The Nation Newspaper

Category: Special Report

  • The genesis of the Atiku/Wike face-off

    The genesis of the Atiku/Wike face-off

    As the National Executive Council (NEC) meeting of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) holds in Abuja today, party bigwigs and other stakeholders have their work cut out as they attempt to resolve the knotty crisis that has pitted the camp of its presidential candidate, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, against that of Governor Nyesome Wike of Rivers State. In this report, Deputy Group Political Editor RAYMOND MORDI traces the beginning of the ‘civil war’ tearing the soul of the main opposition party into pieces and concludes that today’s meeting will focus primarily on whether or not the party’s National Chairman, Dr. Iyorchia Ayu, should be relieved of his post.

    The genesis of the current crisis rocking the main opposition party, the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP), may not be unconnected with the abrogation of the power rotation arrangement that has subsisted between the northern and the southern part of the country. The no-zoning verdict of the party before its presidential primary in June paved the way for the emergence of former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, as the party’s flag bearer in next year’s presidential election.

    Going by the rotation or zoning, which has been in place since the return to civil rule in 1999, it is the turn of the south to produce the party’s presidential flag bearer. President Muhammadu Buhari, the current occupant of the highest office in the land hails, from Daura, Katsina State, in the Northwest geopolitical zone. He would have served for the maximum two terms of four years each allowed by the Constitution by the time he vacates office in May next year.

    The crisis appears to be taking the shape of a North/South power struggle, based on the mutual distrust and suspicion that has existed between the two power blocs over a long period. Party stakeholders from the South are not happy with the decision to jettison the zoning arrangement. The emergence of Atiku as the PDP candidate has divided the party ahead of the commencement of the electioneering campaign this month. The festering leadership crisis is threatening to tear it apart, with party stakeholders dissipating energy trying to manage the crisis; instead of concentrating on the big task ahead as a united family.

    River State Governor Nyesom Wike, who came second in the party’s presidential primary, has emerged as the arrowhead of the internal opposition against the PDP flag-bearer and its leadership. He is being backed by some fellow governors, including Seyi Makinde (Oyo), Okezie Ikpeazu (Abia), Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi (Enugu) and Samuel Ortom (Benue). Other governors, including Aminu Tambuwal (Sokoto), Ifeanyi Okowa (Delta), Duoye Diri (Bayelsa), Darius Ishaku (Taraba), Ahmadu Fintiri (Adamawa) and Godwin Obaseki (Edo) are behind Atiku; while the two others, namely Bala Mohammed (Bauchi) and Udom Emmanuel (Akwa Ibom) have chosen to remain neutral.

    Today, the crisis has been narrowed down to the removal of the National Chairman, Dr Iyorchia Ayu, who hails from Benue State, North-central, as a precondition for peace to return to the fold. The Wike-led group is not happy with the lopsided distribution of offices in the party, in favour of the north. They are insisting that the presidential candidate and the National Chairman cannot come from the region. All efforts so far to reconcile the warring parties have not yielded any meaningful result. The National Chairman’s recent outburst, describing those against his leadership as children who were still toddlers when the party was formed, is not helping matters.

    The party is expected to take concrete steps to resolve the crisis this week. Its National Caucus deliberated on the matter on Tuesday, while the National Executive Council (NEC), the highest decision-making organ of the party, is scheduled to meet today, with the discussion on Dr Ayu topping the agenda. There were also reports that Atiku and his supporters in the party were preparing to call the bluff of the Wike-led camp. Whichever way it goes, the image of the party has been severely dented by the protracted crisis. As a result, it may be difficult for the warring factions to work harmoniously during the electioneering campaign period.

    When the PDP decided to throw its presidential ticket open to contestants from all parts of the country, it was the desperation to return to power at the centre that prompted it. The premise of the decision was the thinking that only a Northern presidential candidate can garner bulk votes at the polls to give it a victory. The party was probably eyeing the kind of bulk votes from the Northwest and the Northeast that catapulted President Buhari to victory in 2015 and 2019. The cash-strapped opposition party also used the no-zoning verdict to ensure that Atiku gets the ticket and bankrolls the campaign with his megabucks.

    But, the PDP may have shot itself in the foot and may have begun its quest to return to power next year on a shaky note. It did not reckon with the fact that only the unity of the North and South can win votes for the party. Observers believe that it would have served the PDP better if it had remained faithful to its own constitution by respecting the zoning formula as enshrined therein. Indications are that the mood of Nigerians at the moment demands equity, justice and fairness. Well-meaning Nigerians from different parts of the country believe that there is no justification for the PDP’s anti-zoning stance; it is a decision taken in bad faith. There appears to be a general discontent over that decision in the South.

    Read Also: PDP crisis: Can Ayu survive the storm?

    Minority Leader of the Ondo State House of Assembly, Rasheed Elegbeleye said Dr Ayu has no choice but to resign. Elegbeleye who represents Akoko Northeast Local Government Area, told The Nation in a recent interview: “Wike will never leave the PDP. He has not done anything wrong. Those of us in the PDP are campaigning against the APC based on a Muslim-Muslim ticket. When you talk of religion, we should also talk of tribe and ethnicity. The presidential candidate of the PDP is from the North, the party chairman is from the North, and the Board of Trustee chairman is from the North. It will count a lot against the PDP in the South. We know the APC has not done well in terms of the agenda Tinubu led the APC in 2014 to campaign against the PDP. None of the promises they made has been fulfilled.

    “Ayu promised to resign if a presidential candidate emerged from the North. Wike is not the problem in the PDP. He is never the problem. The party has always won in Rivers State before Wike’s emergence as governor. Almost five or six governors are in line with Wike. There are also former governors and party leaders backing him. Wike is only their spokesman. They are not happy that the leaders have not taken a pro-active step on the issue of the national chairman.”

    As Elegbeleye said, it is ironic that the PDP is accusing the ruling party of fielding a Muslim/Muslim ticket in next year’s presidential election; it has committed a bigger blunder by reneging on the zoning principle enshrined in its constitution. Before the party’s presidential primary, its leadership set up a 37-member zoning committee under the chairmanship of Governor Ortom, to decide on the contentious issue. The general expectation was that the ticket would be zoned to the south. But the Ortom-led committee displayed its insensitivity to the general mood in the country by declaring the contest open to all candidates.

    Solomon Bob, who represents Rivers State in the lower chamber of the National Assembly, indicated recently that the genesis of the rift between Atiku and Wike was the disinformation put out by “Atiku’s men” before and after the party’s primary contributed to the crisis that rocked the party. Some of these lies, he said, included the claim that the governor was unsatisfied with the results of the party’s primary and also wanted to be named the running mate of the presidential candidate. The lawmaker, who made the remark recently during an interview on Channels Television, was reacting to the crisis that has hit the party in recent weeks, which has defied all efforts made by many players toward reconciling aggrieved members. He said, contrary to the disinformation put out to “pull down Wike and elevate the PDP presidential flag-bearer,” Wike never wanted to be Atiku’s running mate. He said the disinformation triggered the rift between the two powerful party chieftains.

    The Rivers State governor fell out with the party leadership after he lost the party’s ticket to Atiku at its presidential primary in June. The rift between the two powerful politicians came to the fore following Wike’s failure to congratulate Delta State’s Governor Ifeanyi Okowa after he was named the party’s vice presidential candidate. The Rivers State governor also rebuffed several attempts by Atiku and his team to meet with him. He only recently agreed to a meeting on the condition that Ayu would resign and that the National Working Committee would be reshuffled.

    Although the two men have taken steps towards reconciliation by meeting physically, Bon said that had Atiku’s men not spread lies and degrading comments about the Rivers governor, the matter would not have degenerated. The lawmaker said that all Wike wanted was to be President because he had a workable plan of action for the country. He added: “Reports that he (Wike) is aggrieved with the party because he was not picked as running mate is false. The governor never wanted to be a running mate to Atiku. He never asked for it and never lobbied for it. That is the truth they won’t tell you. It was like a deliberate attempt to demystify and denigrate him.”

    The crisis has divided virtually all organs of the party. The 21-member National Working Committee (NWC), which Ayu leads, is not insulated from the fray. Members of the NWC were elected into office in October 2021 through consensus arrangements. Expectedly, individual members still hold allegiance to the camps of the governors that nominated them for the position. The only exception to this rule is Ayu, who has switched loyalty from the Wike camp to the Atiku group. As it were, the NWC members are divided over calls for the chairman’s resignation.

    The party’s National Caucus and its Board of Trustees (BoT) are not left out. The BoT, which plays an advisory role, for instance, is designed to be the conscience of the party. But this demands neutrality and disinterestedness of members. With the present state of affairs, the group, which is presently chaired by Senator Walid Jibrin with Senator Adolphus Wabara as secretary, appears incapacitated to resolve the crisis because the neutrality of its members may not be guaranteed. Incidentally, Jibrin has openly identified with calls to address the present lop-sidedness in the PDP leadership structure; by implication, Ayu’s resignation. However, some members of the board have countered the BoT chairman by calling on him to resign his position, to strike a balance. But the Wike camp is not interested in the BoT chairmanship.

    The PDP Governors Forum used to be a formidable group and a bulwark in times of internal crisis within the party. The 13-member forum had ensured timely response to crises in the past and had come up with amicable solutions to them. One of the achievements of the forum was its ability to midwife a rancour-free national convention in October 2021 where the present NWC members were elected through consensus.

    Incidentally, the chairman of the forum, Governor Aminu Tambuwal (Sokoto State), was in the race for the PDP presidential ticket. Three others governors; Bala Mohammed (Bauchi), Udom Emmanuel (Akwa Ibom) and Wike also threw their hats in the ring. That shattered the existing unity and cohesion among the governors. Things have never remained the same afterwards. Tambuwal’s decision to step down for Atiku at the last presidential primary further drove a wedge between him and Wike. It further polarised the forum along opposing loyalties.

    The National Executive Council (NEC) is equally at crossroads. The NEC is the highest decision-making organ of the party; with membership comprising mostly party elders and key members of all other organs. The national chairman is also the chairman of this body. The decisions of NEC on all party issues are final and not subject to review by any other organ. Members of the NEC are also members of the National Convention Committee, which is vested with the power to ratify decisions taken by the NEC. But, just like other organs, members of NEC are also divided along the Wike/Atiku camps.

  • 5G rollout: Aligning huge expectations with realities

    5G rollout: Aligning huge expectations with realities

    After a long and anxious wait, MTN Nigeria, one of the two operators that won the 3.5gigahertz (GHz) spectrum licence dedicated by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) for the deployment of the fifth generation (5G) technology in the country, has finally rolled out the new service. LUCAS AJANAKU writes on the implications of the new technology and why subscribers need to streamline their expectations with current socio-economic realities.

    For MTN and its about 70million subscribers in Nigeria, August 24, 2022, is an appointment with history. On that day, MTN led the way to a much-awaited 5G world in Africa’s biggest economy. That day was specifically set aside by the telecoms sector regulator, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) for the deployment of 5G technology in the country to begin the journey into a promising future for a technology projected to contribute some $2.2 trillion to the global economy by 2034, according to a 2020 GSMA Intelligence report entitled: The Mobile Economy.

    That day, MTN Nigeria kicked off an open 5G pilot in the lead-up to its highly anticipated commercial launch.  It said it intends to launch 5G services in Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt, Ibadan, Kano, Owerri, and Maiduguri, adding that it is testing the next-generation network infrastructure. It said customers with certain enabled devices will be allowed to connect with and try out the new service where coverage is available. The advanced technology promises to extend the reach and capacity of MTN Nigeria’s data network in Nigeria and enable much faster speeds and lower latency, giving customers near-instant access to the things they care about and downloads that take seconds, instead of minutes.

    The Chief Marketing Officer, MTN Nigeria, Adia Sowho, said: “Every major technological evolution redefines what is possible – changing the way we live and the way we connect. MTN Nigeria has been at the forefront of every leap in telecommunications: from GSM to 2G, 3G, and 4G. 5G has the potential to change everything. It will allow us to connect, create, collaborate, and compete in ways we’ve not even begun to imagine. We’re honoured to be a part of this revolution and, being the first to bring 5G to Nigeria, we are truly excited about all the possibilities for the nation.”

     

    What 5G means, its benefits and how the rollout journey began

    According to experts, the implementation of 5G will accelerate the actualisation of the national targets in the Nigerian National Broadband Plan, the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy, as well as other sectoral policies designed to enhance Nigeria’s digital transformation. With this launch, leveraging the largest spectrum dedicated to 5G in Africa, Nigeria will join a handful of African countries that have rolled out the 5G network. When it comes to testing or deploying 5G in Africa, Nigeria is joining Ethiopia, Botswana, Egypt, Gabon, Kenya, Lesotho, Madagascar, Mauritius, Senegal, Seychelles, South Africa, Uganda, and Zimbabwe.

    The federal government didn’t just wake up and suddenly caught the fancy of 5G technology. The transition from 1G with its analogue mobile voice feature  to 2G with digital voice efficiency to reach billions of people; then 3G with focus on mobile data; 4G mobile broadband and emerging expansion to an ultimately 5G that promises to provide a unified connectivity fabric for the next decade – it was a well-planned exercise. A 5G trial was done on Nov 26, 2019 in six locations with Abuja being the first.

    As a matter of fact, the Federal Executive Council (FEC) gave approval for the National Policy on Fifth Generation (5G) Networks for Nigeria’s Digital Economy. The policy was approved at the Council meeting following the presentation by the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Prof Isa Pantami. “The implementation of the National Policy is with immediate effect. The National Policy has been developed over a period of two years, due to the need for extensive stakeholder engagement and the need to ensure adequate public awareness and sensitization. The stakeholders’ engagement was thorough and multi-sectoral in nature. It also took into account the report of the three-month 5G trials that commenced on the 25th of November 2019. The report critically reviewed and studied the health and security implications of deploying 5G in Nigeria.

    “Leading international organisations such as the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), an organ of the United Nations, have confirmed that the deployment of 5G networks leave no adverse health effects and are safe. 5G networks offer significant advantages over the current technologies. Some of its advantages include much lower latency, higher bandwidth, greater device density, longer battery life for nodes and greater network flexibility,” Pantami’s Technical Adviser,  Dr Femi Adeluyi, had said in a statement.

    The 5G stands for the 5th generation mobile network. It is a new global wireless standard after 1G, 2G, 3G, and 4G networks. 5G enables a new kind of network that is designed to connect virtually everyone and everything together including machines, objects, and devices. Emerging 5G networks feature lower latency, higher capacity, and increased bandwidth compared to 4G. These network improvements will have far-reaching impacts on how people live, work, and play all over the world. In the world of evolving technology, 5G will promote the internet of things (IoT) and boost the Smart City Agenda of Lagos State.

    According to reports, while it takes 22 minutes to download a high-definition movie on a 4G network, it will only take 32 seconds on a 5G network. Based on its elasticity, 5G networks are also projected to be able to service a million devices within a square kilometre — 100 times more than 4G networks can handle in the same area. According to the Director, Technical Standards and Network Integrity at NCC, Bako Wakil,  5G was designed to meet the very large growth in data and connectivity of today’s society, the  IoT with billions connected devices, and future’s innovations; fast response time (low Latency); open up many use cases that will revive many industries. Billions of devices, he said, will be connected in smart homes, smart schools, smart cities, smart and safer vehicles enhance health care and education, and many others, adding that devices will have increased computing capabilities.

    Pantami said 5G will be approximately 20 times faster than 4G. It will open many opportunities for businesses because of the quality of the service and at the same time, it will allow many devices to get connected, meaning everything will be connected. In security, it will promote remote surveillance where you can have so many facilities like robots attached to IoT and many more. Security operatives will be able to deploy it to have real time communication, including in remote areas where they cannot be physically present. It will help major companies especially those that require very strong broadband to participate in remote operation and many more including oil and gas from discovery to production to refining. When it comes to individuals, it will help in telemedicine and tele-surgery.

    The Chairman, Association of Licensed Telecoms Companies of Nigeria (ALTON), Gbenga Adebayo, agreed no less with Pantami and Wakil. He said every layer of improvement in telecommunication has brought a difference in user experience and significant improvement in the quality of services delivered to the end user. “The major advantage of 5G is that you have a high volume of data transfer between person to person and person to machine and the world today is talking about virtual reality. All these applications will ride on 5G. Electronic gaming, electronic sports and e-commerce will be better with 5G. Big data, high data transfer, high speed of communication, high quality communication will be guaranteed,” he said.

     

    5G means extra cost to subscribers

    Adebayo said all releases by original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) in the last year or so are 5G ready. “A lot of the Android phones now are ready to go on 5G technology  for individuals who might want to use 5G; they may need to change their devices but this might not happen for those who do not have need for 5G.  5G machine2machine protocol; just programme the device to 5G. As long as we have many countries rolling out 5G, when the volume increases, the price will drop. So I will not be surprised that in another year, we get a device that is as cheap as N10,000 that is 5G compliant,” he said.

    But MTN has advised its customers that want to access the 5G network and enjoy its benefits to buy compatible devices, such as routers and mobile phones, which can be pre-ordered from designated MTN walk-in stores and online via the MTN Nigeria website and e-marketplace. The pre-ordered devices can be picked up or will be delivered to customers post the launch event scheduled to take place in the coming weeks.

    Already, MTN is currently advertising its 5G router for N50,000 in an economy where the minimum wage is N30,000, which many state governments are not even paying. Analysts also insist that times are extremely rough for the subscribers for whom the 5G technology was designed. The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said Nigeria’s headline inflation rate rose to 19.64 per cent on a year-on-year basis in July, the highest since 2005.

    The Statistician-General of the Federation and Chief Executive Officer, NBS, Prince Semiu Adeniran, said the increase in inflation was caused by an increase in the cost of transportation arising from the higher cost of energy. According to him, the increase in the inflation rate was also due to an increase in import costs as a result of currency depreciation, as well as a general increase in the cost of production. He said on a month-on-month basis, the headline inflation rate in July 2022 was 1.817 per cent, which was higher than the rate recorded in June 2022 at 1.816 per cent.

    5G requires massive investment to improve telecom infrastructure

    The Executive Director, Centre for Cyberspace Studies, Nasarawa State University, Keffi, Uche Mbanaso, said Nigeria cannot be left out of the global transitioning of technology. Rolling out the technology will enhance the country’s digital economy stride, he said, adding that the challenge in the industry is to key into the opportunity to harness the potential. “What makes 5G better is the ubiquity and proximity of base transceiver station (BTS) to the user. Many towers will come to the streets which will make it easier for people to connect and connect to other devices. That is the vitality of the 5G network because it is much higher frequency and has wavelengths. Because of this wave length, the BTS has to be very close. So you can see thousands of these BTS on the street. That is what enhances the speed and other benefits.”

    The telecom sector will require over N1.04trillion investment to bridge the existing deficit in telecoms infrastructure, especially BTS across the country. According to statistics released by the regulator of the telecoms industry, the NCC, BTS deployment in the country has risen from 30,000 to 54,460. This figure shows a deficit of 26,540 from the 80,000 BTS required for effective coverage of the country’s huge land mass. The BTS consists of 3G and 4G; while Fibre Optic Transmission cables expanded from 47,000km to 54,725km in the last five years, resulting in improved broadband/telecoms service delivery in the country.

    According to the former President, Association of Telecoms Companies of Nigeria (ATCON), Olusola Teniola, depending on whether it is 2G or 3G being offered by the BTS, the usual prices for an installed one is between $7,000 and $95,000. Therefore, at about $95,000 per BTS, this will amount to $2.52billion (N1.04trillion). Teniola had given this projection before the hike in inflation, long before the naira started its free fall against the dollar, which is the currency of the ICT sector

    The Chief Executive Officer of IHS, one of the leading tower services firms in the country, Issam Darwish, in 2012, had said more than $12.5 billion was required to build more BTS across the country while Adebayo in 2019 said it costs about N24, 750,000 to install a single BTS together with its tower, special antennas and two generators to power the station. He equated BTS with the artery in the human body system, responsible for pumping blood into the system as it allows subscribers to make and receive calls seamlessly.

    The Chief Executive Officer, NCC, Prof Garba Dambatta, said infrastructure would be needed to support emerging technologies such as IoT as the country forges ahead with its digital economy drive. “3G, 4G going to 5G networks are going to usher this country into smart applications, the IoTs or the smart world and cities we are talking about. And of course, because of the additional burden on infrastructure, the present capacity of telecom infrastructure is grossly inadequate to cater for these additional platforms or services we talk about. Therefore, we will need between 70,000 and 80,000 base transceiver masts to be able to provide the effective capacity that is needed to deploy 4G going to 5G,” Dambatta said.

    He urged other approving agencies at all levels of government in the country to partner with NCC to bridge the digital divide. The United Kingdom (UK), with a population of 60 million people and about 250 land square meters, already has close to 60,000 BTS. About two decades after telecoms liberalisation in Nigeria, quality of service (QoS) has remained a major issue in the sector; while most of the major highways across the country remain blind to telecoms services because of the shortage of BTS, which the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) says “provides the connection between mobile phones and the wider telephone network.”

    IHS Towers, arguably the largest mobile telecoms infrastructure provider in Africa, which controls over 16,000 BTS belonging to carriers in the country, including the 9,151 BTS it acquired from MTN and another 2,136 towers acquired from 9mobile. It is not clear if the parent company of Airtel Nigeria, Airtel Africa has finally sold its 4,500 towers across five countries of its operation as proposed by its CEO last year.

    But Adebayo differs. According to him the operators are ready to deploy 5G. “The infrastructure that we have deployed is good and ready to go and start up on 5G; so we are very pleased about the trial that has been done; we are pleased about the approval of the policy. Today we are talking about digital economy, mobile banking. All these services will run better on 5G, more affordable and with more latency. Yes, 5G will be on higher frequency and lower wavelength; we would have many more antennae but the size of the antenna will not be as massive as what we currently have. So we will not find telecom antennas on the streets because of 5G. A number of antennas are medium size that will sit on light poles, some will sit on rooftops. You will still see a lot of 4G sites which will support as off sites,” he had explained.

    Security implications of deploying 5G technology

    Mbanaso said the use of robots to perform tele-surgery for instance has security implications. Looking at national security imperatives is vital in the 5G rollout because without security, safety and trust, there is going to be a huge problem. “We should be worried about security, safety and trust because we are going to be seeing more cybercrime because 5G opens our homes to be more connected because it is only phones that are now connected and there’s this high level of cybercrimes. When everything at home is interconnected, we are going to have increased cybercrimes,” he said.

    He called for a cyber-security framework dedicated to 5G roll out because it has enormous security issues. For instance, a counterfeit equipment replacement could cause colossal damage. Cyber-attacks do not discriminate, he averred.

    The Computer Security Incident Response Team (CSIRT) is the telecom sector’s cyber security incidence centre set up by the NCC to focus on incidents in the telecom sector as they may affect telecom consumers and citizens at large. The CSIRT also works collaboratively with the Nigeria Computer Emergency Response Team (ngCERT), established by the federal government to reduce the volume of future computer risks incidents by preparing, protecting and securing the Nigerian cyberspace to forestall attacks, problems or related events.

    While Globacom and Airtel said they have embarked on an aggressive upgrade of their 4G-LTE network infrastructure to improve service delivery to their customers, Mafab Communications, which got a five-month extension for rollout of its 5G technology, said: “The goal remains to launch before the 5-month extension period and we will be sharing more information in the near future.”

  • Sit-at-home: Any end in sight one year after?

    Sit-at-home: Any end in sight one year after?

    One year after it began, the sit-at-home order by the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) is still being observed every Monday in the entire South-eastern region of the country. In this report, EMMA ELEKWA digs deep into the issues and examines the incalculable damage the region has suffered in terms of human and economic losses during the one year of ‘Ghost Mondays’

    What the sit-at-home order by the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) every Monday in the entire South-eastern region of the country has continued to take its toll on the socio-economic life of the zone is no longer debatable. Aside the trillions of naira that had been lost, lives and property have been wasted in the ugly situation forced by the restriction on human and vehicular activities.

    When the secessionist group came up with the idea one year ago, little did it realise the huge impact it would have on the zone and its populace. This new dimension of agitation for the actualisation of the dream republic, no doubt, is not unconnected to the re-arrest and detention of its leader and arrowhead, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu.

    Kanu, who was reportedly brought back from Kenya and detained by the Department of State Security (DSS) in Abuja, was earlier facing trial in an Abuja High Court before he left the country under controversial circumstances following attack on his Afaraukwu, Umuahia, country home in Abia State by some military men.

    His first appearance at the court for the renewed trial witnessed a large assemblage of Biafran supporters and security operatives who had a hectic time controlling the crowd. The case was later adjourned and Kanu was remanded in DSS custody. On the adjourned date, the court ground was again filled to capacity by IPOB members and lawyers whose sole intention was to catch a glimpse of Kanu. But that was not to be as their leader was not brought to court. The matter was again adjourned.

    Angered by the non-appearance of Kanu in court, members of IPOB, through its Media and Publicity Secretary, Emma Powerful, declared that every Monday would henceforth be sit-at-home (also known as Ghost Monday) across the entire South-east until Kanu is released from detention. The first Monday sit-at-home was exactly on August 9th, 2021.

    Prior to that date, the group’s propaganda machinery was at its peak with steady threats that anyone who dared leave his or her house that day would have himself or herself to blame. That threat left residents of the zone, including security agents, in a state of fear and apprehension as no one knew what would become of them. To ensure total compliance, the group reportedly deployed members of its security outfit, the Eastern Security Network (ESN) who enforced the directive across the length and breadth of the region by coming down on defaulters. Before long, the entire South-east was turned into ghost zone as the order was totally obeyed by all and sundry. Not even government officials dared leave their houses. Commercial activities were totally paralysed with huge losses put at billions of naira lost to the already dwindling economy.

    Worse still, records of violence, including killings and burning of assets, were replete every Monday the order was enforced. Among the major victims were candidates of the NECO examination who were to write Mathematics on a Monday. Most of them missed the exam as they could not go to school that day across the region. One of the schools where the exams held is still counting its losses as some of their buildings were razed together with motorcycles belonging to the teachers and invigilators.

    Several attempts by some state governors in the region to counter the order, including threat to workers and traders of risk of losing their salaries and shops over failure to report to work and markets any Monday, have met brick walls as the threats were treated with levity. Some of the civil servants were ready to lose their jobs to losing their lives. One of them said, “I decided to remain at home as directed by IPOB because it is somebody who is alive that would receive salary. If I die by insisting to be in my office, will another person not take my position?”

    Following the successes recorded in terms of compliance to the first few Monday sit-at-home order, IPOB supporters mocked the Southeast governors that while people of the zone flouted governors’ order, the entire Igbo nation obeyed that of Nnamdi Kanu even while in detention. “We are happy our people are beginning to understand where we are heading to,” said a member of IPOB in Anambra.

    As if that was not enough, the same group threatened a one-month total lockdown in the Southeast if the federal government fails to produce its detained leader in court on October 21 to continue his trial. It alleged that the government had perfected plans not to bring Kanu to court, but planned to keep him perpetually behind bars without trial to deaden the Biafra struggle. This particular threat was, however, not implemented following Kanu’s eventual appearance in court.

    Months later, the pro-Biafra group, however, decided to suspend the Ghost Mondays following several appeals and interventions by notable Igbo people, including leaders of Ohaneze Ndigbo to reconsider its stand on the order in view of its adverse effects on the region. The group, through its Media and Publicity Secretary, Emma Powerful, announced that the only day the sit-at-home order would be observed in the region remains the day its leader Mazi Kanu would appear in court, which would be made public. He said, “The suspension of the sit-at-home by the IPOB Head of Directorate was as a result of an order from the leader of this great movement, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu. In accordance with the directive from our leader, our sit-at-home will, in the meantime, be observed on the date of our leader’s court appearances.

    “The leadership of the Indigenous People of Biafra understands the concern being expressed by the global IPOB family on the suspension of the weekly sit-at-home earlier announced by the IPOB Head of Directorate of State. We know that our people embraced this civil action wholeheartedly and without any compulsion. The leadership sincerely appreciates the innate desire of Biafrans to sacrifice their time, resources and energy in ensuring that our leader Mazi Nnamdi Kanu is released unconditionally from the illegal custody of the Nigerian State who criminally brought him from Kenya to Nigeria.

    “There is no gainsaying the fact that one of the major fundamental guiding principles of IPOB is command and control. This simply means that all commands from the supreme leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra will be obeyed and implemented to the latter by the Directorate of State of the Indigenous People of Biafra. Bearing in mind therefore that this principle has enabled this movement to surpass even the expectations of both Biafrans and non-Biafrans alike, the leadership wishes to encourage Biafrans to focus on the most pressing issue confronting this great family presently, which is ensuring the safety of our leader while still in the illegal custody of the DSS and to secure his unconditional release from detention.

    “We consider Biafra restoration as a sacrosanct call to duty above all else. Any other information regarding sit-at-home in Biafra land not emanating from IPOB through our main channels of information dissemination should be disregarded. The Nigerian government should heed now to the voice of reason coming from within Nigeria and from outside the shores of Nigeria to unconditionally free our leader Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, and announce a date for Biafra referendum or plebiscite where our people will choose where they wish to belong before it is too late.”

    But to what extent the suspension order had been adhered to by the people of the region left much to be desired. While a section of IPOB loyalists accused Powerful of betrayal, others said they had gone too far to withdraw. Although the suspension was said to be a “direct order” from Mazi Kanu, a group within IPOB revolted, insisting that the weekly sit-at-home order should remain in force.

    A member of IPOB, Mr. Clement Okorie, said the issue of Biafra restoration has gone beyond Kanu’s family and, therefore, should not be seen as a family affair. He said, “We cannot allow the Kanu family to slow down the tempo of the restoration of Biafra, which is at sight. In this struggle, many people have fallen by the wayside, but the agitation has continued to gather momentum. Even if it was our leader, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu that suspended the weekly sit-at-home, I am sorry we have to disobey him because Biafra is not for one family.”

    Another school of thought alleged division among the pro-Biafran group, while others said the group has been infiltrated and hijacked by some other elements, including the so-called unknown gunmen who continue to dish out counter statements to those of IPOB. Despite the fact that there is no official confirmation to these allegations, many people are tempted to believe them as the entire Southeast had continued to experience total lockdown amidst several official cancellation of the sit- at- home by IPOB.

    Meanwhile, the secessionist group warned that anybody or group enforcing the order was an impostor working for the Directorate of State Services (DSS) and other Nigerian security agencies and should be treated as such if apprehended. It directed leaders of communities, markets, churches and other institutions of authority in the area to arrest any hoodlum trying to enforce the order and hand them over to the group.

    Although there appears not to be molestation of any sort on motorists who chose to travel to any part of the country through the Southeast, there are palpable fears and apprehension among residents of the region of possible attack if they ventured moving out of their houses. Commercial activities have remained grounded across the zone, even when market leaders had thrown various market gates open for business transactions.

    Recently, Anambra State Governor Chukwuma Soludo, a professor of Economics and former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), revealed that his state loses a whopping N19.6 billion to the sit-at-home every Monday. “Every day there is a “sit at home,” the poor masses lose an estimated N19.6 billion in Anambra alone. Due to the protracted breakdown of law and order, businesses are relocating outside Igboland, with growing unemployment, and traders who used to come to shop in Onitsha, Aba etc, going elsewhere. Who is losing? By forcing our children—the future of Igboland—to stay at home instead of being in school, while even the critically sick people (including pregnant women) cannot go to the hospital, we harm our future,” he lamented.

    Also speaking, his Ebonyi State counterpart, Governor Dave Umahi, said the South-East region loses so much money each time it observes the sit at home order directed by IPOB. “We are destroying our economy. The sit-at-home is not happening in Southwest, the North is not sitting at home. Each time we sit at home, we lose over N10 billion in our economy,” Umahi had said.

    Soludo, during a meeting with some stakeholders, announced cancellation of the sit-at-home. He said, “Following the unanimous agreement of our leaders across board and the entire body of Christ, I am pleased to inform our people that Monday, April 4, 2022, marks the official end to the ‘Monday sit-at-home’ in Anambra State.

    The announcement, which raised hopes of people of the state, was immediately dashed as markets, shops, banks, schools and filling stations remained closed for business the following Monday. And the situation has remained so. One of the traders in Onitsha told The Nation that they were simply trying to tread with caution in order not to regret on the long run. He said, “Yes, they’ve asked us to open. But will they be there to secure us? You may open your shop and even succeed in doing your business that day. What if at the end of the day they come and set the market on fire after we’ve all gone? These people are unpredictable.”

    How long this sit-at-home order would linger in the Southeast remains a puzzle and a one million dollar question on the lips of both residents and visitors who are directly and indirectly being affected by the quagmire.

  • How Tinubu transformed Lagos

    How Tinubu transformed Lagos

    As campaigns for next year’s general elections are about to begin, political parties are already warming up to hit the ground running. Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), seems to be leading in setting the pace. This can be gleaned from a 30-minutes documentary that profiles his private and public engagements and why he stands tall among other contenders for the exalted office.  Assistant Editor EMMANUEL BADEJO reports

    The campaigns are almost here.  The political turf in the country is getting heated up. Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), one of the frontline contenders for the job whose candidature has introduced a new paradigm into the nation’s political climate.  His person and performance in private and political life appear to be generating intense interest across political divides.

    From the Independent National Electoral Commission’s (INEC) record, 16 parties will be fielding candidates for the presidential election scheduled to hold on February 25, 2023.  The 16 parties in the saddle include Accord Party (AP), Action Alliance (AA), the African Action Congress (AAC), African Democratic Party (ADC), the Allied Peoples Movement (APM), the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), the All Progressives Congress (APC), and Boot Party (BP). Others are the Young Progressive Party (YPP), the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Labour Party (LP), Zenith Labour Party (ZLP), National Rescue Movement (NRM), Social Democratic Party (SDP), Peoples Redemption Party (PRP), and Nigeria New Peoples Party (NNPP).

    Among the parties, it is generally believed that three are strong contenders.  The three are the APC, the PDP and the LP. While the PDP is embroiled with internal squabbles between its presidential candidate, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and some leaders of the party on one side;the Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike, alongside with some chieftains in the party, are also locked in a battle, which may affect the fortune of the main opposition party.

    The LP presidential candidate, Peter Obi, has been using the social media to connect with Nigerians. However, many political pundits have dismissed Obi style, saying elections are not won or lost based on social media. Interestingly, Tinubu has been using the period to consolidate by reaching out to political juggernauts within and outside his party. Also, he became the first to have a documentary chronicling his educational attainment and his service to humanity both in private and public service.

    At least, two eminent Nigerians also testified to Tinubu’s exploits as a student of accountancy at the Chicago State University (CSU) and an auditor with Mobil Oil Producing Company.

    According to the documentary, which described Tinubu as a ‘Pathfinder of New Lagos,” described how the APC presidential candidate spent his early life in Southwestern Nigeria.  He was said to have later moved to the United States where he studied Accountancy at Chicago State University. He returned to Nigeria in the early 1980s and was employed by Mobil Nigeria as an accountant, before entering politics as a Lagos West senatorial candidate in 1992 under the banner of the Social Democratic Party.

    His political journey was, however, truncated after the former Head of State, late Gen. Sani Abacha, dissolved the Senate in 1993. Thereafter, Tinubu became an activist campaigning for the return of democracy as a part of the National Democratic Coalition (NADECO) movement. Although he was forced into exile in 1994, Tinubu returned after Abacha’s 1998 death triggered the beginning of the transition to the Fourth Republic.

    Prior to his foray into politics, Tinubu was said to have performed excellently as a student of the CSU where he graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in accounting. This was confirmed by one of his old associates in the prestigious university. Pa Kunle Adedayo, a fellow alumnus, Chicago State University, United States and a Co-founder, Tastee Fried Chicken, attested to the educational attainment of Tinubu while he was a student in the prestigious university. According to him, Tinubu was a distinguished student, who did not only perform creditably well, but also became a tutor to his classmates and other students in the university.

    Read Also: It’s time for North to pay Tinubu back, says Shettima

    “Asiwaju is friend of my youth, a brother and a jolly good fellow.  Bola and I were fortunate to have attended the same Chicago State University (CSU), United States, but I was a year ahead of him. Bola studied Accountancy and many can attest to the fact that he was an exceptional student so much so that he was a tutor and an academic mentor to his classmates and other students. Bola is a genius.  It was not surprising that he eventually graduated with distinction from the prestige university.”

    After his completion of his studies, the documentary revealed, Tinubu worked for the American companies Arthur Andersen, Deloitte, Haskins, & Sells, GTE Services Corporation, P&G and GEC. In 1983, Tinubu returned to Nigeria and he joined Mobil Oil Nigeria, where he later became an executive of the company.

    Speaking on his outstanding record while in Mobil as an auditor, Pa Pius Akinyelure described Tinubu as a very active, proactive individual who he also possesses the quality to think ahead his peers. Akinyelure, a former Director with Mobil, attested to the fact that Tinubu’s track record while in the employ of the company endeared him to the management so much that the company was not willing to let him go when he decided to resign from private practice to serve the public.

    “When Bola Tinubu came to us in late 1983 to attend an interview for the position of an auditor in our audit department, he did the interview excellently well and we had no choice than to offer him the job. He came in and his performances were great and excellent. He is an individual who is very active, proactive and thinks ahead of his time.  We appreciated him and loved him.

    “But in 1992 when he came to us that he wanted to go into politics, we were surprised because he was doing very well with us. We also told him that he was one of the people tipped to take over the post of a finance director.  But, he was adamant. Then, we had to release him. However, due to his sterling performance, we said to him to return to his job in the event that he loses (the election).  He left and the remaining is history that we all know today.”

    The documentary also featured Tinubu’s foray into public service when he first offered himself to represent Lagos as a senator in the Upper House of the National Assembly. He was said to have recorded the highest vote in the country as at then and he served as the Chairman, Senate Committee on Banking, Finance, Currency & Appropriations.

    Though his service alongside others was truncated due to military incursion, Tinubu joined forces with others to resist the military government and enthrone democracy in Nigeria. During the struggle, the documentary revealed how the military junta reached out to him to jump ship and support the government, but it said that he declined such offer and insisted on democracy. This, according to the documentary, made him to be one of the politically exposed persons during which he nearly lost his life after losing property to the struggle.

    Unrelenting, Tinubu joined the struggle with others to support the presidential bid of late Moshood Kasimaawo Abiola (MKO), who flew the ticket of the Social Democratic Party (SDP). Sadly, the democratic rule never came to be as the military government cancelled the election described as the freest in Nigeria. Tinubu, as one of the arrowheads of the struggle to actualise Abiola’s mandate, the military junta reached out to him several times to jump ship and come over to their side, but he refused to betray his principled commitment to democratic struggles.

    This made the military to go after him with others who stood against the said annulment. Tinubu was charged with treason, detained and his house was fire bombed.  He eventually had to flee the country for his dear life. His wife, Senator Oluremi Tinubu and her children had to be flown to exile.  While in exile, he remained committed to the struggle, making several sacrifices to help in ending military dictatorship.

    Tinubu has remained true and loyal to MKO Abiola even till date to ensure that his memory never fails. One of Abiola’s children, Hafsat Abiola, at a public function spoke glowing on how Tinubu has been supportive to bereaved family.

    The documentary also noted how Tinubu returned to Nigeria in 1998 to heed the call for all Nigerians to come together to rebuild his fatherland. A year later, he began his two-term service as a governor, Lagos State, on the platform of the Alliance for Democracy (AD).  Tinubu’s governorship service brought Lagos alive and that showed that he was fully prepared for the job. As Lagos governor, Tinubu took Lagos from a jungle to a mega city. He came prepared to serve; he came with a plan and blueprint to succeed.  Tinubu inspired a 25-year Development Agenda of Lagos, which helped to build the infrastructural renewal, revenue breakthrough and related reforms in the state. One of his core priorities as the governor was security. To achieve this, he retained the initiated Rapid Response Squad (RRS), which was a joint patrol team consisting of the army, navy, air force and the police. He repositioned the team through training and supply of equipment.  These boosted the morale and competence of the men of the RRS.

    Also, the documentary revealed that Tinubu brought vision, vigour and vitality to governance that made him to improve on some of his predecessors’ achievements, including Col. Mobolaji Johnson (rtd), late Lateef Jakande and Gen. Buba Marwa (rtd), among others.  The documentary concluded that his contribution has made Lagos to be a model of good governance.

    In his words, Tinubu said: “When we came in as a democratic government in May 1999, the situation was precarious. We came into a jungle and an uncivilised environment. There were mountains of refuse all over Lagos; schools without roofs; no single ambulance to save lives.  You can imagine where we had hospitals without single oxygen to save lives. Civil service environment was chaotic. The state was in total chaos and disorganisation.”

    But, due to his managerial acumen, Tinubu was able to transform Lagos with a lot of societal ills to a mega city, increased its internally generated revenue and set in motion developmental plans for the state, the documentary said. When he assumed office in May 1999, Tinubu promised 10,000 housing units for the poor. During the eight-year period of his being in office, he made large investments in education in the state and also reduced the number of schools in the state by returning many schools to the already settled former owners. He also initiated new road construction, required to meet the needs of the fast-growing population of the state.

    Tinubu said: “I have been an individual with an irreversible commitment to democratic rule and the rule of law. This will continue to be my abiding principle.”

    At the inception of his administration in Lagos State, Tinubu inherited a state that was almost bankrupt with a total budget size of a little above N14 billion, while the state internally generated revenue was approximately N600 million monthly. Yet, the public sector wage bill was N800 million. The implication was that Lagos State was largely depending on the allocations from the federal government.  This was grossly insufficient to rebuild the state that has been largely neglected for a long time.

    On why he had to rejig the state’s revenue, Tinubu said: “No matter how brilliant you are and no matter how brilliant your idea is, it dies on the shelve of thinking if you cannot back it with revenue.” This, he said, made him to go beyond the box and turned around the financial fortune of the state from a meager N600 million in 1999 to N8 billion in 2007 when he left the office.

    Governor Babatunde Fashola, his successor, built on Tinubu’s performance and the IGI of Lagos became N15 billion monthly. Through meticulous financial prowess of Tinubu, the N14.2 billion budget size of Lagos grew to N240.86 billion in 2007 when he handed over.  It is significant that during Tinubu’s time, the budget performance was always above 60 per cent.

    On governance, he said: “I have converted the liabilities confronting Lagos to assets of great value. Along Ozumba Mbadiwe, we used to pick dead bodies. People have forgotten truck pushers along that corridor.  That corridor used to be the dirtiest all through Lekki Corridor.  I brought private investors to turn many refuse dumps to goldmine, which created economic recovery path for Lagos.

    The idea of a light rail project was originally conceived by the first governor of the state, the late Alhaji Lateef Jakande.  However, the project could not be consummated before the civilian administration was terminated by the military in 1983.  When he took over as the governor of Lagos State, Tinubu revived, reviewed and expanded the idea to not one but seven light rail projects in Lagos State to reduce over-dependence on road transportation and traffic congestion. He said: “What I set out to achieve for myself, I’m achieving it.  I’m achieving success.  I’m an architect, a builder, a developer. I know it very well, the architecture of the vision in public sector governance. I left Lagos better than I met it,” Tinubu added.

    The documentary that was produced by Tunji Bello, Segun Ayobolu, and Louis Odion, was directed by Dele Alake, former Information Commissioner, Lagos State.

  • Delta community ravaged by oil spill battles diseases, hunger

    Delta community ravaged by oil spill battles diseases, hunger

    AMOUKPOKPO-ELUME community, a predominantly fishing community in Sapele Local Government Area, Delta State, is facing an uncertain future. The sudden loss of means of livelihood poses an existential threat to a community that “lives of the land”.

    In the past seven months, life has been hellish for this riverside community, no thanks to a February 11 oil spill from a facility operated by independent oil exploration and development company, Conoil Plc. The oil spill irretrievably devastated the community’s environment and its local economy.

    Now a shadow of itself, Amuokpokpo-Elume was once a thriving economic hub, attracting traders from Sapele and neighbouring villages who made daily visits to buy fish, periwinkles, snails and sawn planks for building and construction.

    River Amoukpokpo plays a central role in the lives of the inhabitants of this rustic community. A tributary of Ethiope River, with its deep bottle-green freshwater fed from vast pristine mangrove creeks, it provides plentiful fish, periwinkle, snails and drinking water for residents. Infact, it is a veritable means of livelihood for more than 3,000 inhabitants.

    But all that is no more. The bountiful harvest of fish, periwinkle, snails, crabs and freshwater for drinking have all disappeared.

    Aside Amuokpokpo-Elume community, the seven other riverside communities affected by the spill include Ologho, Elume, Okwelabra, in Sapele LGA, and Ekoko, Eroghor, Idjekporo, Mereje and Opuraja in Okpe LGA.

    Although the thick oil sludge that covered the river seven months earlier is now less evident, its deleterious impact  on the people and their environment is as clear as crystal.

    As dusk sets in Amuokpokpo-Elume, a few courageous fishermen and families return in wooden canoes from another fruitless expedition.

    In small groups, they gather on the beach to discuss the day’s poor catch before heading into the village.

    The prevailing mood in the village is one of despondence and hopelessness as they have to eke out a precarious living.

    But many have learned new skills to survive the harsh times. Some have taken to farming crops like cassava from which they process garri, tapioca, etc, while others have taken to tapping rubber trees for latex. Yet another group sell unprocessed palm bunches (banga) to survive.

    Amuokpokpo-Elume Community Chairman Christopher Obule, who in an interview lamented the plight of residents, alleged that the oil spill emanated from a Conoil Plc facility on the river.

    He added that the spill has led to an outbreak of skin diseases and cholera in the various communities.

    Obule carpeted Conoil Plc and government for abandoning them to their fate, adding that their rivers have become poisoned by the oil spill which is their only source of livelihood,

    According to him, the pollution has contaminated all the fishing settlements on the river bank. Hence he appealed for palliative from federal and state governments.

    He said: “Our only source of water remains this river, and all aquatic life have been killed by the pollution.

    “What has happened here is pure wickedness for the operators of this well to have left us to suffer for what we know nothing about.

    “They refused to clean our water for our consumption. We have to be contributing and buying sachet water for drinking and cooking.”

    Still recounting their plight, Obule said some children were hospitalised after drinking the polluted water, while others suffered strange skin diseases.

    “As we speak, some of our children that drank this water only survived just because of God’s love towards us. After drinking it, they were rushed to the nearby community health centres where they were treated for cholera and skin infections,” he said.

    He expressed disappointment with the Delta State Government and Conoil Plc for not responding to their cries for humanitarian assistance, and appealed for palliatives to cushion the effect of the spill.

    Obule lamented the humiliation suffered at the hands of the oil company during repair works on the offending wellhead, stressing that Conoil workers backed by a heavy military contingent effected repairs without interacting with them.

    He said bewildered residents watched operations in wooden canoes from a respectable distance.

    The councillor representing Ward 18 Sapele Council, Sam Azu, urged government at all levels as well as other well meaning individuals and organisations to prevail on Conoil to do the needful regarding the oil spills.

    He bemoaned the effect of oil spill on economic activities in the area.

    Azu said the oil spill remained the biggest spill disaster in the history of the community since the three wellheads were built more than 40 years ago.

    He lamented that government has abandoned his beleaguered kinsmen, adding that only nine slots were allocated to Amoukpokpo and some neighbouring communities as beneficiaries of the state youth empowerment scheme.

    For Esther Youngman, a 38-year-old mother of seven who has fished on the river for 10 years, life has been unbearably cruel to her family. Gone are the days when she made good returns from huge harvest of freshwater fish on the Amoukpokpo River.

    According to her, fishing was lucrative before the oil spill of February 11 which has  had a devastating impact on her source of livelihood and the local economy.

    She said: “My occupation is fishing. Every day, I go in my canoe to fish. After selling my catch, I make between N15,000 and N20,000. That income is no more.

    “My children have been battling hunger since the spill and l don’t know what to do. My children are starving and I am unable to feed them or send them to school.

    “I have resorted to farming cassava. I have had to learn to wait patiently for 12 months because cassava can only be harvested after 12 months.

    “Farming is new to me. It is fishing that I know well. I want Governor Okowa to come to our aid. We are suffering.

    “We can no longer catch fish, periwinkle, snails and crabs in the creeks because of pollution.”

    Another fisherman, Samuel Ogheneovo, 54, said due to the pollution, he abandoned fishing and now earns a living tapping rubber trees at nearby rubber plantations.

    He said because he lacks the requisite skill to efficiently tap rubber trees, his earnings are very low.  Ogheneovo said he now earns N6000 weekly for his efforts as against N20,000 he made from one fishing trip.

    He said a major cause of low earnings is heavy rains, especially during rainy season, which disrupts the flow of latex and loss of income.

    Speaking in pidgin English, he said: “Since water spoil, I noh dey fit feed my family. I go join people wey dey work for rubber plantation when Western region government establish.

    “But the job dey hard me because nah fishing work I learn as a small boy. I no sabi to tap well well, and if you no mark the rubber well, latex no go flow.

    “To mark the tree dey hard me. The work hard. And if rain fall well well like for rainy season, we no dey go work.”

    The lawmaker representing Sapele Constituency, Hon. Anirah, blamed the community for not submitting a petition to the House of Assembly, saying that only petitions formally submitted to his office by impacted communities can trigger legislative action.

    He accused the federal government of shirking its responsibility to conduct a clean-up of the environment and provide compensation to the impacted communities.

    His words: “The communities are not willing to send a formal petition to the state legislature that will ensure their situation is escalated to the relevant authorities.

    “The federal government has neglected and unfairly treated my constituents. This has emboldened the oil company.

    “If they send a petition, I, as chairman of the House Committee, Oil and Gas, will move the entire committee including the relevant state and federal agencies to assess their plight and it will become a national issue.”

    Conoil Plc official, Richard Edegbai, declined comment on the matter when our correspondent contacted him on the telephone.

  • ‘We have suffered’

    ‘We have suffered’

    These are obviously trying days for business owners and staff in government-owned universities across the nation, as the deadlock between the Academic Staff Union of Universities and the Federal Government seems to have taken another dimension, following breakdown of talks between the two parties. Gboyega Alaka, who recently interacted with stakeholders across the universities, reports.

    The news of the declaration of indefinite strike by president of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) president, Professor Emmanuel Osodeke, earlier in the week must have come like a death knell to business owners within the university system and those reliant on the university system for survival.

    This group of business owners must have had their hopes dashed with that pronouncement, especially as they had thought the two parties – the Federal Government and ASUU, were beginning to make headway in their talk and the strike was about to be called off.

    The strike, which is now in its seventh month, is in protest against government’s failure to release revitalisation funds for universities, failure to release the white paper report of the visitation panel to universities and the failure to deploy the University Transparency Accountability System for the payment of salaries and allowances of lecturers.

    Osodeke’s declaration prompted The Nation to go round some campuses across the country to feel the pulse of business owners. Just how have they survived and how have they managed without their primary target market – the students?

    Survival has been extremely difficult

    According to 36-year-old Dayo Akindosunni, who runs a cybercafé/ business centre inside Kaduna state University, survival has been extremely difficult.

    “Honestly business has not been easy. Feeding, paying house rents and school fees have been almost impossible to meet. I literally can’t pay any of my bills because nothing is coming in. I depend solely on this business to cater for my family. Aside that I am married with four kids, I am also the first born of my family and my siblings look up to me, whereas I have nobody to look up to.”

    To make matters worse, Akindosunni said he has had to take a loan from a microfinance bank recently to enhance his business, which has now put him in deeper trouble.

    “They actually came to my house to embarrass me for not meeting my commitment to them recently. They even took away my freezer. Not even my explanation that the strike has been hampering my business pacified them,” he said.

    Asked if he thought the strike would drag for so long, Akindosunni said, “Of course not. The strike started in February, and because Kaduna State University is a state university, we expected that they would just join in solidarity as usual and then pull out soon after. That had been the trend, and we didn’t expect they would go the whole hug with the federal universities. So now, we are just helpless and praying to God that they call off the strike and allow students return to school, because they are our market; without them, we have no business.”

    Asked to quantify his loss, Akindosunni said he raked in about N15,000 every week through contribution, after all expenses, including feeding and transportation have been met. But now, he said things have been totally grounded, leaving him destitute and having to call on friends and family sometimes for assistance.

    Asked if it has been total blank out, the father of four said, “Yesterday, when I came to open my shop, a few students who were writing their examinations came around and I got lucky. I made N500. That’s how bad things have become.”

    More painful, he said, is the fact that the inactivity of the equipments means they may also become faulty and requiring replacement, because as he put it, “We usually buy them fairly used.”

    One of Akindosunni’s biggest worries as the month of September approached, he said, was the challenge of paying school fees and the attending opening session expenses.

    “Honestly, I don’t know how I am going to manage with the school fees challenge. I am just hoping on miracle from God.”

    He therefore made a passionate appeal to the two warring parties. “ASUU and the government should always consider other people when they are doing things like these. ASUU should understand that there are several other businesses whose survival is tied to the existence of the university system. I mean, there are restaurants, there are book sellers, stationery stores, transport businesses; there are keke (tricycle) and okada (motorcycle) riders who are all grounded as a result of the strike. They are all crying because their families are suffering. Some of these keke people collected it on hire purchase; so now, they can’t pay and the pressure is on them. Whether we like it or not, this whole thing is affecting the economy.”

    Does he think ASUU is overdoing it?

    “Well I really can’t say, but according to what I read in the paper, the government has yielded to their demand about 80 percent, so why not they come back to work and then continue the negotiations. I believe if your employer is yielding ground, it also behoves on ASUU to also shift ground,” he replied.

    Tough time in Akoka

    At the University of Lagos and the entire Akoka environs, where the university is situated, it’s all unpleasant stories. At the Main Shopping Complex, the spectacle that confronted this reporter was of boredom and apathy, as shops were either closed or half opened. The staff at a business centre first visited told this reporter outright that they were tired of talking about ASUU strike and would rather be left alone.

    However, Chinyere, who works as a salesgirl at a nearby grocery store who caught glimpse of that little drama absolved the staff of any blame, saying after waiting endlessly for school to reopen for up to six months, everyone is on edge and only few have the patience for such interviews.

    She said, “The strike has affected businesses terribly. Sales have dropped drastically and you hardly see people come in to ask for anything. This is unlike on normal days, when students, even lecturers and visitors troop in and you hardly have time to sit. On a normal day, we used to sell up to 20packs of drinks, but now, we hardly sell one pack. That is a clear picture of what we have been going through.”

    Chinyere, who said the strike has been so total, said their only sales come from people who visit to ‘do one or two things’.

    Effectively, she said “sales have dropped by ninety per cent.”

    Asked if this has affected her salary, Chinyere answered in the affirmative, but said the shop owner draws from other sources to pay and retain her service.

    At Yem Kem Pharmacy and its sister outlet, Yem Kem Supermarket, the story is the same. For the nearly half an hour this reporter spent waiting to speak with an official of the two ventures, only a handful of customers entered the supermarket, while it was worse with the pharmacy.

    Omolara Anofi, who spoke on behalf of the management, said the strike has seriously affected business, as the students are their major customers. To make things worse, she said majority of the lecturers live outside the campus, which leaves them with near zero market prospects.

    Consequently, she said sales have dropped by as much as 70 percent.

    Asked how the company has been able to meet with staff salaries, Anofi said, “It’s been God. And of course Yem Kem has other branches. If not for that, how would we have survived with our staff strength?”

    Anofi’s last question turns out to be the direct predicament of Lekbun View Foods, a cosy restaurant near the University Sports Centre, where one of the staff, Akanni Omolola Deborah told The Nation that the management had to temporarily relieve four of its staff of their jobs, pending when the strike will be called off.

    Said a visibly bored Akanni, it has been so bad that sales have dropped by as much as 90 percent and the restaurant now only prepares just a bit of rice and some swallows, unlike in the past, when they had array of delicacies for customers to pick from.

    Consequently, she said staff salaries are now delayed.

    She appealed to the striking lecturers to reconsider their stance on the indefinite strike it recently declared, saying that businesses and vendors are suffering and staff living off those businesses are suffering even more.

    Dark, hollow chamber

    At De Café at the Main Shopping Complex, the various vending machines and show glasses were empty. A peep inside the restaurant also showed a dark hollow chamber.

    Not surprising, the two staff on duty were not willing to talk to this reporter.

    One of them, a male, however volunteered that things have been very dry since the strike commenced. Pointing at the empty seats, he said, “Before 6pm, everywhere would be vacant, like a ghost town. Meanwhile evening time is supposed to be our prime selling time because that is when students come out to unwind. And as you can see, afternoon is even worse; not a single customer. Even the diploma students are done with their exams and gone.”

    However, by some dint of luck, a couple of teenagers walked up to the stand while this discussion was ongoing and ordered two wraps of sharwama. That may well be all the sales for that hour, the young man said.

    On interrogation, the girls told this reporter they were on the campus to pursue their admission.

    FG, ASUU toying with our lives

    ASUU

    At the University of Ibadan, business owners and their staff are crying in desperation.  Kunle Ajayi, a shopkeeper, said the strike is affecting businesses and traders on the campuses.

    “As you can see, I am just sitting alone here; no customers to attend to unlike before when large turnout of clients would not give us chance to have this conversation. Our businesses have been crippled because majority of our customers are students.

    “I also have a daughter in a federal university; her house rent has expired which she would need to renew once they resume. Where am I going to get the money for her rent when there is no business? Meanwhile this is a business that ordinarily thrived very well on this campus.”

    Mrs Dayo Abiodun, who runs a business centre on the campus, said it has been double tragedy for her, because her main patrons are students.

    “The strike is affecting parents and students just as it is affecting business people. The presence of students in this area was an advantage to our businesses. My children are already talking about schools resumption; they will require books, uniform and also make some payment immediately they resume. Yet business is in comatose as we speak. We are suffering a lot; government should do the needful,” she said.

    “These days, I open my shop and from morning till night, I may not make any money at all; but if students were around, I make as much as N10,000 and above daily.

    “Therefore, my prayer is that ASUU and the government resolve their issues and allow the students come back to campus.”

    A food vendor, Mrs Sola Adekile said, “This is the only business I do and the only place I have. And as students are not here, I can no longer prepare food like I used to. It is a really discouraging situation. In fact there was a time I had to close down the shop when the money I was spending on feeding and transportation to shop was more than I was making.”

     

    Everybody needs salary increase

    At the Federal University of Technology, Guidan Kwano, Minna, Niger State, Adenike, who runs a provisions and snacks shop, said she and fellow business owners have been literally out of business.

    “Because most of the products I sell are perishable and stuff that can expire, I have had to take them to friends outside the campus to help me sell to beat the expiry dates. So basically, I have been out of business for six whole months.”

    Asked if she had other businesses, Adenike revealed that she is also a fashion designer but said even that is not thriving because of the poor economy. Besides, she said most of her clients are students, as the community where the university is located is a ghost town once school was not on.

    Interestingly, it’s a double edged sword for Adenike, as she revealed that her husband, a lecturer in the university, is caught up in the strike as well.

    “Funnily enough, my husband is a member of ASUU, so what that means is that he has not earned a salary for six months. And to think that this is September and children will soon be going back to school with the attending expenses. So it is really very disheartening.

    When reminded that many people are now fed up and are blaming ASUU, Adenike said, “Personally, I don’t think ASUU is overdoing it. The first fight has to do with increase in salary; and you would agree with me that everybody needs an increment in salary at this point in time. Everything in the market has gone double. Even school fees have gone double because teachers are complaining that their take-homes do not take them home anymore. Of course there is also transport fair and every other thing. This same strike happened in 2020, don’t forget. It was even ten months then, if you add the Corona lockdown; but I honestly didn’t feel the impact because the little money I had could buy a lot. One mudu of rice was N500 compared to the N1,200 it now goes for. So how do you expect us to live on the same income? It just does not make sense. So the whole six months strike was because of increment in salary; only for government to come back and say they are increasing the salary of professors to N460,000 from N400,000. What impact do they expect N60,000 increment to have in an economy where even a litre of fuel is now N195?

    “And as if that is not enough, the government is now saying they’re not going to pay the backlog of salaries. Do they know how much debt is on ground that we have to pay up? So really it doesn’t make sense.”

    Additional report by Olusegun Sowunmi in Ibadana

  • Solving road challenges in Ogun

    Solving road challenges in Ogun

    Getting road infrastructure right is key to commerce, agriculture and socioeconomic development, but many states find this difficult because of paucity of fund. In this report, ROBERT EGBE looks at how Ogun State is confronting the challenges.

    Every now and then, Dr Donald Akinmade reminisces on his university days. 30 years ago, he was the Student Union Government (SUG) President at the Olabisi Onabanjo University (OOU), Ago Iwoye, Ogun State. At that time, about 1991/92, the school – then known as the Ogun State University – had a campus in Shagamu called Medical Campus. There were SUG members there, including Akinmade’s Vice President (VP). To get to them at the Medical Campus, Akinmade and other SUG executive members had to go on the Ilishan-Ago Iwoye road, which passed in front of the school.

    The route was part of the 24km Ikenne-Ilishan-Ago-Iwoye road that cuts across Ikenne, Odogbolu, and Ijebu-North Local Government Areas (LGAs) of Ogun State.

    “We normally went there to hold meetings and we passed through that road. I remember since that time, that road has never been fixed. That was why I said ‘past over 30 years’,” Akinmade told The Nation last week.

    Like Akinmade, many other students and lecturers also used to pass to and fro school, and their tales of woes were commonly heard across the state. Things became so bad that many truck and bus drivers stopped plying the route. The terrible state of the road caused a journey that should have taken less than 30 minutes to take two bumpy and stressful hours.

     

    Hope rises

     

    In January this year, Governor Dapo Abiodun gave residents hope when he approved the construction of 54.1km of roads across the state’s three senatorial districts, including the Ikenne-Ilishan-Ago-Iwoye road. Ogun State Commissioner for Works and Infrastructure, Ade Akinsanya, listed the roads to include, the 24.5 kilometres Ilaro-Iwoye-Owode in Yewa South LG. He noted the road had earlier been awarded to a contractor by the immediate past administration, but the pace of construction was unacceptably slow. The other roads included the 3.8km Togunrin-Tigara Agodo road, Ogun Waterside, as well as 1.8km Esure-Mushin Road, Ijebu- East Local Government Areas.

    Last week, eight months after that announcement, Dr. Akinmade, now Deputy Registrar at OOU, drove past the road again and could not recognise it. The road had been completely reconstructed. A grateful Akinmade shared his delight.

    He said: “What Dapo Abiodun has done now is to fix a road that has been abandoned for over 30 years. I am not an apologist for Governor Abiodun. I don’t have any special interest in him. But as a dispassionate person, and as somebody who saw it all; also I’m not from Ogun State, I am from Ondo State. But from what I have seen the man doing, I have discovered that one of the best things that has ever happened in that place since I got to that area is that road.”

    Akinmade also described the road as “world-class.” But that is not the only high quality road the Abiodun administration has constructed, or is constructing.

    For two days last week, The Nation joined a team of senior editors on an extensive and critical tour of road infrastructure in all three Ogun senatorial districts.

    With Commissioner for Works in Ogun State, Ade Akinsanya, providing answers to tough questions by editors – some of whom live in and know the Ogun State infrastructure terrain – the voyage was illuminating.

    Akinsanya, an engineer who has been honoured in the United States for his phenomenal work in designing and building bridges, explained that the Abiodun administration has constructed no less than 270km of new roads, while over 300km of others were rehabilitated, including essentially a minimum of one road project in each of the State’s 20 Local Government Areas (LGA)s. These roads follow the revival and operationalisation of the Ogun State Public Works Agency (OGPWA).

    In Ogun West, the reconstruction of Raypower Road and Imasayi-Ayetoro Road has been completed and the new roads are already being used by motorists, while Oke Ola Road in Imeko and Owode-Ilaro Road are currently being reconstructed. Also, the Odo Afa Road and Bridge in Ipokia LGA, which were in a deplorable state for a long period, have been reconstructed.

    The 19.2km Agbara-Lusada-Atan Road, which was abandoned by previous governments despite the industrial significance of the region to the state’s economy, was flagged off by Abiodun on April 29, 2021, and asphalt is now being laid on a section. The 10.25km Lusada-Igbesa Road, which was constructed by the Ogun Guangdong Free Trade Zone in partnership with the Ogun State Government, has also been commissioned. In Ogun East, completed road projects include Oru-Awa-Ilaporu-Ibadan Road, Fusigboye-Ojofa Street Road and Asafa Oke-Asafa Isale-Ayegun-Ojofa Street Road in Ijebu Ode.

    Other ongoing projects include the 14km Ijebu Ode-Epe Expressway; Oba Erinwole Dual Carriageway, Sagamu; Molusi College Road; Ilishan Market Road; 11km Atan-Erunwon Road; Ogbagba Street Road; and Ejinrin-Oluwalogbon-Mobalufon-Ibadan Road. In Ogun Central, completed road projects include Obantoko Road (Fajol-American Junction-Unity Estate-Gbonagun); Idi Aba-Oke Lantoro Road; and Ikoritameje-Adenrele/Olose Titun-Vespa Road. Ongoing projects which are nearing completion at a commendable pace include construction of the 42km Abeokuta-Sagamu Interchange; reconstruction of Panseke-Adigbe Road; as well as an extension of the proposed gate Development at Sagamu Interchange. In Ifo LGA, roadworks are ongoing on Akute-Denro-Ishasi-Oluwakemi Road.

     

    ‘Trespassing vehicles will be shot and eaten’

     

    One of the almost completed projects is the almost six kilometre Somorin-Kemta Road in Idi-Aba, Abeokuta, which passes right in front of the Ijegba residence of the Nobel Laureate Prof. Wole Soyinka. Vehicles and pedestrians driving by the smooth road can sight the now iconic screaming signboard hung on a tree: “Trespassing vehicles will be shot and eaten,” at the entrance to the Soyinka’s ‘foresty’ home with its tall trees and thick shrubs.

    Akinsanya, who described road infrastructure as a catalyst for socio-economic development, noted that the newly approved roads had been abandoned for years, adding that the Dapo Abiodun-led administration would leave no stone unturned to alleviate the sufferings of the residents. A few metres before Soyinka’s home, Akinsaya pointed in the distance at community of fast developing buildings.

    “A lot of land in that estate used to sell for N250,000 per plot. It is now N4million,” he said, noting how good roads can increase property value.

    Akinmade also touted the economic benefits of the Ikenne-Ilishan-Ago-Iwoye road.

    He said: “It has a lot of economic benefits for the people in that environment; and it will also promote their commerce, because they have this plantation there, plantain plantation in Ago-Iwoye and Ijebu-Igbo here. Every day, more than 20 packing vehicles move from Ijebu-Igbo/Ago-Iwoye to Lagos carrying plantain every day. So, instead of them going through Ijebu-Ode with the plantain, they can just go through that Ago-Iwoye and under 15 minutes, they’re already on their way to Lagos.

    “What the government has done is a very impressive effort, and he (Abiodun) has not relented on his effort. In the past, if you want to leave for our campus in Ago Iwoye, you would move from Ago Iwoye, you go back to Ijebu-Ode. When you get to Ijebu-Ode, you now turn again and face Lagos road. As at the time you’ll be getting to Ijebu-Ode, if you pass through that Ilishan Road, you would have been in Ilishan en-route Lagos. So, that road would save an average commuter a minimum of 40 minutes.

     

    Ogun Cargo Airport

     

    Perhaps one of the most important projects of the Abiodun administration is the Ogun Agro Cargo Airport expected to come on stream in December this year.

    International aviation agencies, such as International Air Transport Association (IATA), an association of airline traders around the world, and local regulatory agencies, such as Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA), Nigerian Metrological Agency (NiMet) and Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), have all indicated interest in the new airport because of its strategic location. The Nigerian Air Force (NAF) and Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS), two critical components in aviation security and safety, are also not left behind, while the fire station within the airport is nearing completion.

    Akinsanya, while explaining the rationale behind the new airport during the facility tour said the agro cargo airport would stimulate economic activity around the corridor.

    It is not hard to see why. He said that the airport, which is the first of its kind in Nigeria with a blend of features of the San Francisco Airport and Dubai Airport, would be ready in December. The control tower and runaway, the two most important features in airports, he explained, have reached 80 per cent completion.

    Akinsanya also said that the icing on the cake of the airport is the economic deals with African Development Bank (AfDB) to site an agro testing firm at Sagamu, adding that most of the agricultural produce in Nigeria lack certification, which had made their exportation to other countries impossible.

  • Reaping from economic activities’ rebound

    Reaping from economic activities’ rebound

    Stanbic IBTC Holdings Plc, listed on the Nigerian Exchange under the banking sector, has released its 2022 interim results for the half year. The results showed a profit of N31 billion, 36 per cent higher than N23 billion it reported in the first half of 2021. Uptick in economic activities, the bank’s continued focus on loan and deposits growth accelerated its gross earnings to N135 billion in the six months review period ended June 30, 2022. The bank’s commitment and investments in non-oil sector support the Central Bank of Nigeria’s policy to grow non-oil revenue and achieve sustainable economic growth. Assistant Business Editor COLLINS NWEZE writes

    The Covid-19 pandemic was one of the worst challenges faced by many businesses. The lockdowns, the drop in consumer purchasing power and even government revenues impacted negatively across major sectors of the economy.

    But economic activities began to accelerate in the first half of 2022, reversing poor economic activities and rewarding hard-working companies with earnings growth. For instance, the Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) showed that a return to growth in output and stronger inflows of new orders helped underpin a further improvement in operating conditions in the Nigerian private sector during July.

    The report showed that businesses increased their purchasing activity at the strongest rate for five months, while stocks increased sharply. Despite stronger inflows of new work, employment growth eased and was marginal amid elevated costs and subsequent pressures on profits. Stanbic IBTC Holdings Plc was one of the financial institutions that showed strength in the first half of 2022.

    It  announced N30.67 billion profit after tax in its audited half year ended June 30, 2022 and a gross earnings of N135 billion. The profit after tax result represents an increase of 36 per cent from N22.54 billion reported in half year ended June 30, 2021. The group, on the floor of the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX), reported N39.98 billion profit before tax in first half of 2022 from N24.71 billion reported in first half of 2021.

    Amid growth in profits, the management of Stanbic IBTC Holdings declared interim dividend of N1.50 per ordinary share of 50 kobo each, that is, N19.44 billion, and it subject to deduction of appropriate withholding tax and regulatory approval.

     

    Net interest income/non-interest income

     

    The performance in profits was driven by significant increase in net interest income and non-interest income. Stanbic IBTC Holdings reported N50.35 billion net interest income in first half of 2022, representing an increase of 53 per cent from N32.88 billion in first half of 2021, while non-interest revenue stood at N62.96 billion in 2022, up by 37 per cent from N45.91 billion reported in 2021. The group reported a total assets of N3.15 trillion as of June 30, 2022, an increase of 15 per cent from N2.74 trillion reported in full year ended December 31, 2021, driven by sharp increase in Gross loans and advances.

     

    Customer deposits soar 

     

    For the under review, Stanbic IBTC Holdings announced a gross loans and advances of N1.09 trillion as of June 30, 2022, an increase of 16 per cent from N946.26 billion reported in 2021 financial year, while customer deposits increased by six per cent to N1.19 trillion as of June 30, 2022 from N1.13 trillion reported in 2021 financial year.

    Commenting on the results, Chief Executive Stanbic IBTC Holdings, Demola Sogunle, said: “Despite the challenges we faced within the Nigerian operating environment in the first half of the year, we reported significant growth in our key metrics. Following our return to growth trajectory in the first quarter, the group’s profitability increased by 36 per cent year-on-year (YoY) driven by growth across our revenue streams, amid increased operating expenses. Our continued focus on the core of our business, which is to grow our loan and deposit books, led to a 54 per cent growth in interest income year-on-year.

    “Aligning with our commitment towards delivering to our shareholders, an interim dividend of N1.50 has been declared. We are on track in the achievement of the guidance we provided for the year following the progress we have witnessed based on our first half 2022 results.”

     

    Indicative share trading liquidity

     

    The total indicative share trading liquidity for Stanbic IBTC Holdings Plc in the past 12 months, as of August 2, 2022, is $13.59 million (N10.12 billion). An average of $1.13 million (N843.72 million) per month. Stanbic IBTC Holdings Plc, for it’s first half 2022 financial results has posted a profit of N31 billion, a 36 per cent increase from the N23 billion it reported in the first half of last year.

    According to the results submitted to the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX), the company saw its gross earnings rise by N42 billion from N93 billion in the half year 2021 to reach N135 billion in half year 2022. Further look at the result indicated that the net interest income stood at N50 billion in the first half of 2022, indicating a jump from the 32 billion in the same period last year.

    This is as the net income and net expenses were valued at N68 billion and N18 billion, respectively, in the study period compared to N44 billion and N11 billion in the first half of last year. Net fees and commission revenue were N46 billion from N41 billion in 2021 with the most income from Asset management fees at N28 billion followed by a brokerage and financial advisory fees at N5.8 billion and others during the period of study.

    Fees and commission expenses were N2.635 billion, a slight movement from the N2.626 billion in 2021. Similarly, the income from life insurance activities was valued at N136 million after the insurance premium revenue ceded to reinsurers and insurance benefits and claims paid were deducted from the insurance premium received. Notably, the group saw massive growth in the record of gross premium income at N7.4 billion from the low record of N453 million last year. The difference signifies proof of return to economic activities compared to last year when many businesses still struggled to get back on their feet.

    Trading revenue was up to reach N16 billion in first half of 2022 from N5.4 billion and other income was valued at N938 million in first half of 2022 from a loss of N904 million in 2021. Stanbic IBTC saw operating expenses go up to a value of N68 billion as a result of an increase in staff costs and other operating expenses.

     

    Interim dividend payout

     

    Stanbic IBTC Plc announced an interim dividend of N1.50 per ordinary share of 50 kobo each, subject to deduction of appropriate withholding tax and regulatory approval. In a disclosure filed to the exchange by the company, this will be paid to shareholders whose names appear in the register of members as at the close of business on Tuesday 6th September 2022. It also added that the register of shareholders will be closed from Wednesday 7th September 2022 to Wednesday 14th September 2022.

    “In its corporate action announcement, it stated, “On Wednesday 21 September 2022, dividends will be paid electronically to shareholders whose names appear on the Register of Members as at close of Trading on Tuesday 06 September 2022, and who have completed the e-dividend registration and mandated the Registrar to pay their dividends directly into their Bank accounts.

    “It added that shareholders with dividend warrants and share certificates that have remained unclaimed or are yet to be presented for payment or returned for validation are advised to complete the e-dividend registration or contact the registrars.”

     

    Improved purchasing activities for businesses

     

    Further analysis of the PMI report showed that purchase and output price inflation accelerated to four-month highs in July, with unfavourable exchange rate movements and higher fuel costs behind the latest round of inflation. Nevertheless, sentiment improved from June, and firms reported hopes of securing greater business investments.

    “The headline figure derived from the survey is the PMI. Readings above 50.0 signal an improvement in business conditions on the previous month, while readings below 50.0 show a deterioration. The headline PMI registered at 53.2 in July, up from 50.9 in June, signalling an improvement in business conditions in Nigeria’s private sector. The latest figure rose from June’s 17-month low but was still muted compared to the historical average,” the report showed.

    A renewed increase in output supported the latest improvement in business conditions in July. Output rose solidly, albeit at a rate that was weak by historical standards. Agriculture recorded the strongest uplift in output during July, followed closely by manufacturing. Services and wholesale & retail followed, where rates of growth quickened from those seen in June. Stronger client demand was behind the uplift in output with new orders rising sharply across all four sectors in July.

    To support higher output, companies increased their purchasing activity for the 25th month in a row. Consequently, stocks of purchases rose markedly as firms intensified efforts to build up their inventories. Moreover, the rate of growth was the steepest for seven months. Vendor performance improved in July, but to the least extent for over two years amid reports of busier road conditions. Outstanding business fell at the softest rate since August 2020 in July. Sufficient capacity combined with rising costs led firms to raise their head counts at the slowest pace for seven months.

     

    Lifting non-oil export earnings

     

    Stanbic IBTC Bank also reiterated its commitment to the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) RT200 FX Policy, designed to increase the earnings from non-oil exports to $200 billion in foreign exchange repatriation. Head, Trade, Transactional Products and Services, Stanbic IBTC Bank, Seun Ogundolapo, who stated this during the Africa-China Trade Expo in Lagos, said the event was to promote trade relations and economic prosperity in the two regions.

    The event, themed ‘Synergy for Growth,’ focused on export enablement and import policies, bilateral trade relations, product exhibitions by Nigerian and Chinese businesses, and the various means through which Stanbic IBTC had facilitated trade between Nigeria and China. He said the forex target within the next five years by the CBN, led by its Governor, Godwin Emefiele, aligned with the bank’s mandate to promote exports of agro commodities and semi-finished or finished goods to other countries.

    He urged more businesses to go into export as well as prompt exporters to add value to the commodities they export.Chief Executive of Stanbic IBTC Bank, Wole Adeniyi, said the bank’s Africa China Trade Solutions (ACTS) had connected numerous Nigerians to over 16,000 Chinese suppliers, thereby promoted valuable trade relationships between the two economies. He said: “Through our relationship with the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), we connect various businesses while we create opportunities to generate foreign exchange for the country.” The need for business-friendly import and export policies was addressed at the event.

    Head, Africa China Banking, Stanbic IBTC Bank, Ade Otukomaya, stated that business-friendly import and export policies would facilitate increased intra-regional and international trade. “Policies, which are a deliberate system of guidelines to achieve rational outcomes, are key to improving trade relations. We want to encourage more trade and pursue open trade policies with other nations such as China, to catalyse the growth of Africa’s economy,” Lanre Olajide said.

  • Why U. S. immigration process is very intricate, by immigration lawyer

    Why U. S. immigration process is very intricate, by immigration lawyer

    Ms. Funmi Akintan is a Maryland, United States-based immigration law expert with over 20 years of experience in the legal profession. In this interview with United States Bureau Chief OLUKOREDE YISHAU, she discusses the intricate United States immigration law, Nigerians in U.S and issues affecting them.

    Thoughts on Nigeria and what being an immigration lawyer means

    It is undisputable that Nigeria is a great country considering its resources, both human and otherwise. The proper management of these resources has been an upheaval task then and now. However, it can be successfully tackled if all concerned can pay the sacrificial price of moving the nation forward.

    Migration is complex and has far-reaching implications in every aspect of human existence. The ongoing, unprovoked Russian-Ukraine war speaks to this, and particularly its devastating effects on the global community. I believe we can do much better, and we owe it to one another to make the world a better place worth living.

    Many leave their country of origin in pursuit of a better future. This decision is complex, though “inspired by confidence and hope” as Pope Francis succinctly puts it. The drive to press on is marked by great expectation in the face of obvious challenges – the loss of social and familial network, the guilt and trauma of separation, depression, discrimination, and marginalization are contributory to the devastating effect of migration and wish it could all be avoidable.

    Practicing immigration law in the United States is a privilege. I am honored to meet with clients from different walks of life and their story reveal such level of resilience and tenacity to succeed and provide a sustainable lifestyle for themselves and their family. Studies show the U.S. has been the main country of destination for international migrants since 1970 particularly for the African migrants. The Pew Research Center estimates that there are 2.1 million African immigrants living in the U.S. in 2015, up from 881,000 in 2000 and a substantial increase from 1970 when the U.S. was home to only 80,000 foreign-born Africans. On the Nigerian population, it is estimated that the U.S. has the world’s third largest Nigerian community, only behind Nigeria itself and the United Kingdom where up to three million Nigerians reside.

    Nigerians are professionals. They work very hard, provide for their loved ones, help stimulate the economy, and in the same breath are beneficiaries of a working government marked by good governance, respect for the rule of law where no one is above the law, including the government which helps instill conformity among the citizenry, sustainable infrastructural development, affordable social amenities, great education, employment and entrepreneurial opportunities, healthcare and more. The whole idea is that everyone has a role, and a demand is placed on all to act accordingly. Yes, it is not all a bed of roses because no government is immune from problem but at least it is much better than an environment plagued with heightened insecurity, failed healthcare system, impoverished and stagnant educational system and a host of other issues of concern among the populace.

    My experience in U.S. immigration law began in the Spring of 2008 after a short unpaid internship at the Law Offices of  John Bell, a seasoned attorney who is referred to as  “practising law religiously” because he bought a church and turned it to a law office! Glory! The immigration experience was from working at the Law Office of Jane Ho, where I was exposed to sound immigration advocacy, a path that led to my current passion. Ms. Ho provided very personal and top-notch service to clients, who were mostly of the Asian descent. She was grounded in the law and her added ability to speak Mandarin was a plus which earned her the trust of her clients. This resonated so much and became my template. The desire to replicate the ethos of her practice became a driving force, and being an immigrant myself, I took that as a challenge and a starting point to give back to my community.

    I hung out my shingles in 2008 with cold feet. Despite being admitted to the Maryland Bar, with a Master at law ( LLM) from Georgetown University Law Center and New York Bar in 2005, 2006 and 2007, respectively. Still, I felt unprepared. However, the final push came when my very good friend, and colleague, Attorney Greg Lee, provided the framework and support needed to kick off my solo practice which is today known as “The Preferred Global Law LLC.”

    Decision to specialise in immigration law and interesting immigration cases for Nigerians

    My decision to practice immigration law is based on empathy. As an immigrant myself, I saw the need for adequate representation of migrants, and I chose to create constant awareness through seminars premised on the fact that knowledge is power, and many perish for its lack thereof. Undoubtedly, the U.S. immigration law is complex; so it behoves anyone involved in the process to seek counsel not from “aunts” “uncles” or “friends” but from experienced and seasoned immigration attorneys. For me, it is a privilege to provide top-notch, personal and knowledge-based “representation with a passion.”

    In the course of my practice over this past 14 years, I have represented many clients from different nationalities, especially from the African countries. Without delving into specifics, I have represented clients in several families, employment, and investment-based processes. Specifically, I have represented clients both in adjustment and consular processing; spousal-based filings, parent-child; siblings’ petition, VAWA cases; K-visas, special immigrant cases involving family members of employee of international organisation, abused, neglected, or abandoned children; student visas, religious visas, H-1B, labour certification, in citizenship and naturalisation-based process with applicants for medical disability waiver. Additionally, I have successfully represented clients in removal and deportation proceedings, and more importantly, I feel a sense of fulfillment when my clients take that final oath, becoming proud citizens of the United States. For me, helping others achieve their goal in life is mission accomplished.

    Most applicants for immigration-related services are migrants. They need to be guided within regulatory measures. In practice, I see many people suffer the consequences of gross misinformation and documentation-related challenges. I want to change this narrative by taking preventive and not curative measures to address the concerns of clients. I understood very early in life – thanks to my parents, that “knowledge is power,” and more importantly, a stitch in time saves nine! It is imperative that folks should understand that the U.S. immigration process is not all about filling forms. It involves very intricate aspects of the Immigration and Nationality Act, which seasoned immigration attorneys can help with.

    Living in America and studying for a PhD

    I chose to live in America because my immediate family member resides in the States. Family unity is a big principle of the U.S. immigration law and I want to live up to this principle. Studies show that migration significantly impairs the psychological and mental well-being of children particularly when the mother is absent. As a mother, I have a minor child who needs me. So yes, I love to visit Nigeria regularly, I believe in Nigeria, and pray that God’s grace will continue to abound over Nigeria until she becomes a praise in the earth. The scripture enjoins us about timing, and I know it will happen. I believe it and look forward to giving back to my country when the opportunity presents itself. The founding fathers must return to the old landmarks to rebuild, reclaim, and return the prized possession of Nigeria to its rightful position.

    According to the 2019 African Community Survey (ACS), an estimated 461,695 U.S. residents are of Nigerian ancestry. A journal article titled, “Nigerians’ Migration to the United States: A Contemporary Perspective” by Sunday Israel Oyebamiji and others, noted that the dominant motive for Nigerian’s migration is the “the quest for career development through the acquisition of western education.” An enabling environment can be created to actualise the same objective, but it will require sustainable reforms and an overhaul of the structure to birth a new country, one that the world is waiting to see.

    I love to study. Growing up, I had a pet name “iwe,” which means book. I started school at 3years in the company of my mother (late mother, Ms. Victoria Ibironke Ayinde) who was the head of household at the time, and if you can imagine being, the “headmistress daughter” I was loved by everyone. In total, I attended about five primary schools (not because I failed, lol!) She transformed every school she led and was truly loved by many. I attended Ahmadiyya School, Olushi, Lagos, where I was showered with much love being “the headmistress daughter.” I got many gifts, which was mostly “Gala” which explains my robustness (lol)! Next, I attended Mushin Town Council Primary School, (MTC), Falomo Girls’ School, Ikoyi; and, finally Victoria Island Primary School, (VIPS) Victoria Island, Lagos, with my late mum as the principal. She adopted the motto of the school as “Knowledge is Power,” and that shaped the trajectory of her life as well as mine. The former “Maroko” was her base. She would go into the market, from one seller to another, “selling them the idea of educating their wards.” She got uniforms for many children, encouraged parents that trading was not ruled out, and that their kids will go to school in the morning, and help with trading in the evening. So many parents bought into this idea, and it became a case of “killing two birds with a stone.” She also took part in politics – ran for councillorship in Victoria Island constituency, fasted many days, and went on campaign, her mandate being “education for all.” She was, however, unsuccessful. This is what I grew up to knowing as education. At the time, my father, a former Director of Library at the Nigerian Law School, Bwari Abuja, now 84 years old was a great disciplinarian, and God help you, if you miss school, or did not do well, today all is history, but knowledge continues to be a powerful weapon against poverty, and other ills of society. That is my background of education. To God be the glory, my parents dream was realized, and today I have some of my siblings who are professors, medical doctor, registered nurse, computer scientist; attorney; economist and a chartered public accountant.

    Later, I went on to Victoria Island Secondary School, Victoria Island, Lagos; and the Lagos State University, Ojo, for my law degree in 1997. In 1999, I completed the one-year mandatory Law School at the campus in Bwari, Abuja (the first set at the location) and still I wanted more. I had the opportunity of relocating to the United States on February 14, 2001. I got married but knew there was more to life. I obtained my Master at Law (LLM) in International Studies at the Georgetown University Law Center, Washington D.C. in 2006. I was admitted to practice law in the state of New York and Maryland in 2005 and 2007 respectively and wanted to continue my education to the PHD level in 2006 but did not get the much-needed support at the time. For me, acquiring western education was the only reason for coming to the U.S. My dearest brother, our “olori-ebi” in the person of Prof Alfred Adebayo Malomo, a clinical professor and geriatrician with the Rochester General Hospital, Rochester, New York, USA would throw jabs at me saying, “one day my dearest baby sister would accomplish her postgraduate dream.”  He was watering the seed, the desire within me. Though not overbearing, he kept the flame alive in me, and from time to time, I would ask God for guidance.

    The right time came in the Spring of 2020, when the COVID-19 global pandemic hit the world. I remember sitting in my living room one afternoon and asking, “What would I remember this pandemic for? Immediately, I heard a whisper, your PHD! I swung into action; and the rest is history. I am grateful to God for the support from immediate family members, brothers and sisters, cherished friends, which am a year into the doctoral programme at the Old Dominion University, Norfolk Virginia, USA in the area of Conflict and Cooperation with keen focus on Migration and Human Security. I hope to use the knowledge and my experience through the course of the program to highlight and address the root causes of migration with a view to curb it and reduce brain drainage in emerging economies. A thousand miles they say, begins with one step. I am glad I took that step! I know that God’s grace, and wisdom abounds. I have an increased capacity as my dearest brother, Pastor Joseph Oluseyi Malomo, the Chaplain of the Aso Villa, would always declare over me. I believe and therefore confess that I can do all things through Christ who enables me. I plan to do extensive field work in this area. I am not oblivious of the enormity of the task, I know the commitment it requires particularly combining full time work as a practicing attorney, mother, wife, daughter, sister etc. My strength is in God, and I know He who began the good work will bring it to a successful completion.

    The contributing factors to Nigerians trooping to the U.S.

    Even a newborn baby knows why Nigerians are leaving the country. Seriously, Nigerians are tired. Yes, they are resilient, but there is always a breaking point. For example, the ENDSARs protest is a tip of the iceberg if something is not done. Enough of the “hand out” from leaders. Rather, teach the people how to fish, provide good education like my mother and many others fought for. It is possible to transform the country, a synergy, a collaboration of all the stakeholders is imperative. One man cannot do it. Elected officials must do away with policy congruency, engage the citizenry in productive dialogues and provide the wherewithal to move the nation forward. The number of those leaving Nigeria for greener pasture is on the rise.

    Today, many are leaving because they lack faith in the leadership and governance, insecurity pervades the light, human right practices are on the rise, unemployment has become the norm, poor educational systems, incessant school closures; lack of social amenities, a legal system characterized with impunity are drivers of migration in Nigeria. Ordinarily, people just want a decent life. Why is this so difficult to ask? When you think about it, when the same breed of Nigerians steps out to western economies, they excel, our students do so well. As an adjunct professor at the School of Business and Graduate Studies, Bowie State University, many international students particularly Nigerians are doing so well and move on to great employment. We need to replicate this in Nigeria. Studies show that Nigerian migrants are well-educated, industrious and are a huge contributing member of the society. They are one of the most successful ethnic groups in the United States. Someone said about the Nigerian community, “ you cannot throw a stone without hitting someone with master’s degree”- Doctors, lawyers, engineers, professors” According to the Migration Policy Institute, 61 per cent of Nigerian Americans over the age of twenty-five hold a graduate degree, compared to 32 per cent of the U.S born population. The 2016 American Community Survey found that 45 per cent of Nigerian American professionals work in education services of which a sizable number are professors at top universities. Nigerian-born professionals have distinguished themselves in various social classes. For example, Dr. Bennet Omalu, a forensic pathologist, is helping fix hits to the brain; he was the first to discover and publish on chronic traumatic encephalopathy in American football players. ImeIme A. Umana, the first Black woman elected president of the Harvard Law Review is Nigerian-American. There are many successful Nigerian entrepreneurs who would love to give back to their country of origin. Please let us give them a chance, and together, make Nigeria a praise in the earth. In my practice, I know many who yearn and long for “home.” It is time to ensure that a major contribution to the U.S. economy does not translate into a huge loss for Nigeria as a whole.

    Guiding Nigerians on how they can live in America within the law

    Information dissemination is crucial. In the U.S., immigration-related adjudications feed on proper and relevant documentation, and so one way to guide Nigerians is to ensure they have the right information to get the proper documentation and avoid shooting themselves on the foot. For example, there is a crackdown by the authority on the use of fraudulent divorce decrees. It is so prevalent that even the Nigerian Embassy in New York  spoke out against this vice especially individuals seeking certifications of fraudulent decrees. Few years ago, an online immigration seminar was titled “Fraudulent Divorce Decrees from Nigeria.” This is the height of embarrassment and unfortunate. The trend is destructive for those caught in the web, their family, and a shame to the authority for failing to take remedial actions. I tell folks, “there are no impunities here oh, you break it, you pay it.” I implore the Nigeria government to address this social ill and redeem its image and its citizens.

    How to get a reduction in the way Nigerians troop to the US

    With God, nothing is impossible. However, you cannot put something on nothing. All hands must be on deck to bring back Nigeria from the brink of destruction. It is due for a dialogue, a strong discourse among the leadership, civil societies, and the people. Many Nigerians travel out, they see how things work in other countries, and are compliant, why not in Nigeria?

    Nigerians will excel if provided with an enabling environment. In recent years, the level of innovation demonstrated by the younger generation is outstanding, they have shown a level of resilience marked by “constant self-improvement” as His Excellency, Vice President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Prof Oluyemi Oluleke Osinbajo noted. Despite obvious challenges, these population have distinguished themselves on the path to success through hard work as opposed to the “quick fix,” a “microwavable,” “drive through”  approach of the very few. Nigerians are law abiding and are a great asset to any structure.

    Last word for the government in Nigeria

    A working government. Can you imagine the stride the country would make if there were a working government in every local, regional, and central government? This is where the government, businesses, civil societies, the citizenry, and all well-meaning stakeholders contribute to making the country a place where citizens do not flee from, but where they throng into because of their mutually constitutive nature. Final note, those in diaspora must be careful. They cannot reprobate and approbate. Many elected officials are returnees from the diaspora, they promise to serve but they almost immediately join the bandwagon. What then is good about the western education? Is it not mind bungling that the same people clamoring for a revamp of the country’s economy appear to do worse when given the opportunity to serve? What changed?

    To move forward, a national family meeting becomes imperative. In any family meeting, those with concerns should be allowed to speak out and not be muzzled. The government must pay listening ear to the clamoring of the people. I am confident that in the near future, the exodus of great brains will yield to an influx of great minds into the nation. Nigerians are not lazy. They are hardworking, resilient, and great achievers. If not, how do one explain an estimated remittance of 17.3 billion US dollars in just a year? With a sense of urgency, a singleness of purpose, and value placed on lives, the nation Nigeria which was once desolate will arise and become a praise in the earth. It is only a matter of time – with the right-leadership, it will happen. Yes, it will!

  • Epidemic looms as garbage dumps ‘take’ over Niger

    Epidemic looms as garbage dumps ‘take’ over Niger

    Roadsides, streets and markets in major towns across Niger State have been turned into garbage sites which the officials of the state government have failed to clear. JUSTINA ASISHANA reports that the garbage which is usually dumped on the streets for the Niger State Environmental Protection Agency (NSEPA) has not been evacuated for months

    In yesteryear, muckiness that engenders pollution and other health challenges were not one of the features that defined Niger State. It ranked among some of the cleanest states in Nigeria.

    Any wonder people, including those who are not indigenous to the state and Minna, its capital city, flock in to savour the aesthetic milieu of the Power State.

    That was then. The Power State (so called because it plays host to two of Nigeria’s major hydroelectric power stations, the Kainji Dam and the Shiroro Dam) is now a shadow of itself. No thanks to mountainous garbage heaps that are major features that foul the environment.

    There were contractors paid by the state government to evacuate solid wastes from the surrounding area. It seems the state government has failed to fulfil its obligation to the contractors. This may have caused them to withdraw their services to the state; leading to heaps of garbage taking over major parts of the streets and roads.

    The inability of the state government to pay contractors handling the collection of wastes and providing waste management trucks has led to the increase of indiscriminate dumping of refuse across the major towns in Niger State.

    Roadsides, streets and markets in major towns across the state have been turned into garbage sites which the officials of the state government have failed to clear the garbage.

    Moving around some towns in the state, one discovered that the garbage which is usually dumped on the streets for the Niger State Environmental Protection Agency (NSEPA) is not evacuated for days; leading to more garbage dumped in different areas apart from the designated place. Due to the inefficient system to evacuate these wastes, the residents are left with no choice but to dump the wastes on any available space they find, including the streets, roadsides and drainage.

    The markets are not free from this development as wastes can be seen dumped in the various markets; people have raised concerns about the health impacts on the residents.

    Within the Minna metropolis, the Tunga and Kpakungun areas as well as the markets can be aptly described as garbage dumps as passersby can see garbage on the road. One of the main dump sites in Kpakungu is in front of the Primary Health care centre in the community and a Jumat Mosque and the residents say that no efforts have been made to clean up the refuse.

    The waste dumps have become malodourous and nauseating as passersby frequently cover their nostrils when they pass by the dumps, even when one is in a vehicle, one inhales the stench oozing out from the waste dumps.

    Some residents of the town expressed fear over these wastes, saying that the indiscriminate dumping of wastes, especially during the rainy season, can result in water pollution, drainage blocking, flooding, land pollution and infrastructural degradation.

    A resident of Suleja, Ismaila Muhammad Yaro lamented that the dumping of refuse on roads should not be so and even if it is dumped, appropriate authorities should be made to evacuate the waste as soon as they are dropped. He stressed that this can affect the health of the people.

    Chidoke Charles, who also lives in Suleja said the refuse has been left unattended to for months.

    “Those who are supposed to evacuate the refuse haven’t been doing anything. We are suffering from this. The foul odour alone is not good.  They say that there is COVID-19, monkeypox and others and this refuse has been here for more than a month without any attempt to evacuate them. The government is not paying the people that evacuate them.

    “We are suffering from the foul odour and the flies that come from it. They left it because they are not living here or doing business here.

    “We beg the government to ensure that the garbage heaps are evacuated for the health of the people.”

     

    Kure market of garbage

    The Kure modern market is an eyesore to traders and customers as it can aptly be described as a refuse dump. There are garbage heaps everywhere, especially on the road leading to the market.

    Due to the inability of the local government councils to clear the refuse, the traders have begun to use the dirt to fill up the puddle caused by rains.

    The place designated as car parks has been overtaken by refuse dumps; causing customers to struggle for the little space available to park their vehicles.

    One of the traders in the market, Mohammed Dangana whose shop is facing the refuse lamented that they have complained to the authorities but nothing has been done.

    “We are just looking. I have a POS stand close to the dustbin. We have complained enough but nothing is being done. We are tired of complaining. Now, we are just looking,” he said.

    Customers said they would no longer pay the gate fees to enter the market until the government decides to do something about the refuse dumps which have become an eyesore.

    One of the customers, Juliana Jacob said: “Imagine a market like a dump site. In fact, the market has become a dump site. This is supposed to be one of the parking spaces. One wonders what all the revenue being collected as toll fees from vehicles is being used for.

    “If you want to come inside the market, you either pay N100 or N50 depending on where you want to pack, this is beside the money collected from the traders, especially those who hawk their wares. “Hundreds of cars visit the market daily and yet, the local government authority cannot use part of the funds to take care of this part of the market. Imagine the threat to the lives of the people that this pose. Flies can perch on meat, fish and other foods that are not covered.”

    Abdullahi Usman said: “I have since stopped paying those fees to enter the market. I rather park my car outside in a safe place with a friend or my brother than give that useless committee any kobo for doing nothing. Everything about Niger State is from the opposite direction. I just pray we get the good leadership in place in 2023.”

    Another customer Muhammad Badamasi said: “I keep wondering the kind of government we have in Niger State that does not consider the health implication of the situation to the people. All they know is to collect money from one revenue agent to the other. To pass a gate in Kure Market, you have to pay while the main road leading to the market is in a sorry situation. We call on the state and local governments to do the needful regarding that road.”

    Bakare Kabir said: “Chanchaga Local Government is just busy allocating land with no attention given to refuse management in the market. Imagine filling potholes with waste from the market. Go to the other side, where ram sellers are, the story is the same.”

     

    NSEPA’s inadequacies

    In a television interview monitored by our reporter after efforts made to speak with him proved futile, the General Manager of the Niger State Environmental Protection Agency, Habib Abdulkadir said the government has financial challenges as a result of a lack of funds. He lamented that the people have refused to pay for waste collection and there is no money to enable the government to continue funding waste management.

    “The government has been doing this for ages and it has gotten to a point that the government has arrived at a point of lack of finances in the area of funding of waste management in the state. The government tries its best but the population keeps increasing and the cities are also increasing. There is a need for us to improve on the equipment that we need to deploy to cover these areas that are coming up. It has come to a point that there is no other alternative than for the people to pay for their waste bills.”

    The officer in charge of waste management in NSEPA, Mohammed Isa Kutigi said wastes are generated at all times and that majority of the areas where the wastes are outside are not easily accessible by their trucks. He also pointed out that there are many vehicles for the collection of waste.

    He noted that the agency has not been able to pay the contractors for about three months which led to the withdrawal of their services.

    “The contractors cannot work because they are not paid. We have 11 trucks in Suleja, we have six trucks in Kontagora, and three in Bida, while we have only five trucks in Minna which can’t take care of only the Tunga side alone. We have a lot of challenges. The government needs to intervene by providing more trucks so that we can address this,” he said.

     

    NSEPA drags Chachanga council to court

    Kutugi said NSEPA is not in charge of the markets and motor parks but the local government councils, adding that the Agency is getting set to take the Chachanga Local Government Area to court over negligence of the market.

    “Based on the constitution, the parks and market are the responsibility of the state government. It is the local government that manages the waste generated from the park and markets unless they call for our intervention or assistance.

    “For the Kure modern market, we intervened for them for over seven months but they did not pay us. We have served them a court notice for allowing the market to degenerate to that level. They had asked us to come to their aid, the agency provided the truck, and then we asked them to get the wheel loader and fuel it; we did our part but the local government could only fuel the machine for two days and the work couldn’t continue, that was how we left it for them because we have activities to do. It is not our responsibility,” he said.

    He lamented that the people have defaulted in the payment of waste collection because they have been enjoying a free collection of waste from 1996 to date; hence, they are finding it difficult to pay.

    “We still need the government to intervene and support us in turning it into a private venture which will enable us to get the people to pay for the collection of their refuse. We cannot do this without government intervention and backing,” he said.

    He said that the solution to this is political will on the part of the government and the provision of additional trucks for refuse collection across the state.

    “We need about 30 trucks in each local government area to enable the effective collection of waste in the state,” he said.

     

    Ministry fails to evacuate wastes

    In June, the Niger State Commissioner for Environment and Forestry, Dr Daniel Habila Galadima stated that the ministry had embarked on refuse collection and disposal within major cities across the state, including Minna, the state capital. This is because of the directive of the state government to clear all the dump sites in the state but as of today, the state of refuse dumping remains the same.

    The commissioner, however, acknowledged that the ministry had some challenges in evacuating refuse in the state capital as a result of an increment in the price of diesel which had affected the ministry’s budget, even as he stated that the state government had provided the resources for the ministry to mobilise additional trucks to ensure the directive is quickly and efficiently carried out.

    He said then that the refuse clearing has commenced with the assurance that in the next few days, the state will be cleared of indiscriminate refuse dump sites but the dump sites have since increased after the Commissioner’s statement.

     

    QUOTE

    Roadsides, streets and markets in major towns across the state have been turned into garbage sites which the officials of the state government have failed to clear the garbage…The garbage which is usually dumped on the streets for the Niger State Environmental Protection Agency (NSEPA) is not evacuated for days