The Nation Newspaper

Author: The Nation

  • Finger-pointing

    Finger-pointing

    Hardball

     

    WORSENING insecurity across the country generates various narratives of blame. The mass abduction of students from Government Science Secondary School, Kankara, Katsina State, by suspected bandits, on December 11, generated another story about who is responsible for heightened banditry in the Northwest region.  Thankfully, the abductees have been released.

    All Progressives Congress (APC) acting Deputy National Publicity Secretary Yekini Nabena said in a statement: “Our security agencies have intelligence reports linking one of the Northwest governors to collusion and sponsorship of violent and criminal activities of bandits. I won’t give details because of the sensitive and security nature of the issue.”

    Five of the seven states in the Northwest are controlled by APC, the federal ruling party.  The governors are: Nasir El-Rufai (Kaduna); Abdullahi Ganduje (Kano); Aminu Masari (Katsina); Badaru Abubakar (Jigawa) and Atiku Bagudu (Kebbi).

    The two other states in the geo-political region are controlled by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the main opposition party. The governors are Aminu Tambuwal (Sokoto) and Bello Matawalle (Zamfara).

    Though the APC spokesman did not name the governor allegedly sponsoring bandits in the region, he said enough to suggest the governor’s identity.  He listed the PDP among “enemies of the country who seek political gains from issues of insecurity.”

    By mentioning the PDP, he suggested that the alleged evil sponsor is a member of that party. It is understandable that he pointed in the direction of his party’s main rival. It is also understandable that he seemed to have ruled out the possibility that the alleged evil sponsor could be from his own party.

    Is the allegation true?  The claim that a Northwest governor is to blame for the increasing cases of banditry in the region cannot excuse the failure of the authorities to find a solution to insecurity.

    In the Northeast, after the recent massacre of farmers by Boko Haram terrorists at Zabarmari, Borno State, the army said the enemies of Nigeria were supporting the group to destabilise the country. The acting director, Army Public Relations, Col Sagir Musa, spoke of “an international conspiracy to cut Nigeria to size.”

    Also, the army claimed that local saboteurs were working against the counter-terrorism effort, and issued a statement warning “all groups or communities hobnobbing with Boko Haram/ISWAP to sever such relations.”

    Are the allegations true?  Blaming alleged international backers of terrorism and alleged local collaborators for the prolonged war on terrorism cannot excuse the failure of the country’s armed forces.  The armed forces are expected to surmount such challenges, if they exist, to achieve the objective of the anti-terrorism effort.

    The point is finger-pointing won’t end kidnapping, banditry and terrorism, the major threats to security in the country. Only decisive action will.

     

     

  • Misadventures in satire

    Misadventures in satire

    Olatunji Dare

     

     

    IN the midst of the carnage that Covid-19 has loosed on humankind, the mindless terror and bloodletting that assorted Islamist insurgents and freelance marauders have unleashed on a swathe of Nigeria, and the gloom that pervades the landscape with nary a redeeming shaft of light — it might be judged unfeeling and self-indulgent that I am writing about my misadventures as a writer of satire.

    I am doing so deliberately, from choice.  My hope is that readers who have been desensitized by bulletins and graphic videos of the slaughter of innocents as they harvested their fields and by sterile arguments over who hundreds of students who were plucked from their schools and forcibly marched  into the jungle, Khmer Rouge-style, may find the piece diverting.

    Even the Nigerian mind, the Nigerian sensibility, I am persuaded, can accommodate only so much trauma.

    The first satirical piece I ever did was for an undergraduate writing course at the University of Lagos.  Our instructor, a Canadian woman who could easily have passed for one of the students in the class, returned my submission with high praise, scoring it an emphatic A.

    One of my classmates who had a great deal of media experience under his belt going into the programme – I had none – asked if I could let him read my essay, which centred on the lace craze of the late sixties through the mid-seventies.  I gladly obliged.

    His face tightened as he read one passage; he shook his head sorrowfully as he read the next, and so forth. By the time he was done, his face was contorted with resentment.

    =“No wonder she gave you an A,” he spat out.  “You denigrated your country and your compatriots before a foreigner just to get a good grade.  That’s very cheap.”

    =The way he rendered his verdict, you would think that I had committed a particularly odious species of high treason.

    =That was an early warning, from close quarters, of the perils of satire.

    =Many years later, in the wake of the return to party politics preparatory to the inauguration of the Second Republic, I did a piece for the Daily Times saying that banning university lecturers from political activity or any activity tainted by the whiff of politics, did not go far enough.

    =Why couldn’t they just shut down with immediate effect, all departments of political science in Nigeria’s universities,  clear the shelves of political treatises in all the university libraries, and ban all symposia, lectures, debates, discussions of a political nature – the kind of extra-curricular engagements that animated our campuses and kept them so vibrant back then.

    =The university community was aghast.

    =A senior lecturer in sociology at the University of Ife, as it then was, went for my scalp.  For effect, he attached a picture of himself ensconced in his book-lined campus office, a study in contemplation, unlike, you know, that book burner.

    =Stanley Macebuh of lumninous memory, the paper’s editorial adviser who also doubled as editor of its re-invented editorial page, the most engaging public affairs forum in town, added a footnote to the rejoinder from Ife, in that mischievous manner that became him so well.

    =“We humbly recommend a second reading,” he wrote tersely at the bottom of the published piece.

    =Some two decades later, I saw that very article cited in his Inaugural Lecture by a highly accomplished political scientist as scholarly evidence of the hatred Nigerians of all stripes harboured for his specialism.

    =Early in 1984, I set out to examine Decree Four, the enactment that criminalised publication of the truth, if that truth embarrassed a public official.  Trial was by a special tribunal with a civilian judge as chair complemented by two military assessors. The intent of the submission was unambiguous.  Its title, “In defence of Decree Four,” was a dead giveaway.

    Some people saw it as a grand betrayal of the media, by one of their own. Some read it as an underhanded attack on the obnoxious law.  But in the circles that really mattered, it was welcomed as a hearty endorsement of Decree Four.

    At a journalism conference at Bayero University, in Kano, Dan Agbese, then editor of the New Nigerian, told me that some of his friends in the military high command had commended the article to him, wondering why he and his colleagues in the daily press could not demonstrate discernment that perfused it.

    “And what did you tell them,” I asked Dan, holding my breath and praying that he had not been recommending a second reading of the piece to them, as Macebuh had done to my traducer from Ife.  Agbese said he just shook his head and pursued the matter no farther.

    =If you were not too distracted by the on-going War Against Indiscipline or consumed by the search for “essential commodities,” you could have heard my sigh of relief far away in Lagos.  For, if Agbese had told them the truth about that article, they would have marched me to prison immediately to keep Tunde Thompson and Nduka Irabor company.

    =In Babangida’s court, academics of a certain tendency were viewed as persons given to all manner of radicalism, due and never, and who never taught what they were paid to teach. They went on strike at the least provocation or no provocation at all just because they thought they had a monopoly on specialised knowledge and skills.

    = “Malarkey,” I wrote.  Time call their bluff. Send them packing and replace them with commanding officers from the armed forces.

    =After all, the director of army signals could be pressed into the academy as a professor of mass communication, Admiral Augustus Aikhomu, the gruff mariner who carried on as if he had scores to settle with the university community, could assume duties right away as a professor of nautical engineering.  The army’s paymaster-general would serve with credit as a professor of finance.

    Time, indeed, to call the lecturers’ bluff.

    The reactions were swift, personal.  An English teacher in a high school in one of the Eastern States, lamented that such a “wishy-washy” piece with no redeeming grace found its way into the hallowed editorial page of The Guardian.

    Its author, he said, could have been actuated only by envy of the most corrosive kind, never having seen the inside of a university.   The author in question, I might add in parentheses, has three degrees from three universities, two of them world-class.

    I must now fast forward to the matter of William Keeling, the reporter for the London Financial Times who analyzed Central Bank records, oil export receipts and other financial data and concluded that $2.8 billion out of some $5 billion in “windfall” oil revenues accruing to the Exchequer from the second Gulf War, was missing from the record.

    They plucked him from his office one evening, and put him on the next available plane to London.

    He got off too lightly, I wrote in a piece titled “In defence of William Keeling.”  They should have put him in a dugout canoe, handed him a paddle, escorted him out of our territorial waters and left him to find his way home.

    Just imagine the contumacy.  What business has a Brit investigating Nigeria’s oil earnings?  Was his home country not also an oil exporter, and did it not also reap windfall profits from the Gulf War? Why did he not write about that? Why his fixation on Nigeria?

    Many friends of the column felt betrayed, none more so than Gani Fawehimni. Need I add “the fiery Lagos attorney?” The very day the article appeared, his assistant brought a letter to me at Rutam House how the piece had “shocked” and forced him to stare at nothing, with mouth agape.”   If it was conceived as a satire, he said, “the satirical impression was too dry” to be clearly comprehensible to ordinary people” like himself.

    =If it was not a satire, he added in pained lament, then, the forces of justice and human liberty are agonisingly witnessing “another loss or crossover” of “a well-balanced thinker, intellectual, brilliant arbiter and patriot.”

    =Fawehinmi’s reaction brought to mind perhaps the earliest lesson I was taught in the art of writing satire, by Tejumola Olaniyan, who is unfortunately no longer with us.  Olaniyan had just begun an academic career at the University of Ife as it then was.  In July 2019, five months before his untimely death, he was named The Wole Soyinka Professor in the Humanities by the University of Wisconsin.

    =Concerned that “the satirical thread” in some of my articles were sometimes too slender, Olaniyan had written in his neat, disciplined script, that “bold exaggeration is the heart of good satire.

    =If I had learned that elementary lesson four decades ago, I would have been spared some of the misadventures reported here and others I am saving for another day.

    =It remains to thank friends and critics of the column for their time and attention, and their instructive feedback.  Best wishes to you all for a merry and safe Christmas.

     

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  • Deforestation worsens climate change (I)

    Deforestation worsens climate change (I)

    `The high level of deforestation activities through tree produce collection has become the proverbial bone in the neck of the Niger state government. The government, over the years, has complained about the indiscriminate felling of trees in Niger State. JUSTINA ASISHANA examines the illegal deforestation activities in the state and its effects.

     

    DRIVING from Bida to Batati, Lanle, Panti down to Mokwa in Niger State, one is greeted with an array of white sacks filled with charcoal, these places seem to be the commercial hub for charcoal business in Niger state despite government’s claim of its fight against deforestation. Charcoal denotes the felling and burning of trees which is akin to deforestation activities.

    However, charcoal is one of the drivers of deforestation as only half the wood extracted globally is used to produce energy and only 17 per cent of all the wood for fuel/energy is converted to charcoal. other drivers of deforestation include felling of trees for timber purposes which is being used for industrial activities, housing activities, furniture making and for firewood.

    Large scale tree cutting can lead to deforestation, a transformation of an area from forest to terrain with little vegetation. Plants create oxygen and absorb greenhouse gases. The destruction of trees may, therefore, encourage global warming. Changing temperatures can alter which organisms can survive in an ecosystem.

    According to the World Bank, forests still covers about 30 per cent of the world’s land area, but they are disappearing at an alarming rate. Data provided by World Bank reveals that between 1990 and 2016, the world lost 502,000 square miles (1.3 million square kilometres) of the forest, an area that is larger than South Africa.

    According to National Geographic, “Deforestation is clearing Earth’s forests on a massive scale, often resulting in damage to the quality of the land. Forests still cover about 30 per cent of the world’s land area, but swaths the size of Panama are lost each and every year. The world’s rain forests could completely vanish in a hundred years at the current rate of deforestation.”

    In terms of climate change, cutting trees both adds carbon dioxide to the air and removes the ability to absorb existing carbon dioxide. Forest loss and damage is the cause of around 10 per cent of global warming. The cutting of trees results in the depletion of the forest cover and makes the concentration of the greenhouse gases increase the rate of global warming.

    In normal circumstances, trees are always significant in the absorption of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, nitrogen and many others. Research by the Global Forest Research Assessment revealed that deforestation resulted in the release of approximately a billion ton of carbon dioxide in 2010. This leads to the inevitable climate change and adverse weather patterns such as severe flooding or drought

    Niger State had very huge forest resources especially with its having one of the largest landmasses in the country but over time, the forest resource has been depleted due to indiscriminate felling and illicit trade by people who are taking the wood for industrial purpose, housing purpose, furniture purpose and also by people who are using it for charcoal.

    Illegal charcoal business

    Charcoal fetching and selling are one of the most visible deforestation activities in Niger state and despite the war declared by the state government against deforestation, it continues to thrive in the state.

    Deforestation activities in Niger State are mostly concentrated in Lapai, Bida, Agaie, Katcha, Suleja and Rafi local government areas of the state. From these forests, the charcoals and firewood which comes out from these deforestation activities are brought to prospectives buyers who wait in strategic places like Batati, Lanle, Enagi, Mokwa, Lapai and Bida to receive it for onward movement to other parts of the state.

    Unlike two years ago when the business of felling of trees and going into charcoal and wood business was booming, now, it is no more business as usual for those who are involved in these deforestation activities. This has also led to an increase in the price of charcoal and firewood across the state.

    Majority of the traders of charcoal spoken to spoke about their brushes with the taskforce and the reason why they cannot leave the business despite the numerous raids by the team of the task force on forest protection in the state.

    One of the charcoal traders in Batati, who gave his name as Abdullahi, said he has been in the business for five years after a three-year stint in tailoring; he acknowledged the determination of the state government to stop deforestation activities of which charcoal is one of them but said that there is nothing else for him to turn to as the business keeps and feeds him and his family.

    “I have been doing this business for five years. I went into the business because I saw that it brings profit to me that will help me take care of my family. I was into tailoring before but ‘e no dey sure like this one’, that is why I cannot stop this charcoal business despite the challenges we have with the forest guards and government.”

    For Abdul in Lapai local government area of Niger State, he is ready to continue the business despite his charcoals have been impounded several times by the Niger state Taskforce against deforestation. He explained that there was a day his goods were seized twice but added that that did not deter him from continuing in the business.

    “Imagine one day, I was caught two times, my charcoal was seized, about ten bags on two occasion but I continue. This is what feeds my family, I cannot stop it because there is nothing else for me to do. I have built a small house from what I gain from this business, I will continue to do it if they catch me, no problem, I will continue to try my luck.”

    Illegal Timber Business

    One of the largest dealers of illegal timber activities in Niger state was discovered in October by the Niger state Taskforce force on Forest Protection, the wood production company which belonged to a Chinese was discovered hidden in a part Gulu forest in Lapai local government area of Niger state.

    It was learnt that the company fell trees in the forest, turn it into refined woods and transport them to Lagos through the use of containers where it would then it is shipped outside the country. The Chinese company, which has no name, is said to be the largest syndicate involved deforestation activities in Niger state and have been in operation for over one year and has also been evading tax.

    The discovery of the illegal Chinese Wood company was done after due diligence and monitoring by the Taskforce on Forest Protection which took about two days of monitoring the activities of those who work in the wood production company.

    The Coordinator, Niger state Taskforce on Forestry Protection, Honorable Isah Lankpene, who confirmed the discovery of the illegal Chinese Wood production company while speaking to The Nation, said: “The factory is located in the bush in Lapai local government area and we discovered that they have been operating for over one year and nobody knew they were there until we moved in to arrest them.

    “To arrest them was not easy; I had to sleep in the bush for two days because we were monitoring them. We were able to succeed in the raid and we arrested them. When we arrested them, we discovered that they do not have a licence, they do not pat any money for being in the bush, they have no evidence of tax paid, I am even sure they are in the country illegally because no one knew they were operating in that bush.”

    Lankpene said the team who made the arrest discovered two standby generators, several machines used for cutting and refining the woods, containers and trucks used in conveying the containers to Lagos state, “The put the wood in the containers, transport it to Lagos and ship it out of the country through the sea.”

    The Coordinator said the Agency had shut down the company as the government is deciding what to do with the company adding that because they had no power to effect an arrest, the Chinese fled before they could be prosecuted, “After shutting down the place, we apprehended the Chinese but before we could take them to court, they fled after they were released on bail.”

    Lankpene said he has arrested a lot of trucks conveying timber and wood to different parts of the state adding that a lot of them escape because they create some paths in the bush which they can use as escape routes but said that the taskforce is upping its game to match their tactics.

    Niger’s War Against Deforestation

    In 2019, the Niger State Commissioner of Environment, Barrister Mohammed Tanko Zakari had said that the state has lost 60 per cent of its forests to deforestation, explaining that only 40 per cent of the state forest currently remains.

    He said in the next years unless the state government put in drastic measures, the state would lose its forests.

    This was collaborated by the Niger state Coordinator of the Taskforce on forest Protection, Isah Lankpane who said that there are no more forests in Niger state, he explained that there may be semblances of forests but when one goes inside the forests, majority of the trees have been cut.

    “There is no more forest in Niger state. Which forest is here that you can call a forest? If you go to Lapai road now, you will see what looks like a forest, you will see the tall trees and green leaves but when you enter inside this forest, the back is plain like a football field, everything has been taken away. Even from Minna to Gwada, it is the same thing. The front, they left the front trees for people to think there is a forest there but everything is gone.”

    To further enforce a ban against deforestation, the Niger state government in 2016 set up a task force on forestry and employed 500 forest guards to protect the forests and prevent people from cutting down commercial trees indiscriminately. The Prohibition of Indiscriminate Felling of Trees Bill came up in the House of Assembly in 2016 to stop the indiscriminate felling of trees but there have been quiet about the bill until October this year when the Legislators began the public hearing with the view to passing the bill into law.

    The Niger State Coordinator of the Taskforce on Forest Protection, Isah Lankpene, who resumed the office in August 2020, declared that it is no longer business as usual for those in the business because the government is determined to win the war against deforestation.

    He explained that he has arrested so many people involved in the business of charcoal, timber and wood production and the indiscriminate burning of trees saying that top officials in the Niger state civil service and security personnel are among those who have been arrested for transporting charcoals and firewood from the forests.

    He explained that because of the huge success in the arrest and confiscation of charcoal, a lot of people seem to think that charcoal is the only deforestation activity in the state stressing that other activities especially use of felled trees for the production of timber.

    “I have arrested a lot of people both in charcoal and timber activities, I have arrested a policeman who took a loan and was arrested in his first outing. When he was arrested, he brought the paper of the loan he took and I told him charcoal business is a bad business. They can come back to the business by the time I have left the job but as long as I am here, charcoal is a bad business, cutting our trees is bad business.

    “In the past four months, I have arrested over 100 vehicles conveying charcoals and I impounded all of them and I have also arrested over 60 trucks. People commit an offence in forestry like I catch you conveying charcoal, I won’t allow you to go despite I didn’t see the tree being cut down but I know that you had to cut down trees for the charcoal, so you should be punished for the tree cut down for the charcoal you are moving.

    “Smuggling charcoal in Niger state is like smuggling rice and in this business of deforestation, it is not the local people, you will find out uniform people are also engaged in this, I have arrested some of them, sometimes, military men with uniform moving charcoal from Gulu to Minna or from Gulu to Abuja.”

    Outside the office of the Taskforce on forestry, one could see the seized bags of charcoals and some timber, the Coordinator said that the forest produces when caught, are seized, confiscated and auctioned to serve as a deterrent to others.

    ”The charcoal I have here is almost about 2000 bags. The warehouse is filled with charcoal. When I came into office, a bag of charcoal was N1700 but today, a bag of charcoal is from 2700 to 3000 so I don’t need to be told that I am working. It is because of our activities, that is what the commodity is so scarce”.

    The Taskforce on Forest protection has not been having it easy in stopping the sale of charcoal in most local government as the Coordinator lamented over the obstinacy of the sellers who are adamant in selling the tree produce.

    He explained his difficulty in getting them to comply saying that despite the numerous raids, the people return to their selling spot unrepentant.

    He further also disclosed that because of the intensity of Taskforce, a lot of timber dealers now cut timber from the forest but go to neighbouring states to obtain a fake receipt to pass it as timber from other states, “but we usually catch them. I know wood and timber from Niger state and can identify most of them. These days, some of them bring in wood from other states through the river because we are very strict about their operations.”

     

    • Support for this report was provided by the Premium Times Centre for Investigative Journalism (PTCIJ) and is made possible through funding support from Ford Foundation.

     

  • Nigerian stocks lead global markets with N1.33tr gain

    Nigerian stocks lead global markets with N1.33tr gain

    By Taofik Salako, Deputy Group Business Editor

    Nigerian equities regained the global lead as the most-rewarding stocks, after rising for five consecutive trading sessions to close weekend with net capital gains of N1.33 trillion.

    Nigeria’s sovereign equities indices at the weekend indicated average return of 7.46 per cent for the week, equivalent to net capital gain of N1.33 trillion. Gains by Nigerian stocks considerably surpassed average returns across the global advanced and emerging markets.

    The five-day sustained rally pushed average year-to-date return for Nigerian equities to 37.12 per cent, setting up Nigeria for a top position in global returns for 2020.

    Global stock analysis showed a generally positive sentiment as hopes on crude oil deals, fiscal stimulus and COVID-19 vaccines tickled the markets from America to Europe, Asia, Middle East and Africa. In United States of America, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) rose by 0.9 per cent while the S & P appreciated by 1.6 per cent. In United Kingdom, the FTSE 100 posted a modest return of 0.1 per cent while Japan’s Nikkei 225 appreciated by 0.4 per cent. The MSCI EM Index, which tracks emerging markets, rose by 1.2 per cent while the MSCI FM Index, which tracks frontier markets, appreciated by 0.9 per cent.

    The All Share Index (ASI)- the value-based common index that tracks all share prices at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) closed weekend at 36,804.75 points as against its week’s opening index of 34,250.74 points. The ASI doubles as Nigeria’s sovereign equities index.

    Aggregate market value of all quoted equities on the NSE crossed two trillion marks to close weekend at a high of N19.236 trillion compared with its opening value of N17.902 trillion for the week.

    Read Also: Banking stocks in selling spree as investors review outlook

    With three advancers for every decliner, the positive overall market position at the Nigerian equities market was driven by widespread bargain-hunting across the sectors, especially within the active large and mid cap stocks.

    The NSE 30 Index, which tracks the 30 largest stocks on the Exchange, posted average return of 5.47 per cent. The NSE Banking Index, which tracks the most active and influential banking sector, also recorded average return of 5.12 per cent. The NSE Insurance Index-riding on the bubbles of recapitalisation, mergers and acquisitions, posted the highest gain of 13.39 per cent.

    The NSE Industrial Goods Index, where the largest cement companies are listed, rose by 7.74 per cent, a major influence on the overall market given the capitalisation of the sector. The NSE Consumer Goods Index rose by 3.08 per cent while the NSE Oil and Gas Index recorded average gain of 1.34 per cent for the week.

    Most analysts believe Nigerian equities still have headroom for further gains, citing comparative yields and valuations across domestic assets and global markets.

    “We anticipate a sustained bullish performance in the coming week as investors position in undervalued stocks,” Afrinvest Securities stated in a weekend note on market outlook.

    Analysts at Cordros Securities said there was still scope for expansion in share prices in the meantime as the hunt for alpha-yielding opportunities, in the face of increasingly negative real returns in the fixed income market, remains positive for stocks.

    “However, we advise investors to take positions in only fundamentally justified stocks as the weak macro environment remains a significant headwind for corporate earnings,” Cordros Securities stated.

    The momentum of activities however slowed down as total turnover dropped to 1.89 billion shares worth N17.65 billion in 20,660 deals, as against a total of 2.27 billion shares valued at N20.99 billion traded in 23,722 deals two weeks ago.

    The bank-led financial services sector remained the most active with a turnover of 1.49 billion shares valued at N8.39 billion in 10,834 deals; representing 78.65 per cent and 47.52 per cent of the total equity turnover volume and value. The consumer goods sector occupied a distant second with 106.986 million shares worth N2.36 billion in 3,447 deals while the services sector placed third with a turnover of 74.754 million shares worth N191.833 million in 448 deals.

    The three most active stocks were Jaiz Bank Plc, FBN Holdings Plc and Niger Insurance Plc, which altogether accounted for 761.866 million shares worth N1.47 billion in 1,395 deals, representing 40.25 per cent and 8.32 per cent of the total equity turnover volume and value respectively.

    Also, a total of 412,358 units of Exchange Traded Products (ETPs) valued at N1.396 billion were traded in 40 deals compared with a total of 292,510 units valued at N2.270 billion traded in 45 deals penultimate week.

    At the debt market, a total of 47,699 bond units valued at N53.129 million were traded in 22 deals compared with a total of 13,555 bond units valued at N17.369 million traded in eight deals two weeks ago.

    Further price analysis showed that there were 53 gainers against 17 losers during the week compared with 13 advancers and 46 decliners recorded in the previous week. FTN Cocoa Processors led the gainers, in percentage terms, with a gain of 40.9 per cent to close at 62 kobo. Japaul Gold & Ventures followed with a gain of 36 per cent to close at 34 kobo. Airtel Africa jumped by 21 per cent to close at N774.40 per share. AIICO Insurance appreciated by 19.05 per cent to close at N1.25 per share. Consolidated Hallmark Insurance rose by 15.38 per cent to close at 30 kobo while Dangote Cement appreciated by 14.48 per cent to close at N209.50 per share.

    On the negative side, AXA Mansard Insurance, which was adjusted for scrip issue, led with a drop of 60 per cent to close at 92 kobo. NEM Insurance, which was also adjusted for bonus issue, followed with a drop of 47.23 per cent to close at N1.24 per share. Omatek Ventures declined by 16.67 per cent to 20 kobo. International Breweries lost 12.67 per cent to close at N6.27 while Linkage Assurance declined by 10 per cent to close at 45 kobo per share.

     

  • JUST IN: Kidnapped Edo HoS regains freedom

    JUST IN: Kidnapped Edo HoS regains freedom

     Bisi Olaniyi, Southsouth Bureau Chief 

    The kidnapped Edo State Head of Service (HoS) Anthony Okungbowa, has regained his freedom from the den of kidnappers, where he had been since Saturday evening, after the payment of huge ransom by the administration of Godwin Obaseki.

    Okungbowa was seized at gunpoint, after the hoodlums killed his driver on the spot, while his police escort went missing, but he was later confirmed dead from the gunshot injuries he sustained, while returning from a social event, while the attack took place along Oza Road in Orhionmwon Local Government Area of Edo state.

    A member of Okungbowa’s family, who spoke last night through the phone, confirmed.that the traumatised head of service was released Monday evening, but was not forthcoming on the exact amount paid as ransom.

    The family member simply said: “Barr. Okungbowa regained his freedom today, after payment of the demanded ransom. It was so obvious that the kidnappers were after money. As soon as they got the huge sum of money, the Edo State Head of Service, who is hale and hearty, was allowed to go. The ransom was paid through collaboration between the family and Edo State government.

    “I will not give further details, since officers and men of Edo State Police Command, led by CP Babatunde Kokumo, now AIG (Assistant Inspector-General of Police) are still investigating the barbaric incident, which is capable of driving away investors from the Southsouth state (Edo).”

    Read Also: Edo Head of Service still in kidnappers’ den

    The family member was not happy that Okungbowa’s police orderly and driver were killed by the rampaging kidnappers, who moved the head of service into the forest, stressing that the unfortunate policeman died from complication from the gunshot injuries he sustained, while declaring that the driver died on the spot, from the rain of bullets.

    The source said: “Members of the family of Barr. Okungbowa are thanking God that our brother has been set free and in good health condition. We are, however, saddened that his police escort and driver were killed by the heartless criminals.”

    Edo Police Commissioner, Babatunde Kokumo, and the state’s Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Chidi Nwabuzor, a Superintendent of Police (SP), last night, declined to comment on the release of Okungbowa and the huge ransom paid, but a top police officer, who spoke in confidence, confirmed that the ransom was in millions of naira and that the head of service had been reunited with his family, after medical attention.

    Insecurity in Edo state was heightened by the October 19 invasion by hoodlums, who hijacked the peaceful #EndSARS protests, of the Maximum Correctional Centre (White House) on Sapele Road, and the Oko Medium Correctional Centre on Airport Road, both in Benin, leading to the escape of 1993 inmates, who immediately returned to crime.

    The hoodlums also razed seven police stations in Edo state, during the #EndSARS  protests, with large cache of arms, ammunition, police uniforms and other valuable items carried away, while vehicles of policemen and visitors, as well as exhibit vehicles, were all burnt, with the Divisional Police Officers (DPOs) and policemen of the razed police stations now operating from Edo Police Headquarters at the Government Reservation Area (GRA), Benin.

     

  • NIN: Storm over SIM deactivation

    NIN: Storm over SIM deactivation

    The Federal Government last week stirred up a hornets’ nest when it gave a two-week window for telecoms operators to deactivate millions of subscribers over the National Identity Number (NIN). LUCAS AJANAKU writes

    The Minister of Communication and Digital economy, Dr Ibrahim Pantami is not new to controversial decisions. As Director-General, National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), he had issues with the Nigeria Computer Society (NCS) over his attempt to register and license IT professionals in the country.

    At a time subscribers were complaining over the punitive cost and slow speed of data, the minister two weeks ago said he had directed the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) to crash data cost by 50 per cent.

    The average cost of 1GB of data has been reduced from the January 2020 cost of N1,000 to N487.18 in November 2020, which amounts to 47.33per cent lower than the projected value, Dr Pantami had said through his Technical Assistant, Information and Technology, Mr Femi Adeluyi.

    Bur subscribers who pay for data know that nothing has changed. Rather than a reduction, they have been paying through their nostrils.

    Then came the directive to suspend new SIM card registration and now the directive to operators to deactivate subscribers whose SIMs are not linked to their National Identity Number (NIN) usually issued by the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), an agency hitherto under the Presidency but now under Pantami’s watch.

    NIN is an 11-digit number that is uniquely generated after successful enrolment. It adds holders to the National Identity Database (NIDB) that allows access to government services.

    NCC, in a statement, said: “Stakeholders agreed that urgent drastic measures have now become inevitable to improve the integrity and transparency of the SIM registration process.

    “The following decisions were taken for immediate implementation by all network operators: affirmation of the earlier directive to totally suspend registration of new SIMs by all operators; operators to require all their subscribers to provide valid NIN to update SIM registration records; the submission of NIN by subscribers to take place within two weeks (from today December 16, 2020 and end by 30 December, 2020); after the deadline, all SIMs without NINs are to be blocked from the networks.

    “Following the earlier directive on the suspension of new SIM registration by network operators, the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr. Isa Ali Ibrahim (Pantami) convened an urgent meeting of key stakeholders in the Communications industry on Monday, December 14, 2020.

    “The meeting had in attendance the Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) and Management of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), the NIMC, as well as the CEOs and management staff of all service providers in the industry.

    “A Ministerial Task Force comprising the minister and all the CEOs (among others) as members is to monitor compliance by all networks; violations of this directive will be met by stiff sanctions, including the possibility of withdrawal of operating licence; the general public is hereby urged to ensure that their NINs are captured in their SIM registration data.’’

    Stakeholders  react

    Expectedly, the directive drew spontaneous reaction from stakeholders as the former President, Association of Telecoms Companies of Nigeria (ATCON), Olusola Teniola, said the two-week window was tight considering that there are 205 million active subscribers on the network while NIMC has so far captured 43 million people.

    He said the 43 million, most of who would be having multiple SIM cards, would be integrated through NIMC’s application programme interface (API), while those that do not have NIN will be disconnected.

    Teniola said there would be panic considering the capacity of NIMC, especially during the Yuletide when people would want to get across to loved ones through voice calls and text messages in the era of COVID-19 but would not able to do so because they have been disconnected from the system by their service providers on the orders of the government. This, he said, would inevitably lead to a shortfall in Q1 profit of the telcos.

    Teniola was saying the obvious. In 2015 when the NCC descended on the operators over SIM registration infractions, millions of subscribers were rudely disconnected from the network, a development which sparked angry protests and overcrowding at the offices and registration centres of the carriers.  With this directive, overcrowding is most likely at NIMC registration centres while there will be bitterness over the inability of people to get in touch with their loved ones on phone during this terrible times of COVID-19 pandemic.

    The NCS wondered why the rush when there was neither awareness about the initiative nor the infrastructure by the NIMC to handle the expected surge in the number millions of subscribers that would engage in panic rush so as not to be taken off the network.

    Through its Security Group, the Information Technology System Professionals (ISSP) said the people that will be most hit are those without NIN.

    Its Executive Secretary, Rogba Adeoye, said the two weeks is too short because of the dearth of infrastructure to support it. “If you look at NIMC registration centres, they are already overstretched but you would recall that the telcos, not long ago, did SIM registration and invested heavily on the project. They can rely on this infrastructure to take customers off the network,” he said.

    Agreeing with Teniola, Adeoye said deactivating million of subscribers in one fell swoop will not only hit the Q1 earnings of the operators next year, it will also affect cash flows to the Federation Account by way of Value Added Tax (VAT) imposed on voice calls and text messages.

    The operators, acting under the aegis of the Association of Licensed Telecoms Operators of Nigeria (ALTON), said though it is aware of the pains  the directive will bring on the subscribers, it, however, pledged its readiness to comply with the directive.

    Its Chairman, Gbenga Adebayo, said it understood that the process would be inconvenient for subscribers.

    ALTON said: “As an industry, we recognise the importance of a strong national identity system and the critical contribution it will make to the accelerated growth of our digital economy. The COVID-19 pandemic has made the role of digital communications, products and services even more important in our daily lives and it is a national challenge to ensure that the building blocks are in place to enable them to be provided safely and securely, to all.

    “We are committed to working closely with all stakeholders to overcome this challenge and deliver an inclusive, value adding digital economy Nigeria can be proud of. We fully understand the vital role that we, as digital operators, have to play in this process and we are collectively committed to investing in the systems, processes and support structure that are required to enable it.

    “In line with that, we wish to communicate our intention to fully comply with the two directives issued by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) in the past week, and to work closely with them to overcome this challenge, together.

    “We understand that this process will be inconvenient for subscribers, and we are committed to ensuring we provide the information and support that you will need to manage this transition.

    “Our focus is on minimising the disruption that it will cause and as the delivery mechanisms are developed, we will provide further information. We continue to seek your cooperation and understanding as we work with the government in ensuring a reliable National Identity Ecosystem.”

    ATCON President Ikechukwu Nnamani is, however, optimistic about the success of the directive. He said: “Operators will take steps to meet the requirements. If it turns out the two weeks is not enough, the operators can always provide evidence of what they have done so far and ask for extension. Once it is a reasonable request, the regulator will always listen.”

    MTN CEO, Ferdi Moolman, who must have attended the meeting with the minister is, however, optimistic that the timeline will be extended. “All indications are that it would need to be extended, given the complexity and the size of the work that needs to be done,” he said.

    MTN’s Chief Operating Officer, Mazen Mroue, said the group had been granted a licence to enrol customers on NIN on behalf of NIMC as well as verify their status at their service centres. He said the telco had placed an order for 14,000 biometric devices to capture enrolments that were expected to arrive in the coming two weeks.

    “We have already been positioning and preparing for this process,” he said, adding that the order for the 14,000 devices pre-dated the latest directive.

    Mroue said the 14,000 devices could complete four NIN registrations per hour per device, and in an eight-hour day all the 14,000 devices could capture 458,000 NIN enrolments daily.

    “We will continue to engage with relevant authorities on the matter to establish the implementation process and timelines for execution. We will endeavour to ensure a seamless process to the benefit of our 75 million customers in Nigeria. We remain committed to contributing to Nigerian economy.”

    Airtel said it has a verification and enrolment licence to register citizens in the ongoing NIN. programme. “Airtel is always seeking opportunities to cooperate and partner with the Nigerian government on initiatives that will make life easier and better for Nigerians. As a law-abiding and responsible corporate citizen, we are always ready to go the extra mile for our esteemed stakeholders and that is why we are pleased to partner with the Federal Government and NIMC on citizens’ registration exercise,” its CEO, Segun Ogunsanya said.

    A subscriber, Efe Erazua, wondered why the government is deploying fire-brigade approach in important issues.

    She said many people had tried without success to register for the NIN. According to her, when she visited the Ejigbo Local Council Development Area (LCDA), Lagos secretariat to get it done, she met a sea of human heads while the council officials were also hostile.

    “I got to the secretariat very early in the morning about 5.30am. The number they gave me was 120. What that meant is that people practically slept within the secretariat. My first attempt was met with rude shock because I was denied entry by local council officials.

    “Someone directed me to the NIMC office in Alausa because the place appeared spacious enough. Getting into the premises was not an issue but the long queue was frightening. Then, it is either their server was down or there is one challenge or the other,” she said.

    Operators on extortion spree?

    Subscribers accused operators of taking advantage of the panic button activated by Pantami to extort them.

    They said instead of paying N4 approved by the NCC for local short messages (SMS), the operators were deducting N20 for sending a generic code *346# to their NIN numbers.

    One of them, Pius Ade, said he got the Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) code from a friend and decided to confirm its veracity.

    He said the transaction was successful but wondered why he was charged N20. “But the NCC fixed local SMS charges at N4. Why should I be charged N20? When the government doesn’t think through policy, this is what happens. The operators are now taking advantage of the confusion to extort us. It is not good enough,” he said.

    Another female subscriber ,who gave her name simply as Esther, said she did it thrice and she was charged N60. She said the first time she did it, the number appeared but disappeared shortly after before she could copy it out. “My telephone number is very important to me because it is my life. All my contacts, home and abroad, know the number. So, when I read in the newspapers that government would deactivate, in less than two weeks, my SIM because of NIN, I quickly tried to confirm it because I remembered I did the registration a long time ago and got a piece of paper. The time the costly message stays before disappearing is too short,” she said.

    NCC, however, said the government had directed operators to stop deducting cash for the use of the facility.

    Director, Public Affairs at NCC, Dr Ikechukwu Adinde, in response to an SMS on the issue, said: “The FG has since yesterday directed that the use of *346# by subscribers for NIN retrieval should be zero-rated. The N4 (N20) charge is no longer applicable and this is already being implemented by the service providers and NIMC.”

    NIMC assures

    NIMC has assured that there was no need for subscribers to panic over the two-week deadline for deactivation of SIM cards that are not linked with users’ NIN. It explained that adequate arrangements had been made to capture the data of 200 million Nigerians within the next five years.

    It added that the steps taken so far to ensure that  subscribers have NIN in their SIM cards were meant to address the security challenges facing the country.

    It also said the operators would be involved in the exercise.

    NIMC spokesman, Mr. Kayode Adegoke, told The Nation that the government had approved licensing of over 200 institutions to carry out the enrolment “of citizens and legal residents into the NIDB on behalf of NIMC.”

  • Countries ban UK flights in move to block new virus strain

    Countries ban UK flights in move to block new virus strain

    Agency Reporter

    No fewer than six countries on Sunday temporarily suspended flights with the United Kingdom (UK) as the nation experiences a surge in new COVID-19 cases and a new strain of the virus moves across southern England.

    The Associated Press reported that Austria, Belgium, Germany, Israel, Italy and the Netherlands had halted travel to the UK except for official reasons, a move that came shortly after the British prime minister announced a new wave of restrictions for southern England.

    Italy has also banned entry from anyone who was in the UK over the past 14 days, according to the news service, while British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is warning of a new, more easily transmissible strain of COVID-19 afflicting the country.

    “Given the early evidence we have on this new variant of the virus, and the potential risk it poses, it is with a heavy heart that I must tell you we cannot continue with Christmas as planned,” Johnson tweeted.

    Read Also: Nigeria’s forex reserves drops by $132.06 million

    “We are sacrificing our chance to see loved ones this Christmas, so we have a better chance of protecting their lives so we can see them at future Christmases,” he continued.

    We are sacrificing our chance to see loved ones this Christmas, so we have a better chance of protecting their lives so we can see them at future Christmases.

    The head of the Labour Party, Keir Starmer, accused Johnson of being slow to implement restrictions on gatherings and shutter shops and public places in response to the new wave of infections. The UK experienced a drop in its rate of new infections earlier this month but in recent days has seen the number surge to previous heights. More than 67,000 people have now died across the UK from COVID-19.

    “The alarms bells have been ringing for weeks, but the prime minister chose to ignore them,” said Starmer, the AP reported. “It is an act of gross negligence by a prime minister who, once again, has been caught behind the curve.”

    President-elect Joe Biden’s surgeon general nominee Vivek Murthy said yesterday that the new, more contagious coronavirus strain reported in the UK does not appear to be any deadlier.

    “This news from the UK appears to be about a new strain of the virus that’s more transmissible, more contagious than the virus we’ve seen prior to this,” Murthy, who was surgeon general in the Obama administration, said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

  • Buhari, Reps and controversy over invitation

    Buhari, Reps and controversy over invitation

    The invitation of President Muhammadu Buhari by the House of Representatives to address lawmakers on the security situation in the country has been a subject of public discourse, especially the statement by the Attorney General and Minister of Justice that the lawmakers lacked the power to do so. But, the House is still confident that the President will honour the invitation. TONY AKOWE reports

    He made frantic efforts to stop the invitation probably believing that the idea may not work. By convention, lawmakers are supposed to discuss the motion of urgent public importance with the leadership of the House before they are brought to the floor during plenary. This was what the Borno Caucus of the House did recently when it tabled the killing of farmers in Zabarmari village for discussion. But, developments later suggested that not all members of caucus whose name appeared as sponsors of the motion were privy to the meeting and what transpired. So, before the sitting, the motion as originally drafted was distributed to members and the press.

    However, when the lead sponsor, Ahmed Satomi read the motion and its prayers, the first prayer as agreed to by the sponsors was omitted and replaced with a call for a state of emergency. The omitted prayer was to invite the President to brief the House on the security situation in the country. To avoid the controversy that a debate might generate, the Speaker, Femi Gbajabiamila moved for a vote on the motion without subjecting it to a debate. But, Ahmed Jaha, one of the sponsors rose up under matters of privilege to inform the House that what was read as prayer did not capture what they agreed on as a caucus.

    Rising under Order 6, Rule 1 of the House standing rules, Jaha said, “Mr. Speaker, all the lawmakers from Borno have resolved that prayers of the motion should remain the way it is. My name is there as a co-sponsor of the motion. I realised that by the time he was reading the motion, he eliminated some prayers that we have all agreed to be passed here. I will give up my life for my people. So, I fear nobody except God. The other prayer that he didn’t mention is that we are going to invite Mr. President to come and explain to the House the security situation in the country. These security forces have been given all the support to do their job. If we invite them, they will say they don’t have enough equipment. The President said he has given them all the support to do the job, but unfortunately, they failed to do it.

    “Secondly, I said on the floor of this House that we are not taking the battle to their doorsteps and everybody resolved that yes, they are not taking the battle to their doorsteps. The President confirmed that this time they should be taking the battle to their doorsteps. So, my amendment is that Mr. President should be invited to come and explain the security situation in the country, especially in the Northeast”.

    However, not comfortable with the direction the motion was heading, the Speaker made a passionate appeal that it should be allowed to sail through the way it has been presented. He said: “This is an appeal from the chair. We are talking about security matters. You and I know that the channel of discussion of security matters such as this will not be to invite the President to come and disclose issues of security and what they are doing. It will be counterproductive. The prayer is all-encompassing. By asking the President to declare a state of emergency, which is part of the prayers, it allows for extraordinary measures. That singular prayer is more important than the President coming to tell us anything. So, it is an appeal that we don’t react based on the passion we feel. Jaha, I am appealing to you because of what is involved.”

    But, the Speaker’s appeal seems to have infuriated Jaha and some other members, especially those from the Northeast. Some of them even attempted to attack those who were not in support of inviting the President. Tempers began to flare when the House Leader, Alhassan Ado Doguwa (APC, Kano) said security issues were too delicate to be brought to the floor of the House. He stressed that while he was in full support of the motion, it will be out of place to invite the President to come and explain the security situation in the country. Shehu Koko (APC, Kebbi) said the leadership of the House should interface with the President, instead, on the issue in view of the fact that security should not be discussed in the open. But, members who were in support of the invitation of the President, however, refused to allow Koko to make his point. However, an infuriated Gbajabiamila expressed disappointment over the behaviour of his colleagues.

    When it became apparent that the House was degenerating to a rowdy session, the Speaker sent the media and the public as well as non-legislators out of the chamber, to allow for an executive session with the hope that the issue will be resolved amicably internally. But, after about 30 minutes of intense discussion among the members, the gallery was again thrown open. But, this time, many members had left the house apparently in frustration over the development.

    But, it was obvious that Jaha and his group had won a major battle, as the Speaker gave him the floor to move for an amendment to the motion, to invite the President to address the House. The motion was subsequently voted on and approved by the House. Apparently, it did not go down well with some members; they promptly left the House. The motion was sponsored by Ahmed Satomi, Mohammed Tahir Monguno, Zainab Gimba, Muktar Betara, Mallam Bukar Gana,  Haruna Mshelia, Ahmadu Usman Jaha,  Ibrahim Mohammed Bukar, Usman Zannah and Abdulkadir Rahis.

    Spokesman of the House, Benjamin Kalu tried to play down the development, especially what happened during the executive session. Kalu said the House believed that the invitation to the President does not preclude the declaration of a state of emergency on the security situation in the country. He added that the House believes that the declaration of a state of emergency on security is more important than the President coming to explain the security situation to the lawmakers. Kalu was sure the President would honour the invitation, especially after a visit by the Speaker and the assurance that he would honour the invitation. He explained that Buhari did not honour previous invitations, especially by the 8th Assembly because they withheld the budget for six months.

    Kalu said: “Unless there’s a declaration of a state of emergency on security, Mr President’s hand will be tied to do what the former President Jonathan did, which was asking for external help like hiring mercenaries to make sure we defeat the terrorists. The constitution will not allow the President to act in this direction, except through legislative intervention. This is to tell you that resolutions are not dramas, they are to open doors, to invite the executive to formulate policies and take positions that will help them achieve the desire of Nigerians.”

    While Nigerians were waiting for an official date for the President to appear before the House, one of his aides and Special Adviser on Social Media, Lauretta Onochie took to her social media handle to announce that the “the President will address a joint session of the National Assembly on Thursday”. Nigerians went to town with that statement, oblivious of the fact that the President’s spokesman, Femi Adesina, or the Secretary to the Government of the Federation did not issue an official statement to that effect. The President did not also send formal correspondence to the presiding officers of the National Assembly as has been the tradition.

    However, as the D-day drew nearer, various caucuses in the House began to hold nocturnal meetings to plan how to handle the President when he comes to address the lawmakers. Fillers began to emerge that PDP lawmakers were planning to ridicule the President when he appears before the House. APC lawmakers were also planning how to protect the President from being ridiculed. There were other lawmakers cutting across the two parties who were undecided on how to handle the issue. Things got to its peak when APC governors supposedly met the President and asked him not to honour the invitation.

    But, in spite of the foregoing, the House had maintained prior to the botched visit that the President would be in the House; as one of the items listed was for the House Leader to move a motion admitting Ministers and other officials of the Executive into the chamber for the purpose of the President addressing the lawmakers indicated. It was also evident that when the House Committee on Rules and Business was preparing the order paper, they had information that the President would come on Wednesday and not Thursday as earlier speculated. But, the Speaker jumped that item on the order paper without explaining why. He said: “We are jumping the next item” after a series of consultations with the Deputy Speaker, House Leader and Chairman, Rules and Business. This was to be followed later in the day by a statement signed by the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami that the lawmakers overstepped their bounds by inviting the President.

    However, legal experts have said the Malami’s statement did not take into consideration the provision of Section 89 of the constitution which empowered the lawmakers to invite anybody in Nigeria to appear before it with the sole aim of obtaining information, especially on areas where they make laws. House Spokesman, a lawyer by profession, said since the lawmakers make laws regarding security in the country, as well as the law setting up Armed Forces Council headed by the President, they reserve the right to also invite the President to offer an explanation.

    He said: “I would have said let us leave the judicial and legal interpretation of the constitution to the judiciary. But, as a lawyer, I can assure you that the parliament did not act in error. I say this based on the provisions of the constitution that established us; even the smallest committee of the House has a mandate which is expressed in Section 88 and 89. If you want to address the question on whether the House as a committee of the whole is investigating insecurity, money appropriated for security, inefficiency in security or any petition around insecurity, if the House has the power to look into that, the answer is yes. The position of the law as contained in Section 4 of the Armed Forces Act, the President is Chairman of the Security Council. The Armed forces Act is legislation made by the parliament.

    “It is the provision of Section 89 that we have the right to investigate issues bothering on any issue that we have the power to legislate on. It is called legislative competence. We have the competence to legislate on all these. Therefore, if there are things that we need to find out in those areas, the power empowers us to invite any person for the purpose of obtaining any evidence or information. There is also a section in the constitution which gives us the power to arrest or command the presence of the President. But, because of Section 308, which guarantees immunity, we cannot exercise that. The power of discretion (Section 218) is there.”

     

  • Group trains undergraduates on sexual violence

    Group trains undergraduates on sexual violence

    Our Reporter

     

    No fewer than 3,000 undergraduates from 163 institutions across Nigeria have participated in a virtual training on prevention of sexual violence.

    The training was organised by The Women at Risk International Foundation in partnership with the Joint EU-UN Spotlight Initiative.

    The Initiative represents an unprecedented global effort to invest in gender equality and women’s empowerment as a precondition and driver for the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals.

    Speaking on the prevalence of sexual violence in tertiary institutions, the UN Women Country Representative to Nigeria and ECOWAS, Comfort Lamptey, stated: “Breaking the silence on sex for grades, and exposing the magnitude of the issue, is the first step to ending sexual harassment and violence in tertiary education institutions.

    “We need laws and policies, both at the level of the institutions themselves and at the national level. As UN Women, along with our partner UN agencies, we remain committed to supporting the government and people of Nigeria to end sexual harassment in tertiary education institutions, and all forms of violence against women and girls”.

    Read Also: Group mobilises for protest at Buhari’s Daura home

    The founder of  WARIF, Dr. Kemi DaSilva- Ibru, said the project was launched in January 2020 to increase awareness of gender based violence and to design  and adopt school related gender based violence policies in tertiary institutions.

    “Following the high and increasing rate of sexual violence and harassment in these institutions; it was necessary to implement a program such as this to break the culture of silence, offer solutions and ensure the overall reduction of these cases,” said DaSilva-Ibru.

    The training ended with a symposium in Yaba, Lagos which reiterated the knowledge learnt and gave the students the opportunity to network, interact and brainstorm on the various ways to prevent gender based violence in their schools and communities.

    Adegoke Olawale, a 300 level Lagos State University student stated  it was good to know that there were solutions available for survivors of sexual violence and he would continue to create awareness to reduce sexual violence in his direct community.

  • Nigerian women shine at pan-African energy awards

    Nigerian women shine at pan-African energy awards

    Our Reporter

     

    Nigeria’s women have bagged two awards at the just-concluded 2020 Africa Women in Energy conference and awards in Kenya.

    The conference tagged African queen of energy awards had as theme: The Pan African Dream – African energy resilience and recovery.

    It attracted delegates from within and outside the continent, especially women involved in the energy, oil and gas, power and renewable sectors.

    The contingent under the auspices of Women in Energy, Oil and Gas (WEOG) Nigeria won the Pan- African Women in Energy Group of the year Award and The Pan- African Community Leader (individual) award.

    Some of the delegates from Nigeria include chairperson of the group, Engr. (Mrs.) Olu Maduka; the group’s global matron, Mrs. Susan Morrice; the National President Dr. Oladunni Owo;  Board executive, Chief (Mrs.) Anita Okuribido;  Engr. (Mrs.) Funmi Kadri; Mrs. Dolapo Okulaja – Kotun and Mrs. Dorcas James.

    Okuribido, popularly called Mama Renewable, won the community leadership award.

    Read Also: Driving solar energy to catalyse agric energy transition

    She was recognised for her assiduous, dogged and emphatic drive to close the energy poverty gap in Nigeria through renewable energy and green solutions for all and sundry with extensive focus on the grass root and rural communities.

    Okuribido, who singlehandedly built and commissioned the 1st African Women’s Green Energy Institute in Lagos, expressed surprise with the award, which she dedicated to all African women and global womanhood.

    Dr. Dunni Owo  fondly called “The Refinery Lady” having authored an award winning master piece title : Blackgold Refinery Business Made Easy, led the delegation of over 20  Energy Women who  represented Nigeria at the phenomenal  event remarked during a Thanksgiving session held  at the organization”s Secretariat in Lagos,  that the award came as a big surprise and  declared the dedication of  the award to God, then to all members and participants of the Women in Energy , Oil and Gas  ( WEOG) Nigeria  forum, to all  African girl child in STEM, to all African young professional women in the energy value chain, to all African women in the Energy Industry  and to all African Women in the oil and gas Host communities.