16032022

22 

The world should prevail on Russia to 

withdraw its troops to allow the United 

Nations and the Security Council to 

organise a referendum among those 

states in the Eastern Ukraine who seem 

more sympathetic to the Russian cause, 

in the interest of self-determination and 

to avoid further bloodshed 

$195.3M DEEP BLUE 

CONTRACT: 

We followed 

due process, 

got approval 

—AMAECHI 

Merchandise trade deficit rises 171% to N1.9trn 

6 

Obaseki, Wike rift forces PDP 

to shift NEC meeting to today 

390 persons killed, 37 

injured by armed herders 

in Benue LG —MONARCH 

6 

9 

19 

VOL. 27: NO. 644556 WEDNESDAY, MARCH 16, 2022 

Energy crisis: OPS, 5 

NLC, Reps, others warn 

•Local refining, the solution – OPS•Nigerians can’t continue like this, NLC warns 

• Says there ‘s limit to what people can tolerate • Hand over moribund refineries 

to IOCs, Reps tell FG •Decry N778bn operating loss, $26.5bn spent on maintenance 

•Call for expedited action on dredging of the Calabar Seaport •Crisis to escalate 

inflation as rate rises to 15.7% - Analysts • Several flights cancelled as aviation 

fuel scarcity persists • We can only release number of flights cancelled, delayed 

after quarterly meeting with stakeholders —NCAA 

NIGERIANS RETURN FROM LIBYA... 

A batch of 162 Stranded Nigerian Returnees from Libya on arrival at the Cargo Wing of Murtala Muhammed International Airport Ikeja, Lagos on 

Tuesday photos Lamidi Bamidele 

APC crisis: Akpanudoedehe retakes national 

secretariat •We’re not aware Akpanudoedehe has resumed—Bello’s camp 

Bandits kill 4 

DPO, 2 other 

policemen, 4 

vigilante 

member in Niger 

FG to tap 2bn Euro 

from 2021 Eurobond, 

says Finance 

Minister 

UK suspends work, 

study visa applications 

in Nigeria to prioritise 

Ukrainians 

6 25 

COLUMNISTS ROTIMI FASAN 17 

26 

7 

Kogi 

blasts ex- 

PGF’s DG 

over 

attack on, 

Bello, Buni 

Abba 

Kyari 

refuses to 

answer 

query by 

Force 

Hqtrs 

Mr & Mrs 

9 

7

C 

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2 — Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 16, 2022

C 

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Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 16, 2022 — 3

4—Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 16, 2022 

Hoodlums attack 

policemen over 

move to tow 

impounded 

vehicle in Lagos 

PANDEMONIUM broke out 

in Igando area of Lagos, after 

some hoodlums attacked a team 

of policemen attached to the Lagos 

State Task Force, in a bid to prevent 

them from towing a vehicle that was 

impounded. 

Vanguard gathered that the 

operatives arrested the driver of a 

commercial vehicle for driving 

against traffic. However, while 

driving the bus to their office, they 

reportedly sighted another bus 

driving against traffic . They were 

said to have stopped to impound 

the second vehicle. 

While that move was on, touts 

allegedly hired by the owner of the 

first vehicle besieged the scene to 

attack the policemen in a bid to 

forcefully collect the vehicle back. 

The policemen were said to have 

fired some shots that scared the 

touts away. 

At press time, owners of the 

impounded vehicles had mobilised 

some prominent Lagosians to 

prevail on the Chairman, Lagos 

State Task Force, CSP Shola 

Jejeloye, to release the impounded 

vehicles. But he was not in the office 

as he was said to have gone to 

attend to a distress call in Ajah 

area of the state. 

Court strikes out 

charges against 

NLNG, exMD 

A 

Magistrate's Court sitting in Port 

Harcourt, Rivers State, 

yesterday, struck out the criminal 

charges earlier preferred against the 

Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas 

Limited, NLNG, its former 

Managing Director, Mr. Tony Attah 

and General Counsel, Mr. 

Akachukwu Nwokedi. 

The Chief Magistrate, Blessing 

Vick-Jumbo, agreed with the 

defendants that the complaint failed 

to satisfy Section 89(5) of the 

Administration of Criminal Justice 

Law of Rivers State, which stipulated 

that there had to first be a police 

investigation before the court could 

deal with private prosecution and 

consequently struck out the charges. 

An indigenous vendor of Nigeria 

LNG Ltd, Macobarb International 

Ltd and its Managing Director, Mr. 

Ogboru Shedrack, had initiated 

criminal proceedings against NLNG 

and its aforementioned officers 

through private prosecution, alleging 

the offence of obtaining by false 

pretense against the three. 

NLNG and its staff had filed an 

objection to the suit on the ground that 

a statutory condition precedent to 

private prosecution under 

Administration of Criminal Justice Law 

of Rivers State had not been satisfied 

and that the suit was statute barred 

under the Law. It was also contended 

that the elements of obtaining by false 

pretense did not exist in the charges. 

NLNG had based on its commitment 

to promoting local content in Nigeria, 

awarded to Macobarb, a contract 

valued at N95,479,057.86, to be 

completed within a duration of 18 

(eighteen) months in January 2014. 

Unfortunately, the vendor failed to 

meet the terms of the contract executed 

by the parties, including procuring a 

Performance Bond and performing its 

obligations under the contract. But 

NLNG claimed it was constrained to 

terminate the contract after extending 

periods of grace to the vendor. 

:Vanguard 

News 

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

Bandits kill DPO, 2 other policemen, 4 

vigilante members in Niger 

By Wole Mosadomi 

MINNA—BANDITS have again 

hit Niger State, during which a 

Divisional Police Officer, DPO, two of 

his officers and four vigilante 

members were killed. 

The incident occurred, yesterday, in 

Nasko town, Magama Local 

Government Area of the state. 

The bandits were said to have 

launched an attack on the police 

station before launching another 

attack on people of the town. 

It was gathered that officers at the 

police station in the town had been 

informed of plans by bandits to cause 

havoc in the community and as the 

police were mobilising for a counter 

offensive, the bandits, who had already 

surrounded the station, opened fire on 

the policemen led by the DPO, Umar 

Dakingari and two other policemen 

and were felled by the bullets. 

Four members of the local vigilante, 

who were also at the station getting 

ready to attack the bandits, were also 

killed. 

It was learned that the bandits had 

just fled neighbouring Kebbi State, 

where they also reigned terror before 

invading Nasko town in Niger. 

A source said: “The DPO got wind 

of the planned assault by the gunmen 

and immediately started mobilising 

his men for the counter offensive but 

One killed, others injured as gunmen invade 

Delta community 

By Festus Ahon 

ASABA—TENSION, yesterday, 

enveloped Aboh-Ogwashi, a 

satellite town of Ogwashi-Uku 

Kingdom, Aniocha South Local 

Government Area, Delta State, 

following the invasion of the 

community by over 20 armed men. 

Vanguard gathered that the gunmen, 

who drove in three vehicles, shot 

sporadically within the Ogwa (palace) 

area of the ‘Okwabani’ (traditional 

ruler) of the community, killing a 

member of the community vigilante, 

Nwika Alao. 

A source, who pleaded anonymity, 

said the vigilante member was shot at 

a close range, lamenting that he died 

instantly. The source added that other 

members of the vigilante, including the 

chairman of the local security outfit and 

head of the community’s task force on 

land recovery, Nnamdi Nwaebonor, 

were injured. 

According to the source, the vigilante 

patrol vehicle was vandalised with its 

ignition key taken away by the invaders, 

saying the gunmen carted away mobile 

phones belonging to the vigilante 

members. 

According to the source, trouble 

started about 10a.m when some 

persons suspected to be land grabbers 

brought in a bulldozer to bulldoze a 

land but were chased away by the 

vigilante members, adding that the 

suspected land grabbers abandoned 

one pump action gun, a short gun, and 

a bag which the local security operatives 

recovered. 

The Okwabani of the community, 

Chief Jude Obidi, who spoke to 

newsmen, said he told the vigilante 

team to take the recovered exhibits to 

the police station. 

Obidi said: “While they were moving 

to the police station with exhibits, the 

hoodlums reinforced and attacked the 

town. 

“About three vehicles came in 

shooting sporadically. So, the vigilante 

people took off and that was how they 

shot Chukwuwinke Alao, a member of 

the vigilante. 

Confirming the incident, Police Public 

Relations Officer in the state police 

command, Bright Edafe, said the police 

have commenced investigation, 

expressing hope that the invaders would 

be apprehended and brought to book. 

162 returnees arrive Nigeria from Libya 

By Bose Adelaja & 

Esther Onyegbula 

THE National Emergency 

Management Agency, NEMA, 

yesterday, received another batch of 

162 stranded Nigerian returnees from 

Libya. 

The returnees arrived the Cargo 

Wing of Murtala Muhammed 

International Airport, Ikeja, Lagos 

about 3.56p.m., aboard Boeing 737- 

800 Al Buraq Air with registration 

number 5A-DMG. 

This brings to 24,000, the number 

of Nigerian returnees from 2017 till 

date. 

Lagos State Territorial 

Coordinator, NEMA, Ibrahim 

Farinloye, who was on ground to 

receive the returnees, said the profile 

of the returnees revealed that 41 adult 

females, five female children and six 

female infants with 96 adult males, 

nine male children and five male 

Some of the returnees. Photo: Lamidi Bamidele. 

infants, including three adult males 

with minor medical issues returned 

to Nigeria through the International 

Organisation for Migration, IOM. 

This batch brings the assisted 

voluntary returnee flights to 91. 

With this number of flights, the 

number of returnees is put at 24,000 

with 16,000 returnees from Libya. 

Other relevant agencies, including 

the Nigeria Police were on ground 

with NEMA. 

Okada riders on rampage as truck kills 2 

passengers in Lagos 

By Juliet Umeh & 

Joseph Ihembu 

TWO passengers on a commercial 

motorcycle lost their lives in an 

accident involving a truck loaded 

with sand and a motorcycle at 

Eleganza bus-stop, in Ajah area of 

Lagos, yesterday. 

The incident, which occurred about 

9a.m., left the motorcyclist’s legs 

shattered. 

The incident sparked a violent 

protest as irate commercial 

motorcyclists set the truck ablaze, 

while the driver with an unknown 

identity narrowly escaped being 

lynched. 

The debris of the burnt truck in the 

middle of the road, hampered the flow 

of traffic, as vehicles were denied 

access from Ajah to Eleganza. The 

traffic also stretched to Chevron busstop 

on the Lekki-CMS Road, causing 

stranded commuters to trek long 

distances before getting to where they 

boarded buses 

to their 

respective 

destinations. 

At press time, 

efforts to 

contact 

relatives of the 

victims were 

frustrated as 

their phones 

were smashed. 

An eye 

witness, who 

s i m p l y 

identified 

himself as 

Maduka, 

blamed the 

commercial motorcyclist for causing 

the accident, disclosing that he drove 

against traffic. 

A senior police officer, who spoke 

to Vanguard on condition of 

anonymity, said: “The police have 

dislodged miscreants who set a 

The burnt truck 

bonfire on Lekki-Epe expressway. The 

motorcyclist who drove against traffic 

was said to have been hit by a vehicle 

on high speed. 

"This made him veered off his lane 

only to be crushed by a tipper. Other 

motorcyclists, who witnessed the 

unknown to the DPO, the terrorists 

have already surrounded the station 

and rained bullets on the policemen 

and others with the DPO being the first 

causality.” 

The bandits later took their time to 

search the armoury at the police station 

and escaped with some arms, which 

could not be immediately quantified. 

They later stormed Nasko town, 

where they shot sporadically to scare 

people before they escaped. 

Contacted on phone, the state Police 

Commissioner, Mr. Monday Kuyars, 

confirmed the incident and the death 

of the DPO. 

Fire guts 

NSCDC’s exhibit 

yard in Rivers, 

5 arrested 

By Davies 

Iheamnachor 

PORT HARCOURT— Fire has 

gutted the exhibit yard of Nigeria 

Security and Civil Defence Corps, 

NSCDC, in Rivers State. 

Meanwhile, five persons have been 

arrested by NSCDC in connection with 

the fire. 

The fire destroyed impounded trucks 

laden with illegally refined Automotive 

Gas Oil (AGO) at the yard located in 

Iriebe, Oyigbo Local Government Area 

of the state. 

Public Relations Officer of the 

command, Olufemi Ayodele, in a 

statement, yesterday, explained that part 

of the exhibits were already forfeited by 

a court order. 

Ayodele said the affected yard was 

allocated to the Rivers command 

about 10 years ago following 

increasing number of impounded trucks 

linked to illegal bunkering, pipeline 

vandalism and illegal refining of 

petroleum products. 

He said the then government ordered 

the relocation of such exhibits from the 

command’s headquarters to the exhibit 

yard to stop disruption of vehicular 

movements. 

This came as NSCDC Assistant 

Commandant-General in charge of 

Zone L comprising Rivers, Akwa Ibom 

and Cross River states, James Bassey, 

described the incident as unfortunate. 

Bassey linked the inferno to intensified 

efforts of the Rivers command to fight 

vandalism and oil theft, noting that the 

yard was jointly owned by the 

Economic and Financial Crimes 

Commission, EFCC and that efforts 

were made to stop the fire from 

spreading to private properties in the 

area. 

Meanwhile, the Rivers State 

Commandant, Abu Tambuwal, vowed 

that those arrested in connection with 

the inferno would be prosecuted. 

accident set the tipper ablaze and set 

a bonfire on the road. We have made 

significant arrests with many 

motorbikes impounded. But the 

expressway has been cleared. 

Policemen are controlling the traffic 

inward and outward Ajah.”

Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 16, 2022 — 5 

POCKET CARTOON 

Energy crisis’ll worsen 

inflation, NLC, OPS, Reps warn 

•Local refining’s solution – OPS•Nigerians can’t continue like this, NLC warns •Says 

there‘s limit to what people can tolerate •Handover moribund refineries to IOCs, 

Reps tell FG •Decry N778bn operating loss, $26.5bn spent on maintenance •Call for 

expedited action on dredging of the Calabar Seaport •Crisis to escalate inflation as 

rate rises to 15.7% - Analysts •Several flights cancelled as aviation fuel scarcity persists 

•We can only release number of flights cancelled, delayed after quarterly meeting 

with stakeholders —NCAA 

By Victor Ahiuma-Young, Yinka Kolawole, 

Sebastine Obasi, Lawani Mikairu, Levinus 

Nwabughiogu, Prince Okafor & Elizabeth 

Adegbesan 

THE 

Organised ans to the limit. 

Private Sector, OPS, The House of Representatives, 

also assessing the 

Nigeria Labour Congress, 

NLC, the House of gloomy situation, urged the 

Representatives and analysts 

yesterday painted a gently transfer moribund 

Federal Government to ur- 

gloomy picture of the economy, 

following the current Oil Companies, IOCs, op- 

refineries to International 

energy crisis in the country 

competent private organierating 

in Nigeria or other 

Ȧt present, virtually every 

sector of the economy is for optimal operations. 

zations to reactivate them 

suffering from the astronomical 

rise in the price of makers, will enable Niger- 

This, according to the law- 

particularly aviation fuel or ia refine its crude and stop 

JET-A1, which currently the importation of refine 

sells for as much much as petroleum products which 

N600 per litre and diesel appears to be the crux of the 

which sells for at least N630 matter. 

per litre. 

Meanwhile, financial analysts 

also said inflation was 

This is happening at a 

time the national grid collapsed 

on Monday, throw- 

the on-going Russian- 

set to spike more, owing to 

ing the whole nation into Ukranian crisis, as inflation 

total darkness. 

rate rose to 15.7 per cent in 

Consequently, the Organised 

Private Sector, Reacting to the shutdown 

February. 

OPS, and other stakeholders 

highlighted effective aviation fuel; hike in diesel 

of flights over scarcity of 

local refining as the way out price and looming darkness 

due to national grids 

of the incessant crises in 

Nigeria’s energy sector. collapse, the National President, 

Nigerian Association 

This is even as the Nigeria 

Labour Congress, NLC, of Chambers of Commerce, 

looking at the implication Industry, Mines and Agriculture, 

NACCIMA, Ide 

of the development on the 

welfare of the people, said J.C. Udeagbala, stated: 

there was a limit Nigerians “Our Association is extremely 

concerned about 

could bear the prevailing 

circumstances, warning rising prices of petroleum 

that the energy and fuel crises 

were pushing Nigeri- and aviation fuel; a 

products; particularly diesel 

hike 

which is very possibly an 

effect of the ongoing conflict 

in Europe and made 

worse by a lack of domestic 

production to meet demand, 

despite the existence 

of refineries. 

“The implications for the 

Nigerian economy are farreaching 

as the use of these 

products is entrenched in 

the production and transportation 

processes of both 

the public and private sectors. 

“Nevertheless, we do not 

expect that the shutdown of 

flights over the scarcity of 

aviation fuel and the issues 

of the national grid to bring 

the economy to a standstill 

in the short or medium 

term, rather, with rising 

prices, we expect rising inflation, 

a further erosion of 

the purchasing power of the 

population, and redistribution 

of wealth that plunges 

more of the population below 

the poverty line. 

“This is the likely result 

of the private sector seeking 

to adapt and adjust to 

the new realities. 

“We use this opportunity 

to stress once again our call 

for incisive policy implementation 

within the energy 

sector to limit our economy’s 

exposure to global 

shocks and serve as a 

springboard for sustained 

economic growth.” 

Increase local refining 

capacity- 

LCCI 

In a similar vein, speaking 

at a Fuel Subsidy 

Awareness Seminar organised 

by the Lagos Chamber 

of Commerce and Industry, 

LCCI, yesterday, in 

Lagos, LCCI President, 

Michael Olawale-Cole, 

noted that the hike in the 

diesel price has implications 

for production downtimes, 

rise in prices, and 

eventual loss of jobs, if not 

curtailed on time. 

“The most sustainable 

way to go is to increase our 

local refining capacity and 

save the huge spending of 

our foreign exchange (forex) 

on the importation of 

fuel. 

“Oil prices above 110 dollars 

per barrel had not translated 

into profits for Nigeria 

for the reason of equally 

increasing fuel subsidy 

payments.” 

He noted that with a 

monthly payment of about 

N250 billion to subsidise 

fuel consumption, the sum 

of N3 trillion was provided 

in the 2022 Federal Government 

budget. 

“Nigeria’s decision to 

postpone the full deregulation 

of the downstream 

sector of the petroleum industry 

by 18 months may 

cost the country over N4 trillion 

in subsidy payments in 

2022.” 

Subsidy removal 

would allow market 

autonomy-11Plc 

Similarly, Chief Executive 

Officer, 11 Plc, Mr Tunji 

Oyebanji, stated that failure 

to deal with subsidy 

removal once and for all 

may create a fundamental 

issue for the Nigerian economy. 

He said: “The absence of 

working refineries had 

greatly affected the cost of 

petroleum products alongside 

smuggling by neighbouring 

countries and volatility 

of external markets, 

following importation of refined 

oil. 

“The suspension of the 

implementation of some 

provisions of the PIA such 

as fuel subsidy removal 

waned investors interest in 

the downstream sector. 

“If we have taken the decision 

20-30 years ago, the 

pain would have been less 

than what we have now. 

You cannot continue to give 

a political solution to an 

economic problem.” 

Also, Energy Partner, 

Aelex, Mr Olusina Sipasi, 

said: “The removal of subsidy 

would give certainty to 

consumers and all the players 

across the value chain. 

“Some arguments against 

subsidy removal included 

inflation, hardship and promotion 

of illegal refining. 

The removal of subsidy 

would allow market autonomy 

and sustainability, redirection 

of funds to other 

critical areas and tackle 

environmental concerns.” 

Vanguard gathered that 

the price of Automotive Gas 

Oil, AGO, also known as 

diesel which has been fully 

deregulated now sells for 

between N730 and N750 

per litre in some filling stations 

in Ikeja, Ojota, Lekki, 

Ketu and others, that are 

willing to sell the product 

in Lagos. 

Inflation inches up 

due to Ukraine, Russia 

war 

Meanwhile, Nigeria’s 

inflation rate rose to 15.7 

percent in February, representing 

a 0.10 percentage 

point rise when compared 

to 15.6 per cent recorded in 

January this year, according 

to a report by the National 

Bureau of Statistics, 

NBS, yesterday. 

This is even as financial 

analysts have said that inflation 

is set to spike more 

owing to the on-going Russian-Ukranian 

crisis, prolonged 

period of fuel scarcity 

and elevated prices of 

kerosene and aviation fuels. 

Commenting, analysts at 

Alpha Morgan Capital 

said: “We anticipate further 

increase owing to the sustained 

tension between 

Ukraine and Russia.” 

Continues on page 35 

By Yinka Latona 

On threat by bakers to shut down due to astronomical rise in cost of production 

Serious starvation 

looms in the country 

because most small and 

medium businesses are 

struggling to make profit 

due to high cost of raw 

materials. Without 

intervention, this 

development may 

worsen the economy as 

many employees of the 

bakeries shutting down 

across the country would 

be pushed into the 

streets as jobless people. 

—Marcus Kolawaole, 

Businessman 

At this time, most of our 

baking materials have 

risen to a level where both bakers 

and caterers’ products pricing has 

become a very serious challenge. 

I will not blame the Association of 

Master Bakers and Caterers of 

Nigeria going on strike. It 

becomes worrisome if the 

managers of our economy 

actually wish the bakery industry 

to go extinct. 

—Olajide Wenayon, 

Caterer 

You can’t blame the 

bakers because cost of 

production materials is on 

the high side. The price of 

flour and other ingredients 

have risen consistently. A 

bag of flour is over N20,000; 

also a bag of sugar is over 

N20,000 while price of 

diesel per litre is at an alltime 

high. How will they 

run such business? 

Government should please 

have mercy on the masses. 

—Adesegun John, 

Interior decorator 

It’s unfortunate that no 

single food item is 

presently affordable to the 

poor. These challenges 

started when wheat 

importers began to source 

their foreign exchange from 

the black market, hence the 

price of flour has continued 

to rise. Not only is the price 

of wheat high, the price of 

diesel has also hit the roof, 

going for as high as N700 

per litre in some places. 

—Damilola Ogunleye, 

Marketer 

Gone are the days 

when some food 

items like garri and bread 

were seen as poor man’s 

food. Now, both the rich 

and the poor are 

struggling for the items. 

The money is not there, 

common bread that you 

can just eat with soft 

drinks to quench hunger 

is no longer there, garri is 

not affordable, rice is 

never a poor man’s food 

so what do we do? 

—Nnemeka Blessing, 

Fashion designer 

I 

wonder where we are 

going to in this 

country. The moment you 

begin to rejoice, thinking 

that things will get better, 

you will just hear 

something very negative 

and worse than whatever 

you have heard before. 

How did we get 

here? And the major 

problem in this country is 

that nothing that goes 

up ever comes down. 

—Gbemisola Abioye, 

Accountant

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:Vanguard News 


CELEBRATION—From left: Abdulazeez Salman, Board member, Nigerian Communications Commission, 

NCC; Adeleke Adewolu, Executive Commissioner, Stakeholders Management; Prof. Umar Danbatta, Executive 

Vice Chairman/CEO; Prof. Adeolu Akande, Chairman NCC Board; Efosa Idehen, Director, Consumer 

Affairs Bureau, and Mrs. Abigail Sholanke, Director, Projects, all of NCC; during the 2022 World 

Consumer Rights Day celebration, at the commission's headquarters in Abuja, yesterday. 

$195.3m Deep Blue Contract: We followed 

due process, got approval —Amaechi 

•No document to show contractor's legitimacy, we'll retrieve it from ministry —BPP 

By Levinus 

Nwabughiogu 

ABUJA—THE Minister of 

Transport, Mr. Chibuike 

Amaechi, said yesterday that 

approval was duly secured in the 

award of the $195.3 million 

Integrated National Security and 

Waterways Protection 

Infrastructure in Nigeria, otherwise 

called Deep Blue, to HSL 

International Limited. 

The contract, which was 

launched on June 10, 2021, was 

expected to deploy modern security 

and surveillance equipment to 

secure Nigerian territorial waters 

up to the Gulf of Guinea. 

The project included the 

specially trained Maritime Security 

Unit, MSU, with personnel drawn 

from the Nigerian Navy, Air Force, 

Army, Police Force and the 

Department of State Service, DSS. 

Appearing before the Yusuf 

Gagdi-led House of 

Representatives Committee on 

Navy investigating the legitimacy 

of the contract yesterday, Amaechi 

said execution of the contract has 

reduced piracy and the level of 

crime on Nigerian waters. 

He said: "I thought we have 

concluded it when we appeared. 

They saw navy, everybody. The 

EFCC has invited us and we are 

back again. We have finished with 

the EFCC. The report has been 

submitted to the President. A 

committee set up by the President, 

headed by the vice president, has 

concluded investigation and 

submitted report to Council. 

''There was a committee headed 

by the Minister of Defence. That 

was concluded and reported to 

Council. So, this should be twice 

in the National Assembly or House 

of Reps by the same Navy 

committee, twice by cabinet, once 

by EFCC. May be the Senate will 

invite us too. 

"I worry a lot about what is the 

special interest in this deep blue 

project. I was to be in Nairobi last 

week because the AU gave us an 

award for it. Our crime rate in the 

sea has come down drastically. It 

was so bad. 

''We were number one in the 

world. When we introduced this, 

the crime rate reduced. So, I don't 

know why I am going round, 

pursuing the same issue all over 

but I will say to you that we followed 

all the processes. 

"The first process is what they 

called RFB (Request for Proposal) 

which came through an Israeli firm 

that says they will be paid at the 

conclusion of the project and we 

looked at it. The next thing to do 

after we had finished was to go to 

the BPP and we went to BPP. 

That's why the chairman said it 

was bulky. 

"If you go Annexure 2, you will 

see the BPP approval. So, we have 

that approval for the certificate of 

no objection. We have that due 

process and at the end of that, no 

objection certificate, you go to the 

cabinet. 

''We went to cabinet and we have 

cabinet approval. Subsequently, 

we have been going through the 

cabinet approval in implementing 

this and we have been 

implemented it by saying that 

everything that must be bought 

was bought, cleared, installed and 

handed over to about three or four 

agencies. 

"Initially, we should have been 

under Navy but the reason we said 

no in our memo was the fact that 

the rate at which the crime was 

committed in the Maritime sector 

was becoming a bit unbearable. 

So, we got in army and police to 

take care of the land to coast. 

''Then we got in the Navy to take 

care of the water. We got in the 

Airforce to fly the aircraft. The police 

to work with the army and the 

DSS to work with intelligence. So, 

they trained Nigerian military and 

the police. Some of the training 

appeared to be outstanding 

because by the time they were to 

train the police and DSS, they 

were involved in the elections. 

"At the last meeting we had, we 

directed them to commence that 

training now that the elections are 

over. 

"The other thing to say to you is 

that beyond the successes, if you 

look at the attachment, you will 

see the approval by cabinet. The 

agreement is also attached. 

"So, we discharged our 

responsibility modestly with 

minimal cost and what I don't 

know is about payment because 

as minister, my responsibility is just 

to approve up to the cabinet level. 

I don't approve payment. 

''Once the cabinet is over, then, 

NIMASA is responsible for 

implemention. As supervising 

minister, I have special interest in 

making sure contracts are 

delivered because my interest is 

to make sure there is security in 

the waters. 

"We have reduced the number 

of attacks we used to have in the 

waters. That's what the situation 

is now. And I want to thank the 

commission for inviting us to 

appear before the committee. 

Thanks very much." 

The Minister also gave a detailed 

background of how the project was 

conceptualized as demanded by 

the committee. 

He said: "I said it was an RFP 

but this time, we didn't ask them. 

By the time they came forward, 

when we took over the reins of 

affairs in government, we were 

number one in terms of piracy in 

the world. It was Somali, Gulf of 

Elem, Gulf of Guinea and we are 

Gulf of Guinea. 

''In less than two, three years, 

we are now number one. On 

rampant killings, you heard of the 

fact that Denmark came to our 

waters and killed two Nigerians and 

arrested some others and we 

protested. It was worst than that. 

''It became so bad that Americans 

wrote to us that they want to come 

with their guns, we said no, you 

can't come into Nigeria because 

of sovereignty. And they said they 

won't come down from the vessel. 

We said whether you come down 

or not, the moment you enter our 

waters, you are under our 

protection. 

''But what they are telling us is 

that you can't protect us because 

you have been having this crime 

all the time. It got so bad that 

Europe now had a meeting and 

decided to send their war vessels. 

"At that point, Nigeria had no 

option but to act and I wrote to the 

President for an approval to 

engage them and he approved. We 

set up a committee headed by the 

NSA, and made up of the Chief of 

Army Staff, Chief of Naval, Chief 

of Air Staff, Chief of Defence Staff, 

IGP, DG, SSS. 

By Henry Umoru 

ABUJA—FRESH 

facts 

emerged yesterday that the 

clash between Governor Godwin 

Obaseki of Edo State and his Rivers 

State counterpart, Nyesom Wike, 

forced the opposition Peoples 

Democratic Party, PDP, to shift its 

National Executive Committee, 

NEC, meeting from yesterday to 

today. 

The two governors who are 

currently at loggerheads with each 

other, are of the same party, the 

Peoples Democratic Party, PDP. 

Vanguard gathered that a day 

difference in date of NEC is to enable 

party leaders, stakeholders and 

National Caucus use the whole of 

yesterday to intervene in the 

matter, with a view to calming the 

nerves of the aggrieved governors 

and their supporters. 

The postponement is also to 

enable them be on the same page 

to avoid a rancorous meeting where 

there would be shouting and calling 

''At the end of that assessment, 

there was a bit of disagreement 

between us and them, we went 

back to the President who then 

removed the NSA and replaced 

him with the Minister of Defence. 

It was at that time we went to the 

BPP after getting the President's 

approval. It was the BPP that gave 

us approval. That's what 

happened.'' 

But in their presentations before 

the committee, the Bureau for 

Public Procurement, BPP which 

issued the certificate of no objection 

to the HSL, failed to provide 

evidence showing the legitimacy 

of the company. 

Speaking on behalf of the 

Director General, Mamman 

Ahmadu, the officer who reviewed 

the procurement, Isaiah Yesufu, 

said the company was qualified to 

handle the project. 

He was responding to the 

committee's concerns with section 

16 (4) of Public Procurement Act 

which stated certain criteria for 

award of contract. 

"This procurement came to us 

through the ministry of 

transportation in 2017 and it was 

for the procurement of a contractor 

to install some security equipment 

on our coast line. Specifically, the 

project is integrated security of 

waterways and solution in favour 

of HLS international. ''When it 

came, there was an approval for 

the engagement of the contractor 

for a request for approval. 

Obaseki, Wike rift forces PDP to shift 

NEC meeting to today 

of names without any meaningful 

thing achieved at the meeting. 

According to the sources, also 

drawn into the trouble shooting 

meeting are the principal officers of 

both the Senate and the House of 

Representatives and some very 

high ranking members of the 

National Assembly who will join 

other members of the national 

caucus to ask both governors to, in 

the interest of the party, sheathe 

the sword. 

It was also gathered that other 

governors of the PDP would be 

asked to come up with meaningful 

contributions to the growth and 

development of the party, to stave 

off a situation where one person is 

fully involved in funding the party. 

The source said: "The National 

Executive Committee, NEC, 

meeting was shifted from Tuesday 

(yesterday) to Wednesday (today) 

because of the feud between 

Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo 

State and his Rivers State 

PDP can't afford to lose 

2023 election —Atiku 

•Says he has no problem with S-East 

By Dirisu Yakubu 

ABUJA—FORMER 

Vice 

President, Atiku Abubakar 

has called on the Peoples 

Democratic Party, PDP, to do 

everything possible to win the 

2023 Presidential election, saying 

anything short of victory will not 

be good for the party. 

Atiku, who commended the 

party for its opposition role since 

2015, noted that the next 

general elections offered the 

PDP opportunity to return to the 

heart of political governance of 

the country. 

He stated this during an 

interactive session with members 

of party's Board of Trustees, BoT, 

at the Yar' Adua Centre, Abuja, 

to crave their support for his 

aspiration. 

"I am worried and you should 

be worried too that if we do not 

win, it means we will be in 

opposition again for the next 

eight years. By the next eight 

years, I don't know how many 

will be left in politics and it may 

even ultimately lead to the death 

of the party because people 

gravitate, particularly in 

developing countries, towards 

governments. Ordinary people 

naturally gravitate towards 

government. So this is a very, 

very crucial and historical 

moment in history, for our 

survival. I want you to think 

about it. 

"We are now at a crucial 

moment in this country. Many 

of you here, it is either we retire 

together or we move on together" 

he told the BoT members.“The 

aspirant said that PDP 

administration which he served 

as Vice President, did a lot to build 

the country when it was in office, 

adding that the incumbent 

government has done nothing 

close to the legacies left behind 

by the PDP administration. 

Counterpart, Nyesom Wike, to enable 

them and everyone be on the 

same page. 

''It is also good for other governors 

of the PDP to come forward with 

funding to ensure that only one 

governor does not spend much and 

tries to hijack the party. This shifting 

of date of NEC meeting is to enable 

all the governors be on the same 

page." 

Recall that Governor Obaseki of 

Edo State and Governor Nyesom 

Wike, both of the Peoples 

Democratic Party, PDP are 

currently at daggers draw over 

purported verbal attacks on the 

deputy governor of Edo State, 

Philip Shaibu, by the latter for 

threatening to quit the party if their 

supporters were not integrated fully 

into the PDP. 

The two PDP governors are 

'fighting because of a comment 

made by Shaibu, suggesting that 

many supporters of Obaseki who 

defected with the governor from the 

All Progressives Congress, APC, to 

the PDP are not happy and did not 

feel accepted into the new party. 

"Very many of you were part of 

our political successes in 1998 - 

1999 and also, many of you were 

part of the success story of 

government, PDP government 

from 1999 to 2007. Today, no 

administration since then, had 

made as much achievements as 

our administration. 

"Therefore, you are not only 

the fathers of our great party, you 

are also the bedrock of those 

achievements. 

"What I'm saying is based on 

facts. Take any aspect of our 

growth whether it is economy, 

whether it is healthcare, whether 

it is agriculture, whether it is 

education, the landmark 

achievements we made in 1999 

to 2007 have not been matched 

by any subsequent 

administration." 

He said that the PDP had 

always had a locked down 12 

million votes at every election 

adding that the party will garner 

more votes if members of the BoT 

support his 2023 Presidential 

ambition. 

"Somebody said that we 

recorded 12 million votes during 

the last election. Those are not 

only my votes, those were our 

votes. In achieving or recording 

those 11 million votes, it was all 

of us and I believe if we work 

together again, we can surpass 

those votes," he added. 

Meanwhile, the former Vice 

President has dismissed 

insinuations that he is working 

against the possible zoning of the 

PDP Presidential ticket to the 

South-East, saying, "yes, people 

have not stopped talking about 

power rotation and zoning, or 

whatever it is. In the party, we 

invented and formulated this 

zoning policy simply because we 

wanted every part of this country 

to have a sense of belonging 

and I personally have paid my 

dues on the issue of zoning.“ 

FG to tap 2bn euros from 

2021 bond- Finance Minister 

By Emma Ujah, with 

agency reports 

THE federal govern 

ment plans to tap 2 billion 

euros this month or next 

of the money it raised in a 

eurobond sale last year. 

Reuters reported the Finister 

of Finance, Budget and 

National Planning, Mrs. 

Zainab Ahmed, as disclosing 

this at the Arab-African 

Conference in Cairo, 

Egypt, yesterday. 

She said the administration 

would target more local 

borrowing in 2022 to 

help fund budget deficit 

which has been exacerbated 

by rising oil prices, due 

to the Russia’s invasion of 

Ukraine. Mrs. Ahmed said 

that Nigeria had no plan to 

return to the eurobond 

market this year. 

She was quoted as saying, 

“Rising oil prices has put us 

in a very precarious position 

... because we import refined 

products ... and it means that 

our subsidy cost is really increasing.” 

The federal government 

had, in September last year, 

raised 4 billion Euros 

from the international capital 

market. 

Although the President 

Muhammadu Buhari administration 

had announced 

plans to end fuel 

subsidies in June, it later reversed 

itsself following Public 

outcry against the decision. 

It then extended the 

subsidies by 18 months to 

avert any protests in the runup 

to presidential elections 

next year. 

Rather than being an advantage 

to Nigeria as a major 

oil producer, the high 

crude oil prices have become 

a burden for the country 

as the fuel consumed in 

locally is imported.

Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 16, 2022—7 



Abba Kyari refuses to 

answer query by Force Hqtrs 

•As court threatens to strike out his 

N500m suit against FG 

HEARING: From left: Minister of Transport Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, member , House of Representatives , 

Committee on Navy ,Mufutau Egberongbe, Kolawole Taiwo and Aminu Ashiru Mani, during an investigative 

hearing on the Deep Blue contract to HSL International Ltd by the Committee on Navy at the National Assembly 

Abuja, yesterday. Photo: Gbemiga Olamikan. 

APC crisis: Akpanudoedehe retakes 

as scheduled.” 

national secretariat 

•As Buni asks judiciary to vacate injunction against 

convention •Thanks INEC for providing ‘firm guidance’ 

•We’re not aware Akpanudoedehe has resumed—Bello’s 

camp •To go ahead with Thursday’s NEC meeting 

•Party pegs chairmanship nomination forms at N20m 

By Omeiza Ajayi 

ABUJA—IN the aftermath 

of what appeared a failed 

coup against the National 

Chairman, Caretaker 

Extraordinary Convention 

Planning Committee, CECPC, 

of the All Progressives Congress 

APC, Governor Mai Mala Buni, 

his allies, yesterday, took over 

the Buhari House national 

secretariat of the party. 

This came on a day Buni 

asked the judiciary to vacate 

injunction against the party’s 

national convention scheduled 

for March 26, even as he 

thanked the Independent 

National Electoral 

Commission, INEC, for 

providing what he described as 

‘firm guidance’ in processes that 

led to his removal last week. 

Meanwhile, the Bello-led 

faction of the APC has denied 

knowledge of the resumption of 

the National Secretary of the 

Caretaker Extraordinary 

Convention Planning 

Committee, CECPC, of the party, 

Senator Akpanudoedehe at the 

national secretariat of the party. 

Vanguard gathered that the 

decision to take over the 

secretariat was preparatory to 

the return of Buni to the country. 

Meanwhile, the CECPC, led 

by Buni, has while commending 

INEC for providing “firm 

guidance” to the party, 

following the confusion that 

trailed his absence in the past 

few days, said it had engaged a 

consortium of lawyers to vacate 

a court injunction seeking to halt 

its planned national convention 

slated for March 26. 

National Secretary of the 

CECPC, Senator John 

Akpanudoedehe, who disclosed 

this in a statement, said: “The 

party has engaged a team of 

senior lawyers to address a 

purported court order halting 

the planned APC National 

Convention. 

"We, hereby, call on the 

judiciary to give the matter the 

needed and expedient attention 

in our bid to vacate the purported 

court order and allow for the 

conduct of a transparent and 

rancour-free national 

convention deserving of our 

great party, APC." 

INEC had in a March 9, 2022 

letter, signed by its Secretary, 

Rose Oriaran-Anthony 

informed the party that the 

notice for its National Executive 

Committee, NEC, meeting and 

national convention was legally 

defective because it was signed 

by its acting National 

Chairman, Gov. Abubakar 

Sani Bello of Niger State instead 

of being jointly signed by Messrs 

Buni and Akpanudoedehe. 

Buni on his way 

back 

Noting that Buni was on his 

way back to the country, 

Akpanudoedehe had led some 

of the Yobe governor’s allies to 

the party secretariat, yesterday. 

Addressing journalists, 

Akpanudoedehe dismissed 

concerns that the party was 

embroiled in a crisis of 

leadership, declaring that the 

CECPC was intact. 

In an expanded statement to 

support his position, 

Akpanudoedehe said there was 

need to clarify the events of last 

week and reassure the 

membership and stakeholders 

of the party, as well as the 

Nigerian people in general “that 

the governing party is crisis-free, 

strong and remains united in 

giving the country the 

transformative leadership and 

good governance it promised 

them.” 

He recalled how on February 

28, the CECPC chairman took 

a long-delayed trip abroad on 

health grounds, leaving behind 

written authorisation for other 

members of the CECPC to 

continue work in his absence, 

particularly the day-to-day 

management of the APC. 

“That in his absence, sundry 

activities earlier scheduled for 

action appeared to develop fresh 

urgency in order to satisfy the 

timetable for the 2023 general 

elections released by the 

Independent National Electoral 

Commission INEC, thus 

galvanizing some within the 

CECPC to act in their best 

understanding of both the 

situation and the leadership 

dynamics in the committee/ 

party. 

“That all such actions were 

clearly identified at all times as 

happening in an acting or proxy 

capacity, and under the auspices 

of the substantive Chairman, 

Governor Mai Mala Buni, 

contrary to widespread 

speculations that the Chairman, 

Secretary or some other officials 

of the CECPC have been 

removed from office or 

otherwise replaced. 

“That the CECPC is intact and 

functional as originally 

constituted." 

We’re not aware 

Akpanudoedehe 

has resumed 

—Bello’s camp 

Meanwhile, the Bello led 

faction of the APC has denied 

knowledge of the resumption of 

the National Secretary of the 



Committee, CECPC, of the party, 

Senator Akpanudoedehe at the 

national secretariat of the party. 

Spokesman of the CECPC, 

Ismae’el Ahmed disclosed at a 

brieging, yesterday, in Abuja. 

Asked why Akpanudoedehe 

was not part of the CECPC 

meeting, Ahmed said he thought 

the party scribe had travelled. 

“I don’t know his itinerary. He 

doesn’t tell me if he is coming to 

the secretariat or not. So, I am 

not aware that he was around. I 

even though he travelled,” he 

said. 

Akpanudoedehe who had 

stayed away from the secretariat 

for nearly a week had, yesterday, 

showed up at the party’s 

headquarters, where he briefly 

addressed newsmen. He 

subsequently issue a statement 

to elaborate his points. 

He was, however, absent at a 

meeting of the CECPC as he had 

left before the meeting began. 

This was as the party disclosed 

of its resolve to go ahead with its 

National Executive Committee, 

NEC, meeting slated for 

Thursday. 

Asked whether the CECPC 

had resolved all issues with 

INEC, Ahmed said: “Our NEC 

meeting will hold on Thursday 

Party pegs 

chairmanship 

nomination form at 

N20m 

He also spoke on the cost of 

the convention nomination and 

expression of interest forms, 

adding that there was a 

typographical error in the 

earlier document released by 

the party. 

While the cost of 

Chairmanship nomination 

form is put at N20 million, those 

for National Secretary, Deputy 

National Chairman (North and 

South) go for N10 million. 

Forms for all other National 

Working Committee, NWC go 

for N5 million, while forms for 

non-NWC NEC positions go for 

N1 million. 

Other zonal positions would 

go for N500,000. 

Mustapha picks 

forms 

Meanwhile, one of the 

frontline national 

chairmanship aspirants and 

Turaki of Ilorin, Malam Saliu 

Mustapha, was the first to pick 

his nomination and expression 

of interest forms, yesterday. 

Director-General of the Saliu 

Mustapha Campaign 

Organisation, SAMCO, Balla 

Usman collected the expression 

of interest and nomination 

forms on behalf of the former 

National Deputy Chairman of 

Congress for Progressive 

Change, CPC, at the party’s 

National Secretariat. 

APC’s Deputy Director of 

Organisation, Sabiu Bello, 

handed over the two forms after 

receiving the mandatory N20 

milion from Mustapha’s 

representatives 

Speaking after the forms were 

presented to him at his 

campaign office, the 

chairmanship aspirant, said: 

“This is a clear confirmation 

that I'm in the race and a 

testament to the seriousness I 

have shown since I threw my hat 

into the ring. 

“Now that I have collected the 

forms on the same day they were 

made available, I will intensify 

consultations with key party 

stakeholders with a view to 

letting them know why I am the 

best man for the job. 

“I, however, want to express 

my appreciation to President 

Muhammadu Buhari for 

paving way for what we have 

just done today.” 

By Evelyn Usman 

& Ikechukwu 

Nnochiri 

S USPENDED 

Commander of the 

Intelligence Response Team, IRT, 

DCP Abba Kyari, who is 

remanded in the custody of the 

National Drug Law 

Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, 

over his involvement in a 25kg 

cocaine deal, has refused to 

officially respond to the query 

issued him by Force 

Headquarters. 

This is even as the Federal High 

Court sitting in Abuja, yesterday, 

threatened to strike out the N500 

million fundamental right 

enforcement suit Kyari filed 

against the Federal Government. 

It was gathered that the 

embattled detective was handed 

the query while in NDLEA’s 

custody, close to a month ago. 

Rather than answer the query, 

sources told Vanguard that Kyari 

said he could not write from 

where he was. 

“That alone is a reply to the 

query. He stated that he could 

not write from where he was. He 

said when he gets out, he would 

officially answer the query, as he 

was not in the right frame of mind 

to answer officially,” a source 

said. 

Court threatens to 

strike out his 

N500m suit 

against FG 

Meanwhile, the Federal High 

Court sitting in Abuja has 

threatened to strike out the N500 

million fundamental right 

enforcement suit Kyari filed 

against the Federal Government. 

He had before his arraignment 

on March 7, instituted the legal 

action to challenge his arrest and 

detention by the NDLEA. 

The applicant, among other 

things, is praying the court to 

order the FG to pay him N500 

million and also tender written 

apology to him in two national 

dailies for the unlawful violation 

of his fundamental human rights. 

Meanwhile, at the resumed 

proceedings in the matter, 

yesterday, the NDLEA, through 

its Director, Prosecution and 

Legal Services, Mr. Joseph 

Sunday, told the court that he was 

just served a further affidavit by 

Kyari’s lawyer, Cynthia Ikenna. 

Sunday noted that the agency 

served its counter-affidavit on the 

applicant since February 24. 

He argued that going by rules 

of the court, the applicant filed 

the further affidavit out of time. 

Responding, Kyari’s lawyer, 

prayed the court for a short 

adjournment to enable her to 

regularize her processes. 

Before he adjourned the matter 

till April 7, Justice Inyang Ekwo 

warned that he would strike out 

the matter for lack of deligent 

prosecution. 

Justice Ekwo said: “If on next 

date you are not ready, I will strike 

out the matter. Put your house in 

order before the date of hearing. 

“If you have an excuse not to 

be here on that date, I will take it 

that you are out to frustrate this 

matter and I will strike it out.” 

Our mandate of restoring order 

in N-West, N-East, 

S-East achieved — Army chief 

By Kingsley 

Omonobi 

ABUJA—The Chief of Army 

Staff, Lt. Gen Faruk Yahaya, 

said, yesterday, that the Nigerian 

Army, under his watch, has 

achieved, to a large extent, the 

restoration of order and stability 

in troubled parts of the country 

by successfully containing the 

activities of terrorists/bandits 

and secessionist agitators who 

hitherto held the nation to 

ransom. 

Speaking at the opening of the 

COAS First Quarter Conference 

in Abuja, Yahaya further 

disclosed that the successes 

against terrorists in the North- 

East were being recognised and 

applauded in the global index. 

He said: “Our untiring efforts 

and gains against armed 

bandits and other violent 

criminals in the North-West and 

North Central, secessionists in 

the South-East and other 

criminals in other geo-political 

zones are also gaining success. 

“This has been largely 

achieved with the increasing reequipping 

of the Nigerian 

Army, which has made the force 

better poised to tackle the 

myriad of contemporary and 

emerging security threats. 

“The increased deployments 

of NA troops in various theatres 

of operations across the country 

as well as creation of new units 

and forward operating bases 

have provided the much-needed 

impetus in our operations with 

several successes recorded. 

“In retrospect, it is worthy to 

recall the state of security in 

Nigeria on assumption of 

command, which was marked 

by heightened insurgency in the 

North East, banditry in the 

North-West as well as agitation 

for secession and sundry 

disturbances in other parts of the 

country. 

“Consequently, my focus was 

directed towards improved 

personnel development to reinvigorate 

and rejuvenate the 

troops towards achieving the 

constitutional mandate of the 

NA. 

“Our modest successes against 

the terrorists in the North-East 

are being recognised and 

applauded in the global index. 

“This was achieved through 

increased synergy with our sister 

services, other security agencies 

and stakeholders. 

“Furthermore, training 

activities such as Ex-Restore 

Hope and Ex-Project Stinger in 

conjunction with foreign partners 

are yielding the desired results 

and would be accordingly 

sustained. 

“With the gradual waning of 

the impacts of COVID-19 on the 

global front, more collaboration 

will be sought with foreign 

partners in various spheres. 

“It is also heartwarming to note 

that in line with my vision to 

promote jointness in operations, 

the Nigerian Army has continued 

to contribute successfully in 

several joint operations across the 

country."

8 — VANGUARD, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 16, 2022 

:Vanguard 

:@vanguardnews :@vanguardnewsNEWS HOTLINES: 

Social Media Conversation 

COMMISSIONING—From left: Mrs. Adedoyin Kenku, Principal, Government Technical College, 

Ikorodu; Moronke Azeez, Executive Secretary, LASTVEB; Dr. Olufunke Oyetola, Director, Policy, 

Planning, Research and Statistics, representing Commissioner For Education, Lagos State; Mrs. 

Folake Soetan, CEO, Ikeja Electric Plc., and Adio Jaiyesimi, Baale Ori-Okuta, Ikorodu, during the 

commissioning of the upgraded electrical workshop of the college, in Ikorodu, Lagos. 

Petrol souvenir: Police arraign prime suspect 

LAGOS—THE Lagos 

State Police Command 

has arrested and arraigned 

the prime suspect, who 

distributed kegs of petrol as 

souvenirs at a party held at 

Havilah Events Centre, 

Victoria Island, on March 

4, 2022. 

Police Public Relations Officer, 

Lagos State Command, CSP 

Adekunle Ajisebutu, disclosed 

this in a statement, yesterday. 

Ajisebutu said the suspect, 

Ogbulu Pearl, was arraigned on 

a four count charge of conduct 

likely to cause breach of peace, 

endangering human life by 

distributing combustible matter 

in a public gathering, intent to 

do harm to another, and 

unlawfully carrying on the 

business of storage and 

containerising petroleum 

products without permit. 

He said: “Ogbulu was 

arraigned yesterday on March 

14, 2022 at the Special Offences 

(Mobile) Court of Lagos State, 

Ikeja Magisterial District, at 

Oshodi. 

“Recall that following the viral 

video of distribution of petrol as 

CBN bars cash collection operators from lending 

activities 

By Elizabeth 

Adegbesan 

THE Central Bank of Ni 

geria, CBN, has barred 

cash collection operators 

also known as Bank Neutral 

Cash Hubs (BNCH) 

from performing lending 

and investing activities. 

The apex bank also 

barred them from receiving, 

disbursing, or engaging 

in any transaction involving 

foreign currency. 

The apex bank stated this in 

its guidelines for operation of 

Training of journalists: What stands NIJ out 

—Adefaye, Provost ....As 309 matriculate 

By Adesina Wahab 

LAGOS—PROVOST of 

the Nigerian Institute of 

Journalism, NIJ, Mr. 

Gbenga Adefaye, has said 

the institution stands out in 

the training of journalists, 

because it has the heritage 

of academic excellence, 

coupled with professional 

training, as laid down by the 

founding fathers. 

Adefaye stated this, yesterday, 

during the 19th matriculation 

ceremony of the institution, held 

in Ogba, Lagos. 

He noted that apart from being 

among the first set of training 

grounds for journalists in Nigeria, 

it has maintained academic 

excellence over the years. 

"The Nigerian Institute of 

Journalism was set up by 

professionals, not only for 

academic excellence, but for 

professional training. It has the 

heritage of academic excellence 

and professional training that has 

been its hallmark over the years 

and it is still getting better," he 

said. 

Adefaye assured the students 

of graduating on time, as the 

school runs an uninterrupted 

academic calendar, and the 

BNCH. 

It said:”The non permissible 

activities of BNCH according to 

the CBN are: A BNCH shall not 

carry out investing or lending 

activities; receive, disburse, or 

engage in any transaction involving 

foreign currency; undertake 

any other transaction which 

is not prescribed by this guideline; 

sub-contract another entity 

to carry out its operations; and 

any other activities that may be 

prohibited by the CBN.” 

It, however noted, “A BNCH 

may carry out the following: Receipt 

of naira denominated deposits 

on behalf of financial institutions 

from individuals and 

students mobilised for the 

National Youth Service Corps 

Scheme, NYSC. 

"We have dedicated lecturers 

and committed non-academic 

staff who are prepared to be of 

assistance to you. You are to 

channel all official complaints to 

the management through the 

Students' Affairs Officer. In 

addition, there is a Students' 

Handbook which should come in 

handy in your interaction with 

the school authorities," he 

advised the students. 

He also admonished them to 

know that the school does not 

tolerate anti-social behaviours 

such as cultism, examination 

malpractices, bullying, sexual 

harassment and other vices. 

To be able to take advantage of 

the opportunities in NIJ and have 

a brilliant career after graduation, 

Adefaye charged the students to 

pay attention to instructions and 

avoid unnecessary distractions. 

In all, a total of 309 students 

took part in the ceremony. 

National Diploma (full time 

students) were 51, while part time 

ND students were 45. Higher 

National Diploma (full time 

students) were 102, while part 

time students were 10. Speaking 

for his colleagues after being 

administered the matriculation 

oath, Efe Onodjae, said the 

students would abide with the 

rules and regulations governing 

their stay on campus as students. 

•See pictures on 

Page 14 

souvenir recently, the Lagos 

State Commissioner of Police, 

Abiodun Alabi, ordered the arrest 

of the suspect who was then at 

large. 

“The Commissioner of Police 

reiterates the command’s 

commitment to protecting lives 

and property and further warns 

citizens against acts capable of 

endangering human lives.” 

NBC partners foundation on 

women empowerment 

L 

A G O S — I N 

commemoration of the 

year 2022 International 

Women’s Day, consumer 

packaged goods company and 

member of Coca-Cola Hellenic 

Bottling Company, CCHBC, 

Nigerian Bottling Company, 

NBC, has partnered Charitable 

Network for Community 

Empowerment, CHANCE, 

Foundation, to reaffirm its 

commitment to women 

empowerment in Nigeria. 

The community intervention 

celebration comprise a 

conference at the University of 

Lagos, which empowered over 

600 women and students with 

important skills and knowledge 

for thriving in their businesses, 

careers and life with an outreach 

programme where over 100 

women traders and street 

businesses with high volumes 

of cash; high volume cash disbursement 

to members of the 

public on behalf of financial institutions; 

any other activities 

that may be permitted by the 

CBN.” 

According to the CBN, the key 

objective of setting up BNCH 

was to reduce the risks and cost 

borne by banks, merchants and 

huge cash handlers in the 

course of cash management activities; 

deepen financial inclusion: 

and leverage on shared 

services to enhance cash management 

efficiency 

The CBN said that, DMBs 

and Cash Processing Companies 

(CPCs) can apply for registration 

of a BNCH. 

The apex bank noted that the 

financial requirements for the 

approval to operate as a BHCN 

is a non refundable fee of 

N600,000. It also placed a 

threshold of N500,000 for individual 

deposits and withdrawal 

limit and N1 million for corporate 

entities deposits and withdrawal 

limit. 

It said : “The financial requirements 

for an approval to operate 

as BNCH which may be 

amended by the CBN as it 

deemed necessary are as follows: 

non refundable application 

fee of one hundred thousand 

Naira (N100,000) and non refundable 

approval fee of five 

hundred thousand Naira 

(N500,000). 

“The threshold for eligible 

transactions at BNCH shall be 

as follow: A minimum transaction 

value of ¦ 500,000 (five hundred 

thousand naira only) for individuals 

and a minimum transaction 

value of ¦ 1,000,000 (one 

million naira only) for corporate 

entities.” 

sweepers were provided food 

items. 

Other highlights from the 

event included free health 

screening for breast and cervical 

examination, blood pressure, 

among others. 

Speaking, Country Legal 

Director, NBC, Abiodun Peters, 

exposed the participants to 

actionable tactics on how women 

can overcome the limits of 

stereotypes to attain their full 

potential. 

Also speaking, Founder of 

CHANCE, Olajumoke Saliu, said: 

“At CHANCE, we remain 

committed to social impact in 

Nigeria, and we are truly grateful 

for collaborations like this as they 

provide an avenue for women to 

come together to celebrate each 

other and discuss the challenges 

women face as well as ways to 

navigate these problems.” 

‘Pregnant' with problems? 

Hmm, junior checking his weight? 

No more our brothers' keepers!




FORUM—Jasmine Ofoegbu, Vice President, OY-ITC; Ashimiu Adio, Vice President, S-West, 

OY-ITC; Chinedu Amadi, President, OY-ITC; Ngozi Omeche, Director, Buy Naija, and Dr. 

Bolanle Oyedoyin, Director, Planning, Technology Transfer and Information, FIIRO, Oshodi, 

during the OY-ITC Stakeholders' Forum, in Lagos. 

390 persons killed, 37 injured by armed 

herders in Benue LG —Monarch 

•Says armed herders about to take over LG hdqtrs 

By Peter Duru 

MAKURDI—NO fewer than 

390 persons have been 

killed in repeated armed Fulani 

herdsmen attacks on 

communities in Gwer West Local 

Government Area, LGA, of 

Benue State, while 37 others 

were severely injured. 

The attacks also left eight 

districts sacked while houses, 

farmlands and food barns were 

razed by the invaders. 

The Chairman of Gwer West 

LGA, Tyoshin Traditional Council 

and the Ter Tyochin, Daniel 

Abomste, made this known 

yesterday to Vanguard in a 

documentary evidence of the 

attacks including names of those 

killed and severely injured by the 

suspected armed herders in 

Gwer West LGA since 2011 till 

date. 

A breakdown of the attacks 

indicated that 55 persons were 

killed in 2011 in his domain while 

a total of 78 persons were 

murdered in 2022. Three persons 

lost their lives to the attacks in 

2013 while 48 persons were 

murdered in 2014 as well as the 

three that were hacked to death 

in 2015. 

2016 had a record of three 

deaths and a survivor who had 

his hand chopped off by the 

invaders. The LGA was spared 

in 2017 but recorded its worst 

attacks in 2018 when the 

assailants went berserk killing 85 

persons and injuring eight others 

while 2019 recorded 35 deaths 

and five injured victims. 

From the records, there was 

considerable respite for the 

people in 2020. Five persons 

were killed that year by the militia 

herdsmen and 11 others 

sustained injuries. 

However, 2021 witnessed a 

sudden surge in the number of 

attacks and killings in the area. 

Sixty four persons were killed in 

incursions that left 11 persons 

severely injured. And since the 

beginning of the year 2022 the 

LGA has recorded four attacks 

by the marauders that left 11 

persons murdered in cold blood. 

Lamenting the activities of the 

armed herdsmen in the LGA, the 

monarch pointed out that eight 

districts in his domain including 

"Sengey, Mbachohon, Gbaange/ 

Tongov, Tyoughatee and Saghev/ 

Ukusu have already been sacked 

by the jihadist terrorists 

masquerading as herdsmen." 

He noted that efforts by the 

Third Class Chiefs whose 

domains were affected, to have 

more security presence in their 

localities was rebuffed as they 

were told by the unit head "to 

prepare to accommodate 

herdsmen in their domains. 

"And since then things have 

taken a new dimension in Gwer 

West with heavy influx of 

herdsmen with their cattle, 

eating up every available farm 

produce, notably yams and yam 

seedlings kept in farms including 

cassava farms with impunity and 

threats on victims with firearms. 

"The herdsmen have dared 

everyone and are fast closing in 

on Naka town, headquarters of 

Gwer West LGA where most 

displaced persons are taking 

refuge. We are worried that Naka 

may fall prey to the attackers. 

Something should be done to 

correct the security situation in 

the LGA with minimum delay," 

he added. 

The monarch also appealed to 

military to mount blockades at 

the two main entry points of the 

armed herders from 

neighbouring Nasarawa state at 

Gbaji and Anguhar to check the 

incursion as well as provide 

security at Enger community to 

enable some of the displaced 

persons return home and 

engaging in farming activities 

with the coming of the rains. 

Kogi blasts ex-PGF's DG over attack on 

Bello, Buni 

KOGI STATE Government 

has blasted the former 

Director-General, D-G, of the 

Progressive Governors' Forum, 

PGF, Salihu Lukman, over his 

outbursts against Governor 

Yahaya Bello of the state and 

Governor Mai Mala Buni of Yobe 

State, the All Progressive 

Congress, APC, Caretaker 

Extraordinary Convention 

Planning Committee, CECPC 

chairman. 

Lukman had accused the party 

leadership of extorting aspirants 

ahead of the March 26 National 

Convention and also asked that 

Governor Bello be prevented 

from getting the presidential 

ticket of the party. 

The former PGF DG also 

alleged that Bello had yet to 

commence payment of N30,000 

minimum wage as announced 

and that workers were earning 

25 per cent of their salaries. 

But in a statement yesterday, 

Commissioner for Information 

and Communications, Kingsley 

Fanwo, said Lukman's 

allegations were baseless, noting 

that he should not "allow the 

frustration of his unceremonious 

and embarrassing exit as the D- 

G of PGF take possession of his 

reasoning to the extent of 

disparaging party leaders." 

Similarly, the Chairman of the 

Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, 

in Kogi State, Onu Edoka, 

confirmed that the state 

government has begun on the 

payment of N30,000 minimum 

wage to workers in the state, 

saying the Governor Yahaya 

Bello administration has not 

been owing salaries or paying 25 

per cent of salaries, contrary to 

Lukman and other naysayers' 

claims. 

Fanwo, in his statement, said, 

"The attention of the Kogi State 

Government has been drawn to 

the disparaging statements 

credited to a former employee of 

the Progressive Governors' 

Forum (PGF), Salihu Lukman 

concerning the popular 

presidential ambition of 

Governor Yahaya Bello. 

"It is unfortunate that Lukman 

could allow the frustration of his 

unceremonious and 

embarrassing exit as the Director- 

General of PGF take possession 

of his reasoning to the extent of 

accusing Mai Mala Buni's APC 



Committee (CECPC) of extorting 

aspirants ahead of the March 26 

National Convention. 

"It's more saddening that 

Lukman decided to expose his 

main fear when he unwittingly 

revealed that the candidate to 

beat in the 2023 APC primary 

was my principal, His Excellency, 

Alhaji Yahaya Bello. To the 

amateur politician, the 

unfounded allegations against 

the administration of Governor 

Yahaya Bello should sway the 

minds of Nigerians or party 

leaders. 

"But asking the party to prevent 

Yahaya Bello, a leading 

presidential hopeful, from getting 

the party's ticket, already stamps 

the fact that all eyes are on him 

to take the party to victory in the 

2023 General elections, which 

everyone knows will be keenly 

contested. 

"For the records, Lukman's antiparty 

escapades while at the 

secretariat of the Progressive 

Governors' Forum did not only 

cost him his job, but also cast more 

ridicule on his already battered 

image. 

"We are, therefore, not 

surprised at his recent 

disgraceful outburst against key 

party leaders. He has proved 

himself to be a mole in APC with 

a mission to undermine it and 

ultimately hand advantage to the 

Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) 

in 2023. 

"We, however, want to assure 

him that no one has the 

monopoly of caustic statements. 

Governor Yahaya Bello has only 

refrained from dignifying 

detractors with response, venom 

for venom, because of his sound 

upbringing. But if Lukman 

should allow frustration to take 

a total grip of his senses, then, 

he should be ready to face the 

consequences of his actions as 

we will not leave any stone 

unturned to seek redress legally. 

We will not watch him continue 

to rubbish the image of our dear 

party in the manner he has been 

Lai Mohammed, Makarfi, Peter 

Obi, others for Freedom Online 4th 

annual lecture 

LAGOS—MINISTER 

of 

Information and Culture, Alhaji 

Lai Mohammed, former Governor 

of Kaduna State, Senator Ahmed 

Makarfi, former Governor of Ogun 

State, Otunba Gbenga Daniel and 

Ex-Governor Peter Obi of Anambra 

State are among the dignitaries 

expected at Freedom Online, one 

of Nigeria's fastest-growing online 

newspapers, fourth annual 

lecture. 

Taking place March 22, at the 

Radisson Blu Hotel, Ikeja, Lagos, 

Freedom Online's Managing 

Director/Editor-in-Chief, Gabriel 

Akinadewo, in a statement said 

"the Guest Speaker is Minister of 

Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai 

Mohammed. Former Governor of 

Kaduna State, Senator Ahmed 

Makarfi, will chair the session, 

while the Keynote Speaker is 

former Governor of Ogun State, 

Otunba Gbenga Daniel. 

"Former Anambra State 

Governor, Mr. Peter Obi, is the 

Special Guest Speaker while 

former Deputy National Chairman 

2 senators, Lagos, Gombe 

commissioners get varsity awards 

SENATORS HALIRU Jika 

(Bauchi Central) and Barau 

Jibril (Kano North) along with 

Lagos State Commissioner for 

Tourism, Arts and Culture, Uzamat 

Akinbile Yussuff, and Gombe State 

Commissioner for Urban 

Development, Idris Abdullahi 

Kwami, are among dignitaries that 

will be conferred with honorary 

doctor of philosophy in Social Policy 

and Administration and Public 

TNB trains 700 youths, targets 

10,000 the backdrop that New Breed for 

Sustainable Development (TNB) 

By Juliet Umeh a socio-political group has provided 

T 

free entrepreneurship training for 

HE NEW breed for over 700 youths as well as provided 

Sustainable Development, free starter packs to the best 

TNB, has trained no fewer than trainees during the course of their 

700 youths as part of its programmes. "Tools and materials 

contributions to in the fight for the training are fully provided 

against unemployment, youth by the New Breed for Sustainable 

restiveness and myriad of problems Development. The target of the 

the confronting the country. foundation is to provide free 

According to the group, there is entrepreneurship training for 

urgent need for government at all 10,000 youths in the state in 

levels to provide artisan facilities various skills such as catering, 

across the country to take youths makeover, leather works, Fashion 

off the streets. 

design, Audio/Visual Production, 

International coordinator of the Agriculture, Information and 

group, Ekpenyong Ekpenyong, Communication Technology (ICT), 

said in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, Photography/Videography. 

among others, said, "It is against 

of the Peoples Democratic Party 

(PDP), Chief Olabode George, is 

the Special Guest of Honour. 

Other guests to grace the occasion 

include former Police Affairs 

Minister, Navy Captain Omoniyi 

Olubolade (rtd); the immediate 

past Director General of the 

Nigerian Maritime Administration 

and Safety Agency, NIMASA, Dr. 

Dakuku Peterside; Aare Ona 

Kakanfo of Yorubaland, Iba Gani 

Adams; Prof. Akin Onigbinde and 

others. 

"The lecture is an annual event 

"that brings together captains of 

industry, media chiefs, politicians 

and professionals to reflect on 

national issues and propose 

objective course of action. We have 

always been forthright on matters 

of Nigeria's progress and future. 

Since the first edition of our annual 

lecture, we have been inspired by 

the commitment of our guests and 

Nigerians in the quest for a better 

country through advocacy. We 

believe this time around, the same 

zeal will be deployed to ensuring 

that Nigeria takes its rightful place 

in the comity of nations". 

Northern group slams Wike 

over comments on Dan Fodio 

By Dirisu Yakubu 

THE NORTHERN Alliance for 

National Cohesion, NANC, 

yesterday demanded immediate 

retraction and a public apology 

from the Rivers State Governor, 

Nyesom Wike for allegedly 

comparing one of the state's 

traditional chiefs to the legendary 

Sheikh Uthman Dan Fodio, 

founder of the Sokoto Caliphate. 

This is even as the group took 

exception to Governor Wike's 

recent outburst against Edo State 

Governor Godwin Obaseki and his 

deputy, Philip Shaibu. 

While calling on Northern 

governors and the leadership of 

the Peoples' Democratic Party, 

PDP, to call Wike to order, the group 

threatened to punish the governor 

if he failed to apologize over his 

comment. 

At a news briefing in Abuja, 

convener of the group, Bello 

Ibrahim, among others, said, "As if 

that was not enough, the Rivers 

State Governor, Nyesom Wike 

took another swipe at the Governor 

of Edo State, Mr. Godwin Obaseki 

for responding to him on certain 

issues of great concern to the 

oneness and unity of the party. 

"It is distasteful to also recall a 

scenario, where Wike spat at the 

reverence of Sheikh Usman Dan 

Fodio in one of his infantile 

outings. Wike was seen comparing 

one of his traditional chiefs to our 

very respected and iconic Sheikh 

Dan Fodio. That unpopular outing 

is the most uncomplimentary 

remarks against Sheikh Usman 

Dan Fodio by anyone from 

southern Nigeria in recent history. 

"Wike has shown disregard for 

the hierarchy of the Peoples 

Democratic Party, as he recently 

threatened to invoke some 

sections of the party's constitution, 

should the national chairman fail 

to sanction the Deputy Governor 

of Edo State - Philip Shuaib. It is 

laughable that Governor Wike, 

who was the brain behind the 

emergence of Ali Modu Sheriff 

that almost derailed the ideals of 

PDP is now a preacher of morality." 

Policy and Administration by 

Prowess University in Abuja in 

April. 

A statement by Professor Prince 

Eze C. Nwauba, African 

Representative of the Prowess 

University, Delaware, USA and 

Registrar/CEO, Institute of Arts 

Management and Professional 

Study (IAMPS), said the recipients 

were being rewarded for their 

deepening impacts of service. 

The statement said that the 

Lagos State Commissioner for 

Tourism, Arts and Culture, Uzamat 

Akinbile Yussuff, and the Gombe 

State Commissioner Urban 

Development, Idris Abdullahi 

Kwami, will be conferred with the 

award for their immense 

contributions towards urban 

development, renewal and tourism 

development in their states 

respectively. 

The statement added that the 

Managing Director- designate of 

Niger Delta Development 

Commission (NDDC) and former 

Delta State Commissioner for 

Finance, Chief Bernard 

Okumagba; Delta State Head of 

Service, Mr. Reginald Bayoko and 

wife of the Bauchi State governor, 

Hajia Aisha Mohammed were also 

penciled down for the awards billed.


:Vanguard 

News 

INSECURITY: COMTUA seeks 

support against pirates 

By Dapo Akinrefon 

LAGOS—COUNCIL 

of 

Maritime Transport Unions 

and Association, COMTUA, 

yesterday, said it will collaborate 

with the Aare Ona Kakanfo of 

Yorubaland, Gani Adams, to stop 

various means of extortion by 

hoodlums at Apapa Port which, 

he said, had put business 

activities of members under 

threat, leading to loss of lives and 

property worth billions of naira. 

COMTUA made this vow after 

the signing of a Memorandum of 

Understanding, MoU, between 

it and security company, Zeus 

Eye Security Limited. 

In his remarks, Chairman of the 

association, Yinka Aroyewun, 

expressed gratitude to Aare 

Adams for his support, saying his 

members had really suffered a lot 

from extortion, adding: "It's high 

time we put a stop to this." 

Aroyewun lamented that the 

union had lost several of its 

members, saying close to 60 

checkpoints existed between 

Apapa and Amuwo-Odofin, 

manned by hoodlums who, he 

said, forcefully collected illegal 

fees from members. 

He said: "I'm so glad to witness 

a day like this. My union has 

really suffered a lot from extortion 

and it's high time we put a stop to 

Nigeria needs strong institutions to 

make progress —Olanipekun, SAN 

By Henry Ojelu 

L AGOS—FORMER 

President, Nigerian Bar 

Association, NBA, Wole 

Olanipekun, has said that 

Nigeria needs to build strong 

institutions for her to make 

progress. 

Olanipekun disclosed this, last 

week, during his conferment with 

the 2022 Leadership Without 

Title, LWT, award by the Prof. Pat 

Utomi-led Centre for Values in 

Leadership, CVL. 

Veteran Journalist, Dr. Patrick 

Dele Cole, was also honoured, 

along with Olanipekun, for their 

exemplary leadership. 

The colloquium, 

themed: 'Professionalism in 

Public Service', held in Victoria 

Island, Lagos, had in attendance 

a former governor of Ogun State, 

Segun Osoba; former managing 

director, Guardian 

Newspapers, Emeka Izeze; 

Editor-in-Chief, Vanguard 

Newspapers, Gbenga Adefaye; 

Country Director, DAI Global, Dr. 

Joe Abah; Boma Alabi, SAN, and 

Dr. Edefe Ojomo, amongst 

others. 

Olanipekun in his remark said 

that the country needs a 

"revolution, not military 

intervention, to redeem itself. 

Every one of us needs to do a 

rethink on the kind of country 

we want to bequeath to our 

children. Nigeria is asleep. The 

this. Our members have been on 

shortage in the name of paying 

unwanted bills on high ways. 

We've complained to various 

authorities but all yielded 

negative result. 

"Due to this, we decided to seek 

the intervention of Gani Adams 

and cemented an agreement 

with Zeus Eye Security Limited. 

With this, I'm confident we're on 

the right track to lift COMTUA 

to an enviable height." 

In his response, the Yoruba 

generalissimo, who is also the 

patron of COMTUA, however, 

disclosed that the security 

company is billed to serve as 

shield for members of the union 

from unwarranted harassments 

from hoodlums and area boys, 

saying that the body would 

collaborate with other security 

agencies in the state, and would 

commence operation with 200 

well- trained men and 50 

motorbikes, while 1000 officers 

and men were being projected for 

it when fully operational. 

He said: "This is an association 

that transports 80 per cent of 

goods and cargoes on our roads 

to various destinations in the 

country. We realize we are having 

various threats from hoodlums 

and others, including area boys, 

collecting illegal dues from the 

truck drivers. 

truth must be told. Nigeria is a big 

elephant. Those of us who have 

benefitted from this country must 

not allow it to fall. We must s'oro 

soke," he stated. 

Dr.Cole in his remarks recalled 

that the civil service in the past 

was professional and 

were strong institutions from 

which the society used to learn a 

lot and lamented that things 

have changed in the present day 

civil service. 

"The civil service has failed to 

take the government on Federal 

character commission. They 

have things like Education Trust 

fund, Petroleum Trust Fund. In 

1974, we introduced the 

universal primary education, the 

law is not gender bound. It 

insisted that all children should 

go to school. The people who are 

opposed to that law were from 

the north and that thinking is 

still dominant till today", he 

lamented. 

Earlier, Utomi said that the 

award and colloquim was 

initiated few years ago to honour 

outstanding sector leaders for 

their special contributions in the 

sector where they worked. 

He further stated that the 

programme is in keeping with his 

organization’s commitment to 

affect the next generation, to be 

leaders without care for title 

adding that it is an honour for 

people above 65 years who have 

left a mark worth emulating. 


PRESENTATION—From Left: Mrs. Omolola Essien, Chairman, Lagos Mainland Local 

Government; Pastor Cornelius Ojelabi, Chairman, Lagos State, All Progressives Congress, 

APC; Tajudeen Olusi, Lagos State APC Leader; Ayodeji Thomas, Baale of Gedegede Tapa, 

Eti-Osa Local Government; Wahab Alawiye-King, Chairman, Lagos State Universal Basic 

Education Board, repsenting Sen. Oluremi Tinubu, and Comrade Kamal Basua, fomer 

Chairman, Lagos Island East Development Area, during the presentation of mini-buses to 

baales in Lagos Central Senatorial District, organised by Sen. Tinubu, held at Lagos City 

Centre, Sura. Photo: Kehinde Gbadamosi. 

Judge didn’t accuse bank of 

bribery —Court papers 

By Innocent Anaba 

LAGOS—A Lagos State 

High Court judge, Justice 

Olubunmi Abike-Fadipe, did not 

accuse Zenith Bank Plc. of bribing 

judges and lawyers for 11 years 

to pervert justice, according to the 

certified true copy, CTC, of her 

judgment in a suit by Real 

Integrated and Hospitality 

Limited. 

From the court papers sighted 

by this reporter, Justice Abike- 

Fadipe granted the claimant’s 

claims against the bank, but did 

not accuse the bank of bribery, 

and there was no mention of the 

Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, 

governor in the judgment, as 

claimed by the online mediums. 

Gombe State Universal Basic 

Education, SUBEB, is the second 

defendant in the suit. 

The bank has appealed the 

judgment, insisting that it was a 

neutral party in the transaction 

between the claimant and the 

second defendant. 

The bank, in its defence before 

the lower court, had stated that 

it issued two advance payment 

guarantees, APGs, for 

N872,780,552.80 on behalf of the 

claimant on January 17, 2011. 

The bank said it was part of the 

conditions that the amount would 

be received into the claimant's 

account and it would place a lien 

on it until the claimant was 

discharged by the second 

defendant (SUBEB), who 

awarded a contract for the supply 

of dictionaries to the claimant. 

They said it had only received 

N785,502,507.44 from January 1 

to June 30, 2011 into the 

claimant's account. 

It added that it was not a party 

to the agreement between the 

claimant and Gombe SUBEB for 

the supply of dictionaries and that 

the letter of credit transaction 

between the claimant and the 

bank was a distinct contract that 

did not impose any obligations 

on the bank with respect to the 

actual performance of the 

contract for the supply of the 

dictionaries. 

The bank denied receiving or 

turning down any instructions 

from the claimant as the claimant 

account with the bank was active 

at all times with payment and 

withdrawals from the account. 

They said the claimant had 

access to the funds in its account 

which it had utilised, except for 

the amount deposited as cash 

collateral for the APGs. 

The bank said its refusal to 

grant the claimant access to the 

collaterised fund was predicated 

on the fact that it did not receive 

authorisation from Gombe 

SUBEB to release the fund to the 

claimant as per the terms of the 

APGs. 

They added that the second 

defendant had "called in" the 

FCCPC freezes accounts of 

digital money lenders 

Oil prices plunge below $100 as Nigeria fails to meet OPEC quota 

By Sebastine Obasi 

& Obas Esiedesa 

OIL prices continued to crash, 

yesterday, as speculators 

abandoned the volatile market, 

while Russia claimed it wants the 

Iranian nuclear deal to be signed 

as soon as possible. 

This is coming as, again, Nigeria 

failed to meet the 1.8 million 

barrels per day oil production 

quota set by the Organisation of 

Petroleum Exporting Countries, 

OPEC, clocking just 1.258m/d 

production in February, 2022. 

Monthly Oil Market Report 

released by OPEC, yesterday, 

showed that Nigeria’s oil 

production last month fell by 

10.07 per cent from the 1.399 

million barrels per day production 

level it recorded in January. 

In the international scene, 

Brent crude, the global 

benchmark, fell about 8 per cent 

to about $98.87 a barrel, its lowest 

price since late February. West 

Texas Intermediate crude, the 

U.S. benchmark, was down more 

than 8 percent at $94.43 a barrel. 

Over the past week, crude 

prices have plunged by more than 

20 percent, reversing much of the 

surge that came after Russia’s 

invasion of Ukraine. 

Also, tens of millions residents 

in provinces and cities including 

Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen 

are under lockdown amid an 

outbreak of the Omicron variant 

of the coronavirus. 

Meanwhile, most of the 

geopolitical premium from 

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has 

been lost in a highly volatile 

market, which spooked many 

speculators. Concerns about 

Chinese demand in view of 

renewed lockdowns also weighed 

on sentiment. 

Open interest in oil has dropped 

to the lowest since 2015, after 

futures exchanges have raised 

initial margins significantly since 

Putin’s war in Ukraine began, 

thus making trading the same 

amount of oil futures much more 

expensive. 

Moreover, the spike in oil prices 

By Yinka Kolawole 

THE Federal Competition 

and Consumer Protection 

Commission (FCCPC) said 

it has frozen the accounts of 

some money lenders being 

investigated for violating the 

rights of consumers. 

This follows enforcement 

operations carried out by inter-agency 

Joint Regulatory 

and Enforcement Task Force 

(JRETF) comprising FC- 

CPC, the Independent Corrupt 

Practices and Other Related 

Offences Commission 

(ICPC), and the National Information 

Technology Development 

Agency (NITDA) on 

the facilities of certain digital 

money lenders last Friday. 

In a statement made available 

to Vanguard yesterday, 

Babatunde Irukera, Executive 

Vice Chairman/Chief 

Executive Officer, FCCPC, 

also stated that FCCPC had 

served orders on Google 

LLC (Play Store) and Apple 

Inc. (App Store) to take down 

some applications (Apps) 

being employed in violation 

of the rights of consumers. 

His words: “In furtherance, 

and pursuant to an order of 

the Federal High Court procured 

by, and granted to the 

FCCPC, the JRETF executed 

a search and seizure order 

on certain digital money 

lenders. 

“As part of the operation, 

the JRETF together with the 

Nigeria Police Force and bailiff 

of the Federal High Court 

searched locations of the 

and the heightened volatility has 

led many hedge funds and 

speculators to close out long or 

bullish positions. Last Monday, 

Brent Crude traded below its 21- 

day simple moving average 

(SMA) for the first time since 

Russia attacked Ukraine, Ole 

Hansen, Head of Commodity 

Strategy at Saxo Bank, said. “The 

war premium continues to deflate 

as speculators head for the hills 

and after the recent surges in 

diesel and gasoline have raised 

some demand concerns.” 

APGs on the ground of nonperformance 

by the claimant of 

the contract for the supply of 

dictionaries. 

The bank said Gombe SUBEB 

had also informed the claimant 

of its termination of the contract 

based on non-performance of the 

contract for supply of dictionaries. 

The added: "The first defendant 

could not carry out any 

instruction from the claimant to 

transfer the guaranteed sum over 

which the first defendant had a 

lien until the second defendant 

had written to the first defendant 

discharging it from liability." 

It was learnt that the judge was 

also miffed with the quotes 

attributed to her that was not part 

of her judgment. 

money lenders, extracted 

valuable evidence and in 

some circumstances prohibited 

or restricted continuing 

operations. 

“In addition to the physical 

operation noted above, 

the Commission entered 

and served orders on multiple 

financial institutions 

freezing or suspending operations 

of certain accounts 

which some of the money 

lenders have used to conduct 

implicated business or 

transactions subject of investigation. 

“Further, the Commission 

also entered and served 

wide ranging orders on 

Google LLC (Play Store) 

and Apple Inc. (App Store) 

to enforce the withdrawal 

of certain applications 

where evidence has established 

inappropriate conduct 

or use of the application 

in violation of the 

rights of consumers. 

“The order of the Commission 

also prohibits acceptance 

and presentation 

of new applications for the 

same purpose without regulatory 

assessment and approval.” 

Irukera advised all the 

businesses that were subject 

of regulatory intervention 

on Friday to cease and 

desist the interest compounding 

and loan repayment/collection 

practices 

that are the objects of the 

investigation.




MTV BASE DISCUSSION: From left: Country Manager, Paramount, Bada Akintunde-Johnson; MTV 

Base Culture Squad Member, Ilooise Omohinmin; Chief Executive Officer, Creelo Animation Studios, 

Nissi Ogulu; Chief Executive Officer, Chocolate City, Abuchi Peter Ugwu; and Label Manager, Sony 

Music Africa, Daniel Owolabi during the Paramount & MTV Base panel discussion at AfricaNXT2022. 

Attack on Umahi: Wike's envious of his 

achievements, rising political profile —Aide 

By Peter Okutu 

ABAKALIKI—THE Special 

Assistant to the Governor on 

Media and Publicity, Francis 

Nwaze, FIPMD, yesterday said 

that the attack on Governor David 

Umahi of Ebonyi State by 

Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers 

State is because of the former's 

achievements and rising political 

profile in the country. 

Wike, in a viral video was quoted 

to have said that he and the 

Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, 

were the masterminds of the Abuja 

High Court judgment on Governor 

David Umahi's defection to All 

Progressives Congress, APC. 

In a statement, Nwaze, 

however contended that "we like 

to place it on record that Ebonyi 

State is not in the same geopolitical 

Zone with Rivers State and so 

nothing would have prompted 

Nyesom Wike to make such 

unguarded comment about 

Governor Umahi, if he is not a 

cheeky hatchet job-man." 

The statement read in part: "Not 

much surprised at the comment 

though, we would have ignored it 

as one of his blubbering but it has 

become imperative we make a few 

annotations for clarity. 

"Wike from the statement has 

taken responsibility for the 

pronouncement of the Federal 

High Court, thus requiring that 

he explains to Nigerians how he 

now calls the shots in the Nation's 

Judiciary without being a Judge. 

"It is on record that Governor 

Umahi since the legal battle 

started has conducted himself 

properly by filing an appeal in a 

Court of Superior records and did 

not resort to horse-trading like his 

counterpart, Nyesom Wike who 

speaks as if he has the Nigeria 

Judiciary in his armpit, which is 

impossible. 

"We are however not unaware 

that the envy of Nyesom Wike is 

the earth-shattering 

accomplishments of the Governor 

Umahi led administration in 

Ebonyi State which include but 

are not limited to over seventeen 

twin flyovers, State of the art King 

David University of Medical 

Sciences, the best of its kind in 

Africa, the shopping mall, the best 

International Airport in Nigeria, 

payment of civil servants, massive 

empowerment of the youths, 

widows, clergy and so much more. 

"While not joining issues with 

the Governor, we would like to 

remind Wike that hence he riggled 

himself out of the 2015 Appeal 

Court ruling dismissing him as 

Governor of Rivers State, 

Governor Umahi would come out 

of his current legal issues stronger 

and unscathed while still 

proceeding on his presidential 

ambition gallantly. 

"Not minding his Looney voice, 

we want to emphasize that 

Governor Umahi and Ebonyians 

have absolute confidence in the 

Nigeria Judiciary to carry out an 

unbiased adjudication which 

would open a new vista of 

precedence in justice dispensation 

in Nigeria. 

"We urge Ebonyians and 

supporters of Governor David 

Nweze Umahi across the Country 

and beyond to remain peaceful 

and resolute lest the likes of Wike 

and other political desperados 

score a cheap political point by the 

reason of their conduct at a time 

like this. 

"We also enjoin Ebonyi citizens 

and the reading public to disregard 

the hapless surmise of a man 

reputed for orchestration of 

unhealthy and brutish 

governance under a Democracy." 

3 PDP lawmakers kick as Ebonyi Assembly declares their 

seats vacant 

By Peter Okutu 

ABAKALIKI—THE 

tense 

political situation in Ebonyi 

State, yesterday took a new 

dimension as the state House of 

Assembly, declared the seats of three 

Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, 

lawmakers vacant. 

This followed letters of resignation 

purportedly written by the affected 

lawmakers, resigning from their 

seats. 

The Speaker of the House, 

Francis Nwifuru read the letters 

during an emergency sitting 

yesterday. 

The three lawmakers are Ali 

Okechukwu (Ishielu North), 

Franca Okpo (Abakaliki North) and 

Victor Aleke (Ebonyi North West). 

Chinedu Onah, representing 

Ohaukwu South, moved the motion 

for the declaration of their seats 

vacant, which was seconded by 

Chukwuma Igwe(Onicha West). 

The affected PDP lawmakers and 

five others were not present at the 

sitting. 

15 All Progressive Congress, APC, 

lawmakers attended the sitting. 

The Speaker also ordered the 

clerk to write to the Independent 

National Electoral Commission, 

INEC, notifying the commission of 

the development and the need to 

conduct fresh elections in the 

affected constituencies. 

The House thereafter embarked 

on a three months recess. 

Reacting, the PDP leadership of 

the House maintained that the 

affected lawmakers were still 

members of the House of Assembly. 

In a statement by one of the three 

Lawmakers, Victor Aleke, they said 

"This is to inform the general public 

to disregard the concocted 

information circulating on social 

media that the seat of the three 

PDP Ebonyi State House of 

Assembly members: Victor Aleke, 

Mrs Franca Okpo and Okechukwu 

Ali were declared vacant". 

'Recall that on 8th March 2022, 

the Federal High Court sitting in 

Abuja in a declaratory judgment 

sacked the Ebonyi State Speaker 

and 15 lawmakers for defecting to 

APC and that judgment still stands. 

"All these actions of the sacked 

members of the Ebonyi State 

House of Assembly Members are 

total abuse to the rule of law and 

contempt of Court Judgment which 

is tantamount to arrest. Ebonyi 

people should disregard such 

information as it holds no water and 

Nnamdi Kanu: Ex-Imo Attorney-General hired to fight 

IPOB proscription —Counsel 

THE LEGAL team of the leader 

of Indigenous People of Biafra 

IPOB, has clarified that a former 

Attorney-General and 

Commissioner for Justice in Imo 

State, Chukwuma Machukwu- 

Ume (SAN), would join the team 

challenging the proscription of 

IPOB in court. 

According to the leader of the 

legal team, Ifeanyi Ejiofor, Mike 

Ozekhome remains the only 

Senior Advocate of Nigeria in the 

defence team against treason 

charges before Justice Binta 

Nyako of a Federal High Court 

in Abuja. 

Ejiofor's explanation was 

contained in a statement titled: 

"Clarification of information on 

the legal team of Onyendu Mazi 

Nnamdi Kanu Re: Inclusion of 

Chief Chukwuma Machukwu 

Ume (SAN)," released Monday 

night. 

He said, "My attention has 

been called tonight to the 

information making the rounds 

that Chukwuma Machukwu 

Ume, SAN, has been included in 

the legal team defending our 

indefatigable client, Onyendu 

Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, in the 15 

counts amended charge preferred 

against him at the Federal High 

Court, Abuja. This information 

has generated effusive 

commentary of a diverse nature 

making it expedient for me to say 

a few words by way of clarification. 

"Firstly, I say straight away that 

the information, in actual fact, is 

misinformation. No SAN, apart 

from Mike Ozekhome (SAN), is 

in the legal team defending 

Onyendu in the aforesaid pending 

criminal matter. 

"Secondly, Chukwuma 

Machukwu Ume (SAN), on the 

instruction of Onyendu, was 

introduced into the already 

existing IPOB legal team, ably 

headed by my good self, to 

prosecute the pending appeal 

challenging the Proscription of 

IPOB. The said appeal is pending 

at the Court of Appeal, Abuja 

Division. This appeal and the 15- 

count Amended Charge pending 

at the Federal High Court, Abuja, 

are entirely two different cases. 

"Thirdly, any instruction to 

engage any lawyer whatsoever 

it cannot stand. 

"We hereby urge all constituents 

of these members whose seats were 

purportedly declared vacant to 

remain calm and peaceful as the 

court pronouncement that sacked 

the 16 Ebonyi State House of 

Assembly members still stands until 

they get stay of execution or get 

favourable judgment from the 

appellate court". 

to join in the legal team 

representing either Onyendu or 

IPOB in cases pending in court 

must come from Onyendu himself 

and not from any other person 

whatsoever. Onyendu has been 

particularly enthused by and 

appreciative of the quality of 

advocacy demonstrated by Chief 

Mike Ozekhome, (SAN), in the 

conduct of proceedings at the 

Federal High Court. He has 

implicit confidence in the present 

formidable legal team defending 

him. Accordingly, he has no need 

whatsoever to tinker with the idea 

or consider the possibility of 

engaging another senior lawyer 

in his defence, presently or in the 

foreseeable future. 

"However, in the unlikely 

event of such future engagement, 

information to that effect must 

proceed either from my good self 

or from the revered and respected 

learned silk. 

"Finally, I urge Umuchineke 

and the general public to take 

particular note of the above 

clarification and be properly 

guided. Thank you all, 

Umuchineke, and remain 

blessed." 

Defection: Fresh suit seeks to sack 

APGA Reps member, Azubogu 

By Ikechukwu 

Nnochiri 

ABUJA—THE Federal High 

Court sitting in Abuja, 

yesterday was asked to declare the 

seat of a member of the House of 

Representatives, Chris Azubogu, 

vacant, following his defection from 

the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, 

to the All Progressive Grand 

Alliance, APGA. 

The suit, marked FHC/ABJ/CS/ 

324, is further praying the court to 

order the lawmaker who is 

representing Nnewi North/Nnewi 

South/Ekwusigo Federal 

Constituency of Anambra State, to 

refund into the federation account, 

all salaries, emoluments and 

allowances he has received from 

March 11, 2022, when he 

decamped to APGA. 

Aside from praying the court to 

sack Azubogu from the House of 

Reps, the suit, equally demanded 

the nullification of the Certificate of 

Return that was issued to him by 

the Independent National Electoral 

Commission, INEC. 

The Plaintiff, Mr. Stanley Okpala, 

in the legal processes he filed 

Okorosobo for 

burial March 25 

BURIAL ceremony of 

late Captain Edwin Ese 

Okorosobo, aged 58 years, 

commences on March 24, 

2022, with a service of songs 

at Foursquare Gospel Church, 

Morogbo, off Agbara, 

Badagry expressway, Lagos, at 

4pm. A funeral service comes 

up at same venue on March 

25, at 11am, while interment 

folows at his residence. 

He is survived by wife and 

children. 

•Late Okorosobo 

through his team of lawyers led by 

Mr. Johnmary Jideobi, told the court 

that he is a member of the PDP in 

Anambra state that is being 

represented by the 1st Defendant 

(Azubogu). 

In an affidavit he filed in support 

of the suit, the Plaintiff, averred that 

Azubogu was in 2019, elected into 

the House of Reps on the platform 

of the PDP. 

"That the mandate given to the 

1st Defendant by the good people 

of Nnewi North/Nnewi South/ 

Ekwusigo (including the Plaintiff 

herein) is to expire in May, 2022. 

"That sometimes around the 11th 

day of March, 2022, the 1st 

Defendant dumped the PDP, the 

political party on whose platform my 

humble self and other good people 

of Nnewi North/Nnewi South/ 

Ekwusigo elected him into the 

Federal House of Representatives 

to represent us, and decamped to 

the APGA." 

"That prior to his defection, the 

1st Defendant had contested (as 

one of the aspirants) for the 

governorship ticket of the PDP for 

Anambra State 2021 gubernatorial 

election and lost. 

Access Bank facilitates N100m 

loan to women in 3 months 

By Evelyn Usman 

ACCESS BANK Plc has 

disclosed that it facilitated a 

loan of N100 million to Nigerian 

women between January and 

March 2022, under its ‘W’ 

Initiative, a flagship women 

empowerment programme 

created eight years ago. 

It also revealed that under the 

‘W’ initiative, N100 billion has so far 

been given to women as loan within 

eight years, with a view to providing 

them with banking solutions 

tailored to meet their diverse careers 

and lifestyle requirements. 

Group Managing Director/ Chief 

Executive Officer, Access Bank, 

Herbert Wigwe, who made the 

disclosure at an event organized by 

the bank to mark the International 

Women’s Day, said the ‘W’ initiative 

was also extended to women in the 

grass-roots. 

He said: “It is for the professional 

women; it’s for the business woman, 

for the female Youth Service Corp 

members, university women, all the 

way down to the grassroots. 

“We have a programme that helps 

complete their family. 

“A lot of time, there’s a stigma on 

those who may not have had a child 

even though the problem might 

sometimes be from the man. We 

know that through specific 

processes like the IVF , you can 

have children. So, we support 

people at subsidized rates to do all 

of this, on female health issues. We 

give them loans so that they can 

get better. Today we have several 

children who were born through 

the support Access Bank gave to 

female customers” 

Earlier in his opening remark, the 

bank’s CEO, in what could be 

described as an ode to women , 

reechoed Pakistani activist for 

female education and Nobel Peace 

Prize laureate , Malala Yousafzai ‘s 

statement made about ten years 

ago, that “we cannot all succeed 

when half of us are held back.” 

He said: “Today I repeat her words 

because now, perhaps more than 

ever, the world needs everyone on 

board to address the many serious 

problems facing humanity. This 

means men and women pulling in 

the same direction, solving 

problems, creating solutions, 

moving forward.“ 

Onwugbufor 

dies at 103 

CHIEF Eugene Izuchukwu 

Onwugbufor of Abor, 

Amawa village, Ogbunike in Oyi 

LGA of Anambra State is dead, 

aged 103. 

Burial ceremony begins on 

Thursday, March 31, 2022, with 

a vigil/wake at his compound in 

Abor Amawa village, while 

requiem mass and interment will 

take place the next day. 

Thanksgiving is on Sunday, 

April 3, at St. Vincent's Catholic 

Church, Ogbunike. 

He is survived by wife, children 

and grand children. 

•Late Onwugbufor

12—Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 16, 2022 



Anti-Open Grazing Bill suffers setback in Edo 

By Gabriel 

Enogholase 

BENIN— AN Executive Bill 

for a law to Prohibit Open 

Grazing of Cattle and Regulates 

Other Livestock in Edo State has 

suffered a major setback as 

lawmakers disagreed over 

clause 5(7) of the bill. 

Vanguard checks revealed 

that clause 5(7) of the bill 

provides that, “A ranch 

committee to be constituted by 

the state governor will be 

empowered to determine the 

size of land suitable for 

ranching.” 

Considering the bill clause by 

clause, yesterday, the House 

Committee of the Whole, the 

OGONI CLEAN-UP: 

We’ll no 

longer 

tolerate 

waste of 

fund, time 

— HYPREP 

By Davies 

Iheamnachor 

PORT 

HARCOURT— 

Hydrocarbon Pollution 

Remediation Project, HYPREP, 

has warned its workers and 

contractors that the project 

would no longer tolerate waste 

of time and Federal 

Government’s fund. 

The new Project Coordinator, 

HYPREP, Dr. Ferdinand 

Giadom, in his maiden briefing 

in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, 

yesterday, also promised that the 

families of the 13 martyrs who 

died in the struggle for 

environmental justice in Ogoni 

would be carried along in the 

ongoing remediation in Ogoni. 

Giadom noted that the project 

would be coordinated with the 

tenants of project management, 

adding that everyone working 

with the project must be 

committed to the mandate. 

He maintained that workers 

must ensure that their activities 

do not cause further delay or 

waste of fund, noting that under 

his watch, a structured 

framework of delivery would be 

created and followed. 

He stated that HYPREP 

would ensure economic 

development programmes that 

will have good effect on the 

society in terms of the issues of 

instabilities. 

He said: “This project is going 

to be managed as a project. 

Everything as I keep saying, 

every activity will have its 

milestones, its core objectives, 

targets and timelines. It is not 

going to be open ended. 

“My message about HYPREP 

is that you are going to stay on 

time, on cost and on target. If 

your duty is to clean, the desk 

you must keep to time, it must 

be properly cleaned and must 

be on most favourable cost. 

“When does a project fail? A 

project fails from the point when 

a simple task does not meet the 

time and that is what we will not 

to tolerate because it is going to 

be waste of time and it is going 

to be waste of Federal 

Government’s fund and that is 

what we will not tolerate. 

“We will try to drive every 

department, every unit from 

cleaning services to the complex 

sites, we will create a structural 

framework of delivery." 

member representing (PDP Esan 

South East), Mr Sunny Ojiezele 

argued that to leave the 

committee to determine the size 

of land would portend grave 

danger. 

He noted that the enormous 

powers allocated to the 

committee by the bill would lead 

to the acquisition of more arable 

land for ranching. 

He explained that his local 

government had recently lost 80 

per cent of arable land to a 

private company. 

He proposed an amendment 

to the clause to the effect that one 

tenth of the total arable land mass 

of a community be acquired for 

ranching. 

The Majority Leader, Henry 

Okhuarobo, who countered, 

proposed that the committee 

should determine the size of the 

land provided it does not exceed 

20 per cent of the total land mass 

of the local government. 

But in his contribution, the 

Deputy Whip of the House, Mr 

Ephraim Aluebhosele, 

disagreed with the 20 percent 

proposal, adding that many 

farmers would lose their arable 

farm land to ranchers. 

Aluebhosele, however, aligned 

with the proposal of Ojiezele that 

the size should be put at one 

tenth. 

The member representing 

PDP Esan North East, Mr 

Francis Okiye, who also raised 

concerns over the danger 

inherent in clause 5 (7), urged 

the House to determine a 

definite size and distance 

between two ranches. 

Okiye also observed that the 

model of ranching proposed was 

not stated in the bill. 

The Deputy Speaker, Roland 

Asoro, who also aligned with the 

proposal by the majority leader, 

said the 20 per cent should be 

taken from the total land mass 

of a community rather than 

from the local government. 

The Speaker, Mr Marcus 

Onobun, however, reminded the 

lawmakers that the Land Use 

Act, which was in operation in 

the state, vested the ownership 

of lands on the state government. 

PLENARY: Speaker, Delta State House of Assembly, Sherrif Oborevwori 

(3rd right); Deputy Speaker, Ochor Ochor (4th left); Deputy Chief Whip, 

Solomon Ighrakpata (2nd right); Anthony Elekeokuri, representing Ika North 

East (right); Emomotimi Guwor, representing Warri South West (3rd left); 

Charles Emetulu, representing Ndokwa West (2nd left) and Austin Uroye, 

representing Warri South 1 constituency (left), moments after plenary of the 

state Assembly, in Asaba, yesterday. 

C’River PDP: Obaseki economical with 

truth, displayed ignorance —Sen Onor 

By Dapo 

Akinrefon 

FOR dragging Cross River 

State into his rift with 

Governor Nyesom Wike of 

Rivers State, the lawmaker 

representing Cross River Central 

senatorial district, Senator 

Sandy Onor, yesterday, faulted 

Governor Godwin Obaseki of 

Edo State, saying the latter was 

being economical with the truth 

and displayed ignorance over 

the exit of Governor Ben Ayade. 

Obaseki had pilloried Wike 

for descending on his deputy, 

Philip Shaiubu, saying Edo 

State could not be procured by 

Wike, even as he accused Wike 

of being an interloper. 

Onor, in an interview, said 

Obaseki was being economical 

with the truth and displayed 

ignorance when he accused 

Wike of being responsible for the 

exit of the Cross River State 

governor, Ben Ayade, from the 

Edo APC 14 lawmakers 

to get automatic ticket 

By Ozioruva Aliu 

BENIN 

CITY—EDO 

State chapter of the All 

Progressives Congress, APC, 

yesterday, said the 14 state 

lawmakers elected on its 

platform but have not been 

able to perform their legislative 

functions because of the 

controversy that trailed the 

inauguration of the House 

since 2019 would get 

automatic tickets to contest for 

the 2023 House of Assembly 

election except those who 

choose otherwise. 

State Secretary of the party, 

Lawrence Okah, stated this in 

Benin City, during the official 

declaration of interest by Osaro 

Obazee to vie for the party’s 

ticket to contest for the House 

of Representatives into the 

Oredo federal constituency. 

He said: “The 14 lawmakers 

from our party have the right 

of first refusal because of the 

way they were treated by the 

government of Godwin 

Obaseki, that is what we have 

said because despite all they 

have passed through, they 

have remained with the APC 

“Osaro Obazee has done 

well, he has been the mayor 

of the city, he has done very 

well and this is for people to 

learn that patriotism is very 

important. We know what he 

did when he was chairman of 

Oredo LGA.” 

On his part, Obazee said he 

decided to contest because the 

people need improved 

representation and that his 

antecedent coupled with 

alleged disenchantment on 

the ruling Peoples Democratic 

Party, PDP, he would win the 

election if he gets the ticket of 

the APC. 

Peoples Democratic Party, PDP. 

Onor said Wike was more 

interested in building, 

strengthening and uniting the 

PDP in all parts of the country, 

as demonstrated when he fought 

hard to ensure victory for the 

party in Edo State, at a time 

Obaseki was gasping for breath. 

Describing Obaseki as an 

ingrate for using derogatory 

words on Wike, Onor said 

contrary to Obaseki’s 

insinuation, the party in Cross 

River was waxing stronger and 

doing very well after the exit of 

Ayade. 

Reacting to Obaseki’s diatribe 

against Wike, Onor said: 

“Obaseki is an ingrate. He 

should be completely ashamed 

of himself for attempting to bite 

the finger that fed him when he 

was at his lowest ebb politically. 

“The road to his emergence 

as governor is known across the 

nation. Wike was harassed by 

federal authorities and 

threatened. Yet, he stood his 

grounds. He was chairman of 

the campaign organisation, 

spent money on the election, 

went there physically and 

directed affairs. At that time, 

Wike was good, a great hero for 

Edo people, for himself and for 

the PDP. 

“But now he wants the same 

PDP and the structure with 

which he rode to power to be 

dismantled because he has 

emerged leader of the party. 

Obaseki should bury his face in 

shame and learn to show 

gratitude to people who helped 

him ascend the rungs of power. 

That is how to be an example in 

leadership.” 

ASUU: UNIBEN shuts 

down school 

By Ozioruva Aliu 

BENIN CITY— DUE 

to the extension of the 

four-week strike by 

Academic Staff Union of 

Universities, ASUU, the 

management of the 

University of Benin, 

UNIBEN, has closed 

down the school till 

further notice. 

A statement by the 

Registrar of the 

university, A. Bobola, said 

the decision was taken 

after consultations by the 

Vice Chancellor of the 

school, Prof. Lilian 

Kalanama VIII reign has brought 

devt to Akugbene Mein 

Kingdom —Orodje of Okpe 

By Onozure Dania 

CHAIRMAN, Delta State 

Council of Traditional 

Rulers, Major-General Felix 

Mujakperuo (retd), Orodje of 

Okpe Kingdom of Okpe and 

Sapele Local Government Area 

of Delta State, said the reign of 

HRM Stanley Luke, Kalanama 

VIII of Akugbene Mein 

Kingdom, Bomadi LGA of the 

state has brought accelerated 

development to his kingdom. 

Orodje spoke at the palace of 

the Akugbene Mein monarch, 

Akugbene town, Bomadi 

council, during a thanksgiving 

service organised by Luke to 

celebrate his elevation as the first 

Stop work or face our wrath, 

women group warns oil firm 

CONCERNED 

Tisun 

Community Women 

Group of Chevron’s Dibi Field 

operations in Warri North Local 

Government Area of Delta State 

has threatened to stop work on 

the planned flare maintenance 

work until the issues of alleged 

gross marginalisation were 

addressed. 

The women group in a letter 

to the Managing Director of 

Chevron Nigeria Limited, CNL, 

by Madam Grace Ebaje, 

Woman Leader; Mrs. Phileta 

Ebrohimi, Secretary and 

Madam Evelyn Omajugho, 

Assistant Woman Leader, said 

they had provided a peaceful 

working environment in the past 

25 years for Chevron operations 

without anything to show for it. 

According to the letter, “it is 

on record that till date, no 

Vanguard correspondent, 

Ahon, appointed NUJ 

National Ex-officio 

By Ochuko 

Akuopha 

UGHELLI— NATIONAL 

President of the Nigeria 

Union of Journalists, NUJ, Mr. 

Chris Isiguzo, has appointed 

Vanguard correspondent in 

Delta, Festus Ahon, as National 

Ex-officio of the union. 

Isiguzo made the 

appointment at Birnin-Kebbi, 

Kebbi State, during the 

inaugural National Executive 

Committee, NEC, meeting of 

the second term of 

administration. 

Isiguzo noted that Ahon’s 

appointment was necessitated 

by the need to bring in vibrant 

Salami. 

The statement read: “The 

action has become expedient 

as there is no justifiable 

reason for students to 

continue to stay on campus 

when lectures and other 

academic activities are not 

going on. 

“Consequently, students 

are to vacate the hostels 

within 48 hours of this 

notice. They are enjoined to 

monitor the situation 

closely in order to be abreast 

of the school’s eventual reopening. 

“Management wishes the 

students safe journey to their 

respective destinations.” 

vice chairman of Delta State 

Council of Traditional Rulers. 

The Okpe monarch said the 

people of Akugbene Mein 

Kingdom should be proud of 

their monarch as he is well 

celebrated among his 

colleagues. 

He described him as a goalgetter, 

an orator, adding that 

Luke is a bridge builder, whose 

intellectual faculty has attracted 

government closer to the 

traditional rulers council. 

HRM Luke, Kalanama VIII, 

who spoke later thanked God 

for the favour done him, saying 

he would forever remain 

grateful for the elevation. 

indigene of Tisun community 

has been employed either as 

permanent or contract staff. 

None has benefited also in the 

area of call-out or running 

contracts in Dibi Field as a 

major landlord. 

“There is no electricity or 

potable drinking water as in 

your operation base here and 

our community is at the verge 

of being eroded by the surging 

Atlantic ocean waves daily even 

as the pollution from gas flaring 

and its deleterious effects has left 

us with no means of livelihood, 

again couple with its health 

hazards. 

“You are immediately stop 

work on the planned flare 

maintenance work as it will be 

disrupted by us as our patience 

has been overstretched and 

enough is enough.” 

professionals to complete the 

Central Working Committee, 

CWC, for effective and efficient 

running of the Union. 

Appointed alongside Ahon, 

who was inaugurated in 

absentia, was Abimbola 

Oyetunde, General Manager of 

Bronze FM from Edo State 

Council as National Trustee for 

Zone F. 

Chairman of Delta State 

Council of the union, Michael 

Ikeogwu, expressed delight at 

Ahon’s appointment, expressing 

appreciation to Isiguzo and 

members of the CWC for the 

honour done the council by 

appointing one of the leading 

journalists in the state into CWC.

C 

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NIJ MATRICULATION CEREMONY AT OGBA, LAGOS, YESTERDAY 

MATRICULATION—From left: Patricia Kalesanwo, Registrar; Gbenga Adefaye, Provost; 

Dr. Dele Omojuyigbe, Deputy Provost; Dr. Boye Ola, HOD, General Studies; Mrs. Odomero 

Onohwove, Librarian, and Mike Osuji, HOD, Mass Communication, all of the Nigerian 

Institute of Journalism, NIJ, during the 19th Matriculation ceremony of the institution, 

held within the school premises, in Ogba, Lagos, yesterday. Photos: Lamidi Bamidele. 

•Dr. Jide Johnson, Director, Special Programs, NIJ, 

Ogba, Lagos (left), with Mrs. Oluwakemi Awosanya, 

Assistant Director, Joint Admissions and Matriculation 

Board, JAMB. 

•Mr. Gbenga Adefaye, Provost, NIJ (left), administering matriculation 

oath on the newly admitted Post Graduate Diploma students. 

•The newly admitted National Diploma students taking the 

matriculation oath.

C 

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Y 

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Nigerians account for over 35 million Vervecards 

eading payment technology and 

Lcard business, Verve 

International has announced that it 

has issued over 35 million active 

payment cards in Nigeria alone. This 

is in addition to over 50 million 

plastic and digital payment tokens. 

Following this development, the 

financial services provider says it is 

onboarding over 200 direct Scheme 

members across Africa and also 

firmly consolidating its growing 

market share in Nigeria, in terms of 

card issuance and transactions. 

Verve said its cardholders are 

provided with the benefit of using the 

Verve card in Nigeria and 21 other 

African countries, underscoring the 

company's resolve to ensure 

seamlessness of transactions across 

the continent. 

The measure helps it to cater for 

the critical mass of consumer 

demographics, whilst driving value 

and efficiency for African financial 

institutions. 

On a global scale, through 

strategic partnerships with a 

plethora of rapidly expanding 

issuing and acceptance 

partnerships, major financial 

institutions such as KCB across 

East Africa and a growing network 

of SACCOs in Kenya and Uganda, 

Verve cardholders are able to perform 

transactions and make payments 

from anywhere and anytime. The 

Verve Global Card from the Discover 

partnership is accepted in 185 

countries that include the United 

States of America, United Kingdom, 

South Africa, and the United Arab 

Emirates, UAE. 

Very recently, in a bid to further 

expand its footprint in the East 

African region, Verve deepened its 

partnership with KBC Bank of 

Uganda in a move that will see the 


acceptance of the Verve Card on KCB 

Bank’s and Point of Sale (POS) 

merchant networks across Uganda. 

Chief Executive Officer of Verve 

International, Vincent Ogbunude, 

said that cardholders have come to 

regard Verve as a safe and reliable 

payment solution for everything 

payment. Verve cards can be used 

across a wide range of payment 

channels like Point of Sale, POS 

terminals, Automated Teller 

Machines, ATMs and web, among 

others. 

He stated that Verve continues to 

provide innovative ways to make 

transactions and payment more 

secure and convenient for loyal 

customers across the globe. 

He said: "As the world continues 

the shift towards a cashless system, 

and in the face of an increased 

uptake of digital payments, it has 

become important that we find new 

and innovative ways to serve our 

cardholders and ensure that they 

have a seamless and secure payment 

experience, providing them with the 

good life. 

"At Verve, we remain focused on 

improving our customers' 

experiences, while making their lives 

better; and with this in mind, we seek 

out opportunities to ensure that 

mechanisms that will make our goals 

possible are put in place." 

Lawyers flag down proposed NITDA Bill 2021 

•Bill conflicts with regulatory powers of existing agencies 

Stories by Prince Osuagwu, 

Hi-Tech Editor 

LEGAL practitioners who were 

part of a webinar on 

'Stakeholder engagement for 

Legal Practitioners in Nigeria on 

National Information Technology 

Development Agency, NITDA Bill, 

2021' have picked holes in the 

propositions of a new National 

Information technology Development 

Agency (Repeal and Re-Enactment) 

Bill 2021, saying it is not only confusing 

but also conflicting. 

Almost all the participants who said 

they have taken time to go through 

the document said it was an attempt 

to unnecessarily duplicate the 

regulatory powers of some existing 

government agencies in the country. 

The webinar was put together by the 

Information and Communication 

Technology, ICT Committee of the 

Nigeria Bar Association Section on 

Business Law, NBA-SBL, in 

collaboration with the NITDA and 

Farisad Investment Limited, FIL. It 

was hosted by the Chief executive 

Officer of FIL, Mr Sanusi Musa. 

This followed an earlier stakeholder 

engagement meeting also organised 

by NITDA in Abuja February 28, 2022. 

Just like the webinar at the weekend, 

the February engagement was also to 

consider the proposed NITDA Bill 2021 

which, among other things, aims at 

changing NITDA from an IT 

Development Agency, to a regulator 

of the information technology industry 

ecosystem. 

Providing the overview of the essence 

of the new bill, Director, Legal Service 

Department at NITDA, Emmanuel 

Edet, said: "What we are trying to do 

at NITDA is to ensure proper 

alignment with the management of 

the ever-expanding ICT ecosystem 

and maximally protect the users of 

digital services, thereby bridging the 

gap in the digital economy without 

necessarily straying into the regulatory 

power of other existing regulatory 

agencies" 

Corroborating him, Minister of 

Communications and Digital 

Economy, Dr Isa Pantami, who was 

represented by his Technical Adviser, 

Prof. Saliu Junaidu, said NITDA Act 

2007 is one of the laws that required a 

repeal and re-enactment in order to 

keep it in tune with the 

developmental regulation direction 

of the National Digital Economy 

Policy and Strategy (NDEPS), 2020- 

2030. 

Also justifying the need for the Bill, 

Director-General of NITDA, Kashifu 

Abdullahi, said the scope of ICT has 

widened over the years with a lot of 

convergence and expansion in 

technology platforms being used by 

way within the broad context of 

regulatory functions of other agencies 

to avoid overlapping of functions; and 

what will be the implications of the 

harsh penalties for violation of certain 

sections of the Bill on the ICT business 

environment?. 

Hardly had Apata who was represented 

by ICT Committee chairman, NBA- 

SBL, Rotimi Ogunyemi, dropped the 

microphone before other legal experts 

descended on the bill saying it almost 

generally conflicts with existing 

regulations of some other organisations 

including the Central Bank of 

Nigeria,CBN, the Nigerian 

Communications Commission, NCC, 

Standard Organisation of Nigeria, SON, 

Computer Professional Registration 

Council of Nigeria, CPN, Federal 

Completion and Consumer protection 

Commission, FCCPC, National Identity 

Management Commission, NIMC, the 

Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unity, 

NFIU and Office of the National Security 

Adviser, ONSA, among others. 

Each of the Act establishing all these 

existing agencies were looked into visà-vis 

the new provisions in the NITDA 

Bill and it was unanimously expressed 

by the legal stakeholders that there 

were regulatory conflicts that may be 

detrimental to the peaceful regulatory 

atmosphere experienced in the nation's 

digital economy space. 

Aside some of the provisions 

overlapping on the regulatory functions 

other agencies, the legal experts 

observed that a number of the 

provisions in the Bill was "ambiguous, 

unclear, and capable of exerting 

substantial regulatory conflict in the 

system. 

Slot draws partnership from Samsung, Access Bank on Galaxy S22 series financing 

By Prince Osuagwu 

lectronics, mobile devices and 

Eaccessories retail company, Slot 

Systems Limited, has struck 

partnership deals from device 

makers, Samsung and Access Bank, 

to market Samsung’s newly 

introduced Galaxy S22 series in a 

more affordable way for device lovers 

in the country. 

The deal, an asset financing digital 

loan is primarily beneficial to salary 

earners who are Access Bank 

customers. They get a device finance 

loan, with a 50 per cent discount on 

interest rate, meant to purchase any 

of the high-end Samsung Galaxy S22 

series from the 75 Slot retail outlets 

across the country, through an app, 

QuickBucks. 

However, Access Bank says such 

customers must meet the bank’s 

Considering that 

NITDA Act is almost 

16 years old, we 

consider it necessary 

to keep the Act up-todate 

with the current 

reality in the Nigerian 

digital economy 

space". 

businesses and governments for 

delivery services. Abdullahi said: 

"Considering that NITDA Act is 

almost 16 years old, we consider it 

necessary to keep the Act up-to-date 

with the current reality in the Nigerian 

digital economy space". 

But all that did not cut a bug with the 

lawyers who said the bill was 

standing on a faulty foundation. 

Taking the first shot was the NBA 

President, Olumide Apata, who, after 

his brief remark, raised three 

fundamental concerns. They are; how 

the Bill will align with the Startup Bill 

before the National Assembly, how 

the NITDA Bill intend to navigate its 

lending risk acceptance criteria. 

Through the scheme, qualified 

Access Bank customers who are 

salary earners will be able to own 

one of the Galaxy S22 Series without 

making any initial deposit. To qualify 

for the device loan, customers must 

earn a minimum salary of N40, 000. 

The Galaxy S22 series comes in 

three models, Galaxy S22 hands-on, 

Galaxy S22 Plus, and Galaxy Ultra. 

While the Galaxy S22 Ultra comes 

with advanced features including an 

S Pen, the Galaxy S22 and S22 Plus 

are user-friendly devices, with 

familiar designs. 

The price of the devices ranges 

from N650, 000 to N895, 000 Slot, 

however, added additional benefit 

to the effect that customers can also 

swap their old phones with any of 

the models of the Galaxy S22 series. 

Explaining why they conceived 

the partnership, the partners 

unanimously said it was to allow 

people have the beautiful things in life 

without straining their pockets. 

CEO Slot System, Mr Nnamdi 

Ezeigbo said: “We believe in 

collaboration for value. 

Our vision is to 

become the most 

customer-centric 

outfit in Africa. We 

believe that value 

creation is the most 

important DNA any 

business organization 

should have and that 

is why we are always 

ready to go with 

companies who share 

the same vision with 

us. To be able to 

succeed in business in 

Africa, one has to 

CashBox's transaction value surges over 

100% in two years 

Despite the effects of COVID-19 

pandemic, savings and 

investment services fintech 

company, CashBox has seen its 

transaction value grow over a 100 

per cent in the last two years. 

This has also led the company to 

expand its platform and make the 

Cashbox app more robust and userfriendly. 

Cashbox says its monthly 

transaction value grew from N16 

million in 2019 to 200 million in 2021, 

representing an 1150 per cent 

increase in the period. 

The number of users also rose from 

10,000 to 200,000 within the same 

period, an indication of the growing 

adoption of digital savings in 

Nigeria. 

CashBox's primary aim is to help 

users cultivate a savings culture, 

with specific targets and incentives. 

It was founded in 2019. Users can 

save as low as N100. A savings plan 

on CashBox can earn a user as 

The Chief Economic Advisor to the 

Government of Abia State and 

Chairman, Abia Economic 

Advancement Team, ABEAT, Sir Mac 

Atasie has advised all states of the 

federation to adopt tech-driven 

revenue collection method to plug 

leakages and save money for 

projects that will benefit the people. 

Atasie said his state generated 

over N800m last year from tricycle 

operators alone because of the 

automated system of revenue 

collection which he helped establish 

in the state. 

Atasie, a well known personality 

in the Nigerian technology sector 

said automation helps states recoup 

revenues that would have ordinarily 

ended up in private pockets. 

At a meeting with selected 

journalists in Umuahia recently, 

Atasie disclosed that the automated 

revenue collection system in Abia 

state now gives an up-to-date data 

of all the revenues generated and 

automatically transferred same into 

much as 6 to 13 per cent interest per 

annum depending on the set tenor 

and the amount of savings such 

customers have in the wallet. 

Explaining strategies that helped 

growth of the company, founder and 

CEO, Sydney Aigbogun, said the 

savings are invested in viable assets 

such as lending platforms, 

agriculture and real estate. He said 

the investments in agriculture are 

done directly with farmers to mitigate 

third party risks, while on real estate, 

the company partners with 

developers. 

A saver is allowed to withdraw the 

funds at maturity and may choose 

to reinvest. 

CashBox is looking to add more 

features. Following a recent upgrade 

of its mobile application from 3.0 to 

5.0, the company introduced an 

investment feature on the platform 

which enables users to take 

advantage of opportunities in 

different sectors of the economy. 

How technology helped Abia plug 

revenue leakages in 2021 – Mac Atasie 

understand the people, their 

economy and their purchasing power. 

So, having chosen Samsung and 

Access bank is about the best deal for 

the people” 

L-R: - Ebuka Obi Uchendu, Samsung Ambassador, Victor 

Etuokwo, ED Retail Banking Acessbank, Joy Tim-Ayoola, 

Samsung Nigeria, Nnamdi Ezeigbo, CEO Slot Systems 

and Nathan Lee, Samsung Nigeria at the device financing 

partnership for Galaxy S22 in Lagos, recently. 

the Abia State Government account. 

He explained that the system 

documents the number of flying 

revenues including heavy duty 

trucks, mini buses, tricycles among 

others, thereby plugging the 

leakages in the state as well as 

increasing the monthly internallygenerated 

revenue. 

The system, according to him, has 

also reduced the presence of touts 

Africa Data 

Centres calls for 

in-country hosting 

of cloud services 

By Juliet Umeh 

center service provider, Africa 

DData Centres has called for incountry 

hosting of cloud services 

across Africa. 

The data centre provider which 

boasts of the continent's first network 

of interconnected, carrier and cloudneutral 

data center facilities said the 

benefits of In-House cloud services 

include optimal service performance, 

improved network, data localisation, 

payment in local currency, incountry 

support and proximity to 

data. 

Chief Technology Officer of Africa 

Data Centres, Dr. Krish Ranganath, 

at a Webinar with the theme: Bringing 

you to the Future: The Journey 

Towards a Cloud Lifestyle, organised 

by CWG in partnership with Africa 

Data Centres and Zadara, said that 

many companies worry about losing 

control over their data when it moves 

to the cloud, but with data stored at 

a local cloud data center, it is 

protected. 

He added that localisation of data 

must be a priority when considering 

the adoption of cloud computing, 

as scalable cloud computing 

resources located within the region 

means that companies can take 

advantage of the cloud without the 

drawbacks of moving workloads to 

data centers that are farther away.


Saving Nigeria – a tribute to heroes from yesterday and today 

By PAT UTOMI 

NIGERIA has never been more in 

need of saving than it is today. To 

save it will require the spirit of 

yesterday’s heroes. Nigeria is a massive 

graveyard for heroes. Like was said of 

the Jews of old, your parents killed the 

prophets. In Nigeria we mock them. But 

their essence has preserved us from 

internal slavery. 

They came in the post-independence 

era from social movements, academia, 

politics, the professions and even the 

military which trampled on the rights of 

Nigerians and made state capture with 

its debilitating derivatives our lot. Men 

like Chief Gani Fawehinmi, Professor 

Wole Soyinka, Chief Anthony Enahoro, 

Professor Ayodele Awojobi, Dr. Bala 

Usaman, Chidi Ubani and Innocent 

Chukwuma. 

In more recent incarnations they 

include the Attahiru Jegas, Usman 

Bugajes, Femi Falanas, General Ishola 

Williams, and Olisa Agbakobas and Joe 

Okei-Odumakins, Oby Ezekwesilis, 

Najatu Mohammeds and the more sober 

and subtle men of conscience like the 

late Tunde Akinleye. 

As Nigeria turns to the home stretch 

in the current struggle to eject from the 

political space the people who hijacked 

and captured the state for purpose other 

than the advance of the Common Good 

of all, the imperative of lifting, in tribute, 

for honour due them, and to raise their 

spirits as battle axes in the fight to 

liberate Nigeria from its current captors 

and tormentors, seems quite 

appropriate. 

In many ways the collapse of the order 

of abuse, impunity and obsessive selflove, 

a hard to understand narcissism, 

was predictable and predicted. But the 

speed of the unravelling of political 

parties of state capture seems to be faster 

than anticipated. On October 2, 2019 a 

highly regarded Senior Advocate of 

Nigeria who had handled many of the 

big elections cases for one of the so-called 

major parties said to me: “Your people 

fear neither God nor man, but just watch, 

their end is near”. 

APC, the crisis and the way out 

By GBENGA OLAWEPO- 

HASHIM 

THE fastest way out for 

the APC crisis is to 

respect its constitution. Here 

is why? Our great party the 

APC is embroiled in a 

crisis which if not swiftly 

handled may lead to its 

destruction. 

Worse still, prolonged 

instability in the ruling party 

may complicate the many 

challenges the country is 

facing and serve as huge 

distraction to governance. The 

reason for the present crises is 

rooted in the ambitions of many 

powerful members of the party. 

And to be clear, there is 

nothing wrong with people 

having ambitions; what is 

dangerous is to put 

institutions and systems at risk 

for one’s ambition. 

Literally, every second term 

governor in Northern Nigeria 

wants to be a vice president 

with the intention of being 

president in the next election 

It sounded quite philosophical but the 

rush to collapse as we watch today is 

moving at the pace of the collapse of the 

Eastern bloc after the Berlin wall came 

down under Mikhail Gorbachev’s 

Glasnost. May be it is the hand of God, 

more clear than that which helped Diego 

Maradona. 

Will the alternative path produce a real 

political party that will recruit, prune and 

develop people of service, guided by a 

world view that advances the good of 

all and are accountable to the people 

who are sovereign? Will political life be 

reduced to simple life of the type that 

allowed Prime Minister Tafawa Balewa 

to stop his driver when he saw Rev. Fr. 

Pedro Martins, Chaplain at St. Gregory’s 

College by his broken down car, and 

chose to walk to the PMs residence as 

he instructed his driver to drop off the 

priest. Can our new leaders act as 

servants and not the served who feel 

entitled to the treasury? Will the poltical 

class that emerges next year from this 

coming Tsunami be knowledgeable 

enough for us not to be world’s 

development laggards? Will production 

replace sharing revenues in the mindset 

of the new order? These are pertinent 

questions as engineers of the new order 

focus on big issues and not big men in 

the run up to 2023 elections. 

In the last three years, beginning 

while the 2019 shambolic elections were 

still in progress, quiet and committed 

work has been going on to construct a 

new political order that would focus on 

values of inclusion, the dignity of the 

human person, the importance of 

knowledge and a sense of service in 

leadership, among others. 

I have been privileged to be part of 

these. When I led a delegation to meet 

the NLC President and his NEC in 

session more than two years ago I had a 

feeling we were on to something. But I 

could hardly have anticipated how much 

labour would become engaged from 

both NLC and TUC committed to a new 

regime of leadership in Nigeria. The 

groundswell would be buoyed by 

women groups injured and brought 

alive by the sense of exclusion and 

entitlement of today’s rulers who treated 

season. They care less about 

how to tackle insecurity and the 

scourge of poverty 

ravaging the region. 

On the contrary, how these 

challenges will be 

immediately addressed are the 

prororities for the people of 

Northern Nigeria. The spirit 

of commradeship that 

bound those who moved 

against the former APC 

Chairman, Adams 

Oshiomhole, has irretrievably 

broken down. The beneficiary 

of the coup against 

Oshiomhole - Mala Buni- is 

also being suspected of 

habouring a sinister agenda 

after tinkering with the dates 

of the National Convention 

many times. 

Interestingly, all the sides to 

the ugly drama are dropping 

the name of the President. 

There is a way out of the 

present mess which is the 

return to the full operations of 

the constitution of the party 

immediately. Sadly, some 

people in cahoot with the 

INEC chairman, Mahmoud 

Yakubu, are trying to block this 

through administrative 

subterfuges and judicial 

maneouvres. 

The National Executive 

Committee, NEC, of the 

party with all the state 

chairmen must meet 

immediately with or without 

The APC still has a 

window of 

opportunity to reinvent 

itself if all 

party organs manned 

by competent and 

experienced hands 

become operational 

after the convention 

Buni and steer the party 

towards a National Convention 

in order to cure the party of the 

many ailments it has gathered 

in the past two years that can 

constitute legal albatross in the 

future. Every one must 

now ignore the ranting of the 

women with contempt in their 

constitutional review efforts, and youth 

alienated by the heartless, bloody and 

brutally undemocratic manner the 

current order would come against 

peaceful young people just asking for 

change with EndSARS protest, 

something that was the motto of those 

now in power. 

In seeking to build to last a party 

rooted in a people centred push for 

inclusive rapid economic growth and 

social harmony rooted in human 

solidarity, respect for the environment 

and that the earth is our mother, we must 

not forget the people whose passions got 

A starting point for young 

people is to massively 

register to vote and seek to 

proselytize a new order 

among their peers 

us here. I have insisted in these in all 

the ‘Third Force’, mega party or 

alternative track party meetings I have 

attended. 

I treat as special the fact that some of 

the heroes like Innocent Chukwuma 

and Chidi Ubani often spoke to being 

inspired by the legend of our time in 

student politics at the UNN, which they 

met many years after us. I used to joke 

that legend was dangerous as they can 

romanticise and exaggerate reality from 

a time past. I none-the-less enjoyed that 

they learnt of the fables our many 

troubles as student leaders. 

It is almost horrifying that I have now 

to raise the legend of their spectacular 

contribution instead of focusing on that 

of Emeka Enejere who was before us, or 

Adaka Boro much earlier, while they 

argue about my own time. But it is what 

it is. What must happen is that the 

present reconstruction must remember 

that the youth bulge defines us and that 

Chidi, Innocent and Co were in the 

prime of their youth when they became 

national heroes. We must then invoke 

their spirit in seeking to reconstruct the 

moment to give nobler meaning to being 

a young person in Nigeria. The 

hopelessness that has become the reality 

INEC chairman who 

believes that any party 

meeting called without his 

approval is illegal. 

Mahmoud needs to know 

political parties are not 

government parastatals. In any 

case Mahmoud is only playing 

tricks to complicate APC woes. 

Where was he when a PDP 

deputy chairman called and 

presided over a meeting to 

remove Secondus as the 

former PDP chairman? 

I am aware that some 

analysts are now enjoying the 

challenges of the APC, 

believing the PDP will be the 

beneficiary. This is a 

misplaced expectation 

because the PDP is an 

incompetent opposition in its 

present form. The APC still 

has a window of opportunity 

to re-invent itself if all party 

organs manned by competent 

and experienced hands 

become operational after the 

convention. 

On the major cause of the 

present party challenge, which 

is majorly a clash of ambitions, 

this can be solved by creating 

a level playing field for all 

Send Opinions & Letters to: 

opinions1234@yahoo.com 

of now for many young people, 

triggering suicides in the face of another 

ASUU strike, needs to be constructed 

into a party plank for massive 

employment generation and new 

challenges that rejuvenate the hope of 

the young. 

As the pledge of our anthem is that 

the labours of our heroes past shall never 

be in vain, the youth of Nigeria need to 

embrace this tribute to these heroes as 

impetus for spirited effort in social and 

political organising to bring Nigeria to 

a new dawn. Let us release into orbit 

the spirits of these heroes to guide the 

young of these times to reclaim the 

promise of Nigeria. 

A starting point for young people is to 

massively register to vote and seek to 

proselytise a new order among their 

peers. They should run with the Ibrahim 

Shekarau story to others that are being 

dispirited by the view that votes do not 

count. That view is the new false 

consciousness. As the youth in Kano 

policed the votes in 2007 and a civil 

servant with no money defeated an 

incumbent so can youth all over Nigeria, 

especially now they have some help from 

the new electoral law do to the power 

men of today. Hopefully they may have 

both Shekarau and Kwankwaso on their 

side. 

If you are of voting age and you have 

not registered to vote you weigh down 

the spirit of these heroes that we seek to 

lift off into orbit. If you also volunteer to 

be part of the vote policing network, you 

do more. If you canvas voter registration 

of your peers, you travel even farther. 

Surely the remarkable work that 

Atahiru Jega, Mike Ozekhome, Femi 

Falana, Ayuba Wabba, Usman Bugaje 

and others are doing will stand us in 

good stead for this much longed for 

rebirth to come to our country. This is 

much helped by the righteous few in both 

PDP and APC waiting to join the big 

tent as the train readies to leave the 

station. Their coaches are marked R-PDP 

and R-APC. See you in 2023 when 

Nigerians can sing Happy Days are here 

Again. 

•Utomi, a political economist and 

professor of Entrepreneurship is Chairman 

and Leader of the NCFront midwiving the 

alternative political party in Nigeria 

aspirants such as was done in 

the Lagos Convention in 2015. 

In the Lagos primaries, 

Okorocha, Atiku, Kwankwaso, 

Sam Ndah-Isaiah and Buhari 

slugged it out. No one was 

hiding under any dubious 

trick, no one dropped any one's 

name as there were no name 

to drop. No ethnoreligious 

card was played; it 

was open and fair contest. 

It is infantile delusion to 

think that any acceptable 

presidential candidate in APC 

can emerge through cunny 

manipulation of the party or 

dropping the president’s 

name. More importantly, the 

presidential candidate that 

Nigerians are yearning to see 

from the APC is one who is 

ready with the policies to fix 

Nigeria and its numerous 

challenges, and one with the 

character and pedigree to 

inspire hope. 

Nigerians do not want a 

charlatan from a process 

dogged by little provincial 

tricks and product of infamy. 

•Olawepo-Hashim is an APC 

chieftain and a former 

presidential candidate

ASUU-Federal Government: What 

does it take to be transparent? 

AWEEK before the deadline given by the 

Academic Staff Union of Universities, 

ASUU, to roll over its one-month warning 

strike to the Federal Government expired, 

Abuja came out with the claim that the 

University Transparency and Accountability 

Solution, UTAS, ASUU’s preferred platform 

for the payment of academic staff, failed the 

integrity test set for it on three counts. This 

communication came through a 

spokesperson of the National Information 

Technology Development Agency, NITDA. 

ASUU had rejected the Federal Government’s 

Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information 

System, IPPIS, for sundry reasons that all 

boiled down to its unsuitability as a payment 

platform for the job description of academic 

staff which is somewhat different from the 

situation in the civil service. 

In faulting UTAS and thereby rejecting it, it 

may worry keen observers that the Federal 

Government had to wait until a week before 

the expiry of the deadline given it by ASUU, 

after which the strike would be ‘rolled over’ 

indefinitely. Abuja’s observation on UTAS 

could have come much earlier than it did but 

it had to respond in the manner it did, 

apparently, to make the negotiation process a 

drawn-outone as it has so far done. Waiting 

until the eleventh hour before raising 

objections about UTAS is a foolish, timebuying 

game to weary and frustrate the 

lecturers. It is in character with earlier 

strategies adopted by government negotiators 

(even President Muhammadu Buhari in his 

dealings with the National Assembly in matters 

pertaining to electoral reforms) who came to 

the negotiation table bent on achieving their 

predetermined positions. 

From Wale Babalakin, the one who operated 

like an FG enforcer to Chris Ngige, who with 

his labour leader cap, trimmed goatee and 

walking stick, cuts the image of the wily 

tortoise of folklore each time he turns up for 

negotiation, and other journeymen thrown up 

by the lingering disagreement, the game plan 

has never changed nor have the government 

players waivered. The tactic was to either 

wrongfoot ASUU by stalling for time or thumb 

their nose at it in a blatant show of ego. Had 

ASUU been one of the more pliant labour 

unions and not one managed by academics 

that has,in spite of all real and contrived 

limitations on it,remained loyal to its core 

principles, it would have long been bought over. 

All praises to ASUU as a national body then, 

that no matter how individual ASUU leaders 

may have sold out and used the union as a 

stepping stone to glory in their localbranches 

or in the internal politics and wranglings of 

the union as a whole, they have manged to 

remain impervious to any tantalising offers 

from government and have often demanded a 

price far higher than anything their 

government adversaries could offer. Is it not 

also curious that of all items on ASUU’s 

Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 16, 2022 —17 

talk of the polytechnics and colleges of 

education or, in fact, the private sector. 

Lecturers are being demonised and called 

upon to make sacrifices others could ignore 

just because ASUU has been the most consistent 

in its fight for a better education system with 

Nigerian governments down the years. 

When in demanding sacrifice from others 

ASUU questions the cosy pay and conditions 

of service of public office holders, particularly 

politicians, they are viewed as an envious lot 

and told to switch position if their goal is to 

earn a politicians’ salary. But who says belttightening 

measures are tailor-made only for 

public education and their managers? How 

can’t government officials be transparent in 

their dealings with ASUU but continually 

endorse agreements or get into negotiations 

they had no intention to honour from the getgo? 

Do we need any further proof that each 

time this government and others before it went 

into agreement with ASUU in particular 

(although the same thing plays out more or 

less with other unions), it does so in bad faith? 

Why would Chris Ngige as Labour and 

Productivity Minister be at the forefront of 

government negotiation with ASUU while 

Adamu Adamu, the Minister of Education, 

stays back if the goal is not to create loopholes 

that could be unfairly exploited? 

After each meeting Dr.Ngige comes out overly 

optimistic and voluble about the putative 

progress made than could be objectively 

verified. It was only last year ASUU and the 

Federal Government signed another 

agreement to validate the previous agreement 

of 2009 after a protracted strike that lasted all 

of eight months. The same government is now 

seeking another round of negotiation even after 

failing to honour a previous one? Where is the 

good faith here? Where is the transparency? 

What form of integrity test has the IPPIS 

achieved where lecturers on it are randomly 

short-changed in salary and ancillary 

allowance payments to justify Abuja’s claim 

that UTAS is unusable even after previous 

assessment scored it 80 per cent and above? If 

UTAS is indeed inadequate IPPIS looks far 

more undesirable and should be discarded. It 

is a mechanism to entrench corruption and 

manipulate the university system by putting 

its heartbeat, funding, firmly in the hands of 

Abuja. 

shopping list it was only UTAS that Abuja chose 

to focus on in its latest gamble disguised as a 

response, as if the entire demands of the 

academic union was centred around monetary 

issues? If and when the UTAS stalemate is 

broken, then would it shift focus to something 

else like an indolent fool who constantly 

postpones the burial of his dead parents even 

in full realisation it is one task that cannot be 

shirked or outsourced. This would seem to be 

the undeclared intention of the government 

that singled out UTAS of all ASUU demands 

just to skew public opinion against ASUU and 

feed into existing prejudice that the body is out 

only to fight for the pocket of its members. 

It’s a known fact that since 2009 there has 

not been any raise in university lecturers’ 

salaries or allowances. Which is why ASUU 

must quit being defensive about demanding a 

pay raise for members even if fundamentally 

the problem of Nigeria’s labour force, both 

private and public, including ASUU faces, is 

one of unbearable inflation and the purchasing 

power of their take-home pay that has been 

incrementally devalued over the years and not 

It’s about time that Nigerian 

academics took seriously the 

question of appropriate 

remuneration and reward 

system; they need to own the 

argument about fair and 

appropriate payment and 

condition of service without 

being shy or apologetic 

just the sheer volume of naira per se. It’s about 

time that Nigerian academics took seriously 

the question of appropriate remuneration and 

reward system. They need to own the argument 

about fair and appropriate payment and 

condition of service without being shy or 

apologetic. 

It’s at once scandalous and unacceptable that 

far less qualified (if we go by years of training) 

civil servants and others in relative positions 

earn far more than university lecturers who 

have all the higher degrees and have more 

professional demands placed on them than 

their counterparts in the civil service not to 

IT would have been pure 

entertainment or at best a 

comedy of errors if the issues 

being discussed did not have the 

capacity to elicit a tragedy of epic 

proportions if allowed to unfold 

uncontrolled. As in their manner 

to intervene in matters of national 

interest, members of the National 

Assembly were venting their spleen 

on the near epidemic failure of the 

aviation sector, delay in flights, 

postponement or outright 

cancellation of flights, and then 

pouring salt on injury, the price 

hike that came - a flat N50,000 as 

baseline for a one-way flight. 

Emotionally, the airline 

operators could be guilty as 

charged. Even the body language 

of the lawmakers evidenced the 

guilt. But for me, it was the story of 

the snake looking at the stick 

instead of looking at the person 

holding the stick to snuff out its 

venomous life. What will the air 

operators do? Charges at the 

airport are annoyingly 

multifarious. Have you ever tried 

to do an analysis of a ticket to 

determine how much really goes 

to the operators? Plus all that is 

the cost of aviation fuel that has 

flown up to the geostationary 

orbit; nothing is likely to bring it 

down except there is divine 

08055069060 (SMS Only) 

Technology: The shape of things 

that are here 

intervention up there. And I would 

never say here that God has 

abandoned us as a people because 

without Him this nation, in my 

opinion, would have been long 

gone. 

I started with the story of the 

aviation industry because that is 

one field I have always prayed 

should not fail. Now reality stares 

us in the face and the auguries are 

horrible; but the lawmakers want 

the airline operators to offer 

services with tears and sorrow and 

still remain safe in the skies! That 

is not the way it works. Even magic 

works for those who make 

determined efforts to achieve 

results. As we drove out from my 

little end of town into the city of 

Abuja this fateful night a couple of 

days ago, it suddenly dawned on 

me that the aviation pain is only a 

poster but painful externality of the 

failure in nearly every strand of life 

in our nation, and there doesn’t 

seem to be anybody worrying 

enough to continue to shout about 

such failure which effects are 

paralytic. 

This night, as in previous nights 

and the others that have followed, 

there was no light anywhere, 

except the audacious intrusion in 

the dark of those who could go to 

the filling stations to rough out a 

fight and buy diesel for their 

generators at a cost that has joined 

the aviation fuel in the 

geostationary orbit. And people are 

struggling up there to buy and run 

a life a way from a government that 

would never stop to inconvenience 

them with despotic incompetence. 

It suddenly occurred to me that we 

could wake up one morning and 

find out that Nigeria has achieved 

a state of nihilism, a scandalous 

retrogression to the age of 

darkness, from which our heroes 

past have tried to redeem us. 

It occurred to me that one could 

wake up one morning and find out 

that AIT and Channels TV stations 

are off the air because they could 

The socio-economic 

fabric of the nation is 

fractured and salient 

voices are going into 

perplexing acquiescence 

of evil; it is wrong to 

continue to harp on the 

elastic endurance of 

Nigerians in the face of 

oppressive conditions or 

even evil 

not continue to buy diesel at 

nearly N700 a litre to run their 

operations. When I made this 

observation, my friend told me that 

such development would titillate 

the morbid sensibilities of a 

government that wouldn’t want the 

people to have alternative 

channels to talk about its crass 

incompetence and a seeming 

apathy to the pains besetting the 

people. 

At this rate only the NTA, the 

government station, would be on 

air because it gets subventions 

from government. But in there is 

the painful irony. Should the 

nation get to that degree of failure, 

even NTA will not be on air for too 

long a time because the budget it 

receives from government can 

really not buy more than sandwich 

in a TV market. The signs are not 

good and the politicians are 

shopping for the next fellow to go 

to the seat of government where, it 

is whispered in hush tones, that a 

foreign construction company 

fuels the generators. Where the 

leaders, when they are around, live 

in surreal bliss, when the people 

fight for life or fight each other in 

pitch darkness, manifesting 

transffered aggression 

manufactured in the unfeeling 

hearts of their leaders. 

Just as I was thinking about this 

article, the power grid collapsed 

totally leaving the entire nation in 

total darkness. This is the other 

thing that troubles my heart. You 

could wake up one morning and 

discover painfully that your 

phones cannot work because the 

mobile operators - MTN, Airtel, 

Glo and 9MOBILE could not 

continue to run their base stations 

on diesel. The phones are the most 

important pain relievers for most 

Nigerians, as they bury their pains 

inside the contents and pretend, 

like the ostrich with head buried 

in the sand, that the world out there 

is euphoric. 

Even with the co-location policy 

put in place by the Nigerian 

Communications Commission, 

NCC, making it possible for 

service providers to run as many 

base stations from a unique site, 

there may still be at least 50, 000 

base stations operated by colocation 

service providers like 

IHS, American Tower Company, 

ATC, and SWAP, among others, to 

provide services to operators 

across board. Of all the major 

operators in Nigeria only Glo still 

runs its base stations 

independently. But the point at 

issue is that since the Nigerian 

government failed in its promise 

to provide power to mobile 

operators at the dawn of a 

telecoms renaissance in 2001, the 

base stations spread across the 

nation, except in states where there 

are serious security challenges, are 

powered by generators. There are 

two generators per site. Just do the 

little math of buying diesel at 

N700 a litre to power the 

generators, the amount could be 

humongous. 

So, it is not impossible to wake 

up one morning and all the 

networks are down. The operators 

are unable to power their 

equipment because of the cost of 

diesel, and they too will be 

agitating for a raise in tariff. 

Unfortunately for them and very 

fortunately for the subscribers, the 

telecoms service providers operate 

in a deregulated market where the 

regulator has a strong voice. 

Tariffs don’t just go up that way. 

The regulator will have to do a 

determination before setting a 

baseline tariff for the industry. 

I am afraid to conclude here that 

the socio-economic fabric of the 

nation is fractured and salient 

voices are going into perplexing 

acquiescence of evil. It is wrong to 

continue to harp on the elastic 

endurance of Nigerians in the face 

of oppressive conditions or even 

evil. The rope is getting too tight. 

We shouldn’t wait for a wrench 

before waking up from a satanic 

sleep to do the needful and provide 

a little relief for the people, a 

comforting baseline to validate 

their humanity.


THE “dividends” of incompetent and 

corrupt governance in the petroleum 

sector by successive governments 

have really caught up with us on all 

fronts. We are now the laughingstock 

of our own people and the 

international community. 

Nigeria is the only major oilproducing 

country that lacks 

On Wednesday, March 9, 2022, a 

indigenous refining capacity. 

train from Ibadan heading to Lagos 

Successive governments have failed 

suddenly stopped in the wilderness 

to address this anomaly. 

because it ran out of fuel. The 

Because of the limitless corrupt 

following day, the House of 

opportunities that petroleum products 

Representatives summoned petroleum 

importation and subsidies provide, 

and aviation sector executives to find 

our presidents hijack the petroleum 

out why the airlines were on the verge 

portfolio without leveraging on that 

of being grounded due to scarcity and 

power to restore local refining. 

exorbitant cost of aviation fuel. 

We now find ourselves in a situation 

Airline operators lamented that 

where our transport sector is in utter 

aviation fuel was scarce due to 

crises. Petroleum products scarcity 

hoarding and the cost had risen from 

has returned us to the hellish 

N190 per litre to N670. They called 

experience of long queues at the fuel 

for price reduction to at least N200 

stations and the attendant exorbitant 

per litre to ensure the safe 

prices. 

continuation of operations. However, 

Preventing aviation disasters 

the Group Managing Director of the 

Nigerian National Petroleum 

Company, NNPC, Limited, Malam 

Mele Kyari, disclosed that the landing 

cost of Jet Fuel was N400. The only 

way the price could be reduced was to 

pay subsidy on it. 

The implication of all this is that the 

recent increase of one-hour flight 

fares to N50,000 minimum could 

worsen. Already, flight delays and 

cancellations have become the norm 

at the airports. Airlines may resort to 

cutting corners and compromising 

safety just to remain in business. 

The current template in the 

governance of the petroleum sector 

is like patching old, worn-out 

knickers: the more you patch the more 

it develops holes. We may be forced 

to subsidise jet fuel, yet we do not 

have the funds to do so. The economy 

is getting grounded. 

Importation of petroleum products 

must end. That is the only way out. 

We must do everything in our power 

to ensure that Dangote and other 

mushrooming modular refineries 

come into operation soonest. 

Government must engage them by 

subsidising the cost of crude oil set 

aside for local consumption. They can 

have different prices for export and 

internal supplies. 

In the meantime, everything 

possible must be done to keep our 

airlines safe, operational and at 

affordable prices. Insecurity has 

hampered road travel, especially for 

VIPs. We must keep the economy 

going. 

OPINION 

Russia, US and China: Birds of same feather 

By SUNNY IKHIOYA 

REACTIONS have continued to trail the 

invasion of Ukraine by Russia. What we 

are seeing is like a Holywood fast action film, 

the conclusion of which will determine where 

the super powers stand against lesser countries. 

It will determine whether the United Nations, 

UN, charter will have to be re-examined, 

especially as it concerns veto powers given to 

a few countries and also, it will determine 

whether the people of the world can truly have 

freedom. For now, sentiments seems to be 

flowing in the direction of Ukraine which is 

regarded as the underdog, in the manner of a 

David versus Goliath encounter. With the 

goodwill and support of people all over the 

world, it is hoped that Ukraine will ride out 

the storm and the super powers will learn to 

understand that might is not always right, that 

the moral of the people’s power is superior to 

whatever arsenal that has been put in place, 

that the United States of America will let the 

world be, especially as it concerns the Latin, 

Central America, the Caribbean and such other 

places that they are extending their tentacles. 

China will allow Taiwan and other countries 

within the South China Sea region - Vietnam, 

the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei and others 

- to live in peace. 

It is hoped that Russia would have learned 

its lessons and leaders all over the world will 

begin to live with their conscience, according 

to universal rights and wrongs, and that the 

world will be made to experience peace in all 

regions. It is expected, that the world will stand 

up with one voice to condemn any future global 

dictator, the way that we have condemned 

Russia. But, how did things degenerate to this 

level in the Russia-Ukraine conflict? It is in the 

nature of man to flex his muscle, dominate 

and extend territorial boundaries. It is also, in 

the nature of man, to adjust, to maneuver in 

order to avoid traps set by enemy interests. 

The strong man will try to dominate with his 

brute strength, while the weaker one will rely 

on his guile to survive; it is a trait of animals 

and a general characteristics of how nature 

works. But, all the same, when people are united 

as a group they are very very difficult to 

dislodge; that is why there is hope for Ukraine, 

as the world appears to be one with them. 

However, it is basically the decision of 

Ukraine’s leaders to allow themselves to be 

goaded by the US and its allies into an open 

confrontation with Russia; they have allowed 

themselves and their country to be sacrificed 

as pawns by the super powers as the poor 

citizens suffer and valuable infrastructure 

needlessly destroyed. Only God knows how 

long the reconstruction and rehabilitation 

efforts will take; we do not even know how 

long the war will last; but then this is just the 

beginning. 

A critical analysis of the causes of this conflict 

will reveal that not all parties involved are 

innocent, except the ordinary citizens of 

Ukraine, Russia and others all over the world 

suffering the consequences of this war. Already 

people are dying, businesses are collapsing 

and prices going northwards; that is what war 

brings to the people, you cannot quantify the 

damages; that is why it is advised that, no 

matter the situation you find yourself, it is better 

to jaw-jaw than to war-war; by talking, you 

are avoiding so many unpleasant things. So, 

when outsiders are goading you into a fight, 

be very sure of your position before going into 

a war. These super powers carryout both covert 

and overt operations to undermine legitimate 

governments. According to Lindsay A O 

‘Rourke, writing for the Washington Post: “The 

US tried to change other countries 

governments 72 times during the cold War, 

between 1947 and 1989; 66 covert and six 

overt”. Covert operations are such that ‘the 

operations are designed so that the intervening 

state can plausibly deny it was involved, 

deflecting blame to other actors ‘. Exactly what 

the US and its allies in NATO did to overthrow 

the Russia-backed government in Ukraine 

from 2013 to 2014. 

Also, writing under the title: “United States 

Intervention for what?” John Coatsworth 

concluded that: “In both the United States and 

If the super powers are ready 

and willing to stay in their own 

space and not be unnecessarily 

greedy of other nations’ 

resources, the world will be a 

peaceful place for all 

Latin America, economic interests are often seen 

as the underlying cause of US intervention”. 

People are already talking about the nordstream 

gas project as a possible cause of the US 

involvement in Ukraine, but the most profound 

is the statement credited to Senator Bernie 

Sanders on Putin, he said: “...Putin may be a liar 

and a demagogue, but it is hypocritical for the 

United States to insist that we, as a nation, do 

not accept the principles of spheres of influence. 

For the last 200 years, our country has operated 

under the Monroe doctrine, embracing the 

principle that is: the dominant power in the 

Western hemisphere, the United States, has the 

right to intervene against any country that might 

threaten our alleged interest, and under this 

doctrine, the US has undermined and overthrown, 

at least, a dozen countries throughout Latin 

Send Opinions & Letters to: 

opinions1234@yahoo.com 

America, Central America and the Caribbean...In 

1962, we came to a brink of nuclear war with the 

Soviet Union, in response to the placement of 

Soviet missiles 90 miles from our shores. It is 

unacceptable for a hostile country to have a 

significant military presence 90 miles away to our 

shore...” 

How touching! With this US policy in place, 

one is then forced to ask the question: what is 

the United States and its NATO partners doing 

in Ukraine? Ukraine is a border country of 

Russia with a significant Russian population 

living there; the US and NATO meddling is 

one of the excuses Russia is using to attack 

Ukraine. So, what is the lesson from this? If 

the super powers are ready and willing to stay 

in their own space and not be unnecessarily 

greedy of other nations’ resources, the world 

will be a peaceful place for all. 

As it is today, any country that is not in sync 

with them is regarded as an enemy. In the light 

of the US and Russia behaviour, China has 

been flexing muscles in the Asian axis of the 

world; they want to have authority over 

everything, they will not allow an independent 

Taiwan and Hong Kong, they want to control 

the South China Sea that belongs to all, they 

are extending their territories to places that 

they have never been before; and that is because 

they believe they now possess the necessary 

arsenal to see it through. They want economic 

power like the US and will not tolerate any 

subordinate role anymore at the world stage. 

Russia wants the same influence they enjoyed 

when the whole Eastern bloc in Europe was 

under the Soviet Union; they cannot get rid of 

the fact that countries like Ukraine, Georgia 

and the rest are no longer under their control 

and influence; that is why they want these 

countries under them to be brought into 

submission, and that is why we are having this 

Continues online:www.vanguardngr.com 

Ikhioya wrote via 

www.southsouthecho.com

Merchandise trade deficit rises 171% to 

•As total trade hits N39.7trn 

N1.9trn 

By Elizabeth Adegbesan 

ECONOMY 

The National Bureau of Sta 

tistics, NBS, said the 

country’s merchandise trade 

deficit rose year-on-year (YoY) 

by 171 per cent to N1.93 trillion 

last year from N711.24 billion in 

2020. 

NBS also said that total merchandise 

trade stood at N39.7 

trillion in 2021, rising YoY by 

57.5 per cent from N25.2 trillion 

in 2020. 

The bureau disclosed this in its 

Foreign Trade in Goods Statistics 

report for the fourth quarter of 

2021 (Q4’21). 

According to the report, the 

value of imports rose YoY by 64 

per cent to N20.84 trillion in 

2021 from N12.68 trillion in 

2020. 

Similarly, the value of exports 

in 2021 rose by 51 per cent to 

N18.9 trillion from N12.5 trillion 

in 2020. 

The report stated:”In Q4’21, 

Nigeria’s total merchandise trade 

stood at N11.7 trillion, representing 

11.79 per cent over the level 

recorded in Q3’21 but was 74.71 

per cent higher when compared 

to the value recorded in Q4’20. 

“ Export trade in the quarter 

under review stood at N5.76 trillion, 

indicating an increase of 

12.27 per cent over the preceding 

quarter and the value in 2021 

also grew by 80.5 per cent over 

the corresponding period of the 

previous year. 

“Furthermore, the share of exports 

in total trade stood at 49.26 

per cent in Q4’21. 

“On the other hand, total imports 

stood at N5.94 trillion in 

CURRENCY BUYING SELLING 

US DOLLAR 

POUNDS 

EURO 

FRANC 

YEN 

CFA 

WAUA 

RENMINBI 

RIYAL 

RAND 

Danish 

Krona 

SDR 

2,498.00 -113.00 

18.72 -0.41 

106.8 -6.60 

415.42 415.92 416.42 

542.4139 543.0667 543.7196 

456.7543 457.304 457.8538 

442.5482 443.0809 443.6135 

3.5247 3.5289 3.5332 

0.675 0.685 0.695 

571.8069 572.4951 573.1833 

65.5204 65.5997 65.679 

110.7255 110.8588 110.9921 

27.417 27.45 27.483 

61.3619 61.4357 61.5096 

CBN Exchange rate as at 15/03/2022 

•Value of imports, exports rise 

Q4’21, indicating an increase of 

11.33 per cent over the preceding 

quarter and 69.41 per cent over 

the corresponding period of 2020. 

“Imports value in the fourth 

quarter of 2021 accounted for 

50.74 per cent of total trade. “The 

balance of trade in the period under 

review stood at (N173.96 billion), 

this shows a deficit trade with 

an improvement of 12.72 per cent 

over the preceding quarter. 

“ In 2021, the value of total trade 

stood at N39.75 trillion which is 

57.6 per cent higher than the value 

Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 16, 2022 —19 

L-R:Executive Director, Treasury & Operations, Oladipupo Adeoye; General Manager, 

IT & Platform, Lolita Ejiofor; Managing Director, Madu Hamman; Group 

Head, Corporate Services, Bukola Ewedairo; Executive Director, Finance & Admin., 

Mobolaji Adewumi and Group Head, E-Business Product & Support, Felix Omodayo- 

Owotuga all of Abbey Mortgage Bank during the media launch of Abbey Mobile 

Banking App in Lagos 

recorded in 2020. “The value of 

total imports in 2021 stood at 

N20.84 trillion which is 64.11 per 

cent higher than the value recorded 

in 2020, while total exports 

was valued at N18.9 trillion 

showing an increase of 50.9 per 

cent than the value recorded in 

2020. Overall in 2021, merchandise 

trade recorded a deficit N1.93 

trillion.” 

On trade by Custom Ports and 

Post , NBS said:” In Q4’21, the bulk 

of exports transactions were carried 

through Apapa Port with 

goods valued at N5.16 trillion or 

89.54 per cent of total exports. 

This was followed by Port Harcourt 

which recorded N398.14 billion or 

4.6 per cent of total export. 

“In terms of imports, Apapa Port 

also recorded the highest transactions 

valued at N3.53 trillion or 

59.5 per cent of total imports. This 

was followed by Tincan Island 

which accounted for goods valued 

at N774.18 billion or 13.03 per 

cent while Port-Harcourt (3) 

handled N457.07 billion or 7.69 

per cent of total imports.” 

Yep! raises $1.5m 

in pre-seed funding, 

announces 

expansion plans 

By Nkiruka Nnorom 

Yep!, a financial super-app, 

has raised $1.5 million in 

a pre-seed funding round led by 

Greenhouse Capital as the company 

launches its revolutionary 

new digital financial super 

app on iOS and Android in five 

African countries including 

Nigeria, Niger, Togo, Ivory 

Coast, and Burkina Faso. 

The company also announced 

ambitious growth 

plans of doubling an existing 

network of about 100,000 merchants 

to over 200,000 by the 

end of 2022. 

The company stated that it 

is in discussions with international 

credit providers to increase 

the super-app’s debt facility 

to $10 million by the end 

of this year as the company 

scales its lending operations. 

Commenting, Yep! Co- 

Founder Olaoluwa Awojoodu 

said: “We have secured a 

$500,000 credit facility that 

will enable us to kick-start the 

provision of working capital 

loans to our existing merchants 

as we expand across the 

continent. As we strive to deliver 

on our promise of bringing 

financial access to all Africans 

and connecting Africans 

to the world, increasing Yep!’s 

lending capacity will be a key 

catalyst in pulling more customers 

and merchants into our 

ecosystem. Access to finance 

can be transformative; it unlocks 

opportunities among 

those that need it the most and 

has a huge impact on the wider 

economy.” 

“Yep! is a digital financial 

services company leveraging 

technology to deliver unconventional 

and intuitive financial 

services and solutions that 

fills the gap left by existing 

banking models which fail to 

serve Africa’s unbanked, 

underserved and micro, small 

and medium enterprises 

(MSMEs),” Awojoodu added. 

Explaining the reason behind 

Greenhouse Capital’s investment 

in Yep!, Ruby Nimkar, 

CBN reconstitutes executive management of Nigerian Commodity 

Exchange 

CAPITAL MARKET 

By Emma Ujah, Abuja 

Bureau Chief 

The Central Bank of 

Nigeria (CBN) has 

eased out the Managing 

Director (MD) of the Nigeria 

Commodity Exchange 

(NCX) Mrs. 

Zaheera Baba and her 

Executive Management. 

This followed the commencement 

of work by 

the Interim Management 

team led by Mr. 

Elenwor Ihua, a Deputy 

Director in the Department 

of Development Finance 

of CBN. 

Ihua’s team has a mandate 

to temporarily oversee 

the operations of the 

Exchange and supervise 

an independent, transparent 

process to appoint 

a new Executive Management 

for the NCX 

that would efficiently 

run the organization. 

CBN, which has provided 

about N50 billion 

for the restructuring of 

the NCX, had in January 

announced Deputy 

Governor, Financial 

System Stability, Mrs. 

Aisha Ahmad, as Chairman 

of the new Board of 

the exchange. 

Two directors of the apex bank 

were also appointed as members 

of the Board. They were: Mr. 

Philip Yila of the Development 

Finance Department and Dr. 

Angela Sere-Ejembi of the Financial 

Market Department. 

The CBN Governor, Mr. 

Godwin Emefiele, who has been 

driving the Anchor Borrowers 

Programme to raise the bar in 

the agricultural sector, said that 

the exchange would play a major 

role in the agribusiness sector 

of the economy. 

He said that the restructuring 

of the organization was necessary 

in order to make it more efficient 

in ensuring that farmers 

had the right value for their 

commodities and to ensure food 

security in the nation. 

The exchange was established 

to provide an innovative commodity 

trading platform that 

would engender shared prosperity 

among market actors, 

through quality assurance and 

price stability. 

It was operating through four 

standing committees: Membership 

and Finance Committee, 

Trading Committee, Clearing 

House Committee and Arbitration 

and Vigilance Committee. 

All the committees have established 

rules and regulations governing 

their operations, meet 

from time to time on cases relating 

to each of them and make 

recommendations to the Board 

for consideration and approval. 

The membership of the Exchange 

is composed of Broker 

Dealer members, Dealer members, 

and Broker members. 

Tradable commodities on the 

exchange include: Sorghum, 

sesame seed, soyabean, maize 

and cocoa. 

CIBN, ACAMB partner to bridge reputation management 

gap in banking sector 

The Chartered Institute of 

Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN) has 

signified interest to partner with 

the Association of Corporate Affairs 

Managers of Banks (ACAMB) 

to bridge perception and reputation 

management gap in the 

nation’s banking sector. 

CIBN gave the assurance on partnership 

and collaboration when 

the newly inaugurated ACAMB 

executives paid a courtesy call on 

the Council and Executive Management 

of CIBN at Bankers House 

in Lagos. 

Speaking during the visit, President 

of ACAMB, Rasheed 

Bolarinwa, said the relationship 

MONEY MARKET 

between both bodies have led to 

the robust development of the 

banking and financial industry in 

the country. 

He, however, noted that the relationship 

can achieve more especially 

in the area of bridging perception 

and reputation management 

in the banking and financial 

services sector. 

“There is this negative perception 

among customers generally 

on the issues of bank charges. In 

other instances, customers feel 

banks are not doing enough for 

them especially as regards accessing 

loans and other benefits. Meanwhile, 

the banks are doing everything 

within regulatory means but 

most of these customers lack the 

basic information to access the 

products and services. 

“Aside this, customers these 

days do not have the patience to 

engage banks and follow through 

on service issues before making a 

show of such on social media at 

the expense of banks’ images.” 

Responding on behalf of institute, 

the President/Chairman of Council, 

Dr. Bayo Olugbemi, assured 

that the CIBN would continue to 

partner ACAMB where necessary, 

to amongst other things, guard the 

image of the banking and financial 

services industry.

C 

M 

Y 

K 



There are opportunities for 

women in construction 

industry—Doris Mbadiwe, DMD InterBau 

DORIS Okechukwu Mbadiwe is the Deputy Managing Director of Inter-Bau 

Construction Ltd, an indigenous construction company in Nigeria that has 

been in existence for almost four decades and delivered notable capital projects 

including the Onitsha River Port Project, Utor Road and Bridge Project, and the recently 

completed Port Harcourt Airport, among others. 

The female constructpreneur with over 15 years in the industry is a Tradeswomen 

Activist who believes that women should be well represented in all stages of 

infrastructure delivery in the construction industry, as women are also the main 

users and beneficiaries of infrastructure and makeup up to 50 per cent of the population 

in Nigeria. 

Doris is a member of the Board of Trustees, Inter-Bau Foundation, a non-profit 

organisation established to train and equip women and youths with practical 

construction skills such as carpentry, painting, masonry among others while bridging 

the gender gap in the construction industry. She also provides mentorship and 

leadership training and has impacted over 4000 young women through the foundation. 

As a lawyer, you are involved in 

running a construction firm and 

you are also big on development. 

How do you marry all these? 

I have always said that Law is the 

foundation for everything. I joined the 

construction company as a company 

secretary and legal adviser; in charge of 

contracts and agreements. I was doing 

all the legal aspects of the construction 

projects. As time went on, I got interested 

in the construction sector itself. I started 

involving myself in the technical aspect 

and I took courses in construction so, I 

am not just a lawyer but knowledgeable 

in the construction industry. 

What of the development aspect? 

When the company turned 35 years 

old, we were thinking of what to do to 

give back to society and we thought of 

Inter bau Foundation, dealing 

specifically with human development 

and capacity building. The foundation 

focuses on training men and women in a 

40:60 percent ratio, in construction 

skills. 

Recently, there was a structural 

failure in a building project in Lagos 

and no one seemed sure whose 

responsibility it was. As a lawyer 

working in this construction 

industry, with whom or which party 

does the buck stop in such matters? 

The causes of every building mishap 

are different. The only party that would 

know the exact problem is the people 

involved in the building. Everybody else 

can do guesswork based on his or her 

expertise on the knowledge of why a 

building collapses. From what I know 

about construction and buildings, there 

are a number of causes. The three major 

components of any building project 

include skilled workers, materials and 

equipment as well as the method. If any 

of those three is compromised, it 

compromises the integrity of the project 

and of the building. A lot of people who 

are trying to understand why the 

building collapsed will definitely be 

around these three major components. 

Either the professionals did not 

understand the skills of the workers billed 

for the job or the materials were not 

adequate and if they are adequate, they 

could have been used in a substandard 

composition. The method used may not 

be proper for that kind of building. It 

could be a foundation problem. There are 

many challenges attached to the 

building. But, the people who would 

know better are those directly involved. 

Who are we to hold responsible? 

Government, people, or the 

regulators? 

Most times, people would blame the 

building contractor. People do not 

necessarily blame the owner. Most people 

would be asking for the contractor 

working on the project, after which they 

will be blaming the owner. And in terms 

of the regulators, their responsibility is to 

basically inspect the project. In other states 

where I have projects, the government’s 

responsibility is to inspect periodically to 

test the integrity of the building project , 

but I do not know what is obtainable in 

Lagos. I might not be able to speak to the 

collapse of the building you are referring 

to 

Ṫhere is a rash of new real estate 

developments in Lagos. Should we be 

concerned about standards? 

Building collapse incidents compared to 

those that are standing is not alarming. 

Although for every building that collapses 

and lives lost, it is regrettable and should 

be avoided. In terms of the ratio, it is not 

significant. We have competent 

contractors and there are lots of 

developments that are really credible. As 

long as humans are born and the 

population keeps increasing, there will be 

a corresponding need to provide housing. 

What should be considered is how to 

prevent reoccurrence. 

And how do we do that? 

•Doris Mbadiwe 

The regulatory bodies and professional 

bodies will ensure that the workforce 

involved in the project is competent and 

knowledgeable. The COREN institute of 

architects, engineers should be properly 

trained and skilled. They must abide by 

•Doris Mbadiwe 

Most women do not know 

that there are opportunities 

in the construction sector 

the rules and regulations that govern the 

profession. 

Secondly, there must be monitoring on 

the quality of materials, composition of 

the materials and there must be a 

regulatory body holding people 

accountable. 

There must be independent inspectors 

that inspect buildings that are over five 

floors. The higher a building goes, the 

more attention should be given to the 

process and procedure of building. 

Government, professional bodies, and 

other experts in the construction industry 

have a part to play. There must be 

training and retraining of all bodies 

involved on new ways of building, new 

materials to be used. Once those things 

are put in place, there will be an 

improvement. 

Lastly, there must be a deterrent meted 

to anyone that is not doing the right thing. 

so, people will be careful. 

Like a sort of Black Box for collapsed 

building’s …. 

In the last three years, it has been widely 

published and I am hoping that we now 

know what caused the building collapse, 

especially the recent one. Of course, we 

can put measures in place to prevent 

another one. I am sure that they would 

have tested the materials, the foundation, 

and the project itself so as to know the 

cause. 

Why do you favour women more in 

the deliberate attempt to help more 

people take advantage of 

opportunities in the construction 

value chain? 

The construction sector is lucrative. 

The industry is bombarded by men and a 

few women. There are lots of construction 

works going on but the major players are 

men. Right now, we want the percentage 

of women to be increased and they should 

be accessing the opportunities in the 

industry especially as there is a high rate 

of unemployment among the youths. 

Construction used to have a structure that 

accommodates high levels of 

unemployment, although right now, it is 

Agriculture. There are more 

entrepreneurs now than there used to be. 

Construction has the capacity and 

potential of absorbing lots of unemployed 

youths because of its nature. For us, it is 

an opportunity. 

Most women do not know that there 

are opportunities in the construction 

sector. Almost all professionals can 

work in a construction company. 

There are lots of women who like tools. 

They could become construction artisans. 

All the opportunities in the construction 

industry are very lucrative. The 

carpentry business is a multi-billion dollar 

industry; painting is another aspect of the 

construction industry that is lucrative. 

There is no house that does not have paint. 

Instead of being jobless, women can access 

these opportunities by learning vocational 

skills in the construction sector to make a 

living. And that is what we do at the 

Interbau Foundation. For every position 

in the construction sector, there is an 

Assistant. We have Construction 

Managers that manage construction 

projects apart from Administrative 

Managers. Anyone who has studied 

Business Management or Human 

Resources is also needed in the construction 

sector. Doctors and Nurses are also needed 

at the operational site. Lawyers are also 

needed to ascertain the terms and 

conditions of engagements. There is no 

profession that is not tied to the 

construction sector. There is also the need 

for a caterer. There are direct and indirect 

means to access the opportunities in the 

construction industry. There are 

consultancy opportunities also. In other 

words, what men have been enjoying, 

women can also benefit from as well. 

As an indigenous construction 

company, how have you coped with 

the big internationals? 

The grace of God and the God factor. It 

opens you up to be competent and diligent 

and how to form and sustain relationships. 

You have to be good at what you do and be 

able to convince someone else of what you 

do. This is our 38th year of existence. We 

have survived the military regime and 

we are still surviving. Of course, you do 

not start big; we started small in Delta 

State, the former Bendel State. There was 

a need for construction at that time, and 

so we started with small roads construction 

and from there we started building 

capacity. From the roads to housing and 

we upskill. 

We started learning how to improve and 

build capacity. Integrity is also very 

important. The owners of the company 

understand the need for integrity. They 

want to abide by the rules, regulations, 

and standards to which the organization 

was set up. As an indigenous company, 

we do not compromise professionalism and 

integrity.


To avoid use of nuclear weapon, 

Ukraine suffers what it must 

FOLLOWING sever 

al threats and warnings 

which the world generally 

took with a pinch of 

salt, Russia invaded 

Ukraine on February 24, 

2022. Though the Russian 

President had announced 

that he was conducting a 

‘a special military operation’ 

for the purpose of ‘demilitarisation’ 

and ‘denazification’ 

of Ukraine, this 

broadcast was immediately 

followed by the strategic 

bombing of Ukrainian 

vital military targets; and 

in perfect sync, Russian 

ground troops and armoured 

columns commenced 

movements towards 

the country’s capital, 

Kyiv, in an attempt to 

force Ukraine’s surrender. 

The whole ideology behind 

Putin’s invasion is 

based on the hopes of a 

greater Russia and return 

to the USSR’s former glory 

and territorial control. 

The spate of the unprovoked 

attacks was soon 

followed by President 

Putin’s apocalyptic 

threat that "whoever tries 

to impede us, let alone 

create threats for our 

country and its people, 

must know that the Russian 

response will be immediate 

and lead to the 

consequences you have 

never seen in history". 

Perhaps against the 

background of this threat, 

the West could not interfere 

militarily but instead, 

meted out a barrage 

of sanctions on Russia 

on various fronts: 

from financial to consumer 

goods, to airspace, 

and to oil and gas. The 

West caused devastation 

to the Russian economy 

by targeting its central 

banks and oligarchs, and 

by removing them from 

the SWIFT system. 

Recently, the West has 

begun moves to cut off 

the Russian gas supply 

by publishing a plan outlining 

how it will slash its 

dependence on Russian 

gas by up to two-thirds in 

2022, and completely rid 

itself of Russian supplies 

by the end of the decade. 

No doubt, this will, in addition 

to previous severe 

economic sanctions, create 

a serious devastating 

effect on the entire Russian 

economy as Russia 

alone has been responsible 

for nearly half of the 

entire European Union’s 

natural gas, oil and coal 

imports. Both Putin and 

his beloved Russia are 

now international pariahs 

with the Russian Rouble 

crashing to a historic 

low while the Moscow 

stock exchange suspended 

trading due to an 

unprecedented sell-off, 

the assets and properties 

of Russian oligarchs and 

those with perceived ties 

to Putin being seized 

across Europe. 

However, the bone of 

contention is not in the 

economic effect of Russia’s 

unprovoked war – 

but whether Ukraine 

would not have been 

written off the world map 

by the time the economic 

sanctions finally crumple 

the Russian economy. 

Some have even argued 

whether the economic 

sanctions from the West 

would achieve the intended 

effect on the long 

term. What then is the 

purpose of a barrage of 

sanctions which Russia 

will recover from, as 

against the possibility of 

wiping off Ukrainians off 

the face of the earth? Will 

the world continue to 

watch as Putin commits 

atrocious acts of destruction, 

pillaging and killings? 

From time immemorial, 

the world has been producing 

political leaders 

some of whom are instinctively 

combative, arrogant, 

assertive and 

merciless; some of whose 

man invasion of Poland 

on September 1, 1939 

and fuelled in large measure 

by the Japanese militarism. 

It finally came to an 

end in 1945 when the 

United States dropped 

atomic bombs on Nagasaki 

and Hiroshima in 

Japan. The war claimed 

about 80 million lives, 

being approximately 

three per cent of the 

world population at the 

time. The two wars were 

a product of the combative 

instinct of the world 

leaders at the time. 

There could have been a 

Third World War in 1960 

which was eventually 

averted. 

I was a self-sponsored 

student, working and 

studying in London for 

the Bar Examination of 

Wales and England at 

that time. Britain which 

was one of the outspoken 

Western countries supported 

US against Russia. 

Krushev, a highly intelligent 

leader of Soviet 

Union, warned the Western 

world and in particular, 

he told Britain that 

he would sink Britain, a 

small island, below the 

sea. 

The world should prevail on Russia to 

withdraw its troops to allow the United 

Nations and the Security Council to 

organise a referendum among those 

states in the Eastern Ukraine who seem 

more sympathetic to the Russian cause, 

in the interest of self-determination 

and to avoid further bloodshed 

actions have led to destruction 

of historic proportions 

simply because 

they were unchecked. 

World War One began as 

a response to the assassination 

of Archduke 

Franz Ferdinand of Austria, 

the heir to the Austro-Hungarian 

Empire, 

by a Serbian Nationalist. 

The Serbian government, 

therefore, ordered the 

Serbian Army to mobilise 

and also appealed to Russia 

for assistance. 

On July 28, Austria- 

Hungary declared war 

on Serbia and within a 

week, Russia, Belgium, 

France, Great Britain and 

Serbia joined Austria, 

Hungary and Germany 

and the World War 1 began, 

finally ending in 

1918 and leaving nine 

million soldiers dead, 21 

million wounded, and 

five million civilians 

dead. World War Two was 

sparked off by the Ger- 

Nigerian students 

whose parents had the 

means flew their children 

to Nigeria. However, 

those of us who had no 

means of paying for the 

flight back to Nigeria 

had no alternative but to 

resign to fate. We saw 

each minute as the end 

of life when Krushev 

would sink all of us into 

the sea through the use 

of atomic bomb. We were 

glued to our television 

and radio and nobody 

ventured to go out. 

Thankfully, the war did 

not eventually break out. 

Nigeria has more than 

5,600 students and numberless 

Nigerians who 

are either studying or 

working in Ukraine. Having 

gone through the ordeal 

of 1960, I understand 

the agony, frustration 

and the suffering of 

Nigerians in Ukraine as 

the bombs, missiles and 

tank are destroying prop- 

erty, killing innocent 

people. Afterall, we must 

appreciate that all previous 

world wars, in spite of 

the carnage and destruction 

of lives and property, 

ended with one sort of 

peace agreement or the 

other; but then, did these 

agreements bring back to 

life those who were 

killed? 

Ukraine is a relatively 

young state which became 

independent in 

1991. It has a long history 

of dispute and partitioning 

between Poland 

and Soviet Union. It is inhabited 

by Ukrainians 

and Russians. There was 

and there is the ethnicity 

problem which has 

been the cause of several 

disputes, conflicts and 

even wars, including but 

not limited to the Crimea 

declaration for independence 

in 2014. On February 

27 and 28, 2014 the 

Russians living in Crimea 

seized buildings in the 

Crimea and quickly organised 

a referendum 

which resulted in 83 per 

cent who voted for integration 

into Russia Federation. 

Those who live in 

Western Ukraine see 

themselves as belonging 

to European Union, 

while those who live in 

the East want to be attached 

to Russia. 

The World needs to do 

more than mere economic 

sanctions in curtailing 

the Russian invasion. If 

Russia successfully captures 

Ukraine, what is to 

stop it from advancing 

on other Republics which 

formed part of the former 

USSR? Will it not send a 

message to China that it 

can then freely invade 

Taiwan since the Western 

powers are too weak to 

intervene? Certainly, 

Russia must be curtailed, 

not out of fear of its 

threats to unleash terror, 

but for the greater good 

of humanity. Afterall, 

most of Russia’s casualties 

have been civilians – 

mostly women and children 

– who were bombed 

in their homes, and in 

the hospitals. 

Pope Francis, while decrying 

the Russian ‘barbarism’ 

of killing children 

and other defenceless 

civilians in Ukraine, 

pleaded for a stop to the 

attacks ‘before cities are 

reduced to cemeteries’. 

Just like the United 

States rose up to the occasion 

and intervened in 

bringing World War Two 

to an end, it is better to 

nip the Russian incursion 

in the bud before it advances 

beyond the borders 

of Ukraine into other 

territories. The solution, 

to me, is immediate 

cease fire by Russia and 

Ukraine. 

The world should prevail 

on Russia to withdraw 

its troops to allow 

the United Nations and 

the Security Council to 

organise a referendum 

among those states in the 

Eastern Ukraine who 

seem more sympathetic 

to the Russian cause, in 

the interest of self-determination 

and to avoid 

further bloodshed.

Hostile stepdaughter 

Dear Bunmi, 

A 

FEW weeks ago, I 

attended my 

stepdaughter’s wedding with 

my husband of 20 years. As 

usual, she did subtle things 

to let me know I wasn’t 

welcome. For example, she 

addressed the invitation to 

only her father and feigned 

Did my husband 

infect me? 

Dear Bunmi, 

AFTER being divorced 

for a while, I met up 

with an old flame I’d left 30 

years ago. We rekindled our 

relationship, and eventually 

married. I knew he’d cheated 

on previous partners, but he 

always assured me that it was 

in the past. Then, last year, 

he started coming home late 

and claimed he was too tired 

for sex. 

Shortly afterwards, I was 

shocked to discover that I had 

a sexually transmitted disease 

– and so had he. I asked him 

if he was cheating, but he 

denied it. Then I found a 

woman’s number on his 

mobile. He said he had no 

idea who she was. Although 

I have no concrete proof that 

surprise that I even attended 

the engagement ceremony. 

She’s coming for a visit soon 

to thank her dad for his 

financial support and my 

husband said he would like 

me to be there, when I made 

the excuse I had a prior 

engagement. I can already 

imagine how uncomfortable I 

Like any adults, your stepdaughter 

has a right to pick the people she 

surrounds herself with; but it’s time to 

put an end to the pretence. Your 

husband needs to spell out that 

anyone who disrespects his wife is 

disrespecting him 

he’s cheating, I know in my 

heart that he is. I just don’t 

know what to do about it. 

Chika, by e-mail. 

Dear Chika, 

I think you know in your 

heart of hearts that your 

husband is cheating. Even 

worse, he’s risking your 

health. It’s widely believed 

that once a man cheats, he will 

cheat again. I can’t tell you 

what to do now but be rest 

assured that being on your 

own isn’t as bad as you might 

think. An innocent partner 

would be outraged if he had 

an infection he knew nothing 

of and I’m sure he would have 

kept quiet of his disease if you 

hadn’t mentioned it. 

Seek counselling if you 

must. Your peace of mind is 

more important than a 

relationship without trust. 

She’s carrying religion too far! 

Dear Bunmi, 

MY girlfriend is an 

official member of a 

leading pentecostal church 

and she takes her religion 

seriously, so much so that she 

always recoiled at the idea of 

having sex. She says it’s 

against the teachings of the 

Bible. This makes me sad. I 

am a Christian myself and I 

go to a reputable orthodox 

church from time to time. 

My girlfriend’s attitude is 

really upsetting me. I know 

a lot of our religious friends 

who are happy in fulfilling 

sexual relationships, why 

should our situation be 

different? At times I even 

wonder if she’s not hiding 

something more sinister from 

me. I’ve asked her to reach 

some sort of compromise by 

giving me oral sex, but she 

says nothing can be done 

sexually until we are married. 

It seems as if she is using her 

religion as a bait for us to get 

married. 

What can I do? If she turns 

out to be a pig-in-a-poke after 

we get married, what could I 

do? Do you think there’s 

anything I can say to change 

her views? I want her so 

much. 

Funsho, by e-mail. 

Dear Funsho, 

As you must have realised 

by now, when people have 

deep religious beliefs, it is 

impossible to change their 

will feel. If I don’t point out 

her shortcomings, he 

pretends not to notice. I’d 

always hoped his daughter 

would grow up and we could 

be friends. But after the 

wedding, I reached my limit. 

I’m sorry my husband is 

caught in the middle, but what 

am I supposed to do? 

Charlotte, by e-mail. 

Dear Charlotte, 

You call addressing an 

invitation to only one person 

in a couple subtle? I wouldn’t 

call it that at all! I think that’s 

an intentionally in-your-face 

message that says, “I don’t 

want you around.” I can 

understand why you’ve had 

enough. Your husband 

ignores his daughter’s insults 

because he’s afraid to 

jeopardise his relationship 

with her. He doesn’t seem to 

realise he has other options. 

Like any adults, your 

stepdaughter has a right to 

pick the people she surrounds 

herself with. Sure, most of us 

fantasise about being part of 

a perfect family, but it is her 

prerogative not to like you, 

and her father can’t make her. 

It’s time to put an end to the 

pretence. He needs to spell 

out that anyone who 

disrespects his wife is 

disrespecting him. An insult 

to you by an omission, 

exclusion, or outright hostility 

is an insult to him 

too. Ideally, your husband 

should get onboard with you. 

It’s your call as to whether 

you see your stepdaughter, so 

if the prospect makes you 

uneasy, don’t be around when 

she comes by. When you find 

yourselves in the same place, 

do the decent thing and be 

polite. But there’s no need to 

force the issue. 

views and unwise and unfair 

to try. It doesn’t matter that 

some religious people do 

have sex before marriage, 

what matters is that your 

girlfriend doesn’t believe in it. 

You want to know what you 

can do? Why not marry her if 

you want her so desperately? 

If you really love each other 

and believe you could have a 

good life together, marriage 

should be the next step. That 

way, you could have all the 

sex you want without messing 

up her life. 

But, if marriage is not in your 

agenda, then call the relationship 

off and move on. That should also 

free her to find someone who 

believes what she believes. Then 

both of you will be happy. 


His debts are ruining our 

marriage 

Dear Bunmi, 

I 

’M living a 

nightmare! My husband 

of five years is a chronic 

debtor, and it seems as if 

borrowing money is second 

nature to him. He’s taken 

every available loan in his 

office and has borrowed 

money off neighbours and 

friends. 

No month goes by without 

irate people he’d borrowed 

money from coming to the 

house breathing fire. He’s 

even gone as low as to borrow 

from artisans in the 

neighbourhood! 

The trouble is he’s not a 

generous husband and father 

to our child, and it is virtually 

impossible to plan for the 

future with all these debts 

hanging down his neck. I 

have threatened to leave, but 

he is urging me to have more 

children. How can I stay in 

this kind of situation? 

Chioma, by e-mail. 

Dear Chioma, 

However much you love 

your man, heavy financial 

problems will strain your 

relationship. Money issue is 

a major topic for couples and 

you need to sort out your 

husband’s recklessness 

before you decide on having 

more children. 

By the sound of it, your man 

is not good with money, but 

do you know on what he 

spends all these monies he 

keeps borrowing? Does he 

gamble? Is he on 

drugs? Does he support a lot 

of members of his extended 

family? Your husband needs 

to change and very quickly 

too. His habit is one of the most 

difficult to break, so set your mind 

on keeping him if you can. 

Could his drinking be the reason 

I’m still not pregnant? 

Dear Bunmi, 

MY fiancé and I have 

been trying for a baby 

since the beginning of last 

year but we are not having 

any luck. The point is, I have 

a sneaky feeling the fault 

might be his as I already had 

a child from a previous 

relationship. My man drinks 

beer three or four times a 

week. Do you think this could 

be the reason I’ve still not 

gotten pregnant? I’ll be 30 

years old soon. 

Janet, by e-mail. 

Dear Janet, 

You could well be overreacting 

here! It’s quite 

normal for a couple not to 

conceive right away. As much 

as it is advisable both of you 

live a healthy life, your man’s 

alcohol consumption doesn’t 

seem to be over the top. In 

short, you seem to be blaming 

him for the fact that nothing 

has happened yet. This is 

probably because you’re 

scared – either of not getting 

pregnant or that it might be 

your fault. 

Holding your man 

responsible will just cause 

needless friction of a time 

when you should be building 

your relationship in preparation 

for the challenge of having a 

baby. Why not relax for a change? 

Doctors recommend couples 

should seek professional help after 

trying for a baby for a year. Wait till 

then and, if you still haven’t 

conceived, go back to your doctor 

for a check-up. 

Did my husband father her child? 

Dear Bunmi, 

YEARS back, my 

husband had an affair 

with one of our daughter’s 

friends. The girl was married 

at the time, became pregnant 

and had a little girl who is 

now an adult. 

Over the years, this girl 

divorced her first husband, 

remarried, then divorced 

again. Now she lives with a 

new man who doesn’t know 

the type of tramp she is. 

My husband and I discussed 

her recently and wondered if the 

girl she had when they both had 

the affair could be his. Should 

we really try to find out? 

Susan, by e-mail. 

Dear Susan, 

What is there to find out? 

You may get a sense of grim 

satisfaction from exposing the 

woman who tried to steal your 

husband, but what about the 

other woman at the centre of 

it all – her daughter? How do 

you think she would react to 

finding out that the man she 

calls Dad might not be her 

father? 

What are you going to gain 

by digging up the past? If 

you still feel bitter and angry 

after all these years, you need 

to talk to your husband. A 

young woman’s future is at 

stake here, so keep your 

emotions in check before you 

go demanding for tests. Your 

children might not even be on 

your side! 

Share your problems and release 

your burden. Write now to 

Dear Bunmi, 

Vanguard Newspapers, 

P.M.B 1007, Apapa, Lagos, or 

bunmsof@yahoo.co.uk

C 

M 

Y 

K 



•South-East governors 

Insecurity in S-East: 

Are governors overwhelmed 

or not working together? 

•Gunmen exposed the weakness of South-East leaders 

—Retired police officer 

•The governors are unserious in tackling rising insecurity in 

the region —Rev. Eze 

•South-East governors playing politics with security 

—Prof. Chinekezi 

By Anayo Okoli, Vincent 

Ujumadu, Ugochukwu 

Alaribe, Chinonso 

Alozie, Ikechukwu Odu 

& Emmanuel Iheaka. 

ENUGU-- INSECURITY 

in the South-East region is 

not abating. Killings and 

kidnappings by the so-called unknown 

gunmen are still being reported daily. 

Despite available intelligence of their 

camps and the communities these 

hoodlums have taken over and 

occupied, which are also their 

operational bases, it is surprising to 

the people why it is difficult for the 

governors in collaboration with the 

Federal Government, to mobilise 

security operatives to tackle this 

menace once and for all and liberate 

the people of the zone from the 

bondage of insecurity. Good enough, 

the region has no big forests with 

difficult terrain that could frustrate 

such operation. Why the governors are 

reluctant to take joint action to tackle 

this menace destroying the region is 

difficult for the people of the region to 

comprehend. 

While the governments keep footdragging 

over the issue, the situation 

deteriorates, and gets worse every day. 

Currently, there is a security alert 

circulating in social media on the 

situation on the dreaded Ukpor- 

Orsumoghu-Lilu-Azia route which has 

been deserted by motorists and other 

road users due to the level of insecurity 

on the route. The anonymous trending 

security alert cautions road users thus: 

“Please, I have a crucial security alert 

for those of you who pass through 

Anambra and Imo. No jokes here. Just 

like Boko Haram used to occupy 

territories, certain parts of Anambra 

and adjoining part of Imo is now ruled 

by some “peaceful” boys in IPOB. 

Please I am not joking. If you pass 

there and look rich, like driving in a 

big SUV, they kill without asking 

questions. Escorts make it worse, 

unless you roll with a garrison, not 

those two or three mobile policemen, 

people usually carry. If you don't look 

like a big man, then you are kidnapped 

for a small ransom of N50, 000 to 

N200,000 “to fund the struggle,” they 

say. 

“Any road passing through any of 

these towns, Ukpor, Lilu, Orsumoghu, 

Iseke, Mbosi, Azia; avoid this area, 

please avoid it, this is authentic gist. 

Don't drive through these roads. Stay 

on the main express roads, please, the 

Ihiala-Owerri express road. And in the 

event of any attack, there is no point 

running into the bush; no one to help 

because they won't dare cross the 

boys. Most citizens have ran away, 

leaving only those who have nowhere 

to go, or you are part of the thing. This 

information is true as of this weekend, 

12th March, 2022.” People from the 

area confirm the situation to be true, 

confirming that the boys have taken 

over the area. 

The situation has escalated to the 

level that leaders from across the 

country have expressed worry. Former 

President Olusegun Obasanjo, last 

week, on a visit to Imo State, tasked 

Governor Hope Uzodinma to find 

lasting solution to insecurity in Imo 

State. 

He urged the governor to 

incorporate the youths in governance 

in order to end the spate of insecurity 

in the state and the country at large. 

Speaking in Owerri, at a dinner 

organised by Governor Uzodimma to 

While the 

governments 

keep footdragging 

over 

the issue, the 

situation 

deteriorates, 

and gets worse 

every day 

mark the former President’s 

85th birthday, Obasanjo urged the 

governor not to ignore youths 

regardless of their behaviour. 

While commending the steps taken 

so far by the governor to ensure a 

lasting peace in Imo, Obasanjo tasked 

him to find a lasting solution to the 

spate of insecurity in the state by 

engaging those he called the ‘bad boys’ 

regardless of who they are. 

As a way of seeking for peace, he 

advised politicians to resolve all their 

differences through dialogue and 

without recourse to acts that would 

impact negatively on the society. 

“Hope is your name; it means a lot 

because life without hope is 

meaningless. There are three 

categories of bad boys: those 

genuinely frustrated and angry, those 

who are being sponsored by 

politicians for political vendetta and 

those who by nature, are criminally 

minded. 

“We have to find a solution if 

insecurity remains a problem in our 

society. And for the genuinely 

frustrated and militants, we have to 

learn to deal with them by talking to 

them,” Obasanjo admonished. 

Besides Obasanjo, many prominent 

leaders have been lamenting over the 

rising insecurity in the South-East 

zone, and have been calling on the 

governors in the zone to work as a 

team to tackle it, but this has not 

happened. Clearly, the governors are 

not working as one. Even in their 

umbrella union, South-East 

Governors’ Forum, they hardly agree 

on something and execute it. 

Unconfirmed report said that the 

governors do not agree among 

themselves, being the reason they do 

not work as a team. The issue of 

setting up a regional security 

outfit, Ebubeagu, is a clear case in 

point. Till date, all the five states have 

not set up the outfit; rather, each has 

its own local security outfit, unlike in 

the South-West where Amotekun was 

set up across the states, which helps 

them to synergize to tackle insecurity 

in the area. 

However, Enugu State Governor, 

Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi has been a bit 

proactive in tackling insecurity in his 

state. Recently, when some people 

were killed in a community on the day 

of the state’s council election, he 

swiftly moved and took sweeping 

action by banning tippers, 

motorcyclists and tricycles from 

operating in the affected council area 

because intelligence pointed towards 

them for the many criminal activities 

going on in the area. That action 

pushed their leaders to promise to 

take actions that would help them fish 

out the bad ones among them. 

Expressing his views on the issues, 

a retired police officer, Mr. Godson 

Obika told South-East Voice that the 

emergence of gunmen exposed the 

weakness of South-East governors in 

protecting their people. According to 

him, the inability of the governors to 

unite in the area of security in the 

region shows the extent certain forces 

outside the zone were influencing 

affairs of the region. 

He said: “Instead of working 

together as Igbo people, our governors 

are more interested in securing their 

positions and to please outsiders. 

While governors of other regions are 

working together to secure their 

zones, our governors are working 

individually such that not much is 

achieved. 

“Yes, most of the governors are 

providing security vehicles to the 

operatives, but that is not enough. 

The only way they can reduce the 

growing insecurity in the zone is to 

combine efforts by setting up a central 

security outfit with well outlined 

funding and staffing modalities.” 

Speaking on the issue, the Pastor 

of Highway to Grace Assembly in 

Nsukka Local Government Area of 

Enugu State, Rev. Chikammadu Eze, 

accused the South-East governors of 

being too reluctant to tackle rising 

insecurity in the region. 

The cleric said that the governors 

lack the needed commitment to check 

insecurity in the region, adding that 

the creation of Ebubeagu was to aid 

fratricidal war among communities in 

the region. 

He also alleged that wicked 

politicians from the zone are hiding 

under the cloak of security situation 

in the region to attack political 

enemies using thugs and morally 

debased youths. 

He said that distrust and lack of 

cohesion would not allow governors 

from the zone to achieve collective 

security arrangement that would nip 

insecurity in the bud in the region. 

While decrying illegal levies across 

markets in Enugu State, he pointed 

out that unless the South-East 

politicians have a rethink and deliver 

dividends of democracy to the people 

of the region, mobs will arise to chase 

them out of power in no distant time. 

He equally said that the mass 

exodus of youths from the region and 

Nigeria at large, was caused by bad 

leadership which has crippled the 

economy of the nation and plunged 

the people into poverty. 

He also cautioned the youths not 

to allow themselves to be used as 

instruments of violence in the region 

by politicians. 

"South-East governors are too 

reluctant and unserious in tackling 

insecurity in the region. 

Creating Ebubeagu is like causing 

fratricidal war in Igbo communities. 

The governors should come up with a 

holistic and peaceful approach in 

tackling insecurity in the region. The 

governors should know that it 

requires money and genuine efforts 

to tackle this hydra-headed problem 

in the region. 

“Wicked governors in the South- 

East are using government 

machineries and thugs to carry out 

political killings in the region. 

“Regrettably, governors of the 

South-East region cannot do anything 

to check insecurity in the region. They 

are not telling themselves the truth, 

secondly, they don't believe in 

themselves, thirdly, they are being 

careful because they don't know who 

is for President Muhammadu Buhari, 

Atiku, IPOB or Nnamdi Kanu. 

Everybody is afraid in Nigeria today,” 

he said. 

In his contribution on the matter, 

Chairman, Civil Liberties 

Organisation, CLO, Aba Unit, Abia 

State, Professor Charles Chinekezi, 

pointedly accused the governors of 

playing politics with security and not 

showing enough commitment to end 

the problem of insecurity bedeviling 

the zone. 

He said that the governors have 

allowed politics, lack of cohesion and 

unity of purpose to override the oath 

they swore to maintain law and order 

and protect lives and property of the 

people. 

Chinekezi lamented that the 

South-East Governors' Forum has 

only existed in name as the forum has 

never taken any action to protect the 

interest of the zone. 

He, however, dismissed reports that 

the Biafra agitation is the cause of the 

rising level of violence in the zone, 

stressing that only sheer criminality 

could be blamed for the situation and 

urged the governors to seek 

assistance of the Federal Government 

to end the killings. 

In his words: “Don’t mind what they 

call the South-East Governors’ Forum. 

It only exists in name; it has been all 

about movement without motion. Lack 

of cohesion, unity of purpose and 

political differences have been the 

bane of the South-East Governors’ 

Forum. The South-East governors 

said they have established a security 

outfit called Ebubeagu for the five 

states, yet, nobody has felt the impact 

of Ebubeagu on the security of lives 

and property ? Major-General Abel 

Obi Umahi (retired), who was the 

head of the South-East Committee 

on Security set up by the South-East 

governors, had to resign because he 

discovered that it was all about ego 

and politics. General Umahi 

understood that the governors were 

not serious with 

the Ebubeagu security outfit and 

had to resign to save his name. 

"The only thing we have heard 

about the Ebubeagu security outfit 

is that one of the governors has been 

using it to fight his opponents and kill 

people. Ebubeagu is now a militia to 

serve the political interest of the 

governor. In other states, it has been 

all rhetoric while bandits have taken 

over the South-East, occupying 

communities. Some communities 

have been abandoned to bandits who 

have been killing and kidnapping 

people. In fact, bandits are now the 

governors of these abandoned 

communities because residents now 

pay taxes and levies to them for their 

safety. 

“If the South-East governors are 

sincere about ending the insecurity 

problem, why can’t they cry to the 

Federal Government to come to their 

aid? None of the five governors has 

told us that he cried to the Federal 

Government and was ignored. The 

problem is that our governors play 

politics with everything including 

security of lives and property. They 

have failed to think out of the box and 

develop foolproof strategies to end the 

problem. What has befallen us is the 

failure of political leadership, especially 

in the South-East zone.”


Energy crisis’ll worsen 

inflation, NLC, OPS, Reps 

warn 

Continues from page 5 

Analyst at Cardinalstone 

Research, in their Macro 

Research titled, “Subsidy 

Pressures Eroding Fiscal 

Space”, said they expected 

higher aviation fuel and 

diesel prices to pressure 

core inflation. 

They stated: “At our base 

case, crude oil price of 

$100.0/bbl, if the federal 

government fails to make 

additional subsidy provisions 

and chooses to pass 

on the cost in excess of 

N3.0 trillion (budgeted 

subsidy for 2022) to 

consumers, we expect a 

19.2 per cent increase in 

Premium Motor Spirit 

(PMS) price to N174.0/litre. 

“This hike could add 

about 95bps pressure on 

core inflation by our estimate. 

“In the short term, we 

think that inflation will likely 

tick up due to a prolonged 

period of fuel scarcity 

and elevated prices of 

diesel and aviation fuels. 

“Specifically, the global jet 

fuel touched a 14year high, 

resulting in about 80.0% to 

100.0% increase in airline 

fees. 

“We expect the higher 

aviation fuels, coupled with 

the 170.0 per cent year-onyear, 

YoY, surge in AGO 

(diesel) price to N650.0/litre 

to pressure the core inflation, 

with a negative 

pass-through effect on the 

food basket due to higher 

logistics costs.” 

In its Consumer Price Index 

(CPI) report for February, 

NBS said: “In February 

2022, the CPI which 

measures inflation increased 

to 15.70 per cent on 

year-on-year basis. This is 

1.63 percent points lower 

compared to the rate recorded 

in February 2021 

(17.33) percent. 

“This means that the 

headline inflation rate 

slowed down in February 

when compared to the 

same month in the previous 

year. Increases were 

recorded in all COICOP 

divisions that yielded the 

Headline index. “On 

month-on-month basis, the 

Headline index increased 

to 1.63 percent in February 

2022, this is 0.16 percent 

rate higher than the rate 

recorded in January 2022 

(1.47) percent. 

“The urban inflation rate 

increased to 16.25 percent 

(year-on-year) in February 

2022 from 17.92 percent 

recorded in February 2021, 

while the rural inflation rate 

increased to 15.18 percent 

in February 2022 from 

16.77 percent in February 

2021. “On a month-onmonth 

basis, the urban index 

rose to 1.65 percent in 

February 2022, up by 0.12 

the rate recorded in January 

2022 (1.53) percent, 

while the rural index also 

rose to 1.61 percent in February 

2022, up by 0.19 the 

rate that was recorded in 

January 2022 (1.42) percent.” 

On food inflation, the bureau 

said:”The composite 

food index rose by 17.11 

percent in February 2022 

compared to 21.79 percent 

in February 2021. 

“This rise in the food index 

was caused by increases 

in prices of bread and 

cereals, food product, Potatoes, 

yam and other tuber, 

oils and fats and fruit. 

“On month-on-month basis, 

the food sub-index increased 

to 1.87 percent in 

February 2022, up by 0.25 

percent points from 1.62 

percent recorded in January 

2022.” 

NLC decries persisting 

scarcity of 

petroleum products 

Reacting to the energy 

crisis in the country yesterday, 

the Nigeria Labour 

Congress, NLC, said there 

was a limit Nigerians could 

bear the prevailing circumstances, 

warning that the 

energy and fuel crises were 

pushing Nigerians to the 

limit. 

NLC in a statement by the 

President, Ayuba Wabba, 

cautioned: “There is an 

extent to which the people 

can endure the current 

hardship occasioned by the 

scarcity of refined petroleum 

products. 

“It is with great pain, sadness 

and alarm that the 

Nigeria Labour Congress 

observes the recurring 

scarcity of petroleum 

products in different parts 

of the country. A crisis that 

started with the supply of 

substandard Premium 

Motor Oil, PMS, 

degenerated into a 

persisting scarcity of not 

only PMS but also other 

petroleum products such as 

diesel and aviation fuel. 

“Currently, a litre of aviation 

fuel sells as high as 

N580, while a litre of diesel 

goes for as high as 

Naira stable at N416.50/$ in 

I&E window 

By Elizabeth Adegbesan 

The naira yesterday was stable at N416.50 per 

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

data from FMDQ showed. 

However, the naira appreciated by N3 in the 

parallel market yesterday. 

Vanguard findings from black market traders 

showed that the parallel market exchange rate fell 

to N576 per dollar from N579 per dollar on Monday. 

PUBLIC HEARING: From left, Leader of the House of Representatives, Alhassan Ado-Doguwa; Speaker Femi 

Gbajabiamila; and Chairman, House of Representatives Ad-hoc Committee on Recovery of Outstanding Debt 

Owed by Oil and Gas Companies, Nkeiruka Onyejeocha, during a public hearing on the need to recover the 

outstanding debts owed the Federal Government by oil and gas companies, at the National Assembly Complex 

in Abuja, yesterday. Photo: NAN. 

N625. In many parts of the 

country, a litre of PMS goes 

as high as N220. The 

socio-economic strain of 

both the scarcity and the 

high cost of petroleum 

products on ordinary 

Nigerians 

and 

manufacturing firms is best 

imagined. 

“In many parts of Nigeria, 

manufacturing has 

ground to a halt. The current 

haemorrhage induced 

by the prevailing scarcity of 

petroleum products has 

very grave concomitant effects 

on the already parlous 

unemployment and security 

situation in our country. 

“At the root of the current 

pain being faced by millions 

of Nigerians all over 

the country is the defective 

policy of nearly one hundred 

per cent importation 

of refined petroleum products. 

Nigeria is about the 

only OPEC country 

trapped in the quagmire of 

complete dependence on 

foreign refineries for products 

it has capacity to produce 

locally. 

“This is a most unfortunate 

commentary on our 

sovereignty. The Nigeria 

Labour Congress has at 

different fora and through 

diverse media, called the 

attention of the Federal 

Government to the grand 

danger of outsourcing our 

energy needs to foreign 

interests. 

“We warned of the looming 

crisis of energy insecurity, 

adulterated petroleum 

products, capital flight, decline 

in productivity, de-investment 

in the Nigerian 

economy, massive loss of 

jobs and upsurge in criminality 

cum violence all over 

the country. 

“The persisting scarcity of 

refined petroleum products 

has unleashed a tsunami of 

very dire economic realities, 

including exorbitant airfare, 

cancellation of 

scheduled flights, 

destruction of thousands of 

automobile engines by 

adulterated fuel and 

wastage of productive 

hours. In short, today’s reality 

screams: “Crisis Foretold”. 

“As clearly captured in the 

Nigerian Workers’ Charter 

of Demands, the only way 

out of this energy impasse 

is for the Federal Government 

to take very seriously 

the local refining of petroleum 

in Nigeria. We had 

severally identified the 

complete rehabilitation of 

our public refineries and 

the building of new 

refineries, both public and 

private, including modular 

refineries as the only 

sustainable panacea out of 

this 

national 

embarrassment and vulnerability 

in the security of 

our energy sector. 

“With the current surge in 

the price of crude oil, we 

urge the Federal Government 

to make judicious use 

of the bumper harvest of 

petro-dollars to fix our oil 

refineries. We must re-think 

Nigeria’s hydrocarbon as a 

strategic asset for sustainable 

wealth creation and 

development.’’ 

Transfer moribund 


Oil Companies, 

IOCs-Reps 

Similarly, the House of 

Representatives yesterday 

urged the Federal Government 

to transfer moribund 


Oil Companies, IOCs, 

operating in Nigeria or other 

competent private organizations 

to reactivate 

them for optimal operations. 

The call followed the 

adoption of a motion of Urgent 

Public Importance 

sponsored by Dagomie 

Awaji- Abiante at plenary. 

Presenting the motion, 

Abiante said there was 

need for President Muhammadu 

Buhari’s administration 

to save Nigerians from 

the recurring hardship of 

petroleum products scarcity 

across the country. 

Recalling that the exploration 

of crude oil commenced 

in Nigeria in 1937 

when Shell D’Arcy was 

granted the sole concessionary 

rights over the 

whole territory of the country 

and that crude oil was 

first discovered in commercial 

quantity in Oloibiri in 

present-day Bayelsa State 

in 1956 when the company 

drilled the first successful 

well, the lawmaker also 

expressed concerns that the 

non-functioning of the refineries 

had resulted in 

payment of fuel subsidy, 

importation of bad fuel, and 

the resurgence of long 

queues at failing stations 

across the country which 

has seriously impacted 

negatively on the 

wellbeing of Nigerians. 

He lamented that a whopping 

sum of $26.5 billion 

is being wasted on the 

Turn-Around Maintenance 

of the moribund refineries. 

He said: “The amount 

spent so far on the Turn- 

Around Maintenance of 

these moribund refineries 

is capable of building three 

new refineries of the same 

size going by the cost analysis 

of refinery projects 

across the world. 

“If the moribund refineries 

remain under the control 

of the Federal Government, 

coupled with the inefficiency 

of the agencies of 

government in charge, it 

will be a great disservice to 

Nigerians who continue to 

bear the brunt. 

He said: “In order to 

meet up with high demand 

for refined petroleum products, 

as a result of increasing 

population and economic 

activities; the Federal 

Government constructed 

three additional refineries, 

namely: the Warri Refining 

and Petrochemical Company 

with a capacity of 

125,000 bpsd, commissioned 

in 1978; the Kaduna 

Refining and Petrochemical 

Company With a 

capacity of 110,000 bpsd, 

commissioned in 1980; and 

the New Port Harcourt Refinery 

with a capacity of 

150,000bpsd, commissioned 

in 1989. 

“The aforementioned refineries 

have become moribund 

and obsolete, and in 

an effort to resuscitate 

them, the Federal Government 

has spent a whopping 

sum of $26.5 billion on 

their Turn-Around Maintenance 

which has not yielded 

any positive results. 

‘’The House notes that 

during the tenure of President 

Olusegun Obasanjo, 

machineries were put in 

place to commence the 

process of privatization of 

the nation’s refineries from 

unnecessary wastage of 

foreign exchange earnings 

on Turn-Around Maintenance 

and operating 

losses. 

“Apart from the reported 

$26.5 billion, these refineries 

have in recent years reported 

operating loss of 

N778.71 billion (Punch 

Newspaper, 19 March, 

2021) on these critical assets 

which can clearly be 

termed as wasting assets. 

‘’The House believes that 

having wasted billions of 

dollars over the years, the 

Federal Government of Nigeria 

cannot successfully 

execute the Turn-Around 

Maintenance of the moribund 

refineries, hence it 

will be better for the Government 

to seek alternatives 

with a view to ensuring 

their resuscitation.” 

Adopting the motion, the 

House mandated its joint 

Committees on Petroleum 

Resources and Public Procurement 

to ensure compliance 

to the resolution. 

In a related development, 

the House also urged 

the Federal Government to 

re-award the contract for 

the dredging of the Calabar 

Seaport to a reputable 

company with a mandate 

to complete the project 

within a specified time 

frame. 

The call was sequel to a 

motion by Alex Egbona. 

The House equally asked 

the Nigerian Ports Authority, 

NPA, to supervise the 

project and ensure that 

standard depth was established 

to enable larger vessels 

berth in line with international 

best practices. 

It, therefore, mandated its 

Committee on Ports and 

Harbours to investigate the 

contracts awarded in 2006 

and 2014 respectively, with 

a view to ensuring that all 

factors militating against 

complete dredging of the 

Calabar Seaport were resolved. 

Meanwhile, several 

flights were cancelled by 

airlines yesterday, as the 

scarcity of aviation fuel continued 

to take its toll, leaving 

passengers stranded at 

airports across the country. 

However, the regulator, 

the Nigerian Civil Aviation 

Authority, NCAA, said it 

could only release the total 

number of flights canelled 

during the period of scarcity 

after its quarterly meeting 

with other stakeholders. 

“ We don’t just release figures. 

We meet quarterly 

with other stakeholders and 

reconcile what we have 

with them to avoid confusion 

and disagreement. It 

takes time and procedures,’’ 

NCAA spokesman, 

Sam Adurogboye, said. 

Spokesman of one of the 

domestic carriers, Kinglsey 

Ezenwa of Dana Airlines 

told Vanguard yesterday: “ 

Yes, we operated our 

scheduled flights. We are 

still grappling with the situation 

and operating. We 

hope the situation improves 

in the coming weeks after 

the National Assembly 

meeting.’’


IWAJOMO 

PRECIOUS 

MADAMIEDOR 

I, formerly known and I, formerly known as MISS This is to confirm that the names 

addressed as Miss Iwajomo E D O H O R E 

MADAMIEDOR JOHN and 

Olasumbo Oluwaseyi, now 

MADAMIEDOR JOHN 

OGHENEYERHOVWO 

wish to be known and addressed 

ORITSEBEMIGHO refer to the same 

PRECIOUS, now wish to be known 

as Mrs. Fatoki-Wealth 

person. I now wish to be known as 

Olasumbo Oluwaseyi. All 

as MRS. EZEWU PRECIOUS MADAMIEDOR JOHN 

former documents remain OGHENEYERHOVWO. All former ORITSEBEMIGHO. All former 

valid. General public please documents remain valid. General documents remain valid. Banks and 

take note. 

public please take note. 

the general public please take note. 

CHIMEZIE OB 

EGWUELU OKECHI 

I, formerly known as I, formerly known as Egwuelu I, formerly known and 

Chimezie Augustina Wisdom, now wish to be addressed as OKECHI, 

Onyinye, now wish to be 

known as Okonkwo CHIDERA SOCHIMA, now 

known as Okorie Augustina 


Onyinye. All former Wisdom. All former 

as AMAECHINA CHIDERA 

documents remain valid. documents remain valid. 

SOCHIMA. All former 

General public please take General public please take documents remain valid, 

note. 

note. 

general public take note. 

NDUKWE 

PEMU 

AREBE 

I, formerly known as 

DARLINGTON PEMU, 

now wish to be known as 

DARLINGTON OTON- 

ULU PEMU. All former 

documents remain valid. 

General public please take 

note. 

OKELEKE ALEX ONYEWUCHI 

I, formerly known as Miss 

NDUKWE JOY NNEKA, 

now wish to be known as 

Mrs OKINBALOYE JOY 

NNEKA. All former 



note. 

I, formerly known and 

addressed as Nneamaka 

Rosemary Okeleke. Now wish 

to be known and addressed as 

Nneamaka Rosemary 

Onyekwum. All former 

document remain valid, general 


ORANEBO 

I, FORMERLY KNOWN AS MISS 

ORANEBO IFEYINWA 

CHINELO, NOW WISH TO BE 

KNOWN AS MRS PAUL BASIL 

IFEYINWA FAVOUR CHINELO. 

ALL FORMER DOCUMENTS 

REMAIN VALID. GENERAL 

PUBLIC PLEASE TAKE NOTE. 

OSONDU 


addressed as Miss Osondu 

Ogochukwu Chiemerie, now 


as Mrs. Okpala Ogochukwu 

Chiemerie. All former 



note. 

NZONONYE 

My full and correct name is 

Nzononye Onyinye Godsfavour. 

But my middle name, Onyinye, was 

omitted in my WASSCE Result, 

captured as Nzononye Godsfavour 

instead of Nzononye Onyinye 

Godsfavour. All former documents 

remain valid. General public please 

take note. 

EZEANOWI 

I, formerly known as Miss 

IRENE MMESOMA 

EZEANOWI, now wish to be 

known as Mrs. MMESOMA 

IRENE 

OBINNA- 

EZERIOHA. All former 



note. 

OKOYE 

I, formerly known as MISS. 

OKOYE 

CHIKA 

CHRISTIANA. Now wish to 

be known as MRS. 

OBIDINMA CHIKA 

CHRISTIANA. All documents 

bearing my former name 

remain valid. General public 

take note. 

NWEMEH 


addressed as NWEMEH 

CHIMAMKPA NWEMEH, 

now wish to be known and 

addressed as NWEMEH 

CHIMAMKPA OGANIRU. All 

former documents remain 

valid. General public please 

take note. 


addressed as KALU 

GOD’STIME ALEX, now wish 


KALU GOD’STIME PAUL. 

Former documents remain 

valid. General public take note. 

AYOGU 

I, FORMERLY KNOWN AND 

ADDRESSED AS MISS AYOGU 

RUTH UZOAMAKA, NOW WISH 

TO BE KNOWN AND ADDRESSED 

AS MRS EBIEM RUTH 

UZOAMAKA. ALL FORMER 

DOCUMENTS REMAIN VALID. 

PPSMB, BANKS AND GENERAL 

PUBLIC PLEASE TAKE NOTE. 

SARAH 


addressed as MBASHINYA 

SARAH, now wish to be called 

and addressed as 

MBASHINYA WANHEMBA 

SARAH, all former documents 


take note. 

AKADE 

IGUMAH 


addressed as Miss Sarah Eseohe 

Igumah, now wish to be 

known and addressed as Mrs 

Sarah Eseohe Usunubu. All 



take note. 

l, formerly known as AREBE 

PAUL, now wish to be 

known and addressed as 

UGHOGHE PAUL. All 

documents bearing my former 

name remain valid. General 

public, please take note. 

I, formerly known and addressed 

as MISS ONYEWUCHI CHIOMA 

GOODLUCK, now wish to be 

known and addressed as MRS 

OKAFOR CHIOMA GOODLUCK. 

Former documents remain valid. 

General public take note. 

OKUNOWO 

I, OKUNOWO MOTOLANI 

OLUMIDE, do solemnly declare that 

the Names OKUNOWO 

MOTOLANI OLUMIDE and 

OKUNOWO MOTOLANI 

AYOBAMI both refer to me. Any 

document these names appear on 

belongs to me as same person and 

remains valid. General public please 

take note. 

UMEONUOHA 

I, formerly known as MISS 

U M E O N U O H A 

NDIDIAMAKA REGINA, now 

wish to be known as MRS 

ONYEBUCHUKWU 

NDIDIAMAKA REGINA. All 



take note. 

AKPODONOR 

I, formerly known and addressed as 

MRS MABEL IZIEGBE 

AKPODONOR, now wish to be 

known and addressed as MRS 

MABEL IZIEGBE EHIGIATOR. All 

former documents remain valid, 

general public, Banks and all 

concerned authorities take note. 

ONYEWUCHI OD 


Miss ONYEWUCHI VIVAN 

CHIDIMMA. Now wish to be 


IKPORIKPO JUDE VIVIAN 

CHIDIMMA. All former document 

remain valid, general public please 

take note. 

MARCEL OD 

This is to certify that my correct name 

is MARCEL FAITH OLUEBUBE, 

instead of IJEOMA OLUEBUBE 

PETER as wrongly written in some 

of my documents, now I wish to be 

known and addressed as MARCEL 

FAITH OLUEBUBE. Former 

documents remain valid. General 

public take note. 

GABRIEL 


ONODJOMARAYEBRA 

GABRIEL, now wish to be known 

as ONODJOMARAYEBRA 

ERHUVWUADJEBRA FIDELIS. 

All documents bearing former names 

remain valid, general public and 

relevant authorities concern please 

take note 

ENUONYE UGBEH AYENYA 

I, formerly known and I, formerly known and I, formerly known and 

addressed as Miss Enuonye addressed as Miss Ugbeh Uche addressed as Ayenya 

Nkem Judith, now wish to be Maureen, now wish to be Fulfilment Nkem, now wish to 

known and addressed as Mrs. known and addressed as Mrs. be known and addressed as 

Dike Nkem Judith. All former Ogwu Emeka Maureen Uche. Odogwu Fulfilment Nkem. All 

documents remain valid. All former documents remain former documents remain 

General public please take valid. General public please valid. General public please 

note. 

take note. 

take note. 

ONISURU 

NWOGO 

MICHAEL 

I, formerly known as MISS I, formerly known as Nwogo I, formerly known as MISS 

ONISURU PRECIOUS 

EDITH, now wish to be known Abel, now wish to be known 

MICHAEL STELLA and 

MICHEAL STELLA, now wish to 

and addressed as MRS SILAS and addressed as Nwogo 

be known and addressed as MRS 

EDITH PRECIOUS. All Achionike Abel. All former 


OKPAKO STELLA. All former 

valid, any authority it may 

documents remain valid, any documents remain valid, any 

concern and general public to authority it may concern and authority it may concern and general 

take note. 

general public to take note. public to take note. 

I, formerly known as AKADE 

PRISCILLIA APE. Now wish to be 

known as AKADE PRISCILLA 

APENOSOMIAYE. All documents 

bearing my former name remain valid. 


AGHOLOR 

OGHOBUMME 

I, formerly known as MISS. I, formerly known as MISS. 

AGHOLOR NKEM OGHOBUMME PRISCILLA. 

STEPHANIE. Now wish to be 

Now wish to be known as 

known as MRS. ALBERT- 

AGHOLOR NKEM 

MRS. AKPOYIBO PRISILLA 

STEPHANIE. All documents NDUDI. All documents 

bearing my former name bearing my former name 

remain valid. General public remain valid. General public 

take note. 

take note. 

SOLOMON 

WE, FORMERLY KNOWN AND ADDRESSED AS SOLOMON 

AS OUR SURNAME NOW WISH TO BE ADDRESS AS 

IGBINOSUN AS OUR SURNAME, (A) MIRABEL IGBINOSUN 

(F) BORN ON 24TH OCTOBER,2016, (B) PURITY 

IGBINOSUN (F) BORN ON JANUARY,2018 AND GREAT 

OSASENAGA IGBINOSUN (M) BORN ON 23RD MARCH, 

2020. ALL FORMER DOCUMENTS REMAIN VALID. 

CONCERN AUTHORITIES AND GENERAL PUBLIC TAKE 

NOTE. 

AWOLEYE 

TANYAREYE 

I, formerly known and My surname was wrongly 

addressed as AWOLEYE captured as TANYAREYE, 

OLABISI OLUWAFEMI, now instead of TANYARE. My 


name as TANYARE RICHARD 

as AWOTOYE OLABISI 

OLUWAFEMI. All former 

EMENE~KPOWEI. All 

documents remain valid. former documents remain 

General public please take valid. General public please 

note. 

take note. 

REJOICE 

EJEYE 

I, formerly known as I, formerly known as MISS 

OMAJAMUSONOR 

EJEYE ORITSECHEMAYE 

PATIENCE REJOICE, now 

wish to be known as HOPE, now wish to be known 

OMAJAMUSONOR as MRS OMOGWIGHO 

PATIENCE. All former HOPE. All former documents 




note. 

please take note. 

CHUKWUNALU 

IKPEMI NWOSU EG UGOCHUKWU 

I, formerly known and addressed as I, formerly known as MISS 

MISS OSHIOBUGIE NANCY UGOCHUKWU LOVETH 

IKPEMI, now wish to be known and 

ADAKU, now wish to be 

known as MRS AMADI 

addressed as MRS NANCY IKPEMI 

LOVETH ADAKU. All former 

JOLOMI. All former documents documents remain valid, 

remain valid, general public, Banks general public bank and all 

and all concerned authorities take authorities concerned should 

note. 

take note. 

OWEI 


addressed as DOLLY OWEI. 

Now wish to be known and 

addressed as DOLLY 

DIRINAGHA. All former 

document remain valid, general 


WISDOM 


addressed as OKAGBARE 

WISDOM. Now wish to be 


OKAGBARE WISDOM 

IGHOYOTA. All former 

document remain valid, 

general public please take 

note. 

OMOREGIE 


addressed as OMOREGIE 

FAITH ADESUWA, now wish 


ONI FAITH ADESUWA. 

Former documents remain 

valid. General public take 

note. 

OBORODE 


addressed as Miss Oborode 

Eunice Oghenetejiri, now wish 


Mrs. Ekanem Eunice 

Oghenetejiri. All former 



note. 

OKOLOBI 


addressed as Mr. Augustine 

Okolobi, now wish to be 

known and addressed as Mr. 

Augustine Nwaonye Okolobi. 

All former documents remain 


take note. 

BARRACK 

I, formerly known as BARRACK 

AVWEROSUO now wish to be 

known and addressed as SADJINI 

AVWEROSUOGHENE TRUST. All 

former documents remain valid any 

authority it may concern and general 

public to take note. 

OBU 

I, formerly known as OBU 

ROBINSON CHIDUBEM. 


NWEKE ROBINSON 

CHIDUBEM. All documents 

bearing my former name 


take note. 

OKONKWO 


MISS. OKONKWO LAWRETTA 

CHINWEOKWU, now wish to be 

known and addressed as MRS. OBI 

LAWRETTA CHINWEOKWU. All 

former documents remain valid. 

Banks, Concerned authorities and 

general public should please take 

note. 

ODOKUMA 


addressed as MISS ODOKUMA 

GRACE RUKEVWE, now wish 


MRS OKOME GRACE 

RUKEVWE. All former 



note. 

JONAH 


addressed as MISS JONAH 

LAUREL CHIDIMMA, now 


as MRS. OGBONNA LAUREL 

CHIDIMMA. Former 



UDEH 


addressed as Miss Udeh 

Maureen Ngozi, now wish to 

be known and addressed as Mrs. 

Ushi-Israel Maureen Ngozi. All 



take note. 

JOSHUA 


addressed as Joshua Ken- 

Okotcha, now wish to be 


Nwachukwu Chukwujindu 

Okotcha. All former 



note. 

EDAWO 

The names Edawo EJIRO, 

Igari Ejiro and Edewor Ejiro 

belongs to the same person, 

but now wish to be known and 

addressed as EDEWOR 

EJIRO. All former documents 

remain valid, any authority it 

may concern and general 

public to take note. 

AKAEZE 

I, formerly known as JULIET 

EBERECHUKWU AKAEZE. 


JULIET EBERECHUKWU 

IJEOMA-IMOH. All 

documents bearing my former 

name remain valid. General 

public take note. 

EZEANOWAI 


addressed as EZEANOWAI 

GLORIA CHINENYE, now 


as EMENUGA GLORIA 

CHINENYE. All former 


General public please take note. 

EZEDOM ITSE 


addressed as ITSE 

ORITSEGBUBEMI HESSE, 


addressed as ITSE 

ORITSEKIRIMI HESSE. All 



take note.


CHANGE OF NAME 

MUTIU 

My name was written as 

MUTIU SEYI DIVINE, instead 

of my correct name as MUTIU 

OLUWASEYI DIVINE. All 


valid. General public please take 

note. 

EBENEZER 


as EBENEZER BARINE 

FAVOUR, now wish to be 

known and addressed as BANI 

BARINE FAVOUR. All former 


General public please take note. 

TAIWO 


as SOLOMON MONIAC 

TAIWO, now wish to be known 

and addressed as IGINEWARI 

SOLOMON ALEXANDER. All 



note. 

YUSUF 

My name was wrongly written as 

YUSUF BILKISU, YUSUF 

BALIKIS OSHORIAMHE, YUSUF 

BILKISU Sa’AD, YUSUF BILKIS 

SAAD, instead of YUSUF BILKISU 

SAAD. All former documents remain 


note. 

FALODUN 


as Olumide Benjamin Falodun, 


addressed as Kofiolumide 

Falodun. All former documents 

remain valid. General public and 

authority concerned please 

take note. 

DAN 

I, formerly known as DAN, 

EMEM IME, now wish to 

be known and addressed as 

INEM, EMEM BUSA. All 


valid. The general public 

should take note. 

ODIOGOR 


ODIOGOR AMAKA MARY, 


addressed as OBINNA AMAKA 

MARY. All former documents 

remain valid. UBA, Banks and 

general public please take note 

ALEXIS 


addressed as ALEXIS 

ADOGHE, now wish to be 

known and addressed as ALEX 

ADOGHE. All former 

documents remain valid, 

general public please take note. 

MATHEW 


GBAEREN MATHEW, now wish to 

be known and addressed as 

GBAEREN VERSHIMA 

MATTHEW. All former document 

remain valid. Banks, concerned 

authorities and general public should 

please take note. 

OKOFU 


addressed as Miss. OKOFU 

JOY, now wish to be known and 

addressed as Mrs. UWAJEI 

JOY. All former document 

remain valid. Banks, concerned 

authorities and general public 

should please take note. 

USHINGIO 


addressed as AGIENDE PIUS 

USHINGIO, now wish to be 


AGIENDE PIUS UKPOGWU. 

All former documents remain 

valid, general public please take 

note. 

:Vanguard :@vanguardnews N E W S 

Delta 2023: Akpobolokemi 

declares interest for Delta 

Assembly seat 

By Sunday Chancel 

BOMADI—SENIOR Special 

Assistant to governor Ifeanyi 

Okowa on Research and Youth 

Development, Dr. David 

Akpobolokemi, has declared his 

readiness to contest for the 

Bomadi Constituency seat in the 

Delta State House of Assembly 

in 2023. 

Akpobolokemi, younger 

brother to former Director- 

General of the Nigerian 

NZEI 

This is to confirm that the name NZEI 

OGWE CHRISTIAN GABRIEL 

and NZEI CHRISTIAN are one and 

the same person, now wish to be 

known and addressed as NZEI 

CHRISTIAN , Former documents 


take note. 

AKPOMOFA 


ESTHER, OGULAGHA 

AKPOMOFA, now wish to be 


OGULAGHA, ESTHER 

AKPOMOFA. All former documents 


take note. 

Maritime and Safety Agency, 

NIMASA, Dr Patrick 

Akpobolokemi, declared his 

interest, yesterday, at Ogboinma/Okoloba 

Ward 6, Bomadi local 

government area of the state. 

Akpobolokemi noted that his 

primary objective of contesting 

to the office was to ensure 

legislation of laws that would add 

value to the system as well as 

foster democracy dividends much 

closer to grassroot populace. 

He said: “my quest to represent 

the good people of Bomadi 

Constituency has been a longstanding 

zeal to bring the muchneeded 

dividends of democracy 

to the grassroot, I wish to bring 

about positive change to the 

people of Bomadi Constituency. 

“I appeal to Bomadians to give 

me their mandate to represent 

them, and indeed that mandate 

will not be a mistake, I will ensure 

democracy dividends are evenly 

distributed devoid of favouritism. 

“My ascension to the Bomadi 

Constituency seat will be 

remarkable as I will bring 

governance much closer to 

grassroot, I will empower the 

youth, I will ensure equity in the 

system, be responsive in 

governance and be accessible by 

the people”. 

“I will work in synergy with my 

colleagues to make Delta State 

a better place for all.”


FA Cup: Chelsea want tie 

at Boro played behind 

closed doors 

CAS upholds ban 

on Russian clubs 

T 

he Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) 

upheld UEFA’s ban on Russian teams taking 

part in its competitions, it said on Tuesday. 

The ruling only applies to UEFA 

competitions, with Russia still looking to 

overturn a FIFA ban that would allow them 

to take part in World Cup qualifying playoff 

matches scheduled for the end of this 

month. 

FIFA initially stated that Russia would 

be able to continue to play under the 

‘Football Union of Russia’ name and 

without the Russian flag or anthem 

being present at international 

matches. 

But FIFA then released a joint 

statement with UEFA on 

announcing Russia’s 

national teams — plus its 

clubs — were banned from 

all competitions. 

Russia’s only remaining 

team in European club 

competition at the time of 

UEFA’s announcement, 

Spartak Moscow, were 

subsequently thrown out 

of the Europa League. 

FIFA last week awarded 

a bye to Poland in World 

Cup qualifying. The Polish 

FA and their players said 

they would refuse to play 

Russia, as revealed by 

The Athletic. 

CAS could yet 

decide to overturn 

FIFA and UEFA’s 

decision when it 

makes its full 

judgment, which 

would see Russia 

reinstated. But 

Tuesday’s interim 

verdict perhaps gives an indication of 

how the court might also act on the 

Russian request to freeze the FIFA ban. 

World Indoors 

Championships: 

Team Nigeria jet 

out to Belgrade 

igerian athletes led by Athletics 

NFederation of Nigeria, AFN, 

president Tonobok Okowa are expected 

to jet out tonight to Belgrade, Serbia 

where the World Athletics Indoor 

Championships begin on Friday. 

The team include long jumper, Ese 

Brume and the men’s 4x400m quartet 

of Sikiru Adewale Adeyemi, Samson 

Oghenewegba Samson, Timothy 

Emewoghene and Ifeanyi Emmanuel 

Ojeli. Triple jumper Ruth Usoro will join 

the team from the USA. Sergha Porbeni, 

Endurance Ojokolo are the coaches. 

AFN performance director, Victor Okorie 

will also join the team from the USA. 

Nigeria has won a total of 11 medals 

made up of two gold (Sunday Bada, 400m 

in 1997 and Olusoji Fasuba, 60m in 

2008), six silver and three bronze medals. 

Long jumper Paul Emordi won 

Nigeria’s first medal, a silver in the 

history of the championships at the 

inaugural edition held at the Hoosier 

Dome in Indianapolis, USA in 1987. 

The late Sunday Bada remains the 

only Nigerian to have won multiple 

medals in the history of the 

championships after winning silver 

medals in the 400m event in 1993 and 

1995 before becoming the first Nigerian 

to be crowned World Indoor champion 

in 1997 in Paris, France. 

•Okoye 

Eriksen back in Denmark 

squad 9 months after 

cardiac arrest 

hristian Eriksen has b e e n 

Cnamed in the Denmark 

squad for this month’s international 

friendlies, nine months after 

suffering a cardiac arrest during Euro 

2020. 

The 30-year-old was “gone” for five 

minutes after his heart stopped during 

Denmark’s clash with Finland last June, 

but was resuscitated and an 

implantable cardioverter defibrillator 

(ICD) was fitted, allowing him to continue 

his career. 

He signed for Brentford in January and 

has since played three times, making back-toback 

90-minute appearances and bagging an assist 

in Saturday’s win over Burnley. 

That has been enough for head coach Kasper 

Hjulmand to bring him straight back into the squad 

for matches against Holland on March 26 and Serbia 

three days later. 

It is sure to be an emotional return for the playmaker, 

whose side went on to reach the semi-finals of Euro 

2020. 

The match against Serbia will be Eriksen’s first 

return to Parken, where the incident happened in a 

group game against Finland. 

A statement on the Danish football association’s 

website read: “Now we do not have to wait or wonder 

anymore. 

“Christian Eriksen was in fact on the list of the 23 

selected by national coach Kasper Hjulmand during 

today’s national team selection. 

helsea owner Roman Abramovich 

Chas ‘fallen in love’ with a TV star 

who is 30 years his junior. 

The outgoing Stamford Bridge chief, 

who was spotted in public for the first 

time on Monday after his assets were 

frozen by the UK government, has 

been married three times and has 

seven children - three of whom are 

older than new flame Alexandra 

Korendyuk. 

Journalist Bozhena Rynska wrote 

in October that the heart of 

Abramovich, 55, had been ‘won 

over’ by Korendyuk following 

secret meetings. The 25-year-old, 

who is an entrepreneur and TV 

star, has also tried her hand at 

developing music in the past. 

In what could make things 

slightly awkward between the 

pair, Korendyuk has Ukrainian 

family roots with the extent of 

Abramovich’s relationship to 

Russia president Vladimir 

Putin still much debated. 

Korendyuk is known for 

Okoye 

—Amuneke 

Super Eagles coach 

Emmanuel Amuneke has 

stated that Maduka 

Okoye remains the 

number choice of 

keeper for 

t h e 

team 

ahead of 

their 

clash 

against 

t h e 

Black 

Abramovich has ‘fallen in love’ 

with Ukranian TV presenter 

still Eagles’ 

number 1 

•Eriksen 

starring on Russian TV show You’re All 

P***** Me Off, is thought by The Times 

to have founded the Institute of Music 

Initiative which communicates with 

both artists, labels and distributors. 

Korendyuk is said to live a ‘closed 

lifestyle’ and not talk about herself 

on social media despite being in 

several film projects over the last few 

years. 

Rynska, who is said to have first 

broken news that Abramovich was 

due to marry third wife Dasha 

Zhukova back in 2008, also 

reports that Abramovich grew 

fond of Korendyuk because she 

was not only beautiful but also 

‘well provided for’. 

Having been married to Olga 

Yurevna Lysova, 56, between 

1987 and 1990, he was 

wedded to Irina 

Vyacheslavovna 

Malandina between 

1991 and 2007 and 

they shared five 

•Korendyuk children. 

Havertz offers to pay for 

Chelsea’s travel bill 

ai Havertz has offered to pay for 

KChelsea’s travel bill for the FA 

Cup game at Middlesbrough on 

Saturday. 

As a result of the UK government’s 

sanctions on Chelsea owner Roman 

Abramovich, the club can spend up 

to £20,000 ($26,000) on travel to or 

from fixtures. 

The team may not be able to afford 

to pay for a flight to Saturday’s clash 

with the Championship side and may 

be forced to take a bus journey 

instead. 

“I will pay, that’s no problem. I 

think that’s not a big deal for us,” he 

said at a press conference ahead of 

his side’s Champions League clash 

•Amuneke 

Stars of Ghana. 

Okoye came under fans’ 

scrutiny after his shaky 

performance at the Africa Cup of 

Nations. He was fingered for the 

Eagles ouster in the round of 16, 

after he failed to deal with a shot 

from outside boxy by Tunisia’s 

Youssef Msakni. 

“I’m not a goalkeeper trainer, 

but we have someone in that 

department, which is Alloy Agu,” 

the former Barcelona winger told 

Brila. 

“Regardless, Maduka Okoye is 

a good goalkeeper and human 

being, so we can’t because of 

one mistake dump (him). 

“He’s playing for his 

team (Sparta), and 

that’s the most 

important thing.” 

Okoye has 

earned 13 

international 

caps for Nigeria 

since making 

his debut 

u n d e r 

erstwhile 

head coach 

Gernot Rohr. 

against Lille. 

“For us to come to the 

games is the most 

important thing. 

“I think there are a lot 

of harder moments, harder 

things in the world right now 

than if we have to take a bus 

or plane to an away game. 

“I will pay for it, no 

problem.” 

Coach Thomas Tuchel 

admitted ahead of the 

second leg of the last-16 

tie in France that the 

limits on Chelsea’s 

spending will make 

things difficult for the 

club. 

helsea has received an offer of 

C£2.7bn from Saudi Media Group to 

take over the club. 

That’s according to a recent report from 

CBS Sports reporter Ben Jacobs, who 

has claimed the Saudi media giants are 

keen to own the Premier League giants. 

Current owner Roman Abramovich 

was recently sanctioned by the UK 

Government following the billionaire’s 

native Russia decision to invade 

Ukraine last month. 

Roman Abramovich has been 

sanctioned by the UK Government 

helsea have urged the Football 

CAssociation to move Saturday’s FA 

Cup quarterfinal at Middlesbrough 

behind closed doors on grounds of 

“sporting integrity” after they were 

denied the chance to sell tickets to 

away fans. 

Chelsea are operating under tight 

restrictions defined by a special licence 

granted to the club so they could 

continue to fulfil fixtures and pay staff 

despite being a frozen asset of owner 

Roman Abramovich, one of seven 

Russian oligarchs sanctioned by the 

U.K. government Thursday for alleged 

ties to Russia President Vladimir Putin. 

Among the limitations is a ban on 

selling tickets to supporters outside of 

season tickets and those sold on an 

individual basis prior to sanctions being 

announced. 

Chelsea have been in dialogue with 

the U.K. government aiming to ease 

the restrictions — with some success 

as, among other concessions, they 

have had their £500,000 limit on 

expenditure for staging home games 

increased to £900,000 — but issued a 

statement on Tuesday voicing their 

frustration at a lack of progress 

elsewhere. 

Sources have told ESPN that around 

600 Chelsea fans had bought tickets 

prior to Thursday’s cut-off but they 

now want Middlesbrough’s Riverside 

Stadium to be empty for Saturday’s 

game. 

“We are disappointed to announce 

we will not be able to sell tickets for 

Saturday’s FA Cup tie at 

Middlesbrough,” Chelsea said in a 

statement. 

“It is important for the competition 

that the match against Middlesbrough 

goes ahead, however it is with extreme 

reluctance that we are 

asking the FA board to 

direct that the game be 

played behind closed 

doors for matters of 

sporting integrity. 

•Havertz 

Saudi-backed consortium submit £2.7 

billion offer to buy Chelsea 

following Russia’s decision to 

invade Ukraine last month. 

The rising tensions in Europe 

forced the Government to issue 

strict financial sanctions on 

wealthy Russian Oligarchs who 

can directly, or indirectly, aid 

President Vladimir Putin’s regime 

in their quest to ‘demilitarise’ 

neighbouring Ukraine escalates 

(Politico). 

Consequently, Abramovich has 

had his assets frozen, including 

Chelsea Football Club, which is 

expected to be sold in the near 

future. 

Saudi Media Group is a billion-pound 

media and publication company that 

primarily operates in the UAE. 

Billionaire Mohamed Alkhereiji is the 

CEO of SMG and its parent company 

‘Engineer Holding Group’. 

Alkhereiji is understood to be leading 

SMG’s proposal to purchase Chelsea 

with his love for the club likely to stem 

from the three years he spent in the United 

Kingdom while attending Cass Business 

School and working at Deutsche Bank 

(Futball News).

C 

M 

Y 

K 


C 

M 

Y 

K 

Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 16, 2022 

TODAY’S CROSSWORD 

QUICK CROSSWORD 

YESTERDAY’S SOLUTION 

TODAY’S PUZZLE 

Sudoku 

YESTERDAY'S ANSWER 

How to Play Sudoku 

Place a number (1-9) in each blank cell. (No line can have 

two of the same number). 

Each row (nine lines from left to right), column, (also nine 

lines from top to bottom) and 3 X 3 block within a bold block 

(nine blocks) contains number from 1 through 9. This means 

that no number can appear twice in any block, column or row. 

No mathematics is involved – no adding, subtraction, division or 

multiplication, just plain logic and your imagination. 

ACROSS 

1 Depose (4) 

3 Marvellous (8) 

9 Non-professional (7) 

10 Trite (5) 

11 Put off till later (5) 

12 London rail terminus (6) 

14 Violin (6) 

16 Perplex (6) 

19 Robbery at sea (6) 

21 Scallywag (5) 

24 Strangely (5) 

25 Despotism (7) 

26 Enjoyment (8) 

27 Sort, category (4) 

DOWN 

1 Intermittently (2,3,3) 

2 Personnel (5) 

4 Merited (6) 

5 Loose flowing garments (5) 

6 Keep at bay (4,3) 

7 Part of the leg (4) 

8 Engine fuel (6) 

13 Novice (8) 

15 Diminish, shrink slowly (7) 

17 Preposterous (6) 

18 Marine mollusc (6) 

20 Bottomless gulf (5) 

22 Vex (5) 

23 -- and circumstance (4) 

Printed and Published by VANGUARD MEDIA LIMITED, Vanguard Avenue, Kirikiri-Canal, P.M.B.1007, Apapa. Phone: Newsroom: 018773962. Deputy Editor: 01-4548355. Advert Hotline: 

08027767834; 01-4544821. Abuja office: 7, Dambata Close, Area 7, Garki, 09-2921024. Ikeja office: 73, Awolowo Way. V.I. Office: Murplus Plaza, 27, Sanusi Fafunwa Street. Asaba: 21, Anwai 

Road. Benin City: 4E, Arusa Street. Port Harcourt: 50, Ikwerre Road; Warri: 102, Efurun-Sapele Road. Advert: advertproduction@yahoo.com; E-mail: editor@vanguardngr.com, 

news@vanguardngr.com, letters@vanguardngr.com. Website: www.vanguardngr.com (ISSN 0794-652X) Editor: EZE ANABA. Phone: 01-4548355. All correspondence to P.M.B. 1007, Apapa Lagos.

16032022

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