The Nation Newspaper

Author: The Nation

  • Council holds public hearing on revenue, others

    The Legislative Arm of Ikeja Local Government in Lagos State held a public hearing on revenue bills and other related issues on Friday.

    Leader of the House, Adebowale Adetoro, said laws were for everyone’s benefity and  must be obeyed.

    He said anyone disobeying the laws would face the  penalty.

    Adetoro said the enactment of the laws would improve sanity in the council, urging residents to be law abiding to avoid sanction.

    Deputy leader Ayotunde Adenuga, who doubles as Chairman By-Law Committee, said it was important  existing laws be documented for easy implementation.

    Read Also: Be tax compliant or get fired, revenue chief warns

    Adenuga added that the implementation of laws would improve revenue generation and bring sanity to the council.

    While presenting seven bills, Adenuga said they would maintain orderliness in the market, free-flow of traffic in Ikeja, prevent accidents, curb recklessness, and prevent unnecessary blockage of streets.

    Other legislators spoke on the need to educate the public on the bills, the offences and the penalties.

    Nurudeen Basheer spoke on regulation on market and street naming.

    Shakiru Agunbiade dealt on regulation of One-Way drive. Benjamin Osundairo spoke on Street Parking & Private Car Park and regulation of Radio & Television Licence.

    The public hearing was attended by the Vice Chairman, Yomi Mayungbe, who represented the Chairman, Dr. Mojeed Alabi Balogun,  Supervisors, Head of Administration Mrs Mosunmola Otaiku Okoka & Management Staff.

  • JUST IN: Another building collapses in Lagos

    A three-storey has reportedly collapsed in the Ososa area of Bariga, Lagos State.

    The building was said to have collapsed around 9.30pm on Sunday.

    Five persons were said to be rushed to a private hospital with no death recorded.

    Read Also: Three injured in Lagos building collapse

    As at Sunday night, men of the Lagos State Fire Service were already on the ground but were unable to gain entry because the road to the scene was really bad and not motorable.

    There is no emergency rescue at the scene as at the time of this report.

  • NDLEA warns pilgrims against banned drugs

    Intending Hajj pilgrims have been warned against trafficking illegal and contraband drugs, such as cocaine, Tramadol, heroin and cannabis to Saudi Arabia.

    Alhaji Mahlum Musa, from the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), spoke at a Hajj seminar organised by Hajj Mabrur Ventures Limited (HMVL) in Lagos.

    Alhaji Mahlum said kolanuts was forbidden by the Saudi authorities

    The NDLEA official said: “The lives of indicted pilgrims will not only be terminated, but such acts will also strain Saudi/Nigerian ties and of course, damage the good reputation of Hajj Mabrur as one of the trusted Hajj and Umrah operators, as well as Nigerians…”

    The seminar, held at the Islamic Centre at the University of Lagos Central Mosque in Lagos, had in attendance personnel from Nigerian Customs Service (NCS), lawyers, members and executives of The Muslim Congress (TMC) and spiritual leaders, among others.

    Read Also: Buhari approves recruitment of 5,000 personnel for NDLEA

    TMC’s Naibul Amir, Cultural Affairs Ustadh Sheriffdeen Ibrahim noted that Hajj was a spiritual journey requiring preparation.

    “One of the benefits ofHajj is to purify your soul. We must get prepared in terms of knowledge by reading books on Hajj, gathering money and arranging for food, which should not be in excess.

    “Psychological preparation is also important. The mind must be ready for the various rites and obligations so as to maximise all rewards inherent in Hajj.

    ‘’Time management is also important. Know what to do, when to do and why doing them. This would aid us in having a Hajj Mabrur,” he said.

  • ‘They said he was a total failure’

    A columnist, Prof Niyi Akinnaso, in this piece first published in The Punch on January 29, writes on the unusualness in the style of governance of immediate past Governor of Osun State Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola and the positive impact he made in the lives of the people.

    The immediate past Governor of Osun State, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, was by no means a typical governor. He once acknowledged his unusualness before a curious audience by asking them, “Do I look like a governor?” He was unusual in physique, in approach, and in governance style. Accordingly, he preferred Ogbeni to His Excellency; and he referred to his state as the State of Osun. He even once declared an unusual Muslim holiday.

    Led by a leading newspaper, the press immediately pounced on him, and never let go until he left office. I was initially co-opted into the negative press corps, leading to my cautionary article, entitled “Ogbeni, softly, softly” (The PUNCH, November 27, 2012). However, the more I looked into Aregbesola’s activities and projects at close quarters, the more I realised that the press was wrong about him most of the time. This is not to say that he was above board. He surely deserved criticism for his excesses and failures, to which I will return later. Nevertheless, the baby need not have been thrown out with the bathwater.

    However, my interventionist attempts (for example, ‘Reporters and false reports’, The PUNCH, September 9, 2014) to set the records straight were dwarfed by persistent press negativity, partly because Ogbeni reacted harshly to negative press; partly because he persisted in pursuing his goal with characteristic nonchalance; and partly because he carried his unusualness into many policy areas.

    For example, he reorganised the educational system, reclassified schools, and merged some schools in the process. He even renamed some of them, including my alma mater of Ilesa Grammar School, to the discomfiture of some old students. Rather than purchase textbooks, he introduced Opon Imo, the Tablet of Knowledge, in which textbooks and other educational resources were stored. He quickly suffered the fate of innovators, by being attacked by opposition politicians and the press. There is nothing wrong in being critical of innovation. But something is wrong with not taking time to study it and identifying its advantages.

    Besides, he embarked on massive infrastructural projects, focusing on township and rural roads, rural electrification projects, state-of-the-art school buildings and facilities, parks, extensive drainage projects, and a befitting shopping mall towards the end of his tenure.

    Not done, he introduced a variety of social protection initiatives, which straddled many sectors of the economy. Steered by the Director General of the Office of Economic Development and Partnership (OEDP), Dr. Charles Akinola, and supervised by the Chairman of Osun Social Protection Programmes Implementation Committee, Dr. Olalekan Yinusa, the programmes included the Osun Elementary School Feeding and Health Programme; Osun Youth Empowerment Programme; Social Welfare Scheme for the Elderly; Rehabilitation Programme for the Destitute and Mentally Challenged; Empowerment Programme for Widows; Free Ambulance Services; and a  variety of agricultural initiatives, encapsulated in the Osun Rural Enterprise and Agricultural Programme (OREAP).

    Virtually every project initiated by the Aregbesola administration was attacked by the press, mostly for the wrong reasons. For example, the reorganisation of the educational system to accommodate the feeding of vulnerable six to nine year-old kids in Elementary Grades 1-4, was wrongly viewed as a contravention of the nation’s 6-3-3-4 system, while the introduction of free school uniforms for easy identification of school kids was drowned by a politically motivated hijab crisis and an Islamisation agenda. Nobody cared about the garment factory and the employment it generated.

    Not done, the press made Aregbesola the poster boy of non-payment of salaries at a time when at least 28 other states owed salaries. No one cared to know the details of the modulated salary structure, by which workers on Levels 1-7 (72 per cent of the workforce) were paid in full. Only workers on Levels 8 and above got partial salaries-75 per cent for workers on Levels 8-12 and 50 per cent for those on Levels 13-17. By the time Aregbesola was about to leave office, the arrears and full salaries were already being paid.

    Osun’s debt burden became another target of criticism, even where the Debt to GDP ratio was only 5.8 per cent, compared to the Federal Government’s 21 per cent and the internationally accepted standard of 40 per cent. As in the case of non-payment of salaries, Osun needs not be singled out for its debt burden as there were many more states, even in the South-West, with a higher debt burden.

    What was missing in the media coverage of the Aregbesola administration was the impact of the various social investments and infrastructural projects to which the loans were deployed. Fortunately, towards the end of Aregbesola’s tenure, those investments had begun to bear fruit (see, especially, Oyetola and the government of consolidation, The PUNCH, November 27, 2018).

    Today, the combined findings by the National Bureau of Statistics, the United Nations Development Programme, the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Institute, and Financial Derivatives Company Limited of Lagos, all show the tremendous progress of Osun State during Aregbesola’s tenure from 2010 to 2018. For example, by 2017, there had been a reduction in unemployment rate in the state by about 70 per cent. Within the same period, the poverty rate in the state went down from 37.5 to 10.9 per cent. Osun thus had the second lowest unemployment rate, as well as the second lowest poverty rate in the country. Similarly, Financial Derivatives ranked Osun the second lowest in Misery Index. Unfortunately, these statistics have been drowned by the cacophonies of critical voices from the opposition and a determined negative press.

    The above statistics were corroborated by the tremendous growth in the state’s economy during Aregbesola’s tenure. For example, there was a 108.3 per cent growth in GDP from N191.1bn in 2010 to N398bn in 2018. Correspondingly, the number of micro, small, and medium enterprises grew by 182 per cent, from 481,451 in 2010 to 1,358,446 in 2018. What is more, Osun’s Internally Generated Revenue also improved significantly by over 300 per cent, from N3.4bn in 2010 to nearly N14bn in 2018.

    The heavy investment in education has equally yielded fruitful results. The state’s educational outcome improved by 284 per cent in the number of pupils who passed in five subjects, including English and Mathematics, in the WASSCE between 2010 (15.68 per cent) and 2017 (44.59 per cent).

    The integrated urban infrastructure and the Rural Access Mobility Project led to the construction of nearly 2,000 kilometres of roads throughout the state; thousands of boreholes; and the electrification of hundreds of communities. The multiplier effects of the RAMP and other infrastructural projects are felt in thousands of employment for construction workers, artisans, and food vendors; road access for over 25,000 smallholder farmers; increased yield of farm produce; and access to water and improved sanitation for over 30,000 rural dwellers and many more in the urban centres. Moreover, the construction of access roads to hitherto neglected areas in the urban centres instantly led to sharp increases in property value and reduction in vehicle maintenance costs.

    To be sure, it was not all rosy for Aregbesola. He surely made a number of mistakes. He started out with unfathomable gullibility about the future of the economy, which led him to bite more than he could chew. It was difficult to cope, once the economy began a downward slope in 2014.

    Besides, his boisterous approach and tenacity of purpose and opinion could be unnerving. No wonder he could not readily reconcile his over-enthusiasm for the development of Osun and the sacrifices he made with the level of criticism he encountered. His confession that he did not earn any salary as governor fell on deaf ears.

    To him and others like him, who persisted in the face of adversity to impact the lives of their people in positive ways, I dedicate this valedictory piece of this column.

  • NCAA audits Air Peace after aircraft hard landing

    The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) on Sunday said it has concluded a technical audit of Air Peace Airlines and its fleet.

    The audit, which comprises a thorough examination of the airline’s operational, technical and safety performance in the last 12 months, provided the window for the regulator to scrutinise the books of the carrier in line with extant regulations.

    A statement by NCAA spokesman Sam Adurogboye said the audit came on the heel of last week’s hard landing of one of Air Peace’s Boeing 737-300 aircraft at the runway of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA) in Ikeja, Lagos, where the airplane lost a tyre, following the collapse of the nose wheel.

    He said the NCAA would ensure that only airworthy aircraft are flown in the airspace at all times.

    The statement said: “On Tuesday, July 23, 2019, about 10.28 a.m, an Air Peace B737-300 aircraft, with registration marks 5N-BQO, had an incident on landing at Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos.

    Read Also: Air Peace pilot breaks silence over burst tyre incident

    “The Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB) is currently carrying out an in-depth investigation into the incident to determine the immediate and remote causes, as required by international standards stipulated in ICAO Annex 13. The authority awaits the conclusion and report of the AIB.

    “…The NCAA has just completed a thorough technical audit of the airline and its fleet of aircraft with a view to ensuring the airline is in compliance with extant Nigeria Civil Aviation Regulations (Nig. CARs)  and to mitigate the reoccurrence of the incident.

    “This technical audit was not limited to this recent incident. The airline operational, technical and safety performance in the last 12 months were also scrutinised.

    “It revealed that all the operational aircraft on the fleet of Air Peace Limited are airworthy.

    “This is to assure the flying public that all the aircraft on the fleet of NCAA authorised Air Operators Certificate (AOC) holders operating in Nigeria are airworthy.

    “The authority shall continue to ensure only airworthy aircraft are permitted to operate.”

    At the weekend, Captain Simisola Ajibola, the captain who operated the Air Peace flight on July 23, debunked reports that the aircraft landed without tyres.

    She said the incident happened after the aircraft had touched down.

    Ajibola said: “We had a very serviceable aircraft. Our aircraft are machines that are well maintained. It wasn’t the first flight of that day. When we flew the aircraft, it was perfectly in good shape.

    “The report about initial landing without tyres is not true. The incident happened after we touched down. I didn’t go into the air without tyres; we weren’t on a decent without tyres. Some reports say we called for emergency while in the air, but that is not true. It was after we landed we asked for emergency services. So, whatever happened, happened on the runway that day.”

  • Oando records six per cent increase in turnover

    Oando PLC has recorded N7.2 billion profit-after-tax (PAT) for this year’s six months ended June 30.

    The oil giant, whose operation was grounded by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) when it laid siege to its head office with the police, weathered the storm and recorded a six per cent increase in revenue of N315.4 billion, from N297.3 billion, in comparative period of 2018.

    Since its acquisition of ConocoPhillips Nigeria in 2014, Oando has embarked on a proactive drive to significantly reduce its debt and liabilities.

    The group reduced its total borrowings for the period by five per cent to N200.7 billion, from N210.9 billion in FYE 2018, totalling a 58 per cent reduction in debt since 2014, from N473.3 billion.

    At the same time, its upstream business reduced borrowings by 13 per cent to $221.13 million, compared to $255.6 million in FYE 2018, totalling approximately 72 per cent debt reduction, from $801.6 million in 2014.  The company further reduced its Reserve Based Lending (RBL) facility by a 99 per cent.

    Commenting on the results, Oando’s Group Chief Executive Adewale Tinubu said: “Half-year 2019 was a positive period for us as we achieved strong top and bottom line earnings, despite our overall performance being tempered by a one-off N14 billion charge.

    “Our crude oil and natural gas production grew by 15 per cent and eight per cent, respectively, compared with the similar period last year, while we also achieved a significant reduction in our RBL facility to approximately $0.4 million from $450 million at inception – a 99 per cent reduction.”

    In the period under review, the oil sector accounted for 9.1 per cent of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), compared to 9.6 per cent in H1 2018. Oil export for the period was at 1.37 million barrels per day (mbd) or about 42.5 million barrels, a shortfall from the 1.47mbd or 44.1 recorded in the preceding year.

    “In addition, the Nigerian economy advanced 2.01 per cent year-on-year which was below market predictions of 2.1 per cent, compared with 2.4 per cent growth in same period of 2018, mainly due to a steeper contraction in Nigeria’s oil sector which shrank by 2.4 per cent in the first quarter of the year.

    Though the country witnessed no movement in its oil production compared with same period of 2018, Oando witnessed an increase in its oil production, which was attributed to the ingenious measures put in place by the company’s management and its partners to ramp up production. During the six month period ended June 30, 2019, production by the upstream subsidiary, Oando Energy Resources (OER) increased by eight per cent at 40,873boe/day, compared with 37,814boe/day in the same period of 2018. Oil production increased by 15 per cent from 14,675bbls/day in H1 2018 to 16,876bbls/day in H1 2019, and natural gas production increased by eight per cent from 118,866mcf/day in H1 2018 to 128,533 mcf/day in H1 2019.

    In the downstream, Oando Trading completed approximately 7.3 million barrels of crude oil trades under various contracts with the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and delivered 228,970 MT of refined products in H1 2019.

    Also worthy of note is Oando’s full divestment from its hitherto midstream business Axxela, formerly Oando Gas and Power to Helios Investment Limited, signifying a full divestment of its naira earning businesses and reinforcing the company’s stance as a partner of choice for investors into the country.

    On the divestment, Wale Tinubu said: “We also concluded the divestment of our residual interest in Axxela for US$41.5 million, in line with our strategy of divesting from non-strategic assets and remain on track to deliver on all our initiatives for the year.”

    Oando is one of the few companies that have been through the storm and still continues to wax strong, from purchasing a whopping $1.6billion IOC Nigerian assets when oil prices were approximately $112, witnessing a crash in oil prices immediately after the purchase, to recording the largest loss in corporate history, the company continues to validate the saying that you die when you stop trying.

    At the recently concluded Nigeria Oil & Gas Conference, Wale Tinubu, gave a resounding speech, highlighting that the ConocoPhillips transaction was extremely challenging in the sense that the company had to pay a non-refundable deposit of $450m and had to worry about how the rest of the capital would be raised in a short time frame. There was also the unexpected delay in getting Ministerial consent, despite being an indigenous company which led to the transaction stretching for 18 months.

    Wale Tinubu said: “The bad news is not only was it a very expensive transaction then because the price of crude oil was $112 when we closed and by December crude oil prices had dropped to $60 per barrel, one year after the acquisition, crude oil prices had dropped even further to $30 a barrel.  You can imagine us signing the largest cheque in our corporate history and immediately after the market doing a complete reverse. This was coupled with being in an era where Niger Delta militancy was on a high, production was severely hampered; we had a large swamp rig operation and pipelines network which were affected”. Today, Oando is in its third year of consecutive profits.

    In the period under review, Oando recorded other wins. The company’s upstream business along with its Joint Venture (JV) Partner, Energia Limited was recognized in June for its commitment to community development in Delta State. Some of its community development initiatives in the communities include, a network of asphalted roads of more than 10.13km with drains within Ebendo, Obodougwa, Umusam, Isumpe, Ogbe- Ani and Umusadege communities. State of the art water boreholes installed at various locations for Obodougwa and Umusam communities, aimed at providing access to potable water and reducing the risk of contracting water-borne diseases, the installation of transformers and streetlights at Umusam, Isumpe, Ogbeani, Umusadege communities, the construction and renovation of classrooms in Primary and Secondary schools in Delta State and the provision of Scholarships to Novena University Staff School, for 32 students from Emu-Ebendo, Obodougwa-Ogume, Isumpe, Ogbeani, Umusadege, Umusam and Obodeti communities.

    In May, Oando’s GCE paid a visit to Internally Displaced Person (IDP) Camps in North-East Nigeria, under the umbrella of the United Nations (UN) Nigerian Humanitarian Fund- Private Sector Initiative (NHF-PSI). The NHF-PSI is made up of fourteen leading private sector companies in different sectors of the economy. Setting the pace for the oil and gas industry, is the indigenous leader, of Oando PLC, whose GCE serves as the Secretary of the Steering Group of NHF-PSI. To assess the situation firsthand, Wale Tinubu led a delegation that included Herbert Wigwe, Managing Director of Access Bank and Kyari Bukar to a first ever collective tour of two IDP camps in Maiduguri, Borno. The objectives of the tour was also to raise awareness of the plight of the millions of people in the North-east, and more directly galvanize a new wave of donor support for the initiative from businesses and individuals across the country.

    On the tour, the GCE said: “This initiative is about Nigerians helping each other. Today, I have witnessed some of the most vulnerable people; women and children in the most dire circumstances. Having seen the magnitude of their humanitarian needs it is obvious that it is not a task that the Government or any one agency can take on alone. Now more than ever there is a global realisation that collaboration, convening and cooperation are the only path to creating the society we desire. The realisation that no one person, group or authority has all the answers, but we achieve so much more when we explore ways of combining forces, innovating and  working together. We as private sector leaders, have a collective responsibility to lend our diverse resources to alleviate the suffering of our fellow Nigerians. The onus is on us to use our position to repair, nurture, build and sustain our society and pave a path for a truly inclusive economy.”

    Most recently, the Lagos Midstream Jetty (LMJ), a brain child of Oando and a first class piece of engineering that meets global standard, now operated by OVH Energy, celebrated its 100th berth. LMJ was the highest receiving Lagos Jetty in June 2019.

    The future outlook seems promising for Oando PLC. Oil prices have stayed above $65 per barrel for most of 2019, and the company expects prices to remain at their current levels in the near term. According to its press statement, the company will focus largely on driving profitability via growth in its upstream business through increase in production initiatives via strategic alliances, whilst ensuring operational efficiency and fiscal prudence. The company will continue to work with its partners to achieve cost optimization on its JV operations, ensuring the gains from higher revenues are not lost to increasing operating costs.

    On the future outlook for the company, Wale Tinubu said: “Looking ahead, our focus will be on achieving further growth and profitability by delivering on our production growth initiatives through strategic alliances and partnerships.”

    Oando continues to be audacious and unrelenting in its drive to create value not for itself and its shareholders but for the country at large. Following incessant wins, the company is on its way to ending 2019 on a positively high note for its stakeholders alike.

  • SERAP urges governors to emulate Oyo Governor ‘Makinde’s open asset declaration’

    The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has urged the 35 governors in Nigeria to emulate their Oyo State counterpart, Seyi Makinde, by openly declaring their assets like him.

    The group advised the governors to publish their assets without further delay withy the details of their asset declarations submitted to the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB).

    In a statement by its Deputy Director, Kolawole Oluwadare, SERAP said: “Nigerians ought to know the worth of their governors.”

    The group stressed that the publication of asset declaration would improve transparency, accountability and good governance.

    It would also assure the public that neither fraud nor illicit enrichment has been concealed, it said.

    The asset declaration form submitted to the CCB and made public this month, Makinde’s worth is put at about N50 billion: his firms are worth up to N48.1 billion, while shares, cash and portfolios make up the rest.

    SERAP said: “Public officials cannot lay claim to absolute privacy in matters of asset declarations. There is an overriding public interest in the disclosure of information on the assets of public officials, including governors, who are trustees of Nigeria’s wealth and resources. There is nothing inherently private in the affairs of governors, and we will consider appropriate legal action, if governors continue to fail or refuse to publish their asset declarations.

    Read Also: Makinde’s six controversial actions

    “Continuing failure or reluctance by many governors to publish their asset declarations submitted to the CCB may lead to public perception that the governors are attempting to hide something from the citizens regarding those declarations, especially given the fact that many of the public officials being tried for or convicted of corruption are found to have made a false declaration of their assets.”

    It urged the Chairman of Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) and Ekiti State governor, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, to “use his leadership position and good offices to encourage all the members of NGF, who have not yet done so, to declare their assets and to publish their declarations submitted to the CCB without delay”.

    SERAP added: “The NGF can play a positive role in encouraging greater transparency in asset declarations by governors.

    “As fiduciaries and trustees of the public weal, governors are under an inescapable obligation to serve the public with highest fidelity and openness. In discharging the duties of their office, they are required to display good faith, honesty and integrity. They must be impervious to corrupting influences and they must transact their business frankly and openly in the light of public scrutiny so that the public may know and be able to judge them and their work fairly.

    “Transparency in asset declarations is needed to check corruption and to hold the governors accountable to the governed. Publishing the asset declarations by governors would help address the high level of public distrust and dissatisfaction with spending of security votes by governors, enable closer relations between governors and the public, and secure the confidence of the citizens in their governments.

    “The prevailing distrust of bureaucracy and government officials has given Nigerians the desire to keep a tight rein on public officials. Openness is a necessary condition of popular democratic power, a predicate for effective representative government, and an indispensable part of the everyday life of the free individual.

    “Under Article 10 of the UN Convention Against Corruption, to which Nigeria is a state party, governments should take necessary measures to increase transparency in public administrations and to publish information periodically…”

  • Young entrepreneurs will change narrative about Africa, says Osinbajo

    Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo has said young African entrepreneurs will change the perception about Africa and the continent’s economic outlook.

    He said Africa had been attracting unsavoury and unwholesome stories which do not often accurately represent the reality of life and opportunity on the continent.

    The Vice-President expressed confidence that with the vibrant young men and women Africa currently parades, the continent would wake up to a brighter dawn than it ever had.

    Osinbajo spoke at the weekend in Abuja, the nation’s capital, at this year’s edition of Tony Elumelu Entrepreneurship Forum (TEEF).

    He said: “There are the hundreds who are also here and these stories are just a few of the thousands told and experienced by entrepreneurs, whose lives have been touched and transformed by the Tony Elumelu Entrepreneurship Programme (TEEP).

    “And even all of those thousands of inspirational TEEP stories are themselves, just a representation, a fraction, of what is out there across the continent. A landscape emboldened by multitudes of young people who are refusing to wallow in self-pity or frustration; who have realised that conquering the challenges of their environments are the milestones for outstanding success; young men and women who have come to fully understand the transformational power of technology in the 21st century.

    “Here in this room is a great representation of what the private sector can accomplish. It is also hugely inspiring to us, as governments, and I am glad that a number of African governments are represented here, we are challenged to create the enabling environment for all of these young entrepreneurs to thrive.

    “Our continent continues to be defined by unsavoury and unwholesome stories, which do not often accurately represent the reality of life and opportunity. The people in this room are the perfect and long-awaited counterpoints to those one-dimensional narratives of Africa that have sadly gained ground over the years.

    “Outside on the streets of every village, town and city in Africa are many more individual embodiments of the potentials of this great continent. But we can change some of the false and some of the true but unfortunate narratives of Africa. We must find young entrepreneurs and provide opportunities for capacity building. “Our school curricula must emphasise, not just Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics which we are doing now, but Critical Thinking and Entrepreneurship.  And the promises that we have made of establishing Entrepreneurship Banks must be kept.

    “By birthing this particular intervention, TEEP, Tony Elumelu has compelled us to focus on what really matters, our youth and their dreams. The message to Africa’s emerging business giants is a clear one, how and what can you contribute, like Tony Elumelu, to empowering the next generation, helping them to realise their own dreams? And you gathered here in this room, helping you write, rewrite and revise the next chapter of your continent-changing stories.

    “Permit me a word to you, young entrepreneurs. I want to say to you that you live in the best of times. Always be suspicious of those who remind us of the ‘good old days’. They are probably suffering from a bit of memory loss.

    “Fareed Zakaria, our moderator today, made a fascinating statement to the 2012 graduating Harvard class, where he made the commencement speech. He said the smart phones that the young men and women in the room had in their hands had more computing power than all the computing power in the Apollo aircraft that landed the first men on the moon.

    Read Also: Osinbajo: it’s time for a new beginning

    “Today, as we waited out here, I reminded him of that statement and his reply was: ‘Yes, that was 2012.’ Today, the smart phones these young men and women have, have 100 times more power than all of the computing power of the Apollo aircraft that landed men on the moon.

    “Today is the most advanced moment in human history and your generation is the smartest that has ever lived. We are holding our breaths for the incredible achievements you will make.”

    Osinbajo named some smart African entrepreneurs who have made vital changes on the continent.

    He said:  “We have Mavis Nduchwa, who trained for the hospitality industry and went on to a career as a TV presenter; he is today a successful farmer with the goal of feeding her native country, Botswana.

    “A decade ago, a Nigerian, Zion Oshiobugie, looked ahead at life as a domestic servant for a family member. Today, he is the proud CEO of a consulting company based in the same city where he started out as a domestic servant.

    “There is Mohammed Daoufhi of Morocco, founder of a 3-D printing company that produces affordable artificial limbs. Every day, he makes it happen for someone; he gives life to someone who had thought all life was lost when they lost their limb.

    “Cameroon’s Michel Nkuindija actually tells and retells stories for a living through his company, Noohkema Game Studios, which develops video games that are based on traditional Africa myths and legends. His goal is to change the way Africa is perceived globally and to give young Africans a reason to be proud of their cultural identities.”

    “Across the continent in Uganda, Joel Cherop is a farmer, pushing the boundaries of agriculture using irrigation technologies, through the Atari River Integrated Irrigation Initiative Limited (ARII). Every day, he makes a difference in farming in his country.

    “From the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Lino Alain Muniono, used seed capital to start an architectural firm, and Jose Kimoalou founded Wapimed, a health tech company providing quality healthcare across communities in the DRC.

    “Benin Republic’s Vital Sounouvou is promoting trade across Africa with his fintech start-up, Exportunity, a virtual market that is now directly supported by a leading African banking institution, UBA. In the age of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), there is perhaps no bigger or better opportunity to be exploring right now.”

  • Whereabouts of Siasia’s mother still unknown 

    Fourteen days after Beauty Ogere (80), mother of former coach and skipper of the Super Eagles, Samson Siasia, was kidnapped, her whereabouts and that of 66-year-old Florence Donana and her 17-year-old granddaughter, remained unknown.

    The victims were snatched from their Odoni community, Sagbama Local Government Area of Bayelsa State on July 15 about 2am.

    Two days after the incident, the kidnappers established contacts with Siasia’s family and demanded N70 million to free the victims.

    Siasia, however, begged the kidnappers to set his aged mother free unconditionally as he was out of job and had no such money to pay them.

    Read Also: How to protect kids from kidnappers (1)

    A relative, at the weekend, said the kidnappers reduced the ransom to N50 million without considering the woman’s health. According to him, the family offered to pay N500,000 but the kidnappers rejected the offer, saying it was too small.

    He was concerned over Ogere’s health, even as he lamented that the police and other security agencies had done nothing about the abduction as nothing tangible came out of a recent security meeting held on the matter.

    “We are begging the abductors to set our mother free. We don’t have the kind of money they are asking for. They should please respect the age of the woman and release her,” he said.

    Police spokesman Butswat Asinim said the police were working on the matter.

  • Gofamint holds 63rd anniversary and 54th convention

    The 63rd anniversary and 54th annual convention of the Gospel Faith Mission International (GOFAMINT) will hold from August 5 to 11 at the Gospel City, Lagos/Ibadan Expressway, near Ajebo, Ogun State.

    The theme is “Giver of All”.

    General Overseer Pastor Elijah Abina, who will be ministering with other ministers, said God remains the ultimate provider and supplier of all human needs. He maintained that “this is another opportunity to connect and receive from God as much grace and anointing will be available under the programme”.

    Read Also: ‘The church must hold political leaders accountable’

    He said: “The seven-day event will be an unforgettable wonderful Shiloh experience for participants. Testimonies from past conventions have shown that the Almighty God still answer prayers.

    “Another important highlight of the convention is the solemn moment of intercession for the nation and political leaders.”

    Abina enjoined participants to come with faith to meet the Giver of All things.