The Nation Newspaper

Tag: saved

  • Why Etisalat should be saved

    Etisalat, Nigeria’s fourth largest mobile operator is currently enmeshed in a debt crisis with 13 creditor banks. It would be recalled that the telecommunications (telco) firm obtained $1.2bn loan – a medium-term seven-year facility for the purpose of expanding its network and improving the quality of service on its network.

    However, the economic downturn of 2015 and sharp devaluation of the naira negatively impacted on the dollar-denominated loan by driving up the loan value, thus prompting Etisalat to request a loan restructuring from the consortium of banks. Regardless of the situation, Etisalat Nigeria is still seen as a viable investment.

    Prior to this time, Etisalat had consistently and conscientiously met up with its payment obligations. It had, in fact, paid about 42 percent of its original loan taken from the consortium of banks. In an official statement signed by Ibrahim Dikko, Etisalat vice-president of corporate affairs, he stated that: “As at today, we can categorically state that the outstanding loan sum to the consortium stands at $227m and N113bn, a total of about $574m if the naira portion is converted to US Dollars. This in essence means almost half of the original loan of $1.2bn, has been repaid. Etisalat continued to service the loan up until February 2017 when discussions with the banks regarding the repayment restructuring commenced.”

    Meanwhile, Nigeria’s economy contracted by -1.5 percent in 2016 as it slipped into a recession that saw inflation figures rise double digits to 18 percent last year. But the economy is poised to get out of recession before the fourth quarter, as inflation rate dropped to 16% in May. Also, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has sanitised the foreign exchange market such that both parallel and interbank rate have found commonality. Thus, Etisalaat Nigeria would return to keep honouring all its obligations.

    Etisalat Nigeria shareholders may yet emerge the biggest losers in the current situation unless a resolution is urgently reached. The most vulnerable are private equity holders from Nigeria. “All of the infrastructure investment and services for which the loan was secured, were paid through our banks and these are verifiable”, according to Dikko and the telco firm have managed these infrastructure so well as to deliver excellent services.

    The creditors lack the technical expertise to manage a telecommunications outfit. An erosion of shareholder value may precede a takeover. Good enough, the banks have maintained that they have no desire to run a telecommunications company. Their only intention is to recover their money. A strong brand like Etisalat Nigeria with over 23 million subscribers’ base requires minimal disruption of operations to keep their market share in a highly competitive market where subscribers are spoilt for choice and be in a position to repay their outstanding loan.

    Job losses would leave the economy worse-off.  Etisalat Nigeria currently have about 2,000 workers, 115 Permanent Experience centres, 10 Temporary Experience centres, 90 kiosks at Total filling stations all spread nationally. In addition, thousands of more Nigerians are connected with the company either as vendors, sub-contractors, ancillary support services and many indirect businesses have been built around the company’s service offerings.

    If the company goes under, Nigeria’s economy will take a big hit. However, if the loan deal is not resolved, the banks will see their bottom lines severely affected with implications for their own operations, shareholders and the economy. Hence, the Etisalat Nigeria situation has all the ingredients of a ticking economic time-bomb. Skilled bomb diffusion experts will attest to the fact that patience and well-thought out approaches lead to the best results.

    The impasse puts to test the government’s resolve to attract new investments while protecting businesses already in operation in the country but are now challenged. At a time, the country is improving the ease of doing business, it becomes more imperative to protect the investments already secured in the country.

    Admittedly, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and the CBN have played critical roles to resolve the loan crisis. The NCC waded in to say the group of lender banks cannot takeover Etisalat Nigeria until they have fulfilled some regulatory hurdles. Tony Ojobo, Director, Public Affairs, NCC said the lender banks must take note of relevant provision of the Nigerian Communications Act (NCA) 2003 as well as relevant provisions of the laws guiding the transfer of licences issued operators by the telecoms regulator.

    Section 38 and Sub section 1 of the NCA says; “The grant of a license shall be personal to the licensee and the license shall not be operated by, assigned, sub licensed or transferred to another party unless the prior written approval of the commission has been granted;” Sub Section 2 of the same provision equally states that, “A licensee shall at all times comply by the terms and condition of the license and the provision of this act and its subsidiary legislation.”

    Umaru Danbatta, executive vice chairman of the NCC told journalists in Lagos last month, that the Nigerian telecommunication sector has been a major contributor to Nigeria’s gross domestic product (GDP), adding between N1.4 trillion to N1.5 trillion on a consistent basis in the last one and half years. It has also contributed about nine per cent to the GDP in the first quarter of 2017 despite a recession. Etisalat Nigeria has been part of this success story. Stakeholders want to consolidate on the gains made in the sector.

    In situations where debtors fail to meet loan obligations, the management of the debtor institution may be taken over by the bank, a downsizing of operations and asset stripping are usually subsequent actions. In many cases, the debts are not fully recovered and the bank’s bottom-line are severally affected. If the company goes under, the customers of the company will lose the benefit of the network expansion programme, thus, the real motive the company borrowed the money in the first place would be defeated.

    In a win-win situation; Etisalat stays afloat, banks get their money back, employees retain their jobs, subscribers continue to enjoy the network’s excellent services and government also continues reaping its taxes from the network.

     

    • Tsav, a telcom enthusiast and public affairs analyst, writes from Lagos.

  • Saved by the bell

    •Had the FG not changed its mind, 102 officers and 2,500 soldiers could have been sacked unjustly

    News that the Nigerian Army has recalled 102 officers and some 2,500 other ranks, hitherto sacked for alleged desertion, would greatly please the victims. But every thoughtful Nigerian should break into a cold sweat: this massive miscarriage of justice could have stood, had President Goodluck Jonathan won a second term.

    That would have been well and truly tragic. For a country battling the dire challenge of Boko Haram, the security situation would probably even have worsened. If Boko Haram had thrived on citizen alienation and dissonance from the state, sparking fearsome terrorism, one can imagine what such cavalier injustice could have turned the victims into. That reinforces the point that any order that thrives on injustice only digs its own grave.

    The Boko Haram crisis, and the military personnel caught up in its web, is explosively emotive.  The Nigerian state, under President Jonathan, seemed to have no answer to the Boko Haram menace.  The army high command faced near-demystification; and was set to lose its martial swagger. In panic, it would appear to have sent poorly armed soldiers to the war front. But these supposed lions soon turned jelly, faced with superior fire power.

    Should they then have stoically committed avoidable suicide? Or beat some retreat, no matter how untidy, which could have saved their lives but nevertheless opened them up to the charge of desertion — or even, the ultimate disgrace of a soldier being branded a coward?

    But if the state did not provide a soldier all he needs for combat, can the same state morally — and even legally — turn round to charge the victim with desertion; or brand protests that result from such systemic anomalies, “mutiny”?

    That was the grim situation under President Jonathan’s military high command, headed by Air Marshal Alex Barde, former chief of defence staff.  That clear systemic rot was not helped by Marshal Barde’s crass insensitivity, when he declared himself irritated by all of the fuss, since the soldiers could easily have been quietly tried and shot.

    Besides, he added, what the army owed its men were just the uniform and a rifle! But the same Barde, at his pull-out after retirement, admitted the arsenal of the Nigerian military had suffered wilful depletion, over a period of time.

    It is thanks to the majesty of the Nigerian electorate, that voted out President Jonathan, that these service men were virtually saved by the bell — for this verdict reversal would have been near-impossible under the ancien regime.

    Worse: many would have faced the firing squad, leaving their loved ones devastated, with pain, anguish and shame, for it would have been claimed they were cowards rightly shot for bolting, when they should have fought to save fatherland.

    That dire verdict would have been impunity bordering on cold-blooded murder. Yet, the Barde military high command would have spun it as due comeuppance for contemptible deserters, undeserving of the valour and glory of the Nigerian military.

    The grim moral? Offices and laws must be put in the hands of responsible and fair-minded people. The army high command under President Jonathan would appear the direct opposite of such an ethos. That is why the Buhari Presidency should look into ways to officially reprimand that reprehensible conduct, even if each of the involved officers cannot personally be called to account and punished.

    This review is welcome and praise-worthy. But the new military authorities should not stop until every soldier and officer unjustly treated in this saga gets justice. That is the least we can do to restore morale in our armed forces, and recharge our soldiers’ heroic covenant with the Nigerian state.

  • ‘My miraculous survival of Boko Haram attack’

    ‘My miraculous survival of Boko Haram attack’

    It sounds like a movie story but it isn’t. Abubakar Umar, who has just graduated in Petroleum Chemistry from the American University of Nigeria (AUN) in Yola, the Adamawa State capital, was shot thrice by Boko Haram insurgents. He survived despite not receiving medical help for almost 24 hours. He is planning to write a book on his “miraculous survival”. He shares the synopsis of the book with KOFOWOROLA BELO-OSAGIE at his graduation last Saturday.

    •The story of a Boko Haram survivor

    Many in the graduating Class of the 2015 American University of Nigeria (AUN), Yola, won  thousands of naira in prizes for excellence in academics and leadership at an awards dinner last Friday, but the prize for courage, which went to Abubakar Umar, surpassed them all.

    It was only Umar that parents, teachers and dignitaries from far and wide, including the university’s founder, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, gave a standing ovation as he made his way from the back of the expansive hall to the podium to receive his prize. Umar fell a victim of Boko Haram insurgency last year because of his dedication to community service. It remains a miracle that he lived to complete his BSc programme.  He had no medical help for almost 24 hours after he was shot last December 4.

    The university’s President, Dr Margee Ensign, described Umar’s courage as profound and deserving of recognition, especially as he was busy raising funds for the less privileged before he was attacked.

     

    The genesis

     

    It was not for want of adventure that Umar, who hails from Jigawa State, stayed behind after the university closed last December to do extra community service.  It was because the university requires all students to undertake community service projects of their choice – programmes they must initiate, raise funds for and implement to positively impact on their host community; and also because of his passion to help the less privileged.

    He said: “Here at AUN we do a lot of community service. For example, there’s this secondary school that has some extension of classrooms and they don’t have paint. So we organised some of our students to buy paint to paint those schools. We also tutor some of them. Also women from the community are taught English and Mathematics. Some are also taught tailoring and others.

    “I happen to be someone that loves travelling and anytime I am travelling, I see a lot of people, challenging people, lots of struggles everywhere.  I notice some people trekking some kilometres just trying to get drinking water so I know that not all people are from the same place, and some get many things easier than others. Hence, I believe that by reaching out to those people, one day, the gap won’t be that wide and everyone will be okay.”

    During his community service project, Umar said he helped to paint a secondary school in Yola and also teach mathematics and English, among other activities.

     

    The journey

     

    Done with his extra community service, Umar left Yola at 6am with the hope of stopping over at Jigawa to visit his grandparents before getting to Kano, where he lives with his parents.  He was aware of the increasing insecurity in the northeast, which forced the university to close earlier than normal for the year.  He took precautions by stopping in the transit town of Gombe to get some items for his grandparents and share information with fellow travellers on how best to proceed on the journey.  That interaction made him to change his route.

    “The travellers usually converse and exchange ideas about what is happening on the road. That was where the drivers were saying the road from Gombe to Bauchi was not safe. Usually, the road used to have more than 12 checkpoints, but on that day, those people coming from Kano said they saw no single checkpoint. And the military personnel stationed there are not usually brought to that place; they have their containers there so they live at that place.

    “For some strange reason on that day, no check point was seen. So the people were very cautious and they shared the information with us, telling us that we should not pass that road because anything could happen. A road that there is no check point, you know, you are on your own. So we decided that there is a much safer road, which is through the Nafana-Bajuga road, which will take you to Potiskum; then from Potiskum, you pass to Jigawa and then from there, you get to Kano. Although that was a longer route, on that day, it seemed to be the safest of all roads.”

    Sadly, it was not.  It was on that route – about three hours into the journey – that the insurgents struck twice.

    “So myself together with some public drivers, we passed that road and unfortunately, that was where it happened. We passed Bajuga, we passed Nafana, I think I was almost 40 km away from Potiskum. That was where the road was really bad, so I slowed down. When I slowed down, these insurgents came out from the bush and they started shooting drastically at us. At first I wanted to stop because I noticed they were putting on the military uniform.  The trousers were military and the timberland boots. But they were putting on head bands and screaming ‘Allahu Akbar’ so it made me realise that these were not military, they were the insurgents. So I downshifted the vehicle and sped off. And that was when they shot me on my left arm.

    “I kept on driving. I was very scared; so scared that I did not even notice that I had been shot. I was bleeding and kept on driving. I think I drove for five minutes when I noticed that the road was very rough again.  Within that interval of five minutes, there wasn’t any check point or any town in between. I wanted to stop anywhere I could reach quickly, like the nearest town, to report the incident, but there was none.  After the five minutes, I noticed another check point and the pot holes and the road was very bad so I slowed down. And when I slowed down, the same people came out again and they shot me the second time. That was when I was shot twice at my right arm.  But I had to continue driving, because if I had stopped, it would have been the end. I don’t know where the energy came from.”

     

    Help

     

    After some distance, Umar abandoned his car to seek help.  He was bleeding profusely and getting weak.  But help did not come early.  Despite meeting about four groups of people in the village (called Daudu) where he stopped and speaking Hausa to them, they did not help him; they even ignored him.    The last group of older men only volunteered information, advising him to avoid the major roads within the village because the insurgents were around and preaching.

    Their counsel ultimately proved useful as the back routes led him to his helpers – though he was initially turned away by them too.

    He said: “I just took a left turn and I was going. I never knew where I was going but I was just walking and I found myself in the compound of someone. I met a lady there and she wanted to give me shelter to stay but two older women in the house said I cannot stay because if the insurgents came, they would kill me and kill them too. So in order to protect themselves, I have to stay out.

    “I pleaded, because I knew if I should leave that place, I was going to die. But they said if I should continue pleading, that they were going to scream and call them and they were going to kill me. I said there was no need for that and I thanked the old woman and was on the verge of going.

    “But as I was about to go, the old woman told them that the insurgents told them that they were going to attack Gombe and those people happened to have relatives at Gombe. So the old woman told them that ‘if you cannot help this young man, how would you now expect God to protect your own relatives that the Boko Haram are going to attack next?’

    “That was what convinced them that I can stay at their house but should the insurgents come, they don’t know anything about me. So I said ok, I would take my chance. They took me to a toilet where I hid.”

    From about 10am after getting to Dauda Village to the next morning, Umar stayed without medical attention because none was available in the village.  It was perhaps the longest wait of his life as his military contacts could not rescue him until the next day.

    With his car and all its contents stolen, he had to depend on his hosts for first aid and contact with the world.

    “When the man of the house came…I directed him to make the salt and water solution to be very thick and asked him to pour it on the wounds. I could see my bones from the injuries, because they were very deep. He poured it and funny enough, I don’t know what happened, maybe because of the trauma, but I did not feel any pain at that point. He used rags to tie my hand that I had a fracture.  Fortunately, the bleeding reduced to drops.  That sustained till I think around 6pm.

    “He gave me his phone and that was when I made contact.  I have friends in the military.  I called them.  The person I know in the military was not in town.  So he called his friend and the friend then called me; he asked for my location, I told him.  That was around 7 ‘o’ clock in the evening.  He told me that no one can come and take me at that particular moment because Gombe State had imposed a 24-hour curfew then; no one was allowed to move.  He said from Potiskum where they were coming to rescue me, they were afraid that the insurgents may still be around.  So there might be a chance that I might eventually die unless I stayed there till the next morning.  I said no problem.  He told me not to take a lot of water; that if I take water I might die, so I didn’t take anything.  He told me to get some antibiotics if it was possible.  Everyone had left that place so there wasn’t any pharmaceutical help of any kind.  I have to stay there till the next place and that was when they came to get me.”

    The next day, in order to get help, Umar said he disguised like a mad man to beat Boko Haram informants.

    “The man of the house told me that there were Boko Haram informants in that particular village.  So if I am going out I need to dress like a mad man and disguise myself so nobody would recognise me; and I had to go through the back door so that no one will see me and I won’t put him into any sort of trouble.

    “And that was exactly what happened.  I covered myself in chicken dung and some sand, mud and something like that.  I removed my shoes; put them inside my pocket, and walked barefooted like a mad man.  I walked to the road side and they came and took me to Potiskum, where I received first aid treatment before my parents came and took me to Kano where I had surgery.  And I think I didn’t recover until after 14 weeks,” he said.

     

    Recovery

     

    Eight weeks in hospital stabilised Umar enough to return to school towards the end of January.  But it took another six weeks before he could remove his cast and learn to write again.  He missed examinations; could not take notes in class and had trouble with post traumatic stress disorder.  But, he got help from the university.

    He said: “Even when I was recovering I hardly slept for over two hours in the night or may be one hour. I had nightmares.  But later on, I kept on getting help from the AUN Psychologist, Regina Musa.  She did well.  I also received therapy from AUN clinic.

    “I resumed school sometime late January (21st/22nd) – that was about eight weeks.  I had to be with my POP cast for like I think extra four or five weeks.  And then I just attend classes but I can’t write.  I used my phone to snap the blackboard, stuff like that.  There were exams then but I couldn’t write them.  The school knew about my situation so they said that they were going to give me make-up exams when I was alright.

    “After the cast was removed, it took me like two extra weeks to learn to start holding my pen because I had a fracture in my right hand and I could not write.  You can see that it is still not fully alright.  They gave me my make up exams and here I am.  I passed and I have graduated.”

     

    Future plans

     

    Despite the challenges, Umar graduated with a Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA) of 3.00 (on a 4.00 scale), which is an equivalent of a second class upper degree.

    His immediate plan, with his school’s support, is to write a book on his experience; then go for further studies.

    Above all, Umar is grateful to be alive and now he is a Petroleum Chemist.

    “The day of the incident, I felt like I could have died because I passed out. I lost so much blood; there wasn’t any transfusion; I stayed for 24 hours without any medical help.  So I believed I could have died that day but somehow Allah kept me alive for some reasons I guess.  Who knows maybe completing this degree is one of the reasons.”

  • PEF saved $2b for Fed Govt, says ex-boss

    PEF saved $2b for Fed Govt, says ex-boss

    FORMER Petroleum Equalisation Fund (PEF) boss Mrs Adefunke Kasali yesterday said the agency saved more than $2billion through Project Aquila.

    She spoke in Abuja while handing over to the new Executive Secretary, Mr. Asabe Ahmed .

    Project Aquila is a high-tech electronic loading and delivery system introduced by PEF to check leakages in the system, as well as enthrone transparency and due process.

    According to her, PEF has been able to check fraudulent activities among petroleum marketers and ensured transparency in the system through the project.

    She said: “The new initiative, also known as ‘e-loading’ ensures the delivery of petroleum products to the right destination.

    ‘The process has checkmated the annual loss of N15 billion to the activities of some unscrupulous petroleum tanker drivers who engaged in some unethical activities such as diversion of petroleum products.”

    Kasali said the agency had taken a bold step to eliminate corruption and ensure prompt payment of bridging cost through ‘Project Aquila,’ adding  that through the initiative, PEF had detected and stopped payment of more than N847million in fictitious claims by petroleum marketers.

    Kasali said the project had also been able to remove encumbrances that normally caused distortions in the supply chain such as the issue of prompt payment of bridging claims.

    “Just look at the way we designed the business. We saved $2billion upfront because we wrote the codes in-house and how about all the 10s of billions we have saved by people that used to claim them.

    “There was a time when we stopped N847 million worth of fake ticket and all the ones we have been saving ever since,” she said

    Kasali also refuted claims that the board was underpaying some marketers or delaying their payment, saying the PEFMB had been consistent in paying the right claims due to marketers.

    This, she said, was in accordance with their capacity as approved by the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR).

    She said: “Those who are complaining are those that the robust Project Aquila has blocked their old ways of “milking’’ the system and are uncomfortable with the new measures imposed to check past abuses.

    “If any marketer said he was not paid, it means we could not confirm that they were loaded so if somebody said his claim has been stocked, it means that they were not loaded.”

    The new Executive Secretary, Mrs Asabe Ahmed lauded the achievement of Kasali and promised to build on the achievement.

    “I can see a team of highly motivated professionals and the efficiency I have seen in the system is due to all of you. I have come to carry on from where she has left off,” she said.

  • Can the Bar Beach be saved?

    Samson Ajibade (not his real name) and his colleagues sat at one of the entrances to the wide concrete embankment on the Lagos Bar Beach on Ahmadu Bello Way, Victoria Island to collect N200 toll from picnickers. With his huge frame, he looks menacing. Many picnickers paid the toll without complaints. Some didn’t, but it was not to his hearing.

    Armed with an identity card purportedly issued by the Lagos State government, Ajibade, who is in his 30s, told a reveller: “Except you are bigger than the government, that is when you would be exempted from paying the toll; do you think we put ourselves here?” The reveller was not there for sight seeing, he had come to have his lunch at an eatery near the Eko Atlantic City sales office and showroom.

    There are others like him on the oldest Lagos Beach, who have made it their ‘cash cow’; feeding fat on unsuspecting visitors, by purportedly collecting tolls from them in the name of generating revenue for the Eti-Osa Local Government. They hide inside the 3.6 tonnes X shaped blocks to perpetrate their act. Their presence raises nostalgic feelings about the beach, which was the haven of fun seekers and revellers, especially during holidays and festivities. But neglect and frequent surges have made the beach a pain in the neck for residents of Victoria Island and motorists plying the Ahmadu Bello Way.

    Offices and homes are flooded when the ocean overflows its banks. A portion of Ahmadu Bello Way becomes impassable. Adjoining streets, such as Bishop Oluwole, Tiamiyu Savage, Adetokunbo Ademola, Oju Olobun, Ologun Agbaje and others are not spared.

    In 2005, when another surge occurred, the Bola Tinubu administration got the nod of the Federal Government to find a lasting solution to the problem. An extensive survey of severely affected areas showed places adjacent to the west of the Abia State Liason office on Ahmadu Bello Way, where the width of the beach was less than three metres. Shoreline protection, according to the Lagos State Government, was the best option. A Dutch shoreline protection firm, Hitech Group, was hired for the job.

    The project comprised the construction of shoreline protection of 1,000 metres length to start at a point to the west of Abia State Liaison office up to the defunct IMB Bank building. The design, according to the government, would use layers of rock placed on a geo-textile sheet with pre-cast concrete elements placed on the beach front, as the primary protection. The ‘x-blocks’ weighing 3.6 tonnes each, were designed to form an interlocking barrier to incoming waves. The sizes of the blocks, according to officials, were determined by computer simulation to withstand the worst predictable storm conditions within a 100-year period.

    “The restoration and stabilisation of the Bar Beach project was divided into two phases; Phase one of the project was awarded for N4.072 billion, while the Phase II contract was awarded for N2.259 billion,” the government said.

    The unprecedented success recorded at the waterfront protection made the Lagos State government to try reclaiming ‘lost lands’ in the last 100 years, which are estimated at about nine million square kilometres. This brought about the sealing of a multibillion-dollar concession deal in July 2006 with another foreign firm, South Energyx Nigeria Limited (SENL), to build a 21st century city, Atlantic City, meant to serve as the strategic business hub for the sub-Saharan Africa. Years back, the Federal Government tried many unsuccessful projects to check the over-flow of the beach without any success. It was alleged to be a sort of cash-cow for successive ministers. During the tenure of Alhaji Lateef Jakande as the Minister of Works and Housing, the government gave out a contract for dropping of sand bags on the shore to check the angry wave at the beach, but they were all washed away at the slightest surge. The value of real estate on Ahmadu Bello Way during this period dropped, which was hitherto a prime real estate axis that had most of the states’ liaison offices. But now the axis is having its groove back as the state government with recent developments on the beach seem to have found a permanent solution to the problem.

    The Bar Beach, according to those who know its history, is a beach with a natural bar. Rev Brother Steve Lucas of the Dominican Order of the Catholic Church, who lived on the Takwa Bay, adjacent to the beach, for 40 years, said the Bar Beach got its name from the bars it had in the past. “Because of those natural bars, no ship could berth at that beach. Each time any ship attempted it, it would crash as it would have run into a natural bar at the beach. This made the government to dredge it then, but that did not help much as there were other areas on Lagos coastline converted to ports,” the 80-year-old American Reverend Brother said.

    This natural bar, Rev. Brother Lucas said, might have accounted for the seeming neglect it suffered which invariably made it susceptible to erosion from the Atlantic Ocean. “Surges are natural occurrences, they happen when the ocean tide is high. We experience it often here and there is no human cause for it; it’s a natural phenomenon,” he said.

    The cleric would not support those who said the sand filling of the Atlantic City could have caused the flooding of some beaches in Lagos last year.

    As the raining season approaches, visitors to the beach have, however, noted that the embankment and the shoreline extension, though effective, may not last if periodic maintenance is not carried out. There are fears that activities of touts and miscreants may undo whatever good work was executed by the government.

    “My fear actually is that the beach may be no more. This reason is simple; the territorial reclamation of the government as it were, may phase it out. I’m talking about the Atlantic City, which I sense may swallow the beach later on,” said Akinwale Thomas, a property consultant who was at the Atlantic City showroom for a business transaction.

    The beach, according to him, has suffered seriously from the government’s neglect and various abuses from people who visited it for diverse purposes. “Is it the abuse from the so-called spiritualists, who have turned it to their churches you want to talk about, or the street urchins and miscreants who have made it their den?” he asked.

    But, in a statement, Lagos State Governor, Babatunde Fashola (SAN) said the state has made inroads into checking the ocean surge. He recalled that the solution embarked upon then by the government at the centre was to pump sand every two years, which was costing the nation between N3 and N4 billion.

    He said each time the sand was pumped, the sea just came and washed it away. He explained that when the Kuramo incident happened, the wave was as high as seven metres, stressing that the waves that hit Kuramo were possible because there was no protection for it.

    The governor said what his administration has done is to build a defence wall in the sea after reclaiming what the sea washed away.

    He said some of the projects the state government has embarked upon in the last three years was the clearing of the Itirin Canal, which has saved the state from greater calamity.

    He said: “I am happy we had to remove a property that was blocking the Itirin Canal then and it even became an issue during the last governorship election campaign because it’s the Itirin Canal that leads to Kuramo and down to the Five Cowries Creeks.”

    Elaborating other measures taken by the state, the governor explained: “If you go to the Mobil House on the Lekki-Epe Expressway, what that road has done for us is to improve our coastal drainage system. Before now, there was only one the engineers refer to as box culvert at the Mobil House, which links Itirin Canal into the Five Cowries Creek. We undertook a project to expand it to four. That expansion allowed free passage of water from the Atlantic to discharge into the lagoon – thereby checking the coastal surge from the bar beach.”

  • How agric scheme saved Fed Govt N25b, by minister

    The Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development last year saved about N25 billion through its Growth Enhancement Support Scheme (GES), its minister Dr. Akinwunmi Adesina said at the weekend.

    Adesina spoke at a workshop on the implementation of this year’s farmers’ registration and GES delivery scheme in Abuja. The scheme was introduced by the ministry.

    In a statement, the Minister said: “Indirect targeting of farmers made it easy to divert funds, subsidised fertilisers, seeds and tractors meant for farmers to the open market where they were illegally sold at huge profits. As a result, tens of billions of Naira were spent every year to reach farmers with agricultural inputs but the level of utilisation of improved seeds and fertilisers remained very low.”

    “I am pleased to let you know that in 2012, fertiliser companies sold N 15 billion ($100 million) of fertilisers directly to farmers. Seed companies sold N1.5 billion ($10 million) to farmers, directly. The GES programme also saved government a lot of funds. Instead of the former blanket subsidy system, the GES involved direct contributions by the farmers, the Federal Government and state governments. Of the N15 billion spent on the programme in 2012, farmers contributed N 7.5 billion; state governments contributed N3.8 billion, while the Federal Government paid N5 Billion. GES is therefore a cost-sharing arrangement between the beneficiaries and the government. The GES scheme saved the Federal Government N25 billion in funds it would have needed to give fertiliser and seed contracts, as fertiliser companies and seed companies were also able to raise financing for their products from banks, through a guarantee facility for their loans issued by the Federal Ministry of Finance,” Adesina said.

    According to the Minister, his ministry ended the corruption of four decades in 90 days: “We took the government out of direct procurement and distribution of fertilisers. Today, seed and fertiliser companies sell their products directly to farmers, instead of to the government,” he said.

  • NFF: Keshi, Eagles saved our jobs

    NFF: Keshi, Eagles saved our jobs

    VICE-PRESIDENT of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) Victor Umeh has commended Coach Stephen Keshi and his boys for saving their jobs in the nation’s football ruling body.

    In an interview in Calabar, the first vice president said that all members would have resigned enmass if the team failed to make it to the Nations Cup the second time running ‘first I have to commend the team for their doggedness in ensuring that they did not only qualified, but humilated the ever boastful Liberians with such a wide margin that they would live to remember in the game of football.

    The team also saved us the board members from the horrors we would have faced in resigning enmass. Because, Nigerians would not have taken any excuse whatsoever to justify that the country would not be represented at the Nations cup for the second time running. I don’t know how to thank them, but to we are very grateful’.

    In her message, the Chairperson of te Women League Board, Dilichukwu Onyedinma said the resounding victory recorded by the Super Eagles would go a long way to restore hopes on the Board, as they would concentrate attention in mapping out strategies on ways of improving the game further in the country. Another Board member, Shehu Adamu said the match against tke Lone stars have shawn that the Board did not make mistakes in its choice of a coach. He said that the glorious days of the Super Eagles are gradually returning, that what is left for the team now is to prepare adequately for the task of winning the Africa Nations Cup in South Africa next year.