FG trying to make trouble by paying levels 1 - 6 minimum wage —Labour

Soji-Eze Fagbemi | Abuja
THE Labour, on Monday, cleared
that the Federal Government had
actually paid what it termed “non-
sense minimum wage” for civil ser-
vants earning below the minimum
wage.
It, however, warned that the gov-
ernment was trying to make trou-
ble and also cause trouble for the
workers.
“They have actually paid their
nonsense minimum wage for those
who are collecting below the mini-
mum wage. They are just trying to
make trouble and cause trouble for
us. What they did, we don’t like it,”
national president of Nigeria Civil
Service Union (NCSU), Comrade
Lawrence Amaechi, who spoke to
the Nigerian Tribune, said on Mon-
day.
When asked by the Nigerian Tri-
bune to confirm payment of mini-
mum wage to workers, he said “no-
body should quote me again. What
we are saying is that when we were
having those discussions with govern-
ment on consequential adjustments,
after the discussion broke down
CONTINUES ON PAGE 8

NIGERIAN

17,375
TRIBUNE TUESDAY, 24 SEPTEMBER, 2019
www.tribuneonlineng.com

How I will reverse

Nigerian Tribune @nigeriantribune

‘Nigerian doctors
NIGERIA’S MOST INFORMATIVE NEWSPAPER
Nigerian Tribune tribuneonlineng

Reps tackle -Pg6

N200

climate change in fatigued, frustrated, NDDC over N1trn

Nigeria —Buhari will continue to go contractors’ debt
-Pg3 abroad’ -Pg7 •Threaten to withhold 2020 budget proposal

Judiciary must be financially

independent —CJN -Pg2
•All binding laws must be obeyed, he says
•Confers SAN on Adegboruwa, Apata, 36 others
•Process leading to Onnoghen’s retirement faulty —NBA
Boko Haram
planning to
attack 7 LGAs,
mosques,
markets in
Zamfara, gov
raises alarm
-Pg4

Border closure:
500 truck loads
of perishable
goods stranded
at Seme Kaduna State governor, Mallam Nasir el-Rufai, taking his son, Abubakar Al-Siddique el-Rufai, for enrolment as a Primary One pupil of Capital School, Kaduna, on Monday.
-Pg6
 2 www.tribuneonlineng.com
Judiciary must be financially independent —CJN
•Adegboruwa, Apata, 36 others become SAN •NBA faults process leading to Onnoghen’s retirement
Judiciary won’t tolerate disobedience to court order
T
Sunday Ejike|Abuja
HE Chief Justice of
Nigeria (CJN), Jus-
tice Tanko Muham-
mad, has called for
full financial inde-
pendence of the judiciary,
saying the current situation
whereby the judiciary goes
cap in hand begging for funds
has put the independence of
the judiciary in doubt.
“The annual budget of the
judiciary is still a far cry from
what it ought to be. The fig-
ure is either stagnated for a
long period or it goes on a
progressive decline. The only
thing I can do at this juncture
is to plead with all concerned
to let us enjoy our indepen-
dence,” Justice Muhammad
said.
Muhammad said this at
the special session to mark
the beginning of the 2019 to
2020 legal year and the inau-
guration of 38 distinguished
lawyers newly conferred
with the honour of Senior
Advocates of Nigeria (SAN),
among whom are Tribune’s
columnist, Mr Ebun-Olu Ad-
egboruwa, the Solicitor-Gen-
eral of the Federation and
Permanent Secretary in the
Federal Ministry of Justice,
Adedayo Apata.
However, he said the Nige-
Alleged N950m fraud:
You have case to answer, court
tells Shekarau, two others
THE Federal High Court sit-
ting in Kano on Monday
struck out the no-case sub-
mission filed by former gov-
ernor of Kano State, Ibrahim
Shekarau, challenging his
alleged N950 million money
laundering trial.
The EFCC arraigned Shek-
arau on May 24, 2018 along-
side former Foreign Affairs
Minister, Aminu Wali and one
Mansur Ahmad on six-count
bordering on conspiracy and
money laundering of N950
million, the News Agency of
Nigeria reported.
Delivering his ruling, Justice
Lewis Allagoa, held that the
EFCC has made out a prima
facie case against the defen-
dants, warranting that they
must defend themselves.
“I have considered the
evidence by the prosecution
against the defendants, it is
sufficient that they have case
to answer and defend them-
selves,” he said.
Allagoa adjourned the case
till November 18 and Novem-
ber 19 for defence to open its
case.
Earlier, counsel for Shek-
arau and two others, Mr
Dauda Abdulrahman and Mr
Abdul Adamu, on July 9 filed
a no-case submission.
news
rian judiciary to a large ex-
tent, is independent in con-
ducting its affairs and taking
decisions on matters before
it without any extraneous in-
fluence.
“At the Supreme Court, like
I have always said, we are to-
tally independent in the way
we conduct our affairs, espe-
cially in our judgments.
“We don’t pander to any-
body’s whim and caprices.
If there is any deity to be
feared, it is the Almighty God.
We will never be subservient
to anybody, no matter his po-
sition in the society,” he said
and urged relevant authori-
ties to increase the salary as
well as work out measures to
improve the welfare package
of judicial officers, especially
after retirement.
The swearing-in of the new
SANs by the CJN is one of the
programmes lined up to her-
ald the 2019/2020 legal year
of the Supreme Court.
He said retired judges
should be accorded the ben-
efits of annual medical treat-
ment locally and abroad if
the need arose for foreign
medicare.
He also said the judicia-
ry under his watch would
not tolerate disobedience
to court orders, just as he
pledged that the judiciary
Adamu said EFCC failed to
present a prima facie case to
warrant the defendants en-
tering defence and urged the
court to discharge his clients.
Counsel for the EFCC, Mr
Johnson Ojogbane had ear-
lier told the court that the
defendants between March
26 and March 27, 2015 con-
spired among themselves
and received the said amount
without going through finan-
cial institutions.
He said the money was is-
sued to the defendants by
the Peoples Democratic
Party (PDP) and former pe-
troleum minister, Diezani
Allison-Madueke.
The prosecutor said the of-
fences contravened Sections
18 (a) of the Money Launder-
ing (Prohibition) Act, 2011
as amended and punishable
under Section 16 (2)(b) of the
same Act and Section 15(1)
of money laundering Act.
The defendants had plead-
ed not guilty to the charges.
NAN reported that the
defendants were earlier
granted bail of N100 million
each with two reliable sure-
ties in like sum, and during
the course of trial the pros-
ecution called four witnesses
and closed its case on May 8.
Nigerian Tribune
would strongly hold on to the
tenets of the constitution as
the Supreme law of the land.
According to him, no Nige-
rian, no matter the position
he or she occupied in the
country would be allowed to
disobey court judgments.
“All binding court orders
must be obeyed. Nobody, ir-
respective of his or her posit­
ion, will be allowed to toy
with court judgments.
“As we all know, flagrant
disobedience of court orders
or non-compliance with judi-
cial orders is a direct invita-
tion to anarchy in the society.
“Such acts are completely
antithetical to the rule of law
in a democratic environment,
and will not be tolerated un-
der my watch as Chief Justice
of Nigeria.
“We must work together
to make Nigeria one of the
frontline countries that ob-
serve the rule of law and
rights of the citizens in all
ramifications,” he said.
He said the rule of law be-
ing the bastion of every de-
mocracy across the world
would be strictly observed.
“The rule of law must be
observed in all our dealings
and we must impress it on
the governments at all levels
to actively toe the path.
“The right of every citizen
Cross-section of new Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SANs) during their inauguration in Abuja, on Monday. Photo: NAN
Tribunal sacks Benue assembly dep speaker
Johnson Babajide | Makurdi
THE National and State As-
sembly Election Petitions Tri-
bunal sitting in Makurdi, the
state capital, has nullified the
election of the candidate
of the Peoples Democratic
Party (PDP) in Ohinmi state
constituency, Chris Adaji.
Adaji is the deputy speaker
of the Benue House of As-
sembly.
Chairman of the tribunal,
Justice R. O. Odudu who
delivered the judgment on
@nigeriantribune Nigerian Tribune
against any form of oppres-
sion and impunity must be
jealously guarded and pro-
tected with the legal tools at
our disposal,” he added.
Mohammad charged the
people to collectively show
the desired commitment to
the full enthronement of the
rule of law in Nigeria.
In his address, the President
of the Nigerian Bar Associa-
tion (NBA), Paul Usoro (SAN),
said the NBA was concerned
with the process that culmi-
nated in the retirement of
former CJN, Justice Walter
Onnoghen.
The NBA said the process
showed a brazen external
intrusion and interference
in the disciplinary processes
of the judiciary in a manner
that undermined its indepen-
dence and, by extension, the
rule of law.
“The process was not only
contrary to the provisions of
our laws but also degraded
and desecrated the hallowed
dignity that attaches to the
office of the CJN.
“Lest we be misunderstood,
the Bar is not suggesting that
anyone, including the CJN, is
above the law.
“However, there is a Na-
tional Judicial Council (NJC)
process that is prescribed
by law for investigating and
Monday, held that the mar-
gin of votes with which Ad-
aji led Musa Alechenu Ohi-
mini of the All Progressives
Congress (APC) was less
than the number of votes
cancelled.
In the results declared by
the Independent National
Electoral Commission (INEC),
Adaji led with 397 votes but
the tribunal found that the
margin was less than the
1,056 votes cancelled in
the two polling units of Ig-
banomaje and Odega.
tribuneonlineng
disciplining errant judicial of-
ficers,” Usoro said
He added also that such
process is put in place to pre-
serve the dignity attached to
the office of judicial officers
and to secure the indepen-
dence of the judiciary
The NBA president said
side-tracking the laid down
process coupled with the
condemnable media trial not
only undermined the rule of
law but desecrated the re-
spectability attached to the
office of the CJN.
While congratulating the
new silks who have been
found worthy by their superi-
ors and peers of wearing the
coveted rank of SAN, Usoro
said they were chosen from a
number of applicants based
on their outstanding quali-
ties.
Disturbed by the alleged
abuse of powers and ego-
tistic humiliation and deg-
radation of lawyers and the
legal profession by some law
enforcement agencies, he
called on members of the
association to speak with
one voice on the issues, and
urged members of the Inner
Bar to join the NBA in taking
the lead.
Usoro said the fight against
corruption is best fought
by tackling the incentives
The chairman of the three-
man panel in the judgment
noted that INEC ought not to
have made a final declaration
without ordering for a rerun
in the affected polling units.
Justice Odudu held that
the declaration and return
of Adaji without a rerun in
Otega and Ogadagba ward
was not valid by reason of
non-substantial compliance
with Electoral Act 2010 (as
amended).
The tribunal thereby or-
dered for withdrawal of the
TUESDAY,
24 SEPTEMBER, 2019
for corruption such as inad-
equate compensation pack-
ages for judicial and public
officers generally.
The NBA then appealed to
relevant stakeholders to ho-
listically review upward the
compensation packages of
judicial officers at all levels
to objectively eliminate any
incentive for corruption in
the judiciary, adding that the
judiciary must not relent in
ridding itself of corrupt ele-
ments, if any, in its fold.
“The internal self-regulat-
ing processes that reside
within the NJC pursuant to
law must be utilised and con-
stantly oiled to weed out cor-
rupt judicial officers who give
the judiciary a bad name,” he
said.
He noted that through such
process the judiciary would
strengthen public confidence
in the institution while keep-
ing at bay those persons and
agencies who demonise and
degrade the judiciary.
Also in his speech, the At-
torney General of the Fed-
eration (AGF) and Minister
of Justice, Abubakar Malami
(SAN), called on Justices of
the Supreme Court not to
bow to the pressures of dif-
ferent political actors, irre-
CONTINUES ON PAGE 7
Certificate of Return issued
to Adaji and directed INEC
to conduct a rerun election
within 90 days in the two
polling units where elections
were cancelled.
The APC candidate, Musa
Ohimini Alechenu described
the decision of the tribunal
as a testimony of the wish of
the people.
While exuding confidence
of winning the rerun elec-
tion, Alechenu said, “I want
to appreciate the tribunal for
the good job done.”
3 www.tribuneonlineng.com
How I will reverse climate change in Nigeria —Buhari
P
Leon Usigbe | New York
RESIDENT Muham-
madu Buhari, in New
York, United States,
on Monday, said
his administration
would develop a more robust
sectorial action plan toward
reversing climate change in
Nigeria.
Delivering an address to
the United Nations Climate
Action Summit, with the
theme: “A Race We Can Win.
A Race We Must Win,” he
said government would ex-
pand the scope of its Sover-
eign Green Bonds in line with
its intended upward review
of Nigeria’s Nationally Deter-
mined Contribution (NDC)
towards the inclusion of the
water and waste sectors by
2020.
In the water sector, Presi-
Much is expected from you, Buhari
tells Bande, UNGA President
Leon Usigbe | New York
PRESIDENT Muhammadu
Buhari, on Monday, met
with the President of the
74th United Nations Gen-
eral Assembly (UNGA), Pro-
fessor Tijjani Muhammad-
Bande, as he told him that
he bore a heavy weight on
his shoulders, while assur-
ing him that Nigeria is sol-
idly behind him.
In a courtesy call to the
UNGA President at the UN
headquarters, New York,
on Monday, Buhari said: “I
sincerely congratulate you.
Your election was well re-
ceived by the whole world.
It was a unanimous support
World Economic Forum
endorses Buhari’s social
investment programmes
THE Schwab Foundation,
a sister organisation of the
World Economic Forum
(WEF), has endorsed Presi-
dent Muhammadu Buhari’s
National Social Investment
Programmes (N-SIPs).
Justice Bibiye, Communica-
tions Manager, National So-
cial Investment Office (NSIO),
in a statement made avail-
able to the News Agency of
Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja, on
Monday, said the foundation
conferred the Public Social
Intrapreneur award on Mrs
Maryam Uwais, Special Ad-
viser to President on Social
Investments.
Bibiye said efforts by the Bu-
hari administration to reduce
poverty in Nigeria through its
various SIPs had continued to
receive commendation from
well-meaning individuals and
organisations within and out-
side the country.
He said Uwais and 40 other
individuals selected from dif-
ferent countries received the
dent Buhari said Nigeria
would issue a Green Bond
for irrigation and construct
multi-purpose dams for
power, irrigation and water
supply, while strengthening
solid and liquid waste man-
agement systems to attract
more private sector inves-
tors.
He said his government
would take concrete steps to
harness climate innovative
ideas by including youths in
decision making processes,
as part of overall climate gov-
ernance architecture.
“We will mobilise Nigerian
youths towards planting 25
million trees to enhance Ni-
geria’s carbon sink.
“In the energy sector, Nige-
ria is presently diversifying
its energy sources from de-
pendence on gas-powered
system to hydro, solar, wind,
and the global community
received you well. That sup-
port puts heavy weight on
you and I wish you well.”
Bande, a Nigerian diplo-
mat, was earlier in the year
unanimously elected Presi-
dent of the General Assem-
bly for one year.
Responding, Muhammad-
Bande said he was delight-
ed to receive the Nigerian
President “along with your
team of professionals and
politicians.”
He added: “Your nominat-
ing me for this position is
the greatest honour I can
have. The support from Af-
rica and the world has been
outstanding so far.”
award in New York, United
States, on Monday, in rec-
ognition of their innovative
approach and potential for
global impact.
“The list includes start-up
founders and chief execu-
tive officers, multinational
and regional business lead-
ers, government leaders and
recognised experts working
to address social and envi-
ronmental issues with inno-
vation, in areas ranging from
water purification to finan-
cial inclusion to combating
hate.
“For more than 20 years,
the Schwab Foundation has
recognised social entrepre-
neurs as a new breed of lead-
ers, values-driven, inclusive,
compassionate and entre-
preneurial, developing new
sustainable models for busi-
ness, human development
and environmental initiatives
– and embedded them in the
platforms of the WEF,” he
said.
Nigerian Tribune
biomass and nuclear sourc-
es.
“Specifically, Nigeria is pro-
gressively working to realise
30 per cent energy efficiency
and renewable energy mix
by 2030. This is envisaged to
lead to 179 million tonnes of
carbondioxide reduction per
annum by 2030.
“In addition, our adminis-
tration intends to develop a
shelter belt across 11 states
of the federation, spanning
a distance of 1,500km and
15km across through the
Great Green Wall initiative.
“Furthermore, the Fed-
eral Government has com-
menced the implementation
of the Hydrocarbon Pollution
Remediation Programme in
Ogoniland, to recover the
carbon sink potential of the
mangrove ecosystem of the
1,000 square kilometers
From right, Fiji Prime Minister, Frank Bainimarama; President Muhammadu Buhari; Netherland Prime Minister, Mark Rutte; Bank of
England Governor, Mr Mark Joseph Carney and the Chief Executive Officer of Wills Towers Waston, Mr John Haley, during the United Na-
tions General Assembly (UNGA) Climate Change Summit 2019, in New York, on Monday.
Housing deficit: UN report condemns increase
in vacant luxury dwellings in Nigeria
Adetola Bademosi | Abuja
DESPITE the over 22 million
housing deficit in Nigeria, the
United Nations (UN) Human
Rights Special Procedures,
on Monday, condemned the
increase of luxury housing
in cities, through the forced
eviction of poor communi-
ties.
The UN Special Rapporteur
on adequate housing, Ms
Leilani Farha, made the dis-
closure to journalists while
presenting her preliminary
Kanu may lead IPOB to New York for UNGA
Michael Ovat | Awka
LEADER of the proscribed
Indigenous People of Biafra
(IPOB), Mr Nnamdi Kanu,
has expressed plans to lead
other members of the group
to the United Nations (UN)
General Assembly, holding
in New York, United States.
A press release by the me-
@nigeriantribune Nigerian Tribune
polluted site in the affected
area,” he said.
President Buhari further in-
formed the summit that his
government had introduced
Climate Smart Agricultural
Practices to unlock 74 mil-
lion tonnes of carbondioxide
per annum, through relevant
technologies, advocacy and
best practices.
As you are aware, the Lake
Chad Basin, which used to be
a region of productivity, food
security and wealth for an
estimated 40 million citizens
living around the Chad Basin,
has shrunk significantly from
its original size due to climate
change.
“We will continue to lead in
efforts to have solid partner-
ships for the ecological res-
toration and recharge of the
lake,” he said.
Buhari expressed confi-
findings on adequate hous-
ing at the end of a 10-day
fact-finding visit in Abuja.
She noted that these city
houses still did not fulfill any
housing needs, as majority of
them remained vacant.
While advocating the in-
troduction of vacant home
taxes, she lamented the in-
humane living conditions
in Nigeria’s informal settle-
ments, which, according to
her, housed 69 per cent of
the urban population.
“Most residents in Ni-
dia and publicity secretary
of IPOB, Mr Emma Powerful,
made available to newsmen
in Awka, Anambra State, on
Monday, stated that though
IPOB had sent direct and in-
direct delegates to the con-
ference, chances were that
Kanu might still attend the
meeting himself.
“Regarding the United
tribuneonlineng
dence that the lake, when
restored, would improve the
living conditions of the di-
verse nationals living in the
area, promote inter-state co-
operation, strengthen com-
munity resilience, as well as
assist in addressing the envi-
ronmental and security crisis
threatening the region, its re-
sources and inhabitants.
He observed that the 40
million citizens in the Lake
Chad area expected the sum-
mit to take their concerns
into consideration, adding
that “they anticipate that the
outcomes of this meeting
would include solutions to
address the climate change
impact in the Lake Chad area.
“I am glad that the Secre-
tary General and some of the
member states represented
in this hall are partnering
with us in this endeavour. We
geria’s balloning informal
settlements live without ac-
cess to even the most basc
services, like running water
and they lack any security
of tenure, forcing them to
live in constant fear of be-
ing evicted.
“Economic inequality in Ni-
geria has reached extreme
levels and is playing itself out
clearly in the housing sector.
There is an estimated hous-
ing shortage of 22 million
units.
“At the same time, newly-
Nations General Assembly
meeting in New York, we
have both direct and indi-
rect representations for the
forthcoming events. Our
people are on the ground.
“If the right conditions
which we are waiting for
are put in place, our lead-
er will personally lead our
people, otherwise it would
TUESDAY,
24 SEPTEMBER, 2019
news
thank them for their coop-
eration and I look forward to
deepening our partnership.”
Buhari stated that he shared
the sentiment expressed by
the Secretary-General that
the world was on the verge
of climate catastrophe, add-
ing that “undeniably, climate
change is a human-induced
phenomenon.”
According to him, it was
now imperative to step up
collective climate actions in
line with the request of the
Secretary General.
In this regard, President
Buhari reiterated Nigeria’s
commitment to its obligation
under the Paris Agreement,
the aspirations enshrined in
Nigeria’s NDC and to ensure
a resilient future that main-
streams climate risks in his
government’s decision mak-
ing.
built luxury dwellings are
springing up throughout
cities, made possible often
through the forced eviction
of poor communities. These
units do not fulfill any hous-
ing need with many remain-
ing vacant, as vehicles for
money laundering or invest-
ment,” she said.
The UN special rapporteur
urged the government to ad-
dress the grossly inadequate
housing conditions with the
urgent befitting human rights
crisis of this scale.
be on a later date which
would be duly announced,”
he said.
The group recalled that
Kanu, during his last out-
ing with the UN in Geneva,
Switzerland, had, in a meet-
ing with UN diplomats, gave
some conditions that if met,
he would attend the summit
in person.
 4 www.tribuneonlineng.com
Boko Haram to launch attack on mosque, mammy market,
seven LGs in Zamfara —Gov
G
Attahiru Ahmed | Gusau
OVERNOR Bello
Mattawale of
Zamfara State
has raised the
alarm following
what he says is a credible
intelligence report that Boko
Haram members plan to
launch attack on the central
mosque, mammy market in
Gusau and seven local gov-
ernment areas in the state.
OPPI: Army nabs five key logistics
suppliers, fighters
THE Nigerian Army says the
‘Operation Positive Identifica-
tion (OPPI)’ in the North-East
has started yielding positive
results with the arrest of five
key terrorists suppliers and
fighters.
The Deputy Director, Army
Public Relations, ‘Operation
Lafiya Dole’, Colonel Ado Isa,
disclosed this on Monday.
Isa said the troops of ‘Oper-
ation Lafiya Dole’ had intensi-
fied search and the arrest of all
suspected criminal elements
currently roaming parts of the
North-East.
He said that the Theatre
Command had enjoined
members of the public to
always carry valid means of
identification when moving
or passing through Adamawa,
Borno and Yobe states.
Isa said the operation was
based on credible information
that some of the fleeing crimi-
Northern Elders’ Forum kicks
against Nigeria’s division
Kola Oyelere | Kano
THE Northern Elders Forum
(NEF) has said the North
never at any point agitated
for the breakup of Nigeria and
does not have such a plan.
Speaking at the inaugu-
ration of students’ wing of
Northern Youths Group or-
ganised by the Coalition of
Northern Youths, held at the
Bayero University, Kano, a for-
mer presidential candidate on
the platform of the defunct
National Republican Conven-
tion (NRC) party, Bashir Oth-
man Tofa, said: “If you look at
our population and what we
have, it is more than what any-
one can hope for. So, to try to
destroy this is certainly a lose-
lose situation. That is why we
in the North will never say we
want a breakup.”
“If you look at the situation,
you will find out it is only in the
northern Nigeria that there is
no agitation for breakup of
this country.”
He said the unity of the
country was sacrosanct, add-
ing that the North had been
encouraging the unity of Ni-
geria.
He added: “We like to be
patient, we like to encourage
Addressing a press con-
ference in Gusau, the state
capital, on Monday, Gover-
nor Mattawale advised the
people in the state, particu-
larly commercial drivers and
motorcycle operators, to be
security conscious.
The governor said he had
credible intelligence report
which suggested that some
disgruntled politicians who
are indigenes of the state
were making clandestine
nals were hibernating in some
towns and villages of Borno
and Yobe states in particular
and the North-East in general.
“Troops are directed to
strictly check legitimate means
of identification, such as na-
tional identification card, voter
registration card, driver’s li-
cence, international passports
or other valid official identi-
fication before allowing such
persons passage.
“Consequently, the oper-
ation is ongoing across the
region and five key terrorists
logistics suppliers and fight-
ers have so far been appre-
hended.
“Members of the public are
requested to cooperate with
the troops by moving with
valid identification cards and
present same to the troops in
the efforts to rid the North-
East zone of criminals,” he
said.
Nigerians to love their coun-
try, to be united and tolerant
so that we can build a kind of
country we will be proud of.”
Tafa advised the northern-
ers to exercise patience in
upholding the unity of the
country, as they are the root
of Nigeria’s unity.
“It is the northern Nige-
ria that does not have any
specific plan of its own in
case Nigeria is divided. This
means we have absolute
confidence that being to-
gether is the best thing for
all of us.
“Our responsibility is to ex-
ercise patience to make sure
we guide this country to the
kind of unity and progress
we need to develop into a
better country and even be-
come a nation state,” Tofa
said.
Also, a member of NEF,
Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, ex-
pressed disappointment in
the leadership style of north-
ern people who hold various
political offices in the country.
“Northerners who hold dif-
ferent political positions have
failed to address the region’s
problems in areas considered
to be of paramount impor-
tance to the region,” he said.
Nigerian Tribune
moves to destabilise the
state.
He said the politicians
were collaborating with
Boko Haram to launch series
of attacks on innocent and
peace-loving people of the
state.
The governor, who ad-
dressed newsmen through
his Director-General, Press
Affairs, Mallam Yusuf Idris,
said the aim of these poli-
ticians is to scuttle the rel-
From left, representative of the Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant-General Lamidi Adeosun; Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Sadique Abu-
bakar; Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Ibok-Ete Ibas; Chief of Defence Staff, General Abayomi Olonisakin and the Speaker, House of
Representatives, Honourable Femi Gbajabiamila, during a security meeting between the Speaker and service chiefs, at the National
Assembly, Abuja, on Monday. Photo: NAN
Terrorism: Super camps borne out of operational needs —CDS
.Apologises for absence of service chiefs from Reps security meeting
Jacob Segun Olatunji and
Kehinde Akintola | Abuja
AUTHORITIES of the Armed
Forces on Monday dis-
closed that they developed
the super camps as part of
strategies aimed at curbing
the scourge of terrorism in
the North-East geopolitical
zone of the nation.
The Chief of Defence
Staff, General Gabriel Olo-
nishakin, disclosed this dur-
ing the opening of a secu-
rity meeting with the House
of Representatives, led by
Speaker Femi Gbajabiamila.
General Olonishakin ex-
plained that the decision
became necessary in the
wake of the constant chang-
ing of vistas of the war
against insurgency.
According to him, “the
supercamp concept was
borne out of our need to re-
strategise to meet changing
operational conditions in
the North-East.
“With respect to the secu-
rity situation in the North-
East, especially Borno State,
we are all aware that the
Armed Forces, in collabora-
tion with other security and
intelligence agencies have
been contending with in-
surgency and terrorism for
@nigeriantribune Nigerian Tribune
ative peace being currently
enjoyed as a result of the
peace and dialogue process
initiated by the present ad-
ministration.
He listed that the targeted
local governments to in-
clude Gusau, the state cap-
ital; Tsafe, Talata Mafara,
Anka, Zurmi, Maru, Maradun
and Gusau Central Mosque
and Gusau Mammy Market,
where soft targets are known
to gather day and night.”
many years.
“Indeed, the counter-
terrorism and counter-in-
surgency operation in the
North-East predates the
administration of His Excel-
lency, President Muham-
madu Buhari.
“Despite the challenges
we are facing, we have
made appreciable progress.
The armed forces continue
to restrategise to address
changing operational situa-
tion and practice of the in-
surgent terrorists.
“We have achieved bet-
ter intergration of air and
land as well as air power
and greater coordination
with other security and in-
telligence agencies through
regular strategic inputs at
the highest level of com-
mand and down to the
chain of command.
“I want to assure the lead-
ership of the House that we
will continue to do all we can
to ensure peace and security
in our country, in line with
our constitutional mandate,
despite the challenges.
“As the representatives
of the Nigerian people, we
recognise the concern of
the House and indeed the
National Assembly on this
issue.”
tribuneonlineng
The governor lamented
that Boko Haram elements
were said to have been re-
cruited from far and near to
carry out these heinous acts
slated for between Monday,
September 23 and October
25 in the state.
He said government and
security agencies in the state
had taken all necessary steps
to address the situation.
“I urge people not to panic
with the presence of heavi-
The military top brass,
however, apologised to the
House leadership for the in-
ability of the service chiefs
to make it to last week’s
meeting.
According to him, “I need
to add that as the Chief of
Defence Staff, my inability to
be here in person last Friday
was due to an equally ur-
gent interaction at the pres-
idency.
“The absence was by no
means a deliberate act
meant to disrespect the in-
stitution of the National As-
sembly.
He said though they were
not able to come, their var-
ious chiefs of operation
were present and capable
of answering the questions
that would have been put to
them.
Earlier, the Speaker of the
House, Honourable Femi
Gbajabiamila, who was at
the meeting with relevant
committees, had said the
meeting was to find out the
state of the war against ter-
rorism and insurgency.
He also said with the bud-
get due in a week or two,
there was the need to find
out the needs of the armed
forces in the prosecution of
the anti-insurgency war.
TUESDAY,
24 SEPTEMBER, 2019
news
ly-armed security personnel
around, as they are to ensure
the safety of the people in
the state,” he said.
Governor Mattawale has
expressed his appreciation
for the release of 30 captives
by the repentant bandits,
which consisting of 15 males
and 15 females from Kaura
Namoda Local Government
Area of the state, having
spent over eight months in
captivity.
“Security is one of the ma-
jor concerns of this govern-
ment and we have an obli-
gation to arrest the situation
and do whatever we can.
“Like in every democracy,
there is collaboration among
arms of government, it is
only when we collaborate
that we get the required re-
sults,” the speaker said.
An attempt to convene the
security meeting last week
was unsuccessful as the ser-
vice chiefs were absent but
sent representatives.
This left the speaker angry
and it was subsequently re-
scheduled for Monday.
At the session were the
Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal
Sadique Abubakar; Chief
of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral
Ibok-Ete Ekwe Ibas Lieuten-
ant-General Lamidi Adeosun
(Chief of Policy and Plans,
Nigerian Army), represented
the Chief of Army Staff,
Tukur Buratai
Also present were the Di-
rector-General Department
of State Security, Alhaji
Yusuf Bichi and the Comp-
troller of Nigeria Immigra-
tion Service, Mohammed
Babandede, while the In-
spector-General of Police,
Mohammed Adamu, was
represented.
5 www.tribuneonlineng.com Nigerian Tribune @nigeriantribune Nigerian Tribune tribuneonlineng
TUESDAY,
24 SEPTEMBER, 2019
 6 www.tribuneonlineng.com
Border closure: 500 truck-loads of perishable goods
stranded at Seme —Freight forwarders
T
HE Association of
Nigeria Licensed
Customs Agents
(ANCLA) on Mon-
day said over 500
trucks loaded with perish-
able goods were stranded at
Seme following the partial
closure of the border.
Seme Border chapter chair-
man of ANLCA, Bisiriyu Fanu,
told the News Agency of Ni-
geria (NAN) in Seme that the
stranded goods belonged to
YCE expresses
fear over
adoption of Ruga
by northern states
SENIOR Elders’ Forum in the
Yoruba Council of Elders have
expressed concerns over the
adoption of Ruga settlement
for Fulani herders by some
states in the northern parts
of the country, saying it may
eventually spread to the
South-West zone.
The elders expressed the
fear on through Colonel
Ade Dansaaki, at a meeting
held at the Bodija, Ibadan
residence of Professor Toun
Ogunseye.
The elders said: “We are
worried about the Ruga set-
tlement which is taking root
in some northern states.
We are worried that it may
be surreptitiously moved to
some states in the southern
parts of the country.
“Farmers are complaining
about the antics of the herds-
men. We appeal to the gov-
ernment to revert to the old
farm settlements across the
zone. If animal husbandry
is established, it should be
manned by our people and
not the Fulani. Any cattle
trade must be undertaken by
our people.”
On security within the zone,
the elders commended the
six governors of Lagos, Oyo,
Osun, Ekiti, Ondo and Ogun
states for their courageous
move to check the menace
of kidnapping, banditry and
other atrocities perpetrated
by herders.
They, however, said it was
not yet over because of pock-
ets of incidents that still oc-
cur from time to time.
While backing the collab-
oration of local hunters,
Agbekoya, Oodua Peoples
Congress with conventional
security agencies, they said
the arrangement would work
if the local security groups
worked with community po-
lice and not the federal police
force.
They called on governors in
the zone to improve on infra-
structure development, es-
pecially highways within the
zone, which they described
as death traps for motorists.
genuine importers who had
paid government duties, but
got stuck by the partial bor-
der closure.
“At present, we have over
500 trucks loaded with goods
parked at the border post
due to the partial closure and
this is telling much on our
economy.
“These importers have
paid their duties to the gov-
ernment and were expected
to take their goods through
Trucks with goods parked at Seme border post, Lagos State.
Death of cows: Community cries out over looming epidemic
Hakeem Gbadamosi | Akure
FOLLOWING the myste-
rious death of 36 cows on
the scared hill of Ijare com-
munity in the Ifedore Lo-
cated Government Area of
Ondo State, residents of
the community have raised
the alarm over looming ep-
idemic in the town.
Appealing to the state
government for timely in-
tervention to prevent an
impending epidemic, the
Sapetu of Ijare kingdom and
the second-in-command to
the Olujare, Chief Wemimo
Olaniran, appealed to the
Kidnapping in South-West: Security must buckle up —Afenifere
A socio-political organisation,
Afenifere, Oyo State chapter,
has called on the government
and various security agencies
to buckle up on the issue of
insecurity in the South-West
and Nigeria as a whole.
In a release signed by the or-
ganisation’s chairman, Chief
(Dr) Gbola Adetunji and pub-
licity secretary, Mr Jare Ajayi,
Afenifere said it received the
news of the abduction of four
lecturers of the College of
Agriculture and Technology,
Igboora, at the weekend with
shock.
The kidnapped lecturers
were the chairman of the Ac-
ademic Staff of Polytechnics
Nigerian Tribune
the border when their trucks
got stuck by the government
policy on closure of land bor-
ders,” he said.
According to him, the par-
tial border closure was im-
pacting negatively on the
nation’s economy.
“The impact of the closure
is enormous. If you go to
some markets in Lagos, like
Balogun, Idumagbo, Idu-
mota and Oyingbo, people
from neighbouring countries
state government to instruct
the Ministries of Agriculture
and Health to take action in
the interest of the health of
the people.
The appeal of the com-
munity came just as elders
and traditionalists are plan-
ning to perform rituals to
appease the gods over the
mysterious death of the an-
imals and desecration of the
sacred hill.
The traditionalists main-
tained that traditional rites
must be performed at the
scene of the incident and on
the cows, which had started
decomposing, saying no-
(ASUP), Opadijo Oluyide; sec-
retary of the union, Gbenga
Alayande; two other lecturers
of the institution and the wife
of one of the victims.
Reports had it that they
were kidnapped on Thursday,
September 19, while return-
ing to Igboora on their way
from a meeting of the Joint
Action Committee (JAC) of
unions in all the six Oyo State-
owned tertiary institutions.
The meeting was held at the
Oke-Ogun Polytechnic, Saki,
also in Oyo State.
Afenifere said although it
was happy to learn that the
kidnapped victims had been
released after the payment
@nigeriantribune Nigerian Tribune
who always patronise them
are no more coming.
“Everything as at now is at
standstill even in Lagos mar-
kets,” the freight forwarder
said.
Fanu urged the Federal
Government to take physical
examination of the trucks at
the border post and allow
them into the country.
“Innocent Nigerians and
genuine traders who have
their goods at the border
body could touch either hu-
man being or animal killed
by thunderbolt.
Meanwhile, the incident
continues to attract peo-
ple and stakeholders to the
town and scene of the inci-
dent.
Speaker of the State House
of Assembly, Honourable
Bamidele Oloyelogun, who
is from the local govern-
ment, led some members
of the House Committee on
Agriculture to the commu-
nity over the incident.
Oleyelogun and his entou-
rage also climbed the hill
to access the situation and
of about N5 million ransom,
“serious steps must be taken
to put an end to this type of
inhuman, degrading and hei-
nous action.”
The press release recalled
that in March 2018, eight
persons were abducted on
Igbeti-Saki Road, just as a son
of former Minister of Health
was also abducted in Iware,
near Jobele, earlier this year.
“It is a matter of grave con-
cern to us that bandits have
turned major highways in
this part of the country into
a theatre of their opera-
tions in which they not only
rob people, but go ahead to
kidnap for ransom and even
tribuneonlineng
post for 34 days are suffer-
ing.
“We are appealing to gov-
ernment to free the trucks
so that the importers will
have access to their goods
“We are begging the gov-
ernment to release the trail-
ers so that the people who
borrowed money from banks
will be able to pay back the
loan and still remain in busi-
ness,” he said.
NAN reports that the
promised that chemicals
would be applied to prevent
epidemic in Ijare.
Both the Ministries of Agri-
culture and Health were yet
to act on the matter as of
the time of filing this report.
Also, the chairman of Mi-
yetti Allah Cattle Breeders
Association of Nigeria (MAC-
BAN), Alhaji Kayode Ibrahim,
described the incident as
an act of God and prayed to
God to grant the herdsmen
faith to bear the loss.
About 36 cows were said
to have been struck to death
by lightening Saturday night
in the agrarian community.
sometimes kill their victims,”
it stated.
After itemising some of
such gory incidents like the
kidnapping of a restaurant
owner in Eruwa; kidnap-
ping of a businesswoman
in Akobo, Ibadan and vari-
ous kidnap incidents on La-
gos-Ibadan highway as well
as on Ibadan-Ikire-Akure
roads, Afenifere said gov-
ernment was failing in its
primary duty of providing
security for lives and prop-
erties of the citizens.
It called on the state gov-
ernment to expedite ac-
tion on the security plan it
promised.
TUESDAY,
24 SEPTEMBER, 2019
news
joint-border security exer-
cise, codenamed ‘Ex-Swift
Response’, was ordered by
the Federal Government
and was aimed at securing
Nigeria’s land and maritime
borders.
The exercise commenced
on August 19 and jointly con-
ducted by the Customs, Im-
migration, Police and military
personnel, and coordinated
by the Office of the National
Security Adviser (ONSA).
Reps tackle
NDDC over N1trn
contractors’ debt
Jacob Segun Olatunji and
Kehinde Akintola | Abuja
THE ad hoc committee inves-
tigating abandoned projects
executed by the Niger Delta
Development Commission
(NDDC) on Monday frowned
on non-payment of over N1
trillion debt owed the con-
tractors.
Worried by the develop-
ment, chairman of the com-
mittee, Honourable Ossai
Nicholas Ossai, who spoke
during the resumed investi-
gative hearing held in Abuja,
threatened to make sure that
no fund is appropriated in the
2020 budget of the commis-
sion.
Ossai revealed that almost
all the contractors who exe-
cuted one project or another
in the Niger Delta region for
the development of the area
were still being owed by the
NDDC.
Ossai noted that from the
documents submitted to
the committee, many of the
contractors had completed
their jobs and were still being
owed.
“For contractors who have
finished their jobs and have
not been paid, we are going
to use our powers to ensure
that provisions are made in
the next budget for such oth-
erwise we may not pass it.”
Some of the contractors
who appeared and also made
presentations lamented that
the agency is currently having
a debt profile of one trillion
naira in the projects that had
been executed in the nine
Niger Delta states.
One of the contractors,
Fubara Blessing, told the com-
mittee that a lot of money
had been voted for NDDC but
none of the contractors had
been paid by the agency.
He advised the committee
to ensure that it blocks all the
loopholes that had been iden-
tified in the payment system
to ensure that no contractor is
paid by the commission until
all contracts awarded by it are
completed.
The committee adjourned
the investigative hearing to
Wednesday September 25.
 7 www.tribuneonlineng.com
Nigerian doctors fatigued, frustrated, will continue to go abroad —MDCAN Chair
W
By Wale Akinselure
ITH the ra-
tio of doc-
tors to the
Nigerian
population
still at one to 6,000, Nigerian
doctors are overwhelmed,
fatigued, frustrated and will
continue to exit the country
for countries where the value
of their training is appreci-
ated.
Chairman of the Medical and
Dental Consultants Association
of Nigeria (MDCAN), University
College Hospital Ibadan chap-
ter, Dr Dare Olulana, stated this
while speaking with journalists
after the association donated
about N400,000 cash in char-
ity to some indigent patients
on admission at UCH.
Speaking, Olulana held that
the exit of doctors in droves
would continue because doc-
tors were dissatisfied with
rampant out-of-pocket pay-
ment by patients who were
mostly unable to pay their
hospital bills, ineffective health
insurance system that does
not guarantee universal health
From left, Deputy Director, Internal Audit, National Judicial Institute (NJI), Mr Hud Yunus; Director of Research, NJI, Mr Gbenga Omotosho,
and the Secretary, NJI, Alhaji Abubakar Maidama, during the opening ceremony of the National Workshop for Secretaries, Protocol Of-
ficers, and other administrative staff of the judiciary, held at the National Judicial Institute in Abuja, on Monday. Photo: Sunday Osunrayi.
Nigerian, Kemi Adetu, tops Yahoo 50 HERoes list
A Nigerian, Kemi Adetu has
emerged number one on Ya-
hoo’s top 50 HERoes future
female leaders 2019 list.
This initiative organised by
Involve’s Diversity and Inclu-
sion Network and supported
by Yahoo Finance celebrates
inspirational women who are
not currently senior execu-
tives in their organisation but
making a significant contri-
bution to gender diversity at
work.
Since its inception in 2016,
the initiative has recognised
hundreds of female execu-
tives across the world after
series of high level assess-
ments.
This year, the 50 recipients
•Decries one doctor to 6,000 Nigerians ratio
coverage and failure of govern-
ment to ensure and engender
better hospital services.
Olulana said an estimated
60 doctors leave the services
of Lagos State, every month,
including several other consul-
tants who leave the country in
search of greener pastures.
He particular decried the
failure of the National Health
Insurance Scheme (NHIS) to
guarantee universal health
coverage, noting that the NHIS
coverage still stood at about
seven per cent of the nation’s
population and largely cov-
ers government officials and
workers.
Consequently, Olulana
stressed the need for Nigeria
to have community NHIS to
cater for the neglected huge
population spread across
many localities.
Making the NHIS more ef-
fective, he said, would provide
succor to the many Nigerians
who cannot afford qualitative
healthcare. He stressed that
government should be at the
forefront of providing qualita-
tive and effective healthcare.
Olulana charged Nigerians
of the future leaders’ award
were selected based on the
influence of their role, im-
pact on women inside and
outside the workspace and
their business achievements.
Adetu is an associate of
the Financial and Strategic
Investor Group at Standard
Chartered Bank and a mem-
ber of the bank’s Gender
Engagement Network where
she is actively involved with
influencing key stakeholders
within the organisation on
the importance of improving
gender balance in the work-
place.
She is also the founder of
two recent initiatives - Glow-
Up and Fempire Professional
Nigerian Tribune
news
to make demands on govern-
ment for robust health insur-
ance programme and medical
loans.
According to him, doctors
and health workers’ call for
industrial action is usually not
basically about salaries and
entitlements but more about
their frustrations about the
failure of government to give
adequate attention to health
and make provision of better
condition of hospital service
and care for the sake of the
masses.
“Government must be at
the forefront of providing
quality and effective health-
care. It is very dishearten-
ing because when some
of us were in training, this
was not really a problem;
patients didn’t pay out-of-
pocket; they are taken care
of through the health insur-
ance system and this would
run into thousands.
“Out-of-pocket payment is
not acceptable for universal
health coverage. For example
you earn N18,000 in a month
and you need an MRI to treat a
disease of the brain. MRI costs
Network.
Her work at Glow Up seeks
to equip children across Afri-
can and the United States with
the knowledge to becoming
economic leaders in their im-
mediate environment.
With Fempire Professional
Network, she keenly pro-
vides a more robust support
system and platform for an
international community of
female professionals.
While receiving this award
in London, Adetu expressed
her delight and further re-
inforced her commitment
towards driving gender bal-
ance, both within and out-
side her organisation.
“I am very honoured to be
@nigeriantribune Nigerian Tribune
N72,000. When you divide
that by N18,000, how many
months is that? Because a lot
of people cannot afford the
cost of care, they prefer to die.
“WHO recommends one
doctor to 600 population.
But in Nigeria today, we have
about one to 6,000. We are
also busy and overwhelmed
and everyone has a limit to
what they can take to be ex-
hausted in energy.
“At the end of the day, you
are tired and still have many
patients to see which is very
risky. In some countries, it is a
crime for a fatigued doctor to
see any patient. Error rates are
higher particularly when the
hands are few. It is a big risk
and dangerous even to the life
of the patient.
“So, you go back home unful-
filled, unhappy with your job,
depressed as you sometimes
lose your patients because
they couldn’t afford the cost
of care.
“As a result, many doctors are
leaving the country because
you just don’t feel happy see-
ing your patients die. You want
to work in a place and country
a recipient of this prestigious
award from Yahoo Finance
and it is encouraging to know
that our efforts in creating a
gender-balanced world are
being recognised.
“In our quest to fully
achieve this, I believe that
we need more women to be
more confident and believe
in themselves as well as the
potential and skills they ex-
ecute in the work place.
“This is a great opportunity
to expand my access and em-
power more women with the
tools they need to learn and
grow, including mentorships,
networking opportunities
and training workshops espe-
cially in Africa,” Adetu added.
tribuneonlineng
where the value of your train-
ing can be well utilised and ap-
preciated
“Doctors leave the country
everyday for greener pastures.
In the past two days, I have
seen colleagues, I mean con-
sultants, who called that they
were now well settled in the
UK.
“In Lagos, about 60 doctors
leave the services of Lagos
State every month; that is
aside those in private hospi-
tals.
“I don’t have the statistics
for Ibadan, but I can tell you
that a lot are on their way
out and if not, they are fill-
ing forms waiting for the op-
portunity to get out of the
system.
“Diseases like cancer should
be cared for. Countries like
Malawi and Morocco treat
cancers for free; diagnostics
and treatments are free. In
fact, their relations are cared
for up to two years, and this
is made possible by govern-
ment programmes.
“NHIS as a programme in
this country is below expec-
tation. We still have about
Judiciary must be financially
independent —CJN
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 2
spective of any irregularity
that might have occurred in
the course of dispensing jus-
tice by different election tri-
bunals.
“It is important that this
court, as a final arbiter re-
mains just and resolute in
resolving all issues presented
before it.
He said in the last legal year,
the administration of justice
received boosts in the areas
of Anti-Corruption Policy
Drive (which successfully
introduced zero tolerance
to corrupt practices and en-
trenched integrity and ethical
conducts in the task of gover-
nance).
“Let me at this juncture,
reflect on the issue that has
dominated the public space
in recent times that requires
our collective urgent atten-
tion, which borders on grant-
ing of interview by counsel
during the pendency of a
matter or after judgment has
been delivered over his mat-
ter.
“I must state that inas-
much as the constitution
enjoins freedom of speech,
it has to be within the con-
text of ethics of our noble
profession.
“Therefore, it is not in the
interest of the Nigerian le-
gal profession for lawyers
who are bound by Rules
One and 30 of the Rule of
Professional Conduct for
Legal Practitioners to grant
interview disparaging the
court of law and its judg-
TUESDAY,
24 SEPTEMBER, 2019
seven per cent coverage
of the population, and in a
country with 200 million,
that’s not up to the 17 per
cent that we can say we are
doing anything at all.
“Government officials and
workers can be covered read-
ily but we need community
NHIS to reach out to those
that really need the care. As
far as NHIS is concerned, it
has failed the health system
of this country.
“When you see doctors
threatening to go on strike, it
is because they are frustrat-
ed. And you know the people
that govern us know how
to divide the country; they
will pitch doctors against
the masses, and the masses
begin to attack the mission
of the doctors, whereas the
doctors want to make the
hospital better and are asking
for better condition of hospi-
tal service.
“At the end of the day, it
turns out that the people you
are trying to protect are the
ones standing up against you
and you, get frustrated.”
ment, thereby eroding the
sanctity of our judiciary,”
the AGF said.
Speaking on behalf of the
newly elevated SANs, Ade-
doyin Rhodes-Vivour, one of
the recipients, admonished
other recipients to conduct
themselves well in line with
their new rank.
“As officers in the temple
of justice, we are obliged to
treat the courts with respect,
dignity and honour and chan-
nel any legitimate complaints
only through the appropriate
authority and not conduct
ourselves in any manner that
will obstruct, delay or ad-
versely affect the administra-
tion of justice or negatively
impact on the perception of
legal practitioners and our ju-
diciary by the public, domes-
tic and international.
“We must remember our
obligation at all times to
partner with the judiciary
in maintaining an effective
and expeditious judiciary
and promoting any improve-
ments in the administration
of justice,” Adedoyin Rhodes-
Vivour said.
Of the 117 legal practitio-
ners that applied for the rank
of SAN in 2019, 38 were suc-
cessful at the end of the rig-
orous exercise.
Out of this number, three
are academics while 35 are
advocates.
The rank of SAN is awarded
as a mark of excellence to
members of the legal profes-
sion who have distinguished
themselves as advocates and
academics.
 8 www.tribuneonlineng.com
FIRS replies Timi Frank, says allegation false, malicious
Collins Nnabuife | Abuja
THE Federal Inland Revenue
Service (FIRS) has said the
allegations by a former dep-
uty national publicity secre-
tary of All Progressives Con-
gress (APC), Timi Frank, that
Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo
is in trouble over N90 billion
it took from the Service to
fund the 2019 election is to-
tally false and malicious.
The FIRS, in a statement
signed by the Director, Com-
munication and Servicom,
Wahab Gbadamosi, also
described the allegations as
wicked and an attempt to
smear the image of the Ser-
vice and that of the vice pres-
ident.
“The entire allegation be-
ing spread by one Timi Frank
that the Federal lnland Rev-
FG trying to make trouble by
paying levels 1 - 6 minimum
wage —Labour
CONTINUED FROM
FRONT PAGE
for about two or three times,
they went and issued circular
and paid level one to six. How
many people are on that grade
level?
“It was only when workers
started calling us that they saw
salary and that it is like they
have paid that money that we
had to find out. Truly, the gov-
ernment paid that difference
by August, without informing
us. In fact, they issued circular
and paid.
“We are not even happy
about it, because what we are
fighting for is from level one to
17. If you have anybody in civil
Lagos-Ibadan rail: Amaechi chides
contractor for slow pace of work
Tola Adenubi | Lagos
MINISTER of Transportation,
Rotimi Amaechi, on Monday,
chided the Chinese Civil En-
gineering Construction Com-
pany (CCECC) for what he
termed the slow pace of work
on the Lagos-Ibadan standard
gauge railway.
The minister, during the in-
spection of the Lagos-Ibadan
railway project, alongside
with the Minister of State for
Transport, Gbemisola Saraki,
noted that the government
needed to charge the com-
pany to get it back to the
same speed it had been oper-
ating before.
He added that the cabinet
and the president had paid on
Friday and had also approved
the payment of additional
works, adding that the con-
struction firm had no excuse.
Speaking on the factory
for locomotives production,
which is to be sited at Kajola
in Ogun State, Amaechi said
a date had been given by
enue Service spent N90 bil-
lion to fund the last election
is mendacious, wicked, ma-
licious and a calculated at-
tempt to smear the image of
the Service and that of his Ex-
cellency, Vice-President Yemi
Osinbajo.
“This campaign of calumny
and villifying false claims
are entirely libellous, un-
founded, in fact, irresponsi-
ble and a brazen assault on
the integrity of the Service as
a responsible and account-
able organisation and clearly
demonstrates an abysmal
ignorance of the budgetary
and expenditure process of
the FIRS.
“That in the last four years
since Mr Tunde Fowler has
supervised operations at
the FIRS, the agency had
not received up to N90
service between levels one and
six, you can find out.
“They have actually paid
their nonsense minimum
wage for those who are
collecting below minimum
wage. Some workers have
received that stuff below
that level six and that is what
[Chris] Ngige is saying that it
was a partial payment.
“We are not happy that
they were trying to divide the
rank and file of union mem-
bers by paying a section of
the workers. That is not right.
Government is trying to divide
us and we are not happy over
it. They are just trying to make
trouble and cause trouble for
us,” he said.
Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo
but promised to notify every-
one when the kick-off would
commence.
On demolition of properties
owned by FlourMills Nige-
ria Limited, the minister said
“the FlourMills properties is
not a problem. We will talk to
them and pay compensation
before demolishing it.”
He added that on “Iju to
Apapa axis in Lagos, we have
problem of urbanisation and
also to deal with issues of
water pipes, fuel pipes and
bridges, but the most impor-
tant is the fuel pipes, which,
once demolished, may lead
to fuel scarcity in the country.
So we can’t afford to bring
them down now.”
Also speaking, an excited
Saraki said “yes, the minister
complained about the pace
of the work but for me to see
that this place before used to
be a forest and is now mov-
able and there’s a train track
on it, that is just amazing for
us in four years.”
Nigerian Tribune
billion per annum as cost
of collection from the Fed-
eration Accounts Allocation
Committee (FAAC)” it said,
while asking Frank and oth-
ers to cross-check this from
FAAC, a public institution,
whose records are open to
the public.
“That it is from the remit-
tances from FAAC – which
had never grossed up to
N100 billion, per annum,
that FIRS pays the salary and
emoluments and trains its
over 8000 staff, runs over 150
offices and provides for other
needs of the Service.
“That given the above, it
is not plausible nor does it
make any sense that FIRS
will commit its resources
to a phantom campaign of
N90 billion as suggested
by Mr Timi Frank and FIRS
From left, board chairman, Nigeria Railway Corporation, Malam Ibrahim Al-Hassan; Minister of Transportation, Mr Rotimi Amaechi and the
Minister of State for Transportation, Gbemisola Saraki, during the inspection of Lagos-Ibadan standard railway project, in Lagos, on Monday.
Photo: NAN
P&ID: FG delegation in London, lobbies to nullify $9.6bn award
Sanya Adejokun and
Sunday Ejike | Abuja
THE Federal Government
delegation to London on
the controversial $9.6 billion
judgment awarded to Irish/
Virgin Island company, P&ID,
on Monday, engaged in high
powered lobby of senior Brit-
ish government officials and
members of the British press.
Attorney-General and Min-
ister of Justice, Mr Abubakar
Malami, told the Nigerian
Tribune on Sunday that Nige-
ria was keeping every option
open.
The aim, according to a
member of the delegation,
was to sensitise the inter-
national community on the
fraudulent nature of the con-
tract that was designed to fail
from the beginning.
The delegation, among
whom were the Governor
of Central Bank of Nigeria
(CBN), Mr Godwin Emefiele
@nigeriantribune Nigerian Tribune
does not fund political asso-
ciations.
“That FIRS is a creation of
statute and its activities are
governed by the laws of the
Federal Republic of Nigeria,
and financials regulations
and thus, it is not plausible,
that its funds could be ex-
pended in such a cavalier
manner as suggested by Mr
Timi Frank.
“That FIRS budget and
expenditure approval pro-
cesses passes through the
Budget Office and the Min-
istry of Finance, before such
are presented to the National
Assembly for Appropriation
into Law.
“The National Assembly
committees, consisting of
all parties and inclinations,
exercise oversight function
on all agencies of the Fed-
and other senior officials of
the bank; Inspector-General
of Police, Mr Mohammed Ad-
amu; Solicitor General of the
Federation, Mr Dayo Akpata
and others from Federal Min-
istry of Petroleum Resources,
Nigerian National Petroleum
Corporation (NNPC) and se-
curity agencies had been
meeting with Nigeria’s local
and international legal teams
in London since Saturday.
The member of the dele-
gation said the purpose of
the meetings was to develop
strategies targeted at setting
aside the judgment award.
Malami said the five-hour
meeting of Sunday started at
6.00 p.m. and ended at 11.00
p.m.
Also on Monday, the dele-
gation held “series of press
sensitisation engagements”
with some British local and
international journalists,
“where members elaborated
on the antecedents relating
tribuneonlineng
eral Government and ascer-
tains if an agency is keeping
to the letters of the Appro-
priation Act
“The FIRS is a public trust,
which the agency operates
on behalf of Nigerians. Tax-
payers money, including the
operational funds of the Ser-
vice, are sacred and we exer-
cise extra care and diligence
in expenditures, even after
such funds must have been
appropriated by the National
Assembly.
“The agency is subject to
the eagle eye scrutiny, super-
vision and close monitoring
by the National Assembly,
the
Federation Account Allo-
cation Committee and the
Ministry of Finance through
the Office of the Accoun-
tant-General of the Federa-
to the contract and enter-
tained questions from the
media.”
A London court is expected
to make a final pronounce-
ment on seizure of Nigeria’s
assets this week, but the
country, aside filing an ap-
peal, is expected to start a
fresh action relying on evi-
dence of fraud in the award
of the contract in 2010.
Meanwhile, a civil society
group, Kingdom Human
Rights Foundation Inter-
national, on Monday, ap-
proached the Federal High
Court in Abuja, with a suit
challenging the Gas Sup-
ply Processing Agreement
which led to the $9.6 billion
judgment delivered against
Nigeria by a British court re-
cently.
The suit came days ahead of
the Thursday’s proceedings
of the United Kingdom court,
where Nigeria’s legal team
would appear to challenge
TUESDAY,
24 SEPTEMBER, 2019
news
tion.
“It is, therefore, unthink-
able, malicious and irre-
sponsible for the said Frank
to insinuate or infer that a
huge amount of public funds
or any part thereof could be
spent illegally and without
budgetary approval.
“We ask members of the
public to ignore the claims
of Mr Timi Frank, with the
ignominy it deserves as the
former deputy national pub-
licity secretary of the APC is
seeking for cheap popularity
and relevance,” the state-
ment read.
The Service said it would
pursue claims for aggravated
damages in libel and injurious
falsehood against the said Mr
Frank if he failed to make un-
equivocal and well-publicised
apology in the next 24 hours.
the controversial verdict.
The plaintiff alleged in the
suit that “the gas products
entered between the Fed-
eral Ministry of Petroleum
Resources and Process and
Industrial Development Ltd
is fraudulent, illegal and was
conceived, signed and exe-
cuted in complicated false-
hood and misrepresentation
and in total breach of the
procurement law.”
The plaintiff, through its
counsel, Kingdom Okere,
also alleged that “the con-
tract was designed to fail
and, therefore, constitutes
an act of economic sabotage
against the Federal Govern-
ment of Nigeria and the peo-
ple of Nigeria.”
Justice Inyang Ekwo of the
Federal High Court in Abuja,
on September 20, 2019, or-
dered the winding up of P&ID
which was incorporated in
British Virgin Island for fraud
in relation to the GPSA.
9 www.tribuneonlineng.com Nigerian Tribune @nigeriantribune Nigerian Tribune tribuneonlineng
TUESDAY,
24 SEPTEMBER, 2019
10
Nigeria needs $3trn to fund infrastructure —Finance Minister
Sanya Adejokun| Abuja
MINISTER of Finance, Bud-
get and Planning, Mrs. Zain-
ab Ahmed has said Nigeria
requires $3 trillion to fix her
rapidly expanding infrastruc-
ture requirements in the
next 30 years.
At the one-day workshop
on Maximizing Finance for
Development (MFD) of In-
frastructure in Nigeria or-
NACCIMA to
start new bank
for SMEs bank
—Kayode
Sanya Adejokun | Abuja
NATIONAL Association of
Chambers of Commerce,
Industry, Mines and Agricul-
ture (NACCIMA) is proposing
a development bank that
will fund the micro, small
and medium (MSMEs).
This is because MSMEs
have not benefited from
the myriads of intervention
funds available to them.
President of Abuja Cham-
ber of Commerce and In-
dustry (ACCI), Prince Olatok-
unbo Kayode who gave the
hint at the commencement
of 14th Abuja International
Trade Fair on Monday said
MSMEs were not benefit-
ing from the funds because
they were being channelled
through commercial banks.
The sector operators were
unable to afford the types
of collateral demanded by
commercial banks.
According to Kayode, a
Senior Advocate of Nigeria,
since commercial banks
were into short term, quick
return deals, it was wrong to
to continue to pass develop-
ment funds through them.
He appealed to Central
Bank of Nigeria not to delay
in approving proposal for
establishment of the bank
once it is sent to it.
THE Central Bank of Nige-
ria (CBN) says the transac-
tion charges on deposit and
withdrawal in furtherance of
implementation of its cash-
less policy is on the amount
in excess of the set limits.
The Director, Corporate
Communication Depart-
ment, Mr Isaac Okorafor,
made the clarification in an
interview with News Agency
of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on
Monday.
NAN reports that CBN on
Sept 17 issued a circular to
deposit banks to commence
the implementation of the
cashless policy in six pilot
states across the country.
The CBN explained that
transactions would attract
three per cent processing
www.tribuneonlineng.com
ganised by the World Bank
Group in Abuja on Monday,
Ahmed said this amounts to
roughly $100 billion per year
between 2014 and 2034.
And with a total federal
budget of less than $30 bil-
lion for 2019 and the depen-
dency of Nigeria’s income on
oil revenue with unpredict-
able global price fluctuation,
Nigeria no doubt, lacks the
fiscal space to self-finance
From left, Nollywood actor/producer, Richard Mofe-Damijo; Chief Executive Officer, House of Tara, Mrs Tara Fela-Durotoye; co-founder/
former Group Executive Director, Sahara Group, Tonye Cole; and Managing Director/CEO, Custodian Investment Plc, Mr. Wole Oshin,
during Custodian mentors’ conference, held at Eko Hotel, Victoria Island, Lagos, recently.
We’ve invested $1.4bn in distribution networks —DisCos
Adetola Bademosi | Abuja
THE umbrella body of the 10
electricity distribution com-
panies(DisCos), Association of
Electricity Distributirs(ANED)
on Monday, said the DisCos
have so far invested about
$1.4billion on distribution
networks in the country.
This is even as it accused
the Transmission Company
of Nigeria(TCN) of causing
5,311 interface disruptions in
one DisCo in the first 18 days
of this month as a result of its
CBN clarifies cashless policy transaction charges
fees for withdrawal and two
per cent processing fees
for lodgement of amounts
above N500,000 for individ-
ual accounts.
Similarly, corporate ac-
counts would attract five
per cent processing fees
for withdrawal and three
per cent processing fees
for lodgement of amounts
above N3 million
The apex bank directed
that implementation should
commence from Sept. 18
in Lagos, Ogun, Kano, Abia,
Anambra, and Rivers States,
as well as the Federal Capital
Territory (FCT).
It, however, stated that the
nationwide implementation
of the cashless policy would
take effect from March 31,
Nigerian Tribune
the required infrastructure
investment”, she stated.
According to her, the de-
mand for infrastructural
facilities in Nigeria has out-
paced its supply due to the
rapidly growing population
and urbanization, the Ni-
geria’s aspiration and infra-
structure target for 30 years
(2014-2043) was aimed at
increasing the current infra-
structure stock from 30% of
analogue operations.
The Association’s Director
of Research and Advocacy,
Mr. Sunday Oduntan made
the disclosure in a statement
made available to Nigerian
Tribune in Abuja.
It said despite the $1.6 billion
multilateral funding of TCN, its
equipment have caused over
100 electricity grid collapses
since privatization in 2013,
and nine collapses in 2019.
While reacting to the com-
pany’s stance on power evac-
uation and distribution data,
2020.
Okorafor explained that
contrary to the misconcep-
tion on the implementation
of the policy, the charges
would only be on the ex-
cess of N500,000 deposited
or withdrawn for individual
and N3 million for corporate
body
According to him, if an indi-
vidual deposited N510,000
the two per cent charge
would be on the N10,000
excess which is N200 only.
He said the same applied
to a withdrawal of same
amount, adding that the
three per cent charge would
be on excess of the set lim-
its.
He said that the same
thing also applies to the
@nigeriantribune Nigerian Tribune
the GDP to at least 70% by
the year 2043.
She noted that despite
all the comparative advan-
tages in natural and human
resources, Nigeria’s abil-
ity to fully actualise its eco-
nomic growth potential is
repressed by the country’s
huge infrastructure gap,
recalling that it was in an
effort to address the issue
that the Nigeria’s National
ANED said it owes obligation
to the 10 DisCos who have
invested the huge sum in
networks, insisting that the
DisCos had not rejected en-
ergy load as TCN claimed in its
publication.
It also accused TCN of falsi-
fying data that conflicts the
data presented to DisCos by
the National Control Centre
(NCC) which is under TCN and
coordinate power allocation
to DisCos.
“While TCN headquarter
data published on Septem-
corporate body also which
five per cent on withdrawal
and three per cent on lodge-
ment of amounts above N3
million.
Many Nigerians welcome
the development, noting
that it would enhance trans-
parency in financial dealings
and reduce crimes such as
ransom payment and extor-
tion among others.
Others, however, described
it as additional burden on
banks’ customers who were
already laden with other
charges by the banks.
CBN Governor Godwin
Emefiele had also said, after
the Monetary Policy Com-
mittee meeting on Friday in
Abuja, that the policy was
inaugurated in the country
tribuneonlineng
business news
Integrated Infrastructure
Master Plan (NIIMP) was
approved in 2014 as a poli-
cy document which was de-
signed to provide the road-
map for building a world
class infrastructure that
would guarantee sustain-
able economic growth and
development.
The effect of weak infra-
structure, she noted, is most
striking in the energy and
ber 20th, 2019, shows
19,173 megawatts (MW) of
energy was delivered to Dis-
Cos between August 22nd
and 24th of 2019, the NCC
data actually shows it was
13,963MW.
This according to ANED in-
dicated a conflicting differ-
ence of 5,208MW data within
the same company.
“It raises questions as to the
veracity and accuracy of TCN’s
response, in terms of the en-
ergy that it delivered to the
DisCos.”
in 2012 and implementation
began in 2014.
“The policy says if you de-
posit money in the bank
above a particular thresh-
old which for individual is
N500,000 and N3 million for
corporate bodies, then you
will be charged, same for
withdrawal.
He stated that the policy
was not designed to de-fran-
chise hard working Nigeri-
ans as perceived by some
categories of people.
According to him, a data
conducted, revealed that
close to 95 per cent of cash
deposited and withdrawn
fall below this threshold.
Emefiele said Nigerians
had already embraced elec-
tronic channels and online
TUESDAY,
24 SEPTEMBER, 2019
transportation sector.
The two sectors, according
to her, are key to national
and economic development
due to their multiplier ef-
fect across all sectors of the
economy.
“Nigeria has an average
electricity consumption per
inhabitant of 150kwh (kilo-
watt/hour) as against over
3000kwh world average
(WBG).”
NIHORT trains
45 plantain,
pineapple farmers
on modern
techniques in Edo
Hendrix Oliomogbe | Benin City
DETERMINED to make Ni-
geria the leading plantain
and pineapple producer in
Africa, the Horticultural Re-
search Institute (NIHORT)
on Monday trained about
45 plantain and pineapple
farmers on the use of mod-
ern technology in the pro-
duction of plantain and
pineapple in Edo State.
The Excutive Director of NI-
HORT, Mr. Abayomi Olaniyan
said the training was crucial
in enhancing productivity and
also help farmers and stake-
holders to incorporate recent
scientific advances and tech-
nology into the production of
plantain and pineapple.
Olaniyan said that plantain
is a unique and important
food security crop and an
important source of income
for smallholder farmers,
adding that it is a low cap-
ital agribusiness which is
comparatively lucrative and
adaptable to almost every
Nigeria soil.
He said that the training
will expose the participants
on how to turn plantain
waste into wealth, noting
that the stems of plantain
are good source of fibres for
industrial ropes, mats ànd
fancy hats among others.
transaction in market places.
He added that Micro, Small
and Medium Enterprises
now had various options
and channels available to
collect a legitimate payment
for goods and services, like
POS, banks transfer using
ATM, USD code among oth-
ers.
He said that the cashless
policy increases transparen-
cy in financial dealings and
reduce crimes such as ran-
som payment and extortion
among others.
The governor said the bank
had the mandate under the
CBN Act 2007 as amended
to promote a sound and sta-
ble financial system through
credible efficient payment
system.
11 www.tribuneonlineng.com Nigerian Tribune @nigeriantribune Nigerian Tribune tribuneonlineng
TUESDAY,
24 SEPTEMBER, 2019

business news
Nigeria loses over N3trn to non-oil exports —NEXIM

N
Chima Nwokoji | Lagos
IGERIA has lost
about $10 billion
(about N3.6 tril-
lion) opportunities
in non-oil export
over the past five decades in
crops such as cocoa, oil palm,
cotton and groundnut alone.
The Managing Director/Chief
Executive Officer of Nigeria
Export Import Bank (NEXIM)
Mr Abubakar Bello.
Bello, stated this while de-
livering a keynote address at
the Finance Correspondents
Association of Nigeria (FICAN)
annual conference which held
in Lagos at the weekend.
Represented by Head of
Research, NEXIM, Mr. Tayo
Omidiji, Bello, who spoke
on the conference’s theme:
“Unlocking Opportunities in
Nigeria’s Non-Oil Sector”, said
Nigeria’s non-oil export only
accounts for just 13.17 per
cent of Nigeria’s exports by
value, from up to 97 per cent
at independence.
He explained: “In the im-
mediate post-independence
period, non-oil exports, which
were mainly agricultural com-
modities and solid minerals,
made up 97 per cent of Nige-
ria’s exports. Crops like cocoa,
cotton, palm oil, palm kernel,
groundnut and rubber were
major export commodities.
“However, between 1970
and 1974, non-oil exports
dropped from 43 per cent to 7
per cent due to rapid increase
in the international oil price
and Nigeria’s production.
“The ensuing Dutch Dis-
ease led to movement of
resources out of the non-oil
sector, contributing to its ne-
glect and lack of investments
in the erstwhile export sec-
tors, particularly value-added
export.”
Speaking further, Bello not-
ed that Nigeria’s non-oil sec-
tor has been characterised
by “systemic decline in the
contribution of total exports
to GDP, dropping from 31.44
per cent in 2012 to 18.44 per
cent and 10.63 per cent in
2014 and 2015, respectively
before rising to 13.17 cent in
2017.
“The figures from 2014 to
2017 have been below global
average of exports to GDP of
about 30 per cent, according
to World Bank data”.
He added that the sector
was also characterised by,
“insignificant contribution of
agricultural sub-sectors like
shea, ginger, cassava, yam,
sweet potato, cowpeas and
pineapple to export revenues,
although Nigeria is one of the
highest producers of these
commodities, according to
data from the Food and Agri-
cultural Organisation”.
He identified some of the
challenges to the non-oil sec-
tor to include funding, policy
constraints, operational is-
sues, dearth of efficient multi-
modal logistics system as well
as other issues around quality
and standardisations.
“Funding, which includes
volume/availability of export
credits; high cost of funds;
absence of medium/long-
term funds since the export
sector is perceived as high
risk by the Deposit Money
Banks (DMBs); and absence
of innovative trade finance
instruments, have manifested
in low level of credit to the
export sector, which accounts
for less than one per cent of
total credit to the private sec-
tor by DMBs over the years,”
Bello said.
NEXIM, he said, has been at
the forefront of tackling some
of these challenges, as it has
over the years alone, em-
barked on strategic interven-
tion programmes.
He said: “As part of efforts
to address the key challenges
of the non-oil export sec-
tor, NEXIM over the years
has played significant roles
through its funding/risk bear-
ing intervention and other
trade facilitation initiatives.
“In this regard, NEXIM’s
footprint can be found in the
key sectors of the economy,
notably the cocoa processing
industry, fish trawling as well
as oil seed industry, where the
Bank largely financed the key
players, many of which grew
to rank among the top 100 ex-
porters as published annually
by the CBN.”

Dangote donates $20m to African Center

towards changing the African narratives
PEEVED with the negative per- for the capital campaign, in-
ception of Africa by the out- cluding the Mo Ibrahim Family,
side world, President of Dan- and the New York City Depart-
gote Group, Aliko Dangote, on ment of Cultural Affairs, were
Monday donated a whopping also recognised at yesterday’s
$20 million to The Africa Cen- event, which marked the con-
ter in New York, United States clusion of the second phase of
of America towards reversing construction.
the trend. In recognition of his love and
Africa Center is a leading unusual passion for the conti-
non-profit institution focused nent, Dangote was honoured
on challenging historical ste- as the main hall of The Africa
reotype around the African Center, was named after him.
continent and a hub for creat- Named “The Africa Center at
ing an intersection of African Aliko Dangote Hall”, speakers
policy, business, and culture at the event which was part
and recreating narratives of The Future Africa Forum,
about Africa’s economic and praised the efforts of Dangote
cultural significance today and describing his various philan-
into the future. thropic interventions in Africa
Sharing in Dangote’s vision, and beyond as very significant.
From left, Yemi Odusanya, MD/CEO Keystone Bank, Ademola Adebise; MD/CEO Wema Bank, Herbert Wigwe; GMD/CEO Access Bank the Bill & Melinda Gates Foun- The Forum was this year’s
and Tokunbo Abiru, MD/CEO Polaris Bank at the launch of the Global Principles for Responsible Banking at the UN General Assembly dation, also announced a new signature policy and business
in New York, last weekend.
$5 million grant at the Future dialogue event of The Africa
Africa Forum. The Gates Foun- Center in partnership with the
Keystone Bank, Barclays, others launch global dation grant is directed to the
Center’s capital campaign and
Aliko Dangote Foundation.
Dangote, Africa’s leading en-
principles for responsible banking for the development of its pol-
icy initiatives.
trepreneur had announced
that the donation was towards
KEYSTONE Bank Limited has The Principles create the an inclusive society founded “Keystone Bank believes Other foundations, corpo- the completion of the second
become one of the founding accountability that can real- on human dignity, equality that business can and should rations, and individuals that phase of The Africa Center’s
signatories of the Principles ize responsibility, and the and the sustainable use of be an effective steward of our provided leadership support physical space.
for Responsible Banking, ambition that can drive ac- natural resources can our planet as well as a force for
committing to strategically tion,” said UN secretary-gen- clients, customers and busi- good in society at the same
time a generator of wealth
Sterling Bank marks World Cleanup
align its business with the eral Antonio Guterres at the nesses thrive.
Sustainable Development launch event, attended by According to Odusanya, “By for shareholders and stake- Day with nationwide cleaning exercise
Goals and the Paris Agree- the 130 founding signatories signing up to the Principles, holders. We recognize that
ment on Climate Change. and over 45 of their CEOs. we commit to “using our prod- the success of our business, STERLING Bank, one of Nige- the environment is beyond
By signing the Principles Also speaking, Inger Ander- ucts, services and relationships and the sustainability and sur- ria’s leading commercial bank any single institution to ac-
for Responsible Banking, sen, executive director of the to support and accelerate the vival of our planet are tightly joined other corporate organ- complish. He said it is a thing
Keystone Bank joins a coali- United Nations Environment fundamental changes in our aligned with the Principles isations to mark the World of joy to find that other insti-
tion of 130 banks worldwide Programme (UNEP) explained economies and lifestyles nec- for Responsible Banking. As Cleanup Day (WCD) and the tutions are also committed to
including Barclays Bank, rep- that a banking industry that essary to achieve shared pros- industry leaders we are com- International Coastal Cleanup the same journey as Sterling
resenting over USD 47 tril- plans for the risks associ- perity for both current and fu- mitted to implementing the day at over 20 locations na- Bank because more could be
lion in assets, in committing ated with climate change and ture generations. Principles for Responsible tionwide. achieved by working together.
to taking on a crucial role in other environmental chal- “The Principles for Respon- Banking in our business and States where the clean up Suleiman said, “It is also be-
practices and to being an ef- held according to a statement yond cleanliness... it is about
helping to achieve a sustain- lenges cannot only drive the sible Banking are supported
fective ambassador for these from the lender, include Kadu- protecting the environment so
able future. transition to low-carbon and by a strong implementation
na, Kano, Imo, Niger, Benue, that we have a better environ-
Taking place at the start of climate-resilient economies, it and accountability frame- principles with others in our
industry and beyond. Oyo, Enugu Ogun, Rivers, ment for those that will come
the UN General Assembly, can benefit from it. work. By signing them, Key-
the official launch of the Prin- “When the financial system stone Bank commits to be- The Principles for Responsi- Kogi, Bayelsa, Osun and the after us.” He said the bank is
Federal Capital Territory. committed to the environment
ciples for Responsible Banking shifts its capital away from ing transparent on both our ble Banking were developed In Lagos, street and beach on a long-term basis, pointing
marked the beginning of the resource-hungry, brown in- positive and negative impact by a core group of 30 Found-
cleanup exercises were held out that the commitment starts
most significant partnership vestments to those that back on people and planet. Key- ing Banks through an innova- at Sura Shopping Complex in from the way the bank encour-
to date between the global nature as solution, every- stone Bank will focus where tive global partnership be- Lagos Island and Kids Beach ages staff members to use and
banking industry and the UN. body wins in the long-term,” it has the greatest impact tween banks and the UNEP Gardens in Lekki, over the manage energy in the office.
“The UN Principles for Anderson noted. – in its core business – and Finance Initiative (UNEP FI). weekend to mark the day. He said the bank is also
Responsible Banking are a Commenting on the devel- set, publish and implement UNEP FI is the UN-private Speaking at the occasion, collaborating with state gov-
guide for the global banking opment, executive director, ambitious targets to scale sector collaboration that in- Mr. Abubakar Suleiman, Man- ernments to keep their en-
industry to respond to, drive Keystone Bank Limited, Yemi up positive and address any cludes membership of more aging Director and Chief Ex- vironment clean, saying the
and benefit from a sustain- Odusanya, said Keystone negative impacts in line with than 250 finance institutions ecutive Officer (MD/CEO) of commitment is a continuous
able development economy. Bank is convinced that only in global and local goals. around the globe. Sterling Bank Plc said cleaning project that has many phases.
12 www.tribuneonlineng.com Nigerian Tribune @nigeriantribune Nigerian Tribune tribuneonlineng
TUESDAY,
24 SEPTEMBER, 2019
13 www.tribuneonlineng.com Nigerian Tribune @nigeriantribune Nigerian Tribune
Rape: Adamawa NUT chairman’s
sophistry
T
HE nation must have been appalled by the bizarre
defence put up for a rapist in Adamawa State last
week. Seemingly wihout any moral compunc-
tion, the Adamawa State chapter of the Nigeria
Union of Teachers (NUT) refuted media reports
that a teacher, Mr. Nathan Yusuf, had raped a 12-year-old
schoolgirl in Namtari village of Yola South Local Government
Area. After his arrest by the NSCDC, Yusuf, a welcome guest
in many homes of the parents and guradians of pupils of
Gurel Primary School, Namtari, had reportedly confessed to
giving the victim codeine before having carnal knowledge
of her. However, speaking to the Nigerian Tribune at the
union’s secretariat in Yola, the Adamawa NUT chairman,
Comrade Rodney Nathan, stated that the claims made by
the state commands of the Nigeria Police and the Nigeria
Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) regarding rape
were premature. But according to the chairman of the NUT,
“Proper investigations were not carried out before going to
the press.”
Apparently having carried out “proper investigations”
The point must be himself, Comrade Rodney declared that the relationship
between the accused and the victim was known to her par-
stated clearly that ents and the Namtari community at large. He added that
any culture that robs when the alleged rapist was arrested, the victim had the
keys to his room, which suggested that the duo were con-
children of their sciously engaged in a mutual relationship. He said: “One
cannot call a mutual relationship between a schoolgirl and
childhood years is a her teacher who are mutually in love a rape case. At what
flagrant anachronism point did the rape take place, was it six months ago, or now
that it was discovered the schoolgirl is carrying a six-month
that must be resisted pregnancy? She is carrying a six-month pregnancy, an indic-
ation that a long term relationship had existed between the
with all the social, teacher and the schoolgirl.” He added that from the report
submitted by a panel of enquiry set up by the NUT to invest-
constitutional and igate the matter, the fact was established that the school-
political resources girl and Nathan had been lovers for at least six months. He
blamed the parents of the minor for encouraging the rela-
available to the tionship, claiming that the accused teacher, a 37-year-old,
was always in her house and her parents were aware of the
country. Just how relationship. But according to the NSCDC, it was the par-
ents who had in fact reported the matter when they noticed
do you justify the changes in her physical appearance
rape of an 11-year- To all intents and purposes, the Adamawa NUT chairman
needs help. It is not only absurd but tragic that he attemp-
old on the basis of ted to justify rape on the basis of alleged marriage to a stu-
dent, whereas sexual relationship between teachers and
culture? Why should students is universally viewed as unethical and criminal.
culture serve as a Among other factors, there is a relationship of power that
subsists between teachers and students and carrying out
tool of oppression sexual relations with students constitutes a callous exercise
of that power. Teachers who abuse their students betray
and retrogression? the trust reposed in them by parents and the larger society.
They are, by their actions, not only setting up such students
Tragically, the rape for future pain but in fact rupturing society’s moral fabric.
of a minor is being
justified by a state
chairman of NUT,
an organisation
that is supposed to
promote the ethics
of teaching.
tribuneonlineng
TUESDAY,
24 SEPTEMBER, 2019
editorial
Such students are not in a place to give consent.
And then, even if anyone wanted to talk about a relation-
ship with students, it surely could not be with an underage
student. If, as the Adamawa NUT established, the alleged
victim and the errant teacher had indeed been romantically
involved for “at least six months” prior to the allegation of
rape, then it is clear that Teacher Nathan began exploiting
her at only 11 years old. This, we say without any equivoca-
tion, is gross abuse that must be punished with the severest
sentence provided by the law.
In case Comrade Nathan is unaware of the fact, there is
a subsisting Child Rights Act, a federal law that says a girl
has not reached the age of consent until she is 18. Although
this law is yet to be domesticated by many of the states, the
fact remains that it is an extant federal law. Besides, biolo-
gically, a 12-yr-old is not ready for childbirth. She is still, by
any definition, a child. Child brides face severe risks, includ-
ing pregnancy-related injuries and death. The fact is well
known that underage childbirth predisposes girls to several
medical challenges, including vesicovaginal fistula (VVF), a
subtype of female urogenital fistula (UVF). VVF is an abnor-
mal fistulous tract extending between the bladder and the
vagina which allows the continuous involuntary discharge
of urine into the vagina. As experts have noted, it is not
only a medical disorder but a social calamity. It is estimated
that between 400,000 and 800,000 girls in the country are
living with this ailment, and the fact that the country re-
portedly has only about 12 surgical repair centres handling
only 4,000 cases annually means that it is already walking
a tightrope. Why would the Adamawa NUT chairman want
to justify a practice that exposes young girls to such misery
as VVF?
The point must be stated clearly that any culture that robs
children of their childhood years is a flagrant anachronism
that must be resisted with all the social, constitutional and
political resources available to the country. Just how do you
justify the rape of an 11-year-old on the basis of culture?
Why should culture serve as a tool of oppression and retro-
gression? Tragically, the rape of a minor is being justified by
a state chairman of NUT, an organisation that is supposed to
promote the ethics of teaching. In effect, the Adamawa NUT
chairman is saying that what he and his colleagues feel no
scruples about making underage students wives. How can a
teacher’s union be presiding over teacher-student debauch-
ery? How does the NUT boss intend to, in his own words,
“deal decisively with any teacher found in the act” of rape
when he does not even realise that his members cannot law-
fully be married to an 11-year-old, resulting in pregnancy and
childbirth at 12?
We are in full support of the Adamawa State commands of
the Nigeria Police and the NSCDC in their bid to get justice for
the abused primary schoolgirl and her traumatised parents.
The country must send a strong message through this case that
it will not condone acts that endanger the lives of its youths.
14 www.tribuneonlineng.com Nigerian Tribune @nigeriantribune Nigerian Tribune tribuneonlineng
TUESDAY,
24 SEPTEMBER, 2019

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Letters to the editor should be sent to letterstribune@yahoo.com

or by sms to 08158834559, 08053030234. They MUST be accompanied by the
full names and addresses of the writers.

On menstrual health hygiene

T
O start with, menstruation
is the periodic discharge
from the lining of the uterus
in females. It is a normal va-
gina bleeding that occurs as
part of a woman’s monthly cycle. The
menstrual cycle is required for pro-
duction of cells that develop into eggs
or ova and for the preparation of the
uterus for pregnancy. Every month,
the body prepares for pregnancy so
if no pregnancy occurs, the uterus
sheds its lining and that’s the men-
strual blood. The menstrual blood
contains partly blood and partly tis-
sue from the uterus. The menstrual
cycle and period is controlled by the
oestrogen and progesterone.
After the first cycle, there is high
probability of seizure or irregular-
ity in menstrual cycle which is very
normal. Most females will have
their period recur every 28 days but
it is also possible for adult women
to have it recur 21-35 days. Pre-
menstrual symptoms are different
for every female, they include ten-
derness and swelling of the breast,
cramps, tiredness, acne breakouts,
premenstrual syndrome, mood
swings, etc
During menstruation, most fe-
males use tampons, sanitary pad or
menstrual cups. Sanitary pad is an
absorbent item worn in the under-
wear by females who are menstru-
ating. Sanitary pads are also worn
by females recovering from gyneco-
logic surgery, experiencing abortion
or miscarriage or in any other situa-
tion where it is necessary to absorb
vagina fluid. Toxic Shock Syndrome
(TSS) is a severe complication of
certain bacterial infections and it is
associated with pads and tampons
because the blood that accumu-
lates in them can serve as a medium
for the bacteria. So, it is advisable to
not have a pad worn for more than
six hours.
Menstrual cup is also a feminine
hygiene device that is used to col-
lect menstrual fluid and prevent it
from leaking onto clothes. It is in-
serted into the vagina during men-
struation and as dangerous as that
may sound, menstrual cups are safe
to use as long as it is used as direct-
ed. Although there might be a little
discomfort during insertion, the
overall risk for adverse side effect
of using menstrual cups is minimal.
And with menstrual cup, although
the risk of Toxic Shock Syndrome is
lower than in pads and tampons, it
still exists.
Over 800,000 women die annu-
ally from poor menstrual hygiene
making it the fifth biggest killer
of women behind heart diseases,
stroke, low respiratory infections
and chronic obstructive diseases.
The problem of poor menstrual
management is however height-
ened among incarcerated females.
Being imprisoned doesn’t make a
person less human, thus they also
face health risks particularly when
they are forced to improvise hy-
giene menstrual supplies; toilet
papers, rags or papers to wipe and
keep themselves clean.
Commendations must however
be given to organizations such as
Reaching Minds Foundation, Sani-
tary Aid and others who have risen
to promote menstrual health hy-
giene using their platforms. How-
ever, the government needs to do
more in this aspect as they are the
overseer of the citizenry, whether
males or females.
Okanlawon Mosunmola,
Oyo State

Taming fangs of terrorism

IT will be difficult to totally eliminate
the act of terrorism once it has been
experimented in a society. It may
then become a vice just like armed
robbery or kidnapping. Terrorism
cannot be eliminated by the act of
force alone but also by subtle diplo-
macy, strategy, mass education and
enlightenment.
Back in the 70’s, we had religious
skirmishes in the North (Kaduna,
Kano and Bauchi states), after three
to seven days orgy, the matter was
swept under the carpet; no white
paper was issued, no sponsors ap-
prehended or punished and no
compensation was paid.
We then pretended all was well
but the evil seed had been sown.
Then in the 80’s we had the Maitai-
sine crisis. Immediately the head of
the organisation was killed, every-
thing was swept under the carpet,
the Maitaisine has metamorphosed
into Boko Haram. Also in the 80’s we
had religious crises in some north-
ern states but government has fol-
lowed the same pattern. The Fulani
herdsmen are terrorizing citizens
and what action has Federal Gov-
ernment taken? Have the farm-
ers whose crops were destroyed
been compensated? Six years ago
a female teacher was beheaded in
Gombe State. The matter has since
been swept under the carpet and
culprits freed. Also four years ago,
an Igbo lady was killed in Kano, few
years ago a lady was killed in Abuja
for preaching, what has government
done? Nothing.
Early 2003 CIA informed the Oluse-
gun Obasanjo led Federal Govern-
ment that they should watch the ac-
tivities of some Islamic groups in the
North that they could be dangerous
but government jettisoned the ad-
vice. If we Federal government had
monitored the sect’s activities at
that time, Boko Haram would never
have manifested. Now the same
Federal Government is complaining;
Boko Haram has killed thousands,
destroyed businesses and proper-
ties worth billions and they even
introduced suicide bombing into Ni-
geria’s terrorism dictionary.
What is the Federal Government
doing? Military force? But the root
cause of these crises have not been
unveiled; since no sponsor has been
apprehended and punished, the
cycle will continue and the next
time it will be sophisticated bombs
on our streets and mass suicide
bombing using teenagers. I suggest
that a white paper be issued on all
religious crises in the country since
the 70’s and the penalty should be
death sentence as well as confisca-
tion of all properties of the culprits,
our punishment is too weak, we
give 10 to 20 years imprisonment.
It should be death and a policy to
control birth in the North should
be instituted because in situations
whereby a man has 30 children,
the tendency to donate some for a
cause that he fancies will be there.
Exchanging captured Boko Haram
members for kidnapped citizens
may be a dangerous idea; a cue
should be taken from the Saudi Ara-
bian government about their reha-
bilitation methods. The Federal Gov-
ernment should consider setting up
the anti- terrorism department and
religious tolerance department in
the presidency, terrorism insurance
scheme and compensation commit-
tee should be set up to compensate
all victims of religious crises and ter-
rorism.
With these laudable innovations,
the Federal Government may be
getting closer to the root causes of
terrorism in our country Nigeria and
thereby taming its fangs.
David Atta,
Abuja.

After the Oyo tribunal judgment PHOTO SPEAK

NOW that the Oyo State election pe-
tition tribunal has finally spoken, it is
good to say without being unequivo-
cal that justice and fairness has been
made to all parties. The truth is out;
the pendulum of justice had swung
left and right for 180 days and we
were happy that it eventually landed
safely when the chairman of the
Oyo State Election Petition Tribunal
declared the election that brought
Governor Seyi Makinde into office as
fair, credible and peaceful.
What the tribunal said in clear
terms is that a man who won
through the ballot box cannot be
thrown out on the basis of mali-
cious and unreliable evidence from
the witness box. As a lawyer, I want
to use this medium to commend
the judges for delivering a well
thought and wonderful judgment.
For me, there is no victor nor
vanquished. Nobody is a loser. We
all won. Engr. Makinde has proven
to be true democrat by sustaining
the legacy left behind by Senator
Abiola Ajimobi; the YES O has not
been dismantled, the Thursday
weekly sanitation exercise in mar-
ket places and operation burst are
still intact.
My advice to Chief Bayo Adelabu is
that he should join hands with Ma-
kinde to take Oyo State to greater
heights.
Jimoh Mumin Esq.
Ibadan

Let peace reign in Iseyin

RECENTLY, the Oyo State commis-
sioner of police addressed stake-
holders in Iseyin in the presence
of the Aseyin on the constant
fighting between the various reli-
gious affiliations; traditional wor-
shippers, Christianity and Islam, I
wonder what is causing crisis be-
tween these groups.
Have we forgotten that we are
the same family? The issue be-
tween oro adherents and West-
ern religion has been a recurrent
issue. In 1967, they had issues
with the Cherubim and Seraphim
members in the town, recently, it
was with young Muslims.
Please for the sake of unity,
let us handle this fragile mat-
ter objectively. Our deeds and
actions will convert them into
either Christianity or Islam if we
deal with them in love. So many
social amenities have eluded us
in Iseyin, we should not add to
our problems with fighting. Let
us live peacefully.
Lasun Azeez,
Iseyin Positive collaboration. PHOTO: FACEBOOK
15 www.tribuneonlineng.com
Socioeconomic consequences of illicit trade
T
By Akinremi Sobowale
HE rising growth in international trade and
globalisation, in the last few decades, has
inadvertently resulted in insignificant growth in
illicit trade. The size of illicit trade has assumed an
alarming dimension and is now globally estimated to
run into hundreds of billions of dollars annually by economic
watchers. Illicit trade increases costs, undermines legitimate
economic activity and deprives governments of the much-
needed revenues for investment in vital public services. It
is also at variance with the UN’s Sustainable Development
Goals (SDGs). At a recent forum in Switzerland organised by
the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development
(UNCTAD) in collaboration with a US-based non-governmental
organization, the Transnational Alliance to Combat Illicit Trade
(TRACIT), the threat of illicit trade to positive development
and, particularly, its negative impact on the attainment of the
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) was brought to the
fore.
Specifically, the impact of illicit trade on the 12 key sectors
that participate significantly in international trade came into
focus with the launch of TRACIT’s new report, Mapping the
Impact of Illicit Trade on the UN Sustainable Development
Goals, which investigates the impact of illicit trade on these
sectors vis-à-vis the 17 United Nations SDGs. The sectors in-
clude petroleum, agri-foods, pharmaceuticals, alcohol, fish-
eries, tobacco, forestry, precious metals and gemstones, pes-
ticides, and wildlife, etc. Findings from the report show that
illicit trade activities significantly compromise achievement
of the SDGs by crowding out legitimate economic activity, de-
priving governments of revenues for investment in vital public
services, dislocating hundreds of thousands of legitimate jobs
and causing irreversible damage to ecosystems and human
lives. Nigeria also suffers some economic consequences on
account of illicit trade in the country. Some of the most illic-
itly traded goods in Nigeria are precious stones, tobacco and
pharmaceuticals. This situation is further compounded by
the rising spate of insecurity and terrorism, especially in the
North. The light weight, high value, high durability, and por-
tability of some of these commodities make them especially
attractive to launderers and criminal financiers.
For example, gold in Zamfara is regularly smuggled out of the
country to neighbouring African countries, namely, Niger and
By Banji Ojewale
No vuvuzela for the president
SOUTH Africa-based Nigerians now returning from the home
of vuvuzela are coming back with a mixed reaction. They are
meeting a nation whose president has just been ‘vindicated’
by a competent tribunal over claims by the opposition that he
wasn’t eligible for the office. Their old hosts are used to taking
up the local instrument as both a weapon of intimidation and
celebration. South Africans reach out for their two to three-
feet long plastic horn to celebrate, to make raucous noise at
football matches in support of their national teams. It was
popularised during the World Cup in South Africa in 2010.
The myth is that its beastly emission—some 120 decibels—
can conjure victory for their club or national side. Or it can
cudgel opposition to concede goals for their players to win
the day. To their grief, these didn’t happen nine years ago.
Rather, vuvuzela drew gross global glare. A newspaper writer
called the trumpet ‘’an instrument from hell’. And because it
nearly ruined the first-ever World Cup in Africa on account of
its noisome dispatch, FIFA, the world’s soccer administrator,
banned vuvuzela from the tournament in Brazil in 2014. The
BBC has also been calling for ‘’vuvuzela-free broadcast’’.
But our fleeing compatriots from the former apartheid cave
can’t find any room for joy, whether for being back home alive
or for witnessing an admirable run of democracy as expressed
by the Nigerian judiciary. Their trip can’t be celebrated
with the infamous vuvuzela. They were stampeded home,
leaving behind prized property and enterprise it took them
years of hard work to build. Here at home, the condition of
the state they ran away from years ago is the same, if not
worse. It makes the future somehow uncertain. They are
home as strangers in their own ancestral community. Where
do they start, after what appears to be a pyrrhic triumph?
There’s been escape from the xenophobic hell of South Africa
alright; but it is inflicting a long-term fatal toll that disallows
and disavows riotous vuvuzela celebrations. Not a mood for
mourning. But not a mood for music either!
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo once found himself
in that quandary but missed the chance to be a statesman.
He didn’t quite decode what was written between the lines
Nigerian Tribune @nigeriantribune Nigerian Tribune
Togo. It is one of the mineral deposits, including tin and zinc,
that are illegally mined by artisans who account for about 80
per cent of the mining activities in the country. According to
the immediate past Minister of Mines and Steel Development,
Alhaji Bawa Bwari, between 2016 and 2018, Nigeria report-
edly lost about N353bn in gold smuggled out of the country
and sold in the international market without any revenue ac-
cruing to the government. The consequences for the nation’s
security are even dire. In April 2019, following intelligence
reports, which the Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed
Adamu, claimed “established a strong and glaring nexus be-
tween the activities of armed bandits and illicit miners,” the
Federal Government’s had to suspend the mining of the min-
eral in Zamfara State. Prior to the suspension, the state and
neighbouring states in the region had witnessed a breakdown
of security, in spite of heavy presence of police, military, and
local security forces that were deployed to contain the activi-
ties of criminal gangs responsible for a flurry of horrific blood-
shed and kidnappings.
It is well-documented that cigarettes are the most illicitly
traded products worldwide, having an even higher occur-
rence in developing economies. Nigeria is not an exception as
the commodity is very susceptible to illicit trade. The World
Health Organisation (WHO) defines illicit trade in tobacco
as“any practice or conduct prohibited by law which relates to
production, shipment, receipt, possession, distribution, sale,
or purchase of tobacco products; or any conduct intended to
facilitate such activity.” It is estimated that one in every 10 cig-
arettes sold worldwide is illicit. This amounts to losses valued
at tens of billions of dollars. Due to the nature of the prod-
uct, illicit tobacco is easily transported and disguised thereby
making it a high-profit opportunity. Also,a close connection
CIllicit trade is also rampant in
pharmaceuticals and poses a major
threat to public health in addition to
the already stated losses in income
and revenues that it incurs.
when he secured his back-to-back second term mandate
in 2003. Muhammadu Buhari and the other losers, Buhari
notably, were grieving and crying foul at what they perceived
as a ‘’flagrant and wanton conduct of the election’’ that
returned Obasanjo to power. They threatened they would
have nothing to do with his ‘’illegitimate’’ government.
That led many patriotic voices to call on Obasanjo to form a
coalition government at the centre. They also pleaded with
him and his party men and women to don a subdued mien
as they staged victory parties nationwide. Unfortunately, the
nation was locked in wasteful orgies beamed on national TV.
Obasanjo and his party loyalists danced lustily in the face of
those mourning their electoral disasters.
Today, nearly 20years later, we are back to where we were
then. What will make a difference is how we rejoice when
others, our opponents, are lamenting and hurting. We drive
our crying friends and neighbours into more agony when
we don’t moderate our wild festivities on V-day. No doubt,
there will always be losers and winners in any contest. But
the winner in politics must not contemn the loser through
injuring his self-esteem in mindless jubilation. A loser is
already in the mud, as it were. He has enough to battle with.
We can’t saddle him with more, unless our goal is to break
him into smithereens, out of existence! But Buhari himself
has been there before. He was the butt of ridicules that once
made him decide that he would no longer vie for the highest
political office in the land. He wept and claimed he had been
robbed over and over again at the poll. If he has now been
given the elusive mandate at the ballot, with unanimous
Litigations of a political nature
enlarge the borders of the process
of nation building; they don’t
constrict them.
tribuneonlineng
TUESDAY,
24 SEPTEMBER, 2019
opinion
between illegal cigarettes and its funding of criminal activity
has also been well established.
Illicit cigarette is a choice commodity in transnational orga-
nised crime (NOC) and the illicit tobacco market is increasingly
linked to the narcotics trade. The product is often illegally
shipped under dubious disguises, including false bills of lad-
ing for other commodities. A 2011 United States’ inquiry into
illicit tobacco, The Global Illicit Trade in Tobacco: A Threat to
National Security,notes that traffickers view it as a low-risk,
high-reward criminal activity which can fetch millions, with
little risk of detection or harsh punishments. The perpetra-
tors and their networks also easily circumvent international
borders. The above notion is closely associated with the mis-
guided belief that illicit trade in tobacco is a victimless crime,
which tends to allow the crime to fester. Evidently, the lost
tax revenue emanating from cigarettes and tobacco products
smuggled into a country undermines government’s capability
to provide essential services. Besides, the products are usually
substandard and do not meet the various health regulations,
and violate numerous other laws and regulations. Consumers,
manufacturers, and retail outlets also suffer consequences of
illicit trade in tobacco products.
Another reason adduced for the growing black market in to-
bacco is increasing excise and inadequate law enforcement.
The former has the unintended consequence of aggravating
illicit trade and thereby erasing any gains intended by the in-
crease in excise. Illicit trade is also rampant in pharmaceuticals
and poses a major threat to public health in addition to the
already stated losses in income and revenues that it incurs.
It involves the manufacture, distribution and sale of substan-
dard, falsified, unregistered and unlicensed drugs as well as
their theft, fraud, illicit diversion, smuggling and trafficking.
The trade also applies to generic versions of prescription
drugs and over-the-counter (OTC) medicines, including fake
medical devices such as syringes, surgical instruments, contact
lenses, condoms, among others. The World Health Organiza-
tion (WHO) estimates the value of illicit trade in pharmaceuti-
cals at US$75 – 200 billion annually, in terms of value. WHO’s
statistics also shows that the share of counterfeit medicines
on the market ranges from over 10 per cent of total sales in
developing countries to as little as 1 per cent in developed
countries.(see the rest on www.tribuneonlineng.com)
•Sobowale is of Centre for Promotion of Enterprise and
Business Best Practices
judicial endorsement at the court of first instance, I think all
he needs to do is to ignore the hawks around him and walk
the talk that his victory isn’t personal, but for democracy and
for all Nigerians.
I don’t think we should be asking the opposition PDP
to ‘’apologise’’ to Nigerians for ‘’wilfully distracting the
administration of President Muhammadu Buhari with a
frivolous election petition.’’ Litigations of a political nature
enlarge the borders of the process of nation building; they
don’t constrict them. All the years Buhari was walking the
length and breadth of the courts with his lawyers to seek
justice couldn’t have been reckoned as frivolous. Those who
understood the dynamics of the rule of law and its link to
democracy and development of nations and their citizens
hailed him. Those cases have benefited the legal history of the
nation. That he didn’t win in the courts then does not dismiss
the judiciary as inept and corrupt as Buhari has erroneously
believed for many years.
We should remember there’s still the hurdle of the
Supreme Court adjudication, if PDP makes good its plan go
the whole length of the judicial journey. The party must not
be discouraged. We have learned much from the proceedings
at the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal to guide us in
future electoral engagements. How else would we have
known that there is no perjury if you fail to deposit what you
claim to have in a sworn affidavit? How would the nation
have known that assumptions can sometimes be promoted
to the exalted pedestal of the law? How would Nigerians
have known that contrary to what many citizens subscribe to,
their president doesn’t believe in his party’s winner-takes-all
philosophy? Which is why he has nobly stretched his hand
of fellowship to his political foes to join him in running
the country, regardless of your politics. Before now, I did
recommend to him the likes of Kingsley Moghalu, Tope
Fasua, OmoyeleSowore etc. who contested against him, to
be part of his team. These are illustrious Nigerians who
can help engender the all-round breakthrough we need. I
stand by my counsel as Buhari shops for assistance in his
next level mission.
•Ojewale lives in Lagos
16
AGRICULTURE
Collins Nnabuife | Abuja | 08039521408
How we are using digital innovation
to help farmers —Farmcrowdy boss
Onyeka Akumah is the chairman and chief executive officer of Farmcrowdy, a digital agricultural marketing company. He shares
with NURUDEEN ALIMI how the company uses digital approach to help Nigerian farmers develop agriculture in the country.
C
AN you share with us
what Farmcrowdy is all
about?
Farmcrowdy is a digital
agricultural platform
which connects small scale farm-
ers and investors. In the last two
years and nine months, we have
been able to work with about
25,000 farmers connecting them
with sponsorship opportunities
close to $15 million over that pe-
riod. Currently, our tentacle is
spread across 14 states. Just re-
cently, we moved from not just
sponsoring farms but also getting
people to sponsor other sectors
of the economy through our plat-
form called Crowdyvest. We are
happy about where we found our-
selves and it has been an exciting
journey so far.
How does the relationship be-
tween Farmcrowdy and farmers
translate to something profit-
able?
An average farmer struggles with
access to funding, inputs, techni-
cal knowledge and market to sell
what he produces. So, what we
do at Farmcrowdy is to let these
farmers get access to those things
that would allow them to thrive,
expand on their farms, help them
to sell what they produce; and at
the end of the day, we are able
to then share profits. An average
farmer gets up to, at least, 80 per
cent return thereafter.
Can you shed more light on the
$5 million partnership with the
Oyo State government to develop
agriculture in the state?
We were able to have a conver-
sation with the state government
EdoFAC, others empower 1,000 bee farmers
By Nurudeen Alimi
THE Edo Food and Agricultural
Cluster (EdoFAC) in collabora-
tion with Thrive Agric and Market
Development in the Niger Delta
(MADE) has trained over 1,000
bee farmers in Edo State on tech-
niques to increase productivity
and profitability.
The training was held at the Edo
Innovation Hub, in Edo South and
other locations in Edo Central and
Edo North senatorial districts of
the state.
Speaking with journalists during
a ceremony to distribute the start-
up packs to the farmers, Senior
Special Assistant to the State Gov-
www.tribuneonlineng.com
Onyeka Akumah
on how we can contribute to the
development of agriculture in the
state. This partnership will see us
investing not less than $5 million
within the period of three years.
ernor on Jobs Creation and Skills
Development, Mrs. Ukinedo Dare,
said the Edo Food and Agricultural
Cluster (EdoFAC) partnership with
MADE and Thrive Agric gave start-
up packs worth N190,000 to 40
farmers.
She said: “Thrive Agric is already
on ground to buy honey from the
farmers as the partnership will
encourage the farmers and en-
hance profitability. There is high
demand; the farmers have already
been trained. They are ready to hit
the ground running.”
According to Dare, the state gov-
ernment is planning to have a hon-
ey processing factory in the state.
On his part, Thrive Agric’s Op-
Nigerian Tribune @nigeriantribune
tribuneagric@gmail.com
And we are going to connect up to
50,000 small scale farmers across
the state with the sole aim of prof-
fering solutions to various chal-
lenges facing them.
erations Lead, Obaka Ikani, said
farmers stand to benefit a lot from
the partnership with Edo State in
increasing productivity.
“We work with smallholder farm-
ers across Nigeria. We do input fi-
nancing for smallholder farmers,
provide extension, advisory and
technology and also provide them
premium market.
“We are currently working with
some clusters of farmers in Edo
State and are ready to buy the
honey produced by these farmers.
We are giving out equipment such
as honey boxes and protective
jackets to start production in the
state,” he said.
Field Officer of Market Develop-
Nigerian Tribune tribuneonlineng
Nurudeen Alimi | 08111847089
What is your main objective
as far as this partnership is con-
cerned?
In the next two to three years,
we intend to connect 50,000 farm-
ers. We’ll also provide them with
the right inputs, the right techni-
cal partners and the right market
to sell what they produce. We are
also going to be creating aggrega-
tion points for these farmers to
bring their farm produce, so that
they can sell and make reasonable
profit.
How do those interested in in-
vesting in Farmcrowdy go about
the process?
We first open up opportunity on
our platforms so that they can see
for example, a maize farm in Oyo
State that is about to start. When
you sponsor that particular farm,
what happens thereafter is that
before the end of the cycle, you
will be getting updates in form of
videos, pictures and text. And at
the end of the cycle, you will be
able to get your return after har-
vest.
Presently, you are operating in
14 states. What are your plans to
extend the scope of operations?
We intend to be active in 17
states before the end of the year.
Actually, it is not the number of
states we have presence that mat-
ters but the number of farmers we
are able to reach, because that is
even more important. If we are
able to reach like 100,000 farm-
ers, that will go a long way as they
will be excited to increase their
revenue as a result of working
with Farmcrowdy.
ment in the Niger-Delta (MADE),
Raphael Olorunfemi, noted that
the reason for the partnership was
to help honey farmers increase
production and profits.
“We have discovered some few
gaps experienced by farmers
where they need intervention and
we joined forces with Edo State
government and other partners to
train farmers in the state.”
One of the beneficiaries, Dr. Bee
Oboh, thanked the Edo State Gov-
ernment, Thrive Agric and MADE
for the training, noting, “I thought
I knew about beekeeping, but af-
ter the training some months ago,
I discovered that I lacked knowl-
edge in some key areas.”
TUESDAY,
24 SEPTEMBER, 2019
Lawmaker
canvasses
aggressive
investment in
agriculture
Biola Azeez | Ilorin
A member of the House of Rep-
resentatives representing Irepo/
Olorunsogo/Orelope federal
constituency of Oyo State, Olu-
mide Ojerinde, has canvassed a
more aggressive investment in
the nation’s agricultural sector
to attain food security.
Speaking during an interactive
forum with local farmers in Igbe-
ti community last weekend, the
lawmaker lamented that Nige-
ria’s major economic activities,
which he said revolved around
agriculture, are still at subsis-
tence level.
Ojerinde, who planned to col-
laborate with farmers in the
area on investment in agricul-
tural sector with banks and agro
allied organisations, expressed
the hope that the efforts would
ensure attainment of food secu-
rity.
“I am struck by how far we
have come, and also by how far
we need to go. For example, few
people have escaped extreme
poverty among us. Today, our
major economic activity across
our villages, towns and cities is
agriculture, which is still at sub-
sistence level.
“Even with this, our people
still live on less than N500 a
day. Many of the extreme poor
are now concentrated across
our wards-which was evident
during my campaigns. Since we
came into office four months
ago, my team have been holding
technical sessions, consulting
with many organizations on the
need to come and invest in our
federal constituency. We have
contacted the Bank of Industry
and intensive lobbying is ongo-
ing at the National Assembly
and Presidency to ensure this
constituency is considered for
major federal presence.
“We shall invest heavily in the
agricultural sector for us to at-
tain food security.
“We shall accelerate com-
merce and invest more on what
actual products we plant and
harvest. We shall, through col-
laboration with Bank of Indus-
try, give farmers loan to boost
capacities for mechanized farm-
ing.
It shows us the direction we
need to take. At every level, we
need to start working across short
and long-term perspectives. We
need institutions that are respon-
sive and flexible. We need en-
gagement of all stakeholders.
17 www.tribuneonlineng.com Nigerian Tribune @nigeriantribune Nigerian Tribune tribuneonlineng
TUESDAY,
24 SEPTEMBER, 2019

agriculture
AATF has brought technological revolution to
Nigeria’s agriculture sector —Marechera
George Marechera the Business Development Manager for African Agricultural Technology Foundation (AATF), speaks on
efforts being made by the Foundation to mechanise agriculture in Nigeria. COLLINS NNABUIFE brings excerpts.

C
AN you tell us about AATF’s con-
tribution to agricultural revolu-
tion in Africa, especially in Nige-
ria?
AATF as an international or-
ganisation with its headquarters in Nai-
robi, Kenya, has the mandate to identify
appropriate agricultural technologies and
deliver to smallholder farmers across Af-
rica to ensure that they are able to create
wealth, reduce poverty and increase food
security. AATF started operations in 2003,
and at the moment, there has been quite
a lot of progress in terms of the projects
performed and delivered. One of the ma-
jor projects that AATF has been working on
in Nigeria is called Cassava Mechanisation
Agro Processing (CAMAP), project. This is a
project that was initiated in 2012 based on
the realization of the importance of cassava
industry in Nigeria. This project was actu-
ally earmarked to ensure that we increase
productivity; to make sure that enough
yields actually increase our farmers’ wealth.
If you look at the trades of cassava produc-
tion in the whole world, Nigeria is the high-
est producer, but the yield per unit area is
very low compared to countries like Brazil
and Indonesia. And Nigeria, normally on av-
erage, they have about seven to nine tons
per hectare of cassava that if you compare
to other countries, you will look at about
30 for Brazil, 45 for Thailand and then 52
for Indonesia. So the reason AATF came into
existence is to assist in productivity, to see
what other countries are doing and Africans
are not doing. So we realised that cassava is
not mechanized in Africa. In 2013, we start-
ed working in Ogun, Osun, Kogi and Kwara
respectively where we are commercialising
mechanisation of cassava production. The
first time we started introducing mecha-
nisation in Nigeria, we realise that one could
plant one hectare within 45 minutes. We
could actually do land preparations within
one and half hours. Of interest was the fact
that we actually ended up from increasing
the yield from the average of seven tons per
hectare to over 30 tons per hectare.
How did the increment manage to shoot
from seven tons to 30 tons within the short
period?
One of the things that happened was
that after realising the increased yields,
we found out that farmers needed to be
linked to processors, so we identified quite
a number of processors who then would be
able to link the farmers to the market. So,
George Marechera
processors were able to buy cassava from
the farmers and this really created a lot of
wealth for the farmers in the sense that in
2014, we realised that prices for cassava ac-
tually rose from N13, 000 per ton to about
N28, 000 per ton. These led to about 300
per cent in terms of the yield increase; and
again, based on the price of that, we found
out that farmers were gaining about 250 per
cent in terms of the income. So, what hap-
pened then was that the introduction of the
project was a way of catalysing agricultural
transformation within the country. Then we
realised that for the project to be sustain-
able, we needed to train service providers.
This was mainly because we cannot train
all farmers on tractors and implements, be-
cause mechanisation is expensive. What we
did was to identify service providers.
Who are these service providers?
These are people who own tractors or gov-
ernment agencies that hire tractors. What
we did then was to link these people with
the mechanization equipment for cassava.
This was providing services on a cost recov-
ery basis where we clustered the farmers
into groups. The farmers were trained in
terms of best agronomy practices, the use
of improved seeds, fertilisers and herbicides
which was normally not what farmers were
using because they used to think that cas-
sava does not need fertilizer. To use best
agronomy practice where we treat cassava
just like any other crop, we managed the in-
ter grade systems approach to cassava pro-
duction. We are looking at mechanisation,
the use of good inputs, improved seeds and
market linkages. And with that, we might
have actually trained over 30,00 farmers in
Nigeria today and over 54,000 hectares put
under mechanized cassava. And we are hap-
py to report that most of the farmers start-
ed doing cassava production and have con-
tinued accessing such services from service
providers. These are people who now own
the equipment. Nigeria is a very big coun-
try, and we realised that for us to reach the
last man, we need to actually come up with
mechanisms to make sure that even if ser-
vice providers are providing services to the
farmers, how do we scale up these activities
to ensure we reach all the farmers across
the country? So, in 2018, we started the so-
cial enterprise called the Agri Drive Limited
with its headquarters in Ibadan, Oyo State.
What is the mandate of Agridrive?
The whole mandate of Agridrive is to pro-
vide agri-business solutions for farmers
within Nigeria and other countries in Africa.
Agridrive came in to provide those mecha-
nisation services to a commercial entity and
within the Agridrive mandate, what you
are providing is not only mechanization,
but you are actually opening up to ensure
that you provide all the solutions which in-
clude mechanisation beside the provision of
ploughing , harrowing, weeding, herbicide
application and harvesting. But then, we
don’t also stop there; we also engaged in ir-
rigation in processing, sales and marketing,
among others. That’s how Agridrive defines
mechanization. Above all, we are saying if
you do good land preparation and you use
wrong input, you will not maximize yield.
Then if you plant seed without any fertilizer,
you will also not also maximize yield. Same
is applied to the use of chemicals. Most
farmers are using adulterated chemicals. So,
what we have done in Agridrive is to identify
companies that are working with or produc-
ing genuine products. That means we are
working with those companies that are pro-
ducing certified seeds as well as herbicides
that are of good quality. At the moment, we
are supporting our farmers with all those in-
puts where when the farmer comes to us,
we provide the farmer with mechanisation.
We support the farmer with inputs and
best agronomy practices where the farmer
is trained on how to produce good quality
products, how to market those quality and
how to increase their productivity. Currently
we have expanded the number of states we
are working in. We now work in Ogun, Oyo,
Ondo, Delta and of late we moved to Abuja.
It is our hope that we will reach millions of
farmers as soon as possible.
Recently, the CBN restricted forex on im-
portation of starch and other byproducts
of cassava. What do you think about this?
I’m happy with the move to restrict im-
portation of starch and other byproducts
of cassava, because that will work as an in-
centive for the cassava producers. Towards
the end of October and November last year,
our farmers were being paid N40,000 per
ton, and this year, the price went down to
N20,000. They were getting 100 dollars and
all of a sudden they are now getting 50 dol-
lars. With this incentive, more starch prod-
ucts. It also means that these companies
are going to demand more cassava from the
farmers. And this means farmers will grow
more cassava thereby making the economy
improve in the sense that instead of wasting
a lot of foreign currency on import, it will
be used to develop the agriculture sector in
the country.

CBN targets 70, 000 farmers under Anchor Borrowers Programme in Borno
THE Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)
says it has targeted about 70,000
farmers and business under its An-
chor Borrower Programme (ABP) in
Borno for 2019.
Mr Mahmood Nyako, the Head of
Finance Development Office (DFO)
of the CBN in Maiduguri, made the
disclosure in an interview with the
News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in
Maiduguri on Sunday.
Nyako disclosed that the bank had
initiated viable programmes to en-
courage production, transform value
chain, enhance financial inclusion
and encourage growth of Small and
Medium Scale Enterprises (SMSEs).
He said that the apex bank ad-
opted practical measures to finance
the whole value chain to encourage
agricultural activities, enhance en-
terprising skills and specialisation to
achieve self-sufficiency.
Nyako listed the programmes to
include ABP, Accelerated Agriculture
Development Scheme (AADS), Ag-
riculture Credit Guarantee Scheme
Fund (ACGSF), and Agri-Business Small
and Medium Enterprises Investment
Scheme (AGSMEIS), among others.
He revealed that 52,008 were ex-
pected to participate in the ABP and
500 big holder farmers under ACGSF
while 17, 000 youths and businesses
would be supported under AADS
and AGSMEIS, respectively.
The official explained that bank
had registered eight farmers’ as-
sociations, a number of private and
prime anchors to provide inputs and
other support services to farmers for
dry season activities under ABP.
“The bank initiated a N2 billion
fund to support up takers under the
Paddy Aggregation Scheme (PAS)
and Maize Aggregation Scheme
(MAS) to set up mills.
“The fund is designed to encourage
agricultural processing, value addi-
tion and create market for the pro-
duce,” he said, adding that an anchor
consultant, Kalef Ventures had so far
established a rice mill at Jere, while
Elbaton and Koila mills would soon
commence operation in the state.
Nyako added that about N1.5 bil-
lion fund would be provided to the
state government to open up 10,
000 hectares of farmlands while the
bank provide inputs for distribution
to youth to fast track implementa-
tion of AADS programme.
According to him, the apex bank
would also provide loan facilities to
7, 000 youths and businesses under
the AGSMEIS scheme in the state.
While calling on the state and lo-
cal government councils to sensitise
the people to promote participation
in the programmes, Nyako urged
the beneficiaries to make effective
utilisation of the facilities to ensure
sustainability.
ABP is a critical component of the
Federal Government’s agriculture
transformation agenda designed to
encourage crop production and pro-
cessing to achieve self-sufficiency.
It is also aim at enhancing farmers’
access to fertilisers; seeds, inputs,
promote farmer enterprising skills,
value addition and create market for
the produce.
The programme is being imple-
mented by the CBN in collaboration
with Bank of Agriculture (BOA), Ni-
geria Agriculture Insurance Corpora-
tion (NAIC) and designated agricul-
tural input dealers otherwise called
“private anchors”.
18
Erosion sacks 300 homes in Anambra community
A
Michael Ovat | Awka
bout 300 homes
have been sacked
by gully erosion
occasioned by
flood in six villages
in Amawbia Community,
Awka South Local Govern-
ment Area of Anambra State.
This development which
has cut off the community
from neighbouring Nise,
Nibo, Umuokpu and Agukwu
Nnri towns, have prevented
about 4,000 school children
from going to school while
two escaped from being
washed away by flood.
When schools resumed re-
Ondo
NURTW boss
empowers
women,
physically
challenged,
others
Hakeem Gbadamosi | Akure
AS part of efforts to allevi-
ate poverty, the Ondo State
chairman of the National
Union of Road Transport
Workers (NURTW), Jacob
Adebo, has empowered
over 300 people in the state.
Speaking during the distri-
bution of materials to ben-
eficiaries, the NURTW boss
said the programme was
put in place by the union as
part of its poverty allevia-
tion programmes.
According to him, the
items which include: mo-
torcycles, wheelchairs and
cash, were given to women,
youths and the physically
challenged.
Adebo said the gesture
became necessary as a way
of encouraging the bene-
ficiaries to shun vices, be-
come masters of their own
businesses and give a sense
of belonging to the physi-
cally challenged.
He expressed gratitude
to members of the union in
the state for their coopera-
tion and peaceful conduct,
saying “this is a new dawn
for our union in the state.”
He said the union re-
mained an agent of posi-
tive change in the state.
Adebo urged members
of the union to continue to
support the state govern-
ment for sustainable peace
and development.
He maintained that the
NURTW under his leader-
ship is known for peace
and would continue to be
law-abiding citizens and
union.
Speaking on behalf of the
beneficiaries, Mrs Yemisi
Oladunjoye appreciated the
gesture of the union, prom-
ising that the beneficiaries
would make judicious use of
the items.
www.tribuneonlineng.com
community news
Traditional
council
cently, no fewer that 4,000
pupils and students could not
return to their schools as ve-
hicular movements had be-
come impossible and school
children had to carry their
boxes across the gully.
According to the Director,
Community Environmental
Media Awareness (CEMA),
Mr. Okey Maduforo, “the sit-
uation needs urgent atten-
tion by the state government
before the entire community
is sacked.”
Affected by the erosion
are, Union Secondary School,
Kabe College, and May Rose
Hotel as the link roads to
those have areas become in-
Chief Olaniyan Mukaila (left) presenting some medical equipment to a nursing officer
Foundation empowers 500 women with
interest-free loan in Kwara
Biola Azeez | Ilorin
A non-government organi-
sation in Kwara State, Gobir
Organisation Foundation, has
kicked off the disbursement
of interest-free loans to wid-
ows and indigent women in
parts of the state.
Speaking during the pro-
gramme in Ilorin at the week-
end, founder of the organi-
sation, who is also the Waziri
Anambra to partner traditional rulers on infrastructure’s protection
Michael Ovat | Awka
THE Anambra State govern-
ment has expressed its readi-
ness to partner traditional
rulers of the 179 communi-
ties that constitute the state
in protecting public utilities
in their domains against van-
dals.
This is coming on the heels
of complaints of vandalism
of public properties such as
water projects, transformers,
street lights, among others,
by hoodlums.
The Commissioner for
Public Utilities, Emeka Ezen-
wanne, who disclosed this
Nigerian Tribune
accessible to users.
The flood also cut off the
residence of the member
representing Awka South
II sconstituency, Mr. Chuk-
wuma Okoye from the rest of
the community.
Also farmlands and build-
ings under construction on
Adebebe-Nise road now
hang precariously on the cliff
and the next heavy rain could
sweep them into Obibia River.
Maduforo said just last
week, two children were
saved from untimely death.
According to one of the chil-
dren, 16-year-old Miss Tochi
Nwanna, “we had gone to
fetch firewood and the road
Kasar Hausa, Alhaji Yakubu
Gobir, said that the objective
of the foundation is to reduce
poverty, which he said had be-
come a major issue of concern.
“We set aside the fund to
provide easy access to in-
terest-free micro finance by
indigenes of Asa, Ilorin East,
Ilorin West and Ilorin South
Local Government Areas with
the aim of providing capital
for Small and Medium Enter-
while speaking to journalists
in his office in Awka to com-
memorate the 2019 World
Water Monitoring Day, stated
that the state government
was ready to partner tradi-
tional rulers in the state to
protect public properties un-
der their domains, as well as
arrest criminals.
Ezenwanne, who ex-
pressed hope that the mea-
sure would help to secure
government properties for
use for a longer period of
time, urged the royal fathers
to always notify government
or security agencies closest
to them whenever they no-
@nigeriantribune Nigerian Tribune
became flooded. We did not
know where to step our feet
on and suddenly my younger
brother fell into the flood wa-
ter and when I tried to rescue
him, I also fell into the water.
“I started crying for help
until some people working
in that building came to our
rescue.”
When contacted, the duo
of the Principal Secretary to
the Anambra State Gover-
nor, Mr. Willie Nwokoye and
the Head of Service, Harry
Uduh, all sons of Amawbia
community, directed Nige-
rian Tribune to the Ministry
of Works where the commis-
sioner was said to be away on
prises (SMEs),” he said.
Gobir, who urged beneficia-
ries not to abuse the privilege,
said that the money should
be invested in businesses and
not on personal wants.
He said that the funds were
not from government but the
result of a collaboration with
Zenith Bank.
He added that the dis-
bursed fund ranged be-
tween N10,000 and N50,000
tice suspicious movements
around government installa-
tions in their domains
He said that the state gov-
ernment under Governor
Willie Obiano’s watch would
not relent in it efforts to ed-
ucate traditional rulers and
their subjects on safety of
lives and property, protection
of government properties in
their domains such as street
lights, transformers, water
projects, electricity installa-
tions, among others as well
as increased security aware-
ness.
On water consumption, the
commissioner enjoined com-
tribuneonlineng
official assignment.
Efforts to reach the National
Chairman of the All Progres-
sives Grand Alliance (APGA),
Ozo Victor Oye, also a son of
Amawbia community, proved
abortive as he did not pick his
calls.
Also Speaking on the
development, Chief Execu-
tive Officer of Ticon Shop-
ping Centre, Chief Obiajulu
Nwokoye, said: “It is sad that
my community which is hous-
ing the governor’s lodge, is
facing this type of problem.
Imagine what is going on
here. This road takes you to
Nise, Agulu, Agukwu Nri down
to Nanka and Ekwulobia”.
depending on assessment
of needs of beneficiaries,
adding that training on ba-
sic financial intelligence and
entrepreneurship was also
given to beneficiaries.
The social entrepreneur
said government alone can-
not provide all the jobs, hence
the need for well-meaning in-
dividuals/and organisations
to come to the aid of the un-
derprivileged in the state.
munity members in the state
to provide adequate security
against theft of their water
facility, adding that despite
government’s efforts, water
might become unavailable
when components of water
facilities are stolen.
He noted that the state
government in collabora-
tion with the World Health
Organization (WHO) and
the European Union (EU), is
working towards providing
safe water in the state while
emphasising that this year’s
awareness campaign is on
the importance of sanita-
tion and hygiene.
TUESDAY,
24 SEPTEMBER, 2019
donates
medical
equipment to
health centre
By Adewale Oshodi
THE Ibadan South West Lo-
cal Government Traditional
Council has donated medi-
cal equipment to health
centres spread across the
wards in the council.
Speaking during the
presentation of the items
to the Head of Local Gov-
ernment Administration,
Alhaji Bayo Raji and the
health officer, Dr Kunle
Adedoyin, the Osi Olu-
badan of Ibadanland, Sen-
ator Rashidi Ladoja, said
the gesture was aimed at
assisting the local govern-
ment in its service deliv-
ery, especially in the heath
sector.
Ladoja, who was repre-
sented by the duo of Chief
Olaniyan Mukaila, the Bada
Balogun of Ibadanland and
Chief Akande Oyekola, the
Bada Olubadan of Ibadan-
land, said the items would
go a long way in boosting
the health sector in the
council.
In his remarks, the head
of local government ad-
ministration, thanked the
traditional council for
the gesture, while assur-
ing them that the items
would be distributed
to health centres in the
council.
He promised that the
medical equipment would
be put to optimal use for
the benefit of residents
of the council.
The items donated in-
cluded 20 benches, 70
plastic chairs, 20 blood
pressure apparatus and
stethoscope, 20 weigh-
ing scales for adults and
10 weighing scales for
babies, 20 thermometers,
10 office tables, 10 ceil-
ing fans, 10 examination
couches, 10 glucometer,
among others.
Ezenwanne said improved
hygiene education will
help to change hygiene be-
haviour in the society.
The commissioner, who
also disclosed that the On-
itsha Water Scheme, which
was designed to ensure that
water circulates in the mar-
kets would be inaugurated
in December by the Federal
Government.
He warned hoodlums and
criminals in the state who de-
rive joy in vandalising govern-
ment properties to relocate.
 19 www.tribuneonlineng.com Nigerian Tribune @nigeriantribune Nigerian Tribune tribuneonlineng
TUESDAY,
24 SEPTEMBER, 2019

THE

SOUTH WEST
Anchor : Kehinde Oyetimi | 08074626431 Tunde Busari | 08127593530 Yejide Gbenga - Ogundare | 08116706853
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Various sections of the farm settlement

60 years after establishment, Orin-Ekiti farm

settlement turns criminals’ hideout
•We will provide security in that axis –Govt.
Once a thriving farming settlement, 60 years later, the place now bears more resemblance to a thick forest where danger lurks, and a ready home for
criminal minds. ‘YOMI AYELESO takes a journey to the Orin-Ekiti Farm Settlement established in 1959, and reports the gradually degenerating state of the
once bubbling hub of agricultural activities.

I
N a bid to generate employment oppor-
tunities and improve the standard of
living for unemployed youths through
agriculture, the government of the late
sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, of the
old Western region, established a farm set-
tlement in Orin-Ekiti, Ido-Osi Local Govern-
ment Area of Ekiti State, about six decades
ago; precisely in the year 1959.
Agriculture is fundamental to the eco-
nomic growth and development of any
nation. It is the oldest production activity
of settled Nigerian communities, and it is
tied to various sectors, which is essential for
generating broad-based growth necessary
for development. It was the realisation of
this that necessitated the establishment of
the farm settlement by the Western govern-
ment. It was to provide a model for farmers
to learn modern techniques and methods
of farming and to engender employment
generation.
Youths across the western states were
engaged and allocated portion of lands in
the settlement in large numbers to engage
in agricultural activities for commercial
purposes under the management of officials
from Israel. On a monthly basis, each youth
was paid three pounds for their upkeep.
The farm settlement had 96 self-contained
buildings, which serve as accommodation
for the settlers. The settlement was grouped
into two categories; one for permanent
crops and the other for arable crops. The
permanent crops included cocoa, cashew,
oranges, while arable crops included maize
and groundnut. Aside the planting of crops,
there was also rearing of chickens and pigs.
The settlement became a agricultural hub,
and people came from far and near to buy
farm produce, including eggs, for consump-
tion and commercial purposes.
Aside employment generation for youths,
other members of the public were engaged
to work in the settlement as carpenters,
bricklayers, cleaners, gardeners, among
others. The Orin community witnessed an
in-flow of people from within and outside
Ekiti State, who thronged the farm settle-
ment for agricultural products.
Although handed over to the state govern-
ment for proper monitoring and administra-
tion, the settlement has instead witnessed
utter neglect by successive governments
in Ekiti State. Governments put in place
measures, but they have achieved little or
no results after successive tenures.
Former Governor Segun Oni, during his
administration, was said to have brought
officials of the state ministry of agriculture
to the settlement, and engaged some indi-
viduals in a bid to revamp the place. How-
ever, this attempt failed after he left office.
Also, the administration of the immediate
past governor, Mr. Ayodele Fayose, planted
some crops on the farm, but there were
no activities in the area, thereby making
the youth settlers vacate the settlement in
search of greener pastures.
A visit to the farm settlement by Nigerian
Tribune after 60 years of its establishment
showed that it had been overtaken by
complete neglect and abandonment. The
buildings have been overgrown by weeds,
CONTINUES ON PAGE 20
20 www.tribuneonlineng.com Nigerian Tribune @nigeriantribune Nigerian Tribune tribuneonlineng
TUESDAY,
24 SEPTEMBER, 2019

southwest
‘We want a factory to create employment’
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 19
and the place is fast becoming a thick forest.
There was no equipment in sight in the set-
tlement, and only buildings with damaged
roofs were left in the place. However, part
of the farm is currently being used by the
Institute of Agricultural Research and Train-
ing of the Obafemi Awolowo University,
Ile-Ife, Osun State.
Interestingly, the farm settlement, which
is about 30 minutes’ walk from the main
town, was in the news recently as the place
was said to have been taken over by crim-
inals. Members of the community alleged
that persons suspected to be criminals
used the settlement as a hideout to commit
crimes in the area.
In June 2019, Mr. Emmanuel Ilori, a hunter,
was allegedly killed on the farm settlement
around midnight by suspected herdsmen.
Others who would have been victims as well
narrowly escaped. It was also gathered that
a pregnant woman was killed in 2018 in the
same farm.
Narrating how Mr. Ilori was killed, a
hunter, identified as Adeniyi Ajayi, alleged A section of the settlement in bad shape
that herdsmen, numbering about 30, were
sighted in the abandoned farm settlement.
“When we attempted to inquire what
they were doing on the farm, the herdsmen
opened fire on us, resulting in the death of
Ilori. The herdsmen are kidnappers using
the farm as a hideout,” he said.
The killing led to a protest by youths in the
community, during which they called on the
state government to address the spate of
criminal activities in the area.
Speaking to Nigerian Tribune, a commu-
nity leader, High Chief Francis Falua, said
the settlement was conceptualised to solve
youth unemployment in the region. He
added that successive governments had
failed in this regard.
He said: “There were plantations such as
cocoa and oranges, which were handed
over to the settlers for monitoring. There
was also a piggery and a fish pond. Unfor-
tunately, government failed the place.
“One of the reasons the farm settlement
collapsed was that the government at the
time promised to give three pounds each
as stipends to the settlers for their upkeep.
The stipend was paid for some time, but
later, government defaulted in payment.
This development led to the moving away
of the settlers.
“It is a very bad idea in this country that Joseph Fadausi Francis Falua
there is no continuity in governance and is to check the objectives of those who es- ment in 1985, lamented the current state not serve as a hideout for these people
that is why we have abandoned projects tablished the place and follow it. This will go of the settlement, and urged government killing and kidnapping. If possible, a school
everywhere.” a long way to reduce youth unemployment, to establish a specialised institution for of agriculture should be established at the
While regretting that the place had as well as increase government revenue. . students to take advantage of the facilities. place. It will help the students a lot.”
become a hideout for criminals, Falua We also discussed with the government on He said: “I worked at the farm settle- Meanwhile, the state governor, Dr. Kayode
disclosed that farmers could no longer go the establishment of a School of Agriculture ment as a carpenter before I left in 1985. Fayemi has revealed that government
to their farms for fear of being attacked by for students to make use of the facilities.” The settlers were given these crops and would ensure adequate security in the farm
suspected herdsmen. Mr. Joseph Fadahunsi, who worked in the also the poultry to manage. It was doing settlement.
He urged Governor Kayode Fayemi to settlement as a carpenter revealed that the well and money was generated, because The Chief Press Secretary to the governor,
ensure that farming activities were re-in- place was a turning point for many people people come from different places to buy Yinka Oyebode who spoke with Nigerian
troduced in the settlement by the estab- at the time it was a hub of agricultural activ- these things. Aside graduates, carpenters, Tribune said the government has con-
lishment of an industry, which would also ities, seeing as employment opportunities bricklayers, and gardeners were employed. cluded plans to have a police post in the
see to the provision of job opportunities. were available. “For security purposes, government must settlement.
He continued: “When the Governor visited 86-year-old Fadahunsi, who left the settle- start something on that farm so that it will According to him, “The last time the gov-
this place after the last incident in June, ernor visited the place he promised that
we told him that government should do a police post will be put there to provide
something about that place. If something more security because we observed there
is happening there, nobody will hide there was no security post in that axis and that
to perpetrate crimes. That land is there; is why criminals are using the settlement
let government establish a factory which as hideout.
will create employment opportunities for “Also, the governor said there will be a
our people. road network at the back of the settlement
“Although since the killing of Mr. Ilori in For security purposes, government must that will connect the farm settlement to the
June, we have not heard of the herdsmen.
However, our people are still in fear. Most start something on that farm so that it will newly established College of Agriculture in
Isan-Ekiti. The governor said there will be
of them can no longer go to their farms be-
cause of them. Nobody can say if the farm not serve as a hideout for these people a road from Orin-Ekiti to link up at the back
of the college. We believe the college can
settlement is safe at the moment.
“What we want the government to do now
killing and kidnapping. take advantage of the proximity and use
the settlement.”
21
How we co-exist with other non-Yoruba tribes
—Oba Oyeyemi
One of the long-reigning traditional rulers in Yorubaland is the Olore of Ore, Oba AbdulKareem Oyewole Oyeyemi (II). Ore is an
agrarian town in Odo-Otin South Local Council Development Area of Osun State. Oba Oyeyemi was installed in 1979, now spend-
ing his 40 years on the throne. In this interview by TUNDE BUSARI, the traditional ruler reflects on the circumstances surrounding
his emergence among contesting candidates, among other issues.
H
OW was life before you ascended
the throne, in terms of your occu-
pation?
I was living a quiet life here in Ore
and enjoying myself in the midst
of my agemates and elderly ones. Life was
easy for us; there was nothing to worry about,
especially about government infrastructure.
We were satisfied with our environment and
happy too.
What was your occupation then?
There was no other occupation anyone here
could do than farming. That was and still is
our occupation because God has blessed us
with fertile lands on which we plant different
crops: food crops and cash crops. These crops
were our own source of revenue.
Aside farming, what was the other thing
you were doing for a living?
Another occupation left then was tapping
palm wine. And you can see that both are
closely related.
Can you say you enjoyed climbing palm
trees?
That is just the truth. I enjoyed it more than
any other thing because it was my job.
Did you enjoy it more than farming?
I have told you that both are connected. You
can say both are one. I can say I enjoyed both
because they are complementary.
You speak as though you miss that past.
There is no way one cannot miss what he
loved doing but can no longer do. But we
need to consider the reason one can no lon-
ger do what one loved in the past. Have you
seen a traditional ruler climbing trees? The
past is gone into history. This must tell you
that since I came to the throne I have moved
on according to what my new status requires.
How did a palm wine tapper struggle to be-
come a traditional ruler?
You probably asked me of how I got to the
throne. Let me make it clear to you that the
word ‘struggle’ was not involved on my jour-
ney to the throne. You should not even call it
a race.
If it was not a race, what then was it?
It was not a race because I said it did not
involve any struggle. Let me say it was divine
intervention.
How do you mean? Were you not of royal
blood?
Thank you, my son. I was as qualified as
other contestants.
Then why did you write yourself off and
hold divine intervention responsible for your
selection?
Is there anything anybody can do success-
fully without divine intervention? God owns
everything; I mean all of us. He knows what
we don’t know even about ourselves.
You sound too philosophical but I want you
to tell us specific things that worked for you
to become the Olore.
The truth of the whole matter is that I did
not show interest when the throne was de-
www.tribuneonlineng.com Nigerian Tribune
Oba Oyeyemi
clared vacant. I was not thinking about it be-
cause I knew my status in the town. I told you
that I was a farmer and hunter. How would
such a person be considered? But as God
would have it, the unexpected happened, and
I became the Oloore.
What was the unexpected?
If I must tell you, I was already supporting
a candidate and running an errand for him
during the contest. Something just hap-
pened and I was told that I was the one the
Ifa oracle picked among the candidates. I
could not believe my ears because I did not
have money and other things needed to con-
test. I did not attend any school too. I was
illiterate. I cannot read nor write anything.
So I was disadvantaged. But the kingmakers
said that I was the choice, and that was the
end of the whole thing. That was how I was
installed in 1979.
Can you recall your mood after your an-
nouncement?
I was not happy on that day.
Why weren’t you happy having been ele-
vated to higher status on a silver platter.?
I was not happy because I did not have
anything. Let me say I was empty. Imagine
a farmer and palm wine tapper selected to
We need higher institutions of learning where
students from different towns would come and
live with us here
@nigeriantribune Nigerian Tribune tribuneonlineng
the throne. But in the end, I considered the
selection as part of my destiny. It proved that
whatever God has destined a man will surely
come to pass. It made me to be closer to God;
to have more faith in Him as one who chooses
whoever He likes to the throne.
What lesson has the last 40 years on the
throne taught you?
As I just said that being on the throne,
against my expectations, proved that God ex-
ists up there. I did not have a picture of what
the future on the throne looked like. But here
we are today; forty years have just passed. I
thank God and my people for their support
to be here as the Olore because without their
support, you would not have met me in this
condition amidst my chiefs with whom I over-
see the town because one person cannot do
it.
How many ruling houses do you have in the
town?
We have four ruling houses, one of which
is my own, the Oyeyemi ruling house. Other
three ruling houses are Ajala, Adeyemi and
Salako.
How did Ore come into being?
We were from Ile-Ife; one of a set of triplets
born by Alayemore, the fourth Ooni of Ife.
TUESDAY,
24 SEPTEMBER, 2019
southwest
The triplets were Oludo of Ido-Osun, Olore of
Ore and Aakosin of Ekosin. Our mother was
barred from Ile-Ife, first to a place known as
Erunwa and later to Igbo-Igbin. It was from
Igbo-Igbin the triplets left for Ido-Osun with
their crowns. After they had arrived Ido-Osun
and settled down, the Olore and the Aakosin
left the Oludo and migrated northwards to
Ore. After a while, Aakosin too moved further
north and settled where we call Ekosin today.
You can see that we have a unique history.
What is the relationship among the three
towns now?
Till date, there is harmonious relationship
among three of us. We maintain what you
may call a cordial relationship as children who
were born from the same womb.
We learnt Aganju is an important part of
the history of this town. How important is it?
It is true that Aganju is synonymous with
Ore. In his lifetime, he was a king and war-
rior who fought different battles in defence
of the town. Aganju later left the town and
disappeared into the earth, leaving the peo-
ple with instruction to always alert him when
faced with a threat of external hostility. Till
date, Aganju’s palace stands some metres
near the market while March is dedicated to
his remembrance, which is celebrated by the
entire people of Ore. I must tell you that we
don’t joke with Odun Aganju. It is a cultural
event which brings sons and daughters of Ore
together under a peaceful atmosphere. We
usually perform some rites and offer prayers
for our ancestors and ourselves, including
generations yet unborn.
What is the state of infrastructure in the
town?
When you entered the town, you could see
that we are suffering from lack of infrastructure.
But despite that, my mind is telling me that Gov-
ernor Adegboyega Oyetola would answer our
calls for development. We need higher institu-
tions of learning where students from different
towns would come and live with us here. The
presence of a higher institution brings more
rapid development to hosting towns than any
other thing. We have stable security in place,
even though we don’t have a police station
here. Our hunters and OPC are doing a good
job in providing security for us. We are friendly
and open to visitors. Our people are also in
different towns like Osogbo, Aagba and Ilorin.
They have become part of those towns having
migrated there during the rage of war in those
days. But those families still maintain their ties
with us here in Ore. You can see why I am pas-
sionate about the Herbert Macaulay issue. His
grandchildren should also come back home and
reunite with us. They should come out and iden-
tify with their roots. This is their hometown, the
roots of their great-grandfather
What is your relationship with other ethnic
groups resident here?
There are different ethnic groups co-exist-
ing peacefully with us. In fact, all the contro-
versy about Fulani and some Yoruba towns
and communities is news to us because here
in Ore we live together as though we are all
from Ile-Ife. There is intermarriage among us
such that we look after one another’s prop-
erty.
22
Mission needs help for eye clinic project in Saki
Though the Oke-Ogun region of Oyo State is described as one of the richest due to its considerable mineral deposits and huge land mass, the zone lacks many things,
including access to medical care in spite of its natural endowments. YEJIDE GBENGA-OGUNDARE, reports that in a bid to fill the vacuum, Evangelist Dairo Missionary
started the construction of an eye clinic but the project has stalled due to lack of fund and is in need of aid from well-meaning individuals.
O
KE-OGUN zone of Oyo state is
one of the biggest with a huge
land mass that is mainly agrarian
and a melting point of cultures
being home to many Fulani
settlements as well as farmers from other
tribes. It can be described as a border zone
as it shares boundary with some states in
Nigeria; Niger, Kwara, Ogun and Osun states
as well as a West African country; Niger
Republic.
But for the zone to be effective for food pro-
duction, there is a need for it to enjoy basic
amenities that will ensure the people do not
have difficulties or need to migrate to the
urban communities. But this is however not
the case as there is still a dearth of adequate
amenities, including effective healthcare and
facilities in that zone.
Part of what is missing in the zone is a stan-
dard eye clinic which makes it difficult for the
people to take care of their sight. This serves
as a major challenge as a man without good
sight cannot attain his potential. Indeed, a
popular saying states that the eyes are the
light of the body.
And to fill this vacuum, individuals are
putting up personal efforts to come to the
aid of the people. A part of that effort is
the Evangelist Dairo Missionary Eye Clinic
and Hospital (EDMEC HS) in Saki; a medical
organisation which aims to render medical
care to all and sundry irrespective of tribe,
race or religion affiliation
Speaking on the project, the national
coordinator of EDMEC HS, Evangelist
Insecurity came in because we forgot our heritage —Olaniyan
Ambassador Oluwagbemiga Olaniyan, a security expert and Chief Executive Officer of Crime Alert Security Network speaks
to YEJIDE GBENGA-OGUNDARE, on insecurity in the South-West, solutions and need to combine indigenous methods with technology.
WHAT would you say is responsible for inse-
curity in Nigeria, especially in the South-West?
I will say the major cause of insecurity is
poverty and greed because you will see that
the money that is meant for security, to put in
an effective system is not sent to the appropri-
ate quarters, politicians and policy makers as
well as the security experts by pen and paper
collect money meant for security and divert it
to other things. Then I can say that for us as a
people in the South-West, we are not careful.
Before there is nothing like kidnapping and
such extreme crimes here, it was something
we heard happening in other places like the
Niger Delta but now because we are not careful
and we forgot our heritage, we have issues.
As a security expert, I believe in combining
indigenous and modern technology to combat
crime because during my training with Israelis,
I was trained to look for indigenous methods
with the modern equipment for it to be effec-
tive. Everything we were taught, we were told
not to leave our local means behind. Another
problem is, we don’t give the people that have
the knowledge to work on security; security is
given to politicians and experts by pen with
no solution or experience. That is why we
continue to have challenges, until we get the
right person to do the job.
You are canvassing that traditional security
groups be used in tackling insecurity, why?
From my experience, in developed countries,
when there are issues, they train indigenous
people because they believe they know 80
per cent of the environment; a foreign secu-
rity cannot solve the problem in Ibadan. Can
www.tribuneonlineng.com Nigerian Tribune
The hospital under construction.
Kolawole Oladayo Dairo said, “we are
followers of Jesus Christ who desire to
show His love and care for those living in
Oke-Ogun and West Africa in the diaspora,
our passion is born out of the zeal to ren-
der quality healthcare all in the name of
Christ. The plight of Oke Ogun people in
terms of lack of a standard eye hospital
is legendary. The area has been battered,
assaulted, insulted and degraded.
We are calling the attention to the poor
a soldier of Fulani or northern descent solve
the issue of insecurity in the South-West? He
doesn’t know the terrain or loopholes, he still
needs insiders. Again, if we have issues with
people from his side, he will protect his people
but when we employ indigenous people, they
have something to offer because they know
they are a part of that environment and know
what is going on, the Yoruba would say’ omo
ina la nran sina’, meaning that you send one of
them to conquer them, they know the people
they are attacking, that is why I prefer using
local vigilante groups.
There is a concern that local vigilantes will
abuse power and become uncontrollable,
that not dangerous?
It is not dangerous to empower them. For
example, a person has vehicle accident; it is still
a vehicle that will carry him to the mortuary or
hospital. We can’t say because there has been a
plane crash, we will not board plane again. No,
we need to retrain them, though some of them
were thugs before but those we are using, we
have reformed them and taught them how
to handle cases; read map, etc when you see
them, you won’t know they are vigilantes. In
the past, we had uneducated people but now,
we have trained them to combine what they
have with technology to solve the problem of
insecurity in the South-West.
What roles do traditional rulers have to play
in tackling insecurity?
They have a role to play. If a traditional ruler
gives land to Fulani and is collecting money
from them and a problem comes up, that tra-
@nigeriantribune Nigerian Tribune
status of health infrastructure as regards
the eye clinic in Oke-Ogun, if adequate as-
sistance is granted to EDMEC HS, it will not
only generate employment for unemployed
youths in Oyo state,” he stated.
As laudable as the effort is, it has suffered
a setback and the mission is seeking for do-
nations and intervention in order to enable
them to complete the project and open
the facility for the use of the people. The
mission is calling on well-meaning people
Ambassador Olaniyan
ditional ruler will be biased because they are
his tenants, he will not allow the indigenous
security tackle them. Again, all criminals have
roots, traditional rulers can send a warning to
their compound heads that if there is trouble
in the community, such people will face the
tune, this goes a long way, so traditional rulers
music, something to offer, either positively or
negatively.
How can insecurity be tackled and can your
organisation help?
If we want to solve the problem of insecurity
tribuneonlineng
TUESDAY,
24 SEPTEMBER, 2019
southwest
in Oyo state to come to the aid of the clinic
and help the rural folks battling with eye
diseases so that they won’t have to travel to
long distances for treatment as many have
to go to Benin Republic and other African
countries for treatment.
They are calling on people to visit the clinic
to see what is on the ground so they can
understand the importance of the project.
For financial assistance, the mission can be
contacted on 07069572560.
especially in the South-West, we should get
people that have something to offer. Engage
people that have practical experience; I am
not a police officer, I was only opportune to get
training and no matter what the situation, we
have solution to it. We can tackle insecurity if
police encourage us and invite us, we will teach
them what to do. Getting the right person is
the solution. We are ready to assist the police;
we have information that we can give them at
the right time because we have a system of
getting information in the community and we
have equipment that can let them know what
is happening around. We are willing to help if
they collaborate with us.
What can be done to stop farm invasion by
herdsmen?
We have done this in Oyo state at a peace
meeting in Saki. We presently have more than
15 subscribers, if farmers collaborate with us,
we have indigenous technology that will help
without crisis, it prevents animals from com-
ing near the farm, we call it repellant and it is
locally made, it won’t affect the animal but will
send it away. For example, if there is snake in
this environment, I can use it instead of chem-
icals, it won’t kill it but send it away, once they
reach the farm boundary, they will turn back.
We also have surveillance that farmers will
know once anything moves near their farms.
So we combine indigenous and modern tech-
nology. We can test-run it anytime. We have
the solution in Nigeria but we don’t tap into it.
Who is responsible for security breach?
All of us, no one is exempted.
23
POLITICS&POLICY with Kunle Oderemi | Group Politics Editor | 08116954635 | kunleoderemi@gmail.com
NASS members’ experience at tribunals
The battle is not over for a number of members of the National Assembly after the 2019 general election. DAPO FALADE examines why
F
OR most of the governors that won at
the 2019 elections, they still have rea-
sons to savour victory over their politi-
cal arch rivals. Except for Katsina State,
where the governor recorded a narrow
victory at the tribunals, all the other governors
whose elections were challenged at the elec-
tion petition tribunals and had been disposed
of, had their elections affirmed.
But the scenario is different in the camps of
some members of the National Assembly and
state Houses of Assembly, where the season
of ecstasy appears to have been short-lived.
The tribunals have upturned their victory and
ordered the Independent National Electoral
Commission (INEC) to withdraw their Certifi-
cate of Return with immediate effect. Conse-
quently, the commission has been ordered to
conduct fresh elections in the affected federal
constituencies within 90 days in consonance
with the provisions of the Electoral Act (as
amended).
Though the affected lawmakers through
their counsels have indicated their intention
to proceed to the Court of Appeal, the trauma
unleashed on them can best be imagined. Hav-
ing apparently settled down in the hallowed
chambers of the National Assembly and shared
in the privileges of office accruing to lawmak-
ers, the affected lawmakers and their political
parties now have the huge burden of regaining
their ‘mandate’ through the appellate court or
they should be prepared to face the electorate
in a keener contest.
Senate
In the Red Chamber of the National Assem-
bly, those adversely affected by the judgment
at the elections petitions tribunals included
Dino Melaye of the PDP from Kogi State, Chief
Whip of the Senate and former governor of
Imo State, Chief Orji Uzo Kalu, a high ranking
senator from Delta State, James Manager and
the spokesman of the Senate, Prince Dayo Ad-
eyeye from Ekiti State.
Orji Kalu
In Umuahia, Abia State, the tribunal ordered
the INEC to conduct a supplementary election
within 90 days in eight wards in the Arochuk-
wu Local Government Area and several polling
unit in Ohafia and Isukwuato Local Govern-
ment Areas were votes cancelled during sena-
torial election in Abia North senatorial district.
The order of the tribunal followed the petition
brought before it by the candidate of the PDP
in the election, Chief Mao Ohuabunwa, chal-
lenging the victory of the Senate Chief Whip,
Chief Orji Kalu, in the election. The three-man
tribunal panel, led by Justice Cornelius Akin-
tayo in a unanimous judgment read by Justice
P. C. Igwe, ruled that the INEC did not comply
substantially with the electoral laws during the
election.
Kogi
Dino Melaye had his electoral victory of
March 22, 2019 challenged by Senator Smart
Adeyemi of the APC. The petition tribunal, sit-
ting in Abuja, on August 30, ordered for a fresh
election in Kogi West Senatorial District, even
as Melaye described the judgment as a miscar-
riage of justice.
www.tribuneonlineng.com Nigerian Tribune
their fate currently seems to be hanging in the balance.
Kalu
Melaye
Delta
The electoral victory of a high-ranking sena-
tor, James Manager of the PDP, was challenged
by former Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan of
the APC. The Delta State National Assembly
Election Petitions Tribunal, sitting in Asaba,
nullified the election of Manager and ordered
for a fresh poll within 90 days.
Ekiti
The affected lawmakers and their political
parties now have the huge burden of regaining
their ‘mandate’ through the appellate court or
they should be prepared to face the electorate
in a keener contest.
@nigeriantribune Nigerian Tribune
Adeyeye
Manager
Another big casualty of the National Assem-
bly Election Petitions Tribunal is the Senate
spokesman, Senator Dayo Adeyeye of the APC.
The tribunal upheld the petition of Senator
Abiodun Olujinmi of the PDP and declared her
the winner of the election held in February,
even as Adeyeye described the judgment as
nothing short of an open robbery.
House of Representatives
It was also a mix-bag of fortunes in the House
tribuneonlineng
TUESDAY,
24 SEPTEMBER, 2019
of Representatives as some members elected
on the platforms of the two major political par-
ties had their victories upturned by the elec-
tions petitions tribunals.
Ogun
The tribunal sitting in the capital of Ogun
State, Abeokuta, nullified the election of Ko-
lapo Osunsanya, representing Ijebu Central
Federal Constituency in the House of Repre-
sentatives and ordered a rerun within 90 days.
Osunsanya, a member of the APC, was sacked
by the Justice Wakkil Alkali Gana-led election
petitions tribunal. The Peoples Democratic
Party candidate, Taiwo Shote, had filed a pe-
tition challenging Osunsanya’s declaration as
winner of the February 23, 2019 election by
the Independent National Electoral Commis-
sion.
Ebonyi
The tribunal in Abakaliki upturned the victory
of the member representing Ezza South/Ikwo
Federal Constituency, Lazarus Ogbe, of the
PDP and declared the APC candidate, Chinedu
Ogah, winner of the election. Ogah had pro-
ceeded to the tribunal and alleged that there
were deductions of his votes in some of the
polling units and wards during the election.
Cross-River
Alex Egbona who represents Abi/Yakurr Fed-
eral Constituency of Cross River State on the
platform of the APC, was sacked by the Elec-
tion Petitions Tribunal sitting in Calabar.
In judgment delivered by Justice Vincent
Agabata, the three-man tribunal declared that
Egbona, as at February 23, 2019, was not quali-
fied to contest the election. The tribunal went
ahead to declared that the votes scored by Eg-
bona were “defiant votes and therefore invalid
and unlawful.”
Osun
In Osun State, the PDP suffered a setback as
its candidate representing Ede Federal Con-
stituency, Bamidele Salami, had his victory up-
turned by the elections petitions tribunal. This
was as a result of the decision of the APC candi-
date, Adejare Bello, to challenge the outcome
of the election.
The Justice Eyo Ita-led Election Petition Tri-
bunal nullified the election on the ground that
there was ample evidence of over-voting in the
affected units in the constituency. It also held
that after the cancellation of the results from
the units, the margin of victory between the
winner and the petitioner was less than the
number of registered voters in the affected
units.
It therefore ordered that rerun election
should be held in 12 units of the federal con-
stituency namely, Ede North (three units), Ede
South (four units), Egbedore (three units) and
Ejigbo (two units).
Ebonyi
Lazarus Ogbee of the PDP in Ikwo/Ezza South
Federal Constituency, Ebonyi State, had his vic-
tory upturned by the National Assembly Elec-
tions Petitions Tribunal, sitting in Abakaliki, on
September 9.
CONTINUES ON PAGE 24
24
politics
When Jega set agenda for constitutional amendment
Former chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Attahiru Jega, was the guest speaker
at the 2019 Gani Fawehinmi Annual Scholarship Awards held in Lagos recently. He spoke on constitutional amendment,
even as he made recommendations on how to solve the problem of unequal social injustice. SEGUN KASALI reports:
R
ECENTLY, a global aid agency, Oxfam
Nigeria, declared that Nigeria topped
the list of countries in which the gap
between the rich and the poor had
worsened in an index spotlighting
those nations doing least to bridge the divide.
It said that another African country, Ghana,
experienced an impressive economic growth
over the past 20 years and, within the same pe-
riod, witnessed a significant decline in poverty.
The agency further stated that “extreme in-
equality reduces economic growth, threatens
women’s rights and worsens health, adding
that tackling inequality does not depend on a
country’s wealth, but on political will. Specifi-
cally, it said Nigeria had the unenviable distinc-
tion of being at the bottom of the index for the
second year in a row, with its social spending
(on health, education and social protection)
shamefully low, as reflected in very poor social
outcomes for its citizens.
Many argue that the age-long disparity has
impacted negatively on social justice in the
country hence security, which is the basis of
the social contract between the citizens and
the state and in which people willingly sur-
rendered their rights to the government who
oversees the survival of all, remains a great
challenge.
The above formed the theme of discourse as
the immediate past chairman of the Indepen-
dent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Pro-
fessor Attahiru Jega, spoke on Citizenship and
Social Justice in Nigeria, at the 2019 edition of
the Gani Fawehinmi Annual Scholarship Awards,
held recently at the Nigeria Law Public House,
Ikeja, Lagos. The topic drew plaudits across the
audience, approving it as an important discourse
imperative for the state of the nation.
The annual scholarship scheme in the name
of the late lawyer and foremost human rights
activist, Chief Abdul-Ganiyu Oyesola Fawe-
hinmi, simply addressed as Gani Fawehinmi.
It is a scheme where indigent Nigerian under-
graduates in public universities are awarded
N100,000 scholarship each to ease the prob-
lem of funding in their academic endeavours.
Making his presentation, the former INEC
chairman, who is also a professor of Political
Science at the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria
proposed constitutional amendment as the
right antidote to the pervading ineffective so-
cial justice in the country. He said a united and
stable socio-democratic country predicated on
full citizenship rights and social justice for all
could only be realistic, if his proposal was con-
CONTINUES ON PAGE 24
Chinedu Ogar of the APC sought for the can-
cellation of the results of the election as he in-
sisted that his votes were erroneously reduced
by INEC officials in some wards, including Ikwo
and Onueke in Ezza.
In its judgment, the Justice Sika Henry Aprio-
ku-led tribunal declared the candidate of the
APC, Ogar, as the winner of the poll and or-
dered INEC to issue him a certificate of return
with immediate effect.
Kano
Shamsudeen Dambazau who represented
the APC Sumaila/Takai Federal Constituency,
was sacked by the Election Petition Tribunal.
Dambazau did not contest the election but
scored the second highest votes in the APC
primary in the constituency. He was therefore
sworn into the House of Representatives after
a federal High Court in Kano had disqualified
the party’s candidate, Suleiman Abdulrahman
www.tribuneonlineng.com Nigerian Tribune
Professor Attahiru Jega
sidered and implemented.
“A constitutional amendment, which bor-
rows a leaf from the 14th Amendment of the
United States of America (USA) Constitution,
should be contemplated to address question
of citizenship and social justice in Nigeria. I be-
lieve that we can solve the existing contradic-
tions in our constitution between citizenship
rights and indigene rights with an amendment.
“All persons born or naturalised in Nigeria,
and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citi-
zens of Nigeria and the state wherein they re-
side. Such a provision would be justiciable and
We need to stop beating about the bush and
recognise that some form of restructuring is
necessary in the short and medium terms.
Another waiting game
Kawu.
However, the tribunal, headed by Onyekan
Abdullahi, upheld an earlier decision by the
Supreme Court which diswaulified Kawu on
the ground that he did not participate in all
the preliminary stages of the election pro-
cess.
The tribunal also held that the candidate with
the second highest votes during the election
should be declared winner. It then ordered the
INEC to issue a Certificate of Return to the PDP
candidate, Surajo Idris Kanawa, having won the
second highest votes in the election on Febru-
ary 23.
Delta
It was another sad turn of fate for the PDP
in the state as its candidate in the election in
Ethiope Federal Constituency, Benson Igbak-
pa, had his victory upturned as the election
petition tribunal, sitting in Asaba, upheld the
petition of the APC candidate in the election,
@nigeriantribune Nigerian Tribune tribuneonlineng
would solve the problem of the prevailing spu-
rious distinction being made between citizens
with constitutionally guaranteed rights and in-
digene with elevated privileges to the status of
illegality acquired rights.
“It should place a hold on the impunity with
which the citizenship rights are crassly violated
by federal and especially state governments.
We cannot continue like this. United, stable,
democratic predicated on full citizenship rights
and social justice holds better promise for us
all, including our children and grandchildren.
“Our constitution should be amended to ex-
Halims Agoda.
Igbakpa was sworn into the Green Chamber
but Agoda approached the tribunal alleging
gross irregularities. He urged the court to cancel
the election or declare him the winner, having
scored the highest number of votes. The tribu-
nal upheld the petition and ordered the INEC to
issue Agoda with a Certificate of Return.
Ondo
The PDP also lost its member represent-
ing Okitipupa/Irele Federal Constituency in
the lower chamber of the National Assembly,
Ikengboju Gboluga.
The three-man tribunal, headed by Justice
Nuhu Adi, upturned the election of the PDP
candidate on the ground of his allegiance to
the United Kingdom, having acquired UK citi-
zenship and thus ineligible to run for political
office in Nigeria, in accordance with the provi-
sions of Section 66, sub-section 1 of the 1999
Constitution (as amended).
TUESDAY,
24 SEPTEMBER, 2019
plicitly recognise the rights of all citizens, irre-
spective of their ethnic or racial connections as
well as declare the oppression of any minority
group or race to be contrary to the fundamen-
tal laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. We
can also borrow a leaf from the 1918 Revo-
lutionary Constitution of the former Soviet
Union in the manner in which it decisively ad-
dressed the national question.”
Jega did not mince words in his conviction
that a disintegrated Nigeria would breed nega-
tive effect on the international landscape, ad-
vocating for all hands to be on deck for a united
country. A perpetually disunited, or worse, a
disintegrating or disintegrated Nigeria will be a
problem for not only us Nigerians, but would
have dire consequences on our sub-region as
well as our continent. The differences can be
managed and resolved if sane, focused, decent
and patriotic Nigerians put their minds to it
and take the search for solutions away from
our reckless self-serving professional politi-
cians and mobilisers of negative primordial
identities.
“We can and should find and deploy effective
means of tolerating and living with one an-
other and working towards the goal of a united
Nigeria, based on social justice, equity, equality
of opportunity and responsible and responsive
governance,” Jega said.
He, however, admonished the people to defy
political apathy in order to prevent citizens’
rights from being trampled upon and also as
an aspiration for democratic development and
governance. He added: “We need to stop beat-
ing about the bush and recognise that some
form of restructuring is necessary in the short
and medium terms. “In particular, it is desirable
to strengthen Nigeria’s federal arrangement by
reducing the powers and responsibilities of the
Federal Government under the Exclusive List
and the resources allocated to these and real-
locating these to the states under the Residual
List, with accompanying resources to carry them
out.
“This is a sort of unbundling the powers and
responsibilities of the Federal Government to
make it trimmer, more efficient and more fo-
cused on truly federal matters in the context of
the universal principles of federalism.”
Jega said the widening poverty in the country
was caused by the ruling class, adding that the
absence of social justice underscored the un-
fair treatment to citizens, particularly the lack
of safety net and other instruments of reduc-
ing economic inequalities and poverty.
The tribunal subsequently directed the INEC
to withdraw the Certificate of Return issue to
Gboluga and issue same to the petitioner and
the APC candidate in the election, Albert Akin-
toye of the APC.
Benue
The National Assembly Election Petitions
Tribunal ordered the INEC to withdraw the
Certificate of Return issued to David Ogewu of
the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) as
it declared Samson Okwu of the PDP as the le-
gitimate winner of the election for the Oju/Obi
Federal Constituency, having led with a margin
of 994 votes in two local government areas in
the federal constituency.
Chairman of the tribunal, Justice A.A Adel-
eye, in his judgment on the petition by
Okwu, faulted the INEC for declaring Ogewu
as the winner without including the result of
Obi Local Government Area in the final col-
lation.
25
ECOSCOPE
with Paul Omorogbe | 08036887859 | paul2001m@yahoo.com | t:@paulomorogbe
World Clean Up Day: Why we
participated —Nigerian youths
W
Stories by Paul Omorogbe
ORLD Clean Up Day is
September 21 annually. It
is a global social action pro-
gramme designed to address
the global solid waste prob-
lem. It is note-worthy that in Nigeria, where
the young population have been tagged as
scammers and lazy, the World Clean Up Day
was essentially youth-driven. They said their
desire for positive impact and a better future
motivated them.
The activities
In Nigeria, various groups of non-govern-
mental organisations, social enterprises,
higher institutions, National Youth Service
Corps (NYSC) members, and corporate organ-
isations formed partnerships in various parts
of the country to participate in the clean-up
exercise.
In Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, RecycleG-
arb Hub Limited, a recycling social enter-
prise, partnered Adron Homes, a real estate
company; ReesAfrica, SustyVibes, both en-
vironment NGOs; WestAfricaEnergy, a waste
management company and Oyo State Waste
Management Authority (OYOWMA); for a
clean-up at the motor park opposite Total
Filling Station, Iwo Road.
A partnership among Enactus University of
Agriculture, Makurdi; Benue State Sanitation
and Environmental Authority (BENSESA); Re-
cycleGarb and National Youth Service Corps
Sustainable Development Goals Community
Development Service (NYSC SDG CDS) group
embarked on a massive clean-up at Wurukum
“Over 4 million people strike for climate action”
Climate strikers in Kenya
OVER the weekend, school children, unions,
businesses, teachers, scientists, celebrit-
ies and religious organisations took to the
streets for a week of climate action.
The demonstrations which began on
September 20 marked the beginning of a
global mobilization which will last until Fri-
day, September 27. These activities will sur-
round the UN Climate Summit being held on
September 23, which will gather world lead-
ers in an attempt to accelerate the shift away
from fossil fuels, to implement the Paris
Agreement and meet the climate challenge.
Organisers estimate that over four million
people took to the streets last Friday, kick-
ing off a week of actions in which more than
5,800 events will take place in 163 countries.
Over 7,370 websites shut down and around
3,000 companies closed their doors in sup-
port of the Global Climate Strikes.
According to climate activists at 350.org,
www.tribuneonlineng.com Nigerian Tribune
World clean-up day event at Makurdi
Market in Makurdi, Benue State.
In Lagos, Greenhill Recycling Limited in part-
nership with staff of Fidelity Bank, Lagos State
Waste Management Authority (LAWMA), offi-
cials from Isolo LCDA, and volunteers cleaned
up the drainage by the Isolo Market near the
Isolo General Hospital. The team afterwards
handed out purple bags provided by the La-
gos State government as part of the state’s
Blue Box initiative to residents to sort their
recyclable wastes from their houses. As a res-
ult, 389 residents were registered in the Blue
Box initiative. The Lagos State Ministry of En-
vironment officials were present during the
exercise.
At another location in Lagos, U-Recycle Initi-
ative Nigeria in collaboration with The Green
Club University of Lagos (UNILAG) commem-
orated the World Cleanup Day 2019 by or-
from Jakarta to New York, from Karachi to
Amman, from Berlin to Kampala, from Istan-
bul to Québec, from Guadalajara to Asun-
ción, in big cities and small villages, millions
of people joined hands and raised their
voices in defence of the climate.
Speaking of Friday’s event, May Boeve, ex-
ecutive director of 350.org said, “Today, we
saw a movement made up of people from all
ages and backgrounds coming together and
calling for the end of coal, oil, and gas. No
matter what differences we have, we are to-
gether now because we are fighting for our
future.
“September 20 was a demonstration of in-
tent, of four million people who took time
off from work or school to say that they
were ready; ready to move on and make the
changes we need for a future free from fossil
fuels and based in climate equity and justice.
And it was only the beginning.
@nigeriantribune Nigerian Tribune
ganising a clean-up festival. The festival was
sponsored by Cycled App and Keystone Bank.
The clean-up festival featured a fitness ses-
sion, clean-ups in three polluted areas, treas-
ure hunts, and talks on the environment. The
polluted areas were the UNILAG lagoon front,
Indomie Bridge and UNILAG gate.
Also, in Lagos, at Sura Shopping Complex La-
gos Island, ride-hailing company, Bolt, particip-
ated in the clean-up, alongside some banks.
Why we did it, youths speak
At the various clean-up events Ecoscope
monitored on Saturday, it was clearly ob-
served that the activities were being led and
executed by young people.
Oluwaseyi Moejoh is an 18-year-old. She
leads an organisation called U-Recycle Initiat-
ive Nigeria, which she co-founded with Fathia
IPCC opens meeting to consider ocean
and cryosphere report
THE Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change (IPCC) – the world body for assess-
ing the science related to climate change —
opened a meeting on Friday to consider a
special report on the ocean and cryosphere,
the word used to describe the frozen parts of
the planet.
Hosted by the government of Monaco and
the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation,
the IPCC session will consider the Special Re-
port on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Chan-
ging Climate, which assesses the impacts of
climate change on ocean, coastal, polar and
mountain ecosystems, consequences for hu-
man communities that depend on them, and
options for adaptation and climate resilient
development. The IPCC said it is meeting in
Monaco from September 20 to 23, 2019.
Last month, the IPCC released another Special
Report, Climate Change and Land, and in May
it finalised a methodology report – the 2019
Refinement to the 2006 IPCC Guidelines for Na-
tional Greenhouse Gas Inventories. The Special
Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Chan-
ging Climate is the third product this year.
“This week’s deliberations on the Special Re-
port on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Chan-
ging Climate marks another major milestone
for the IPCC,” said IPCC Chair Hoesung Lee.
“The two special reports this year comple-
ment last October’s Special Report on Global
Warming of 1.5ºC. Together they consti-
tribuneonlineng
TUESDAY,
24 SEPTEMBER, 2019
Bello who is 17.
She told Ecoscope her reason for going out
on Saturday. “The more I know about the
harmful impact of mismanaged waste, espe-
cially plastic waste, on our planet and humans,
the more I get motivated to mobilise people to
act towards preserving our environment and
make them know and understand how their
little action matters in preserving the future of
our planet.
“The clean-up festival is one of the ways we
hope to keep mobilising, educating, engaging
and inspiring everyone to take sustainable ac-
tions towards solving the problem of waste
pollution and its impact on humans and the
planet,” she said.
Olayinka Adebajo, 30, is a volunteer with
Susty Vibes. At the Iwo Road motor park
clean-up in Ibadan, he said to Ecoscope that
if life was all about making impact, he was fo-
cusing on the environment to do so. “This is
impact for me and that’s the foundation of my
interest. You can’t leave the world the way you
met it,” he said.
At the same clean-up location, 24-year-old
Olayiwola Zainab, volunteer Team Lead, Oyo for
Rees Africa, said she was motivated by the fact
that “climate change is real. It’s a global issue that
affects not just whites, but blacks as well. I chose
to be part of making a real change in society.”
Abebola Sobanjo is the 32-year-old CEO of
RecycleGarb Hub Limited. On her part, par-
ticipating in the clean-up was to reduce the
pollution in the environment, join the rest of
the world in the global clean-up exercise, and
to motivate the Nigerian public to make con-
scious effort to maintain a clean and healthy
environment.
Hoesung Lee, IPCC Chair
tute the most up-to-date science on climate
change as we prepare for the full Sixth Assess-
ment Report,” he said.
The IPCC special reports have transformed
public discussions about climate change. The
IPCC is considering the new ocean and cryo-
sphere assessment as leaders gather in New
York for the UN General Assembly and the
UN Secretary-General’s Climate Summit on 20
September.
The new report, which will be released on 25
September, subject to approval, will provide
important scientific inputs into the Santiago
Climate Change Conference (COP25) later this
year.
26
6-year old Nigerian
2emerges Africa’s
youngest microsoft
specialist
A six-year old Nigerian pupil, Mas-
ter Damilare King-David Akano has
emerged Africa’s youngest microsoft
specialist in the Certiport interna-
tional certification examination orga-
nised by New Horizons Nigeria during
its just concluded Summer Camp held
in Lagos recently.
He came tops in the Microsoft Of-
fice PowerPoint 2016 examinations
with a score of 871 out of 1000 points,
followed by Master Toluwalese
Ayoola Kwaku, a 10-year old boy
who scored 825 points while Master
Kolawole Praise Akano, an eight-year
old, scored 800 points.
They alongside 200 other students
participated in a month-long summer
camp tagged Nextgen IT Experts, or-
ganised by New Horizons Computer
Learning Systems Ltd and were trained
in various ICT courses like Microsoft,
Multimedia, Robotics Engineering,
Drone Technology, Virtual Reality, Aug-
mented Reality, Artificial Intelligence
(AI), Internet of Things (IoT) and Coding,
among others.
With this performance, Damilare,
a primary one pupil has become
the youngest in Africa in 2019 to
achieve this professional height,
and indeed, one of the youngest in
the world to achieve this feat.
The students, Damilare, Kolawole
and Toluwalase are pupils of Scholar
Crest International, Omole, Lagos,
among others, participated in the
2019 New Horizons summer camp
across Nigeria.
New Horizons, a US-based organ-
isation with offices in 85 countries
of the world is the world’s largest
independent ICT training organi-
sation. In Nigeria, New Horizons
empowers over 50,000 students to
success yearly in over 100 schools
and 15 universities.
Among the schools powered by
New Horizons are Dansol, Dore-
goes, Vivan Fowler, Princeton, Hon-
eyland, Phidel, Pottersland, Wood-
land, Startrite, Lightway, Surstart,
First Age, Awesome Kids, Sunrise,
Great Height, Spring, Benford and
NOWA Schools.
According to the MD/CEO of New
Horizons, Mr. Tim Akano, the achieve-
ment of the six-year old Damilare
King-David Akano as Africa’s 2019
youngest Microsoft Certified Office
Specialist, did not come as a surprise,
but bears further testimony to the
tradition of excellence which New
Horizons is known for, both in Nigeria
and globally.
He said in the last 14 years, the
company had striven to solve one of
the major problems confronting cor-
porate Nigeria: shortage of ICT profes-
sionals. “Before we came to Nigeria in
2005, one of the biggest challenges
facing banks and corporate Nigeria
was the shortage of competent and
qualified ICT personnel to manage
the ICT infrastructure of organisa-
tions,” he said.
www.tribuneonlineng.com
INFO-TECH with Bode Adewumi | 08055001765 | bodekafi@yahoo.com
From left, Master Kolawole Praise Akano, Master Damilare King-David Akano, youngest African Microsoft Specialist; and
Master Toluwalese Ayoola Kwaku, all pupils of Scholar Crest International, Omole, Lagos who came tops in the Certiport
examination during the 2019 New Horizons Nigeria monthly summer camp held across Nigeria.
NCC vows to protect telecoms subsribers
T
Stories by Bode Adewumi
HE Nigerian Communica-
tions Commission (NCC)
has said it is constantly
evolving measures aimed
at protecting telecoms
consumers from the prying eyes of
cybercriminals in the country.
Mrs Felicia Onwuegbuchulam,
Director, NCC Consumer Affairs
Bureau, made the disclosure at the
53rd Consumer Town Hall meet-
ing of the commission, which took
place in Oyo town, Oyo State, last
week.
The town hall meeting with the
theme, ‘Mitigating Effects of Cy-
bercrimes: The Role of Telecoms
Consumers’ as usul, was aimed
at informing and educating con-
sumers on the roles required of
them in mitigating cybercrime.
Onwuegbuchulam, who was
represented by her deputy, Alhaji
Ismail Adedigba, said that NCC
evolved the initiative to identify,
discuss and jointly proffer effect-
ive solutions to different issues af-
NITDA urges Nigerians to leverage on internet to improve businesses
THE National Information Techno-
logy Development Agency (NITDA),
last week urged Nigerians to lever-
age on internet technology to im-
prove on ease of doing business.
The Director-General of NITDA, Mr
Kashifu Abdullah, made the appeal
at the opening of ‘Internet Summit
2019’ with the theme, ‘The Internet
as an Alternative Source of Income’,
organised by the Nigeria Internet
Group (NIG).
Abdullah, who was represented
by Dr Falilat Jimoh, a system analyst
at NITDA, said that the internet had
become one of the most significant
technologies with tremendous im-
pact on social and industrial environ-
ments.
He said that it was necessary to key
into internet technology in the trans-
Nigerian Tribune @nigeriantribune
fecting telecoms consumers in the
country.
“As a tripartite programme, the
forum aims to, on a continuous
basis, engage telecoms consumers
by educating, informing and em-
powering them with information
they need to know, their rights
when violated by the service pro-
viders.
“Indeed, this has helped to guar-
antee improved services and value
for money spent on telecoms ser-
vices for the consumers. Telecoms
consumers have been the ultimate
beneficiaries of the initiatives,” she
said.
Onwuegbuchulam said that con-
sumers were important stakehold-
ers in the current cyber space, say-
ing individuals and corporate users
of telecom devices often make use
of internet in the connected world.
According to her, “it is our belief
as a commission, that without con-
sumers becoming aware of cyber-
crime trends and making efforts
to ensure safe use of connected
port, health, security and manufac-
turing spaces to promote businesses
and also generate more revenue.
The DG said that internet and asso-
ciated applications had taken people
beyond connection to become part
of their daily living by creating a
global nervous system.
“The world we occupy is a rapid,
game-changing and innovative tech-
nological space, where the introduc-
tion of new technology is continu-
ously transforming stakeholders’
expectations.
“The world population is expected
to grow up to 7.6 billion by 2020,
with the growth in internet connec-
tion devices estimated to be around
50 billion, according to the Internet
Business Solutions Group.
“African environment is gradually
Nigerian Tribune tribuneonlineng
devices, cybercriminals will con-
tinue to make cyberspace unsafe.”
“Our belief is that the most effect-
ive ways to protect telecom con-
sumers from effects of cybercrime
is through continuous consumer
education and awareness such as
the one we are having here today.”
She said that the commission had
embarked on various initiatives to
increase access to the internet for
Nigerians, adding that they are
conscious of dishonest individuals
using the internet for illegal activ-
ities.
“The hackers and cybercriminals
deploy sophisticated systems to in-
trude into your connected devices
as telecoms consumers to perpet-
rate their exploitation schemes.
“Cybercrime is on the increase.
The commission is committed to
using its various outreach pro-
grammes to embark on series
of awareness campaigns with a
view to keeping consumers well
informed on the risks associated
with being online,” she said.
feeling the wave of this technology
which is facilitated by the wide-
spread use of smart phones, cheap
bandwidth and availability of big
data analytics,” he said.
Abdullah said that the internet
had completely changed the under-
standing of gathering information
and usage of data.
He said that infrastructure such as
internet should no longer be seen as
a luxury but a necessity for develop-
ing a smart digital economy.
“We live in an exciting era where
technological progress moves at the
speed of imagination.
“Technology has become a power-
ful catalyst for change, bringing
people closer, making our society
more efficient and promoting a
more sustainable world.
TUESDAY,
24 SEPTEMBER, 2019
Airtel Nigeria donates
phones, SIM cards,
airtime to South Africa
returnees
LEADING telecommunications
services provider, Airtel Nigeria,
has donated phones bundled with
SIMs and airtime to the second
batch of returnees who arrived
from South Africa last week.
Airtel said the donation was a
measure to assist the returnees
settle down as well as help them
make instant connection with
their loved ones, family members
and friends across the country.
The Chief Executive Officer and
Managing Director of Airtel Ni-
geria, Mr Segun Ogunsanya, de-
scribed the donation as “a token
of our affection, love and support
for our fellow countrymen who
are just coming out of a difficult
situation. It is our hope that this
gesture will help them reconnect
with their family and friends and
settle down to life at home.
“Airtel is committed to support-
ing laudable causes that will in-
spire and uplift more Nigerians.
We are pleased to identify with
the returnees and to help make
them feel at home after what they
have passed through.”
The Airtel team was at the air-
port to welcome the second batch
of returnees as well as perform
the customary SIM card registra-
tion exercise in fulfilment of the
Nigerian Communications Com-
mission’s (NCC) guidelines on
owning a phone line.
The Chairman/Chief Executive
Officer of the Nigerian Diaspora
Commission, Abike Dabiri-Erewa,
commended Airtel for extending
a helping hand to the returnees,
saying that other corporate organ-
isations should emulate the telco
in helping the returnees settle
down to life in their home coun-
try.
“We are emerging into a future
where the digital and physical worlds
will become more integrated; where
boundaries no longer exist between
technologies and humans,” Abdullah
said.
He said that the spread of informa-
tion and communication technology
and global interconnectedness had
great potential to accelerate human
progress and bridge the digital di-
vide.
Also speaking, Mr Adeniyi Osunto-
gun, the acting Chairman, NIG Board
of Trustees, said that internet played
significant role in the development
of businesses.
According to him, it has contrib-
uted to the rapid growth of e-com-
merce, employment generation and
increase in GDP in Nigeria.
27
Financial autonomy: Governors remain our obstacle
—JUSUN President
The national president, Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria (JUSUN), Comrade Marwan Mustapha Adamu, speaks on some of the problems in the judiciary, especially on its
financial autonomy and independence, at the state level in particular. He also speaks on the Executive Order, which could permit President Muhammadu Buhari to give
permission to the Accountant General of the Federation to deduct allocation to state judiciary at source and why he returned over N13 million excess payment to his
M
any Nigerians were sur-
prised recently when you
returned about N13 mil-
lion, an excess payment to
JUSUN checkoff dues ac-
count. What really happened?
Honestly, I didn’t want this matter to go
to the media because a lot of interpret-
ations would come after it. To me, and in
the union we believe in our conscience and
the fear of the Almighty God and that’s
why we did what we did. But all the same,
going with the situation at hand I will be
left with no choice but to respond to this
question. When we returned the cheque,
we didn’t want it to be ceremonial, I went
there alone, to meet the SSG to the Delta
State Government, but he found it worthy
to make it public.
What actually happened is that the system
of collecting our checkoff dues is through
our union at the state level or the govern-
ment will pay directly to our national ac-
count; then we will refer back to the state
and then the NLC and other stakeholders
who are involved in the sharing formula.
In this case, the amount due for JUSUN
from Delta State government was N1.4 mil-
lion, that was the practice and that is one
of the highest. That is the money (checkoff
dues) meant for us monthly.
I was in Kano attending the NEC meeting
of NLC when I saw an alert of N14 million,
I kept mute because I knew something
was going wrong. I left the Kano meeting
abruptly, I came back to Abuja to find out
what was going on, and I realized that the
money was from Delta State. Before I came,
the account department tried to find out
from the chairman of Delta State but the
chairman was not aware. He therefore con-
tacted those responsible for the payment
of checkoff dues and they said it should be
an error; and that it should be paid back
through that account or they would send
alternative account so that we could send
the money between my account depart-
ment and that account.
I said no, that was not the ideal practice,
if there is an error, you should make it pub-
lic because you can send the money back
and anything can happen and in the fu-
ture it will be a problem. I insisted that the
money was not meant for us. It is not that
we didn’t need money but the money was
not our money. That is the only reason why
we returned the money, it did not belong to
us, our money is N1.4 million.
If you give me N14 million, I should be
able to find out what it is meant for, so I
decided to contact my bank to subtract the
amount which was meant for us which was
N1.4m, raise a cheque, draft a cover let-
ter, state the narrations, sign and bring the
letter to me. They did that and we quickly
rushed to Delta. I called the permanent
secretary who happened to be a friend of
mine in the SSG office. I asked if he could
book me an appointment to see the SSG
and I stated my mission to him.
We met with the SSG and he found it sur-
prising, stating that there was the need to
call some of his immediate staff and we
www.tribuneonlineng.com Nigerian Tribune
LABOUR
with Soji-Eze Fagbemi | 08179047919 | sojiezek@yahoo.co.uk
union account by the Delta State Government. SOJI-EZE FAGBEMI, bring the excerpt.
Adamu
submitted the cheques and they appreci-
ated it and I left.
In essence what we try to do is to show
good morality, the reputation is more im-
portant than money. Not even the issue of
if we leave the seat of the union, we will
leave the entire world and account for what
we did. Not that I’m perfect but I don’t
think there is any moral justification for us
to take the money. It may be possible from
the narration of the SSG about this occur-
rence, that there might be something like a
syndicate. But for me, our reason as a union
is that, it was not for us, so the best thing
was for us to send it back.
What will you then say about the high
level of corruption in governance of this
country?
For me, corruption has many interpreta-
tions. Taking bribe or money is not only cor-
ruption. Corruption is more deep-rooted
than taking or giving money. It is far more
than that and it permeates every area of
our life. Mostly, in African countries and let
me narrow it to Nigeria and within the ser-
vice. In general, the system is bad to the ex-
tent that for me we have a lot to do before
constitution, nobody is
complying with section
81.3, 81.9, and nobody is
complying with section
162.9.
@nigeriantribune Nigerian Tribune tribuneonlineng
we can get out of this mess. From my own
understanding, the agencies that are solely
responsible to tackle corruption in this
country need to re-strategize and put more
efforts in their approach in curbing this.
Your union has been in the forefront of
reform in the Judiciary sector, asking for
independence of the judiciary and finan-
cial autonomy. In doing this, you had to
tackle some state governors, can you tell
us what is the status now?
On the issue of reform, we have taken a
number of measures. One in particular has
been in the forefront and in public knowledge.
You are aware that we have been fighting for
more than eight years in court, judgment has
been passed but all the governors are not
complying with that. No single governor is
complying with the provision of section 121.3
of the constitution, nobody is complying with
section 81.3, 81.9, and nobody is complying
with section 162.9. All these provisions of the
constitution deal with the issue of financial
autonomy of the judiciary. But certainly, after
that even the former Chief Justice of Nigeria
set up a committee to reform the judiciary,
and they met, discussed and made a com-
prehensive report to harmonize the various
previous reports on the issue of justice sector
of the judiciary.
But let me say clearly, it didn’t work.
Recently, after the alteration of the 1999
Constitution, section 121.3 in particular,
the inclusion of state house of assembly
is expected to have financial autonomy. A
lot of people give it a different meaning,
for us in the judiciary, that alteration of the
constitution does not change anything in
terms of financial autonomy, it is the same
TUESDAY,
24 SEPTEMBER, 2019
provision of the constitution, but the only
addition is the inclusion of state assembly
to get financial autonomy.
What we benefitted from that action of
the alteration is the political will of the
government to ensure the compliance of
the provision of the constitution. Previ-
ously, the entire state governors had acted
against the provisions of the constitution,
and have not obeyed that aspect of the
constitution on the financial autonomy of
the judiciary, and the Federal Government
is not doing anything to support the realiz-
ation of that financial autonomy. That sign-
ing by Mr. President gave a political will in
realizing that. The president went ahead to
set up a committee on the implementation
of the financial autonomy headed by the
Attorney General of the Federation, with
JUSUN and PASSAN as members. We dealt
with the issue with the involvement of all
stakeholders. We met and the issue has
been looked into holistically and a report
has been presented to the president. Once
we go back to the state governors, in my
opinion, we are going back to square zero,
because they will not comply and it will not
go as it is supposed to.
But in that report, there is an Executive
Order which allows and would permit the
president to sign in case any state governor
refused to comply, so that the Accountant
General of the Federation will deduct from
the source and pay directly to the head of
court. And that is the provision of the con-
stitution, that is what it says, and that is
what the governors are not complying with.
Today, more than two-thirds or almost
80% of state courts are in sorry state with
the exception of three states. If you go to
judiciary headquarters of most of the states
you won’t like what you will see, nonethe-
less other lower courts. They are in rented
shops and houses, so dilapidated, you can’t
imagine such places will house a court.
How can you get justice where a court that
will preside over a case is a house of some-
body? Unless if we are mocking ourselves.
The bulk of the cases daily that have to
do with the common man are in the cus-
tomary courts, magistrates’ courts and
Sharia courts. In a day, a magistrates’ court
can entertain 25 cases, a customary court
judge can entertain 10 to 12 cases, a Sharia
court judge can entertain 13 to 14 cases.
While mostly in high courts and the other
big courts, they entertain two or three and
the rest is adjournment. These are some of
the issues, and why we have been fighting
for financial autonomy.
Our major obstacles are the governors,
they are frustrating all efforts.
But you were in court on this issue?
We went to the extent of interpretation. Pre-
viously, people thought all union is known for is
strike all the time. We even put that aside, and
in a more civilized way we went to court and
spent almost two years in court. Judgment has
been passed in favour of the judiciary, no single
governor has appealed that judgement and no
single governor is complying with that provision
of the constitution and the court judgment.
28 www.tribuneonlineng.com Nigerian Tribune @nigeriantribune Nigerian Tribune tribuneonlineng
TUESDAY,
24 SEPTEMBER, 2019

PEOPLE&EVENTS With Tommy Adegbite | 08116954631 | tommyabijo@yahoo.com

1. From left, Senior Pastor, His Pur-

pose Church, Tony Olukoyede; Pas-
tor, Redeemed Christian Church of
God, Dublin, Taiwo Olukoyede;
Secretary, Economic and Finan-
cial Crimes Commission, Pastor
Ola Olukoyede; his wife, Olaitan
and Vice-President Yemi Osin-
bajo, at the funeral of Mrs Moro-
luke Fakoyede (Olukoyede) in Ik-
ere-Ekiti, Ekiti State, on Friday.

2. From left, Archbishop of Ibadan

Archdiocese, Most Reverend Ga-
briel Leke Abegunrin; Archbishop
Emeritus, Most Reverend Alaba
Job and Chief Akanni Aluko, at the
70th birthday of Archbishop Abe-
gunrin, held at The Church of the
Ascension, Bodija, Ibadan. Photo:
Tommy Adegbite.
1 2
3. From left, the Balogun of Ibadan-
land, Chief Owolabi Olakulehin;
newly promoted Aare Alaasa
Iyalode Olubadan, Alhaja Mu-
tiat Ladoja and the Ashipa Balo-
gun of Ibadanland, Chief Lateef
Adebimpe, after the installation
ceremony held at the palace of
the Olubadan of Ibadanland, at
Popoyemoja, last week. Photo:
Tommy Adegbite

4. From left, Chief Bolaji Ayorinde;

PDP Deputy National Publicity
Secretary, Diran Odeyemi; repre-
sentative of Oyo State governor
and Special Adviser on Strategy
and Political Matters, Honour-
able Babatunde Oduyoye; Chief
Joe-Kyari Gadzama and the Deji
3 4
of Akure, Oba Aladelusi Aladetoy-
inbo, during the installation of
Gadzama as Bobajiro of Akure, at
the Deji of Akure palace, Akure,
at the weekend. Photo: Oyo State
Government.

5. Outgoing President, Ayodeji Os-

undiran (left), decorating the
new president of Osun New Era
Lions Club, Professor Olubukola
Oyawoye and her husband, Pro-
fessor Enoch Oyawoye, during the
presentation ceremony of Profes-
sor Oyawoye as sixth president of
Osun New Era Lions Club, held at
Julius Hall, Osogbo.

6. Deputy Vice Chancellor, Bowen

University, Iwo, Osun State, Pro-
fessor John Akande (right), pre- 5 6
senting a souvenir to the unit com-
mander of the Federal Road Safety
Corps (FRSC), Iwo, Mr Ayodele
Ajadi, during a courtesy visit to the
university, recently.

7. The widow, Lady Evangelist Abigael

Adeyemo, flanked by the children,
from left, Jesuferanmi, Esther,
Ayomide, Deborah and Samuel,
at the burial ceremony of Pastor
Moses Kayode Adeyemo, founder
of Hi-Havenly Redeemer Church
of Christ, New Garage, Ibadan, re-
cently.

8. Mrs Abigail Oyeniran Ogunrinde,

flanked by her children, during her
77th birthday celebration held in
Ibadan, recently.
7 8
FOR BOOKINGS, CONTACT ’LAOLU AFOLABI ON 08054681741 OR TOMMY ADEGBITE: 08116954631
29 www.tribuneonlineng.com Nigerian Tribune @nigeriantribune Nigerian Tribune tribuneonlineng
TUESDAY,
24 SEPTEMBER, 2019

photo news
1. High Chief (Sir) Simeon
O. Oguntimehin, the
High Chief Sir Oguntimehin at 85
Lisa of Ondo King-
dom cutting his 85th
birthday cake in Ondo
city on September 12,
2019, with his wife, Vic-
toria and Olori Olayinka
Kiladejo, wife of the Os-
emawe of Ondo King-
dom.

2. High Chief (Sir) Simeon

O. Oguntimehin with
Ondo Kingdom high
chiefs and their wives,
cutting the 85th birth-
day cake of High Chief
Oguntimehin.

3. High Chief (Sir) SImeon

Olusola Oguntimehin,
cutting the birthday
cake with members of
2
his nuclear family.

4. High Chief (Sir) Sime-

1
on O. Oguntimehin,
with the clergy of St
Stephen’s Cathedral
Church cutting the
birthday cake after the
Holy Communion ser-
vice.

3 4

Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa bags SAN Photos: Sunday Osunrayi

1. From left, Usman Ogwu
Sule, Ebun-Olu Adeg-
boruwa and Abiodun
Adeniran Olatunji, dur-
ing the conferment of
the rank of Senior Ad-
vocate of Nigeria (SAN)
on them in Abuja, on
Monday.

2. The new SAN, Mr Adeg-

boruwa (right); his wife,
Olu; daughter and Mr
Tunde Ayemo (second
right).

3. Mr Adegboruwa and
his wife, with their
daughter.
1 2
4. Mr Ebun-Olu Adeg-
boruwa; his wife, Olu
and some of his col-
leagues after the con-
ferment ceremony on
Monday.

3 4
30
10 kidnapped victims regain freedom in Osun
T
Oluwole Ige | Osogbo
HE 10 passen-
gers who were
abducted on
Sunday evening
by suspected Fu-
lani herdsmen at Ajeoku vil-
lage, located between Otan
Ile and Imesi communities
in Obokun Local Govern-
ment Area of Osun State,
4 alleged
blackmailers
arrested
in Lagos
Olalekan Olabulo| Lagos
THREE suspected black-
mailers who specialised in
blackmailing unsuspecting
men, especially married
men, and a female mem-
ber of the gang, have been
arrested by operatives of
the Lagos State Police Com-
mand.
It was gathered that a fe-
male member of the gang
had reportedly lured a bu-
reau de change operator
into a hotel, and the gang
was attempting to black-
mail him when they were
arrested by the police.
Members of the gang
were, on Monday, paraded
before newsmen by the
state’s Commissioner of Po-
lice, Zubairu Muazu, who
said the gang used ‘mischie-
vous ladies’ to lure their vic-
tims.
The police boss said: “On
September 17, at about
3:30 p.m, suspects who
preyed on their victims,
especially married men, by
video recording them with
mischievous ladies while
forcefully dispossessing
them of their valuables,
were arrested.
“The suspects are Aspita
Mercy, Jonathan Ukonues
Estreem and Emmanuella
Ozeegi, a female member.
“Their modus operandi is
that the female member,
Ozeegi, will lure their vic-
tims through unsolicited
dating, and once she suc-
ceeds, she invites him to a
hotel or residence of the
kingpin, Aspita.
“The lady will then make
a phone call to her master
and the other members of
the gang will immediately
burst into the room, attack
the victim while ordering
the lady and victim to be
naked for video recording.
“The victim will be searched
and dispossessed of his valu-
ables and will be forced to
write an undertaking for
the payment of ransom,
while threatening that the
recorded video clips would
be posted on social media.”
www.tribuneonlineng.com
have regained their free-
dom.
A credible security
source informed the Ni-
gerian Tribune that five of
the victims were released
around 12:10 a.m on Mon-
day following the com-
bined efforts of policemen
from Obokun and Ilase
divisions, alongside local
vigilance group members.
An accident scene at Orile Bridge, Ijora, Lagos, on Monday. Photo: NAN
Gunmen abduct Benue PDP chieftain,
demand N50m ransom
Johnson Babajide|
Makurdi
GUNMEN have abducted
a chieftain of the Peoples
Democratic Party (PDP)
in Benue State, Ben Akile,
along the Katsina-Alla/Zaki
Biam Road.
It was, however, gathered
that the kidnappers had
contacted the wife of the
victim, while demanding
for N50 million ransom.
Hisbah board destroys 196,400 bottles
of alcohol in Kano
Kola Oyelere | Kano
THE Kano State Hisbah
Board has destroyed over
196,400 bottles of alcohol
in the state.
A statement signed by
the Chief Press Secretary
to the deputy governor
Nigerian Tribune
The names of the re-
leased abductees are
Atoyebi Ismaila, Olatunji
Benjamin, Hammed
Awoniyi, Sadeeq Awoniyi
and Ridwan Awoniyi, who
are young children.
Later, around 4:35 p.m,
the remaining five, four
males and one female,
were released.
According to the source,
Nigerian Tribune learnt
that the PDP chieftain,
who was traveling with the
legal adviser of the party,
Clement Mue, was at-
tacked at Mbatom village
in Katsina-Alla Local Gov-
ernment Area of the state.
The victims were travel-
ling to Katsina-Alla for a
political meeting when the
incident occurred.
It was further gathered
that the abductors, while
of the state, Alhaji Hassan
Musa Fagge, on Monday,
stated that alcohol, which
is forbidden in Islam, aids
the commission of sin and
thus the reason for the de-
struction.
The deputy governor,
who spoke on behalf Gov-
@nigeriantribune Nigerian Tribune
the father of the Awoniyis,
identified as Kazeem
Awoniyi, a native of Iragbiji
in Boripe Local Government
Area of the state, who is still
in captivity, was said to have
gone to Otan Ile to pick his
children when their vehicle
was attacked by the hood-
lums.
Vehicles that were at-
tacked by suspected Fulani
allowing the party’s legal
adviser to escape, made
away with Akile.
The state’s publicity
secretary of the PDP, Be-
mgba Ioryyom, who con-
firmed the incident, told
the Nigerian Tribune that
the abductors had al-
ready demanded for N50
million from the victim’s
family.
Ioryyom said: “The
party’s legal adviser was
ernor Abdullahi Umar Gan-
duje, after the exercise at
Kalemawa in Dawakin Tofa
Local Government Area,
charged Islamic scholars,
religious and community
leaders to partner in the
war against social vices,
including consumption of
tribuneonlineng
herdsmen include a Toyota
Hiace bus with registration
number SGB 827 XB, a
Toyota RAV4 with regis-
tration number SMK 379
DG, a Volkswagen Golf car
with registration number
AG 560 JER and a Volkswagen
Passat car belonging to Mr
Awoniyi, with registration
number BKN 261 AA.
During the attack, two
the one driving, while Ak-
ile sat in the passenger’s
seat when they ran into
the bandits. The three
hoodlums, who were on
motorcycles, stopped the
chairman’s vehicle before
abducting him.”
However, the state’s Po-
lice Public Relations Offi-
cer (PPRO), DSP Catherine
Anene, said she was yet to
receive the report of the
abduction.
alcohol.
The governor then
implored residents of
the state to accord the
needed support and co-
operation to the officials
of the Hisbah Board in
the discharge of their as-
signments.
MONDAY,
23 SEPTEMBER, 2019
metro
people, Francis Moghalu
and Ayoade Ajiboye, were
allegedly shot by the abduc-
tors, but they are currently
receiving treatment at a hos-
pital in Imesi Ile.
When contacted, the
state’s Police Public Relations
Officer (PPRO), Mrs Folas-
ade Odoro, confirmed that
all the victims had been
rescued.
Army dismisses
3 soldiers
for alleged
kidnapping in
Borno
THE Nigerian Army, on
Sunday said it had dis-
missed three soldiers ar-
rested with a kidnapping
gang on the outskirts
of Maiduguri, the News
Agency of Nigeria (NAN)
has reported.
The Theater Commander
of Operation Lafiya Dole,
Major-General Olusegun
Adeniyi, disclosed this
while handing over the
dismissed soldiers to the
police in Maiduguri.
Major-General Adeniyi
disclosed that the soldiers
were arrested with 22
other suspects by a joint
patrol team in the early
hours of Sunday at a build-
ing on the outskirts of
Maiduguri.
He said that the soldiers
were initially deployed to
the Operation Lafiya Dole,
but engaged themselves
in nefarious activities such
as kidnapping, armed rob-
bery, killings and cultism.
Adeniyi added that the
soldiers were dismissed in
accordance with military
procedures, warning that
the army would not con-
done criminals in its fold.
The commander then
called on the people to be
vigilant and report suspi-
cious persons, movement
and activities to security
agencies
Meanwhile, the Borno
State Commissioner of
Police, Mr Mohhamed
Aliyu, said the command
had arrested 25 suspects
at Bagani Hotel in Abuja
Sheraton area of the me-
tropolis.
Aliyu said the suspects
were members of a cult
group called Neo Black
Movement (NBM), adding
that they were arrested
wearing black dresses
around 2:00 a.m. while ini-
tiating new members.
He disclosed that pre-
liminary investigations
indicated that among the
suspects were students of
the University of Maidu-
guri, Ramat Polytechnic,
Maiduguri, a medical doc-
tor, banker and dismissed
soldiers.
31
No more excuses to be out of school, Oyo govt tells students
S
TUDENTS in public
schools in Oyo State
have been charged
to use the opportu-
nities provided by the
present state government to
improve on their academic
performance as there are no
more excuses for the students
to stay out of school.
The Director of Personnel,
Oyo State Teaching Service
Commission (TESCOM), Mr
Kolapo Abd-Rahman, who
said this while on a visit to
various public schools in the
state on Monday, was accom-
panied by a consultant to the
state government on educa-
tion, Professor Kolapo Olusola
Aigbokhai for
burial Oct. 4
THE burial of Mr David Abio-
dun Aigbokhai will take place
on Friday, October 4, 2019,
at The Cathedral Church of
Christ, Marina, Lagos.
The final burial will be pre-
ceeded by a service of songs
on Wednesday at The Foun-
tain of Hope 24NG and The
Cathedral Guild of Stewards,
General Ogomudia Boule-
vard, Lekki Phase 1, by Studio
24 junction, at 4 :00.pm.
Christian wake takes place
on Thursday, at 18A, Lugard
Avenue, Ikoyi, Lagos, by 6
:00p.m.
Interment will be place
at Ikoyi Cemetery, while re-
ception follows immediately
after the funeral service at
the Campbell Centre, No 62,
Campbell Street, Lagos Island.
Fayemi meets management of FUOYE, says killing avoidable
‘Yomi Ayeleso | Ado-Ekiti
EKITI State governor, Dr
Kayode Fayemi, has met with
the management of the Fed-
eral University, Oye Ekiti, over
the crisis which led to the
death of two students of the
institution on September 10.
Nasarawa to pay three months salary arrears to workers, effect promotion exercise
Godwin Enna | Lafia
NASARAWA State chapter of
the Nigeria Labour Congress
(NLC) has said that the chal-
lenges faced by civil servants
in the last 11 years as a result
of non-implementation of
promotion exercise would
soon be a thing of the past.
This follows Governor Ab-
dullahi Sule’s directive to the
state’s salary bureau to pay
them three months of salary
arrears and effect the pro-
www.tribuneonlineng.com
and other officials of the com-
mission.
Abd-Rahman stressed the
need for students to seize
the opportunity presented by
the free education policy of
the state government as well
as free textbooks and note-
books recently distributed
by the Seyi Makinde-led ad-
ministration to improve their
performance in public exami-
nations.
He called on those still
roaming the street or engag-
ing in learning of craft as a
result of non-availability of
fund to pay school fees and
buy educational materials to
return to school as the inputs
From left, Zonal Head, South- West, First City Monument Bank(FCMB), Bolanle Alfred; Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State; Executive
Director, Business Development, FCMB, Bukola Smith and the Managing Director, Capital Market, FCMB, Tolu Osinibi, during a visit of
FCMB delegation to the Governor’s Office, at the Government House, Ibadan, on Monday. Photo: NAN
The governor, at the meet-
ing, vowed to get to the root
of the incident, with a view
to ensuring that such does
not repeat itself.
Addressing the manage-
ment of the institution at
the Governor’s Office, Ado-
Ekiti, the state capital, the
motion of deserving workers.
NLC chairman in the state,
Yusuf Sarki-Iya, disclosed this
in an interview with journal-
ists in Lafia, the state capi-
tal, describing it as unprece-
dented, the level of labour
relations and zeal the gover-
nor is putting into reinvigo-
rating the state civil service.
He added that the gover-
nor had instructed the salary
bureau to implement pro-
motion of workers which has
been hanging for 11 years
Nigerian Tribune
had been made available by
government, while education
till post-primary school evel
had been declared free in the
state.
“I want to call on those stu-
dents that are still out there to
come back to school as there
is no more excuse for any of
them to be out of school. The
present administration has
put in place enough incen-
tives to make education at-
tractive to our students.
“Nobody asks them to pay
any tuition any more while
textbooks and notebooks are
being distributed for free, so
what is it that you will say is
holding you back from having
governor stated that the
crisis might have resulted
from communication gap be-
tween the students and the
school management.
Fayemi, who was repre-
sented by his Chief of Staff,
.Biodun Omoleye, said the un-
fortunate incident was avoid-
and directed that their three
months salary arrears be
paid.
Sarki-Iya commended Gov-
ernor Sule’s administration
for growing the civil service
structure and improving upon
workers’ welfare in the state.
The state NLC boss added
that civil servants in the local
government areas who were
before now receiving salary
in bits now collect their sal-
ary in full.
Sarki-Iya said workers in
@nigeriantribune Nigerian Tribune
good education?
“The target of the govern-
ment is to bring back all those
that have left school because
of payment of fees and in-
ability to buy books. Now
that those are no more their
worries, they should face the
next level, which is to attend
classes and improve their
performances in external ex-
aminations.”
Abd-Rahman also added
that the idea of free lesson
for secondary school students
was to afford the students
the opportunity to have more
time to study and make up for
the lost academic time due to
their last holiday as well as
able if the students had chan-
neled their agitation to the
school authorities who could
have taken up the matter and
appropriately resolved it.
The governor, however,
condoled with the school
management and the fami-
lies of the two students that
Nasarawa State had contin-
ued to grow in geometric
progression when compared
with what obtained under
previous administrations in
the state.
In the area of civil service
and labour relations, the la-
bour chairman scored the
governor 99.9 per cent for
setting up a committee to
review the civil service struc-
ture.
He stated further that
Governor Sule had not only
tribuneonlineng
the need to take the overall
performance of the state to a
commendable level.
“The style of teaching dur-
ing the lesson will be different
from the normal classes be-
cause the state has produced
a compendium of past ques-
tions, covering 11 different
subjects from 2012 to 2018,
which teachers will be using in
those specific hours to teach
the SSS 3 students on how to
answer questions.
“In fact, the compendium
will not only be given to public
secondary schools students
alone, but also those children
attending private schools,” he
added.
were killed.
In his remarks, FUOYE’s
deputy vice chancellor, Pro-
fessor Abayomi Fashina,
said the incident could have
been avoided if the students
had not regrouped after the
initial demonstration in the
morning.
restructured the civil service,
but repositioned as well as
given hope to workers in
different ways in spite of the
little resources available to
the state.
“Recently, the governor
constituted a committee,
comprising prominent sons
and daughters of Nasarawa
State to look inward and
restructure the civil service.
According to him, apart
from agriculture, within his
50 days in office, the gov-
TUESDAY,
24 SEPTEMBER, 2019
news
Teachers appeal
to Kogi gov over
non-payment
of salary
Yekini Jimoh | Lokoja
ABOUT 7,000 teachers in
public primary and junior sec-
ondary schools in Kogi State
have appealed to Governor
Yahaya Bello to look into the
issue of non-payment of their
salary for about 39 months.
The appeal was contained
in a communique issued at
the end of an emergency
meeting of the Basic Educa-
tion Staff Association of Ni-
geria (BASAN), in Lokoja, the
state capital, on Monday.
The group traced the plight
of the teachers to the staff
screening exercise carried
out by the government in
2016, lamenting that the
affected teachers had not
been able to feed themselves
and family members.
The communique signed
by Mr Onotu Yahaya and Mr
Mohammed Sule, the acting
chairman and the secretary
of BASAN, also bemoaned
the refusal of the state gov-
ernment to fully implement
the N18,000 minimum wage
for teachers in the basic edu-
cation sector.
Onotu and Sule stated that
their counterparts in the se-
nior secondary school and
other state government staff
members had started en-
joying N18,000 minimum
wage since December 2011,
wondering why teaching and
teaching staff members at
the basic education sector
were not being fully paid.
It urged the state govern-
ment to stop the payment of
35 -50 per cent salary to its
members, adding that they de-
serve full payment of salary like
other workers in the state.
It also expressed concern
over the poor state of basic
education infrastructure in
schools across the state, add-
ing that the development
was an obstacle in meeting
the desired productive curric-
ulum delivery.
“We are appealing to Gov-
ernor Bello for intervention
on the above issues for the
change mantra of the next
level and change of narration
of this critical sector of edu-
cation.”
ernor distributed fertiliser
to farmers and said that
fertiliser should be sold for
N3,500 per bag to farmers in
the state.
He noted that the governor
had entrenched an agricul-
ture programme, where civil
servants are now allowed to
venture into farming while
the governor had empow-
ered youths and women with
grinding machines and other
tools to improve their living
conditions.
32
Joe Biden. Photo: Getty Images
Trump says ‘not at
all’ worried about
impeachment
•Confirms he raised Biden in Ukraine call
•Says “we’ll see what happens” in Iran meeting
P
RESIDENT Donald Trump
on Monday dismissed the
threat of impeachment
over allegations that he
tried to pressure Ukraine’s
leader into investigating his 2020
election rival Joe Biden.
Asked if he was taking the threat
from some Democrats seriously,
Trump answered: “Not at all
seriously.”
US media reports revealed
that an intelligence community
whistleblower had filed a report
after becoming alarmed at Trump’s
alleged attempt to pressure
Ukrainian President Volodymyr
Zelensky in a phone call.
Trump has confirmed that
he discussed what he says was
Brexit: Supreme Court to rule on Johnson’s
parliament suspension Tuesday
•The party will decide our position, says UK Labour’s Corbyn
BRITAIN’S top court will rule on
Tuesday whether Prime Minister
Boris Johnson’s decision to suspend
parliament was unlawful, a judgment
that could lead to the recall of the
legislature and give lawmakers more
chance to obstruct his Brexit plans.
Johnson advised Queen Elizabeth
to prorogue, or suspend, parliament
on August 28, a move his opponents
said was made to stymie challenges
to his promise to take Britain out of
the European Union on October 31
with or without a divorce deal.
Johnson says the aim of the
suspension from September 10
until October 14 was to allow his
Conservative government brings in a
new legislative agenda and that few
working days would be lost.
The Supreme Court said its 11
justices would hand down their
judgment at 10:30 a.m on Tuesday.
During three days of hearings
last week, the Supreme Court
was told by lawyers for anti-Brexit
campaigners, opposition lawmakers
www.tribuneonlineng.com
WORLD NEWS With: Seyi Gesinde
corruption by Biden’s family during
the call but denies applying pressure
on Zelensky.
“We had a perfect phone call,”
he told reporters on arrival at
the United Nations in New York.
“Everybody knows it’s just a
Democrat witch hunt.”
Trump has spent much of his
first term as president fighting off
allegations that he benefited from
Russian-sponsored interference
during his surprise 2016 win over
Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton.
As the 2020 election approaches,
worries are mounting over further
attempts from abroad to meddle in
the tense US political landscape.
Against that background, the
whistleblower’s reported raising of
People protest outside the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom against Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s
decision to prorogue parliament, in London, Britain September 17, 2019. Photo: REUTERS
and even former Conservative Prime
Minister John Major that the five-
week shutdown was the longest in
50 years and simply a means to stop
parliament doing its job.
The Supreme Court will have to
decide if the issue is one that judges
should even be involved in or if it was
simply a political issue.
If the top court agrees the
suspension was illegal, it could say
that Johnson should recall parliament
or that as the prorogation was
unlawful, the legislature could simply
be reconvened by its speakers.
Nigerian Tribune @nigeriantribune
foreignnewseditor@gmail.com
the alarm has thrown Washington
into renewed turmoil.
According to some reports Trump
tried to pressure Zelensky to go after
Biden by temporarily withholding US
military aid to Ukraine.
Growing numbers of Democrats
believe they should open
impeachment proceedings against
Trump. However, party leaders
have resisted, knowing that the
Republicans, who are in lockstep
with Trump, would almost certainly
prevent an impeachment trial taking
place in the Senate.
The White House is under pressure
to release a transcript of the call
between Trump and Zelensky.
Democrats, who control the lower
house of Congress, are also seeking
Meanwhile, British opposition
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said
on Sunday his party would guide
him on how to campaign in a second
Brexit referendum, pledging to offer
voters a choice between staying in
the European Union and a “credible”
deal.
At the start of Labour’s annual
conference in the English seaside
resort of Brighton, Corbyn was
under renewed pressure from
party members and even some of
his top team to unequivocally back
remaining in the EU in any new vote.
Nigerian Tribune tribuneonlineng
08116954632
US President Donald Trump. Photo: AFP
to question the whistleblower,
whose identity remains secret.
Meanwhile, US President Donald
Trump has confirmed he raised the
subject of former Vice-President Joe
Biden and his son in a July phone call
with Ukrainian president Volodymyr
Zelensky.
But Mr Trump denied pressuring
Ukraine to investigate his potential
Democratic rival in next year’s
election.
His admission about July’s phone
call stoked calls for Democrats to
launch impeachment proceedings in
Congress.
US President Donald Trump,
arriving at the United Nations
General Assembly on Monday,
was asked about the possibility
of meeting Iranian leader Hassan
Rouhani after tensions over an attack
on Saudi oil facilities.
“We’ll see what happens,” Trump
told reporters.
Thomas Cook firm travels into bankruptcy,
leaves hundreds of thousands stranded
HUNDREDS of thousands of
holidaymakers were stranded on
Monday by the collapse of the
world’s oldest travel firm Thomas
Cook (TCG.L), sparking the largest
peacetime repatriation effort in
British history.
The liquidation marks the end of a
British company that started in 1841
running local rail excursions and grew
to pioneer the family package holiday.
Running hotels, resorts and airlines
for 19 million people a year, it has
around 600,000 people abroad and
will need the help of governments
and insurance firms to bring them
home from places as far afield as
Cancun, Cuba and Cyprus.
Thomas Cook’s demise, announced
in the early hours of Monday after it
failed to secure a deal with creditors or
a government bailout, sparked alarm
at hotels where some customers have
been asked to pay their bills anew by
out-of-pocket resort owners.
“I’m not going to pay for my holiday
again,” Englishman David Midson told
Reuters, trying to find information
at the front desk of a hotel in Roda,
Corfu. “I wish I had brought a driving
license, because I can’t get a taxi (to
TUESDAY,
24 SEPTEMBER, 2019
16-year-old Swedish
activist talks tough on
world leaders in UN
summit
SWEDISH campaigner Greta
Thunberg has made a passionate
speech to world leaders at the UN,
accusing them of failing to act on
climate change.
“You have stolen my dreams and
my childhood with your empty
words,” she told a UN climate
summit in New York.
About 60 world leaders are
taking part in the one-day meeting
organised by UN Secretary General
António Guterres.
He earlier said countries could
only speak at the summit if they
came with action plans to cut
carbon emissions.
US President Donald Trump, a
climate change sceptic, had not
been expected at the meeting -
but he was briefly spotted in the
audience.
“You have stolen my dreams and
my childhood with your empty
words,” the 16-year-old said.
And she urged world leaders to
act urgently, saying: “We will be
watching you.”
Mr Guterres, who organised the
meeting, said the world was “in a
deep climate hole” and that urgent
action was needed.
“Time is running out, but it’s not
too late,” he said.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel
said her country would double to
€4bn (£3.5bn; $4.4bn) it financial
commitment to fight global
warming.
French President Emmanuel
Macron said international
organisations had pledged to
release $500m in additional aid to
protect tropical forests.
the airport).”
As well as its 21,000 employees,
the company’s fall hit global booking
websites, credit card companies,
and travel firms using its airlines
and British high streets where its
travel agents were forced to shut.
Major holiday destinations including
Turkey and Greece also warned their
hoteliers would suffer.
Tour operators selling customers
transport, accommodation and
excursions in a single package have
been struggling for years due to the
rise of budget airlines and cheap
online competition from the likes of
Airbnb.
Some have carved out a niche in
specialist trips such as safaris. But
Thomas Cook struggled to adapt due
in part to a $2.1 billion debt pile built
up over a series of ill-fated deals. It
had to sell three million holidays a
year just to cover interest payments.
The company had agreed a 900
million pound rescue package with
its banks and largest shareholder,
China’s Fosun (1992.HK), but lenders
asked for an additional 200 million
pounds to keep it operating through
the winter.
33
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex,
Prince Harry and his wife Meghan,
are seen during a Justice Desk ini-
tiative in Nyanga township, on the
first day of their African tour in Cape
Town, South Africa, Sept. 23, 2019.
Photo: VOAnews
Harry, Meghan support girls’
empowerment project in first
royal tour of Africa
P
RINCE Harry and his wife,
Meghan, the Duchess of
Sussex, began their first
official tour as a family
Monday with their infant
son, Archie, in South Africa, with
Meghan declaring to cheers that “I
am here with you as a mother, as a
wife, as a woman, as a woman of
color and as your sister.”
The first day of their 10-day,
multi-country tour started in Cape
Town with visits to girls’ empow-
erment projects that teach rights
and self-defense. Harry danced a
bit as a musical welcome greeted
Seven dead, dozens injured as
school collapses in Nairobi
At least seven children have died
after a classroom collapsed at a pri-
mary school in the Kenyan capital
Nairobi, officials say.
The wooden structure at Pre-
cious Talent Top School collapsed
just minutes after the start of the
school day on Monday.
Dozens of people were injured
and have been taken to hospital in
the city. Emergency services are at
the scene.
Rescuers have reportedly had
difficulty getting to the school be-
cause of the large crowds that have
gathered nearby.
“We have regrettably lost seven
lives to this morning’s incident,”
Education Secretary George Ma-
goha told reporters outside the
school in Dagoretti. He added that
64 people had been injured.
The school’s director, Moses Ndi-
www.tribuneonlineng.com
AFRICA NEWS With: Seyi Gesinde
them in the township of Nyanga,
whose location was not made pub-
lic in advance because of security
concerns.
Violent crime is so deadly in
parts of Cape Town that South Af-
rica’s military has been deployed in
the city, and its stay was extended
last week.
The royal couple also was meet-
ing with former residents of District
Six, a vibrant mixed-race community
that was relocated from the inner
city during South Africa’s harsh pe-
riod of apartheid, or white minority
rule, that ended in 1994.
rangu, blamed the collapse on the
construction of a nearby sewer,
which he said may have weakened
the foundations of the building.
The collapse happened shortly
before 07:00 local time and dozens
of children were rushed away from
the scene.
The Kenyan Red Cross transferred
some children to the Kenyatta Na-
tional Hospital. Two of the injured
were reported to be in a critical
condition.
The first floor of the building col-
lapsed and trapped the children
below, local politician John Kia-
rie told the NTV Kenya television
channel.
Angry locals complained about
the slow emergency response.
The government said it had
opened an investigation into the
Nigerian Tribune @nigeriantribune
foreignnewseditor@gmail.com
Their visit also will focus on wild-
life protection, entrepreneurship,
mental health and mine clearance
— a topic given global attention by
Harry’s late mother, Princess Diana,
when she walked through an active
mine field during an Africa visit years
ago.
Harry later this week will break
away for visits to Botswana, Angola
and Malawi.
The couple arrived in a South Af-
rica still shaken by the rape and mur-
der of a university student, carried
out in a post office, that sparked pro-
tests by thousands of women tired
Debris of the collapsed building. Photo: Kenya Red Cross
cause of the accident.
Images on social media showed
hundreds of residents gath-
ered around the site as rescu-
ers search through the rubble.
Books, desks and chairs could
be seen amongst the debris.
“I had just dropped my son to
school and heard screams on
my way back,” Margaret Mu-
thoni, whose four-year-old son
was injured, told the AFP news
agency.
Nigerian Tribune tribuneonlineng
08116954632
of abuse and impunity in a country
where more than 100 rapes are re-
ported every day.
This is “one of the most unsafe
places in the world to be a woman,”
President Cyril Ramaphosa said last
week, announcing new emergency
measures and vowing to be tougher
on perpetrators.
While the royal visit wasn’t caus-
ing the kind of excitement seen at
times in other parts of the Common-
wealth, some in South Africa said
they were happy to see the arrival
of Meghan, who has been vocal
about women’s rights.
The private school is located
near Nairobi’s well-known Ngong
Racecourse and more than 800
pupils are thought to attend.
The BBC’s correspondent in
Nairobi says that many Kenyans
prefer private schools are pre-
ferred to state schools, consid-
ering them superior.
Free primary school educa-
tion, introduced by the Kenyan
government in 2003, has led to
overcrowding.
TUESDAY,
24 SEPTEMBER, 2019
DRC approves
use of second
experimental
Ebola vaccine
THE Democratic Republic of Con-
go will introduce a second Ebola
vaccine next month, the World
Health Organization said Mon-
day, as a top medical charity ac-
cused the UN agency of rationing
doses of the main drug to protect
against the disease.
DRC’s latest Ebola epidemic,
which began in August 2018, has
killed more than 2,100 people,
making it the second deadliest
outbreak of the virus, after the
West Africa pandemic of 2014-
2016.
Ebola fighters have been hin-
dered by chronic insecurity in
the affected provinces of eastern
DRC, but much of the controversy
surrounding the response has
centred on the use of vaccines.
More than 223,000 people liv-
ing in active Ebola transmission
zones have received a vaccination
produced by the pharma giant
Merck.
The WHO has for month been
pushing Kinshasa to approve
the use of a second experimen-
tal product, made by Johnson &
Johnson, to protect those living
outside of direct transmission
zones.
The J&J vaccine had been re-
jected by DRC’s former health
minister Oly Ilunga, who cited the
risks of introducing a new product
in communities where mistrust of
Ebola responders is already high.
But Ilunga’s resignation in July
appeared to pave the way for ap-
proval of the second vaccine.
Ugandan leader
questions US
sanctions against
former protégé
UGANDA’S longtime leader is dis-
puting United States sanctions tar-
geting a former protege accused of
rights violations during his role as
police boss between 2005 and 2018.
President Yoweri Museveni on
Sunday said Gen. Kale Kayihura’s al-
leged offenses “will be handled in
Uganda.”
The sanctions are widely seen in
Uganda as sending a strong message
to Museveni about alleged corrup-
tion and rights violations.
Museveni says his government will
never hand any Ugandan to global
justice mechanisms such as the In-
ternational Criminal Court, even
though his country is a state party to
the statute creating the ICC.
The US this month blocked Kayihu-
ra’s assets and imposed a travel ban
on him and family members, saying
units under his command commit-
ted “serious human rights abuses.”
He also is accused of corruption and
bribery.
34
Diversification: How policy can succeed —Oyetola
O
SUN State gov-
ernor, Adeg-
boyega Oyetola,
has described
the diversifica-
tion policy of the Federal
Government as one that is
appropriate and on the right
course.
He also said for the diversi-
fication policy to succeed, all
sectors must adopt and in-
tegrate it into their schemes
African agric
suffering due
to unnecessary
importation
—Bagudu
Collins Nnabuife | Abuja
KEBBI State, governor, Al-
haji Atiku Bagudu, has said
that African agricultural
sector is currently suffering
a serious setback due to the
way food which could be
produced locally were im-
ported from industrialised
world.
The governor also said
that due to the way the in-
dustrialised world protect
their farmers by limiting
food importation, and pro-
viding subsidies, the African
farmers had been unable to
compete favorably with its
counterpart in the industri-
alised world.
Governor Bagudu dis-
closed this on Monday in
Abuja at the sixth African
Association of Agricultural
Economists (AAAE) triennial
conference.
“Nigerian agriculture is on
the right track, but as I said
earlier during my remarks,
African agriculture gener-
ally, is suffering the distor-
tions coming from largely
the industrialised world
because the industrialised
world distort agricultural
production.
“There are many commod-
ities we should be exporting
to the industrialised world
or more which we should
be importing, but because
of the way they protect their
market, they subsidise their
farmers that we are unable
to compete with them”, the
governor said.
Lassa fever hits Benue, claims one
Johnson Babajide
| Makurdi
BENUE State Commissioner
for Health and Human Ser-
vices, Dr Sunday Ongbabo,
has confirmed that lassa fe-
ver has hit the state with a
person alread dead.
According to the state-
ment by the commissioner,
there was one index with
death of a person.
Ongbabo said that the
ministry had dispatched
www.tribuneonlineng.com
news
and collaborate appropri-
ately, adding that “when
this is done, the economy
will achieve the desired sym-
phony and there will be rapid
and cohesive development”.
Oyetola spoke on Monday
at the opening ceremony of
the International Conference
of the Faculty of Technology,
Obafemi Awolowo University
(OAU), Ile-Ife.
Speaking on the theme:
From left, former Commissioner for Information in Ondo State, Mr Kayode Akinmade; newly decorated Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN)
and Regional Overseer, Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministries, Lakue Region, Lagos, Pastor Oyebanji Emmanuel and the Senior Re-
gional Overseer, Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministries, Lugbe Region, Abuja, Pastor Olumide Oni, during the decoration of new SANs
in Abuja, on Monday.
Wike lifts suspension on employment at Rivers varsity
Onyema Godwin
| Port Harcourt
RIVERS State governor, Nye-
som Wike, has directed the
Governing Council of the
Rivers State University to
continue with the suspended
employment exercise for ac-
ademic and non-academic
staff members of the univer-
sity.
The governor gave the
directive during the inau-
guration of the university’s
Students’ Union building, on
Monday on the university
premises, saying that he was
compelled to suspend the
exercise because of the neg-
ative issues that bedevilled it.
According to him: “I sus-
pended the process for the
employment exercise due
combined surveillance
team to the area to comb
the place for contract trac-
ing.
According to the state-
ment, “This is to alert
members of the public
that there is outbreak of
vira hemorrhagic fever
(lassa fever) in the neigh-
bouring states of Nasa-
rawa, Taraba and Plateau,
among the 19 states of the
federation since August
2019 till date.
Nigerian Tribune
Diversification of Develop-
ing Economies: Imperatives
for Sustainable Environment
and Technological Innova-
tions, Oyetola, who bagged
the Obafemi Awolowo Uni-
versity’s Excellence Award in
Public Administration on the
occasion, also described the
theme of the conference as
a worthy domestication of
the diversification of the eco-
nomic policy of the Federal
to the issues that emanated
from it. The committee that I
set up to investigate the pro-
cess has turned in its report.
“I am satisfied with the
report of the committee.
Therefore, I have informed
the pro-chancellor to go
ahead with the employment
exercise”.
Wike said unlike other
leaders, he has never inter-
fered with admission and
employment processes of
any institution in the state,
pointing out that his trans-
parent approach to adminis-
tration gave him the moral
power to discipline erring
officials.
The governor approved
the construction of an ultra-
modern Senate Building for
the Rivers State University,
“So far, 60 confirmed
cases with 16 deaths have
been recorded nationwide
“Benue State has con-
firmed one index case as of
September 14, 2019, with
one death. The combined
surveillance team has al-
ready visited to comb the
area for contract tracing.
the statement said.”
The ministry, however, ad-
vised members of the pub-
lic on the mode of transmis-
sion and prevention.
@nigeriantribune Nigerian Tribune
Government.
He reaffirmed the govern-
ment’s commitment to take
the state to the next level of
developmental strides.
He pledged the govern-
ment’s determination to con-
tinue to harness the poten-
tial of the state and advance
her economy for the good of
the citizens.
The governor, who reiter-
ated the administration’s de-
pledging that if the pro-chan-
cellor and the acting vice
-chancellor made the design
available on time, the build-
ing would be completed by
the first anniversary of his
second term.
He called on the Students’
Union leadership to use the
new facility to fight cultism,
harrassment of female stu-
dents and examination mal-
practices.
He charged the acting vice-
chancellor to be firm and
ensure that the university
continues to move forward.
Pro-Chancellor of the uni-
versity, Justice Iche Ndu,
said the completion of the
Students’ Union building is
the sixth major project com-
pleted by Governor Wike in
the institution.
Omolewa to deliver UI lecture Oct 2
FORMER Nigeria’s Perma-
nent Ambassador to the
United Nations Educational,
Scientific and Cultural Organ-
isation (UNESCO), Emeritus
Professor Michael Omolewa,
will deliver the 70th anniver-
sary lecture of the Depart-
ment of Adult Education,
University of Ibadan, Ibadan,
on October 2.
Omolewa’s speech to be
delivered at the Otunba Su-
bomi Balogun Conference
Centre of the university will
revolve around the theme,
tribuneonlineng
termination towards building
a ‘modern Osun State’, said
government would not be
deterred by the dwindling
financial resources in its re-
solve to build a virile state
that all and sundry will be
proud of.
Represented by the Super-
visor, Ministry of Budget and
Economic Planning, Professor
Olalekan Yinusa, the governor
said the state was ready to
He assured the governor
that the Governing Council
and the management of
the institution would work
towards making the univer-
sity a world-class institution.
The pro-chancellor ap-
pealed to students to use
the new building to fight
vices, stressing that the uni-
versity should be a centre of
learning.
The acting vice-chancel-
lor, Professor Opuenebo
Owei, described the de-
livery of the building as a
milestone in the annals of
students unionism history.
She said: “This is a mile-
stone in the annals of stu-
dents unionism history. It
gives the students a sense
of belonging as major stake-
holders.”
“70 years of inspiring gener-
ations for greater heights.”
Founder , Afe Babalola Uni-
versity, Ado Ekiti, Chief Afe
Babalola, will be the chair-
man on the occasion, while
the vice-chancellor of the
university, Professor Idowu
Olayinka, will be the chief
host.
Also expected at the event
are head of the department,
Professor R. A. Aderinoye;
Professor I. A. Abiona. Dr U.
C. Osu; former and current
students of the department.
TUESDAY
24 SEPTEMBER, 2019
partner the university, particu-
larly in the area of human and
capital development.
Earlier, the vice chancellor
of the university, Professor
Eyitayo Ogunbodede, had
applauded the faculty for the
choice of the theme of the
conference which he noted,
was aimed at challenging
the nation on the need to
strengthen its economic di-
versification policy.
Participate
in politics,
former Edo
SSG tells
Christians
Hendrix Oliomogbe
| Benin City
A former Secretary to Edo
State Government (SSG),
Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu, has
advised Christians not to be
discouraged but to continue
participating in politics.
Ize-Iyamu, a former
Peoples Democratic Party
(PDP) governorship candi-
date in Edo State,
argued that even though,
the political climate in the
country was rough, it was
not an enough reason for
Christians to leave it for peo-
ple with questionable char-
acters, while those who are
of moral standard fold their
arms and watch from the
sidelines.
The senior pastor with the
Redeemed Christian Church
of God (RCCG), who spoke
with journalists in Benin
City, the state capital, at the
weekend, disclosed that he
was still in politics because
of his belief that things will
only get worse if believers
refrain from politics.
He challenged Nigerians
with integrity to come out
and take up political role so
as to salvage the nation from
its present state.
“I do not want to just say
only Christians because I
can see that there are Mus-
lims who are decent, but the
key word is that we must
encourage decent men and
women, people who fear
God whether as a Christian
or Muslim.
“Let them come in, at
least, they will have a con-
science and they will say
no, let us use this money
to assist the poor people.”
Ize-Iyamu said Nigerians are
suffering today because the
elected leaders had con-
verted a greater part of the
money meant for develop-
ment of the country for their
personal use, adding that
there was the need for a
paradigmn shift.
35
Xenophobia: Six Nigerian students cancel trip for
robotics competition in South Africa
T
HE six Nigerian stu-
dents that will rep-
resent the country
at the Africa Robot-
ics Challenge (ARC)
in South Africa on September
28, have cancelled their trip
to the country for safety.
The students announced
the cancellation of their trip
at news conference on Mon-
day in Lagos, saying that the
organisers had failed to guar-
antee their safety through-
out the duration of the com-
petition.
The students are Tirenio-
luwa Shobande, 18, a 100
level systems engineering
student of the University of
Lagos (UNILAG); Ifeoluwa
Aigbiniode, 15, of Yaba
College of Technology Sec-
ondary School, and Jeffrey
Nwafor, 15, of S-TEE inter-
Chevron to build
N200m mother and
child hospital in Ondo
Hakeem Gbadamosi|Akure
THE people of oil-rich Ilaje
Local Government Area
of Ondo State have com-
mended the oil giant, Chev-
ron Nigeria Limited (CNL),
for identifying and provid-
ing solution to the major
health challenge facing the
people of the area.
Speaking on behalf of the
people, chairman of the
Amalgamation of Ilaje Ugbo
Coastal Communities Asso-
ciation (AMAICOMMA), Mr
Pius Orisabinone, during a
town hall meeting said all
arrangements had been
completed by CNL to con-
struct a N200 million ultra-
modern hospital for women
and children in the oil-pro-
ducing area of Ilaje.
Orisabinone, who said
the project would be cited
in Ode Ugbo, said “the es-
sence of this meeting is to
brief our people on how
far we have gone and what
we are planning to do. We
have built walk-ways and
jetties from which over 40
communities have benefit-
ted.
“We also have mother
and child hospital coming
on the way. It is going to be
a world-class hospital and
over N200 million has been
set aside for it”.
Orisabinone, who said
that the project would start
soon, expressed optimism
that the project would be
completed and inaugurated
before the end of the first
quarter of 2020.
He added that the fund
for the project was already
available, saying, that all
major stakeholders such as
Chevron, the state govern-
www.tribuneonlineng.com
national School. Others
are, 19-year-old Kolawole
Olatunji, a 100 level com-
puter science education
student of Lagos State Uni-
versity (LASU); Toluwanimi
Akinola, 15, Dansol High
School and Aromolaran Do-
minion, 14 of Supreme Edu-
cation Foundation.
The national coordinator,
Mrs Remi Willoughby, said
that the organisers had in-
formed her of their inability
to provide adequate security
and guarantee the safety of
the students while in South
Africa.
Willoughby said the orga-
nisers hinted that while in
South Africa, the Nigerian
competitors would neither
disclose their nationality
nor will they be able to go
out for sightseeing for the
ment and (AMAICOMMA)
were aware of the plan and
ready for it.
“We do not have an issue
with funding; it is already
available and nothing can
stop the project because we
have signed the tripartite
agreement.
“The community-driven
project will go a long way in
tackling health problems in
our locality.
“We are putting an end to
the frequent death of our
people in the course of tran-
sit to receive medical treat-
ment in Ondo and Akure
towns,” he said.
The chairman promised
that accessing health-care
services in the hospital
when completed would be
highly affordable, saying
that its workforce would
also benefit indigenes of
the area.
Orisabinone called on the
Federal Government and
the international commu-
nity to rescue Ayetoro, a
town in the area, that is be-
ing affected by sea flooding.
According to him, the chal-
lenge is beyond the com-
munity and the state gov-
ernment.
Also speaking, Mrs Busola
Babalola, the Programme
Manager of Participatory
Partnership for Commu-
nity Development (PPCD),
Warri, said that PPCD had
been able to carry out ca-
pacity building programme
through AMAICOMMA.
Babalola noted that PPCD
was funded by Chevron, and
that its major roles are to
enlighten, mentor and carry
out resource mobilisation
programmes for oil-produc-
ing areas in Nigeria.
Nigerian Tribune
duration of the competi-
tion.
According to her, the host
said that the event would not
be given publicity and that no
one else will be invited to wit-
ness the competition.
“This competition we are
supposed to go for is Africa
Robotics Challenge, it is a
product of first Robotics
Challenge which we have
been going for in the last few
years.
“We planned to go to South
Africa for this robotics com-
petition which is basically
supposed to be for few Af-
rican countries and would
have been held on Septem-
ber 28.
“However, we will not be
attending because of the
situation in South Africa cur-
rently.
Kaduna State governor, Mallam Nasir el-Rufai, taking his son, Abubakar Al-Siddique el-Rufai, for enrolement as a Primary One pupil of Capital
School, Kaduna, on Monday.
el-Rufai enrols son in public primary school
GOVERNOR Nasir el-Rufai
of Kaduna State on Mon-
day enrolled his six-year-old
child, Abubakar in primary
one at Capital School Malali,
Kaduna, a public school, in
fulfillment of a promise he
made in 2017.
The News Agency of Nige-
ria (NAN) reports that el-Ru-
fai had in a state broadcast in
December 2017, promised
to enroll his child in a pub-
lic school when he turns six
years.
“The move is part of re-
forms to revamp public
schools in the state to make
500 benefit from surgical intervention in Kwara
Biola Azeez | Ilorin
ABOUT 500 beneficiaries are
expected to benefit from a
week-long free medical and
surgical interventions funded
by the Kwara State govern-
ment in collaboration with
some local and foreign med-
ical associations.
According to a statement
@nigeriantribune Nigerian Tribune
“And the fact that I cannot
personally guarantee the
safety of the students while
there, and with our host tell-
ing us that even if we come, it
will not be announced.
“That we have to come qui-
etly and we will not wear our
Nigeria T-shirts and that the
bus that will convey us will
not display our logo of Green,
White, Green, so how can we
proudly showcase our coun-
try?”
According to her, beyond
the host not guaranteeing
safety, there is the need to
support our brothers and
sisters who have not been
treated fairly in South Africa.
She added that, attending
the competition would also
be like betrayal of trust; we
are also glad the parents of
the students agreed that it
them more competitive.
“We are determined to fix
public education and raise
their standards so that pri-
vate education will become
only a luxury.
“As we make progress, we
will require our senior offi-
cials to enroll their children in
public schools.
“And I will by personal ex-
ample ensure that my son
will be six years of age soon
and will be enrolled in a pub-
lic school in Kaduna State, by
God’s grace,” el-Rufai had
said.
Briefing newsmen shortly
by the Special Adviser to the
Governor on Health Matters,
Professor Wale Sulaiman, in
Ilorin on Monday, the inter-
ventions, which will involve
procedures such as cataract,
glaucoma, hernia, and neu-
rosurgery, among others, are
in partnership with the Kwara
State Association of Nigeria
USA, Sakinah Medical Out-
tribuneonlineng
was not safe to make the trip.
“So, we decided it was not
the best thing to risk the lives
of the students at this time in
the name of a competition.”
One of the students, Aigbin-
iode expressed disappoint-
ment over the situation, say-
ing they had worked hard for
the competition.
She, however, said it was
not all disappointing mo-
ments “because we learnt
the process of building and
developing a robot.”
She said that, the compe-
tition was basically on First
Tech Challenge and on Space
Mission .
For Tirenioluwa, Robotics is
like any other game or com-
petition that brings people
together no matter the race
or tribe.
“I see robotics going very
after he enrolled the child,
el-Rufai explained that, it
was a commitment that had
been fulfilled.
“I made that commitment
because I believe that it is only
when all political leaders have
their children in public schools
that we will pay due attention
to quality of public education.
“I went to a public school
like this. In fact, the school I
went to is not as good as this
one, but here I am, because
of the quality teaching I got.
“My intention is to ensure
that all our public schools
offer quality education, and
reach, and the Kwara State
chapter of the Nigeria Medi-
cal Association (NMA).
Professor Sulaiman said
that the Ilorin General Hos-
pital would take care of resi-
dents of Ilorin, the state capi-
tal, and that general hospitals
in Offa, Kaiama, Lafiagi would
cater for residents in other
parts of the state.
TUESDAY,
24 SEPTEMBER, 2019
news
far not only in the aspect of
being a game but helping dif-
ferent countries to solve is-
sues and develop technology.
“It is a great era for us to
expand to prove to the world
that African countries have
advanced in technology, ” he
said.
The News Agency of Nige-
ria (NAN) reports that ‘What
is techtarget.com’ defines
robotics as a branch of engi-
neering that involves the con-
ception, design, manufacture
and operation of robots.
This field overlaps with
electronics, computer sci-
ence, artificial intelligence,
mechatronics, nanotechnol-
ogy and bio-engineering.
A robot is a machine de-
signed to execute one or
more tasks automatically
with speed and precision.
so we are encouraging all
our senior public servants to
send their children to public
schools.
“Once the public schools
are improved to a point they
are nearly as good or even
better than private schools,
no one will waste his money
taking his child to private
school,” he said.
Ummi el-Rufai, the mother of
the child said: “l am glad that
we are able to send a strong
message to our leaders and
the elites, that we need to
start making things work from
within our homes.”
Slated to hold between Sep-
tember 23 and 27, the surgi-
cal interventions are a follow
-up to the state-wide medical
mission during which doctors
attended to over 2500 pa-
tients suffering from various
ailments and offered medical
advice and medical screen-
ings across most of the gen-
eral hospitals in the state.
36
Audu/Faleke political group returns to APC
Stories by Yekini Jimoh
T
| Lokoja
HE political struc-
ture of the late for-
mer Governor Abu-
bakar Audu and his
running mate, Hon-
ourable James Faleke, in the
African Democratic Congress
(ADC) has returned to the All
PDP
stakeholders
endorse
Wada/Aro
STAKEHOLDERS and lead-
ers of the Peoples Demo-
cratic Party (PDP) in Kogi
West senatorial district
on Monday endorsed the
joint ticket of Mr Musa
Wada and Samuel Bam-
idele Aro as their choice
for the November 16 gov-
ernorship election in the
state.
The endorsement was
made in Lokoja during a
meeting of the party’s
stakeholders in the sena-
torial district, which was
chaired by the party’s
zonal chairman, Sam
Abenemi.
Speaking on the occa-
sion, the party’s national
publicity secretary, Kola
Ologbondiya, urged stake-
holders to put aside their
grievances which arose
from the governorship
primaries and form a
common front to ensure
victory for the party and
its standard bearer in the
governorship election.
Ologbondiyan said the
party’s national chairman,
Uche Secondus, was com-
mitted to ongoing reconcili-
ation efforts aimed at bring-
ing all aggrieved members
in the state on board ahead
of the election.
In his remarks, running
mate to the governorship
candidate, Mr Aro, thanked
the party’s stakeholders for
the endorsement, while
promising not to betray
the confidence reposed in
them.
Aro appealed to all those
still aggrieved to put the
outcome of the primaries
behind them and join hands
for the party’s success in
the poll.
THE candidate of the Grass-
roots Development Party of
Nigeria (GDPN) in Kogi State,
Mr Dele Bello-Williams, has
said his decision to join the
governorship race is to res-
cue residents of the state
from poverty.
Bello-Williams said: “If you
have a conscience and you
watch a people live a fate
worse than death, then your
www.tribuneonlineng.com
Progressives Congress (APC).
Members of the politi-
cal group, numbering over
2,000, were led back to the
APC on Sunday in Kabba, the
political headquarters of Kogi
West senatorial district, by
Chief Benjamin Olowodola.
Chief Olowodola told the
gathering that the defectors
were originally members of
Running mate of the candidate of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for Kogi election, Sam Aro (left), being introduced to party members
by the deputy chairman of the party in Kogi West senatorial district, Mr Kola Ojo, in Lokoja, on Monday. Photo Yekini Jimoh
Prepare your handover notes now, Akpoti tells Bello
THE candidate of the Social
Democratic Party (SDP) in
the forthcoming governor-
ship election in Kogi State,
Natasha Akpoti, has called
on Governor Yahaya Bello,
to start preparing his han-
dover notes, saying she
would defeat him in the No-
vember 16 poll.
This was contained in a
statement signed by the
spokesperson of the Natasha
Akpoti Campaign Organisa-
tion, Odaudu Joel Minister,
a copy of which was made
available to the Nigerian Tri-
bune in Lokoja on Monday.
Akpoti said: ‘We are set,
and by the grace of God and
We are tired of deputy governorship position in Kogi West, says Isah
THE immediate past House
of Representatives member
representing Lokoja/Kogi
federal constituency, Hon-
ourable Haruna Isah, has
said that Kogi West sena-
torial district is tired of pro-
Why I want to be governor —Bello-Williams
spirit must be on the verge
of being broken. However,
I stand today to say that all
hope is not lost.
“Being a witness to the
crushing poverty in the lives
of people across a small
pond from solid mineral pro-
duction platforms, while also
receiving complaints from
various quarters that family
members continue to die
Nigerian Tribune
APC but only went on sab-
batical sojourn to the ADC
“and we have now seen the
light and have decided to re-
turn home.”
The political leader said
that it was not unusual for
members to disagree on
principle, “but the disagree-
ment we had in the APC has
been resolved, hence our de-
the support of Kogites, the
SDP shall win the November
16 election and form a de-
sired people-centred gov-
ernment, which will engen-
der the transformational
leadership that will break
the Kogi people loose from
the shackles of poverty op-
pression of the outgoing
administration.
“The Natasha/Khalid
ticket will stimulate a desir-
able path to the expected
economic development
Kogi needs, as well as the
emancipation and rebuild-
ing of the state.”
The SDP candidate further
stated that Governor Bel-
ducing the deputy governor,
while saying the district will
go for the number one job
in the state in 2023.
Speaking in Kabba when
some members of the Af-
rican Democratic Congress
untimely due to accidents
triggered by the hardly mo-
torable state of Kogi roads
leaves me with a feeling of
despondency.”
He said the feedback he
received encouraged him
to embark on the journey
to rescue the state from a
government that had impov-
erished the majority of the
people and turned the state
@nigeriantribune Nigerian Tribune
cision to return.”
Receiving the defectors,
Speaker of the state House
of Assembly, Honourable
Mathew Kolawole, called on
those yet to make up their
mind to return to the party.
Honourable Kolawole said:
“It is now clear that the APC
is firmly rooted in Kogi West
senatorial district, while the
lo’s days in the Government
House were already num-
bered in view of his poor
performance in the last four
years.
“Today, the unscientific
and archaic policies of the
Bello administration have
taken Kogi 1,000 years
backwards. Kogi urgently
requires a deliverer and the
people will vote for me be-
cause they know I have all
it takes to make the state
number one in Nigeria,” she
said.
The SDP candidate said
her choice of Khalid as run-
ning mate was hinged on his
competence, capacity and
(ADC) defected to the All
Progressives Congress
(APC), Isah said the people
of Kogi West were no longer
comfortable playing second
fiddle politically in the state.
He said: “Come 2023, we
into a huge joke
The GDPN standard bearer,
while lamenting the level
of development in the state
despite its being rich in solid
minerals, said his govern-
ment would focus on the
economy, infrastructure, ed-
ucation, healthcare, youth
and women empowerment if
elected governor.
“Kogi State receives very
tribuneonlineng
Peoples Democratic Party
(PDP) is dead and buried in
the state.
“Therefore, Governor Ya-
haya Bello’s ambition of a
second term in office de-
serves the support of every-
body in Kogi West in view of
how he has carried the zone
along in his administration.
“Let us support the present
merit as a good leader and
astute administrator which
had been demonstrated in
his various fields of endeav-
our.
“Engr. Khalid is an embodi-
ment of integrity and loyalty
to everyone around him. He
is an intelligent personality
full of logical ideas and wis-
dom, and greatly endowed
with excellent communica-
tion and interpersonal skills
required to lead a people.
“Moreover, he is a man of
strong character with a living
conscience and highly char-
ismatic. My choice of him
is hinged on these traits in
him,” the SDP candidate said.
want the governor of the
state to come from Kogi
West senatorial district, as
we are tired of deputy gov-
ernorship position.
“Governor Yahaya Bello
has done well and he de-
huge allocations from the
federation account, yet ex-
treme poverty exists in the
state. Little of these fiscal
transfers from the federation
account that enter the state
circulates in the state.
“In Kogi State, my con-
science kills me and that
is why I am in the race to
change the situation of
things,” he said.
TUESDAY,
24 SEPTEMBER, 2019
kogi2019
administration of GYB, and
who knows, it might be our
turn in 2023.”
Also speaking during the
occasion, Senator Smart Ad-
eyemi expressed joy that the
returning members would
use their political clout to
work for the victory of Alhaji
Bello in the forthcoming gov-
ernorship election.
Ex-gov
Wada’s
aide rallies
support for
Bello
A former Special Adviser on
Media and Strategy to the
immediate past governor
of Kogi State, Mr Jacob Edi,
has called on the people of
the state to give their sup-
port to the second term am-
bition of Governor Yahaya
Bello.
Speaking with newsmen
in Lokoja, Edi, a journal-
ist by profession, said he
defected to the All Pro-
gressives Congress (APC),
where he worked as Head
of Research at the party’s
national secretariat in
Abuja during the last pres-
idential election.
He said: “I left the Peoples
Democratic Party (PDP) due
to certain developments
just before the presidential
primaries. I am in the APC
now and I am supporting
Governor Bello for a second
term considering his perfor-
mance in office.
“However, I am confident
that he will perform better
in his second term; my peo-
ple in Bassa Local Govern-
ment Area of the state are
desirous of more develop-
mental projects.
“We had been margina-
lised a lot in the past and we
believe that Governor Bello
will do more than he has al-
ready done when he wins a
second term in office.”
serves a second term in
office, so we must support
him so that the APC wins
the November 16 governor-
ship election and by 2023,
the Kogi West district can
produce the governor.”
Bello-Williams then urged
the Independent National
Electoral Commission (INEC)
to create a level playing field
for all party candidates.
He also called for debates
on television and town hall
meetings in the three sena-
torial districts, campuses and
markets among party candi-
dates to state their vision and
policies to improve the state.
37

SP RT
TUESDAY,
www.tribuneonlineng.com Nigerian Tribune @nigeriantribune Nigerian Tribune tribuneonlineng 24 SEPTEMBER, 2019

FIFA I’m not bothered

President Euphoria of US
Open title win by Mourinho
blows hot over calling for my
on Italian —Andreescu sack
racists —Solksjaer

Brazil in club,
Joshua forced into
Saudi rematch
—Andy Ruiz

country row
Unified heavyweight champion Andy
Ruiz Jr believes Anthony Joshua was
forced into an immediate rematch with
him after losing his IBF, WBA and WBO
heavyweight titles in New York in June.

ahead Eagles’
The Mexican-American dropped Joshua
four times at Madison Square Garden be-
fore stopping him in the seventh round.
Ruiz Jr is now set to defend his titles against

friendly
the Brit in Saudi Arabia on December 7.
“They’re forcing him to go straight to
the rematch,” said Ruiz Jr in a training
video showing him hit the pads with

B
RAZIL coach Tite has called up
seven home-based players for
the October friendlies against
Nigeria and Senegal, reigniting
the debate about Brazil’s club
and international calendar.
Tite included goalkeepers Weverton
(Palmeiras) and Aderbar Santos (Ath-
letico Paranaense), Matheus Henrique
and Everton (Grêmio), Daniel Alves (São
Paulo) and Rodrigo Caio and Gabriel
Barbosa (Flamengo) in his 23-man squad
for warm-up games in Singapore against
West African opposition next month.
As a result, the seven-home based play-
ers will miss the 24th and 25th round of
the Brazilian topflight.
This is bad news for league leaders
Flamengo, runners-up Palmeiras, and
Gremio, who, like the Rio club, are still
in contention in the Copa Libertadores,
the South American equivalent of the
Champions League. In total, Flamengo
could miss up to six players during the
international break with Giorgian De Ar-
rascaeta and Orlando Berrío selected for
Uruguay and Colombia respectively and
Piris da Motta a potential inclusion in the
Paraguayan squad.
However, Tite and the CBF were not
willing to cede much ground. Tite had
previously indicated that he’d only call
up one player per Brazilian club for the
October trip to Asia.
“There is another side to the issue,”
said Tite. “The team, the preparation,
those that are called up I know it’s hard
to understand, but we have to deliver
performance and results. This requires
preparation. I have maximum fairness,
care and common sense.”
“Incidentally, the calendar is not from
the CBF. It’s from the clubs too. It’s much
more decisive in the Brazilian Cup than in
a league. There are controversies, there
are situations that can be defended on
both sides. Each one looks for the situ-
ation that they think is best.”
trainer Manny Robles.
“I think he wanted to do something a
little different, to go through a different
route and then face me.
“But it is what it is, we’re fighting in
Saudi Arabia and I’m excited.”
The 29-year-old embarked on a three
city, three country media tour with
Joshua earlier this month that took in Dir-
iyah, New York and London.
Ruiz Jr said he sensed Joshua still has
doubts about the rematch following the
way he was manhandled in the first bout.
“We all have doubts, but it’s our choice
to overcome them,” Ruiz Jr said.
“I got that vibe off him. His eyes are
focused and all that. But deep inside we
don’t know what he’s really thinking.”

CHAN Eagles couldn’t have won in Lome —Imama

SUPER Eagles head coach Imama Amapakabo, says his players
were rusty prior to Sunday’s 1-4 loss to Togo in a African Nations
Championship qualifier.
Togo’s Nane Richard cancelled out Ibrahim Sunusi’s opener be-
fore the half-time break and the SparrowHawks came out fighting
in the second half.
Three goals inside 25 minutes, including another from Richard,
stunned the Nigerian side as the hosts built an unassailable lead in
the first-leg second round match.
Nigeria’s hopes of reaching the CHAN tournament, exclusive to
players based in their Country, hangs in the balance, and Imama has
suggested he would take the fall should the Nigeria Football Federa-
tion (NFF), move to replace him before the second-leg next month.
“I take absolute responsibility for the outcome,” the coach told
Brila FM.
The NPFL, where all the players were selected from has been in
the off-season for over 100 days, and though match rustiness could
have been a factor on Sunday, Imama says “I don’t want to make
excuses for failure”.
He however, admits he could lose his job, but insists pre-game ex-
pectations of an Eagles win was unrealistic and it would have been
“magic”.
“Nigerians don’t understand, there’s a process to success, people
want us to beat Togo 20-0 but football is not magic.”

Two jailed over Sala’s mortuary footage

A CCTV company director and her employee have
been jailed for illegally accessing footage of footballer
Emiliano Sala’s body in a mortuary.
Judge Peter Crabtree jailed 49-year-old Sherry Bray
for 14 months and 62-year-old Christopher Ashford for
five months.
Ms Bray and Mr Ashford took photos of CCTV footage
Bray and Ashford of Sala’s body and replayed the footage repeatedly.
The court heard that Bray had sent a message to Ash-
ford before his shift, which said: “There’s a nice one on
the table for you to watch when you’re next in.”
Evidence revealed that Bray had taken a picture of
another body and the prosecutor said she was setting
a culture at work where “both she and members of
staff would watch as and when autopsies were on the
mortuary CCTV footage”.
 38
FIFA President worried by racism in Italy
I have celebrated win over
Serena enough —US Open queen
BIANCA Andreescu wants to
stay focused on doing her best
following her maiden Grand
Slam title win over Serena Wil-
liams in the US Open final. The
Canadian player said: “It’s time
to move on to the next after to-
day, after all this media stuff.
“Of course, I’ll celebrate a little
bit and I’ll see my friends. But I’m
still focused on what’s to come”.
On her future, Andreescu ad-
mitted that staying healthy will
be the key: “If I’m healthy then
I think I can do even bigger
things in the sport.
One of an athlete’s biggest
enemies is being injured be-
cause we’re sitting on our
butts watching people play
when we’re injured. I don’t
think any athlete likes that. The
main goal right now is to stay
as healthy as I can because I’ve
been injured quite a bit in my
short career”.
www.tribuneonlineng.com Nigerian Tribune @nigeriantribune Nigerian Tribune tribuneonlineng
TUESDAY,
24 SEPTEMBER, 2019
sport
Nigeria invitation came
sooner than I expected
—Joe Aribo
S
UPER Eagles mid- tion’. I didn’t really expect it,’’
fielder Joe Aribo was Aribo told Rangers TV, accord-
one of the standout ing to Inside Futbol.
players in Rangers “I thought it may come later,
4-0 victory over St but it just shows what platform
Johnstone on Sunday. Rangers is and being able to be
The 23-year-old has been noticed so soon has made me
enjoying a massive transfor- just very happy.’’
mation in his career since his Aribo didn’t just make his
move to the Scottish side from international bow against
Charlton Athletic which earned Ukraine, he equally scored his
him a debut call-up to the Su-
per Eagles against Ukraine.
first goal for the country four
minutes into the game. Mourinho free to
Reacting to his first in-
ternational call-up,
“And to score in such early
time, my heart was just beating call for my sack
Aribo said that he
was surprised to
fast during the game and it was
just an amazing feeling.” —Solksjaer
have received Gernot Rohr was obviously
the invitation impressed with Aribo’s display MANCHESTER Unit- ficult ground to go to
from Gernot Rohr. against Ukraine and he is ex- ed manager, Ole Gun- and we hoped to do
“When I got the call- pected to include the player in nar Solskjaer says better than we did.
up it was just like ‘wow! his next squad list for the friend- he won’t join words We hope for better.
I am going to play for my na- ly against Brazil on October 13. with Jose Mourinho “But the key mo-
despite calling for his ments they grasped
sack after the team’s and we didn’t. I have
2-0 loss against West to say, two fantastic
Ham in Sunday’s Pre- finishes from two left
ITALIAN foot- b a l l which finished 2-2, was temporarily sus- mier League. feet. We just didn’t
should apply Eng- pended. Mourinho on Sun- take the chances
lish-style An announcement was read out over the day on Skysports, when we had them.
punish- public address system and the game con- criticised Solskjaer for “Of course, when
ments tinued. lacking the technical you lose a game
t o Last week, Cagliari were cleared of racist depth to handle the you’re disappointed.
chanting towards Inter Milan striker Rom- Man United job. It’s a game that can
sup- elu Lukaku in a Serie A match. However, the for- go both ways, as you
porters That was the third time Cagliari have been mer United player expect away from
guilty of racism, says investigated for alleged racist abuse in the stated that Mourinho home in the Premier
Gianni Infantino, the president of world past two years. Previous cases involved has the right to his League.
governing body Fifa. Moise Kean, the Italy forward now at Ever- opinion and would “It’s a good group to
Sunday’s game between Atalanta and ton, and France midfielder Blaise Matuidi, focus on changing the work with, they’re de-
Fiorentina was halted after reports of racist Kean’s then Juventus team-mate - but no team’s fortune. termined. Sometimes
chanting, the latest in a line of similar inci- action was taken on either occasion.
“I think he’s got along the road you hit
dents in Italy. “Racism is combated with education,
In England, fans who engage in racist be- condemnation and discussion,” added In- a right to his opin- some bumps, some
haviour face stadium bans. fantino. ion,” Solskjaer told highs and lows, this
“You can’t have racism in society or in “You need to identify those responsible a news conference group is determined
football,” said Infantino. “In Italy, the situa- and throw them out of the stadiums. You when asked about and they have desire.
tion hasn’t improved.” need, as in England, the certainty of the Mourinho’s com- It’s a good atmo-
Fiorentina’s Brazilian wing-back Dalbert penalty. You can’t be afraid to condemn ments. sphere in the dressing
told the referee he had been the target racists, we need to combat them until they “We lost here last room and they’ve got
of racist chanting and the Serie A match, stop.” year, it’s always a dif- their focus right.”
Choose Nigeria, Omeruo advises Tomori
SUPER Eagles defender, Ken- 21-year-old to look home His international future,
neth Omeruo has called on and represent the country of however, remains a big de-
former Blues teammate Fi- his parents. bate as the player is still
kayo Tomori to choose Nigeria “Fikayo Tomori come and eligible to play for Canada
ahead of England, or Canada. choose number 3 (Nigeria) through birth and England
The Leganes of Spain de- yourself,” Omeruo posted through nationality, having
fender, who was reacting to whilst tagging the Blues de- lived there all his life.
an online poll which asked fender who had a tremen- He also has the choice of
fans to decide if Tomori dous outing on Sunday de- choosing Nigeria through
should play for England, spite seeing his side fall 2-1 because of his parents who
Canada or Nigeria, urged the at home to Liverpool. are both from Osun State.
Moses regains fitness
CHELSEA winger Victor Mo- Saturday. ager Ersun Yanal.
ses has resumed full training His recovery went accord- The 28-year-old impressed
with Fenerbahce, where he’s ing to plan as he had been in the Yellow Canaries open-
spending the rest of the sea- expected to spend five weeks ing match of the season, scor-
son on loan, after recovering on the sidelines. ing and providing an assist in
from a thigh muscle rupture. Moses was unavailable for a 5-0 rout of Gazisehir Gazian-
According to several media Fenerbahce’s league matches tep FK.
outlets in Turkey, including against Basaksehir, Trabzon- Since Moses joined Chel-
sports daily Fanatik, Moses spor and Alanyaspor while sea in 2012, Fenerbahce are
could return to the Fener- last weekend’s match vs An- his fourth loan club following
bahce team for the Istanbul karagucu came too soon for spells with Liverpool, West
derby against Galatasaray on him to be considered by man- Ham and Stoke City.
 39
CORPORATE SPORT
From left, Competition Secretary, Ibadan Golf Club, Mr Seyi Alaba; Captain, Ikoyi Golf Club, Johnson Babatunde; Captain, Ibadan Golf Club, Col. Ade
Sunmonu Rtd. and the Com petition Secretary, Ikoyi Golf section, Ashish Gajjar during the Matchplay at IGC on Sunday. PHOTO: OLAWALE OLANIYAN.
CBN win 2019 All Financial Institutions
soccer tourney
T
HE Central Bank of
Nigeria (CBN) FC won
the 2019 All Financial
Institutions Football
Club (AFIFC) compe-
tition other wise known as the
Bankers Cup, after defeating
Unity Bank FC by a lone goal
in the final played at the Pa
Ngele Oruta Stadium, formerly
known as Abakaliki Township
Stadium.
Lazarus Ijale, scored the
only goal via a spot kick in the
63rd minute of the game.
Speaking at the event,
GOtv Boxing Night 20: I’m out for
revenge, Towolawi tells Masevex
LIGHT heavyweight box-
ing star, Kabiru “KB God-
son” Towolawi, has vowed
to avenge his defeat in the
hands of Adewale “Ma-
sevex” Masebinu when
they clash at GOtv Boxing
Night 20 on October 12 at
the Indoor Sports Hall of
the National Stadium, La-
gos.
Masebinu and Towolawi
clash again after the latter’s
fifth-round knockout defeat
in the national title bout at
GOtv Boxing Night 16 earlier
in the year.
According to Towolawi, also
known as the “Bariga Ter-
ror”, his defeat by Masevex
in the title bout was acciden-
tal. This time, he said, the
national champion will face
a totally different opponent.
“He was lucky to have won.
His victory was purely an ac-
cident. This time, it will be a
www.tribuneonlineng.com
with Niyi Alebiosu | 08116954642 | adeniyi70@yahoo.com
which was graced by ex-super
Eagles star, Victor Ikpeba,
CBN Governor, Mr Godwin
Emefiele, commended all the
teams that participated in the
competition, and stressed
that the tournament was one
of the Bank’s foremost and
oldest Corporate Social Re-
sponsibility (CSR) functions.
Emefiele, whose remarks
were delivered by the Depu-
ty Director in the Corporate
Communications Depart-
ment of the Bank and Head of
the Public Relations Division,
different KB in the ring. I’m
going to avenge the defeat.
I’m happy to have the op-
portunity to right the wrong
and I’m sure I will win,” said
Towolawi
GOtv Boxing Night 20 will
host eight bouts, the big-
gest of which is the African
Boxing Union (ABU) light-
weight title bout between
incumbent champion, Oto
“Joe Boy” Joseph, and
West African Boxing Union
(WABU) champion, Rilwan
“Real One” Oladosu. Other
big names scheduled to be
in action are Rilwan “Baby
Face” Babatunde, WABU
welterweight champion;
Ridwan “Scorpion” Oyeko-
la, national super feather-
weight champion, Tope “TP
Rock” Musa and Opeyemi
“Sense” Adeyemi.
The event will also host an
all-female bout.
Nigerian Tribune
Mrs Veronica Aqua, noted
that CBN remained commit-
ted to contributing to the
promotion and development
of football in the country, in
addition to its contributions
in golf and tennis.
He noted that the AFIFC had
become a very significant tour-
nament among financial insti-
tutions in Nigeria, particularly
as it created an opportunity for
social interaction among finan-
cial institutions and regulators
as well as facilitated the pro-
motion of harmony in Nigeria’s
Delta State Commissioner for Basic and Secondary Education, Chief Patrick Ukah (middle); the Permanent Secretary in the ministry, Comrade
Sam Dietake (left), and the Manager, Zenith Bank branch 1, Asaba, Mr Dickson Egede, during a press briefing to announce the 2019/2020
Zenith Bank Delta Principals’ Cup Football Competition in Asaba.
@nigeriantribune Nigerian Tribune
financial system.
While congratulating the
winners of this year’s compe-
tition, Emefiele, assured that
CBN would sustain its spon-
sorship of the event, even as
he urged financial institutions
to continue to uphold the
spirit of sportsmanship.
He also thanked the Ebonyi
State government for making
the stadium available, and the
Nigeria Football Federation
(NFF) for mobilising financial
institutions as well as ensur-
ing a hitch-free competition.
tribuneonlineng
Ikoyi Golf Club captain,
Babatunde, rallies
support for golf
By Olawale Olaniyan
CAPTAIN, Ikoyi Golf Club,
Johnson Babatunde, has
charged the Federal Govern-
ment to invest more in golf
rather as too much attention
is being given to football in
the country to the detriment
of other sports.
Speaking with Corporate-
sport in Ibadan, during a
MatchPlay between Ibadan
Golf Club and Ikoyi Golf Club,
he said that golf requires
more attention in Nigeria as it
is now an Olympics sport.
He said the country is
blessed with potential to de-
velop golf saying “government
needs to sit up and realise
that golf is now an Olympic
sport. At Ikoyi Club, we start-
ed a swimming programme
for youngsters and they have
been making the club proud
in terms of performance at
various competitions.
“We want to do the same
thing with golf, golf is unique.
Golf is about integrity, always
try to better yourself and it’s
all about playing with other
people.”
“Ikoyi Club have always
come to Ibadan to play Ibadan
Golf Club and they have always
come to Lagos too to play Ikoyi
Club. It’s an avenue to make a
lot of friends and we appreci-
ate that and that is why we
maintained the relationship in
terms of matchplay.
“Incredible, everytime we
visit IGC, we were always well
TUESDAY,
24 SEPTEMBER, 2019
entertained. The Captain, Col.
Ade Sunmonu (retd) is work-
ing hard with innovations.
He has a passion for golf and
I commend him for his ef-
forts at taking IGC to greater
heights.”
Meanwhile, IGC Captain,
Sunmonu said the Match-
play is an avenue to establish
friendship and also to let peo-
ple know what you have and
how they can also enjoy and
benefit from it.
He said: “This is my first
time of meeting the Captain
of Ikoyi Golf Club and having
played with him on Saturday
and Sunday, he’s a very good
man. In fact, I have estab-
lished friendship with him
and the samething with other
members of the club.”
Competition Secretary,
Ikoyi Golf section, Ashish Ga-
jjar said that golf is a passion
which enhances networking,
and establishing relationship.
He said the Matchplay is all
about strenghtening the re-
lationship between the both
clubs saying that: “We are all
together and help one an-
other.”
In his remarks, IGC Competi-
tion Secretary, Mr Seyi Alaba,
lauded members of Ikoyi Club
who came to Ibadan for the
competition, amid the traffic
hiccup on the
Lagos-Ibadan express way
at the weekend.
Meanwhile, IGC won the
competition with 17-5 over
the two days.
 NIGERIAN SINCE 1949
www.tribuneonlineng.com Nigerian Tribune
NO 17,375 TUESDAY, 24 SEPTEMBER, 2019
LEARNED EXPRESSIONS
with EBUN-OLU ADEGBORUWA
Banking with less tears (A rejoinder)
L
AST week, I did a piece on the struggles of Nige-
rians with the banking system in the country and
gave some personal examples based on my own
experience and some of the cases that I have han-
dled. Subsequently, I received several calls from
very good friends and well-meaning Nigerians, many
of who narrated similar experiences as I did and some
even worse. From my observations on my Facebook wall,
it would seem that many Nigerians are at the receiving
end of the several problems afflicting the banking indus-
try generally. So, I have reason to believe that I spoke the
minds of many through the topic titled “Banking with
tears.”
Among those that called me, however, is a very humble,
God-fearing banker, who I have known and worked with a
fairly-long time. He drew my attention to some issues and
gave up valuable time to discuss with me on many of the
issues raised in my piece. I will endeavour to reproduce
some of them here as best as I can, by way of a rejoinder,
hoping that when you have digested them all, you would
be banking with less tears.
My friend opined that there are always two sides to a
story, at least, and it is always good to make efforts to
hear the other side before taking a decision on the events.
According to him, a lot has been put in place to assist
customers in seeking and securing redress against any
misconduct by any bank, one of which is the Consumer
Protection Council (CPC), headed by a dynamic person-
ality, Mr Tunde Irukera, who is said to have transformed
the plight of consumers with several cases that have been
won. The idea is for all consumers, including bank cus-
tomers, to take advantage of the CPC window to secure
effective remedy. He insists that Nigeria operates one of
the most regimented banking system in the world, with
the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) wielding the big stick
against the banks in all cases of proven wrongdoing for
which some highly-placed bankers are said to have lost
their jobs in consequence.
In this regard, the CBN and the banks have developed
a two-prong approach; a separate department for com-
plaints was established by the CBN which makes it a point
of duty to investigate and follow-up on all complaints re-
ceived from bank customers. It is said that most banks
dread this department in their daily operations. The sec-
ond method is that the CBN has mandated all banks to
maintain a customer complaint department specifically to
handle all issues raised by customers, arising from their
banking transactions. In this vein, every bank is expected
to acknowledge and respond to all mails received from a
customer within a given time and see to it that the issue
is resolved.
My friend and brother made the point about hasty gen-
eralisations, to the effect that in almost all professions
and indeed all sectors of human life, there are always
exceptions to the general rule and that just as there are
a few bad bankers trying to ruin the good reputation of
the many good ones, so also are bad and corrupt lawyers
and judges, fraudulent mechanics, negligent doctors and
crooked pastors. That will not be enough to paint the en-
tire group with the brush of corruption just because a few
of their members do go out of line once in a while. He
insists that there are good banks in Nigeria, doing genu-
ine clean business and with zero tolerance for fraud and
other malpractices common with some banks. It is for the
customer to take a decision to migrate to another bank if
his experience with his own bank is not satisfactory.
There is so much competition going on within the banks
that no bank can afford to be defrauding its customers or
playing tricks to earn money that it does not ordinarily
deserve. He obliged me with a copy of the guidelines re-
leased by the CBN to regulate bank charges, for use by all
banks and other financial institutions and mobile payment
Printed and Published by the African Newspapers of Nigeria PLC, Imalefalafia Street, Oke-Ado, Ibadan. Abuja Corporate Office: Piwoyi Village, Off Airport Road, Abuja. E mail: editornigeriantribune@yahoo.com Website: www.tribuneonlineng.com
MANAGING DIRECTOR / EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: EDWARD DICKSON. EDITOR: DEBO ABDULAI. All Correspondence to P.O. Box 78, Ibadan. ISSN 2712. ABC Member of the Audit Bureau of Circulation. 24/9/2019.
Following the xenophobic attacks on Nigerians, flights
from Lagos to Johannesburg are now reportedly, few
and far between. You only know the beginning of a
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operators. Anyone who operates outside these guidelines
will be heavily sanctioned by the CBN and no bank is en-
titled to embark upon any arbitrary charge or levy without
the express permission of the CBN. The banks also oper-
ate a whistle-blowing policy whereby they encourage cus-
tomers to blow the alarm upon any suspicious transaction
by their banks.
The point that struck me well was when he stated that
Nigerian borrowers are bad borrowers. He narrated cas-
es where some customers applied for and were granted
loans with the undertaking to pay back as the business
improves and profit is earned, only for them to take the
loan and proceed to open another bank account to which
they secretly lodged their profits whilst maintaining a zero
balance with the lending bank. Some are said to take loans
and divert same to other purposes, such as buying cars
and even houses abroad. Examples were given of power-
ful citizens, businessmen and women and even political
officeholders, who are so connected that they are above
reach or rebuke by the banking authorities and their su-
pervisors alike. As far as he is concerned, the banks are
bleeding profusely, due to the fraud being perpetrated on
them by very smart borrowers and powerful customers.
He says the issue of loan is purely a contractual obligation
which parties willingly entered into and it will be unfair
on depositors of the bank who gave out their money to
expect that any loan would not be paid back, for whatever
reasons. Tied to the contract is the vexed issue of interest
charges by the banks, which in most cases is compound-
ed. My friend says the customers are only complaining
when the scale tilts against them, as the banks also should
complain when they pay compound interest on deposits
which are sometimes rolled over with interest and the
principal sum.
The banks have been careful to be content with their lot,
especially when they grant credit facilities to customers to
invest in property or shares and these items turn out to be
good investments, some ballooning beyond the expecta-
tion of even the customers, the banks don’t turn around
to harass the customer, who, on such occasions, take the
entire harvest alone. He stated that the banking system is
on auto drive and most charges and deductions have been
wired to activate automatically upon certain events. Some
banks have taken the extra care to add auto reversals to
their financial transactions that do not succeed, and it is
hardly possible for any bank to deliberately set out to de-
fraud its customers through smart technology. I was very
glad when he conceded that if a bank account is dormant,
then there is no basis for charging maintenance fee on an
Some customers applied for
and were granted loans with the
undertaking to pay back as the
business improves and profit
is earned, only for them to take
the loan and proceed to open
another bank account to which
they secretly lodged their profits
whilst maintaining a zero balance
with the lending bank.
account that is not operational. I stated in response that
the automated banking system is only working in favour
of the banks to the detriment of their customers. A case
in point happened recently when I was to pay for books
for my ward in school. I approached the bank to credit the
school account through E-Transact. It later turned out that
the school account was dedicated for payment of school
fees only and not for books, yet I was debited by the bank
and up till this moment, I have not been paid back even
when it was confirmed by the same bank that the money
could not be uploaded on the school payment platform.
I have handled a case wherein the bank appointed a re-
ceiver/manager, who proceeded to value a massive and
expansive property for about N100,000.00, just so that he
could file ‘jankara’ case at the Magistrate’s Court, claim-
ing that the property owner was a tenant owing arrears
of rent. Without proper service of court processes on
the customer, the Magistrates’ Court entered judgment,
which was executed, leading to the vandalisation of the
entire business, office equipment and other valuable as-
sets, the rest of which were looted and carted away. Many
other cases abound but my good friend insists that the
system has provided enough mechanism to handle and
address all anomalies associated with banking transac-
tions. What then should be the solution?
He says we need a cashless society, to curb the pervasive
corruption going on in the country and it should not be
possible for anyone to wake up one day and be able to
buy an expensive car for N10 million with cash. It is when
a society operates outside the books that people take ad-
vantage of this to steal public funds. Although genuine
cashless transactions can develop unexpected hitches, it
is for the customer to be well knowledgeable about his
rights and the appropriate mechanisms put in place to se-
cure remedy for him, but there is little that can be done
where no complaint originates from the customer to the
bank or other supervisory organs.
He then made a very frantic appeal to all Nigerians to
bear it in mind that the banks have depositors whose
money is invested and tied down by customers who then
turn around to deploy all manner of tactics to avoid pay-
ing back their loans. He said it is only in Nigeria that a
bank debtor is financing an expensive election or organis-
ing elaborate parties to celebrate landmark events with
loan obtained from the bank allegedly for business. He
was very emphatic that banks are not the sole cause of
business failure in Nigeria but there are associated issues
of absence of infrastructure and lack of business itself, as
the economy is weary and bleeding. The associated charg-
es that customers complain of, such as the cost of stamp-
ing or registering mortgages, etc, are matters for govern-
ment attention. He believes that government is solely
responsible for the high cost of financial credits although
it is a case of penny wise pound foolish, as if the cost is
reduced by the government, then assuredly there would
be many more transactions and more money for the state.
Presently, most property owners have refused to process
their title documents, waiting for the next available buyer
to inherit that burden and it just goes on and on.
I sat down and listened to my friend attentively and as if
to confirm his points, electricity supply was cut off in the
course of our discussion. He spent a long time convincing
me to see things from the point of view of the banks and
to help push across their own side of the story, which I
have faithfully done now. I will then be guilty of being a
judge in my own cause should I venture to state my own
honest opinion about all that my good friend has stated
above. I will, therefore, encourage you to form your own
impression and share them with me through the email
provided above or through Facebook. Let the discussion
continue so we can get the banking system to work better
for all of us and then, we can all bank with less tears.