lagos plans mass protest over voters card distribution

...towards a better life for the people

N150VOL. 25: NO. 62271

ONLINE | www.vanguardngr.com

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2014**

Lagos plans mass protestover voter's card distribution•Tinubu, APC, PDP, INEC differ on progress of exercise

•See storyon Page 5

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POCKET CARTOONVanguard, MONDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2014—5

Lagos plans mass protestover voter's card distribution

TAKE HEARTBY ELLA RANDLE

LIFEWORDSBY PASTOR ITUAH

Mr & Mrs

It only takes one person to make you happy andchange your life:You.

THE Pursuit of Happiness and HumanDesign. Nancy Etcoff, a cognitive researcher

calls it being called Hooked on a Feeling: She con-cludes that the pursuit of happiness is obligatory.Man wishes to be happy, only wishes to be happy,and cannot wish not to be so. We are wired to pur-sue happiness, not only to enjoy it, but to want moreand more of it.

We’re also born pleasure-seekers. Babies love thetaste of sweet and hate the taste of bitter. They loveto touch smooth surfaces rather than rough ones.They like to look at beautiful faces. They like to lis-ten to consonant melodies instead of dissonantmelodies. Babies really are born with a lot of innatepleasures.

There was once a statement made by a psycholo-gist that said that 80 per cent of the pursuit of hap-piness is really just about the genes, and it’s asdifficult to become happier as it is to become taller.Contrarily, here is a decent contribution to happi-ness from the genes, about 50 per cent but there isstill that 50 per cent that is unaccounted for. In re-ality, happiness is a choice. Choose how you wantto feel!

RECEPTION—From left: President, Lagos Chamber of Commerce, LCCI,Alhaji Remi Bello; past president, Dr. Ademola Ajayi; Honorary Life Presi-dent & awardee, Chief Segun Osunkeye; Deputy President & awardee, ChiefNike Akande; Vice President, Chief Michael Olawale-Cole and past presi-dent, Chief John Odeyemi at a reception dinner in honour of LCCI membersand National Honours Award recipients held weekend in Lagos.

Be careful what you ask for. When we are youngwe pray for good health and long life thinking itwill meet us in the condition we are in, when ourprayers are answered, we live long and grow old,only to find out that old age is not an easy thing.

By Clifford Ndujihe,Olasunkanmi Akoni,

Dapo Akinrefon,Charles Kumolu &

Gbenga Oke

LAGOS—FOR thethird day running,

the polity was awashwith complaints over theunending hitches trailingthe distribution of Perma-nent Voters Cards(PVCs) by the Independ-ent National ElectoralCommission (INEC) insome states of the coun-try especially in Lagos.

The main opposition AllProgressives Congress(APC) and its National

Leader, Asiwaju BolaAhmed Tinubu, threat-ened to embark on amass protest againstwhat they called INEC’s“deliberate” plan to rig2015 general polls forthe presidency.

The hiccups elicitedmixed feelings fromsome prominent Nigeri-ans. While many chidedthe electoral umpire forshoddy handling of theexercise, others said thecommission was tryingall it could to make theprocess better.

To cover lost grounds,

Lagos INEC ResidentElectoral Commissioner(REC), Dr AdekunleOgunmola, told Van-guard, the exercise willcontinue in the 11 localcouncils which cards areavailable today. In the 11councils, he said thereare 4611 polling units.And of this figure, hesaid 1072 polling unitshave severe problems.He advised those whocould not find theirnames in the register tocome out for the Con-tinuous Voters Registra-tion exercise on Wednes-day.

For the remaining ninelocal councils, whichhave 3861 polling units,the cards will be distrib-uted between November28 and 30. In these coun-cils, he said 731 unitshave serious problemsand the CVR will holdbetween December 3 and8.

According to him,INEC is making effortsto ensure that all eligi-ble voters get their PVCs.

Hitches are delib-erate –Tinubu

Senator Tinubu, whodoubted INEC’s sincer-ity described the exerciseas a “failure,” becausefield reports, personalexperiences and obser-vations from differentparts of Lagos showedthat the exercise “hasfailed and is unaccept-able.”

His words: “INEC isresponsible for awardingcontracts for the produc-tion of the cards towhomever. Do not forgetthat in 2011 we sympa-

thized with the cry of(Professor Attahiru)Jega, apologizing to Ni-gerians on the presiden-tial election result thatwas aborted because theyfailed to bring materialson time. Now they haveenough time for fouryears to have learnt theirlessons. This is deliber-ate as far as I and APCare concerned. Just aswe merged to form a for-midable opposition party,they (INEC) havemerged with Jonathan toform a formidable rig-ging body.”

Tinubu who vowed thatthe party would resist allplans by the presidencythrough INEC to disen-franchise the electorate,said the party wouldsoon take to the streets tocondemn the exerciseand demand for a properdistribution exercise.

It's programmed torig in PDP – APC

Speaking in like man-ner, the APC allegedthat the process was in-tentionally programmedto fail in order to disen-franchise voters in the 12states with the highestnumber of voters.

In a statement issuedin Lagos, yesterday, byits National PublicitySecretary, Alhaji LaiMohammed, the partysaid the fact that most ofthe 12 states in which theprocess has been largelybotched in the past threedays have the highestnumber of voters and areunder the control of theAPC point to a clear col-lusion between INECand the (Peoples Demo-cratic Party) PDP.

It said most registeredvoters were unable to col-lect their PVCs becauseINEC engaged in a pro-grammed incompetenceto swing the elections infavour of the PDP, in whatis a clear case of riggingat source.

"There is no doubt thatthis programmed incom-petence has emanatedfrom just one source, theICT unit of INEC, withthe intent of sabotagingthe PVC distributionprocess in key states,hence we are calling onINEC Chairman AttahiruJega to institute an inter-nal inquiry into thebotched exercise with aview to fishing out thefifth columnists who arebehind the sabotage, andmeting out the necessarypunishment to them."

The party said it is cu-rious that most of the af-fected states (Kaduna,Kano, Edo, Plateau,

Ogun, Imo, Borno, Riv-ers, Lagos, Nasarawa,Katsina, Niger) are eitheropposition strongholdsor harbour the highestnumber of voters.

INEC has uncov-ered APC’s rigginggame plan –LagosPDP

Lagos State Chairmanof the PDP, Mr TunjiShelle reacted to the ac-cusation levelled by theAPC that INEC was col-laborating with the Presi-dency to rig next year’selection in Lagos, saying:“This is the first time I amseeing the APC com-plaining, especially thegovernor. When theywere allegedly doingmultiple registration,they did not complain.Now that INEC has dis-covered their game planby blocking all the loopholes of multiple regis-tration, they are now cry-ing foul. INEC has dis-covered this but theINEC is not trying to rigthe elections neither willthe president interferewith INEC.

"I pray that INEC har-monises themselves toensure that people gettheir PVCs. It was dis-covered that some peo-ple are hoarding the cardbut I think INEC shoulddo something about it toensure that people arenot disenfranchised.”

No registeredvoter has beende-listed in Lagos—INEC

Reacting to the com-plaints and allegations,the INEC, in a statementby Mr. Kayode RobertIdowu (Chief Press Sec-retary to INEC Chair-man) said no duly regis-tered voter was de-listedin Lagos, noting that thecommission was commit-ted to ensuring that everyproperly registered votergot his / her PermanentVoter Card (PVC) for the2015 general election.

His words: “Contrary toallegations in some quar-

ters, no duly registeredperson has been de-listed from the Registerof Voters; neither will anybe denied his/her PVC.This reassurance isagainst the backdrop oftemporary challengesthat have been experi-enced in the third phaseof the distribution ofPVCs in some states,which the Commissionhas been making vigor-ous efforts to re-mediate.

"INEC has since Fri-day, November 7, beendistributing PVCs to reg-istered voters in ninestates across the countryunder the third phase ofthe exercise. ContinuousVoter Registration (CVR)is scheduled to hold inthe same states fromWednesday, November12 to Monday, November17, 2014. Similar exer-cises have already beenconducted in 24 otherstates and the FederalCapital Territory (FCT)under the first and thesecond phases of the pro-gramme. The Commis-sion deferred the distri-bution of PVCs in fourother states it had earlierlisted for this third phasebecause the cards forthose states have notbeen fully delivered byprinters.

“In particular, it is com-pletely false that INEChas removed the recordsof 1.4 million personsfrom the Register of Vot-ers compiled in 2011 inLagos State. It is true thatat the end of the 2011general registration ex-ercise, the Commissionannounced a figure of 6.1

Continues on page 9

6— Vanguard, MONDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2014

Fulani herdsmen kill 25 in Nasarawa

Three burnt todeath in Edoaccident

Woman diesin Lagos roadcrash

By Ifeanyi Okolie

Soldier killsUNIMAIDgraduate,steals his car

LAFIA—NO fewer than25 persons, including

women and children, wereyesterday feared killed bysuspected Fulani insurgents atArikya-Soni, a boundary areabetween Nasarawa-Eggon andLafia local government areas ofNasarawa State.

Eyewitness told Vanguard inLafia that the gunmenreportedly ambushed and killedtheir victims on their way backfrom the farms early in themorning, and seized ninemotorcycles belonging to the

.The suspected kidnappersand (right) arms recoveredfrom them.

By Abel Daniel

M A I D U G U R I — Asoldier in Maiduguri

has allegedly shot dead agraduate of physics fromUniversity of Maiduguri whogave him a ride and ran awaywith his car.

Vanguard learned that theincident occurred on Wednesdayas the soldier asked thedeceased to give him a ride, butlater shot him dead beforereaching his point ofdisembarkation and made awaywith the deceased car.

Speaking to journalists inMaiduguri, the father of thedeceased, Alhaji Konto Sulum,said the soldier asked his son,Mohammed to give him a lift sohe could reach his destination, butlamented that before reaching hisdestination, the soldier shot himdead and ran away with his car.

He lamented: “The soldier whothought he was dead, dragged hisbody out of the car and zoomedoff with it. My son crawled downto the roadside, near Asita Hotelat Bolori, where a good Samaritancalled the attention of Civilian JTFand they tried to rush him to thehospital but he gave up the ghostbefore reaching the hospital.

“Before my son died, heinformed the Civilian JTF that hewas shot by a soldier who ran awaywith his car. The next day hisfriend saw the soldier and hisfriend at Oando filling station onBaga road with the car, where theyalerted Civilian JTF and they werearrested.”

According to him, his 22-year-old son has just graduated fromthe physics department of theUniversity of Maiduguri, waitingfor his call-up letter for NYSC.

TRAGEDY struckAjangbadi area of

Lagos, weekend, as a 24-year-old woman wascrushed in a crash ininvolving a tricycle and amotorbike along Era Road.

The victim, who wasidentified simply asChinwe, was said to havemet her untimely deathwhen the motorbike sherode in on her way to work,ran into a tricycle, alsoknown as Keke Napep.

Eyewitness disclosed thatthe accident which occurredaround 8:am on Saturday,was caused by vehiclesparked in front of IlogboPolice Post, Ajangbadi.

An eyewitness, who gavehis identities as CharlesAdesuwa, said the rider ofthe motorbike was on highspeed and could not,therefore, see the tricycle asvehicles parked in front ofthe police post blocked hisview.

He explained: “The Kekerider was trying to make aturn and the okada ridercoming from Era did not seehim because of the bigvehicles parked on the roadin front of the police post.

LAGOS—ANTI-ROBBERYoperatives attached to

Festac Police Division weekendrounded up eight personssuspected to be hoodlumsterrorising motorists at the Mile2 area of Lagos State.

Vanguard learnt that theoperatives, who were led by theDivisional Police Officer, IfeanyiOnwu, coordinated raids aroundblack spots believed to behideouts for criminals terrorisingMile 2 and its environ.

Police sources disclosed thatthe operatives stormed notoriouscriminal hideouts aroundSecond Rainbow, Durbar andMile 2 under bridge.

Spokesman at the Lagos StatePolice Command, DSP KenNwosu, while confirming thearrest, said the suspects wereundergoing screening andinterrogation and would bearraigned in court at thecompletion of investigation.

BENIN—THREEpersons were on

Thursday evening burnt todeath in an accident thatoccurred at Ugbokunvillage, along the Benin-Lagos expressway.

It was gathered that thevictims of the accidentincluded the driver of thevehicle and two femalepassengers.

Eye witness accountdisclosed that the 18-seatcommercial, bus markedWWD 624 XA, washeading for Port Harcourtwhen it had a head-oncollision with a lorryconveying wood to EdoState and burst into flames.

Sikuru Olawale, one therescuers, said one of thevictims was his sister,adding that the driver of thelorry had an argument withsome persons and and infist of anger, hit thecommercial bus.

He said all efforts to putout the fire and rescue thetrapped victims failed asthe fire engulfed the bus.

By Gabriel Enogholase

Police arresthoodlumsterrorising Mile 2areas

By Ifeanyi Okolie

By Ndahi Marama

deceased persons.A mass burial was yesterday

conducted for the victims aftertheir remains were recovered atUmme, at about 1 pm.

The victims, who are all ofEggon ethnic nationality of thestate, hailed from Umme,Arugbadu and Bakyano villagesof Nasarawa Eggon localgovernment area.

When contacted, the PolicePublic Relations Officer, PPRO,of Nasarawa State command,confirmed the incident and saidinvestigation had commencedto unravel the perpetrators ofthe criminal act.

A survivor, Mrs. SaratuMustapha, told newsmen atAshangbo clinic in the localitywhere she is receivingtreatment for gun shots wound,that she was returning fromthe farm in company of herhusband and sister on amotorcycle when the gunmenattacked them.

She explained that herhusband and her sister wereamong those killed during theattack, stating that she was ableto escape into the bush.

Another survivor fromArugbadu, Habibu Mohammed,explained that he was returning

from the farm along with hisparents when Fulani gunmenopened fire on them.

Mohammed who could notcontrol his emotions, furtherexplained that he lost his parentsin the attack as well as hismotorcycle with which he wasconveying them.

Reacting to the incident, amember representing the area(Nasarawa Eggon Eastconstituency) in the state Houseof Assembly, MohammedMuluku, who led journalists tothe scene of the incident,expressed shock over the highcasualty figure.

He called on the FederalGovernment to establish apermanent military base in thearea to prevent further attacks onhis constituents.

Three killed, woman rescued askidnappers battle police in Anambra

By Vincent Ujumadu &Nwabueze Okonkwo

AWKA—A SIX-mangang of suspected

kidnappers yesterday engagedAnambra State Police Anti-RobberySquad, SARS, in a gun battle atOkpoko in Ogbaru localgovernment area during whichthree members of the gang werefeared dead and a woman, Mrs.Edith Maduekwe, kidnapped bythe gang, rescued by the police.

Mrs. Maduekwe, who waskidnapped by the suspects onOctober 4, 2014 at Oba in IdemiliSouth local government area wasrescued at an erosion site inOraukwu in Idemili North localgovernment area of the state.

After the gun battle, the policerecovered seven hundred andseventy six thousand naira (N776,000) from the suspects, which waspart of the N1.4 million ransom

paid by the family of the victim.Items recovered from the

suspects include one AK-47 riflewith 90 rounds of ammunition,one pump action gun and 10 livecartridges, assorted charms andother weapons.

Parading the suspectsyesterday, Anambra State PolicePublic Relations Officer, Mr. UcheEzeh said the leader of the gangknown as Charlie Parker hadbeen on the wanted list of thePolice for four years.

He said following a tip-off, thestate SARS commander, Mr.James Nwafor, a ChiefSuperintendent of Police, CSP,led his men to the place atOkpoko, where the loot wasbeing shared by the suspects.

He said when the suspectssighted the police, they openedfire and the police had to returnfire, leading to the death of thethree suspects.

Vanguard, MONDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2014 —7

Jonathan’s declaration tomorrowto run in six world cities

By Soni Daniel, RegionalEditor, North, EmmanOvuakporie & Levinus

Nwabughiogu

ABUJA—SECURITY men drawn from Nigeria’s

major formations took over thestreets of Abuja yesterday aheadof the formal declaration byPresident Goodluck Jonathantoday to run for a second term inoffice.

This happened as the fourpresidential candidates of the AllProgressives Congress, APChave been holding series ofmeetings to essentially reachconsensus on who wouldeventually fly the flag of the partyin the 2015 general elections.

Meanwhile, reacting toautomatic tickets given to 40senators by President GoodluckJonathan, members of the Houseof Representatives insistedyesterday that the samepriviledge should be extended tothem.

Three top ranking lawmakers,who spoke to Vanguard under thecondition of anonymity said thesituation on ground in the Houseis far more precarious than thatof senate.

According to one of thelawmakers, who is from theSouth East zone, the twochambers have a lot of role toplay to protect the President.

He further explained that ”Onething is certain, if we membersof the House of Reps are notgiven automatic tickets like ourSenate counterparts, we willproperly help the mainopposition to rock the boat.

“Some of us have been deniedthe opportunity of coming backby the ambition of our governorswho now dictate our collectiveinterest through the enormouspowers that the President hasgiven to them”.

Another senior member of theHouse told Vanguard: ”ByTuesday this week, we will let theleadership of our party know ourposition. We will fight forautomatic tickets with allmethods except violence. Afterallwhat is sauce for the gander issauce for the goose. Thepresident should do the needfulbefore we resume on December3.

“Our resumption will go a longway to determine how we willsurvive the present situationthough we may not sit for morethan six days but those six dayswill be explosive.”

A lawmaker from the SouthSouth also spoke in the same veinsaying: ”Except those of us thatare confirmed to be traitors, therest of us that had played a rolein protecting the presidentshould get automatic tickets.

“The truth of the matter is thatsome of us are not dedicated

because when we invite them toour caucus meeting they alwaysgive excuses.

“On the floor of the House, youdon’t see them and in ourmeetings, they don’t show up andwe know them too well”.

On the President’s formaldeclaration today, security men,including anti-terrorismpersonnel had positionedthemselves in all strategicpositions in and around theFederal Capital Territory as atyesterday afternoon, friskingcommuters and motorists.

An insider told Vanguard thatthe declaration, which is slated forthe Eagles Square in Abuja,would hold simultaneously in sixcities of world.

According to a presidencysource, four of the cities where theevents will be held are in theUnited States of America:Washington DC, San Francisco,Los Angeles and Houston whilethe other two are London (UnitedKingdom) and Johannesburg(South Africa).

However, while those in Londonand Johannesburg, whose timezone is similar to Nigeria will jointhe event live, others in the U.S.with different time zone, will joinlater.

Vanguard learnt that thedeclaration by Jonathan wasdelayed to ensure that there wasno opposition to his candidatureso as to give him the maximumsupport to defeat his opponentsin the main election.

A source said it was in a bid toappease all party members thatJonathan overruled the NationalWorking Committee, NWC, of thePeoples Democratic Party, PDP tosell nomination forms to otherpresidential aspirants, eventhough he had been adopted asthe sole candidate for the poll.

It was learnt that the last week’slate decision by the NWC to sellnomination forms to two of itspresidential aspirants, son ofNigeria’s late prime minister,Alhaji Abubakar Tafawa Balewa,Dr Abdul Jelil Tafawa Balewa andMrs Zainab Duke-Abiola, was asa result of the order handed overto them by the President.

The Presidential source said:“President Jonathan summonedthem to a meeting and directedthat the two be allowed topurchase the forms andparticipate in the presidentialprimary at the party’sconvention.

“They had to reverse theirdecision as they were told that itwas undemocratic to stopanybody from the process. Noone should be denied the chanceto participate in the election justbecause the President wasendorsed by the party.”

However, one of the aspirants,Dr Tafawa Balewa has withdrawnfrom the contest followingintervention by Ijaw leader, ChiefEdwin Clark.

Consensus candidacy:APC presidential aspirantshold meetings

Meanwhile, the fourpresidential aspirants of the AllProgressives Congress, APChave been meeting in Abuja toreach a consensus on who wouldeventually fly the flag of the partyin next year’s elections.

The four aspirants jostling forthe ticket of the party and havepurchased their nominationforms for the contest includedformer Vice President, AtikuAbubakar and former Head ofState, General MuhammaduBuhari. The two others were theincumbent Governor of KanoState, Engr. Rabiu Kwankwaso

and the Founder and Publisherof Leadership newspaper, SamNda-Isaiah who picked his ownform last week.

Governor Rochas Okorocha ofImo State, Vanguard gathered, isalso interested in the office but wasyet to pick his nomination form.

An APC source in Abuja, whoconfided in Vanguard confirmedthe meetings of the presidentialaspirants.

A highly placed officer of theparty at its national secretariat inAbuja, said it was a normaldemocratic process for the fouraspirants to agree amongthemselves on who wouldeventually become the party’scandidate. He however said theparty has not, at the moment, setup any committee for the exercisethat is scheduled to hold onDecember 8, 2014.

“It is a normal political process.But as a party, we have not reallyset a committee. The aspirantsthemselves are working to get aconsensus. Several interestgroups around the aspirants arealso exploring every opportunityfor consensus.

The source also dismissed thereports that governors on APCplatform were asking for vicepresidential plot, saying that whatwas important to the party wasthe emergence of marketablepresidential products.

He said: “I am not aware of thegovernors asking for the VP slot.At no forum have I heard that. Iam a high ranking member of theparty, if that happened, I shouldhave known. It is a merespeculation. The important thingis to produce a candidate and therunning mate that will win votefor us.

Another party source said that“A lot of meetings are going onamong the aspirants”.

A B U J A — T H EN i g e r i a n

Association of Chambersof Commerce, Industry,Mines and Agriculture,NACCIMA, said thequality of institutionalframework is critical toattracting Foreign DirectInvestment (FDI) in allsectors, in a manner thatwould enable successfulgrowth of an inclusiveeconomy.

Speaking at theopening ceremony of the2014 Lagos InternationalTrade Fair, the NationalPresident of NACCIMA,Alhaji MohammedAbubakar, said thequality of infrastructure,education, effectivenessof technologicaldevelopment and thequality of institutionalframework is critical toattracting Foreign DirectInvestment in allsectors, in a manner thatwould enable successfulgrowth of an inclusiveeconomy.

Moreover, he said,while the public sectorperforms its policy/regulatory role in thepursuit of an inclusiveeconomic growth, theprivate sector should befully supported toharness trade potentialsin order to effectivelydrive and make real thedesired economicgrowth throughi n v e s t m e n t ,employment, businesscreativity, innovation/knowledge transfer andother multiplier effectsfrom their operationsand activities.

“Recent developmentsaround the globe have alsopointed out clearly that noeconomy can experience asustainable level of realgrowth and nationaldevelopment withoutharnessing its tradepotentials for successfultransformation of the realsector, if the necessaryeconomic reforms andincentives that would spurand position the economyin a better stead to attractand encourage both localand foreign investors in thecountry are not in place.''

Quality ofinstitutionalframework,critical toattractingFDI—NACCIMA

By Naomi Uzor

AGM: From left: Mr. Alfred Okoigun, GMD/CEO, ARCO group Plc; Chief JosephAkpieyi, Chairman, Mr. Dennis Ayisire, Company secretary and Legal adviser and Mrs.Julie Okoigun, Director during the 32 Annual General Meeting of ARCO Group Plc, heldat Orienta Hotel, Lagos on Friday. Photo by Joe Akintola, Photo editor.


‘Shekau' denies ceasefire deal withFG in new video

By Ndahi Marama, withAgency reports

THANKSGIVING SERVICE: Wife of President Goodluck Jonathan, Mrs Patience Jonathandiscussing with the Deputy President of the Senate, Senator Ike Ekweremadu during the 2014Annual Harvest and Thanksgiving Service of the Adoration Catholic Ministry, Enugu yesterday.

BOKO Haram leader, Abubakar Shekau

yesterday dismissed claims aboutceasefire talks between his groupand the government, even asFederal Government officials arenow trading blames over thephantom ceasefire deal brokeredby the President of Chad, IdrissDéby.

A new Boko Haram videoobtained by AFP yesterday showedmilitants on an armoured vehicleparading down a road in anunidentified town they apparentlycontrol and the group’s leaderAbubakar Shekau preaching to theresidents.

Boko Haram had alreadyrenamed Gwoza in Borno as DarulHikma or House of Wisdom andMubi in Adamawa as MadinatulIslam which means City of Islam.

In the 44-minute video, Shekau,who is pictured in close-up shotsdismissed government claimsabout ceasefire talks andthreatened to kill the man whopresented himself as BokoHaram’s negotiator.

The video, which was deliveredthrough the same channels as pastmessages, shows armed men linedalong a well-paved road, withthree pick-up trucks, with heavyweapons also visible.

Black crested flags associatedwith the Islamist group are alsoshown.

In the video, Shekau restated acall he first made in August,saying, “We have indeedestablished an Islamic caliphate.To everyone living in IslamicCaliphate, we convey ourgreetings,” he said, specificallymentioning “brethren” inAfghanistan, Pakistan, Azerbaijan,Shishan (an Islamist term forChechnya), Yemen, Somalia and“The caliphate in Iraq and Syria.”

A graphic shown later includesa picture the IS group’s leader,Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, as well asa portion of the message his groupissued on July 1, proclaiming acaliphate in Iraq and Syria.

How Chadian Presidentfooled Nigeria on phantomBoko Haram ceasefire

Meanwhile, it was gatheredyesterday how the FederalGovernment was taken for a rideby the president of Chad, IdrissDeby over the phantom ceasefiredeal with Boko Haram

A source, who was involved inthe negotiations told online newsmedium, TheCable that theFederal Government was stilluncertain if the dummy wasdeliberately sold to Nigeria byDéby or if the Chadian presidenthimself was hoodwinked intobelieving it was genuine.

Déby was said to be working for

Boko Haram as he has refusedto communicate with Nigeriasince the insurgents renewedtheir attacks.

“Nigerian governmentofficials no longer have accessto Déby, who is now said to besick. It appears he set us up todrop our guard and allow BokoHaram to gain ground,” theofficial said.

A man claiming to be thegeneral secretary of BokoHaram named DanladiAhmadu, had told the Voice ofAmerica on October 17 that thegovernment was negotiatingwith representatives of thegroup.

Alex Badeh, an air chiefmarshal and chief of defencestaff later addressed the mediaasking Nigerians soldiers tocease fire because of the

“agreement”, which he saidincluded releasing the 219 Chibokschoolgirls in Boko Haramcaptivity.

TheCable also reported howDéby put the deal together,revealing how he said BokoHaram got in touch with him, howhe authenticated the message andhow he got the Nigeriangovernment involved in thenegotiations. A journalist withlinks to the group had howeverdescribed the claim as “shadowsand bubbles” and warnedNigerians not to believe it.

Not long after that, Boko Harambecame more ferocious in theirattacks, taking over more Nigeriantowns, including the country homeof Badeh.

A government official, whospoke with TheCable pointedaccusing fingers at Déby, accusinghim of setting a trap for Nigeria.

According to the source, “Theperiod of the phantom

negotiations gave the terrorgroup time to regroup, reinforceand restrategise, which is theintent of Déby for asking theNigerian government tonegotiate a ceasefire with BokoHaram. As soon as Nigeriabegan to make a lot of gains inthe war against Boko Haram,owing to the efforts of the militaryand President GoodluckJonathan, who has beendiscussing with regional leadersto halt the insurgency, and at atime the commanders of the sectwere being rounded up, that waswhen the Chadian presidentapproached the Nigeriangovernment asking that itmediates between the parties inthe conflict.

“The discussions between thegovernment and the Chadianpresident on Boko Haramstarted in September. However,Déby said he was alreadytalking with Boko Haram.

“The government was trying toverify the authenticity of BokoHaram’s representatives in thesupposed negotiations, but Débyasked the Nigerian governmentto take a chance that he had donethe verification already. Heaffirmed that Boko Haram’srepresentatives were trulystanding in for the group in thenegotiations.”

It was at this stage thegovernment nominated theprincipal secretary to thepresident, Awwal Tukur, to be partof the negotiations in N’Djamena,the capital of Chad.

“Tukur was the onespearheading the dialogue withBoko Haram on behalf of theNigerian government. He had thefirst contact with group. It wasstill in the middle of thesupposed negotiations thatDanladi Ahmadu announcedon Voice of America that thegroup had ceased fire.Following the announcement ofceasefire by the group, theNigerian government equallyannounced a ceasefire onOctober 17 for the supposednegotiations to continue.

“A Nigerian delegation left forChad on October 21 for talks withBoko Haram, but the Chadianpresident became evasive. TheNigerian delegation was told thatDéby was sick and that themeeting be rescheduled forOctober 23.

“However, on that date, thedelegation was told that theChadian president was still sickafter waiting for six hours. Thedelegation made visits to Chad anumber of times, but met abrickwall.

“As Boko Haram’s resumedattacks grew in intensity, theNigerian government becameworried. Many attempts weremade to inquire from theChadian president, who wassupposed to be mediatingbetween the Nigeriangovernment and Boko Haram,but the attempts were all futile.

“France was privy to thebotched negotiations, but saidnothing just like the Chadiangovernment.

“It became clear to the Nigeriangovernment that Déby wasworking for Boko Haram. Thegovernment of Chad has not saida word to the Nigeriangovernment since Boko Haram’sresumed onslaughts. It hassimply refused to make anycomment or communicate withthe Nigerian government.

“The Nigerian government hasalso ceased to speak with theChadian government on thematter since it is now clear thatChad is working with BokoHaram.”

Monarch of capturedtown appeals to Jonathan

Meanwhile, the emir of Gwozain Borno State, AlhajiMohammed Timta has urgedPresident Goodluck Jonathan toredeem his pledge on therecapture of his chiefdom beingoccupied by Boko Haraminsurgents for over three months.

A BUJA—NIGERIAattracted $59bn

pipeline local and foreigndirect investments into thedifferent sectors of theeconomy within three years,the Minister of Industry, Tradeand Investment, Mr. OlusegunAganga, said weekend.

He noted that the far-reaching industrial policiesinitiated by the Ministry ofIndustry, Trade and Investment,in line with the TransformationAgenda of President GoodluckJonathan, had helped to makethe country a destination ofchoice for investment and alsodiversify the nation’seconomic base.

Aganga spoke during the 4thAnnual Seminar for Industry,Trade and Investment

Correspondents and BusinessEditors, in Abuja.

He said the report of the UnitedNations Conference on Trade andDevelopment had ranked Nigeriathe number one destination forinvestment for two consecutiveyears, with the countrymaintaining its top three positionlast year.

He said, “If you look at pipelineinvestments that have come intothe country within the last threeyears, we have a minimum of $59billion coming into the differentsectors of the economy over thenext five to eight years. This doesnot include the investments thatare coming into the power sector.If you look at the value chain, wehave about $60billion investmentsgoing into the power sector.

“Out of the $59 billion that I

talked about, about $12bn isgoing into integratedpetrochemical plant. This meansthat if that petrochemical plantcomes on stream as planned by2018, there will be no need forthe country to import refinedpetroleum products, and that willbe a big boost towards theeconomic diversification of thecountry.”

He added, “Also, a lot ofinvestments are going intofertilizer and ethanol plants,agribusiness such as sugarcaneto sugar, rice mills and cement,among others.

“We have new investmentsgoing into the automobile sectordue to the implementation of theNigerian Automotive IndustryDevelopment Plan, which is amajor component of the NigeriaIndustrial Revolution Plan.”

Nigeria attracted $59bn investments in threeyears — AGANGA

Vanguard, MONDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2014—9

Amuta launchesnew book

A NEW book by me dia icon and leadingNigerian newspaper col-umnist and writer, Dr.Chidi Amuta, will go pub-lic on Tuesday, November18, at a book signature eventholding at the OduduwaHall, Southern Sun Hotel,Ikoyi.

The book- WRITINGTHE WRONG- is an over1,000-page compendium ofthe author’s newspapercolumns written and pub-lished over the last threedecades in various news-papers and magazines inNigeria and around theworld. The author de-scribes the book as ‘a wordmap of the roads which Ihave travelled in the com-pany of friends and associ-ates… along the trajectoryof our national history, asort of professional autobi-ography.’

L-R: Director-General, Standards Organisation of Nigeria, Dr. Joseph Odumodu; Director-General, Consumer Protection Council, Mrs. Dupe Atoki; Minister of Industry, Trade and In-vestment, Olusegun Aganga; Permanent Secretary, Ambassador Abdulkadir Musa; and Man-aging Director, Bank of Industry, Mr. Rasheed Olaoluwa, at the Ministry's 4th Annual Work-shop for Industry, Trade and Investment Correspondents and Editors, in Abuja

A YORUBA group,Coalition of Oodua

Self Determination Group,COSEG, has accused theFederal Government ofplanning to disrupt thepeace and tranquility inLagos State. In a statementby its chairman andSecretary, Dayo Ogunlanaand Razaq Olokobarespectively, COSEGfaulted the recent attemptby FERMA federal taskforce to impose theoperations of recruited SureP and Ferma on Lagosroads.

The group wondered whySURE-P and FERMA taskforce are on Lagos roadsonly arguing that “onlyLASTMA, FRSC andPolice are backed by law ontraffic and vehicularmovement.

COSEG cautionsFG on Sure-P,FERMA

By Ikenna Asomba AN electoral agent of thePeople’s Democratic

Party, PDP, was allegedly shotdead at Ibeju Lekki area ofLagos, yesterday, during theongoing distribution ofPermanent Voters’ Card, PVC,by the Independent NationalElectoral Commission, INEC.

The deceased, identified as

By Monsuru Olowoopejo

APC gov aspirant arrested over PDP agent's killingSikiru Ogboye, was allegedlyshot dead at Oriledu, IbejuLekki, by suspected thugs whilehe was monitoring the PVCdistribution. Vanguard learntthat the incident was reportedat Ajiwe Police Station, Ajah,following which the culprits werereportedly arrested.

A chieftain of PDP in the state,

Chief Bode Oyedele, condemnedthe killing and blamed the AllProgressives Congress, APC, forthe incident.

It was learned that agovernorship aspirant on theplatform of the APC, (namewithheld) was being questionedby the police in connection withthe killing.

Lagos State PoliceCommissioner, Mr. KayodeAderanti, confirmed last nightthat the APC governorshipaspirant was being questionedover the incident, saying apump action gun was found inhis car. He said: “It is true; Iwarned earlier that anybody, nomatter how lowly or highlyplaced, found with illegallyacquired weapon must answerfor it. The man needs to tell uswhat he was doing with a pumpaction found in his car and if hisexplanations are not satisfactory,we’ll take him to court.”

Reacting to the development,Jimi Agbaje CampaignOrganisation said in astatement: “An electoral agent ofthe People’s Democratic Party,PDP, in Lagos State has beenshot dead, Sunday afternoon,while monitoring the ongoingdistribution of Permanent Voters’Cards (PVC). Mr. SikiruOgboye, a PDP Agent, was shotdead, allegedly on the orders ofa chieftain of the All People’sCongress (APC) by suspectedthugs, while he monitored thePVC Distribution exercise.

G O V E R N O R S H I Paspirant in Lagos

State on the platform of AllProgressive Congress, Mr.Akinwumi Ambode,weekend, hosted members ofthe Lagos House of Assemblyto a dinner.

The private dinner was heldin Ikeja, Lagos. Apart fromthe attendance recorded at thedinner and strategicconsultation meeting, thelegislators also greetedAmbode’s passionate speechwith a standing ovation.

36 out of 40 members of theHouse attended the event, adevelopment that furtheraffirms Ambode’s popularityand acceptability acrossboard.

At the dinner, Ambode

Ambode meets Lagos lawmakers, starts LGs tour

presented himself as aninformed, articulate buthumble candidate who doesnot only profess respect for thelegislative arm of governmentbut one who also submitshimself totally to the authorityand guidance of the party.

He told the legislators thathe was desirous of building onthe achievements of AsiwajuBola Tinubu and GovernorBabatunde Fashola, SAN, bothof whom he worked with asAccountant General andPermanent Secretary in thestate.

He also highlighted his coreprogrammes under the

acronym LAGOS - Leadership,Accountability, GoodGovernance, Opportunities andService and promised not to letthe state down if he secures theparty’s nod at the primaries onDecember 2.

Meanwhile, Ambodewhomade his declaration at theOnikan Stadium last month willcommence a tour of the 20 localgovernment areas in Lagos fromtoday. A statement from hismedia team said the tour of theLGs was in furtherance ofAmbode’s respect for partyinstitutions and belief inreaching out to all and sundry.

G O V E R N O RBabatunde Fashola

of Lagos State has yielded tothe demands of the strikingAdeniran Ogunsanya Collegeof Education, Ijanikin, bysetting up another ad-hoccommittee to resolve theclaims raised by staff of theinstitution.

The aggrieved staff had onOctober 27, 2014 protested tothe Lagos House, office ofGovernor Babatunde Fasholain Alausa, Ikeja. The reasonsfor their action was that thecredibility of the ad-hoccommittee, chaired by theSpecial Adviser to theGovernor on Education,Otunba Fatai Olukoga, toaddress the issues affectinginstitution could not betrusted. They added that theantecedents of the chairmanin previous committees onactivities affecting theinstitution, has not yield anyresult.

The Olukoga-led committeewas set up by the Governor tolook into the demands of theaggrieved staff with a view toresolving it and facilitate thequick reopening of theinstitution which was shut onOctober 13, this year.

Fashola setsup new c'tteeon strikingteachersclaims

Continues from page 5

Lagos plans mass protest overvoter's card distribution

million registrants in thestate. But when that data wassubjected to the AutomatedFingerprints IdentificationSystem (AFIS) software, 82,892multiple registrations wereeliminated. Also, there was thetechnical challenge of loss ofdata and incomplete data af-fecting about one millionrecords – mostly in 1,792 poll-ing units that were identifiedand made public before thepresent exercise. That waswhy the Post-Business Rule fig-ure for Lagos State (on the ba-sis of which PVCs wereprinted) came down to about4.6 million registrants.

"For avoidance of doubt, apre-acknowledged data lossand incomplete data of someregistrants is not a ‘conspiracy’issue as has been alleged bysome notable persons. It is a

back-end technical challengethat is far from sealing the fateof affected persons, and forwhich INEC has already putin place measures to ensureredress. The Commission hasmade provision for eligible per-sons for whom PVCs could notbe printed due to data loss ordefective data to come out fromWednesday, November 12th toMonday, November 17th,2014 for their data to berecaptured during the CVR. Inspecial consideration for the1,792 polling units in LagosState where the challenge ofdata loss is much pronounced,the CVR will take place at thepolling unit level, as againstthe Registration Area (RA)level in other parts of the state."Exercise should beextended — Residents

Meanwhile, most of the resi-dents who were yet to collecttheir PVCs have called for ex-

tension of the exercise for atleast five more days to ensurethat all eligible voters got theircards.

Mr. Lekan Oshinade, whohas collected his card narratedhow he suffered to get thePVC: ‘’There was so muchshoving and tossing around.The whole cards were notproperly sorted. At least, thecards should have beenarranged alphabetically foreasy identification. A lot ofpeople could not locate theircards. Without additional daysthe whole process will be afailure.”

Mr Wole Oderinde, who isyet to collect his PVC in one ofthe polling centres in Ikejatold Vanguard: “I am yet to col-lect the PVC. When I got there,the INEC official could not findmy PVC. I don’t think thethree days will be enough tocover all the people, there isneed for extension.”

Peace meeting

A FORUM of RiversState elders, leaders

and stakeholders,weekend, welcomed themeeting at the Royal Houseof Grace Church, Port-Harcourt, between one ofthe governorship aspirantsand a former Minister ofState for Education,Nyesom Wike, and elderstatesman and pioneerleader, founder of thePeoples Democratic Party,PDP, in Rivers State, AlaboT. O. Graham-Douglas.

The former minister wassaid to have expressedregrets for anymisunderstanding betweenthem and apologized forany wrongmisrepresentations.


PVC: Amosun, lawmaker hail INEC over extension Atiku flaysJonathan’spolicies

ABEOKUTA—Ogun Stategovernor, Senator

Ibikunle Amosun and a memberof House of Representativesrepresenting Ifo/Ewekoro Federalconstituency, Adekunle Adeyemi,have hailed the extension of thedistribution of Permanent VotersCards exercise by theIndependent National ElectoralCommission.

The INEC had announced theextension of the exercise by oneday following the complaints ofirregularities and poor handlingof the exercise in the state.

The Resident ElectoralCommissioner in the state, SamOlumekun made theannouncement at a pressstatement yesterday, saying, the

By Daud Olatunji exercise would end on Mondayinstead of Sunday.

Reacting to the extension,Amosun in a state broadcastyesterday, commended theINEC for acceding to thegovernment’s request forextension.

The member of House ofRepresentatives who alsocommended the INEC forextending the days of theexercise, urged the people tobe patient with the commission.Adeyemi who stated thisshortly after he collected hisPVC in Ifo, yesterday,expressed satisfaction over theexercise, saying that the INECofficials must be commended.

Meanwhile, Amosun in hisstate broadcast appealed to “allthe residents of Ogun State to

utilize the opportunity providedby the extra day granted byINEC."He added, "We should allgo to our respective polling unitsto collect our PVCs. Thecommission has assured thatmany more cards are nowavailable for collection. INEC hasalso assured us that those whosenames are on the register butwhose cards are not availablenow will be able to collect at alater date, from INEC offices inthe 20 Local Government Areas.

“For those whose names arenot on the displayed voters’register and those who could notregister in the last registrationexercise, INEC has assured thatthe Continuous Voters’Registration (CVR) exercise willtake place between Wednesday12 November and Monday 17,

November 2014 and will provideopportunity for them to registerand obtain their voters’ cardsbefore the election.

“My dear good people of OgunState, let me stress, for theumpteenth time, the significanceof obtaining your PermanentVoters’ Cards as it is only whenyou have your voter’s card thatyou can vote in the forth-comingelections. Once again, I thankyou all for your patience andunderstanding, while I enjointhe good people of Ogun Stateto go and collect yourpermanent voters’ cards. I thankyou all. May God bless Ogun.

Dr Mrs NgoziOlejeme withthe NationalOrganizingsecretary of thePeoples Demo-cratic Party(PDP) AlhajiAbubakar.Mustaphaduring thesubmission ofher Governor-ship Form atthe PDPheadquarters inAbuja.

AKURE— THE SpecialAdviser to the president

on Niger Delta and Chairmanof Amnesty, Kingsley Kuku,weekend, assured that the crisisgenerated by the defectionof Governor Olusegun Mimikowould be resolved before thecommencement of the primariesof the party.

He equally defended the resultof the negotiation entered withthe state governor that produceda sharing formula for electiveposts in the state.

Kuku said this to newsmenafter the local governmentcongress of the party held atIgbekebo, Ese-Odo localgovernment area of the state.

Hee said the leaders thataccepted the outcome of thenegotiation did so in the interestof the party.

According to him, the leaders,himself inclusive, accepted theproposal of the governor as it wasan improvement on what theparty had during the lastelection. The presidential aide,who was elected to represent thelocal government at the nationalconvention of the party, saidrather than castigating those thatbrokered the deal, they shouldbe lauded for their efforts.

Mimiko: Crisis’llbe resolvedbefore PDPprimaries—Kuku

By Dayo Johnson

ABEOKUTA—The Senatorrepresenting Ogun

Central Senatorial District,Gbenga Obadara, yesterday,made a u-turn over the claim thathe had been endorsed by theSocial Democratic Party, SDP, inthe state as the party'sgovernorship candidate.

Obadara who currentlyrepresents his district in the Senateon the platform of the AllProgressives Congress, APC,denied saying he hadbeen endorsed by the SDP in thestate.

The senator who was reactingto media reports that the OgunState chapter of the SDP hadendorsed him as its candidate forthe 2015 election, claimed that he

2015: Obadara recants over Ogun SDPendorsement

By Daud Olatunji said he is “eminently qualified”to contest the governorship ofthe State.

Obadara along with the otherfederal lawmakers loyal to theformer governor OlusegunOsoba have been at loggerheadswith Governor Ibikunle Amosunover the control of the APCmachinery in the state.

It was gathered that threeAPC senators and six membersof the House of Representativesfrom the state along with otherOsoba loyalists had as a resultof the intra-partycrisis defected to theSDP. They were,however, yet toofficially do so.

The senator who isalso the chairman of

the Senate Committee onPrivatization, however, stressedthat if he eventually emergedafter the primary election as theSDP standard-bearer, he wouldbe glad to take on the incumbentGovernor Amosun.

He said: “The question wasasked where I am, I said I am inSDP. I believe I have the right ofassociation and I said though notyet formalized, but we are in theprocess of doing that. You havebeen seeing us sensitizing ourpeople about the permanentvoters’ card."

ADO Ekiti – THEformer Vice-

President, Alhaji AtikuAbubakar, hascondemned the DrGoodluck Jonathan-ledfederal government forimplementing policies thatdo no not have directbenefit on the averageNigerians and his allegedinability to bail the countryout of the menace of BokoHaram insurgents

Abubakar who is apresidential aspirant underthe platform of AllProgressive Congress,APC, noted that most of thepolicies being implementedby Jonathan were bringinguntold hardship on thepeople

He said Nigeria underthe President Jonathan wasseriously sick and that thecountry needed a surgicaloperation.

Abubakar who was in IreEkiti, weekend, during thecommissioning of the multi-million naira 32-bedhospital built by Hon BimboDaramola, a memberrepresenting Oye,Ikole Federal Constituencyin the House ofRepresentatives, urgedNigerians to ensure achange in the leadership ofthe country by votingPeoples Democratic Party,PDP, out at the in the nextyear’s general election

He said, “Certainly,Nigeria is not healthy.When you look at theeconomy and insecurity inthe country, you will knowthat certainly, Nigeria is nothealthy. The only thing thatcan salvage Nigeria’ssituation is to seize theopportunity to bring abouta change by voting in APC.”

Abubakar furtherdescribed the calls for theremoval of the Speaker,House of Representatives,Alhaji Aminu Tambuwalfrom his positionas “irresponsible”

By Gbenga Ariyibi


Oshiomhole, Anenih, others grace Olu ofWarri's son’s wedding

By Simon Ebegbulem

Delta 2015:Jibunoh allaysUrhobo fears

By Emma Amaize

DSIEC fixes Wednesday for fresh LG polls in partsof Delta

Delta Speaker attributes success to Uduaghan'sthree-point agenda

By Festus Ahon

BENIN—IT was agathering of who is who

in Nigeria, weekend, whenthe daughter of Benin-bornbillionaire, Ivie UhunomaOkunbor, and son of the Oluof Warri, UtieyinoritsetsolaAyonmigbesimi Emiko,concluded their traditionalwedding ceremony in theancient city of Benin, EdoState.

Over ten private jetsconveying dignitaries fromdifferent parts of the countryfor the colourful ceremonylanded at Benin Airportbetween Friday and Saturday.

Apart from solidifying therelationship between bothfamilies, the occasion broughtwarring leaders of AllProgressives Congress, APC,and Peoples Democratic Party,PDP, in the state together.

The leaders of both partiesburied their politicaldifferences to honour thefather of the bride, CaptainHosa Okunbor, who is wellknown for his philanthropicgestures in the state.

Remarkably also, themarriage further solidified thehistorical relationship betweenthe Bini and the Itsekiri.

As it seems, Prince Emikoonly came home to take one ofhis kindred as wife.

Recall that Prince Iginuwa,heir apparent to the Binithrone in the 14th century, leftBenin and founded the WarriKingdom.

Today, the Olu of Warri, adescendant of Prince Iginuwa,now sits on the throne.

It was not surprising that the

ceremony was like a homecoming for the Itsekiri palacechiefs and political leaderswho stormed Benin City,dressed in their traditionalattire, as their Binicounterparts.

Dignitaries at the occasionincluded Governor AdamsOshiomhole of Edo State;National Chairman of APC,Chief John Odigie-Oyegun;Chairman Board of Trustees ofPDP, Chief Tony Anenih;Minister of Works, ArchitectMike Onolemenmen; SpecialAdviser to President GoodluckJonathan on Inter-partyAffairs, Senator Ben Obi;Publisher of VanguardNewspapers, Mr. Sam Amuka;

former Chief Whip of theSenate, Senator RowlandOwie and wife; President ofthe Nigerian Bar Association,NBA, Austin Alegbe andChairman of Sky Bank, Dr.Tunde Ayeni.

Others were President of theChristian Association ofNigeria, CAN, Pastor AyoOritsejiafor; Speaker of EdoState House of Assembly, UyiIgbe; Chairman of APC in EdoState, Anslem Ojezua;Chairman of PDP in Edo State,Chief Dan Orbih; Chief TomIkimi; Mr. ChibudomNwuche, former DeputySpeaker House ofRepresentatives; Chief IfeanyiUba; Julie Coker, Solomon

Edebiri, Senator DaisyDanjuma and former Deputygovernor of Edo State, Mr.Lucky Imasuen.

Also at the wedding wereMinority Whip of the Houseof Representatives, Mr.Samson Osagie; Pastor OsagieIze-Iyamu; former Speaker ofDelta State House ofAssembly, Mr. Victor Ochei;Chief Ayiri Emani, ChiefTunde Smooth, Gen.CharlesAiriavbere,(rtd); former FirstLady of Edo State, Mrs. EkiIgbinedion; EnduranceOdubu wife of Edo StateDeputy Governor; Mr. WestEhigie Idahosa, members ofBenin Traditional Council andmany others.

ASABA—DELTA StateIndependent Electoral

Commission, DSIEC, hasfixed Wednesday for freshand runoff elections inNdokwa East, Ethiope East,Okpe and Udu LocalGovernment Areas,respectively.

The commission, in astatement by its chairman, Mr.Moses Ogbe, said: “DeltaState local governmentelections held on October 25,2014 could not be conductedor concluded in a few areas.Delta State ElectoralCommission, DSIEC, hereby,informs the political partiesconcerned and theircandidates, as well as thegeneral public that the

elections will take place in theaffected areas on November12, 2014 as follows: NdokwaEast Local Government Area:fresh elections forchairmanship andcouncillorship positions in allthe 20 wards.

“Ethiope East LocalGovernment Area: wards1,2,3,4,5,14,17,18, and 19.Okpe Local Government Area:wards 4,7 and 12 and UduLocal Government Area: allthe units in wards 15 and twounits in ward 17.

"The candidates who wereearlier presented will contestthe elections except in ward 4in Okpe Local GovernmentArea where substitution for acandidate who died a few daysbefore the elections will bemade.”

SPEAKER of Delta StateHouse of Assembly, Right

Hon. Peter Onwusanya,weekend, said keying into thethree-point agenda of GovernorEmmanuel Uduaghan’sadministration, anchored onpeace and security, humancapital development andinfrastructure development,contributed to the successesrecorded during his first tenureas a lawmaker.

He spoke when he formallydeclared to contest the OshimiliSouth constituency seat of DeltaState House of Assembly on theplatform of Peoples DemocraticParty, PDP.

He said: “My representationwas keyed into the governor’sthree-point agenda and that iswhy we recorded lots ofachievements in areas of peaceand security, roads construction,school buildings, employment

and empowerment. Farmers,traders and traditional rulersalso benefitted from ourprogrammes.”

Onwusanya asserted thatOshimili South LocalGovernment remained the mostpeaceful area in the statebecause he ensured that thelocal vigilance group and policewere encouraged to effectivelypolice of the area.

A S A B A — Aprominent leader

from Delta North senatorialdistrict, Delta State, ChiefNewton Jibunoh, weekendallayed the fears of theUrhobo Progress Union,UPU, that an Aniomagovernor would relegateUrhobo ethnic nationality inthe scheme of things in thestate.

Speaking in Asaba,Jibunoh, who accepted thatAnioma people had toreach out to the Urhobo tonegotiate an article of faith,insisted that to ensure peaceand stability in the state,there was need for theUrhobo to allow power shiftto Delta North.

He said: “The obviousthing is that we in DeltaNorth have to work a littleharder to remove the fearthey may have about agovernor from the Northsenatorial district. If we(North) acceptedgovernors, over the yearsfrom the Central and Southdistricts, there is no reasonwhy they should refuse agovernor from the North."

Tayo Akpatafor burial

THE remains ofelder statesman,

astute administrator andnationalist, Chief TayoAkpata, who died inLagos, October 13, 2014,will be buried onNovember 21, 2014 inBenin City, Edo State.

A statement by thefamily, weekend, saidthe funeral arrangementswill commenceNovember 14th with amemorial dinner andconcert at 5pm tocelebrate Chief Akpata’sraison d’etre (his life andtimes.) The screening ofa documentary film titledA sage goes home, willalso hold the sameevening at the LandmarkVillage in Oniru,Victoria Island, Lagos.

On November 20, acommendation servicewill hold at Ikoyi BaptistChurch at, after whichthe body leaves forBenin.

On Friday, November21, 2014, the funeralservice will hold at theCentral Baptist Church,Kings Square, BeninCity. A reception followsimmediately at Edo Hotelin G.R.A., Benin City.

TRADITIONAL MARRIAGE: Ivie Uhunoma Okunbo (bride) and her groom,Utieyinoritsetsola Ayonmigbesimi Emiko, during their traditional marriage in Benin.


PDP governorship aspirants gang up against Obuh

By Egufe Yafugborhi

W A R R I — P E O P L E SDemocratic Party, PDP,

governorship aspirants in DeltaState for the 2015 governorshipelection, after a meeting,weekend, in Warri, vowed to re-sist alleged planned impositionof a candidate on the party aheadof the primaries.

Aspirants at the meeting whofirst met at a hotel in Effurun andlater shifted to the Warri home ofIjaw Leader, Chief Edwin Clark,were Chief Kenneth Gbagi,former Delta Assembly Speaker,Victor Ochei, Senator IfeanyiOkowa, member of the House ofthe Representatives, Ndudi Elu-menu, Sylvester Monye, amongothers.

Following consultation withChief Clark which lasted till Sat-urday night, Chief Gbagi, whobriefed the press on the outcomesaid: “Those of us who boughtforms and have submitted, exceptTony Obuh, have all met todayand we have come to brief ourfather, the political leader of ourstate and the South-South, ChiefClark. We are saying we will notallow any imposition of a candi-

date on PDP." Suffice it to say the issue is not

about Obuh, but we are alsoresolutely saying Obuh is not acard carrying member of PDP.

"It will be an illegality if Obuhsays he is a member because heresigned only two and a half

months ago and as such we in-sist, as a people, that he is not amember and we do not agree toanything called imposition of anycandidate in the PDP forgovernorship.”

He said because of PresidentJonathan’s declaration on Tues-

•say he is not a PDP memberday and based on the advice fromChief Clark, the protesting aspir-ants had shifted the meeting to“Abuja where we are going to is-sue a proper communiqué after apress conference on Tuesday.”

THE nation’s economy lost atleast N35 billion in the last

seven days as clearing agentsblockaded the Lagos PortComplex, LPC, Apapa, overdisagreement in charges collectedby terminal operators.

While the Apapa AreaCommand of the NigeriaCustoms Service, NCS, has lostan average of N1.4 billion dailyas a result of the agents’ action;shipping lines, manufacturingcompanies, haulage/truckingfirms, terminal operators,Nigerian Ports Authority,importers, clearing agents andother agencies of government

Nigeria loses N35bn in one week as agentsshut down major seaport

GOVERNOR RochasOkorocha of Imo

State, weekend, advocatedfor what he termed“systematic devolution ofpower in Nigeria where theenormous power at thecentre is decentralized tothe state and localgovernments.”

Okorocha, who spoke inOwerri, while addressingboard members of theNigerian Media MeritAward, NMMA,contended that it wouldhelp to create sustainableeconomic development atthe grassroots.

According to him,devolution of power was thesolution to the alarmingpoverty in Nigeria, notingthat the country’s politicalauthority was highlyconcentrated on anindividual solelydetermining the survival ordeath of millions ofNigerians.

By Godwin Oritse reportedly lost N3.6 billionamounting to an average dailyloss of N5 billion.

The blockade, which started onMonday, November 3, 2014, hascontinued till today without anysign of resolution. Area ProjectManager, Apapa Area Commandof the NCS, Deputy ComptrollerYusuf Malanta, explained thateven while some documents couldbe processed online, containerscould not exit the port because theycould not be examined by customsofficers.

While confirming the hugerevenue loss by the command,Malanta said the strike could alsoinduce port congestion. Recall that

the Nigerian Shippers’ Council,NSC, on Wednesday October 29,2009 announced the reversal ofstorage charges at the ports whichwas in force as at May 1, 2009.NSC also ordered an increase inthe free storage period at the portfrom three to seven days.

It equally directed shippingcompanies to reduce theirshipping line agency chargesfrom N26,500 to N23,850 perTEU (20-foot containers) and fromN48,000 to N40,000 per FEU (40-foot containers).

Also, it directed shippingagencies to refund containerdeposits to importers and agentswithin 10 working days after thereturn of the empty containers.

By Chidi Nkwopara,Owerri

Okorochaadvocatespowerdevolution


CMYK


OLU OF WARRI'S SON'S TRADITIONAL MARRIAGE IN BENIN

Governor Adams Oshiomholechatting with Major. Gen.Charles Airhiavbere (rtd), atthe event.

The couple flanked by the Olu's chiefs.

From left, Warri chiefs: Chief Otimwyin Adams,Chief Kofi Kartey, and Chief Emma Tetsola.

From left, Warri chiefs: Chief P.D.Yalaju JP, ChiefE.F.Egigi, and Chief Yemi Oritsejafor.

From left, Olori, Olu of Warri’s wife; Dr. Mrs.Anigala, and Hon. Irene Otha.Sen. Ben Obi (left) and Hon. Bright Igbinedion


From left, Mr. Sam Amuka, Publisher, Vanguard Newspapers; Professor GraceAlele -Williams; Patricia Otuedon-Arawore, Hon. Justice Andrew Obaseki,and Chief Gaius Obaseki.

From left, Professor Grace Alele-Williams, chatting with Justice Joseph Olubo(rtd), former President, Customary Court of Appeal, and Chief Gaius Obaseki.

From left, Professor Grace Alele -Williams, former Vice Chancellor, Universityof Benin, and Chief Yuki Obaseki.

From left, Professor Grace Alele-Williams, Patricia Otuedon-Arawore,executive secretary, Hallmarks of Labour Foundation, HLF; Hon. JusticeAndrew Obaseki, Chief Gaius Obaseki, former NNPC Managing Director(rtd), after HLF's life-time achievements award for exemplary/courageousservice to the advancement of Nigeria's legal system, especially in the area ofadjudication. The award was presented to Hon. Justice Andrew Obaseki (rtd),CFR, in Benin City. Photos: Barnabas Uzosike

Justice Andrew Obaseki (rtd) bags HLF Award

OPINION


*Mr. Galadima, a political analyst, wrotefrom Kano, Kano State.

By Abubakar Galadima Final blow to Shema's VP ambitionTO Chief Tony Anenih, chairman of

the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP,Board of Trustees, double-speak is not avirtue. Over the years, he hasmaintained the principled position thaton issues of party loyalty and discipline,a leader does not need to prevaricate. Itis one principle that has defined hispolitics and earned him acclaim evenfrom rivals. It was that principle hebrought to bear in dealing with theperceived vice presidential ambition ofIbrahim Shehu Shema, the governor ofKatsina State- an issue which has broughtso much disquiet to the leadership of thePDP for the better part of this year.

Among top Northerners in the party, theissue of displacing the sitting VicePresident, Namadi Sambo and installingGovernor Shema in his place, wasgenerating unnecessary bad blood. Whilesome openly declared for Shema, a largernumber insisted that incumbent VicePresident Sambo has not done anything towarrant replacement. Though thataspiration existed in the realm ofspeculation as Shema refrained frommaking open declarations about it, it wasno less potent because Shema did not findit fit to dispel the rumour outright. Indeedhis actions tended to reinforce thatperception that he was nursing theambition of becoming the vice president.

From little speculations, the mattergained a divisive momentum among acertain section of the North. Comingshortly before major national elections in

which the President is standing for re-election, it was an issue with whichAnenih and the PDP hierarchy were notcomfortable. So, when the issue rearedits head in Katsina during a stakeholdersand reconciliation meeting of the PDPpresided over by Anenih in his capacityas chairman of the North West IntegrationCommittee, he had reportedly toldGovernor Shema that his bid to becomevice president was not feasible. The elderstatesman, according to availableinformation, was apparently annoyed thatinstead of addressing issues ofreconciliation, the top party leaders inattendance at the meeting had busiedthemselves singing praises of Shema andarguing that he should impress it uponPresident Jonathan to replace VicePresident Sambo with Governor Shema.

Feelers from the meeting indicated thatafter listening to submissions from mostof the stakeholders who requested himto prevail on Jonathan to replace Sambowith Shema, he was blunt in telling thesycophants that President Jonathan hasmade up his mind to run with Sambo in2015. He categorically stated thatimplicit in the sole candidacy ticketoffered Jonathan by the party is the VPticket for Sambo.

Ever since that blunt declaration byAnenih, it is interesting to see howcertain individuals have mounted acampaign to misinform the public andcreate the impression that Anenih was

high-handed in dealing with Shema onthe issue. The orchestrated mediacampaign to impugn Anenih’s esteemedcharacter is an unnecessary viciousnessand the good thing is that a vastmajority of members of the public whoare interested in the issue could read inbetween the lines.

What really does Shema want?Although he has severally claimed thathe was never after Sambo’s job, hisactions all through the current yearhave been most divisive, posingunnecessary hurdles for a party in need ofcohesion. At the time this speculation wasgaining ground, Shema was also revvingup publicity around his person and hisadministration. It was easy to interpret theunusual increase in media attention as asubtle campaign. Suddenly, hisperformance as Katsina governor becamea topic of discussion in the media just ashis jingles and advertisements of hisadministration’s projects became moreaudible. If anyone still doubted hisintentions, the carnival he staged lastSeptember to host the Nigerian editors’conference was a clear indication.

The argument by supposed Shemaloyalists that VP Sambo would not beable to rally the North or deliver therequired votes from the North forPresident Jonathan in 2015, was anunnecessary distraction. Not only is thatstatement not supported by reality onground, it tends to create divisions in the

party and betrays desperation on theGovernor’s part.

But as a newspaper columnist recentlyargued, there is nothing really wrong inShema aspiring to that position sincepeople should be allowed to hold theirconvictions if only the constitutionalprovision of the right to aspire under theprinciples of franchise is to be respected.The snag was in the tactic adopted forthe aspiration and the bad blood it wascreating in the Northern wing of the party.Considering the deeper implications of adivided PDP in the North going into the2015 elections, the party could no longercondone such insensitivity.

It is an issue that needed the tough-talkof Anenih to finally bring to rest; and hedid just that at the Katsina meeting,ending the shenanigans over whether ornot Sambo would be retained asJonathan’s running mate in the 2015presidential election. For him, Sambo isit! Once again, the greater interest ofthe party has prevailed over personalinterest of one person; and to the chagrinof some newspaper columnists andopposition elements, the PDP is the betterfor it.

THE increasing cruelties our societyharbours have moved to insistent assaultson children by guardians, who descend ontheir wards with the most puerileexcuses.Gory media images of childrendismembered, beaten to death, withshrivelled fingers, or reduced to skeletonsare becoming common.In all these instances, the criminals find

excuses for abusing the children, perhapsknowing they would get away with theirdastardly acts. Why would a society erectsuch wickedness for its young ones, themost vulnerable, and expect to makeprogress? Why are these acts continuing?How would these acts, which portray usas primitive, be stopped?The foundation of these perfidies is the

social dynamics of a society that seekssolutions to mere economic and socialchallenges in spiritualists and shrines.Without lifting a finger, most people expectthey would find the riches that wouldcatapult them out of their economic woes.Others want to attain political power or

improved social standing through culticpowers. Many of the assaults on childrencannot be explained by the presumed anger

A Society ThatA Society ThatA Society ThatA Society ThatA Society ThatDevours Its ChildrenDevours Its ChildrenDevours Its ChildrenDevours Its ChildrenDevours Its Children

of the culprits or the frequent excuse ofnot knowing “what came over me”.Whatever the reasons, our society muststand up firmly against the cruelties thatare defining it.The stories are endless, and the extent of

the injuries inflicted on children,sometimes resulting in deaths, paints apicture of utter madness. Men and womenare killing the young and getting awaywith it. Sometimes there are debateswhether their excuses for murder shouldbe accepted. We have to enforce the law.Unfortunately, some churches prescribe

these punishments for children who theyidentify as witches. Some parents have noqualms punishing their children to deathin line with prophecies. Some of the deadare children recruited as house helps, orwhose parents sent to relations to assistwith their upbringing.We think that these incidents are

continuing because law enforcement isweak. Offenders are getting away withmurder under spurious explanations. Thefew cases that make it to court are at theinstance of civil society groups, whichhave the heart, but hardly the war chestfor the lengthy legal tangles these mattersinvolve. Society’s insensitivity to the plightof the victims, some of whose minds havebeen shattered from their tortures, isgradually defining our lives.These stories no longer shock. Is our

society exalting brutality to one of itsethos? Section 34 (1 a) of the Constitutionstates, “Every individual is entitled torespect for the dignity of his person, andaccordingly, no person shall be subject totorture or to inhuman or degradingtreatment”. We cannot build a society oncruelty – it is illegal.

CMYK

NOVEMBER 10, 2014

Of the 59 insurance companiesoperating in Nigeria, onlyabout a dozen are complying

with laid down rules and regulationsthat have excluded them from beingsanctioned by the National InsuranceCommission, NAICOM.

The others are enmeshed in one formof unprofessional conduct orirregularity which continues to attractone form of sanction, fines or evenpenalty.

However, the National InsuranceCommission, NAICOM, theregulatory body for insurance practicein the country has emphasised that itwill be very firm in enforcingcompliance with laid down rules andregulations in order to instil disciplinein the sector.

Insurance operators are expected tocarry out their businesses by abidingby some operational guidelines,principles and regulatoryrequirements such as compliance torisk-based supervision; transition toInternational Financial ReportingStandard, IFRS; solvency adequacy;early submission of financial results,and so on. However, only a handfulis complying with all these.

For example, analysis of data ofcompanies that have submitted their2014 third quarter result to NAICOMshow that only 15 have done so out ofthe 59 in the industry. Thesecompanies are Arm (Crystalife)Assurance; Cornerstone Insurance;Equity Assurance; FBN Life; FinInsurance; Guinea Insurance; KBL(PHB) Insurance; NigerianAgricultural Insurance Corporation;Old Mutual (Oceanic) Insurance; OldMutual Life; Standard Alliance Life;UBA Metropolitan Life; UnionAssurance; Wapic Insurance; andWapic Life.

Lamenting this poor showing,Commissioner for Insurance, Mr. FolaDaniel said that some insurancecompanies do not submit annualaccounts before Christmas.

Daniel said: “Whereas the InsuranceAct 2003 provides for submission ofannual accounts no later than 30thJune, the requirement by the NigerianStock Exchange for listed companiesis 31st March. The Commission hadin the past continued to plead for the

NAICOM descends onNAICOM descends onNAICOM descends onNAICOM descends onNAICOM descends onerring insurance firmserring insurance firmserring insurance firmserring insurance firmserring insurance firms

By ROSEMARY ONUOHA

AGM - Chairman of Arco Group Plc, Chief Joseph Akpieyi(middle), the Group Managing Director of Arco Group Plc, Mr. AlfredOkoigun(left) and Arco Group’s Legal Adviser, Mr. Dennis Ayisire(right) displaying at Arco AGM the Certificate of Registration ofArco Group Plc, the new Holding Company of Arco.

Continues on page 18

sector with other regulators forforbearance.”

According to him, going forward,insurance companies must complywith all requisite regulatoryrequirements without plea subsidiesfrom NAICOM.

On solvency adequacy, Daniel saidthat from the audited financials ofnearly a dozen insurance companies,solvency gaps are recurring featuresof their activities for as much as threeconsecutive years and appropriateregulation should have resulted ineither suspension of the operating

license and possibly withdrawal. “The Commission had chosen to

show some understanding against thebackdrop of massive investment lossesfollowing the capital market crash of2009/2010. Whereas other sectorshave achieved reasonable recovery,insurers and NAICOM may no longerbe able to invoke the excuses of themarket crash as justification for thepoor turn of event. The Commissionshall therefore have zero tolerance forsolvency gaps in the ensuing year inthe interest of the insuring public andfor the avoidance of exposure of

NAICOM to regulatory risk,” Danielsaid.

According to Daniel, the growth ofthe industry has remained constrainedby the near total absence of riskmanagement practice and appropriateproduct pricing amongst other issuesplaguing the industry. “Theconsequence is massive loss ofpremium and wealth to stakeholders.

“No doubt, therefore, that the priceof listed insurance companies rarelyrecord market gain while shareholders

VVVVVolatility aheadolatility aheadolatility aheadolatility aheadolatility ahead

/P18

CMYK


Cover Story

Continues from page 17

CONFERENCE - From left, Chief Mrs. Leila Fowler, owner of Vivian Fowler Memorial forGirls; Governor of Lagos State, Babatunde Raji Fashola, and Osayi Alile, Chairperson, Exec-utive Council, Women in Management, Business and Public Service (WIMBIZ) at the WIM-BIZ Annual Confrence and award in Lagos.

NAICOM descends on erringinsurance firms

have not received dividendsin the past 3 – 5 years in 80per cent of membercompanies,” he said.

On risk-based supervisionand market conduct, Danielsaid that NAICOM hadissued the Risk ManagementFramework since 2012preparatory to transition toRisk-Based Supervision, therecent report by Delloitterevealed that itsimplementation by insurersremains only on paper.

According to Daniel,some insurers

complain of over-regulationand that the regime of finesand penalties has becomepunitive, which he describedas most unfortunate,however, they are yet todemonstrate how regulationstifled the performance ofinsurance companies.

“It is pertinent to note thatevery report frominternational organisationsand rating agencies havecontinued to rate theNigerian insurance industryas being under-regulated. These organisations include;the International Associationof Insurance Supervisors(IAIS), the FinancialStability Board (FSB), theInternational MonetaryFund (IMF), KPMG andStandard & Poors’ . Theassessment has taken severalforms and differentprograms, one of which is theFinancial Sector AssessmentPrograms (FSAPs) conductedby the IMF and World Bank.

“The last demonstration ofunder-regulation in theinsurance industry was

posted by Standard & Poors’(S&Ps’) rating on Nigeria’sproperty/casualty insurancesector which; indicated ahigh industry and countryrisk assessment. The reportrated “Nigeria’sinstitutional framework ininsurance based on theirassessment of two factors;(a) regulatory frameworkand track record, and (b)governance andtransparency - as weak.Improvements in thesefactors have come onlyslowly and both started froma low base.”

Daniel said that theintroduction of InternationalFinancial ReportingStandard (IFRS), the Anti-Money Laundering andCountering the Financing ofTerrorism (AML/CFT)regime, the No Premium, NoCover, the requirement foroffshore remittance, etc., hasbenefitted all insurers today,significantly curbing marketabuses.

According to him,NAICOM will continue tocreate the right environmentfor ethical behaviour andconversely, where theyidentify actions detrimentalto the interest of theindustry; shall takecorrective steps as part oftheir mandate.

“It is high time we allstepped up our game andlearn to play by the rules. Itis only by so doing that wecan achieve real growth anddevelopment in the industryand make meaningfulcontribution to theeconomy,” Daniel said.

Also piqued by the positionof the insurance industry inthe financial sector, Mr. FelixOhiwerei, former Chairmanof Nigerian Breweries Plcsaid that insurance is animportant arm of theeconomy and the nation isunderplaying the value ofinsurance due to the inactionof players in the sector.

According to him,insurance operators have notpushed the industry enoughto attain the level itdeserves, hence he chargedoperators to be more activeand visible so that youngpeople can take on insuranceand understand what it isabout.

It is high timewe all stepped up

our game andlearn to play bythe rules. It is

only by so doingthat we canachieve realgrowth and

development inthe industry and

make meaningfulcontribution tothe economy

The term businessdenotes a particulartrade or profession

designed to provide goodsand/or services to consumers.And in like vein, anyorganization which providesthese services is also referredto as a ‘Business’. Businessesplay a vital role in the life andculture of countries withcapitalist and free-marketeconomies. In free-marketeconomies, businessesoperate without governmentcontrol in matters such aspricing and wage levels.While in capitalist economies,private individual andbusiness firms carry on theproduction and exchange ofgoods and services through acomplex network of pricesand markets. The earliestknown use of “business” isthe state of being busy eitheras an individual or society asa whole, doing commerciallyviable and profitable work.It is of utmost importance thatin starting a business, youneed to be guided in yourchoice of bringing thatlifelong dream of yours intofruition. By following thebasic guides or rules, you canwrite a plan adequately thatreflects your goals, yourpersonal skills, needs,knowledge, leadershipabilities, available resources,level of risk, and the natureof your business factor intothe equation (the nature ofyour business). One of themost important aspects ofstarting your own business isthat it gives you anopportunity to do what youenjoy.When starting a business,certain important points mustcome to mind your businessmust fit into your personality,passion, vision, strengths andother strong character traits.Never base your desire tostart a business on what afriend has done, this isbecause the fact that it workedfor another doesn’tnecessarily mean it will workfor you. Bear in mind thatentrepreneurship isindividualistic, andleadership is indivisible.Let me explain to you, why Idecided to write this book. Iam constantly pained by thealarming rate of unemployedyouths in the society and thepoverty level not only in our

The Basic Guide to Starting your Business -Part 1

country, but also all over theworld. The situation pulls atmy heartstrings and I knowand am convinced that we canchange things for the better,if only people join in theentrepreneurial revolutionby becoming their own boss.Growing up for me wasn’teasy and I knew I didn’t wantto end up that way, so themoment I discovered anopportunity, I did not hesitateto take advantage of it. I’mdesirous for a transformation,which will catapult your lifeto that place God haspredestined for you. Every business starts with anidea, so it is important to havethe right kind of idea; this isbecause the wrong idea canlead to the failure of abusiness. Don’t forget thatthe first step is always crucialin the start of any journey inlife.It is important that you Braceup for the challenges ahead,and do not let anyone fool you(don’t be deceived) that youwon’t encounter obstacles.Nevertheless, the

determination to succeed andgo on will guarantee that youremain on top of your game;this is because the veryexistence of an idea in yourmind shows that you havewithin and around you, thecapacity to turn it into reality.Generally, the size ofbusiness you want to embarkon has to be thoroughlyconsidered; this is becausethere is no maximum orminimum length for abusiness plan. Thedetermining factor for lengthsdepends on the level ofdetails and the amount offunding you require toachieve such goals.

One of the mostimportantaspects of

starting yourown business isthat it gives youan opportunityto do what you

enjoy

CMYK


Business & Economy

well as political choices.Nigeria is facing an election

year and the electorate will becalled upon to make a choiceof who will lead the nation inthe next four years. Parties arehoodwinking Nigerians tobelieve in them and choosetheir favoured candidates.Issues are being raised onthose in leadership positionnow and those that were therebefore and are staging acomeback. The point at focusis that Nigerian leaders arecorrupt and the nation isunder-developed. Many thinkthat how to get rid ofcorruption from the nation’sbody politics is the major issueat stake. Some have talkedabout transformation which isactually what Nigeria needs.

What kind of transformationdoes Nigeria need, physicalinfrastructure transformationor mental transformation ofthe citizenry? Thus far,Nigerians have focused onphysical transformation basedon infrastructuraldevelopment. No matter thelevel of infrastructuraldevelopment, if there is nochange in the way of life of thepeople, the way they seethings and the way they relateto things, whatevertransformation goes on willjust be another of those things.The current attitude towardanything public sector, willhave to change before Nigeriacan make progress. Crude oiltheft, pipeline vandalism,insurgency etc., are deeprooted issues that Nigeria isgrappling with. Are they actsof corruption? Vandalisingelectricity installation iscertainly not an act ofcorruption but the inability ofthose in power to implementand enforce existing laws.

So long as Nigerians

Think of the alternative beforemaking the choice of who leads

Economists usually begin their thoughts with choices, scale of preferenceand alternatives forgone. Individuals, households, firms and nationsmake choices. The choice that each of these entities makes depends on

how informed the one making the choice is on available alternatives and theopportunity cost of the choice made. The opportunity cost is the alternativeforgone for the purpose of making the choice. There are economic choices as

continue to see those ingovernment as rogues, publicproperty is nobody’s and theidea of sharing and notbaking, and the privileged fewcontinue to break laws and getaway with it, Nigeria willcontinue to be a giant inwaiting.

In their attempt to makeNigeria great, leaders mustfocus on Maslow’s theorywhich was fully expressed inhis 1954 book, Motivation andPersonality. Maslow’shierarchy of needs remains avery popular framework insociology research,managementtraining andsecondary andh i g h e rpsycho logyinstruction.The first thingt h a tpreoccupiedthe mind of thea v e r a g eNigerian is hisphysiologicalneeds; thep h y s i c a lrequirementsfor his humansurvival. Ift h e s erequirementsare not met, asit is today, themind of suchi n d i v i d u a lc a n n o tf u n c t i o nproperly andwill ultimatelyf a i l .

Physiological needs arethought to be the mostimportant; they should be metfirst. Air, water, and food aremetabolic requirements forsurvival in all animals,including humans. Clothingand shelter provide necessaryprotection from the elements.

In making a choice for the2015 general elections,

Nigerians must find out whichNigerian political party has theprogramme to bring this totheir doorsteps. It is not aboutthe person, his religion orwhich geopolitical region he

comes frombut what isthe candidateoffering thenation andt h ealternative tobe forgone if Ivote for him.

If you arer e l a t i v e l ysatisfied withphysiologicalneeds, safetyneeds takeprecedenceand dominatebehaviour. InN i g e r i atoday, theabsence ofp h y s i c a lsafety – dueto theinsurgency inthe North-East ands u i c i d eb o m b i n g ,

armed robbery, kidnappingsmany Nigerians areexperiencing traumatic stressdisorder or Trans generationaltrauma. Similarly for whatsometime now the absence ofeconomic safety – due toeconomic crisis and lack ofwork opportunities safetyneeds manifest themselves inways such as a preference forjob security, grievanceprocedures for protecting theindividual from unilateralauthority. What manyNigerian need now in termsof safety and security needsinclude: personal security,financial security, health andwell-being, safety net againstaccidents/illness and theiradverse impacts. The questionto ask is in the next few yearswhich of those declaring forpolitical offices are disposedto offering Nigerians thesebasic needs?

After the physiological andsafety needs above arefulfilled, the third level ofhuman needs that Nigeriansneed urgently is interpersonalrelationship among thedifferent ethnic groups in thecountry and the feelings ofbelongingness. Deficienciesin this due to political neglect,shunning and ostracism haveimpacted the ability of majorityof Nigerians to form andmaintain emotionallysignificant relationships ingeneral with some sections ofthe nation.

Nigerians need to feel asense of belonging andacceptance among their social

groups in their own country.Humans need to love and beloved. All humans have aneed to feel respected; thisincludes the need to have self-esteem and self-respect.Esteem presents the typicalhuman desire to be acceptedand valued by others. Low self-esteem or an inferioritycomplex may result fromimbalances. People with lowself-esteem often need respectfrom others; they may feel theneed to seek fame or glory.However, fame or glory willnot help the person to buildtheir self-esteem until theyaccept who they are internally.

Are all sections of theNigeria project valuedequally? The idea that onlysome sections of the countryhave the privilege to becomePresident or Governor hascaused a lot of alienation in thesociety. Can Nigeria continueto tow this line for muchlonger? Every Nigerian needsfood, shelter, clothing,recognition and self esteem.

In Nigeria’s politicaldispensation, if there is a partythat faithfully come out with aprogramme that will ensurethat every Nigerian has accessto decent food, can ensure thatpublic schools work andchildren have good education,individual workers can, withtheir employment letter, beguaranteed of access toamenities through a very welldeveloped credit system, haveaccess to decent housingthrough a functional mortgagesystem, and guaranteed of agood living on retirement,corruption will be a thing ofthe past. Nigerians must think,weigh the cost and benefit ofwhatever choice they are aboutto make.

The Managing Director ofAfrocet Nigeria, Bryan

Pearson has identified lack ofinvestment in the agriculturalsector as the major threat to itsgrowth and development.

Bryan, who made theobservation in an interviewwith Vanguard, on potential ofthe sector and theopportunities that theupcoming ‘Agra Innovate’exhibition and conference willprovide for farmers in thecountry, decried that the oiland gas sector has gobbled up

Lack of investment, greatest threat to agriculture in Nigeria — PEARSONBy JONAH NWOKPOKU most of the investible funds that

should have been dedicated togrowing the agricultural sector.

He noted that with increasedinvestment in the sector, Nigeriahas the potential to play majorrole in combating global foodinsecurity by becoming netexporters of differentagricultural produce.

“Nigeria has the potential tobe huge exporters. This isbecause the soil is good, theclimate is perfect, but theproblem is, the big money haschased oil and gas for the lastfour decades. And agricultureneeds some big money to makeit work. For instance, if you are

going to set up a propergroundnut plant anywhere inNigeria, you need at least $70million but then rather thanimport groundnut oil which iswhat Nigeria does mostly now,you will not be spending foreignexchange in importing, you willbe producing it more cheaply,”he said. He said the Afrocetexhibition and conference is aplatform designed to foster highlevel discussion among farmers,investors and technologyproviders on how to rebuildagriculture in the country.

According to him, the three-day event will involve the

Minister of Agriculture, Dr.Akinwumi Adesina who willpresent a keynote speech onNigeria’s agriculturaltransformation – policy,technology and investmentpriorities.

He explained that other topicsthat will be explored at the eventinclude: Making the case forinvesting in Nigerianagriculture: Key marketdrivers and opportunities; theNigerian input supply market:Ongoing lessons from theprivate sector in GESimplementation; the Nigerianfertiliser revolution:Identifying opportunities in a

booming market andAnalysing the rate oftechnological modernisationand mechanisation in Nigeria’slarge scale farming andprocessing sector. Othersinclude: Rice production: Anaccelerated path to nationalself sufficiency; Implementingthe ‘Staple crops processingzones’ initiative: Agro-industrial drivers ofmodernisation and privatesector investment andcombating post-harvest lossesthrough storage technologyand private sector drivenagricultural commodityexchanges.”

Can Nigeriacontinue to tow

this line formuch longer?

Every Nigerianneeds food,

shelter,clothing,

recognition andself esteem


CMYK


Business & Economy

and position the Commissionto deliver on its mandate, as“there is global competition inattracting Foreign DirectInvestment (FDI) to anyeconomy in the world”. Shesaid her transformationagenda is to re-strategize inorder to realize the vision andmission of the Commissionand “make it the best IPA inthe world, advance thecountry ’s economy andensure that the workforce isadequately motivated to carryout the assignment”, adding,“We need to deal with thesituation on ground and moveforward”.

She noted that manyAfrican countries areimplementing aggressivemarket strategies in order toattract FDI, and Nigeriacannot be an exception,stressing that “NIPC is theonly Government institutionthat is mandated to promoteand attract investment intothe economy; therefore wemust rise to the challenge anddo it professionally”.

Umar emphasized that ifthe Commission is notrepositioned and re-engineered to meeting upwith modern trends andskills of investmentpromotion, it may be difficultfor the institution to achieveits mandate, stressing that “Iwill focus seriously on soundcorporate governancepractices; effective riskmanagement framework;appropriate best in classInformation TechnologyInfrastructure; enterprise –wide performancemanagement system;standardized processes andpolicies and organizationalculture of international bestpractices and a high level ofprofessionalism”.

Other areas she listed as hervision are “certification byInternational StandardOrganisation (ISO) to attainprocess maturity andenhanced NIPC’s servicedelivery, reliability andefficiency; business processoptimization, re-engineeringand management forefficiency, timeliness andeffectiveness; rating by aninternational rating agency toenhance NIPC’s standingand credibility; accountability,continuous innovation anddynamism to reflect a globaland world class outlook;effective communication andengagements with variousstakeholders and staff welfareand motivation”.

NIPC boosts capacity to repositioncommission

By FAVOURNNABUGWU

The quest to makethe NigerianI n v e s t m e n t

Promotion Commission,NIPC, one of the bestInvestment PromotionAgency, IPA, in the worldhas commenced as the

Executive Secretary, Mrs.Saratu Umar has set inmotion, various strategies inplace to transform and re-engineer the organization inorder to deliver on itsmandate.

Umar in line with hertransformation programme,organized a trainingworkshop in conjunction with

the Institute of WorkforceDevelopment, IWDEV, forboth Senior and Managementcadre of staff with the theme“Strategic InstitutionalTransformation Programme”in Abuja.

In her remarks , NIPC bossenjoined the staff to embraceher vision and transformationprogramme to re-engineer

Samsung Electronics said it rakedin N30.048 trillion ($187.8 billion)

annually from 79 countries of its operation,while recording a sales volume of N7.280trillion ($45.5 billion) in the 2014 financialyear which is a 15 percent increase againstlast year’s $39.6 billion.

The amount sold in 2014 has brought thecompany to the top 20 in Interbrand’sglobal brand list for the first time since2009. Interbrand, is world’s brandconsultancy company, specializing in brandstrategy, analytics, valuation, corporatedesign, and brand management,packaging design and naming.

With the result Samsung has risen onespot this year from the eighth positionoccupied in 2013, thus recording a brandvalue of $45.5 billion in 2014, a 15 per centincrease from last year’s $39.6 billion.

The above amount has taken SamsungElectronics to the seventh position inInterbrand’s annual ‘Best Global Brands’report. The recently report showed that theglobal growth of Samsung’s brand valuewere through creative marketing initiativesand continued market leadership acrossseveral product categories, includingsmartphones, televisions, digital

Records N7.28trn in 2014

By PRINCEWILL EKWUJURU appliances and memory devices.The report also pointed out that the

company dominated the smartphonemarket for the past two years, boosted bythe launch of flagship products such asthe Galaxy S5 and Galaxy Note 4, whileretaining its global leadership in the TVmarket for nine consecutive years, aposition that was enhanced by itsintroduction of the world’s first curvedultra-high definition televisions.

Speaking, Managing Director ofSamsung Electronics West Africa, Mr.Brovo Kim, reiterated the company’scommitment to delivering new andinnovative solutions to consumers.

“We will strive to continue to be anaspirational brand through innovativeideas and technologies that give peoplethe power to discover new experiencesand enhance their lives,” he said.

Samsung is also leading the digitalappliances market with new product line-ups such as the premium Chef Collectionkitchen appliance range. The companyhas grown its brand value by focusing onone common brand ideal: ‘Acceleratingdiscoveries and possibilities’, and makingit come to life with a number of consumerengagement programmes, including the2014 ‘Launching People’ campaign whichreached over 100 million people.

Transcorp HiltonAbuja wins WorldTravels Awards

Transcorp Hilton Abuja,for the second consecutive

year, has been honoured withthe prestigious award ofNigeria’s Leading Hotel 2014and Nigeria’s Leading MICEHotel 2014 awarded by theWorld Travel Awards. Inhospitality parlance, MICEstands for Meetings, Incentives,Conventions and Exhibitions.Transcorp Hilton Hotel is ownedby Transcorp Hotels Plc, thehospitality subsidiary ofTransnational Corporation ofNigeria Plc.

‘’To receive these twoprestigious awards in keycategories from World TravelAwards is a great honor and anachievement for our hotel andindeed for team members whohave and continued to worktirelessly to make ours theleading world class hotel inAbuja said Etienne Gailliez,General Manager, TranscorpHilton Abuja. ‘I am delightedthat our commitment to theconsistent delivery of worldclass experience to all ourguests has been recognizedonce again by a reputableindustry watchdog. I have nodoubts that the awards will spurus to work even harder andattain greater heights ofexcellence.’’

A forum on sustainabilityimpact assessment

organized by First Bank ofNigeria Plc, FBN hasidentified corporatesustainability as the nextmegatrend in business thatwould transform organizationsand the economy.

A Director at Centre forCorporate Responsibility,School of Management,Cranfield University, US, Prof.David Grayson, at thesustainability conference held atthe Lagos Business School, LBS,Pan Atlantic University , Epe,Lagos, delivered a keynote address titled; Challengesand Opportunities of RunningSustainable Business inEmerging Market. He was ofthe view that there is highspeculation that corporatesustainability is the nextmegatrend that would transformorganizations and their markets.

FBN forumidentifiessustainability asnext megatrendto grow economy

By PRINCEWILLEKWUJURU

CELEBRATION - From left Mr Kingsley Aigbokhaevbo, Executive Director, DomesticBank, Ecobank; Tony Okpanachi, Deputy Managing Director; Barbara Pepoli, GeneralManager, Loving Gaze; Foluke Aboderin, Executive Director, Corporate Bank, Ecobankand Christian Anyanwu, Admin Officer, Loving Gaze during the donation of malariatesting kits and mosquito nets to Loving Graze, a Non-Govenmental Organisation, beingpart of the Ecabank Day celebration in Lagos over the weekend

Samsung nets N30.48trn in annual sales


Banking & Finance

Banks have starteddeploying Outbound

Money Transfer services to easethe stress of sending money fromNigeria to individuals outsidethe country.

This followed the introductionof the revised guidelines forInternational Money TransferServices by the Central Bank ofNigeria (CBN), which allowsprovision of Outbound MoneyTransfer services in the country.Hitherto, banks could onlyprovide inbound money transferservices. Under the Inboundmoney transfer, an individualliving abroad can send money toan individual in Nigeria. Hencethis is the one most Nigeriansare used to.

However, there are also peoplein the country who need to sendmoney to friends or relativesliving abroad. These may eitherbe Nigerians or any of the 10million foreigners working inNigeria. Hence the introductionof Outbound Money Transfer(OMT) services by the CBN.Outbound Money Transfer isperson to person internationalmoney transfer from Nigeria tocountries around the world. Itcould be a gift to friends or familyliving abroad or much neededfunds for a travelling child. Thusit is the exact opposite ofInbound Money Transfer, whichmost Nigerians are familiar with.According to the CBNguidelines, an individual cansend up to $5000 to anotherindividual abroad. However, itcannot be used by a businessorganisation in Nigeria to sendmoney to another organisationabroad. Also, Outbound MoneyTransfer service cannot be usedto pay school fees of children orwards studying abroad.

According to the CBNguidelines, Outbound MoneyTransfer services can only beprovided by organisations dulylicensed by international moneytransfer services. Suchorganisation must either belicensed by the CBN or in itshome country to provide suchservices. Hence the CBNlicensed MoneyGramInternational and Western UnionMoney Transfer as InternationalMoney Transfer ServiceOperators (IMTOs) in thecountry.

However, the IMTSOs can onlyprovide their money transferservices through an agent ornetwork of agents. “An approvedmoney transfer service operatormay conduct its business throughan agent, in line with theprovisions of these guidelines.An agent is a suitable entityengaged by a money transferservice operator to providemoney transfer service on itsbehalf using the agent’spremises, staff and technology”,said the CBN.

Though most banks alreadyserve as agents to either or bothMoneyGram International andWestern Union, the agent

relationship has been limitedto provision of Inbound MoneyTransfer Services. But with thenew guidelines allowingprovision of Outbound MoneyTransfer services, and with theCBN licensing the twointernational firms to providethis service, they have startedsigning on some banks asagents for provision ofOutbound Money Transferservices.

In August, the CBN, WesternUnion and FirstBank launchedthe first Outbound MoneyTransfer services. Speaking atthe launching ceremony, CBNGovernor, Mr. GodwinEmefiele said the service istargeted at remittances byindividuals to dependants,including children, leavingabroad and for other person-to-person needs. He said thatthe system would also simplifymoney transfer process in

Nigeria.He said, “Today, outbound

money services is beinglaunched to provide analternative channel of foreignexchange transfer to serve theneeds of small foreignexchange end users.

“Simultaneously, it reducesthe foreign exchange sourcedfrom official foreign exchangewindow in Nigeria and to alarge extent, helps to conserveour foreign exchange.

"A prospective customer, whowished to use the service,would only pay the nairaequivalent to the moneytransfer operators for theforeign currency that would bepaid to the specifiedbeneficiary abroad. This willend the idea of going to theBureau de Change or banks tobuy foreign currency beforetransferring money abroad.

“If you need to makepayment to your children,brothers and sisters livingabroad that need smallfinancial support, all you needto do is to take your cash to anyof the 5,000 Western Unionoutlets in Nigeria. We areworking very hard to ensurethat the number of outletsincreases further from 5,000.We have also agreed withWestern Union about the needfor them to work with Bureaude Change (BDC) operatorsthat are well structured,” hesaid.

He said that the outboundtransfer service would only beconducted by internationalmoney transfer serviceoperators, adding that banksand BDCs that met the newCBN requirements wouldserve as agents for moneytransfer service. He stated thatbank accounts were notrequired to transfer funds and

that transaction points wouldbe within the reach ofcustomers.

“We will allow cash, but goingforward, we will discuss withoperators of mobile telephonesso that those on the mobilepayment platform can transfermoney from their accounts viawestern union to anybodyabroad. These are some of theefforts we are making becausewe are embracing cashlesstransactions,” he said.

This was followed by theintroduction of OutboundMoney Transfer service byMoneyGram. In a statementissued to this effect, thecompany said, “TheMoneyGram OutboundService which will re-inforcethe well-known MoneyGram“Receive and Send money in10 minutes” brand promise isexpected to lead to greaterconvenience and ease ascustomers will be able to accessin the majority of MG location,through their partner banks.MoneyGram is offered throughrespected financial institutionsin Nigeria including Ecobank,UBA, First Bank, Access Bank,Sterling Bank, Fidelity Bank,Skye Bank, Keystone Bank,Enterprise Bank, MainstreetBank, Diamond Bank andWema Bank, among others.

Furthermore, speaking at thelaunch of the “Naija Sends”,an Outbound Money Transferservice by MoneyGram andUBA Plc, Regional Manager,Anglophone West Africa,MoneyGram, Mrs. KemiOkusanya, said the launch of‘Naija Sends’ has furtherdeepened the brand’s reachand service in Nigeria.

“Over the last two decadesMoneyGram has facilitatedover 15 million transactions inNigeria, enabling safe,convenient and reliabletransfer of funds from theNigeria Diaspora to their lovedones. As Africa’s largesteconomy, with over 10 millionmigrants, we are glad we arenow able to also offer Nigeriansthe opportunity to send moneyabroad to their loved ones andfor business transactions”,Mrs. Okusanya said.

Speaking during the event,UBA’s Group ManagingDirector/Chief Executive, Mr.Phillips Oduoza said the newUBA and MoneyGramoutbound money transferservice will boost trade andbusiness between Africancountries as many Nigerianswho do business across Africa,no longer have to movearound with cash as they caneasily transfer money to theirbusiness partners in otherAfrican countries or in China,Europe and America to pay forgoods and services bought.

•Emefiele, Governor, CBN

However, thereare also people inthe country who

need to sendmoney to friends or

relatives livingabroad. These mayeither be Nigerians

or any of the 10million foreignersworking in Nigeria

Sending money fromNigeria with ease

By BABAJIDEKOMOLAFE

OUTBOUND MONEY TRANSFER:

NDIC bosscharges banks’boards onvalue creation

The Managing Director/Chief Executive of

the Nigeria DepositInsurance Corporation(NDIC), Alh. Umaru Ibrahimhas stated that there is needto always strike a balancebetween financialperformance indices and non-finance value creatingmeasurements indetermining banks’ boardperformances.

Alh. Ibrahim gave theadvice at the 2014 CBN –FITC Continuous EducationProgramme for directors ofbanks in Lagos andemphasized that rather thanconcentrating on financialmeasurements such ascapital adequacy, assetquality, liquidity, profitabilityand efficiency, it had becomeimperative for boards offinancial institutions toequally focus attention toindices such as effective riskmanagement, genderequality and familyfriendliness as well as staffcompensation, developmentand sustainability.

Union Bankshowcasesproducts atLagos trade fair

Union Bank of Nigeriawill showcase its

array of products andservices to visitors andexhibitors at the ongoingLagos International TradeFair. The Fair kicked-off onNovember 7 at the TafawaBalewa Square, Onikan,Lagos and will run tillNovember16, 2014.

Organized by the LagosChamber of Commerce andIndustry, the LagosInternational Trade Fair is thelargest Trade Fair in the WestAfrican Sub-region andattracts more than a hundredthousand business visitorsover a ten day period.

The Head, CorporateAffairs & CorporateCommunication at UnionBank, Ogochukwu Ekezie-Ekaidem said Union Bank isparticipating in the Fair todemonstrate its commitmentto supporting SMEs andmeeting its customers’financial needs throughsimple and accessiblebanking services.

CMYK


Banking & Finance

Naira gains 430k in interbank as CBNadopts new intervention strategy

By BABAJIDEKOMOLAFE

Further depreciation inevitable — DEALERSNew policy triggers 196% oversubscription for TBs

The naira recorded itssingle dayappreciation of 430

kobo in the interbank marketon Friday following theadoption of a new strategy bythe Central Bank of Nigeria(CBN) to intervene in theforeign exchange market.

The new method which cutforeign exchange dealersnapping caused the interbankforeign exchange rate to dropsharply to N165.8 to thedollar at the close of businesson Friday from N170.1 to thedollar on Thursday.

Hitherto, the CBNintervened by selling specificamount of dollars to eachbanks at specified exchangerate. But on Friday, the apexbank changed its strategy, byasking banks to supply theirbuy and sell rate for differentamount of foreign exchange(i.e. $0 to $20 million, $21million to $40 million etc),insisting that the differencebetween the two rates mustnot be more than 50 kobo.Upon receiving the quote foreach bank, the CBN thendecided the amount of dollarsit would sell to each bank. Byso doing the CBN injectedhuge amount of foreignexchange into the interbankmarket.

Recall that the CBN had lastweek banned banks fromselling dollars purchasedthrough it’s interventionsales to each other, or tobureaus de change. It alsoimposed a limit of 10 kobomargin on sale of such dollarsto customers, and that suchdollars must be returnedwithin two days if they are notsold by the banks. Thesemeasures coupled with thehuge volume of dollars soldby the apex bank on Friday,forced banks to reduce their interbank exchange ratequotes. The CBN however,allowed the naira todepreciate marginally by fourkobo at the official market lastweek, moving the officialexchange rate to N155.8 to thedollar from N155.76 theprevious week.

External reserve

drops to $38bn

The huge dollar sale by theCBN however impacted

severely on the nations’external reserve during theweek. The reserve fellconsistently from Monday toThursday, shedding $690million, as it fell to $38.07billion from $38.76 at the endof October. Consequently theexternal reserve had fallen by$5.83 billion from $43.93 at theend of last year.

This sharp fall in externalreserve is driven by increaseddollar sales by the CBN in itseffort to defend the nairaagainst the dollar. This isreflected in the amount ofdollars sold through the bi-weekly RDAS foreignexchange sales, whichshowed that the CBN as atlast week has sold $29.9billion through RDAS thisyear. This translates to 16percent increase whencompared with the $25.67billion sold in the whole2013. But with price ofcrude oil falling by 23 percentin the last five months andstill projected to fall,apprehension over the impactof the falling prices onaccretion to the externalreserve has caused foreigninvestors to believe that thenaira would depreciatedespite assurances by theCBN to defend the naira.

*Further depreciation

inevitable -Dealers

Despite the appreciation ofthe naira in the interbank onFriday, foreign exchange

dealers however toldVanguard that furtherdepreciation of the naira inthe interbank market isinevitable. Speaking oncondition of anonymity, theTreasurer of a bank withinternational afflictions said,“We expect furtherdepreciation. Foreigninvestors no longer believe inthe CBN’s rhetoric ofdefending the naira. Everybody can see the factorsand it is obvious thatdefending the naira asinsisted by the CBN is notpossible, and as a resultconfidence in the CBN in thisregard is waning”, he said.

A market analyst who doesnot want his name mentioned

told Vanguard that it wouldbe difficult to maintain theappreciation of the naira inthe interbank on Friday. Hesaid the only way this couldbe achieved is for the CBN tocontinuously intervene in themarket with huge dollar salesfor about a week, adding thatthis however will affect theexternal reserves. “Definitely,we would see more nairadepreciation. I think whatthey (CBN) are trying to dois to avoid the kind ofdevaluation that happened in2008,” he said.

These views werecorroborated by the EcobankGroup Research team in theMiddle Africa Briefing Notetitled, “Nigeria: Naira Devaluation by Default?" issued on Friday. Theypredicted a 15 percentdevaluation of the naira in theweeks ahead. They said, “On6 November, the central bankissued two circulars toseparately address naira (NGN) volatility and unlockmoney market funds toproductive sectors of theeconomy. The CBN’sactions are aimed ataddressing NGN pressuresthat have increasedsignificantly in recent weeks. The NGN will come underfurther pressure in theinterbank market owing tostrong dollar demand, therecent sharp fall in Brent oilprices (down 23% since lateJune), and uncertainty overthe effect of normalisation.

CBN'sactions areaimed at

addressingNGN

pressuresthat haveincreased

significantlyin recent

weeks

BY PROVIDENCE OBUH

MSMEDF: AccionMfB receives N50mfrom CBN

Accion Micro-financeBank (AMfB) has

received N50 million as partof Micro, Small and MediumEnterprises DevelopmentFund (MSMEDF) fromCentral Bank of Nigeria(CBN).

The MSMED Fund formspart of the CBN framework fordevelopmental functionswhich aims to promotefinancial inclusion in thecountry through the provisionof funding to micro-entrepreneurs and it ischanneled through microfinance banks for purposefullending to customers, thusensuring sustainability andaccountability.

In a statement, the banksaid that the fund will be usedto fund micro-entrepreneursin the education sector.

The bank explained that thedecision to fund microentrepreneurs in theeducation sector is becauseeducation aligns closely withher strategy for creatingbrighter futures.

for her customers by givingthem the opportunity toimprove their socio-economicwell being through goodeducation to children whichconsequently leads tosustaining the wealth createdby their parents.

The bank further said thatthe decision will promotegrowth and development,saying, “Education is a viablefactor towards achievingfinancial inclusion as well asthe millennium developmentgoals. Education is also thecorporate social responsibilityfocus of AMfB.”

MD/CEO of the bank, MsBunmi Lawson, said, “TheMSMED Fund is a welcomedevelopment from the CBN.We believe education opensthe doors to greateropportunities and we arecommitted to giving abrighter future to ourcustomers, to this end, thefund will enable us achievethis”.

However, With over 35,000loan customers, the bank hasdisbursed N7.4 billion worthof loans to customers sinceJanuary 2014 with N960million being disbursed inSeptember 2014 alone.Therefore, the fund willenable the bank continue todisburse loans to customerswho desire to alleviate theireconomic well being.


Corporate Finance

Access Bankgrants $250mfacility to SeaTruck

Access Bank Plc hasgranted a $250

million credit facility to SeaTruck Groups, aninternational group ofcompanies offering offshoreinstallation, accommodationand support services to the oiland gas industry worldwide.

In explaining the capacityof the bank to undertake dealsof this magnitude, the GroupManaging Director, AccessBank Plc, Herbert Wigwe saidthat the bank has recordedcommendable expansion andgrowth in the last decade;“This has positioned the bankwithin the top five banks in thecountry. With regards to ourregional spread, Access Bankis currently in seven countriesinclusive of the UK and nowhas an office in China withplans to establish presence inDubai next year”.

Expressing his appreciationto Sea Truck Group for theopportunity afforded the bank,he said, “Sea Truck Group is acompany that is dear to ourheart. We will always supportthe company in its dealings,as we are confident that thismutually beneficialrelationship will provide thebackbone for future morerobust dealings”.

Mixed U.S. jobsreport leavesmarkets flat

European shares slippedwhile Wall Street

looked set to open marginallyhigher after a monthly U.S.non-farm payrolls reportshowed job creation solidlyabove 200,000 in October butshy of the 230-240,000forecast by analysts.

After a choppy run into thejobs numbers, the FTSEindex of leading Europeanshares. FTEU3 wasmarginally lower, hit bylosses for banking stocks thatincluded an almost 4-percentfall for French lender CreditAgricole (CAGR.PA).

Futures showed both theS&P 500 SPc1 and the DowJones Industrial AverageDJc1 set to gain just under0.2 percent on opening.Analysts said the numberswere not enough to drivemarkets higher but alsoclearly did not derail the U.S.economic recovery.

Japaul Oil & MaritimeS e r v i c e s P l c h a s

recorded a gross profit of N5.9billion for the year, 2013 fromN4.99 billion recorded in2012, an increase of 20.4 percent.

The company’s turnoverincreased to N13.02 billion inthe review period, up 6.03 percent from N12.28 billionrecorded in 2012, while thegroup turnover stood at N8.03billion in 2013 from N7.24billion in 2012.

The company ’s financecharges had during the thrirdquarter ended September2004 risen by 71 percent toN935.149 million fromN546.760 million posted in thesame period in 2012.

This is despite the

assurance by the ManagingDirector, Mr. Paul Jegede, to shareholders at the 2013Annual General Meeting,AGM, that its investment inthe acquisition of vessels, oiland gas equipment andother machinery would helpit return to profitabilityduring the year.

According to him, “Ourcontinued acquisition of newassets in terms of vessels, oiland gas equipment,dredgers etc, were gearedtowards our companypositioning for the future andhealthy competition in the oiland gas and maritimeindustries”.

The company’s financialshad shown a return toprofitability with the profitafter tax growing to N239.7million for the financial yearended December 31, 2013,from a loss after tax of N6.7billion recorded in the sameperiod of 2012.

The company also postedloss after tax of N490.61 forits third quarter endedSeptember 30, 2014 followingthe increasing cost offinancing bank debts on itsoperations

This stood for 201.1 percentdecrease over N485.500million profit after tax

achieved in the equivalentperiod in 2013.

It also maintained thepositive trend in Q1 2014 toMarch 2014, recording aturnover of N3.219 billion, agross profit of N1.779 billion,a profit before tax of N246.4million and a profit after taxof N223.4 million, but thethird quarter under review isgenerally a reversal as shownby the result posted on theNigerian Stock Exchange,NSE, website.

The company recorded lossafter tax of N490.610 millionin the period under review asagainst N485.500 millionprofit in quarter one in 2013,representing 210.1 percentdecrease. The company’sturnover at N8.29 billion was13.7 percent decrease overN9.61 billion recorded in2013.

However, the cost of salesimproved slightly to N4.49billion compared to N4.52billion in the same period in2013, while the generaladministrative cost declinedto N3.17 billion as againstN3.42 billion in the samequarter in 2013.

Japaul is into the businessof oil & gas servicing in thearea of maritime operations,dredging services, shipbuilding and repairs, roadtransportation & logistics andFlowlines and Pipelines.

Japaul presently hasSubsidiaries which areJapaul GulfElectromechanical LLC(UAE), Japaul TradingCompany (Nigeria) andJapaul LLC (USA). ‘

FIDELITY Bank plc hasrewarded another set

of winners in its on-going‘Save 4 Scholarship’ promowith total cash prize of N12.7million alongside otherconsolation prizes.

The nationwide draw, whichwas the third since thecommencement of the promo,saw 32 winners from the sixgeopolitical zones in thecountry carting away cashprizes ranging fromN2million (star prize),N1million, N500,000 andN210,000, including sixGenerating Sets andRefrigerators.

Speaking at the event, theGroup Managing Director/CEO, Mr. Nnamdi Okonkwo,represented by I.K Mbagwu,Executive Director, Lagos &South West, said thataggregate savings in the bankhas grown by over 10 percent

in the last seven yearsfollowing different promosinitiated by the bank toincrease savings culture inthe country.

He added that the bank hasraked in about N50 billion insavings accounts in the lasttwo years, with the figureheading to a N100 billionpresently.

He said that visitors at theon-going Lagos InternationalTrade Fair stand a chance ofbenefiting from the promo asthe bank will give out variousprizes to customers that takewill advantage of the Fair toopen savings account withthe bank.

He said, “You have seen that

most of the winners, those wewere able to reachimmediately, were veryhappy. We are happy thatpeople are actuallyparticipating and winning;we just we want to encouragemany more people tocontinue do the same thingbecause you can also be awinner. So, it is somethingthat we are very happy about;we are passionate about it. Asyou have heard, we still haveabout N38 million to be won,so people can continue tosave.”

Also speaking, Mr. EmekaObiagwu, General Manager,Fidelity Bank, said, “Youheard when we spoke to

some of the winners, forthem, it was surprising andthey took the message thatthey will go out there to telltheir friends and relatives.The message for those thatare yet to open account withus is that they should do soimmediately and begin tosave.”

To participate in themonthly draw, all a customerneeds to do is to open asavings account with thebank and grow it to N20,000,while the existing customeris required to top up hisaccount with N10,000 or moreto qualify. The amount wonis payable over five years andcan be converted to cash.

Japaul's 2013 gross profit upby 20 per cent

Stories By NKIRUKANNOROM

Fidelity Bank splashes N12.7mon 'Save 4 Scholarship' winners

INDUCTION CEREMONY - From left: Otunba Samuel Olufemi Deru, Vice President,The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN); Mrs M.O Onasanya, SpecialGuest of honour; Mr.Chidi Onyeukwu Ajaegbu, Golden Jubilee President, ICAN andAlhaji Kabir Alkali Mohammed, Immediate Past President ICAN at the 54th InductionCeremony for new members by ICAN held in Lagos.


Corporate Finance

Sterling Bankholds EGMtomorrow

STERLING Bank Plc willtomorrow hold an

Extra-Ordinary GeneralMeeting (EGM) to seekshareholders’ approval toraise fresh capital for theBank.

The meeting will hold inLagos and will consider, andif thought fit, pass thefollowing as SpecialResolutions:

“That subject to regulatoryapprovals, the Directors beand are hereby authorized toissue up to 7,471,698,113Ordinary shares of 50 koboeach from the Company’sshare capital by way ofSpecial/Private Placing toMessrs. SilverlakeInvestments Limited or suchother identified strategicinvestor at a price of N2.65 pershare or such other price asthe Directors may determinein the interest of the Companyand subject to other terms andconditions and at such timesas the Directors may deem fit,and in respect thereof, theDirectors be and are herebyfurther authorized to appointsuch advisers, professionalsand parties that they deemnecessary, upon such termsand conditions that theDirectors may deemappropriate”

CIBN commendsHeritage Bank forprofessionalism,innovation

THE Chartered Institute ofBankers of Nigeria

(CIBN) has described HeritageBank’s continued deploymentof innovative banking servicesand preference for qualityworkforce as a strong proof thatprofessionalism still thrives inthe Nigerian banking system.

Speaking during theinstitute’s stakeholderengagement visit to the Bank’scorporate head office in Lagosrecently, Otunba (Mrs.) DebolaOsibogun, president/chairmanof Council, CIBN said HeritageBank has, in less than twoyears of operation, broughtremarkable freshness to thedelivery of banking services.

“It is our delight that HeritageBank is making remarkableimpact within the Nation’sBanking industry. Werecognize and appreciate yoursense of innovation as a bankwhich reflects on the bankingservices you offer”, Osibogunnoted.

ECOBANK TransnationalIncorporated (ETI)’s

third quarter, Q3 net incomehas increased by 31 percent onreduced costs as it continues toseek organic growth throughbusiness combinations.

For the first nine monthsthrough September, Ecobank’sProfit After Tax (PAT)appreciated by 31 percent toN52.49billion fromN39.96billion in the sameperiod of the correspondingyear, 2013.

The bank grew gross earningsby 16 percent to N207.75billionwhile interest income were upby 10.70 percent N187.67billionin the period under review.

Market operators haveattributed the growth at the topline level to the expertisemanagement of resources bythe boards of directors of thebank which led to a remarkablereduction in costs.

According to Group ChiefExecutive Officer, AlbertEssien, “Our strong results forthe first nine months of 2014show solid revenue growth anda further reduction in our cost-income ratio,” “The sustainedimprovement in our Nigeriabusiness, the largest of our 36countries in Africa, and anotherstrong treasury performance,has helped deliver earnings

per share up 26 percent.”Breakdown of the result

shows that, the bank’s cost toincome ratio reduced to 66.56percent in Q3 2014 from 71.20percent the preceding year.Additionally, net marginmoved to 19.51 percent in Q3as against 17.23 percent thepreceding year.

Ecobank is aggressive aboutlending as its loans to depositratio jumped to 71.63 percentin Q3 2014 from 66.80 percentas at Q3 2013. Loans andadvances were up by 16.55percent to N1.97trn in Q3 2014from N1.69trillion as at Q32013. Deposit from customersalso spiked by 8.69 percent to

FOLLOWING theSecurities and

Exchange Commission, SECapproval of the scheme ofmerger and subsequentapproval of the Federal HighCourt, Nigerian Breweries, NBPlc and ConsolidatedBreweries Plc have commencedmove for their separate CourtOrdered Meetings (COM) toseek shareholders' consent tothe proposed merger.

Ahead of the separate courtordered meetings, Vanguardgathered that notice of themeetings, including scheme ofmerger documents have beendispatched to all shareholders.

It was gathered that bothCourt Ordered Meetings havebeen scheduled for Thursday,4th of December 2014. WhileCourt Ordered Meeting forshareholders of ConsolidatedBreweries Plc will hold at theLagoon Restaurant, VictoriaIsland, Lagos, the CourtOrdered Meeting forshareholders of NigerianBreweries Plc will be held atZinnia Hall, Eko Hotel, Lagos.

It was further gathered thatboth companies would present

their proposals before theshareholders to combine theoperations of ConsolidatedBreweries and NigerianBreweries into a single legalentity effected through aScheme of Merger. Thesurviving entity of the mergerwill be named “NigerianBreweries Plc”.

On how the value of bothcompanies could bedetermined for the purpose ofthe proposed merger, it wasgathered that NigerianBreweries Plc and

Consolidated Breweries Plchave been advised by separateindependent financial advisersin determining their fair valuesand the financial details for theexpected combination of thetwo businesses.

Information available toVanguard revealed that anindependent fairness opinionwas obtained by ConsolidatedBreweries Plc from Ernst &Young in deciding to proceedwith the transaction

It should be noted thatHEINEKEN NV is the majorityshareholder in both companiesand a decision to merge hasbeen taken by the Boards ofboth companies, in the bestinterest of each business, itsbrands and its people.HEINEKEN is represented onboth boards, but does not makethese decisions on its own.Ultimately, the proposal tomerge will be approved by 75per cent of the shareholders ofthe two companies present andvoting in separate CourtOrdered Meetings. WhileHEINEKEN as shareholder ofthese two companies has theright to vote and is in favour ofthe merger, HEINEKEN hasdecided not to vote, avoidingany possible doubts onHeineken’s integrity/conflictsof interest in this deal.

NB, Consolidated Breweries to seekshareholders' consent on merger

N2.75trillion in Q3 2014 fromN2.53trillion as at Q3 2013.

Total assets were up by 10.69percent to N3.83trn in Q3 2014compared with N3.46trn thepreceding year. Ecobank’sshare price closed at N18.20 onthe floor of the NSE whilemarket capitalisation wasN290.40billion.

MASTERCARD and United Bank forAfrica (UBA) Plc, have completed a

multi-country licensing project that will see thepan-African bank accept and issue MasterCardprepaid, debit and credit cards in 14 countriesacross sub-Saharan Africa.

Through the partnership, 14 of UBA’s 19subsidiaries across sub-Saharan Africa, will gainaccess to MasterCard payment solutions, andby so doing, enjoy the security and convenienceof electronic payments. MasterCard willleverage UBA’s fast growing footprint to enhancethe adoption of cashless payments in a widergeographical region across Africa.

United Bank of Africa is now licensed to acceptand issue MasterCard products in the followingcountries: Cameroon, Chad, DemocraticRepublic of Congo, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea(Conakry), Kenya, Liberia, Mozambique,Republic of Congo (Brazzaville), Sierra Leone,

Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia. Prior to thecompletion of the deal, United Bank for Africawas licensed to issue MasterCard paymentproducts in Nigeria.

Commenting on the initiative, DeputyManaging Director and CEO, UBA Africa,Kennedy Uzoka said: “This collaboration is areflection of our vision, which is to be Africa’sbank of choice for the provision of innovativefinancial products and services. We understandthe significance of partnerships, and what wehave with a global player such as MasterCard,is an integral part of achieving our vision forAfrica.”

The growth of Africa’s payments industryfollows a combination of public and privateinvestments in innovative solutions that will seethe extension of financial inclusion to theunbanked and under-banked.

Ecobank’s 9 months profit up by 31%

UBA, MasterCard partner onelectronic payments

BY PETER EGWUATU

PARLEY -From left :ManagingDirector, Mr.ThandalamDayanand;Chairman,Mr. EdmundOnuzo andFinanceDirector, Mr.JonathanMurray all ofGSKConsumerNig. Plc at amedia parleyheld at GSKHead Office.

Commodity Index Micro-Finance


AB MicrofinanceBank, a foreign-

owned nationalMicrofinance banklicensed by the CentralBank of Nigeria officiallyopened its 15th branch inIbadan, Oyo state capital.

Speaking during thebranch openingceremony in Ibadan, theManaging Director/ChiefExecutive Officer of thebank, Mr. WilliamBonilla, described thebranch opening as amilestone achievementfor the bank, especially asthis is the first branchoutside Lagos Statewhere the bank alreadyhave 14 branches.

AB Microfinance Bank opensnew branch in Ibadan

By PROVIDENCEOBUH

Bonilla added that thebank aims to contribute tothe social and economicdevelopment of Ibadanand Oyo state in generalby providing financialservices to Micro, Smalland Medium scaleentrepreneurs in the statethrough a wide range ofsavings and lendingproducts.

Also speaking at theoccasion, the BranchManager, Mr. SeunOlowoyeye, reiteratedthat the state is peacefuland conducive forbusiness, saying, “theinhabitants of the city arevery accommodating andhave started patronizingthe banks array of depositand lending products.”

He added that over 700

individuals have openedsavings and term depositaccounts with the branchand that over 900 clientshave benefited from loansmade available by thebranch since it beganoperations in the state onJuly 15, 2014. The officialopening was performedby the representative ofIyaloja of Ibadan, Mr.Olumide Oluwaraye, alsothe General Secretary,Aleshinloye market, andwitnessed by marketleaders, representativesfrom Aleshinloye market,new Gbagi market,Ogunpa market, Agbenimarket, including staffand the entireManagement Board ofAB Microfinance BankNigeria Ltd.

The Nigeria Spirit market hascontinued to soar as developed

markets keep shrinking, LuxeriaCompany Nigeria has said, as itunveiled its 2015 new collection ofluxury spirits and wines.

Luxeria is a Nigerian based LifestyleCompany distributing spirits andwines, sourced and selected fromacross the globe and have in recenttimes partnered with top brand in thecountry such as Moet Hennessy, MoetChandon, among others to provideconsumers with a range of luxurywines and spirit in its 2015 collection.

Speaking at a press conference inLagos, Managing Director, Luxeria,Ms. Maria Martinez, said, “Nigeria’sspirits market has been experiencingconsistent growth rates year–on-yearsince 2007 while other developedmarkets are shrinking. We now needto rise to the occasion to meet the needsof our increasing sophisticatedNigerian clientele who have refinedtastes and a distinct preference forprestige brands”

Martinez hinted that in addition toLuxeria’s 2015 collection are limitededition items such as the rare RemyMartin Louis XIII Black PearlMagnum with only 358 decantersmade in the world and retails for N11million. Also, the exquisite FabergeEggs in Vodka and Cognac made withenamel, crystal, and 24-carat goldgilding and the Moet Nectar RoseJeroboam Leopard Luxury editionbottle coated in 22-carat gold leaf andcamouflaged with a leopard motif withonly 60 bottles produced worldwide.

She said that the company has a stockof these items especially reserved forthe most exceptional clientele and havealready been receiving numerousinquiries for purchase of these items,revealing that it will soon be adding a

Nigeria’s spirit market soars

By PROVIDENCE OBUH& JOY UNUANE

Luxeria bar to the experience, allowingconsumers to taste their fine range aswell as a showroom where clients canbrowse and shop at their leisure.

Earlier, Executive Director, Luxeria,Mr. Owen Aisien, said that there areno real developed platform for Nigeriaconsumers to have an experiencewhile purchasing high–end prestigespirits and wines apart from buyingabroad, adding that Luxeria is aservice that was developed to allowclient cut through the hassle of waitingto buy-free by bringing a readilyavailable, service- led luxuryexperience right to their doorstep.

He emphasised the need to meet theexpectations of the Nigeria consumerswho are in search for high end spiritsand wines due to the increase in theNigeria spirit market since 2007, whileother developed markets are shrinking.

Meanwhile, Luxeria’s Sales Director,Tiffany Barnes, who has over 15 yearsof experience in the service industryin the US says, ”There is a strongemphasis on the client experience atevery touch point. We have trained andrecruited an expert professional teamthat is well versed in the art of luxurydrinks and is always available andhappy to offer advice on the rightselection for any occasion. In addition,express shipping and bespoke gift-wrapping options are available toensure our clients enjoy a premiumservice”

According to official agents forBollinger Champagne, DelamainCognac and Macallan Single MaltWhiskey, “We look forward topartnering with Luxeria to bringexclusive events to the growingnumber of spirit and wine connoisseursin Nigeria, such as private tastings,which will give this level of client aneven deeper understanding of thecraftsmanship, quality, and enjoymentbehind our premium products”

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IGERIA’S POLICY makers are battening the hatches.

Two weeks ago, the Central Bank of Nigeria expressed its concern over ‘the growth in foreign currency borrow-ings of banks through foreign lines of credit and issuance of foreign currency denominated bonds (Eurobonds).’

Figures released by Afrinvest, an investment bank, show that this year alone, the country’s banks led by Zenith Bank, First Bank, Diamond Bank, and FCMB, have raised about $2 billion through this means, and $4

billion since 2011. Sterling Bank has joined the queue with plans to issue up to $200 million in Eurobonds in 2015.

anxiety among the country’s economic managers that the end of quantitative easing by the US Federal Reserve could cause a hike in rates with

balance sheets. To protect the banking

sector, the CBN lowered the ceiling on foreign currency

-tutions to 75 percent of share-holders’ funds. Under the pre-vious rule, Section 6 of the Guidelines for Foreign Borrowing for on-Lend-

ing by Nigerian Banks is-sued in November 2001, they were allowed to borrow up to 200 per cent of shareholders’ funds in foreign currency.

According to a report by Reuters, the CBN is also seeking ‘to ease pressure on the naira as banks borrow more dollars to cover inter-

demand for imported goods stays high at 80 percent of all non-food consumption.’

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Last week the apex bank is-sued a circular wherein it stat-ed that ‘in order to maintain the existing stability of the for-

eign exchange market and to further strengthen the various policy measures initiated by the Central Bank of Nigeria’ it would henceforth exclude cer-tain consumer-focused items from the Retail Dutch Auc-tion System -

products, information technol-ogy, telecoms equipment, and invisible transactions. These account for up to 50 percent of forex demand at the auc-tion. Importers who deal in these items would now have to source funds from the inter-bank foreign exchange market.

The action provoked acute volatility in the interbank market causing the naira to

shed N2.75, falling to a low of N170.10 to the dollar.

The CBN’s latest move is a policy admission that the fed-eral government can no longer bear the burden of meeting forex demands in the face of dwindling foreign earnings as oil prices continue their down-ward spiral. Oil prices have fallen more than 40 per cent from a peak of $115 a barrel in July to a 5-year low of $82 per barrel this month. Crude oil sales account for 80 per cent

and about 95 percent of for-eign exchange earnings, writes Ayodeji Ebo of Afrinvest.

By itself, the list of excluded items would not seem a big deal when misjudged as a one-

reading, it marks a big shift that going forward the belt hole is going to be clasped a couple of notches tighter.

��’��schtupid

The RDAS exclusion circu-

overdue restructuring of the Nigerian economy postponed

since the January 2012 fuel subsidy removal stalemate. The federal government backed down then due to po-litical considerations in recog-nition of President Jonathan’s delicate mandate despite win-ning elections months earlier.

The drop in oil prices pre-sents the perfect excuse for a ‘shock therapy program’ most likely to be launched no later than the middle of next year. It would include the removal of the subsidy on fuel, the de-valuation of the naira, possibly a reset on the sharing formula of the excess crude account (ECA) between the federal government and state govern-ments, and a slew of austerity measures.

President Goodluck Jonathan and the People’s Democratic Party need to win and win convincingly big too at the legislature and state levels to assure the political le-gitimacy required to carry out the wholesale reforms being

-cial institutions.

Vanguard Markets | Monday, November 10, 2014 | Issue 018

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Volatility ahead

Source: FMDQ

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The Nigerian economy is sailing dangerously close to a perfect storm. The price of oil, the country’s main export, has fallen sharply in recent weeks wreaking havoc on exchange rates with no end in sight as Saudi authorities play a game of chicken with shale producers in the United States. Add to that fears of fiscal indiscipline motivated by the political business cycle leading to elections in February 2015. Top it all off with an expanding terrorism-fuelled insurgency in the north-eastern part of the country. Totalled up it has led to nervousness among the large cohort of foreign portfolio managers on the Nigerian Stock Exchange, a pause on new investment, and general seat-belt buckling in preparation for a rough ride in 2015.

‘I can explain’. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, primus inter pares in the Federal Executive Council, stressing a point.

The country is like a household. There may be periods that your income may shrink because of some unforeseen circumstances and you must adjust.

– Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, coordinating minister

of the economy

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EDITOR: MIDENO BAYAGBON

GROUP BUSINESS EDITOR: OMOH GABRIEL

CONTENT DIRECTION: OBIORA TABANSI ONYEASO

DESIGN & ILLUSTRATION: PUBLICAN MEDIA

Vanguard Markets features unbiased, in-depth coverage of corporate and market developments across a wide range of business sectors.Every week, Vanguard Markets delivers essential business analysis and commentary on Nigerian companies, regional economies, and global markets. Vanguard Markets is published by Vanguard Media Limited in associa-tion with Customs Street Advisors Limited, a specialist communications consultancy.

Vanguard Media Limited, Vanguard Avenue, Kirikiri Canal, P.M.B.1007, Apapa.

Website: www.vanguardngr.com

ISSN 0794-652X

Published by

In Association With

In a way the looming crisis is an answered prayer for those who have been calling for a recalibration of the economy. The coming elections are the main reason why the reforms cannot be pushed faster down the throats of Nigerians. Once that is out of the way the real business of swallowing the bit-ter medicine would begin.

It is not a question of if, but when.

��

Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iwea-la, the co-ordinating minister of the economy, is quick to urge caution among political parties when discussing the budget in public debate. In an interview she gave to Foreign

, a journal published Council of

Foreign Relations, a U.S-based think tank, she advised that ‘our politicians need to re-alize that you do not politicize the budget. In a developing country, that’s lethal.’

Whatever the minister’s touchy-feely attitude to the subject, in these times of eco-nomic turbulence the budget is a legitimate area of civic dis-course, however heated and partisan. In an election season

Since the beginning of the year, concerns have issued from various quarters over the

of Nigeria’s economic well-be-ing due to the pressures of the political business cycle. There is a strong belief that federal and state governments will embark on reckless spending sprees in a populist attempt to shore up the self-explanatory stomach infrastructure, a new entry into the lexicon of Nigerian politics.

Speaking with journalists at a recent engagement, the bespectacled technocrat, who earned the nickname Okonjo-

Wahala for her insistence on due process and transparency when she served under the President Olusegun Obasanjo administration, brushed aside fears that government spend-ing in the lead up to 2015 elec-

The Harvard-trained econ-omist gave assurances that the government has adhered strictly to the budget. The bulk of the spending that the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan will em-bark on will be tied to provid-ing the logistical requirements necessary for the conduct of

the elections, she remarked. As if proof was needed, she

pointed out that ‘we are in Oc-tober and we are just running the budget the way it should be run.’

Although she has won credit for her masterful handling of the Nigerian economy dur-ing her two tours as minister

doubts whether she has enough

this time. Sensing the unease,

she felt compelled to tell her listeners that ‘despite the dwin-dling revenue of the nation due to falling crude oil prices and decrease in output, the nation is not broke, as feared in some quarters… though the money

is a little bit small.’ While pitching the econo-

my’s growth prospects, she

ministry had facilitated a $14.1 billion loan on ad-

vantageous terms to support government projects. That set alarm bells ringing among many who have accused the Jonathan administration of going on a borrowing binge less than a decade after Ni-geria reached a deal with the Paris Club of creditors to set-tle $30 billion in accumulated debt through a mixture of cash ($12 billion), and debt relief ($18 billion).

The irony is not lost that

Okonjo-Iweala led the federal government’s team of negotia-tors at the successful talks with its bilateral creditors. In her defence, supporters argue that the accomplishment is ade-quate evidence that she would not go on pawn the country’s future, and her reputation, to satisfy the electoral aspira-tions of the ruling People’s Democratic Party.

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The fall in oil prices is a fallout of the contest between powerful Arabian produc-ers led by Saudi Arabia, and shale producers in the United States. Rising tensions in the Middle East over the last dec-ade has pushed the United States to focus attention on guaranteeing energy security from domestic sources.

Technological advances like hydraulic fracturing and hori-zontal drilling have boosted oil production in the U.S. by more than 60 per cent since 2010 to 9 million barrels a day. This threatens the domi-nance of producers like Saudi Arabia. As a result, the Riyadh government is rallying mem-bers of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, the 12-member producers’ cartel, in a long-

term greedy counter-intuitive

strategy to maintain supply levels in the face of falling prices. This it hopes will drive shale producers in the US out of the market.

From the look of things, this game of intercontinental brinkmanship is not fazing the target. Chesapeake En-ergy Corporation, a major

that shale production is here to stay. Archie Dunham, the company’s non-executive chairman, told Bloomberg that ‘if the Saudis take the price down to $60 or $70 a barrel, you will see a slowdown in the U.S. But you’re not go-ing to see it stop. The conse-quences for other OPEC coun-tries are far more dire.’ Some companies like Texas-based EOG Resources have told investors that they can make money at $40 a barrel, reaping a 10 per cent rate of return.

The antagonistic sentiment is best described by Scott Shef-

, chief executive of Pio-neer Natural Resources, a large independent U.S. oil and gas company. He told the Wall Street Journal that ‘we’re in a battle with Saudi Arabia in re-gard to market share.’

So far, commentators have framed the contest along the lines of ‘ ’ This is not an either-or existential struggle. In reality, OPEC will

need to adjust to the rise of US-based production. On its part, US producers will eventually reach an accommodation with the cartel to limit production in defence of global oil prices.

All this time, Nigeria is anx-iously watching from the side lines. Coupling concerns about slowing global growth with a strengthening US dollar as

-ury bonds post-QE, and a glut in supply the projections are not heartening for Nigeria’s

Barclays and Goldman Sachs have issued reports in recent weeks that do not see a return to prices above $100 in 2015.

Dr. Okonjo-Iweala drove the point home at her press

‘The country is like a house-hold. There may be periods that your income may shrink because of some unforeseen circumstances and you must adjust. If, in the past, you were indulging in very expensive food you may tell your chil-dren that it is time we just manage garri and if you have a spouse that is not working, you tell her please you must go and start a trade.’

��

It was a lethal week. At the close of trading on Friday, the All Share Index had lost a whopping 11.52 percent. Since January, it has declined 19.61 per cent. The fall in oil prices is only one side of the story. The end of quantitative easing in pulling money back from the periphery to the centre.

��

Nigeria’s economic man-agement team is doing its best not to spook markets. It is call-ing the situation anything but a crisis. That is the unspoken rule. The coordinating minis-ter herself attested this much

times ‘you would not jump out and begin to tell people that your condition is the worst of all and that you are dying. This is because you know that it is a temporary condition. That is the same with a country.’

The obvious take home here is that tough times do not last but tough countries do. While hapless Nigerians pray, the CME and CBN governor are praying harder. The two sen-

hoping that they can main-tain their juggling act without drawing too much attention to the fact. Until President Good-luck is safely re-elected to pow-er with a comfortable majority the real work of dietary adjust-ment from expensive dishes to garri cannot begin. ;

Volatility ahead

ECONOMYVM2 VM | Monday, November 10, 2014 | Issue 018

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Data visualization by Publican Media

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30 —Vanguard, MONDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2014


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“Nigeria needs $5b”, Dr Okonjo-Iweala.VANGUARD, October 28, 2014.

This is the third in the series titled WHENGENIUS FAILS. The first two were written in

2008 about two individuals, Professor ChukwumaSoludo and Dr Ndidi Onyuike, Governor of CentralBank and Director General of the Nigerian StockExchange respectively, at a time when most peoplein Nigeria were not aware that banking “Con-SOLUDO-tion” was failing and leading to bankingdisaster and that the NSE was heading for a crash. Mine was a lone voice shouting in the wilderness –until banking crisis became a reality and the StockMarket collapsed.

Soludo and the former NSE-DG share somethingin common with the current Minister of Finance; theyhave cut “larger than life” images based on exceptionalintelligence, competence, self-confidence, mixed, asusual, with a good dose of luck. Like good cream,they have risen to the top and captivated us with their“genius”. Their initial successes had invariably led totheir downfall as managers of very important aspectsof our national life and economy. The combination ofSoludo’s and Onyuike’s monumental errors had lostmillions of Nigerians, who invested in bank sharesafter “con-soludo-tion” trillions of naira on the StockExchange. Let me provide a few figures which wouldstartle the readers of this page.

On July 6, 2008, NSE Market Capitalisation stoodat N11trillion; after shedding over N3 trillion fromApril 2008 – when I first warned Nigerians aboutimminent crash. Today, Market Capitalisation hoversaround N12.3 trillion. But, if you remove companieslike Dangote Cement, Seplat, etc which were not listedin 2008, the result is under N11 trillion. Obviously,for over six years, the NSE had laboured only to remainin one spot – and even that position is imperiled. Thereasons are not difficult to discover as the chart below

When genius fails, Okonjo-iweala – 3demonstrates.

B A N K J U LY 2008 NOVEMBER PRICE 2014

G T B N 2 6 . 5 0 N 2 5 . 2 0U B A N 3 2 . 8 9 N 5 . 0 0UNION N37.00 N7.50ZENITH N42.00 N22.25

Clearly, all the over-celebrated Managing Directorsof the leading banks, during “Con-soludo-tion”, leftNigerians with were losses which can never berecovered for those over 60. And, now the NSE isheading for another crash. But that is a subject foranother day. The issue now is Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iwealaand her statement quoted above.

Sounding less assured than she had ever been,the Federal Minister for Finance, and the CoordinatingMinister for the Economy, treated the Senate to themost wooly response from a Chief Financial Officer,CFO, of any organisation or nation. Using theInternational Monetary Fund, IMF, not for the light itprovides, but, for support, the way a drunkard uses alamp post after having too many bottles, she leftNigerians with no clear idea as to how the funds willbe raised or how we can avoid getting into the sametrap again. She pointed out, quite rightly, that theExcess Crude Account, ECA, which once stood at $9bnwas, at one point, depleted to $2.4bn – again withoutexplaining why.

Trying vainly to claim some credit for warning usabout the need to save for the rainy day, which

had arrived lately, with a vengeance, she provided noclue regarding the way forward. The reason is not hardto discover. To chart the way forward, we will need tolook backwards, like the Biblical prodigal son, andfind out how our revenue was dissipated by the Federal

government she serves, as well as the state governors– majority of who are members of the ruling party.Nigeria’s money did not just vanish into thin air. Itwas wasted (Centennial celebration, duty waiversgranted to friends and religious organisations,conference of Africa’s First Ladies, Ministerspurchasing expensive cars and hiring private jets,drilling big holes in public pockets, etc), stolen funds(stolen crude oil, embezzled fuel subsidy fund,kerosene import, and $10.8bn still unaccounted forby NNPC, etc). Even the village idiot knows that, atleast, if we have had the $10.8bn in the Excess CrudeAccount, we would be $5bn ahead of the game. Thenation was promised a report regarding how muchwas “unaccounted for” by the NNPC months ago –that was before the former CBN Governor wassuspended. A serious Minister, serving a seriousgovernment, lamenting about the need for $5bnshould have been the first to be raising hell about the$10.8bn. The Minister’s silence is deafening.

”The climax of every tragedy lies in the deafness of itsheroes”, wrote Camus, 1903-1960. (VBQ p 90). Back in2008, Soludo and Onyuike were warned on these pages tostep down before the roof caved in on their “sand castles”.None heeded the advice. The tragedies occurred aspredicted – to banks and to the NSE. Similarly, on thesepages, in August, 2011, when Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala wasre-appointed Minister for Finance, in my column titled,WELCOME DR NGOZI OKONJO-IWEALA, I ADMIREYOUR COURAGE, a warning was issued that she might betaking a needless risk with her reputation and that hersecond coming might not yield the same result for her andNigeria she hoped it would. If the price of crude falls below$75 per barrel, new placards will be seen on the streets ofevery capital in Nigeria reading OKONJO-IWEALA MUSTGO. What a way to end a golden career.

“From the sublime to the ridiculous, there only one step.”Thomas Paine, 1737-1809. (VBQ p 236). Nigeria needs aMinister who can manage acute funds scarcity, not surplus.She is not the person who can do that.

Visit: www.delesobowale.com or Visit:www.facebook.com/biolasobowale


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‘Nigeriansspend N330bnon Dubaiproperty yearly’

It has been revealed thatNigerians spend as much

as $2 billion (about N330billion) every year to buyhouses in Dubai, thecommercial hub of the UnitedArab Emirates (UAE).

Chief Executive Officer,Wrothams Windsor, MrRichard Vedelago, made therevelation at thecommissioning of WrothamsWindsor office in the CentralBusiness District of Abuja. Hesaid many Nigerians haveinterest in Dubai because it iseasy to enter the UAE.According to him, Dubai hasbecome Nigerians’ favouritedestination, not only forproperty investment but also forshopping and other things.

Wrothams Windsor is aninvestment consultingcompany specializing inproperty products. Its missionis to create a gateway forNigerians to actively invest inhigh yielding property in theUK, the US and all around theworld.

Presidentialaspirantpromises 1mhouses yearly

A Presidential aspirant onthe platform of All

Progressives Congress (APC)in the forthcoming generalelections, Mr. Sam Nda-Isaiah,has promised to construct onemillion housing units everyyear, if voted into office.

Nda-Isaiah stated this in hismanifesto during the officialdeclaration of his intention torun for the nation’s highestpolitical office in Minna, NigerState. He said that funds toexecute the project would besourced from the over N4trillion pension fund, amongother strategies.

“Our government shallconstruct one million newhousing units yearly, for tworeasons: one, to bridge thehousing deficit and, two, tocreate jobs. It has beenestimated that building onemillion housing units cancreate up to 30 million new jobsas several people includingengineers, architects,plumbers, block makers,insurance companies,mortgage banks, estate agents,cement, tile and paint sellers,food vendors, furnituremanufacturers, etc would beengaged.

Homes & Housing Finance

THE Nigeria DepositInsurance Corporation

(NDIC) said it decided againstbailing out some of themoribund primary mortgagebanks (PMBs) because of theirvery toxic state, noting thatdoing so might have done moreharm than good.

Managing Director, NDIC,Alh. Umaru Ibrahim, stated thisin Lagos, last week, when theHouse of RepresentativesCommittee on Banking andCurrency visited theCorporation as part of itsoversight functions. “We wouldhave loved to bail out some ofthe PMBs, but out of five ofthem that approached theCorporation for bail out, noneof them met the conditions setfor them. We did not feel it wassafe to commit public fundsinto bailing them out,” hestated.

Ibrahim told the visitingdelegation led by theCommittee’s chairman, Hon.Chukwudi Jones Onyereri, thatin 2014, NDIC provideddeposit insurance coverage to24 deposit money banks(DMBs), 832 micofinancebanks (MFBs) and 82 PMBs.

He said a number of the 82PMBs experienced seriousdifficulties in terms of capitaladequacy and riskmanagement. He added thatsome of them that were not

able to meet the new capitalrequirement by Central Bankof Nigeria (CBN) of N2.5billion or N5 billion for Stateand National operatinglicences, respectively, arealready moving towardsmerger and acquisition.

According to him, PMBs thatare not able to meet with thecapital requirement by the endof this year will be allowed togo under, adding that some ofthem had already closed shop.

The NDIC boss noted, forinstance, that the CBN hadsanctioned the acquisition of

Union Homes Savings andLoans Plc by ASO Savings andLoans Plc, which according tohim, is expected to becompleted by early 2015. “Thisis to save numerous depositorsof Union Homes and to ensurethat it is able to continue toprovide homes for Nigerians,”he added.

Recall that as part of CBN’sapproved restructuring exercise,Union Bank of Nigeria Plcdecided to sell Union Homes, oneof its subsidiaries. After a biddingprocess, ASO Savings wasselected as the preferred bidder in

October, 2013. Towards achievingthis objective, ASO Savingsproceeded to execute aMemorandum of Understanding(MOU) with Union Bank underthe supervision of the CBN. Infurtherance of the acquisition, AsoSavings had since filed notice ofintention to notify the NSE aboutthe impending acquisition ofUnion Homes. This is part of thelisting requirements of NSE thatall quoted companies inform it ofany information ahead of itsrelease to the public and beforethe party takes any action on it.Both ASO Savings and UnionHomes are quoted on the NSE.

OGUN State governmenthas commenced moves

to enter into partnership withvarious financial institutions toensure that affordable housingis provided for residents of thestate irrespective of their socialstatus.

Governor Ibikunle Amosunstated this recently at thecommissioning of a 105-apartment Orange ValleyEstate located at Oke-Mosanin Abeokuta, the state capital.He said in a bid to deepenhome ownership amongresidents, especially civilservants, state-owned housingagencies have signedagreement with financialinstitutions for loans in form ofmortgage to enable them secureloans.

Amosun also explained that

the new drive for housingprojects and infrastructure isthe best option to provideconducive environment forprospective investors showingincreasing interest inestablishing industries in thestate. “Ogun State haswitnessed remarkable increasein economic activities with anattendant increase in humanpopulation in the last three anda half years. This is notunconnected with the rapidinfrastructural development,which has made our state aninvestors’ destination of choice.

“However, this desirabledevelopment is not without itsown challenges, especially asit concerns accommodation.

But, as a pro-activegovernment, we mandated thevarious relevant agencies to

frontally tackle the housingchallenges and provideaffordable housing to thepeople. It is heart-warmingthat all these agencies- OgunState Property and InvestmentCorporation (OPIC), HousingCorporation, Ministry ofHousing, have all continued tolive up to expectation.

“Our Administration is totallycommitted to our vision ofaffordable housing for ourpeople, not just as part of ourUrban Renewal programme,but also because shelter is abasic need of all people. In thisdirection, all relevantgovernment Agencies havebeen strengthened. But, wealso appreciate the fact that wedo not have the monopoly offunds or wherewithal. For thispurpose, our housing agenciesparticularly, OPIC andHousing Corporation arepartnering with some financial

institutions to provide loans inform of mortgage to deepenhome ownership for ourpeople,” he stated.

Amongst housing projectsunder construction in the stateare: OPIC’s Alamala Housingscheme, which has justcommenced and will servelower income earners and alsohave zones for more publicservants’ housing; and OPIC’sAgbara Housing scheme,which is designed for the low-lower/middle income earners.Others are HousingCorporation’s Plainfield Estate,which is designed for middle-income earners; Orange ValleyEstate, designed for middle toupper income earners; andMinistry of Housing’s ThreeHills Estate, Kobape, which isa new town designed for theultra high- income earners andwith districts for more middle-income earners.

Ogun to partner financial institutionson homes mortgage

Moribund mortgage banks tootoxic for bail-out — NDIC

Architectural design of an up-market estate in Abuja

Stories by YINKAKOLAWOLE


CMYK

Aviation

SEMINAR - From left, Mr Chukwuemeka Iwelumo, Chairman, League of Airport andAviation Correspondents, LAAC; Mr Chris Aligbe, MD, Belayane Konsult; Eng OlufemiOgunade, Director, Maintenance, Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria FAAN and EngOlumuyiwa Adegorite, G M, Procurement, Nigerian Airspace Management Agency, NAMAduring the 20th Annual League of Airport and Aviation Correspondents LAAC Seminarheld at NCAA Annex, MM Airport, Ikeja, Lagos.

The National IdentityM a n a g e m e n tCommission, NIMC,

has cleared the air on the recentreport that the National e-Identity Card will soon be usedas an alternative travellingdocument to the internationalpassport .

Reacting to the report, Head,Card Management Service,NIMC, Mr. Tunji Durodola,said "the Commission cannot becanvassing the use of the newnational e-ID Card as analternative to the internationalpassport when that is theexclusive statutoryresponsibility of the NigeriaImmigration Service (NIS).”

According to Durodola,although one of the 13 appletsfound in the National e-ID Cardhas travel functionality forcertain types of travels, thedecision to adopt the e-ID Cardand the operational modalitiesremain the responsibility of theNIS. “If and when it decides onthis, the process can then bedefined and implemented bythe NIS which has the soleresponsibility for migrationmanagement in Nigeria as theissuing authority for passportand travel documents in linewith ICAO regulations.”

He explained that evenwhere there are regionalrequirements in the ECOWAS,which is part of the reasons for

National e-ID card not substitute forinternational passport, says NIMC

By LAWANI MIKAIRU

the inclusion of the ICAO-Travelfunctionality in the e-ID Card,it can only be adopted andimplemented by the NIS whichhas the responsibility by law toprovide international passportand related documents forcitizens who wish to travel outof the country.

He said that the Commissionwas deeply embarrassed by therecent reports and thereforesclarified that although theapplet on the Card issued toNigerians is a bonafideMachine Readable TravelDocument (MRTD), recognized

by the International CivilAviation Organization (ICAO),the NIS has to approve its usebefore it can become a traveldocument recognized by NISand therefore all suchinstitutions with which NIS hasbilateral and or collaborating/reciprocating relationshipbecause travel documents arethe sole, statutory and exclusiveresponsibility of the NIS.

Durodola said: “For anycountry to recognize the use ofthe National e-ID Card forcross-border travel, its usagemust be the product of a

bilateral agreement andNIS runs the show in thatrespect, we have onlyprovided an early andappropriate means ofachieving that so we dooptimize the resources wehave as is done in Europe.That’s all we did. For thisto be possible, the NigeriaImmigration Service alonenot even with NIMC, mustapprove the process.”

He regrets the impressionthat has been given and theembarrassment to theManagement of bothNIMC and the NIS whohave a very cordial andmeaningful workingrelationship on themanagement of theongoing enrolment ofcitizens and legal residents,noting that “NIMC hasenough on its hands;managing the centraldepository of a singleversion of truth onindividuals identities in thecountry, to want to canvassthe takeover of the statutoryresponsibility of anotheragency.”

“We are mindful of thedevelopments in theECOWAS Region aboutnational identity cards andjust wanted to be readyahead of time, but whileinforming and educatingNigerians on the use casesof the Card, we did not atany time say that the Cardcan be used as analternative to theinternational passport; butit was necessary thatNigerians know it has anapplet that can function asa travel document,” hesaid.

The Director General, Nigerian CivilAviation Authority, NCAA, Captain

Usman Mukhtar has said that foreign airlinesare making fortunes in the Nigerian aviationindustry while local airlines are still playingfrom the fringes. According to Capt. Mukhtar,the foreign airlines made N231 billion intickets sales in 2013, while domestic airlinesmade N73 billion in tickets sales in the sameyear.

He disclosed this while presenting akeynote address at the 20th Annual Seminarof the League of Airport and AviationCorrespondents (LAAC). Mukhtar said: “In2013, the total value of tickets sold by domesticairlines was N73 billion. On the other hand,the foreign airlines sold tickets worth N231billion in the same year.

“Domestic airlines were able to ferry 5 millionpassengers across Nigeria in 2013.On theWest Coast route,277,000 passengers weremoved. In Intra-African route 437,000passengers and on the Intercontinental route1.4 million passengers were airlifted.”

The NCAA D-G who was represented by

Foreign airlines earned N231bn fromNigeria in 2013 — NCAA boss

By LAWANI MIKAIRU &DANIEL ETEGHE

Alhaji Abdullahi Adamu, the Director,Consumer Protection said all these wereachieved with the domestic airlines operatinga total of 63,000 frequencies across the countrywhile on the West Coast there were 4,000frequencies, Intra-Africa 4,000, andintercontinental 7,300 frequencies.

He added that in recognition of the increasein the volume of passengers, the Directorateof Consumer Protection (DCP) has intensifiedefforts to process complaints and ensurecomfort of air travellers.

According to him, “Nigeria has thereforebecome an attractive destination for foreignairlines and ceaseless application foradditional frequencies. At present Nigeria hasBilateral Air Services Agreement, BASA, with78 countries. However, some of these are notbeing utilised. In order to strengthen andwiden our BASA with existing and newcountries, Nigerian delegates will beattending an ICAO Air Services NegotiationConference (ICAN 2014) from 17th – 21stNovember 2014 at Bali, Indonesia.”

Speaking on the impending ICAO audit hesaid “the ICAO Audit conducted in a few yearsback, Nigeria scored very high marks.

A total of 40 Air TrafficControllers are to

proceed for training this monthon Performance BasedNavigation, PBN, in Cairo,Egypt as part of efforts by theNigerian AirspaceManagement Agency, NAMA,to enhance capacity of itscritical manpower inoperations.

According to the ManagingDirector, NAMA, Engr.Ibrahim Abdulsalam, “thistraining is part of the widereffort of management inensuring the continuoustraining and retraining ofpersonnel to keep pace withdynamics of evolvingtechnology.” Engr. Abdulsalam who was represented by theacting Director of Operations, Mr Edward Ogedegbe at thisyear ’s Nigerian Air TrafficControllers Association(NATCA) Annual GeneralMeeting (AGM)which tookplace in Kano ,also disclosedthat another five Air TrafficControllers have been billed for Wind Shear Equipmenttraining in Germany byDecember, 2014.

NAMA to train 40ATCs in Egypt

By LAWANI MIKAIRU& DANIEL ETEGHE

The Minister of Aviation,Chief Osita Chidoka has

charged managers of airportsin Nigeria to improve onservice delivery in line with thetransformation going on in theaviation sector.

Chidoka, who wasrepresented by Mr ChidiNkwonta, Special Assistant tothe Minister on PerformanceMonitoring, said this at theopening of the MinisterialPerformance ManagementSystem Orientation forRegional and Airportmanagers, in Lagos.

According to Mr YakubuDati, General Manager,Corporate Communications,FAAN, the training was a followup to the meeting held by the Minister of Aviation withAirport Managers where keyperformance indicators wereintroduced. Dati also said theManaging Director of FAAN,Engr Saleh Dunoma earliarcommended the initiative andcharged airport managers toimprove on service deliveryand performance.

Chidoka chargesairport managerson service delivery

By LAWANI MIKAIRU

CMYK


Business & Economy

Nigeria attracts $59.6bn FDI in 3 years — AGANGA

THE FederalG o v e r n m e n t ’ s

Transformation Agenda for theeconomy has attracted $59.6billion foreign directinvestments (FDI) into thecountry from all over the worldsince 2011-2014.

The investments cut acrosscement, sugar, petrochemical,automotive industry and havecreated jobs for Nigerians andrevenues for the government.

The Minister of Industry, Tradeand Investment, OlusegunAganga, disclosed this, weekendin Abuja during the ministry’s 4thmedia workshop with the theme‘Building a greater nationthrough sustainedtransformation.’

‘In 2011 FDI was $15 billion, itincreased to $30 billion in 2012and further went up to $46 billionin 2013 and $59.6 billion currentyear,” he said.

He attributed the achievementto President Goodluck Jonathan’sTransformation projects for theeconomy, saying “”In 2011 whenwe took over, there was nocomprehensive and coordinatedindustrial policy for the country.There was no strategy to diversifyour economy and revenue base.

The manufacturing contributionto our GDP was very low, at lessthan four per cent. Capacityutilization was very low, whilemassive jobs los was prevalent.There was no emphasis on valueaddition. For decades, ourcountry had specialized inexporting raw materials. We hadweak industrial structures andwere dependent on importation ofmost of our products. That was thesituation in 2011 before PresidentJonathan’s administration cameon board.

What we did to change thesituation was the introduction ofNigerian Industrial RevolutionPlan, NIRP, roadmap forindustrialisation and linkages toother economic sectors. “In orderto reverse the ugly trend bydiversifying our economic andrevenue base, President Jonathanin February 2013, launched theNigeria Industrial RevolutionPlan (NIRP) as a major game-changer. This was based on theprinciple that no nation hassuccessfully moved from being apoor to rich nation without arobust industrial and servicessector.”

Where we are nowCement: “In 2011, the installed

capacity in the cement sector was16.5 million metric tons yearly.Today it is 39.5 million metrictons. When we came in, there wereabout $9 billion investment in the

cement sector but today it ismore than $15 billion. In 2011,the direct and indirect jobs fromthe cement sector was less than600, today the sector providesabout 2.2 million direct andindirect jobs.

We spent at least $5.2 million inthe importation of cement butsince 2013, the administration ofPresident Goodluck Jonathan hasnot issued any import license.

“Our main focus for the cementsector, going forward, are toimprove the standard of cementand to bring the price down.Cement manufacturers must doit because we do not do priceregulation. There

was announcement a few daysago that one of the cementmanufacturers is bringing downthe price of its 32.5 by 40 per centfrom N1, 700 per bag to N1, 000.The 42.5 is coming down fromaround N1, 800 to about N1, 150per bag.

Automotive Industry: “In 2011,we did not have a comprehensiveautomotive policy on the ground.Today, in the automotive sector,over 22 companies have signedtechnical commitments tomanufacturing or assemblingcars in Nigeria. By early next year,some of them will be in thecountry.

The number of investments thatwent into the automotive industryin 10 years was $62 million but in

less than one year, we haveattracted about $150 million, andthere are over $300 millioncoming up 2015. The numbers ofautomotive test laboratories werenil in 2011, but today we havethree. The numbers ofuniversities offering automotiveengineering were nil but today wehave about four of them. Themanufacturing capacityutilization for the automotivesector has also gone up by 40 percent. In the sugar industry, thenumber of jobs in 2011 beforePresident Goodluck Jonathan’sadministration was 3,860 buttoday, it is about 180,000.Investment in sugar cane was$100 million but today it is

N3.2billion.”Sugar: “The four major players

currently in the industry are:Dangote Sugar Refinery (DSR),(which acquired 95 percent ofSavannah Sugar) BUA SugarRefinery, Josepdam SugarCompany, and new entrant FlourMills of Nigeria. Availablerecords on installed refinerycapacity show Dangote Sugar has1.44 million metric tons, BUA720,000 metric tons, and FlourMills of Nigeria (Golden SugarCompany) commencedoperations of a 750,000 metrictons plant in June 2013. Some newinvestors are entering the marketplace with the aim of expandingcapacities at older sugar estates

By BABAJIDE KOMOLAFE,FAVOUR NNABUGU &

FRANKLIN ALLI

Arco Groupunveils newstrategies tobreak into globalmarket

With the incorporation ofARCO Group Plc Arco

Petrochemical EngineeringCompany will now formally ceaseto exist. The newly incorporatedArco Maintenance andEngineering Ltd (AMEL) will takeover the maintenance andengineering functions. By thisdevelopment, AMEL becomes asubsidiary of Arco Group Plc.

The Chairman of the Board ofDirectors of Arco Group Plc, ChiefJoseph Akpieyi reeled out theseand other far reaching structuralchanges in the Group during the32nd Annual General Meeting ofthe company in Lagos.

Chief Akpieyi informed theshareholders that the process ofobtaining ISO/TS 29001:2011Standard Certification forQuality Management System forall the operating companies inArco Group had commenced. Hesaid that the step being taken inthis direction was to leverage onthe success of one of Arco’ssubsidiaries, Arco PipelineSolutions Ltd that successfullyobtained the ISO 9001:2008Quality ManagementCertification with Bureau Veritasin 2013.

O T C M A R K E T DATA


CMYK

E- Commerce

LAUNCH - From left: Mr. Chikwendu Madumere, Mr. Babatunde Savage, Chairman,ICC Nigeria and Chief Anthony Idigbe, SAN, Chairman, Planning Committee, ICCMediation Rules Launch, at the Nigeria Launch of ICC Mediation Rules in Lagos.

Payment processors,financial servicesproviders and other

players in the information andcommunication technologyincluding the judiciary and thelaw enforcement agencies inNigeria have called for toughermeasures to combat electronicpayment related fraud in thecountry.

The stakeholders made thecall at the just concluded 5thannual Payment Systems &Fraud Conference 2014organised by ElectronicPayment Providers Associationof Nigeria (E-PPAN), in Lagos.

The conference which hadtheme: ‘Unbundling theCriminal Justice Process in aDigital Economy,’ was astrategic effort by EPPAN atfighting cyber crime in thecountry.

Delivering a keynote addressat the conference, Chief Judgeof Lagos State, JusticeOluwafunmilayo Olajumoke,said e-payment industry inNigeria is prone tomanipulations and attacks byfraudsters, and that it hasbecome imperative for thecriminal justice sector todevelop the appropriate toolsand strategies for combating e-crimes and e-fraud in thecountry.

Also speaking, ExecutiveDirector of Nigeria Inter-BankSettlement System, NIBBS MrsChristable Onyejekwe, saidNigerian businesses especiallyin the finance sector incurhuge cost preparing againstfraud. She noted that e-fraudcomes with enormous social,financial and economic costwhich should have beenchannelled to businessexpansion and raising qualityof life. Represented by NIBBS’Chief Risk Officer, Mr. OsiokeOjior, she charged financialinstitutions in the country tostep up their fights againstelectronic and other relatedfinancial fraud.

Stories byJONAH NWOKPOKU

E-payment stakeholders seek toughermeasures against e-fraud

According to her, some banksfind it difficult to notice whenthey are breached, resulting toseveral billions of naira loss tofraudsters yearly.

She disclosed that accordingto e-fraud report available toNIBSS between January andSeptember, 2014, Nigerianbanks have already lost over N4billion from 916 attemptedfrauds. Other financial playerslost about N32 million in 30attempted attacks.

Earlier in a welcome address,Chief Executive Officer of E-PPAN, Mrs. Onajite Regha,said that, compared to any

other time in its history, the e-payment industry faces anoverwhelming variety ofsecurity challenges as thetransaction environment growsin size and complexity.

Regha said that with morestakeholders, paymentchannels and the users drivingthe use of payment cards, theneed to enhance the integrityof an increasingly dynamicsystem while ensuring globalacceptance is more importantthan ever.

She noted that, “On a globallevel, fraud continues tomigrate from more secured to

less secured regions andchannels. This obviousshift is accelerated by anincreasingly adept andorganised criminalcommunity that seeks toexploit securityvulnerabilities and fraud.Criminals are targetingnot just unmonitored,stand-alone, point-of-interaction devices, butalso launchingsophisticated attacks onthe private networks ofwell-known entities, suchas major data processorsand top-tier merchants”.

Jovago.com hasannounced partnerships

with some transport companiesin Nigeria in order to makehotel bookings more accessibleto travelers within Nigeria.

The company said it has sofar partnered with over 20 bustransport companies includingEkene Dili Chukwu,

Jovago partners transport firms toboost access to hotel booking

Izuchukwu Transport NigeriaLimited and has also kicked offa white label partnership withone of Nigeria’s largest bustransport companies – God IsGood Motors, makingJovago.com their official hotelpartner.

This means that Nigeriansvisiting the God Is Good

Motors' website can noweasily find and book fromover 200,000 hotelsaround the world andover 5,000 hotels inNigeria.

Speaking on thepartnership, Director,C o r p o r a t eC o m m u n i c a t i o n s /Strategy, God Is GoodMotors Limited, IbemereSamuel, said: “We haverealized that a lot ofNigerians are movingonline to transactbusinesses, this is whywe have created astandard website whichwould be easy forcustomers to book bustickets from. With theJovago partnership, ourpassengers can now alsofind their hotels easily,making their trip asseamless as possible.”

Citrix, a mobile workspace provider hasannounced the appointment of

DataGroupIT as its second Value AddedDistributor (VAD) in West and East Africa.

Citirx said this was in response to thegrowing demand for virtualisation, mobilitymanagement, networking and cloud servicesin the region.

According to them, DataGroupIT willdistribute all Citrix solutions, includingnetwork optimisation technologies, toresellers across the region to ensure

Citrix announces DataGroupIT as distributororganisations have the correct infrastructurein place to support the surge in demand formobile workspaces. As a Value AddedDistributor, DGIT will distribute the fullrange of Citrix products and solutions acrossWest and East Africa, including the CitrixMobile Workspaces Suite, as well as CitrixXenDesktop, XenApp, XenMobile,NetScaler and CloudBridge. The latter areintegral to ensuring optimal load balancingand network optimisation as organisationslook to deploy enterprise mobility solutions.

Aflix unveils AffiliatePartner Programme

Africa’s Video on Demandmobile streaming

service, Aflix has introduced anAffiliate Partner Programme.

The Affiliate Partner Programwill provide an opportunity forparticipants to earn recurringrevenue while introducingAfrica’s newest VOD service tothe market.

Those who subscribe to theaffiliate programme will earnrecurring monthlycommissions, Value AddedService, have an opportunity tobundle Aflix with their existingproducts as well as have accessto Aflix executives to help themdrive subscriber numbers.

Speaking on the affiliatepartner programme, Director ofBusiness Development,Nyasha

Mutsekwa said: “Aflix’saffiliate programme is anextension of our dream toempower people whileproviding qualityentertainment to our Africanaudience. This kind ofprogramme presents us associally responsible business,which we are, as we do not justseek to get but also to give backeven before we have startedgetting.

“This will further address theenormous challenge of youthunemployment which is quitehigh within our target market.With the internet as amarketing tool, this initiativeprovides a platform for peopleto earn a living while helpingbusinesses to grow.

Kaymu launches hubin Port Harcourt

Nigeria’s online marketplace, Kaymu.com.ng,which recently expandedoperations to Abuja, haslaunched a hub in PortHarcourt.

Kaymu said the expansion isone of its strategies to bridgethe gap between buyers andsmall and medium scaleenterprises across Nigeria,adding that, “With plans toopen hubs in more cities beforethe end of the year, Kaymupromises to revolutionise theconventional marketplace byproviding a safe platform forbusinesses to be conducted.”

Speaking on the expansion,Kaymu’s Managing Director,Evangeline Wiles said:“Buying and selling havebecome so easy and convenientwith the rise of e-commerceparticularly with Kaymu’sbusiness model, the onlinemarketplace. We aim to offerthe best and safest platform forbuyers and sellers in PortHarcourt.”


CMYK


CMYK

New pensioncollection systemto come upJanuary

THE Pension FundOperators Association of

Nigeria, PenOp, says it is set tolaunch its Electronic PensionContribution Collection system,EPCOS, from 1st of January 2015which is aimed at makingremittances to the ContributoryPension Scheme, CPS, seamless.

Accordingly the platform willenable employers in thecontributory pension schememonitor their contribution as wellas make it possible for defaultersto be sanctioned according to thePension Reform Act 2014.

Managing Director of UBAPensions Custodian, Mr. BayoYusuf stated this at a two dayworkshop organized forInsurance correspondents inLagos.

According to Yusuf the EPCOSis a platform that will makecompliance to the ContributoryPension Scheme, CPS, easy andseamless for employers in thecountry. He said that the EPCOSwhich is hosted by the NigerianInterbank settlement System,NIBSS, does not require anemployer to have e-bankingbefore connecting to the platform.

According to him, employerswill not pay any money to log onto the platform because it isabsolutely free and PenOp cameup with the initiative to encourageemployers to comply to the CPS.

By ROSEMARY ONUOHA

Business & Economy

AS manufacturingcompanies in Nigeria

continued to face challengesof poor power supply, theManaging Director and ChiefExecutive of SIMS NigeriaLimited, Chief Simeon Eyisi,has said that manufacturingwill explode if the power sectorreform agenda of PresidentGoodluck Jonathan succeed.

Eyisi in a chat shortly after theofficial opening of SamsungPremium Brand Shop in Lekki,Lagos posited that there arethousands of good reasonswhy high cost of electricityshould fall drastically in thecountry.

Eyisi who lamented thenumerous challenges faced bymanufacturing companies dueto poor power supply said: “Aswith most enterprises operatingin Nigeria, SIMS is bedevilledby the challenges in theenvironment, particularlyepileptic power supply thatcompels companies to rely ondiesel generators and theexorbitant cost of funds from thebanks.

He further noted that customsduty regime does not favourlocal assembly of products fromCKD (completely knockeddown) parts as against fullybuilt units imported in ready-to-use format.

Noting that current duty onCKDs was between 5 – 10percent; Eyisi argued that if thegovernment could increase thissubstantially, it would makemore sense and encouragemore local production of goodsbeing imported at present. Theimmediate benefit if this, hesaid, will be increase inemployment opportunitieswhich will reduce social

problems associated withunemployment.

“The high rate of interestcharged by banks on fundsthey extend to businesses isanother major headache thathas become a migraine thathamstrings the operations ofthe companies and discouragesnew investments.

“Our two major challengesare energy and high interestrates. You cannot run

manufacturing enterprisewithout electricity that isaffordable. But we know thatpublic power supply in Nigeriais a big headache. We have hadto depend on running hugediesel generators to be able toproduce. This makes the costof production quite high andaffects profitability. It does notallow companies here tocompete with organisationsthat get funds at a cheaper rate.

“When we borrow at 18percent from the banks, youknow that you cannot competewith someone who got facilitiesat single digit rate like 9percent. If the governmentcould look into this, it will helpmanufacturers greatly. That isone thing the FederalGovernment and the Bank ofIndustry should critically lookat and ameliorate the burdenof manufacturers.

Manufacturing will grow if powersector reforms succeed – SIMS boss

EXHIBITION - Guest Speaker\Executive Director Small And Medium Enterprise Bank ofIndustry (BOI), Mr Waheed Olagunju,2nd left Inspecting Products Exhibited at the 2014 RawMaterial Exhibiton Raw Material Research and Development Council (Rmrdc) in Lagos recentlywith him are from left Alhaja Mulikat Ogunlola of Tukawon Ventures; Mr Toyin of CorporateCommunication Department, BOI; Mr Samuel Olaniyan of Rmrd and Mr Kola Adewole ofStrategy Planing Department BOI.

By CHIOMA OBINNA

NQI, Mr. Charles Malata-Chirwa, said the capacitybuilding is one of theprogrammes set out under theNQI “to support the Councilto achieve its mandate”.

Malata-Chirwa, representingthe UNIDO’s CountryRepresentative at the eventheld in Abuja, disclosed that there are five majorcomponents of setting a qualitypolicy and associated technicalregulation under the QualityInfrastructure Project, stating that while some of theprogrammes would address thesupply side of the economy, thesupport to CPC is to enhancethe demand side.

According to him, under theNQI, UNIDO, through thefunding from EU, would establish an accreditation body,that would be internationally-recognised, set up a metrology institute, whichwould also be internationally

THE European Union,EU, through UnitedNations Industrial

Development Organisation(UNIDO) have partneredwith the ConsumerProtection Council, CPC, withthe aim of raising the bar ofconsumer protection in thecountry.

The partnership, which isunder the National QualityInfrastructure (NQI) Project,has capacity building of theCouncil’s staff, consumerawareness and quality trainingfor businesses as itscomponents.

Making this known lastweek at the opening of thetraining of the Council’sworkers on the organisation’senabling Act, UNIDO’s ChiefTechnical Advisor on the

recognized and “hopefullywith the assistance andcollaboration of the privatesector, we will initiateconformity assessment body”,all of which, he said are on the supply side.

The Chief Technical Advisorstated that NQI identified CPCas a key stakeholder and oneof the beneficiaries of the fivecomponents of the project because of its relevance to thenation’s economic growth.

He added: “CPC deals withthe demand side, theconsumers. And we cannot have a quality infrastructurewhich only looks at the playersin the market without alsolooking at the consumers. It isfor that reason that we believethat this in-house training willenable us reach out to theconsumers in a more structuredand in a more effective way.

“Only if we know our strengthand only if we know our

jurisdictions, will we be ableto engage the consumers so thatthey on their own will be ableto demand from theindustrialists and otherplayers in the market, thequality that is required. Sothrough that process, we seethe entire quality infrastructurein Nigeria becoming completeand will be able to compete atthe international level”, heasserted, pointing out that “allthis is happening through theauspices of the European Union, which has funded theproject with around 12 millionEuro, about 4.3 billion Naira”.

Speaking earlier, CPC’sDirector General, Mrs. DupeAtoki, commended UNIDO forits decision to include thecouncil in its NQI Project,noting that the organizationmade a good choice “that isgoing to give you properdeliverables that will supportyour investment in this project”.

EU, UNIDO partner CPC to boost consumer protection in Nigeria CONSUMERS havecriticised the National

Lottery Regulatory Commission(NLRC) for compelling companiesengaging in Consumer SalesPromos, CSPs to pay levies. Theconsumers, who stated their viewsto Vanguard in various fora saidit was illegal and unlawful for theNLRC to collect fees fromcompanies engaged in salespromotion.

For instance, a legalpractitioner, Mr. GbolahanGbadamosi has declared that it isunlawful for the NLRC to compelcompanies engaging in salespromotion to pay levies.

According to him “ NLRC is notoperating within the confines ofthe law establishing it and has nopower to close down any businesspremises for failure to pay thelevies the commission imposed onthem. Gbadamosi, who is anAssociate with Rickey Tarfa andCo, a firm of Legal Practitionersand Notaries Public, stated thatCSP is a typical marketingtechnique that adds value to aproduct in order to achievespecific marketing goals; statingthat some companies use CSPs forshort term promotions which arenot within the contemplation ofthe promoters of the NationalLottery Act 2005.

By FAVOURNNABUGWU

Consumersberate NLRC'sincursion intosales promo

By PETER EGWUATU

Email:[email protected], [email protected] page:www.lesleba.com/blog2Website: www.lesleba.comTel:0805 220 1997

40— Vanguard, MONDAY, NOVEMBER 10 , 2014

Omoh Gabriel - Group Business EditorBabajide Komolafe - Deputy Business EditorClara Nwachukwu - Energy EditorPeter Egwuatu - Asst. Business EditorYinka Kolawole - Snr Bus. CorrespondentFavour Nnabugwu - Insurance CorrespondentGodwin Oritse - Maritime CorrespondentGodfrey Bivbere - Maritime CorrespondentMichael Eboh - Energy ReporterFranklin Alli - Industry/Agric. ReporterEbele Orakpo - Energy ReporterIfeyinwa Obi - Maritime ReporterRosemary Onuoha - Insurance Reporter

CONTRIBUTORSPrincewill Ekwujuru - Media/MarketingNkiruka Nnorom - Capital MarketJonah Nwokpoku - E-CommerceNaomi Uzor - IndustryProvidence Obuh - Micro FinanceLAYOUT - Graphics Department

Business & Economy

CMYK

THERE are genuinepublic concerns thatwith the receding sales

price of crude oil in theinternational market, in recentmonths, our heavydependence on oil revenuemay diminish any promisingprospect for inclusive economicgrowth in Nigeria.

Although, sluggish economicgrowth in Europe and Chinaand the rapid development ofshale oil, together withincreasing sources of crude oilsupplies, have all combined tobring down crude oil prices,however, the precipitate pricefall within the last four months,may, according to seasonedanalysts, also be the result ofthe desperate auctions of crudeoil at ridiculously low prices bysuccessful warlords in strifetorn nations in North Africa andthe middle East. The regulartheft of between 10-20% ofNigeria’s annual crude outputare probably also sold cheaplyas goods which allegedly felloff the proverbial back of a lorry.

Ultimately, the worldcommunity will become the reallosers as such revenue accrualsare deployed by contendingwarlords to purchase ofweapons and critical supportfor terrorists and insurgentswho seek to destabilisedomestic and internationalsecurity in the same mannerthat illicit funds from fraud,narcotics and human traffickingalso adversely influence capitalflows and the world economy.

Indeed, if the current trendpersists, and insurgency in oilproducing nations also remainuncaged, crude oil price mayactually fall below $50/barrel asin 2008, and wipe off over halfof Nigerian’s current budgetrevenue expectations. In suchevent, there will be a revenueshortfall of about N1tn whichis normally allocated for capitalexpenditure in annualbudgets; government mayconsequently become forcedalso to trim down its unpopular

and insensitive recurrentbudgets.

In reality, workers’ lay off willnot be a welcome solution torevenue shortfalls as this maycreate industrial strife andmake government moreunpopular; furthermore, theNational Assembly will also bereluctant to endorse anybudget proposal that wouldreduce the huge, inappropriateincome expectations,allowances, and slush funds towhich Legislators andprivileged civil servants havebecome accustomed.

Thus, both Legislators andcivil servants will seek tomaintain their existing incomelevels if possible; nevertheless,government may acquireadditional loans because ofrevenue shortfalls to fund itsbudget at existing levels;however, the accumulation ofsuch loans could horrendouslyincrease current annual debtservice charges from aboutN600bn to closer to N1tn orover 20% of budget.Regrettably, in such event,government and its agencieswill seek to borrow fromexternal sources because of theattendant cheaper cost of suchfunds below 7%! There willhowever be problems betweennational sovereignty and theselfish dictates of powerfulexternal creditors to contendwith if we became heavilydependent on External loans!

Alternatively, governmentmay decide to make up forrevenue shortfalls from crudeoil by devaluing the Naira; inother words, where each statefor example got N160mallocation for $1m dollarrevenue, each state would nowget N200bn for the same exportrevenue, if the Naira exchangerate became officiallydevalued, to say, N200=$1.

Unfortunately, such a weakerNaira exchange rate willimmediately increasemanufacturing costs by over 20%and make made in Nigeria goodsuncompetitive, against, oftensubsidised imports. Ultimately,Nigeria’s industrial landscapewill further contract as was thecase after the oppressivedevaluation of Babangida’sadministration.

Naira devaluation will alsoinstigate, higher productioncosts which will drive higherprices across the board for mostgoods and services; regrettablyhowever, income earners,particularly the majority whocurrently live on less than $2/day will also become poorer astheir N18,000 minimum wagewill buy less and less goods andservices from the market.

Although, salaries andallowances of Legislators andpublic servants may remain thesame, in nominal terms after

devaluation, however, in realterms, the total incomepackage will still notcommand the erstwhilepurchasing value; in effect,both the rich and the poor willbecome relatively poorer!

Worse still, further Nairadevaluation will make itexceedingly difficult for us toavoid the wasteful payment ofover $7bn on fuel subsidyannually; expectedly, thedomestic fuel price will alsoshoot up to about N200/litrewithout subsidy; however itis, debatable whether thepublic would acquiesce to100% increase on petrol.

Nevertheless, the fiscalpressure to devalue the Nairais also propelled on themonetary front; marketapprehension about Nairastability has increased thedemand for the dollar as asafer store of value than theNaira; furthermore, politicaltensions and increasing rateof insecurity prior to the 2015elections, particularly in thelight of the predicted breakupof our country, may also movefunds away from the Naira;current market indicatorssuggest a stampede by foreignportfolio investors to offloadtheir Naira holdings andrepatriate their funds inforeign currency.

In reality, the Nairaexchange rate is also eternallychallenged by the constantexcess of Naira liquiditypitched against CBN’smonopoly of the forex marketand the rationed dollarsupplies to the market.

Unfortunately, rather thanaddress and control the realcause of the destabilising,ever present excess Nairasupply, the CBN has failedwith its strategies to restraindollar demand and maintain

a stable official exchange rateof about N155=$1 for about 5years. Inspite of the fact thatBureau De Change (BDCs)constitute the prime sources offorex funding for launderedmoney and smuggling of thosegoods which constrain thegrowth of domestic industry, theCBN misguidedly, officiallyallocated billions of dollars toBDCs annually in order tosupport its fixed exchangerate.

Although, this extremely

liberal disposition to BDCs hasbeen reviewed by significantlyincreasing the mandatorycapitalisation, the Apex Bankhas also reduced BDC weeklyforex allocations; furthermore,last week, the CBN alsostopped direct sales of dollarsto Importers of electronics,Generators, InformationTechnology and Telecomequipment; such importerswould henceforth source theirdollars from the interbankmarket at a higher exchangerate of over 5% for now.

Expectedly, the abovemeasures will only drive forexdemand into the black marketand ultimately recreate thesame multiple exchange ratesstructure that was condemnedin the past and also furtherwiden the margin betweenofficial and black marketexchange rates; increased rentseeking would inevitably alsoincrease and distort economicactivities in the same mannerthat funds from humantrafficking and illicit narcoticstrade threaten to destabilise theworld’s economy.

Instructively, however, themost plausible approach tosave the Naira exchange ratewill be to stop CBN’s monopolyof the forex market and theattendant usual substitution offresh Naira supply for monthlyallocations of dollar revenue.

Save the Naira, Save

Nigerians!

Can CBN save the Naira?

In reality, theNaira exchange

rate is alsoeternally

challenged bythe constant

excess of Nairaliquidity pitchedagainst CBN’s

monopoly of theforex market

and the rationeddollar suppliesto the market

Group partners NBC, GSK, Nestleto empower women in Nigeria

Idea Builders Initiative, anon-profit organization has partnered

with the Nigerian Bottling Company,NBC, GlaxoSmithKline and Nestle tohold this year’s Global Women’sMentoring Walk which is aimed athelping rising women leaders achievetheir goals and reach their full potential.In a statement, the group said, “ComeNovember 15 2014, several establishedNigerian women leaders will bematched with young professionals toengage in dialogue as they walk andtalk, adding that, simultaneous ‘walks’will take place in Lagos at Gbagada,Ikeja, and Unilag including Calabarand Enugu.”


CMYK


ManagingDirector andChief Execu-tive Officer,Airtel Nigeria,Mr. SegunOgunsanya(right) receiv-ing Airtel’saward as BestCompany inEducation CSRfrom BusinessDevelopmentManager,PCMN, Mr.Greg Wil-liams, at TheSERAs Awards2014 held inLagos

Foundation honours retired SupremeCourt Judge, Obaseki

By Simon Ebegbulem B E N I N — T H EHallmarks of La-

bour Foundation, HLF,weekend, honoured re-tired Supreme CourtJudge, Justice AndrewObaseki, for his exempla-ry services to the advance-ment of the nation’s legalsystem, particularly in thearea of adjudication.

The honour tagged RoleModel Award, was be-stowed on him by theformer Vice-Chancellor ofthe University of Benin,Professor Grace Alele-Wil-liams, a member of theBoard of Trustees of HLF.

Some notable Nigerianssuch as Justice Chukwudi-fu Oputa; AmbassadorMatthew Mbu, JusticeKayode Eso, and ChiefRotimi Williams, all ofblessed memory have inthe past received theaward.

The HLF has EmerutusProf. Umaru Shehu asChairman BOT; Dr. Chris-topher Kolade, Vice-Chair-man; Prof. Grace Alele-Williams, member; Sena-tor Oluremi Tinubu, mem-ber; Prof. Itse Saggay andPatricia Otuedon-Arawore(Secretary) among others.

Speaking, Prof. Alele-Williams pointed out thatJustice Obaseki waspicked as a recipient be-cause of his couragethroughout his career inboth the bar and bench.

Professor Alele-Williamswho urged the youngergeneration to emulate thequalities of Justice Obasekias a role model noted thatwhile others are in the hab-it of using their positionsto make quick money, “hewas busy establishing agood reputation for him-self”.

The Executive Secretaryof the Foundation, Mrs.Patricia Otuedon-Arawore,earlier explained that thebody was conceivedagainst the backdrop ofincreasing decay in themoral fabrics of Nigeria,dishonest practices andinefficient management ofpublic affairs by successivegovernments.

CMYK

46—Vanguard, MONDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2014

OPINIONBY AIYEVBEKPEN OSAKUE

Today, Mubi,Badeh’s localgovernmentheadquarters,has the blackflags of BokoHaram flutter-ing in theSavannahwind, with anew moniker:MadinatulIslam(city ofIslam)

Curbing excesses of private universitiesThe call for privatisation of education was topical in

the eighties due to increased demand for highereducation. After foot-dragging for years, governmentbroke the monopoly of ownership of universities, the firstof which was established in 1948.

Consequently, the emergence of private universities asbusiness enterprise became an established phenomenom.Indeed, it has fast become big business with minimalrisk given the huge population of those yearning for highereducation in Nigeria. Education has come to be acceptedas a good investment. It is a means of escaping povertyfor the majority and a means for maintaining elite statusfor the privileged that flock private universities acrossthe country. Yet, even in corporate world, social responsi-bility is a measure of good corporate citizenship. Thusfar, that is absent in most of the private universities inNigeria. To most proprietors, their motivation was quickreturns on investment. At the moment, the pricing of edu-cation obtainable in private universities does not accom-modate the ordinary Nigerians. The profit interests ofowners have remained absolute. It is an over-drive forsome proprietors to capitalise on the liberal operationalenvironment to perpetuate exploitative tendencies in theway and manner fees and levies are charged, most timeswithout good reasons and without commensurate serv-ices.

Babcock University is one of the first generation private

universities established in 1999. A visit to the institutionmay not tell the entire story. The infrastructures andlearning facilities rank among the best in Nigeria. Thereis no doubt that the proprietor is clear headed on thedirection that the school is headed - to be one of the bestin these climes. You leave the university with theimpression that a great future lie ahead. But the univer-sity must first establish institutional integrity and disci-pline beyond questions. She must not allow herself todrift into the mud puddle of reckless and exploitativeimposition of levies. It is currently being smeared by suchneedless controversy.

On June 1, the university held its convocation for the2013/2014 graduates. It was an impressive ceremony thatgave parents and guardians of graduands copious senseof fulfillment. But when the graduates went back to collecttheir certificates, the sum of N25, 000.00 had beenarbitrarily slammed on all graduands based onallegations of either walking out or absence from theconvocation ceremony. For parents who had heaved asigh of relief from paying school fees that ranged fromN500, 000.00 to N1, 300,000.00 per session, this levy isan unkind way of saying thank you for your patronage.Most parents and guardians cringed on learning thealleged offence of the graduands. Nothing could befarther from the truth.

As a witness, one could vividly recall what transpired:The Guest Speaker of the occasion not only arrived lateat the ceremony but delivered a three-hour lecture thatmany considered inappropriately too lengthy for aconvocation ceremony. The near ad infinitum deliveryof the lecture bored and over-stretched the patience ofboth parents and the graduands and resulted torestlessness and loss of concentration. Under thecircumstance, some graduands naturally slipped out notonly to refresh but to celebrate with friends and relationswithin the periphery of the convocation venue. It was notpossible for all the graduands to have poured out of thevenue as the claims of the authorities of the schoolsuggest. So what is the wisdom or logic in levyingeveryone and not the culprits? To be honest, most parentswill grudgingly pay for their children to enable themcollect their hard earned certificates considering the factthat the money is mere pittance compared to what eachgraduand had paid to complete his or her course. Butexploitation of any form is repulsive and degrading andmust be confronted, fought and defeated with dedicationand grim courage. It cast the authorities of the school inthe mold of Shylock!

ON January 16, 2014, the Presi-dent appointed new service chiefs

to man the principal commands of the Ni-gerian armed forces. Among them was AirMarshall Alex Badeh, who was promotedfrom Chief of Air Staff to the Chief ofDefence Staff. Badeh thus became theabsolute top gun in the Nigerian military.He coordinates the efforts to flush out theBoko Haram insurgency in the North East.

Prior to Badeh’s appointment, BokoHaram had been uprooted from majorNorthern cities and they fled to the nowlegendary Sambisa Forest in Borno/Yobestates, from where they engaged thearmed and security forces in asymmetri-cal warfare, raiding remote villages in thedead of the night.

As soon as Marshall Badeh took over,he addressed senior officers of the armedforces in the glare of media attention, andpromised that by April 2014, Boko Haramwould be a thing of the past. The appoint-ment of Badeh as the CDS, Major GeneralKenneth Tobiah Minimah as Chief ofArmy Staff and Rear AdmiralUsman Jibrin as the Chief ofNaval Staff buoyed confidenceafter former Army Chief, LtGeneral Azubuike Ihejirika’scampaigns against the terror-ists had become increasingmired in politics following ac-cusations of “genocide” lev-elled at the troops by someNorthern leaders.

Minimah, being of Ijaw ex-traction, was expected to com-plete the good work started byIhejirika and protect thePresidency from the enemies ofour democracy. Badeh, as thenation’s number one defender,had all the motivational factorsstacked on his side to finish offthe insurgents. The North Eastis his home region, and Adama-wa, his state, was frequentlyraided by the Islamists. It wasalready under a state ofemergency.

But unfortunately, it was un-der the command of Badeh andMinimah that Boko Haramtransformed from a guerrillaoutfit into a conventional army.Between January and this mo-ment, unthinkable things havehappened, not only to our armybut also to the nation’s territori-

al integrity. It was within this period thatdue to lousy leadership at federal, state,local government and the armed forces andpolice levels, Boko Haram calmly walkedinto the Government Secondary School,Chibok in Borno South and hauled 219girls off to captivity in April.

It was also during this time that acts ofsabotage within the army led to deadly BokoHaram ambushes that claimed the lives oftroops. It precipitated the shooting incidentat a parade in a military barracks in Maid-

uguri, prompting the recentcourt-martials. Familieslocked up barracks to preventsoldiers from being drafted tothe war front, allegedly dueto “poor equipment”. Ourtroops were often reported toflee into Cameroun as the in-surgents charged forward.This was the first time sincethe end of the civil war I everheard that Nigerian troopsfled from an advancingenemy! We are talking abouta rag-tag army that has no as-sault aircraft and only recent-ly started acquiring armouredpersonnel carriers, APCs.

It was under Air MarshallBadeh’s command that BokoHaram suddenly abandonedthe asymmetrical or guerrillawarfare and sprang out ofSambisa Forest. They startedcapturing territories – Bazza,Bama and Gwoza in BornoState – where they declaredan Islamic Caliphate. Whatdid the Defence Headquar-ters say about it? “We will nev-er concede an inch of Nige-ria’s territory toterrorists”.They have sinceconceded over 20 local gov-

ernment areas in four states (Borno, Yobe,Adamawa and Gombe).

It was this same Badeh that, out of theblue, announced a unilateral ceasefire ata time the tide of the war seemed to beturning in Nigeria’s favour after the slay-ing of Abubakar Shekau (II). The troopswere told to stop fighting, and Badehpromised a stunned nation that BokoHaram would release the Chibok girls ina matter of days.

This was the breather Boko Haram waslooking for. They surged south in Adama-wa, swept through Madagali, Michika andstormed into Mubi, the second largest cityin the state. What an irony! What a shame,that the man who had in a fit of Johnny-just-come bravura declared that BokoHaram would end in April, lost his personalhouse, home town and local governmentto them.

Black flags ofBoko Haram

Today, Mubi, Badeh’s local governmentheadquarters, has the black flags of BokoHaram fluttering in the Savannah wind,with a new moniker: Madinatul Islam (cityof Islam). Badeh’s predominantly Chris-tian hometown has been effectively Islam-ised. And what does Badeh say to StateHouse Correspondents about that?

“It is no big deal that my home town hasbeen captured. It does not matter if it is myhouse or Emeka’s house or Lagos that hasbeen captured; the burden is on myshoulder. Nigeria can never be helpless. Itake responsibility”. Then he swaggers off.

Badeh has shown he has nothing to offerin defence of our country. Under his com-mand, Boko Haram marched all the wayfrom Sambisa Forest, captured and Islam-ised his hometown. If Badeh cannot de-fend his hometown, whose hometown canhe defend? If he allows his Christian-dom-

inated hometown to be Islamised, who issafe?

I have a feeling that the situation thatBadeh finds himself in is much bigger thanhim. The armed forces are obviously in abigger mess than we can imagine. BishopMatthew Hassan Kukah’s book: WitnessTo Justice, disclosed the Oputa Panel dis-covered that the military, even back then,had become a “moral fugitive” and reek-ing with “smugglers and witchcraft”. Gen-erals are now said to be retiring as “bil-lionaires”, and troops are no longer moti-vated by the right values in enrolling inthe army.

We must save the armed forces, securityagencies and Police Force before this na-tion collapses on our heads. Nigerians mustjoin hands with the leadership of thiscountry to arrest the march of Boko Haram.If by January things continue on balefultrajectory, we might lose the entire NorthEast to the Islamists. Once that happens,North West will be much easier to losebecause they are already mostly Muslimsand may simply switch sides. After all, theyare already practising a measured level offull-scale Sharia law. From there, yourguess is as good as mine where theIslamists will turn. You and I may have togo home and defend our hometowns sincethe army can no longer do so.

Unless we save the armed forces pronto,our democracy is in danger. The army maytake the laws into their hands as they didin Mali when the Islamists capturedTimbuktu in 2012. The nation is on thebrink. Now is the time for us to act. Tomor-row may be too late.

20 years of People and Politics

Yesterday, November 9, 2014, was ex-actly 20 years since the Chairman andPublisher of Vanguard Newspapers, MrSam Amuka-Pemu, signed me on to startthis column. Between April 1999 and Au-gust 2001, my late mentor and eruditecolumnist, Pini Jason and I, went to tryour hands on The Examiner. When it didnot work, we resolved to shun other beck-oning opportunities to return to our homebase, Vanguard, and the rest is history.This is a vote of thanks to all of you forkeeping faith with me, even when youdisagree with my way of looking at Nigeriaand her affairs. My ambition is to be likeUncle Bisi Lawrence (Biz-Law) who, at 81,is still lucid – and writing.

Marshall Badeh as a metaphor

•Mr. Osakue, a political strategist, wrote from BeninCity, Edo State.

Vanguard, MONDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2014—————4747474747

By Femi Kehinde

•Mr. Kehinde, a formermember of the House ofRepresentatives, wrotefrom Ibadan, Oyo State.

*Mr. Momodu, a public affairscommentator, wrote Benin city,Edo State.

By Johnson Momodu

Between Tambuwal and ingratitude

I RECEIVED the news of thedefection of Rt. Hon Aminu

Tambuwal from the PeoplesDemocratic Party, PDP, to the AllProgressive Congress, APC, withstoic and philosophical calmness.Apart from being a sour taste inthe mouth, it is also laden withlegal and political miscalculationsand labyrinths.

As at today, going by the clearwordings of Section 68(1)(g) ofthe 1999 Constitution of theFederal Republic of Nigeria asamended, and the ruling of thecourt, that a member that defectsfrom his party, when there is nodivision (SHALL) vacate his seat.

The word “SHALL” is not onlya mandatory, but also verysacrosanct. There is a subsistingcourt ruling that there is nodivision in the PDP, and AminuTambuwal, in the eyes of the law,would naturally vacate his seatas a member of the House ofRepresentatives and byconcomitant effects, as Speaker ofthe House of Representatives.

Politics and law are like siamesetwins, and the law has alwaysbeen found as its mitigatingbrother.

In the First Republic, the clearwordings of Section 33(1) of theWestern Region of Nigerian

IN a season of electioneering,it should be expected that all

manner of ideas, calculations anddoublespeak by politicians andtheir cheerleaders will be givenfree reign. More so, in a countrythat truth easily becomes the firstcasualty of power and influence,it should be equally expected thatferocious attempts to rewrite,tweak or embellish our nationalhistory to serve partisan politicalinterests will be made. Alreadythat campaign has started inearnest to revise key events andreconstruct personalities in ournational history. That is what isprecisely happening now with thedeceitful General MuhammaduBuahari makeover project in themedia.

Since Buhari declared hisintention to run for the office ofthe President of Nigeria for arecord fourth time in 2015, someof the comments and write-upsabout the leading aspirant in themain opposition party, the AllProgressives Congress, APC,have been so effusive in the praiseof the old soldier that you wonderif the authors actually knew theirsubject. Yes, some of thosematerials can be dismissed assponsored and paid for.

Chief Audu Ogbeh is one of thefew politicians in the country whohave managed to project politicsas an ennobling serviceirrespective of the party to whichhe belongs; how much can youpay the “innocent” Ogbe?

Well, with Ogbeh, you can

Buhari and the revisionistsexcuse him for falling cheaply forthe new craze in the oppositionclan, which is grabbing power atall cost from the ruling PDP andworry later about the means. Itwas interesting listening toOgbeh reading out Buhari’sprofile as he made his way to thepodium recently at the EagleSquare in Abuja to declare hisinterest to run for the office of thepresident for a record fourth time.Somebody beside me watchingthe live telecast of the eventwhispered that Ogbeh was thewrong guy for the assignment hewas given because he would notknow how to water downBuhari’s poor democracy records.But as it turned out, Ogbehshowed that in his politicalperegrinations, he has properlyacclimatised and has alsointernalised the crooked valuesof our politicians. Lo and behold,Ogbeh, while praising Buhari’srich past, cleverly omitted thestubborn fact that Buharioverthrew a democraticallyelected government of the peoplein 1983. He also brazenly sweptunder the carpet the gross abuseof human rights that was thesignature tune of the Buhariregime, while eulogising theformer head of state on his recordof discipline. To be sure, Buhariled a horde of Second Republicpoliticians, including Ogbehhimself, whimsically intodetention. So when Ogbeh, nowcampaign director for Buhari,seeks to rewrite history becauseof an election down the line, hemust realise the great disservice

revisionists strive to reconstructBuhari in the context of ournational history, the former headof state must first secure the ticketof his party by beating the formerVice President, Atiku Abubakarand Governor Rabiu Kwankwasoin a free and fair primary. Whenthe General becomes APC’spresidential candidate, then wewill measure how much he haschanged from what we know himto be. Yes, how much of anovernight democrat, nationalist,progressive and secularist he hassuddenly become, just because ofan election in a year's time?Thank God for the gift of our onlyNobel Laureate, Professor WoleSoyinka(whose opinion I believeMomodu respects) for putting inblack and white what he termedseveral years ago as “The Crimesof Buhari”, as if he knew a day ofthe revisionists will come in 2014.“The grounds on which GeneralBuhari is being promoted as thealternative choice are … not onlyshaky, but pitifully naive. Historymatters. Records are not keptsimply to assist the weakness ofmemory, but to operate as guidesto the future,” Professor Soyinka,had warned.

So all ye Buhari new convertsunited in painting a picture of howNigeria has become a hugecorruption network underPresident Goodluck Jonathan andhow ‘Saint’ Buhari will be theMessiah must not forget that thereis no bigger corruption than thedeceitful revision of a people’shistory – for whatever reason!

mathematician, in trying to projecthow Buhari will likely sweep thevotes in 2015 presidentialelections. Unfortunately for himand his forecasts, maths is basedon methods and formulas thatmust be applied correctly. Awrong formula inexorably leadsto the wrong answer orconclusion. Such is the case ofMomodu’s mathematics thatfactor in the influence of Ribaduin Benue rather than Adamawaand based on that, gives BenueState, David Mark’s state, to theAPC and not PDP in 2015.

The truth is that nobody needsMomodu’s Jagbajantis he callsmathematics to understand thatthe 2015 general elections will bevery competitive. Yes, APC hasreally stepped up its game, nodoubt. Yes, PDP has lost somehigh profile members to theopposition. Yet those drawing aconclusion on that, predicting aBuhari victory in 2015, are closingtheir eyes to the fact that PDP hasalso gained some high profilemembers from the opposition.More importantly, the APCprophets in the matter of 2015have conveniently ignored thefact of the nation’s votingbehaviour. Since the FirstRepublic, the South West hasnever voted for a Northernpresidential candidate, no matterthe party he belongs. Thegrowing influence of Senator BolaAhmed Tinubu in the region maynot change this stubborn fact in2015!

Much as Ogbeh, DeleMomodu and the growing list of

Constitution was that theGovernor “shall” remove thePremier (when it appears to him)that the Premier no longercommands the support of majoritymembers of the Regional Houseof Assembly.

The Governor, Sir AdesojiTadeniawo Aderemi, the Ooni ofIfe, removed the Premier, whenit appeared to him, that thePremier ’s support in theParliament had waned.

The Action Group, following theremoval, appointed Alhaji DaudaSoroye Adegbenro, as its newPremier. The removal of ChiefS.L. Akintola precipitated majorcrisis against his government andremoval on the May 25, 1962,and he forcibly opened thePremier’s Office to illegallycontinue in office as Governor ofWestern Region.

This simple act of belligerenceand audacity led the then PrimeMinister, Alhaji Tafawa Balewa,to suspend the Parliament of theWestern Region, and appointedDr. Olukoye Majekodunmi asAdministrator of the WesternRegion, on May 22, 1962, andhe instructed the Nigeria Policeto restore peace and normalcy.

It is instructive to note that apopular stubborn lemon grasshas since been known as “Akintolata ku”.

audacious and belligerent AlhajiGali Umar Na’abba, Speaker ofthe House of Representatives,then was, he did not cross theborderline of dumping the partythat gave him the privilege ofbecoming the number four citizenof Nigeria, but remained vocaland loyal to the PDP despite veryobvious misgivings.

Alhaji Ghali Na’abba unlikemany of us, perhaps asaclairvoyant, saw the emergingtyranny and dictatorship in thethen Executive Government ofthe Federal Republic of Nigeria.

The Federal Governmentwould be acting within thedictates of law, morality andcommonsense and decency, byremoving Aminu Tambuwal fromthe Nigerian parliament throughthe instrumentality of the law i.e.section 68(1) (g) of the 1999Constitution, as amended, whichstates that a member who leaveshis party when there is no divisionor merger shall vacate his seat.

The word “shall” has enjoyedso many legal interpretations asa sacrosanct and mandatoryword, through the wordings of thegreat Lord Denning MR in the1961 Privy Council case ofBENJAMIN LEONARDMACFOY VS. UAC LTD 1961 3AER 1169 Pc and the 1980Supreme Court decision in

SKENCONSULT NIG LTD vs.GODWIN SEKONDU UKEY SC50/1980.

Whilst William Shakespeare,described ingratitude as”monstrous”, and JamesThomson describes it as ”treasonto mankind", Immanuel Kantdescribed it as-”the essence ofvileness” and Titus Maccus Platussays “you love a nothing whenyou love an ingrate”, which isbetter encapsulated in the Latinmaxim nihil amas um ingratumamas.

Julius Caesar in WilliamShakespeare embellished itfurther when he said:”Ingratitude thrives fast at first,but fades in time”.

Tambuwal has in the last fewyears demonstrated an unkindand unjust act of ingratitude tothe political party that took himto the parliament as anhonourable member and on theplatform through which hebecame the Speaker of the Houseof Representatives and thenumber four citizen of Nigeria.However, he should be remindedthat he who is not grateful to hisbenefactor, that is his party (PDP)in this instance, would not begrateful to the rest of mankindfrom whom he has received nobenefaction, whilst also wishinghim success in this new voyage.

He should bereminded that hewho is not gratefulto his benefactor,that is his party(PDP), would not begrateful to the rest ofmankind

All Buhari newconverts must notforget that there isno biggercorruption thanthe deceitfulrevision of apeople’s history –for whateverreason!

The President of the FederalRepublic of Nigeria, as theCommander-in-Chief of theArmed Forces has numerouspowers under the law to forestallthe breakdown of law and orderin the House of Representatives,and any part of Nigeria, throughthe Inspector General of Police,by giving operational meaning toSection 68(1) (g) of the 1999Constitution as amended, byremoving Alhaji AminuTambuwal from the House ofRepresentatives, and also asSpeaker of the House ofRepresentatives, by withdrawingall the perquisites of office that isattached to that responsibilities,which of course include Policeescorts and security.

In retrospect, during my time asa Member of the House ofRepresentatives between 1999and 2003, and as brilliant,

he is doing to his fatherland.Indeed, the attempt at re-

branding Buhari appears to becatching fire with the suddenrecruitment of people like ChiefDele Momodu, the colourfulpublisher of the OvationMagazine. Momodu a one timepresidential candidate has takenhis own revisionism to a level ofalmost obsession. A good storyteller he has been over the years,Momodu now holds us spellbound by his tale of howcharming the General can be,how he (Momodu) was swept offhis feet by the General by just onechance meeting, and how he hasbeen greatly misunderstood. TheOvation publisher known andrespected more for his dexterityin Yoruba language studies is nowplaying Chike Obi, the


Continues on page 49

WHAT are your commentson political

developments in Rivers State?I should alert the nation and

the Rivers people in particularof the potential securitydangers and the socio-economic destabilization thatmay be about to happen inRivers State in the face ofcurrent political developments.

As has happened before, bybeing docile and by trying notto engage in the realities of oursituation, Rivers people aresleep-walking into a state of

Monday Ndor, etc. and thusdrove the state to a downwardspiral of insecurity andinstability. Fear descended onthe citizenry. This state of affairscaused me to issue my warningcaptioned “STOP THISMADNESS FORTHWITH ina press release to all Riverspeople sometime ago. I tookvarious other actions to try toarrest the reckless drift toinsecurity in the state.Nevertheless and inspite of mylittle efforts, the state ofinsecurity persisted and by2003 assassinations and cultdriven gang warfare and gun

side by side as fully integratedRivers people. My vision andexpectation is that we keep itthat way.

The various ethnicnationalities of the Rivers Stateotherwise called the Riverspeople have lived together inco-operation and collaborationfor centuries. They had hadeconomic, cultural, politicaland educational collaborationfor that long.

Socio-culturalprocess

I am proud to say that I ampart of the expression of thissocio-cultural process. I amlinked by blood, etc. withseveral parts of the state,mainland, riverine, includingthe Ikwerre and Ogoni. Myfather’s first daughter is fromOgbogoro (Ikwerre), I finishedprimary school in Emohua

(Ikwerre), my family hadlinkages in Aluu and my nannywho nursed me when I was akid is from Ogoni, etc. So whatI advocate today for the riverinecommunities I will do so as asteward in the court of justiceand fairness, equally to protectthe interest of any of themainland communities.

Are you not afraid of yourpersonal security?

Yes there is glaring evidencethat those who are bent onusing violence to serve politicalends will stop at nothing andwill not hesitate to applythuggery or violence to expressthemselves. My answer to thisquestion is very simple. ‘Thosewho live in glass houses mustnot throw stones.’ Perhaps youhave not heard the story –indeed a fairy tale story thatwhen my political convoy wasattacked in Okrika in 2002 I

Rivers: Wike should forgetambition, clean his image— Horsfall

CHIEF Albert Horsfall, former director-general,Department of State Services, DSS was the pioneerdirector-general of the Nigerian Intelligence Agency, NIA andrenowned for his expertise on security issues. Horsfall, one ofthe most prominent statesmen from Rivers State, trained as apoliceman and worked in the Special Branch of the police andbecame part of the pioneer staff of the defunct NigerianSecurity Organisation, NSO which later translated into theDSS. Horsfall on retirement from the security services, becamethe pioneer chairman of the Oil Minerals Producing AreasDevelopment Commission, OMPADEC. As OMPADEC boss,Horsfall is remembered for initiating the first FederalGovernment specialised intervention programmes in the oilproducing region, and employed the former lecturer, Dr.Goodluck Jonathan as a staff of the commission.

In this interview, Horsfall canvasses the balancing of politicaloffices in his native Rivers State and reviews the securitychallenges in the state and the country as a whole. Excerpts:

By Jimitota Onoyume

•Horsefall: Wike must forget becoming Rivers State governor for now

If you ask meto commenton theperformanceof Dr. Odili asGovernor ofRivers State, Iwill not,becausefriends don’trun downfriends

2007 Rivers State waspractically dead. My fellowRivers men and women, boysand girls, are we, once again,going to let ourselves to driftinto this state of anarchy andhelplessness?

Chief are you speaking as amember of the PeoplesDemocratic Party or of anyother political party?

No. I serve only one platform,my God, my conscience andthe ordinary Rivers people.

The second thing is that I lovethe youth. I have done most ofmy charitable activities andservices in the promotion ofyouth interest. I believe verystrongly that the youth is thefuture of any nation.

Rivers State is for all itspeople and those others andthere are numerous such otherswho have come to live and workin it, the process that dates backto many decades. We all reside

disaster. We arebeing taken forgranted, onceagain.

Rivers people donot accept theimposition ofanother mainlandg o v e r n o r s h i pcandidate of thestate by one of themain politicalparties after sixteenyears of governanceby candidates fromthe mainland. Wetherefore appeal,very strongly to allpolitical parties topresent candidatesfrom the riverinecommunities for thegovernorship raceof the state in 2015.

Will we forget sosoon that betweenyear 2000 and 2002the seeds ofinsecurity weredeliberately andpurposefully sownand sponsored bytop political playersin the state?A s s a s s i n ssponsored by thesegroups ande n g i n e e r e dthrough a servingpolice officer at thattime murdered anumber of personsincluding Hon.

fights were to be seenall over the stateparticularly in PortHarcourt, the statecapital! At the sametime some toppoliticians hadactually sponsoredand armed a numberof young radicalswho soon became“WAR LORDS”. Weknow them.

And in fact, theweak institutions andleadership in ourpolity have nowpromoted some ofthem to publicrecognition andstatus! Meanwhilethe series ofunjustified killingsand destruction ofproperties includingthe destruction of oiland gas installations,attack and kidnap ofexpatriates, etc.continued. All thesedangerous eventscontinued to happenin Rivers State until2007. In some casesrespected chiefs ofcommunities, headsof war canoe houses,were brought to theopen, flogged andde-humanized by theso-called war lords,etc.

Thus from 2003until about the end of


Boko Haram: OurDefence Chief shouldtalk less and do moreContinues from page 48

disappeared!The next place, according to

this sweet story, that Iresurfaced was in Israel. Haveyou not seen that I havedisappeared from the scene forabout four weeks sinceSeptember, 2014? Where haveI been? All over! Perhaps toconsult with those – FBI,International Court of Justice,MI6, etc. – who will dealdecisively with anyone orgroup should anyone befoolish enough to attemptviolence against me.

In any case the law will say‘buyers beware’. And I will sayto the fools that threatenviolence, ‘beware’ – theHorsfalls are a unique specie.

Uniquespecie

Read their history and youwill know that no sane personattempts violence against themotherwise the consequenceswill be too grave for suchpersons to bear.

Yes did they say that duringa funeral ceremony Dr. PeterOdili had said that I frustratedhim from becoming Presidentof this country in 2007? Yes Idid, and if he said so he iscorrect. I did so because he was

attempting to answer ‘myfather’s’ name in his attemptto become president on theplatform of old Eastern Nigeria.I regard Odili as my personalfriend.

I think he also regards me ashis friend in spite of ourdifferent political viewpoints inNigerian politics. Buteverybody who knows me willknow that I will speak the truthas I see it If you ask me tocomment on the performance ofDr. Odili as Governor of RiversState. I will not, becausefriends don’t run down friends.Let others do that.

But will you mind a commenton the administration ofPresident Goodluck Jonathanso far?

Again you asked me aboutPresident Goodluck Jonathan’sadministration. Jonathan is mykinsman. He came into politicsby accident. But no matter whatanyone says about him and hisadministration he has givendemocracy a new face inNigeria especially in the areaof free speech and humanrights. No past administrationof this country has given suchopportunities and been tolerantof criticisms as hisadministration has been. So Iam sure people will vote forhim not because they like him

as such but because they havefound true expression of theirdemocratic views in his style ofadministration.

The former Minister of statefor Education, Mr NyesomWike appears to be the onlymainland aspirant as youchose to call it. Are you inanyway by all you have said,against his governorshipambition?

Again you asked me aboutNyesom Wike the formerMinister of Education.Obviously I do not knowenough of him to form a correctopinion. However, I will askhim to advise his media peopleto look at his image moreseriously and carefully.

The rumours being spreadabout him especially hisphysical engagement with hisopponents, etc are notpalatable. Hopefully thesestories may not all be genuineor true but as a buddingpolitician he should look afterhis image so that he canprepare himself for futurepolitical office but must forgetthe idea of becoming RiversState governor just now!

Selfishinterest

Let me say in conclusion thatthe Rivers people will notsacrifice their long cherishedassociation and collaborationand their need for peace andstability so that the selfishinterest of a few people may besatisfied. No. It shall neverhappen!

What is your reaction to theongoing challenge by BokoHaram against the nation?

In all fairness, Defence andSecurity Services have notbeen particularly wellmanaged. It seems at first thatthe magnitude of the problem

I did say that theissue of ISIS whichwas not prominentthen, was stillbuilding up, I had saidthat the expression ofextreme Islamism willhave a bearing onBoko Haram activities.

What is happeningnow is that BokoHaram is beingsupplied or guided bythese extremistexternal elements andwe have now got areal threat. Howprepared we are forthe threat is the issueour defence andsecurity forces shouldeducate Nigerians on.

I am afraid that someof the things ourdefence chief inparticular says arerather premature, heshould not have saidthem if they were notready to say them.

On the issue of theChibok girls I do notsee why it is the Chiefof Defence Staff, andnot a politician whoshould come out to sayNigeria had nowagreed a cease firewith Boko Haram.

It’s a political issue,

•Horsefall: Boko Haram is a threat to our national integrity

really judge anybody.We now really have agrave security threaton our hands.

Was the confabworth it in youropinion as aconferee?

The confab wasworth it. For the firsttime government is acting on the confabmatters.

There is also ani m p l e m e n t a t i o ncommittee (working)already on some ofthose issues whichperhaps have to dowith executive actions.The decisions we madethere were very farreaching. The onlything we did not agreeon was revenuesharing.

This is a strangefederation where wetake money and spendthat we did not workfor. Everybody isdepending on thissharing. Wediscovered that thereare natural resourcesin each of the statescapable of sustainingthe economy. Becauseoil is freely mined.

What ishappeningnow is thatBoko Haramis beingsupplied orguided bytheseextremistexternalelements

a politicianshould havehandled it andnot the Chief ofDefence Staff. Itseems to us nowthat at that stagethey were onlydiscussing theissue of cease fire,they had agreedno cease fire itwould appearbecause BokoHaram was stillk i d n a p p i n g ,killing andattacking. Thatis why I said theDefence andSecurity serviceshave got to gettheir acts ready.

The press insome ways toohave not helpedmuch, theyshould consultwith the defenceand security. Weare all Nigerians,whether you are apress man or a

and the threat posed by BokoHaram had not been wellappreciated.

In my presentation as deputychairman of the securitycommittee at the NationalConference I did say we mustnot go to sleep on this issue ofBoko Haram, that it is a veryserious threat. Ideologicallybased security threats are noteasily resolved, they are themost complicated and difficultand we must look at them verycritically and carefully.

soldier. What has confronted ustoday via Boko Haram is athreat to our national integrity. Some portions of Nigeriaterritory are being excised.

These people haveexpressed an aim to take over,control, cease Nigerianterritory, thereforeundermining the country’sterritorial integrity. Somethingwe must never, evercompromise as a country. I amnot in the position right now to

50 — VANGUARD, MONDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2014

•Obama

Obama tours China, Myanmar,Australia

PRESIDENT BarackObama headed for

China Sunday on a tripthat will focus on Washing-ton’s often tense relationswith the country, and willalso see the president vis-it Myanmar and Australia.

The China stop will bedominated by Obama’smeeting with ChinesePresident Xi Jinping inBeijing, where the WhiteHouse said it expects “can-did and in-depth conver-sations.”

The relationship be-tween the two superpow-ers, which US Secretary ofState John Kerry hascalled the “most conse-quential” in the world to-day, has been marred bytensions over the SouthChina Sea, cyberspyingand human rights issues.

Obama will also attendan Asia-Pacific EconomicCooperation (APEC) sum-mit in Beijing. The presi-dent boarded the flight forBeijing in grey slacks anda casual black windbreak-er, accompanied by Na-tional Security AdvisorSusan Rice and senioradviser Dan Pfeiffer,among others.

In Myanmar, Obamawill meet President TheinSein and opposition iconAung San Suu Kyi and at-tend a summit of ASEANnations in Naypyidaw.

Washington has raced tonormalize ties with Myan-mar following reformsthere, removing most US

sanctions imposed on themilitary junta. But Suu Kyiwarned this week that thepace of change was slow-

ing, and that the US hadbeen “over-optimistic aboutthe reform process” attimes.

UK’s Miliband warnsCameron against EU exit

BRITISH oppositionleader Ed Miliband

will today attack PrimeMinister David Cam-eron’s plans to hold aEuropean Union mem-bership referendum,seeking to shift the po-litical agenda away fromquestions over his ownfuture.

In a speech to businessleaders, Miliband willwarn that political rivalswho “flirt” with pullingBritain out of the Euro-pean Union are puttingmillions of jobs at risk bygenerating uncertaintyamong business and de-terring investment.

The speech will comeafter a poll by YouGovshowed backing for Mili-band’s leadership hadfallen sharply amongLabour voters.

Miliband will be look-ing to refocus attentionaway from speculationthat some members of hisparty are readying a bidto oust him, and onto theissue of Europe - an areawhich is seen as a majorheadache for Conserva-tive Prime Minister Dav-id Cameron six monthsaway from an nationalelection.

Defiant Catalonians vote for symbolicindependence

MORE than a millionCatalans turned

out yesterday to vote onindependence fromSpain in a symbolic bal-lot, defying challengesfrom the Spanish govern-ment.

Voters of all ages linedup around the block,some applauding, aspolling stations openedafter weeks of tense legalwrangling with Spanishauthorities.

In one of Spain’s rich-est but most indebted re-gions, a long-standingyearning for indepen-dence has swelled overrecent years as recessionand political corruptionscandals have shakenSpain.

The desire to breakaway has been sharpenedby resistance fromMadrid.

“This is an opportunitywe could not miss.... Wehave been demanding it

for a very long time,” saidMartin Arbaizar, 16,queueing to vote in aschool in Barcelona.

Africa sets up $28 millionEbola crisis fund

THE African Union,African Development

Bank and regional busi-ness leaders have set upa crisis fund to help ar-eas hit by the Ebola out-break, the AU said in astatement.

The organisation said alandmark pledgingmeeting held in theEthiopian capital on Sat-urday saw African busi-ness leaders offer morethan $28 million to helpthe response to the epi-demic.

According to the WorldHealth Organization,13,268 people had beeninfected with Ebola

across eight countries,and 4,960 of them havedied. “While the globalresponse to the currentcrisis has increased in re-cent weeks, there is stilla critical need for addi-tional competencies tocare for those infected,strengthen local healthsystems and prevent thedisease from spreading,”the AU said.

It said the pledgingmeeting was attended byleaders from the bank-ing, telecommunications,mining, energy, servicesand manufacturing sec-tors from across Africa.

VanguardVanguardVanguardVanguardVanguardCLASSIFIED

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NFFContinues from BP

is fondly called was con-spicuously absent fromthe touchline during theinternational friendlybetween Ghana U-23team, the Black Meteorsand the home-based Su-per Eagles at the com-missioning of the newAkwa Ibom Internation-al Stadium in Uyo onFriday. He howevermade a surprise appear-ance during the medalpresentation ceremonyto receive his medal.

“There’s no contractoffer at the moment, itcould be revisited at theend of the Nations Cupqualifiers,” an NFF offi-cial said in Abuja, at the

2014 African Player of theYear has done more thanSuper Eagles’ stars Vin-cent Enyeama andAhmed Musa to merit theaward.

CAF on Thursday list-ed 25 players, includingIvorian Yaya Toure – whohas won the award in thepast three years – in theinitial pool for the Playerof the Year, ahead of ashortlist of five that willbe released early Decem-ber.

“If we look critically atthe list, it would be diffi-cult to see any playerwho has done more forclub and country in theoutgoing year than Vin-cent Enyeama andAhmed Musa.

“Both were in fabulousforms for their clubs (En-yeama with Lille OSC ofFrance and Musa withCSKA Moscow of Russia)during the year, and alsoplayed brilliant roles asthe Super Eagles reachedthe Round of 16 at theFIFA World Cup finals inBrazil,” Pinnick stated.

The NFF boss made itclear that he was in noway disrespecting otherplayers on the list of 25.

“I have immense re-spect for most of the play-ers listed, particularly

weekend.“The decision to allow

him finish the qualifica-tions came from above[the presidency], he isworking based on a pre-vious arrangementagreed after the WorldCup,” the source contin-ued

The 52-year-old is pay-ing the price for poorresults in qualificationfor next year ’s AfricaCup of Nations but hewas given a chance tomake amends followingthe intervention of thepresidency.

Nigeria face Congoand South Africa in thecoming days, needingtwo wins to stand achance of making it tothe 2015 tournament.

Toure, Asamoah Gyan ofGhana, and the Algeriantrio of Slimani, Feghouliand Brahimi who alsosteered their team to theRound of 16 at the WorldCup.

“Yet, the exploits of En-yeama and Musa in theoutgoing year have beenexceptional. Either ofthem deserves theaward.”

Eagles’ goalkeeper andskipper Enyeama made anumber of telling saves atthe FIFA World Cup inBrazil and was also bril-liant for French Ligue 1club, Lille OSC allthrough the year, whilenimble –footed Musa be-came the first Nigeriansenior team player toscore two goals againstArgentina in a competi-tive match, when he net-ted a brace against theArgies in a World Cupgroup phase game in Por-to Alegre.

Musa also scored twogoals against Sudan in a2015 Africa Cup of Na-tions qualifying win thathas given Nigeria hopeof reaching the finals.Both Musa and Enyeamaare currently playing crit-ical roles in their clubs’European campaign, withMusa influential forCSKA Moscow in theChampions League andEnyeama playing his rolefor Lille OSC in the Eu-ropa League.

PinnickContinues from BP

Coach Stephen Keshi,his assistants and othermembers of staff of thenational team are goal-keeper Chigozie Agbim,Warri Wolves skipper,Azubuike Egwuekwe,Solomon Kwambe, scor-er of the epoch makinggoal in Uyo, Emem Edu-ok, Nasara United’s TonyEdjomari, Christian Os-aghuna Ighodalo,Gbolahahan Salami andnew comer KingsleySokari.

The players are nest-ed at their usual abodein Bolton White Apart-ment, Zone 7, Abuja andKeshi said all invitedplayers should be incamp latest today. “Wehave no time for thisgame and the playersknow, so all of themmust be here earlyenough for the trip to

Congo”, he declared.Meanwhile, Super Ea-

gles midfielder, OgenyiOnazi, has set his sightson victory in Congo overthe host in next week-end’s Nations Cup qual-ifier but has stated thatthere are conditions tobe met if victory mustcome Nigeria’s way nextSaturday.

Onazi, who was ex-pected in Nigeria lastnight, said Nigeriansdesirous of the NationsCup ticket must all joinhands and pray and thatthe football communitymust be united toachieve success. “OnceI arrive Nigeria, I will goto my father in the Lordto pray with me, be-cause I want the Na-tions Cup ticket and Iknow we can win in Con-go. We must also coop-erate and forget past dif-ferences to achieve ouraim”, he said on phonefrom his base in Italy.

EaglesContinues from BP

Continues from BP

We'll beat...

Red Devils beat the Ea-gles 3 - 2 in Calabar.

“The Eagles that playedGhana were put togetherunder three days. Thatteam have given us hopethat Nigerian will contin-ue her dominance of Af-rican football and makegreat impact at the worldscene”, Alaiya said.

Speaking on CoachStephen Keshi’s absencefrom the touch line in thethe match against Ghana,Alaiya said that Keshiwas saddled with admin-istrative duties that didnot allow him come in ear-ly from Abuja to tinker theEagles.

“He allowed his Assist-ant Daniel Amokachi tobe in charge and he dida fantastic job withinthree days”, the Eaglesspokesman said.

Alaiya’s explanation,

however, differed fromwidely held stories thatmade the rounds in Uyothat the Nigeria FootballFederation had stoppedKeshi from being on thebench to prevent livid Ni-gerian fans from ventingtheir spleen on him likethey did in Abuja despitebeating Sudan 3 - 1.

Keshi’s absence fromthe bench had fueled ru-mours that he had goneinto hiding to save hishead from angry fans. Butthe returnee Coach re-appeared to collect hismedals at the end of the1 - 0 victory which wasmade possible by thebeautiful header of home-boy Emem Eduok whoplays for Dolphins of PortHarcourt.

Eduok shot himself intoreckoning becoming thefirst player to scre in thebrand new 30,000 seaterAkwa Ibom InternationalStadium.

GHANA U23 coachMalik Jabir has

lauded the home-basedSuper Eagles who beathis side 1-0 on Friday inUyo in an internationalfriendly.

The two teams hadtackled each other in anInternational friendly tomark the official openingof the 30,000 capacityUyo Stadium built byAkwa Ibom Government.

The match, which tookplace shortly after Presi-dent Goodluck Jonathaninaugurated the stadi-um, was watched by Gha-naian President, JohnMahama and his Ivori-an counterpart, AlassaneQuattara.

Jabir said that the Su-per Eagles played excel-lently well, saying “Ni-geria paraded a formida-ble team”.

“Nigerian team is a for-midable team; they havebeen playing togetherbut I just assembled myteam for only two weeks.

“My team was not asgood as Super Eagles’team.

“The game is a niceone; it has graced theoccasion and this is ex-pected and it has hap-pened that way, so we allthank God,” he said.

Ghana coach salutes ‘formidable’local Super Eagles

AS predicted bymany, exciting

Enyimba Internationalmidfielder, KingsleySokari alias Bobby hasbroken into the SuperEagles squad for the tworemaining qualifiersagainst Congo andSouth Africa next weekand this is official.

Before now, AssistantCoach, Dan ‘the Bull’Amokachi had said theplayer is as exciting asformer Super Eaglesskipper, Austin ‘Jay Jay’Okocha.But he also put

GRITTY: Home-based Super Eagles at CHAN 2014.

Bobby breaks into Eagles Afcon squada caveat. “We must allowour boss, Stephen Keshito make the final deci-sion”.

Last Friday after thegame against the BlackMetoers of Ghana, Kes-

hi included him for theremaining two gamesand Bobby is presentlyat the Bolton WhiteApartment with the restof the stars from the Ni-gerian league.

THEY were seeded astop players in the com-

petition and true to their rat-ing England’s Adrian Grantand Egypt’s Heba El-Torkyemerged as champions atthe Lagos InternationalSquash Classics concludedat the weekend.

The tournament which at-tracted top players across theglobe was sanctioned by Pro-fessional Squash Associa-tion (PSA) and Women Pro-fessional Squash Associa-tion (WSA) and it is pointhauling event held at theMolade Okoya-ThomasHall of Teslim Balogun Sta-dium.

From the start of the com-

England, Egypt rule LagosInt’l Squash Classics

petition, England’s Grantwas outstanding in all hismatches and this becameobvious in the men’s finalagainst Egypt’s Karim AliFathi.

Despite stiff resistance fromthe Egyptian in the firstgame, the Englishman hadhis way to win the match at11-9, 11-6, 11-2 to lift the ti-tle.

Also in the women’s event,Egypt’s El-Torky confirmedher status as the best rankedplayer in the championshipas she fought hard coupledwith experience to humbleNetherlands’ Milou van derHeijden 11-9, 15-13, 11-9 toemerge as the top player.


Newcastle seeoff West BromNEWCASTLE main

tained its resurgentPremier League formwith its fourth consecu-tive win, a 2-0 victoryover West Bromwich Al-bion at The Hawthornson Sunday.

The visitors openedthe scoring late in thefirst half through AyozePerez, who convertedDaryl Janmaat’s crossfrom close range for histhird goal in as manygames.

Newcastle doubled thelead in the 62nd minute

when Fabricio Colocciniheaded in from anothercross by Janmaat.

West Brom, whichcame into the game un-defeated in three leaguegames, enjoyed the bulkof possession in the sec-ond half but failed to con-vert that advantage intogoals.

The result catapultsNewcastle above WestBrom and into the tophalf of the table afterstarting the season with-out a win in its first sev-en games.

Wuraola Ojo Golftourney: Ade Ojocalls for morewomen golfers•Sad over failure by golfers to winhole-in-one prize

BY SOLOMON NWOKE

CHIEF Michael Ade.Ojo, the Chairman

of Toyota Nigeria Lim-ited sponsors of ChiefMrs Elizabeth Wura-ola Ojo Memorial GolfTournament has ex-pressed worry that noneof the golfers was ableto make the Hole-in-one birdie since the in-ception of the champi-onship 11 years ago.

Speaking at the end ofthe tournament week-end in Ilara Mokin,Ondo state, the founderof the rising golf resortin the country, theSmokin’ Hills Golf Re-sort, told the golfersthat he was tired of tak-ing his staked car backto the garage after ev-ery tournament as a re-sult of the golfers in-ability to make hole 16.He was virtually beg-ging them to win it tomake him happy.

In order to make iteasy for the golfers tocart the car away, hehas given the golfers areprieve of Hole 13 inthe next edition forthem to win the covet-ed prize.

“I am tired of carryingthis car (3.5 Toyota

Camry) back to the ga-rage after every year ’stournament. So I wantsomething that will beeasy for you (golfers) towin the car. For the past11 years of this tourna-ment I have been tak-ing this car back home.Next year, this car willbe competed for in Hole13. I believe this will beeasier for you”, he said.

He also spoke of hisplans to extend invita-tion to more women inthe next edition of thetournament as hefrowned at the low turnout of the Lady golfersat the tournament.

He said that the num-ber of women are sup-posed to be higher thanthat of the men becausethe person in whosememory the tournamentwas instituted was awoman.

“I wasn’t very pleasedwith the first day’s turnout because I expectedmore women, but whenI dug into this, I wastold that they didn’t in-vite more than 16 and Ifelt that was very unfairon the women golfers.I like women to be moreinvolved especially, be-cause the person we arecelebrating was a wom-an."

Morocco ask CAF to moveAfcon to 2016SUPER Eagles captain

Vincent Enyeama mayget his wish of having the2015 Africa Cup of Nationspostponed as hosts, Mo-rocco’s ministry of Sportshas asked the confedera-tion of African Football(CAF) to postpone the 2015AFCON by one year, bymoving it from 2015 to 2016due to the fear of the deadlyEbola Virus Disease.

CAF had on November3, announced that a‘unanimous decision’ hadbeen reached to maintainthe January 17 to February8, 2015 date as originallyscheduled and gave hostsMorocco a deadline of Sat-urday November 8 to re-spond to the decision, andMorocco’s sports ministryhas responded, asking forthe tournament to bemoved to the year 2016.

Morocco’s sports minis-try in a statement, said theyare faced with ‘a strictlyhealth linked case of forcemajeure’, hence their re-quest to have the tourna-ment moved ‘from 2015 to

2016’.Enyeama had earlier

said that “I really wish itdoesn’t happen with allthe people that will bemoving around. But I’mnot CAF, I’m not the onewho calls the shots,” asquoted by the UK DailyMail.

The goalkeeper was fur-

ther quoted as saying “It’srisky for everyone becauseyou go to Africa and theneveryone is hugging youand shaking you, and whatcan you do? You’re at risk.”

It remains to be seenwhether CAF will decideto go ahead with the tour-nament in another coun-try, or whether they willagree to move the tourna-ment by a year.

Idimoguplans tofloat clubfor Catholicchurch

BY JACOB AJOM

AN aspirant for theLagos State House of

Assembly seat. JudeEmeka Idimogu hasdisclosed plans to float afootball team that willrepresent the CatholicChurch in the nationalfootball league in thenearest future.

Speaking at the final ofthe First Archbishop AlfredAdewale Martins footballtournament in Lagos at theweekend, Emeka who willbe contesting under theplatform of the PeoplesDemocratic Party said whathe is nursing was not new.“Other churches are doingit, so it will not be anythingstrange if the Catholicchurch also decides to doit,” he said. “We can do it.We have the resources andwe have the humancapacity to do it. Our youthwould find an avenue toexpress themselves andperhaps secure theirfuture through sports.”

Emeka who said he isthe proprietor of a localclubside, Oke Afa Pillarssaid it was because of hisinterest in youthempowerment that hesupported the ArchbishopAdewale Martins Cup.“This tournament iskeeping our youth verybusy and I promise you, thefirst thing I will do once Iget there is to ensure wefloat a football club in thenational league.”

Special Olympics Nigeria appointsdirector

SPECIAL Olympics Nigeria has appointed

Naomi Saliu Lawal as itsnew national director. Thisfollows the departure of itsformer national director,Mrs Folashade Bolumole.

Naomi Saliu Lawal,brings on board a wealthof experience in fund-rais-ing, relationship manage-ment, corporate structuremanagement and a pas-sion for children.

A statement from SpecialOlympics Nigeria saysNaomi Saliu Lawal is join-ing the organization aftera 12 year stint in the Ni-gerian and British finan-

cial sectors. She rose tobecome the Head, Clientservices for Guaranty TrustBank United Kingdom be-fore her new appointment.She is passionate abouthealth and fitness, partici-pates in some charitywalks/runs and an ardent

follower of several sports.Special Olympics Nige-

ria is an affiliate of an un-precedented global move-ment, transforming livestogether through the joy ofsports everyday, and im-proving the lives of peo-ple with intellectual dis-abilities and, in turn, thelives of everyone theytouch. It seeks to transformcommunities by inspiringpeople throughout theworld to open their minds,accept and include peoplewith intellectual disabili-ties and thereby celebratethe similarities common toall people.

•Lawal

AERIAL CONTEST . . . Newcastle United’s defender Paul Dummett (L)jumps with West Bromwich Albion’s Nigerian forward Victor Anichebe (R)during their English Premier League match at The Hawthorns in West Bro-mwich. Photo: AFP


CMYK

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How to Play Sudoku

Place a number (1-9) in each blank cell. (No line canhave two of the same number).

Each row (nine lines from left to right), column, (alsonine lines from top to bottom) and 3 X 3 block within abold block (nine blocks) contains number from 1through 9. This means that no number can appear twicein any block, column or row.

No mathematics is involved – no adding, subtraction, divisionor multiplication, just plain logic and your imagination.

YESTERYESTERYESTERYESTERYESTERDAY'S ANSWERSDAY'S ANSWERSDAY'S ANSWERSDAY'S ANSWERSDAY'S ANSWERSTODAY'S PUZZLETODAY'S PUZZLETODAY'S PUZZLETODAY'S PUZZLETODAY'S PUZZLE

VANGUARD, MONDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2014

QUICK CROSSWORDQUICK CROSSWORDQUICK CROSSWORDQUICK CROSSWORDQUICK CROSSWORD

YESTERDAY'S SOLUTIONS

ACROSS2 Stadium (5)7 Settled (4)8 Deadly (6)9 Comical (5)11 Ocean (3)13 Bed (3)15 Whirlpool (4)16 Rodent (3)18 Entrance (4)19 Least (7)20 Regretted (4)22 Heroic (4)23 Ludicrous (7)25 Fastened (4)27 Rabbit (3)28 Resound (4)30 Finish (3)31 Hill (3)33 Slumber (5)36 Discount (6)37 Repulsive (4)38 Hobo (5)

DOWN1 Loathed (5)2 Append (3)3 Self (3)4 Each (3)5 Pig-pen (3)6 Instrument (5)10 Thin (4)11 Hide (7)12 Stuck (7)13 Concise (7)14 Farm-vehicle (7)16 Inflexible (5)17 Name (5)18 Owing (3)21 Performed (3)24 Dish (4)26 Deduce (5)29 Hex (5)32 Rotter (3)33 Fixed (3)34 Epoch (3)35 Whelp (3)

ACROSS: 1, Sheaf 5, Taffee 8, Cache10, Grotto 11, Eros 14, Malice 15, Sur-vive 18, Wet 19, Eat 21, Dead 23, Ensue24, Seem 27, Ten 29, Mob 31, Lengthy32, Paired 34, Tote 35, Unison 38, Allot39, Endear 40, Weary

DOWN: 2, Her 3, Active 4, Fat 5, Teem6, Fooled 7, Extend 9, Convent 12, Raw13, Site 16, Urge 17, Easel 20, Tuneful22, Arch 24, Supple 25, Emit 26, Mo-rose 28, Ignite 30, Bet 33, Dear 36, Now37, Oar.

RE-APPOINTEDSuper Eagles

coach, Stephen Keshihas not yet been given anew contract by the Ni-geria Football Federa-tion. Indeed, discussionon new contract has notbeen reopened, in-formed sources havesaid.

Keshi has been in theshadows since his infa-mous reinstatement asSuper Eagles headcoach as we gathered hewas still trying tostraighten certain as-pects of his continuousstay with the team beforethe resumption of the2015 Afcon qualifierscamp today

The ‘Big Boss’, as he

NFF yet to offer Keshifresh contract

•Continues on Page 52

By Tony Ubani

AS Nigerians con-tinue to savour the

sweet victory of SuperEagles Team B againstGhana’s Under 23 teamin Uyo in the friendly toopen the Akwa Ibom In-ternational Stadium,Super Eagles publicist,Ben Alaiya has predict-ed that the Eagleswould devour Congo intheir AFCON qualifier.

‘We’ll beat Congo silly’•Eagles depart Thursday on a chartered flight•Why Keshi was not on Eagles bench in Uyo

•Keshi•Continues on Page 52

ing the arrival of invit-ed Nigerian league starsto Abuja on Saturday,after a highly impres-sive 1-0 win over Ghanain the maiden Restora-tion Cup at the ultra-modern Akwa Ibom In-ternational Stadium lastFriday.

The players who cameinto camp with Head

Eagles converge on Abuja for Congo•As Onazi calls for prayers, unity

PREPARATIONSfor the make or

break Africa Cup of Na-tions qualifier againstCongo Brazzaville inPoint Noir is expected tokick-start today follow-

•Continues on Page 52 •Onazi

Pinnick: Enyeama, Musagood for CAF’s top prize

PRESIDENT of Ni-geria Football Fed-

eration, Mr. AmajuMelvin Pinnick has de-clared that none of the

other players on the listof 25 players released bythe Confederation of Af-rican Football for the

•Continues on Page 52

RARING TO GO: Ahmed Musa ready to go againstCongo.

•Pinnick

By Jacob Ajom

The Eagles have beenscheduled to storm Con-go on Thursday with achartered 737 BoeingDiscovery Airline.

Excited by the newspirit and vim and vital-ity displayed by themainly home-based Ea-gles against Ghana,Alaiya predicted that theEagles would whipCongo silly in the re-verse match after the

Vanguard, MONDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2014 — A1

CMYK

A10 — Vanguard, MONDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2014


CMYK

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