The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Nigeria

  • Breaking the cycle of revenge

    Breaking the cycle of revenge

    In the city of Jos in the Plateau State of central Nigeria in early July this year, a group of Christian Berom tribesmen gathered together at a somber funeral for over 60 innocent individuals recently murdered in the home of a pastor by Muslim Fulani herdsmen. While in shared mourning, they were descended upon under a rain of bullets from a number of armed men, again Fulani. Twenty more were killed, including two leading Berom politicians: a Nigerian Federal Senator and the Majority Leader of the Plateau State Assembly. In response, a number of Berom, the dominant ethnic group in the area, retaliated the following day by killing any person in the area they identified as Fulani, bringing the weekend’s death toll to over 200.
    Despite the bucolic slogan of Plateau State – “The Home of Peace and Tourism” – the area has been plagued by this vicious cycle of violence between the Christian Berom and Muslim Fulani populations for over a decade. As both groups are motivated by codes of revenge and honour, any violent act is set to trigger a series of other bloody counter-attacks.
    Amidst the seemingly sectarian nature of the conflict, the central government’s role, both directly and indirectly, in the violence against the Muslim periphery goes largely unnoticed. The sequence of events above was triggered by the Nigerian security forces who the Fulani associate with the Berom. Shortly before the Fulani attack, the security forces burned to the ground 50 Fulani homes in retaliation for a Fulani herdsman being accused of killing a Nigerian soldier.
    Many are shocked at the brutality of these attacks, with commentators quick to blame attacks against the Christians on “al-Qaeda-linked” Boko Haram, the murky and undefined group located in northeastern Nigeria among the Muslim Kanuri people. The leader of Boko Haram, Abubakar Shekau, cited the incidents of cannibalism against the Muslim population in Jos in his defence of the Christmas Day bombings in 2011.
    The Fulani as well as the Kanuri could have responded to attacks upon them by means of traditional tribal justice using dialogue through councils of elders or through the religious leadership. They, however, took a route which negated both their tribal and religious traditions, and in the mutation, slaughtered innocent Christians in churches and their homes, including infants. Therefore, their story, their cause and any sympathy for them are lost.
    In order, however, to understand the present violence which plagues the heart of West Africa, we must look to the history of this region itself and the place the Fulani herdsmen have held on the periphery of Nigeria.
    Prior to British colonisation, the Fulani had supported the Fulani religious leader Usman Dan Fodio, who claimed descent from the Prophet, in overthrowing the Hausa States and establishing the Sokoto Caliphate in the early 19th century in what is today northern Nigeria. When the British established the Protectorate of Northern Nigeria in 1900, they instituted indirect rule over Sokoto with its Fulani and Hausa inhabitants, relying on the pre-existing state structure and Muslim leadership. Britain even went so far as to declare itself “the greatest Mohammedan Power in the World” in the Nigeria Gazette during World War I in order to bolster support from the Muslim population. In 1914, the British united Northern and Southern Nigeria into a single colony. It proved to be an unhappy marriage.
    Throughout these political changes, the Fulani herdsmen remained firmly on the periphery, continuing to evade taxes and searching for adequate grazing lands for their vast herds of cattle, their sole means of economic livelihood. Major JA Burdon, an early 20th century British administrator in northern Nigeria, spoke of the intense attachment the Fulani have with their cattle: “The herdsmen are peaceful and inoffensive; they became warriors through the necessity for self-defence… trusting for the defence of their treasured herds, their one possession, to neither horses nor armour, but only to their spears and their desperate courage.” Tending their cattle was an important aspect of their code of honour, Pulaaku, or “Way of the Fulani”, which was also a means of providing social order among their nomadic clans.
    With independence from Britain in 1960, the national politics of Nigeria was dominated by a series of coups and counter-coups as the major ethnic groups – the Muslim Hausa and settled Fulani in the north, the Christian Yoruba in the south, and the Christian Igbo in the southeast – vied for national dominance, including a deadly civil war in the late 1960s which resulted in the deaths of nearly 2 million people. Apart from this, nearly a hundred other ethnic groups, both Muslim and Christian, found themselves living side by side in the Middle Belt region which serves as the border between the Christian south and Muslim north.
    After independence, Fulani herdsmen began to increasingly shift their herds south into the Middle Belt region and establish more permanent settlements. This was largely due to the devastating Sahel drought of the late 1960s and 1970s which greatly reduced both their grazing lands in the north and the size of their herds. In addition, the development of new farming practices in the Middle Belt region during this period decimated the tsetse fly population which was harmful to cattle and previously served as a barrier to the Fulani herds.
    With the growing number of Fulani in the Middle Belt, the herdsmen were seen to be “settlers” or outsiders by the indigenous population or “indigenes”, especially the largely Christian Berom farmers. The Berom farmers complained of the destructive presence of cattle on their land and resorted to stealing or killing the herds, often at the cost of the lives of the young Fulani boys who would tend the herds, a traditional means of displaying courage. The Fulani responded to these overtures of violence with equal or greater brutality.
    Large scale violence erupted on September 7, 2001 when the palpable tension between Christians and Muslims led to the Jos riots in which over 1,000 people were killed in a week. A Nigerian government investigative committee found that between September 2001 and May 2004, the conflict resulted in the deaths of 53,787 individuals.
    Since 2001, the Fulani have been subject to targeted discrimination by the government and risk being arrested, tortured, or killed as well as seeing their homes destroyed in dragnet operations and “revenge missions” by security forces. In November 2008 after rioting broke out, the Berom Governor of Plateau State implemented a 24-hour curfew and issued the security forces a “shoot-on-sight” directive, resulting in over 130 deaths. After the attack on the funeral where the two Berom politicians were killed in July, there were calls from the Berom community to expel all Fulani from Plateau State. Ahmed Idris, a Representative from Plateau State in the House of Representatives, referred to these deportations as “ethnic cleansing”.
    The losses to Fulani livestock have been equally devastating and represent one of the greatest threats to their identity. The leader of the Fulani organisation Miyetti Allah stated in February 2011 that herdsmen had lost about eight million heads of cattle in the past decade. He warned that for the Fulani, “the race was facing extinction”.
    The Fulani ethnic group stretches beyond Nigeria and across West Africa, where the Fulani are variously known as Fulani, Fulbe, Fula, or Peul, and this same conflict which fuels the violence in Plateau State can be found elsewhere. In Ghana, as the Fulani shifted their herds south, vicious battles erupted pitting the Fulani herdsmen against local farmers and the security forces. One Ghanaian MP captured the hostile attitude towards the Fulani when he publically announced in December 2011, “If in the course of defending ourselves they have to die then it is justified. So killing them I personally support it”.
    In order to find a means to peace in a country like Nigeria with such rich ethnic and cultural diversity, a level of accommodation and understanding is required. The government should respect both the Fulani’s traditional culture, including accommodating land needs with designated grazing routes, and give them their full human and civil rights as Nigerian citizens.
    With the Berom and Fulani of the Middle Belt caught in this cycle of revenge, leadership that underlines compassion and non-violence from both their respective faiths, Christianity and Islam, is desperately needed, such as the August 2012 visit of the Catholic Archbishop of Jos, Ignatius Kaigama, to the Jos Central Mosque where he was hosted by its Imam, Sheik Balarabe Dawud. In Archbishop’s words, he intended “to dispel the notion that Muslims and Christians in Plateau State cannot meet”. Only by heeding the message and example of their religious leadership and living up to the ideals of their respective faiths can peace return to the long suffering people of Plateau State and Nigeria.
    …Professor Akbar Ahmed is Ibn Khaldun Chair of Islamic Studies at American University in Washington, DC and the former Pakistani High Commissioner to the United Kingdom.
  • Community laments incessant flooding

    Community laments incessant flooding

    •Govt: help on the way

    FOR residents of Ifelodun Street in Dopemu, Agege, a Lagos suburb, whenever it rains, it is a nightmare.
    Their houses and streets are usually flooded and properties destroyed.
    This is what they experience every year.  They urged  the government to intervene after taking our reporter round the area yesterday.
    The Chairman, Dopemu Community Development Association (DCDA), Revd. Adetunji Fagbemi, and other members of Ifelodun Street Landlords Association, said the area should be declared a disaster zone, adding that help “should urgently be extended to the area to address the plight of the people presently living there to prevent any disaster.”
    Fagbemi said: “For the umpteenth time, we are appealing to the Lagos State Government to come to the aid of the people of Ifelodun Street, Dopemu by completing the canal that seemed to have been abandoned for a very long time, leading to a yearly nightmare for the residents who have been at the receiving end of heavy flooding in their area.”
    He blamed the flood on the abandoned canal.
    According to him, the canal which came to an abrupt  end near a pharmacy should have been channelled to link Valley Estate, by Cement Bus Stop on the Lagos-Abeokuta Expressway, but it was abandoned, leaving the people to bear the brunt.
    He said while the canal which used to be an earth canal was cleaned and cemented upland  from Oko-Oba and Orile-Agege area few years ago, it was abandoned at Ifelodun Street only to be continued at Cement Bus Stop.
    “The result has been that all the water coming from Ogba, Oko-Oba, Pen-Cinema, Oke-Koto, and Orile-Agege end up flooding the Ifelodun area, with all houses in the area usually submerged any time it rains,” Fagbemi said.
    He said though no lives have been lost to the flood, the challenge of climate change and the prediction of an intense rainfall by the Nigeria Meteorological Institute (NIMET), have compelled the people to again raise the alarm that the whole area might be under threat if the flood is not checked.
    He said the street, which is an alternative road that motorists could take to bypass the busy Dopemu Bridge in getting to the Abeokuta Expressway, by Iyana Dopemu, has become impassable because of the collateral damage done  flood in the past.
    Another resident  urged the government to alleviate the sufferings of the residents.
    “You need to see the apprehension on the faces of residents any time rain threatens to fall. The entire road would become impassable and accessing their homes would be an uphill task for them. Sadly, I grew up to see this place like this, and I can say nothing has changed in the past 25 years that I have lived in this area. It is affecting the quality of lives of all residents and we can only appeal to the state government to come to our rescue,” he said.
    An official of the Ministry of the Environment, who spoke on condition of anonymity, promised that the ministry would  intervene to lessen the suffering of the people.
    He advised the residents to always liaise with the drainage officer in charge of the area for effective dissemination of information concerning  the government’s activities and how their area could benefit.
    A list of officials posted to  the 20 local governments and 37 Local Council Development Areas (LCDA, was recently published by the Ministry.

  • ‘People with disability should be included in governance’

    There are great leaders among them

    President Goodluck Jonathan and the 36 state governors have been asked to involve people with disability in the running of the country. This is because, in spite of their challenges, they can make a difference in governance.

    The appeal was made in Jos, Plateau State capital, by the Administrative Officer on Disability Matters at the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Mrs. Omotunde Ellen Thompson, during a stakeholder’s meeting on community-based rehabilitation organised by the state Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development.

    Mrs Thompson urged the federal and state governments to pay particular attention to people living with physical disability when making political appointments or recruiting for jobs.

    Speaking at the event, she said that if people with disability are in strategic political or other leadership positions, they will make a difference and help to transform the country.

    The appeal was timely. The Nigerian team to the Paralympic games in London lifted the profile of the country, returning with a good haul of medals and placing third in Africa. Their able-bodied counterparts came back home earlier empty-handed.
    Mrs. Thompson, who also lives with physical disability, maintained that if people with disability are empowered people with disability will quit the streets for better things that will aid in Nation building.

    The Plateau State Commissioner of Women Affairs and Social Development Olivia Dazyem, a lawyer, said the stakeholder’s meeting on people living with disability was borne out of the desire of the state governor, Jonah David Jang, to better the lot of people with the challenges.

    She urged stakeholders at the meeting to do away with all barriers that will put the disabled at a disadvantage by modifying all buildings to enable them free access to all structures.

    She said: “Improving the quality of life of people with disabilities entails the removal of all these barriers by way of modifying our buildings, access doors to our banking halls, adopting inclusive road and building designs and constructions, changing our negative perception that people with disability are useless and appreciating their innate potentialities in employment and services.

    “In the law and human rights perspective, the human rights of people, including those with disabilities, are not negotiable; in the short journey into my present position as Commissioner in charge of disability issues, I have realised with a heavy heart that a class of people are denied their fundamental human rights even with the international proclamation of their inalienable rights to legal protection, education, housing, equal opportunities, employment and better health”.

    She disclosed that Plateau State is the first state in the federation to organise a stakeholders’ meeting to marshal out plans on how to better the lives of people living with challenges, maintaining that the administration of Governor Jonah Jang has approved the establishment of a desk for people with disability in all ministries and government agencies in the state.

  • Behold, Oba Ovonramwen’s photographer

    Black and white photograph of the late Oba Ovonramwen shows the traditional ruler sitting on a wicker chair with three African troops standing at attention in military uniform.

    The Oba wears an elaborate and voluminous velvet gown covering his whole body, barely revealing his chained ankles. Also, a photograph, which is a single portrait of oba, shows him sitting on a wicker chair.

    Another photograph shows oba with Captain Herbert, the child, an African soldier, and several other African attendants. All these form the collections of one of Nigeria’s foremost professional photographers, Jonathan Adagogo Green.

    He took these pictures aboard the SS Ivy, the ship conveying the monarch as it was anchored off the Bonny River on its way to Calabar. Nearly every album or collection of photographs from Nigeria dating to this period includes at least one of Green’s portraits of the late Oba of Benin.

    Seventy-six years after his death, a new research on Green’s life and works entitled: The two worlds of artist/photographer J. A. Green, conducted by a US-based scholar, Dr. Lisa Aronson of Skidmore College, New York, was the topic of a lecture in Lagos last week.

    The lecture, organised by Centre for Contemporary Art, Lagos, was presented by Aronson and it brought fresh perspectives to discussions on who is the first Nigerian modern artist between J. A. Green and Aina Onabolu?  In the past month, Aronson has been conducting indepth research in the Niger Delta, expected to culminate in the first and only publication on the artist.

    Frontline photographers, such as Pa J. D. Okhia Ojekere, Tam Fiofori, Don Barber, Olu Amoda, Toyin Akinoso, Onyema Ofoedu-Okeke, Abraham Oghobase and other young photographers and visual artists were among those at the presentation.

    Green, a professional photographer was born in Bonny, in 1873. He was the son of a successful Ibani Ijaw palm oil trader, Chief Sunju Dublin Green, who worked closely with foreing traders and missionaries.

    These relationships might have helped his son’s career. He served as the primary photographer for the British and his own people, between the early 1890s and when he died at 32. Although his professional stamp, “J. A. Green, Artist Photographer, Bonny, Opobo & co” concealed his African identity behind his British sounding name.

    Aronson said she postponed her travels to Nigeria for three years until an improvement in security.

    She is happy that she enjoyed a safe productive visit to the Niger Delta last month.
    Her research on Green began five years ago when she and her two American colleagues, Martha Anderson and Chris Geary along with Professor Emeritus E. J. Alagoa received a Getty Grant to document Green’s photographs in British archives.

    This scholarship, she said, gave her the opportunity to learn about Green’s life as a photographer.

    She said: “I first became familiar with Green’s photos while researching the history of textile production, use, and trade in Southeastern Nigeria, with my initial focus on weaving in Akwete, Ndoki, in Imo State.

    I discovered Green’s photos of imported textile usage in the Niger Delta before I came to realise Green’s Ibani Ijaw identity.

    According to the research, after Green’s death, his nephew, Gobo, took over the business. Gobo did some of his own photography, but mainly used Green’s original plates to reproduce the original photographs until his death in 1936.

    The business was then taken over by Gobo’s son, James Adagogo Green, who continued the practice of reproducing J. A. Green’s original images until his own death in 1993, and even capitalised on J. A. Green’s own initials, leading many to think that James was the original J, A. Green.
    Aronson showed several photographs by Green and the images revealed the individuals, including Europeans and Africans, who lived and worked in the area. Green’s portraits of the British showed them in Edwardian attires at work or play.

    Those of the Ijaw showed them in their own contemporary styles of dress, made of cloth acquired from local and foreign sources.

    Some of Green’s most extraordinary portraits were of Ijaw chiefs from Bonny, Opobo, and the Kalabari Ijaw region, seated with their wives, children, and other members of their extended families.

    She observed that what stands out in these portraits, compared with those of the British, is that the latter presented themselves in casual, and occasionally reclining, poses typical of Edwardian portraiture, often resulting in an overall asymmetrical composition.

    Aronson said: “By contrast, the Ijaw prefer to assume frontal poses, with hands and feet fully visible and with emphasis on symmetry and balance. This conforms to the aesthetic preferences of other African sitters along the western and central African coast, which dominated photography from the late 19th Century well into the 1970s.

    Moreover, these portraits conveyed a rich sense of design derived from the elaborately patterned gowns, which Green consciously coordinated with the architectural details in the backgrounds of his photographs.

    Her position, elicited reactions from some members of the audience who claimed that the symmetrical arrangement of Africans in Green’s photographs was a function of the colonial administrators’ oppression of Blacks.

    Aronson said the imported, obelisk-style tombstone that marks Green’s grave in Bonny, identifies him as a professional artist-photographer. Green’s only known self-portrait, he said, showed him at 21 dressed in a respectable Western-style suit, vest, and necktie with a boutonniere in his lapel.

    Green attended the Church Missionary Society (CMS) High School in Bonny and it may have been Sierra-Leonians affiliated with the CMS who taught him photography.

    His legacy

    What became of Green’s legacy? Aronson answers: “Green left behind a rich and varied collection of photographs that not only captures a significant moments in Nigeria’s early history but also exhibits his exceptional artistic vision.

    “Green was among several prominent Africans working as professional photographers along the coasts of western and central Africa in the late 19th Century, including the Ghanaian Lutterodt brothers, the Sierra Leonian W. S. Johnston, and Walwin B. Holm, a Ghanaian working in Lagos.

    Using box cameras and glass plates their repertoires, like Green’s, included landscapes, seascapes, views of public buildings, and, most particularly, portraits. Some of them, along with their European competitors, advertised their services widely in urban newspapers and moved freely along the coast with cameras and backdrops in hand to meet the demands of their European and African clients.”

    Green’s photogarphs were not all for the British administrators as he confined his works mainly to the Bonny (and Opobo) region of the Niger Delta, which by the 1890s was a thriving commercial centre of palm oil trade and the hub British colonisation of the region.

    At that time, the Ibani Ijaw town of Bonny was at the heart of maritime commerce, with the slave trade at its peak in the 18th Century and the palm oil trade dominating throughout the 19th Century.

    Green’s photographic skills were in great demand and his business boomed at a time Bonny functioned as the administrative centre of the protectorate throughout the historical trajectory, putting him at the hub of British imperialist activity.

    Aronson said though Green’s life was short, a close relative, Gobo, took over his thriving business after his death. Following Gobo’s own death in 1935, another relative, James A. Green, ran the studio until 1993 when he died.

    She said: “James A. Green capitalised on Jonathan’s fame by using an embossed stamp that identified him as “J. A. Green” and even reproduced photos from his predecessor’s turn-of the-century glass plates. Both Gobo and James trained other photographers, so the Green legacy lives on.

    Early works

    Green’s earliest documented photograph is a half-portrait of a Kalabari chief who died in 1890.

    In 15 years, he photographed about 150 different images in a wide range of themes.

    His works are in major collections in the British Museum, London; Rhodes House, Oxford; Merseyside Maritime Museum, Liverpool; Unilever Archives, Port Sunlight; Manchester University Museum, Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester and the National Museum of African Art, in Washington D.C USA.

    Apart from portraits and landscapes, Green’s works included the narrative-like scenes of Ijaw people that engaged in local industries, such as weaving, cotton winding, basket making, ironwork, and the cracking of palm nuts.

    Among his early works were several images showing scantily dressed African women in provocative poses.

    With this fresh window on another foremost Nigerian artist, art historians will expand the frontiers to ascertain the father of modern Nigerian visual art.

    Feelers have it that a Lagos photographer, Da Costa was also among the early photographers of the pre-Independence era. There could be more revelations in future that will shape art history.

  • Soyinka decries threat to book culture

    Nobel laureate, Prof Wole Soyinka has condemned the destruction of treasures in Timbuktu, Mali, describing the action as a threat to book culture in Africa.

    He said he is therefore hundred per cent in support of the Wole Soyinka Prize for Literature in Africa organised by Lumina Foundation, pointing out that it is a way of promoting book culture.

    Soyinka, who spoke during the award of this year’s prize in Lagos said he had made no contributions to the project, sponsored by telecom giant Globacom. He said: “I have nothing to do with the Soyinka Prize for Literature in Africa. “I have not any contribution towards its hosting. I have only enjoyed free meals from the organisers of the prize.

    But, I am 100 per cent in support of its promotion of literature and culture of reading. And it is at a time when book culture is being threatened. In Mali, rebels are destroying treasures. It is time to be aggressive about promoting book culture.

    South Africa’s Sifiso Mzobe, author of Young Blood, beat two other candidates, Adimora Ezeigbo, a Nigerian who wrote Roses and Bullets and Bridget Pitt, author of The Unseen Leopard, a Zimbabwean born South African to emerge winner of the $20,000 cash prize.

    Soyinka urged Federal Government to understand that given the recent destruction of telecommunication facilities by the Islamic sect, Boko Haram, the battle lines have been drawn, adding that there should be no sitting on the fence.

    Literature and communication, he said, have meeting point, adding: “If it is not economic, it is cultural. We must back up the fight with all our energies.
    The Nobel laureate praised the Lumina Foundation for promoting reading in Africa, adding that literature on the continent would continue to grow with this encouragement from the likes of Lumina.

    He called on African youth to work towards promotion of African culture and heritage.
    Chairman of the Ghanaian President John Kuffour, who spoke on The Pursuit of Excellence–the Wole Soyinka Example, said Africa is yearning for champions such as Soyinka who did not bottle up his talent within an ivory tower.

    He said Africa, the rising giant, needs such achievers to hasten its awakening and full maturation within the global society. The former Ghana President said that Soyinka transcends the entire areas of society.

    “This is what makes him the leader, influencer and exemplar of society not exclusive to Africa. He is indeed intergenerational and a global citizen,” he added.
    Such leadership, he said, is the avenue by which various peoples of the continent come to know themselves and how they relate to their each other to give real meaning to their Africanness.

    “Wole has set the pace and I believe Nigeria must be commended for producing other prodigious writers.

    They all come together to enhance the image of Africa. In many other fields of endeavour, Nigeria also sets the pace on our continent in producing powerful entrepreneurs of world class,” Kuffour said.
    In his message, the Chairman of Globacom, Dr. Mike Adenuga (Jnr) praised the organisers of the award for keeping the flag flying, adding that it has since inception carved a niche for itself in the literary circle through promotion of literature and excellence.

    Adenuga, represented by the company’s National Sales Coordinator, Mr. David Maji, said: “The association between Globacom and the Nobel laureate, Prof Wole Soyinka, is premised on the similarity of our aspirations and characteristics in terms of developing a strong, virile African society”.

    He said the company’s involvement in the Wole Soyinka Prize for Literature in Africa is a further ‘demonstration of Globacom’s irrevocable commitment to giving value to our subscribers as well as contributing to the intellectual development of the communities where we have our footprints.’

    Mzobe described the prize as a viable platform for the promotion of literature on the continent. He thanked the Lumina Foundation, organisers of the award for opening such doors for African writers as well as encouraging literature in a continent of numerous voices with many stories to tell.

    “I thank Wole Soyinka for his awesome life, which is a perfect example of a hero,” he said, acknowledging the challenge of the judges to arrive at the eventual winner.

    The Chairperson of Lumina Foundation, Mrs. Francesca Yetunde Emanuel, said the objective of the prize is to honour only those who bring pride to Africa; Africa’s giant writers and make their works to be appreciated worldwide.

    “We cannot afford to fail, this prize must continue for the celebration of excellence and the edification of Africans”, she said.

    The night was not all about book and literature as it witnessed music and dance drama performances by the masked one and Afro-Calypso exponent, Lagbaja and Nerfetiti and the Crown Troupe.

    Lagos State Governor Babatunde Fashola and his Ogun State counterpart Ibikunle Amosun were also in attendance.

  • Cornerstone, Linkage others mull merger option

    • Director, Corporate Relations, Guinness Nigeria Plc, Mr Sesan Sobowale; Managing Director, Mr Seni Adetu; Chief Economic Adviser to the President, Dr Nwanze Okidegbe, and Special Assistant to Chief Economic Adviser, Dr Ogho Okiti, during a courtesy visit by the Managing-Director to the Economic Adviser in Abuja.

    About six insurance firms are engrossed in merger talks to boost their performance, The Nation has learnt.

    Last week, the
    (NSE) said it received a proposed merger plan between Cornerstone Insurance Plc and Linkage Insurance Plc.

    Mr Wole Tokede, the spokesperson, in the weekly activity summary, said the institutions had notified The Exchange of their proposal to merge into one.
    The Exchange said the merger would result in the transfer of assets, liabilities and undertakings, including real property and intellectual property rights of Linkage Insurance Plc to Cornerstone; and the cancellation of the issued shares of Linkage.
    The Exchange said: “The application for the merger which is under consideration will however result in the transfer of all assets, liabilities and undertakings, as well as real property and intellectual property rights of Linkage Insurance Plc to Cornerstone Insurance Plc, the shareholders of the Scheme Shares of Linkage Insurance Plc so cancelled will be entitled to 30 per cent shareholding (approximately 74 percent of the current shareholding in Linkage) of Post-Merger Cornerstone Insurance Plc.
    Commissioner for Insurance Fola Daniel, who confirmed the merger plans, said several firms were fine-tuning theirs. He said the new twist by operators aligned with the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) transformation programme.
    He noted that the commission over the years has been striving to grow companies that can compete favourably in the global sphere.
    He lauded the merger plans of Cornerstone Insurance Plc and Linkage Assurance Plc.
    Daniel said: “We want bigger companies; we want bigger players’ not faint firms.
    The merger plans between Cornerstone Insurance Plc and Linkage Assurance Plc is in line with our reforms programme.
    “There are several companies that are looking at merger, at least there are half a dozen that are doing so presently.”
    He urged policy holders and other stakeholders to look forward to a more vibrant industry that would be made up of companies with adequate strength and consumer friendliness.
    President, Chartered Insurance Institute of Nigeria (CIIN), Dr Wole Adetimehin, said the move is to build mega companies, adding that companies have realised that they cannot harness more of the opportunities in the industry with solo effort. He noted that reforms initiated by the government and NAICOM have opened up more businesses for the industry.
    “Presently, there are some silent moves where some people are planning to merge to become mega companies,” he said.
    Director-General, Nigerian Insurers Association (NIA) Sunday Thomas, said NAICOM has put in place structures to enable companies have the required capital that can underwrite the type of risk they cover, adding that some companies have begun consultations on how to raise their capital to enable them key into the opportunities provided by the Local Content Act, especially in the oil and gas insurance business.
    “The capital base may not be adequate, but I am aware that companies that want to operate within the Local Content are making efforts to shore-up their capital. Also, NAICOM is working very hard to put in place risk-based supervision. And one of the fundamentals of risk-based supervision is risk-based recapitalisation.
    “Risk-based recapitalisation measures the type of business in relation to the capital to back-up the business. Some companies may not be there now, but they would not be allowed to operate beyond their capacity.
    I think NAICOM is doing a good job in that direction. For the industry, efforts are being made to shore-up capital and of course, there have been discussions about mergers and how companies can be bigger, because companies have realised that there is beauty in being big. If they are big, they will be able to increase their capacity to retain more businesses and that will impact the economy through job creation,” he added.

  • Insurance penetration low in Nigeria, says FBN Life boss

    Insurance penetration in Nigeria is low with Life Insurance below 0.3 per cent and non-life slightly above 0.5 per cent, Managing Director, FBN Life Assurance Company Plc, Val Ojuma, has said.

    Speaking during an interview in Lagos, he said the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM)
    and industry operators were working together to increase insurance education and awareness among the public. Also, the regulator is encouraging operators to redesign the various products offerings to make them more consumer friendly.

    “ The challenge of distribution remains daunting with poor state of infrastructure for premium collection. Overall, most operators have become aware that the size of the uninsured public offer great potentials for premium growth and will therefore increase penetration,” he said.
    He said FBN Life Assurance Company Plc, a subsidiary of FirstBank of Nigeria Plc, strategy right from inception is to offer customised products to customers at the least cost.

    He listed some of the company’s retail products to include Flexi Savings Plan, Flexi Cash flow, Flexi Education Plan, Extended Family Support Plan.

    Ojuma said the firm’s approach would attract more insurance consumers, build confidence, increase market penetration, enhance industry contribution to overall economy, and position the sector for global competitiveness.

    “The company, which is the latest arrival in the insurance industry, having got its licence in 2010, is excited about the reception of its products by insurance consumers, stating that its impetus has awakened old and complacent players in its line of business,” he said.

    He said the firm had always met and sometimes exceeded its standard in claims payment, making claims payment within 24 hours.
    Ojuma said the company’s products have received very wide acceptance, much to its surprise and delight, pointing out that all have been designed with the consumers in mind, and to address specific gaps in existing product offerings in the market.

    According to him, the company is taking advantage of its Financial Advisers and the extensive network of FirstBank of Nigeria to reach potential customers.  “We are now able to bring insurance closer to potential customers. We have held several seminars in Lagos and are extending various educational programmes to schools and associations across Nigeria, to enhance the public understanding of insurance,” he said.

    He said the company is not yet where it wants to be in terms of service delivery, as there is always need for improvement. However, he said that the firm’s service delivery will improve significantly before the end of the year.

    He said the firm’s products have been well received and we have brought some new excitement into the industry. “The old operators, whom seem to have been complacent, have been awakened by our impetus. Our shareholders have shown a lot of understanding and our directors have supported our strategies,” he said.

  • Why investigation in banking is impeded, by EFCC chair

    Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) chair Mr. Ibrahim Lamorde yesterday said some unethical practices in banking are undermining the economy and the commission’s investigations.

    He said it was time to flush out those who do not have business being in the banking sector.

    Lamorde spoke when officials of the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN), who were led by the Institute’s President and chairman of council, Mr. Segun Aina, visited him at work.

    Lamorde listed such unethical practices, which he said have negatively impacted on Nigeria ’s record in the fight against economic and financial crimes, as “secrecy surrounding private banking, doctoring or non disclosure of true position of statement of accounts of suspicious account holders and non-compliance with the Know-Your-Customer, (KYC) principle.

    He described as unfortunate, a situation where banks fail to disclose the identities of some people under investigation by the Commission.

    A statement by the Head of Media and Publicity of the EFCC, Mr. Wilson Uwujaren, quoted Lamorde as saying: “If you send letter to the bank to avail you the details of such account, the reply you will get is that such account does not exist.

    “If you insist, then you will be told that such records are not on the front desk, that it is only the managing director or the deputy managing director that manages the account, this is not a healthy banking development”, he declared.

    “It is in our own interest that the banking system continues to get better. Those who don’t have business being in the banking industry should go”, he said.

    “We want our society to be better. Nobody would want to be treated in an unfair manner outside the shores of this country just because he/she is carrying a green passport”, he said.

    Lamorde said the commission appreciates the need for the banks to protect their customers, but he warned that such should not be at the detriment of the society.

    The anti-graft boss however praised the leadership of the CIBN Institute of Bankers of Nigeria for their role in helping to sanitise the banking sector culminating in appreciable increase in professionalism among its members.

    He, however urged them not to rest on their oars.

    The CIBN boss, Aina, hailed the EFCC chairman for the professional manner with which the EFCC under his leadership handles matters.
    He however said the institute believes that the Commission can do better.

    He said although the visit was aimed at discussing areas of collaboration with the EFCC, he said the Commission’s training Institute, the EFCC Academy, will provide a veritable platform for the exchange of knowledge between the CIBN and the EFCC.

    “We can train staff of the EFCC to be acquainted with new trends of banking and to better understand the workings of the banks which will help in the course of investigation of bank fraud”.

    The CIBN president also urged the EFCC to take a second look at the enforcement of the Dishonour Cheque Offences Act.

    He added: “The law is there, but people issue cheques and the cheques get bounced and nothing happens. We want to collaborate with the EFCC to ensure that the law is enforced.”

    On the secrecy associated with private banking, Mr. Aina said private banking is an arrangement where the banks gives special services to some customers who are not expected to join the queue in the banking hall, but pointed out that such accounts should not be shrouded in secrecy.

    “There is no reason why the account of such customers should be made secretive and not be made available to the EFCC upon request,” he said.

    Other executives that accompanied Mr. Aina on the visit were Mrs. Debola Osibogun, 1st Vice President; Deacon Segun Ajibola, second Vice President; Mr. Uche Olowu, National Treasurer; Dr. Uju Ogubunka, Registrar; Mr. Ben Igbokwe, Head, Corporate Affairs and Mrs. Rukayat Yusuf, Assistant Director.

  • ‘I tried to run before they shot me in my thigh’ – Robbery victim

    Victims of Sunday’s armed robbery attack at Oke-Koto, Agege, a Lagos suburb, yesterday narrated their ordeal.

    Two of the victims are on admission at the Motolani Medical Hospital, Agege.

    Two other victims were treated and discharged on Sunday.

    Discharged on Sunday night were six-year-old Oreoluwa Olubiyi and her 70-year-old grandmother, Mrs. Morenike Andrew.

    They were hit by stray bullets inside their sitting room watching television.

    One of the patients at Molotani is a 75-year-old woman, Mrs. Jenet Ike, a resident of 19, Railway Street, Agege.

    Mrs. Ike is from Imo State. She was shot at Guinness Bus stop, Agege. She was returning from a burial she attended in the Southeast.

    Her daughter, Nkiru Ike, told The Nation that she had gone for the burial of their General Overseer’s father with other members of her church.

    She said her mother alighted at Guinness Bus Stop, Agege and was walking home with a load on her head when, suddenly, she heard a gunshot from behind and later felt a sharp pain on her back.

    “She fell down immediately and some people came to call us and we quickly rushed her to the hospital at about 4pm,” she said.

    Another victim, Mohammed Abdulazeez from Niger State, was shot in his thigh at 17, Alfa Nla Street, Agege.

    The bullet, which passed through a burglary proof, pierced his thigh and passed through to the wall.

    Abdulazeez, who is a barbeque seller, said he was at his friend’s place that morning when he realised that the whole street was noisy.

    He said:“People were just running up and down and the next thing I heard was, ‘they are coming’. So, I also tried to run before they shot me in my thigh and I fell.

    “I was crying and calling people to come and help me, when the gunmen have left.

    People came to carry me; by that time I was bleeding seriously.

    They took me to Motolani Hospital but the doctor refused to attend to me because those who brought me were making trouble with him that they want to see what he is doing.

    “They now took me to Mayfair Hospital and they refused to treat me before I was taken to Ikeja General Hospital. At the General Hospital, there was no space; so, the doctor there gave those who brought me a note and also got police report that they should quickly take me to any other hospital and I shall be admitted.

    So, they brought me back to Motolani and I was quickly attended to.”
    Abdulazeez urged the government to provide adequate security.

    He said: “Only God knows what would have happened to me yesterday, if people did not come to rescue me. If government does not want to provide security in the country, they should please provide it for us in Agege so that we can go about our businesses without fear of being harmed.”

    The son of Mrs. Andrew, who was discharged after being treated at Motolani Hospital, Tunde said his mother was resting when The Nation visited their Alfa Nla, Agege residence.

    He said that the six-year-old girl affected by the attack had been taken to Abule-Egba, on the outskirts of Lagos, by her parents.
    Tunde said the injuries were minor as the bullet only scratched Oreoluwa’s eye and touched his mother slightly on the forehead.

    The Vice-Chairman of the Bureau De Change Association, Alhaji Abubakar Hameed, said two of the association’s members were shot but did not die and are receiving treatment at Monike Hospital, Dopemu, a Lagos suburb.

    They are Alhaji Muktab Zubila and Abdulahi Gadon, adding that the robbers shot both men on their legs after dispossessing them of an undisclosed amount of money.

    A bureau de change operator, Alhaji Mohammadu Muktab, who were shot in their legs after being dispossessed of undisclosed amount of money.
    He said: “I was the first person they met when they came. They came in five jeeps and one of the jeeps is silver colour.

    “It was about 3pm when they came here. One of the cars blocked the Oke-Koto Junction, another one was stationed at the filling station; the third Sports Utility Vehicle (SUV) was parked on the road beside the bureau de change while the remaining two were parked at the bureau de change.

    “They were many in number and they were carrying guns. Immediately, they met me, they told me to bring out all the money I had and they took my N200 million. They also met my son and collected his N300 million cash before they went to the others.”

    Muktab said one of the victims that was shot is his relation.

    It was also gathered that a 19-year-old girl, simply identified as Taibat, a resident of 5, Ogunnowo Street, Agege, who was shot in the neck by the hoodlums and taken to a hospital at Dopemo, may have died yesterday.

    Her friends, Aliu Sani and Sani Mohammed, said she had tried to cross the road to the other side when the bullet hit her.

    Aliu said Taibat, who had lost her father, was leaving with a relative.

    He said she was an apprentice at a tailoring shop and that they had gone to her house earlier yesterday to ask about her but met people crying and they were told she died.

    The consultant at the hospital, Dr. Richard Omotoso, told The Nation that the hospital’s ambulance took the bullet that was targeted at the clinic’s laboratory technician.

    He said the technician, simply identified as Wasiu, was receiving a call, not knowing that the gunmen were approaching from behind.

    He said: “On sighting him, they probably thought he was calling the police or something and that was how they started shooting directly at his direction. Luckily for him, he bent down and escaped. The bullet scattered our windscreen.”

  • Schneider, ECN, UNDP to implement energy project

    As part of measures by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and Global Environment Facility (GEF) to promote energy efficiency in Nigeria, Schneider Electric has been selected to implement a renewable energy project at the Energy Commission of Nigeria (ECN’s) Headquarters building in Abuja.

    The project which is aimed at showcasing the Energy Commission of Nigeria’s building as a model for public lighting using renewable energy, would include the replacement of all non compliant lighting fixtures in the building with Schneider Electric’s energy efficient LED lamps ‘In-Diya.’

    It will also include the installation of Schneider Electric’s off grid energy solution ‘Villasol’ as well as an upgrade of the building’s electrical distribution network to include metering so that the energy consumption of the building can be measured henceforth.

    Speaking at the event in Abuja, the Country President of Schneider Electric, Mr. Marcel Hochet described the project as a landmark development in the sensitization of the general public on the feasibility and benefits of energy efficient lamps.

    He said, as the global specialist in energy management, Schneider Electric is committed to bringing to the project, its enormous wealth of experience and knowhow to ensure timely completion and delivery.

    He therefore, stated that Schneider Electric is strongly committed to helping people make the most of their energy.This involves making the energy safe, reliable, efficient, productive and most of all, green. “Our fully functional renewable energy project in Asore, Ogun state is a testimony to Schneider Electric’s involvement in renewables industry in Nigeria.”

    Also speaking at the event, the national coordinator of the UNDP-GEF programme, Mr Etiosa Uyigue disclosed that the project’s target was to reduce the buildings’ consumption by up to 50 percent thereby creating an energy efficiency best practice for others to follow.

    The Director-General of the Energy commission of Nigeria, Prof. Sambo who gave a presentation during the event, highlighted that the key barriers to successful energy efficiency practice in Nigeria include a lack of relevant policy, cost versus market ratios, a lack of information as well as wrong human behaviour. He further reiterated that projects that help save energy, eventually save the environment as well as the economy.

    In May 2011, UNDP-Global Environment Facility (GEF) in Nigeria launched an energy efficiency project to promote appliances in the residential and public sector, which had earlier been boosted by a $3 million grant in 2009.

    The four-year’s project is being implemented by the UNDP, while the Federal Ministry of Environment and Energy Commission of Nigeria are among the executing partners of the project that is being funded by GEF. Similar projects have recorded success stories in countries like Ghana, Cuba and Bangladesh.