The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Nigerian news

  • Toyota to raise stake in Subaru to 20 per cent

    Toyota Motor Corporation said it will raise its stake in Subaru Corp to 20 per cent from 16.8 per cent to boost the companies’ joint development of advanced technology for autonomous and electric vehicles.

    The increased stake will make Toyota’s 14-year-old partner into its equity-method affiliate, meaning the Japanese auto giant will see Subaru’s earnings incorporated into its consolidated financial statements.

    Under a deal struck by the two automakers, Subaru also plans to acquire a stake in Toyota worth 80 billion yen ($741 million), equivalent to the largest Japanese automaker’s additional investment in the smaller partner.

    They will buy each other’s shares through the stock market or direct transactions between them as soon as approval is secured from competition authorities.

    Toyota has been stepping up efforts to consolidate its ties with smaller rivals and tech giants such as SoftBank Group Corp to respond to a shift in consumer demand for electric, connected and self-driving vehicles.

    Toyota agreed in late August with Suzuki Motor Corp on a capital tie-up to jointly work on autonomous vehicles.

    Toyota formed an alliance with Subaru, formerly known as Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd, in 2005 after purchasing shares from General Motors Co.

    Toyota and Subaru have since cooperated in vehicle development, production and sales. Toyota is already the largest shareholder in Subaru.

    As part of their cooperation, they began selling their jointly developed sports car, branded by Toyota as the 86 and Subaru the BRX, in 2012.

    In June, the carmakers said they will jointly develop an electric sports utility vehicle to be sold under each company’s name by the mid-2020s in the United States.

    Subaru is also among major Japanese automakers that have invested in a self-driving technology startup Monet Technologies Inc, jointly established by Toyota and SoftBank Corp.

     

  • ANAN raises committee to assess MDAs

    The Association of National Accountants of Nigeria (ANAN) has embarked on assessment of Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) for public sector accountability.

    Leading the group’s members during the ‘Walk’ in Abuja, ANAN President Prof.  Muhammad Mainoma said the association had constituted a seven-man committee to assess the MDAs.

    Mainoma said the theme of the 24th Annual Conference of the association held in Abuja was “Nation building sustainable growth: Challenges and prospects”.

    He recalled that ANAN started the concept of “Whistle Blowing‘’ several years ago, saying the association discovered that it must put a system in place to monitor and assess MDAs.

    According to him, we have set up a committee to rank MDAs in order of performance in a bid to check corruption.

    “We want individuals to run away from corruption. Ours is to develop a nation where corruption will not happen. The kind of mechanism we are developing in our association is controlled mechanism. No individual should be in a place to start a project and complete it. Other people must be involved to avoid connivance,” Mainoma said.

    He explained that benchmarking is important in nation-building and also remains a pillar of the ANAN conference. “You cannot build a nation if you do not have love for the nation. You require a lot in terms of organisation. You require some level of capacity building. Knowledge is essential if you are talking about nation building,” he said.

    He called for sincerity of purpose on the part of everyone as all hands must be on deck in building a successful nation.

    “Bench Marking, Love, Organisation, Capacity Building, Sincerity of Purpose (BLOCKS). All that is required is BLOCKS for nation building,” Mainoma said.

    He, however, noted that a citizen must be energetic and healthy before thinking about nation building,

    “We do this ‘Walk’ as a symbolic presentation of all we do daily. You must be healthy to be in a position to help the growth of the economy,” ANAN president said.

     

  • Waiting for Deep Sea project’s magic

    Over 95 percent of Nigerian trade, by volume, and more than 70 percent of its value is moved around aboard ships and handled by seaports nationwide. But, according to Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, the maritime sector returns less than N100 billion annually. Can the Deep Sea Project boost the country’s fortunes in the sector? ROBERT EGBE reports

    Nigeria’s coastline of 852 kilometres bordering the Atlantic Ocean in the Gulf of Guinea and maritime area of 46,000 km2, have significant and diverse marine resources. Also, various national economic activities depend on or derive from ocean resources, but the potentialities of the country‘s blue economy is far from being fully harnessed.

    For instance, in 2018, the maritime sector failed to attain the 5.5 per cent growth rate predicted in the Nigerian Maritime Industry Forecast released by the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) last year.

    The shortfall in NIMASA’s growth forecast was attributed to a number of developments including the volatile status of the oil market, uncertain global trade conditions, reduced cargo throughput at Nigerian ports, the recovering economy, piracy and reduced flow of foreign direct investments (FDIs).

    Maritime security is also a key factor affecting maritime sector growth.

     

    Deep Sea Project

     

    But it is not all doom and gloom.

    Experts in the sector believe with sufficient maritime security the economy will blossom.

    Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, has stated that the new maritime security infrastructure being built by the Federal Government, the Deep Sea Project would be a major economic trigger for the country.

    Amaechi spoke in Lagos during the World Maritime Day celebrations, with the theme, “Empowering Women in the Maritime Community”.

    During the event, 10 women were honoured for their pioneering contributions to the maritime sector. Also, 10 students, who excelled in an essay competition organised by NIMASA in commemoration of the Day were awarded the Agency’s educational grants.

    Amaechi said the Deep Sea Project, which aims to secure the country’s territorial waters up to the Gulf of Guinea, would inspire greater investors’ confidence in the Nigerian maritime sector and boost the sector’s contribution to the national economy.

    “With this security infrastructure, the revenues of the agencies in the maritime sector will increase and the revenue to the country will also increase.

    “Currently, maritime sector is  returning less than N100 billion; they should be doing more than that. They should be returning above N300 billion. But in terms of the economy, the maritime industry is contributing quite a lot,” the minister said.

     

    Linking railway system to seaports

     

    According to Amaechi, the government’s plan to link the railway system to the seaports, is a way of integrating the maritime sector into the rail master structure. This, he noted, will make movements of goods to and from the ports more effective, thereby boosting the economy.

    He said: “All seaports in Nigeria must be connected by rail; that is a policy of government. We have put in place a 25-year modernisation programme for the rail system. With the master plan, we have taken rail from where the past government stopped into the seaports.

    “For instance, the current Lagos-Kano rail line began from Ebute-Meta. But when we came, we started another line from Ebute-Meta to Apapa seaport. With this, when you bring in your goods, you turn them to the rail that takes them to the hinterland. The one from Lagos to Calabar will link the Calabar, Port Harcourt, and Onne seaports, and so on.”

     

    Gender inclusivity in Deep Blue Project

     

    Stakeholders also pledged to uphold quality female participation in the sector especially in the execution of the anchor security scheme, the Deep Blue Project.

    The Deep Blue Project is a multi-pronged approach towards tackling insecurity in the Nigerian territorial waters and the entire Gulf of Guinea. It involves the acquisition of assets, such as fast intervention vessels, surveillance aircraft, and other facilities, including a command and control centre for data collection and information sharing that will serve the goals of targeted enforcement. The project also includes the training of personnel from the security services to man the assets.

    The objective is to build an integrated surveillance and security architecture that will comprehensively combat maritime crime and criminalities in Nigeria.

    Amaechi, who commended the leaderships of agencies of government in the maritime sector for their commitment to capacity development, pledged Federal Government’s commitment to gender equality based on competence.

    He said women in Nigeria had shown that the female gender had the capacity to assist government attain the goal of lifting more Nigerians out of poverty.

    “Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations, Amina Mohammed, has excelled as a global technocrat not because of her gender, but due to her knowledge and ability to deliver on assignments given to her.

    “President Muhammadu Buhari is committed to giving capable women opportunity to serve Nigeria. Nigerian women should commit more to capacity development. Women are the most intelligent creation by God,” the minister added.

    NIMASA Director-General, Dr. Dakuku Peterside, who made a presentation on the measures by the Federal Government to tackle maritime security, explained the female gender’s role in the Deep Blue Project.

    Dakuku said: “We have various components in the coordinated maritime security solution and the female gender is already part of the project.

    “Aside land, air, and marine-based assets being acquired, we have an intelligence gathering component where the women are already playing a major role. We recognise gender equality as one of the key platforms on which we can build a sustainable solution to security challenges in Nigerian maritime sector.”

     

    More scholarships for women needed

     

    Also speaking at the occasion, Minister of State for Transportation, Senator Gbemisola Saraki, called for more scholarship and mentorship schemes to boost female participation in the shipping sector. Saraki noted that the achievements of women in the maritime sector had shown that if given the opportunity, the Nigerian woman will excel.

    “We want more scholarships for the girl child in Nigeria. Women who have been given the opportunity in Nigeria have excelled, just as we have shown with the NPA where Hadiza Bala Usman has made tremendous difference, being the first female MD of that Parastatal,” she stated.

     

    UI student wins World Maritime Day essay competition

     

    Meanwhile, a student of the University of Ibadan, Mr. Toluwalope Ojewola emerged overall winner of an essay competition organised by NIMASA to mark the World Maritime Day.

    Ojewola was tops in a group of 10 students whose entries were selected by an independent panel of judges for the final contest. But all 10 nominees were awarded the Agency’s educational grants.

    The essay competition, which had over 100 entries, was on, “Empowering women in the maritime community,” in line with the IMO (International Maritime Organisation) campaign focus, “Supporting gender equality, empowering women” in maritime.

    Ojewola was presented with a N500, 000 Education Grant, a laptop and a plaque by the the Minister of Transportation.

    Miss Blessing Omataye of the University of Benin came second, while Alexander Chikudinaka Nwaegede from the University of Nigeria, Nsuka, came third. Both won educational grants and lap tops. They were part of the 10 students awarded educational grants by the Agency.

    The annual essay competition, which commenced in 2017 is open to only first and second year students of tertiary institutions in Nigeria and is part of NIMASA’s commitment to getting youths, particularly girls, involved in the intellectual discourse on harnessing the potentials of the blue economy in Nigeria.

     

    10 maritime women leaders honoured

     

    The event also witnessed the recognition of some women considered as pioneers in the Nigerian maritime sector. The first female Admiral in the Nigerian Navy, Rear Admiral Itunu Hotonu, First female to Chair the Senate Committee on Maritime and now Minister of State Federal Ministry of Transportation, Senator Gbemi Saraki, Chairman House Committee on Maritime Safety, Education and Administration, Hon. Linda Chuba Ikpeazu, Nigeria’s first most senior female Director at the IMO, Mrs Monica Mbanefo, the First Female Managing Director of the NPA Hadiza bala Usman as well as the first female Director-General of NIMASA Mrs Mfon Usoro.

    Others include Hajia Lami Tumaka Director special duties in NIMASA, Mrs Magaret Orakwusi, Mrs Chinwe Ezenwa, Ms Funmi Folorunso, Dr Vicky Haastrup and others

  • FAQ on Defined Benefits Scheme

    What is a Letter of Administration?

    Letters of Administration are usually granted by a probate registry of a High Court to appoint appropriate person(s) or institution to administer the estate of a deceased person in line with extant applicable laws and regulations such as the Administration of Estate Laws, 2005.

    • What are the features of Letters of Administration?

    In line with the provisions of the Administration of Estate Law, 2005, a valid Letter of Administration must contain the following features: Name of the Court (High Court), Name of deceased; Date; Place of Death; Names and addresses of the beneficiaries; Value of property; and Seal of the Court.

    • Which of the courts is saddled with issuing Letters of Administration?

    The High Court of a state or the FCT High Court.

    • What is the difference between Letters of Administration and Enrollment of Order?

    An Enrolment of Order is a summary of the judgment of a Court for enforcement, while Letters of Administration are granted by a probate registry of the High Court to appoint appropriate person(s) or institution(s) that would administer the estate of the deceased.

    • What is the importance of a seal in a Letter of Administration? Can Letters of Administration be authentic without it?

    Red seal or the seal of the court must be affixed to a Letter of Administration to authenticate the document. A letter of Administration without a seal is invalid.

  • Fidson Healthcare assures shareholders of sustained growth

    The board of Fidson Healthcare Plc has assured shareholders that ongoing expansion and business growth initiatives would continue to strengthen the performance of the healthcare company in the years ahead.

    Addressing shareholders at the Annual General Meeting (AGM) in Lagos, Chairman, Fidson Healthcare Plc, Mr. Segun Adebanji, said the company has continued to strengthen its operating facilities through expansion and retooling.

    According to him, old machines and equipment have been replaced with modern ones as the company repositions through business realignment and useful industry collaboration in order to take advantage of the growth opportunities in the market.

    “We are currently expanding our capacity utilization through increased production and contract manufacturing for other notable companies in the industry,’’ Adebanji said.

    He pointed out that the company has also continued to leverage on its World Health Organisation (WHO)-certifiable factory as it recently entered a partnership with GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) that will see it manufacture for GSK’s West African operations going forward.

    He added the strategic partnership and other market penetration strategy and cost optimization were some of many initiatives to sustain growth and return value to shareholders of the company.

    He noted that with the conclusion of the company’s rights issue earlier this year, the company has already taken steps to improve its financial structure in line with the purpose of the new capital raising, which was aimed at refinancing expensive debt and working capital funding in a bid to improve margins.

    At the meeting, shareholders approved payment of a dividend per share of 15 kobo. The company’s turnover rose by 15 per cent from N14.06 billion in 2017 to N16.23 billion in 2018. Profit before tax however dropped to N160.9 million in 2018 as against N1.6 billion in 2017. The decline was attributed to increased cost of sales margin from 49 per cent in 2017 to 61 per cent in 2018 and 92 per cent increase in finance cost.

     

  • Lagos retirees get N1.5b pension

    Public service retirees in Lagos State under the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) have received N1.55 billion pension.

    In a statement, Lagos State Pension Commission (LASPEC) Director-General Mrs Folashade Onanuga said 287retirees were presented their retirement bond during the  67th Retirement Bond Presentation in Lagos.

    She said Governor Babajide Sanwoolu has continued to rise to the challenge of paying pension benefits promptly.

    According to her, the governor is committed to ensuring that the state  retirees did not labour in vain.

    She added that the government had been funding the accrued pension rights without which retirees would not be able to have access to the balance in their Retirees Savings Account (RSA).

    She implored the retirees to go for regular medical checkups to maintain their mental and physical well-being.

     

  • Firm engages in clean-up

    A leading environmental consultancy company, Ampak Nigeria Ltd (ANL), has partnered the Lagos State Waste Management Authority (LAWMA) to sensitise people on the importance of imbibing good environmental management practices.

    The participants cleaned up Otunba Jobi Fele Way in Alausa, Ikeja.

    Highlighting the company’s commitment towards waste management practices, the Executive Director, Mrs. Kemi Ajakaiye, in her address to volunteers and participants, said waste collection and disposal was just one fraction of the enormous, yet crucial responsibility of managing the environment.

    She said waste management should be targeted at ensuring resource efficiency through the application of sustainable solutions that minimise waste generation, while maximising opportunities for reuse, recycling and regeneration of resources.

    Ajakaiye hailed the LAWMA management, who graced the event with 15 representatives, for their efforts in working towards a cleaner and healthier Lagos.

    She presented the organisation with cleaning tools such as rakes, scrubbing brushes, hand gloves, nose masks and trash bags as a gesture to support its efforts.

    The clean-up exercise is driven by three of the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) – Good Health and Well-Being (Goal 3), Clean Water and Sanitation (Goal 6) and Sustainable Cities and Communities (Goal11).

  • Nigeria needs selfless leaders, says Akinrinade

    Former Chief of Army Staff Lt. Gen. Alani Akinrinade has reflected on the 59th independence anniversary, noting that selfless leaders are in short supply.

    He said attention had been focused on some peculiar considerations, including ethnicity, religion and gender, instead of qualitative and selfless leadership.

    Akinrinade, who retired from the Army as Chief of Defence Staff in 1981 at the age of 41, said many Nigerians who are aspiring to leadership are not motivated by selfless service.

    He said if sefless service was the criteria for leadership recruitment, many soldiers and politicians will not aspire.

    The retired soldier lamented that the military departed from professionalism by meddling in politics.

    In his view, soldiers wrecked havoc on the polity through their activities, which culmunated into an avoidable civil war that led to loss of valuable lives and destruction of property.

    Akinrinade spoke with reporters in Lagos ahead of his 80th birthday holding at the Conference Centre, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Oyo State capital, tomorrow.

    The elder statesman reflected on his civil war years, career as a General Officer Comanding (GOC), Dimka coup, his retirement at a ‘tender’ age, his resignation from the Babangida government, Afenifere crisis, the June 12, 1993 election, the pro-democracy struggle by the National Democratic Coalition (NADECO), and Chief Moshood Abiola’s death.

    He also spoke on the two decades of stable civil rule, national security, President Buhari’s style, indiscipline in the Army, former-President Olusegun Obasanjo’s letter-writing style and the battle for true federalism.

    Noting that Nigeria still has a long way to go, he said corruption has remained an endemic problem.

    He urged President Muhammadu Buhari to demonstrate firmness and consider the imperative of restructuring.

    Akinrinade said Nigeria needed a re-arrangement, warning that its avoidance could be dangerous in the highly divided and heterogenous country.

    He frowned at the avoidance of the 2014 National Conference report by the Federal Government, saying that it was not a wise decision.

    Akinrinade wondered why President Buhari, whose party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), later set up a panel on restructuring, decided to ignore the conference report.

     

  • ‘Why artists must reap from their sweat’

    “Artists do not live on funerals and because they enrich the world with their art, they should be projected. So it is fair that those who take in their work pay them a share of what they earn,” says Senegalese sculptor, Ousmane Sow. This position formed the thrust of discussions at the Ben Enwonwu Foundation Talk Series on artists resale rights in Nigeria held in Lagos. It featured leading stakeholders in the visual art sub-sector, Omolola Afolabi reports.

    Director-General, Nigerian Copyrights Commission, John Asein, has promised to take actions aimed at ratifying the copyrights provision of the artists resale rights in Nigeria.

    Asein, who spoke at the maiden edition of Ben Enwonwu talk series at Alliance Francaise, Ikoyi, Lagos, made the pledge in reaction to Prof Bruce Onobrakpeya’s appeal to the commission to fast-track the approval of the provision of section 13 of the Copyright Law, which seeks to allow artists benefit from secondary and downstream sales of their works.

    Reassuring the artists, the DG said: “We already have enough concerns with piracy in books and music. I never expected to see this in artworks. Strident measures will therefore be taken against such subsequently.”

    Asein, while enlightening the audience on the point of convergence between the Berne Convention and the Nigerian Copyrights Act, said Nigeria is a member of the Berne convention concluded in 1836, and that section 14 of Nigerian Copyrights Commission act sets minimum standard for artists’ resale rights in Nigeria. “We are, therefore, Berne compliant in terms of our copyright legislation,” he noted.

    Article 14 of Berne Convention sets minimum international copyrights standards, which is optional for only about 80 countries. Asein noted that as far as Nigeria is concerned, there is a provision that makes it mandatory for the artist to enjoy some recompense whenever his work is sold at an auction. He, however, added that for author, when a manuscript is sold, he also gets some compensation.

    Executive Director, Ben Enwonwu Foundation, and President, Society of Nigerian Artists (SNA) Mr. Oliver Enwonwu, who  was keynote speaker at the talk, said it is important to give credence and support to the artist who creates the works, which are exclusive to him alone. Decrying the poor remuneration and funding given to artistes, especially visual artists, he cited the record sale of his late father’s master piece Tutu for 1.2million pounds, which he said, neither him nor his siblings got a dime in return. This, he said, is one of the reasons why ‘I’m quite agitated.’

    Enwonwu, who is also Founder, Omenka Art Gallery, Lagos continued: “There is no evidence that the artists resale right has a negative impact on British art market, which is the largest in the world. If musicians, writers and other creatives can benefit from this property rights, why not visual artists?”

    In her reaction, Prof Ebun Clark, an academic and wife of distinguished writer and scholar, Prof. J P Clark, gave a dissenting opinion saying “I am not against resale rights but please do not compare it with literature. The author doesn’t take financial risk. The publisher does and he prints multiple copies and pays the writer royalty, whereas, the artist takes the financial risk of buying canvass, art materials and go out to sell. Sometimes, you have to market yourself. So, it’s not the same market the writer shares with the artist. And when it comes to Nigeria, the writer doesn’t get royalty until after about three years. And they have limitations like pirates and all sorts. You can have your resale rights but please do not compare that with other literary or artistic genres.”

    Clark added: “I will implore you to also have some pity on the collectors who must have taken some financial risks. Again, you focused on only Britain, but America still has reservations for enforcing the resale rights because they think it might affect the art market. I am for resale rights but I’m just trying to tell you to be wary of comparisons”.

    Enwonwu responded by clarifying that the reason for the comparison is the fact that both categories are intellectual properties. On the US art market, he said: “I know that the US does not have that legislation but the UK market is there, which I pointed out earlier that is the second largest in the world. I also brought in Africa that if it is not paying on our continent, perhaps we should also look into it”.

    Speaking on global market for Nigerian art, Neil Coventry, representative of Bonhams, a leading international auction house for African art, gave a historical overview of the Nigerian art market, describing the late Ben Enwonwu, Bruce Onobrakpeya, Yemisi Shyllon and Njideka Akunyili Crosby among leading lights in the art. According to him, Nigerian artists have all been exhibiting on a global scale since the 1960’s till date, noting that what is new is the scale and interest globally. He also shared a numerical illustration on how the Nigerian art market has evolved tremendously over decades and how interests have begun to increase in the auction houses globally.

    However, Coventry expressed deep concerns about the under-representation of African art in the global market, noting that ‘auction houses contribute a lot to the art market and need to do more, otherwise the market might shut down.’ He identified publishing, research and cataloguing as some of the measures that have been taken to document, thereby enhancing interest in the art market.

    On counterfeiting and forgery in the art market in Nigeria, he presented some shocking images of counterfeited works by prominent Nigerian artists. He revealed that the images showed that pirates do not only stop at forging art works, they also go as far as duplicating the artist’s signature with impunity.

    Commenting on the consequences of this, Coventry said art market gets saturated while interest diminishes, adding that there is too much to lose, not just in monetary value but also in culture, heritage and national pride.

    “When looking at the pitfalls of contemporary African art, Africans have been given the right to write their own story, it used to be that the West told Africa’s story on their behalf. Now, we should tell our own story and all we do is copy one another,” he added, noting that for us to grow the Nigerian market globally, we must do our bit locally.

    Intellectual Property lawyer, Ngozi Aderibigbe, lent her voice on the Berne Convention that seeks to unify copyright laws across member states. She noted that one of its key principles is the ‘national treatment,’ which stipulates that member states are enjoined to give the same treatment to foreign works as they would to their own nationals. She added that the law does make an exception in the case of artist’s resale rights, which makes its implementation optional. This, she said, means a member state is not obligated to extend the same benefit to the artiste unless the home country also provides that advantage. “The implementation of this law becomes tricky, however, because you can’t always track the sale of an original work in a global market,” she said.

    National Gallery of Art Acting Director-General Dr. Simon Ikpakronyi, who was represented by Mr. Ajene Isegbe, said the law that established the National Gallery of Art (NGA) as amended in 2003, has provisions to protect the interest of the artists, but that until this moment, the bill still awaits assent. “If the bill is not implemented, there are several capacities in which the NGA cannot operate,” he added. Legal practitioner and art consultant, Mr. Seun Alli, moderated the panel discussion.

    The Ben Enwonwu Foundation, established 2003 was founded in honour of the late Prof Benedict Enwonwu, a foremost Nigerian artist who was named by Times Magazine in 1950 as Africa’s most influential artist of the 20th century due to his unparalleled contributions to the visual arts industry in Nigeria and the rest of the world. One of his most notable works is a bronze of the sitting Queen of England, Queen Elizabeth (II) and the Anyanwu or the awakening, which currently stands at the United Nations Headquarters in the United States.

    Significantly, stakeholders resolved to draw up action plan for implementing artist’s resale right legislation in the country. Among guests that attended the event included Director, Modern & Contemporary African Art, Bonham’s, Mr. Giles Peppiatt, Chairman, Lagos State Council for Arts and Culture, Polly Alakija, Artistic Director, Lagos Biennial, Kunle Oshun, Director, Mydrim Gallery, Mrs. Sinmidele Adesanya, Prof. Frank Ugiomoh, Kolade Oshinowo, Olu Amoda, Wura-Natasha Ogunji, Ndidi Dike, Olu Ajayi, Burns Effiom and Gbolahan Ayoola. Sponsors and partners of the event were Lagos Deep Offshore Logistics (LADOL), Leadway Assurance Company Limited, Zircon Marine Limited, Jackson Etti & Edu, The Sole Adventurer and Ono Bello.

  • I have sold over 30 children, says suspect

    One of the six suspects arrested by the police for stealing and selling babies  to childless women has confessed that she sold two of her own children with the consent of their fathers.

    The suspect, Blessing Stephens, was arrested by the operatives of the Inspector General of Police Intelligence Response Team (IRT) after stealing a boy from a couple at Ikota area of Ajah, Lagos State.

    The 25-year-old suspect was arrested alongside five others, including a homeopathic medical doctor, Una Ekong Godwin, 58; Blessing John 27; Israel Ariyo 33; Itoro Anthony, 40, and Mrs. Mforbong Itoro, 48.

    She said:” I am from Nsitayi, Odor Akwa Ibom state but resides in Ijota Ajah area in Lagos. I dropped out of Bright Academy Secondary School, Ajah, due to a financial problem.

    ‘’There, I dated one Julius Abang and he impregnated me. I had a boy called Emmanuel with Abang in 2010 but we broke up in 2011. Only my mother was taking care of me and when life became unbearable for me I sought an advice from one Mrs. Mforbong and she advised me to sell the child and tell the father that the child had died if he ever cared to ask.

    ‘’I was working as an office assistant and my mother did not know that the child was sold. In 2012 I started another work in a shopping complex in Ikota. When I went to Akwa Ibom for my mother’s burial  I dated another guy, a truck driver and he impregnated me but after two years he abandoned me after impregnating another girl. After one month I sold the baby but I got only N100,000.

    ‘’In 2013, I got another lover named Israel who is an iron bender. Within six months he impregnated me but he was so poor that he could not even feed me nor pay house rent. The motorcycle he usually used to find small money was destroyed by someone who put salt into the engine and the motorcycle became useless.

    ‘’We decided to sell the baby for N250,000. Mrs. Ntoro collected N20,000 and she advised us to tell whoever asked after the child that the baby died and had been buried.

    ‘’Later, Mrs. Ntoro called from village that she needed another baby boy. I told my sister Blessing John to steal a baby boy from Ikota. It is this one that put us in trouble.’’

    On July 14, 2019, a four- year-old boy, Master Ojo Adegboyega Fapounda was stolen from his parents in Ikota housing estate Ajah, Lagos by his neighbour identified as Blessing John.

    She allegedly took the stolen child to Ibadan on July 15, 2019 to meet her childhood friend, Blessing Stephen. The child spent three days in the house of Stephens’s husband identified as Israel Ariyo.

    The stolen child was taken to Akwa Ibom and sold to one human trafficker, Mrs Mforbong for N350, 000. Unfortunately for the buyer, the toddler started crying uncontrollably to the hearing of neighbours who wondered why the child was crying in the house of the old woman who had reached menopause.

    Afraid that she might be exposed, the woman advised Blessing Stephen to return the child to his parents in Lagos after three days on the pretext that the child was too old for her to buy and that she preferred a week- old baby instead.

    Read Also: Gunmen attack army general’s house, kill guard

    Blessing (Stephen) returned the child to Ibadan and handed him over to Blessing (John) to return the boy to his parents at Ikota in Ajah area of Lagos.

    Determined to take the child to a place close to Ikota, she tried to deceive a security man attached to a church at Ketu, a Lagos suburb that she wanted to leave the boy with him in order to pick some items across the road, but the security man declined.

    Unknown to the security man, Blessing later sneaked into the church through the back door and dropped the baby and bolted.

    On discovering the baby in the church, the security man reported the matter to the church authorities and the matter was reported to the nearest police station.

    The baby was subsequently taken to a childcare centre in Lagos by the police.

    Operatives of IRT traced the suspects to Ibadan, Oyo State capital following a petition by the father of the boy leading to their arrest.

    It was said that the syndicate had sold over 30 stolen children.