.” 

Ibadan residents protest 

suspension 

In Ibadan, Oyo State, 

residents joined the Joint 

Action Front, JAF, and 

Alliance on Surviving 

COVID-19 and Beyond, 

ASCAB, Oyo State branch, 

to protest suspension of the 


The protest, which began 

at the NLC secretariat in 

Ibadan, moved through 

Agodi-Gate, Oje, Yemetu 

and terminated at 

Government Secretariat. 

Security personnel were, 

however, stationed in 

strategic locations within 

Ibadan metropolis to 

prevent a breakdown of 

law and order. 

Addressing newsmen, 

ASCAB Vice-Chairman in 

the state, Mr Femi 

Aborisade, said the group 

was against the resolution 

entered into by the 

leadership of the NLC and 

TUC. 

Aborisade said the labour 

leaders had, with their 

actions, betrayed the 

general interest of the 

Nigerian masses. 

He recalled that a Federal 

High Court had, in 2013 

and 2016, declared the 

increment of petroleum 

pump price and electricity 

tariff illegal and 

unconstitutional, adding 

that government failed to 

obey the order. 

Aborishade said the 

leaderships of TUC and 

NLC were supposed to 

have briefed Nigerians on 

the outcome of their 

meeting and gauge the 

feedback from them before 

announcing the 

suspension of the strike. 

He called on the Federal 

Government to follow the 

rule of law and reverse the 

petroleum pump price and 

the electricity tariff for the 

benefit of the masses. 

We’re surprised, by 

Kwara workers 

Also speaking on the 

suspension, Chairman of 

Kwara State, NLC, Issa 

Ore, said: “We had fully 

mobilised our members to 

storm the streets for the 

strike today (yesterday)) 

because our morale has 

already been dampened 

by the hike in the prices of 

petrol and electricity tariff. 

“So, when we were 

directed to suspend the 

strike, we were surprised 

but we have no option than 

to suspend the already 

planned strike.” 

NLC, TUC officials fault 

suspension 

One of the members of 

NLC’s Central Working 

Committee, CWC, who 

spoke to Vanguard on 

grounds of anonymity 

after the suspension, 

lamented: “We are all 

shocked and 

disappointed by the 

suspension because we 

had mobilized our 

members and Nigerians 

for the strike only for 

some few people, for 

whatever reason, to 

suspend the strike 

without even having the 

courtesy to refer back to 

the CWC and NEC( 

National Executive 

Council, NEC) that 

ordered the strike in the 

first place. 

“It is wrong and 

unacceptable. Now they 

have called an 

emergency CWC 

meeting for today 

(yesterday). To tell us 

what? I am afraid we 

have created a crisis of 

confidence between 

labour and Nigerians. 

“Nigerians were ready 

for the strike because the 

level of poverty, 

suffering, hardship and 

deprivation in the 

country at present are 

better imagined than 

experienced. 

“Tell me, what did we 

achieve as organized 

labour? You said you are 

suspending hike in 

electricity tariff for two 

weeks, who cares about 

electricity? Even if you 

bring the tariff to N1, 

Nigerians will not have 

power. 

“So, they will not feel 

the impact. But any 

increase or decrease in 

pump price of petrol will 

have effect on 

everybody. What 

Nigerians and workers 

were expecting was a 

drastic reduction in the 

pump price of petrol. 

“I am ashamed with 

what happened. We 

have betrayed the trust of 

workers and Nigerian 

masses.” 

Also, an official of TUC 

simply said: “This would 

have given Labour the 

opportunity to save its 

face after the 2016 fiasco 

when similar hike in the 

pump price of petrol 

could not be challenged 

by organized labour 

because of internal 

wranglings within the 

movement. 

“It is so disappointing 

for you to spend such 

energy to mobilize both 

workers and other 

Nigerians for a 

nationwide strike, only to 

suspend it at the last 

minute without 

achieving anything. 

“Some of us do not 

agree with them, but that 

cannot change anything 

because the deed has 

been done by our leaders 

who represented us in 

the so-called meeting 

with government 

representatives. 

JAF disowns Labour 

Similarly, the prolabour 

civil society 

organizations, under the 

umbrella of Joint Action 

Front, JAF, while 

reacting to the 

suspension, disowned 

organized labour and 

rejected the suspension. 

The group also stormed 

the streets of Lagos in 

protest, calling on 

Nigerians to fight to 

liberate themselves. 

JAF’s Secretary, 

Continues on Page 36


Illegality of laws authorising AGF and 

governors to detain Nigerian citizens(3) 

The second part of this piece published 

yesterday continues today with the illegality 

of detaining citizens in corresctional 

centres at the pleasures of governors 

By FEMI FALANA 

IF still detained in a mental hospital when 

the sentence is about to be determined, 

the officer in charge of the mental hospital 

shall give such information as may be 

necessary to determine whether the inmate 

shall be under those laws as a person of 

unsound mind till the date of the determination 

of the sentence. Since a state governor is 

not competent to exercise any power under the 

Nigerian Correctional Service Act it is submitted 

that the detention of any person of unsound 

mind therein at his pleasure is illegal. Accordingly, 

any order made by a trial court for the 

indefinite detention of an inmate in a correctional 

centre is ultra vires, illegal and 

unconstitutional in every material 

particular. 

In the case of Hassan Hussein Yusuf v. The 

Republic (Criminal Appeal No 59 of 2014) the 

appellant was charged with an offence of 

breaking into a building and committing a 

felony contrary to section 306 (a) of the Penal 

Code of Kenya. He was tried and convicted 

by the Magistrate Court but at the time of sentencing 

it dawned on the court that he was of 

unsound mind and was therefore ordered to 

be detained at the pleasure of the President of 

Kenya. The convict appealed against his conviction 

and sentence. In allowing the appeal 

the High Court (per Kiarei J.) held that "It is 

my opinion that keeping a sick person for an 

indeterminate period in a prison is cruel, inhuman 

and degrading treatment...The order 

envisaged under section 167 (1) of the Criminal 

Procedure Code is a punishment. Any punishment 

that cannot be determined from the 

onset is cruel, inhuman and degrading. I therefore 

make a finding that this section is unconstitutional 

to the extent it offends the said articles 

of the Constitution." 

His Lordship further stated that "A sick person's 

place is at the hospital and not in prison. 

I find section 167 of the Criminal Procedure 

code discriminative to people with mental illness 

for prescribing their detention to be in 

prison instead of a health facility and for the 

detention to be indeterminate. This offends articles 

25 and 29 (f) of the Constitution". In consequence, 

the Judge set aside order of detention 

and directed that the appellant be escorted 

to a medical facility with the capacity to reevaluate 

his mental condition. It was the view 

of the Judge that "If in the opinion of a psychiatrist 

he will not pose any danger to the public 

and himself he shall be set at liberty and prison 

authorities shall ensure that he is facilitated to 

his home. If the opinion is otherwise, he shall 

be admitted for treatment until such a time it 

will be safe to release him." 

Even though a Nigerian court may order the 

detention of a a convict in a correctional centre 

every mentally challenged person must be 

kept in a psychiatric 

hospital for 

treatment. Psychiatric 

patients are 

not to be detained 

at the pleasure of 

governors but kept 

in mental hospital 

and subject to periodic 

review by 

medical experts. 

In Purohit and 

FEMI FALANA, SAN Moore v. The 

Gambia (2003) AHRLR 96 the complainants 

who are mental health advocates, submitted 

the communication on behalf of patients detained 

at Campama, a psychiatric unit of the 

Royal Victoria Hospital under the Lunatic Detention 

Act of The Gambia. The Commission 

considered the average length of detention, 

which was variable according to mental illness 

and family situation and found violations of 

Article 6 of the African Charter with respect to 

the denial of personal liberty and the freedom 

from arbitrary detention. Based on lack of 

review procedures the Commission concluded 

that the LDA fell short of international norms 

and urged the Government of The Gambia to 

repeal the LDA and replace it with appropriate 

legislation. Pending this legislative change the 

Government was directed to create an expert 

body to review all cases of persons detained 

and to provide adequate and material care for 

persons suffering due to mental illness. 

Illegality of detaining children in correctional 

centres 

Under section 221 of the Child's Rights Act 

no child shall be ordered to be-(a) imprisoned; 

or (b) subjected to corporal punishment or 

(c) subjected to the death penalty or, have the 

death penalty recorded against him. Where a 

child is found to have attempted to commit 

treason, murder, robbery or manslaughter, or 

wounded another person with intent to do 

grievous harm, the Court may order the child 

to be detained for such period as may be specified 

in the order. Section 223.-(1) thereof provides 

that where a child charged with an offence 

is tried by a Court and the Court is satisfied 

that the child actually committed the offence, 

the Court shall take into consideration 

the manner in which, under the provisions of 

this Act, the case should be dealt with, namely, 

by- dismissing the charge; or discharging the 

child offender on his entering into a re-cognisance; 

or committing the child offender by 

means of a corrective order to the care of a 

guardian and supervision of a relative or any 

other fit person, or sending the child offender 

by means of a corrective order to an approved 

accommodation or approved institution in 

place of detention provided under the Act. 

The indeterminacy of the detention of children 

was the issue in contention in the case of 

A & Ors v Attorney-General (supra) where the 

Appellants were tried for murder, convicted and 

committed to prison at the pleasure of the 

President. The Applicants challenged the constitutionality 

of the provisions of the Criminal 

Code which permit certain convicted persons 

to be detained indefinitely at the pleasure of 

Psychiatric 

patients are not 

to be detained 

at the pleasure 

of governors 

but kept in 

mental hospital 

and subject to 

periodic review 

by medical 

the President. In 

his considered 

judgment, Justice 

John Mativo 

declared the law 

unconstitutional 

when he said, “I 

find that section 25 

(2) of the Penal 

Code is inconsistent 

with the provisions 

of Article 53 

(1) (f) of the Constitution 

which 

provides that a 

child has the right 

not experts to be detained, except as a measure of last 

resort, and when held, to be held for the shortest 

appropriate period of time and separate from 

adults and in conditions that take account of 

the child’s sex and age.” 

Rich people are not detained at the pleasure 

of governors 

The provisions of the ACJA and ACJLs which 

permit the AGF and Governors to detain citizens 

at pleasure are class biased as their application 

is usually restricted to poor and vulnerable 

people in all states of the Federation. In 

fact, the lawyers who have justified the oppressive 

laws have done so from undiluted ideological 

perspectives. In a country where poor 

citizens are routinely arrested and detained 

with or without trial it is is rare for the police 

and other security agencies to arrest and detain 

rich people beyond 48 hours. Hence, leading 

members of the legal fraternity are usually 

assembled and paid handsomely to mount a 

legal challenge against the detention and banishment 

of prominent traditional rulers to some 

remote areas of the country by State Governors 

on grounds of intra class feud. 

CONCLUSION 

From the foregoing, it is indisputable that 

some provisions of the ACJA and ACJLs have 

clothed the AGF and state governors with powers 

to detain citizens at their pleasure or discretion. 

On the basis of such laws criminal 

courts that try and convict children and people 

of unsound mind commit them to the AGF 

and state governors who may detain them indefinitely. 

Having regards to the current human 

rights law regime in Nigeria it is indubitably 

clear that any law that allows a member 

of the executive branch of the government to 

subject citizens to detention of uncertain duration 

is illegal and unconstitutional as it is 

not justifiable in a democratic society. 

Concluded 

*Falana, SAN, human rights lawyer, 

wrote from Lagos 


abort strike, mass protest 

Continues from Page 35 

Abiodun Aremu, 

lamented that by 

agreeing to suspend the 

strike, organized labour 

has accepted 

deregulation of the 

downstream sector of the 

petroleum industry. 

He said: “It is a death 

pill on workers and poor 

masses. It is Nigeria for 

sale to IMF and World 

Bank. The point is that 

JAF entirely rejects the 

policy of privatization 

and deregulation 

because such policies 

are essentially designed 

to undermine the 

interest of workers and 

the poor masses. 

“They are policies of 

hardship and 

underdevelopment 

imposed on us by the 

World Bank and 

International Monetary 

Fund, IMF. Experience 

has shown that if Nigeria 

enters into the trap of 

deregulation, it will be 

one economic crisis after 

another.” 

We’re not surprised - 

CNPP 

Reacting to the 

development, the 

Conference of Nigeria 

Political Parties, CNPP, 

said it was “not 

disappointed that the 

Nigerian labour unions 

bowed to pressure at the 

last minute as usual as 

it has long become their 

trademark.” 

The CNPP in a 

statement by its 

Secretary General, Chief 

Willy Ezugwu, said: “We 

expected that this would 

happen and that was 

why the CNPP opted to 

rally civil society 

movements across the 

country. 

“We are monitoring the 

situation and rejigging 

our plans in view of the 

now obvious reality that 

ordinary citizens who 

cannot travel to Abuja 

are on their own. 

“In the last five years, 

the Nigerian Labour 

Congress, NLC, and the 

Trade Union Congress, 

TUC, have remained 

toothless bulldogs and 

compromised arm of the 

Federal Government. 

“The suffering masses 

who believed the labour 

unions can now continue 

to suffer, while all voices 

are shut. 

“Following the current 

compromise and sell out, 

we advise Nigerians 

never to take labour 

unions seriously until 

there is a rebirth when 

these current leaders of 

the unions are gone. 

“We join the Nigerian 

people to clearly declare 

that we have completely 

lost confidence in the 

current leaders of the 

labour unions in Nigeria. 

For them, getting 

‘palliatives’ for the unions 

is all they want, while the 

masses can continue to 

suffer.” 

Labour sold out – Group 

On its part, Resource 

Centre for Human Rights 

& Civic Education, 

described the suspension 

by labour as a sellout. 

In a statement by its 

Executive Director, Dr. 

Ibrahim Zikirullahi, the 

groupsaid: “We have 

carefully studied the 

excuses given by the 

Nigeria Labour Congress, 

NLC, and the Trade Union 

Congress, TUC, to shelve 

the general strike and 

protests, which had been 

slated to begin today 

(yesterday). 

“While we are not 

advocating strike for the 

fun of it, we make no 

mistake about the fact that 

the Nigerian people need 

to send a strong message 

to the government that its 

strangulating policies are 

unacceptable. 

“It is apparent from the 

details of the agreement 

signed with the Federal 

Government that Labour 

has once again sold out 

cheaply. 

“It is shameful that the 

leaders of the two labour 

centres have now reduced 

important and historic 

struggles of the Nigerian 

people for social and 

economic justice to 

opportunities to grab 

appointments in various 

government committees. 

“It is yet another grand 

betrayal by labour to have 

allowed itself to be bought 

over by government’s 

empty promises to take 

steps to ostensibly cushion 

the effects of the harsh 

policies it has unleashed on 

citizens. 

“As far as we can see, 

government has not offered 

any tangible road map to 

end dependence on fuel 

importation. Yet, labour 

lamely accepted the 

argument that price should 

be hiked in addition to the 

token of 133 buses to serve 

as palliatives. 

“Ironically, the important 

question left unanswered is, 

if 133 buses would really 

cushion the multiplier 

effects of the hike in terms 

of galloping inflation, 

higher cost of basic 

necessities like food, 

transport, healthcare, 

school fees; cost of doing 

business and increase in 

the rate of unemployment 

as a result of the 

strangulating business 

environment. 

“It is apparent that they 

went into negotiation with 

government using the 

workers as bargaining 

power for their selfish 

interests. And they, 

therefore, ended up 

inflicting further hardships 

on the Nigerian people in 

order to sit on the table with 

oppressors in government.” 

Ex-NHRC chairman 

blasts Labour 

Meanwhile, former 

chairman of the National 

Human Rights 

Commission, NHRC, Prof 

Chidi Odinkalu, has 

accused the Nigeria 

Labour Congress, NLC 

and Trade Union Congress, 

TUC of sabotage, in its last 

minute move to suspend 

the planned labour strike 

which was to begin 

yesterday. 

E x p r e s s i n g 

disappointment at the 

actions of the labour 

leaders yesterday, Prof 

Odinkalu in a series of 

tweets on his Twitter 

handle, @ChidiOdinkalu, 

said the meeting was done 

in what he described as 

willful orchestration. 

Odinkalu, who is the 

senior team manager of the 

Africa Program of Open 

Society Justice Initiative, 

said: “The NLC/TUC 

bunch didn’t even pretend 

to negotiate. It was all done 

with willful orchestration - 

for the price of ‘review’ of 

downstream sector without 

benchmarks to end in rapt 

that does not promise 

action; suspension of 

electricity tariff for two 

weeks; and 133 buses. 

“You cannot read this 

communique without 

marveling at the criminal 

cynicism of the leadership 

of Nigeria’s Organised 

Labour. No, it’s not naivete; 

it is organised, criminal 

cynicism.” 

Labour has long been 

very patient with this govt. 

– Esele, Ex-TUC President 

Also, former TUC 

President, Peter Esele, said 

the current leadership of 

the various labour unions 

had been very patient with 

the government. 

He noted that there had 

been a lot of infractions that 

would have warranted the 

industrial action of labour 

over the years. 

Speaking to Vanguard 

yesterday, he said: “The 

government should be 

grateful because this 

current labour leadership 

has been so patient with it 

because there are enough 

things that would have led 

to strikes in the country. 

“So many things have 

happened, ranging from 

insecurity to devaluation of 

the naira, to privatization, 

to corruption and we are all 

just quiet about all these 

things. This would have 

just been a starting point.”



Adesanya urges UFC to fine 

fighters for missing weight 

Israel Adesanya dispatched of 

Paulo Costa in style at UFC 253 

but he wasn’t happy with 

everything that unfolded on 

Saturday night. 

The middleweight champion 

defended his title with a second 

round TKO and went on to 

dedicate a portion his post-fight 

interview to addressing a problem 

he sees in the sport today. 

That was the issue of fighters 

missing weight, Adesanya clearly 

unhappy that two fighters had 

done so on the card. 

One of those was Ludovit Klein, 

who weighed five pounds over for 

his featherweight victory against 

Shane Young, who is a teammate 

of Adesanya at City Kickboxing in 

New Zealand. 

Zubaira Tukhugov missed 

weight by the same margin for his 

fight and both men were docked 

30 per cent of their pay but 

Adesanya believes that amount 

isn’t enough. 

‘I told Dana, 30% is not enough. 

F*** that,’ the 31-year-old said to 

Jon Anik in the octagon following 

his win. 

‘Some of these guys are 

gangsters they’re making money 

outside the UFC. 30 per cent ain’t 

shit to them. 

‘So don’t give up that to not 

make the weight and have 90 

Carabao Cup 

Tottenham v Chelsea 

Mendy set to make 

Chelsea debut in 

Carabao Cup 

Edouard Mendy will be in the 

Chelsea squad for the first time 

at Tottenham today. 

But Frank Lampard has hit out 

at some of the ‘unfair’ criticism of 

the man Mendy has been bought 

to challenge, Kepa Arrizabalaga. 

Goalkeeper Mendy joined for 

£22m from Rennes last week 

though Saturday’s trip to West 

Brom was considered too soon for 

his first involvement. 

That will be at the Tottenham 

Hotspur Stadium tonight where 

Chelsea head for their Carabao 

Cup fourth round tie. 

Lampard said: ‘Mendy and [Ben] 

Chilwell are in the squad so they 

are fit, so we will see if they start or 

not. Very positive, the early signs 

and interactions [with Mendy], just 

as a man and also on the training 

pitch. 

‘He has settled in very well in 

those few days and we’ve made him 

very welcome, as always so it is 

competition. He is a good 

goalkeeper. We know that. We 

know a lot about him and we will 

see how we go.’ 

Mendy’s arrival came just a few 

days after Kepa suffered another 

setback when a poor attempted 

pass out gifted Liverpool a second 

goal in their 2-0 win at Stamford 

Bridge, increasing the scrutiny of 

the Spaniard. 

•Edouard Mendy 

•Isreal Adesanya pounding Paulo Coasta 

minutes to keep on making the 

weight. And they’re just ‘Ah, f*** 

it’. They just drink their waters and 

whatnot.’ 

’30 per cent is not enough. Make 

Player runs out of racket during French Open match 

Katarina Zavatska suffered a 

nightmare on Day 2 of the 

French Open as she ran out of 

rackets midway through the third 

set and proceeded to get bagelled. 

Fifth seed Kiki Bertens won the 

match 2-6 6-2 6-0, but it was 

absolute heartbreak for Zavatska 

as broken strings saw her have to 

resort to a racket that was not even 

hers. 

Having run out of rackets, the 

Ukrainian’s coach had to rush over 

and give her a back-up one that 

was very different to her normal 

on-court weapon. 

It was a disaster for poor 

Zavatska, and she could not 

contain her emotions as she 

realised her problem at 0-3 in the 

final set having won the first. 

She could not muster another 

game as Bertens raced to victory, 

and it was a very sad sight as 

•Joshua & Joe 

it 90 per cent and that way I 

guarantee you they will spend 

every second in that 90 minutes 

trying to make the weight and not 

just bi**h out.’’ 

Zavatska suffered the bad luck at 

such a crucial moment in the 

match. 

The 20-year-old from Lutsk had 

Joshua to spar with Joyce for 

crunch heavyweight fights 

Anthony Joshua and Joe Joyce 

will link up as sparring 

partners to prime each other for 

their high-stakes heavyweight 

clashes. 

Joshua is expected to defend his 

IBF, WBA and WBO heavyweight 

titles against mandatory 

challenger Kubrat Pulev on 

December 12, and Joyce will meet 

his fellow unbeaten British 

contender Daniel Dubois. 

Representatives of Joshua and 

Joyce confirmed to Sky Sports that 

they would share a ring again to 

aid each other preparations. 

“There’ve been many bruising 

sessions over the years,” promoter 

Eddie Hearn told Sky Sports about 

Joshua and Joyce’s history. 

“Joe has been around for many 

years on the amateur scene. When 

AJ was coming through, Joe was 

one of the experienced guys and 

some of their spars have been 

fantastic. 

•Katarina 

“Obviously AJ went to another 

level, but Joe is still an 

outstanding heavyweight.” 

Joshua won the superheavyweight 

gold medal at the 

London 2012 Olympics. Joyce 

represented Team GB four years 

later in Rio and took home silver 

after controversially losing the 

final to France’s Tony Yoka. 

“I think the research will be in 

place to identify probably half a 

dozen sparring partners that will 

be the right style for Pulev,” said 

Hearn. 

“The sparring for Andy Ruiz, 

first time around, was so difficult 

because we had five weeks to find 

a short - sorry Andy - tubby, fast 

heavyweight with great 

movement. It’s very, very difficult 

to find. 

“We got it perfectly right for the 

rematch. We really brought in five 

or six guys that had the speed, had 

the movement, and replicated the 

style.” 

Troost-Ekong set to sign for Watford 

Super Eagles defender, William 

Troost-Ekong has arrived in 

London and he is expected to sign 

for Watford this week after passing 

a medical. 

The Hornets have been 

monitoring the Udinese of Italy 

player and according to Watford 

Observer, the deal will finally go 

ahead as soon as he passes his 

medicals. He has said goodbye to 

his teammates and is set to 

complete a permanent move from 

the fellow Pozzo-owned club. 

Head coach Vladimir Ivic has 

previously described the 27-yearold 

as a “quality player” and said 

after the goalless draw at Sheffield 

Wednesday: “I know him as a 

quality player and he will be one 

of the players who will help us in 

the future, if he will come, if he 

will join us.” 

to settle for the defeat on Court 

Suzanne Lenglen with Bertens to 

next take on Sara Errani of Italy 

in the second round. 

•Troost-Ekong 

Van Gaal is one of the worst people I 

have ever met — Silva 

Rafael Da Silva did not mince 

words when it came to talking 

about Louis Van Gaal , against 

whom he charged hard after 

having coincided at Manchester 

United . 

The Dutchman arrived as a 

replacement for David Moyes and 

quickly stopped having the 

Brazilian side. “ I speak ill of some 

people, like Van Gaal. I don’t like 

Van Gaal, “he explained to 

Athleltic, clarifying that” when 

they told me I was going to be the 

coach, many friends called me. I 

couldn’t believe it, since they told 

me they didn’t like Brazilians. 

They told me: ‘the first thing he 

will do is get you out.’ 

And so it happened, says the 

Olympique de Lyon player . “It 

was actually the second because 

the first day he didn’t speak to me. 

On the second day he told me I 

could go. He hadn’t even trained 

and he already told me that. I 

couldn’t believe it “ . 

Rafael didn’t give up just like 

that. “I tried to fight for my place. 

I was with him for a year. It was 

so, so difficult. He is one of the 

worst people I have ever worked 

with “, said the Brazilian. 

•Van Gaal 

Costa teases Suarez:’I’ll do the 

fighting, he can do the biting’ 

DIEGO COSTA has teased new Atletico Madrid strike partner Luis 

Suarez by joking: “I’ll do the fighting, he can do the biting.” 

Barcelona discard Suarez netted twice on his Atletico debut after coming 

on for ex-Chelsea bad-boy Costa in Sunday’s 6-1 LaLiga win over Granada. 

And having been banned three times for biting, the Uruguay legend is 

one of the few superstar with a record as controversial, combative and 

confrontational as Costa’s. 

But Spain hardman Costa, 31, is amazed Barca let the 33-year-old go. 

Incoming Nou Camp boss Ronaldo Koeman made it clear Suarez was 

no longer wanted when he took over following the 8-2 Champions League 

humiliation against Bayern Munich last month. 

Costa said: “We are very lucky to have Luis, I don’t understand how 

Barca could have let him leave. 

“He is very good, one of us can do the fighting and the other can do the 

biting. 

“He’s going to help us with lots of goals as well as his warrior spirit and 

his hunger to win trophies.” 

Costa netted against Granada before Suarez replaced him on 70 minutes 

to score twice and add an assist. But while Atleti hope Suarez can fire 

them to their first title since 2014, Costa’s future in his third spell at the 

club is under threat following patchy form. 

•Diego Costa 

•Luiz Suarez


Vanguard, TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 2020 

TODAY’S CROSSWORD 

QUICK CROSSWORD 

YESTERDAY’S SOLUTION 

TODAY’S PUZZLE 

Sudoku 

YESTERDAY’S ANSWER 

Across 

1 Energy (3-2-3-2) 

7 Announce (8) 

8 Old (4) 

9 Cease (4) 

10 Endangered (2,5) 

12 English country (11) 

14 Competent (7) 

16 False (4) 

19 Room or space under roof (4) 

20 Item of jewellery (8) 

21 Sunrise (5,2,3) 

Down 

1 Young women (5) 

2 Rebuke (4,3) 

3 Summit (4) 

4 Insensibility (8) 

5 Fruit of vine (5) 

6 Bring back to life (6) 

11 Asian country (3,5) 

12 Public speaker (6) 

13 Breathed in (7) 

15 Stage-player (5) 

17 Dirty (5) 

28 Reflected sound (4) 

How to Play Sudoku 

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: 

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29092020 - Anger as labour leaders abort strike, mass protest

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