14092022

26 —Vanguard, TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 2022
20
Police corruption
wastes resources,
undermines security
and makes mockery of
justice
KADUNA TRAIN
ATTACK:
Mamu aided
local, int’l
groups —DSS
Nigeria’s oil exploration begins decline as rig count falls
11
INSECURITY:
Northern govs,
monarchs call
for state police
6
Troops
rescue 10
hostages, kill
bandits in
Kaduna
community 2
19
VOL. 39: NO. 9,879 WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 2022
ZENITH BANK BOSS AT IMC...
Group Managing
Director/CEO,
Zenith Bank Plc,
Mr. Ebenezer
Onyeagwu and
Chairman,
Citigroup Inc., also
current President
of the
International
Monetary
Conference (IMC),
John Dugan at the
just concluded
meeting of IMC in
Munich, Germany.
ALLEGED ORGAN HARVESTING:
Ekweremadu asks
court to dismiss
Ukpo’s suit
9
Nigeria broke,
still feels like
we’re in recession
—ATIKU
27
No going back on opposition
to same-faith ticket 5
— FORUM OF NORTHERN CHRISTIANS
•As Dogara, Babachir Lawal, CAN chairmen from 19 Northern states meet•They‘re fifth
columnists — APC source•I don’t believe in playing politics with religion, Okowa slams Tinubu,
Obi•Why Atiku picked Okowa as running mate over Wike, others — AYU
NNPC seals BUHARI IN IMO....
gas pipeline
deal with
Morocco’s
hydrocarbon
office,
7
ECOWAS
Energy
transition:
Nigeria to
benefit
from
$12bn US
fund 6
President Muhammadu Buhari (right) commissioning a project, assisted by Governor Hope Uzodinma
of Imo State during the President's visit to Imo State, yesterday. STATE HOUSE PHOTO.
COLUMNISTS NNANNA 16 OKOH 17 FASAN 17 DEAR BUNMI 21 23
Keyamo’s
diatribe
exposes
APC’s plot to
assassinate
Obi —LABOUR
PARTY 7
Mr & Mrs

2—Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 2022
Gas explosion
injures 5,
damages 17
shops, 5
houses in
Jigawa
DUTSE— THE Nigeria Security
and Civil Defence Corps
(NSCDC) in Jigawa said, yesterday that
five people were injured from a
suspected smuggled gas that exploded
in Babura Local Government Area of
the state.
Spokesman of the NSCDC, Adamu
Shehu, who confirmed the incident to
the News Agency of Nigeria in Dutse
added that the explosion also damaged
shops and houses.
Also, the Police Public Relations
Officer in the state, DSP Lawan
Shiisu, confirmed the incident.
He said 17 shops and five houses were
damaged by the inferno caused by the
explosion.
NSCDC spokesman Shehu in his
account said the incident occurred on
Monday at about 9.00 p.m., after
security operatives on stop-and search
in the area flagged down a truck
conveying 25 gas cylinders.
He alleged that the driver of the truck
refused to stop while being pursued by
the operatives, resulting in one of the
cylinders falling off the truck and
catching fire immediately.
The spokesman added that the
vehicle was from Tinkim town in
Magarya LGA of Niger Republic
heading toward Hadejia LGA of
Jigawa.
He said the victims are currently
receiving treatment at the Babura
General Hospital.
Similarly, the Police Public Relations
Officer in the state, DSP Lawan Shiisu,
also confirmed the incident.
Police foil
robbery
operation in
Delta, recover
AK-47 rifle
By Festus Ahon
A
SABA—DELTA State Police
Command, yesterday, said its
operatives foiled robbery attempt at
Hausa Market, Asaba, the state capital
and recovered a fabricated AK-47 rifle
with 12 rounds of ammunition and 23
live cartridges.
The command in a statement by its
Public Relations Officer, Bright Edafe,
said: “On the 11/09/2022 about 0430hrs,
the command in a swift response to a
distress call from Hausa Market in
Asaba, about some suspicious looking
persons using a tricycle in the area,
operatives of the command’s CP-Decoy
Squad were detailed to the area, where
the hoodlums on sighting the Police
abandoned a de-faced tricycle and took
to their heels.
“Upon a thorough search of the
tricycle, a fabricated AK-47 rifle, 12
rounds of 9mm live ammunition and
23 live cartridges all concealed in black
polythene bag and hidden beneath the
rear passenger’s seat were recovered.
Effort is being intensified in
collaboration with local vigilantes to
arrest the fleeing suspects.
“The Commissioner of Police CP, Ari
Muhammed Ali, appreciates the efforts
of the residents in the state, who always
avail the command with useful
information that aids in crime fighting
and urges them to continue to
collaborate with the command, noting
that crime has no jurisdiction, as
criminals does not have human
sympathy and as such should not be
allowed to go about their mischievous
deeds unhindered.
:@vanguardnews :@vanguardnews NEWS HOTLINES: 08052867023, 08052867058
:Vanguard
News
N4.9bn Agbowo complex project:
Our children are hungry, out of schools,
suppliers, shop owners cry out
By Ademola Adegbite
IBADAN —SOME major suppliers
of materials and shop owners at the
on-going reconstruction of N4.9 billion
popular Agbowo shopping complex,
Ibadan, Oyo State, yesterday, cried out
to Governor Seyi Makinde to save them
from untimely death, noting: “Our
children are hungry and have been sent
out of schools.”
They demanded immediate refund of
their over N250 million.
It would be recalled that Governor
Makinde had since September 23, 2020,
leased the shopping complex to
Whitestone Global Limited for 50 years,
with a promise to complete the renovation
before May 2023.
Recall also that the governor said the
remodeling of the structure, which many
administrations had tried unsuccessfully
to renovate, would see the investor
injecting N4.9 billion to convert the
moribund structure into premium
commercial real estate and a four-star
hotel.
The suppliers and shop owners,
however, stormed the moribound
complex in protest, yesterday, with
placards with inscriptions such as:
“Developer is a scammer”,“Our children
are hungry”, “We have sold our cars to
pay some bank loans”, “Banks have
The protesters, yesterday.
taken over our property”, “Our children
are out of schools, come to our rescue,”
among others.
Speaking through their
representatives, Femi Adigun, Bola
Shokunbi and Olawale Tunde, the
protesters lamented non payment of the
money.
According to Adigun, “We have
supplied so many things in the past 18
months, there are some of us that are
contractors, some are electrical
contractors, some are civil contractors.
Up till date, we have not collected our
money. We have taken so many steps,
maybe probably because we are
educated and we took them in civilised
ways. That is why the state government
has taken us for granted.
Naval rating dies in boat mishap, corpse
recovered in Bayelsa
By Emem Idio
YENAGOA—A boat mishap
involving a barge belonging to a
ship repair and building company,
Southern Engineering Co. Ltd (SECO)
and an unidentified speed boat along
the River Onitsha channel of Anambra
State has claimed the life of a naval
rating.
It was learned that five days after the
tragic incident, the corpse of the
deceased naval rating was recovered by
the operatives of NNS Soroh along
Olugbobiri Creek in Southern-Ijaw
Local Government Area of Bayelsa
State.
The deceased naval rating, it was
learned, fell into the water while on
escort duty onboard SECO barge,
which was involved in a head-on
collision with a speed boat.
Efforts by the combined rescue team
of Navy and fishermen proved abortive
until September 8, 2022, when his
corpse was recovered in Bayelsa.
According to the source, the incident
occurred on September 3, 2022, at 8p.m.
and the recovered corpse had been
deposited at the Nigerian Navy Referral
Hospital in Warri, Delta State.
A Naval source, who pleaded
anonymity, said the incident was
attributed to non-use of life jacket and
helmet by the deceased Naval rating
while poor visibility on the waters made
the rescue operation difficult and could
have been easily spotted with reflective
colour of the life jacket it was worn.
Contacted, spokesman of NNS
Soroh, Lt. Commander, Ola
Babatunde, confirmed the recovery of
the corpse of the Naval rating but
declined to make further comment.
Suspected herders kill 3 in Nasarawa
By David Odama
LAFIA—NO fewer than three
persons have been reportedly killed
during an attack on Antsa village,
Kwarra district, Keana Local
Government Area of Nasarawa State
by suspected herdsmen.
It was gathered that the attack
followed an alleged killing of a Fulani
man, who was attacked by suspected
armed robbers near a Tiv settlement on
his way from Kadarko to Kwara village.
A resident who spoke on the incident,
John Atume, claimed that the incident
occurred when the deceased, a Fulani
man was travelling with a Tiv man on a
motorcycle on the Kadarko-Kwarra but
they ran into gunmen, who killed the
Fulani man.
According to Atume, “The Fulani man
was shot dead by the armed robbers,
who attacked the two of them on their
way to Kwarra but the Tiv man escaped
with bullet wounds and ran into the bush.
The next day, some Fulani herdsmen
carrying AK-47 invaded Antsa and other
villages and started shooting at the
villagers.
“So far, three persons have been killed
while others are receiving treatment at
various hospitals and those of us who
survived the attack left our homes.”
Reacting to the incident, President, Tiv
Development Association, TIDA, Peter
Ahemba, who confirmed the incident,
yesterday, described the attack on his
kinsmen as unfortunate, calling on the
state government to look into the issue.
He said: “Based on the unprovoked
attack on my kinsmen, I have reported
the matter to Governor Abdullahi Sule
and he has promised to contact the
Commissioner of Police in the state to
deploy police personnel to the affected
communities to restore peace.
“I am, therefore, calling on the Tiv
people, especially the youths to remain
calm and not to take law into their hands
despite the unprovoked attack on them
as the state government is working
assiduously to restore peace in the
area.”
Contacted, the Police Public Relations
Officer, Ramhan Nansel said he was
not aware of any attack as being
claimed.
Armed robbers invade Anglican
Church, cart away items in Ilorin
By Demola Akinyemi
ILORIN —Suspected armed robbers,
Monday night, invaded priest house
of Saint Barnabas Cathedral, Anglican
Communion at Sabo Oke in Ilorin,
Kwara State and carted away items
worth millions of naira.
Vanguard gathered that the robbery
incident, which occurred about 2:30
a.m., was carried out by a two-man gang
on motorcycle, who were said to have
pulled the main gate of the two-storey
house down, moved up and forcefully
broke the two doors.
The victim of the attack, Reverend
Isaiah Afolayan, who spoke with
journalists said the hoodlums, armed
with sharp objects, broke into his
apartment, located on the top floor of
the two-storey building, threatening to
kill his family members if they refused
to cooperate with them.
He also said his laptop, fairly used
MacBook Pro, worth N1.3 million, a
TV set and his phone were stolen.
“We were sleeping when we suddenly
saw him (one of the armed robbers)
standing in our room with a sharp object.
He was threatening to kill us if we made
any noise and asking us to face down. I
refused, asking him: 'Who are you? What
are you doing here?' He then picked up
my system and ran away,” the cleric said.
A disturbed Afolayan, added “With
what we have seen so far, it was not just
one person but only one came in to our
bedroom with a sharp object threatening
to kill us.
“He sighted the MacBook laptop and
was able to grab it and ran out and I
followed but hit me back with the door
gate to escape. As he ran out of the
apartment, he fell along the way. This
morning we are able to get a necklace
where he fell and the case has been
reported to the police officials”.
Also speaking, one of the Sabo Oke
community leaders, Pastor Taiwo
Ajibola, said the robbers, who came on
motorcycle were sighted by local security
men in the community who, he said,
flashed torch light at them.
He said that the robbery case had been
reported at the ‘A’ Division police station,
Ilorin.
“We’ve gone to the ICPC, we’ve gone
to the EFCC, we’ve gone to OYSIPA,
we’ve gone to DSS, we have gone to Oyo
State Government and we have
submitted our letter personally to Oyo
State Government Office, Room 47. Up
till this moment, nothing has been done.
Shokunbi said: “I supplied stone dust
worth N1 million. I supplied 10 trucks
of 30 tonnes sand dust in which I was
told that I would get my money after
four weeks of delivery. Four weeks have
turned to 18 months.
"Now, I have a baby that has multiple
holes in the heart, the surgery has been
done but I need money for her check up
in Ife and University College Hospital,
UCH, Ibadan, because she has some
health issues, which they have to correct
before she grows up."
Also speaking, Olawale, who
represents shop owners said: “We paid
between N1.5 million and N6 million.
The biggest one was the one that paid
for 11 shops. We were promised that in
six months that Agbowo Shopping
complex would be ready.
“So, we bought equipment and
everything is lying waste. This project
was commissioned in 1985. This project
is going to be a rot, we should not allow
it to rot away. Governor Makinde should
prosecute it and finish it because a lot of
us have borrowed money to pay rent. I
personally paid three years rent while
some people paid 10 years. We have
already employed people to work here.”
Troops rescue
10 hostages, kill
bandits in
Kaduna
community
By Ibrahim Hassan-
Wuyo
KADUNA—Troops of Operation
Forest Sanity have killed many
bandits and dislodged camps during
clearance operations conducted across
some hard-to-reach locations spanning
Chikun and Igabi Local Government
Areas in Kaduna State.
Samuel Aruwan, Commissioner
for Internal Security and Home Affairs
in Kaduna State, said 10 hostages were
rescued during the operation.
The commissioner said: “As disclosed
in an operational feedback, the troops
neutralised an unspecified number of
bandits while clearing out insurgent and
bandit camps at Apewohe in Chikun
LGA.
“The operation extended to Dakwala and
Kunai hills in the same LGA, where more
hideouts were cleared, though no contact
was made with bandits.
“Another camp was similarly dislodged at
a location known as ‘Daban Lawal Kwalba’
in Igabi LGA, after the troops overpowered
heavily armed bandits guarding hostages.
“The troops after clearing out the bandits
stormed the hideouts and rescued 10
kidnapped persons who were chained and
bound with ropes. The images attached depict
the dire situation in which the hostages were
found.
“The troops untied the hostages, who were
identified as Surajo Aliyu, Ayuba Yakubu,
Ibrahim Abdulrasheed, Aliyu Mohammed,
Magaji Tasiu, Nasiru Ahmed, Mohammadu
lbrahim, Ayuba Abdulsalam, Kelvin Musa
and Paul Patrick.
“The troops who came under further attack
in the thick forest, successfully evacuated
the hostages to a military facility where they
are receiving medical attention before being
reunited with their families.
“Furthermore, a camp was cleared at Rafin
Gwaska, Igabi LGA, where the following items
were recovered, among other effects: Three
locally made rifles, one AK-47 magazine, one
AK-47 top cover, four Bafoeng radio chargers,
11 mobile phones, three music boxes, two
sets of military uniforms, one frag jacket,
Spanners, knives and chains.

Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 2022 — 3

4 — Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 2022
:@vanguardnews :@vanguardnewsNEWS HOTLINES:
:Vanguard
News
Tompolo contract: Boyloaf, ex-militant
leaders knock Asari-Dokubo
....As PANDEF, INC wade in, sue for peace
By Emma Amaize,
South-South, Sam
Oyadongha, Davies
Iheamnachor,
Chioma Onuegbu
and Ozioruva Aliu
SABA—FORMER commander
Aof the defunct Movement for the
Emancipation of the Niger Delta, MEND,
Victo-Ben Ebikabowei, aka Boyloaf,
other ex-militant leaders and
stakeholders of the Niger Delta, yesterday,
lashed out at militant leader and warlord,
Mujahid Asari-Dokubo, over his recent
outburst against the ex-MEND leader,
Government Ekpemupolo, alias
Tompolo, over oil pipeline surveillance
contract by the Federal Government.
This came as the Pan Niger Delta
Forum, PANDEF, the South-South
regional group, and Ijaw National
Congress, INC, the umbrella sociocultural
body of Ijaw ethnic nationality in
the Niger Delta, intervened in the
simmering feud.
Dokubo-Asari, also the founder of the
Niger-Delta People’s Volunteer Force,
NDPVF, triggered the crisis when he
kicked against the multi-billion-naira
pipeline surveillance contract, which the
Federal Government awarded to five
companies, including two, that Tompolo
has an interest.
Unexpected
offensive —PANDEF
PANDEF, the mouthpiece of leaders
and stakeholders of the coastal states of
Niger-Delta, which weighed into the
matter, yesterday, said: “The reported
comments of Dokubo-Asari on the
pipeline surveillance contract awarded
to Tompolo, are not unexpected.”
National Publicity Secretary, PANDEF,
Ken Robinson, told Vanguard in Port-
Harcourt, Rivers State: “Perhaps, the
major problem here was the way and
manner in which it communicated the
award of that contract to the public. The
impression forged that Tompolo contract
was the first and only infrastructure
surveillance contract awarded to a
company with an indigenous interest in
the Niger Delta is not true.
“However, Dokubo-Asari and
Tompolo, both notable sons of Niger Delta,
are committed to the peace and stability
of the region and the country at large. We
are, therefore, confident that they will
resolve their perceived differences.
“We urge the authorities to correct any
plausible omission. PANDEF would
intervene where and when necessary,
while further appealing for greater
understanding and cordiality among our
people.
“The sad story of the persistent,
humongous stealing of our crude oil, by
organized criminals and corrupt officials,
is absurd and alarming. The ramifications
are affecting not only the national
economy but also all Nigerians,” the
group said.
INC c’ttee submits
report —Prof Okaba
National President, INC, Prof.
Benjamin Okaba, who confirmed the Ijaw
apex group was handling the matter, told
Vanguard on phone: “The leadership of
the INC is currently engaging all the
stakeholders, including the ex-militants
concerned.”
Vanguard learned that a five-man
committee inaugurated by INC had met
with both Tompolo, who has declined to
make public comments on the matter, and
Dokubo-Asari and submitted its report on
the way forward.
Okaba said the engagement was “to
create an enabling environment that will
foster mutual trust and understanding on
how best to execute the said contract ,
without compromising the collective
ideals of the Ijaw struggle for selfdetermination
and environmental
wellness.”
His words: “The five-man INC
committee had submitted their report on
their findings and recommendations. I
have spoken with the key players and we
hope everything will end well for all
concerned parties.”
Unacceptable,
says Boyloaf
Defunct MEND commander, Boyloaf,
•Asari-Dokubo
told Vanguard on the phone, "I condemn
the attack on Tompolo by Dokubo-Asari.
This is unacceptable and unexpected of a
leader in his caliber."
He said the example Dokubo-Asari
was setting for upcoming leaders with his
conduct was unbecoming, saying: 'I
support Tompolo, he is qualified for the
contract and Dokubo-Asari did not oppose
when somebody else from Edo state, the
late Capt Okunbo did a similar contract in
Rivers. His company still operates in
Rivers."
Ill-mannered
outburst —Omare,
ex-IYC president
Speaking on the quarrel, former
national president, Ijaw Youth Council,
IYC, Eric Omare, said, “Dokubo-Asari's
opposition to Tompolo having a
surveillance contract in Rivers State is
most unfortunate. It strikes at the
foundation of Ijaw nationalism. What is
all the Ijaw interest that Dokubo-Asari has
been fighting for over the years if he feels
that an Ijaw man cannot execute a
contract in Kalabari land when even
people from other ethnic groups such as
the late Capt Hosa Okunbo, a Bini man,
executed similar projects in the past
without opposition?
“This singular incident has exposed
Dokubo-Asari as not fit to present himself
as an Ijaw nationalist. Whether it can lead
to a breach of peace in the region, I do not
see any such threat. An individual’s desire
or failure to get a contract cannot lead to
the breakdown of law and order in the
Niger Delta region.
“To agree to such individual threats is
to lay a foundation for future misbehavior
by other stakeholders in the Niger Delta
region. No individual can use his personal
interest to override the collective interest
of the region,” Omare said.
Nothing wrong
with contract
—Sintei, ex-militant
leader
An ex-militant leader in Akwa Ibom
state, self-styled “General” Nikko Sintei,
and Coordinator of Gas Pipeline
Communities in Akwa Ibom, Kufre
Emmanson, cautioned Niger Deltans not
to see the pipeline surveillance contract
awarded to Tompolo by the Federal
government as an issue that would bring
disharmony among them.
Sintei said: "We are all from the Niger
We are all
from Niger
Delta. If
Dokubo got
the contract,
I'll not oppose
it.
Therefore,
for him to
oppose Tompolo
for the
contract is
not right
•Tompolo
Delta region. If Dokubo got the contract,
I will not oppose it. Therefore, for him to
oppose Tompolo for the contract is not
right. If he has a personal issue with
Tompolo, the best thing should not have
been for him to go on social media to
criticize Tompolo.
“And we in Akwa Ibom believe that now
that they have awarded the contract to
Tompolo, he will carry everybody along.
He has even advised us to join hands with
him to do the job, as he could not do it
alone. Therefore, I have not seen how he
has gone wrong for anyone to challenge
him, or say he has no right to secure the
contract.”
Outburst
condemnable
—Emmanson, pipeline
communities’ coordinator
On his part, Emmanson said: "Let us
support Tompolo. In Akwa Ibom state, we
will support nobody or the group kicking
against this contract secured by Tompolo.
We believe in his capacity to handle the
Surveillance job. Tompolo visited Akwa
Ibom sometime ago and consulted the
elders. For me, that means he is
accommodating and will carry everybody
along.”
Not surprised
—Bobo, ex-militant
leader
National chair, Third Phase Niger Delta
Ex Agitators, Tonye Bobo, who spoke in
Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, said: "First, I
dislike criticizing our leaders but as you
must have noticed, there is always rivalry
among Niger Delta leaders, and Asari is
that type, if it is not him, then nobody. That
is the reason for his outburst.
“This is one of the major challenges we
were having with him right from his days
when he was the president of IYC
worldwide. Whatever thing he is not in
control of, that thing will not stand. He
would want to see how he can pull down
the roof of the building.
“Interestingly, in the case of Tompolo,
he came out publicly, invited the youths
and leaders, irrespective of whether he is
controlling their states, so long as you are
Niger Delta ex agitator, Kpofire operators,
among others, to come together and rub
minds on how we can secure the pipelines
and save our environment from further
despoliation.”
Respected
warlords should
not fight —Ekiye,
Ijaw elder
An Ijaw elder, Deacon Braeyi Ekiye,
from Bayelsa state, said: "There is a need
for them to understand themselves and
work in tandem to achieve set a
developmental goal in the Niger Delta.
We do not expect two warlords who are
cherished sons of this region to fight over
a pipeline surveillance contract project.”
Disregard
unwarranted
ranting
—Ozobo, IPDI
National President, Ijaw Peoples
Development Initiative, IPDI, - Niger-
Delta rights group, Austin Ozobo, who also
spoke to Vanguard, said: “I have carefully
followed the attacks of Dokubo-Asari
against Tompolo and my take is he is
wrong in his ill-mannered comments
against Tompolo.
“It is off-beam for Asari to view Tompolo
•Boyloaf
as an enemy. He should retrace his steps
because he (Asari) is disappointing the
Niger Delta region. Tompolo is open to
receiving any complaints and addressing
them with his brothers in the Niger Delta
region.
“The Tompolo I know would not have
acted the way Asari, my friend, is acting if
peradventure they awarded the
surveillance contract to Asari or any other
Niger Delta aboriginal contractor.”
Baseless outburst
—Ezekiel, SSA
Daniel Ezekiel, Senior Special
Assistant on Security Matters to Delta
State Governor, stated, “It is so unfortunate
that Dokubo-Asari has become the vessel
through which the Bible passage that says
a man's household shall be man’s greatest
enemy is coming to pass. Dokubo-Asari’s
outburst against Tompolo is not only
baseless but lacks merit.
“For seven years running now, the late
Captain Okunbo’s company, Ocean
Marines Solution, has been in charge of
this surveillance contract across the
length and breadth of Niger Delta region,
Dokubo-Asari did not for once kick
against this ‘oppressive reign’ that a Bini
man was in charge of 83km pipelines in
his Kalabari Kingdom.
“Even as we are talking, Ocean Marine
Solution, Captain Okunbo's company is
in charge of a large chunk of the current
surveillance contract in Rivers State with
a Niger-Delta supervising the place, yet,
Dokubo- Asari deliberately turned blind
eyes to outsiders, but dragged his own
brother in the mud.”
They should
dialogue —James,
peace envoy
Also speaking, Coordinator,
Association of Rural Chiefs for Peace and
Development, Alabo Nengi James, said:
"I do not think awarding contract to
Tompolo is wrong but given the strategic
geography of our Ijaw/Niger Delta
territory, it will be difficult for one person
to take it all. Because Asari is making his
grievances public, I will call for dialogue
between both parties. Though we do not
know how they awarded the contract, what
is important is that there should be
goodwill and togetherness in Ijaw land
and the Niger Delta.
“My earlier recommendation was that
they should not award the contract to
individuals, but to the communities so that
the communities will know who is
working in their domain. Giving it to one
or two persons is like making them lords
and that is an uproar. It is a power tussle."
This is bad
—Okubo, ex-militant
leader
Former militant leader, Robert Okubo,
in Edo state, said: “I think what all these
ex-agitators are doing is out of point, all
their agitations against the contract given
to Tompolo is out of point because this is
a contract that was in the past given to
people that pipelines did not even pass
through their areas.
“I do not see why our things are always
different; people are always working
against themselves in things like this. It
is bad, no matter the differences, I expect
every ex-agitator to queue behind
Tompolo because tomorrow can be your
turn, today, they gave to Tompolo and you
are going against it, what if tomorrow the
table turn and you are now given the
contract?”
Social Media Conversation
If so, Father forgive us!
Hmm, beware of his wrath ooo!
Raise the volume!
...And his God?
And you become a stranger...after!

Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 14 , 2022 — 5
POCKET CARTOON
No going back on opposition
to same-faith ticket
— FORUM OF NORTHERN CHRISTIANS
•As Dogara, Lawal, CAN chairmen from 19 Northern states meet•They‘re
fifth columnists — APC SOURCE •I don’t believe in playing politics with
religion, Okowa slams Tinubu, Obi •Why Atiku picked Okowa as running
mate over Wike, others — AYU
By Dapo Akinrefon
& Luminous
Jannamike
ABUJA — Opposition
against the Muslim-
Muslim ticket of the All Progressives
Congress, APC,
yesterday, grew as the Forum
of Northern Christians
reiterated its position on the
same-faith ticket, saying it
would not back down.
The forum is headed by
former Speaker of the
House of Representatives,
Mr Yakubu Dogara.
But a top APC leader tackled
Dogara, describing him
as a fifth columnist.
Bola Tinubu, a Muslim
emerged as the presidential
candidate of the APC
for the 2023 elections, while
former governor of Borno
State, Kashim Shettima,
emerged his running mate.
This came on a day Governor
of Delta State and
Vice Presidential candidate
of the Peoples Democratic
Party, PDP, Dr Ifeanyi
Okowa, yesterday, took a
swipe at Bola Tinubu, over
the controversy that has
trailed the party’s Muslim-
Muslim ticket.
Our position on
same-faith ticket
stands
Dogara, however, said it
will meet with all the presidential
candidates, across
party lines and come up
with its preferred choice.
Dogara met behind
closed doors with Christian
leaders from the 19 Northern
states and the Federal
Capital Territory, FCT, in
Abuja in continuation of
their consultations ahead of
the 2023 general elections.
It was gathered that aside
the former speaker, others
in attendance include
former Secretary to the Government
of the Federation,
SGF, Mr Babachir Lawal;
an APC Senator from Adamawa
State, Elisha Abbo;
former Kogi State Deputy
Governor, Simon Achuba
and all state chairmen of
the Christian Association of
Nigeria, CAN, from the 19
Northern states and the
Federal Capital Territory.
Confirming the meeting
in a tweet posted on his
verified Twitter account,
yesterday, Dogara wrote:
“#NigeriaDecides2023:
The fight for justice continues.
Today (yesterday), we
held a consultative meeting
with Christian leaders from
the 19 Northern States and
the FCT on the pan-Nigerian
platform to adopt in
2023.”
The forum had recently
convened a summit of
Northern Christian Leaders
in Abuja where they rejected
the adoption of a Muslim-Muslim
Presidential
and Vice Presidential ticket
by the ruling APC.
No going back on
opposition to
Muslim-Muslim
ticket—CAN
From left, Aderonke Onadeko, CEO, DRNL Consult Limited; President, Lagos Chamber of Commerce
and Industry (LCCI), Michael Olawale-Cole, PDP presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, Abimbola
Olashore, vice president, LCCI; Aminu Tambuwal, governor, Sokoto State; Ayo Teriba, Chairman, Economics
and Statistics Committee, LCCI, and Ogho Okiti, Managing Director, BusinessDay Media Limited, during
the LCCI Private Sector Economic Forum on the 2023 Presidential Election in Lagos, yesterday. Photo by
Lamidi Bamidele.
chairman
Also confirming the meeting
toVanguard, the CAN
Chairman in Kaduna State,
Rev. John Hayab, said:
“The meeting was well attended
in person by all the
CAN chairmen from the
North except Katsina state.
“We are saying it’s no
going back on our stance
against the Muslim-Muslim
ticket of the APC.”
Asked which political party
the Northern Christian
leaders have decided to
throw their weight behind,
Hayab said: “We will meet
with leading Christian politicians
across party lines to
consult with them before
deciding on our next line
of action.
“We will also wait for signals
from the (CAN) national
body. They will also
point us on the way to go,
but the Muslim-Muslim
ticket is out of the equation.
“What we had expected
from the APC was for them
to call the Church together
and explain themselves
rather than hiring impostors
to impersonate genuine
Christian leaders.”
Dogara, Lawal
are fifth columnists
— PARTY SOURCE
But lampooning the
former speaker over his
opposition, a top APC leader
described him as a fifth
columnist. The party leader,
who spoke toVanguard
in confidence, also tackled
Dogara and former SGF,
Mr Babachir Lawal describing
them as paperweight
politicians.
The source, who is familiar
with the workings of the
APC, said: “Dogara is a
spent force. He was looking
for the VP slot, as far as
we are concerned, Dogara
and Babachir Lawal just
want to be noticed. Based
on my understanding of
how politics is played in the
north, the likes of Dogara
and Lawal are paperweight
politicians as far as northern
politics is concerned
and also within the Christian
community.
“During the last elections,
what did they bring to the
table from their various local
governments? How
many people can Babachir
Lawal convince to vote for
him in Adamawa State?
How many people can Dogara
convince to vote for others
in Bauchi? Dogara is a
minority in his state but in
spite of that, Muslims supported
him to become
Speaker of the House of
Representatives.
“They are fifth columnists
as far as we are concerned.
I see it as an attempt to demystify
the myth around
religious politics in Nigeria
because an average Nigerian
is not bothered about
where you come from as
long as you give him the
basic needs. Look at the
Continues on Page 27
By Yinka Latona
Assessment of LASG ban on okada in more LGs, LCDAs
The threat to our
humanity posed by
okada-induced rise in
crime rate, jungle justice
mentality of attacking,
injuring and even killing
their passengers over
dispute in fares or
unleashing mayhem on the
roads whenever one of
them is involved in an
accident, are uncalled for.
However, Lagos State
Government should make
all major roads in Lagos
State motorable.
—Oluwabunmi Olawale,
Businesswoman
I
support this move by
the Lagos State
Government. It’s about
time we stopped being
selfish and started
thinking about our safety,
even for our own sanity
in Lagos, which is now
on the cusp of Yaba left.
This madness and
disorganisation on our
roads need to give way
for order.
—Damilare Sodipo,
Commercial driver
This is a shame!
This singular
order by the Lagos
State Government has
thrown thousands of
people into the job
market with no
alternative means of
survival. Few months
from now, there would
be noticeable increase
in crime rate.
—Temitope Fasina,
Cleric
There are many
routes in Lagos
that only okada can
ply, so banning
okada will bring
extreme hardship to a
lot of Lagosians if the
government fails to
come up with an
alternative fast.
—Yetunde Adeoye,
Medical personnel
Banning
okada
across major local
government areas in
Lagos State is very
much welcome, but
how come nobody is
suggesting better
means of achieving this
instead of just
stopping these okada
riders’ means of
livelihood?
—Regina Nwanchor,
Trader
I
don’t think this
government knows what
to do. This same okada was
banned two years back in Lagos.
Moreover, banning okada in
places like Apapa Local
Government Area is like not
knowing the challenges of this
who resides in this area. I think
the government did not take into
consideration the frustrating traffic
situation in areas like Apapa before
taking the decision.
—Eniola D. Ogunleye,
Secretary

6 — VANGUARD, WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 2022
:Vanguard
News
:@vanguardnews :@vanguardnewsNEWS HOTLINES: 08052867023, 08052867058
VISIT: From left: Group Chief Executive Officer, Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), Mr. Mele Kyari
(left) and President of the ECOWAS Commission, Dr. Omar Alieu Touray, during a courtesy visit by Kyari to Touray at the
ECOWAS head office in Abuja, yesterday
Insecurity: Northern govs, monarchs
call for state police
By Henry Umoru
ABUJA - GOVERNORS of
the 19 Northern states,
under the aegis of Northern
Governors Forum, NGF, have
called for the immediate
establishment of state police to
address the continued insecurity
PDP crisis: Ayu jets off to
Europe, till month end
By John Alechenu
ABUJA-The
National
Chairman of Peoples
Demo Party, Dr. Iyorchia Ayu, is
set to jet out of the country for
an undisclosed location today.
Although the reason for the
trip was not made public, he will
be remaining abroad for the
remaining part of September.
In a statement signed by his
Special Adviser, (Media and
Communications), Simon
Imobo-Tswam, in Abuja
yesterday, Ayu said he would be
away for “about two weeks.
Imobo- Tswana said: ''The
National Chairman “will leave
Nigeria for Europe tomorrow
(today) “Ayu will be out of the
country for about two weeks.
While away, the Deputy
Chairman (North), Amb. Iliya
•Hands over to Deputy
Chairman (North),
notifies INEC
Damagun, will act in his place.
Already, the National chairman
has communicated the
handover to the Independent
National Electoral Commission,
INEC. He is expected back at
month-end.
INEC has slated September 28
for lifting of the ban on political
campaigns for the 2023 general
elections.
It is expected that the PDP will
along side other political parties
unveil the list of members of its
Presidential Campaign Council.
Vanguard gathered that theyet-to-be
resolved dispute
between Wike and the party’s
presidential candidate, Atiku
Abubakar, is largely responsible
for the delay in unveiling the list.
in the country.
Recall that insurgency,
banditry, kidnapping, killing and
wanton destruction of lives and
property had been the order of
the day in the country in recent
times.
The decision was arrived at in
Abuja yesterday by the
governors, after a meeting with
the Northern Traditional Rulers
Council.
The traditional rulers also
agreed with the governors on the
need to create state police, if the
security challenges in the
northern region and the nation
at large must be nipped in the
bud.
Reading the communique
issued at the end of the meeting
held at the Transcorp Hilton
Abuja, Chairman of the Forum
and governor of Plateau State,
Simon Bako Lalong, explained
that the meeting reviewed the
security situation in the North
and other matters relating to its
development and resolved to
support the amendment of the
constitution to accommodate the
establishment of state police.
According to him, this will
effectively and efficiently address
the security challenges of the
region.
“The Forum also reiterated its
commitment to the development
of solar energy, in view of the
comparative advantage of
abundant sunshine in the region.
"The governors and the
traditional rulers also
unanimously resolved that 2000
megawatts of solar power be
harvested across the 19 states
and the Federal Capital Territory,
FCT, with a view to harnessing
the huge potential of power from
solar.
"The joint meeting also noted
with regret the ongoing ASUU
strike which it believed was more
punitive in the region as most of
the students in the north attend
public universities.
"It, therefore, called on ASUU
to cooperate with the Federal
Government in resolving the
dispute.
"At the meeting, the
Northern governors engaged
officials of the World Bank to
discuss the level of
implementation of the
Adolescent Girls Initiative for
Learning and Empowerment,
AGILE, and Nigeria for Women
Project now being implemented
in five northern states."
Energy transition: Nigeria to
benefit from $12bn US fund
By Obas Esiedesa
ABUJA-The United States
of America, USA and
Nigeria have agreed to work
together to develop the Federal
Government's programme of
using gas as a transitional fuel in
the push to reduce carbon
emission.
With the agreement, Nigeria
is expected to benefit from the
$12 billion Emergency
Programme for Adaptation and
Resilience put in place by
President Joe Biden to help
countries reduce the obvious
impacts of climate crisis
Speaking to journalists after a
meeting of delegations of both
countries, led by Nigeria’s
Minister of State Petroleum
Resources, Chief Timipre Sylva
and US Envoy, Sen. John Kerry
in Abuja, the US government
said it would also assist Nigeria
in developing technologies for
wind and solar energy.
Sen. Kerry, US Special Envoy
on Climate Change, also stated
that his country would provide
technical support to Nigeria on
its decarbonisation programme
for its crude oil resources.
“We agreed today in our
discussions that we're going to
work very closely in our working
group to be able to develop
further the plan going forward
with respect to both the
deployment of gas as a
transitional effort, but also the
important deployment of clean,
renewable energy, and
particularly solar and wind.
“In addition, we specifically
agreed to a programme of
technical assistance which we
will provide in order to further
the hydrocarbon sector,
methane abatement and
decarbonisation programme,
which we're going to work on
together. And this initiative is
going to be supported by the
Department of State, Energy and
Mineral Governance programme
in order to align with Nigeria's
participation in the global
methane pledge. So we really
look forward to some progress
here and I hope we're going to
come up with some strong
NDDC: Why are S’South govs, NASS unbothered, PANDEF, Dakolo, stakeholders query
By Emma Amaize,
Regional Editor, South-
South, Sam Oyadongha,
Festus Ahon, Egufe
Yafugborhi and Chioma
Onuegbu
ASABA- LEADERS and
stakeholders of the South-
South yesterday queried the
reason governors, senators and
members of the House of
Representatives from the zone
look the other way while the
Presidency continues to enforce
an aberration of sole
administrator on the Niger Delta
Development Commission,
NDDC.
They called on the governor of
Delta State, Senator Ifeanyi
Okowa and Deputy President of
the Senate, Senator Ovie Omo-
Agege, to wake up from their
lethargy and lead their
colleagues in the zone to mobilize
National Assembly members from
other regions to prevail on
President Muhammadu Buhari
to bring to a halt the anomaly in
NDDC in the next one month.
National Chairman, Pan
Niger Delta Forum, PANDEF,
mouthpiece of leaders and
stakeholders of the coastal states
of Niger Delta, Senator
Emmanuel Ibok Essien;
•Want Okowa, Omo-Agege to spearhead efforts to make Buhari inaugurate board
Chairman, Bayelsa State
Traditional Council, HRM
Bubaraye Dakolo; and Senator
Chris Ekpenyong, underscored
the need for governors and
NASS members from the zone
to champion the demand for
inauguration of the substantive
board of NDDC.
Former Minister and member,
House of Representatives, Chief
Nduese Essien, and President,
Movement for the Survival of
Ogoni People, MOSOP, Fegalo
Nsuke, and others, who also
spoke to Vanguard, said South-
South governors and lawmakers
should put their personal ego
and interest aside and work
tirelessly for the overall good of
the region
Govs, NASS members
should join forces- HRM
Dakolo
HRM Dakolo, who is the
Ibenanaowei of Ekpetiama
Kingdom, asserted, “It is
incumbent on the Governors of
the South- South and citizens
from the zone, to speak out and
point out the usurpation by the
federal executive, particularly the
Presidency, the Act of parliament
which created the NDDC.
“Interestingly, Governor
Ifeanyi Okowa was a senator,
Governor Douye Diri was a
senator, and many of them have
had legislative experience. They
should join forces and call on the
President to do what they need
by inaugurating a substantive
board for the NDDC, made up of
credible, competent, and tested
people with records of
accomplishment of success and
good behavior.
We need prayers, says
Essien, PANDEF chair
Chairman of PANDEF,
Senator Essien, who noted that
the National Assembly did its
part by making the NDDC Act,
said: "It is for the Niger Delta
people to go to court. People can
take the matter to the court, any
person from the region, but the
problem is that you can be in
court for so many years. In
addition, they will now have a
reason for not inaugurating the
Board because the matter is in
court.”
“You find Nigeria is becoming
a banana republic where people
not respect laws and just do what
they like, otherwise there is no
provision in the NDDC Act for
interim administration. Let us
just pray that God will
intervene.''
NASS should take it up –
Nsuke, MOSOP president
On his part, the President,
Movement for the Survival of
Ogoni People, MOSOP, Fegalo
Nsuke, said: "If President Buhar
violates the constitution, it is the
responsibility of the National
Assembly to act. Where NASS
cannot act, citizens have the
responsibility to stand up against
the excesses of Mr. President.
"Overtime, NASS members
have not proven they can
challenge Mr. President. This is
not a test for those from Niger
Delta alone, but a responsibility
of every House and Senate
member to protect the
constitution and they have
always failed to do so when Mr.
President is involved. Therefore,
I will expect them to throw up
any surprises this time.
"For MOSOP, as a non-violent
movement, we encourage civil
disobedience and public protests
but we don't support actions that
turn society to be lawless,” he
said.
Okowa, others should
add volume- Nwauju,
NDRA
Spokesperson, Niger Delta
Rights Advocate, NDRA,
Darlington Nwauju, said in his
contribution: "It is good
Governor Okowa has been vocal
on issues pertaining to the
NDDC. It is okay for him and
others to increase the volume.
“The President ought to do
what Niger Deltans have always
agitated for. Ab initio, I felt
indifferent about having a
forensic audit supervised by a sole
administrator who himself should
subject his administration of the
NDDC to public scrutiny."
"What we want is what we
have always demanded. Is
anyone amongst the
stakeholders saying anything
new? Anyway, NASS resumes
for plenary on September 20. Let
us see what happens."
Pile pressure on FG–
Onuesoke
Former governorship aspirant
in Delta State and
environmental expert, Chief
Sunny Onuesoke, said: "The
•Countries agree
to develop gas
emission reduction
plan
mutually agreed upon initiatives
as we go to Sharm el Sheikh”.
The former United States
Secretary of State, who stated
that the world needs to cut
emission by 45 percent by the
year 2030, however,
acknowledged that 80 percent
of all the emissions in the world
come from 20 countries, adding
that “at the same time, 48 sub
Saharan African states are
responsible 0.55 percent of all
emissions.
“So that is a reality with which
we are all dealing and it has
profound implications. At the
same time, let me be clear, we're
all in this together. Nobody
entered the Industrial
Revolution suggesting that the
outcome was going to be the
climate crisis”.
Speaking earlier, Chief Sylva
said having suffered from the
negative impact of climate
change while contributing less
than a percent of global emission,
Nigeria and other countries in
sub-Saharan Africa deserved to
be compensated by the
developed countries.
He noted that Nigeria needs
to provide energy and clean
cooking fuel for its people,
emphasizing that the country
was not a big carbon emitter.
“We are not denying that
climate change is real. We accept
the problem of climate change
and we would also like to be in
the energy transition train but
we have certain realities that the
world must take into account.
“Our reality is that we have a
huge number of people without
access to electricity and we don’t
have funding and the technology
to be able to achieve this
transition the way the rest of the
global community would like us
to do.
“If we come together and
collaborate we probably might be
able to create that synergy and
funding and the basis for us to
move at the same pace”.
governors must mobilize, and
galvanize the people and
members of the National
Assembly, from and outside the
region, to mount pressure on
Federal Government to act
without further delay. They must
put their personal ego and
interest aside to see and work
assiduously for the overall good
of the region.”
Next line of action
On the region’s next line of
action, if Buhari declines to
inaugurate NDDC board as
canvassed, shortly, HRM Dakolo
pointed out that it was the turn
of Bayelsa State to produce the
next managing director.
He said: said: “Nigerians will
have several reasons to vote any
party of their choice, NDDC
board inauguration, or no
inauguration. It is not just to
appoint anyhow people in the
board; they must be credible
people with tested track- records.
They should do it before it is too
long.
“The impunity of having
perhaps a Sole Administrator for
so long and all these will be part
of what decisions Nigerians in the
South- South will use in making
their choice of who will govern
them.

:Vanguard
News
Keyamo’s diatribe exposes APC’s plot
to assassinate Obi— Labour Party
By John Alechenu
ABUJA—The Labour Party,
LP, has expressed shock that
the unprecedented desperation
of the All Progressives Congress,
APC, to cling on to power at all
cost would lead it to post a precrime
alibi to an alleged plot to
assassinate its presidential
candidate, Mr. Peter Obi.
National Publicity Secretary of
the party, Mr Arabambi
Abayomi, said this in response to
claims by the APC Presidential
Campaign spokesman, Mr.
Festus Keyamo, SAN, that Obi
was plotting to stage an
assassination attempt on himself
and blame the APC.
Abayomi in a statement,
yesterday, said the attention of the
LP was drawn to APC’s most
bizarre and unprecedented
desperation through Kayemo’s
statement.
He noted that Labour Party
considered Keyamo’s claims as
“a devilish-act” and “a subtle
way to gain unmerited
sympathy” in a bogus attempt
at clandestinely employing
crude, primitive tactics to win the
2023 presidential election
through fraudulent means.
LP spokesman said: “Festus
Keyamo in a fabricated and very
misleading press statement,
claimed he was responding to a
non-existent false rumour that
Peter Obi plans to ‘stage -
manage’ an ‘assassination
attempt’ on himself is alarming
and very frightening and it leaves
no room to doubt the
implications of the claim as it is
like a self-confession by the APC
in its plan to assassinate the LP
presidential candidate, Peter
Obi.
“No one is confused by the APC
through Festus Keyamo’s open
pre-crime alibi. No one is fooled
enough to buy into the very
sadistic attempt to create a
confused narrative, ahead of
committing felony .
“LP wants the public to be fully
informed that the APC has
indirectly warned all Nigerians
that a plan to assassinate Peter
Obi by the APC is on the way.
“Labour Party wishes to
remind Festus Keyamo that
Chapter IV of the Constitution
of the Federal Republic of
Nigeria on fundamental rights
section 33(1) states : ‘Every
person has a right to life, and no
one shall be deprived
intentionally of his life, save in
execution of the sentence of a
court in respect of a criminal
offence of which he has been
found guilty in Nigeria'.”
The party reminded the APC
presidential spokesperson and,
in fact, the Tinubu Presidential
Campaign that the right to take
life of another person was not
vested in any individual or groups
except as prescribed in Section
33(2) (a)(b)(c)
Subsequently, Labour Party
called on the Inspector-General
of Police to immediately
commence a comprehensive
investigation into Mr Festus
Keyamo’s “unlawful and
treasonable activities and
conducts likely to cause breach
of peace and anarchy in our
country so that this ugly trend can
Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 2022—7
:@vanguardnews :@vanguardnews NEWS HOTLINES: 08052867023, 08052867058
LAUNCHING: From left, Olalere Odusote, Lagos State Commissioner for Energy and Mineral Resources,
representing Lagos State Governor, Gov. Babajide Sanwo-Olu; Senator Adetokunbo Abiru, Chairman,
Senate Committee on Industry; Sam Goldman, Co-founder/President, d.light; Mrs. Ibukun Awosika,
Chairman, d.light; Otunba Niyi Adebayo, Minister of Trade, Industry and Investment and Ned Tozun, Cofounder/CEO
at the corporate launch of d.light in Lagos, yesterday.
be nipped in the bud as well as
possible prosecution in the court
of law.
“LP is aware of the level of
enormous defeat across the
nation’s political and electoral
frustrations the APC has been
made to reap as a result of the
Peter Obi phenomenon depicted
by the unprecedented support for
Peter Obi that has since become
a national movement of the
people
“LP sees the forced selfconfession
of the APC about the
conspiracy being floated by it to
assassinate the most popular and
supported people’s preferred and
loved 2023 presidential
candidate, as yet another proof
of God’s involvement with the
Peter Obi candidacy.
"LP is asking every legal
citizens of Nigeria at home and
all over the World to openly show
concern and shout to the World
to save the life of the one divinely
anointed hope and Messiah
carrying the grace to lead the
nation to the promised land from
a planned assassination by the
ruling APC “
He appealed to Nigerians to
call on security agencies to act
fast in order to checkmate APC’s
alleged plot of “assassinating our
dear own Peter Obi.
NNPC seals gas pipeline project agreement
with Morocco’s hydrocarbon office, ECOWAS
THE Nigerian National
Petroleum Company Ltd will
tomorrow seal a Memorandum
of Understanding on gas
pipeline project with National
Office of Hydrocarbons and
Mines of Morocco and the
ECOWAS Commission.
The MoU is expected to drive
the execution of the 7,000km
Nigeria-Morocco gas pipeline
project.
In preparation of the signing
of the agreement scheduled to
hold September 15, 2022 in
Rabat, Morocco, Group Chief
Executive Officer of NNPC Ltd,
Mele Kyari, paid a courtesy visit
to H.E Dr. Omar Alieu Touray,
the President of the ECOWAS
Commission.
During the meeting, NNPC
and ECOWAS Commission
reaffirmed their commitment on
the project to provide gas to the
West-African countries through
the kingdom of Morocco and
subsequently Europe.
The NNPC and ONHYM will
also sign two MoUs with SMH
of Mauritania and Petrosen of
Senegal to participate in the
project.
Once completed, the project
will supply about three billion
standard cubit feet of gas along
the coast of West Africa from
Nigeria, Benin, Togo, Ghana,
Cote d’ Ivoire, Liberia, Sierra
Leone, Guinea, Guinea Bissau,
Gambia, Senegaland
Mauritania to Morocco.
Other benefits include
improvement of living standards
of people, integration of the
economies within the sub-region,
and mitigating against
desertification through
sustainable and reliable gas
supply.
The Nigeria-Morocco Gas
Pipeline (NMGP) Project is an
initiative of the Federal
Government of Nigeria and the
Kingdom of Morocco and was
conceived during the visit of
King Mohammed VI of
Morocco to Nigeria in
December 2016.
The NMGP Project is aimed
at monetization of Nigeria’s
abundant natural gas resources,
thereby generating additional
revenue for the Country,
diversification of Nigeria’s gas
export routes, elimination of gas
flaring.
It will also assist in supplying
gas to Morocco, 13 ECOWAS
Countries and Europe,
integration of the economies of
the Sub-region
Improvement of living
standards of people within the
Sub-region
Creation of wealth and poverty
alleviation, assisting in the fight
against the desertification
through sustainable and reliable
gas supply as well as providing
avenue for other Countries along
the pipeline route to develop and
export their gas.
Monkey pox spreads to 30
states as cases hit 277
By Juliet Umeh
ABUJA—The Nigeria Centre
for Disease Control, NCDC,
has said in a report that the
number of confirmed cases of
monkeypox in the country has
increased to 277, spread across
30 states.
The report also showed that six
deaths had been recorded so far
in six states in the country.
The report read: “100 new
suspected cases reported in Epi
week 34, 2022 (August 22 to 28,
2022) from 21 states: Lagos (17),
Abia (16), Imo (14), Delta (7),
Ondo (7), Bayelsa (5), Gombe (5),
Rivers (4), Benue (3), Ebonyi (3),
Edo (3), Plateau (3), FCT (2),
Katsina (2), Osun (2), Taraba (2),
Anambra (1), Enugu (1), Kano
(1), and Oyo (1).
“Of the 100 suspected cases, 36
new confirmed cases have been
recorded in Epi week 34 from 14
states: Lagos (7), Abia (6), Bayelsa
(5), Edo (3), Ondo (3), Delta (2),
Ebonyi (2), Rivers (2), Anambra
(1), Benue (1), Gombe (1), Imo
(1), Katsina (1) and Oyo (1).
“From January 1 to August 28,
2022, Nigeria has recorded 704
suspected cases with 277
confirmed cases (186 male, 91
female) from 30 states: Lagos
(49), Ondo (22), Bayelsa (19),
Rivers (18), Edo (16), Adamawa
(15), Abia (15), Delta (14), FCT
(11), Imo (11), Anambra (10),
Nasarawa (9), Ogun (7), Plateau
(6), Taraba (5), Kwara (5), Kano
(5), Gombe (5), Ebonyi (5), Oyo
(5), Katsina (5), Cross River (4),
Benue (4), Borno (3), Kogi (3),
Akwa Ibom (2), Niger (1), Bauchi
(1), Osun (1) and Kaduna (1).
“Six associated deaths were
recorded from six states in 2022:
Delta (1), Lagos (1), Ondo (1) and
Akwa Ibom (1), Kogi (1) and
Taraba (1) CFR 2.16 per cent.
“Overall, since the reemergence
of monkeypox in
September 2017, 1216
suspected cases have been
reported from 35 states in the
country. Of these, 503 (41 per cent)
confirmed cases were recorded
with male representing 66 per
cent (334) from 32 states: Lagos
(79), Rivers (70), Bayelsa (62),
Delta (43), Edo (26), Ondo (22),
Imo (19), Cross River (18), Abia
(18), FCT (17), Adamawa (15),
Anambra (12), Nasarawa (11),
Oyo (11), Plateau (9), Akwa Ibom
(9), Ogun (8), Benue (6), Ebonyi
(6), Kano (5), Taraba (5), Kwara
(5), Gombe (5), Katsina (5),
Enugu (4), Borno (3), Kogi (3),
Ekiti (2), Niger (2), Bauchi (1),
Osun (1) and Kaduna (1).
“Since the re-emergence of the
outbreak in 2017, five states
(Kebbi, Sokoto, Zamfara,
Jigawa, Yobe) are yet to record a
confirmed case, while two states
(Jigawa and Yobe) are yet to
report a suspected case. In 2022,
Seven states are yet to record a
confirmed case (Enugu, Ekiti,
Kebbi, Sokoto, Zamfara, Yobe
and Jigawa) with Jigawa and
Yobe yet to report a suspected case.
“14 deaths have been recorded
since September 2017 (CFR=
2.8 per cent) in 11 states: Lagos
(3), Edo (2), Imo (1), Cross River
(1), FCT (1), Rivers (1), Ondo (1)
Delta (1), Akwa Ibom (1), Taraba
(1) and Kogi (1).”
Oil companies remit N2.6trn
after public hearing on NEITI
report
By Obas Esiedesa
ABUJA—THE Executive
Secretary of Nigeria
Extractive Industries
Transparency Initiative, NEITI,
Dr. Orji Ogbonnaya Orji,
yesterday said about N2.6
trillion has been recovered from
oil and gas companies after a
public hearing by the House of
Representatives on its 2020 Oil
and Gas Industry Audit Report.
The report published earlier
in the year, had indicated that
55 companies operating in the
petroleum sector owed the
federation $3.6 billion in
unpaid royalties, taxes and
lincence fees.
Orji, who disclosed this in
Abuja during a civil society
engagement on Extractive
Industries Transparency
Initiative, EITI, validation
coming up in January 2023,
said the companies in the
industry still owed the
government $2.6 billion.
He said it was important that
2023 BUDGET: Senate kicks against N6trn tax, import duty
waivers
By Henry Umoru
ABUJA- —Senate, yesterday,
kicked against the proposed N6
trillion tax and import duties waivers
proposed for the N19.76 trillion 2023
budget with attendant deficit of
N12.4 trillion.
The Senate urged the Nigeria
Customs Service, NCS, to, as a
matter of urgency, slash the proposed
waivers by 50 per cent and also tasked
the Federal Inland Revenue Service,
FIRS, to critically look into abuse of
tax credit by some companies.
The resolutions of the Senate
were sequel to the interface between
the Senator Olamilekan Adeola
(APC, Lagos West) Committee on
Finance and the Minister of Finance,
Budget and National Planning, Mrs
Zainab Ahmed, as well as heads of
revenue generating agencies in the
country on the proposed 2023-2025
Medium Term Expenditure
Framework, MTEF, and Fiscal
Strategy Paper, FSP.
At the meeting, the Finance
Minister informed the committee that
the proposed N19.76 trillion 2023
budget will have a deficit of N12.43
trillion as a result of projected N6
trillion tax and import duty waivers;
and fuel subsidy of over N6 trillion if
retained for the whole year.
Worried by the submission,
Senator Adeola told the minister that
the projected N12.43trillion budget
deficit and N6 trillion tax and import
duty waivers should be critically
reviewed downward before sending
the proposals to the National
Assembly for consideration and
approval.
The Ccommittee chairman, who
asked the minister to look into the
list of beneficiaries of the waivers for
required downward review to N3
trillion with attendant reduction of
N12.43 trillion deficit figure, said: “The
proposed N12.43 trillion deficit for the
2023 budget and N6 trillion waivers
are very disturbing and must be
critically reviewed."
On his part, the FIRS Chairman,
Muhammad Mamman Nami who
told the committee that tax credit is
an important innovation of
government which has yielded
positive results from September 2019
when it was introduced through
Executive Order 007 by President
Muhamnadu Buhari, urged the
Senate not to move in the direction
of scrapping it as it is only given to
companies with evidence of projects
execution.
Also speaking, the Comptroller-
General of Nigeria Custom Service,
Col Hammed Ali (retd), also assured
the committee of improved revenue
generation in 2023 fiscal year.
companies paid their taxes and
rates as they do in other
jurisdictions, adding that
governments needed the
revenue to finance development
projects in the country.
On the preparation for the
EITI validation of the country’s
implementation of the
standards, he explained: “The
validation exercise is conducted
every three years by the EITI
for all its member countries.
‘’The exercise is a quality
assurance mechanism to
ascertain the level of
compliance and progress in
implementing its standards
among member countries,
including Nigeria.
“You will recall that on
February 27, 2019, EITI board
proclaimed that Nigeria have
made 'satisfactory progress'
over its implementation of the
EITI Standard after
undergoing a very rigorous
validation exercise at the time
under the 2016 EITI standard.”
Explaining that the meeting
was to help the country prepare
for the validation exercise, Orji
said: “The exercise is expected
to formally commence in
January 2023, beginning with
the review of completed
validation templates that will
be submitted to the global body
by the NEITI board/
management".
Speaking earlier, the global
President of Publish What You
Pay, PWYP, Mr. Monday
Osasah, urged civil society
organisations and other
stakeholders to support
Nigeria’s effort at validation.
“We must all work to ensure
that our natural resources
benefit the masses and bring
development to the country,” he
added.

8 — Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 2022
VISIT: Ooni of Ife, His
Royal Majesty Oba
Adeyeye Enitan
Ogunwusi Ojaja II
(right) and Founder,
Cavista Nigeria, Mr
Niyi John Olajide,
during the monarch's
visit the Lagos-based
Home Healthcare
Technology firm,
yesterday.
By James Ogunnaike
Aplying BEOKUTA-Motorists
the Lagos-
Ibadan Expressway were
yesterday, stranded for hours,
as protesting university
students blocked the road in
protest against the continued
strike by members of the
Academic Staff Union of
:Vanguard
News
Ogun Assembly suspends ex-Deputy Speaker,
one other lawmaker
:@vanguardnews :@vanguardnewsNEWS HOTLINES: 08052867023, 08052867058
ASUU strike: Monarch, others stranded as
protesting students block Lagos-Ibadan
expressway
By James Ogunnaike
ABEOKUTA-THE crisis
rocking the Ogun State
House of Assembly took a
new dimension as the
Assembly, yesterday,
suspended the former
Deputy Speaker, Dare Kadiri,
who is representing Ijebu
North II State Constituency
and his Remo North
counterpart, Solomon Osho
until further notice.
The suspension followed
the adoption of a resolution,
during a plenary presided
over by the Speaker, Mr
Olakunle Oluomo at the
Assembly Complex, Oke-
Mosan in Abeokuta.
The Speaker said: "Order 6,
Rule 19 (2) says that whereof
a matter of privilege arises, it
shall be taken into
consideration immediately; in
the note of that, I want to say
that I received a resolution
by the appropriate number of
members of this house raising
the issue of Privileges and it
read thus", Resolution 131/
OG/2022- suspension of some
members for the breach of the
Universities, ASUU.
The students, who acted
under the aegis of the
National Association of
Nigerian Students, NANS,
blocked the road at the
Sagamu Interchange.
Caught in the gridlock was
the Olowu of Kuta in Osun
State, Oba Adekunle
provision of the Legislative
Houses (Power and
Privileges) Act, 2017.
"Having found to have
severally and contentiously
breached the Rights and
Privileges of the Ogun State
House of Assembly and its
Leadership, through violation
of the provisions of Section
17 of Legislative Houses
(Power and Privileges) Act,
2017, the following members,
Mr Oluwadamilare Kadiri
(Ijebu North II State
Constituency) and Solomon
Osho (Remo North
Constituency) are, hereby,
suspended from the House
and its activities forthwith
until further notice in line
with the provisions of
Sections 14 and 15 of the
Legislative Houses (Powers
and Privileges) Act, 2017.
"Since this has been signed
by the appropriate number of
people, it requires no vote or
anything, so they stand
suspended."
Vanguard reliably gathered
that the decision to suspend
the two lawmakers was not
Oyelude, Tegbosun 111,
whose convoy was heading
for Lagos.
Oba Oyelude, who
addressed the students,
commended the orderly
manner that they conducted
themselves.
He urged the Federal
Government and ASUU to
find a way of resolving the
unconnected with their roles
in exposing the Speaker's
alleged fraudulent activities,
resulting in his arrest and
arraignment by the Economic
and Financial Crimes
Commission, EFCC, last
week.
An Assembly source, who
spoke in confidence, said the
Speaker was determined to
fight back and this informed
why he perfected
arrangements with his
supporters to suspend the two
lawmakers.
The source, who spoke to
Vanguard under anonymity,
said: "The Speaker has vowed
to go after all those against
him in the House. He
addressed his people at Ifo
Palace that he is innocent
(about EFCC charges) and
will use all means to crush his
opponents."
The EFCC, on September
6, 2022, arraigned Oluomo at
a Federal High Court in
Lagos on an 11-count charge
bordering on N2.475billion
money laundering and
forgery.
Misconduct: Lagos Assembly summons
Waterfront Commissioner
By Ebunoluwa Sessou
LAGOS-THE Lagos State
House of Assembly,
yesterday, asked the
Commissioner for Waterfront,
Mr Kabiru Abdullahi to
appear before its Committee,
on Thursday, following his
refusal to honour several
invitations by the committee
over his ministerial activities.
Moving the matter on the
floor of the House, yesterday,
Chairman of the Committee
on Waterfront, Jimoh Wahab
described as unacceptable
the Commissioner's
incessant refusal to honour
invitations extended to him
by the Committee.
Wahab said: "The
commissioner is making the
assignment difficult for the
committee. His ministry is yet
to submit documents for the
ongoing budget mid-year
review.
"I want to bring the
unacceptable conduct of the
Commissioner for Waterfront
before the house. Severally,
the committee has invited
him for some clarification over
his ministerial activities but
has yet to show up. He is
making the assignment of the
committee so difficult.
"As you all know, the midyear
budget review is going
on and as at present, the
document has not been
submitted to the committee.
"I would implore the house
to give the committee the
privilege to carry out an
investigation on the
activities of the commissioner
and the ministry since his
assumption of office."
crisis as the students had
stayed long at home doing
nothing.
But the protesting
students, in a statement by
the Coordinator, South-West
Zone and National Public
Relations Officer of NANS,
Messrs Adegboye Emmanuel
and Giwa Temitope
respectively, said the
President Muhammadu
Buhari-led Federal
Government has failed in its
promise to revamp education.
The students vowed to
mobilise towards shutting
down the Presidential Villa if
their demands are not met.
The statement reads:
"There is no point arguing
about who is at fault or what
is to be done. It is very clear
that the ruler underfunds
education and the Buhari
government is failing in its
promise to revamp education.
"As it is today, no higher
institution in Nigeria is worldclass.
Yet, our so-called public
servants travel all over the
world spending billions of
dollars to send their kids
abroad for studies.
"As major stakeholders in
the education sector, we are
the ones who can save
ourselves. We have monitored
the yearnings of students
from campus to campus
through their social media
platforms and also in their
public writings. Students all
over Nigeria stand with
ASUU. Our lecturers suffer
the same hardships and maldevelopments
we suffer. The
staff houses are as bad as the
students' hostels. In South
Africa, a professor's
laboratory is far more
equipped than that of any
university in Nigeria.
"History has been killed and
undermined, so we the
youths, do not know where
we are coming from not to talk
of knowing where we are
headed. But we will not
lament anymore. The new
leadership of NANS is here
to work with students to
achieve our set aims and
objectives. We believe that
the student movement has its
place in history. It is a task
that we vow to fulfil. We will
never let Nigerian students
down."
Ondo bans clubbing, okada
operations at night
By Dayo Johnson
AKURE-THE Ondo State
government, yesterday,
banned night clubbing and night
motorcycle operations as a way
of curbing crime in the state.
The Special Adviser on
Security matters, Akogun
Adetunji Adeleye, in a statement,
stated that the government has
ordered the resumed
enforcement ban on commercial
motorcycle operations and club
activities at night.
Adeleye said: "All security
agencies are hereby enjoined to
impound all such motorcycles
and vehicles while the owners
or riders would be prosecuted.
"The Government of Ondo
State encourages all vehicle and
motorcycle owners to register
their vehicles/motorcycles as
defaulters would be made to face
the full wrath of the law
accordingly.
"The determination of the
administration of Rotimi
Akeredolu, to ensure the
protection of lives and property
of the good people of Ondo State
remains a top priority."
Ekiti Assembly backs state
police, judicial autonomy
By Rotimi Ojomoyela
ADO-EKITI-THE Ekiti
State House of Assembly,
yesterday, voted unanimously for
the creation of State Police and
Judicial Autonomy in the
ongoing fifth alteration to the
Amendment to the 1999
Constitution of the Federal
Republic of Nigeria.
The Assembly also aligned with
the National Assembly on the
alteration to stipulated rules on
how the principal officers of the
Houses of Assembly should be
removed from offices to ensure
stability in the system.
The amended bills were
transmitted to the House of
Assembly for ratification in
March 2022.
Speaking with journalists in
Ado-Ekiti, shortly after the
plenary, the House's Leader of
Government Business, Mr
Gboyega Aribisogan, said the
lawmakers ratified the alteration
to the issue of law reform in the
country for radical improvement
in the quality of laws that will
guide the three arms of
government.
Aribisogan said: "At the plenary
today, the assembly approved
four areas being considered for
an amendment to the 1999
constitution by the National
Assembly. What we did was just
a concurrence to the
amendments and not further
alterations to what had been
done by the National Assembly.
"These include the approval for
the Law mandating the state to
have state police to improve
security across the county. We
also approved a law stating the
procedure to be followed for the
removal of the principal officers
of the Houses of Assembly to
ensure stability and improve the
quality of governance.
"The Assembly also
unanimously approved the
alteration to the constitution
allowing State to have a law
backing the establishment of
State Judicial Council just like
the National Judicial Council at
the Federal level so that the
judiciary can be autonomous.
"It also approved the
amendment to the proper
regulation of the law reform to
ensure that quality laws are made
to guarantee good legislation and
robust governance and equality
in the system."
2023: Whoever God appoints
must provide necessities
—Methodist Bishop
By Providence
Ayanfeoluwa
LAGOS-THE
Bishop,
Metropolitan Diocese of
Ikeja, Rev. Stephen Adegbite,
weekend, said that whoever God
appoints in 2023 to lead Nigeria
must fear God and provide the
basic necessities of life for the
people.
This came as the Church
honoured a former Military
Administrator of Lagos and Imo
states, late Rear Admiral Ndubisi
Kanu, with a posthumous award
in recognition of his meritorious
service and contribution to the
growth and development of the
diocese.
Adegbite, who spoke with the
media during the 5th Diocesan
Harvest and Anniversary
Thanksgiving and Conferment
of Awards Service held at the
Methodist Cathedral of Peace
and Excellence, Opebi, Ikeja
with the theme: "Harvest of God's
Faithfulness," said that Kanu
was like a father to him since he
first met him and his wife in 1996.
His words: "We are not going
to declare for any candidate, we
are not going to tell people who
to vote, if we do that then we
don't know what we are doing.
The church is not in partisan
politics, the church is a father to
the nation and anyone that
emerges as president of Nigeria
would be supported by the
•As church honours
late Ndubuisi Kanu
church.
"Good governance is what we
are asking for, I just came from
Germany, and we see what
people are doing we can do
better. I was in Doha Airport and
I was asking, the people that built
this airport are from heaven?
What kind of airport do you put
for us in Muritala Airport? Even
the new one they said they have
built is nothing.
Eulogising the late Ndubusi
Kanu, the cleric said: "Late Kanu
was a very good friend of mine.
Though the age difference was
so much the man and the wife
decided to adopt me as one of
their children and that has been
the relationship for the last 26
years."
It's a huge recognition
— GLADYS KANU
In her remarks, the wife of late
Kanu, Gladys Kanu, said: "We've
known the bishop for 26 years
and we have been part of the
church. So, I am very happy that
everything is going well in the
diocese. My husband
contributed a lot to this diocese
and organisations, including
NADECO and the Ohanaeze
Ndigbo. So, this award is a
recognition of his contributions
and we are happy about this. It's
a big recognition.

VANGUARD, WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 2022 — 9
:Vanguard
News
Ohanaeze to Buhari: Ndigbo need
justice, equity, fairness •
By Johnbosco
Agbakwuru, Chidi
Nkwopara,
Chinonso Alozie,
Ugochukwu Alaribe
& Steve Oko
OWERRI—APEX
Igbo
socio-cultural organisation,
Ohanaeze Ndigbo, yesterday,
told President Muhammadu
Buhari that the Igbo Nation is
committed to the Nigerian
project and desires a country that
provides the South-East people
the platform and opportunities to
contribute their utmost best to
the growth of Nigeria.
The organisation also told the
President that Ndigbo, both at
home and in the Diaspora, seek
justice, equity and fairness,
adding that going by their
historical antecedents, they can
claim to be the most federating
unit in the country.
President General of
Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Ambassador
George Obiozor, stated this at the
luncheon reception for President
Buhari, during his one day official
visit to Imo State.
Obiozor told the President that
insecurity and infrastructural
decay are among the greatest
challenges facing the zone.
He said: “Mr. President, I wish
to reiterate, and I speak on behalf
of Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide,
both at home and in the
Diaspora, that our people are
committed to the Nigerian
project, that we desire a country
that provides us the platform and
opportunities to contribute our
utmost best to the growth of our
fatherland.
“We seek justice, equity and
fairness and, going by our
historical antecedents, we are in
every part of Nigeria and,
therefore, can claim to be the most
federating unit in this country.”
Speaking further, Professor
Obiozor said: “It gives me great
pleasure to, once again, welcome
Mr. President to Owerri, the
hearland of the Igbo Nation.
“I recall that on Thursday,
September, 9, 2021, in this same
venue, I presented an address to
Mr. President on a wide range of
issues of concern to our people
and zone. And so much has
:@vanguardnews :@vanguardnews NEWS HOTLINES: 08052867023, 08052867058
COMMISSIONING—From left: Deputy Speaker, House of Representatives, Ahmed Wase;
Governor Hope Uzodimma of Imo State; President Muhammadu Buhari, and Deputy President
of the Senate, Sen. Ovie Omo-Agege, during the commissioning of the dualised 35-km
Owerri-Orlu road, yesterday.
happened since your last visit to
Imo State.
“It is important to inform Mr.
President that although our
people are doing their utmost
best to confront the plethora of
challenges, the one that is of the
greatest importance for the
southeast political zone is the
issue of security and
infrastructure.
“Your Excellency, Mr.
President, it is my pleasure to
acknowledge with appreciation
and immense gratitude, your
encouragement and support to
the Government of the South
East towards the development
and growth of the South Eastern
By Ikechukwu
Nnochiri
A BUJA—FORMER
Deputy Senate President,
Ike Ekweremadu, who is
currently facing trial in the
United Kingdom, yesterday,
asked the Federal High Court,
sitting in Abuja, to dismiss a suit
seeking to halt the transmission
of the bio-data of his alleged
organ harvest victim, David
Ukpo, to the court in London.
Ukpo had alleged
that Ekweremadu and his wife,
Beatrice, sponsored his trip to UK
for the purpose of harvesting his
organ.
This came, as a woman,
Annastasia Olamma, has offered
to donate her kidney to Sonia,
daughter of Ike Ekweremadu,
after she publicly asked for help.
In a motion he filed through
his lawyers, Ukpo further alleged
that Ekweremadu and his wife
violated his fundamental human
rights when they secured an
order from the court in Nigeria
for his personal information to be
forwarded to the
Uxbridge Magistrate Court, in
the UK, without his consent.
Ukpo decried that the court,
presided by Justice Inyang Ekwo,
on July 1, without hearing from
him, ordered the National
TERRORISM CHARGE: Appeal Court reserves judgment on
Kanu’s trial
By Ikechukwu
Nnochiri
ABUJA—THE Court of
Appeal, sitting in Abuja,
yesterday, reserved its judgment
on an appeal the detained leader
of the Indigenous People of Biafra,
IPoB, Nnamdi Kanu, filed to
quash the terrorism and
treasonable felony charge the
Federal Government preferred
against him.
The IPoB leader, who is
currently facing trial before the
Federal High Court, sitting in
Abuja, had, through his team of
lawyers, led by Mike Ozekhome,
approached the appellate court
to query the legal competence of
the charge pending against him.
He specifically prayed the
appellate court to review the
April 8 ruling of the trial court,
which struck out only eight out
of the 15-count charge.
Insisting that the charge FG
entered against him had no basis
in law, Kanu, in his appeal dated
April 29 and marked CA/ABJ/CR/
625/2022, applied to be
discharged and acquitted.
Kanu also urged the appellate
court to order his release on bail,
pending the determination of his
appeal.
Though the appeal was initially
fixed for October 11, however,
following an application the
zone.
“The people of Imo State
particularly and Igbo land in
general commend you for your
act of magnanimity. We also
equally want to state
categorically and as you have
seen in the projects you have just
commissioned and those you
commissioned one year ago that
the Imo State Governor, Senator
Hope Uzodimma is indeed a
committed governor,
development- focused,
transformation governor and a
statesman.”
He presented to the President,
a booklet titled, “Journey so far”,
which is a compilation of his public
speeches as President General
embattled IPOB leader filed for
abridgement of time, the appellate
court brought the matter forward
for hearing.
When the matter was called up,
yesterday, a three-man panel led
by Justice Jummai
Hanatu, said it had no need to
delve into the issue of bail since
the substantive appeal was ripe
for hearing.
Arguing the appeal, Ozekhome
alleged that his client was
forcefully abducted from Kenya
and illegally renditioned back to
the country.
He told the court that his client
was first arraigned on December
23, 2015 and was later granted
bail on April 25, 2017.
“My lords, he was enjoying this
bail without breaching the terms.
However, he was in his ancestral
home when agents of the
Respondent invaded his home in
September 2017. He barely
escaped alive by sheer
providence and found himself
first in Isreal and later in London.
“When the Appellant travelled
from London to Kenya, agents of
the Respondents, on June 27,
2021, forcefully abducted the
Appellant, tortured and
renditioned him back to the
country without following any
extradition process”, Ozekhome
submitted.
He argued that under the
Doctrine of Speciality as provided
for in section 15 of the Extradition
of Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide.
Meantime, as the President
visited Imo, government
commercial activities were
shutdown completely in the
southeast following the sit-athome
order issued by the
leadership of Indigenous People
of Biafra, IPoB, to mark the
appearance of its leader, Mazi
Nnamdi Kanu in court.
In Owerri municipality and
other major cities in the
southeast, all the filling stations,
commercial banks, courts, motor
parks, markets, street shops
government offices, including the
Federal and State Secretariats,
did not open for business.
Similarly, none of the news
stands was operational, as all the
vendors retired to their respective
homes.
Act, FG, ought to have proceeded
to try Kanu on the five-count
charge he was initially facing
before he escaped from the
country.
He argued that Kenya, being
the country from where Kanu
was arrested and extraordinarily
renditioned back to Nigeria,
ought to have authorised his
extradition.
“This allegation of his forceful
abduction and rendition was
never denied by the Respondent.
“More so my lords, the charge
appears to give the lower court a
global jurisdiction over offences
that were allegedly committed by
the Appellant, without specifying
the location or date the said
offences were committed.
“There was no need for the
lower court to have retained the
remaining seven-count charge.
“We are, therefore, urging my
lords to strike out the remaining
counts and hold that the
Respondent has not established
any prima-facie case against the
Appellant for which he could be
tried”, Ozekhome added.
Meanwhile, FG, through its
lawyer, Mr. David Kaswe, urged
the court to dismiss the appeal
for want of merit.
He maintained that the IPOB
leader was brought back to the
country by due process of the law.
He argued that the charge has
been amended seven times owing
to the conduct of the Appellant.
Alleged organ harvesting:
Ekweremadu asks court to
dismiss Ukpo’s suit
....As lady offers to donate kidney after
Ekweremadu’s daughter called for help
Identity Management
Commission, NIMC, and the
Comptroller-General of Nigerian
Immigration Service, to provide
the Certified True Copy, CTC, of
his bio-data and bank opening
details to Ekweremadu.
He noted that Justice Ekwo,
in a subsequent ruling on July 6,
directed that the bio-data should
be forwarded to the Attorney-
General of the Federation and
Minister of Justice, Mr. Abubakar
“My lords, it took four years and
huge resources to get the
Respondent arrested and
brought back to face the charges
against him.
“The Prosecution is ever willing
and eager to proceed with trial of
the Appellant.
“We are saying that the trial
court was even wrong to have
struck out the eight counts as it
did.
“It is only after FG has produced
all its witnesses and tendered its
evidence that the Appellant could
claim that no prima-facie case was
established.
“Finally, we urge this court to
dismiss the appeal for lacking in
merit”, Kaswe added.
After it had listened to both
sides, the panel said it would
communicate the judgment
date.
It will be recalled that trial Justice
Binta Nyako had on April 8, struck
out eight counts of the charge
on the premise that they were
mere repetitions that did not
disclose any offence that could
be sustained by the proof of
evidence before the court.
FG had in the counts that were
struck out, alleged that Kanu had
through his broadcasts,
incited members of the
public to not only stage a
violent revolution, but to
attack police officers and
also destroy public facilities
in Lagos State.
Malami, for same to be transmitted
to the court in the UK.
While querying the jurisdiction
of the court to issue such orders,
Ukpo, argued that Ekweremadu
and his wife ought to have joined
him and the AGF, Malami, as
necessary parties in the matter.
He argued that reliefs the court
granted, were against his
fundamental and civic rights to
privacy, guaranteed under
section 37 of the 1999
Constitution, as amended.
However, at the resumed
proceedings in the matter on
Tuesday, Ekweremadu, through
his lawyer, Eyitayo Fatigun,
SAN, told the court that he filed
a counter affidavit for the
dismissal of Ukpo’s suit which he
described as baseless.
The embattled lawmaker
argued that the alleged organ
harvest victim had no basis to
entertain any fear in the release
of his visa application information
and his bank account opening
package, unless he lied about his
real age.
In the counter affidavit that was
deposed to by his immediate
younger brother, Bright,
Ekweremadu, maintained that
what the court ordered to be
transmitted to London was
Ukpo’s bank account opening
package and the information he
supplied in his visa application
request.
Besides, he noted that the order
of the court had since been
complied with as the required
documents have since been
transmitted to two different courts
in the UK.
He argued that it was already
late to reverse a valid order of the
court that had since been
executed.
Consequently, Ekweremadu
urged the court to dismiss the suit
for being frivolous, an abuse of
court process and for lacking in
merit.
Meanwhile, Ukpo’s lawyer, Mr
Ojonugwa Oguche, prayed for an
adjournment to enable him to
respond to the counter-affidavit,
a prayer that was granted by
Justice Ekwo.
The case was subsequently
adjourned till September 20 for
hearing.
Lady offers to
donate kidney
This development came hours
after Sonia took to social media
to appeal to the public to save
her from the life-threatening
battle with kidney disease.
Sonia revealed that she was
diagnosed with focal segmental
glomerulosclerosis (FSGS)
nephrotic syndrome, in 2019,
making her to drop out of
graduate school.
However, hours after her
appeal, Olamma, on her
Facebook page, said she is ready
to donate her kidney to the
daughter of the former deputy
senate president.
She said her kidney is healthy,
adding that she had sent a
message conveying her
proposition to Sonia.
“I want to donate one of my
kidneys to Sonia Ekweremadu to
save her life. I have made up my
mind to do this to prove women
can help women,” she wrote on
Facebook.

10—Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 2022
:Vanguard
News
Limited.
“Completion of new Port
Harcourt International Airport
Terminal. Brand new International
Airport Terminal in Rivers State,
completed and commissioned in
2018. Ground-breaking in 2021 for
reconstruction of Port Harcourt-
Maiduguri Rail Line.
“Completion of installation and
commissioning into service of a
brand new 300MVA 330/132/33kV
power transformer in the Alaoji
Transmission Substation,
increasing the station’s installed
capacity from 450MVA to 750MVA
and making it the biggest substation
in Southern Nigeria.
“The new transformer has
boosted supply to Enugu
Distribution Company, benefiting
Abia North (Ohafia, Arochukwu,
:@vanguardnews :@vanguardnews NEWS HOTLINES: 08052867023, 08052867058
VISIT: Governor of Enugu State and candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Enugu North
senatorial district, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi (3rd left) receiving ‘Ofo’ (traditional symbol of authority) from the
Grand Patron of Enugu State Council of Traditional Rulers, HRH Igwe Simeon Osisi Itodo (4th right),
when all members of the Executive of the Enugu North Zonal Council of Traditional Rulers visited the
governor at the Government House, Enugu, to endorse his senatorial bid in 2023, yesterday.
Rivers APC blasts Wike over attack
on Amaechi •You hate Kalabari, Ijaw, Sara-Igbe tells Wike
By Emma Amaize
& Egufe
Yafugborhi
PORT
HARCOURT—
THE All Progressives
Congress, APC, in Rivers State,
yesterday, fired back at Governor
Nyesom Wike for labelling his
predecessor and former Minister of
Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, a
"total failure" for perceived inability
to attract development to Rivers in
over seven years as minister.
This came as prominent South-
South leader, His Highness, Anabs
Sara-Igbe, lashed out at Wike,
accusing him of hatred for the people
of Kalabari ethnic nationality and
Ijaw nation.
Wike had at a public function in
Port Harcourt on Monday fiercely
dressed down the Rivers APC
leader for expressing
disappointment at perceived
insensitivity of his administration
to the well-being of former minister,
Alabo T. O. Graham-Douglas
through the protracted illness
leading to his death as Wike was
also absent at the funeral on
Saturday.
Responding to the governor’s
tirade against Amaechi, spokesman
for Rivers APC, Darlington Nwauju,
said: “The APC is not a shallow
ground where people cannot keep
records or lacking institutional
memory. We are abreast of history
as we're all Rivers people. We know
who is who and what is what.
“Our response to Wike scathing
remarks against the minister and
our party is not to debunk claims,
but to rightly lay bare the truth. We
are interested in the insinuation
that our leader, Amaechi, is a failure
and could not attract anything as a
minister to Rivers.
“This (Amaechi) is a man that
has served Rivers passionately as
governor, served as speaker,
contributed immensely to success
of the APC in Nigeria. There are
satisfactory proof that the claim that
our leader never did anything to
better lives of Rivers people is totally
false, sheer blackmail and we as a
party will not allow his image to be
so smeared.
“Under him, the Afam Fast Power
Project: Construction of 186 million,
240MW expansion for the existing
Afam Power Plant, commenced in
2016, almost completed.
“Rehabilitation of Sections 1 to 4
of the Enugu-Port Harcourt
Expressway (ongoing).
Construction of ongoing N120
billion Bonny-Bodo Road in Rivers
State, jointly funded by the Federal
Government and the Nigeria
Liquified Natural Gas Company
Item, Abriba), Imo State (Okigwe,
Arondi-Izuogu), and parts of Ebonyi
and Rivers states.”
On claim by Wike that Rivers
APC has become empty with
defection of several members to the
PDP, Nwauju countered that
nothing could be farther from the
truth, saying ruling PDP in Rivers
has suffered more high profile
defections to the APC.
You hate Kalabari,
Ijaw, Sara-Igbe
blasts Wike Wike
Sara-Igbe, in a statement,
yesterday, said the governor’s claim
of spending N50 million on the
health of elder statesman, Alabo
Tonye Graham-Douglas, whose
burial, he shunned, last weekend,
was “political, insincere,
incongruous and diversionary.”
He said: “It is appalling and most
regrettable that Wike, rather than
exhibiting a high level of maturity,
responsibility, responsiveness and
provide good leadership, anchored
on equity fairness and justice, has
politically and economically
emasculated and enslaved the
people of Kalabari ethnic nationality
and Ijaw nation by extension since
assuming of office as governor.
“It is also unfortunate that rather
than evolve measures that would
foster cohesion and peaceful coexistence
among the people, and
give all ethnic nationalities in Rivers
State a sense of belonging,
Governor Wike has openly shown
his disdain, absolute hatred and
nepotism against the people of
Kalabari Kingdom and the Ijaw
nation at large.
Fuel scarcity hits P-Harcourt, environs
as product sells for N300 per litre
By Egufe
Yafugborhi &
Davies
Iheamnachor
PORT
HARCOURT:
Scarcity of the Premium Motor
Spirit, PMS, popularly called petrol
has hit Port Harcourt and its
environs.
This has caused untold hardship
for businesses, which depend on
PMS as marketers and Nigeria
Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas
Workers, NUPENG, shut
distribution of fuel in the state.
The situation since Monday has
resulted in uncontrolled hike in petrol
pump price, even as petrol consumers
lament staying on stressful queues
at the few dispensing filling stations
for in most cases, the entire day and
•IPMAN, NUPENG shut operations
over face-off with security operatives
not being able to buy even at as
high as N250 per liter pump price.
NUPENG President, Williams
Akporeha, confirmed, yesterday, to
Vanguard that the hardship the fuel
in the state has caused, which is
spilling over to neighbouring states
was induced by the resolve to shut
operations as the Rivers State
government failed to respond to the
union’s petition to within seven days
intervene over alleged extortion and
impounding of fuel tankers by
security operatives in the state.
The situation is further worsened
as Independent Petroleum
Marketers Association of Nigeria,
IPMAN, in the state also joined the
disruption of fuel distribution as two
factions of the association engaged
in face-off over differences in the
resolution of the ordeal tanker drivers
suffer in the hands of multiple anti
illegal fuel security teams chasing
tankers loaded with fuel across the
state.
As at yesterday, most NNPC filling
stations and its franchise firms on
the East West Road and some other
areas, Total and other stations had
no product to dispense even with
huge price hike.
Some stations that have PMS to
sell have pegged their prices at N240
and N300 per litre above the N162
pump price.
Nigeria’s insecurity, indebtedness painful
—Anglican Bishop
By Festus Ahon
ASABA—ANGLICAN Bishop
of Western Izon Diocese of
Ecclesiastical Province of Bendel, Rt
Rev Victor Okporu, has lamented
the current state of insecurity in the
country, describing it as painful and
crushing.
He also decried the country’s
huge debt burden.
Speaking at St Barnabas Anglican
Church, Sagbama, Bayelsa State,
during the second session of the fifth
synod of the Diocese, Okporu noted
that the government had failed in
its constitutional and fundamental
responsibilities of protecting lives and
property of its citizens.
The cleric said: “The state of our
dear country, Nigeria, is critically
worrisome. What shall we say of the
escalation of violence in the country
and the gradual decent of our
hitherto peaceful and progressives
society into near anarchy.
“The mindless and vicious killings
of innocent Nigerians by the killer
herdsmen, bandit, Boko-Haram,
terrorists of all kinds including, known
and unknown gunmen.
“From the North to the South,
East to the West, the story is the
same sad lamentation of insecurity,
economic woes, decadence in
education, corruption that is
unequalled anywhere, nepotism,
inequity at all level, sign posting bad
governance and or failed state.
“Insecurity was a notable problem
to the previous administrations in
Nigeria, but the Buhari-led
administration in 2015 promised
Nigerians that it would be
terminated. But with barely nine
months to the end of his eight years
of two terms on the saddle, insecurity
has sadly assumed a phenomenal
dimension.
“It is quite alarming today that it
has become a nightmare to travel by
road in Nigeria as such travels are at
the risk of the undertaker."
Ogbe-Ijoh warns govt to halt
forceful demarcation of
boundary
By Jimitota
Onoyume
WARRI — OGBE-IJOH
community, Warri South
West Local Government Area,
Delta State, has warned the state
government to drop the alleged
concession of a portion of the
community as boundary
between the area and Aladja
community in Udu LGA of the
state.
A letter addressed to Governor
Ifeanyi Okowa under the aegis
of Ogbe-Ijoh Leaders of Thought
by Denbo-Denbo Oweikpodor,
Chiefs Samson Oyimi, Lucky
Oromoni, Gordon Donye,
Afedolor Isaiah and Roland
Takembo said the move was
unacceptable to the community.
The letter, Vanguard, obtained,
yesterday, said the community
was not opposed to resolution of
the crisis between the two
communities, adding that any
step by the government should,
however, involve the community
and should be in conformity with
a recommendation of a
government committee on
resolving the crisis.
“We are compelled to write this
open letter to draw your attention
to the growing tension arising
from the forceful sharing of Ogbe-
Ijoh land as boundary between
Aladja community in Udu
council area and Ogbe-Ijoh
community in Warri South West
LGA.
“Your Excellency will recall
that the Ogbe-Ijoh and Aladja
Boundary Committee, which
had representatives from
government and the two
communities recommended a
boundary line between Ogbe-
Ijoh and Aladja communities,
which was accepted by
government.”
The community said a recent
alleged demarcation of the area
done resulted in destruction of
some houses and several
valuables running into huge
sums, stressing that the state
government should immediately
halt the exercise.
How Oshiomhole saved
S-South APC meeting from
collapse
By Ozioruva Aliu
BENIN
CITY—
INDICATIONS emerged,
yesterday, that for the
intervention and appeals by
former National Chairman of
the All Progressives Congress,
APC, Mr. Adams Oshiomhole,
the peace meeting called by the
National Vice Chairman,
South-South, Victory Giadom,
on Monday on how the party
would perform well in the 2023
elections would have been
boycotted.
Giadom called the meeting
where he publicly apologised to
Oshiomhole over the roles he
played that led to his ouster as
the national chairman of the
party.
A member of the party told
Vanguard, yesterday: “Many of
us were not ready to attend the
meeting called by Giadom
because he was the one that was
used to remove Oshiomhole but
it was the same Oshiomhole who
was busy reaching out even till
late Sunday to the early hours
of Monday. That is a real party
man.”
At the meeting, Giadom
appealed to the leaders and
members of the party to forget
the issues that arose during the
primary elections that brought
various candidates for various
positions and the presidential
candidate of the party, Asiwaju
Bola Tinubu urging them to
work together for victory.
Giadom said he got the
highest vote from Edo State
during the party’s national
convention in Abuja, where he
emerged as the National Vice
Chairman of the zone.
On his part, Oshiomhole
hailed Giadom on the initiative
of the stakeholders’ meeting,
boasting that APC and its
presidential candidate, Ahmed
Tinubu, would win the 2023
presidential election.
2023: A-Ibom dep gov urges
PDP stakeholders to deliver
Ikot Ekpene senatorial district
By Harris
Emanuel
UYO—As the build-up to
the 2023 general
elections enters a significant
phase, stakeholders of the
Peoples Democratic Party,
PDP, in Ikot Ekpene senatorial
district, have been urged to be
committed to the delivery of
their units for the party in the
forthcoming elections.
The Deputy Governor of
Akwa Ibom State, Mr. Moses
Ekpo, gave the charge at the
stakeholders meeting of the
senatorial district in Ikot
Ekpene.
He noted that the senatorial
district was a strong bastion
of the party and explained that
the meeting was aimed at
fostering interaction in
preparation for the
forthcoming elections,
adding that all the
stakeholders have the
responsibility of delivering all
PDP candidates vying for state
and National Assembly seats,
governorship
presidential positions.
and
He described Ikot Ekpene
senatorial district as a major
stakeholder and stabiliser of
the party in the state and,
therefore, encouraged the
party chieftains to continue to
provide the desired support
and direction to enable the
party to record a resounding
success in the elections in line
with the succession plan of
Governor Udom Emmanuel.
Ekpo said he was impressed
that those who run the political
affairs in Ukanafun/Oruk
Anam, Ikono/Ini, Abak /Etim
Ekpo/ Ika and Ikot Ekpene/
Essien Udim/Obot Akara
federal constituencies were
intact in the party and at the
meeting, adding that this was
a clear signal that the district
was ready for the
forthcoming elections.
Earlier, the state chairman
of the party, Aniekan Akpan,
said he was happy that Ikot
Ekpene senatorial district was
the first to bring stakeholders
together in a forum of that
magnitude, and further
solicited continuous support
from the stakeholders.

Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 2022 — 11
:Vanguard
News
:@vanguardnews :@vanguardnews NEWS HOTLINES: 08052867023, 08052867058
PRESENTATION—From left: Mr. Anthony Ajulo, ED, Costarchem Building Solutions Nigeria Ltd.;
Mrs. Bakare Okoya-Thomas, Chairperson, Board of Director, Costarchem Building Solutions;
Master Ayoade Ali, Mr. Umesh Kuchian, National Sales Manager, Costarchem Building Solutions;
Miss Joy James, Mrs. Edith Ehirim, School Manager, Sogunle Primary School, Ikeja; Mr. Collins
Balogun, ED, Costarchem Building Solutions, and Mrs. Irene Ntiokiet, Marketing Manager,
Costarchem Building Solutions, during the presentation of educational support materials and
mentorship session, to Sogunle Primary School, Ikeja, by the building firm, held at the school's
pemises in Ikeja, Lagos. Photo: Kehinde Gbadamosi.
KADUNA TRAIN ATTACK: Mamu aided
local, int’l terror groups —DSS
By Ikechukwu
Nnochiri
ABUJA—THE
Federal
High Court, sitting in Abuja,
yesterday, gave the Department
of State Services, DSS,
permission to further detain the
Abuja-Kaduna train kidnap
negotiator, Mr. Tukur Mamu, for
60 days.
The detention order, granted
by Justice Nkeonye Maha, is to
allow the security agency to
conclude its ongoing
investigations into Mamu's
alleged involvement with
terrorists.
It will be recalled that Mamu
was, on September 6, arrested at
Cairo, Egypt, while on his way to
Saudi Arabia for lesser Hajj with
his family members.
He was subsequently brought
back to the country and
immediately taken into custody
by the DSS.
In an ex-parte motion it brought
before the court, yesterday, the
DSS sought permission to further
retain him in its custody.
The agency, in an affidavit it
filed before the court, alleged that
Mamu aided both local and
international terrorist
organisations.
DSS, in the said affidavit that
Dismantling terrorists/bandits positively
impacting troops' morale —Army chief
By Kingsley
Omonobi
A
BUJA—CHIEF of Army
Staff, COAS, Lieutenant-
General Faruk Yahaya, has said
the dismantling of the cohesion
of terrorists and bandits in the
theatres of operation is positively
impacting troops' morale and
boosting citizens' confidence.
This came, as he said the
Nigerian Army is firming up its
preparations to provide the
necessary security assistance to
ensure the successful conduct of
the 2023 general elections.
General Yahaya, who spoke at
the opening of the Chief of Army
Staff 3rd quarter conference in
Abuja, said: "Our kinetic actions
•Says, he was on his way to attend
terrorists' summit •As court grants 60
days detention order
was deposed to by one Hamza
Pandogari, maintained that
Mamu who is the publisher of
Dessert Herald, used the cover
of journalism to perpetrate his
deeds.
It told the court that the
detained publisher was on his
way to attend a clandestine
meeting with top terrorist
commanders, when he was
intercepted in Egypt through the
help of the International Police,
Interpol.
The DSS alleged that
preliminary investigations
revealed that Mamu might be
involved in terrorism financing,
saying “the self acclaimed
Kaduna train negotiator
exploited the opportunity to
perpetrate, aid and abets as well
as render support to both local
and international terrorist
organisations.
“The respondent was
intercepted by the Nigerian
foreign partners at Cairo, Egypt,
on 6th September, 2022, while
on his way to Saudi Arabia for a
in the North-East theatre of
operations have continued to
dismantle the cohesion of the
insurgents resulting in massive
surrenders of the terrorists. This
has positively impacted on the
morale of troops and greatly
bolstered the confidence of the
citizens. Efforts must therefore be
geared towards leveraging on the
gains so far recorded to stamp out
the
miscreants
permanently.“"You have all done
well in the implementation of the
decisions taken during the last
conference as evident in the
successes recorded, particularly
in our ongoing operations across
all theatres of operation.
"The Nigerian Army will
continue to perform its roles
clandestine meeting with
commanders and top leaders of
terrorists organisations across the
globe.
“Upon his interception, and
subsequent repatriation back to
Nigeria, a duly signed search
warrant was executed in his
residence and office at No. 4, Ali
Ladan Street, Sabon Kawo GRA
and No. 14, Mamona Road,
Anguwan Sarki, Kaduna State
and various exhibits and items
to establish his complicity with
terrorists were recovered", the
affidavit read.
More so, the DSS, told the court
that following the execution of
the search warrant, various
incriminating items were
recovered from Mamu's
residence and office.
It listed some of the 34
recovered items to include; 151
dollars, 20 pounds sterling; 1,
530 Indian Rupees; one Saudi
Riyald; 70 Dirham; one million,
five hundred and six thousand
naira; and 16 assorted foreign
coins.
professionally in the region in
collaboration with other Services
and security agencies as well as
State and Local Government
authorities".
"The recent successful hosting
of Nigerian Army Day
Celebration in the South East
has impacted positively on the
security situation in the region
even as the troops continue to
take decisive actions against the
secessionists.
"The Nigerian Army will
continue to perform its roles
professionally in the region in
collaboration with other Services
and security agencies as well as
State and Local Government
authorities.
"Equally, the troops deployed
The DSS also alleged that two
packs of pump action cartridges;
16 ATM (auto-mated machine)
cards from both local and foreign
banks; seven cheque books of
different banks; six laptops; four
tablets; 24 handsets and three
international passports
belonging to Mamu; one firearm
licence; eight pieces of Nigerian
Army uniforms; 16 pieces of
Nigerian Naval uniforms, were
also recovered.
“Preliminary investigation so
far established, amongst others,
the offences of logistic supplier,
aiding and abetting acts of
terrorism as well as terrorism
financing against him. The
defendant (Mamu) has used the
cover of his profession as a
journalist to aid both local and
international terrorist groups.
“The action of the defendant
has orchestrated the untimely
death of several security
personnel in North Central and
North East parts of Nigeria. The
defendant has discreetly given
several information to bandits and
terrorists that escalated various
acts of terrorism in Nigeria.
in the South- South region under
Operation Delta Safe have
continued to perform creditably
with the rejuvenated joint
operations leading to the arrest
of several suspects and their
sponsors. Concerted effort is
ongoing to ensure maximal
revenue is derived by the country
from its oil ventures in the South-
South region.”
Continuing, the COAS noted,
among others, "our offensive
operations in the North West and
North Central regions have also
been intensified. Accordingly,
troops in conjunction with the
Nigerian Air Force have
continued to neutralize bandits'
and destroy their hideouts under
the recently launched
onslaughts such as Operation
Desert Sanity.
19,000 applicants scramble
for 4,000 Kogi teaching jobs
By Boluwaji
Obahopo
LOKOJA—NO fewer than
19,000 applicants applied for
the 4,000 teaching vacancies in
Kogi State secondary schools, the
Ministry of Education has
disclosed.
This came as the ministry,
yesterday, commenced a
Computer based Aptitude test for
shortlisted candidates to fill the
vacant teaching positions in state
secondary schools.
The test is to run between
yesterday and tomorrow, while
Friday is reserved exclusively for
applicants who are physically
challenged.
Speaking at the
commencement of the test
defection
By Peter Duru
M AKURDI—SOME
members of the All
Progressives Congress,
APC, under the banner of
APC 360, have called on the
party’s presidential
candidate, Senator Bola
Tinubu, to urgently take
measures to halt the drift
and mass defection of
members of the party to
other parties.
The group consists of
members of the party from
the 36 states and Abuja,
who paid for forms to
contest for various elective
positions during the party’s
primaries, but experienced
challenges with the
conduct of the primaries.
The members, in a
statement, yesterday, by its
National Secretary, Dr.
Chris Enoch, at the end of
an emergency meeting,
noted that "we are
discomforted and worried
at the rate at which some
powerful members of this
great party are sweeping
themselves out and drifting
holding at the State Polytechnic,
Lokoja, Commissioner for
Education, Mr. Wemi Jones, said:
"We shortlisted 6,000 applicants
from the over 19,000 applicants
that filled the on-line registration
portal. Already, we have secured
the permission of the state
government to recruit 3950
teachers; which are the positions
we have identified as critical
needs for the secondary schools.
"Those who performed
creditably from this stage will be
shortlisted again for physical
verification, oral test and
induction before they will be fully
employed.
"There are 25 questions in total.
The first 10 questions is test of
English which is mandatory for
all shortlisted applicants while
the rest is in the subject applied
for.”
2023: APC's presidential
candidate urged to halt mass
to other parties by way of
decamping.
"Our blood pressure is being
raised by the fact that the party
hierarchy seems to be sleeping
or deliberately closing their eyes
to this frightening situation as if
nothing is going on.
"The APC 360, as a critical
stakeholder and watchman of this
party, cannot close its eyes
against this dangerous trend that
is sweeping away our members
like the flood of Mesopotamia. It
is also hazardous and harmful to
the health and wealth of our great
party, particularly when we are
preparing to go for a national
election.
"We as members of the only
pressure group that has invested
in this great party through the
direct purchase of expression of
interest and nomination forms,
and others are concerned
because of our perception that
the massive decamping which is
being surreptitiously carried out
is planned and calculated to
frustrate the coasting to the
victory of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu
in the forthcoming general
election, by those who have
issues to settle with the party or
are holding grudges and are
working against the party.

12 — Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 2022
By Juliet Umeh
Broadband assessment
provider, Enextgen, says
its locally produced
product; Emetric can help
Nigerians monitor the level of
internet penetration in an area
independently.
According to the company,
Nigerians should not just rely on
self-serving quality reports from
network operators.
Business Development
Director at the company, Mr.
How Emetrics helps Nigerians monitor quality of internet penetration
Gbadega Adeyeye said it is not
sufficient to accept what the
service providers say about the
quality of their networks when
users can independently verify
that quality.
He said people can use
Emetrics to find the quality of
mobile broadband, LTE or 5G
at a particular location.
“Emetrics
takes
measurements of the end-user
experience’s quality. These
include the quality of their
browsing experience and then
project it. We rank it in different
colours for instance; excellent is
green, blue is good, yellow is fair
while red is poor.
He said: “Let your service
provider know you would like
them to provide measurement
data to Enextgen or use our
measurement tool (Enextlog), if
there is no data for your location
or area.
"Share with us any observed
lack of correlation between our
ranking and your experience at
your location.
“The more users, the more
areas covered and the more
areas covered, the higher the
incentive for the operators to pay
attention to the quality of their
mobile broadband networks.
“Understand that quality of
service rating should flow from
those receiving the service to
those offering it, not the other
way around.”
Usage guide
According to Adeyeye, in
mapping the broadband
deployment, one has LTE
coverage if the Emetrics rank
is not red, red means not to
expect reliable LTE coverage.
“The other codes-saddle
brown, yellow, blue and green
are for use in optimizing radio
frequency, RF, quality.
*Zipline drone
Nigeria joins Ghana, Rwanda
others s to deliver health services
via drones
.. As Zipline kicks off commercial delivery in
Kaduna
By Prince Osuagwu, Hi-Tech Editor
Nigeria has made history,
joining other countries
of the world like Ghana
and Rwanda to easily and timely
ferry needed medical
commodities, including vaccines
and blood across difficult
terrains with drones.
This is as instant logistics drone
services operator, Zipline, has
just commenced commercial
deliveries of medical
commodities through drones, to
health facilities in Kaduna
State.
The company announced that
initial deliveries have been
successfully made to
Galadimawa HC, Kauru LGA
among other facilities.
The health facilities are among
several medical centres in
Kaduna earmarked to be rolled
onto Zipline’s logistics platform
for the speedy dispensing of
healthcare.
The distribution centre,
located in Pambegua, Kaduna
state, is the first hub to be
opened in Nigeria to support
the government’s effort to send
medical logistics to health
facilities within the state.
Speaking after the scheduled
delivery of vaccines to the
facility, Chongfilawos Irimiya,
a medical staff at Galadimawa
PHC, said: “We thank God for
Zipline. We are in the bush and
cut off from urban facilities. We
used to go very far to the Apex
centres to get our vaccine, which
is very stressful and
uncomfortable, but with
Zipline, all that is now in the
past.”
General Manager of Zipline
Nigeria, Ms. Catherine Odiase,
said since Zipline
commissioned the distribution
hub in June 2022, it has been
working with the aviation
regulatory authority to finalise
the required approvals to
operate these autonomous
aerial vehicles in Kaduna.
She stated that the successful
completion of the approval
Interswitch@20, flags off #NeverStop brand campaign
By Prince Osuagwu
E-payment service provider,
Interswitch has flagged off a new brand
campaign, #NeverStop, to project itself as a
pioneer and enabler of growth and
development of fintech and payments across
Africa.
Interswitch has helped in driving payments
and e-commerce growth across Africa since it
opened shop in the country 20 years ago.
So, while the new brand campaign is to
amplify the brand’s progressive outlook as a
frontier-driving company which keeps pushing
boundaries and facilitating the creation of new
ecosystems that help businesses and individuals
scale and thrive, it is also to commemorate its
20th year anniversary.
Founder & Group CEO of the company,
Mitchell Elegbe, said: “As we mark 20, there is
quite a lot of excitement within Interswitch, but
also some deep reflection as we look back on
the journey of the last two decades.
processes paved
the way for the
start of
commercial
flights.
O d i a s e
commended the
regulatory
authorities for
the fruitful
engagements
leading to the
commencement
of flight
operations,
adding that “the
company is
pleased to have
received the
necessary
regulatory
approval to be
able to support
the health needs
of
the
community.” She
added that “our
technology has
proven to be a
great resource in
h e l p i n g
government achieve access to
universal healthcare.
“By this, we remain committed
to ensuring that we support the
government of Kaduna in
meeting this target by way of
efficient delivery of medical
commodities and other products
as will be agreed, to all parts of
the state within 40 minutes or less
from our distribution hub”.
She pledged the readiness of
Zipline to continue to partner with
governments to ensure no one in
the country is left behind in
access to the basic healthcare
delivery services.
The first of three distribution
hubs of Zipline to be sited in
Kaduna has the capacity of
delivering medical supplies to
over 500 health facilities within
an 80km radius at a speed of
110km/hr rain/shine: day/night.
Zipline also has the capacity to
deliver other products including
animal health vaccines and e-
commerce products.
"It’s been 20 years of transforming Africa’s digital
economy. Interswitch was founded to solve a social
problem – to make people’s lives easier when it came
to payments, transactions and accessing funds. We
saw a way to do this by developing products and
services with the consumer at the heart, leading with
technology and innovation.
Why 11 1 African social Innovat
ator
ors, got
Sahara Foundation’s recognition at SIPA
By Juliet Umeh
The personal and corporate
social responsibility
vehicle for Sahara Group,
Sahara Foundation, in
collaboration with other
organisations like LEAP Africa,
Ford Foundation, and Impact
Investors Foundation has
honoured 11 fellows whose
businesses are set to promote
sustainable development across
Africa.
The beneficiaries selected
from seven African countries
were recognised when the
foundation celebrated its 2021-
2022 Sahara Impact Fund, SIF,
at the LEAP Africa Social
Innovators Programme and
Awards, SIPA.
The three-month Fellowship
programme which combines
virtual learning and in-class
experiences, through its
‘governance unusual
curriculum’ challenges the
Fellows to be the measure ‘’for
doing the right thing” against all
odds. This inspiring mindset has
the potential to turn them into
impactful business leaders with
the potential to influence a
positive cultural paradigm shift
and promote a movement of
people who willingly and
consistently choose to do the
right thing.
The event was with the theme:
‘’Reawaken, Redesign and Reemerge:
Africa beyond Potential.’
Executive Director at Sahara
Foundation, Mr. Pearl Uzokwe,
lauded the Fellows for their
efforts in creating innovations
that promote social impact.
Uzokwe said: “We are excited
to be part of this transformative
partnership that is committed to
bringing sustainable change to
the African continent. We are
also proud of our Fellows who
have risen above the structural
limitations and social barriers to
solve societal problems. I urge
you to put your training to good
use, think beyond the profit and
focus on doing well.”
Also, Founder, LEAP Africa,
Ndidi Nwuneli, commended the
partners for supporting the
initiative and reiterated the need
for impact investments for social
entrepreneurs to scale
sustainably.
Carbon‘s roadmap to making banking more flexible for consumers
By Juliet Umeh
Financial technology, Fintech, company, Carbon
Finance, has promised to transform the banking
experience for Nigerians by making it more accessible
and flexible.
The Fintech company made the promise as it marks
its 10th anniversary.
Originally set up as a lending company, Carbon has
established itself as one of the continent’s leading and
fastest-growing digital banks, with over a million users
across the federation and operations in two African
countries.
Spring of Life links New Horizons to
produce 20 Microsof
osoft t Technology
Associates
By Sunrise Oladokun
No fewer than 20 students
of Spring of Life and
Fountain of Wisdom School,
Enugu recently sat for and
passed the globally recognised
Microsoft Technology
Associate, MTA, certification
exams.
A Microsoft Technology
Associate is a trained
professional whose skills are
used in a variety of business
functions across many different
industries, for example,
Database, IT Security, Mobile
App Developer, Network
Administrator, Project Manager,
Software Developer, among
others.
The programme was powered
by information and technology,
IT training company, New
Horizons, IT consultant and
partner to the school.
The co-founder and CEO of
the firm, Chijioke Dozie said: “At
Carbon, we are very proud of
what we have built, thanks to our
customers and the humans at
Carbon. When we look at the last
10 years and the future ahead,
we want to focus more on our
customers’ needs and ensure we
are adapting to the market
demands and changing the way
Nigerians make payments.”
The Founder and the Director
of the School, Mrs. Stella Adibe,
expressed her joy that Spring of
Life and Fountain of Wisdom has
been living up to its billing as topquality
and front-row IT-driven
School in Enugu for many years.
She reiterated her delight at
the productive strategic
International ICT Partnership
that her school established with
New Horizons, a US-based,
world’s largest International IT
Skills and Certification Training
Organisation that has a presence
in 80 countries of the world.
Also, the MD/CEO of New
Horizons Nigeria, Mr. Tim
Akano, said he was proud of the
first set of 20 MTA-certified
students from the Spring of Life
schools.
He also promised that New
Horizons Nigeria will
continually support the school to
make it the epitome of an ITdriven
school in this 21st
century.
He explained that the
company began operations in
2012 as One Credit, a brickand-mortar
consumer lender
focused on the Nigerian
market, the company then
pivoted in 2016 to become a
digital lender via its Paylater
App and was focused on
providing access to consumer
credit services.

Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 2022— 13
We want to make house
ownership attainable
for women — Junadia Danso-
Edim, CEO, Arkbridge Properties
JUNADIA DANSO-EDIM is the Group CEO of Arkbridge Properties Limited,
as well as the company’s former Director of Admin & Finance Operations.
Within eight years, the accountant’s ability to solve problems and wanting to
make a difference has helped her to position the company as one of Africa’s
leading Real Estate Sales and Marketing companies.
Junadia beams light on standardisation and quality control which, according
to her, makes the organisation stand out. She also speaks on how
Middlechase, the Marketing subsidiary of Arkbridge, is creating products for
women to ensure that everyone owns a house regardless of status or income.
What did you do differently to make
you rise so fast?
I want to resist the urge to say God, but
it is God and also because I just tried my
best to make sure I was a problem solver.
Every company has its own issues; there
is downtime and also peak time. In all
these, I make sure I remain consistent and
also ensure that whatever it is, I make a
difference. I always like to ask people
what their superpower is, because my
superpower is different from your own.
I discovered mine early in life. I like to
organise stuff, I like to arrange stuff and
I like to make sure that things are done
the way they should be.
The kind of person that I am, I will
scatter something and try to put it back
together so that I can understand the
process. Even while I was an accountant,
I would take on hard tasks that do not
concern me, just to understand how things
work. The good thing about it is that our
organisation knows the worth of my hard
work.
When the opportunity to hand over to
someone came, it was now obvious that
this person should have knowledge about
everything.
What is your average day like?
Some days are a lot easier but most
times, my day starts with me getting into
the office and trying to put things in their
proper place because we are expanding
departments and we are also shrinking
departments. We are trying to innovate
our operations and I need to be in front of
•Junadia
it.
Every new person that gets into power,
whether it is the president or the governor
or a CEO, has to be able to set things right
first to be sure that it is exactly what you
want.
So my days in the past few months
have just been in making sure that
things go according to plan. I have the
blueprint that I share with everybody to
be sure that people do what they are
meant to do. I work Sundays some days
and it can be stressful, but if I want to
take time to rest, I just unplug and hide. I
know how to hide very well, nobody is
going to find me until I am ready to be
found.
The real estate industry has just
exploded; how easy has it been
creating structures where none
existed?
It has been interesting. Nobody really
thought Real Estate a couple of years
ago would get to this point. The truth is
that I like to study trends and as long
as we keep having human beings
on the earth, we are always
going to provide housing.
Nigeria has housing deficits
and it’s really not getting
better because it is
actually not about that
housing deficit, it’s an
affordable housing
deficit because there
are thousands of
houses that are being
built every week
which I too cannot
afford.
When we started, we
used to be on the
mainland, we moved to
the island; we said we
were going to try to do
things a little different and
we said, let us test and start to
build apartments because
everybody used to build terraces.
We decided to build apartments to see
how they would fare in the market. At
that time, we started selling at N5 million
and N6 million in 2018 and 2019.
We were shocked by the turnout and
we realised that people don’t mind buying
apartments. That same house they bought
at N6.6 million, my last sale was over N28
million for it.
Some of them who bought at that time
are now regretting they didn’t buy
more than one at that time. It was after
we started that so many other people
started selling apartments.
We want to build houses that you can
make money from. If I have a mansion,
how much will I make? These days we
have short let, which was not popular
then. There are so many ways you can
make money and we don’t just want to
be selling houses, we want to sell what
you can use to make money in the first
place.
•Junadia
One of the SDG goals is to eradicate
poverty by 2030, what are you doing to
alleviate poverty?
I am more particular about women. I
am a woman, and also because over the
years, I have seen women crying due to
different scenarios. I have seen where
people took over the property left for
widows when their husbands died and the
women were thrown into the street. She
had to start afresh. It is one of the reasons
why we have gone on to create a product
for women to see how we can solve this
problem.
So we are creating a
product for a small
There are so
many ways you
can make money
and we don’t just
want to be selling
houses, we want
to sell what you
can use to make
money in the first
place
community of
women. We have
women who
are in the
lower class,
women in
t h e
middle
class and
women at
t h e
higher
l e v e l
based on
t h e i r
different
needs. If
you are a
salary earner,
there is an
amount that you
can afford. We have a
package where people can put
that money into good use and they are
earning returns. So, even if I can’t afford
to buy a full house now, I can be getting
20% of the money. We tried our best to
break down these plans, so even for as
little as N100,000, you will get your
interests at certain times.
Once you get it, you put it back in
because you know women like to save
more than the men.
We want to take advantage of some of
these things that women have as their
natural strengths. There are also market
women who get their money every daywe
want to be able to create plans they
can use because sometimes, we just save
money without knowing it is losing value.
So I know that if I am paying this money
consistently, at the end of this period, I
will collect my house.
In no time, women will start to be more
financially stable.
There is a lot of building collapse these
days mostly attributed to corruption in
using substandard materials
everywhere; how have you been able to
manage this?
On the aspect of quality control, we have
our own engineers and we also have
consultants. So the consultant is like the
second eye in whatever we do. We don’t
just pick people from the road. Before we
even engage them in building, we have
done our own checks before they do theirs.
We also have our own consultants that will
double-check whatever has been done. So
there is no issue of compromise or people
cutting corners. We have been doing it for
more than three years now and we have
not had any such issues because everyone
is on their toes. We do what we need to do
and also see that what we have done is the
right thing.
They say Nigerians don’t like to do
skilled labour anymore; that
developers now depend on foreigners
from Togo and Benin; is that true?
The team that I have, I don’t think I
have any Cotonou person, they are all
Nigerians. Some people will prefer those
ones because maybe they pay cheaper
or whatever but for us, it’s always about
quality. Where you are from doesn’t really
matter because we test people. For us, it’s
about the quality.
There has been a sudden influx into
the real estate space and there is this
suspicion that it’s for money
laundering...
I will only speak for myself, I don’t
know anybody’s books and I don’t know
anybody’s pocket. That does not apply
to us. We don’t have any cause to doubt
or think about this, we give proper care
to all our clients.
There are some regulations from
EFCC, so we always like to make sure
there is compliance. We always try to
make sure that the KYC (Know Your
Customers) that they fill out has all the
information. We have not had any of
these issues.
Do you believe there is gender
equality in your industry?
Yes and No. The truth is that all
humans are equal and we all have
access to our rights but there are some
things that I know I shouldn’t be forced
to do and the same thing goes for men.
So when we start talking about rights,
I always want to put it in the right
context.

C
M
Y
K
14 — Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 2022
Lagos airpor
port t runway y 18L/36R almost t 90% ready — FAAN
THE Federal Airport Authority of
Nigeria, FAAN, has disclosed
that the 2.7 kilometres (2,700m)
long 18 Left 36 Right ( 18L/36R)
Murtala Muhammed Airport,
MMA, domestic runway is almost
90 percent ready.
This came as the authority noted
that it intends meeting the targeted
90 days deadline but would rather
delay and do a thorough job
instead.
Speaking during the inspection
works on the Runway, the
Managing director of FAAN,
Captain Rabiu Yadudu, noted that
apart from the MMA, FAAN is
working and upgrading virtually
all airports under its purview.
Recall that FAAN on July 7 closed
the Murtala Muhammed Airport
Runway 18L for the installation of
installation of approach lights,
Runway Lights (Threshold and
Centre, edge light and others will
be installed so that runway 18L/
36R returns to full 24/7 operations.
This was after the Minister of
Aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika, in
March 2022 succeeded in getting
another N3,523,592,079bn
approval for safety-critical projects
of the Ministry of Aviation as the
Federal Executive Council, FEC,
approved the sum of
N3,523,592,079bn for two different
major projects on facilitation and
airfield lighting.
It was reported that of the total
amount approved, the sum,
N2,329,961,099.60 was for the
supply and installation of airfield
ground lighting for the Murtala
Mohammed International Airport,
Lagos, Nnamdi Azikiwe
International Airport, Abuja and
also the Mallam Aminu Kano
International Airport, Kano.
However, Yadudu said: "So far, I
think we have done about 90
percent of the project. We are on
schedule and remember we are
very optimistic but if anything
would make it be delayed, I would
boldly make it delayed. I'd rather
have a good job concluded, safely.
Stories by Prince Okafor
Aviation is not about quick fixes
it's about long term fixes.
"For 12 years, this is not working
but now you're getting it in a few
hours, what is the problem. The
bottom line is we are ok target up
to this moment but anything that
will hinder and we are sure has
to do with the safety, we will not
hesitate that is our primary
responsibility but so far there is
none. And we are committed, this
is my 10th visit and there are
people here daily, monitoring,
supervising.
Aviation: Nigeria’s cargo traffic low
amidst massive global demands
•Massive demands from China, others for our products
•FG, regulatory bodies stall cargo business — Stakeholders
LAUNCH: From left: Airport Assistant Supervisor, Asky Airline, Mr. Okoro Christopher; Operation Manager, Good
NewsTravelsTour Limited, Mr. Solomon Olowo; Country Manager, Nigeria AskyAirline, Mr. Simon Mobolaji; General
Accounts Manager, Bon VoyageTravel, Ms. Nnenna Oti-Kalu; Sales Executive- South Nigeria, AskyAirline, Mr. Yakubu
Shobowale and Head Corporate Sales DestinationManagement, Wakanow, Mr. Gbenga Onitilo, during the Asky AirlineTrade
Forum with Partners and Launching into Johannesburg, SouthAfrica held in Lagos on Tuesday. Photo Lamidi Bamidele
DESPITE the massive demand for Muhammed Airport Two, ranked fifth provide information on where things
Nigeria’s goods globally, the in Africa, as it handled only 204,649 are being produced, the market and
country’s cargo traffic remains low tonnes of goods in 2021 as against service providers capable of utilising
among the top African airports Jomo Kenyatta International Airport these opportunities.
ranking by freight traffic.
which tops the list with over 363,204 They argued that they have always
Nigeria has one of the most nutritious tonnes of cargo in the same year. made assets available for traders in
fruits in the world but demand and A total of 2.15 million metric tons of the last 40 years, but the federal
supply are not meeting at the moment, cargo transited through African government and the regulatory bodies
with China, India, and some Europe airports, representing around 1.7 per have not really been involved in the
countries seeking these products. cent of the global cargo volume. process.
According to the Airports Council However, stakeholders have faulted the
International, ACI, Nigeria Murtala Federal Government's inability to
Air Peace Embraer 195-E2 in static
display in Kigali
AIR PEACE debut its E195-E2,
its largest commercial aircraft, at
Aviation Africa 2022, in Kigali,
Rwanda, yesterday.
The aircraft, belonging to Air Peace
Limited, Nigeria's largest airline, is
one of five units currently in operation
with the airline. The E2 is helping Air
Peace achieve its ambition of
connecting not just all of Nigeria, but
the whole of the African continent,
while feeding long-haul flights from
its Lagos hub.
The E195-E2, the quiestest and most
efficient single aisle aircraft flying
today, saving up to 25% carbon
dioxide emissions compared to
previous generation aircraft, has 124
seat capacity in a typical dual class
configuration, offering more space,
privacy and comfort.
The aircraft was displayed on the
static apron at Kigali International
Airport for VIPs and dignitaries
attending the Aviation Africa Summit
and Exhibition to tour the aircraft.
Jet A1 hike: Ibom Air cancelled 54
flights in August
WITH over 858 scheduled flights
for the month of August, 2022,
Ibom Air, stated that 54 flights were
cancelled due to non-availability of
Aviation Kerosene, popularly known
as Jet A1.
Ibom Air, a limited liability company
wholly owned by the Akwa Ibom state
government, currently operates seven
aircraft, with a further 10 to be added
by May 2023 to cater for African
routes.
The company in its scorecard report
for August, noted that it was able to
operate only 804 flights of the total
flight scheduled during the period.
While 179 flights were delayed beyond
15 minutes due to some logistic
challenges, 350 flights were
rescheduled during the period.
The report noted that the company
recorded 53 percent schedule
reliability, and 78 percent on time
performance in the month of June.
Why FG must establish bank of aviation now —
Prof Kila
THE Director, Centre for International
Advanced and Professional Studies,
CIAPS, Prof. Anthony Kila in this interview
with Prince Okafor, advised the Federal
Government to set up an Aviation Bank to
salvage the ailing domestic airlines. He also
established some key factors why airlines in
LOOKING at thecurrent
challenge, how can the sector be
salvaged?
With the present situation, it is not
enough to have aviation funds from
government or aviation desks in
commercial banks anymore.
It is time to think of "activating an
aviation bank that will raise and
manage funds and offer niche
financial products for the aviation
industry. With over 20 years in the
industry, I can knowledgably confirm
that luckily, aviation is not a pauper's
business.
Hence, finding depositors and
shareholders will not be an
insurmountable problem for capable
promoters, but the political will is
needed. In the spirit of rethinking of
and resting aviation, operators need
to go beyond flying or selling and
distributing tickets.
Massive demands stalled
Speaking at the just concluded
second Aviation and Cargo
Conference 2022, CHINET, in Lagos,
Chisco Logistics, Chief Executive
Officer, Obinna Anyaegbu, noted that
it is very important for everyone in the
industry to play their role, as they are
not to play all roles.
He said: “We need more African
products. We need patriotism. People
are moving out of Nigeria yet we have
very good soil to plant and harvest.
“We have these products but we lack
markets for these products. Chinese
people want to eat our bananas,
plantain and pineapples. We have one
of the most nutritious fruits in the world
but demand and supply are not met at
the moment.
“We plan to bridge this gap as a
company. We have always made assets
available for traders and this is what
we have done for the last 40 years. But
government and the regulatory bodies
have to be involved.
“We have seen aviation investments go
bad, so if we have to do this in the
aviation sector, we want to ensure we
do this correctly with the government
parastatals and traders that have
contracts for supply in Europe and
other parts of the world.
“There are cargo planes and passenger
bellies that go out of Nigeria empty.
But there are also rotten fruits in the
farm. So at the moment, there is a gap.
So we are trying to consolidate and see
how we can play in this regard. We are
a logistic solution.
“When you look at Nigeria’s Gross
Domestic Product, GDP, about 10 to
13 percent of the GDP is from the
•Prof. Kila
It is time to represent their
challenges as rewarding opportunities
to capable innovators, inventors and
investors.
Maintenance of equipment,
refining of aviation fuel, training and
development of human capital, and
other problems that are adversely
affecting the sector, can be thrown
open to the market as opportunities
for players outside the aviation sector.
To do all these and
much more, requires the ability to
conceive, shape and propose
Logistics sector because this is about
commerce and production. We eat and
drink every day and things have to
move around.
“We need to pay for logistics. Nigeria's
logistics market is about $60 billion
market. If you say our GDP is between
$500 to $600 billion market, so 10
percent of this or more amounts to $60
billion.
“For now, we try to gather information
to enable us to bring in assets. We want
to bring in assets but it has to be in the
right way. We have to see off-takers and
agree on what the products are.
“We do not see the products. We have
actually ventured into the market. We
have leased an airplane two years ago,
doing Lagos-Accra when our vehicle
service was down. Because every single
day we move from Lagos to Accra by
bus and trucks.
“But when COVID-19 hit, we leased
an airplane because we had no goods
to move. It was a 14-tonne 737 airplane
and we were struggling to get two
tonnes in a week. We saw that the
biggest player on the route was DHL
and they were bringing about 70 to 80
tonnes into Nigeria and moving it
across West Africa.
“So it is mostly imported goods that
are moving via the African routes.
Kenya is taking out a lot and they have
a great supply contract. They meet the
international standards.”
Also, the President of Aircraft Owners
and Pilots Association of Nigeria, Alex
Nwuba, noted that, “We call them
cargo airports but they are just airports.
They just have that name cargo because
they are built by State governments but
it doesn't mean that we can't take
advantage of that structure.
“The comparative advantage is where
these airports exist. Anambra has a
strategy for producing agricultural
products and vegetables for domestic
and international markets. You cannot
move this by road. The airport will be
useful to achieve this."
rewarding and sustainable
partnership between the public and
private sectors.
Aside enhancing safety in the
industry, for the sake of consumers and
citizens, operators should be working
as a clearing house for delayed or
stranded passengers.
They should ensure that stranded
passengers of delayed and cancelled
flights could fly with the next available
flights.
This is just as debit and credit card
holders issued by one bank can easily
withdraw money from the Automated
Teller Machine, ATM of any available
bank. The government, through the
presiding ministry and its regulating
agencies in collaboration with the
Ministry of Finance need to champion
the case of aviation.
What can airlines do differently?
Airlines need to start stronger, they
need very big capital and they need to
develop as a concern of a consortium
rather than as individuals. To be
sustainable, they might need to charge
fees in dollars instead of in naira, they
need to spend more capital on human
development so that they can get the
right skills. They also need partnership
with government and other sectors of
the economy.

Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 2022 —15

16 — Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 2022
Send Opinions & Letters to:
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The Queen’s Britain stole our future
QUEEN Elizabeth II’s exit from the mortal
plane was bound to excite extreme
sentiments because she personified the good,
bad and ugly of our history. She was historically
and politically our “mother”, who wore the
British crown with such charm, charisma, grace
and majesty that truly inspired.
How much of the British legacies in Nigeria
can we attribute to (or blame on) the late Queen?
Or, how many of the British legacies can
we not attribute to, or blame on, her? Though
a ceremonial, constitutional monarch, the
Queen retained the post of Commander-in-Chief
of the British forces with the power to declare
war as she did over the Falklands in 1982.
Every new Prime Minister still went to her to
collect the instrument of power. No major
decision was taken without consulting with her.
She remained the Head of State of 14
independent countries and leader of the 54-
member Commonwealth consisting of over 2.5
billion people; a third of the world’s population.
In her 70 years on the throne, Queen Elizabeth
was forced by circumstances beyond her control
to superintend over the dissolution of the British
Empire through the granting of independence
to the former colonies. The manner in which
Nigeria’s independence was packaged is
responsible for the crises we are still
experiencing. Any building with a faulty
foundation will collapse sooner or later. But the
kind of foundation that Britain laid for Nigeria
was such that it would neither stand nor fall.
Britain opted for this kind of foundation so that,
in cahoots with some anointed local agents, it
would continue to manipulate and exploit the
system long after independence.
In 1914, Frederick Lugard amalgamated
Nigeria in a manner of mixing water and oil.
Water and oil can be in the same bowl but they
will never mix. The Northern Protectorate (the
Sokoto Caliphate, which was already an Islamic
Republic) was saddled upon the Southern
Protectorate ruled by indigenous kings whose
people were rapidly embracing the Christian
faith and Western outlook.
Nigeria should have been three countries or
at least, a confederation of three or more
autonomous regions with the free option by any
of its constituents to quit the union. But, due to
British interests, the North was saddled on the
South; a neo-imperialist arrangement that
remains till today.
The Queen herself supervised the final
packaging of Nigeria for independence that
doomed her permanently. The first was the
lopsided manner in which the electoral
constituencies were shared between the North
and South just before the pre-independence
regional and federal elections between 1958 and
1959. Though the population of the South was
more than that of the North, the North was given
more electoral constituencies.
The North, with its huge landmass was made
one region, while the South, which was roughly
one-third its size, was split into two regions. The
geopolitical advantages were massively stacked
in favour of the North. Also, the military
advantages were in the North’s favour both in
terms of institutional locations and personnel
recruitment. The North was placed in a position
to dominate, whether under democratic or
military rule, with Britain always behind it
against the South.
There is this allegation of a British secret pact
with the Sokoto Caliphate which is not part of
Nigeria’s official history. According to this
notion, the British authorities, after a mock
Nigeria is set up to enable the
North exploit the South while
maintaining the negotiated
privileges of Britain; Queen
Elizabeth’s British configuration
of Nigeria is such that you need
Northern approval before you
can change anything
military exercise in a secret location in Sokoto,
handed Nigeria over to the Sultan and the
Northern People’s Congress, NPC, leaders. If
you hear some Fulani ethnic irredentists
boasting that Nigeria “belongs” to them, it is
probably an offshoot of this alleged exercise.
We can also see it in their leaders’ pattern of
handling the South like their colony.
It is evident in the parasitic tendency of
Northerners. They take over commanding
sectors of the economy exploitatively and
consumptively, not productively. These include
the Military, Police, Customs, the Ports Authority,
the oil sector, the Federal Capital Territory
(Abuja), Immigration, the Judiciary, and
others. Nigeria is set up to enable the North
exploit the South while maintaining the
negotiated privileges of Britain.
Queen Elizabeth’s British configuration of
Nigeria is such that you need Northern approval
before you can change anything. Before the
North gives its approval, it must listen to Britain
first. This is why all coups planned by
Southerners and Middle Belt officers failed with
mass executions, while Northern coups were
mostly bloodless “palace” coups. This was why
Biafra failed to secede, and anything “Biafra” is
addressed with military nihilism.
This is why “restructuring” has failed after
over 50 years of agitation by Southern politicians
and pro-democracy activists. This is why the
Constitution cannot be amended to correct
imbalances and promote equity. This is why
peaceful change is impossible in Nigeria and
development is retarded. And this is why the
country is bleeding from all pores and the system
is imploding.
Even those who thought the system the British
left behind benefited them are worse off in every
item of the human development index. They are
fleeing their region in their thousands everyday
to shelter in the same South they have dominated
like internal colonialists.
Sometimes people ask the question: why
continue to blame Britain for our woes after
over 60 years of independence? We have just
painted a picture. So, it is not as if people have
not tried to peacefully or violently to correct
Britain’s deliberate act of rigging Nigeria
against Nigerians for their own benefit.
Today, when our leaders are sick (which is most
of the time) they run to Britain. When they want
to educate their children, they send them to
Britain or America. When they steal our money,
they hide it in British banks. And when we chase
after them, they run to Britain. Would these be
the case if Nigeria were normal?
Queen Elizabeth’s Britain stole the future of
Nigeria!
ASUU strike: Bringing back the ‘universe in the university’
By NICHOLAS
EBEHIKHALU
THAT universality in the university is
not a morphological coincidence,
not a nomenclatural ornamentation or a
terminological embellishment. It was
carefully conceived with an in-depth
morphology. The universe is the vivacity
or the soul of the university without which
the university becomes lifeless. This is why
Professor Niyi Osundare in his valedictory
lecture, July 26, 2005, stated that “the‘Uni’
in the university is a oneness, derived from
a whole, a macrocosm condensed into
microcosm”. University is a
conglomeration of academics and
scholars in the universe for the perpetual
process of experimentation and discovery.
University is an ivory tower or academia
with the overriding goal of generating,
propagating and disseminating
knowledge. In the antiquity and/or the
medieval ages, university was known as
studia generalia, meaning that universities
were generally recognised as places of
studies opened to scholars from all parts of
the world. The universe in the university
resides in its ability to globalise the local
and localize the globe. In the university,
universalisation and mondialisation have
been jealously guarded and robustly
empowered over the ages.
Once upon a time in this country, our
universities flourished as homes for high
quality university education. The
universities were comparable with some
of the best universities in Europe and
America. Students came to study in
Nigerian universities from all parts of the
world. Many of the lecturers in the
universities were expatriates and they were
very happy living and working in our
universities with their families. The
universities were dignified and dignifying.
Basic physical facilities such as lecture
theatres/auditoria, laboratories, studios/
workshops, libraries, and staff offices were
in the state of international best practices.
Students were living in good condition in
their hostels and were studying in conducive
environments. There were no inadequacy
of lecturers in the system, students - lecturer
contacts were frequent and effective.
Lecturers were well paid, well housed,
assured of decent pension plan, lecturers
were wonderful role models and accorded
with due respect in the society. Universities
in Nigeria were the Jerusalem and Mecca
for scholars from many parts of the world.
These good old days of the universities in
Nigeria existed because the ‘universe’ was
clearly visible and conspicuous in the
Nigerian university system. It was a time
when the existing universities were
acclaimed internationally in some specific
disciplines and specialties, for instance,
University of Ibadan’s physicists and
chemists were ranked amongst the best in
the world.
Today, the story is different, lamentable,
pathetic and abysmal because something
has happened to the ‘universe’ in the
universities in Nigeria. The ‘universe’ has
dropped out from the university system. It
has taken its flight. The universe is
conspicuously absent and seems to be on
permanent vacation which vividly shows
that a lot of things have changed gravely in
the universities to a phenomenal decay.
Our universities have become completely
localised. In a whole university you can
hardly find a foreign lecturer or student.
They are no longer attracted to Nigeria
universities because the universities are
pitifully and disgracefully bad and are not
in any way economically attractive. In the
1960s and 70s the salary of a lecturer was
comparable to anywhere in the world.
Nigerian universities had lecturers from
different parts of the world because the
salary and welfare were very competitive.
But today the salary is not even up to onetenth
of what lecturers are earning around
the world and even some African
countries; hence no lecturer from any part
of the world is attracted to work in any of
our universities. Nigeria must take notice
that no meaningful development can be
achieved in a country where government
fails to put issues concerning the university
education in the front-burner for global
reckoning and competitiveness.
We should be honest enough to admit
that something, indeed, has happened to
the ‘universe’ in the university system. How
long do we have to continuously pretend
like the proverbial ostrich that buries its
head in the sand thinking that its backside
is not seen, over the crummy condition of
our universities? Universities where the
lecture theatres/auditoria, laboratories,
studios/workshops, libraries, staff offices
and other facilities for teaching and
learning are far short of the international
best practices and even Nigeria national
minimum standards; universities where
the physical facilities are overcrowded
No meaningful
development can be
achieved in a country
where government fails
to put issues concerning
university education in
the front-burner for
global reckoning and
competitiveness
poorly furnished and with non-functional
facilities, dilapidated structures and poorly
ventilated; Universities that are mostly
lacking in basic facilities like magnetic
boards, public address systems, projectors,
et cetera; Universities where the staff offices
are inadequate in number and space, the
offices overcrowded to the extent that they
have become like staff rooms in the
secondary schools with two to three
senior lecturers sharing an office space. I
always find it very lachrymose informing
or describing the abysmal crummy
conditions under which lecturers manage
the scholarships of students in our
universities. Almost all the laboratories lack
basic equipment, basic consumables
(chemicals and reagents), electricity and
water supply. There are instances in which
water from buckets and kerosene cooking
stoves improvise for tap water and gas
burners. Students use kerosene stoves
instead of Bunsen burners to conduct
experiments in the laboratories.
Specimens are being kept in water bottles
instead of the appropriate places where
such specimens should be kept. Lecturers
have generators in their offices to be able
to work. Some departments have two or
three generators to be able to work. The
conventional and e-libraries are poorly
furnished, in dilapidated structures and
mostly inadequate in space and number.
There are poor deployments of ICT. The
hostel accommodations in the universities
are grossly inadequate and unfit for
human habitation. Students live twelve (12)
to eighteen (18) in a room like piggery.
They have what they call ‘short put’, where
they excrete in polythene bags and throw
them through the windows into the fields
because there are no toilets. You find faeces
sometimes in the classrooms because
students have no place to use.
We are never short of reasons for this
abysmal, dismal and phenomenal decay
in the Nigerian universities. Our
universities have been disendowed with
universe because successive governments
in Nigeria have neglected the universities
over the years through drastic shortfall in
government funding. Between 2016 to
2021, Nigeria budgeted only N3.6 trillion
(about 6.5%) for education out of the
whopping and humongous sum of N55.3
trillion total budget, this happening in the
21st century where countries, all over the
world are budgeting 26% UNESCO
recommendation for any country’s budget
for education. In 2016, out of the total
budget of N6.06 trillion, only the sum of
N369.6 billion or 6.7% of the budget was
allocated to public education. In 2017,
N550 billion or 7.38% was allocated to
education out of N7.29 trillion budgets. In
2018, N605.8billion or 7.04% was given
to education out of N9.2 trillion budget. In
2019, N620billion or 7.05% was allocated
to education out of the budget of
N8.92trillion, while in 2020, education got
N671.07 billion or 6.7% out of N10.33
trillion budget. In 2021, only N742.5 billion
or 5.6% was allocated to education out of
budget of N13.6 trillion. On the other
hand, according to the report of World
Bank, Ghana allocated 23.81% of its
national budget to education in 2015,
22.09% in 2016, 20.1% in 2017 and 18.6%
in 2018. In this year’s budget, Federal
Government of Nigeria allocated the sum
of N355.47 to the 44 federal universities in
the country from the total budget of
N875.93billion given to education sector.
According to the document by the Civic
Organisation, out of the N355.47 billion
allocated to the federal universities, N326.9
billion would go for recurrent expenditure
comprising of N320.7 billion for personal
cost and N6.2 billion for overhead cost.
Only N25.5 billion is slated for capital
projects in the universities.
No nation can develop beyond its
educational standard. That explains where
we are as a country in the comity of nations.
ASUU must continue to struggle for the
soul of Nigerian university education, for
the universities to survive and for the
universe to be brought back to the university
system. It has been said that when you want
to destroy a country, just destroy its university
educational system. At the entrance gate
of a university in South Africa, there is a
message: “Destroying a nation does not
require the use of atomic bombs or the use
of long range missiles… it only requires
lowering the quality of its education.” The
patients die in the hands of doctors and
nurses from such education; justice is lost
at the hands of judges and lawyers of such
education; buildings, roads and bridges
collapse at the hands of engineers from
such education; humanity dies at the hands
of religious scholars from such education;
and moneys are lost at the hands of
accountants from such education.
Continues online:
www.vanguardngr.com
•Dr. Ebehikhalu, Associate
Professor of Urban and Regional
Planning, University of Abuja,
wrote
via:
nicholas.ebehikhalu@uniabuja.edu.ng,

Peter Obi's presidential run(2)
The first major obstacle that any politician
who aspires to transform Nigeria in any
real sense would encounter and that would
immediately hobble rather than enhance their
performance pertains to the structure of
Nigeria. Ours is a unitary system that disguises
as federal. It is a system that robs Peter to pay
Paul, a legacy of the military’s incursion into
politics that has over the years deformed and
rendered useless the tradition of healthy rivalry
among the country’s constituent units and
politicians right before independence in 1960,
and was to be entrenched by the Constitution
of 1963. But beginning from 1966 under the
Aguiyi Ironsi military government that stood
in the gap created by the failed putschists of
January 1966, the country’s federal structure
that was made up of semi-autonomous
regions suffered incalculable and so far,
irreparable damage. The farther we have
travelled as a political entity from that period,
the worse it has been to manage Nigeria
without the chaos attendant to a failed state.
This structural deformity from the military
that was first transferred into the militarymidwifed
Constitution of 1979 is the obstacle
that has been confronted and will be
confronted by every Nigerian leader in the
post-military era with any slight awareness of
what has to be done to right the historic wrong
that was introduced into the country’s politics
by the military in 1966. It was a political
problem that is today also a constitutional
crisis. You can only take charge of and change
for good a problem you know exists. Peter Obi’s
rhetoric has clearly glossed over this
fundamental aspect of the Nigerian crisis and
demonstrated no awareness of it, to say nothing
of him proffering any solution to it. It is the
political elephant or, perhaps more
appropriately, the leviathan in the room that
Peter Obi and his obedient partisans have
failed to acknowledge.
It is the failure or inability to either
acknowledge or address the challenges posed
by this structural conundrum by past and
present leaders that is at the base of the
identarian crisis that has frayed the country’s
social fabric, tested its political unity and made
its transition merely from a state to a nation a
perennial challenge. No past or any other
politician of the present times for that matter,
including Peter Obi, stands the chance of
making any impact on the calloused skin of
the country’s divisive nationalisms as long as
they choose to ride against the headwinds of
this problem. Until Peter Obi is able to offer a
road map around and away from the
treacherous slopes of this roadblock, his
prognosis of the Nigerian crisis will always
remain a poetic flight of fancy than a realist
take of our political situation.
While Peter Obi’s starry-eyed postulations
concerning how Nigeria was railroaded into
its present situation would appear to carry the
seeds of the solution to the problems of
governance he has identified, only a clear and
detailed elaboration of HOW we can get out
of it should count. Thus, rather than the WHAT
of the situation, it is the HOW (to get out) of it
that matters. In other words, what should be of
moment is what he has to say in unvarnished
Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 2022 —17
truth of how Nigeria can get out of the corner
it has been painted into by the incompetence,
misgovernance and corruption of some past
leaders (all issues that have been accentuated
by the structural problem identified above).
This aspect of Obi’s and the so-called Obidients’
apprehension of the HOW of the matter is in
clear deficit. I am taking seriously the focus on
Obi because he is that one of the three leading
presidential candidates that has said he, and
we have been told to accept, has the touch to
transform Nigeria in a manner no other
candidate can or has. But where and in what
way will or can this transformation take place
given the structural imbalance that has
humbled both the potentially capable if not
great leader and the manifestly incompetent
politician in post-military Nigeria? How can
Peter Obi navigate the course differently from
others who have showed an awareness of the
Away from the structural
challenges, Peter Obi and his
Obidient train still have to work
out how they can muster
enough votes to win the
presidency (with 25% of ballots
across two-thirds of Nigeria’s
36 states and the FCT) with
nothing more than the abrasive
enthusiasm of urban-based
supporters
problem, the original sin that has informed
such demands as the calls for a sovereign
national conference, the fashioning of a new
constitution, the restructuring or, in more
extreme cases, outright dismemberment of the
country along ethnic or religious lines?
While the likes of Olusegun Obasanjo chose to
ignore any call for correcting the structural
challenges and Muhammadu Buhari and his
APC promised but have failed to do something
in that regard, no serious politician (Umar
Yar’Adua tried his bit during his short presidency
in his admission of the flawed process that
brought him to power and constituted the
Muhammed Uwais Panel) has ignored the
challenge the way Obi appears to be doing while
waxing lyrical on what is amiss with
governance. Even as “clueless” as Goodluck
Jonathan was supposed to be, he was aware of
this problem and constituted a National
Conference to address it in 2014. The
recommendations from that conference
although not implemented are in some
respects unimpeachable. What does Peter Obi
have to say about this? Where does he stand
on the matter for this is fundamental to
anything else he hopes to achieve?
Away from the structural challenges, Peter
Obi and his Obidient train still have to work
out how they can muster enough votes to
win the presidency (with 25% of ballots across
two-thirds of Nigeria’s 36 states and the FCT)
with nothing more than the abrasive
enthusiasm of urban-based supporters. This
may be theoretically possible (if his assumed
supporters choose to vote irrespective of party
affiliation), but how practicable is this? How
much can be achieved with the road walks
or “million-man” marches of supporters?
How financially mobilised are these foot
soldiers, home and abroad? Although Nigeria
has no cap on campaign funding, how much
can donors or international remittances do
in the face of the financial war chest of the
APC and the PDP? Yes, Peter Obi may be
richer than the average Nigerian or
politician but will he run his campaign on
personal funds?
At the moment, his campaign nationwide is
largely anchored on his PDP connections
aside from the support that his APGA
ancestry will provide in the Igbo-speaking
states. The politicians he courts are also
mostly from the PDP, a likely pointer to where
he has his base and from where he could expect
to draw votes outside APGA. Could this
explain his Obidients’ constantly savage
attack on Bola Tinubu, the potential
beneficiary of the split votes of the PDP? Given
the way Obi’s supporters attack Tinubu any
cursory observer could be excused to think
he is the sole aspirant to the office of president
aside Peter Obi himself.
Concluded
They came on the wings of hope.
Was it building castles in the air?
Oh, the commonality of cliché!
Nigeria will be good again. Life will
be worth celebrating. Life will be
safe. Food will be available. The
dollar would return to the pre-1999
value. They would put an end to
fuel subsidy, and electricity would
be available to the people, because
any government that couldn’t
resolve the problem of electricity or
power within six months was
irresponsible. Their government
would not be irresponsible.
Transportation - rail, road and air -
will work once again in our nation.
The only thing this government didn’t
promise us was that they would bring
the moon down so that, like Neil
Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael
Collins, the American astronauts that
went to the moon in July 1969,
Nigerians could also step on it and
say “we come in peace for all
mankind”.
Come to think of it, Nigeria needed
peace at the time. The nation
needed hope and needed good men
to stay in the gap and raise the
standards. APC, as a political party,
raised the men that filled that gap
and began to feed the people with
the sweetness of hope. They took the
word, Panglossian, and painted it
on a canvass of hope so that
Nigerians would have no reason to
despair ever again. Nobody ever
thought of the flip side.
The unquestioned flip side has
become a haunting reality. Having
08055069060 (SMS Only)
For telecoms, the curse of the
low hanging fruits
placed some men and women of
questionable competence in strategic
offices, this government has failed so
miserably that it is looking for all
kinds of channels to raise finances to
fund its operations. One of such
channels, unfortunately, is the
telecommunications industry which,
at the moment, continues to
outperform other sectors in spite of
the government's failure to protect the
sector.
Globally, the telecoms industry
suffers the fate of the low hanging
fruits, readily available for any
government in need to quickly
pluck and solve its problems. For
some of us with roots in the village,
the expression, low hanging fruits,
only stirs a nostalgia, some
pleasurable throwback of those
journeys to the farms after school,
to meet your parents, and the joy of
savouring the fruits of those
economic trees that line the sides of
the farm route, to quench your
immediate hunger.
Low hanging fruits. You didn’t need
to struggle much before harvesting
enough to fill your stomach. But life
has changed so much. Nostalgia can
now inflict pains because going to
the farm has become more
dangerous and deadlier than
suicide. This is one dreadful legacy
this administration is going to
bequeath to Nigerians.
As it is, some top officials are
throwing everything into the fire
to do whatever salvaging is possible.
So, it was with respectable aplomb
and fait accompli that the Minister of
Finance, Budget and National
Planning, Mrs Zainab Ahmed,
announced in July this year, the
implementation of a five per cent
Excise Duty on telecommunications
services.
There was outrage. But it was the curse
of the low hanging fruits. Industry
bodies, the Association of
Telecommunications Companies of
Nigeria, ATCON, and the Association
of Licensed Telecoms Operators of
Nigeria, ALTON, said this was one
tax too many. There was already a 7.5
per cent VAT, bringing the total to
12.5 per cent tax that the subscribers
would have to pay. It would be an
overkill for the subscriber, an overkill
for the industry and even an overkill
for the government that may enjoy
some advantages in the immediate.
While one may observe
here that some
individuals and
organisations do pay their
taxes to the government, it
is difficult to establish
how much education is
going on, and how
healthy and safe the
environment is
History will record it as a pleasant
surprise that an elite member of the
ministerial coterie, Dr Isah
Pantami, whose rambunctious
posturing has done so much damage
to the telecommunications
industry, has broken ranks to fight
on the side of the industry. His
remonstrations have led to a
suspension of the five per cent excise
duty, while also compelling the
government to set up a committee to
take another look at the decision.
The minister’s position is very clear.
You don’t need to strangle a front-line
performer as a reward for good
performance and efficiency. He
observed that in spite of the tax
overload being borne by the
operators, the industry has
continued to perform well.
“Three unprecedented positive
developments have occurred in the
digital economy sector in the last
three years. In the last quarter of
2020, ICT alone, without including
digital services, contributed 14.70
per cent to the GDP. In the second
quarter of 2021, we saw another
record where the sector contributed
17.90 per cent to the GDP. The last
record was in the second quarter of
2022 where ICT contributed 18.44
per cent to the GDP. By implication
the sector has been contributing a
lot to the GDP,” the minister stated.
On this matter the minister is right
and enjoys overwhelming support.
What irks me a little bit is that the
regulator of the industry, the
Nigerian Communications
Commission, NCC, had enough
material to defend the operators but
I wouldn’t know how much it tried.
Otherwise the minister didn’t need
to get into the fray at all.
In a 2020 research titled: "A
Compendium of Taxes, Levies and
Fees by State Governments on
Telecoms Operators in Nigeria and
its Effect on the National Digital
Economy", the regulator which
sought tangible proofs of payments
from the operators, was able to
establish 41 sundry taxes in the
basket of the operators with the
Minister of Finance scheming to add
even more.
“The Telecommunications Operators
in Nigeria reportedly pay more than
40 different taxes and levies to
different Agencies of the Government
at Federal, State and Local
Government levels in Nigeria,” the
report said.
In talking about tax, I particularly
like the researchers’ choice of K.
Nightingale’s definition, which
says: “A tax is compulsory
contribution, imposed by
Government, and while tax payers
may receive nothing identifiable in
return for their contributions, they
nevertheless have the benefit of living
in a relatively educated, healthy and
safe society.”
While one may observe here that
some individuals and organisations
do pay their taxes to the
government, it is difficult to
establish how much education is
going on, and how healthy and safe
the environment is. Universities
are shut for nearly seven months
and insecurity is pervasive and
hovering at the fringes of a full
blown war. What returns are the
people and corporates getting from
their taxes?
The evils of multiple taxation were
also clearly listed. The word,
multiple, speaks well for itself. The
researchers describe multiple
taxation as follows: "an income
that is subjected to tax more than
once, often by two or more
different authorities in a way that
may be unfair or illegal.
Illegality and unfairness
distinguish multiple taxation
from double taxation.”
A grim reality established by the
research is that “the higher the
taxes the higher the level of
unserved areas - areas not
covered by telecommunications
services. It shows that taxes
hinder the expansion of the
telecommunications industry
towards areas that are unserved
and as a result might hinder the
achievement of the digital
economy.”
Here is my little observation. It
is in the nature of government to
look for multiple channels to
increase revenue; more so in a
world where the global economy
is challenged, and further
exacerbated locally by installed
incompetence in high places. But
it is also the responsibility of the
regulator to stand firm and
defend the industry and its
customers with available
statistics. Otherwise, regulation
only becomes an instrument of
legitimised extortion.

18 — Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 2022
WE are pleasantly surprised that our
military and security agencies have
woken up, and are moving in the right
direction towards reining in the forces
behind our insecurity.
The continued onslaughts against the
Boko Haram Terrorists, BHTs, and their
Islamic State in West Africa Province,
ISWAP, allies, scorching of Ansaru still being attacked, unchallenged. The
bases in Kaduna forests and military Federal Government continues to
strikes on Bandit-Terrorist bases in the ignore the armed herdsmen terrorism,
North-West and Abuja precincts are thus lending credence to the accusations
very heartening.
of state condonation of their terrorist
Although we disagree with Minister campaigns.
of Information and Culture, Lai The latest commendable act, this time
Mohammed, who recently claimed “the by the Department of State Services,
worst is over”, we are solidly behind DSS, is the arrest in Egypt of Tukur
our armed and security forces in their Mamu, the self-acclaimed Abujanew
resolve to restore order.
Kaduna train hostage negotiator.
We are still waiting for a full Mamu is the publisher of Desert Herald
deployment against herdsmen and spokesman of controversial Sheikh
terrorists. Without this, doubts will still Ahmad Gumi, an unabashed advocate
linger as to the government’s sincerity for the Bandit-Terrorists of the Northin
solving our security challenges West and North-Central.
holistically.
Gumi, Mamu and some Northern
Many indigenous communities are governors have been playing unclear
Questioning of Tukur Mamu
roles since the upsurge of terrorism in
the North-West. At the height of the
bandits’ terrorism, when states like
Kaduna, Katsina, Zamfara, Sokoto and
Kebbi and Niger became helpless at
their onslaughts, Gumi surprisingly
went into their dens in the wilderness
and became their mouthpiece and
proponent. These people kicked against
moves to get the Federal Government
declare the bandits as terrorists.
A governor was once quoted as
saying that while groups like the
Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB,
and Yoruba Nation wanted to break up
Nigeria, the Bandit-Terrorists whose
specialty was kidnapping for ransom,
were merely “transactional
businessmen”!
The Federal Government’s failure to
apprehend all these questionable
individuals and groups seemingly
promoting the activities of terrorists
baffled Nigerians and led many to
speculate “collusion” by senior
elements of the Buhari government.
Mamu’s arrest and questioning
represents an important turning point
in the Buhari government’s attitude
towards dealing with insecurity in the
North.
We hope this will not be a one-off
event, but a sustained effort to root out
terrorist sponsors, collaborators,
sympathisers and enhancers in
whatever form, no matter how highly
placed. This is the only right way to
tackle this problem.
Mamu must be thoroughly
questioned on how he became a
ransom negotiator, how he acquired the
military uniforms and huge cash
allegedly discovered by the DSS in his
house. Let the law take its course.
OPINION
In response to worried critics of a silent revolution
By KOLA OREDIPE
DEMOCRACY has given opportunities
for the participation of the citizens in
governance. It becomes inclusive when every
segment of the society plays one part or the
other to support the government of the day or
simply make constructive criticism. But when
such a criticism becomes abusive, such actors
are now worn the toga of unprogressive and
uncultured soul. That is the case with some set
of armed chair critics in Bayelsa State where
unfortunately, a lot of them had been part of
various governments in the state.
Today, many Bayelsans are aware that the
prosperity administration under Senator
Douye Diri, Governor of Bayelsa State, is very
receptive to genuine and constructive criticism.
In African homes, when a child becomes erratic
and showing signs of near dementia , parents
and loved ones on quick detection either seek
medical help or spiritual help. But when it is
discovered that he or she is being mentally
affected by unexpressed bottled up emotions,
they only allow it to be detected in choice words,
tone, and body language.
Governor Diri has become a victim of
parochial, selfish and demented criticism by
unguarded critics who operate in full scale of
ignorance on the social media space. The two
and half-year journey of governance in Bayelsa
and the appreciable achievements despite the
daunting challenges is not of interest to these
resenting critics, but a public show of
ignorance on the development dynamics in
the state is paramount to their confused soul.
On one hand, these critics have been diagnosed
as being part of the governance of the state in
the past as aides, but their unceremonious exit
has affected their judgement and develop
within their souls bottled up angst against any
administration their pay masters are not fully
in charge.
Despite their rants on the pages of social
media, Governor Diri and his prosperity team
have refused to be disturbed and are treading
carefully to raise a disciplined team to
complete projects, revive a new culture of
patience and inculcate a culture of service to
the people of Bayelsa across the sections of the
state. While the so-called “critics” are
displaying their foolery by claiming to have
worked for respectable personalities as “media
handlers” or “social media influencers” in the
past, the prosperity administration is known
and working towards finding the cure for their
anger by not encouraging nepotism, financial
recklessness by churning figures which don’t
tally with the reality on ground. The
administration will not also allow characters,
such as the road side critics, to distract it from
ongoing service to the people of Bayelsa.
The joy of the people of the state, across
political divide, is that Gov. Diri came through
a court process and divine intervention devoid
of political godfathers. He came through the
people in general elections who elected him,
affirmed by the court and crowned by the
Almighty God. That is why cleansing the
Augean stable, rather than probe which wastes
time and resources, is necessary. For the critic
that have clearly shown they have lost touch
with realities, Senator Diri, the fifth civilian
governor of Bayelsa State has, since he came
to power miraculously in 2020, revealed truly
a visionary man.
With a deep sense of maturity, rare patience,
simplicity and focus, Diri, like the famed eagle,
is uncommonly and incurably visionary and
deeply “aware” of his sense of mission to
humanity and strategies to deliver his
developmental agenda to the people. He is
Development is not about
newspaper, radio or television
propaganda but perception and
appreciation of physical
accomplished projects by the
people
visionary enough to remember his little
beginning from his country home of Sampou
in Kolokuma/Opokuma Local Government
Area of the State and now that he is governor
in a move to change the story of development
in Bayelsa State. Steadily, things are changing
for good and many citizens who never gave
him the chance now openly confessed “that
they were misinformed about the capacity and
personality of the governor”.
And now, they know better that Diri is kindhearted
and a good man who loves his people
across the eight local government areas. In
just two years in office, Governor Diri, has left
no one in doubt as to the direction of his
government of prosperity. He has touched
many lives positively through infrastructural
projects and various empowerment
programmes. The criticisms about
performance is absolutely lost to the sane mind.
Bayelsans are aware and can visibly see the
development pattern embarked upon by the
administration of Gov. Diri in last two and
half years. It is only a blind and confused critic
that cannot see. It is a normal decimal for
members of same gang that are united in
unexplained anger to engage in negative
campaigns whenever their paymasters direct.
How do they expect a governor that is a
product of people’s electoral trust and accepted
by all divide to be cowed by their claims of
“non-performance” and “sinking in bad
Send Opinions & Letters to:
opinions1234@yahoo.com
leadership”. Gov. Diri has raised the bar in good
governance, security, infrastructural development
and peace. The state has moved from these
impediments that becloud our development,
cleansing the rot to place food on our table,
livelihood, security, peace and prosperity.
Development is not about newspaper, radio or
television propaganda but perception and
appreciation of physical accomplished projects by
the people. We are lucky to have a leadership
that abhors praise singers as sycophantic political
tools.
As a matter of pride, the popular Edepie/
Etegwe roundabout is a testimony of the
infrastructural upgrade within Yenagoa
through expansion and beautification work.
Also, over 50 internal roads within the state
capital were earlier rehabilitated before the
construction of 20 new internal roads. The
prosperity administration has penchant for
policy of continuity with inherited projects. So
much has been achieved in the areas of roads
and infrastructure, education, health,
empowerment, skills acquisition among other
sectors. Projects completed and inaugurated
so far include a 4.5 kilometre Igbedi road,
reconstructed Elebele bridge, section one of
the Igbogene- AIT Elebele outer ring road to
Okarki end, the New Yenagoa city road from
Onopa and the historic Nembe unity bridge
that connects Nembe-Ogbolomabiri to
Bassambiri. The audacious move by previous
administration to link riverine communities
to Yenagoa, the state capital by roads through
the three senatorial projects are on course. The
prosperity government has continued with the
construction of Sagbama-Ekeremor and
Yenagoa-Oporoma road projects.
Continues online:www.vanguardngr.com
•Oredipe is Director/ Coordinator, New
Media, to the Bayelsa State governor

Nigeria’s oil exploration begins to decline as rig
count falls
By Udeme Akpan, Energy Editor
ENERGY
A
new setback has emerged
in Nigeria’s oil industry as
exploration suffers drop in rig
count to 10 in August 2022,
from 11 recorded in the previous
month, according to the
Organisation of Petroleum Exporting
Countries, OPEC.
The rig count is a major index
of measuring exploration and
other activities in the upstream
sector of the petroleum industry
globally.
The rig count had started this
year from a low point of 6 but
progressed steadily to 11 in April
which it sustained till July before
the setback.
The organisation did not disclose
the factors responsible for
the drop in exploration in its Sep-
LAUNCH — From Left: Adeniyi Tobi ,Go-To-Market and Planning Director,
Unilever Nigeria; Oladapo Oshuntoye, Category Manager, Homecare, Unilever
Nigeria;Folake Ogundipe, National Finance Director, Unilever Nigeria;Kehinde-
Lawal Bolanle, West Africa Nutrition Business Lead, Unilever and Kolade
Oluwapelumi, Brand Manager, Sunlight, Unilever Nigeria.during the Sunlight
Masterbrand Relaunch held in Marriott Hotel, Lagos. Photo: Akeem Salau
I’ll pursue ‘warm handshake policy’ for
private sector — Atiku
•Says Nigeria currently dressed in borrowed robes
By Yinka Kolawole ECONOMY
THE presidential candidate of
the Peoples Democratic Party
(PDP) in the coming general
elections, Atiku Abubakar, has said
that his plan for the economy, if
elected, is to pursue a “warm
handshake policy for the private
sector”, noting that Nigeria is
currently being dressed in
borrowed robes.
Speaking in Lagos yesterday at
CURRENCY BUYING SELLING
US
DOLLAR
POUNDS
EURO
FRANC
YEN
CFA
WAUA
RENMINBI
RIYAL
RAND
2,350.00 -36.00
17.98 +0.03
93.53 -0.47
87.47 -0.31
427.51 428.01 428.51
500.1867 500.7717 501.3567
434.0937 434.6014 435.1091
449.0651 449.5903 450.1155
3.003 3.0065 3.01
0.6351 0.6451 0.6551
555.5896 556.2394 556.8892
61.6978 61.7704 61.843
113.7509 113.8839 114.017
CBN Exchange rate as at 13/09/2022
the Private Sector Economic Forum
for 2023 Presidential Election
organised by the Lagos Chamber of
Commerce and Industry (LCCI),
Atiku stated: “Nigeria is being
dressed in borrowed robes; Nigeria
is broke and has consistently runon
budget deficits since 2015. These
budget deficits are often above the
3% threshold permissible under the
Fiscal Responsibility Law and more
if you add CBN and AMCON debt in
ways and means. The
country is breaching one
of the applicable debtsustainability
thresholds
by spending more on debt
servicing than the
country’s revenue.
“No one should
downplay the enormity of
the tasks ahead. Indeed, I
cannot think of a more
daunting challenge than
restoring confidence in the
future of Nigeria as a
dynamic economy and
stable democracy.
“I will not come unprepared. It is
not in my character as a
businessman or as a public officer
to be caught off guard. My policy
document contains the right
policies that will be timely
delivered.”
In his welcome address, LCCI
President, Dr. Michael Olawale-
Cole, noted that the Chamber is
non-partisan, but interested in the
economic agenda of the candidates
and their plans to make a better
Nigeria in the next dispensation.
He stated: “The chamber is aware
of the overshadowing effect of politics
over economics in managing the
Nigerian economy and would
therefore wish to contribute to the
setting of a new economic order that
can take our economy from the
doldrums.
“Beyond economic management,
we understand that countries rise
or fall through leadership and
governance. Nigerians have
another opportunity to decide who
leads them in the next four years
from 2023-2027.”
Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 2022 —19
tember 2022 Monthly Oil Market
Report, MOMR, obtained by
Vanguard yesterday.
However, it indicated that operators,
including the International
Oil Companies, IoCs and
their indigenous counterparts,
did not invest much in oil exploration
during the period.
It also means that the impacts
of the Petroleum Industry Act,
PIA, expect to be positive on investment,
exploration and production
has not yet been felt.
However, the report showed
that Algeria was the highest deploying
nation with 33 rigs
5-Day activation exercise for Ehingbeti
Lagos Economic Summit begins
By Cynthia Alo
The Lagos State govern
ment has flagged off a five
day activation exercise to
herald the Ehingbeti Lagos
Economic Summit scheduled
to hold on October 11 and 12th.
The summit is expected to
unveil a new economic plan
(2022 to 2052) for Lagos State.
The flag off ceremony which
took place simultaneously in
Yaba and Obalende areas of
Lagos State was aimed at creating
awareness for the summit
as many Lagosians are
hopeful that the summit
would incubate innovative
ideas and policies that will
change the economic narrative
of Lagos whilst achieving
the target of being of 21st century
State.
Starting in the year 2000
from the collaboration between
the private sector and
state government, Ehingbeti
has come up with 222 resolutions
and implemented 210
out of the 222 resolutions representing
a success rate of 95
percent.
Some of the resolutions from
the past summit include, the
while Equatorial Guinea came
last with no rig whatsoever.
Commenting on the development,
the National President, Oil
and Gas Service Providers Association
of Nigeria, OGSPAN, Mazi
Colman Obasi, said it would take
some time for the impact of the
PIA to show on the industry.
According to him, the industry
requires long term investment
and mobilisation of resources,
including funds from within and
outside the nation.
He said: “It would take a relatively
long time to reap the fruits
of the PIA, especially in terms of
oil and gas exploration and production.
Some investments are
currently being made, but they
would not amount to major oil
and gas finds and output immediately.”
The Lead promoter, Energyhub
Nigeria, Dr Amieyeofori Felix,
also noted that the positive impact
of the PIA would be gradual.
ECONOMY
‘Ikoyi Link Bridge, the BRT
project, the rail Projects (Blue
Lines and Red Lines) and the
Imota Rice Mills that will begin
production in the fourth quarter
of this year, with an estimated
production capacity of
2.8 million 50kg bags of rice
annually.
Recall that the the Co-Chairman,
Ehingbeti Lagos Economic
Summit and Commissioner
of Economic Planning
and Budget, Lagos State, Sam
Egube, at a pre-summit stakeholders
engagement in Lagos,
stated that the move is hinged
on the evolving changes across
the globe, stressing that a long
term plan that is practical, current
and that would help deliver
the State’s vision of being a global
financial hub that is safe,
secured and productive.
“This meeting again to announce
that Ehingbeti is here
again and coming again and to
celebrate that plan and give account
of what Ehingbeti and
Lagos has achieved with all the
resolutions that we have,” he
said.
CIIN empowers over 50 young
insurance professionals
By Rosemary Iwunze
The Chartered Insurance In
stitute of Nigeria (CIIN), in
line with its mandate of training
insurance professionals, has empowered
over 50 young insurance
professionals at the third
edition of its youth mentorship
Parallex Bank gets 8 international certifications for
improved banking services
MONEY MARKET
By Elizabeth Adegbesan
In an apparent commit
ment to offering its customers
limitless banking experience,
Parallex Bank has
received eight different international
certifications from
the International Standards
Organization (ISO) to
strengthen its services.
The ISO is a non-governmental
organization that
comprises standards bodies
from more than 160 countries,
with one standards
body representing each
member country. The certification
outlines the requirements
and specifications a
product, process, or service
must meet to ensure its quality is consistent
from country to country.
The latest global certification received
by Parallex Bank includes five
certifications, which are: Payment
Card Industry Data Security Standards
(PCIDSS); COBIT 2019; ISO
27017; ISO 27031; and ISO 29100.
The bank had earlier, in July 2022,
received an initial international certification
for business continuity and
management (ISO 22301:2019); an
information technology certification
(ISO 27001:2013); and a certification
that Parallex Bank has met all of the
requirements to deliver managed IT
services of acceptable quality to its customers
(ISO 20000-1:2018).
With this global certification, customers
of Parallex Bank can now begin
to see the quality and higher standards
of products and services that
consistently meet their needs and
enhance customer satisfaction
through continuous improvement
and engagement.
The Country Representative of
FrenchCert UK, Dr. Orlando
Odejide, commended Parallex
Bank’s unwavering commitment
to excellence, adding that the management
and staff of the bank have
demonstrated resilience and passion
in their investment of time and
resources in getting these certifications.
The Managing Director, Parallex
Bank Limited, Mr. Olufemi Bakre,
while expressing fulfillment over
the certifications, said the bank is
sold out on its promise of offering
limitless banking experience and
will not leave any stone unturned
in achieving that feat.
INSURANCE
programme tagged ‘Boot Camp
3.0’.
The CIIN youth mentorship
programme is a two-day annual
event organised for the young insurance
practitioners to learn
from mentors, industry giants,
network and have fun.
Delivering his welcome address
at the Programme President/
Chairman of Council, CIIN, Mr.
Edwin Igbiti, said that the
mentorship programme was established
by the Education Committee
of the Institute with the
aim to; develop/train young professionals
in the industry to become
leaders, equip them with
managerial and leadership skills
for career advancement and include
them in the activities of the
Institute and industry in order to
encourage active participation.
According to Igbiti, digitalization
has become a force that is
driving massive changes in the
insurance sector and grooming
young insurers who are technologically
savvy will aid the fast
transitioning of the insurance industry
in this digital economy.

20—Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 2022
Security of life and property: The Nigeria Police:
Problems and challenges — Corruption (9)
LAST week, I examined the problems of
welfare and accommodation afflicting
the Nigeria Police Force and the
consequences. This week, however, I will be x-
raying the cankerworm called corruption and
how it has affected the country and the Nigeria
Police. It is no more news that for some times
now, things have changed for the worse for
most Nigerians many of whom are churning
out daily. Regrettably, however, the Nigeria
Police is peopled by human beings (Nigerians)
who cannot be totally insulated from the
viruses such as insecurity, banditry,
kidnapping, herdsmen’s attacks, grinding
poverty, robbery, decayed infrastructure,
unpaid salaries, pensions and other
emoluments, badly depreciated Naira, the
adverse effect of the heavy external debt
burden and, of course, corruption that have
infected our society.
Corruption: Corruption was unknown when
Nigeria became independent in 1960. I had
the opportunity of writing on this issue on
October 1, 2020 when I said: “It was
abominable and detested. It was introduced
to Nigeria by European, Lebanese and Indian
contractors and businessmen. It was forbidden
by native laws and customs and traditional
religion. It was visited with instant judgement
by Sango, the god of Thunder and Ogun, the
god of Iron. But the story is now different in
the contemporary Nigeria where corruption
is prevalent. According to Transparency
International’s Corruption Perceptions Index
2019, Nigeria is the second most corrupt
country in West Africa and 34th most corrupt
country in the world. Transparency
International in a new report also affirmed
that corruption now worse in Nigeria.
Definition of Police corruption: Corruption,
in general is defined as the misuse of power or
authority for
private gain.
Therefore, a fitting
definition for
Police corruption
might be “the
misuse of a Police
Officer’s power or
authority for
personal or
Police corruption
wastes resources,
undermines
security and
makes mockery of
justice
material gain for
himself or others”. Police corruption is a
universal problem. However, it is a particular
challenge in Nigeria with an ever-increasing
misconduct that impacts on the development
of Police institution in the country. According
to Spector (2011), corruption, generally
defined as abuse of authority for private gain,
is among the world’s oldest practices. It has
been identified as the biggest challenge that
confronts governance machinery in th Nigeria.
Nigeria, as a nation, is ranked 154 out of
180 countries in Transparency International’s
2012 Corruption Perceptions Index.
Corruption in the administration of law means
that equal access is denied. According to
International Council on Human Rights Policy,
2009, corruption in turn undermines fair trials,
fair elections, economic and social
opportunities, cultural expression and access
to the necessities of food, housing, health,
education and water. The Corrupt practices
of the Nigerian Police has been identified as
one of the most visible manifestations of
corruption in the country with the former
Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Michael
Okiro, noting as far back as 2007 that
“corruption has come to characterise the
behaviour of an average policeman”.
Accurate information about the prevalence
of police corruption is hard to come by, since
the corrupt activities tend to happen in secret
and Police organisations have little incentive
to publish information about corruption.
Indeed, Police officials and researchers alike
have argued that in some countries, large-scale
corruption involving the Police not only exist,
but can even become institutionalised.
It is not unsual to see police officers collecting
money from private and commercial
motorists at checkpoints mounted across the
country. However, beyond these ubiquitous
checkpoints, police officers are in the habit of
displaying their corrupt tendencies in criminal
investigations and other sundry duties. So
many crimes go un-investigated by the Police
where influential persons, including those in
government, are fingered as suspects or where
the suspects “sort the police investigators”, a
euphemism for bribe payment. In many cases,
Police will file criminal cases and leak
information about such cases to the Press.
When such cases would come up, the Police
would ask for adjournments because they
could not produce the required witnesses. Years
after, the cases would be abandoned and that
would be the end of such cases. In some
instances, the IPO will deliberately destroy
the case in the witness box by contradicting
himself.
There was the case of one Emmanuel Ajayi in
Ibadan. He asked his wife who had a baby to
follow him to the farm at Old Bodija. When
they arrived at the farm, the man was
uprooting the cassava roots while the woman
who was carrying a basket, was picking the
cassava. Meanwhile the woman put the baby
on a wrapper on the ground. For some
inexplicable reasons, the man went and
chopped off the head of the wife and went to
the Police Station to report that he had just
killed his wife!!! The Police followed him to
the farm. They saw the corpse, a pair of shoes
and a cutlass. They took everything away to
the Police Station. The man made a
confessional statement. The family came and
employed me to defend him. During trial, I
asked the Prosecutor a few questions: you
know that near that farm there is a foot path
leading to another village? Answer: Yes. You
know people go up and down using that same
road? Answer: Yes. You succeeded in retrieving
the cutlass? Yes! Did you send it to the Forensic
Laboratory in Oshodi, Lagos, for test? Answer:
No. You also found a pair of shoes at the scene?
Answer: Yes. Did you send it to the Forensic
Laboratory? Answer: No. And I said: My Lord,
that was the end of the case. I made a no case
submission.
The judge was furious. He said: “Look at you
Police, you have spoilt a clear case. The man
had to be acquitted because you have allowed
too many loopholes due to poor investigation
on the ownership of the shoes and of the
cutlass. You also did not check who used the
road at the time”. The man was acquitted.
According to recent Human Rights Watch
(2012), officers of the Nigeria Police often
commit crimes against the very citizens they
are mandated to protect. On several occasions,
Nigerians who are only trying to make ends
meet are accosted on a daily basis by armed
police officers who demand bribes,
threatening those that refuse “to play ball”
with arrest or physical harm. On a good
number of occasions, the level of brutality has
been exposed through the killing and maiming
of those that refuse to “settle” police officers
whenever they make such demands. Don’t
forget that there had been cases of high-level
police officers who embezzle public funds
meant to pay for Police operations. The
situation is so disturbing that the Human
Rights Watch Report (2012) concludes that in
Nigeria, the Police have become “a symbol of
unfettered corruption, mismanagement and
abuse”.
Unfortunately, and unknown to many of the
men in uniform, police corruption wastes
resources, undermines security, makes
mockery of justice, slows economic
development and alienates the people from
the government. Because the Police are the
primary institution for implementing laws in
any society, corrupt practices by the Police
inhibit the implementation of the rule of law.
Continues online via www.vanguardngr.com
By Chijioke
Nwankpa
PCHAIRMAN, ORT HARCOURT—
South South
Zonal Council of Nigerian Union
of Pensioners Pullen Noruwa has
called on Rivers State Governor
to implement the Constitutional
Pension Increment for Pensioners
in the State.
He made the call during the
union's South-South Zonal
meeting in Port Harcourt urging
the Governor to look at the
direction of Pensioners in the
state.
He said: "There are some
:Vanguard :@vanguardnews NEWS HOTLINES:
Implement FG's approved Pension increment
for pensioners in Rivers, NUP urges Wike
Ogbudugbudu Itsekiri reiterates demand for
nclusion in Chevron host community arragements
By Ejiri Ejor
ARRI—THE Ogbudugbudu
WItsekiri community has
reiterated its call for inclusion
among the host communities of
Chevron Nigeria Ltd in the
Petroleum Industry Act Host
Communities development
arrangements in Olero and
Saturn 1 Oil Fields.
This was disclosed in a
statement signed by the
community's chairman and
secretary, Mr Bawo Benson Gere
and Mr William Mutokuro
Ugular and copies made available
to journalists in Warri, Delta State.
The letter was addressed to the
Chairman, the Olu of Warri
Advisory Council on PIA and oil
giant, Chevron Nigeria Ltd, CNL.
The Itsekiri community,
however, denounced a
publication on a national daily
dated August 22, 2022 by one
Amaokosuwei and others that
Ogbudugbudu Itsekiri does not
exist.
The statement recalled that the
leadership of Ogbudugbudu
Itsekiri community, which is
located in Warri North Local
Government Area of Delta State,
had earlier written a letter to
Chevron Nigeria Ltd for their
Pensioners in Rivers State that
still earn as little as two
thousand naira monthly. There
is provision for increase in their
money. We have the 6% of 2003,
we have 15% of 2007, and 33%
of 2010, a lot of Government
have implemented all these
things. Irrespective of how small
the increment might be, the
pensioner will appreciate"
"The flyovers in this state are
more than 15 and the Governor
is very happy to tell people he is
doing alot yet Pensioners in the
state are not happy because
they find it hard to feed. We want
to plead that he look at the
immediate inclusion as host
community in the PIA
arrangements.
The community leaders said
but to their utmost surprise, no
official response has come from
Chevron, urging the oil
multinational to urgently do the
needful to avert unrest.
"We don't want to be pushed
Heineken launches two beskope
bars at Ikoyi Club 38's main
house, golf section
L AGOS—NIGERIA'S
premium lager beer,
Heineken, reinforced its status
as Nigeria's foremost brand in
bringing people together as it
launched two unique bespoke
bars at the Ikoyi Club 1938’s
main house and golf section.
The Heineken bars combine
many of the attributess of the
exclusive and beautiful terrace
that has come to be associated
with Nigeria’s longest-standing
membership-only club; applying
them to ensure all members are
treated to elevated moments of
camaraderie.
“Today is a proud moment for
our company, as it sees the most
plight of Pensioners"
Chairman, Nigerian Union of
Pensioners Rivers State Council
Collins Nwankwo commended
the state government over the
commencement of payment of
retirement entitlements but
bemoan the pace describing it as
slow."
He scored the state
government high on regular
payment of Monthly Pension to
Pensioners on payroll and
appealed that government should
release more funds in order to
accommodate more beneficiaries
in the retirement entitlements.
to the wall as we have repeated
the saying severally, even in a
press statement that 'enough is
enough' that Chevron Nigeria
Ltd will not get away with this,
except we are included as host
community among the Itsekiri
communities playing host to
Chevron in the above fields,
hence the reminder.
prestigious beer brand,
Heineken, strengthen its
partnership with Nigeria’s most
prestigious member’s club,” said
Hans Essaadi, Managing
Director/CEO, Nigerian
Breweries Plc.
“Our partnership with the Ikoyi
Club 1938 dates back a long time.
Predecessors of mine and
countless number of people have
come through the doors of the
club, hence, we are excited about
the opportunity to connect with
thousands of Nigerians – who can
now experience the welcoming,
global nature of the brand as they
go about their activities of choice.
We look forward to a continued
partnership built on the scaled
success of both institutions,”
Essaadi said.

In my 30s and craves
proper sex
Dear Bunmi,
IKNOW it sounds strange
that at this time and age,
there could be a virgin in her
thirties, but that’s exactly what
I am. I’m currently dating a
man that’s a few years older
than I am and it will be a
matter of weeks for sex to be
on the cards.
In the meantime, we send
each other steamy text
messages on what we’d like
to do to each other and we’ve
even had oral sex.
I’m, however, nervous about
full penetration. I once tried
sex with a previous boyfriend
but he had trouble entering
me, as I wasn’t fully relaxed
or aroused. I am worried the
same thing would happen
with the new man.
Please help!
Kehinde, by e-mail.
Dear Kehinde,
The most important advice
is to take this new
relationship slowly. For you
to be completely relaxed you
need to trust and strike a
rapport with this
boyfriend. You don’t have to
go straight for penetration,
but get comfortable with
intimate foreplay like oral sex
and close body contact before
taking the plunge. Worries
about sex and penetration can
make it difficult for your body
to perform.
According to sexologists, if
the mind is occupied with
My fiancée and my mum resent
each other
Dear Bunmi,
IAM 29 years old, a fatherto-be
and really looking
forward to the arrival of my
first child. But my happiness
is marred by the fact that
there is a major storm brewing
and I don’t know how to get
through it.
The fact is my mum and my
fiancée can’t stand the sight
of each other. My mum is the
domineering type and my
woman would not allow her
to stick her nose into how she
runs the home. This hasn’t
gone well with my mum, who
thinks my fiancé is spoilt and
snooty. She told me she would
only see the baby when it’s
born without my fiancée even
being in the room. My girl is
threatening to finish with me
if I let this happen.
Their feuding is threatening
to ruin the whole event and
it’s making me really
depressed. I’ve tried to talk
to my mum to explain how
much all this is affecting me,
but she just won’t listen to any
reason. So, who should I try
to make happy – my fiancée
or my mum?
Julius, by e-mail.
Dear Julius,
Who says it’s your job to keep
people happy? If your mum
and your fiancée want
different things, it’s really up
to them to sort it all out. After
all, why should you end up
being the one to suffer from
their intolerance? Your best
bet is to sit both of them down
and tell them that if they’ve
I miss my ex...can I tell him?
Dear Bunmi,
I
RECENTLY made
contact with an exboyfriend
on Facebook. He
was my first love – we were
together for four years from
the age of 17 to 21, until we
had to go our separate ways
to further our studies. I’m now
36 and happily married with
four lovely children. My ex
also has a wife and a family. I
often think about him but not
in a romantic way, but as a
potential good friend who I
miss having in my life.
Do you think it’s Ok for me
to tell him this or, given our
past, should I keep my
thoughts to myself?
Gladys, by e-mail.
Dear Gladys,
Don’t even go there! Even
if your feelings are entirely
innocent, you never know
where they might lead.
There’s no point revisiting
them, the muscles of the
vagina go into spasms when
penetration is attempted – it
is as though your body is
protecting you. This is called
vaginismus. You need to
retrain your vagina muscles
to relax if this seems to be your
problem. A professional could
put you through the routine.
But if you think your worries
are down to nerves, try to relax
and maybe use a sex toy
privately before you sleep
with him. This way, you’ll be
able to chase away any fear
of pain before you get
together.
Finally, if you trust your
man, you need to tell him
about your fear. Sharing your
concern will ease your nerves
and you can gently build your
new sex life together. Good
luck.
Your best bet is to sit both of them
down and tell them that if they’ve
got a problem, they should sort it
out between themselves.
Refuse to take side or put up with
their quarrelling. The era of the
dreaded mother-in-law is almost
over. One of the women in your
life is about to become a mum. The
other, a grandma
got a problem, they should
sort it out between
themselves.
Refuse to take side or put up
with
their
quarrelling. Instead, try and
get them to realise that now
the baby is on the way, they’ve
got to pull themselves
together once and for all.
The era of the dreaded motherin-law
is almost over. One of the
women in your life is about to
become a mum. The other, a
grandma. So, they both really
need to make up and start
tolerating each other and now!
the past. How would you feel
if you found out your husband
had been in touch with an ex?
I expect you wouldn’t be
thrilled and might read more
into it than a conversation
between two old friends.
On the other hand, are you
prepared to talk to your
husband honestly about it, so
there are no secrets or
misunderstandings? If you
don’t feel you can do that,
then forget it!
VANGU
ANGUARD
ARD, , WEDNESDAY, , SEPTEMBER 14, 2022 — 21
Pregnant at 14!
Dear Bunmi,
I
’VE just discovered that
my eldest daughter, who
is 14, is pregnant. I’ve
always brought her up to
know the importance of safe
sex, in spite of whatever sex
education she must have been
taught in school. As to be
expected, I am devastated. I
didn’t even realise she and
her boyfriend, 16, were having
a sexual relationship. It
seems unthinkable that he
could become a mum when,
only last year, she was still
playing with her sister’s
dolls!
Bimpe, by e-mail.
Dear Bimpe,
At 14 your daughter is
obviously not ready to be a
He lied he no longer loved his
wife
Dear Bunmi,
I
’M 45 and a divorced
mother of two teenage
children. Three years ago, I
met this man at a wedding and
he told me straightaway he
was a married man. Despite
this we carried on seeing each
other, as I felt safe with him,
knowing the relationship
wouldn’t go anywhere. He
confided in me about his
problems at home, saying the
spark had gone out of his
marriage and that he and his
wife only had sex once in a
blue moon. Later, however, I
discovered that they’ve had
another baby.
We still carried on seeing
each other because the sex
was great. He then started
going out with another single
mother, and that was when I
put a stop to his fleet-footing.
But he won’t leave me alone.
He phones me all the time
and tells me if he were to leave
his wife for anyone, I would
mother and her boyfriend is
hardly father material. You
need to have a serious talk
with her and your husband as
to the best action to take. If
abortion is one of the options,
you need to know how far
gone she is. If it’s not, then
you have to decide whether
to give up the baby for
adoption or raise it yourself.
Whatever happens, don’t
make her feel it’s the end of
the road for her. She has her
future before her and can still
live her dreams after she’s
had her baby. This experience
is bound to make her
stronger. Make sure she has all
the information she needs about
every path open to
her. Whatever she chooses to do,
she’ll cope with you by her side.
be the one. Quite frankly,
he’s getting on my nerves.
What should I do?
Jumai, by e-mail.
Dear Jumai,
Your ex-lover was looking for
a bit of fun, initially, and was
unprepared for the fact that
he’d ended up having real
feelings for you. But that
doesn’t alter the fact that he
is a liar and a cheat. And
while he may have two lovers
on the go, there’s only one
person who really matters to
him – himself and his big ego.
Well done for having the
courage to end the
relationship and for not
crumbling under pressure. If
you’re to have any hope on
future happiness with a new
partner, you must continue to
be strong. You deserve better
than to be strung along by a
man who is nothing but an
adventurer. Tell him you’ve
really no feelings for him
anymore and, if possible,
invent a new lover!
Did my husband father her child?
Dear Bunmi,
YEARS back, my
husband had an affair
with one of our daughter’s
friends. The girl was married
at the time, became pregnant
and had a little girl who is
now an adult.
Over the years, this girl
divorced her first husband,
remarried, then divorced
again. Now she lives with a
new man who doesn’t know
the type of tramp she is.
My husband and I discussed
her recently and wondered if the
girl she had when they both had
the affair could be his. Should
we really try to find out?
Susan, by e-mail.
Dear Susan,
What is there to find out? You
may get a sense of grim
satisfaction from exposing the
woman who tried to steal your
husband, but what about the
other woman at the centre of
it all – her daughter? How do
you think she would react to
riding out that the man she
calls Dad might not be her
father?
What are you going to gain
by digging up the past? If
you still feel bitter and angry
after all these years, you need
to talk to your husband. A
young woman’s future is at
stake here, so keep your
emotions in check before you
go demanding tests. Your
children might not even be on
your side!
Share your problems and release
your burden. Write now to
Dear Bunmi,
Vanguard Newspapers,
P.M.B 1007, Apapa, Lagos, or
bunmsof@yahoo.co.uk

22 — Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 2022
Why conceiving in your 40s is high risk — Ajayi
•Says pregnancy knows no customer
By Sola Ogundipe
MORE
women are
becoming pregnant
and having babies in their
40s, nowever, fertility
specialist, Dr Abayomi
Ajayi, says conceiving after
age 40 comes with higher
health conditions that can
impede fertility and pose
risks to mother and baby.
Ajayi, who is the Medical
Director, Nordica Fertility
Centre, Lagos, Asaba &
Abuja, says women in their
40s who are planning to get
pregnant, should go for
preconception counseling
first. Excerpts:
WOMEN in their 40s are
getting pregnant more
and more now. The office of
the National Statistics of the
United Kingdom actually
shows that this is the only
group in which pregnancy
is increasing unlike before
when teenage pregnancy
was increasing, now as a
result of contraception and
other factors.
The reasons are obvious,
women are getting more
educated, having their own
careers, and some are not
finding the right partner
until they are old enough to
make some decisions.
It is possible to get
pregnant naturally after age
40, but this wanes much
more after 45, by then it is
almost impossible to get
pregnant naturally without
some form of help.
At 40 the chances of
getting pregnant naturally
are reduced. Normally, a
lady in her 30s has a 20-25
per cent chance of getting
pregnant every month. If
you are 40, the chance is
reduced to 5 per cent, so it is
not surprising that infertility
is commoner in women
above 40.
The reason is due to the
quality and quantity of the
eggs. For such women, the
male partners are also likely
to be in their 40s, so this is
like a double jeopardy.
When you do get
pregnant, the chances of
losing the pregnancy are
high, and the risk of
miscarriage may be 40 per
cent.
This is due to the reducing
quality of the eggs, the
embryo, and other medical
complications, such as high
blood pressure and diabetes.
This is the general trend for
fertility in women over 40.
IVF to the
rescue
In vitro fertilisation, IVF,
can be done for them, but
Intrauterine Insemination,
IUI, is not particularly a
good idea at this stage
because of a low success rate
of around 5 per cent, and so
might not be worthwhile for
women in their 40s.
Although IVF is
recommended, it is less
effective for these women,
and the success rate of IVF
is in the neighbourhood of
about 15 per cent for women
over 40, and so can be
considered.
Some women may have to
use donor eggs. This
From left: President of the Academy of Medicine Specialties
Dr Abayomi Ajayi.
increases their chances to 40
per cent, although the
viability of the egg depends
on the age of the donor.
Egg donation might not
be the first option because
the women and baby are not
genetically connected, but
it enables them to carry the
baby in their uterus and to
breastfeed them. So it is a
nature versus nurture thing.
No matter how the woman
gets pregnant, naturally or
assisted, pregnancy in the
40s is usually high risk.
This term comes from the
fact that many women have
to check through prenatal
An elective Cesarean
Section is often required for
those that are getting
pregnant for the first time,
and it is helpful to know the
risks they carry before the
pregnancy. The good point
to note is that these risks
are surmountable.
It might be a good idea to
do preconception
counselling, and explain to
the physician the health
conditions that they may be
nursing as some may
become worse in
pregnancy
The risk of congenital
abnormalities such as Down
syndrome and
neurocognitive disorders
such as autism are higher
in children born to older
women.
These children also tend
to have higher incidence of
cancers, so it is good to
know some of these risks
before getting pregnant
Women in their 40s may
get pregnant on their own
or come to the clinic to get
pregnant with donor eggs
and Assisted Reproductive
Techniques, ART.
Pregnancy knows no
customer
The fact that you have
been pregnant before
without complications does
not mean that you will not
have problems
subsequently of that your
pregnacy will go the same
way. Above 40, the muscles
of the abdomen tend to be
looser, and have lost tensile
strength. Other
complication during
pregnancy include
abnormal presentation of
babies and low-lying
placenta.
Preconception
counseling
If you are over 40 and
planning to get pregnant,
you need to do
preconception counseling
Expert explains increasing death rate from cardiovascular
diseases
By Chioma Obinna
ARENOWNED Cardiologist,
Dr Okoh Basil
Ewere, has decried the high
incidence of cardiovascular
diseases which are the major
cause of death worldwide.
Shedding light on the
burden in Nigeria, Ewere, who
consults at the EverCare
Hospital, Lagos, said the 21st
century has experienced
unprecedented surge in
communicable and noncommunicable
diseases
(NCDs).
Prominent among the noncommunicable
diseases have
been cardiovascular diseases
also referred to as a group of
disorders of the heart and
blood vessels.
These include heart failure,
strokes, rhythm abnormalities
of the heart( arrhythmias),
hypertension, diseases of the
peripheral blood vessels
(peripheral vascular disease)
and heart attack (myocardial
infarction) amongst others.
He said in Nigeria, reports
screening to confirm if they
have health issues of if the
baby they are carrying has
congenital issues.
Non-invasive prenatal
screening
Now we do non-invasive
prenatal screening, NIPT,
for high risk pregnancies.
The NIPT cuts down the
need for aminocentesis.
It might be a good idea to
do preconception
counselling. In up to 80 per
cent of cases, women in their
40s develop complications
such as high blood pressure
and diabetes.
of the sudden death of
previously apparently healthy
individuals either by slumping
or not waking from sleep, were
on the increase.
"The possibilities here are as
a result of heart attack or
stroke( brain attack."
He regretted that deaths in
the past had been attributed
to influence of witches, wizards
and ‘village people’.
"The average life expectancy
in Nigeria as of 2022 is 55 -44
years as against 36.73 years
in 1960. Thus, statistically we
live longer now as we now have
better health care facilities
and probably better-balanced
nutrition than in 1960.
"This, coupled with more
industrialisation has brought
sedentary lifestyle, more
westernised diet and attending
obesity, thus creating a
paradigm shift from
communicable diseases like
cholera to non-communicable
diseases like hypertension,
diabetes and heart attack.
“Heart attack occurs when
a part of the heart muscle does
not get enough blood to
function and when this persists,
leads to death of that muscle.
"This shortage of blood
results from a blockage within
the lumen of the vessel. This
blockage typically consists of
fat
deposition
(arteriosclerosis) and platelets
within the lumen leading to
narrowing and eventually
complete occlusion. This
process of fat deposition did
not just suddenly occur but has
been accumulating gradually
over months to years.
"Fats are naturally and
gradually deposited in our
arteries as we age and may be
part of our normal ageing
process and not necessarily
harmful but this process is
accelerated by some risk
factors; hypertension,
diabetes, cigarette smoking,
abnormal cholesterol levels,
family history of heart attack,
obesity, sedentary lifestyle and
age.”
Further, he said heart
attacks in the younger
generation may not be due to
fat deposition but illicit drugs
like cocaine which speeds up
the heart to dangerous rates
that its blood supply can no
longer cope with the demand
from the heart.
to detect any medical
condition.
This is necessary because
you do not have so much
time to conceive naturally,
so see your gynaecologist
early. Begin investigations
early. There is a big gap
between giving birth
naturally at 40 and at 45. At
40, there is a 1 in 10 chance,
at 45 it is almost zero chance
for natural pregnancy.
At this period, it is
important to do prenatal
investigation, particularly
when aiming for natural
pregnancy. Get all medical
issues controlled so that they
do not get worse in
By Jimoh Babatunde
THE Chief Executive
Officer/Founder of
Anesthesia and Critical Care
Consultants (A3C), Dr Seyi
Oyesola, has called for
urgent formal training for
personnel in critical care.
He said this will enhance
skills and medical
procedures in the country.
Oyesola, who is a
Consultant in anaesthesia
and critical care, noted that
the whole of West African
countries could not boast of
any formal training
programme for doctors who
want to specialise in
anaesthesia and critical
care.
“Anesthesia and critical
care as a whole are one of
the underserved specialities
in the world.
“If you want to become a
gynaecologist or
neurosurgeon you can
either go to the West African
Postgraduate College or
The National Postgraduate
Medical College of Nigeria.
“In the whole of West
Africa, there is no single part
pregnancy.
Options for
pregnacy
A woman in her 20s can
preserve her eggs for later
in life but this will not reduce
the risk of pregnancy in the
40s. Because she is older,
whether she is using her
eggs or using donor eggs,
the risks are the same,
however the congenital
risks my reduce,
It is always better to adopt
positive lifestyle choices
when you start your family
are part of lifestyle choices.
Freezing your eggs when
you are younger might help
so that you do not have to
use donor eggs, but the
stressful effect on the body
will still be there.
Consultants seek urgent
training for personnel in
critical care
"Some individuals pass a
transition from chest pain on
activity( Angina) which is a
demand and supply mismatch
and pain disappears when the
exercise is stopped as heart
rate returns to a point when
that has a formal training
programme in critical care
and anaesthesia and so, it
compounds the process,” he
said.
The consultant added that
areas designated as
Intensive Care Units in
some hospitals around the
country were not of an
internationally acceptable
standard.
“Critical care is actually
hard work and it is not for
the faint-hearted because
it involves constant
monitoring.“There are lots
of places that are labelled
as intensive care units in
hospitals which are not and
can never pass for an
intensive care unit.
“If you get to a standard
intensive care unit, the first
thing that will strike you is
the amount of equipment
in place,” he said.
Speaking also, A3C’s
Commercial Director, Mr
Akintunde Sawyerr,
stressed the need for
Nigerians to be
enlightened on the role of
anaesthesia and critical
care in medical procedures.
the blood supply from the
narrowed artery can cope.
The other end of the spectrum
is complete blockage of the
artery and heart attack
results.

By Anayo Okoli,
Vincent Ujumadu,
Chidi Nkwopara,
Dennis Agbo,
Chimaobi Nwaiwu,
Nwabueze Okonkwo,
Ugochukwu Alaribe,
Chinedu Adonu,
Chinoso Alozie, Steve
Oko, Ikechukwu Odu
& Emmanuel Iheaka
ENUGU—IN the past in Igbo
land, there were traditional
and cultural activities that
are strictly reserved for men. Women
dare not aspire to get involved in such
traditional activities. One of such is
women being members of the
cabinet of traditional rulers.
However, the times are changing and
a lot is changing with the time. With
growing demands for inclusiveness
and agitation for rights of women,
some communities have begun to
change some of the native rules and
regulations which prohibit women
from doing certain things, including
holding certain traditional positions.
For the chairman of the Abia State
Council of Traditional Rulers, Eze
Ndubuisi Nwabeke, there is nothing
wrong in making women of proven
integrity cabinet members of
traditional rulers. According to him,
the royal cabinet can benefit from
the experience of titled women.
His words: “Communities are
made up of both men and women.
Igbo tradition does not condemn
conferring chieftaincy titles on
women of proven integrity. Many
women today are well educated and
have recorded great achievements
in all fields of human
endeavour. So, if chieftaincy titles
are also extended to women, it
implies that they are also qualified
to be admitted into the traditional
ruler’s cabinet. Therefore, it will be
good if some titled women are
admitted into the cabinet council of
traditional rulers, denying qualified
women of such opportunity of being
members of the traditional ruler’s
cabinet amounts to gender
discrimination.
”I advise that some titled women
of proven integrity be included in the
traditional ruler’s council. There is
nothing wrong with such an
appointment because it is not
against Igbo tradition. The
traditional ruler’s council is where
decisions are taken for the good
governance of the community.
“In these modern times, much has
been said about discrimination
against women in our societies. It is,
therefore, pertinent to include our
women in the scheme of things to
encourage them. We have great
women of valor in communities and
their experience can be very valuable
to the society.”
Renowned monarch, the
paramount ruler of Abiriba
Kingdom, Eze Kalu, Enachioken
Abiriba, agreed with Nwabeke that
nothing is wrong in making credible
women cabinet members in
traditional institutions.
According to the Enachioken,
issues affecting women cannot be
thoroughly treated if women are not
part of the decision-making process.
He disclosed that women already
have a role in his cabinet under the
supervision of Eze Ndi inyom (King
of women).
“There is nothing wrong with
appointing women as cabinet
members of Eze-in-Council because
women constitute a sizable number
in our society. There is no way you
can discuss women in their absence.
It is like shaving someone’s head in
his absence,” Eze Kalu Ogbu said.
Explaining further, the monarch
said: “We have what we call Eze Ndi
Inyom in my cabinet which is an
authority of its own. Whenever there
is an issue that requires the women
•Regal: Women of Igboland.
Should women be members
of traditional rulers'
cabinets?
•Monarchs, stakeholders react
Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 2022 — 23
•Nothing wrong with that —Chairman, Abia Council of Monarchs
•It is a taboo —Prof. Chinedu Agbodike
•I have women in my cabinet —Imo monarch
to give inputs, we send a message to
them.
“There is what we
call Itueye which is a yearly event,
a day the Enachioken Abiriba makes
proclamations or rules that guide the
coming year. So, during this period,
for those decisions to be arrived at,
the women are also invited. They
fully take part in the ikaiye until the
process is completed. So, their views
are incorporated.
So, if women request for inclusion
in the cabinet, I don’t see why we
won’t have one or two women
included.”
Women shouldn’t be
cabinet members
—Prof. Ndimele
However, a woman, Professor
Roseline Ndimele, does not see much
need for women to be included in
traditional rulers’ cabinets. Ndimele,
a former education commissioner in
Abia State and wife to a monarch,
however, said it is left for the
traditional ruler to consider if it is
appropriate for women to be made
members of his cabinet.
“It depends on the Eze, how
enlightened and modern he is,” she
said.
The Professor of Linguistics said
women already hold powerful
position in the women wing of their
local communities and should not
bother about inclusion in the Eze’s
cabinet
“In some communities like ours, the
women are not members of cabinet
but they are invited most times when
there are important issues to be
discussed, especially the ones that affect
women and the community. But in
other cases like land matters, they are
not involved. This is tradition; culture
is dynamic. This argument is a new
idea, and with time, many cabinets will
involve women. But what exactly
would women benefit from it? In every
community, you have the women’s
wing which is very powerful,” Ndimele
noted.
Prof. Chinedu Agbodike says it is a
taboo for women to serve as cabinet
members of traditional rulers. He
warned that such an idea should not
come up at all.
Leave Women out of
it —Widow of Imo
monarch
For Ugoeze Tina Iwuala, widow of
the deceased traditional ruler of
Umueze Atta autonomous
community, Ikeduru Local Council
Area of Imo State: “A woman cannot
and should not serve in the council of
royal fathers, for so many reasons.”
Her words: “It is not proper to have
a woman serve in Eze’s cabinet.
Cabinet members are heads of
kindred, which a woman can never
be. Cabinet members are holders
of ofor, the Igbo traditional symbol of
authority. No woman can hold this
authority.
“Members of the Eze’s cabinet, apart
from other functions, make and
interpret laws that govern the
community. They know the rules and
regulations, but women don’t. Women
don’t know the deities and how to
We brought them
into the cabinet
and made the men
believe in what
they can offer and,
presently, they are
championing
development
programmes in my
community
appease them. There are a lot more
reasons why women should not be
allowed to serve as members of the
traditional council of any community.
Anybody canvassing the idea should
please drop it. This has nothing to do
with women liberation or male
chauvinism,” Ugoeze Iwuala said.
I don’t support women
being in Eze’s cabinet
—Imo monarch
In his own contribution, the
traditional ruler of Ihitte Okwe, Ngor
Okpala Local Government Area of
Imo State, Eze Barnabas Obirieze
said: “I don’t support the inclusion of
women in the traditional council of
royal fathers. I am saying this, not
because I am a traditional ruler or
out of selfishness or male chauvinism.
We should not allow this overcivilization
and over churchism to
come into our traditional institutions.
There are certain aspects of our
culture reserved for men as well those
for women.”
We have two sets of
women in Igwe’s
cabinet — Enugu
monarch
The traditional ruler of Ibagwa-
Nike autonomous community in
Enugu East Local Government Area,
Igwe Emmanuel Ugwu explained
that in his community, there are two
sets of women that are cabinet
members in the traditional ruling
institution. He also explained that
the male counterparts don’t
discriminate against the women.
However, the male and female
cabinet chiefs meet separately for
their deliberations.
“We have two categories of women
in the cabinet of my community; one
is what you can call Royal women,
they are just like we have the
Assembly of Chiefs, it is the same way
we have the Assembly of Lolos.
Automatically, when a woman is
crowned with a chieftaincy title, she
is inducted into the cabinet because
that is the essence of crowning such
a person. We have no less than seven
of such women who were crowned,”
Igwe Emma Ugwu said.
However, the traditional ruler of
Ogrute community in Igbo-Eze
North LGA, Enugu State, Igwe
Wilfred Ekere said making women
cabinet members is cultural
aberration in Igbo land.
According to Igwe Ekere, Igbo
tradition does not permit women to
be part of Igwe’s cabinet, saying that
there are some decisions on tradition
that do require the presence of
women in the palace.
“If the husband wears cabinet
regalia with a red cap, his wife also
wears it as a cabinet member, who is
now the husband ? This is a new
style and it looks like they are forcing
traditional rulers to involve women
as cabinet members. I have never
seen a situation where men and
women are members of the royal
cabinet; it is not a political meeting.”
I have women in my
cabinet —Imo monarch
The traditional ruler of Obetiti
Autonomous Community, Nguru,
Aboh Mbaise Local Government
Area of Imo State, Eze Reginald
Amadi said he has women in his
cabinet. Eze Amadi explained that
whoever has been conferred with
chieftaincy title automatically
becomes a member of the cabinet,
pointing out that he has conferred
chieftaincy titles on some women
found worthy of such titles.
He said: “I have women in my
cabinet. There are women I have
conferred with chieftaincy titles.
They are all members of my cabinet.
There is nothing wrong in having
women in the cabinet. They have
their wonderful contributions to
make.”
For the traditional ruler of Iggah
Ancient Kingdom in Uzo-Uwani
Local Government Area of Enugu
State, Igwe Herbert Ukuta, some
customs and traditions restrict
traditional rulers from including
women in their cabinets, even as he
admitted there responsible women
who are change agents.
Citing their tradition, the monarch
said that there are some rituals which
occur within the Igwe’s cabinet
which women are forbidden from
being part of.
“Women are valuable to the
development of every society, but
there are certain traditions and
customs that hinder them from being
made cabinet members. There are
certain rituals that go on within the
Igwe’s cabinet which do not involve
women. Women cannot be included
in some rituals which go on within
some communities,” the monarch
explained.
The traditional ruler of Ihiagwa
Autonomous Community in Owerri
West Local Government Area of Imo
State, Eze Lucky Ajoku, said there
are avenues for women to participate
in decision-making in the
community but they are not
members of the cabinet.
“In our community, we make
provision for women’s arbitration in
matters. In most cases when matters
become so difficult, we involve
daughters of the community
married within the community or
outside. They have their group. But
you are talking of women becoming
members of the cabinet, I am not
sure of that. We have not gotten to
the level of involving women in the
cabinet. It is not as if anything is
wrong with that; in my community,
we have some women who have the
capacity.”
The Regent of Oba community in
Idemili South Council Area of
Anambra State, Prince Noel Ezenwa
said that as a matter of tradition and
culture of Ndigbo, women are
entitled to be part and parcel of
cabinet members of any traditional
ruler.
He noted that it is very necessary
that women should be part of the
royal cabinet in every Igbo
community because they are better
fitted to handle some certain cases
concerning women affairs, such as
sexual abuse and gender-based
violence.

24 — Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 2022

OKOBOSHI
I, formerly known as MISS
OKOBOSHI PRUDENT
ADAMMA, now wish to be
known and addressed as MRS.
MAHA PRUDENT
ADAMMA. All documents
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take note.
CHINWE OB
EZE IGWOLO
OKORIE
I, formerly known as MISS
OKORIE MAGDALENE
FANNY, now wish to be
known and addressed as MRS.
ONYEKPE MAGDALENE
FANNY. All documents
bearing my former name
remain valid. General public
take note.
My name was incompletely captured
on my BVN as CHINWE
MARYROSE, instead of CHIEZIE
CHINWE MARYROSE. I now wish
to be known as CHIEZIE CHINWE
MARYROSE. All former documents
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LATOYA
I, formerly known as Miss
Latoya Idahagbon, now wish
to be known and addressed
as Mrs Itobore Latoya. All
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I, formerly known and
addressed as Miss EZE
EZINNE PRISCILLA, now
wish to be known and addressed
as Mrs AKUMA EZINNE
PRISCILLA. All former
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OKPAKO
I, formerly known as Okpako
Iruoghene Becky, now wish to
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Praise Iruoghene Becky. All
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EGEDE
I, formerly known as MISS
EGEDE
ISIOMA
OKWUCHUKWU, now wish
to be known and addressed as
MRS. ETUONU ISIOMA
OKWUCHUKWU. All
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addressed as MISS IGWOLO
LAURETTA IFEOMA, now
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ABOHWOYERE
I, formerly known and addressed as
MISS
OKEOGHENE
ABOHWOYERE, now wish to be
known and addressed as MRS.
OKEOGHENE OBE. All documents
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FINATANGBE
I, formerly known as
S O U G B O R U E B I
FINATANGBE, now wish to
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BOKUMO MAZIDO
BIPAMENE. All documents
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AMADI
I, formerly known and addressed as
MISS AMADI JULIANA OLUCHI,
now wish to be known and
addressed as MRS OKOSUN
JULIANA OLUCHI. All former
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ABDULKADIR OD
I, formerly known and
addressed as Abdulrasaq Sabura
Abdulkadir, now wish to be
known and addressed as
Abdulkodir Abdulrasaq Sabura.
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ONYEAZOR
CHUKWUEDO
I, formerly known as MRS I, formerly known and
EDNA NAJITE ONYEAZOR, addressed as MISS
now wish to be known and CHUKWUEDO AMAKA
addressed as MRS. EDNA FAVOUR, now want to be
UBUKOWHO NAJITE known and addressed as MRS.
EZIASHI. All documents AMAKA FAVOUR
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AKPOFUNE. All former
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ALLEN NWOSU EG GABRIEL
I, formerly known and This is to notify that my name was wrongly
addressed as EBERECHI captured as OBIKWUDO GABRIEL on
ALLEN, now wish to be my bank details, while in my voter’s card,
my name was written as OBIKWUDO
known and addressed as NNAMDI GABRIEL, that I now wish to
AKPALABA EBERECHI. All add NNAMDI to my bank details, hence
former documents remain now wish to be known as OBIKWUDO
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EVROMOJOR
IDOLOR
I, formerly known and called as Miss
EVROMOJOR MABEL
OGHENEFEGOR, now wish to be
known and addressed as Mrs.
A R O G H E N E
MABELOGHENEFEGOR. All
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I, AKPOLOME JOHNSON
IDOLOR wish to confirm that both
AKPOLOME JOHNSON and
AKPOLOME JOHNSON IDOLOR
refers to me, all documents bearing
AKPOLOME JOHNSON remain
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Whom it may be concern to take note,
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IMOLORE ANYOGO EGWUENU
AHONSI OD
AFURE
OBI
I, formerly known and addressed as I, formerly known as MISS I, formerly known and I, formerly known and I, formerly known and I, formerly known and
MISS GLORY OSEN IMOLORE, ANYOGO ANITA ANI, now addressed as MISS addressed as MISS AHONSI addressed as Miss Afure addressed as MISS. OBI
now wish to be known and
wish to be known and addressed
EGWUENU BLESSING. Now MARGRET. Now wish to be Erikefe Caroline, now wish to C H U K W U N O N S O
addressed as MRS. GLORY OSEN
wish to be known and addressed known and addressed as MRS be known and addressed as Mrs.
ANASTACIA, now wish to be
as MRS OLUWAFEMI ANITA
known and addressed as MRS.
OMOKHODION. All former
as MRS. ADIBELI BLESSING. ERUOTOR MARGRET. All Caroline Erikefe Igbereluo. All
ANI. All former documents
NWANA CHUKWUNONSO
documents remain valid. Concerned
All former documents remain former documents remain former documents remain ANASTACIA. All former
authorities and general public should remain valid. General public, valid, general public please valid, general public please valid, general public please documents remain valid,
please take note.
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ANI
UMANAH
ODUMA-FRANCIS
AJAYI
UMUGHARE
OKAWELE
I, formerly known as MISS I, formerly known and I, formerly known and I, formerly known and I, formerly known and I, formerly known and
ANI CHINENYENWA addressed as Miss Victoria addressed as Miss Oduma- addressed as Miss Ajayi addressed as Miss Jennifer addressed as Miss Okawele
Josephine Anwulika and
FAVOUR, now wish to be Effefiong Umanah, now wish Francis Joyce Ifeoma, now Rebecca Ilahe, now wish to be Areyo Umughare, now wish to
Okawele Joy Anwulika, now
addressed as MRS. UGWUEDE to be known and addressed as wish to be known and addressed known and addressed as Mrs. be known and addressed as Mrs wish to be known and addressed
CHINENYENWA FAVOUR, Mrs. Victoria Anietie Tony. All as Mrs. Osuji Joyce Ifeoma. All Emeke Rebecca Ilahe. All Jennifer Areyo Ikekeregor. All as Mrs Okeke Josephine
all former documents remain former documents remain former documents remain former documents remain former documents remain Anwulika. All former
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IBEH
NJOKU IGBONEME DESMOND
LAWRENCE
EZEKIEL
I, formerly known and I, formerly known and I, formerly known and I, formerly known and I, formerly known and This is to confirm that the
addressed as Ibeh Evelyn
addressed as Njoku Chinedu addressed as Igboneme addressed as Alaebuka Kelechi addressed as Lawrence Ifeoma names Ezekiel Lucky Ishioma
Aminoritse, now wish to be
Samuel, now wish to be known Chibuzor Precious, now wish Desmond, now wish to be Emmanuella, now wish to be and Ezekiel Lucky refer to one
known and addressed as
Amatotsero Evelyn
and addressed as Njoku to be known and addressed as known and addressed as known and addressed as and the same person, now wish
Akpobome Ufuoma
Aminoritse. All former Chinemeze. All former Ukah Chibuzor Gloria. All Philip-Oba Kelechi Harry. All
to be known and addressed as
Emmanuella. All former
documents remain valid. documents remain valid. former documents remain former documents remain
Ezekiel Lucky Ishioma. All
documents remain valid. former documents remain
General public please take General public please take valid. General public please valid. General public please General public please take valid. General public please
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NOYO
EVANS
OTI
EDEHA
BANDO
ONAIWU
My correct name is Noyo My correct name is Anyibuofu I, formerly known, and I, formerly known and I, formerly known and I, formerly known and addressed as
Annabel Ikanone, but I Evans, but my name was addressed as OTI ELOHOR, addressed as MISS. addressed as UREMURE
MISS ONAIWU IKPONMWOSA
mistakenly used Noyo Annabel wrongly captured during my now wish to be known and EMAMEZI EDEHA, now WISDOM BANDO, now wish
Ubreye in my NIMC identity
ADESUWA, now wish to be known
BVN registration as Nwabunor
addressed as OMONITA
card instead of Noyo Annabel
wish to be known and addressed
to be known and addressed as
Evans Anyibuofu, instead of
UREMURE BAGHANDO
and addressed as MRS. IDUSERI
Ikanone. All former Anyibuofu Evans. All former
GABRIELLA ELOHOR. All as MRS. EMAMEZI EJIJEYE.
WISDOM. All documents ADESUWA. All former documents
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UDI
ETADAFERUA
AYONUME
OPIA
JIMOH
TUDUO
I, formerly known and address I, formerly known as I, formerly known as I, formerly known and I, formerly known and This is to inform the general public
as Miss Faith Ogheneruona Etadaferua Blessing Ojiyovwi, AYONUME FAVOUR, now addressed as Opia Christopher addressed as JIMOH AZEEZ that during my BVN registration
Udi, now wish to be known and
now wish to be known and wish to be known and addressed Agadaigho, now wish to be OLAREWAJU, now wish to be with ECOBANK, my name was
addressed as Emakpor Blessing as AYONUWE FAVOUR. All known and addressed as Tano known and address as JIMOH wrongly written as TUDUO E. KISS,
address as Mrs Faith Udi
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Njekwume, all former documents remain valid, any valid, any authority it may documents bearing my former documents remain valid, my my correct name. All former
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WILLIAN
ATAMHENWAN
NWAEHI
NWOKEDI
OKAFOR
FUJU
I, formerly known and I, formerly known as MISS. I, formerly known and I, formerly known as MISS. The name OKAFOR BLESSING I, formerly known as
ATAMHENWAN EDNA
addressed as Willian Friday,
addressed as MISS. NWAEHI NWOKEDI ROSELINE LINUS which is on my Credentials
EMMANUELLA. Now wish PRECIOUS KELECHI. Now IFEYINWA. Now wish to be and OKAFOR BLESSING JOSEPHINE FUJU. Now wish
now wish to be known and to be known and addressed as wish to be known and addressed known and addressed as MRS.
CHIKODILI which is on my NIN/ to be known and addressed as
addressed as Ajimoko Friday. MRS. EDUN EDNA as MRS. ONYEGU
International passport belong to me.
NWACHUKWU ROSELINE
JOSEPHINE NWAOKOCHA.
I now wish to be known as OKAFOR
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OGHENEOCHUKO
OSIAWA
MONDAY
AKINYELE
MICHAEL
OGUNTOYE EZEDOM
My correct name is I, formerly known as OSIAWA I, formerly known as I, formerly known as
I, formerly known as I, formerly known as
OGHENEOCHUKO PATRICIA. JUDITH OGHENERABOME. MATTHEW DESTINY AKINYELE AYOBAMI
My name appear in my BVN as Now wish to be known and MONDAY. Now wish to be
OLUWATOMISIN. Now wish MICHAEL AGNES. Now wish OGUNTOYE BEATRICE.
Now wish to be known and
PATRICIA JOHN. I now wish to
addressed as MRS. OFORISHE
to be known and addressed as to be known and addressed as
known and addressed as
correct the name in my BVN details
FAUSTINE AYOBAMI
addressed as EZIMADU
as OGHENEOCHUKO PATRICIA.
JUDITH OGHENERABOME. MATTHEW ESE EKAOM.
MRS OKPANACHI AGNES.
OLUWATOMISIN. All
BEATRICE. All documents
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BELLO AKORIA EMMANUEL
SCHOLAR
AMOSUN
EZEDOM ADUKPE
I, formerly known as BELLO
OTSE ZULIETU. Now wish
to be known and addressed as
IKECHUKWU OTSE
ZULIETU. All documents
bearing my former name
remain valid. General public
take note.
I, formerly known as AKORIA
GIFT ESE. Now wish to be
known and addressed as MRS.
AKORIA ESE. All documents
bearing my former name
remain valid. General public
take note.
I, formerly known as
A D E R I G H O F U A
EMMANUEL. Now wish to be
known and addressed as
A D A R I G H O F U A
EMMANUEL. All documents
bearing my former name
remain valid. General public
take note.
CHANGE OF NAME
Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 2022 — 25
I, formerly known and addressed as
Wikimor Perezide Scholar (f), now
wish to be known, called and
addressed as Akebofah Perezide. The
change was as a result of family
decision for all children to bear the
same surname. All documents
bearing my former name should be
discountenanced. General public
should take note.
I, formerly known and
addressed as follow; Shina
Amosun, Shina Adekunle
Amosun now wish to be known
and addressed as Shina Saheed
Adekunle-Amosun. Former
documents remain valid,
general public take note.
I, formerly known as Miss
Adukpe Enofe Faith. Now
wish to be known and addressed
as Mrs Oke Enofe Faith. All
documents bearing my former
name remain valid. General
public take note.

26 —Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 2022
ADESUWA
I, formerly known as MISS
ADESUWA EDOMWONYI.
Now wish to be known and
addressed as MRS OSAMOR
ADESUWA. All documents
bearing my former name remain
valid. General public take note.
ORADE
I, formerly known and
addressed as ORADE EDITH
OGHENEFEJIRO. Now wish
to be known and addressed as
DEBABUODE EDITH
TAMARAMIEBI. All former
documents remain valid.
General public please take
note.
ADEKANYE
I, formerly known as Oluwaseun
Odunola Adekanye. Now wish
to be known and addressed as
Oluwaseun Odunola Osho. All
documents bearing my former
name remain valid. General
public take note.
EHI
This is to confirm that the name;
LASSA LATISHA JANADA EHI
and LASSA LATISHA JANADA
refer to me. I now wish to be known as
LASSA LATISHA JANADA . All
documents bearing my former name
remain valid. General public take
note.
CHRIS-IYABI
I, formerly known and addressed
as Miss CHRIS-IYABI NENGI
BIOBARAGHA, now wish to be
known and addressed as Mrs.
OPIAH
NENGI
BIOBARAGHA. All former
documents remain valid.
MDCN and general public
please take note.
OKE
I, formerly known and
addressed as MISS OBARE
OKE, now wish to be known
and addressed as MRS.
EIYEGBENIN OKE OBARE.
All former documents remain
valid. General public please
take note.
OSU
I, formerly known and
addressed as Nkeonye Kalu
Osu, now wish to be known
and addressed as Nkem Kalu
Okafor. All former documents
remain valid. General public
take note.
IME
I, formerly known, addressed
and called as INYANG IME,
now wish to be known,
addressed and called as
INYANG CATHERINE. All
former documents to remain
valid. The General Public to
please take note.
OKODUWA
I, formerly known and addressed
as GLADYS OKANEMHEN
OKODUWA, now wish to be
known and addressed as MRS.
GLADYS OKAINEMHEN
IGAH. All former documents
remain valid. General public
please take note.
ABHUERE
I, formerly known as Miss
Abhuere Pamela Ebuwa. Now
wish to be known and addressed
as Mrs Obaseki Pamela Ebuwa.
All documents bearing my
former name remain valid.
General public take note.
FESTUS
I, formerly know and addressed
as ETSITSO FESTUS as
captured on my BVN now wish
to be known and addressed as
WILLIAM FESTUS. Former
documents remain valid,
general public take note.
CHANGE OF NAME
RANKING
I, formerly known as
ALFRED PAMELA
RANKING. Now wish to be
known and addressed as
OMALEKU PAMELA. All
documents bearing my
former name remain valid.
General public take note.
ORADE
I, formerly known as
GODSPOWER ESE ORADE.
Now wish to be known and
addressed as GODSPOWER
TAMARAKURO ROBERT. All
documents bearing my former
name remain valid. General
public take note.
DODEYE
I, formerly known as MISS
DODEYE IKPI UKET. Now
wish to be known and addressed
as MRS. DELIGHT GODWIN
UKET. All documents bearing
my former name remain valid.
General public take note.
OBOIGBE
I, formerly known and addressed as
MISS
MARGARET
OKHIOMOADO OBOIGBE, now
wish to be known and addressed as
MRS
MARGARET
OKHIOMOADO ONAH. All former
documents remain valid. General
public take note.
ITEKE
I, formerly known and
addressed as Edesiri Iteke,
now wish to be known and
addressed as Voke Edesiri
Ogodogun. All former
documents remain valid.
General public take note.
OKWUOKENYE
I, formerly known as
OKWUOKENYE GLADYS.
Now wish to be known and
addressed as EMEGHAI
BETRICE. All former
documents remain valid.
Concerned Authorities, Banks,
NIN and General public should
please take note.
ADUDU
I, formerly known and
addressed as Adudu Moureen
Otiti, now wish to be known
and addressed as KONWA
MOUREEN OTITI. All
former documents remain
valid. General public take
note.
JAMES
I, formerly known as Mercy
Urunwanyi James, now wish to
be known and addressed as
Mercy Urunwanyi Ihesinulo.
All documents bearing former
names remain valid. The
public should take note.
NNADI OT
I, formerly known and
addressed as NNADI
MARTINS ISTIFANUS, now
wish to be known and addressed
as NNADI ISTIFANUS
IFEANYI. All former
documents remain valid.
General public please take note.
LARINDE
I, formerly known as Miss.
Monsurat Olajumoke
Larinde. Now wish to be
known and addressed as Mrs.
Emmanuella Olajumoke
Kassim. All documents bearing
my former name remain valid.
General public take note.
UDOH
I, formerly know and addressed
as MISS IMAOBONG
ASUQUO UDOH, now wish
to be known and addressed as
MRS. IMAOBONG JONAH
OKON. Former documents
remain valid, general public
take note.
KALU
I, formerly known and
addressed as KALU
PRECIOUS EZINNE Now
wish to be known and addressed
as AGBAGHARA
MARYPRECIOUS EZINNE.
All former documents remain
valid. First bank please take
note.
AGHEDO
My name was wrongly written
as AGHEDO AGBONTAEN
DONATUS, instead of my
correct name as AGHEDO
AGBONTAEN. All documents
bearing my former name
remain valid. General public
take note.
AJAYI
This is to confirm that the name; AJAYI
INFINIO BOLUWATITO
CHUKWUKA and AJAYI INFINIO
BOLUWATITO refer to me. I now wish
to be known as AJAYI INFINIO
BOLUWATITO CHUKWUKA. Also,
my name was wrongly written as
INFINIO, instead of INFINO.All
documents bearing my former name
remain valid. General public take note.
ISABO
I, formerly known and
addressed as Miss ISABO
CELINA TINA, now wish to
be known and addressed as Mrs.
CELINA EBITIMI
GUMUGUMU. All former
documents remain valid.
General public please take note.
OSHEVIRE
I, formerly known and addressed
as MISS OSHEVIRE,
ANTHONIA EVOKE now wish
to be known and addressed as
MRS. AWANA, ANTHONIA
EVOKE. All former documents
remain valid. General public
please take note.
AKOBUNDU
I, formerly known as MISS.
AKOBUNDU VERA
MGBEODICHINMA
CHIDINMA. Now wish to be
known as MRS VERA
OLANMA FREEMAN. All
former documents remain
valid. General public take note.
KELE
I, formerly known, addressed
and called as KELE
FREEBORN, now wish to be
known, addressed and called as
ADIDI FREEBORN. All former
documents to remain valid. The
General Public to please take
note.
CELINA
I, formerly known and
addressed as UTORO JOY
CELINA, now wish to be
known and addressed as
UTORO JOY PRINCESS. All
former documents remain
valid. General public please
take note.
LAMUREN
I, formerly known and
addressed as Miss. Olufunke
Adebola Lamuren. Now wish
to be known and addressed as
Mrs. Olufunke Adebola
Adeluwoye. All former
documents remain valid. The
general public should please
take note.
OFURHIE
I, formerly known as OFURHIE
ONOME SHEILA. Now wish
to be known and addressed as
IZU ONOME SHEILA. All
documents bearing my former
name remain valid. General
public take note.
OKJAS
I, formerly known and
addressed as ONOME OKJAS,
now wish to be known and
addressed as ONOME
AKPURA. All former
documents remain valid.
General public please take note.

Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 2022 — 27
2023: Our stand on same faith
ticket stands
Continued from Page 5
Vice President, how has his
Vice Presidency benefitted
any Christian in Nigeria?
The thing is staring them
in the face that Bola Tinubu
will win in 2023 and that
is why they are looking for
a way to thwart his victory.
I don’t believe in
playing politics with
religion, Okowa
slams Tinubu, Obi
Meanwhile, Governor
Okowa tackled Tinubu and
the presidential candidate of
the Labour Party, LP, Mr Peter
Obi, over their recent utterances,
saying he does not believe
in playing politics with
religion..
He said this during the
Northern Christian Youth Assembly
Summit in Abuja.
The governor also condemned
the idea of cyber-bullying
by supporters of other
presidential candidates,
which he said won’t stop him
from speaking the truth about
the situation in the country.
His words: “I do not believe
in the Muslim-Muslim ticket.
The reason is that there is a
diversity when it comes to
that. Therefore, sticking to
one faith is not a good thing
to do particularly in a troubled
nation as we are in today.
It’s almost like going on
to having the presidential
candidate pick his vice presidential
candidate from the
north and picking the Vice
Presidential candidate also
from the North.
“So, the only ticket that can
work for our Nigeria is the
ticket that is not trying to build
itself to election victory to either
the Muslim or Christian
faith. “PDP will win the election
because many people
have keyed into this project.
We are receiving decampees
in droves.
“When we talk about the
future is for the youths, yes it is
from today but the truth is that
our youths, particularly
youths leaders, must be in a
position to have a clear understanding
so that they can
guide others aright.”
Alleged cyberbullying
On alleged cyber-bullying
by supporters of other political
parties, Okowa said: “I did
not speak up my mind to look
down on anybody. But the
truth is that Nigeria is so divided.
Nigeria is insecure. We
are going to see bullying in
the cyberspace of our country.
I think that everybody
should have his space and
time to be able to think, and
make comments without being
bullied. We need to do critical
thinking and that is why
we are gathered here today.”
Lamenting the myriad challenges
rocking the nation as
Nigerians prepare to elect a
new set of leaders in 2023, the
Delta governor said: “The situation
in this country is very
bad. Sometimes we do not understand
how bad it is. But I
know that it is not irredeemable.
“The former Vice-President
(Atiku) and I working with the
party and working with Nigerians,
believe that we can
begin the rebuilding process
but first we have to be able to
rescue the nation by winning
the elections.
“The economy is so bad,
that the education and the
health system are so bad. We
are crying for devolution of
power, and in all these challenges,
you don’t bring somebody
who wants to learn on
the job. Because if you do, so
you drop him on the seat, and
he gets overwhelmed by the
challenges on the ground. We
don’t want to return to 2015.”
Naira appreciates to N436.04
/$ in I&E window
By Elizabeth Adegbesan
The naira yesterday appreciated to N436.04 per
dollar in the Investors and Exporters (I&E) window.
Data from FMDQ showed that the indicative
exchange rate for the window fell to N436.04 per
dollar from N436.5 per dollar on Monday, indicating
46 kobo appreciation for the naira.
Similarly, the naira appreciated by N5 in the
parallel market yesterday.
Vanguard findings from black market traders
showed that the parallel market exchange rate fell
to N705 per dollar from N710 per dollar on Monday.
Why Atiku picked
Okowa as running
mate over Wike,
others — AYU
Also speaking, the National
Chairman of the PDP, Senator
Iyorchia Ayu, explained
that the party’s presidential
candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar,
picked Governor
Okowa as his running mate
above his Rivers counterpart,
Nyesom Wike, and other
nominees presented to him
because of his (Okowa’s) humility
and excellent performance
in office.
Ayu said: “We looked
around and we thought we
have to give not just a vice
president that will assist him
(Atiku) but we did our homework
to select a man, who is
highly educated, very humble,
and who has done very well
as a governor in his home
state.
“Okowa is the most qualified
running mate. It is on his
merit that he was selected by
the party as the vice presidential
candidate for Atiku Abubakar.
I think Nigeria will be
very lucky to have two such
people who are committed to
the development, who are detribalized
and who believe in
uniting this country.”
The PDP chairman, however,
urged Nigerians to be wary
of the APC, saying the ruling
party performed poorly because
they lacked a clear blueprint
to turn around the fortunes
of the country.
He said: “Even if APC were
to come back tomorrow and
give you a Muslim-Christian
ticket, your fate will be worse
because they have no programme.
“We have a president who is
a Muslim, a vice president,
who is a Christian, but they
are not sensitive to the needs
of the vast majority of the population.
“We have about 28 ministers
in the Northern part of the
country. I think only two
Christians, the rest 26 Muslims,
or that. Is that not insensitive?
The vice president, per
se, cannot do everything.
“Today, we are borrowing to
pay salaries because of the
mismanagement that has befallen
this country. We have
never had a situation where
the security situation was so
LAGOS — Presidential
candidate of Peoples
Democratic Party, PDP, Atiku
Abubakar, said yesterday Nigeria
was currently being
dressed in borrowed robes.
Recall that Nigeria’s current
debt, local and foreign, stands
at N41trillion, with the nation
spending a greater chunk of
its revenue to service debts.
Abubakar said the All Progressives
Congress-led government
has distorted the
economy since 2015, adding
that basic commodities are
now beyond the reach of ordinary
Nigerians.
The PDP standard bearer,
who spoke at the presidential
economic agenda forum of
the Lagos Chamber of Commerce
and Industry, LCCI,
From left, Kwara State SUBEB Chairman, Prof AbdulRaheem Shehu Adaramaja;
Hon Ganiyu Olododo; and Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Basic
Education and Services, Professor Julius Ihonvbere; during an inspection visit by
the House Committee to UBEC/SUBEB Intervention Project in Ogele LGEA School,
in Asa LGA of the state, on Monday.
bad. I believe we can salvage
this country. This country is
drifting very dangerously. We
can’t allow it to disintegrate.”
Urging Christian youths to
take active part in the political
activities leading to the
2023 elections, Ayu said:
“What you are doing is a serv-
Nigeria broke, still feels like we’re in
recession — ATIKU
said: “Nigeria is being
dressed in borrowed robes.
APC has consistently run on a
budget deficit since 2015,
above three percent permissible
threshold under FRA…
and more if you add CBN and
AMCON debt in ways and
means.”
On his plans for the economy,
Abubakar said he will
pursue a “warm handshake
policy for the private sector”.
He said: “We will ensure we
give a warm handshake to the
private sector. They are important
for any sector or economy
to succeed. I enjoy making
people rich. I feel fulfilled
when I make opportunities for
others.”
Abubakar said the country’s
economy was “bleak and our
ice to humanity. If you give
them (Atiku and Okowa) your
support and you mobilise the
rest of the Nigerians to support,
I believe we can salvage
this country and make a difference.
“As a Christian, I want to say
that we believe a lot in prayer,
challenges daunting; no one
should downplay the enormity
of the tasks ahead.
‘’Indeed, I cannot think of a
more daunting challenge
than restoring confidence in
the future of Nigeria as a dynamic
economy and stable
democracy.
“I have a good grasp of the
challenges bedevilling Nigeria.
I know the root causes of
our problems. I know that
many of these problems are
self-inflicted and can be reversed
if we are determined.
And we are determined.
“I will not come unprepared.
It is not in my character
as a businessman or as a
public officer to be caught off
guard. My policy document
contains the right policies that
will be timely delivered.”
Lagos Assembly gives 2-day ultimatum
to Sanwo-Olu’s commissioner
LAGOS — The Lagos
State House of Assembly
has given a two-day ultimatum
to the Commissioner
for Waterfront Infrastructure,
Mr Kabiru Abdullahi
to appear before it.
According to the News
Agency of Nigeria, NAN,
the summons followed the
commissioner’s alleged refusal
to honour previous
invitations extended to him
by the assembly.
The house issued the order
sequel to a motion
moved by the Chairman,
House Committee on Waterfront
Infrastructure, Mr
Wahab Jomoh at plenary
yesterday.
Wahab described as unacceptable,
the commissioner’s
incessant refusal to
honour invitations extended
to him by his committee.
Jimoh told his colleagues
that the commissioner had
made the committee’s over-
sight functions difficult with
his refusal to honour invitations
and present needed
documents.
He said: “It will be noted
that it is this house that approved
his appointment
but the commissioner has
refused to submit the midyear
budget report for review
and appraisal.
“Currently, the ministry
has been invited but as I
am talking, the commissioner
has refused to honour
the invitation.
“I want to suggest that my
committee be made to carry
out a comprehensive investigation
while the house
should also place on hold,
the confirmation of his appointment
pending when
the investigation is concluded.”
Supporting him, another
lawmaker, Mr Bisi Yusuff,
noted that the legislature is
the most important arm of
government in a democracy
and, as such, must be
respected.
In his contribution, Mr
Abiodun Tobun urged the
house to allow a full-scale
investigation into the commissioner’s
activities in office
for treating the house
with levity.
His positions were supported
by Mr Adedamola
Kasunmu, Mr Sa’ad Olumo
and Mr Victor Akande.
In his ruling, the Speaker,
Mr Mudashiru Obasa
directed the Clerk of the
House, Mr Olalekan Onafeko,
to write to the commissioner
to appear with all
necessary documents on
Thursday.
“I have listened to your
submissions and I want to
appeal to the chairman and
the committee members to
sheathe their anger on
him. We should give him
another opportunity to appear
before you on Thursday,
unfailingly, he said.
but over the years, we also
know that, if you pray and you
don’t work, I don’t think God
will just come down and
make things happen. You
need to act. And so why do we
pray? We try as much as possible
to act in a way that God
will help us.”
Atiku said Nigeria was
“broke” and that the economy
was “crawling rather than
growing”.
He said: “Per capita income,
a measure of citizens’ wellbeing,
has progressively fallen
since 2015 because of declining
output and a fastgrowing
population. Nigerians
are worse off today than
they were in 2015.
“The oil and gas sector,
which is the economy’s lifeline,
has suffered a decline in
19 of 30 quarters since 2014.
For many economic sectors
and for the ordinary citizens
it still feels as in a recession.
“Under the present administration,
our people are not
working. More than 23 million
people are out of jobs. In
just five years, between 2015
and 2020, the number of fully
employed people dropped by
54%, from 68 million to 31
million people.
“The number of unemployed
people is more than
the population of Lagos State
or the inhabitants of the Federal
Capital Territory (FCT),
Abia, Bayelsa, Cross River,
Ebonyi, Kwara and Nasarawa
states combined.
“What is even more worrisome
is that the majority of
the unemployed are young
men and women, who lack
not only the means to survive
but also any hope for the future.
‘’The number of unemployed
youths increased by
nine million from four million
in 2015 to 13 million in
2020.
“Nigeria is broke. Nigeria
under the APC-led government
has consistently run-on
budget deficits since it came
to power in 2015. These budget
deficits are often above the
3% threshold permissible under
the Fiscal Responsibility
Law.”
Atiku added that Nigeria
was breaching “one of the
applicable debt-sustainability
thresholds” by spending
more on debt servicing than
the country’s revenue.

28—Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 2022
:Vanguard :@vanguardnews NEWS HOTLINES:
2023: Dafinone gets royal blessings, promises
to create long term prosperity
By Ochuko Akuopha
& Paul Olayemi
GHELLI—CANDIDATE of
Uthe All Progressives
Congress, APC, Delta Central
Senatorial District for the 2023
general election, Chief Ede
Dafinone, yesterday, received
blessings from the Urhobo
Traditional Rulers Council, with a
promise to drive the process of
creating an oasis of peace and long
term prosperity.
Making the promise during his
consultative visit to the traditional
rulers at the palace of the
By Ozioruva Aliu
ENIN CITY—THE Iyase
B(Prime Minister) of Benin,
Sam Igbe has called on parents
to engage their children and
wards on vocational training
irrespective of the education they
want to get to enable them
acquire skills they can live on.
He stated this when he
received graduates and students
of his Centre for Edo Delta
Development Initiative, CEDDI,
which he has been using to train
young people on different skills.
According to him “I feel
unhappy that parents allow
children to grow through their
care and they do not teach them
to think of tomorrow what they
are going to be and that is why
even when our students
graduate, they are moving from
city to city looking for jobs because
they do not think of other things
when they are younger and that
was what made us to do what we
did.
“We saw quite a few people,
young chaps moving around
doing nothing and we thought
we could do some thing by what
we have done. I am happy seeing
them, it gives me pleasure that
these years we have been able to
do what we have done.”
On his part, the Executive
Secretary, Heartbeat Peoples
Development Initiative, HPDI,
which is a support group to
CEDDI, Nosasu Edigin said with
support from Usen Osa who is a
member of the Board of Trustees
they have been supporting Igbe
to fulfill his dreams for young
people using his personal
resources.
Atiku/Okowa group appoints Oghenesivbe
national legal adviser
A SABA—EXECUTIVE
Assistant to Delta State
Governor on Communications,
Dr Fred Oghenesivbe, has been
appointed patron and national
legal adviser of Atiku-Okowa
Diehard Group.
Speaking at the brief ceremony
in Government House Asaba,
Oghenesivbe said Nigerians are
solidly behind the Peoples
Democratic Party, PDP, her
Presidential candidate and his
Vice, Atiku Abubakar and
Senator Dr Ifeanyi Okowa,
pointing out that other
presidential candidates are in the
race to fulfil all political
righteousness.
He posited that Atiku and his
running mate, Okowa, stands tall
as tested and trusted patriots,
unifiers, renowned technocrats
and administrators with
Ohworode of Olomu Kingdom
and Chairman of the traditional
council, HRM Ogbon Ogoni-
Oghoro I, Dafinone reiterated
his desire to ensure that sound
economic opportunities were
brought to the district.
He said he was out to
"encourage the educational
system to ensure that our
children can be empowered to
make the best out of their lives
and seize the opportunities that
will arise when business comes
to the district.
"To encourage those who
wish to use our resources and
Iyase of Benin at 93, tasks parents on
vocational training for children
He used the occasion to
celebrate the Esogban of Benin,
David Edebiri who also turned
93 a few days ago and the group
also visited him.
“CEDDI has survived as an
initiative of the Iyase without
support from the government
since it was started in 2012
under his leadership. We train
them free and we also empower
impeccable skills, experience
and integrity to decisively solve
the multifaceted socioeconomic
and security problems
mismanaged by President
Buhari and the APC national
government.
He said recent political
developments within PDP will
further strengthen and deepen
internal democracy via relevant
organs of the party, and that all
misunderstandings are being
resolved to pave way for a
groundbreaking flag off of
presidential campaigns, adding
that PDP shall effortlessly win
the presidential election in
2023.
"I accept my appointment as
Patron and National Legal
Adviser to Atiku-Okowa
Diehard Group. I urge members
of the group to be focused,
site their businesses here in Delta
central, to treat the land and
resources with respect.
Environmental pollution must
not be tolerated, as we all suffer
when our land is destroyed.
"I believe I am the right person
with the right vision, experience
and skill set to assure the people
of Delta Central with the
enabling environment that will
bring about the prosperity we
deserve."
On their part, the traditional
rulers noted that it was obvious
that the senatorial candidate was
following the footsteps of his late
father, Senator David Dafinone,
who they said worked for the
betterment of the Urhobo nation.
them, we give them free shops
to start their businesses, not
empty shops but equipped based
on the trade they learnt and
furnish them based on their
requirements including
generators and we have been
doing that since then. He is not
a politician that is why he is not
involved in the support group he
spends his resources to fund
them."
CRFFN inaugurates revenue generation c'ttee,
sets up consultative forum
By Emmanuel
Elebeke
BUJA—THE Council for the
ARegulation of Freight
Forwarding in Nigeria, CRFFN
has set up a committee to look at
the revenue generation of the
Council and restructure it for
higher returns.
The Chairman Governing
Council for the Regulation of
Freight Forwarding in Nigeria,
CRFFN, Abubakar Tsanni
inaugurated the Committee at
the 27th Governing Council
meeting held at the weekend in
Jumia kicks off Festival to
promote authentic brands
By Etop Ekanem
AGOS— Jumia, the leading pan-
LAfrican e-commerce platform, has
commenced its annual ‘brand
festival’ campaign, targeted at
promoting authentic products at the
best prices directly from the
manufacturers on the Jumia
platform.
The campaign, which starts on
Monday, September 12 and will run
through October 2, 2022, offers
millions of consumers nationwide the
opportunity to buy original products
from the official stores of several top
brands such as Adidas, Samsung,
Infinix, Umidigi, Nivea, DeFacto,
Nestle, Bacardi, Intel/HP, Unilever,
Pernod Ricard, Oraimo, Diageo, Coca
Cola, Apple and Xiaomi.
According to Ijeoma Arum, Chief
Commercial Officer, Jumia
Nigeria,”The Jumia Brand Festival
is not only for the promotion of
authentic products, but it also serves
as a means for consumers to get the
best prices directly from the
manufacturers on our platform. We
are aware of the needs of today’s
consumers, which is to gain quality
goods at the most competitive market
Abuja.
He also said the Council
inaugurated the Freight
Forwarders Consultative
Forum, FFCF, to help address
several leadership crises
bedevilling the sector for
efficient service delivery.
He said his leadership is
determined to strengthen its
revenue base and reposition
the council with regards to its
revenue contribution to federal
government and welfare of staff
and members of the council. He
also stated that part of the
mandates of the committee is
to make recommendations
prices and that is the essence of this
campaign.
Also speakung, Oyebade Moses,
Manager e-commerce Group,
Samsung Electronics West and
Central Africa, said: “Partnering with
Jumia is always an opportunity to co
create on providing customers with
amazing offers on innovative Mobile
and Electronics products which
Samsung is best known for both
locally and globally. With the current
economic situation, it is imperative
to ensure that customers are still able
to access basic commodities that have
a significant impact on their daily
activities. The Jumia Brand Festival
is set to provide this and we are happy
to be a part of it.”
Consumers can take advantage
of the amazing offers during the
Anniversary Sale by simply
downloading the Jumia App. The
campaign will feature Treasure Hunt,
Brand Days, Daily Check-In, and
Flash Sales, where consumers can
win exciting prizes and get further
discounts on a number of products.
The campaign is also providing free
shipping on a wide range of products
to consumers within Lagos, Abuja,
and Ibadan.
where necessary on existing laws
and proffer solutions and way
forward to the management.
‘‘Principally, we want to
contribute towards nation
building, ensure quality service
delivery in the sub-sector. We are
determined to improve on
revenue and consolidate
revenue drive of the present
administration.’’
The board Chairman urged
leaders and members of the
Forum to remain committed
towards the development of
Freight Forwarding and the
Freight Forwarders in particular and
pledged that the Council would continue
to give the forum all necessary support for
effective and efficiency service delivery.
committed and to market our
party and candidate to Nigerians,
especially eligible voters.
"Atiku is well endowed to end
the vexed spate of insecurity,
poverty, joblessness and
socioeconomic woes bedeviling
"I urge the group executives
and members to adequately
study Atiku's manifesto titled 'My
Covenant with Nigerians' so as
to effectively take the message
to the youth and eligible voters,"
Oghenesivbe said.
A leader of the delegation, Dr
Anthony Clark, who is also the
first member of Delta State
Hospital Management Board,
said Oghenesivbe's appointment
as Patron and Legal Adviser is
connected to his excellent
antecedent as one of the positive
voices for PDP and Okowa
administration; coupled with his
potentials as a sound lawyer and
political
strategist.
communication

Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 2022 — 29
L
Lagos goes gay for Amusan,
Brume
agos residents would have the rare
opportunity of beholding two of
Nigeria’s greatest athletes of all time,
Tobiloba Amusan and Ese Brume
today.
The duo who have shot themselves
into fame with their global feats would
be the cynosure of all eyes today at
their unveiling ceremony as Primus
Trust Bank Brand Ambassadors.
The unveiling ceremony holds
today at Eko Hotels and Suites and
the duo of Sports Minister Sunday
Dare and AFN President Tonobok
Okowa who have superintended over
the brightest moments of Nigerian
athletics will lead the dignitaries
expected today.
Both Amusan and Brume played
huge roles in the federation’s rising
profile.
Brume won a bronze at the delayed
Tokyo Olympics to ensure Nigeria’s
return to the podium at the quadrennial
games 13 years after the country last
did.
Amusan also made history when she
became the first Nigerian to win a
Diamond League discipline at the
Diamond League final in Zurich last
year.
This year, Brume also ensured
Nigeria’s return to the podium at the
World Indoor Championships in
Belgrade, 14 years after Olusoji Fasuba
won a medal at the competition.
The duo also made history at
the World Athletics
Championships in Oregon, USA
in July.
While Amusan became the first
Nigerian athlete to win a world
outdoor title and set a world
record, Brume became the first
Nigerian to win medals at two
separate editions of the
championships.
It was an Amusan and Brume
show again at the Commonwealth
Games in Birmingham as they
became the first Nigerian track
and field athletes to win
individual medals at two editions
of the Games.
Amusan became the first
Nigerian track and field athlete
to successfully defend a
Commonwealth Games title,
Brume became the first athlete in
competition history to hit the 7m mark
in the long jump event.
Both achieved their golden runs at
the Games in record breaking fashion.
Amusan ran a new 12.30 seconds
Games record to win the 100m hurdles
title while Brume leapt a distance of
7.00m to win the long jump title.
Sadiq Umar to undergo surgery tomorrow
UMAR
AMUSAN
BOWFT: Edo Queens
battle Nasarawa FC,
Robo FC face Delta
Queens in semi-finals
By Ozioruva Aliu
ENIN CITY - EDO Queens would today face
BLafia-based Nasarawa Amazons FC in one of
the semifinal matches of the Betsy Obaseki Women
Football Tournament (BOWFT).
The annual tournament, in its second edition,
is taking place in Benin City between September 7,
2022 and September 17, 2022.
The semifinal match between Edo Queens and
Nasarawa Queens FC is scheduled to take place at
the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium, Benin City, by
1pm
Ṫhe second semifinal match will be played on
the same day between FC Robo and Delta Queens
by 4pm prompt at the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium,
Benin City.
Edo Queens sailed through to the semifinals of
the competition after crushing their opponent,
Heartland FC of Owerri with a 4-0 score line.
They are battling a compact and well-organised
Nasarawa Queens side that has continued to show
tact and superiority all through the competition.
They dueled another strong Naija Ratels, beating
them 3-2 to secure a spot in the semifinals.
FC Robo Queens comfortably qualified for the
semifinals after hitting six goals past their rival,
Confluence Queens and will be facing a promising
Delta Queens, who thrashed their rival, Royal
Queens 2-1 to secure the semifinals spot.
The tournament, which is Nigeria’s only preseason
women football championship, is a brainchild
of the Edo State First Lady, Mrs. Betsy Obaseki.
The tournament is themed Say No to Drugs, aimed
at raising awareness on the adverse effects of drug
abuse among youths.
Spanish La Liga side Real Sociedad has
confirmed the date and venue of the surgery
for injured Super Eagles’ striker Sadiq Umar.
The lanky player sustained a seasonending
injury last Sunday when Real
Sociedad played against Getafe in which they
ended up losing 2-1.
He was confirmed to have ruptured his
anterior cruciate ligament which automatically
ruled him out of the season.
The club yesterday announced tomorrow in
Gastiez as the date and venue of the surgery.
“Sadiq Umar will undergo surgery for the
rupture of the anterior cruciate ligament in his
right knee by Dr Mikel Sánchez next
Thursday, September 15, in Gasteiz”, the club
confirmed.
Umar opened his goal account for the club
when he netted the equalizer against Atletico
Madrid at Wanda Metropolitano Stadium.
Ronaldo rejected
an offer worth
£210m from
Saudi Arabia
•It would have seen
him earn £1.7m a week
ristiano Ronaldo reportedly
C rejected the chance to become
the highest paid footballer in the world
during the summer.
Spanish outlet Marca claim to have
RONALDO verified news in Portugal that Saudi
Arabian club Al-Hilal offered the
Manchester United superstar a contract
worth £210m for two season.
The offer from the Riyadh based side
would have seen Ronaldo make £1.7m a
week.
The 37-year-old, however, wanted to
continue playing football at the highest
level.
He made it clear in the summer that he
wished to end his United comeback after
the club failed to qualify for the Champions League.
Despite links to the likes of Atletico Madrdid, Sporting and Napoli,
he was unable to secure a move to a club in Europe’s premier
competition.
Ronaldo has since been used primarily from the bench under
new manager Erik ten Hag.
The World Cup now looks to be Ronaldo’s main focus with a
transfer in the January window remaining a possibility.
R
BRUME
EAL MADRID’S pursuit of Kylian Mbappe is set
to start AGAIN next summer after full details of
his Paris Saint-Germain contract emerged.
The French champions announced the 23-yearold
France star had signed a new, three-year deal
worth £650,000-per-week in May.
That appeared to tie Mbappe down until 2025 and
he wore a PSG shirt with that year on the back when
he publicly put pen to paper.
But it has now emerged the contract initially runs
for just TWO seasons, until 2024.
Mbappe - rather than the club - then has the option
to extend the deal into a third season if he chooses to
do so.
If he signals he will not extend, PSG will have to
AJ accepts all terms to finally
fight Fury on December 3
•Usyk offers to help AJ
nthony Joshua’s management team
Ahave confirmed that the two-time
heavyweight champion has agreed to
an all-British showdown with Tyson
Fury on December 3.
Fury issued the challenge to his
domestic rival last week, and provided
Joshua with two dates to choose from -
November 26 at Wembley Stadium or
December 3 at Cardiff’s Principality
Stadium. Joshua has now accepted the
latter.
‘Joshua-Fury update: 258 and can
confirm, on behalf of @anthonyjoshua,
that we accepted all terms presented to
us by Fury’s team for a fight Dec 3rd
last Friday,’ 258 MGT posted on Twitter
on Tuesday morning.
Joshua’s team quickly received one
on Twitter from Fury’s promoter Frank
Warren on Twitter.
Warren replied: ‘Contract will be with
you very soon.’
Following this exchange on Twitter,
it now seems that the biggest fight in
the heavyweight division is edging
nearer to actually happening.
The Board of the League
Management Company Ltd
(LMC) says its attention has been
drawn to a Media Release from the
Federal Ministry of Youth and Sports
Development (FMYSD) to the effect
that the Federal Government has
declared the LMC “illegal”, urging
stakeholders to remain calm while it
engages the Ministry in conjunction
with the Nigeria Football Federation
(NFF).
In a statement, the league organiser
said “ the LMC Ltd wishes to call for
calm from all its participating clubs,
sponsors and partners and
stakeholders’ as it will in conjunction
with NFF be engaging the FMYSD to
provide clarifications to ensure all
parties are on the same page and keep
acting within the realm of its authority.
Fundamentally, the protection of the
integrity of the NPFL which the LMC
Ltd has been toiling over the last decade
to build inspite of the challenges is most
paramount at all times”.
It said the statement is only being
issued for the sake of good order, stability
of the Nigeria Professional Football
League (NPFL) and the Participating
Clubs, the LMC current and potential
sponsors and indeed the entire Nigerian
Football stakeholders to clarify and set
matters straight for the records.
The LMC Board also expressed
distress at seeing the FYMSD coming
up with the public
statement/position without first
engaging the LMC/NFF to discuss any
concerns or information regarding the
LMC Ltd so as to hear from the other
side and enable it come to a balanced
position based on facts and law.
“It is LMC’s belief that had this simple
fundamental procedure and legal step
of fair hearing been done, there would
have absolutely been no need or basis
look to sell next summer or see their £150millionplus
rated striker potentially walk away for
NOTHING 12 months later.
There was speculation in France that when
Mbappe signed the new deal it was to ensure he
was still playing for the Qatar-owned club when he
took part in this winter’s World Cup in the Gulf
state.
But once the tournament is over, the Qataris will
be less reluctant to sanction a sale - even if it means
PSG losing their star asset.
A move for Mbappe might turn out to be a positive
for PSG due to his difficult relationship with
superstar team-mate Neymar.
The exit would mean the 30-year-old Brazil icon
would be assured of No1 status at the Parc des
Princes.
Fury and Joshua looked set to meet
last year when they were negotiating
for an undisputed fight, but an
arbitration panel ruled that Fury had
to face Deontay Wilder for a third time
instead.
Since then, Joshua has lost twice to
Oleksandr Usyk, while Fury has seen
off Wilder and Dillian Whyte, and it
appeared that the two Brits may never
settle their differences in the ring.
However, with Usyk deciding against
fighting again in 2022 so that he can
rest his body and spend time with his
family in his homeland of Ukraine, Fury
was itching to stay active and called
out Joshua.
He had also previously sent out
challenges to Derek Chisora and
Manual Charr, so some fans were
sceptical about how serious his call-out
was.
They may have expected him to send
Joshua an underwhelming offer now
that he is no longer a champion in his
own right, but Fury revealed last
Wednesday that he was happy to settle
on a 60-40 purse split in his favour.
LMC Board calls for calm over purported
call for Licence withdrawal
•Engaging NFF, Sports
Ministry for Resolution
Real to go for Mbappe again
•PSG deal is just 2 yrs
AJ
Fury
for the FMYSD position and or
statement”, the statement argued.
The LMC insisted that “there is
absolutely no court order or proceedings
declaring the LMC as illegal. Likewise,
there is no challenge in any court to
the legal status of LMC”.
Tracking the formation and
registration of the company, it noted
that, “for the avoidance of doubt, LMC
Ltd was duly and properly formed in
2013 with all due processes adhered to
and in line with both Football laws/
regulations and Nigeria’s Corporate
Affairs Laws (Companies and
Allied Matters, Act - CAC Act).
The LMC acknowledged the passion
and concerns the Honourable Minister
of Sports have exhibited over time in
trying to push for the development of
not only the NPFL but football in Nigeria
and believes that with proper
engagements the right synergy will be
achieved to drive this process forward.
DARE
MBAPPE
DIKKO
C
M
Y
K

30 — Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 2022

Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 2022 —31

Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 2022
TODAY’S CROSSWORD
QUICK CROSSWORD
YESTERDAY’S SOLUTION
Sudoku
TODAY’S PUZZLE YESTERDAY’S ANSWER
How to Play Sudoku
C
M
Y
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.
ACROSS
1 More daring (6)
4 Artificial waterways (6)
8 Float along (5)
9 Immature toad or frog (7)
10 Teach (7)
11 Scope (5)
12 Comfortable seat (4,5)
17 Copious, abundant (5)
19 One who checks accounts (7)
21 Wind instrument (7)
22 Unadorned (5)
23 Imitated (6)
24 Brie, for example (6)
DOWN
1 Financial plan (6)
2 Spare time (7)
3 Additional (5)
5 Small state between France and Spain (7)
6 Oak nut (5)
7 Israeli currency unit (6)
9 Incisive (9)
13 Spire (7)
14 Go over again (7)
15 Derived from milk (6)
16 Alloy of copper and tin (6)
18 Well-rounded (5)
20 Profundity (5)
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