Stolen funds: No plea bargain- FG

...towards a better life for the people

N150VOL. 25: NO. 62653

ONLINE | www.vanguardngr.com

MONDAY, DECEMBER 21, 2015**

Mr & Mrs

Stolen funds: No pleabargain—FG

Continues on Page 5

CMYK

•Insists all stolen money must be recovered•Says plea bargain allows looters to get away with fraud

VANGUARD Personalities of the Year

President Buhari Ex-President Jonathan Asiwaju Bola Tinubu Ex-INEC Chairman, Jega

By Soni Daniel,Northern Region

Editor

ABUJA —THEF e d e r a l

Government declared,yesterday, that it wasmore interested inrecovering to the lastkobo, all public fundsstolen and stashed awayby top politicians andtheir cronies under theguise of arms purchase.

It said it was not keenon frivolous pleabargain option beingcontemplated by some ofthe suspects nowstanding trial.

The government saidsuch plea bargain allowslooters to go away withstolen public assets.

Attorney General of theFederation and Ministerof Justice, Mr. AbubakarMalami, (SAN) disclosed

5

Fuel crisisdefies solutionnationwide 8

P.48

HENRYBOYO

OWEILAKEMFA

P.49

CO

LU

MN

ISTS:

Justice for theliving, justice for

the dead

Naira exchange rate,CBN “don” miss road

BOKO HARAM VICTIM—Vice President Yemi Osinbajo(M), his wife, Dolapo and others at the National Hospital Abuja, after successful surgery on victim of Boko Haram, baby Aisha, weekend.

2 — Vanguard, MONDAY, DECEMBER 21 , 2015

CMYK

Vanguard, MONDAY, DECEMBER 21 , 2015 — 3

CMYK


CMYK

POCKET CARTOONVanguard, MONDAY, DEEMBER 21, 2015—5

IT'S UP TO YOUBY AYO ADIO

TAKE HEARTBY ELLA RANDLE

We'll recover stolen funds,no plea bargain—FG

SAYINGS OF OUR PEOPLE

Continues from Page 1

THE raging fire will not force thechameleon not to walk like a prince.

NATIONS become great because of the audacityand visionary tendencies of its citizens. If this

nation would ever become great, then you mustdevelop the audacity to dream and to do.

The best way to predict the future is to create itnow — Forbes

HOW do you create your future? Figure out whatyou want. Take small steps toward making it a

reality. Find mentors in your area of interest andcontemplate on their experiences from start tosuccess. If it means being flexible, adjusting to yourinitial path, so be it. In other words, the best way tocreate the future is to learn and act in the now.

ICOBA—From left: President of Igbobi College Old Boys' Association(ICOBA), Mr. Foluso Phillips; Founder of FCMB Group and recipient ofICOBA Lifetime Achievement Award, Otunba Olasubomi Balogun and VicePresident Yemi Osinbajo, during the association's Annual Christmas Dinnerheld Friday in Lagos.

this in an exclusiveinterview with Vanguardlast night.

According to Malami,the era of allowing smartpersons to loot publicfunds and pay back apittance under the guiseof plea bargain is over.

The minister made itclear that all those whoare implicated by thearms probe and otherscams that have cost thenation hundreds ofbillions of Naira, wouldbe made to cough out themoney and still pay theprice for breachingpublic trust.

The reaction of thegovernment came on theheels of the reportedwillingness of some toppoliticians to refund overN650 million which theyclaimed to have collected

from the former NationalSecurity Adviser, Col.Sambo Dasuki, forcampaign purposes.

According to a mediareport on yesterday, thetop politicians, who hadacknowledged collectingthe money for themobilization of theirsupporters in the six geo-political zones of thecountry, were makingmoves to quietly returnthe money to thegovernment.

However, the AttorneyGeneral made it clearthat while the option ofplea bargain was beingweighed, thegovernment would firstof all take necessarysteps to recover themoney.

Malami said: ”Let mejust make it clear to allthat under the present

administration, it is nolonger business-as-usual. As at today, a lotof measures are beingput in place to recoverthe loot which a fewprivileged Nigeriansstole and stashed away.

“It is an article ofobligation under the lawof the FederalGovernment of Nigeria toconvict the looters andrecover the amounttraced to each of them toshow the disdain thatthis government has forcorruption and to serveas a warning signal thatnobody is authorised tosteal the commonwealthof Nigerians under anyguise."

Malami said that thelaws of Nigeria wereadequate to deal withthose who carted awaythe nation’s resourcesand are now living largerthan their income.

He said that the FifthSchedule of the NigerianConstitution has pushedthe burden of proof fromthe government to thosewho looted the funds toprove their source ofwealth and why theyshould not be jailed.

According to him, thelaw allows thegovernment to convictthe accused persons andalso take steps to recovertheir assets.

Article 11 of the 5thSchedule of theConstitution says:“Subject to the provisionsof the Constitution,every public officer shallwithin three months aftercoming into force of thisCode of Conduct orimmediately after takingoffice, and thereafter, (a)at the end of every four

years and (b) at the endof his terms of office,submit to the Code ofConduct Bureau, awritten declaration of allhis properties, assetsand liabilities and thoseof his unmarriedchildren under the age of18 years.

“Any statement in suchdeclaration that is foundto be false by anyauthority or personauthorised in that behalfto verify it shall bedeemed to be in breachof this Code.

“Any property or assetsacquired by a publicofficer after anydeclaration requiredunder this constitutionand which is not fairlyattributable to income,gift, or loan approved bythis code, shall bedeemed to have been

acquired in breach of thiscode unless the contraryis proved”.

Meanwhile, there wereindications that no fewerthan 10 top PDP leaderswho have been named asbeneficiaries of the armsfunds might besummoned within theweek to explain theirroles in the scam.

A top operative in theEconomic and FinancialCrimes Commission,EFCC, told Vanguardthat the individualsneeded to be invited toclear the air on the probebefore further steps weretaken against them.

“As their names keeppopping up in the courseof our investigation, weneed to give them theopportunity to speak upbefore we take the nextstep,” the source saidlast night.

Buhari, Jonathan emerge VanguardPersonalities of the Year, 2015

Lifetime Achievements Awards*Otunba Michael Olasubomi Balogun, Chairman,

First City Group*Lt. Gen. T.Y. Danjuma (Rtd)*Alhaji Abdulsamad Rabiu, Chairman, BUA

Group*Dr. Alex Ekwueme, former Vice-President*Senator David Dafinone, Eminent Accountant *Chief (Mrs) Nike Akande, President, LCCI

African Businessman of The Year *Dr Mike Adenuga, Jnr, Chairman, Globacom

Governors of The Year 1. Adams Oshiomhole, Governor, Edo State 2. Ibikunle Amosun, Governor, Ogun State 3. Kashim Shettima, Governor, Borno State 4. Ibrahim Dankwambo, Gombe State Gov

*Tinubu, Jega,heroes ofdemocracy

*Ekwueme,Danjuma,Dafinone, Akandeothers win life timeawards

*Oshiomhole,Amosun,Dankwambo,Shetimma emergeGovernors of theYear

Muhammadu Buhariwas focused in hispersistent pursuit of thepresidency. Havingattained the maximumpolitical office as amilitary head of state 32years earlier at the ageof 41, Buhari seemeddetermined to regainpolitical office aspresident.

He submitted himselfto a democratic processthat in its courseprojected the re-

engineering of thepolitical landscape. Inthe end and for the firsttime in the nation’spolitical history, anincumbent president wasdefeated in an election.

In the run-up to theelection, the Buharipersona became a majorissue, but Buhari ascandidate took theinquisition withremarkable aplomb. Tothe credit of the Buharipersonality, many ofthose who contested onthe platform of his partywon on the coattails of hisremarkable victory.

His dogged pursuit, hisincomparable victory andhis so far unwaveringefforts in sanitising thepolity, MuhammaduBuhari is by theunanimous decision ofVanguard editors,Vanguard Personality ofthe Year, 2015.Dr. Goodluck

Jonathan –Personality of theYear, 2015

Like the mortal he is,Dr. Goodluck Jonathan’sfairy tale politicalexpedition was bound tocome to an end.

Following his advent,President Jonathan hadpromised to sanitise theelectoral process, just asnearly all of the nation’sprevious leaders. Dr.Jonathan, however,proved to be anexception allowing theincorporation of anelectoral system thateventually led to hisdefeat.

President Jonathan’sdecision not to seekjudicial or other crudedisruption of theoutcome of the 2015

presidential election notonly turned out to be hisfinest hour, but aglittering anchor thathas helped to stabilisethe nation’s democracy.

For his brave smile inthe face of defeat, hisefforts in refining thenation’s electoral systemand his continuingcontinental role in thepromotion of democracy,Dr. Goodluck Jonathan isthe choice of Vanguardeditors for JointPersonality of the Year,2015.

By EmmanuelAziken, Political

Editor and CliffordNdujihe, DeputyPolitical Editor

Continues on Page 7

6—Vanguard, MONDAY, DECEMBER 21 , 2015

Abductorsof twoCatholicpriests inDelta demandN100mransom

Police arrest 12 suspected cultists forbeheading man

By Caleb Ayansina

By Festus Ahon

By Esther Onyegbula

One hospitalised in Lagos auto crash

LAGOS—ONE person hasbeen reportedly hospitalised

in an accident involving a DAFtruck and a Honda vehicle atKirikiri area of Lagos, oppositeNigeria Maritime Administrationand Safety Agency, NIMASA,building.

It was learned that the accidentoccurred when a DAF truck withnumber plate, JJJ875YK Lagos,carrying steel boards lost controland rammed into a navy blueHonda vehicle, which in turnrammed into an electric pole at

LAGOS—TWELVE men, whohave been on the wanted lists

of the Police for allegedlybeheading one Afeez Obokwu inMay this year, have been arrestedby officers of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad, Lagos StateCriminal Investigation andIntelligence Department, PantiYaba.

It was learned that Obokwu’sheadless body was recovered onthe highway at Oyingbo railwaywhile the severed head wasrecovered by the Police at theOtto Ilogbo, Ebute Meta area.

The suspects arrested by thePolice on tip off by members ofthe public include Kazeem Ajani,Suliamon Bello, Idowu Morawo,Abiodun Adeleke,TaiwoJayesimi, AberdeenSanjowa,Abubakar Umaru,Ogunlade Dayo, Sodiq Olalere,Lekan Ajayi, Jamiu Wahaab andKudus Olatunde.

While describing the suspectsas serial killers, the Police saidsome of the suspects were earlierarrested and charged to court butwere released.

From investigation, thesuspects belong to two rival cult

A S A B A —SUSPECTED

kidnappers of the twoCatholic Priestskidnapped in Delta statehave reportedlyestablished contact withthe Issele-Uku Diocesedemanding a ransom ofN100 million.

Rev. Fr. FranklynOdiaka and Rev. Fr.Moses Nwanochei werelast Friday kidnappedaround Obior, AniochaNorth Local GovernmentArea of the state on theirway from a ceremony inhonour of their Bishop,Most Rev. Michael Elue.

A source within theDiocese, who spoke withVanguard on condition ofanonymity, said theabductors contactedsome of their priests inthe diocese.

While noting that thechurch has begunpraying for the release ofthe priests, the sourcesaid that the kidnappersinsisted on getting theN100 million ransombefore they will releasetheir victims.

The state Police PublicRelations Officer, DSPCelestina Kalu, who hadearlier confirmed thekidnap of the priests,said the church had notlodged a formalcomplaint to the Police.

Kalu in a text messagesaid: “Up till now, thePolice command has notreceived a formal orofficial report from theCatholic Church.”

Meanwhile, membersof the AssumptionCatholic Church, Zappa,Asaba have sinceembarked on prayers forGod to protect the victimsand grant themunconditional releasefrom their abductors.

Another source in thechurch told newsmenthat two prayer sessionswere held yesterday afterthe usual Sundaymasses, adding that “thefirst session which beganby 2pm involved allwomen in the churchwhile the second onewhich began by 4.30pminvolved all theparishioners.”

1000 vigilantes killed by Boko Hram—Commandant-General

ABUJA—MORE than 1000vigilante members in the

North-East of the country haveso far been killed by the BokoHaram terrorists, theCommandant-General, VigilanteGroup of Nigeria, UsmanMohammed Jahun, hasdisclosed.

Jahun, a retired Major -General, made this known whileaddressing his men, who

participated in the three-dayintelligence and provosttrainings, organised by the group,weekend, in Abuja.

He said it is unfortunate thatdespite the sacrifices made by thedeceased members, their familieswere neither compensated norrecognized by the government.

‘’We are making personalsacrifice to address securityissues at the grassroots acrossthe country, but no one is

recognizing us. It is unfortunate,we should be encouraged by away of recognition,” he said.

Also speaking, the chairman ofthe group’s Board of Trustees,Alhaji Ahmed Dahaltu, pleadedwith President MuhammaduBuhari and other relevantgovernment agencies to formallyrecognize activities of the group.

‘’Let our members also have thesame benefits with other securityoutfits in the country. We are closer

to the grassroots more thanany of them and we are fightingcrime with sincerity. Oursupport to the presentadministration is total and wewould continue to assist incurbing crimes in localcommunities,” he said.

Participants said they havebeen equipped for the taskahead and begged relevantauthorities to utilize them infighting crime at local level.

By Esther Onyegbula

WALKING THE DOG: Dogs walking, during the first Jos dog walk organised by Grand Cereals in-conjunction with Jos Kennel Club in Jos, Plateau State. Photo: NAN.

groups called the Otto Boys withallegiance to the Eiye cult andthe Apapa Boys with allegianceto the Aiye cult with their base atthe Ebute-Meta area of the state.

The suspects in theirconfessional statements to thePolice revealed that they hadparticipated in various killingsacross the state.

Narrating how they beheadedtheir victim, one of the suspects,Taiwo said his gang members

killed four persons in a supremacyfight and beheaded one of theirvictims, Afeez Obokwu .

“My name is Taiwo butpopularly called Figo. Sometimesin May, there was a crisis betweenthe Otto Boys and the Apapa Boys.I belong to the Otto Boys. Theleader of our gang is calledDangbe.

“On that particular day , ourgang killed four rival cultmembers of the Apapa Road gang.We went to Apapa Road and

engaged them in a shootoutwhere we killed four of theApapa Road cultists," he said.

Taiwo Jayesimi listed thosekilled to include Akin, Fatia,Afeez Obokwu and Eleto,adding that they used cutlassto behead Obokwu. “TheApapa boys also killed some ofour boys namely Abeeb, Tunde,Gani and Baba Benti. It was agang war of supremacybetween our gang and theApapa Road Boys,” he said.

the middle of the highway.Although the occupants of the

vehicle escaped unscathed, theHonda vehicle was damagedbeyond repair.

The accident which resulted inheavy gridlock caused untoldhardship to motorists plying theKirikiri axis.

Eyewitnesses, who blamed thetruck driver for the incident, saidthe occupants of the navy blueHonda were rescued.

When Vanguard got to the sceneofficials from Federal Road SafetyCorps and policemen were on

ground directing traffic whileeffort was being made to towaway the truck and the vehicleto Kiri-kiri police station.

When contacted, thespokesperson of the LagosState Police Command, DSPJoe Offor, said accidentoccurred at Kirikiri area ofLagos. "All the vehiclesinvolved in the accident havebeen recovered. The accidentwasn’t fatal, but one of thevictims who suffered shock isnow receiving treatment in ahospital,” he said.

Vanguard, MONDAY, DECEMBER 21, 2015—7

By Demola Akinyemi

4 feared dead in fresh Share, Tsaragicommunal clash

ILORIN—TRAGEDY struckSunday afternoon in Ilorin as

three persons inside a car werecrushed to death by a movingtrain.

Vanguard reliably gatheredthat the victims, two young menand a lady, were inside a ToyotaCamry car with allfour windowswound up when they werecrushed by the moving trainsaid to be coming from thenorth to Offa.

With the car ’s windowswound up, the three occupantsof the car unknowingly parkedon the railway line at Kulendearea of Zango as they were saidto be carried away by what theywere doing in the car.

An eye witness said: "As thetrain was fast approaching,several shouts and alerts by thepassers by to the threeoccupants inside the ToyotaCamry car to drive away fromthe railway line failed as theycould not hear what the peoplewere saying.

"Consequently, the oncomingtrain heavily crushed the carwith the occupants, causingcommotion and pandemoniumin the area."

Bayelsa female commissioner abducted by gunmenBy Emem Idio

Y ENAGOA— B A R E L Ytwenty-four hours after

the sister of the Bayelsa stateGovernor, Seriake Dickson,was kidnapped, suspectedkidnappers on Sunday struckin Ogbia Local GovernmentArea abducting the servingCommissioner for LocalGovernment, Mrs. Sarafina

ILORIN—NO fewer than fourpeople were feared dead while

thirty others were injured and 50houses razed in renewedcommunal clash between thepeople of Share and Tsaragidespite the curfew imposed byKwara State Government.

Vanguard reliably gathered that30 other people sustained seriousinjuries in Share town in IfelodunLocal Government Area of KwaraState yesterday following theinvasion of the town by peoplesuspected to be youths fromTsaragi.

Soldiers keep watchAlready, soldiers from Sobi

army baracks, Ilorin have beendrafted to the warring towns soas to support the anti-riotpolicemen drafted to the town onSaturday when the crisis

By Demola Akinyemi

Train crushes 3 persons in Ilorin

•30 injured, 50 houses burnt

The incident which occurredat the rail line at Kulende areaof the state capital caught manyby surprise as such incidenthad never happened in the area

since the existence of therailway line.

The remains of the victimswere immediately taken toUniversity of Ilorin Teaching

resumed.Also, churches, mission houses,

and schools with equipped ICTfacilities were reportedly burntduring the incident.

The two communities of Shareand Tsaragi in the state had beenengaged in face-off over a landdispute.

On Saturday, no fewer than 20people reportedly sustainedserious injuries when the clashbetween the two towns resumedover the invasion of the disputedland.

Sources in the town toldVanguard that the irate youthssuspected to be from Tsaragitown, armed with dangerousweapons including guns,invaded Share town and startedburning some houses allegedlybelonging to the people of thetown.

The sources informed that the

invasion by the irate youthssuspected to be from Tsaragi towntook the people of Share unawaresas the earlier presence of anti-riotpolicemen drafted to the warringtowns gave them assurance of fullprotection until the irate youthscame to attack the Sharecommunity with dangerousweapons.

Church, schools razedEye witness account who sought

anonymity from the war zone saidthat the irate youths of Tsaragihave reportedly burnt UnitedMissionary Church, Share, themission houses of the pastors, theUMCA school, the MuslimCommunity High School and setablaze the ICT centres in theaffected schools in the ancienttown.

Vanguard further gathered thatsome of the injured people have

been taken to a private hospitalin Share for proper medicalattention.

Shops closedSources added that the

incident prevented manyChristians from the towns fromattending yesterday's churchservices while many residentsclosed their shops and businesspremises to avoid beingattacked by the irate youths.

The sources added that thearmy from the Sobi barrackshave been working well toensure normalcy returned afterthe burning of the houses in theancient town of Share.

Contacted, the state policecommand Public Relations Officer, Mr.Ajayi Okasanmi, confirmed theincident saying that ”only three houseshave been burnt.”

ACCIDENT: Wreckage of the Toyota Camry car with three occupants crushed by train inIlorin, yesterday.

Hospital as at press time.Residents of the area were

seen discussing the tragedyin groups when Vanguardvisited yesterday.

Otazi.Confirming the abduction of

the state government official,a nephew of the victim, Mr.Patrick Oba, said she waskidnapped at gunpoint inOtuoke on her way to EwoiCommunity in Ogbia LocalGovernment Area for funeral.

According to the familysource, the kidnappers

reportedly whisked away thevictim who was in companyof two other ladies when theyattacked and took away hercar keys apparently tofrustrate attempts atreporting the crime.

It was also gathered that thetwo female occupants of the carand the driver were unharmedby the gunmen who sped off

to an unknown destinationin their own vehicle.

Otazi is a one-time actingchairperson of OgbiaCouncil area and also aformer Commissioner forWomen Affairs in the state.

Spokesperson of the Bayelsastate Police Command, AsinimButswatt, who confirmed theincident, said he was yet to getdetails as at press time.

Asiwaju BolaAhmed Tinubu -Hero ofDemocracy

Unarguably one of thecountry ’s leadingpolitical engineers,Asiwaju Bola AhmedTinubu has now takenhis remarkable politicalwizardry to the nationalspace. His doggedresistance to theencroachments of theformer ruling party inLagos State, and to itsrouting in most of theSouthwest states, largelybore the footprints of theformer Lagos Stategovernor.

Tinubu’s central role inthe enthronement of thenew administration andthe eclipse of the formergovernment has beengenerally acknowledgedby friends and foes.Remarkably, he hasachieved his aim withinthe rules of democracy.For his political dexterityand commitment to therule of law in his politicalengagements, Vanguardrecognises Asiwaju BolaAhmed Tinubu as theHero of Democracy, 2015.

ProfessorAttahiru Jega -Hero ofDemocracy

Professor Attahiru Jega,a former president of theAcademic Staff Union ofUniversities, ASUU,boosted his pedigree in2011 when he conductedone of Nigeria’s mostcredible generalelections. He was at thattime less than 10 monthsin the saddle aschairman of theIndependent NationalElectoral Commission,INEC. In 2015, in spiteof pressures from manyquarters he introducedmany innovations intoballoting in Nigeria suchas the Permanent VoterCards, PVCs, and SmartCard Readers (SCR),which helped to reduceballot rigging in thegeneral polls. His effortsled to the firstundisputed presidentialelection in Nigeria’spractise of presidentialdemocracy.

Continues on Page 5

Buhari,JonathanemergeVanguardPersonalitiesof the Year,2015

8—Vanguard, MONDAY, DECEMBER 21, 2015

Fuel crisis defiessolution nationwide

CONFERENCE: From left, Chairman, Forte Oil Plc, Mr. Femi Otedola; IndependentDirector, Forte Oil Plc, Mr Chris Adeyemi, and Group Chief Executive Officer, Forte OilPlc, Mr. Akin Akinfemiwa, during the Forte Oil investors conference, in Lagos.

As motorists keep vigil at filling stationsFG orders increased supply to end scarcity

By Michael Eboh

ABUJA — THE perennialfuel crisis which has

blighted the year worsenedacross the country, weekend, ashundreds of motorists slept inpetrol stations with the intentionof purchasing the products.

This was even as the FederalGovernment, yesterday, directedthe Pipelines and ProductsMarketing Company, PPMC,and the Petroleum ProductsPricing Regulatory Agency,PPPRA , to commence specialsupply intervention measures tobring an end to the perennialfuel scarcity witnessed across thecountry.

This intervention, according tothe Minister of State forPetroleum Resources and GroupManaging Director of NigerianNational Petroleum Corporation,NNPC, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, is toensure a country-wideavailability of petroleumproducts ahead of theforthcoming yuletide andbeyond.

To this end, the NNPC, in astatement in Abuja, noted thatthe Kaduna Refinery andPetrochemical Companyresumed operation over theweekend while the interventionwas kick-started with theramping up of additional supplyvia massive truck-out toguarantee product penetrationto the nooks and crannies of thecountry.

According to the NNPC, dailyfuel truck out to locations suchas Abuja, Kaduna, Kano, Enugu,

Ibadan and Jos has beenincreased significantly toenhance free flow of productsacross the country.

The NNPC stated that it wasconsolidating its strategicalliance with some major depotowners and oil marketers withstrong regional logisticaloutlay in those areas to ensuremaximum infiltration ofproducts especially in thehinterland ahead of theforthcoming Christmas andNew Year festivities.

Warns againstdiversion,hoarding

While calling on members ofthe public to refrain fromhoarding, product diversionand panic buying of petrol, theNNPC noted that theintervention measure wouldhelp circumvent thechallenges posed by theunavailability of pipelines forthe transportation of petroleumproducts.

It warned that productdiversion is an economic crimeand stated that it would nothesitate to report offenders tothe security agencies forprosecution.

Despite the claims by theNNPC, the scarcity increasedin intensity, Wednesday, fewdays after the FederalGovernment announced that ithad paid oil marketers theiroutstanding subsidy claims,and it showed no sign ofabating.

Scarcity persists

One motorist who spoke toVanguard, disclosed thatdespite the fact that he cameto the petrol station by 2 am,he couldn’t get the product tobuy at the NNPC MegaStation at Katampe, along theKubwa Expressway, tillaround noon.

Another motorist said hejoined the queue 5 am onSunday, but couldn’t get fuelto buy until 4 pm.

When Vanguard visitedpetrol stations along theKubwa Expressway by 5am,vehicles were parked in frontof the MRS, Mobil, Conoil,Total and Bulasawa fillingstations, despite the fact thatthey were yet to commencebusiness for the day.

Only the NNPC MegaStation was selling withqueues stretching severalkilometres and a chaoticsituation.

To worsen matters, securitypersonnel stationed at theentrance to the petrol stationsto maintain orderliness wereseen fuelling disorderliness.The security personnelallowed motorists who hadpaid them between N500 andN1,000, to enter through theexit gate, forcing other orderlymotorists to spend severalhours on the queue.

Same situation waswitnessed in some petrolstations at the CentralBusiness Districts, as somemotorists claimed they had to

leave their houses as early as3am to join the queue.

As a result of the fuel crisis,transport companies hikedtheir fares, thereby,worsening the plight ofcommuters.

ABC Transport C ompanyat Utako, for instance, hikedits fare from Abuja to Enuguto N6,000, weekend, fromN4,500 earlier in the week.

Same situation wasrecorded in other transportcompanies heading to thesouth eastern part of thecountry, specifically, forcingpeople travelling for theChristmas holiday to incuradditional costs.

Scarcitynationwide

OSUN: The effect of fuelsituation in Osun Stateworsened over the weekendas most filling stations soldtheir products between N140and N150 per litre. Thesituation was not made betteras the NNPC mega stationwhich sold its petrol productat normal price of N87 perlitre had no supply.Similarly, transporters whoare on inter-state routes havesubsequently increased theirfare by about 25 per cent.

KWARA: The fuel situationin Kwara, particularly Ilorin,the state capital wasworrisome as virtually all thefuel stations have remainedunder permanent lock forsometime now, exceptOANDO along Muritala andNNPC along Offa GarageRoad and Asa Dam Roadwhich dispensed theproducts whenever theyhave.

As a result of thisdevelopment,many motoristshave now resorted to buyingfuel in nearby Ogbomosho,about 30 minutes drive wherepetrol was available at N140per litre.

ANAMBRA: Despite theavailability of petroleumproducts in most fillingstations in Anambra State, theprize has continued to hoverbetween N115 and N130 perlitre.

NNPC mega station inAwka, which is the onlystation selling at the officialprice of N87 per litre, doesnot sell regularly. Wheneverthere is fuel at the megastation, the queues areunusually long as manypeople would want to filltheir vehicles at that rate.

Other stations with NNPCsigns and the multinationalcompanies have not beenselling fuel to the publicsince the prize went up, asthere were allegations thatthey prefer to sell to theindependent markerswholesale who, in turn, werefreer to sell at whatever ratethey liked.

Unlike last week whenmany stations did not have

fuel, almost all stations along theAwka–Onitsha-Owerri axis hadfuel yesterday and there were noqueues whatsoever.

Some of the fuel attendantssaid they were still trying tofinish the fuel they lifted at veryhigh rate before adjusting theirpumps to the normal prize.

It was, however, discoveredthat some of the stations that werenot selling when the prize washigh have bought products, butwere still claiming that theybought them at exorbitant rates.

BAYELSA: Petrol is relativelyscarce in the predominantlyriverine state. A litre is soldbetween N130 and N150 infilling stations across the statewhere the product is available.

This explained the daily longqueue at the NNPC mega stationalong Sani Abacha express roadin the heart of Yenagoa where alitre is sold at N87.

Motorists preferred the NNPCstation to the other retail outletsin town regardless of theinconveniences in buying theproduct.

The NNPC mega station pumpsare believed to be dispensing theactual fuel paid for as against theother retail outlets which pumpshave been tampered with and areunder dispensing to buyers.

OGUN: Many filling stationsin the state locked their gateswhile the few that opened sellabove the pump price at betweenN120 and N140 while onlyNNPC stations and MRS sell atN87 .

Following the scarcity of fuel inAbeokuta, the state capital andsome other parts of thestate,which include Ijebu-Ode,Ilaro among others, mostcommercial vehicles chargedexorbitant prices.

ABIA: Fuel scarcity persists in thestate as most petrol stations haveremained closed while the few thathave products dispense at betweenN125 and N140 per litre. However,the NNPC Mega station on Enugu-Port Harcourt express road hasbeen selling at N87 per litre thoughthere are always long queues.

OYO: Long and endless queuesat filling stations which hadsubsided for a week have nowreturned. Premium Motor Spirit issold for as much as N125 by someindependent marketers while mostmajor marketers shut their stationsfor lack of supply.

In Sabo area of the city, blackmarket goes on unhindered asunder age boys stand by the roadsides with kegs of petroleumproducts.

RIVERS: Black market operatorsdealing on petrol are still makingbrisk business in Port Harcourt,and adjoining local governmentareas because of scarcity of theproduct.

Most filling stations did not haveproduct, the few that were sellingdispensed to motorists at betweenN140 and N160 per litre. Therewere long queues at few fillingstations of major marketers sellingat N87 per litre. Commercial busoperators were still charging twicethe fares for some routes becauseof the scarcity.


Arms probe: 7th Senate carried outeffective oversight — Magoro, KunlereSay such funds were never brought for scrutiny

By Henry Umoru

ABUJA— CHAIRMAN,Senate Committee on

Security and Intelligence in the 7thSenate, Senator MohammedMagoro, and a member of thecommittee, Senator BoluwajiKunlere, yesterday, disagreedsharply with Senate PresidentBukola Saraki, who attributed theongoing and messy arms dealprobe to poor oversight functionfrom the last Senate.

Magoro said his committeecarried out effective oversightfunctions, adding, however, thatsuch funds and expenditure in thepresent $2.1 billion arms deal werenever presented before hiscommittee for scrutiny.

Corroborating Magoro, amember of the committee in the7th Senate, Senator Kunlere, saidsuch funds, as being exposed bythe former National SecurityAdviser, Col. Sambo Dasuki (retd),were never part of the budget thatcame under the security of theSenate committee.

In different text messages toVanguard, they said thecommittee carried out its functionsaccording to what was presentedbefore it.

Magoro, who represented KebbiSouth in the 7th Senate, said: “Idid not follow the plenary sessionof the Senate when the SenatePresident raised that observationas such I am not aware of thealleged remark by the SenatePresident. However, committeescarry out oversight on theexpenditure of the appropriatedmoney to an agency.

“Submissions of the budgetmade to our committee coveredoffice of the National SecurityAdviser, ONSA; Department ofState Services, DSS and NIAconcerning their offices andpepartments only, nothing to dowith procument for the ArmedForces. You can direct yourquestion to perhaps chairmen ofDefence & Army/Navy/and AirForce. I hope I have explainedenough to you the process, oncemore thanks.’’

Senator Kunlere, whorepresented Ondo South in the 7thSenate, told Vanguard that thecommittee, in the course of itsoversight function, went to Borno,Yobe and Adamawa states, amongothers, noting that the GeneralSani Abacha’s loot was neverpresented before the committee forscrutiny.

“Those funds were not part of thebudget that came under thescrutiny of the Senate Committeeon National Security andIntelligence,” he stressed.

Senate President Saraki, had lastTuesday, at a plenary blamed theuncovered fraud in the arms deal,during the immediate pastadministration of Goodluck

Jonathan, to the failure ofNational Assembly to carry outits proper oversight functions.

Saraki, who had insisted thatthe legislature, which would

have carried out oversight toensure that the moneyappropriated for arms purchasewas strictly used for the purposeit was meant for, failed in such

responsibility, however vowedthat the present NationalAssembly, which he heads,would not allow suchdevelopment to recur.

SEC revokes licences of 84 inactivecapital market operators

By Nkiruka Nnorom

LAGOS — THE Securitiesand Exchange Commission

(SEC) has announced therevocation of registration of 84capital market operators(CMOs) that failed to renderstatutory returns to thecommission and their failure tocomply with the new minimumcapital requirement.

Consequently, the commissionadvised all the stakeholders inthe market, including NigerianStock Exchange (NSE), theChartered Institute ofStockbrokers (CIS), the CentralSecurities Clearing System(CSCS) Plc, all Capital MarketTrade Groups and the investingpublic to sever all relationshipswith the affected CMOs.

The commission said it wasempowered under section 30 (1)and (2) of the Investment andSecurities Act (ISA) 2007 torevoke the operational licence ofcapital market operators that areinactive.

An operator in the capitalmarket is adjudged to be inactiveif it has not executed anytransaction in the market for aperiod of six months. Also,operators in the market arerequired to render quarterlyreturns to the commission.

In a notice on its website,tagged, “Pre-Notice onCancellation of Certificates ofRegistration of Inactive Capital

Market Operators,” SEC gavethe affected CMOs untilDecember 4, 2015 to providetangible reasons why theyshould retain their registrationsas CMOs.

The commission had lastmonth notified 94 CMOs of itsintention to revoke theiroperating licences for the aboveoffences. It, however, gave amonth grace to adduce reasonswhy their registration will not becancelled and warned that it willde-register them in case offailure.

The SEC said: “The 94 CapitalMarket Operators wereregistered by the Securities andExchange Commission forvarious functions in theNigerian capital market.However, these CMOs haveconsistently failed to rendertheir statutory returns to thecommission and may have beenunable to comply with the newminimum capital requirementsbefore the deadline stipulated bythe commission, which expiredon September 30, 2015.”

The operators include: AiqVenture Capital FundManagers Ltd, AllbondInvestment Limited,Amalgamated Capital FundsLtd, Associated Investment TrustCo. Limited, Bayhead AlphaCapital Ltd, Bluebird Capital,Boston Capital InvestmentsLimited, Brickfield RoadAssociates Ltd, Capital Partners

Limited Corporate InvestmentAdviser, Capital Structures Ltd,Circular Trust Ltd, Citi AssetMgt ltd, Citizens Inv. & Sec.Ltd, City InvestmentManagement Ltd,Consolidated Investmentlimited, Consult & CapitalLimited, Dakal ServicesLimited, De-canon InvestmentLimited, DevelopmentBusiness Co, Dolbic FinanceLimited, Dvcf Oil & Gas Plc,Dynamic Trust & Securities Ltd,Eazytrade Concept Ltd.Elyon’s Asset ManagementLtd, Emi Capital ResourcesLtd, Enterprise Capital Mgt.Ltd, Equinox AssetManagement Limited,Express Discount Limited, FBAsset Mgt. Limited, FirstMarina Trust Ltd, FittcoSecurities Limited, FloodgateFinance & Sec, G. Akomas &Partners, Global CapitalMarket Ltd, Global Inv. & Sec.Ltd, Habitat Trust Ltd andHazonwao AssetsManagement.

Others are Honey CombAsset Mgt Ltd, IndemnityFinance Ltd, IntegratedCapital Services Ltd,Investment Monitors Ltd,Jubilee Global Fund Plc,Kendall Securities Ltd,Kingsway Securities ltd,Koltron ltd, Lombard AssetMgt. Limited, Lynac SecuritiesLtd, Malachai Funds & AssetsMgt. Ltd, Maninvest AssetManagement Plc,Metropolitan Trust Nigeria Ltd.

Anti-graft war:UN pledgesto supportBuhari

By IkechukwuNnochiri

ABUJA — The UnitedNations, UN, has

pledged to support Nigeria inits effort to conquer the twinmenace of corruption andterrorism.

Consequently, the UNSecretary General, Mr. Ban KiMoon, last Friday, sent a high-powered delegation to havea meeting with the Attorney-General of the Federation andMinister of Justice, AbubakarMalami, SAN, at his office inAbuja.

A statement by the Directorof Information at the FederalMinistry of Justice, Mr.Nwodo Charles, said thedelegation was led by UNSpecial envoy on ECOWAS,Dr. Mohammed IbnChambas.

The international body saidit was in full support of thecurrent drive by PresidentMuhammadu Buhari torecover looted funds.

Chambers said the UN willcooperate with Nigeria tostrengthen the administrationof Justice, rule of law andrespect for human rights inthe country.

However, he said there wasneed for all African countriesin the Lake Chad BasinCommission (LCBC) to forma common front against themenace of terrorism, especiallywith regards to the spreadingactivities of the Boko Haramsect.

While congratulating theminister on behalf of UnitedNations on his appointment,he noted the landmarkachievements resulting fromthe free, fair and credibleelections that were recentlyconducted in Nigeria, whichhe said had brought progressto Africa’s nascent democracy.

“Dr. Chambas was optimisticthat with the completion of theremaining 100km borderposts, Boko Haram terroristswill be defeated,” he said.

Meantime, the AGF has saidhe was pleased with the levelof success so far recorded bythe Nigeria/Cameroon JointBorder Commission, in termsof resolving cross borderdisputes between the twocountries.

The minister said thisadministration would becommitted towards ensuringthat unnecessary borderdisputes within the Lake ChadBasin areas are resolvedamicably.

He told the UN that Nigeriais currently working with othercountries on reforms andprotocols that will ultimatelybring about everlasting peacein the region.

VISIT: From left: Oladele Akinyemi, Executive Director, Regional Businesses North,Diamond Bank Plc; Dr. Sola Aliu, Consultant, National Entreprenuership Resource andKnowledge Centre (NERKC) Project; Dr. Chris Ogbechie, Chairman, Diamond Bank Plc;Mallam Ibrahim Dan Iya, Deputy Executive Secretary, National Universities Commission(NUC); and Dr. Rukayyatu Gurin, Director Student Support Services, NUC during acourtesy visit by the NUC delegation to Diamond Bank Plc.


Lagospartnerspolice onviolentcrimes

FG probes Aero’s use of ladder todisembark passengers

INDUCTION: Oba of Lagos, Rilwan Akiolu I, performing induction rite on Alhaji TajudeenAdio Durosinmi-Etti, as the newly-installed Chief Etti of Lagos at his Iga Idugaran Palace, weekend.

BREACH OF CONTRACT: Court orders bank to pay N4.5bn

THE Minister of State forAviation, Senator Hadi

Sirika yesterday directed animmediate investigation into theuse of ladder by Aero ContractorsAirlines to disembark passengerson its chartered flight at the BauchiAirport on Saturday.

This was disclosed yesterday byMr James Odaudu, DeputyDirector, Press and Public Affairsof the Ministry.

According to him; “Severalreports received by the Ministerhave indicated the airline used aladder to disembark passengersfrom a Boeing 737 aircraft at the

Bauchi airport on SaturdayDecember 19th 2015.

‘’The act is inconsistent withNigeria Civil Aviation Regulations,NCAR and International CivilAviation Organization, ICAO,Standards and RecommendedPractices, SARPS.

“The investigation will determinethe immediate and remote causesof the incident with a view todeveloping and implementingmeasures that will prevent a re-occurrence of the unsafe andunacceptable procedure thatexposed passengers to high riskof serious injury.

“He reiterated that if the airlineis found culpable, the full weight

of sanctions within extant lawsand regulations would beapplied.”

Odaudu added that theMinister assures the travellingpublic that the Ministry ofTransportation in collaborationwith Nigerian Civil AviationAuthority, NCAA, will ensurestrict adherence to the NigerianCivil Aviation Regulations aswell as ICAO Standards andRecommended Practices by alloperators.

Aero Contractors airline wason Saturday forced to disembark34 passengers on its charteredflight from Nnamdi AzikiweInternational Airport, Abuja to

Bauchi Airport, using ladderinstead of the normal stairsnormally provided by the groundhandlers at every airport.

According to the Public Relationsconsultant of Aero, Mr SimonTumba, the airline had to use theladder because of ‘unserviceableequipment’ at the time ofdisembarking the passengers.

He said this was rectified by thetime the airline was boarding thepassengers for their return flight.

Tumba said; “A special charterflight operated by Aero to Bauchihad problems with unserviceableequipment by the airportmanagement in disembarkingabout 34 passengers from Abuja.Consequently, against the airline’swish and operation safetyguideline, the passengers used aladder to disembark.

“However at the time of boardingthe air stairs became functional andthe passengers boardedsuccessfully.”

NAHCO exonerates selfThe Nigerian Aviation Handling

Company Plc, Nahco aviance,yesterday said it was notresponsible for the ordeals of Aerocontractors at Bauchi airport as itwas not the ground handler thatwas supposed to provide the airstairs for boarding anddisembarking passengers.

Although, Aero in its explanationdid not mention NAHCO or anyground handling company, but MrTayo Ajakaye, NAHCOspokesperson, said it was expedientto clarify insinuations and belief insome quarters that NAHCO wassupposed to have provided theequipment.

He added that NAHCO does notoperate at Bauchi airport.

By Lawani Mikairu

LAGOS—A Federal HighCourt sitting in Lagos, has

ordered Stanbic IBTC Bank Plcto pay a former GroupManaging Director of AfribankNigeria Plc, Patrick OlayeleAkinkuotu and his company,Longterm Global CapitalLimited the sum of N4.5 billionfor breach of contract.

Trial judge, Justice John Tsohoalso ordered Stanbic IBTC andStarcomms Plc to pay interest of10 percent on the sum perannum until the date of finalliquidation.

The court also declared that the100 million units of Starcomms’shares sold to the plaintiffsthrough private placement in 2008were improper, invalid, null andvoid and were hereby set aside.

Akinkuotu and his companyhad dragged the bank andStarcomms to court in 2012,alleging that Stanbic IBTCdeliberately misled them intobuying shares of the seconddefendant by misrepresentingfacts and issuing falsedocuments.

Other plaintiffs in the suitare: Mrs. Oluyinka Akinkuotuand Lakeside Mews Limited.

According to the plaintiffs,through their counsel, ChiefFelix Fagbohungbe, SAN, onbehalf of the plaintiffs, in April,2008, the bank, through one ofits officers, Akintayo Mabewejiproposed to sell shares ofStarcomms to the plaintiffs byway of private placement.

That the bank gave theplaintiffs an Investment Letterdated April 24, 2008, bearing thenames of Stanbic IBTC andanother company, Chapel HillAdvisory Partners Limited asJoint Issuing Houses and thatthe Investment Letter and theForm of Commitment wererepresented by the bank as theonly placement documentswhich target or prospectiveinvestors were expected to relyon before they made theirunfettered independentinvestment decisions in respectof the placement.

That based on these, each ofthe plaintiffs were committedto purchase 25,000,000 units ofStarcomms shares andpromptly complied with theinstructions of the bank.

By Innocent Anaba

LAGOS—IN linewith the Lagos State

Government’s zero toleranceto issues of sexual andgender-based violence, theState’s Domestic and SexualViolence Response Team(DSVRT) has entered intopartnership with theNigerian Police on the beststrategies to adopt inhandling issues relating tosuch crime.

The DSVRT hadspecifically presented copiesof sexual offences relatedlaws namely the Child’srights law, 2007; PreventionAgainst Domestic ViolenceLaw, 2007; and the CriminalLaw of Lagos State, 2011 tothe Nigeria Police tofamiliarize itself with therelevant laws.

The presentation, whichtook place at the weekendand attended by the StateCommissioner of Police, MrFatai Ajani Owoseni, alongwith some DeputyCommissioners of Police andother top level officers, as wellas members of the DSVRT.

A statement signed byDSVRT Coordinator, TitilolaVivour-Adeniyi, said theprovision of the laws was oneof the various initiativesadopted to improve thecapacity of the police inresponding to reports of rape,defilement, domesticviolence, child abuse,maltreatment and neglect.

She added that theavailability of the laws wouldserve as a most resourcefultool for investigation andrightful prosecution whereapplicable.

The Commissioner ofPolice, Owoseni, whilstreceiving the laws on behalfof the Nigeria Police,reaffirmed the commitmentand partnership of the policetowards eradicating sexualand gender-based violenceand crimes in the state.

LAGOS—AN indigenousagriculture concern,

Niyya Farm Group, makers ofFarm Pride fruit juice andyoghurt, yesterday, urged theFederal Government to makeavailable special grants foragricultural programsbecause of their longgestation period.

The Chief Executive Officerof the firm, Rajiv Joshi, toldVanguard that; ‘’Government

should provide interest freeloans for orcharddevelopment with amoratorium of not less thanthree years, as it is acontinuous investment.''

He also said that theimportation of cheapconcentrates, though cheaperto procure, has negative effectson our kind of business.

According to him; “Syntheticconcentrates, for instance, areinjurious to health but cheaperto acquire making them

available in a lot of fruit juices.The importation of concentratesshould be regulated to protectlocal farmers and companies whoare developing agriculture,creating employment andcontributing to forex.''

“As the Federal Government islooking to implement its programof providing free food for primaryschool children, Niyya/Farm Pridecould as well partner with theauthorities in delivering healthyand nutritious drinks to these kids.

‘’Banning of synthetic

By Naomi Uzor

Firm canvasses special grants for agricultural programmes

concentrate which is actuallyvery dangerous for the healthof the people, will go a long wayin helping agriculture in thecountry. Only fruit concentratefrom reliable sources should beallowed for importation” hestated.

He said the import duty onsuch concentrate should behiked significantly so thatthere is no price war andlocal players manufacturingreal & natural juice are notkilled or closed down.

Vanguard, MONDAY, DECEMBER 21, 2015 — 11

Resume work or be sacked, Aregbesolatells doctors

‘Why we named Tinubu best politician'

Why LG autonomy may be impossible, by EkitiSenator

By Gbenga Olarinoye

ADO EKITI—THE Chairman,Senate Committee on Air Force,

Senator Duro Faseyi, has said that autonomyfor local governments in the country wouldremain a pipe dream, so long as governorscontinue to maintain their stranglehold onthe states House of Assembly.

The Senator representing Ekiti NorthSenatorial District, accused the stategovernors of exerting unnecessary influenceon the assembly to stall the efforts of the senateto complete the process of constitutionamendments granting autonomy to all the774 councils.

Faseyi, who canvassed fiscal autonomy forthe councils, said allowing governors tocontinue to appoint caretaker committeeswould jeopardise efforts at fighting povertyat the grassroot.

Speaking in Iludun Ekiti yesterday on the

outcome of the Saturday, December19 local government elections in Ekiti,Faseyi praised Governor AyodeleFayose for installing democraticstructures in all the 16 local governmentareas of the state by conducting localgovernment elections, saying thiswould guarantee some level ofindependence for the tier.

Fayose swears in newly-elected16 LG chairmen today

Meantime, following the victory of thePeoples Democratic Party, PDP, in theSaturday local government elections, thevictorious helmsmen are expected to besworn-in today by Governor Fayose.

The PDP swept the polls across the state.Their inauguration would come up at

the governor’s office in Ado-Ekiti, aftercollecting certificate of return from thestate independent electoral commission.

As Fayose swears in LG bosses today

By Rotimi Ojomoyela

ABEOKUTA—YORUBA YouthCongress, yesterday, explained why

it chose a chieftain of the All ProgressivesCongress, APC, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu as thebest politician in Yorubaland.

The Congress, in its communique signedby its National coordinator,, Sunday Ogini,described Tinubu as ‘the original gamechanger of Nigerian Political landscape’.

The group, which also conferred OoduaSpeaker on the Speaker of Ogun StateHouse of Assembly, Suraj Adekunbi, saidthe duo worked for the awards.

According to the communique, the positivechange which Nigerians are hoping to seein the President Muhammadu Buhari’s

administration was as a result of thetremendous efforts put up by Tinubu.

The communique read in part “OoduaPolitician of the Year Award is a celebrationof a great leader and worthy ambassadorof Yoruba race.”

The group however, called on thePresident not to dash the hope of commonmen on the provision of food and shelter.

“The Yoruba Youth Congress called onPresident Muhammad Buhari to ensurethat the hope of common men onprovisions of food,electricity and affordablepetrol and kerosene is not dashed onfocuses of war against corruption.

“Nigerian voted for positive changesand hope to see changes in every sectorin no distant time”, he said.

By Daud Olatunji

Ondo PDPchieftainsjoin APC

A K U R E — T H EDirector General for

Technical Aids Corps, Dr PiusOsunyikanmi and SenatorAyo Akinyelure, both of thePeoples Democratic Party,PDP, in Ondo State havedumped the party for the AllProgressives Congress, APC.

Osunyikanmi andAkinyelure are close allies ofGovernor Olusegun Mimikoand his benefactors.

They moved with him fromthe Labour Party to the PDP.

Although speculation arerife of a no love-lost betweenOsuntinkanmi and his formerbenefactor, Akinyelure'ssudden jumping of shipcaught many politicalanalylist in the stateunawares.

In a joint statement issuedweekend, the two benefactorsof Dr Mimiko said theydecided to dump the PDPbecause of the ”failure of thePDP-led state government todeliver democracy dividendsto the people.”

By Dayo Johnson

I've no plan to join APC – KASHAMU

THE Senator representingOgun East Senatorial

District, Buruji Kashamu, hassaid he does not have any plansto decamp to the AllProgressives Congress, APC,saying, his support for theFederal government’s anti-corruption stance is not borneout of my personal interest butthe interest of the masses whoare in the majority and the lovefor the country.

‘’Our people have sufferedfor too long because of a greedyfew who amass ourcommonwealth for themselvesand their families,” he said.

By Etop Ekanem

O S O G B O —GOVERNOR Rauf

Aregbesola of Osun State hasissued a seven-day ultimatum tostriking medical doctors in the stateto return to their duty posts or bepresumed to have voluntarily

resigned their appointments withthe state government.

Aregbesola in a statement by thePermanent Secretary HumanResources and Capacity Building,Mr Sunday Festus Olajide, onbehalf of the government,condemned the action of medicaldoctors for not been ready to show

understanding like other labourunions during the period ofnational challenges on publicfinance.

The statement said that despiteseries of appeals from thegovernment to medical doctors inLadoke Akintola University ofTechnology, Lautech TeachingHospital, Osogbo and othergovernment health institutions toshow understanding during the

period of national challenges onpublic finance, the strikingdoctors have remainedadamant.

He lamented that the doctorshave continued to draw theirsalaries in the last two monthsand still remain at home thuseating their cake and stillwanting to have it.

The government in thestatement said that any strikingdoctor that fail to return to workon or before the expiration ofseven days ultimatum,beginning from December 18,2015 should consider himself orherself to have voluntarilyresigned his or herappointments with thegovernment.

The statement declared thatthe strike embarked upon by theMedical Doctors in the StatePublic Service (both at LadokeAkintola University TeachingHospital, LAUTECH), Osogboand other government healthfacilities was illegal saying itdoes not follow due process,thereby breaching even theirprofessional Hippocratic Oath.

The medical doctorscommenced an industrialstrike on Monday, 28thSeptember 2015.

He also said corruption mustdie for Nigeria to live, addingthat all Nigerians must supportPresident MuhammaduBuhari’s anti-graft war.

In a statement, the senator, whosaid he was not supporting the warbecause he planned to switch fromthe Peoples Democratic Party, PDP,added that; “Corruption bywhatever colouration is bad andinimical to our growth as a nation”.

He said successive governmentshad made feeble and largelyshowmanship attempts tocontain corruption with little orno results and without asustainable plan of action.

He said: “Let me make itabundantly clear that I am not in

any way romancing the APC. Iftruly politics is about the people anda contest of ideas, I cannotunderstand why any politician thatis worth the name would see anidea that will benefit the people andnot support it, irrespective ofpolitical leanings. I will supportgood initiatives, just as I willcriticise bad ones.''

‘’We must realize that theelections and campaigns areover. Whether we were electedon the platform of the PDP orAPC, our people trusted us withtheir mandate because theyknow that we would representthem well and fight their course.It is a sacred responsibility thatwe must not betray.”


Delta Central: A-Court sacks Amori,declares Omo-Agege winner

By Festus Ahon

Bayelsa: Abduction of Dickson’s sister political —PDP

We're ready for rescheduled Bayelsa poll—APC

By Samuel Oyadongha

DESOPADECMD deniesalleged N50mfraud

By Emma Amaize

By Samuel Oyadongha

ASABA—THE Court ofAppeal sitting in Benin

City, Edo State, has nullifiedthe election of the senatorrepresenting Delta Centralsenatorial district in theSenate, Senator IghoyotaAmori of the People’sDemocratic Party, PDP.

The appellate court declaredthe senatorial candidate ofLabour Party in the March 282015 election, Obaisi OvieOmo-Agege as winner of theelection.

Amori’s sack came threeweeks after he organised athanksgiving service thatattracted the leadership of theNational Assembly, GovernorIfeanyi Okowa of Delta Stateand other top governmentfunctionaries from across thecountry.

Delivering the judgment,Justice H. A. Barka in the leaddecision, set aside the verdictof the lower tribunal whichupheld the declaration ofSenator Amori as winner of theelection by the IndependentNational ElectoralCommission, INEC.

Barka held that they foundOmo-Agege's appealmeritorious.

Reacting to the judgment,

Omo-Agege thanked Godand the judiciary forrestoring the mandatewhich, according to him, wasfreely given to him by thepeople of Delta Centralsenatorial district throughthe ballot.

Describing the judgment asvictory for the Urhobo nation,Omo-Agege assured that thedelay in giving him back his

mandate would not affect hisperformance as he isresolved to better the lots ofthe people.

He held that as a senator,he will put the issues ofUrhobo on the front burnerin the National Assemblyand thereby, place theUrhobo nation in its rightplace in the politics of thecountry.

Omo-Agege thanked hissupporters for their prayersand strong belief in hisrepresentation at the Senate.

He appealed to hisopponents to join hands withhim in the task of developingDelta Central senatorialdistrict and promised toinitiate bills that wouldengender the development ofthe district.

YENAGOA—THE PeoplesDemocratic Party, PDP,

Campaign Organisation inBayelsa State has described theabduction of Nancy Dickson,younger sister of GovernorSeriake Dickson, as politicallymotivated.

Nancy Dickson, aged 26 andher sales girl were kidnappedSaturday at 2.50 p.m. by fourarmed men at the Okaka suburbof Yenagoa, a development thatheightened security at the entryand exit points in the state capital.

The gunmen, who drove in anash coloued Lexus SUV,reportedly trailed the governor’syounger sister to her shop whereshe was forcibly taken away withher sales girl to an unknowndestination.

Condemning the incident, thePDP, through the PublicityDirector of the RestorationCampaign Organisation, RCO,Jonathan Obuebite, warned theimmediate family members andrelations of the governor to bemindful of their movement andthose they associate with.

It said that security reports at itsdisposal revealed morekidnappings between now andthe January 9, re-run election inthe state.

The move, the Restoration

Campaign Organisation said,was part of the grand design todestabilise the incumbentgovernor ahead of the re-rungovernorship poll, in which thePDP has clinched six out of theseven declared councils asagainst the APC's one.

The campaign organisationsaid that kidnapping, maimingof law abiding citizens and otheracts of criminality, had been onthe increase since the botchedgovernorship primaries of theAPC in the state.

The RC called on well-

meaning Bayelsans andNigerians to join incondemning the act, “as thisbrand of politics will not augurwell for a country like Nigeria,which is still building its politicalinstitutions, so as to be countedas one of the leadingdemocracies in the world.”

According to the campaignoutfit, “This is taking politics toofar and it will not augur well forour democracy. We arecondemning it and we call onwell meaning Bayelsans andNigerians to speak up now andcondemn it.

“We are calling on the securityagencies to step up efforts toensure the quick release of thegovernor’s younger sister, aswell as arrest and bring theperpetrators to book. We alsoadvise all close relations andaides of the governor to bemindful of places they visit andpersons they associate with.

“The PDP will not allow itselfto be intimidated, but willremain focused until it emergesvictorious in the re-run electionin Southern Ijaw LocalGovernment Area.”

Y E N A G O A — T H Eg o v e r n o r s h i p

candidate of All ProgressivesCongress, APC, and formergovernor of Bayelsa State,Chief Timipre Sylva, says heis ready and willing tocompete against GovernorSeriake Dickson at anyelectoral contest.

Sylva, who boasted that hewould emerge victorious,accused the incumbent,Dickson, of engaging inunderhand tactics to win.

The APC candidate,

through the Director, Mediaand Publicity, Sylva-IgiriCampaign Organisation,Chief Nathan Egba, said thatit was for this reason that theparty protested the allegedillegal cancellation of theSouthern Ijaw councilelection.

He said: “It is for thisreason that the APCvehemently protested theillegal cancellation of theSouthern Ijaw electionresults which clearly wouldhave put us well ahead of thePeoples Democratic Party,PDP. But with all the

stakeholders having agreedon a new date, the Sylva-Igiri Campaign Organisationis poised to galvanise oursupport-base in order torepeat the feat we performedin Southern Ijaw council andsome other polling unitsacross six local governmentareas.

“Our strength is in the factthat majority of the people ofSouthern Ijaw council arewith us and are stillcommitted to standing by usthrough this whole process inorder to eventually celebratea hard-won victory."

ASABA—MANAGINGD i r e c t o r / C h i e f

Executive Officer of DeltaState Oil Producing AreasDevelopment Commission,DESOPADEC, ChiefWilliam Makinde,weekend, denied mediareport that thecommission’s boardsquandered N50 million onan end-of-year party forworkers.

Chief Makinde, in astatement by his SpecialAssistant on Media, Dr.Prince Orhomonokpaye,said that the report was afabrication and urgedreporters to verifyinformation beforepublishing.

“We expect the media toreach out to us to get ourside of the story forbalanced reporting, whichsome of the practitionersare not doing,” he said.

UTOM-OBONG: From left: Chairman of the occasion, Princess Florence Ita-Giwa; CrossRiver State Governor, Professor Ben Ayade and the Obong of Calabar, His Eminence,Edidem Ekpo Okon Abasi Otu V, during the annual Utom-Obong, at the Obong's countryhome in Adiabo, Calabar, weekend. Rivers holds

first masschoir carolfestival

By Jimitota Onoyume

PORT HARCOURT:THE Rivers State

Government has held its firstever 1,000-man mass choircarol festival at the YakubuGowon Stadium, PortHarcourt.

The state governor, MrNyesom Wike, who spoke atthe weekend event, said, thecarol night was organised tothank God for the successfultake off of his administration.

He expressed optimism thathe will come out victorious inthe battle with his politicalopponents.

According to him, he hadnever had political victorycheaply, recalling that asChairman of Obio/Akpor LocalGovernment Area severalyears back, his opponentsdragged the battle they hadwith him up to the SupremeCourt.

“I was the only councilchairman in the country whosepolitical litigation got to theSupreme Court during the1999 electioneering process.I got my victory at the SupremeCourt in April 2000,” he said.


Ijaw/Itsekiri leaders petitionBuhari, Okowa over Shell

A-Court reserves judgment inOgboru’s appeal

THE Court of Appealsitting in Benin, Edo

State, has reservedjudgement in the appeal bycandidate of Labour Party,LP, Chief Great Ogboru andLabour Party, praying theappellate court to set asidethe decision of the JusticeN. T. Gunmi-ledgovernorship electionpetition tribunal in Asaba.

The tribunal had onOctober 25, upheld thedeclaration of Dr. IfeanyiOkowa of the PeoplesDemocratic Party, PDP, aswinner of the April 11election by theIndependent NationalElectoral Commission,INEC, but the appellantsare contending that thejudges erred in law.

Ogboru, in the appealthrough his counsel, Mr.Dele Adesina, SAN, isfurther contending that ifthe lower tribunal hadproperly evaluatedevidence brought before itby the petitioner, it wouldhave arrived at a differentdecision.

Addressing newsmenafter parties adopted their

briefs, counsel to Ogborusaid: “It is the position ofthe appellant that thedecision of the lower courtwas wrong because theevidence before the lowertribunal was not properlyevaluated, and the lowercourt admitted inadmissibleevidence and relied onthem to arrive at theirjudgement.

“We urge the AppealCourt to expunge thoseinadmissible evidences,because it is our contentionthat if that legallyinadmissible evidence

were not admitted, thedecision of the lowertribunal would have beendifferent.

“We also hold that thelower tribunal failed toresolve all the issuescanvassed before it. Thelaw is that the court of firstinstance must resolve allissues brought before it. Forexample, we submit that theresult of the governorshipelection in Delta State onApril 11, 2015 was postdated. It was prepared inadvance and nowhere didthe tribunal say anythingabout it.”

Eribo to Oshiomhole: Don’tmake yourself anothergodfather in EdoBy Simon Ebegbulem

B E N I N — T H El a w m a k e r

representing Egorconstituency in Edo StateHouse of Assembly, Mr.Crosby Eribo, saysGovernor AdamsOshiomhole will be makinghimself another godfatherin the state if the rumouredendorsement of Mr Godwin

Obaseki as candidate of theAll Progressives Congress,APC, in the 2016governorship election inthe state by the governorwas true.

Eribo, who addressednewsmen at his birthdaycelebration, weekend, inBenin City, stressed thatAPC members, and not aparticular leader, wouldendorse a governorshipcandidate for the party inthe state, warning that anyattempt to impose aparticular candidate wascapable of creating crisis inthe party, “which I am surethe governor will not want,as the leader of the party inthe state.

“I have heard peoplesaying that the governortold them that Obaseki isthe candidate. For me, thatis not true because as thelawmaker representingEgor, the governor shouldhave told me but he has notand that is why I don’tbelieve that story. Thegovernor has been in thefore front of the fight againstgodfatherism in the stateand thank God he has doneit well and we are happy.

“He also believes in themantra of let the peoplelead and that has changedthe politics of Edo State. So,I don’t see the governornow coming to makehimself another godfatherby anointing somebodyunknown to us. We havecome to the level where wenow have the opportunityto choose who we want."

W A R R I —WORRIED by

alleged double standardbeing played by ShellPetroleum DevelopmentCompany, SPDC, leadersof Ijaw and Itsekiri Oil andGas ProducingCommunities have calledfor a total review of thecompany’s policy onmanufacturer’s agents.

According to theaggrieved leaders, Shellworkers are not onlyplaying double standardbut are using agents whoare their cronies inprocurement processes.

In a statement addressedto President MuhammaduBuhari by Messrs EdoughaMoses and FregeneEmiko, National PresidentIjaw and Itsekiri Forumrespectively, the peoplealleged that the hugefinancial commitment ofannual renewal of theheavy marine vessel forcontract documents are

renewed yearly withoutjobs.

“All the Shell staff workingin Delta State are christenedRivers State indigenes,hence the monthly PAYEdeductions now accrue toRivers State, thereby short-changing Delta Staterevenues,” the leaderssaid.

Lambasting Shell for itsrefusal to fully implementthe Nigeria Local ContentLaws, the aggrievedpeople want Shell workersto vacate Ijaw and Itsekiriland as they can no longerguarantee their safety.

“Obviously, the activitiesof Shell are a threat to thefragile peace in the NigerDelta region. Shell did notonly insult the hostcommunities, it alsosnubbed and rubbishedGovernr Ifeanyi Okowa byfailing to honour the peacetalks summoned by thegovernor in December 15,2015 in Asaba,” they said.


Jonathan urges Nigerians towork, pray for good of nation

FESTIVAL OF CHRISTMAS CAROL: From left; Chief Katia Ekesi; ChiefMike Inegbese, Atunwase of Lagos; Chief Mary Inegbese; Erelu AbiolaDosumu, Erelu Kuti IV of Lagos, and Chief Paul Da Costa, Bobajaiye ofLagos, during the Festival of Christmas Carol and Lessons, organised byErelu Dosumu, at Victoria Island, Lagos. Photo by Kehinde Gbadamosi.

ABUJA—FORMERPresident Goodluck

Jonathan yesterdayenjoined Nigerians to prayand work for the good of thecountry, stressing that Godwould see the nationthrough its period ofhardship.

Jonathan stated thisyesterday while addressingthe congregation at theWord Illumination Ministryin Gwarimpa, Abuja,where the former President,his wife and well wishershad gone to dedicate andthank God for his firstgrandchild.

Jonathan noted that everycountry has its high andlow periods, adding thatwith dedication andhardwork, nationsovercome their problems.The former President alsoadvised Nigerians toendeavor to give their bestto their country at all times.

He said further: “I willjust thank God for all he hasbeen doing for our countryand I also thank you all forthe prayers for the good ofour country. Whenever I amtalking to Christians andother believers dependingon their faith, I always urgethem to pray for the country.Every nation go throughtwo periods; period ofadversity and period of joy.

“For Christians if youread the Old Testament, yousometime think that thewhole world was going toend but God has a reasonfor everything. No matterthe circumstances we aregoing through today, Ibelieve that with theprayers, diligence andhardwork of Nigerians,God will see this nationthrough all its tribulations.I always say that the keyand constant thing isNigeria, and not who is

leading the country. It couldbe Jonathan today, it couldbe Buhari, Obasanjo,Shagari, Abdulsalamitoday, and it could beanybody else. We have allplayed our part and as weprogress, others will take

over. Maybe some of thepeople that will take overtomorrow are also here inthis church.

''So, the most importantthing is the nation thatbelongs to all of us and wemust strive to protect it.''

THE RevenueM o b i l i z a t i o n ,

Allocation and FiscalCommission, RMAFC hascongratulated Kogi Stategovernor-elect, AlhajiYahaya Bello, over “hisresounding victory at thepoll.”

This is just as thegovernor-elect has taskedmembers of the transitioncommittee to ensure asmooth take-off for hisadministration on January27th, 2016.

In a letter datedDecember 18, 2015 signedby its Acting Chairman,Shettima Abba Gana, thecommission expressedconfidence in thecompetence of Bello inturning around the fortunesof Kogi State.

The governor-elect servedthe commission for aboutfifteen years before bowingout to pursue hisgovernorship ambition.

The commission said thesuccess of Bello did notcome to it as a surpriseciting his “hard work,ingenuity, and doggednessin pursuing genuine goals”while working with thecommission and expressedconfidence in his ability todeliver the dividends ofdemocracy to the people ofKogi State.

“These and otherenviable traits of yours attest

to your wide acceptabilityby the people of the state,”the commission furtherstated, while wishing Belloa successful tenure inoffice,'' the statement said.

Meanwhile, Bello, hastasked members of thetransition committee toensure a smooth take-off forhis administration.

Addressing members ofthe committee led by AlhajiIsah Shaibu, Bello arguedthat Kogi State has passedthrough numerousexperiences which thecommittee will beconsidering in thedischarge of its duties.

According to him, “KogiState is endowed withabundant natural andhuman resources. With thepresence of ObajanaCement Factory, AjaokutaSteel Company as well asItakpe Iron Ore, our statecould not have been askingfor more as far as industrialand economic aspirationsare concerned.

RMAFC hails Kogi gov-elect,Bello


Trouble looms in Abia community overnatural resources

By Anayo Okoli

UMUAHIA—TENSION ismounting over granite and

precious stones in the mineral richLokpaukwu Umuchiezecommunity in Umunneochi LocalGovernment Area of Abia Statefollowing alleged disobedience of

a court order for the companyoperating a mining site in thecommunity to stop work.

When Vanguard visited thecommunity, weekend, it wasgathered that the youths werespoiling for a show-down with thecompany, Pioneer SinochinoInvestment Venture Limited,which they accused of flouting a

Federal High Court Order whichstopped the company andanother firm, Asphalt UnityConstruction Limited, fromoperating at the disputingAguokeakpu quarry land ofAmaubiri/Umutu in thecommunity, until thedetermination of a pending suitin the court.

To avoid the breach of peace inthe sleepy community, leaders andmajor stakeholders in the area,have urged the Police to wade inand ensure that the court orderwas complied with to avoid abreak-down of law and order inthe community even as theyappealed to the youths to remaincalm.

2016: Obiano lauds Anambra people over political support

TO CONTINUE theimprovement on the

fortunes of Anambra State,Governor Willie Obiano hascommended the people for their

support for the government andurged them to continue along thatpath in 2016.

The governor made the appeal,yesterday, when he led membersof his cabinet and stakeholdersin the state to a SpecialThanksgiving Mass to close the

out-going year 2015 at theexpansive Gech Auditorium in hiscountry home in Aguleri.

Speaking with journalists afterthe Holy Mass, Governor Obiano,who thanked God for His love,protection and provision forAnambra and Nigeria as a whole,

and while looking back at the past19 months of his administration,he said that Anambra hadexperienced a remarkable change.

Thanking the people for theirunflinching support all through2015, he urged them to maintainthe same attitude of prayer,thanksgiving and support for hisgovernment because he wasdetermined to build a prosperousand modern state which thecitizens would be proud to beidentified with.

Earlier in his Homily, Rev. Fr.Michael Muonwea stressed theneed for leaders to see theirpositions as a call for service,because according to him: "Thereis always a delicate balancebetween power and authority,which must be observed by anyleader, who desires success."

A B A K A L I K I — Y O U T H S ,weekend, staged a peaceful protest over the

death of 10 youths in an auto-crash, while on theirway to witness the Appeal Court judgment on EbonyiState governorship election.

The youths, who carried placards with variousinscriptions, stormed the Government House,Abakaliki to register their protest.

In his speech, leader of the youths and Chairman,National Youth Council of Nigeria, NYCN, ElderSamuel Igwe said: “No doubt, every mortal will diedefinitely one day, but a situation where these youthshad to be sacrificed on the altar of politicaldesperation is unacceptable to Ebonyians.

“Anybody can go to the court to challenge whateverhe feels aggrieved about but that has to be donefollowing due process with evidences for justification,and not to sacrifice our youths.

"We suspect that some political desperados knowwhat or who is behind these sad deaths of our youthswho are future leaders of our dear state.

“We suspect foul-play in this matter as it concernsthe enemies of the incumbent administration.”

He called on Governor David Umahi to set up apanel of inquiry to unravel the causes of the untimelydeath of the youths.

Addressing the youths, the Chief of StaffGovernment House, Chief Emmanuel Offor said,the state government was unhappy over the deathof the youths.

He alleged that some misguided and desperatepoliticians in the state were using the youths assacrifice to actualize their ambition.

Enugu is inthe hands ofGod —GovUgwuanyi

E N U G U —GOVERNOR of

Enugu State, ChiefIfeanyi Ugwuanyi haslamented the pooreconomic situation in thecountry followingdwindling oil revenue,saying that thesustenance of the statewas in the hands of God.

Ugwuanyi lamentedthat it was now difficult topay workers’ salaries, letalone embark ondevelopment projects.

He spoke, yesterday,during the thanksgivingmass/reception held inhonour of the Speaker of thestate House of Assembly,Mr. Edward Ubosi, by thepeople of Nkanu at theCatholic AssumptionChurch, Nkwo Nike.

Ugwuanyi pointed outthat in the recent past,states enjoyed money fromexcess crude account,adding that the situationwas now the opposite as thestates were asking for bail-out from the FederalGovernment to paysalaries.

He expressed optimismthat despite the murkyeconomic fortunes, EnuguState would prosper.

Ugwuanyi said that hisoptimism was based on theprayers for the success ofhis administration by thepeople of the state even ashe promised to rule withthe fear of God.

“We must work in EnuguState with the fear of God.Always put us in yourprayers. Put us in yourprayers and we shallsucceed,” he said.

Earlier in his sermon onthe occasion, the officiatingpriest, Monsignor PatrickUgwu had commendedUgwuanyi for his care forthe poor and the needy andurged him to continue withhis good works.

By Emeka Mamah

AUTO CRASH: Ebonyi youths protest death ofcolleagues

By Peter Okutu

By Vincent Ujumadu

16 — Vanguard, MONDAY, DECEMBER 21, 2015

OPINIONPerils of an infamous alliance

By Tochukwu Ezukanma

AT a church event, a then servingpresident said that he honoured the

church’s invitation because the pastor of thechurch routinely prayed for him and e-mailedhim the transcript of the prayers. To pray foryour president is magnificent, but to email himthe text of the prayer was expedient: a self-servingact (most likely) aimed at getting the attention,and currying the favour, of the president. Pastors,especially, of new generation, Pentecostal, megachurches in Nigeria desperately desire to hobnobwith presidents, governors and other membersof the power elite. The power elite appreciatethe ingratiation of these pastors, and thoughrarely prophets, pastors or preachers, they relishbeing thrust before church audience to pray,preach and exhort. There is a symbiotic alliancebetween the Nigerian power elite and religiouselite. They need each other in their determinedexploitation of the Nigerian masses.

Over the years, the Nigerian power elitereduced Nigeria to a blundering andfloundering country, considered a failed state insome international circles. Their corruption,irresponsible governance and anti-peoplepolicies consigned a disproportionatepercentage of Nigerians to raw-dirt poverty andstupefacient ignorance. Their moral bankruptcyand lawlessness promoted avarice,aggressiveness of wealth and culture of impunity– essentially – a moral and ethical collapse ofthe Nigerian society. Ordinarily, the Nigerianmen of God should been unrelenting in theircondemnation of these rulers.

The ancient Chinese philosopher, Confucius,enjoined his followers to “criticize an erring rulerfearlessly in behalf of the common good”. Yes, itis a moral, spiritual and social obligation tocensure an errant leader. Criticisms are mosthelpful to rulers. They remind them of theirfrailties and limitations, that, in spite of theloftiness of their positions and expansiveness oftheir powers, they remain as fallible as an abaseddestitute. It humbles and sobers them. Andsobriety and humility are necessary qualitiesfor responsible leadership. The Bible states that,“He who rules over men must be just, ruling inthe fear of God”. Accordingly, earlier men ofGod like Samuel, Elijah and John the Baptistboldly reprimanded leaders who ruled unjustlyand without the fear of God. Modern history isalso suffused with instances of pastors takingresolute stances against bad leadership, socialinjustice and wicked government policies. Black

American preachers like Martin Luther KingJr., Andrew Young, and Jesse Jackson playedpivotal roles in getting America to live up to hercreed that, “…all men are created equal”. Duringthe Apartheid era in South Africa, Desmond Tutuand Allan Boesak among other clergy menplayed pivotal roles in dismantling thatunconscionable, institutionalised racism.

But, unfortunately, in Nigeria, preachers, forthe most part, do not question the abuse of powerand the bad policies of the power class, most ofwho rule unjustly and without reverence for thelaw, respect for man or fear of God. This isbecause the pastors, mostly, of the Pentecostalchurches, are as greedy and venal as the mostmorally degenerate of the political elite. Withtheir Prosperity Doctrine and its inherentdistortion of the gospel of Jesus Christ, they ignorethe motifs of Christianity (repentance,righteousness, love for others, etc) and dwell onthe false doctrine of sowing seeds andprospering. The object of Prosperity Doctrine isnot to make Christians more Christ-like but toline the pastors’ pockets, maintain their swankylifestyles and enlarge their financial empires.Preaching their false doctrine with the flippancyand smoothness of a con artist, they badger andbrowbeat their members into emptying theirpockets into the offering boxes as offerings, tithesand seeds. While a considerable proportion oftheir members live in poverty and squalour, thepastors, with their tax-free wealth, dwell inmansions, possess fleet of luxury cars, ownprivate jets and indulge their other fantasies.Consequently, they do not only lack the moralauthority to reproof our amoral rulers, they needthe protection of the rulers.

The political class are obliging them thisprotection because they need the pastors tobrainwash Nigerian Christians into political

passivity. So, the pastors can continue with theirconvolution of the Christian doctrine andexploitative amassing of wealth but, in return,preach passivity and docility to their members.With the level of disillusion and frustrationamong the masses, the pastors’ role is to dissuadea populace enraged by the excesses and evils ofthe power elite from questioning their leadersand demanding accountability and retribution.So, instead of using their enormous powers(inviolability of the pulpit, moral authority ofthe word of God, unction of God and amesmerizing grip on the minds of theirmembers) to demand a more responsible andprincipled exercise of power by our leaders, theyare using them to douse the political vehemenceof the masses.

As such, from the pulpit, Nigeria pastorsexculpate the power elite from the havoc theyare wrecking on this country and indict themasses for the offenses of the leaders. They preachdocility, servility and tolerance (for theintolerable) to their members; insinuating thatit is sinful to criticize your leaders. They urgethem not to complain about the desperatepoverty that mars their lives; the pigsties andhovels they inhabit; the trash strewn, festering,oozing and vermin infested neighborhoods theylive in; etc; but to just pray for their leaders.

With their perversion of the Gospel, thereligious elite dispossess the people. With theircorruption and thievery, the power elite ravagethe country, destroy her institutions andimpoverish the masses. The two elite groups needto cover each other’s flanks. Thus, there is asymbiotic alliance between them. It continuesto thrive at the economic strangulation of theNigerian masses.*Mr. Ezukanma, a public affairs com-mentator, wrote from Lagos.

The political class areobliging them thisprotection because theyneed the pastors tobrainwash NigerianChristians into politicalpassivity

A modular refinery strategy needed

THE euphoria following the inaugu-ration of President MuhammaduBuhari’s regime seven months agoappears dampened by a plethora ofeconomic problems, one of which isthe savage return of fuel scarcity,which has been on for two months.

Fuel shortage is a manifestation ofmulti-dimensional challenges facingthe petroleum industry: deregulationof the downstream sector, removal ofthe petroleum product subsidy,product supply challenges arisingfrom non-functional refineries, illegalartisanal refining business in theNiger Delta, crude oil theft and poormaintenance/management of themore than 5,000km oil pipelines in Ni-geria. Corruption is a central playerin all these.

The Nigerian public, to whom thenew government is accountable doesnot need to be bothered with this longlist of challenges. All they want is toget the petroleum products to run

their lives.Removal of fuel subsidy as indicat-

ed by the federal government is a stepin the right direction only if it goeswith the complement of local refiningand supply of the products.

We, therefore, advocate the modu-lar refinery strategy against thebackdrop of the massive failures anddisappointments we have seen in theconventional refining system Nigeriahas run since 1965.

This has become more compellingin view of the slow pace of deliveryon the private sector conventionalrefinery projects with the most seri-ous of them by the Dangote Group

projected to come on stream in 2018.The advantages of the modular

refinery option are its simplicity, lowstart-up cost and flexibility in adjust-ing to market demands.

The simplicity of the technologyweighs much value in our society thatis challenged by poor maintenanceculture which is the key problem ofthe refineries that exist in the coun-try.

Moreover a conventional refinerywill cost a minimum of US$3 billionwith a 100,000 barrel per day (bpd)capacity, an amount which can set up20 modular refineries of between 10and 20 bpd.

It also takes an average of 18months to deliver a standard modu-lar refinery which is usually a turn-key compared to the approximatelyabout three years it takes a seriousinvestor to start and finish a 100,000bpd conventional refinery.

It is often argued that since modu-lar refineries are not configured tocombine multiple product lines, it isless cost-effective on economies ofscale.

The product line disadvantageshould be addressed by consciouslylicensing and promoting the modularrefineries on product line basis wherethe petroleum authorities should de-termine the product lines demandstructure in the economy and licenceaccordingly.

On the economies of scale, the au-thorities can also determine the opti-mum market size per refinery andguarantee prospective investors of alicensing regime that protects theirmarket share.

DECEMBER 21, 2015

Continues on page 18

BRIEFING: From left: Minister of State for Petroleum, Dr. Ibe kachukwu and Permanent Secretary in the Ministry,Mrs Jemila Soara discussing during a World Press briefing on the coming hosting of 6th African Petroleum Congressand Exhibition coming up in March 2016 at their Corporate Headquarter in Abuja. Photo by Gbemiga Olamikan

The Manufacturers Associationof Nigeria (MAN) has said thatbecause of insufficient power

supply, over 40 per cent of productioncost in Nigeria goes into electricitygeneration by manufacturers.

Mr Regard Odiah, a member of MANand Chairman, Technical Committeeon Operationalisation of Micro-Gridfor Industrial Initiative, made thestatement in Abuja when he presentedthe report of the committee to NERC.The committee was inaugurated twoweeks ago by NERC and mandated totake a critical look at the energy lawsin Nigeria. The committee was alsorequired to come up withimplementable policies andregulations that would address thenumerous power challenges facingindustries, especially themanufacturing sector.

Power alone gulps 40% ofproduction cost —MAN

“Over 40 per cent of our productioncost goes into provision of electricitysupply for our manufacturing. Alsowhen other infrastructural deficienciesare added, Nigeria becomes one of themost expensive countries in the world

to set up a business venture," he said.Odiah said the combined power

generation capacity of MANnationwide was 15,000mw while the

A Dutch Appeals Court ruledweekend that Royal DutchShell can be held liable for oil

spills at its subsidiary in Nigeria.Judges in The Hague ordered Shellto make available to the courtdocuments that might shed light onthe cause of the oil spills and whetherleading managers were aware ofthem.

Friday’s ruling overturned a findingby a lower Dutch court in 2013 thatShell’s Dutch-based parent companycould not be held liable for spills atits Nigerian subsidiary.

The legal dispute dates back to 2008when four Nigerian farmers andcampaign group “Friends of the Earth”filed suit against the oil company inNetherlands, where its globalheadquarters is based.

“Shell can be taken to court in theNetherlands for the effects of the oilspills,” the court ruling stated onFriday. Shell is also ordered to provideaccess to documents that could shedmore light on the cause of the leaks.”Judge Hans van der Klooster said thecourt had also found that it “hasjurisdiction in the case against Shelland its subsidiary in Nigeria”.


The Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) saysit expects to capture at least 500,000 new corporateaccounts in its tax database by March 31, 2016.

The Chairman of FIRS, Mr Babatunde Fowler, told StateHouse correspondents in Abuja that the objective was toensure timely collection of revenue on behalf of theFederal Government.

Fowler said that the exercise would add to the 105,000corporate accounts in the agency’s database. There is abig gap both on the terms of the individuals and alsothe corporate.

"On the corporate side, we expect we are going toregister at least half a million new corporate accounts

FIRS targets 500,000 new corporate taxpayers by March 2016by March 31. We have started the campaign and in thelast 45 days we have registered nearly 105,000 corporateaccounts that have not been paying tax.

“So I think it is time that we all put hands together andtry and make sure that we support ourselves insupporting government so that government has therequired revenue so the government can provide theservices and the required infrastructure to make Nigeriathe Nigeria of our dreams.’’

The chairman of the service said that the level ofcompliance with individual tax payment was low. Hestated that at least 27 million Nigerians do not pay tax.


Dutch courtsays Shellcan be liablefor Nigeriaspills

CMYK


CMYK

Cover

Continued from page17

LAUNCH - From left: Charles Atiomu, Territorial Sales Manager, Total Nigeria Plc; JeffNnamani, Executive Director, Strategy, Total; Chizoma Okoli, Head, Corporate Banking, Dia-mond Bank Plc; Premier Oiwoh, Head, Operations and Technology Services, Diamond Bankand Olufemi Babajide, General Manager, Sales and Marketing Total at the launch of Dia-mond Bank ATM services at Total filling Stations held at Total Service Station, Lekki, Lagos.

Power alone gulps 40% of productioncost —MAN

maximum generation from thecentral/national grid was lessthan 5,000mw and unreliable.

According to him, this leavesa huge gap of powerinsufficiency to the sector.

He listed time and fund asthe two factors that posedchallenges to the committee inproducing the report. Earlier,the Chairman of NERC, Dr

Sam Amadi, expressedhappiness and appreciation tothe committee for preparingthe report and coming out withthe report on time. He assuredthe committee that the reportwould be submitted to theMinister of Power, Works andHousing, Mr BabatundeFashola, for approval.

Mr Frank Jacob, President ofMAN, said that there were 28

industrial clusters in Nigeria,adding that the associationspend N73 million everymonth on power generation tomanufacture goods in theclusters. Jacob explained thatwith adequate supply ofelectricity, the associationwould manufacture moregoods and the economy wouldbe better and people enjoyimproved standard of living.

The case has beenadjourned till March forhearing. Shell’s Nigeriansubsidiary, Shell PetroleumDevelopment Company ofNigeria Ltd (SPDC), said in astatement: “We aredisappointed the Dutch courthas determined it shouldassume internationaljurisdiction over SPDC. Webelieve allegations concerningNigerian plaintiffs in disputewith a Nigerian company, overissues which took place withinNigeria, should be heard inNigeria,” it said.

Shell has always blamedsabotage for the leaks, whichunder Nigerian law wouldmean it is not liable to paycompensation. But the Dutchcourt said on Friday: “It is tooearly to assume that the leakswere caused by sabotage.” InJanuary 2013, the district courtin The Hague ruled that oneof the farmers in the originalsuit was eligible forcompensation from Shell’sNigerian division for spills onhis land. The farmer appealed

Dutch court says Shell can beliable for Nigeria spills

over whether the parentcompany should also beliable.

“Friends of the Earth”Netherlands Director GeertRitsema said Friday’s rulingmeant the three other farmerscould proceed with claims forcompensation for lost incomeresulting from spills. There are6,000 kilometres of Shellpipelines and thousands of

people living along them inthe Niger Delta,” he said.Other people in Nigeria canbring cases and that could betens of billions of euros indamages.” In a separate case,Shell agreed in January to payout 55 million pounds ($82million) in out-of-courtcompensation to a communityfor two oil spills in Nigeria in2008.


“In terms of individuals it is still very low. I was at a meetingwith the chairman of the SMEs and rightly so, he said thathe employed close to 34 million individuals in that business.And as you know the SMEs are very important when it comesto economic growth. They provide employment, they alsoprovide products that all of us use from toothpicks to matchesand all that.

“But the irony of that is that if they have 34 million or 35million members, on our national tax data base you have lessthan Seven million individuals. So the issue here is that wehave close to 27 million individuals who are not registered,who are not paying their taxes”. He stressed the need for thenation to save for a rainy day. "We have to be ready to savefor that rainy day to make sure that we as a government andalso as individuals put something aside,’’ he said.

FIRS targets 500,000 newcorporate taxpayers by March 2016


Thatcher ’s radicalpolicies, successfully

adapted across the US,Europe and large parts ofAsia, sparked off a new worldorder and confirmed theevolution of global economicpowerhouses. For a uniquelyplaced country like Nigeria,blessed with resources buthexed with endemicproblems, these events holdtremendous relevance andopportunity. They are alsocrucial to Nigeria makingprogress towards the UnitedNation’s MillenniumDevelopment Goals oferadicating hunger andpoverty and improvingenvironmental sustainability,among others.

The first lesson for Nigeriaof course is the need forfundamental changes inoutlook and practices withregards to promotingentrepreneurship as a meansto permanently overcomingpoverty and achievinggrassroots development. Ofequivalent importance isupgrading infrastructure andimproving access to socialservices, especially healthand education. The WorldBank outlines a three-pronged strategy for Nigeriato meet this challenge, whichincludes:

Establishing a viablem a c r o e c o n o m i cconfiguration thatoptimises incentives tothe widest citizen base.

P r i o r i t i s i n gaccountability as a meansof encouragingentrepreneurship and thesubsequent delivery ofquality services to thepopulation.

Adapting policy andpublic expenditureconventions suitable topromoting efficientgrowth and enhancedproductivity in a way thatbrings tangible benefitsto the poor.

Some of these suggestionshave already been adopted.In 2003, the Nigeriangovernment set up theNational EconomicEmpowerment DevelopmentStrategy, in line with IMFpoverty reduction policies, toachieve better fiscalmanagement. The same year,fuel prices were deregulatedand Abuja announced theprivatisation of four nationalrefineries. The current globaleconomic downturn is certainto wreak further havoc on

Breaking the Nigerian PovertyCycle through Entrepreneurial

Revolution (2)

Nigeria’s fledgling and oftenfloundering economy. Whatwill determine the finaloutcome of its nascententrepreneurial revolution, toborrow a statement fromApple honcho Steve Jobs, isthe amount of perseveranceis backs it up with.

A viable economic agendafor Nigeria that allows rapidentrepreneurial progress hasto focus on fundamentaladjustments:

Creating a pro-actives o c i o - e c o n o m i cenvironment thatencourages creative andviable entrepreneurshipfrom the grassroots levelto onwards. Identifyingand correctinginfrastructure deficits andsystemic imbalanceinimical to smallbusiness.

Developing a creditregime – throughrelevant financial andindustrial policy changes– that is sympathetic tosmall business realities.Promotion of lendingthrough equity, and notdebt, is of criticalimportance.

Removing administrativeand trade barriers whiles i m u l t a n e o u s l yenhancing technicalsupport and capacitybuilding assistance forboth existing andemerging entrepreneurs.

Mobilising the country’ssignificant humanresources pool byrevamping the educationsector to providev o c a t i o n a l ,administrative and skilldevelopment training torural and urban youths.

Creating efficient andeffective mechanisms forregulation and oversightof enterprise-development initiativesin general, andmicrofinance institutionsin particular.

Maintaining politicalstability and authority ofdemocratic institutions;fighting corruption andbuilding social consensuson important issues toensure broad-basedsuccess ofmacroeconomic policies.


Business & Economy

Many Nigerians do notseem to understand the

role of the CBN in an economy.Some believe that the CBN isan authority in itself and doesnot take instruction fromgovernment. Yes, it is true thatthe CBN enjoys someautonomy; that is as far as itsmanagement is concerned. TheCBN is the banker to theFederal Government and itseconomic and financial adviser.It is in the final analysisresponsible to the president.There have been severaluninformed comments as to whythe CBN paid out so much tothose who made official requestto it to move money from theirdeposit or their budgetaryallocation from the federalgovernment in the lastadministration in particular.

A little bit of history of theevolution of central banking mayhelp put things in the rightperspective.

Economic history has it thatwhat can be regarded as an earlycentral bank was the SverigesRiksbank, established in 1668,although it was short-lived

In England in the 1690s,public funds were said to be inshort supply and were neededto finance UK’s conflict withFrance. The credit of WilliamIII’s government was so low inLondon that it was impossible forit to borrow the £1,200,000needed at 8 per cent. In order toinduce subscription to the loan,the subscribers were to beincorporated by the name of theGovernor and Company of theBank of England. The bank wasgiven exclusive possession ofthe government’s balances, andwas the only limited-liabilitycorporation allowed to issuebanknotes. The lenders wouldgive the government cash(bullion) and also issue notesagainst the government bonds,which can be lent again. The

Who is afraid ofEmefiele as Governorof CBN?

£1.2million was raised in 12days; half of this was used torebuild the Navy.

The establishment of the Bankof England, the model on whichmost modern central banks havebeen based on, was devised byCharles Montagu, first Earl ofHalifax, in 1694.

Central Banks therefore arecreation of governments. Themandate of the Central Bank ofNigeria (CBN) is derived fromthe 1958 Act of Parliament, asamended in 1991, 1993, 1997,1998, 1999 and 2007. The CBNAct of 2007 of the FederalRepublic of Nigeria charges theBank with the overall control andadministration of the monetaryand financial sector policies ofthe Federal Government. Theobjects of the CBN are asfollows: ensure monetary andprice stability; issue legal tendercurrency in Nigeria; maintainexternal reserves to safeguardthe international value of thelegal tender currency; promotea sound financial system inNigeria; and act as Banker andprovide economic and financialadvice to the FederalGovernment.

Like any other bank, CentralBank keeps deposit forgovernment, its ministries,Departments and Agencies.Many Nigerians, some veryfaceless have accused the CBNof being used as an ATM duringthe immediate pastadministration of GoodluckJonathan. The CBN cannotdeny a legitimate government inpower access to public funds.Many of these allegations arecoming from those who did notunderstand how the financialsystem works. Nigerians mustlearn to understand that therelationship between the CBNand the federal government islike that between a bank and acustomer who holds either a

savings or current account withthe bank. Just like a customerwho issued a cheque towithdraw money from hisaccount, the CBN when apayment mandate is issued bygovernment agencies, looks atsuch mandate to ensure that thesignature tallies with that of themandated signatory beforemoney from such agency’saccount is released and once theCBN banking operationsdepartment is satisfied with theidentity of the agency, it alsochecks to see that there isenough money in the accountbefore paying; not mindingwhether the person wants it incash or by transfer. In whateverforms the agencies wants it, theapex bank has no option than topay. The CBN does not operateas federal government's internalauditor, whose responsibility isto check that the paymentinvoices and mandates beingpresented for payment are inaccordance with corporategovernance. Nigerians must

also be aware that the CBN as abank is neither a policeman noran anti-graft agency to begin toquestion genuine request fromconstituted authority. Thequestion to ask those calling forthe removal of the current CBNhead is if today the currentgovernment issues a cheque onCBN, will the governor ask thesitting President to state what hewants the money for and howhe intends to spend it? If theserving security adviser to thePresident issues a cheque formoney to be taken from securityvote domiciled in the CBN, areNigerians saying that the CBNGovernor should say no, youcannot take such funds? So longas the withdrawals have themandate of the President, theCBN is covered.

The issue is that there arepolitical undertones and hiddenagenda in the call for the headof the Central Bank of Nigeria.In the first instance because thecurrent CBN governor hasmade it clear that he isapolitical, many party stalwartssee him as a threat to theirnefarious intentions. It wasquite unfortunate that twoweeks ago, the Minister ofInformation and Culture, AlhajiLai Mohammed said that theCentral Bank was turned to theATM or piggy bank of a fewpeople. The CBN is beingunduly vilified because mostpeople do not understand therelationship it has withgovernments and its agenciesthat operate an account with it.

Truth be told, the CBN does

not honour mandates fromgovernment or its agencies withits own resources; it does sofrom these agencies' funds it isholding for them in their ownaccounts. There is a lot ofignorance out there. The moneythe CBN paid out in Dasuki’scase is not CBN’s money.” AreNigerians aware of the detailsof the disbursement of the so-called Abacha loot? The fundwas lodged in an account thatbelongs to the government ofthe federation. Are Nigeriansaware that even the Presidentof the country is not a signatoryto the account? Are they awarethat the only signatory to thataccount is the Accountant-General of the Federation andin all of these; nobody seems tonotice that the office exists? Isit not now an open secret thatthe then Finance Minister, Dr.Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala wrote amemo asking the President toapprove that the money bemoved from the FederalGovernment account to theaccount of the Office of theNational Security Adviser?.

The CBN is at the momentbeing attacked by foreigninvestors and their mediabecause the bank denied foreignexchange access to 41 items thatcan be produced locally that isnow affecting their economy. Itis also facing political pressurefrom hawks who want to seetheir candidate replace thecurrent governor. WhatNigerians must know is that theeconomy is in very bad shapeand requires all hands on deckto fix it. It was political intriguethat resulted in the removal ofMallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusifrom office toward the tail end ofhis tenure. That was about a yearago. His removal unnerved theNigeria economy. Then thenation was still in good financialposition. Removing anotherCBN governor now on noserious charges will makeNigeria look like a bananarepublic where anything goes inthe eyes of foreign investors andthe international community.

•Emefiele

Removing anotherCBN governor nowon no seriouscharges will makeNigeria look like abanana republicwhere anything goesin the eyes of foreigninvestors and theinternationalcommunity

The Managing Director,Federal Mortgage Bankof Nigeria (FMBN),

Alhaji Gimba Ya’u Kumo, saidlast week that some 68 millionNigerians were improperlyhoused.

Ya’u Kumo stated this inAbuja at a civil societyinterface organised byInitiative for Leadership andEconomic Watch in Nigeria(ILEWN), a civil societyorganisation.

The News Agency of Nigeria(NAN) reports that the

68 million Nigerians improperly housed, says Federal Mortgage Bank MD

programme was organised toeducate and enlightenNigerians on the mandate ofFMBN. Nigeria has about17million to 20 millionhousing deficit. I think thatfigure was taken from WorldBank, World Habitat Report of2007.

“If you go by this numberand multiply it with at leastfour persons in a house, let’ssay the father, the mother andtwo of their children, you willhave a statistics of about 68million people who are either

improperly housed or don’thave at all.”

According to Ya’u Kumo,some of the causes of thishousing deficit includerefusal of financialinstitutions, insurancecompanies and some agenciesof government to contribute tothe National Housing Fund(NHF). Ya’u Kumo said thatfor the country to overcomethis situation and moveforward, highly placedprivate individuals must comeinto partnership with the

government for a lastingsolution.

He, however, said that theNational InsuranceCommission (NAICOM) hadcommitted itself to ensuringthat all insurance companiescomply with the provision ofthe NHF Act.

He said that the NHF Actmandates a person, especiallythe civil servant, to remit somepercentage of his/her incometo the National Housing Fundas part of life and non-lifeinsurance. Ya’u Kumo said

that when the NHF Act wasfounded 23 years ago, thefunding windows weredivided into four collectionswhere individuals make theircontribution to housingdevelopment. The managingdirector restated that thenation would be in crisis, if allstakeholders did not worktogether to end homelessnessin the country.

Mr SplendourAgbonkpolor, the NationalCoordinator of the NGO, saidthe essence of the meetingwas to educate Nigerians sothat everybody would knowhis or her duty andresponsibility.

20— Vanguard, MONDAY, DECEMBER 21, 2015

CMYK

Corporate Report

Oando’s cost-income structurehas faltered with asustaining decline in sales

revenue and a continuing rise in costs.Turnover went down by 5.5% year-on-year at the end of September but costof sales rose by 47%, which led to a36% fall in gross profit. This has beenthe trend for the third year running.In 2013, the company lost 30.8% ofsales revenue and in 2014, a furtherloss of 5.6% occurred. Profit dropshappened for the second year in 2013and huge losses have followed for thesecond year in 2015.

The collapse of crude oil price afterthe company’s acquisition of the $1.5billion ConocoPhilips’ Nigerianbusiness means a lot of provisions forlosses in asset values will have to bemade in the accounts. This year, animpairment charge on assets to thetune of N23.6 billion has appeared andthat claimed more than one-half ofgross profit. A rise of 35.6% in netfinance cost to N38.83 billion at theend of the third quarter blew up anoperating loss of N13.18 billion into a

FBN Holdings still towers abovethe rest of the banks in theindustry by revenue but rising

credit losses have robbed it ofsignificant profit capacity this year.Impairment charges for credit lossesmade an upsurge of about 250% year-on-year at the end of the third quarterto stand at N46.64 billion. That hasfar exceeded the total impairmentcharges of N25.94 billion the bankmade in the whole of 2014.

The ability to convert revenue intoprofit has therefore weakened for thebank this year. At the end of the thirdquarter, net profit margin droppedfrom 17.2% at the end of 2014 to 12.8%- the lowest among the leading banks.The bank’s profit margin hasn’t comethis low in many years.

Interest expenses are equallyhurting the bank’s profit capacity withan increase of 35.6% year-on-year inthe third quarter. That is more thantwice the increase in gross earnings,which led to a weak growth of 9.3% innet interest income. While the bankgrew revenue by 17.2% year-on-yearat the end of the third quarter, it lost10% of net profit on account of risingloan losses and increasing cost offunds.

Revenue growth is expected to slowdown in the final quarter and the fullyear outlook indicates gross earningsin the region of N524 billion for FBNHoldings in 2015. That will be anincrease of 9% over the gross incomeof N480.62 billion it reported in 2014.It will however be a major slowdownfrom the revenue growth rate of 21.3%recorded in the prior year.

After tax profit dropped by about 10%

FBN Holdings loses profit onrising credit losses

year-on-year in the third quarter toN50.22 billion. Profit growthdecelerated from N40.06 billion at theend of the second quarter due to lossof profit margin. Based on the currentgrowth rate, FBN Holdings isexpected to close the 2015 operationswith an after tax profit in the regionof N67.7 billion. This indicates alikely drop of 18.3% in after tax profitfor the bank to the lowest figure since

2012.Inability to get loan loss expenses

and interest cost under control is thechallenge facing the management ofFBN Holdings in the current year. Thetwo expenditure lines claimed virtuallyall the increase in interest incomeduring the period. Impairment chargeswere already 80% above the N25.94billion figure the bank made in all of2014 by the end of the third quarter.

The bank devoted 15.5% of interestincome to impairment charges forcredit losses compared to 5.2% in thesame period last year.

At N107.46 billion at the end of thethird quarter, interest expenses roseby 35.6% - more than twice as fast asthe 17.5% growth in interest income.The bank also devoted an increasedshare of revenue to payment of interestexpenses at 27.5% at the end of thethird quarter compared to 24% in thesame period last year.

Management succeeded inachieving a moderated growth inrespect of operating expenses at theend of the third quarter. That enabledit to save some cost by reducingoperating cost margin from 48.6% to43.3% over the review period. The costsaved here was however absorbed bythe two major rising costs.

The summary of the bank’soperations so far this year is that costsare growing generally ahead ofrevenue. Profit capacity has thereforeweakened due to loss of profit margin.Net profit margin has dropped from16.7% in the third quarter of last yearand from 17.2% at the end of 2014 to12.8% at the end of September thisyear.

Declining profit margin is a fact ofthe banking industry generally sincelast year but FBN Holdings has lostconsiderable ground on profit marginon the industry performance ranking.Its profit margin is a distant lowestamong the five leading banks. Thisexplains why it is leading the industryby revenue but struggling for a thirdspace on profit numbers.

The bank earned N1.47 per share atthe end of September, which is adecline from N1.70 in the same periodlast year. The full year earnings pershare is projected at N1.88 for FBNHoldings in 2015. This means a likelydrop from N2.55 earnings per sharethe bank reported at the end of 2014.An increase in the volume of sharesfrom a bonus issue has reinforced thedrop in earnings per share.

Oando: Profit capacity broken by sustaining revenue fallpre-tax loss of over N52 billion.

The company’s balance sheet showsthat borrowings remain large despitesome reductions. It has long-termdebts of nearly N141 billion and short-term borrowings amounted to overN101 billion at the end of the thirdquarter. It is under cash flow pressureand needs to raise new money evenfor loan repayment. Despite a newissue of shares, the company endedthird quarter trading with a net cash

utilisation of over N77 billion forfinancing activities.

Shareholders appear to be gettingthe opposite of what they expectedfrom Oando and consequently thecompany is equally one of the leadingshare price declines so far this year.At the close of business last Friday,Oando closed over 63% down from itsJanuary opening price.

In place of the big profit expected,big losses have occurred. Between the

final quarter of last year and the thirdquarter of this year, Oando has built atotal loss of about N231 billion. Withthat, retained earnings of close to N34billion at the beginning of 2014 waswiped off and an accumulated loss ofover N201 billion appeared at the endof the third quarter. Net assets havedropped to one-third of the openingfigure in 2014 and this is net of the32.5% increase in paid-up capital withsubstantial premium in the course ofthe current financial year.

The company’s loss figure at the endof the third quarter looks likely toswell up further at full year, which hasbeen the trend since 2013. Its profitcrash of 87% in 2013 to N1.40 billionhappened against an expectation of astrong profit recovery in the yearbased on the third quarter report.While the company posted an after taxprofit of N10.70 billion at the end ofthe third quarter in 2014, it closed theyear with a loss of nearly N184 billion.With rising losses and diminishing netassets, Oando’s dismal earningsreading isn’t expected to change anytime soon.

Shareholders appear to be getting theopposite of what they expected fromOando and consequently the company isequally one of the leading share pricedeclines so far this year. At the close ofbusiness last Friday, Oando closed over63% down from its January opening price.

CMYK



CMYK

Banking & Finance

AWARD: From left, Camp Director, FCT NYSC Orientation Camp, Mrs. Iruma Blessing,Opaluwa Ojochogwu (corps member and joint first prize winner), Deputy Director, MultiStakeholders partnership, National Information Technology Development Agency [NITDA],John Chima, Awulonu Stephen (corps member and joint first prize winner) of N250,000 in theNITDA NYSC ICT Innovation & Entrepreneurship Programme for Corp Member, Chinyere Ekweand National Coordinator, Office of ICT Innovation& Entrepreneurship of NITDA, BunmiOkunowo during the presentation ceremony held at the parade ground in Abuja on Wednesday.

BY BABAJIDEKOMOLAFE

Sterling Bank is set toincrease its customer

base by attracting one millionnew customers in 2016.

Managing Director andChief Executive Officer of theBank, Mr. Yemi Adeoladisclosed this at the annualpress conference of the banks,adding the bank will alsocomplete ongoing efforts toraise additional fund to beefup its capital base.

He said, “As we get ready togo into 2016, we are focussingon four key areasstrategically. The first is toimprove our funding andcustomer counts. We intend toincrease our customer base byone million new customers in2016.”

“At this point we areadequately capitalised but weare pursuing Tier 2 capital.We are at the tail end of it andhopefully by January orFebruary, we would haveadditional debt capital. Interms of equity capital, I thinkwe are good. At CapitalAdequacy ratio of 19 percent,when what is required is 10percent, we are not undercapital pressure at all.

Sterling Bank was formedten years ago following themerger of five legacy financialinstitutions namely MagnumTrust Bank; Indo NigeriaBank; Trust Bank of Africa;MBM Merchant Bank andNAL Merchant Bank.

Listing the achievement ofthe bank in its ten years ofexistence, Adeola said thatthe Total Assets of the bank hasgrown from N110 billion in2006 to N1 trillion in 2015.

He disclosed that the Bankexpanded its branch networkby 135 from 50 in 2006 to 185in 2015 said plans were on toensure that the Bank is rankedamong the top six banks in thecountry by year 2020.

Besides, Adeola stated thatthe deposit liabilities of theBank grew from N75 billion

Sterling Bank targets 1m newcustomers in 2016in 2006 to N583 billion in 2015while equity rose from N26billion to N88 billion.Similarly, the Bank’s customerbase rose from 200,000 in2006 to 1.4 million in 2015.

Adeola who was supportedby the Executive Director,Corporate & InvestmentBanking, Mr. Kayode Lawaland the Executive Director/Chief Operating Officer, Mr.Yemi Odubiyi also explainedthat the Bank, within ten yearshad deployed 801 ATMsnationwide when it had nonein 2006.

Speaking on the majoractivities of the Bank in thecurrent year, the Bank’s ChiefExecutive said that “theoutgoing year has been abeehive of activities and we

have good reason to celebrate.The Bank was involved in alot of activities that addedvalue not only to ourcustomers but with greatimpact on all Nigerians”.

Some of the major activitiesfor the year according to Mr.Adeola included theorganization of the firstSterling MSME Academy toenhance the capacity ofMicro, Small and MediumEnterprises; the financing ofthe acquisition of 434 BRTbuses by the Lagos StateMinistry of Transport toimprove the transportationsystem in Lagos State; thefinancing of Labana RiceProcessing Mills in Kebbi tosupport the diversificationprogramme of the Federal

Government; the execution ofan e-library project at thecollege of Education, IkereEkiti to support the educationsector and the execution oftwo editions of the periodiccleaning exercise to supporta clean environment acrossthe country.

During this period, the ChiefExecutive Officer stated thatthe Bank was PCIDSS 3.0 re-certified, making it the thirdbank to achieve this status inthe country; The financialinstitution also procured aVisa principal status, whichaffords it the ability to issuecards and acquire merchantsdirectly. Other notable featsincluded a successfulintegration of its mobile walletto the NIBSS Instant Payplatform which allowsunbanked and semiunbanked customers toperform inter-bank transferson Sterling Money; 13additional branches were alsoopened and eight branchesre-modelled.

He however disclosed thatall the contributions of theBank did not go unnoticed asit won the Most InnovativeBank and Best CorporateGovernance awards in theWest Africa Awards organizedby The Banker Africa 2015;Best Bank Website of the yearaward by the NigeriaTechnology Awards andemerged as a finalist- BestNew Product/ServiceRecognition for DisruptiveTechnology/Innovation forSocial Lender at the EFMA/Accenture Distribution andMarketing Innovation Awards2015.

Union Bank of NigeriaPlc hasunveiled four

of its recently redesigned andmore modern branches inLagos state. This is part of thebank’s efforts to continue todeliver superior bankingexperience to its customers.

The branches are located atOba Akran, Allen, Alausa andthe Agege areas of Lagos.Union Bank said theredesigned branches are partof the Bank’s plan to offer“simpler and smarter ”banking solutions tocustomers and prospects. Thebranches have beenexquisitely designed andfurnished to wear asophisticated look.

Union Bank unveils 4 new-look branchesSpeaking to journalists at the

unveiling ceremony, theGroup Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of thebank, Mr. Emeka Emuwa,noted that the new-look wasin line with the bank’srebranding objectives. “Thisis aligned with the new UnionBank brand identity that welaunched six weeks ago,” hesaid.

“What we’ve tried to do hereis to give our customers amore contemporaryenvironment in our businesslocations but still retaining theold Union Bank tradition, andthen making sure that thebranch’s layout is gearedtowards helping ourcustomers access their

services much more efficiently.“It is basically a continuation

of the new brand identity thatwe launched, which is moremodern, energised, vibrantand contemporary. Thetechnology you have in thisbranch is the sameeverywhere else. Back inApril, we upgraded our corebanking systems, and thebenefits are visible.Customers should simplyexpect simpler, smarter,service,” Emuwa explained.

The Union Bank boss bossalso said unveiling theredesigned branches was anongoing process that wouldcontinue for the next twomonths.

FCMB promoproduces 643winners

Another set of 643customers of First City

Monument Bank (FCMB)Limited have emerged aswinners of cash and variousexciting gifts at the seconddraws of the Bank’s ongoingreward scheme tagged,‘’FCMB Millionaire PromoSeason 2”, held nationwideon Tuesday, December 15,2015. The electronic selectionof the winners was witnessedby officials of the NationalLottery RegulatoryCommission, ConsumerProtection Council andthousands of customers of thefinancial institution.

While three lucky customerswere rewarded with the sum ofN1million each at the regionaldraws held in Abuja, Lagos andEnugu states, 640 others smilehome with LED televisions,generating sets, decoders,tablets, smart phones and otherconsolation prizes.

C&I Leasing plc., aleading Nigerian

content player in the offshoremarine vessel space, hasannounced a strategicpartnership with FloatelInternational, owners andoperators of some of theworld’s most modern, safeand technically advanced fleetof semi-submersibleaccommodation andconstruction support vessels(Floatel).

Emeka Ndu, GroupManaging Director, C&Ileasing plc, while speaking atthe MOU signing ceremony inLagos recently, disclosed thatwith the new partnership, C&ILeasing now holds theexclusive rights to marketFloatel services and theirvessels in Nigeria for arenewable period of one year.

“We are particularly excited atthe prospects of this emergingsector. This partnershiprepresents another significantmilestone in the efforts of theorganization to compete evenmore aggressively in theoffshore marine sector, and tocontinually create value forinvestors.” he said.

Peter Jacobsson, CEO FloatelInternational, on his partinformed that the companywhich was established in 2006,is focused at satisfying themarket’s demand for a newgeneration of offshore floatelsthat are cost efficient inoperations, and meet theincreased market andregulatory demands.

C&I Leasing, FloatelReliance partner onsupport vessels



CMYK

Banking & Finance

Banks seek investment outlets for N1tr excess cashFG, others to pay more for foreign debt — AFRINVEST

Banks are desperatelysearching for how toinvest the over N1

trillion of excess cash in theirvaults.This desperation wasreflected in trading fortreasury bills (governmentsecurities) where banks andother investors demanded for291 percent more bills thanthe amount offered for sale bythe Central Bank of Nigeria(CBN). Trading results showthat banks and other investorsdemanded for N791.42 billionworth of treasury bills but theCBN offered N202.4 billion.Further analysis show that inthe secondary market, whereexisting bills are sold, theCBN offered N50 billion worthbills (Open MarketOperation, OMO) whileinvestors demanded forN236.84 billion, out of whichthe apex bank accommodatedN233.84 billion. At thePrimary market, where freshbills are sold, the CBN offeredN152.4 worth of fresh bills,while investors demandedN554.58 billion, out of whichthe apex bank accommodatedN155.4 billion.Recall that the CBN onTuesday November 24th,lowered interest rate it payson bank’s excess cashdeposited in its StandingDeposit Facility (SDF) to 4.0percent from 11 percent.Since then banks have beenbattling with where to investtheir excess cash.Investigation revealed thatvolume of excess cash inbank’s vaults rose during theweek, due to reimbursementfor unmet demand for foreignexcess exchange, andpayment of matured treasurybills. From N665 billion onMonday, excess cash rosesharply by 84 percent to N1.19trillion on Tuesday beforedropping N262 billion onWednesday. On Thursdayexcess cash rose again by 131percent to N606 billion due torepayment for maturedtreasury bills.Consequently, cost of funds(interest rates) remained lowin the interbank moneymarket. According toAfrinvest Plc, “Money marketrates stayed at low levels withthe Overnight (O/N) lendingand secured Open Buy Back(OBB) lending instrumentsclosing at 0.5 percent and 1.0percent respectively onMonday. The level ofliquidity remained robust atover N1 trillion mid-weeks as

we saw additional inflows ofN155.4 billion from maturingT-bills, hence money marketrates recorded marginalchanges.“However, we observed amoderate uptick on Thursdaywith the O/N and OBB risingto 1.0 percent and 1.4 percentrespectively, majorly due tothe T-bills Primary MarketAuction (PMA) held the sameday and provisions Banksmade for CBN foreignexchange auctions. The O/Nand OBB rose 54 basis points(bps) and 42bps Week-on-week (W-o-W) to close at 1.0percent and 1.4 percentrespectively; while the NIBORclosed flat W-o-W.“Sentiment differed acrosstenors in the T-bills market aswe saw bullish sentiment atthe short end of the curve buts e l l i n gactivities was recorded at thelonger end asd e a l e r s e x i t e d t otake position at the T-billsPMA on Thursday. Thisdragged Average yields up by42bps W-o-W to 4.4% onFriday. At the PMA held, the91, 182 and 364 Days tenuredbills were issued at Stop Ratesof 4.0 percent, 6.2 percentand 7.5 percent respectively,lower than 5.6 percent, 7.0percent and 8.0 percent stoprates during theDecember 2nd 2015 PMA.“The lower rates at this week’sauction are due to the highlevel of liquidity. We expectinterbank money market ratesto continue to trend at thecurrent level against thebackdrop of robust liquiditywhilst we anticipate somelevel of profit-taking at thelonger end of the curve.Tenured deposits rate mightlikely increase towards theend of the year as portfoliomanagers rebalance theirportfolio towards equities.”FG, others to pay more forforeign debt-Afrinvest

Meanwhile Afrinvest haspredicted that the interest rateincrease by the United StatesFederal Reserve’s will makethe federal government andNigerian companies to paymore as interest rates onforeign debt.On Wednesday, the FederalReserve increase its policyrate to 0.25 percent from 0.05percent, thus ending sevenyears of low interest rateregime in the world’s largesteconomy. This, according toAfrinvest will lead to furtherweakening of the naira, andincrease cost of foreign debt.It stated, “Prior to the Fed-Fund rate hike, restriction onforeign exchange by theCentral Bank of Nigeria(CBN) has constrainedmarket activities, fuelledhigher inflation rate anddepressed output growth inNigeria. While official andinterbank market ratesteadied at N197.00/$ toN199.10/$, parallel marketrate has depreciated to N280/$ in December 2015.Increased flow of fundtowards the US economy dueto higher rate environmentpoints to a stronger dollar.

“Therefore, another scenariois a further loss in the valueof the domestic currency(Naira) against the dollar. Weperceive the stabilityportrayed by the Apex Bankin terms of the official ratewhich has been kept at N197as contrived, given thesignificant N80/$ spread toparallel market rate of N280.Consequently, we expect thepressure on the CBN todevalue to intensify as dollarreceipts to governmenttreasury continue to shrink inNaira terms while currentaccount deficit worsens.“Finally, higher interest ratein the US and a strongerdollar will increase cost offoreign debt. The recentlyreleased Medium TermExpenditure Framework(MTEF) for 2016 shows thatfiscal arm is budgeting anexpansionary 2016 with atotal budget of N6.08tnrelative to N4.48tn in the 2015budget. Consequently, thebudget deficit is expected torise from N1.04tn in 2015 toN2.19tn and foreignborrowing is budgeted toaccount for about 29.0%(N635.88bn) of the totalfinancing for the deficit.“Following the Fed decision,the cost of borrowing for thegovernment, is expected torise. Furthermore, the cost ofservicing FGN and CorporateEurobond worth US$6.2bn(US$2.5bn & US$3.7bn) isexpected to hike as a result ofstronger dollar and weakernaira. Notwithstanding theanticipated impact as notedabove, the short term impactin Nigeria is expected to staymuted given thatmacroeconomic concerns inthe domestic economy hadalready forced market actorsto adjust ahead of theannouncement.”

Emefiele, CBN Governor Adeosun, Minister of Finance

We perceive thestabilityportrayed by theApex Bank interms of theofficial ratewhich has beenkept at N197 ascontrived, giventhe significantN80/$ spread toparallel marketrate of N280

FRC holds 12th

financialreportingsummit

Eminent financial expertsin the private and public

sectors of the nation’seconomy are expected tobrainstorm on the newuniform code of corporategovernance at a two-day 12thFinancial Reporting Summitof the Financial ReportingCouncil of Nigeria (FRC)which will take place in Lagosthis week.According to the spokesmanof the FRC, Mr MackOgbamosa, the summit whichhas the theme “National Codeof corporate Governance forNigeria for Nigeria: A newdawn in Compliance” wouldattract prominent players inthe private and public sectorsof the economy such as formerNigerian High Commissionerto the United Kingdom, UK,Dr Christopher Kolade, theMinister of Industry, Tradeand Investment, DrOkechukwu Enelemah, theCommissioner for Insuranceand CEO of NationalInsurance Commission(NAICOM) AlhajiMohammed Kari, Head ofService of the Federation,Mrs Winifred Ekanem Oyo-Ita.

Abuja WorldTrade Centre setfor delivery June

Subscribers as well asprospective home cum

shop owners at the WorldTrade Centre, Abuja have acause to be happy as thePhase 1 of the sprawlingtowers is due for delivery inJune 2016. Mr. FemiAwopetu, Assistant GeneralManager, CorporateCommunications, ChurchgateGroup, developers andpromoters of the project whodropped the hint while givingan update on the mixeddevelopment, added that thePhase 2 of the developmentis expected to commence thesame June 2016.Awopetu whonoted that the Phase 1 isbeing completed withfinishing touches preparatoryto its delivery in June, said“With the quality and comfortof the World Trade CenterAbuja, high-end propertyseekers have been assured ofthe same satisfaction derivedfrom living in a luxuryapartment with world classamenities in Berlin, New Yorkor Dubai”.According to him,the WTC, Abuja has beendeveloped with the samequality expected from theWTC brand, pointing out thatthe fundamental principle ofluxury is the capacity to blowpeople’s minds.

BY BABAJIDEKOMOLAFE



Corporate Finance

PARLEY - From left: Chief Executive Officer, Sofunix Investment and Communications, Mr. SolaOni; Chief Executive Officer, Geo Medical Centre, Dr. Adetomiwa George; Managing Director,Vono Products Plc, Mr. Tunji Anjorin; and Group Head, Sales and Marketing, Vitafoam NigeriaPlc, Mr. Sola Owoade, during a press parley to inaugurate Vono Hospital Furniture in Lagos.

By PETER EGWUATU

Vono Products Plc, ac o m p a n yquoted on the

Nigerian Stock Exchange,NSE has lamented thenegative impacts of fakeproducts on the company’sbusiness and appealed to theFederal Government tointensify efforts in combatinginflux of these products intoNigeria.

The Managing Director, MrTunji Anjorin, whileaddressing the company’strade partners at a PressConference during theunveiling of the company’snew hospital furniture inLagos explained that influx offake products, low governmentpatronage and high exchangerate of the Naira to otherconvertible currencies havemoderated capacity utilizationin the real sector.

Vono Products Plc hasintroduced new hospitalexamination bed, classic bed,cabinet and drip stand toenhance service delivery inthe hospital.

Anjorin stated that thehospital bed was a product ofextensive research to addresssome of the critical issuesaffecting examination ofpatients in the hospital.

He noted that despite theinclement operating climate inNigeria, Vono Products was setto deliver superior products atall times.

According to him “theexamination bed had beendesigned for comfort, the dripis adjustable while the bedsidecabinet is not only waterproofbut good for storage.”

Anjorin explained that the

Vono laments fake products,seeks FG’s assistance

company had produced thefurniture in commercialquantity and many hospitalsin both the private and publicsectors had embarked onplacing orders on the newproducts.

He re-stated the company’sresolved leverage on itsstrong brand to expand itsproducts and services andboost shareholder value.

“Despite the harsh operatingenvironment, management isworking round the clock toensure timely delivery ofquality products at all times.

“Our hospital furniture,

particularly, our ExaminationBed is a product of researchand understanding of theneeds of the end usersparticularly the functionalityand durability as our basis fordesign.

These components remainpart of what Vono holds dearand what keeps our customersendearing to us.

“We are determined tosatisfy our customers byconstantly anticipating theirneeds and satisfying themeven before they realize thatsuch needs exist. “, Anjorinassured.

He assured the company’sshareholders of increasedvalue as the company wouldcontinue to place premium onquality and affordableproducts despite the highproduction cost. He statedthat the company had capacityto meet demand at any pointin time and end users of theproducts enjoy after salesservice.

Making a specialpresentation on the newproducts, Vono Products’sProject Manager, Mr RahealOshinubi explained that thethree furniture were tailor-made to enhance servicedelivery in our hospitals. Henoted that the products’quality conformed withinternational best practices.

Endorsing the products, theChief Medical Officer, GEOMedical Center, DrAdetomiwa George whodescribed Vono’s products asof highest qualityrecommended the newfurniture to all hospitals. Hecommended the company forboosting the government’slocal content policy.

Speaking on the prevalenceof fake products in Nigeria,the Group Head, Sales andMarketing, Vitafoam NigeriaPlc, Mr Sola Owoade notedthat companies were co-operating with the statutoryorganizations such as theStandard Organization ofNigeria (SON) onsurveillance in order to arrestthe perpetrators.

On the cost of foams inNigeria, Owoade advocatedthe use of Consumer BuyingRights to expose consumers totheir peculiar needs ascurrently done by VitafoamNigeria Plc.

Bloomberg L.P. has announced that it hasentered into an agreement to acquire

Barclays Risk Analytics and Index Solutions Ltd.(“BRAIS”), a leading provider of benchmark andstrategy indices, portfolio analytics, risk andattribution models, and portfolio constructiontools. BRAIS’s benchmark indices span globalmarkets covering multiple asset classes, mostnotably the Barclays Family of Aggregate BondIndices. “As financial markets continue to evolve,our clients need and expect the index businessto evolve too,” said Michael R. Bloomberg.“Combining the market-leading Barclays indicesand their superb team with our datamanagement, analytics and distribution willprovide more independence, liquidity andtransparency to the marketplace, improveindustry innovation and further meet the diverseneeds of our global client base.”

The BRAIS acquisition will extend thecomplementary investments that Bloomberg hasmade in the index business to date and drivefurther value to Bloomberg clients, as theseindices are integrated into Bloomberg’s analyticdashboards, portfolio analytics, ordermanagement systems, and executionmanagement systems. Bloomberg currentlyparticipates in the index business through the

Bloomberg to acquire Barclays' risksanalytics, index solutions business

Bloomberg Commodity Index, also knownas BCOM (formerly the UBS-Dow JonesCommodities Index), and the BloombergAusBond Indices (formerly the UBSAustralia Bond Index family).

Bloomberg has also increased itsinvestments in PORT, the company’s multi-asset portfolio risk and analytics tool thathas seen significant growth over the pastfive years. The Company intends toaccelerate its investments in this area byacquiring the intellectual property inPOINT, Barclays’ portfolio analyticssolution, and incorporating BRAIS IP intoPORT. Barclays has agreed to continue tooperate POINT for 18 months postcompletion in order to help clients transitionto PORT. “At a time when market structurechange is causing increased demand forinnovative solutions in fixed income, theindustry and our mutual clients will benefitgreatly from the combination of theseassets,” said J.P. Zammitt, Global Head ofFinancial Products. “BRAIS’s talented teamwill bolster our investments and help uscontinue to innovate around better creation,sharing, publishing and benchmarkingtools, as well as portfolio and risk analytics.”

DiamondXtramakesadditional 15millionaires

BY PRINCEWILLEKWUJURU

Diamond Bank Plcthrough its

DiamondXtra season 8 hasadded fifteen Nigerians tothe list of millionaires in thecountry.

The millionaires emergedthrough a live draw inLagos, which was witnessedby industry stakeholders,customers, potentialcustomers, shareholders,journalists, the generalpublic and the managementof the Bank.

Thirteen of the winners wona million Naira each whileone of the Bank’s customerswon N2 million. The starprize of Salary4Life wascarted away by Imoh Udoh inAkwa Ibom State, whichentitles him to a monthlypayment of N100, 000 for thenext 20 years.

Speaking, Aisha Ahmed,Divisional Head, Consumerand Privilege Banking statedthat since the Bank initiatedthe special account, it hasgiven its numerouscustomers the uniqueprivilege to enjoy multiplebenefits in one account.

“DiamondXtra waslaunched in 2008 to rewardour loyal customers, both oldand new. This event marksthe first monthly draw of thenew season to commemoratethe launch of Season 8 and15 lucky customers haveemerged winners. Thereward scheme is integratedinto the DiamondXtraproposition so everycustomer on theDiamondXtra account hasequal opportunity of winningthrough the transparentelectronic draws. As we enterinto the new season, wewould like to reassure all ourloyal customers thatDiamond Bank willconstantly seek robustplatforms like this to enrichthem.”

Corroborating, Osita Ede,Head, Mass MarketSegment stated that thelaunch is a special feature ofSeason 8, with theintroduction of regionalquarterly draws to ensurewinners emerge from everyregion in Nigeria includingthe North, South-East,South-South, Lagos andWest.


REAN: From left: Chief Anthony Idegbe (SAN), Director, Royal Exchange Plc; Oscar Onyema,CEO, Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE); Mr. Chike Mokwunye, GMD , Royal Exchange Plc;Miss Sheila Ezeuko, Group Company Secretary and Alhaji Auwalu Mukhtari, Group ExecutiveDirector during the Royal Exchange Assurance Bell Ringing at the floor of NSE in Lagos.

The Securities andE x c h a n g e

Commission (SEC) has calledon the Federal Government toinclude stock market listing asone of the conditions forcompanies seeking to securegovernment contracts to qualifyfor such contracts.

This will force companies thatwish to enjoy such contract toseek listing in the stock market,Mounir Gwarzo, DirectorGeneral, SEC, said in a forumwith journalists in Lagos.

He posited that highest rateof taxes paid to the governmentcome from quoted companies,and hence, the need toencourage more companies tolist. He said: “one way ofensuring that companies paytax is when those companiesare listed. If you look at thestatistics of companies that paytax in Nigeria, greaterproportions of them arecompanies that are listed on theExchange. So, within themantra of this government,which is to ensure that all thoselinkages are closed, I think thatgovernment should ensurethat all those companies arelisted.

“Some of us are of the opinionthat government should evencome up with a policy that forany company that will enjoy

SEC pushes for listing asrequirement for govt contractBy NKIRUKA NNOROM

government contract up tocertain amount of money, itmust be listed, because for youto be listed, it means that thereis transparency and you arelikely to have bettergovernance and certainly, youcannot run away from payingtax.” He stated that theCommission is already in talkswith telecos to list and hasreached an advanced stagewith them. “Like I said, listingis certainly going to be one ofthe key initiatives that the

governing council will look atnext year. Luckily enough,there is conversation already

with telecoms on the need forthem to be listed. At one point,we reached an advanced levelwith them. Some of the issuesthey raised, we were able toassure them that we willaddress them.

“At one point, we said youcan actually be listed on theExchange without necessarilyraising funds and we thinkeven some of them that don’tneed fund could still be listed.”

Speaking listing by small andmedium enterprises, Gwarzosaid there is need for thefederal government tointroduce incentives like taxholidays to encourage more ofthem to list.

“We are looking at what weneed to do that we have notdone in terms of encouragingthe listing of SMEs. Luckilyenough, within the growth andemerging markets, a veryrobust and comprehensivereport was done. TheInternational Organisation ofSecurities Commission(IOSCO) committee on SMEsset up a three-membercommittee to look at how wecan encourage the listing ofSMEs within the growth andemerging markets; the reporthas been submitted and wehave shared with keystakeholders. “We have lookedat the report and seen areas weneed to improve on and one ofthe things we have discoveredis the issue of incentives.

“Government must come upwith incentives that anycompany that is listed theunder SME that has operatedfor just two to three years, therewill be tax exemption. So,when we finish with thatreport, we will look at areas thatthat government can do.

Forte Oil Plc said it plans to grow its profitafter tax for the financial year ended

December 2016 to N11.09 billion.The company also targets profit before tax of

N12.84 billion for the same period, while therevenue for the period is expected to settle atN22.30 billion.

Outlining some of the strategies to bedeployed by the company to achieve the settarget, the Group Managing Director, Mr. AkinAkinfemiwa, who spoke at the Investors’Conference in Lagos, said the major driver ofthe expected financial objective would be thecompany’s involvement in lifting crude oil inthe country, a development, he said was notreflected in expected financials of 2016.

Additionally, he said the company wouldcomplete major overhaul of Geregu Power Plant,which it owned 51 per cent, to restore the plantto the installed capacity of 414MW and addadditional 21MW in order to bring the totalcapacity to 435mw.

The Forte Oil boss explained that going into2016, the company would pursue organic andinorganic expansion, saying that it hopes toacquire additional 30 strategic retail sites inkey business areas, as well as develop five retailcentres with convenience stores.

Forte Oil targets N11.09bn profit aftertax in 2016 ... to raise capacity of Geregu Power Plant to 435Mw

By NKIRUKA NNOROM He further stated in pursuing increasedprofitability, Forte Oil plans to introduce moreproduct offerings (Bitumen, LPFO and LPG),and “will conclude plans with four reputablepartners to roll out 70 brand new redesignedlube bays nationwide under our brand name –FO Quick Fix.” Akinfemiwa informed theinvestors that the company would commencethe roll out of the new lube bays in January2016 as well as launch its e-commerce site –FO Quickbuy – to allow customers makepurchases online.

According to him, “Forte Oil will deepenfocus on high margin products by increasinglubes and throughput per station. We will alsoexploit LPG business particularly, LPG retailingand bottle refilling and optimise and expandthe Geregu Power Plant assets.”

“We will also diversify into upstream spacethrough profitable acquisition of upstreamassets, harness partnerships with conveniencestores, financial institutions andtelecommunication firms and increase footfallto our station. “We will also make accretiveacquisitions by exercising bid/pricingdiscipline, he said, adding “in the coming year,we are going to pursue aggressive mergersand acquisitions along the energy value chainand achieve market dominance throughacquisition of retail infrastructures/assets.”

20 more winnersemerge in FidelityBank Save 4Shelter promo

Fidelity Bank Plc hasrewarded 20 more

customers that emergedwinners in its on-going Save4Shelter promotional campaignwith cash prize of N6 millionand other consolation prizes.

The promo draw commencedabout three months ago andpeaked last month withemergence of a Duplex winnerin Abuja. Besides other prizesleft to be won, two moreduplexes located in Lagos andPort-Harcourt will still be wonby lucky customers in thesubsequent months.

To qualify for the bi-monthlydraw and be legible to win oneof the duplexes, a customer isexpected to open a savingsaccount and grow the balanceto N50, 000 or top up existingsavings account with N50, 000.Qualification for the monthlydraws that entitle customers towin any of N2 million, N1million or N500,000, requiresa customer to also open asavings account and grow thebalance to N20,000 or top upan existing account withN10,000.

Meanwhile, the third draw,which took place at the bank’shead office in Lagos, producedsix winners of N500,000 (Fivehundred thousand naira) each,a winner of N1 million and starprize winner of N2 million,including 12 consolation prizesof generator sets andrefrigerators.

In her comment at the event,Mrs Chijioke Ugochukwu,Executive Director, SharedServices, Fidelity Bank, said:“While trying to pursue astrategy of financial inclusion,we have brought a lot of smilesto the faces of our customersand I think it is fair comment tosay that the promo draw so farhas been very successfully, butwe are far from finished. Thisis just 2015 going to close, butin quarter one 2016, we will startagain.

“There are still two houses tobe won, one in Port-Harcourtand the other in Lagos. In theweeks ahead, we will beshowcasing the photographs ofthese houses before they arewon so that Nigerians andothers interested savers can seefor themselves what we have forthem.” Mr. Obaro Odeghe,Regional Bank Head, Apapaand the Promo Manager, said:“Beyond giving out prizes topeople that have won, thepromo is in line with the bank’sstrategy of financial inclusion ofgetting many Nigerians to saveand create savings cultureamong Nigerians.”

Corporate Finance

This will forcecompanies thatwish to enjoysuch contractto seek listingin the stockmarket

Banking Review


The continuing head-winds in the economy maybe defining the suste-nance of the resilencebanks have demonstratedin their 2014 operations.A consecutive year ofsevere negative operatingenvironment may end upsignposting both 2015 and2016 as seasons of locustafter signficant rises inperformance indicators inthe previous three years.

Much cannot be under-stood in the study ofNigeria’s banking industryin the last two yearswithout the backgroundprovided by the first majorregulator induced consoli-dation in the industryunder Prof. ChukwumaSoludo led Central Bank ofNigeria, CBN, in 2004 –2009.

lndustry analysts believeSoludo was set to build

abetter banking industry

by share size in all respectsespecially capital base. Bythat the banks would be inbetter position to supporteconomic development andless susceptible to the risksof bank failures, which hadalmost become the commonphenomenon of Nigerianbanks. Up until then bankswere challenged with issuesof persistent liquidity, poorasset quality and undetrcap-italisation. Banks also de-pended majorly on publicsector deposits.

Soludo thus pursued vigor-ously the agenda of recapi-talisation banks by increas-ing the minimum capitalbase from N2billion to N25

Banking industry environment:

billion, an unprecedented1150% jump.

Landmarks in the industryunder the regime includes:

·Elimination of fringe play-ers and establishment of rel-atively bigger banking insti-tutions with solid capital base.

·Strengthening of regulationof the banking system there-by creating healthier banks

·Establishment of a stronguniversal banking modelwhich transformed most mer-chant banks into commercialbanks with healthier compe-tition.

·Entrenchment of electron-ic banking including onlinetransfers, Automated TellerMachine (ATM) and otherinterbank platforms.

·Increased capital basesencouraged banks to diversi-fy into many new productsand services which furtherdrew more customers intothe financial system.

But many analysts believethe banks at this time were

carried away by the eupho-ria of their sizes and balancesheets which grew astronom-ically post-capatilisation. Thetotal assets of commercialbanks in December 2006 (oneyear after consolidation) hadgrown by approximately 60%to N7.2 trillion fromN4.5trillion.

The huge resources soonfound itself into bad busi-nesses at the same time glo-bal financial crises was seep-ing into Nigeria. The com-bined effect was a bubbleburst.

The bubble burst and theSanusi phenomenon.

The 2008/2009 global finan-cial crisis brought new di-mension into financial systemregulation of the CBN follow-ing the events that played out.The year 2009 was a transi-tion year between the admin-istration of Soludo and theMallam Sanusi Lamido Sa-nusi led CBN. The Nigerianbanking system and financial

market experienced a majorshock arising from the con-tagion effect of the 2008 glo-bal financial crisis and de-cline in global oil prices onthe international side andpoor corporate governance,weak risk managementframework and significantexposure to margin loans onthe domestic front. These fac-tors led to the insolvency ofeight banks which were clas-sified as being in grave situ-ations. The total toxic assetsthat were absorbed by AM-CON at this time wasN5.7trillion.

Against the backdrop ofthese challenges, the mone-tary policy anchor of the CBNfollowing the entry of Sanusias governor was anchored onfour pillars of banking re-forms namely:

·Enhancing the quality ofbanks

·Establishing financial sta-bility

·Ensuring the financial sec-tor evolution

·Ensuring the financial sec-tor contributes to the realeconomy

Though many observersbelieve the risk managementand corporate governance fo-cus of Sanus’s CBN was rel-atively commendable stabili-ty in the sector was more of atransient effect of a relativelystable economy of the time asthings began to go bad withreversal of oil revenue inflowinto the economy in the sec-ond half of 2014.

Also despite the CBN’s at-tempt to ensure the banksremain responsive to activat-ing a financially driven realsector, the impact has notbeen too significant.

However due to other cir-cumstances Sanusi’s tenor atCBN ended abruptly and con-troversially few months tothe full statutory term havenbeen suspended by the gov-ernment.

This formed the backdropfor the new CBN administra-tion under the leadership ofGodwin Emefiele whichrolled out plans in 2014geared towards running apeople focused Central Bankwith deliberate effort to re-duce interest rate, maintainprice and exchange rate sta-bility and stimulate domesticgrowth.

Major highlights of theplanned policies include thepursuance of gradual reduc-tion of interest rate with itsattendant impact on both de-posits and lending rates com-parable to the pattern in oth-er emerging and Africaneconomies.

It also seeks to mainte-nance of exchange rate sta-bility and sustenance of man-aged float regime so as to pre-serve the value of the domes-tic currency given its importdependent nature throughthe conservation of externalreserves.

Emefiele was set to creat-ing financial system stabilityby managing factors that cre-ate liquidity shocks and zerotolerance practices that un-dermine the health of finan-cial institutions.

He seeks a zero tolerancepolicy on fraudulent borrow-ers and he also reinforced thecashless policy which was in-troduced in 2012 to helpstrengthen the payment sys-tem.

Major policy actions of theEmefiele led CBN points to-wards the continuation ofhawkish policy.

His CBN appeared ambi-tious with its plan to simulta-neously pursue lower interestrate and exchange rate alongsteady price level given thechallenges of the time whenthe new Governor came onboard.

However, the gradual wind-

2014 -2016 Challenges

•President Muhammadu Buhari1


•Kemi Adeosun, Finance Minister

•Continues on page 29

By Emeka Anaeto,Economy Editor

Banking Review


CMYK

ing up of the US Quantita-tive Easing program, slowinginflows into emerging andfrontier market, the build upto 2015 elections, fiscal fra-gility due to falling oil pric-es, dwindling external re-serves and fiscal policy un-certainties were some of themore daunting issues requir-ing a hawkish strategy thana finance agenda.

It is noteworthy that everyCBN Governor in the last 3administrations has had oneform of global or nationalchallenge to contend with.While Soludo’s CBN battledwith issues of banking con-solidation, the Sanusi wasconfronted with the falloutfrom global financial crisisand shaky financial systemwith extremely cost of risks.The major issues now con-fronting Emefiele’s tenure isthe depletion of external re-serves and simultaneouspressure on FX rates.

Subsequently, the CBNhas remained actively en-gaged on multiple policyfronts designed to curb spec-ulative attacks on domesticFX market while also seek-ing to preserve reserves. Thefrequency and inconsistencyof such policies have contrib-uted to weakening investors’confidence and triggered out-flows and banks are extreme-ly uncomfortable as thebooks in 2015 are already instress.

The culmination of theemergent challenges of fiscaland monetary policy environ-ment under which the banksstruggled through in 2015could be summed up in theNovember Monetary PolicyMeeting, MPC, decisions.

In its 6th and final meetingfor the year on 24th Novem-ber presided over by MrGodwin Emefiele the MPCemphasized the need to fo-cus on financial system sta-bility while taking proactiveand administrative measuresneeded to support the envi-ronment in which market in-stitutions operate.

However it noted that closecoordination between themonetary and fiscal policy,was necessary for sustain-able growth in the bankingindustry and the economy ingeneral. At the meeting, theCommittee considered thepresent challenges that per-

vade the macroeconomicspace namely the expectedrate hike by the USA Feder-al Reserve Bank, the contin-uously declining oil pricesand the gloomy outlook onglobal growth. The Commit-tee also considered thepresent macroeconomic chal-lenges in the country notingthat although headline infla-tion has been on a persistentrise, the observed modera-tion in October on a month-on-month basis providedsome room for monetary eas-ing to support output in theshort to medium term whilekeeping focus on price sta-bility. The MPC also consid-ered the bullish trend in thefixed income space of thebear run in the capital mar-ket.

Finally, the MPC reviewedand assessed the impact ofthe current policy to leave themarket awash with liquidityin a bid to foster credit ex-pansion by banks to the realsector. However, the commit-tee noted that the expectedimpact was yet to be met andit was against this backdropthat the MPC made the fol-lowing policy pronounce-ments;

·Reduction of Monetary Pol-icy Rate (MPR) from 13.0%

to 11.0%·Cash Reserve Require-

ment reduction from 25.0% to20.0%

·Asymmetric corridor of+2.0% and -7.0% around theMPR Afrinvest Group of fi-nancial analysts summarisedthe impact of the accommo-dative policy tweaks by theMPC against many analysts’expectations as follows:

Lower rates in the creditand fixed income market.The 200bps cut in MPR andintroduction of an asymmet-ric corridor around the MPRat +200bps and -700bps isthe most significant of thepolicy decisions reached asthis brings the StandingLending Facility, SLF, andStanding Deposit Facility,SDF, rates to 13.0% and 4.0%from 15.0% and 11.0% respec-tively. Prior to the MPC de-cision, there has been a reg-ulatory maximum on the re-munerable SDF placementby each bank at N7.5bn. TheMPC’s decision to comple-ment this by a further 5.0%cut in CRR will add approxi-mately N771.4 billion to li-quidity level in banks basedon October data from theCBN.

However, the communique

issued by the CBN added acaveat that the additional li-quidity would be released ona condition that the funds willbe channelled to the real sec-tor.

Nevertheless, the lowerSDF rate and increase in li-quidity level would lowercompetition for depositsamongst banks and we ex-pect to see a decline in sav-ings and interbank rates. Themore accommodative stanceis also expected to driveyields downwards in the sec-ondary Bonds market as deal-ers are likely to bid-down oncurrent rates in anticipationof lower yields at the prima-ry market auction. We expectNIBOR rates currently at10.1% on average to adjustto the new SLF rate to anaverage of 7.1% (if the samespread is maintained) whilstaverage yields on T-bills andBonds market (currently at4.7% and 10.5%) are likely toalso correct to 3.7% and 9.5%respectively. Given the low-er financial market rates an-ticipated, we expect slightreduction in prime lendingrate.

Increase in credit to pri-vate sector. In the short term,we do not expect the ease in

monetary policy to immedi-ately translate to increaselending to the real sector, es-pecially given the high riskretail/SME loans segment.Structural bottlenecks, weakquality of infrastructure andthe current slowdown in eco-nomic activities constitutehigh risk to real sector lend-ing, which would requiremore adjustments by the fis-cal authorities to de-risk thesector. However, with the re-striction on all cheap incomelines, we expect a significantmedium term expansion inCredit to the private sector(currently at N19.1tn in Oc-tober 2015 and up 6.8% Y-o-Y) by DMBs. This will neces-sitate banks to improve ontheir risk managementframework to identify oppor-tunities and earn a relativelyhigher margin (compared tothe cheap rates in the fixedincome market) and buoyassets turnover and share-holders’ return.

Lower Net Interest Mar-gin for Banks. Interest in-come earned by banks on in-vestment securities andloans are expected to reducein the first quarter of 2016 asbanks adjust to the lower pri-mary auction rates in thebonds market and reducedinterbank rates. Cost of Fundwill reduce but only margin-ally due to: 1) 25.0% mini-mum mandated interest rateon savings deposits and 2) the80.0% Loan to Deposit ratioregulation by the CBN thatwill continue to drive demandfor deposits.

Tier-1 Banks who are netplacers of funds in the Inter-bank Market and with high-er deposit liability to fund willbe impacted more in termsof net interest margin. Tier-2banks who are net borrowerswill have their cost of fundreduced although the lowerinterest income will still taperNet Interest Margin. Over-all, we expect Net InterestMargin to decline (from 6.4%in Q3:2015) in Q1:2016.

There is likelihood of a re-pricing of stocks in the stockmarket in the trading ses-sions ahead as investors arelikely to go short on financialservices and long on othervalue-sector equities.

Further FX restrictions andincrease in black marketrates. The CBN’s action tobuoy aggregate demand sideof the economy by increasingliquidity levels and reducingmarket rates will have a feed-back effect on price and ex-change stability in the shortto medium term. As the CBNhas remained resolute in itsresolve to keep administra-tive measures in place to re-duce depletion in the FX re-serves and create a contrivedstability in interbank FXrates, the effects would be feltin the parallel market for FXwhere rates would furtherdepreciate. We estimate aconservative FX rate ofN255.00/US$1.00 at the par-allel segment. This may cre-ate a vicious cycle of addi-


•Godwin Emefieli CBN Governor • Sanusi former CBN Governor


•Continued from page 28


FCMB Group Plc is oneof the oldest private sec-

tor indigenous operators inNigeria's financial system in1977 as City Securities Ltd(CSL). It then operated as aStockbroker, Issuing Houseand Registrar. CSL gave birthto First City Merchant BankLtd in 1982. It converted tocommerical banking tradingas First City Monument BankLtd in 2001 and became a pub-lic company listed on the Ni-gerian Stock Exchange in2004. Following Central Bankof Nigeria’s directives embed-ded in Regulation 3 of 2010,the bank in 2011 converted toa group structure. Under thisnew arrangement, FCMB Plcbecame a private límited com-pany and a subsidiary of thegroup, and same for CSLTrustees Ltd, FCMB CapitalMarkets Ltd, and CSL Stock-broker Ltd.

FCMB Ltd (The Bank) is thegroup’s flagship with about2.7 million customers, 3100full time staff and 248 branch-es spread across the country.The bank is also a parent toFCMB (UK) Ltd and CreditDirect Ltd (a micro financelender).

By the close of business in2014, the Group operatedwith total assets valued N1.2trillion haven grown by 16%in the preceding year. TheGroup had 523,442 share-holders out of which 345 wereforeign investors.

Capital AdequacyAs at close of 2014, share-

holders fund of FCMB Grouphad accumulated some N160billion up from N143.7 billionin 2013. The increase result-ed largely from accretion toreserves. The Group decidedto retain significant part ofearnings in the business topursue future growth oppor-tunities.

The bank’s Risk Manage-ment committee is mandatedto ensure that capital levelsremain adequate and consis-tent with prescribed ratio byregulators. The bank’s com-putation actual risk weightedasset ratio yielded a Basel IIratio of 19% against 18% in theprevious year. This leaves thebank with sufficient margin ofsafety as it expands businessand risk assets size.

Customer Service, Depositsand Liquidity

In 2014, the bank won481,643 new accounts madeup mostly of retail customers.

Total deposit liabilitiesamounted to N734 billion. Netdeposits grew by just 2.7%from the preceding year’s lev-el reflecting the challengesfaced by the bank in buildingup deposits during the year.In managing these accountsto minimise liquidity risk, thebank relies on maturity andre-pricing gap analysis to en-

sure that obligations are meton continuing basis. Howev-er, during the year, proportionof assets classified as cash andnear-cash securities declinedto about 40% from 48%.

Obviously, the level of liquid-ity appeared sufficient to sat-isfy demands of the bank’scounter parties, and meet reg-ulatory requirements. The lev-el and extent of decline couldnot have in the opinion of ouranalyst, been the major factorin the near stagnation of de-posits as they favourably com-pares with capacities shown byother banks in the market.

Earnings and ProfitabilityIn 2014FCMB Group lever-

aged on its diversified busi-ness structure to report agross earning of N148.7 bil-lion against N131 billion in2013. Interest component wasN117.98n billion of 79% of to-tal. Interest expense virtuallyclosed flat at N45 billion lead-ing to increased at interestmargin of N72.6 billion.

Net charges arising fromimpairment of assets rosefrom N7.98 billion to N10.64billion. Although operating

expenses (including person-nel costs) increased by aboutN6.2 billion, increase in thetop line was overwhelminglead to higher profit after taxof N22.10 billion againstN16.0 billion in the previousyears.

With this satisfactory busi-ness outcome even in the faceof challenging financial mar-ket conditions, the directorswere pleased to pay a cashdividend of 25k per share forwhich shareholders were verydelighted. Many others werenot able to pay cash dividendsduring the period.

Asset QualityDuring the year, FCMB took

more risk by winding downcertain cash and cash-relatedpositions to expand the levelof risk assets. This appear tobe a response to higher re-serve requirements thatlocked in some liquidity dur-ing the period. Accordinglythe bank had go grow lend-ing from N462 billion to N633billion in order not to unduelysuffer reversal in earnings andprofitability.

At the end of the year, about

3.6% of the total loan was clas-sified as non-performing ac-cording to criteria prescribedby regulation. This reflecteda marginal improvement from3.9% achieved in 2013.Though marginal, this im-provement is remarkable inthe sense that the bank ex-panded credit by a net figureof about N171 billion. Accord-ingly credit was expandedrapidly even as the rate of im-pairment went down. The

Zenith Bank secondgeneration banks that

stormed the Nigerianbanking industry with verveand determination torevolutionise the waybanking services wereoperated in the country. Frominception the bank alongsidea few others established aniche in the mid-upper classmarket segment and useddifferentiation andtechnology to climb theindustry ladder within arelatively short period of time.

Today, in different measuresof bank performance ZenithBank has become a referencename and a trail blazer.. Bymost size metrics its eithernumber one or two in theindustry and thisunderscores the leadershiprole it plays after being inoperation for just 24 years.

Sustains high Assets QualityZenith Bank Plc:

As at end 2014 total assetswas N3.43 trillion havingexpanded by whopping N545billion just in one financialyear. It also operates in fivecountries including UnitedKingdom while internationalexpansion is continuing.

Zenith Bank is one of the fewfinancial institutions inNigeria that have takenadvantage of the GlobalDepository Receipt programmeto achieve cross-boarderlisting in the London StockExchange. It listed USD850million worth of shares.

Deposit Liabilities and Li-quidity Risk

As at 2014, customers helddeposit accounts worth N2.27trillion, adding approximate-ly N280 billion that year. Onlytwo other banks competedwith Zenith on this industry

measure of size. This is a markof depositors’ confidence andloyalty. The bank has alsodemonstrated its readiness tomeet obligations at all times.

In 2014 the bank investedN1.55 trillion in cash and nearcash assets in readiness tomeet any demand. This ac-counted for about 45% of en-tire assets, just as qualifyingliquid asset to vulnerable de-posit ratio was about 41%.Only two banks matched thislevel and relative measure ofsound liquidity positioning theindustry.

Managing Risk Asset andAsset Quality Issues

Following the trend alreadyestablished Zenith Bank andtwo others are in the forefrontof credit to the economy usingseveral genres of facilities. Byend 2014, Zenith Bank hadabout N1.61 trillion worth ofloans outstanding with signif-icant positions in the telecomsector as well as oil and gas.This meant an increase ofabout N458 billion in just oneyear.

But interestingly only 2% ofthe loans outstanding wereclassified as non-performing inline with the CBN prudentialguideline. This impairmentrate has been consistent withthe preceding years. Only sev-en banks achieved this levelof quality assets in 2014. Thisreflects disciplined approachto credit risk management,meaning that even as risk as-sets expanded massively with

increasing complexity of man-agement the bank did notcompromise quality in pursuitof earnings.

Capital AdequacyIn the competition for mar-

ket leadership the level of cap-italization has been recog-nized as very critical and ofprime consideration.

In 2014 Zenith Bank report-ed shareholders Fund of N513billion, up from N473 billionin 2013. Figures available sug-gests that Zenith is the lead-er in the industry using abso-lute levels of capitalization.Analysts believe that the sizeof the Zenith Bank capitaliza-tion was a deliberate marketleadership strategy which ithad pursed for over a decadenow, preparing it for challeng-es in the economy and thebanking industry.

Relating the capital base to therisk adjusted asset portfolio re-veals a relative Basel1 measureof 21% which came down fromabout 24% in 2013 following thegrowth in loan portfolio. Thiscomes slightly lower at 20% un-der Basel11, ensuring that asizeable 4% margin of safetyexisted on the regulatory mini-mum of 16% required for sys-temically important banks likeZenith.

The bank could afford to re-main at current capital and growrisk assets substantially withoutcompromising standards. But aswe prepare to publish the 2015analysis soon we are alreadyseeing a strengthened position.

FCMB GROUP PLC Consistent with good performance

•Jonathan D. Long,Chairman FCMB

•Ladi Balogun, MD/CEO.

•Jim Ovia, Chairman ZenithBank

•Peter Amangbo, MD/CEO.


Banking Review

Group has skilled credit ana-lysts who are fully guided byinternal rating framework andlending politics. They employa 9 grade loss severity modelto reflect expected makers inapproval and pricing deci-sions.

We believe that in the applica-tion of this framework in 2014,FCMB was relatively efficient inloan origination and other pro-cesses leading to repayment orrecovery of facilities.


Banking Review

Continues to lead in earnings performance

In recent years the AnnualGeneral Meeting of

Guaranty Trust Bank Plchave been a celebration ofwhat remains the most prof-itable banking operation inNigeria.

This brand equity has beenexported to make the banka successful internationalbrand.

At present the number offoreign subsidiaries with thebank’s Group is 10 with totalinvestment of aboutN40billion. GTB plans tocontinue with this growingtrend in its global strategy.

Corporate GovernanceSome few years ago, some

researchers at the Universityof Lagos conducted a studyto find out if certain corporategovernance variables are sig-nificant predictors of bankperformance in Nigeria. Aspart of the accompanimentsof the research outcome, itwas found that GuarantyTrust Bank came out top asone the best governed banksin Nigeria and this was sig-nificant in explaining the cor-responding top rate perform-ance achieved by the bankover the years. Remarkablyit has continued with this tra-dition of implementing bestpractice governance in areas

GTBANK PLC

of board composition andoversight, executivecompensation, financial re-porting, shareholder rela-tions, corporate social re-sponsibility, internal control,procedures and compliance.The Board is composed ofvery reputable anddistinguished professionalsincluding 2 key independentDirectors. Three differentCommittees of the Board areinstituted to make policiesand oversight the riskManagement function alonein a bid to ensure maximumintegrity.

A system also exists where-by the control function is de-centralized and attached toevery business area to mini-mize incidences of transac-tion errors and malfeasance.This is complemented by awhistle blowing policybacked with an effectiveresponse system. The BoardRisk Committee performsimportant duties of oversee-ing the operational risksfunction by ensuring thatrelevant policies are ade-quately complied with andthat appropriate mitigantsare in place.

. Capital AdequacyGTB, by all measures qual-

ify as one of the top 3 capi-

talized banks in Nigeria. Asat 31stDecember 2014, thebank operated with a share-holdersfund of N369billion,the third highest 'in theindustry for the year, up fromN329billion. Obviously, thebank is ever conscious of thelevel and coverage of capitalbase and has used internaland external means to shoreit up at a pace that surpass-es the average industrygrowth rate. In fact, someseven years earlier, whenequity capital closed atN47.4billion, the bankranked about 8th in theabsolute level of capitaliza-tion. As it worked to increasethe size of business risk andascend to the top of perform-ance ladder in the industry,the board and managementconsistently monitors howadequate capital is to providecushions for new businessesin ways that meet both reg-ulatory and prudential re-quirements.

A measure of how the bankimproved in coverage of cap-italization can be gleanedfrom our analysts measure ofrelationship between share-holders' fund and estimatedNaira size of risk asset port-folio. Our analysts pitchedthis at 18% in 2007, when thebank ranked about 13th by

this measure. In 2014, we es-timated this at 25% with thebank occupying a position inthe top 4 of the industry.Clearly the bank had sub-stantial leverage to continuebusiness expansion even ifcapital remains at presentlevel. With regulatory capitalto risk assets requirement of15%, we consider that on theminimum, risk asset expan-sion of about N900billionwould not dent the adequa-cy of existing capital, allthings being equal.

Loan Impairments and As-

set Duality

GTB is no doubt one of thetop 3 banks actively financ-ing the economy through dif-ferent forms of loans. As at31s December 2014, totalloans outstanding was aboutN1.2trillion. it was justN121billion in 2007 when thebank occupied the 8th po-sition in the industry. Not-withstanding, this massiveexposure growth, strict riskgovernance standards hadconsistently kept non per-forming loan ratios below 5%in the last 10 years. The ratioremained at 5% in 2013 and2014 even as gross loan grewfrom N947billion toN1.2trillion.

To underscore the desire ofthe bank to continue to main-tain bespoke quality in riskassets and consistently sat-isfy regulators, the bankinvested in two software todrive credit riskmanagement and reporting,namely the Lead to Loan andOFSAA Basel II solutions.These softwares are robustin headline customerprofiles, rating assessment,disbursement, recovery anddocumentation among oth-ers.

Liquidity Ratios, deposit

MobilizationOver the years Guaranty

Trust Bank enjoyed the ad-vantage of customers’ flightto safety. This worked withdesign of innovative liabilityproducts which enabled thebank to steadily increase de-posit. As at 31st December2014, traditional customers’deposits were as high asN1.44trillion. One of the fac-tors that have encouragedcustomers to deposit theirmoney with the bank wouldappear to be the convictionthat their funds are not atrisk and that the bank wouldbe able to meet obligationsat all times.

Historically, the bank hadalways maintained a balancebetween risk asset creationand ability to meet obliga-tions. According to our ana-lyst’s estimate, liabilities ad-judged to be vulnerable tounplanned obligation is

Skye Bank Plc started thebusiness of banking as

Prudent Merchant Bank Ltdin 1990. By 2000, it changedto Prudent Bank Ltd and be-came a Commercial Bank fol-lowing approval by regulato-ry authorities.

However, in 2006, duringthe Soludo-era banking con-solidation, Skye Bank Plcemerged following a mergerbetween Prudent Bank, EkoInternational Bank, Co-oper-ative Bank, Reliance Bankand Bond Bank.

During the 2014, reviewyear, Skye Bank continuedits in-organic route to expan-sion through the acquisitionof Mainstreet Bank, one ofthe Bridge Banks within theportfolio of Asset Manage-ment Company of Nigeria(AMCON). The acquisitionwas aimed at strengtheningthe bank’s retail presence na-tionally, wider market reachand enhanced economies ofscale. Skye Bank is a public-ly listed entity with about420,000 shareholders. It hasthree foreign subsidiariesoperating in Guinea, SierraLeone and the Gambia.

Perhaps in order to ensurethat prompt and delightfulservices are available for cus-

SKYE BANK PLC:Confronting costs inexpansion

tomers, Skye Bank takes theissue of Information Technol-ogy very key in its opera-tions.

In 2012, it adopted an am-bitious IT TransformationProject which was complet-ed in 2014 with a cut-over tothe unique Flexible 12.0Banking application.ThisApplication has distincttransaction processing capa-bilities and is used in virtu-ally every aspect of servicesdelivery by the bank. Not

surprisingly the Bank hasconsistently ranked high inthe various performancemetrics in the NIBSS pay-ment.

Deposit mobilization andliquidity

Skye Bank understandsthat deposits constitute animportant factor in achievingorganic growth for banks.This is why it is always in themood to create new and in-novative products and chan-nels to mobilize deposits.

One of such initiatives is thedirect sales agent system.

Using this model, the bankintends to reach a wider baseof prospective customers us-ing the network of third par-ty agents. These agents areable to reach those custom-ers who may not easily bereached at reasonable costusing existing channels. Infact this fitted into thebank’s focus on measuredlower cost ones. It alsoaligned with strategy of de-liberate empowerment of thesmall and medium scalebusinesses and establishinga niche in that sector.

But the bank’s deposit basein the first half of 2015 showa significant decline of about12 per cent.

In the full year audited re-sults 2014 total conventionaldeposits from customers re-mained largely unchangedfrom N819billion of the pre-ceding year; but entire lia-bilities classified as vulnera-ble by our analysts showedan upward movement fromN844billion to N936billion.

Do customers considerSkye Bank safe enough toplace their deposits and sim-

•Continues on page 34 •Continues on page 34

•Osaretin Afusat Demuren,Chairman GT Bank

•Segun Agbaje, MD/CEO.

•Tunde Ayeni, ChairmanSkye Bank

•Timothy Oguntayo, MD/CEO.



Banking Review


SKYE BANK PLC: Confronting costs in expansion

ilar accounts? In 2014, thebank maintained relativelyhigh proportions of cash andcash equivalents in order tomeet requirements of cus-tomers and other parties.Our measure of cash ratioincreased from 4% to 8%which suggested that vaultcash was in a buoyant stage.All the other measurestracked by our analysts re-vealed declining liquidity.

Cash ratio (adjusted forvulnerability) declined from24% to 12%. Liquid assets tototal assets came down from35% to 29% while adjustedliquidity ratio followed thesame trend by decliningfrom 36% to 17%. It is rec-ognized that the entire in-dustry faced liquidity chal-lenges during the period andour analysts believe that thebank could have had uniquechallenging moments as itworked towards meeting re-quired ratios and expecta-tions from customers.

Impairment of loans andasset quality

During the review periodSkye Bank extended creditfacilities to customers’ worthabout N623billion out ofwhich more than 98% aresecured in one form or an-other. Significant exposures

are to Oil and Gas, Com-merce and public sectors. Aspart of its avowed SMEstrategy the bank made con-scious efforts to accommo-date the small and mediumbusinesses in its credit pro-cess. It also extended thegeographical coverage ofrisk asset origination lever-aging on the in-organic ex-pansion through the acqui-sition of Mainstreet Bank.

As risk assets grew, SkyeBank strengthened its En-terprise Bank ManagementFramework with strict ad-herence to minimum thresh-old of official visits to loca-tions and regular reportinggovernance structure.

Notwithstanding, the in-clement regulatory pres-sures and challenges ofgrowth created condition forelevated impairment of cred-it assets during the period.Accordingly non-performingloans increased significant-ly from 3% to 6% requiringcorresponding spike in re-quired provisions fromN12.7billion to N21.6billion.

It is, therefore, safe to in-fer that as business grewand risk assets followed,quality of the portfolio suf-fered a reverse in a mannerthat impacted other perfor-mance indicators. But thegood news is that for Skyethis appears to be a momen-

tary cost of growth as it as-pire to compete in the top 3of the market.

However as the industryrecords sharp rise in impair-ments in 2015 Skye Bankappeared to be heading inbetter direction in its 2015nine months financials show-ing 15 per cent decline whenimpairment is increasing inmost banks.

Capital adequacyAs a result of Skye Bank’s

growth appetite it had sinceinception been very active incapital raising process. Infact between 1989 and 2010,and between its legacy enti-ties it took about 26 differ-ent financial actions that in-volved series of cash andshare offers, including M&Ashare exchanges and capitalreconstruction.

A cumulation of all thesefinancial actions reservesfrom earnings resulted in ashareholders fund ofN132billion as at 31st De-cember 2014. Relating thisfigure to our analyst’s esti-mate of riskness of the assetportfolio, we arrived at anindependent risk weightedratio of 16%, the same as inthe preceding year of 2013.Considered against the pre-scribed regulatory capitalminimum risk weighted as-set ratio of 15% for interna-tional banks, the capital

base is considerably ade-quate for the level of busi-ness risk the bank assumedin the period. Although rap-id expansion is driving theratio to the limit and addi-tional capital would be re-quired in the near future tosustain the growth momen-tum. Not surprisingly theDirectors decided to do a100% earning retention in2014/15 as a way of strength-ening the capital base. Alsothe bank has gone back tothe capital market in 2015 toraise N30 billion fresh capi-tal.

Earning and profitabilityWith a total balance sheet

size of about N1.21trillion,Skye Bank qualifies as amid-tier operator in the Ni-gerian banking sector. It hadalways had an eye of growthand emerging as one of thetop three banks in Nigeriausing both organic and in-organic growth strategy.This had been supported bya sustained phase of positiveearnings and profitable useof assets and opportunitiesfor which shareholders wereconsistently rewarded.

In 2014 the bank passedthrough what was describedas a muted phase in itsgrowth trajectory. Grossearnings increased margin-ally from N130billion to

N134billion on the back ofequally muted growth on in-terest related income. Somekey fee-based businessesdeclined in absolute terms.Although net margin in allinterest related businessinched up from 51% to 57%,they were comparativelylower than what some otherpeers achieved in the face ofregulatory pressures result-ing from tight monetary pol-icy measures of the CentralBank. Added to these are theunfavourable credit marketconditions that led to higherimpairment charges ofN21.6billion up fromN12.7billion in 2013.

During the year also, pres-sure was brought to bear annet earnings following costof acquisition, IT invest-ments and integration.

Operating expenses wentup at rate beyond the mar-ginal increase in income anda combination of these fac-tors resulted in a sharp de-cline in net profit fromN18.4billion in 2013 toN8.6billion in 2014.

Accordingly key mea-sures of earning efficiencyand profitability experi-enced what our analystshave described as momentreversal.

Return on average equitycame down to 7% from 16%just as earnings per sharewas 65k against N1.39achieved in the precedingyear. The bank was con-strained to plough back allprofit towards strengthen-ing of capital base andfunding of integration andexpansion. But in the tra-dition of rewarding share-holders, it opted for a bo-nus issue to keep the own-ers happy as it look forwardto the future when the fruitsof the investments madewould be reaped by them.That future is perhapsaround the corner in the2015 financial year end,though results so far appearconstrained.


Continues to lead in earnings performanceGTBANK PLC

about N1.49trillion out of which de-mand liabilities amounted toN808billion. Cash and card equiva-lents in relation to such vulnerabledeposits were 13% down from 20%in 2013. Liquid assets to total assetsalso declined from 42% to 38% in aperiod the entire industry witnessedsectoral erosion of liquidity. Adjustedliquidity also reduced from 50% to37%.

Notwithstanding the decline ob-served in this metrics, it is reassur-ing that all ratios were significantlyabove regulatory minimum as thebank continued to demonstrate ca-pacity to meet all obligations not onlyto depositors but to all other

stakeholders. Earning and ProfitabilityPerhaps one area GTB has shown

clear market leadership is in its abil-ity to churn out excellent earnings.

In 2014 the bank achieved grossearnings of N247billion, up fromN220billion in 2013. In absoluteterms, this was the third highestfigure in the industry for the yearout of which interest income ac-counted for 73% or N180billion.

During the year, the bank made sig-nificant improvement in earningsarising from foreign exchange trans-actions. These include fees and com-missions on Letter of Credit


A S

transactions and trading andtranslation gains on forex positions.

The leadership shown by GTBhere can be seen if these figuresare related to level of resourcesdevoted to the business. Firstly, theadjusted interest income margin of71%, though a slight reductionfrom 74% in 2013, is a top of theindustry performance whichunderlines the high quality ofearnings from risk assets and dex-terity in mobilization of low pricedliabilities. Operating expenses rosemarginally from N71billion toN79billion. Accordingly profit aftertax ultimately rose to N93billion,a figure that was the highest in the

industry during the year andtranslated to Return on Equity of27%, another top of the industryperformance for the year. Earningsper share also increased fromN2.91 to N3.11, a pace-setting re-sult in a year that was generallytough for the sector. Given the ob-viously top rate performance, thebank rewarded shareholders witha dividend of N51.5billion or N1.75per share.

As we put together the 2015profile of GTB for repeat of thispublication in April 2016 the firstnine months result of 2015 isalready showing a resilient in theearnings performance.

Banking Review


Since 1945 when it commencedoperations, Wema Bank has con-

tinued to show sufficient resiliencehaving survived through numerouschallenging times and circumstancesto stand today as the only survivingbank among its indigenous peers. Asat 2014, it operated with a regionalbanking license with branches spreadacross some 130 locations. As WemaBank re-engineered itself, it re-en-gaged the market on the basis of dif-ferentiating core values of mutual re-spect, performance driven, profession-alism and innovation. This is becausethe bank like many others, had cometo realise that strong service cultureembedded in strong core values canbe valuable shield against error ofstrategy.

A major decision of strategic impor-tance taken by the bank in 2014 is thedecision to dispose of interest in anassociate company – Associated Dis-count House. This is subsequent to adecision by the later to convert to thebusiness of Merchant Banking. Thisdecision is consistent with provisionsof CBN’s regulation.

Wema Bank is owned by about248,900 shareholders, it has about1,172 staff members and serves cus-tomers who up to 2014 concentratedmostly within the geographical areasof South West and South South, thearea covered by the regional licenseheld by the bank in 2014.

As at 31st December 2014, total as-set base was N383 billion which madethe bank one of the smallest banks inthe industry.

Deposit Liabilities and LiquidityNotwithstanding the tight monetary

policy that brought enormous pressureto the money market, Wema Bank suc-ceeded in growing deposit apprecia-bly from N218 billion in 2013 to N259billion leveraging on strong loyalty ofcustomers.

Inclusive of other short term liabili-ties, vulnerable liabilities are estimat-ed by our analysts to be in the regionof N276 billion.

With liquid assets worth some N152billion, the bank appeared to havemaintained a reasonable level of li-

Remarkable SurvivalInstinct Still At Work

WEMA BANK PLC:

quidity sufficient to just meet the re-quirements of customers and satisfyregulatory prescriptions. Adjusted li-quidity ratio came down remarkablyfrom a high of 51% in the precedingyear to 30%. The proportion of liquidto total assets also declined to 40%from 43% in the earlier period. Thefigures suggest that the bank mayhave faced some challenges in meet-ing obligations far more then what wasminimally prescribed by regulation.The key indication adopted by man-agement of the bank in measuring,monitoring and controlling liquidityrisk is the liquid asset to total assetsratio. The measure is actively assessedperiodically and within the generalframework of the Enterprise wide RiskManagement System. This apparent-ly enabled the bank to walk the nar-row part of its liquidity during theperiod without unduly harming oper-ations.

CapitalisationIn 2013 Wema Bank courageously

approached the capital market by wayof private placement to raise fund re-quired to shore up the capital basewhich would among others strength-en the resolve from the bank to restoreits national operations. The offerproved very successful with issue pro-

ceeds of about N40 billion which madeshareholders’ funds to close in posi-tive territory of approximately N41billion. In 2014, this increased to N44billion which translated to risk weight-ed asset ratio of 19%.

This is considerably adequate andcomfortable for the nature of bankinglicense the bank held for that periodand the restricted coverage of opera-tions.

Asset QualityAs the bank restructured its balance

sheet and returned to good financialhealth after some past operational andregulatory challenges, it moved to re-store earnings potential and resumedthe process of growing lending opera-tions. This further witnessed a boostin 2014 as gross amount of loans closedat N152 billion, up from N142 billionin 2013. With the benefit of recent ex-perience, the bank instituted crediblerisk management processes such thatnon performing loan ratio actually re-mained at approximately 2% between2013 and 2014. Unlike in the past whenit ran into serious regulatory challeng-es in meeting prescribed figures, thebank met the Basel II requirementswhich means vastly improved riskmanagement framework. The figureshown for asset quality, all things be-

ing equal, was one of the best report-ed in the industry during the period,.With strict adherence to prescribedstandards which included disciplinedinternal credit risk rating methods,approval limits for various exposuresclassified according to geography andproduct, the bank was able to main-tained high quality standard compa-rable to those of leading risk manag-ers and competitors in the industry.

Earnings and Profitability Perform-ance

During the 2014 financial year,Wema Bank was able to produce grossearnings of N42 billion up from N37billion it achieved in 2013. Interestcomponent of this amount was as highas N35 billion or about 84% whichshows that Wema Bank relied the moston this traditional source in the entireindustry for which it was able toachieve an adjusted margin of 52%.Interestingly this margin is not com-petitive enough as only 2 other banksreported figures that showed lowermargins. On the other hand, the rela-tively high quality of risk assets re-quired that impairment charges to theprofit and loss account is muted at lev-el that closed match that of then pre-ceding year. Coming down to line,operating expenses rose slightly onthe back of some significant rise ofN1.1 billion on personnel costs andmarginal rise on other overheads.

Summarising, the impact of thesefactors is a rise in profit after tax fromN1.6 billion in 2013 to N2.40 billionin 2014. In absolute terms, this is thelowest figure reported in the industryin 2014 Annual Bank Review. In rela-tive terms, it also yielded a humblereturn on average equity of 6%, slight-ly worse than 7% in the preceding year.Earnings per share also turned out tobe the lowest at 6k. No dividend wasreported as the bank continued tomove towards strengthening its capi-tal base to support future expansion.

As we prepare Wema Bank 2015 fullyear coverage in the next Annual Re-view of Banks coming up in April 2016the interim results is showing signifi-cant improvements amidst some head-winds. We are expecting to give the2015 analytics of Skye brand'"s finan-cials in April 2016;

Introduction

Union Bank of Nigeria Plcfirst berthed in the

Nigerian banking waters in1917 as Barclays Bank DCOwith a mandate to service theburgeoning trade betweenUnited Kingdom and thecolonial territories of West Africaand Nigeria in Particular. Fromthat period up to late 90’s, thebank remained one of the mostpreferred full service banks inNigeria and consistentlyemerged on top three financialinstitutions in most measures ofsize and efficiency.

However, following intensecompetition from newgeneration banks andregulatory head winds in thelast 20 years, Union Bankyielded significant grounds inthe competitive space andstruggled for survival.

In September 2012, the bankexecuted a successfulrecapitalization plan which sawthe injection of about $500m bya core group of investors under

From Big, Strong, Reliable toa simpler and smarter bank

the auspices of United GlobalPartners Ltd. The core Groupacquired 65% interest in thebank and proceed to implementa Transformation Agenda aimedat not just restoring Union Bankas one of the leading brands inthe Nigerian banking industrybut a reliable creator of value toits stakeholders on a moreconsistent and sustainablebasis. The new managementaccordingly focused ontransformation of human capitalassets, service culture, ITinfrastructure and riskmanagement framework.

A walk into any of thebranches spread across 300locations and other electronicchannels reveals that the result

is beginning to show in virtuallyall critical areas of assessments.

Leveraging on fresh capitalinjection, the bank investedheavily in technology forservices delivery andtransactions processing. All thebranches are now linked usingfibre optic connections while anoracle Flexicube UBS 12.2. Thishas helped to streamlineoperations and make for smarterservices delivery to the delightof customers.

Corporate governance

issuesFollowing the transition, a

new management team led byEmeka Emuwa was hired toimplement the strategic plan.

One of the first things the Boardand Management put togetherwas the 2013-17 transformationplans which were dulyapproved by the Central Bank.As part of this plan, and in linewith CBN’s regulation 3, thebank initiated the process ofdivesting its ownership from allnon-bank portfolio companieswithin the group. As at 2015, itsucceeded in divesting fromUnion Capital Brokers Ltd,Union Assurance Ltd, UnionInsurance Savings and LoansPlc, Union trustees Ltd andopted for a voluntary wind upof Union Pension CustodianLtd. Only Union Bank (UK) wasretained as a subsidiary. Thishas no doubt sharpened the

bank’s focus on its core businessareas and improved standard ofCorporate Governance and riskmanagement.

The Board is currentlycomposed of 15 memberslargely representing keyinterests in the bank out ofwhich 8 are non ExecutiveDirectors.

As a way of ensuringindependence of Board andManagement, the ChiefExecutive Officer and theBoard chairman were made toemerge from different but keyinterests in the bank.

The bank also made consciouseffort to hire independent

UNION BANK OFNIGERIA PLC:

•Adeyinka Asekun,Chairman WEMA Bank

• Segun Oloketuyi, MD/CEO.

• Continues on page 44

Banking Review


First Bank of Nigeria,FBN Holdings Plc, came

into existence in 2010following the CBN’sregulation 3 on alternativeholding company by whichthe original First Bank is nowowned by the holdingcompany.

FBN Holdings has thelargest number ofshareholders in corporateNigeria, most diversifiedownership.

The bank over the years hasdemonstrated leadership asthe flagship of Nigeria’sbanking industry and historybeing the oldest existing bankin Nigeria today and stillnumber one in many areas.

It boasts of the widestcustomer network and loyaltywith about 9.7 millioncustomer accounts across theregions. A study carried outin 206 by some researchers atthe University of Lagos onrelationship betweencorporate governance andperformance in the NigerianBanking industry found thatFirst Bank and one other bankcame out joint tops as the bestgoverned banks in theindustry and that theirhistorical sound performancecould be explained by theirgood governance structure.Both Nigerian StockExchange and CBN haverecognized the bank for thisrecord in several years.

Capital AdequacyFirst Bank 2014 result

showed it was the highestcapitalized bank in Nigeria atN523 billion capital base. Onthe more critical issue ofwhether the level of capitalwas sufficient for itsoperations we estimate ameasure of risk weightedasset ratio of the group at 15%declining from 17% in 2013.

Though FBN emerged asthe highest capitalized bankin terms of shareholders fundsit is obvious from the riskrelative measures that thesize and risk of the businesswas covered by capital to theextent of 15% against theprescribed Basle11requirement of 16% for thatclass of bank.

However the figure here isfor the group that includesdifferent companies indifferent regulatoryjurisdictions.

Asset QualityWith about N2.22 trillion

gross loan to the economyFBN appears to be the biggestfunds provider for theeconomy amongst the banks.

Set forPan-Africanleadership

First Bank of NigeriaHoldings Plc:

In 2014 alone it created loansworth N408 billion. This isone of the reasons the bank isclassified as a leadsystemically important bankby CBN. More than 55% ofthis loan size went to the oiland gas sector,manufacturing, consumercredit and the public sector.

To the credit of the bank’scredit risk managementapproach, and given thefigures reported, a culture ofhigh quality has long beenestablished by the bank.Notwithstanding the massivelending activities, only about3% was classified as non-

performing according to theterms and conditions as wellas requirements of relevantregulations. This is amongstthe top eight performance inthe industry.

Deposit Liability andLiquidity

If there is any single mostimportant factor why FBNoccupies the most uniqueposition in the industry it isthe sheer number of customersand deposits they have in thebank. With about 9.7 millioncustomer accounts, theindustry highest the bank hada deposit liability of N3.05

trillion.The bank has proved to be

safe heaven to depositors withthe volume of liquid assetsavailable at all times to meetevery obligation. We estimatethat as much as N1.56 trillionwas available in 2014 financialyear, being investments incash and short tenured assets.

Estimates of ratio ofqualifying liquid assets todeposit liabilities was 30%. Weconsider these figures to be fitfor purpose and adequate tosatisfy the regulatoryrequirements.

Earnings PerformanceTo a typical investor in

Nigeria’s stock market FirstBank is always a good buy.This is largely due toconsistent history of earnings,profitability and dividendsperformance.

In 2014 the bank reported agroup gross earnings of N480billion, up from N396 billionin the preceding year. On thiscount no competitor inNigeria matched thisperformance.

Out of this figure interestincome accounted 75%, downfrom 82% in 2013 as the bankmoved to insulateperformance from regulatoryheadwinds and interestmargin came down to 67%from 71%.

In 2014 operating expenseincreased by more than N50billion as cost efficiency ratiodeclined to 19% from 21%.However, this was notsufficient to eclipse the strongearnings performance leadingto an elevated profit after taxof N83 billion against N71billion in 2013. This figurewhich competed in theindustry top three translatedto return on average equity of17%, up from 15% in thepreceding year.

Interim results in 2015 islooking good perhaps a betterratios would be seen in ournest publication in April 2016.

Comfort in strong capital

Because of its relevance to thebanking sector and the entire

economy, Diamond Bank indeed mer-ited the classification as one of the 8Systematically Important Banks(SIBs) in Nigeria by CBN. As it got tothe third year in a journey to “Reclaimthe Diamond”, the bank had reasonsto celebrate about 25 years of high im-pact banking in Nigeria.

With total asset of N1.75trillion asat 31st December 2014 and occupy-ing the 7th position by this size rank-ing, it is only logical to see DiamondBank assume such importance underrecognition in the system. Not surpris-ingly when the International FinanceCorporation (IFC) desired partner-ship with some Nigerian banks to pro-vide funding and technical support tolocal businesses, it was not hard toidentify Diamond Bank as a crediblepartner. Since 2008, this partnershiphas worked and small scales Enter-prises financing.

As part of its orientation to upscalebusiness in this all important sector,the bank in 2011 launched a uniquecredit product style “Borrow for Free”promo aimed at providing easy accessto capital and advisory services for theMSME segment of the market.

Earnings and ProfitabilityIn 2014 Diamond Bank achieved

gross earnings performance ofN188billion against N165billion re-ported in the preceding year. Thiswas the 6th highest ranked perform-ance for the year of which interest re-lated income accounted for 79% downfrom 81%. Fees and foreign exchangeincome rose slightly in proportion not-

withstanding the extent of increase inloan assts. Charges associated with im-pairment of risk assets rose by almostN14billion just as operating expensesalso increased. The challenges of ad-verse regulation and deterioration ofasset quality, as measured by specifi-cations, resulted in a reduction onprofit after tax from N29.7billion toN22.1billion.

In relative terms, this implied a de-cline in Return on Average Equity from24% to 13% and Earnings Per share fromN2.05 to 95k.

Capital AdequacyIn 2013, shareholders of Diamond

Bank approved some USD750,000,000capital raising programme. During the2014 review year, the bank succeededin raising about N50.4billion by way ofrights issue. The success of this capi-tal raising exercise in a period of tightcapital market conditions says much

about the investment appeal of thebank to actual and potential investors.On the strength of this, the bank alsoattracted the interest of private equityinvestors on the past. In fact, the bankhad in 2007 entered into a private eq-uity deal with Actis Capital worthN17billion, then regarded as thesingle biggest of such deals as at thattime. These capitalization dealsboosted the banks" capital base.

The shareholders fund of the bankrose to N206billion from N138billion inthe preceding year. This remarkablylifted coverage of estimated size of riskyasset portfolio from 17% to 21%. UnderBasel II, this coverage is about 18%.

In any case, the figures clearly reflectthe strength of Diamond Bank’s cush-ion or margin of comfort to counter par-ties when compared with 16% minimumrequired for Systematically ImportantBanks. By all measures, the bank is one

DIAMOND BANK PLC:

•Prince Ajibola Afonja,Chairman, First Bank

•Bisi Onasanya, MD/CEO.

•Chris Ogbechie, Chairman,Diamond Bank

•Uzoma Dozie, MD/CEO.


Banking Review


Being systemically importantACCESS BANK PLC:

In 2014, Access Bank moved tostrengthen its position in the in-

dustry by developing the retail andSME business sectors. This is partof the strategy to achieve the highgoal of attaining the status of“Africa"s Most Respected Bank” by2017. Setting out its key perfor-mance indicators, the Directors andmanagement identified 3 over-ridingimperatives and focal points for op-erations. These include growththrough strengthened capital posi-tion, delivering of strong financialresults and sustainable improve-ment in the quality of growth.

With conclusion of its acquisitionand merger with IntercontinentalBank Plc, Access Bank re-defined itposition in the industry and its ca-pacity to lead big ticket deals. In factthe bank believes strongly that thisM&A deal played a significant rolein the rating upgrade from A to A+by a leading rating Agency. With thistransaction balance sheet size rosesignificantly in the last 3 years cul-minating in a figure of N1.98trillionwhich placed the bank among the 6biggest banks in Nigeria. Sevenyears earlier in 2007, the bank’s to-tal assets plus contingents stood atN329billion and placed outside thetop 10 in the industry.

Capital AdequacyOne of the key mandates of the

bank in 2014 was growth through a

strengthened capital position. Tostart with, the bank set up a specialpurpose vehicle named Access Fi-nance BV. In the initial exercise, itdid a debt capital raise of USD400million at 9.25% through the is-sue of Resettable SubordinatedNotes. The bank also executed ona rights issue.

As at 31st December 2014, about816,787 shareholders own the equi-ty shares of the bank. This is one ofthe most diverse holdings amongbanks in Nigeria. It resulted from

the business combination that wasexecuted recently. These sharehold-ers own shares with book value ofN274billion up from N245billion in2013. This amount is enough to cov-er 17% of risk adjusted assets andconsiderably provides a reasonablemargin of safety for the bank to pro-ceed with further business growth.It was 18% in 2013. However, tier 1capital to net loans came down from33% to 25% underlying how rapidlyrisk asset creation took place dur-ing the period.

Credit Risk and Asset QualityIn managing difficult risk inherent

in every credit situation, AccessBank takes the issue of rating thecredit risk of every counter-partyseriously. In fact it takes this as cen-tral to the entire chain of credit orig-ination to repayment or recovery.Among others, it adopts the ObligorRisk Rating Model (ORR) and Fa-cility Risk Rating Model (FRR). Dur-ing the year, it expanded loan port-folio more aggressively fromN762billion to N1.09trillion and ac-cordingly migrated into the top 5 ofbanks in Nigeria that finance theeconomy.

Interestingly the rapid growth inloans did not appear to dent thequality standard already set by thebank. Non-performing loan ratio re-mained low at 2% as was the case inthe preceding year. It would there-fore appear that the strengthenedpolicies and risk models adopted bythe bank during the period were ef-fective. It would also appear that theincrease in provisions did not amountto deterioration in quality but a log-ical consequence of more thanN333billion growth in gross loanswithin just one year.

Liquidity Risk and Deposit Mo-bilization

The bank uses a combination offunding or liquidity plan, Gap Anal-ysis and Ratio analysis to quantita-tively and qualitatively manage li-quidity risk. In 2014, Access Banksucceeded in generating deposit li-abilities of N1.03trillion out of whichN616billion was in the form of de-mand deposit. Obviously the bankcould boast of having layers of sat-isfied customers who are ever loyal.In 2014, it joined the institutionsthat have realized that the future offinancial services rests with today’sretail and small customers.

Due to aggressive expansion ofloans in particular, practically allmeasures of liquidity declined. Liq-uid assets as a proportion of totalassets fell from 31% to 25%, adjust-ed liquidity ratio also declined from26% to 16%. All cash ratios also fol-lowed accordingly.

Earnings and Profitability Perfor-mance

During the year 2014, Access Banktook quality risk and it is not sur-prising that earning and profit pro-vided corresponding returns as com-pensation.

Gross earning responded by wit-nessing a significant rise fromN180billion in 2013 to N218billionout of which interest componentamounted to N160billion. Fee andother types of income declined from29% to 27%. Impairment chargesrose significantly in percentageterms but remained small. Operat-ing expenses was largely un-changed at N89billion, the resultbeing an increase in profit after taxfrom N26.2billion to N39.9billion.

Return on average equity in-creased in good measure from 11%to 15% while earnings per share alsogrew from N1.15 to N1.75. It is tobe noted that virtually all the mea-sures of management efficiencymoved up giving rise to the aboveperformances. For instance, cost ef-ficiency measure rose from 17% to21%, just as earning efficiency alsomoved in the same direction.

In 2014 , United Bank for Afri-ca continued to leverage on con-tinental expansion as a growthand risk governance strategies toreport performance figures thatare competitive. Its African Strat-egy appears to be paying off asthe revenue contribution of its 18African subsidiaries increased toN64billion against N56.8billion inthe preceding year. Truly UBA isthe undisputed leader among Ni-gerian Banks in terms of pres-ence outside Nigeria. By 2014,these subsidiaries are alreadycontributing about 20% to the rev-enue base and the bank is strong-ly pushing to further increase thispercentage in the next few years.Gross earnings for the year wasN228billion following a figure ofN213billion in 2013. It was the

Enjoying the fruits ofAfrican strategy

UBA PLC:

4th highest figure reported bybanks during the year and under-lie the fact that UBA is making asuccess of its efforts to come to theNo. 1 position. . Out of the report-ed earnings, interest income ac-counted for N160billion or 70% oftotal earnings. The proportion wasvirtually unchanged from 69% in2013. An analytical view of earn-ing structure in the industry showsthat UBA has done relatively bet-ter that most of its peers in the areaof fee and commission related in-come with about 30% of total earn-ings.

During the year, the bank tooksome measures to right size staffnumbers and quality which result-ed in reduction of staff from 10,303to 9939. Staff cost proportion of op-

erating expenses accordingly fell from42% in 2013 to 40%, but other over-heads increased leading to a spike inoperating costs from N91billion toN105billion.

Accordingly Profit after tax declinedby 16% from N46.5billion toN40billion. Return on average equityfollowed with a decline from 19% to15% just as earning per share alsoN1.41 to N1.22. Notwithstanding theadverse turn on profits the bank re-warded shareholders numberingabout 276,803 with a cash dividend f10k per share.Also interim result in2015 have completely reversed thedeclines.

Asset Quality and Impairment ofCredits

In terms of size, UBA in 2014 wasthe 6th largest fund provider to theeconomy among the banks in Nige-ria. With a gross loan of N895billion,the bank impacted on a wide range ofeconomy sectors. This means that itis exposed to volatilities that was thelot of many sectors during the period,but used diversification and other riskmitigation methods to ensure a rela-tively clean portfolio. Interestingly,UBA reported what could be de-scribed as one of the highest qualityloan assets in the industry. Non-per-forming loan ratio was reported at first1% in 2014, the same as was reportedin 2013. Our analyses shows that onlyabout 2 other banks reported sofavourably with the performance bythe bank. This is a result of properidentification, assessment and imple-mentation, monitoring, controlling and

•GbengaOyebode,Chairman, Access Bank

•Herbert Wigwe, MD/CEO.


•Tony Elumelu, Chairman,UBA

•Phillip Oduoza, MD/CEO.


In July 2014, the FederalGovernment allocated

N630.32bn to all the three tiersof government – Federal,States and Local Governments.In August 2014, N601.65bnwas allocated to the states. ForSeptember 2015 the figures justreleased indicate that a total ofN389.936 was shared by all thetiers of government;representing drops of 35% and38% from the August and July2014 allocations. Yet, N601bnin August represented a sharpdecline from the previousmonths in 2014. At the momentgovernments are sharing lessthan half of what was availablein January 2014.

There are more horrors tocome. In 2016, states will beextremely lucky to collect halfof what they now receive. Moststates are on the verge ofbankruptcy. The consequencesfor all of us are difficult toimagine.

If you think this is a false

Why most states are on theverge of bankruptcy“Washing a donkey’s head is a waste of water.”Italian Proverb.(VANGUARD BOOK OF QUOTATIONS, VBQ, p 270).

alarm, remember in 2013, wepublished on this pages thatNigerian states will not be ableto pay salaries by 2015. In2014, we published anotherwarning on drop in aggregaterevenue and its consequences.Then we predicted that theNigerian economy will nolonger grow at six per cent ormore. Finally we told investorsto get out of the NSE. Checkour track record for accuracy.

Nigerian states are on theverge of bankruptcy.

The governors of most stateswant to re-negotiate theMinimum Wage agreementwith Labour. That is only thesymptom of the dire financialstraits in which the states findthemselves. Even theinevitable mass retrenchmentof workers will not totally getthem out of the woods. Debtand contractual obligations,which will gulp an increasingpercentage of their revenuewill finish them first. For some,

the calamity will set in by theend of the first quarter of 2016.Unfortunately, most of thestates are APC-controlledstates. They will damageBuhari’s political position – ifcare is not taken. Today, weshould focus our attention ontwo issues which willdetermine that fate of ourstates. The first is deductionfrom source, that is, Abuja.Most governors, since 1999

have been reckless andfraudulent with public fundssince 1999. Even those whohave proved to be clever inshielding their crimes fromdetection were/are asunpatriotic as those too carelessto be caught.

Below is table derived fromthe Distribution of RevenueAllocation To StateGovernments For September2015. Instead of listing them inalphabetical order, they havebeen grouped into three basedon gross revenue expected tobe collected from Abuja. Also

listed are the gross deductionsfrom each state’s revenueallocations. Those deductionsare expected to continueindefinitely. Readers mustunderstand that instead of thelies some governors have beentelling their people thedeductions represent thedecisions made by them ortheir predecessors in the past.When states took on huge debtburdens, sometimes spent onunsustainable programmes,they little realized that a sharpdecline in revenue will doomtheir states economically.

Table of Gross Revenue and Deductions.

STATES AND DEBT BURDEN – THEHORRORS TO COME


At the momentgovernmentsare sharingless than halfof what wasavailable inJanuary 2014


Micro-Finance

Leading the way in sociallyresponsible banking

DIAMOND BANK PLC:of the top 8 capitalized banksin Nigeria and accordinglyhas enhanced capacity to ex-tend big ticket transactions.Not surprisingly, it partici-pated in such critical deals asUSD200m Dangote IndustriesFertilizer Plant/RefineryProject, N2billion PinnacleEstate, N$40millionOmotosho Power Plantproject, $663million E & Psyndicated reserve-basedlending for Eroton, $200mil-lion syndicated Risk partici-pation Funding for SmilesLTE Network Expansion,$415million First Independ-ent Power Ltd for Rivers Stateand $50million OLAM’s ex-port business.

Moreover, Diamond Bank isone of the banks actively seek-ing growth using global strat-egy. This means that capitali-zation would continue to re-main crucial to the bank evenbeyond the thresholds ofregulatory requirement. Thebank has indeed beenproactive in managing itscapital base.

Asset Quality In 2014, Diamond Bank in-

creased loan book more ag-

gressively by N137billion toclose at N747billion as it con-tinued with a journey to re-discover the Diamond. Thisinvolved commitments to boththe MSME and “big ticket”sectors. This however, came atelevated cost. Non-perform-ing loans ratio rose from 3%to 4% requiring substantialincrease in provisions fromN24billion to N38billion. Theimplication is that asset qual-ity declined during the periodbut not enough to remove thebank from the ranking as oneof the operators with cleanestportfolio. According to theview of analysts, non-per-forming loan ratios not ex-ceeding 5% can be consideredhigh quality.

Liability Generation and Li-quidity Risk

By the end of 2014, DiamondBank’s customer basecrossed the 4.0million mark,a feat that suggests that it isone of the most patronizedbanks in the industry. To beable to achieve this, it hasover the years launched anumber of products and

channels to the delight ofcustomers. The DiamondMobile App” and TouchIdentity “Recognition” arepioneering tech-related serv-ices. All these may havebrought phenomenal successto the banks liability genera-tion efforts.

As at 31st December 2014,total deposit liabilitiesamounted to N1.35trillion af-ter the different deposit mo-bilization initiatives yielded

a net addition of aboutN251billion. The loyalty andconfidence of the banks cus-tomers appear to be rootedon the banks capacity tomeet obligations as they falldue. As much asN828billion was invested inassets considered wihin thecategory of cash and shortterm assets, up fromN566billion in 2013. Accord-ingly liquid to total asset ra-tio increased from 42% to


47% just as adjusted liquidityratio rose from 37% to 42%.These levels suggested thatDiamond Bank was amongthe top 3 banks thatoperated with the least li-quidity risk at the end of2014.

But with the increasingmicroeconomic headwinds wehope the 2015 banking reportswe are already working forApril 2016 would show a sus-tained good performance


tional tightening of exchange rates rules bythe CBN If accrual to external reserves doesnot strengthen. The strong pass-through oflower exchange rate on consumer prices inNigeria suggests high inflationary pressureis inevitable in the short to medium term.

The relaxed monetary stance of the MPCafter its last meeting for the year, thoughpositive for stimulating short-term economicgrowth, may not come without negativeimplications for the economy in the medi-um term. With the reduction in interest rate,



Nigeria is likely to face increased capital flightconsequences in the medium to long term, moreso with the Fed raising its benchmark interestrate at its last meeting in last week.

Equally, the spike in financial market liquidityresulting from the reduction in CRR to 20.0% aswell as the expansionary 2016 fiscal year are ex-pected to further trigger inflationary pressure.While the decisions by the MPC ensued from aneed to grow the real sector through increasedlending by banks, decision of lending will con-tinue to be governed by risk considerations withBanks more conservative in taking risk given themacroeconomic headwinds.

Insurance


ROUNDTABLE - Front Row: L to R, Mahmud Yayale Ahmed, Prof. Akpan Ekpo, Wazirin AdamuFika, Chief Philip Asiodu, John C. Nwabueze (Director General), Dr. Shamsuddeen Usman,Prof. Osita Ogbu, Prof. Michae l Kwaneshie at the Philip Asiodu Economic Initiative InauguralRoundtable held in Transcorp Hotel, Abuja.

‘Rising cost of goods couldlead to inflated claims costs’

insurance demand.“In the past two years, the

industry has witnessed theentrance of a number offoreign players into themarket. Meanwhile, thenumber of insurers in theindustry has shrunk over thepast 20 years, much of whichwas a result of NAICOM’sincrease in minimum capitalrequirements in 2007 that sawparticipant numbers reduce to49 from 97 in 2005.

“A.M. Best believes thatconsolidation is likely tocontinue, abetted by theentrance of foreign investorsseeking global expansion todiversify their business. Fordomestic insurers, this

enables them to utiliseinternational practices andtechnical expertise, furtheraligning the Nigerian marketwith that of the globaloperating environment.

However, internationalinvestors targeting Nigeriawill need to remain mindfulof the inherent challengesovershadowing the insurancemarket, including theuncertain economicenvironment. While theexisting retail portfolios ofdomestic players may beconsidered attractive as theselines of business are relativelyuntapped, significantinvestment is required toestablish strong distribution

channels to enable insurers tobuild sufficient scale. This willrequire investors to have along-term view of theirpositions in the market.Furthermore, the low, albeitimproving, level oftransparency in the market islikely to be a hurdle inundertaking sufficient duediligence on potentialacquisition targets.

“The young and growingpopulation of Nigeriacontinues to present a hugepotential for the growth of theunderpenetrated insuranceindustry, with annual nominalgrowth rates of up to 10%expected for the coming fiveyears. However, the economyremains subject to fiscal andstructural weaknesses,including the country ’sdependence on oil revenues,the high levels of corruptionand subsequent distrust in thefinancial system. Thesefactors restrict thedevelopment of the insurancesector, particularly given thehigh poverty levels andpersistent inequality betweenthe various demographics thatcontinue to be ignored.

“Growth of Nigeria’sinsurance industry andincreased competition frominternational participants willcontinue to be important tothe health and developmentof the insurance sector,although companies need tostay focused on the economicand regulatory environment.A sudden deterioration in thestability of the politicalenvironment, economicgrowth or weakeningregulatory supervision couldrepresent risks for investors,”the rating agency stated.

Immediate past President ofthe Nigerian Council

of Registered InsuranceBrokers,

NCRIB, Mr. AyodapoShoderu, has said that at thelevel of the common man, thedevalued naira will reduce thedisposable income ofNigerians, further precludingthem to care less aboutundertaking insurance.

Shoderu said that thepresent challenge shouldmake national policymakers tobe more ingenious inmanaging the precariouseconomic state, while the onusis also on insurancepractitioners to be moreprudent and more resourcefulin running their businesses.

While advising the politicalclass, Shoderu said that thetime has come for Nigeria tobreak fast the façade of monoeconomy and develop otherlatent mineral resources thatthe nation presently has in

Devalued Naira will reduce disposable income ofcommon man —Shoderu

abundance.He said, “We must also

continually put in placestrategies to promote thenation’s industrial sector so asto transform our nation fromconsumption-based toproduction-based nation.

He said, “All over the world,elections or politics are agreat determinant of nationaleconomic and politicaladvancement. Whateverhappens at the realm of polityaffects all other facets ofnational economy, of whichthe insurance industry is acritical component. This iswhy we must do all within ourmeans as practitioners toensure we have a robustpolity.”

On fires which guttedseveral markets almost allover the country in recentpast, Shoderu noted that theconsequence of theseunfortunate developments tomany of the victims; most

especially those withoutinsurance cover, remainshorrific.

Shoderu stated that theseugly fires coupled with lackof penchant for its mitigationthrough insurance hascontinued to deplete thenations’ meagerly managedwealth as most of the victimsconstitute a significant chunkof entrepreneurial class, whoare supposedly greatcontributors to the nation’sGross Domestic Product(GDP).

“We call on government toembark on aggressive assetprotection through publicenlightenment about riskprevention and control inmajor markets in Nigeria.Permit me to reiterate the callfor compulsory insurance ofall Nigerian markets andpublic edifices as enshrinedin the legal provision underInsurance Act 2003 (section 64and 65) of insurance of publicbuildings,” he stated.

Storm losses tocost Sydney over$5m

Sydney, the largestAustralian city, was lashed bya tornado-like storm lastweek, with hailstones as bigas golf balls and wind speedsof over 200km per hour. It hascaused insurance losses of atleast $5.76 million.

Insurers had received about1,000 claims, said theInsurance Council ofAustralia (ICA) whichrepresents general insurers.The number of claims andamount of losses are expectedto rise slowly over comingdays as property ownerslodge claims and the clean-up and recovery operationcontinue.

The ICA has declared theevent a catastrophe that hasresulted in damage to homes,businesses, cars andinfrastructure.

The Bureau of Meteorologysaid the winds recordedduring the storm, which latermoved out to sea, could havebeen the highest on record forthe New South Wales state.The winds were associatedwith a possible tornado, inwhat is called a supercellthunderstorm which is one ofthe most dangerousthunderstorms.

Christchurch CityCouncil has agreed a

$635 million settlement for itse a r t h q u a k e - d a m a g e dfacilities.

In what is the biggestsettlement in New Zealandinsurance history, the councilannounced the full and finalconditional settlement withits insurers, LAPP (the LocalAuthority ProtectionProgramme Disaster Fund)and Civic Assurance’sprincipal reinsurers.

The payout is the result offive years of complex andchallenging negotiations.

The global settlement coversall of the council’s 1600individual above-groundasset claims and businessinterruption losses whichoccurred in the devastating2010 and 2011 quakes.

Christchurch Mayor LianneDalziel said the insurancesettlement comes as “anenormous relief ”. Knowingour full and final insurancesettlement gives us certaintyas we begin work on our 2016/17 Annual Plan,” she said.

Christchurch CityCouncil agrees to$635 millioninsurance payout

Stories by ROSEMARYONUOHA

Amidst the rising cost ofgoods in the

economy, the higher cost ofimporting spare parts placesinsurers at risk from inflatedclaims costs, particularlywithin their motor accounts,according to a report by A.MBest.

A.M Best also noted thatinsurers that maintainf o r e i g n - c u r r e n c ydenominated obligations andutilise a weak asset liabilitymatching framework, thedecline in the naira relativeto the U.S. dollar willincrease liquidity constraints,owing to the need to increasedomest ic-denominatedassets to meet their foreign-currency denominatedliabilities.

The rating agency said thatit would in turn havenegative implications for thecapitalisation levels of theseinsurers and hence theirfinancial strength.

The report said, “Withoutintroducing innovativeproducts and appropriatedistribution methods toattract the various segmentsof Nigeria’s demographics,insurance will continue to beviewed as a luxury productonly available and necessaryto the well off.

“In spite of the headwindsovershadowing the economiclandscape, the lowpenetration rates, goodgrowth prospects, arelatively stable politicalclimate and an improvingregulatory landscape, meansthat Nigeria is fast becominga country of interest forforeign investors seeking tocapitalise on untapped


Banking Review

In Nigeria Stanbic IBTCcould be said to have

originated from the InvestmentBanking and Trust Company Ltd(IBTC) which came intoexistence in 1989 as one of theearly indigenous private sectormerchant banks in the country.

After series of transitions,mergers and acquisitions,Stanbic IBTC has emerged asone of the growing lists offormidable Nigerian SouthAfrican corporate alliances.

As part of the moves to complywith CBNN regulations onholding company model in theindustry Stanbic IBTC HoldingsPlc was incorporated as theparent company of the bank withother group members in diversesub-sectors of the financialservices.

Operations of the group isorganized long three major lines,namely, corporate andinvestment banking group,personal and business bankinggroup and wealth managementgroup. During the 2014 financialyear some of the subsidiariesattained important industrymilestones and leadership. The

Running on diversified earningsSTANBIC IBTC Holdings:

Pension subsidiary crossed theN1trillion mark and became theundisputed leader in that sub-sector. The stockbrokingsubsidiary lead the market inboth volume and value oftransactions in the NigerianStock Exchange for the 7th

consecutive year.Assets under custody by

Stanbic IBTC Nominees hit theN2.3 trillion mark. Also a sub-sector lead.

Capital AdequacyStanbic IBTC as a group

reported shareholders’ funds ofN114 billion in 2014, up from N98billion. Every indication shows thisto be adequate to provide cushionto the respective businesses underthe group portfolio.

With our analysts estimate ofrisk size of N555 billion, weestimate a risk coverage ratio of20 %. Though down from 24%

estimate for 2013, this isconsiderably high enough tosupport the risk inherent in thegroup’s business and satisfiesthe Basle 11 requirement of 10%minimum regulatory capital forbanks in that category.

The bank’s estimated riskweighted asset ratio of about 15%under the new framework.

Asset QualityIn 2014, the group extended

gross loans of N413 billion to itscustomers, significantly up fromN303 billion in 2013. The largestchunk went to manufacturing,trailed by oil and gas, consumercredit, transport andcommunications. However termloans was almost 86% of the total.

Having adopted best practicesin risk governance standards,policies and procedures for eachmajor risk type the bank was ableto achieve a considerably highquality portfolio. Non-performing loans ratio was 4%in 2014 as was in 2013.

Liquidity RiskIn 2014, the group reported

deposit and current accounts ofcustomers at N507.7 billion upfrom N419 billion. Liquidity ratiowas at minimum of 50.8% andmaximum of 84.7% resulting inaverage of 72.6%.

In our analysis liquid to totalassets ratio was about 44% whileadjusted liquidity ratio was 46%.Notwithstanding the divergencein estimates these liquidity levelsare considered very muchadequate to satisfy stakeholdersand meet regulatoryrequirements.

During the 9th Annual GeneralMeeting of Unity Bank Plc to

review activities for the financial yearended December 2014, an opportunitywas provided for the bank to commendall critical stakeholders for returningthe bank to the path of profitability andalso sustaining the bank on a journeythat started nine years ago with thecoming together of nine banks duringthe Soludo-era consolidation exercise.

Among the legacy banks that cametogether to form Unity Bank are Bankof North, Intercity Bank, CenterpointBank, First Interstate Bank amongothers. That the bank was able to facethe integration challenges involved inthat unique merger is a credit to thosethat have successfully steered the bankto today.

As at December 31, 2014, Unity Bankoperated through a brick and mortarnetwork of about 250 branches andcash centres with a total balance sheetsize of N413 billion. The bank’s marketreach is also complemented byalternative channels which include

UNITY BANK PLC

about 270 Automated Teller Machinesand 1070 PoS terminals.

These channels are manned by about2,331 members of staff. During thereview year, the bank embarked on arestructuring exercise whichcomprehensively covered virtually allaspects of the bank’s operationsincluding people, processes andproducts. It moved to re-brand itselfand emerge with a more enthrallingimage among its major stakeholders.It would appear that in all critical areasof measurement results have improvedsignificantly.

Earnings and Profitability MeasuresIn 2013, Unity Bank reported a loss

after succumbing to adverse moneymarket condition and adverse riskmanagement. In 2014 however, thepicture changed drastically. To startwith, it reported a gross earnings ofN77 billion, up from N62 billion in2013. Interest income on loans andother investment products accountedfor N63 billion or 81% of this total.

Interestingly this showed Unity Bankas one of the top 3 in terms of relianceon interest related sources among thebanks within our 2014 Review. To thebank’s credit however, it succeeded inefforts to mobilise low cost funds asinterest margin increased from 58% to73%. Another area the bank provedmore effective relative to the precedingyear was the level of impairmentcharge required to met prudentialstandard. Only N15.3 billion as againstN21.7 billion previous year wasexpended during the year. Therestructuring measures undertakenalso helped to bring down operatingexpenses from N52 billion to N31billion in a manner that reflectedsubstantial efficiency gain. Ultimately,these positive outcome in earnings andcost efficiency resulted in a remarkablyimproved profit after tax of N10.6 billionin 2014 against a loss of N23 billion inthe preceding year. Accordingly returnon average equity improved to positive20% from a negative of 57%. Earningsper share also turned to positive of 9kper share.

Capital Adequacy MeasureDuring the review period, Unity Bank

happened to be one of the few thatsuccessfully approached the capitalmarket to raise capital. In fact, it did arights issue which fetched additionalfunds and helped to strengthen thecapital base.

In 2014 shareholders fund stood atN76 billion as against N28 billion ayear earlier. This exercise madesignificant impact on the adequacy ofcapital available for the bank to do itsbusiness.

Using Basel 1 measure, Riskweighted asset ratio was estimated at24%, up from 10% previously. However,the Basel II measure which adjusts for

good will and intangibles includingdeferred tax yielded a regulatory ratioof just 2%. This suggests that bank issubstantially short on the amount ofcapital required to prudently prosecuteits business. A combination of furtherbalance sheet restructuring andadditional capital may need to beembarked upon to satisfy Basel IIrequirements.

Asset QualityIn 2014 financial year, Unity Bank

moved to increase earnings byexpanding loan portfolio in the face ofpressure on margins imposed by tightmoney market conditions. Netadditions to loan portfolio was N40billion which took the total figure toN266 billion at end of the year.

Although non-performing loan ratiodeclined substantially from 26% to 18%the quality implied by the ratios is verypoor. It turned out to be worse figurereported in the industry in 2014 just aswas the case in 2013.

Notwithstanding the remarkableimprovement made to clean the riskassets portfolio more and sustainedefforts need to be made to achievedesired level of quality.

Deposit Mobilization and LiquidityRisk

In 2014 the tight money marketaffected Unity Bank’s ability togenerate deposits required to createfurther liquidity in the system. Anumber of its liabilities generatingproducts appeared weak. Accordinglycustomer deposit liabilities (includingamounts due to other banks) declinedfrom N303 billion to N277 billion. Otheraccountsalso moved in the negativedirection to N14 billion. Analystsbelieve that some type of relationshipexists between bank’s ability to collect

A new life after the storm

•Thomas Etuh, Chairman,Unity Bank

•Yomi Somefun, MD/CEO.

•Atedo Peterside,Chairman, Stanbic IBTC

•Sola David Borha, MD/CEO.


Banking Review

Leveraging the international networkECOBANK GROUP:

Ecobank TransnationalI n c o r p o r a t e d

emerged in the WestAfrican banking landscapeto fill a gap that longexisted but not explored.Accordingly in 1985, agroup of businessmencame together with thepolitical support of theEconomic Commission ofWest Africa States,ECOWAS, and variousgovernments in WestAfrica to form Ecobankwith the aim of playing afinancial and economicrole towards promotinginternational tradeamongst the countries ofthe region and with othercountries outside theregion.

As at 2014 the bankoperated in 36 countries inAfrica with offices inEurope, South East Asiaand Middle East.

It boasts of over 10million customers, aboutthe largest in the region,through the network ofabout 1,265 branches andoffices as well as 2,690ATMs and over 14,233points of sale, PoS.

The Nigerian operationaccounts for 45% of thetotal in all measures ofsize.

The group’s business isorganized in three keydivisions namely:Corporate and InvestmentBank, Domestic Bank andTreasury.

With some 641,403shareholders of 22.56billion shares of USD0.025per share the group islisted in the NigerianStock Exchange amongstother exchanges. About 10shareholders including theInternational FinanceCorporation, IFC, held73.4% of the shares. Thepeculiar nature of itsinternational, cross-borderoperations, all figures arereported in US Dollars.

Earnings andProfitability

In the year 2014, thegroup reported grossearnings of ESD2.9 billionagainst USD2.6 billion in2013. Out of this, interestincome accounted forUSD1.7 billion or 69% oftotal. This reflectedincreased reliance oninterest income as it was62% in 2013.

Absolute interest marginwas just a little change at66% and 64% in 2013 and2014 respectively. Thoughoperating expenses rosefrom USD1.43 billion toUSD1.53 billion, profitafter tax rose significantlyfrom USDO.15 billion to

USD0.39 billion leading toincrease in return onaverage equity from 7% to16%.

Earnings per sharedoubled to USD0.02 fromUSD0.01. The bank didnot declare any dividendagainst 2014 result.

Capital AdequacyShareholders’ Funds as at

2014 year end was aboutUSD2.7 billion up fromUSD2.1 billion in 2013Thisis significantly higher thanthe competitors in Nigeriaand this underlies the factthat in order to operateacross the internationalmarkets high capital baseis required.

In relating capital toestimated risk size in theasset portfolio, we arrivedat estimated risk assetcoverage of 18% against14% in 2013. We considerthis level of coverage to beclose to 16% Basle 2minimum requirementand suggest that the bankmay need to slow down onrisk asset expansion orseek to increase capital.The later option appear

more plausible given thebank’s easier access to thefinancial markets.

Asset Quality and RiskAssets Creation

In 2014 Ecobank Grouphad global risk assetexposure of USD13 billion,slightly up from USD126billion in the preceding year.The group obviously sloweddown on the expansion rateand appeared to havebecome more selective increating risk assets so as notto compromise quality.

On closer look at the non-performing loans ratio, weobserved that this measurewas flat and remainedunchanged at 4% achievedin 2013. This reflects highquality. Credit RiskStandards consider non-performing loan ratio of 5%and below to be goodquality all things beingequal. As a big bank withhuge portfolio of risk assetsspread across 36 countries,4% level of sticky facilitiesis considered high quality.

Liability Generation andLiquidity Risk

By the end of 2014,

Ecobank had in its balancesheet some USD19.4 billionof liabilities consideredvulnerable to suddendemand, and currentaccount holdings accountedfor USD9.6 billion out of thistotal.

In order to stand ready tosatisfy customers and meetregulatory requirements ofminimum liquidity, the bankheld USD7.5 billion inassets considered to beliquid. This translated toliquid assets to total assetsratio of 31% just as adjustedliquidity ratio was 28%.

Those ratios were betterthan the preceding year’s at28% and 26% respectively.

These figures are veryclose to minimumregulatory requirements of30% for specified liquidityratio and suggest thatwithin the context ofNigerian jurisdiction thebank was very close toborder line.

We are however aware thatthe prescription differsamong the differentcountries in which thegroup operates.

Growing conservatively,

Consistently

Fidelity Bank Plc wasincorporated in 1987

and commenced businessas a merchant banking out-fit. It however converted tocommercial banking in1999 following the clamourof wholesale institutions fora level playing ground inthe industry. The bank pro-ceeded to list as a publicentity in the Nigerian StockExchange in 2005. Sincethen, Fidelity Bank hasbeen on a firm and steadygrowth trajectory toemerge as one of the admi-rable institutions in thesector by key stakeholders.

The bank is guided by anambitious vision to be“number 1 in every marketwe serve and every brand-ed product we offer”. Thebank intends to achievethis broad goal by disci-plined adherence to certainguiding principles or corevalues represented by thepneumonic ‘CREST’ name-ly Customer ’s first, Re-spect, Excellence, SharedAmbition and Tenacity.

The bank has in severalpractical ways demonstrat-ed its commitment to theprinciple of “CustomerFirst”. In 2014, it adopteda service programme cen-tred on building a superiorcustomer service franchise.Remarkably, the bank com-mitted itself to quantitativetargets of services delivery

FIDELITY BANK PLC:

in the areas of service turn-around time, response timeto enquiries and complaintsamong others. To achievethose targets, sales structurewas flattened and certainoperations were centralized.With the aid of a bespoke on-line banking platform and adedicated Customer Com-plaint and Protection Depart-ment, the bank has beenable to achieve a lot. For in-stance turnaround time foron-line customer set-up inthe branches was in 2014 re-duced from 24 hours to 3hours.

Customer Service, Depos-it and Liquidity

Fidelity Bank prides itselfabout having a robust retailstrategy. In 2014, it report-edly added over 471000 new

customers in this segment.The beauty of this strategyis that goals are achieved atrelatively low average cost offund leading to greater effi-ciency. The bank also contin-ued to expand the channelthrough which these custom-ers are serviced. It grew thenumber of Automated tellerMachines to 685 and Pointof Sale facilities to 9,156.Some 850 Customer ServiceAgents were introduced tothe channel structure just assome education related prod-ucts were launched. As at31st December, 2014, thebank was able to accumulatetotal customer deposit ofabout

Capital Adequacy Mea-sures

Fidelity Bank has long rec-ognized that good treatment

•John Aboh, Chairman,Ecobank

•Jbril Aku, MD/CEO.

•Christopher Ezeh,Chairman, Fidelity Bank

•Nnamdi Okonkwo, MD/CEO.

of shareholders by way of at-tractive dividends and goodrelations is required for anorganization that intends tosustain good share capitalbase for operations. Accord-ingly, it long decided to setup a dedicated investor re-lations desk hat is activelymanaged. Over the last 20years, it used combinationsof cash dividend and scripissues to keep shareholdershappy and ready to supportcapital issues.

As at 31st December, 2014,shareholders commitment interms of shareholdingamounted to N173billion.This amount was owned bysome 408,766 shareholders.Against an analyst’s estimateof risky portfolio size ofN305billion the capital to riskrelations measure of 25%clearly underlines the conser-vative posture of the bank asregards the extent of cushionprovided by capital base. Not-withstanding that the figureis lower than 8% estimated for2013, we believe that FidelityBank has a very comfortablecapital base which can pru-dentially support multiples ofexisting volume of business atpresent regulatory regime. Tothe credit of bank’s manage-ment, it had over the yearstried to grow capital from in-ternal and external sources.In 2014, internal rate ofgrowth in capital was estimat-ed at 8%, up from 5% in 2013.

Banking Review

From Big, Strong, Reliable toa simpler and smarter bank

experts to manage critical aspects of thetransformation.

Human capital changes,Apart from emphasis on culture change

and technological awareness, greatermotivation was introduced even as staffnumber declined from about 3778 in 2013to 2976 in 2014. Average cost of retaininga staff reduced from N10.9m to N9.66m(inclusive of pension contributions andothers), but staff productivity in terms ofwhat an average staff returned toshareholders increased from N1.36m toN6.88m. Accordingly every indicatorpoints to management and staff that areincreasingly becoming more efficient notonly in the area of services delivery butalso from the perspective of what isreturned to the owners of the business.

Capital AdequacyUp till 2011, one area the bank’s

weakness showed clearly wasinadequate capital to carry on the normalbusiness of banking. Indeed capital wascompletely eroded and the bank becometechnically insolvent which requiredregulatory intervention. It was thereforenot a surprise that the restructuring of2012 came with substantial injection ofcapital.

With a negative shareholders fund ofabout N142b in 2010, equity capitalclosed at a positive N188billion in 2013.This further increased to N206billion in2014 following a 100% plough back ofprofit.

Our measure of Risk weighted assetratio stood at a relatively healthy Basel Ifigure of 31% in 2014 decliningmarginally from 32% in the precedingyear. This is about 16% understandardized approach of Base II. For abank with international banking license,15% is generally considered adequate.

Tier I capital to net loans was as highas 65% while Tier I capital to vulnerabledeposit liabilities stood at 34%. Perhapsthe only critical challenge facing the bankin its current composition of equitycapital is the existence of a negativegeneral reserve of N194billion which isoutstanding from past business losses.The good news is that the current fastpace of growth in profit if sustained willextinguish the loss in a few years. Thebank has some scope to increase riskassets by about N50billion at existingcapital without unnecessarily exposingitself to regulatory head winds.

Impairment of loans and Risk Asset

QualityEffective risk management is at the core

of operations of the new Union Bank andsound management of Credit isunderstandably a key component of thetransformation. The Credit Risk Ratingframework is in place to ensure qualityof loans booked and consistentlyguaranteed. Analysts considered ajudicious adherence to this new modeland framework necessary to ensure thatAMCON will not have cause to buy overbad loans from the bank in future. Earlysigns indicate that Union Bank is in theright trajectory. Though gross lendingamount increased from N23billion in2013 to N325billion in 2014, or whopping41%, non-performing loan ratio declinedfrom 6% to 5%, an indication that qualityof risk management is on the rise andthe bank is truly on a new era. This meantthat relative levels of provision for stickyassets have declined.

Our independent estimate shows thatthe proportion of total asset portfolioadjudged to be subject to impairmentstood at 56% in 2014. Given industryfigures and the new found measure ofefficiency in management of credits, thisclearly supports the view that Union

Bank is a good position to expand riskassets without compromising quality.

Earning and ProfitabilityIn 2014, reported gross earnings rose

marginally from 2013 figure ofN103billion to 109billion, however whena nominal provision of about N8.0billionno longer required is removed, grossearning actually declined to N101billion.Although the Bank ramped up lendingand increased interest on loans fromN30billion to N38billion, interest oninvestment securities and placementsdeclined significantly from N49billion toN36billion resulting in reduction ofcontribution of interest income from 77%to 74%. The bank faced challenges inpricing of assets. Fee based income andforeign exchange earnings madeencouraging impact as their contributionrose from 9% in 2013 to 15% in 2014.

Three factors made the difference in thebottom-line during the period. Firstly thedecision to take the divestment optiontowards complying with CBN’sregulation 3 resulted in extra-ordinaryincome of more than N6billion followingdisposal of 5 subsidiary companiesincluding its very profitable registrarsbusiness.

Secondly the new credit riskmanagement and review frameworkyielded substantial recoveries andreduced provisions for bad loans.Accordingly impairment charge for creditlosses came down from N13billion in 2013to just N3billion in 2014.

Thirdly, although other operatingoverheads increased as a result oftransformation related expenses,personnel cost was brought downremarkably from N39billion to 29billionfollowing the right sizing measuresundertaken by the bank.

Ultimately profit after tax increased fromN5billion in 2013 to about N20billion in2014. Accordingly return on averageequity increased from a paltry 3% to 10%.Although this remained below historicalaverage for the industry the growth isimpressive considering that in 2011, ayear prior to the transition, the bankincurred a whopping loss of N76.7billion.

The 2014 figure also translated toEarnings per share of N1.21k up from30k in the preceding year.Notwithstanding the impressive bottom-line, the bank did not declare dividendto shareholders as a result of constraintsimposed by negative revenue reservesthat subsists in the balance sheet and theneed to build up capital base.

Liquidity Risk profileTo underline the importance Union

Bank attaches to its sustained capacity to

meet obligations to counter-parties, it setup a market and liquidity RiskManagement Department charged withthe responsibility to provide guidance onissues of match or mismatch of fund inflowand outflows, and liquidity risk arisingfrom market positions. The Departmentmonitors closely movements in key Riskindicators including maturity mis-matches, liquidity ratios, prudentialportfolio limits on asset mix andconcentration risks.

Contingency plans were put in place toaddress any unexpected liquidity crisesthat may arise. One key risk indicatorbanks generally consider is the structureof deposit liabilities. Our analysis,however, shows what may be consideredvulnerable liabilities of about N609 billion,which remained virtually unchanged fromN605billion in 2013. This is a measure ofthe banks liabilities that may suddenlyfall due and put pressure on the bank tod ischarge . Out o f th i s ,demand deposit liabilities stood atN209billion in 2014.

Liquid assets in form of cash and cashequivalents including unrestrictedbalances with Central Bank andmarketable securities stood belowN252billion and suggested that themarket and liquidity risk departmentneeded to be on top of their game toensure that not only regulatoryrequirements are met but also that implicitand explicit cost of meeting obligationsto counter parties is low.

Our analyst’s estimate of qualifyingliquid assets to total assets declinedmarginally from 29% in 2013 to 27% in2014.

Other key indicators reveal a decline inadjusted liquidity ratio from 30% to 23%.

CBN’s measure of liquidity ratio as at thenrequired banks to maintain a minimumof 30%. Union Bank’s cash and adjustedcash ratios closed at 8% and 10%respectively.

Our independent view is that theliquidity levels could have been enoughto meet regulatory requirement but astress test against possible regulatorychanges would reveal that the bankoperated at limits of prudentialrequirements supported ostensibly by anactive liquidity risk strategy.

Investment Quality and InvestorRelations

In the past, Union Bank appeared tolag behind its peers in devising activestrategy to deal with shareholders andalso return benefits to them. Perhaps theownership structure that existed in thatera was largely complacent and managerswho controlled the bank invested relativelyless effort in building a strong investorrelations organization.

The new Union Bank is keenly interestedin building a reputation that covers theentire stakeholder strata particularlyshareholders, depositors, society, staff andgovernment.

The key question to an investor is: Whatis the investment value of Union Bank?

Following the transition and capitalrestructuring that was embarked upon,Union Bank has shown promises ofreturning as preferred investmentdestination to discerning investors. Netbook value per share which closednegative to N12.16 in 2014, up fromN11.09 assets rose to N920billion fromN802billion.

However the attraction in theinvestment quality of Union Bank is notso much on the figure of currentearnings and net assets but on thepotentials for sustained earning in thefuture.

Our upcoming report on the bank’s2015 full year results will tell much abouthow bright the future would set.

Enjoying the fruitsof African strategy

UBA PLC

UNION BANKOF NIGERIA

•Emeka Emuwa, MD/CEO,Union Bank

reporting embedded in the bank’s riskmanagement process.

Deposit Liabilities and LiquidityAs one of the biggest banks in the

system the bank had total assets ofN2.34trillion, making it the 3rd larg-est by this measure, it is typical thatUBA would enjoy the benefit of pa-tronage from many account custom-ers. The bank in 2014 could boast ofsome 8million customers across it’schannels with substantial loyalty iden-tified in the relationships. Part of whathad sustained this loyalty would ap-pear to be the confidence that the bankis ever ready to meet obligations asthey fall due. To this effect, the bankhad always tried to maintain in highcapacity in terms of liquidity which canbe seen from the substantial invest-ment made in cash and short term as-sets of about N999billion in 2014, upfrom N895billion in 2013. This account-ed for some 43% of total assets, withadjusted liquidity ratio of about 37%.Only about 5 banks appeared as li-quidity conscious during the year. Itactually had the highest cash ratios inthe industry and these proved com-fortably above thresholds consideredadequate to meet regulatory require-ments and obligations to counter-par-ties.

Capital AdequacyBy most measures, UBA situates on


• Continued from page 35

the top 5 of the most capitalizedbanks in Nigeria. Because of itsgrowth inclination and the imper-ative for functional and spatialexpansion, the bank had no choicethan to grow its capital. This hasover the years been affected frominternal and external sources. Asat 31st December, 2014, the bankhad accumulated shareholdersfund of N282billion with almostN266billion in the form of re-serves. This among is consideredby our analysts to provide ade-quate comfort to all of the bank’sclientele and regulators that riskinherent in the level of businessundertaken by the bank is withinacceptable standards. Our esti-mate of this coverage is a ratio of18%, slightly up from 17% in 2013.Considering the regulatory mini-mum of 15% for its class of banks,we consider that the bank still hassubstantial latitude to pursue itsgrowth options at current level ofcapital. Indeed it can choose todouble the existing level of riskassets and still be within the min-imum requirements. However, forthe business of banking, We be-lieve that it is always better, fromthe perspective of risk manage-ment to have more capitl. In thepost 2014 period, the bank indeedraised further capital by way ofrights offer. We shall be examin-ing these 2015 developments inthe bank in details by April 2016.


Banking Review

2014 2013Gross Loans (N’ billions)Ecobank International 2,460 2,280First Bank 2,222 1,814Zenith 1,606 1,148GTBank 1,208 947Access 1,093 762UBA 895 805Diamond 747 610FCMB 633 462Skye 623 574Fidelity 533 390Stanbic IBTC 413 303Sterling 381 329Union Bank 326 231Unity 266 226Wema 152 103FSDH 40 19

Total Assets (N’ billions)Ecobank International 4,800 4,500First Bank 4,342 3,859Zenith 3,424 2,879UBA 2,339 2,219GTbank 2,127 1,904Access 1,979 1,701Diamond 1,750 1,355Skye 1,210 1,115FCMB 1,200 1,034Fidelity 1,187 1,081Stanbic IBTC 944 763Union Bank 921 882Sterling Bank 825 708Unity Bank 413 404Wema 383 331FSDH 110 79

Shareholders’ Funds (N’ billions)First Bank 523 472Zenith 513 473GTBank 369 329UBA 282 259Access 274 245Diamond 206 138Union Bank 206 187Fidelity 173 163FCMB 160 43.7Skye 132 122Stanbic IBTC 114 98Sterling 85 63Unity 76 28Wema 44 41FSDH 20.9 19.2

Gross Earnings (N’ billions)First Bank 480 396Zenith 372 311GTBank 247 220UBA 228 213Access 218 180Diamond 188 165FCMB 148.7 131Fidelity 136 127Skye 134 130Stanbic IBTC 130 111Union Bank 102 103Sterling 102 90Unity 77 62Wema 42 37FSDH 12.7 10.8

Profit After Tax (N’ billions)GTBank 93 86Zenith 92 83First Bank 83 71UBA 40.1 46.5

Access 39.9 26.2Stanbic IBTC 32.1 20.8Diamond 22.1 29.7FCMB 22.1 16Union Bank 20.5 5.1Fidelity 15.8 7.7Unity 10.6 -2.3Sterling 9.0 8.3Skye 8.6 18.4FSDH 2.5 1.9Wema 2.4 1.6

Return On Assets (N’ billions)Stanbic IBTC 30% 23%GTBank 27% 28%Unity 20% - 57%Zenith 19% 18%First Bank 17% 15%Ecobank 16% 7%UBA 15% 19%Access 15% 11%Diamond 13% 24%Sterling 12% 15%FSDH 12% 10%Union Bank 10% 3%Fidelity 8% 5%Skye 7% 16%Wema 6% 7%

Adjusted Liquidity RatioStanbic IBTC 46% 61%Diamond 42% 37%Zenith 41% 47%FSDH 38% 40%UBA 37% 35%GTBank 37% 50%Fidelity 35% 45%Unity Bank 32% 32%First Bank 30% 33%

How the banks ranked on the performance gridWema 30% 51%Ecobank 28% 26%Sterling 25% 0%Union Bank 23% 30%Skye 17% 36%

Non-Performing Loan RatioFSDH 0% 0%UBA 1% 1%Access 1% 2%Zenith 2% 2%Sterling 2% 2%Wema 2% 2%First Bank 3% 3%FCMB 3.6% 3.9%Diamond 4% 3%Stanbic IBTC 4% 4%Ecobank 4% 6%Union Bank 5% 6%Fidelity 5% 4%GTB 5% 5%Skye 6% 3%Unity 18% 26%

Cost Efficiency RatioGTBank 45% 46%Stanbic IBTC 31% 22%Zenith 29% 30%Access 21% 17%Union Bank 20% 4%FSDH 20% 9%First Bank 19% 23%UBA 19% 24%Ecobank 18% 8%Unity 18% - 54%Skye 17% 15%Diamond 13% 20%Sterling 11% 10%Wema 7% 5%

Vanguard Annual Banking Review is published in association with GlobalValue Analytics & Advisors Ltd (Dr. Peter Amah, Research Adviser)



The council of theNational Institute of

Marketing of Nigeria, NIMN,has stated that one of its focusin the next few years would beto strengthen its regionaloperations by furtherenhancing the status of itschapters. This, according tothe Council, represents a wayof deepening its membershipdrive outside Lagos, itstraditional catchment area, asAgenmonmen is elected FirstVice President.

Disclosing this at theinstitute’s Annual MarketingConference and AGM, heldrecently in Enugu, theinstitute’s president, Mr.Ganiyu Koledoye, stated thatthe institute’s decision to holdsome of its key activities suchas the Conference, in otherregions of the country, outsideLagos, was in tune with thatvision of further enhancingthe status of those regions andbonding them with people inthose regions.

He expressed delight thatmembers from the nation’sacademia are increasinglyshowing interests in theinstitute’s activities, as evidentin the turn-out at theConference, noting that suchparticipation from that sectorwould go a long way inbolstering the publicconfidence in the quality oftraining being churned out bythe institute.

‘I’m highly delighted that weare witnessing increasinginterests from the nation’s

LAUNCH - From Left: Aisha Ahmad, Head Consumer andPrivilege Banking, Diamond Bank Plc; Omotunde AdebowaleDavid , On-Air- Personality, WazobiaFm and Ayona Trimnell,Divisional Head, Corporate Communications, Diamond BankPlc at the ‘DiamondXtra Season 8 Launch’ in Lagos.

NIMN set to strengthen regionaloperations ...As Agenmonmen picks 1st VP ticket

Stories byPRINCEWILL EKWUJURU

tertiary institutions, as evidentin the attendance that we arehaving here today. These arepeople, who, hitherto, wouldnot have anything to do withthe institute or its activitiesbecause the marketinginstitute was bedevilled withcrisis in those days.

‘Today we can see that weare getting more and moremembers from the nation’s tertiary institutions. And weare happy that some of them

would even play a key role inthe next council of the

institute,’ he stated.Meanwhile, the Marketing

Manager, Nigerian BreweriesPlc., Mr. Tony Agenmonmen,has been elected as the FirstVice President of the institute.

By this victory,Agenmonmen who waselected unopposed, by a voicevote, takes over from Mr.Rotimi Olaniyan , the formeroccupant of the office, who hadserved his statutory two-yearterm in that office.

A Professor of Marketingand the Chairman of theEnugu State Chapter of theinstitute, Prof. Justie Nnabukoalso replaced Dr. RotimiOladele as the second VicePresident..

Unfolding his plans beforethe elections, the NigerianBreweries chieftain stated thatone of his priorities, would beto market the institute and itsactivities, through theinstitute’s Council to theCorporate Nigeria.

Expressing his delight at theachievements of the presentCouncil, Agenmonmenstressed the need to get morecorporate organisations to beinvolved in the activities of theinstitute.

Contact SolutionsLimited, trading as

ConSol, celebrates its 10th yearoperations in Nigeria . ConSolis renowned as top of the classfor bridging the gap betweenNigerian companies of allshapes, sizes, active in various

ConSol marks decade of operation

industry sectors and their questfor quality customer servicedelivery.The managementsolutions company, is changingthe face of ICT in Nigeria withinits 10 years of operation. ConSolhas renewed its commitment todeliver more value-added

services to its existing andpotential clients across industry,commerce and service sectors.

Ademola ‘DEm’ Eleso,Chairman, ConSol Ltd,disclosed that the company hasone of the largest deploymentof outsourced call centre agentsin Nigeria and a supremelyefficient single-site contactcentre complex employinghundreds of Contact Centreagents, serving multiple clientsin West Africa. Thus makingConSol one of the mostsophisticated environments inthe country – you can feel theproductivity of people,processes and technology inharmony, at our facility.”Wecontinue to create more valuefor our customers by providingfirst class contact centre/callcentre services that deliver oncustomer satisfaction whilstreducing costs. Consequentlywe help organisations increaseprofitability, by executingworld-class inbound andoutbound contact centrebusiness processes andreducing total cost of ownership(TCO), of this core customerservice function,” he said. DEmexplained in a press conferencein Lagos that ConSol hascombined strong ICT andcustomer managementsolutions in the last 10 years.

Verve International, African payment cardbrand, has launched a new mobile

app, ‘Verve World’, which enables cardholdersto store all their payment options and carryout everyday transactions without physicallyusing their cards. The app features ‘Paycode’,Verve’s latest innovation. Users of the VerveWorld app can generate a ‘Verve Paycode’, aunique one-time code valid for 24 hours, whichcan be used to withdraw cash from an ATMmachine without a card. The Verve Paycodecan be sent to a loved one or friend to withdrawa pre-set amount of money from most ATMs inthe country.

Verve Paycode is the latest in a string ofinitiatives and partnerships as VerveInternational continues to innovate andconsolidate its leading position in paymenttransactions and services across Africa. Theservice opens a new range of possibilities forusers and also offers a new level of security ascardholders can still carry out regulartransactions as usual without the need to movearound with a physical wallet.

Other services available on the Verve Worldapp include: Verve eCash funding; quick

Verve launches new mobile app, 'Verve World'recharge transactions; Verve Rewards balancecheck; and enabling or disabling cards fromperforming international transactions.

Speaking at a stakeholder engagement eventin Lagos, Chief Executive Officer of VerveInternational, Charles Ifedi, said the VerveWorld app has been tailored specifically forthe African market and is an example of how,here at Verve International, we continue to pushthe boundaries of technological innovation toaddress local payment challenges.

“We continue to see growing demand fromour cardholders for easy, secure andconvenient payment methods irrespective ofthe payment instrument being used. Thereforewe designed the app to address the need forurgent access to cash without a card, throughVerve Paycode, (a key feature in the APP)which can also be generated and sent tofriends and family for cardless withdrawal atATMs. Verve Paycode can also be generatedvia USSD channel, using any phone includingfeature phones, by simply dialing*322*8*amount#. We believe that thetechnology this app offers will revolutionizehow we manage our money.”

StarTimes addsnew Channels,takes two to China

Pay-TV service provider,StarTimes says it making

an addition of a new channel,Sony SAB and a documentaryseries titled Nigerians in Chinaon Hausa channel, Dadin Kowa,plans to take two persons toChina.

Sony SAB is a classic Indiangeneral entertainment andcomedy-centric televisionchannel. With its premiere onStarTimes (DTT Channel 509,DTH 554 ) on December 1 andthe upward yearnings ofNigerians for general Indianentertainment programmes,StarTimes subscribers will bethrilled with non-stop Indianentertainment and lifestyleprograms. The new channel isavailable to StarTimessubscribers on Classic bouquetfor DTT and Indian bouquet onDTH.

Some of the special programslined up for the festive seasoninclude F.I.R, a detective movie;TU MERE AGAL BAGAL HAI,a comedy show; BAAL VEER,kids super hero show andTARAK MEHTA, a comedyshow among other great andentertaining innovations.

Kasaprekoexpressescommitment torewarding loyalty

Kasapreko CompanyNigeria Limited, makers

of Alomo Bitters has reaffirmedits commitment to rewardingpartnership, productivity andentrepreneurial excellence, thiswas demonstrated at itswholesales event where thecompany rewarded wholesalerswho performed remarkably wellin the 2015 fiscal year.

The prize award ceremony forthe company’s ongoing tradepromotion which held at thetrade fair complex on BadagryExpressway, Lagos, was aimedat rewarding leading value-chain operators who haddistinguished themselves in thesales of Kasapreko’s recentlyintroduced premium liquorbrands- Kalahari Bitters, AlomoSilver Bitters and CarnivalStrawberry.

Speaking at the event,Wholesale Manager, KasaprekoCompany Nigeria limited,Jennifer Nwodo said: “ weappreciate your partnershiptowards the successful on-tradeintroduction and sales of ourpremium brands. We celebrateour amiable and distinguishedkey distributors who can testifythat as a company, KasaprekoCompany Nigeria Limited isever interested in ensuring thatour business partnership is ofmutual benefit to allstakeholders.

These are people,who, hitherto, wouldnot have anything todo with the instituteor its activitiesbecause themarketing institutewas bedevilled withcrisis in those days


Media & Advertising

Omoh Gabriel - Group Business Editor

Babajide Komolafe - Deputy Business Editor

Clara Nwachukwu - Energy Editor

Peter Egwuatu - Asst. Business Editor

Yinka Kolawole - Snr Bus. Correspondent

Favour Nnabugwu - Insurance Correspondent

Godwin Oritse - Maritime Correspondent

Godfrey Bivbere - Maritime Correspondent

Michael Eboh - Energy Reporter

Franklin Alli - Industry/Agric. Reporter

Ifeyinwa Obi - Maritime Reporter

Rosemary Onuoha - Insurance Reporter

Nkiruka Nnorom - Capital Market Reporter

CONTRIBUTORS

Princewill Ekwujuru - Media/Marketing

Jonah Nwokpoku - E-Commerce

Naomi Uzor - Industry

Providence Obuh - Micro Finance

LAYOUT - Graphics Department

(0805 220 1997)


Business & Economy

The Central Bank ofNigeria is obviously,

currently losing the battle toarrest inflation and theunyielding slide in theNaira’s exchange rate.Regrettably, with inflationpersistently closer to 10%, allstatic incomes have lost over40% of purchasing valuessince 2010; thus, the laborer’sN18,000 minimum wage mayjust be worth less thanN10,800 today. Instructively,however, spiraling inflation is,usually, primarily triggered byuncontrolled and liberalmoney supply. Consequently,monetary authorities insuccessful economieseverywhere, endeavor to keepinflation below 2% bymanaging money supply!

Unfortunately, prevailingnear double digit inflationrates were compounded byover 25% Naira devaluationthis year. Alarmingly, theNaira has plummeted fromN197 to below N270=$1 inthe parallel market, while thehuge margin between bothrates has encouragedfinancial malfeasance andresulted in significant marketdistortions, which invariablypromote rent seeking whilediscouraging any seriouscommitment to grow the realsector, and create more jobs.

Historically, Nigeria’s risingrate of unemployment anddeepening poverty correlatesloyally with Naira’s steadydepreciation from 50kobo toN197=$1; consequently, inorder to earn the samepurchasing value that 50kobocommanded before 1980,Nigerians must now performthe impossible task of workingalmost 400 times harder today.Inevitably, therefore, theconsequences of highinflation rates and a slidingNaira exchange rate haveultimately propelled usamongst the World’s poorestnations. Incidentally, dollarscarcity cannot be the primarycause of weaker Naira

Naira exchange rate, CBN “don” miss roadexchange rates as oftenalleged; for example, Nigeriaearned bounteous dollarrevenue when crude oilprices rose steadily from$53.41/barrel in 1979 to wellover $140/barrel in 2008,while average output alsoremained consistently above2million barrels per day sincereturn to civil rule; part of thefortuitously, consolidatedrevenue surplus of over $12bnwas sunk into the power sectorwithout any observablepositive impact, while another$18bn also became availablefor the controversial London/Paris Club debt exit.

Furthermore, in compliancewith IMF recommendations toliberalise our‘embarrassingly’ increasing

order to conserve forex.Nonetheless, every accountholder is still entitled toadditional $7,000 weekly($336,000 annually), forinternational POSTransactions. It is undeniablethat these payment platformsprovide ample opportunity tofund smuggling, currencyround tripping and moneylaundering, and it is thereforenot surprising that Nigeria,ultimately became one of thelargest markets for bulkcurrency trade. Curiously,these liberal forex windowsare still kept wide open byCBN, while genuine realsector operators who can addvalue and create jobs areconstrained to patiently awaitofficial allocations or

Naira. Thus, unless actualmarket dynamics alter thisperception, any attempt tocontrol dollar demand orrestrict access to supply, willinvariably only instigatefurther rejection of the Nairaas a safe store of value.

If, however, the CBNrecognises persistentlysurplus Naira as the primedeterminant of the dollar/Naira exchange rate, then,our decades long sojourn inthe wilderness of monetarystrategy will end. Evidently,the unceasing suffocation ofsystemic Naira liquidityinvariably weakens Nairaexchange rate in a marketwhere CBN converselyauctions ‘small’ rations ofdollars weekly.

It is critically pertinenttherefore to seriouslyinterrogate the primary causeof systemic Naira surplus.Incidentally, former CBNGovernor, Chukwuma Soludonoted after an MPC meetingin June, 2005 that: “The majorsource (cause) of hugeliquidity injection has beenthe monetisation (read as thesubstitution of naira allocationfor dollar denominatedrevenue) ...” Soludo thereforewarned that…”the (adverse)consequences of excessliquidity (inflation andweaker Naira) stare us in theface.” If, indeed, according toSoludo, Naira substitution forjust $1b distributable revenuewreaks such havoc onliquidity, one can onlyimagine what damage Nairasubstitution for an estimated$30bn annual distributablerevenue would cause.Instructively however, lastweek (December 2016), indeference to problematicliquidity surfeit, the CBNagain indicated its intentionto borrow and store anotherN135bn as idle funds, tomanage the debilitatingchallenge of Excess Nairasupply before the year ends.The CBN has also projected

to additionally removeN1,220bn ($6.13bn) ofperceived systemic Nairaliquidity with sales ofgovernment Treasury billsbefore March ending 2016.Notably, Treasury Bill sales isCBN’s instrument of choice tocontrol money supply, andestablish price stability in themarket place.

Furthermore, the Apex Bankand the Debt ManagementOffice also additionallyborrowed over N50bn longterm loans in December,despite the attendant doubledigit interest rates which areclearly inconsistent withsovereign, risk free, loans ofresource endowed countriessuch as Nigeria. Revealingly,these government loans wereall oversubscribed by well overa 100%, i.e. a loud attestationto the prevailing highsystemic liquidity, which alsounderscores the strangleholdof banks on sovereign debtsin preference to real sectorlending. Nevertheless,despite our reduced exportrevenue, unless, there is anurgent intervention by eitherPresident Buhari or theLegislature, Naira liquiditysurfeit would clearly remaina challenge to alleviatingpoverty and successfulpromotion of economic growthin 2016. However, theadoption of dollar certificates/warrant for allocating dollardenominated revenue willsurely minimise Nairaliquidity and shore up Nairavalue and also positivelyrestrain inflation. A steadyhardening of the Nairaexchange rate will alsogradually promote publicpreference of the Naira as astronger store of value thanthe dollar.

Evidently, so long as CBNcontinues to tackle theproblem of an ever slidingNaira rate from the prism ofdemand for dollars, ratherthan frontally addressing thebogey of eternally surplusNaira, the end of oureconomic dislocation willnever be in sight.

SAVE THE NAIRA! SAVENIGERIANS

dollar supply, the CBNlicensed about 3,000 BureauDe Change and providedthem with weekly dollarallocations that oftenexceeded total forex provisionto the real sector; ironically,every Nigerian citizen couldalso access up to $150K withNaira debit cards at officialexchange rates annually fromATMs abroad. Inexplicably,however, despite the healthyreserve base, the Naira ratestill depreciated from N80 toN160=$1!

However, in the wake of thepresent collapse in crudeprices, CBN has reducedinternational ATMwithdrawals to $300/day(about $110,000 annually) in

alternatively patronise,oppressive black market dollarrates to fund their businesses.

Instructively, if thePRIMARY cause of Naira’sdepreciation is not identifiedand minimized, the forexmarket would steadily becomeunraveled and the parallelmarket rate may alarminglyexceed N400=$1 withdisastrous economicconsequences in 2016.

Historically, CBN’s attemptto manage Naira exchangerate has always been targetedat curbing dollar demand. Itis instructive however, thathigh dollar demand is actuallya function of public perceptionof the dollar as a stronger andsafer store of value than

A former director ofS t a n d a r d s

Organisation of Nigeria, SON,has applauded the newlyamended SON Act 2015 by theNational Assembly.

Mr. Damian Agbanelo, theex-director, said that the newSON Act has given the agencymore statutory powers toreduce substandard products inthe country to ten percent, anddeal with people who are in thebusiness.

Mr. Agbanelo who is also theChairman, Board of Trustees ofthe Improved and HealthyLiving Development Initiative

Ex director hails National Assembly over new SON Act

By FRANKLIN ALLI

It is undeniable that these paymentplatforms provide ample opportunity tofund smuggling, currency round trippingand money laundering, and it istherefore not surprising that Nigeria,ultimately became one of the largestmarkets for bulk currency trade.

(IHLDI) urged the DirectorGeneral of the agency, Dr.Joseph Odumodu toimmediately commence theimplementation of the new Act.

He noted thatnotwithstanding the dauntingchallenges being faced by theagency, it has frontallycontinued to battle importers offake and substandard goods inthe country with sustainedsurveillance activities whichhad led to recent massiveseizures and removal ofidentified substandard andunwholesome products out ofthe market.

He advocated that as amatter of necessity governmenthad better return SON back tothe sea ports as most of the

identified fake andsubstandard goods camethrough the sea ports. ‘

“It is better to checkmatecontainers bringing theseproducts to the country at thesea ports rather than pursuingthem on the roads andwarehouses as well as openmarkets,” he said.

On the focus of his NGO, hestated that IHLDI has taken theonerous responsibility ofensuring the development oftidy and healthy environmentin the society as well aspromoting and sensitising thepublic on the imperatives ofmanufacturing, importing andpatronising standard productsin Nigeria.


CMYK

Send Opinions & Letters to:[email protected]

Not on the same pageBy Eric Teniola

BETWEEN 1979 and 1983, therewere 449 members of the House of

Representatives. The speaker of the Housethen was Chief Edwin Ume Ezeoke fromNnewi while his deputy Alhaji Idris Ibrahimwas from Minna. The Leader of the Housethen was Alhaji Yinusa Kaltungo fromTangale-Waja South, a complete gentleman.

The following members were recognisedas the chief whip of their parties: Prince J.S.Sangha-NPN, Mr. Tom U.B. Egbuwoku-UPN, Mr. D.D. Dafuan- NPP, Dr. Junaid S.Muhammed-PRP and Dr. Gordon J. Idang-GNPP.

Apart from the committee of selection, theHouse had 26 standing committees. Thecommittees are House committee, business,public petitions, agriculture, forestry,fisheries and animal science, public servicematters, communications,defence,judiciary,education,health, labour,finance, external affairs,publicworks,aviation and transport, Petroleumand energy conservation, Mines and power,Commerce, Science and Technology,appropriation, internal affairs, banking andcurrency, housing, community developmentand environment, Veteran affairs and socialwelfare, water resources, Federal CapitalDevelopment and public accountcommittee.

Pardon me to remember with nostalgia atthe risk of offending many, some membersof that House. I remember Chief OlaiyaFagbamiye, Ibrahim Nagodiya, KevinNwosu, Chief Blessing Kayode, VictorMasi,who later became Finance Minister,Dr. E.J. Sowho, Mr. RasheedShittaBay,Funso Akinyosoye, IbrahimZailani, Godwin Nwodi,Mrs. AbiolaBabatope, Tubo O. Bob Manuel, B.A. Shaba,Samuel Udo Bassey,John Ekpeyong,JohnFadeyi, Ambrose Gapsuk, B.J. Abegunde,

Aliyu Adamu, Lam Adesina,F.C. Adigwe,Debo Akande, F.A. Akinbiseyin, BulamonAli,Razak Apalara,Tom Egbuwoku, J.C.Emeka, G.A. Falae, Saliu Famuyide, P.A.Gbinije, Mohammed Hassan, Garba Isiaku,Lateef kare Kataiyeyanjue,Ladipo Labiyi,Sule Lamido, Maina Ma’aji, Ingo Mac-Eteli, A.N. Nweke, Dr. Chikwe Obihara,Ralph Obioha, Isidore Obasi, Peter OlayemiObaoye, A.O. Omisore, Olatinwo Otegbeye,Nuhu Paloma, Akintunde Rotimi, LabaranTanko, Abubakar Tuggar, S.U. Wanganga,Godwin B. Wodi, Folorunso Yinusa, AhmedTijani Yusuf, Danjuma Zubairu,OlusolaAfolabi, Z.O.K. Adetula, Stephen Alete,M.A.Agbamuche, Barnabas Falu, HusseiniGajango,Ambrose Gapsuk, F.O. Iyayiamong others.

Within the same period there were 95Senators. The President of the Senate by thenwas Dr. Joseph Wayas from Ogoja while theDeputy Senate President was Senator JohnWash Pam from Jos. The leader of the Senatewas Dr. Abubakar Olusola Saraki fromIlorin/Assa, my friend. The other leaders ofthe various parties were Senator JonathanAkinremi Olawale Odebiyi-UPN, SenatorJaja Anucha Wachukwu-NPP,Senator IdrisaKadi- GNPP and Senator Ibrahim Barau-PRP. There were 17 standing committees inthe Senate. These were Transport and

aviation, Communications, Education,Science and Technology,Defence,PublicWorks, appropriation and Finance, Healthand Social Services, Judiciary and PublicService, Banking and Currency, Petroleumand Energy, Foreign, Labour and InternalAffairs, Agriculture and Natural Resources,Water and Mineral Resources, Trade andIndustries, Federal Capital, Housing, UrbanDevelopment and Local Government.

Pardon me for remembering withnostalgia too, some senators of that era. Iremember Senators Cornelius OlatunjiAdebayo,Uba Ahmed, Mahmud Waziri,F.O.M. Atake, Ibrahim Dimis, DavidOmueye Dafinone, AbayomiAdeyosolaDurosimi, Abraham Aderibigbe Adesanya,Ameh Ebute, Emeka Patrick Echeruo, JajaAnucha Wachukwu, NosikeIkpo, DanielAdetola Ladega, Isa Obaro, OnyeaborObi,David Olatunbosun Oke, StephenAdebanji Akintoye, Muhammed GirigiriLawan, Cyrus Nunieh, Kunle Oyero,Michael Emmannuel Onunkun, SaboBakin Zuwo, ObiWali, John OsiomeleUmolu, Joseph Sauwan Tarka, SamuelOlu Sogbehin, Jubrin Salihu, BukaSanda, Sikiru Ayodeji Shitta Bay,Mubashir Akanbi Abiru, Ayoola Adeleke,Adeyiga Omopenu Ajayi, Ahmadu Ali,Nathaniel N. Anah, Obafemi Ayantuga,Ibrahim Barau, Bello, Bakorri, OyibosiyaEberewariye, Francis John Ellah, DonaldDick Etiebet, Ayo Fasanmi, Adamu Gaya,GayusGilama, George Baba Hoomkwapamong others.

At that time there were no Vice Chairmenfor the Committees. In parliamentaryterms, committees deal with assignedMinistries. The Chairman of anyCommittee in the National Assembly hasalmost the same responsibility with thatof a Minister and almost the sameparaphernalia of office—official vehicles,offices and personnel,etc.

At that time we had 19 states, now wehave 36 states with 109 Senators and 360

members of the House of Representatives.The Speaker of the House of

Representatives, Mr. Yakubu Dogara hasconstituted 96 committees. He also nameddeputy Chair persons for such committees.According to media report, the APC got 54chairpersons while the PDP cornered 38. Abreakdown of the committees shows that 3or 4 committees will deal with one Ministry.In short, 192 members of the House ofRepresentative out of the 360 membersare either Chairpersons or DeputyChairpersons of the 96 committees.

Likewise the Senate has sixty-fourstanding committees with One hundredand eight Senators. PresidentMuhammadu Buhari has reduced theMinistries to only twenty-five.

If we are to go with the calculation ofthe National Assembly, ninety-sixcommittees will deal with twenty-fiveMinistries in the House of Representativeswhile Sixty-four committees will deal withtwenty-five Ministries and some of theirParastatals. It is ridiculous.

Imagine a Minister who has threeportfolios. By calculation he will attendto almost eighteen committees. What timehas such a Minister got in supervising hisMinistries.

The current rhythm in government is thereduction of the cost of governance. And Iguess that is why PresidentMuhammaduBuhari has reduced thenumber of Ministries. But in the NationalAssembly instead of a reduction in the costof governance, they are increasing it.

What will ninety-six committees achievein the House of Representatives and whatwill sixty-four committees achieve in theSenate? In some instances, it will lead toduplication of efforts by the variouscommittees. Definitely it looks as if theNational Assembly and the rest of thecountry are not on the same page.

*Mr Egbejumi-David, a commentatoron national issues, wrote from Lagos.

Justice for the living, justicefor the dead

HUMAN history is repletewith instances of the people

getting fed up with official policiesand taking on the government.Monday January 9, 2012 wasone of those days when theNigerian people in anger,decided to shut down thecountry. The populace succeededin taking over the towns andcities across the country of over167 million people, but therewere desperate efforts to retakethe streets. One of them occurredin Ogba, a suburb of Ikeja, theLagos State capital.

One of the two busiest andlongest streets in the area isYahaya Abatan. But on this day,like in other parts of Lagos, thestreet was completely desertedwith shops and businesses closedand zero vehicular traffic. On astretch of this road, youths playedfootball with some spectators onthe side line, while a few peoplegathered beside a newspapervendor reading newspapers anddiscussing events in the country.

Suddenly, a police van RRS101A arrived the scene. Thepolice team was led by ChiefSuperintendent of Police, Mr.

Segun Fabunmi the thenDivisional Police Officer (DPO) ofPen Cinema Police Station. Mr.Fabunmi with a 28-yearexperience in the police, orderedthe youths to stop playingfootball and disperse. They tookit for a joke since they were notdemonstrating or hinderinganybody from moving about.One of the spectators watchingthe match, 28-year old DemolaAbiodun Aderintola Daramola, atailor and commercialmotorcycle rider jokingly toldthe police officer to leave theyouths alone.

The policemen seized him whileother youths started movingaway. Phone cameras and videorecording by some of thewitnesses showed Daramola,wearing a green t-shirt over bluejeans sitting on the street withhis two hands up in the air inapparent supplication whilethree armed policemen; two inthe uniform of the riot police,and the third, wearing bulletproof vest, were beating him. Ata point, the DPO shot Daramola,execution style and turned hisgun on other citizens he could

find. Other policemen joined theirboss and began shootingindiscriminately at the fleeingyouths.

Mr. Daramola, a resident of 6,Aderinton Street, Ogba who hadbeen shot in the crotch, got upand ran, but he had already losta lot of blood and only managedto get to the nearby AbeokutaStreet, where he sat down, andapparently died.

Meanwhile the DPO and hismen chased the other Nigerianslike hunters after rabbits,downing four additional persons.Mr Christian Amadi had one ofhis right hand fingers torn off bya bullet. Twenty three-year oldSamuel Egbujor, a student hadgone to read newspapers at thenewsstand when the harbingersof death arrived. Egbujor whowas shot in the thigh later saidon his sick bed “ I did not evenknow I had been hit. I simplyheard the shot and realized that Ifelt a sharp pain in my thigh. The

only thing I was concerned aboutwas to run. But I realised that mythigh was bloody. Nobody wasprotesting when we heard theshot.”

Mr. Monday Joy, 20 wasdistributing protest handbillswhen he saw a policemanshooting people. He began to run,but was felled by a bullet. Mr.Abubakar Alimi, a businessmanwas watching the youths playfootball when the shootingstarted, he bolted from the scenelike Usain Bolt in a 100 metresOlympic gold medal race, but abullet was faster, it cut himdown.

With a culture of hospitalsrefusing to treat persons havinggunshot wounds unless there is acertified Police Report, residentsspent time persuading the policeto issue reports for the victims,then rushed them to the IfakoIjaiye General Hospital whichdespite the Police Report, refusedto treat the victims. Finally, aprivate medical facility, theCounty Hospital admitted andtreated Egbujor, Joy and Alimi.

The police initially claimedthat the youths were engaged ina violent protest and that Mr.Daramola tried to dispossess theDPO of his gun leaving the latterwith no choice but to shoot thevictim. But within hours, andapparently to douse rising anger,the police authorities officiallycondemned the police team thatcarried out the shooting andarrested DPO Fabunmi.

The Spokesperson of the LagosState Police Command, Mr.Samuel Jinadu told the media“When the Commissioner ofPolice, Mr. Yakubu Alkali, heardof the incident, he ordered thatthe DPO should be arrested. Right

now, he has been arrested andhanded over to the State CriminalInvestigative Department (SCID)for discreet investigation. Whenthe investigation is concluded, thereport will be made known to thepublic.”

Commissioner of Police, Alkaliwhile handing over Mr. Fabunmito detectives in the presence ofsome journalists told him “Youare on your own. I was not therewhen you fired the shot. You andGod know the truth; but the lawmust take its course. So I amhanding you over to the SCID forinterrogation”

The populace is used toimpunity by security forces. Thedecision by the police to distanceitself from its agent could havebeen due to the balance of poweron the streets on that day.

On May 15, 2012, the LagosState Government arraignedMr. Fabunmi on a seven-countcharge of murder, attemptedmurder and causing grievousbodily harm. Finally on Monday,December 14, 2015, three yearsafter the murder, the dismissedcop stood before Justice OlabisiAkinlade who in sentencingFabunmi to ten yearsimprisonment for the lessercrime of manslaughter, and fiveyears for injuring others, said“He definitely knew thatshooting an AK47 can causegrievous bodily harm to anyonethe bullet hit. The fact that hewas on a lawful duty did notmean that he should have shothis gun sporadically.”

The living got justice, thepopulace saw justice done. ButDaramola’s family is out there inneed of assistance. That is thejustice we can render Daramola.

Mr. Abubakar Alimi,a businessman waswatching the youthsplay football whenthe shooting started,he bolted from thescene like Usain Boltin a 100 metresOlympic gold medalrace, but a bullet wasfaster, it cut himdown

Imagine a Ministerwho has threeportfolios. Bycalculation he willattend to almosteighteencommittees

50—Vanguard, MONDAY50—Vanguard, MONDAY50—Vanguard, MONDAY50—Vanguard, MONDAY50—Vanguard, MONDAY, DECEMBER 21, 2015

CMYK

How CAC elderescaped from denof ritualists•As one-chance operators devisenew strategies

By Bose Adelaja

MR. Fajemidagba Foluso isan elder in the Christ Ap-

ostolic Church, CAC, Mowe inthe Obafemi Owode Local Gov-ernment Area of Ogun State. Fo-luso who recently had a closeshave with death in the hands ofpersons suspected to be ritualkillers, narrated his ordeal to Van-guard Metro.

According to him, he boardedan inter-state bus at Mowe onTuesday November 24, 2015, in-tending to alight at RedeemedBus-Stop. After paying the N30fare demanded by the conduc-tor, the bus which picked sevenother passengers, sped off. In-stead of stopping at the Re-deemed Camp Bus-Stop as ear-lier agreed , the driver headedfor the Ogere interchange. It wasat this point that the passengersbecame apprehensive and de-manded to know where the driv-er was taking them to.

Unfortunatepassengers

Their questions were rebuffedby the speeding driver whoinstead, ensured that the win-dows were securely closed. Theunfortunate passengers were al-legedly striped half-naked anddispossessed of cash and per-sonal belongings before beingtransferred to a waiting van at theOgere interchange.

Elder Foluso who spoke in anemotion-laden voice, said one ofthe victims, a boy who was go-ing to write an examination onthat fateful day, struggled withtheir abductors until he wasgunned down.

Undeterred by the sad end ofthe boy, the gangsters allegedlycarried his corpse along withthem until the seven abductedpersons were transferred into afully air-conditioned van whichwas stationed at the Oghere in-terchange, ostensibly awaitingthe arrival of the “loot”.

Recalling what transpired onthat fateful day, Elder Folusosaid: ‘’All the seats in the van hadbeen removed and we wereforced to sit on the floor for thecontinuation of the journey to anunknown destination.

At a point, the vehicle veeredoff the expressway into a thickforest. But before we left the ex-

pressway, we saw some policecheck points and cried aloud forhelp but to our greatest surprise,our abductors startedexchanging pleasantries with theuniformed policemen. At a par-ticular illegal check point, someof the policemen whom wesought assistance from retorted,‘help ko, help ni, abeg followthem to wherever they are tak-ing you to. That’s your ownluck...’ The unfriendly attitudeof the policemen heightenedour fears. We knew at that pointthat danger was lurking aroundthe corner hence we resorted toseeking God’s intervention.

The journey inside the foresttook almost three hours beforewe arrived at a building locatedon the rock. As soon as wealighted from the vehicle, a mancame out from the building to ex-change pleasantries with one ofour abductors. He spoke in Yoru-ba language, ‘’Melo l’é ko wal’óte yi’’ ? (How many did youbring this time around ?). ‘’Sev-en plus one dead body’’. Thisresponse sparked off anargument as the man shouted,‘’Ki ni mo fe fi oke se? Owo mejeni maa san o (what am I doingwith a corpse, I will pay for sevenonly).

He took a headcount to be surethat seven people were actuallybrought into their den. The ve-hicle left immediately the manpaid an undisclosed sum of mon-ey to our abductors. We were laterdivided into two groups butthree of us were put in a room”.

Continuing, he said; ‘’A ladyamong us was wounded sever-ally for struggling with them. On

my part, I kept shouting thename of Jesus. It came to a pointthat one of the ritualists shoutedfrom within and ordered me tokeep quiet. ‘Ta l’o n pa’riwoni’beyen,’ (Who is making noiseover there?), he barked. I con-tinued shouting the name ofJesus quietly and few minuteslater, one of the aides who pit-ied by condition, offered to as-sist me to escape.

Offer ofassistance

He asked me to pretend likesomebody who was pressed andwanted to answer the call of na-ture, Luckily, this strategyworked out. The guy asked meto take my clothes and followhim. We trekked for about anhour before he showed me abush path that led to a villageand left. I trekked for anotherone hour before I got a motorcy-cle which took me to the express-way where I stood for a whilebefore getting a bus to Lagos. Itwas during the journey that Irealised we were far away fromElelubo, Ibadan. I was finally re-united with my family and

church members. That was howa journey of about three minutesended up in 24 hours”.

The plight of Elder Foluso issynonymous with what hun-dreds of innocent people gothrough on daily basis in thehands of “one-chance” abductorsand ritualists along the ever-busyLagos/Ibadan expressway.

VM investigations show thatone-chance operators along theexpressway, have adopted newtactics to trap and rob innocentcommuters. Some of the unluckycommuters are sold at give-awayprices to prospective buyers whoin turn, sell them off to ritual kill-ers who slaughter them and sellto occultists and other evil per-sons. VM learnt that the amountpaid is negotiable and is depen-dent on the age and sex of thevictims. Similarly, delicate partsof the body like the breasts,tongues, private parts and nailsallegedly attract higher prices.VM further gathered that sincesome states in the South-West,especially Lagos, introduced se-curity measures to stem the ac-tivities of one-chance operators,they have shifted their base tothe Lagos/Ibadan expressway.

This allegation has however be-ing denied by the Police.

The Police Public Relations Of-ficer in Ogun State, Mr. Muyi-wa Adejobi insisted that the sto-ry of Elder Foluso is a mere ru-mour. “It as a rumour and wasnot reported to the Command.The Command has a team onanti- kidnapping/cultism, head-ed by a Superintendent of Po-lice but people think we are notworking. We have about 15 sim-ilar cases which were reportedto us within a space of one week.But none of them was able topresent facts to buttress their sto-ries. So, such cases can be re-garded as either framed orcooked up to curry favour fromthe public. I expect the victimsto intimate the Police with suchdevelopments so that we can goand comb the area, but nothingof such was reported. It is im-possible to be kidnapped with-out informing the Police afteryour return. Unfortunately, peo-ple only go to church for thanks-giving or report their experienc-es to the media. We call on thosewho claim to have experiencedsuch to come up and presenttheir facts,” he said.

Going to Apapa from any part of Lagos is akin to passing through the Biblical needle’s eye.

We knew atthat point thatdanger waslurking aroundthe cornerhence we re-sorted to seek-ing God’s inter-vention

Vanguard,Vanguard,Vanguard,Vanguard,Vanguard, MONDAY, MONDAY, MONDAY, MONDAY, MONDAY, DECEMBER 21, DECEMBER 21, DECEMBER 21, DECEMBER 21, DECEMBER 21, 20152015201520152015—51—51—51—51—51

By Chioma Obinna

UNDOUBTEDLY, older people oftenhave life changes that lead to feeling

depressed. Some people go throughphysical changes affecting their eyesight,hearing, or how well they can move. Othershave changes in their health that are treatedwith many medicines while others havechanges in their ability to think andremember.

However, coping with these changes,which become more common the longerthey live is not easy. The emotional stressof dealing with these changes can causemany uncomfortable feelings, includingdepression. According to Chief ExecutiveOfficer, Outreach Children's Hospital,Festac, Lagos, Dr. Efunbo Dosekun,engaging the elders helped them in copingwith these changes. If an older person isdepressed, he or she will have problemscoping with the changes that arehappening in his or her and this is whythe society must think of ways to engagethe elders that are still very strong. Everyhuman soul needs to be busy in their mindsso that they don't fall into depression."

Free medicalservices

Dosekun who spoke during a one-dayfree medical exercise and health promotionfor the elderly resident in Satellite Townarea of Lagos regretted that due to theeconomic hardship in the country, mostelders have been abandoned to take careof their social, health and physical needs.

She stressed that there is need to preventdepression in the elderly by engagingthem. According to her, younger peopleare now more involved in looking after theirown direct nuclear family.

Decrying that such situation has made itdifficult for Nigerian elders to enjoy oldage, she said government and NonGovernmental Organisations, NGOs mustrespond to the quality of care of the elders.

OUTREACH: Cross section of elders during a one-day exercise/ free medicaloutreach by Outreach Children's Hospital, Festac, Lagos recently

"They must be responsible for their medicalproblems. They must be responsible fortheir social, psychological and financialproblems. This particular generationbetween 60 and 90 plus are the peoplewho set up the foundation of Nigeria. Theywere the people who were responsible forthe building blocks for what Nigeria istoday. So we must look into their healthand reduce their social handicap."

On how to reduce depression and othercommon lifestyle changes in them, shesaid: "There is need to show them love,care and above all improve their qualityof life. If you have an elder at home, thereis need to ensure they drink a lot of waterto avoid dehydration and be sensitive totheir body. Ensure they get regular checksand comprehensive checks at least twicea year. Let their voices be heard. Makethem feel they are important that alonewill reduce the possibility of them havingdepression and other complications.

Dosekun who disclosed that theOutreach decided to go into taking careof the elderly due to pathetic state ofvulnerable group in the country said they

Why govt must take care ofthe elderly —DOSEKUN

will be providing primary healthcare forthe elderly people at a reduced cost.

Speaking on the free medical programme,she said the outreach is offering participantsfree eye checks, dental checks, nutritionalscreening, blood pressure screening andcervical cancer screening for women whoare less than 70 years.

"Outreach medical services incollaboration with the Anu DosekunFoundation (ADF) want to address issues

affecting the elderly and other vulnerablegroup in the society. We found out thatSatellite has high proportion of elders; wecalled them out for a free medical screeningand exercise to encourage the society torise up and take care of the elders.

She further stated that the Outreach incollaboration with the Foundation wouldsubsequently offer free medical screeningtwice every month for elders resident inSatellite area of Lagos.

FG tasked on improved investment in health, edu sectors

THE Lagos State Commissioner forhealth, Dr Jide Idris, has tasked the

Federal Government on the developmentof the education and Health sectors ofNigeria.

Dr. Jide, made this call while speakingat this year’s “August Event’’ organisedby Moses Adekoyejo MajekodunmiFoundation (MAMF) in collaboration withSt. Nicholas Hospital, in Lagos.

He said: “Continuous neglect of thissector will lead to social paralyses.Attention needs to be paid to the buildingblock of education: Pre-school, primary,secondary, tertiary and even vocational,

no matter the field of your endeavour, theworkforce is only as good as yourfoundational education. It is imperative thatthere is improvement of our health andeducation sectors for better quality of lifeand general production output in allspheres of life.’’He added: “Health and education sectors,are the foundations which forms thebedrock of the nation’s development, thesocio-political and economic developmentof any society is largely determined by thelevel of attainment of the country with otherdeterminants including the environment,culture and housing.” Speaking further, he also pointed out that

lack of access; especially financial accessto healthcare has seriously affectedhealthcare delivery. “The integration ofadequate medical intelligences andsurveillance system, being a usefulcomponent, to achieve success in healthcare in this modern era, system wellgrounded in routine surveillance, andmedical intelligence as a backbone of thehealth sector is necessary, adequatemanagement coupled with strongleadership principles.”

He acknowledged that these are someof the reasons why we succeeded incontaining the Ebola issue, although wewere just lucky”

WORRIED about the challenges ofdrug prescription in the country,

Community Pharmacists have called for aharmonised prescription system that wouldpave way for easy identification andverification of prescribers as well asimprove patient care.

The pharmacists under the auspices ofAssociation of Community Pharmacists ofNigeria, ACPN, Lagos State branch, whoare urging the Federal Ministry of Healthand regulatory councils of professionalbodies to come up with a template of howa standard prescription should be inNigeria.

Lagos State Chairman, ACPN, Pharm.Paul Ozieh while speaking in Lagos duringthe ACPN's 2015 Community PharmacistsEducation Conference, said presently inNigeria, the mode of prescription waschaotic because there is often no way toverify or authenticate prescriptions.

"We want harmonised system wherepublic and private hospitals and otherhealth institutions have their prescriptionformat because the patients must ofnecessity make use of the communitypharmacists to service their drugs needs.And if you are on a chronic ailment like

Community pharmacists want harmonised prescription system

By Prince Okafor

High Blood Pressure, diabetes, you don'thave to go back to the hospital every timeyou want to refill. You need to be able torefill, and you must have a prescription tobe able to do so.

She recommended that the FederalMinistry of Health should work togetherwith all the councils to come up with aformat that would be recognised anywhereas public hospitals prescription formatanywhere in the country visa- avis the

private health sector.She further recommended that to have

an effective system, there is need to alsoharmonised all the lists of registered healthpractitioners be it physicians, pharmacists,nurses, laboratory scientists, radiographeramong others. "We can harmonise theirregistration status, identities, that way youcan trace any prescriber. There are at timesat the community level we want to confirm.When the government has done what theysupposed to do and the data base isavailable, then, the communitypractitioners can put a call through andfind a way of accessing that public healthinstitution personnel and then you canconfirm at once what needed to be done.You don't have to send back that patientback to the hospital and that way, therewill be no time wasted because whenpeople are at critical stages of sickness,time is important," added.

She further explained that harmonisationof prescription drugs would benefit bothpatients; practitioners as it wouldminimized time wastages, makeclarifications of prescription and referraleasy.

Speaking on the theme of the event

tagged: Positioning CommunityPharmacists for Evolving Opportunities",Paul- Ozieh explained that the theme waschosen for their members to look intoelectronic means of offering services inorder to serve their customers better.

He said annual continuous education ofACPN also aimed at building capacity oftheir members as well as update theirmembers of current practices in the practiceof pharmacy.

In his keynote address, Pharm. Ike Ugwuwho noted that pharmacy practice was nolonger dispensing drugs alone saidpharmacists are expected to partake inresearch works and play key roles inhealthcare.

He lamented lack of drug prescriptionat the community levels blaming it onactivities of medical doctors who nowprescribe at the same dispense the drugs.

Ugwu said pharmacists ought toauthenticate prescriptions and know thesource before the drugs are dispensed. Heregretted that what is currently seen inthe country is a situation wherebyprescriptions come without identifications,validation and has little or no informationof who the prescriber is.

We wantharmonisedsystem wherepublic and privatehospitals and otherhealth institutionshave theirprescription format



AFTER General OlusegunObasanjo, you are the

second Yoruba man who roseto the position of second-in-command as Chief of GeneralStaff. You seem to have beenrelatively quiet or reluctant toplay an active role among theYoruba. Why?

Apart from the militaryprofession that I retired from, Idecided to go into other things.I am also a lawyer by professionbecause I studied law, went toLaw School and was called tobar as solicitor and advocate ofthe Supreme Court of Nigeria.

And I have other thingsoccupying my mind and time.That is it for now. Apart fromthis office here in my house, I

By Bashir Adefaka & ChrisOnuoha

have another office at Ikoyi, alaw firm where my lawyerspractice. Besides law practice,I have a church that I manage.

I try to be there three times aweek and I make sure that Iattend the church everySunday.

So when you put all thesetogether, it explains why itseems to you that I am quietbut I am not quiet anyway. TheYoruba, as a body, are verymuch alive. So many thingshappen but they do not takethem by surprise.

The Yoruba, at the maidenYoruba United Conference atPapa Obafemi Awolowo’shouse in Ikenne, cried outover marginalisation by thethen Goodluck Jonathangovernment. Would you say

that the problem has now beensolved with the choiceportfolios given to Yoruba menand women in the Buharicabinet?

The Yoruba generally trustBuhari because they knew himbefore now. Generallyspeaking, if you are acquaintedwith much of the story, thepersonality of Buhari is enoughto sell.

Personalityof Buhari

You look at the man and say,“yes, we can trust him.” Whenyou look at his antecedents youwill believe that he has done itbefore and that he will do itbetter this time.

You see, it is not easy to have

a man who has been a GeneralOfficer Commanding, aMinister of Petroleum, a Headof State and ChairmanPetroleum Trust Fund (PTF),yet, as big as Nigeria is,nobody can really face him andpoint an accusing finger at himto say, You have done this orthat.

If somebody comes in, he hasbeen this or that and as big asthis country is, nobody can saythis man has done somethingbad before, I think it is worthyof appreciation.

I am a living witness, with thepersonality that Buhari has putup, it will be difficult for him tofail and probably, that may beour next problem.

What do you mean?

The Yorubagenerally trustBuhari becausethey knew himbefore now.Generallyspeaking, if you areacquainted withmuch of the story,the personality ofBuhari is enoughto sell

I am a livingwitness, withthe personalitythat Buhari hasexhibited, itwill be difficultfor him to fail.And probably,that may be ournext problem

LIEUTENANT GENERAL Donaldson Oladipo Diya (Retd) wasChief of General Staff, CGS, during the military regime of lateGeneral Sani Abacha (1993 - 1997). Earlier he served under themilitary regime of General Muhammadu Buhari as MilitaryGovernor of Ogun State between January 1984 and August 1985.Born on April 3, 1944 at Odogbolu,Ogun State, Diya waseducated at the Methodist Primary School, Lagos, OdogboluGrammar School, and then at the Nigerian Defence Academy,NDA, Kaduna. He later attended the United States of AmericaArmy School of Infantry; the Armed Forces Command and StaffCollege, Jaji, Kaduna State (1980–1981) and the NationalInstitute for Policy and Strategic Studies, Kuru, Plateau State.While serving in the military, Diya studied Law at Ahmadu BelloUniversity, Zaria, where he obtained an LLB degree, andsubsequently the Nigerian Law School after which he was calledto bar as Solicitor and Advocate of the Supreme Court ofNigeria. General Diya was Commander, 31 Airborne Brigade

before he was appointed by General Buhari as Military Governorof Ogun State after which he moved to become the GeneralOfficer Commanding (GOC) 82nd Division, Nigeria Army, in1985 following the ouster of the Buhari government by GeneralIbrahim Badamosi Babangida. Diya was Commandant, NationalWar College (1991–1993) and was thereafter appointed as Chiefof Defence Staff during the brief regime of Chief ErnestShonekan as Head of the Interim National Government. Diyabecame Chief of General Staff (Vice President) in 1993 and ViceChairman of the Provisional Ruling Council in 1994 underAbacha.

In this interview in his Lagos residence, Diya spoke about “theBuhari that I know,” saying it would be difficult for Nigeria toget a person like the President if they failed to appreciate andexploit the benefits of his present administration as civilianPresident. Excerpts:

•Diya: The Yoruba generally trust Buhari

Why Buhariis trusted inYorubaland— GEN DIYA

•Nigeria may have problemsproducing Buhari’s successor

VANGUARD, MONDAY, DECEMBER 21, 2015—53

When he, President Buharifinishes his tenure, who standsin, who comes in after him willbe our big problem. But, maybewe shouldn’t get ourselvestroubled over that now becausewhen we get to the river weshall cross it. But it is aproblem.

What would you sayinformed Buhari’s decision toappoint you as militarygovernor in your state oforigin during his stint as amilitary Head of State?

That policy by GeneralBuhari of picking us from ourstates of origin as militarygovernors was very good but ithad its advantages anddisadvantages. When I was inservice, I lived in Israel. And Icommanded the Nigeriancontingent at the Lebanoncrisis.

So, I know that if you are froma place and you are there toserve, the tendency is there forthe people of that area to haverespect for you, I mean,knowing your background. Sothat’s why I say it has itsadvantages and also, itsdisadvantages.

Advantages anddisadvantages

I believe and from theexperience I had from thatplace, I knew every corner ofthat state; when you are there,you have facts and areobjective, you will havenothing to hide. It was anadvantage which I had and itwas beautiful.

Given your vast militaryexperience, in what way doyou think the government canquickly tackle the Boko Haraminsurgency?

When you talk about fightinginsurgency, it is a differentclass of war. And you see, allour soldiers and officers arestudying all the conditions thatare necessitating the fightagainst the insurgency. Andyou should realise that fightinginsurgency and fightingregular warfare are twodifferent things.

When we were youngofficers, second lieutenants, weknew and it is still so that thepolicy or language is ‘fightingand movement’ which is aninfantry practice; ‘Fire andMove.’

But that’s fighting a regularwar. But fighting insurgency isa different thing. The insurgentfights you and he wants to die.That changes the tacticscompletely.

When you are fightingsomebody and the person isrunning away from you, it iscalled fighting and movement.When you shoot, the tendencyis for him to move and you wantto run and pursue him.

But when this man who isfighting you wants to remain

Continues from page 52

and die, it becomes a differenttype of warfare. So, those thatare on the ground now knowthat it is a different type ofwarfare. They are studying itto know how to combat it and Ibelieve they can achievesuccess doing so.

So, how can this newdimension be combated?

I am not on ground now. I amretired. The soldiers on groundare competent. They are moreversed in the prospects,consequences and tactics.

They are there and there arelots of Generals and militaryintelligence officers, who haveno other jobs than to study thesituation on ground and theyare doing it. For you to stayoutside and wanting toadvise; it will be difficult.

After much clamour forchange from the PeoplesDemocratic Party, PDP,Nigerians have experienceda change under the AllProgressives Congress, APCbut some people are alreadycomplaining and askingwhere is the change? What isyour take on this?

For these people, who areshouting and asking that,what do they really want thatshould have happened withinthe short period that thegovernment has been on seat?

Do they want things tohappen in six or sevenmonths? No! We have a lifespan of the government,which is four years. It is withinseven months and people arecomplaining. They are justwasting their time. I mean, if

Many people didvote for him notjust because he isBuhari but rather,they voted for himbecause he is theBuhari they knowand trust and theBuhari nobodycan point anaccusing fingeragainst

a government has a life spanof four years with first andsecond term service, andwithin seven months out ofthis serving period, peopleare complaining, it is notright.

Given the fact that Buhariin his first advent operatedwithout democraticstructures do you agree withthose who say that it isdifficult for Buhari to operateunder democratic structuresand that, that is the reason hisgovernment is slow?

When people say he is slowor whatever, I don’t agree.The pity I have for him is justto say that maybe he shouldrealise that those people whocriticise him don’t know whatthey are saying.

Militarypower play

Military era is gone, and asa converted democrat, he isdoing it very well. In fact,many people who expected tofind military power play in thepresent government aresurprised that what theyexpected when he came topower is not what they areexperiencing now.

Now he sits down, analysesand takes so many things intoconsideration before he takesa decision on anything.

To recap what I said earlierconcerning the end of histenure, I did say there may bea problem because I amsuspecting that to have

Why Buhari istrusted inYorubaland—DIYA

somebody like him who thepeople will naturally trust likethey trust General Buhari maybe difficult.

For Nigerians’ dreams, thehopes are high, theexpectations are high. Manypeople did vote for him notjust because he is Buhari butrather, they voted for himbecause he is the Buhari theyknow and trust and nobodycan point an accusing fingeragainst him. That is what soldhim to the general public.

You still don’t look yourage. Can you let us into thesecret of your youthful look?

Well everything thathappens to a man stems fromGod. But many people don’tknow that. Whether you are aMuslim or a Christian, theultimate is God and I believeand thank God that everyreligious individual inNigeria believes in theexistence of God. I thank Godthat He has saved me.

How would you adviseNigerian youths who arelooking up to you as a rolemodel?

The first thing is to beserious with whatever you do.Be determined and you mustbe a man. When you choose athing to do, face it and do itwell. Then, listen and havethe fear of God.

Once you are determinedand you are a serious mindedperson and above all you havethe fear of God, you willsucceed in anything youchoose to do in life.

•Diya: Buhari is doing very well

54 — VANGUARD, MONDAY, DECEMBER 21, 2015

Syria, Libya agreements raise hopesof peace —Pope

POPE Francis yester-day welcomed two

agreements aimed atending the civil war inSyria and forming a na-tional unity governmentin Libya.

Francis, who turned 79on Thursday, told crowdsaround the Christmastree in St. Peter’s Squarehe was thinking of “be-loved Syria (and) ex-pressing my eager ap-proval of the agreementthe international commu-nity has just reached”.

The United NationsSecurity Council vetopowers agreed a draftresolution last week toendorse an internationalroadmap for a peace pro-

cess in Syria, where al-most five years of civilwar has killed more than250,000 people.

The Argentine pontiffcalled for continuedpeace efforts for Syriaand praised the work of

negotiators in Libya,where warring factionssigned a U.N.-brokereddeal on Thursday in-tended to bring stabil-ity and help to combata growing Islamic Statepresence.

U.N sees progress in Yemen talks

YEMEN’s warring parties have agreed on a

broad framework for end-ing their war at talks inSwitzerland but they firsthave to agree a perma-nent ceasefire, after aweek-long truce waswidely violated, theUnited Nations said yes-terday

U.N. Yemen envoyIsmail Ould CheikhAhmed said the two sideswould meet again on Jan.14. The location had yetto be set, although bothSwitzerland and Ethiopiawere possible.

“The participants tothese talks have unani-mously agreed that theultimate objective that weall have is the end of thiswar and therefore to havea permanent ceasefire,”Ould Cheikh Ahmed tolda news conference in theSwiss capital.

U.N Secretary-GeneralSpecial Envoy IsmailOuld Cheikh Ahmed

“In the next few daysall my efforts will focus onthat – a comprehensiveand lasting ceasefire.”

A military alliance of

mostly Gulf Arab coun-tries led by SaudiArabia began bombingYemen’s Houthi move-ment, an ally of Iran, inMarch to try to restorethe government ofPresident Abd-RabbuMansour Hadi.

The conflict has killednearly 6,000 people andplunged the impover-ished country into a hu-manitarian crisis.

Ould Cheikh Ahmedsaid the two sides werestill far from a ceasefire,describing the trust be-tween them as “nil”.

IS jihadists stole ‘tens ofthousands’ of blank passports

THE Islamic Stategroup may have sto-

len “tens of thousands” ofblank passports that it

could use to smuggle itsfighters into Europe asrefugees, a Germannewspaper reported Sun-day.

The Welt am Sonntagcited Western intelligencesources as saying that IScould have acquired thestolen travel documentsin areas of Syria, Iraq andLibya it now controls.

The passports could beissued to would-be at-tackers to enter the Eu-ropean Union as asylumseekers, according to thereport.

Moreover IS has al-ready launched amoney-spinning opera-tion with the fake docu-ments, selling them onthe black market wherethey fetch up to 1,500euros ($1,630) each, Weltsaid.

European authoritieshave repeatedly warnedof the potential threatposed by refugees travel-ling with counterfeitdocuments.

Lebanese militant leader killedin Israeli raid in Syria

AN Israeli air strikekilled Samir Qantar,

a Hezbollah militantleader, in Damascus onSaturday evening, theLebanese group and Syr-ian state media said yes-terday. Israel welcomedQantar’s death, saying hehad been preparing at-tacks on it from Syrian soil,but stopped short of con-firming responsibility forthe strike that killed him.

A former national secu-rity adviser to Israel saidhe doubted the strikewould escalate hostilitiesbetween Israel and Ira-nian-backed Hezbollah,whose last major confron-tation was in 2006.

Israel has formally keptout of Syria’s civil warwhich started almost five

years ago but has bombedHezbollah targets therewithout publicly acknowl-edging these sorties.

Hezbollah, a powerfulShi’ite Muslim group thathas sent hundreds offighters to Syria to supportPresident Bashar al-Assadagainst rebels trying totopple him, said Qantarwas “martyred” in an Is-raeli raid on the residen-tial district of Jaramana inthe Syrian capital, butgave no details.

Hezbollah leaderSayyed Hassan Nasrallahwas due to speak on Mon-day evening as both sup-porters of the group andSyrian loyalist groupssaid the death of Qantarwould be avenged and notbe in vain.

Pope Francis

Congolese warlords, Thomas Lubanga (L) andGermain Katanga.

ICC transfers war criminals to servesentences in the DRC

TWO former Congolesemilitia leaders have

been transferred from theNetherlands to a prison inthe Democratic Republic ofCongo (DRC).

Thomas Lubanga andGermain Katanga are thefirst ICC convicts to be al-lowed to serve sentences intheir home country.

Former warlord Lubangais serving 14 years for hiscrimes, while militia chiefKatanga is due to be re-leased in 2016.

The ICC says it will helpsupervise their imprison-ment in the DRC.

Lubanga and Katanga“have both expressed apreference to serve their re-spective prison terms inDRC, their country of ori-gin”, the court said in astatement.

Their detention in theDRC must conform to inter-national norms on the treat-

ment of prisoners, it said.Lubanga was once one of

the most feared rebel lead-ers in the gold-rich north-eastern Ituri region of theDRC.

He was found guilty ofabducting children asyoung as 11 and usingthem to fight his battles.

Katanga was convictedfor his involvement in abloody massacre that left

hundreds of villagersdead.

Last month, the ICC cutKatanga’s 12-year prisonterm after he voiced re-gret and for good behav-iour.

But Lubanga’s requestfor early release was re-jected by the ICC as “un-justified”. The ethnic con-flict in Ituri between 1999and 2003 is estimated tohave killed 50,000 people.

Rwandans vote to lift Kagame’s termlimits

Rwandans in Nairobi, Kenya, line up to vote at theRwandan Embassy

RWANDANS have vot-ed overwhelmingly to

lift constitutional restric-tions to allow PresidentPaul Kagame to run formore terms in office, saidthe head of Rwanda’s elec-toral commission as he re-

leased provisional resultsat the weekend.

More than 98 percent ofvoters in 30 districts vot-ed to lift term limits forKagame, Mbanda Kalisasaid.

“The final results will be

released on Monday butthis will not changemuch,” Kalisa told jour-nalists in Kigali. Hesaid Rwandans who vot-ed to maintain term lim-its were 1.7 percent.

More than 6 millionregistered voters partic-ipated in the exercise,representing a voterturnout of 98.28 per-cent, he said.“(The)voting processwas peaceful,” Kalisasaid.

The provisional resultssurpass predictions bypollsters that 92 percentof Rwandans wouldsupport amending theconstitution to removethe term limits.

Kenya: Fake bomb forces Air France flightto make emergency landing

AN Air France passen-ger jet was forced to

make an emergency land-ing in Kenya after a fakebomb was found in a toi-let, the airline says.

The Boeing 777, on itsway from Mauritius to Par-is, was evacuated at Mo-mbasa airport and the sus-picious device taken awayfor examination.

Air France chief Freder-ic Gagey later said it wasmade of a cardboard box,paper and a timer.

He described it as an“extremely aggressiveact”.

The plane, carrying 459passengers and 14 crew,had left Mauritius at 01:00GMT and had been dueto fly directly to Charles

de Gaulle airport in Par-is. Several passengersfrom the flight havebeen questioned byKenyan police.

27 Congo figures form coalition tostop Kabila third term

MORE than 27 high-profile Congolese

figures, including MoiseKatumbi, considered amain opposition candi-date in next year’s presi-dential polls, haveformed a coalition aimedat preventing a bid fromJoseph Kabila for a third

term, their statementsaid. “We have decidedto combine our forces,our human and materi-al resources, our strate-gies and our actions, tocreate a citizen coalitionnamed ‘Citizen Front2016’,” the statementreads.

By Femi Falana

Vanguard, Vanguard, Vanguard, Vanguard, Vanguard, MONDAY, DECEMBER 21, 2015—55

Using human rights topromote corruption andimpunity (3)

IN a plethora of cases thecourts have upheld the

fundamental right of citizens andforeigners alike to freedom fromunlawful arrest and detention. Toensure that the right to personalliberty is respected it can only beencroached upon by the State ina manner permitted by law. Inother words, a person may belawfully arrested or detained ifthere is reasonable suspicion thathe/she has committed a criminaloffence. Any person whose rightto personal liberty has beenbreached without recourse to lawis entitled to apply to a high courtto secure release from custodyand payment of compensationaccompanied by public apology.

Where criminal suspects incustody are not promptlycharged to court the detainingauthority is required to apply fora court order to legitimise thedetention. This is to ensure thatno one is held in custodywithout any legal basis or dueprocess of law.

Last week, some of theprincipal suspects implicated inthe probe of the $2.1 billion andN643 billion arms gate werenabbed by the Economic andFinancial Commission.Notwithstanding theconfessional statements creditedto the suspects and some of theirfamily members a number ofshady characters have accusedthe Buhari Administration of

attention of the Nigerian peopleand the international communityfrom the grave allegations ofreckless and criminaldiversion of the public fundsearmarked for arms procurementto prosecute the war on terror.

A Senior Advocate of Nigeriawas alleged to have that “amagistrate court has no power toissue a holding charge warrant.”Since these views are at variancewith the current human rightslegal regime in Nigeria it isgermane to point out that whileholding charge remains illegaland unconstitutional a remandorder issued by a magistrate forthe detention of criminal suspectsfor the purpose of investigationis not illegal.

Purpose ofinvestigation

The attention of the “critics”ought to be drawn to sections293-299 of the Administration ofCriminal Justice Act, 2015 (ACJA)which stipulate that a suspectarrested for an offence which amagistrate has no jurisdictionto try, shall within a reasonabletime, be brought before amagistrate court for remand. Theorder which shall be for a periodnot exceeding 14 days may befurther extended provided thatif the investigation is notconcluded within 28 days thecourt may summon theappropriate authority to showcause why the suspect should notbe unconditionally released.Suspects who are remanded incustody are at liberty to ask forbail or apply to the appropriatehigh court to secure theenforcement of their fundamentalright to personal liberty suspects.

Incidentally, I handled the caseof Ogor & Others v. Kolawole(1983) 1 NCR 342; (1985) 6NCLR 53, where a high courtdeclared that the practice ofdetaining criminal suspects onthe basis of a holding charge wasa violation of the right to personalliberty. That was the first time inwhich a holding charge was

pronounced illegal in the country.The epochal judgment of theHigh Court was later adopted bythe Court of Appeal in the caseof Enwere v Commissioner ofPolice. Notwithstanding thejudicial decision section 35 of theConstitution section 236 (2) of theLagos State Criminal ProcedureLaw, 2007 provided that “If anyperson arrested for any indictableoffence is brought before amagistrate for remand, suchMagistrate shall remand, suchperson in custody or whereapplicable grant him bailpending the arraignment of suchperson before the High Court.”The constitutionality of the sectionwas challenged in the case ofLufadeju v Johnson (2007) 8N.W.L.R (PT 1037) 535. Theapex court did not hesitate inupholding the validity of theprovision. According to MuktarJ.S.C (as she then was):

I do not see that there is conflictbetween the provision of Section

.the appellant. The appellantand his co-accused were takenbefore the Magistrate Court forthe purpose of lawful remand incustody; and that was exactlywhat the Chief Magistrate did.She did not ask him of whetherhe was guilty or not, so the issueof his innocence didn’t come toplay at that stage of theproceedings. “

However, in recent time, manypersons invited by the police oranti graft agencies to respond toallegations of corruption, fraud,money laundering, unjustenrichment etc have obtainedcourt orders restraining the Statefrom investigating or prosecutingthem.

Some have even obtainedorders of injunction which are tolast in perpetuity. As I haveargued elsewhere, no court hasthe power to confer any perpetualimmunity on any citizen. InInspector-General of Police vFawehinmi the Supreme Court

held that a Governor who isprotected by the immunity clauseunder section 308 of theConstitution are not investigated.Once the public officer completeshis/her term of office theimmunity so conferred by theConstitution ends and cannot beextended even for a day.

As the court has no power toturn any citizen into an outlaw itcannot prevent the police or antigraft agencies from arresting orprosecuting any politicallyexposed person once there isreasonable presumption that he/she has committed a criminaloffence.

Therefore, the granting ofinterlocutory injunctions byjudges to restrain the police oranti-graft agencies frominvestigating allegations ofcorruption and other criminaloffences is illegal andunconstitutional as no court hasthe power to turn any person intoan outlaw in a country whichoperates under the rule of law.

In Fajemirokun v. CCB Nig.Ltd. (2009) 21 WRN 10 theSupreme Court held:“In view ofsection 35(1)(c)(2)(3)(4)(5) and(6) and Section 36(1)-(12) of the1999 Constitution which provideadequate safeguard for thearrest of any person suspectedof having committed anoffence, investigation of theallegation, and the prosecutionof the offender, no person hasthe constitutional right to beshielded against criminalinvestigation by a judicial fiat ororder.”

persecution of politicalopponents.

While some publiccommentators have called on thegovernment to respect the humanrights of the suspects they seemto have conveniently forgottenthat the fund allegedly stolen wasmeant to equip thousands ofsoldiers whose right to life hasbeen violated as they were killedby terrorists.

Pursuant to the ex parte ordersvalidly issued a magistrate courtthe suspects have since beendetained for the purpose ofinvestigation. But in a desperatemove designed to divert the

FEMI FALANA, SAN

To be continued

This is the third part of the paper presented by Femi Falana,SAN, to mark the official opening ceremony of the AmnestyInternational office in Nigeria at Abuja. In the second part whichwas published Friday, Falana argued that the twin problems ofcorruption and money laundering, and their ‘offspring’ - poverty- have more in common than one might expect at the outset

236 (2) of theCriminal lawsupra and theprovisions ofSection 32 oft h eConstitution

s u p r a .The fact ist h e r ewas strongsuspicion thatt h erespondentand someothers havecommitted ani n d i c t a b l eoffence to wit -treason. Aftertheir arrest bythe police,there was theneed toproperty andlawfully keepthem incustody, andthe only way todo tins was totake them to aMagistratecourt whowould in turnremand themin custody.They couldn’tp o s s i b l ycontinue toremain inpolice custodywithout theorder of ac o u r t .Concluded,the legaladvice of theMinistry of

Once the publicofficer completes his/her term of office theimmunity soconferred by theConstitution endsand cannot beextended even for aday

Just ice- issought...

On thepresumptionof innocenceas laid downin Section 33(5) of thes u p r aConstitution,I fail to seeanything inthe recordbefore us thatthere was ac o n t r a r ypresumptionin respect of

VanguardVanguardVanguardVanguardVanguardCLASSIFIED

T I N U O Y E — I ,formerly known andaddressed as MissTinuoye AderonkeTemitope, now wish tobe known andaddressed as Mrs.Aboyeji AderonkeTemitope. All formerdocuments remainvalid. General publicplease take note.

O L A Y I N K A — I ,formerly known andaddressed as MissOlayinka AbigailFapohunda, now wishto be known andaddressed as Mrs.Abbie Lateh Ankrah.All former documentsremain valid. Generalpublic please take note.

I K U M O B A — I ,formerly known andaddressed as MissIkumoba HelenOmowumi, now wishto be known andaddressed as Mrs.Oyakhire HelenOmowumi. All formerdocuments remainvalid. General publicplease take note.

N W A D I A L U — I ,formerly known andaddressed as MissNwadialu FlorenceSandra, now wish to beknown and addressedas Mrs. Bright-Obukeowho FlorenceSandra. All formerdocuments remainvalid. General publicplease take note.

Confirmation of NameThis is to confirm thatTowolawi Wale is thesame person asTowolawi OlawaleIbrahim. All formerdocuments remainvalid. First Bank Plc,Access Bank Plc andgeneral public pleasetake note.

OLANREWAJU—I,formerly known,called and addressedas Kemi OmoyeOlanrewaju, nowwish to be knowncalled and addressedas Felicia OmoyeIkoro. All documentsbearing my formername remain valid.First Bank of Nigeriaand general publicplease take note.

UKWEKU—I, formerlyknown, called andaddressed as UkwekuChavez Ortega, nowwish to be knowncalled and addressedas Igho Ortega. Alldocuments bearing myformer name remainvalid. The generalpublic should pleasetake note.

OPATUNDE—I, formerlyknown and addressed asMiss Opatunde TayoOlolade, now wish to beknown and addressed asMrs. Aborisade TayoOlolade. All formerdocuments remain valid.Intergrated PersonelPayrole InformationSystem (IPPIS), Ministryof Defence, Navy PrimarySchool, Okokomaiko andgeneral public please takenote.

O L A O G U N — I ,formerly known andaddressed as MissAdebimpe MutiatOlaogun, now wish tobe known andaddressed as Mrs.Adebimpe MutiatKareem. All formerdocuments remainvalid. General publicplease take note.

ODUDU—I, formerlyknown and addressedas Miss EseogheneAries Odudu, nowwish to be known andaddressed as Mrs. EseOdome. All formerdocuments remainvalid. Diamond Bankand general publicplease take note.

A N Y A N K A — I ,formerly known andaddressed as MissAnyanka Chiwunma,now wish to be knownand addressed as Mrs.Edeh Chiwunma. Allformer documentsremain valid. Generalpublic please take note.

ABRAYE—I, formerlyknown and addressedas Boundle FunpuAbraye Zinc, nowwish to be known andaddressed as FunpuBoundle Zinc. Allformer documentsremain valid. Generalpublic please takenote.

I B E N E W E K A — I ,formerly known andaddressed as MissIbeneweka IfeomaNnonye, now wish to beknown and addressed asMrs. Anyanabor IfeomaNnonye. All formerdocuments remain valid.Colleges of Nursing andMidwifery Council, otherconcerned bodies andinstitutions and generalpublic please take note.

ABIOLA-OGUNDIJO —We, formerly known asAbiola Joseph Ogundijo, Olubukola Abiola-Ogundijo, Oluwatobiloba Esther Abiola-Ogundijo, Oluwaleke Joel Abiola-Ogundijo,Oluwatomiwa Priscilla Abiola-Ogundijo,Oluwaferanmi Daniel Abiola-Ogundijo, nowwish to be known as Abiola Joseph, OlubukolaJoseph, Oluwatobiloba Esther Joseph,Oluwaleke Joel Joseph, Oluwatomiwa ComfortJoseph, Oluwaferanmi Daniel Joseph. All formerdocuments remain valid. General public pleasetake note.

OBI—I, formerlyknown and addressedas Prince KennedyObi, now wish to beknown and addressedas Prince KennedyAzobandu. All formerdocuments remainvalid. General publictake note.

AVOR—I, formerlyknown and addressedas Miss ConfidenceAdolphus Avor, nowwish to be known andaddressed as Mrs. IbuConfidence Yellow. Allformer documentsremain valid. Generalpublic take note.

Confirmation of NameI, Eyube AvweruteWilson hereby confirmthat the nameOghoride Wilson as itappears on some ofmy documents refersto one and the sameme. All formerdocuments remainvalid. General publicplease take note.

ODOLO—I, formerly

known and addressedas Miss Odolo BolaBose, now wish to beknown and addressedas Mrs Kunoun BolaBose. All former

documents remainvalid. General publictake note.

OZIRI—I, formerlyknown and addressedas Miss DoreenChidinma Oziri, nowwish to be known andaddressed as MrsDoreen ChidinmaVictor. All formerdocuments remainvalid. General publictake note.

ISORAE—I, formerlyknown and addressedas Nekpen MatildaIsorae, now wish to beknown and addressedas Nekpen MatildaOgese. All formerdocuments remainvalid. General publictake note.

Confirmation of NameThis is to confirm thatEzeagboso NwannePerpetua, EzeagbosoAmaka Perpetua is thesame person. Alldocuments bearingboth names remainvalid. General publicplease take note.

N W O K O R I E — I ,formerly known andaddressed as MissNwokorie IsabellaGinikachi, now wish tobe known andaddressed as Mrs.Okafor IsabellaGinikachi. All formerdocuments remainvalid. General publicplease take note.

O P A R A K U — I ,formerly known andaddressed as MissScholastica Oparaku,now wish to be knownand addressed asMrs. ScholasticaOnuoha. All formerdocuments remainvalid. General publicplease take note.

O N W U K A — I ,formerly known andaddressed as MissChinwe SandraOnwuka, now wish tobe known andaddressed as Mrs.Chinwe SandraOnoriode Ogbevire.All former documentsremain valid. NYSCand general publicplease take note.

ONWE—I, formerlyknown and addressedas Miss OnweOzioma Charity, nowwish to be known andaddressed as Mrs.Nwafor OziomaCharity. All formerdocuments remainvalid. NYSC and thegeneral public pleasetake note.

ENEH—I, formerlyknown and addressedas Miss Eneh OluchiNora, now wish to beknown and addressedas Mrs. Nebo OluchiNora. All formerdocuments remainvalid. General publicplease take note.

LUKA—I, formerlyknown and addressedas Istifanus VumburLuka, now wish to beknown and addressedas Istifanus Tula Duka.All former documentsremain valid. Generalpublic, please takenote.

ONYERI—I, formerlyknown and addressedas Miss ObianujuMercy Onyeri, nowwish to be known andaddressed as MrsObianuju MercyOnyeri Paulcy. Allformer documentsremain valid. Generalpublic please take note.

ONWUCHEKWA—I,formerly known andaddressed as MissOnyinyechi PreciousOnwuchekwa, nowwish to be known andaddressed as MrsOnyinyechi PreciousOdeka. All formerdocuments remainvalid. Guaranty TrustBank (GTB) andgeneral public pleasetake note.

MOBUSA—I, formerlyknown and addressed

as Mobusa Nansy,now wish to be knownand addressed asNansy Omoh Idogun.All former documentsremain valid. General

public please take note.

SALIHU—I, formerlyknown and addressedas Salihu Chris Itopa,now wish to be knownand addressed asOkeji ChristopherItopa. All formerdocuments remainvalid. General publicplease take note.

EGBITA—I, formerlyknown and addressedas Egbita UgbedeHassan, now wish tobe known andaddressed as EgbitaUgbede HassanSuccess. All formerdocuments remainvalid. General publicplease take note.

MIRIKI—I, formerlyknown and addressedas Miss MirikiEndutimi Sandra, nowwish to be known andaddressed as MrsTrakiriowei EndutimiSandra. All formerdocuments remainsvalid. General publicplease take note.

DIOHA—I, formerlyknown and addressedas Miss BenedethNneka Dioha, nowwish to be known andaddressed as MrsBenedeth NnekaAkalite. All formerdocuments remainsvalid. General publicplease take note.

AZUM—I, formerlyknown and addressedas Clara Azum, nowwish to be known andaddressed as Clara-Ejene Ojoungha. Allformer documentsremains valid.General public pleasetake note.

ABEEB—I, formerlyknown and addressedMr. Bello (Abeeb)Sunday, now wish tobe known andaddressed as Mr.Bello (Abibu) Sunday.All former documentsremains valid.General public pleasetake note.

TOMBRA—I, formerlyknown and addressedas Sunday Tombra,now wish to be knownand addressed asSunday OkirikaTombrapagha. Allformer documentsremain valid. Generalpublic please take note.

ILORAH—I, formerlyknown and addressedas Miss Ilorah FaithChinyere, now wish tobe known andaddressed as MrsOzoemena FaithChinyere Ilorah. Allformer documentsremain valid. Generalpublic please takenote.

ROBERT—I, formerlyknown and addressedas Alex Robert, nowwish to be known andaddressed as MegaAlex Tejiri. All formerdocuments remainvalid. General publicplease take note.

ANOZIE—I, formerlyknown and addressedas Miss Anozie PriscaOluchi, now wish to beknown and addressedas Mrs Prisca OluchiAlexandra. All formerdocuments remainvalid. General publicplease take note.

KARAKI—I, formerlyknown and addressedas Miss KarakiPrincess Sarah, nowwish to be known andaddressed as MrsPrincess Sarah DanielOghoruvie. All formerdocuments remainvalid. General publicplease take note.


VANGUARD, MONDAY, DECEMBER 21, 2015—57VanguardVanguardVanguardVanguardVanguard

CLASSIFIEDConfirmation of NameThat some of mydocuments carriedEmotimighan EbipadeNaomi, others carriedSamiama Ebipade Naomi.Both names as theyappeared above belong toone and the same person.Now wish to be knownand address as MrsSamiama Ebipade Naomi.All former documentsremain valid. Generalpublic please take note.

Confirmation of NameThis to inform the generalpublic that IkugwaweHope, Eleh Grace andEsiolee Oke Grace, is thesame and one person.Hence forth now wish tobe known and address asEsiolee Oke Grace. Allformer documents remainvalid. General publicplease take note.

I G B O A N U G O — I ,formerly Miss AmakaChinwe Igboanugo,wish to change myname to MrsNwamaka ChinweNwogwugwu. Allformer documentsremain valid. Generalpublic please takenote.

DADOER—I, formerly

known and addressed

as Miss Rose Gabriel

Dadoer, now wish to be

known and addressed

as Mrs. Rose Zakaria.

All former documents

remain valid. General

public please take note.

O H I L E B O H — I ,formerly known andaddressed as MissOhileboh Blessing, now wish to be knownand addressed as Mrs.Alari Blessing. Allformer documentsremain valid. Generalpublic please takenote.

AMEDU—I, formerlyknown and addressedas Miss Bose Amedu,now wish to be knownand addressed as Mrs.Bose Ogedegbe. Allformer documentsremain valid. Generalpublic please takenote.

UZORKA—I, formerlyknown and addressedas Miss Joy ChinyereUzorka, now wish tobe known andaddressed as Mrs. JoyChinyere Ogorure. Allformer documentsremain valid. Generalpublic please take note.

OKEKE—I, formerlyknown and addressedas Miss OnyeyiriohiChristiana Okeke,now wish to be knownand addressed asMrs. OnyeyiriohiChristiana Akpode-Eboh. All formerdocuments remainvalid. General publicplease take note.

OTOMI—I, formerlyknown and addressedas Miss ChristabelEbruphiyo Otomi, nowwish to be known andaddressed as Mrs.Christabel EbruphiyoAleze. All formerdocuments remainvalid. General publicplease take note.

E N E M O K W U — I ,formerly known andaddressed as MissEnemokwu .N.Blessing, now wish tobe known andaddressed as Mrs.Okoro .N. Blessing. Allformer documentsremain valid. Generalpublic please take note.

EDOKPOLOH—I,formerly known andaddressed as MissOmoefe Edokpoloh,now wish to be knownand addressed asMrs. Omoefe IsaiahAwisa. All formerdocuments remainvalid. General publicplease take note.

OKPAKO—I, formerlyknown and addressedas Miss OkpakoRukaye Cynthia, nowwish to be known andaddressed as Mrs.Oghenero RukayeCynthia. All formerdocuments remainvalid. General publicplease take note.

ONARHORAYE—I,formerly known andaddressed as MissOnarhoraye EfeVeronica, now wish tobe known andaddressed as Mrs.Okoro EfeogheneVera. All formerdocuments remainvalid. General publicplease take note.

ONOWEMURE—I,formerly known andaddressed as MissAdline OvokeroOnowemure, nowwish to be known andaddressed as Mrs.Adline OvokeroOpara. All formerdocuments remainvalid. General publicplease take note.

EMADAMERHO—I,formerly known andaddressed as MissMarian Emadamerho,now wish to be knownand addressed as Mrs.Nelson Marian Udoh .All former documentsremain valid. Generalpublic please take note.

IGUE—I, formerlyknown and addressedas Miss SophiaIroroevwo Igue, nowwish to be known andaddressed as Mrs.Sophia IroroevwoOluku. All formerdocuments remainvalid. General publicplease take note.

E K H A T O R — I ,formerly known andaddressed as MissGladys IghiwiyisiEkhator, now wish tobe known andaddressed as Mrs.Gladys IghiwiyisiAdun . All formerdocuments remainvalid. General publicplease take note.

AGBlWE—I, formerlyknown and addressedas Miss AgbiweAghogho Choice, nowwish to be known andaddressed as Mrs.Choice AghoghoWilliams. All formerdocuments remainvalid. General publicplease take note.

Addition of NameNEMI—I, formerlyknown and addressedas Nemi Blessed, nowwish to be known andaddressed as NemiBlessed Amajuoritse.All former documentsremain valid. Generalpublic please take note.

ANIEFU —I, formerlyMiss Aniefu HopeUzoma, now wish tochange my name toMrs ChinemeluUzoma Hope. Allformer documentsremain valid. Generalpublic please takenote.

OKERE—I, formerlyOliver NwaorguOkere, now wish tochange my name toOliver NwaorguEzekwem. All formerdocuments remainvalid. Ogun StateUniversity, Ago Iwoye,Faculty of Law, NOUNand general publicplease take note.

DIASPORA Nigerians are making concerted efforts to impact positively to im-

prove the nation’s economy and repositionher on the path of greatness again, world-over.

The efforts are consequent upon the callby Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo, who ad-vised diaspora Nigerians, especially thoseliving in the developed and advanced de-mocracies, to ensure they bring back as muchacquired skills to impact positively on build-ing the country’s economy.

While bemoaning the dilapidated situa-tion of the nation’s economy, the opinionsof diaspora Nigerians, particularly pointedtowards the rate at which the economy iswobbling on a daily basis. And closely fol-lowing this, Vanguard Consular Advisory(VCA), gathered that any crisis that threat-ens the integrity or reputation of a countryis worth urgent confrontation and or re-sponse, hence, Paul Baldwin, a Nigerianbased in Germany, who expressed opinionvia telephone, that Nigeria is not where it isexpected to be in the world, noted that thecountry needs to improve on its bilateral re-lationships with other countries, especiallyin key areas, to bring about the much neededeconomic boost, the new administration iscraving.

He said, “Other countries’ leaders are com-mitted to ensuring that they root out corrup-tion, promote democracy and ensure thatthere is real loyalty to the citizens at all cost.I am wondering why Nigerian leaders re-double efforts only in enriching theirpurses.”

Baldwin noted that though, Nigerians indiaspora appear to be a huge platform forthe nation to leverage for the realization of

Diaspora Nigerians, the new face ofa better NigeriaBy Vera Samuel Anyagafu tions have grown their economies from

tapping into the wealth of knowledgeand exposure of their diaspora. And thisis the reason diaspora Nigerians arestrongly committed, more than ever, tocontribute their quota towards realisinga better Nigerian society, especially nowthat the country seems to be facing someserious challenges and obstacles.”

In similar vein, Ikechukwu Angela,stated that,“it is imperative for diasporaNigerians not to wait any longer to en-sure that the nation’s economy thrivesprogressively. For a fact, Diaspora im-pact on the Nigerian economy will besignificant, if we all, do not have to waitfor the home environment to be com-pletely ideal and or healthy, before weact and or contribute to building theeconomy.”

She, however, urged all to aim at con-sistently pursuing that which will bringabout a better Nigerian economy, whilealso suggesting that the home govern-ment should increase efforts in agricul-ture, so as to considerably reduce foreignexchange requirement for importation ofproducts that can comfortable grow in thecountry. “I also urge the Buhari adminis-tration to resolutely tackle some of themany serious challenges confronting thecountry and strategize ways to takingpositive steps that will reposition Nigeriato the path of greatness again.”

Angela added that “Diaspora organi-sation is effectively maintaining links tothe country for the purpose of contribut-ing to the country’s development. We areparticularly keying into government’s ef-fort to creating a better and prosperousNigeria.”

•Nigerian in diaspora

its national devel-opmental aspira-tions, there ismuch workneeded to be donein terms of encour-agement.

He said,“Theimportant rolethat Nigerians indiaspora play re-spectively, to alarge extent, isgiving Nigeria anew face abroad.We cannot denythe fact thatworld-over, na-

THE NigerianCommunications

Commission (NCC), hascelebrated winners in its2015 nationwidetechnology essaycompetition in Abuja.

The competition entitled:Broadband: A catalyst toNational Development,saw two medical studentsof the University of NigeriaEnugu Campus, UNEC,winning the first and thirdpositions respectively inthe contest.

The winner emergedfrom a pool of 639 entries

UNN dominates award at NCC essayprize giving ceremony

By Emmanuel Elebeke from both publicand private universities,polytechnics and collegesof education across thecountry.

The first prize winner, afive hundred level medicalstudent of UNEC,Odonoekuma Onyebuchi,received a cash of N500,000, a lap top, and aprinter, the first runners,a student of History andInternational Relations inUniversity of Ilorin,Kareem Ibraheem gotN300,000, a lap top, whilethe second runners up,another medical student ofUNEC, Asogwa Peter

received a cash ofN200,000 and lap top. About seven otherwinners also receivedN50, 000 consolation prizeeach.

In his address, theDirector Public Affairs,NCC, Mr. Tony Ojobo, saidthe Commission organisedthe competition in order toincrease awareness on thesubject matter and toengage and enhanceresearch skills, encourageacademic competition andexcellence and also buildthe capacity of students inthe higher institutionsacross the country.

58—Vanguard, MONDAY , DECEMBER 21, 2015

SAYINGS OF OUR ELDERS

Send us your Sayings of Our Elders. They must be African sayingsor proverbs. Biblical or English proverbs are unacceptable.

Address your sayings to: [email protected]

I have sown a riga without a neck. Let him whocuts a neck for it put it on.

- Hausa proverb

H.I.D Awolowo’s shoes

WHO steps into H.I.D Awolowo’sshoes? Let the woman be bur-

ied with her shoes, anybody whowishes to wear shoes should look forher own very size and colour. As ourthumb prints can never be the same,so our shoes in that regard can neverbe the same! If it is not original, it cannot be original!Romanus Idiroko+2348057907482

Re- fraud in Nigerian banks Sometime in August, 2015, I per-

sonally walked into Ikorodu, Lagosbranch of Stanbic IBTC bank to pay inN30,000 into account number0200357968 but up till date, the ac-count hasn’t been credited. Unfortu-nately, I misplaced my copy of theteller. I was amazed when I was toldat the bank that nothing could be done.I was directed to complain to one oftheir managers using phone no.08033034011.

He promised getting back to me, buthasn’t till date, despite my remind-ers. As much as I do not expect anouttight refund, it is disturbing thatno effort is made on this issue. I re-member dropping an audit copy in abox. With my complaint, it is a shamethe bank has shown no concern andgiven me a feedback. it goes beyondthe money..very disgusting!

Akintunde Ige.+2348023575656

Ban on small generating set Banning small generators popularlycalled “I better pass my neighbour” isunacceptable. Government shouldknow that the level at which the powersector supplies energy is nothing towrite home about. How do you encour-age the youth who are entrepreneurs,women who are self-employed?The government should please finda lasting solution to power supplyproblem so that we can have constantpower supply. On the contrary, gov-ernment should not ban small gener-ating sets in Nigeria.Happiness Aduku +2348109842480

Okota residents seek Ambode’sassistance I want to use this medium to person-ally appeal to Governor AkinwunmiAmbode to help the people of Ago inOkota Isolo and all others who sufferdaily on this Okota-Isolo Road, to fixthis particular road for us.After 16 years of Governors Tinubuand Fashlola, we will be very happyif he will show us a little love by fix-ing the road. We will appreciate it ifAmbode will break the jinx on that all-important link road and open the area

Fuel scarcity Why is there fuel scaricity in Ni-

geria despite the fact that we areblessed with crude oil? The Depart-ment for Petroleum Resources shouldbe held responsible for the fuel scar-city because they are not doing theirjob as it ought to be. The Federal gov-ernment should please act fast.

Feyisetan Akeeb Kareem, DeltaState. +2348098245620

to ease traffic at Cele and increasecommercial activities along the area.The governor should not allow us tosuffer till few months to next electionbefore he comes to fix the road aheadof another campaign.Nick Oguaju writes from Okota, La-gos+2347053759669

Muslim leaders and role to endinsurgency

It is becoming clearer by the daythat Nigeria’s war on terror cannot bewon with military force alone. I hon-estly think that our Muslim leadershave important roles to play if this warmust be won.

Shekau’s statements contained inthe video clip proved it beyond doubtthat he does not know enough aboutIslam as he claims. Muslim leadersshould try and re-educate NigerianMuslim youths to enable them resistthe radical teachings of the likes ofShekau.

Terrorism is on the rise in the de-veloping world due to the fact thatmillions of jobless youths are beingbrainwashed by some radical half-baked Islamic teachers who are tak-ing advantage of their religious illit-eracy. Muslim leaders should act nowto stop this evil ideology.

Bazakey 08060768946

Gov Oshiomhole and plight ofJagbe people

I wish to commend ComradeAdams Oshiomhole on his monumen-tal achievements in Edo State and toimplore him to give Jagbe people aparting gift by developing their roads.Jagbe and its environs have for dec-ades been criminally neglected by pastEdo state governments.

I hope that the comrade governorwill deem it neccesary to fulfil hiselection promise to Jagbe people bydeveloping their roads. Needless tomention that qualified Jagbe peopleare never considered for appointmentsas if they are not part of Edo state andEtsako West in particular.

Ismael B Moham-med.+2348085541501

Patrick Agbobu

ARE these persons honourablepersons or very dishonourable

persons? The jury is out and will definitelyreturn the verdict that they are verydishonourable people.

Jacob EkpekuredeThis is what I have been waiting for.

Ngozi Okonjo Iweala is the real arrowhead of all the missing money, No mercy.The masses are seriously suffering. Everykobo that belongs to us must be recovered.

Okpi IbeI believe everyone should give account

of his/her stewardship. She shouldaccount for what transpired under her asthe then Min of Finance. However, if GEJauthorised her to do so, GEJ should beheld responsible for the appropriation/orin-appropriation of the fund and not her:unless if she benefitted from such. Everyofficer obeys his master.

Onyeishi KelechiI am dreaming of a forgotten country

called Nigeria. When a country decidesto dwell on revenge mission and thevalues of the fighters is- that of hunted,the resultant effect will be penny wisepound foolish. Buhari’s administration andthe fight on corruption reminds me of onestory my English teacher told us then insecondary school about a bird calledChichi-dodo.

This bird is a very clean creature and

Alleged $2bn arms probe: EFCC tosummon Okonjo-Iweala

without doubt avoids any corrupt or rottenfood. In fact, it does not use its eyes to seemaggots. But we know that the best dietfor birds is maggots. So this bird does nothave or make friends with other birds bcoshe believes they find joy in eatingmaggots. So one day, this bird wasseriously sick and was almost at the pointof death and needed help from any animalfor food in other to survive.

In this case, a rat brought meat forChichi-dodo, he ate the meat andsurvived. But the meat was the flesh ofanother animal that feeds on maggots.When Chichi-dodo was made thepresident of all the animals, he decided toquiz all the animals that have taken partin eating maggots. At the same time, hedecided to spare the rat and himselfknowing fully well that he ate the meat ofan animal that feeds on maggot while hewas sick. My questions is, is he a fairpresident? Will he win this war oncorruption when he is an evidence ofcorruption?

In other words, I support the war oncorruption in Nigeria but am afraid howthe war will end because both the accusedand complainant have questions marks ontheir heads.? Example: This is a case ofRotimi Amaechi and President Buhari. Therat and the Chichi-dodo. As a roaring lion,and a raging bear; so is a wicked rulerover the poor people.

Odunayo Idowu Samuel IddossamNnamdi kanu’ will rot in detention, signedand sealed.

Mike EtukThe truth is that whenever the name

Biafra is mentioned, the northerners andthe westerners get agitated and stylishlynarrow it down to be an Igbo thing becauseof their perpetual interest in our oil . LikeAsari Dokubo said, we are more Biafrathan the Igbos. Due to our geographical

BIAFRA: No Nnamdi Kanu, no dialogue with FG—MASSOB, IPOB location and our culture, we have and the

Igbos have lived together and done a lottogether as Biafrans for thousands of years.

The name Niger Delta and South Southis a political means the north devised todisintegrate we the easterners for the solepurpose of using our oil. So we are everready for anything. Ijaws, Anangs, Isokos,Igbos and others as stipulated in our mapare all part of the Biafra land. We are onepeople and can’t be deceived for the lasttime. All hail Biafra!

Senate, Reps battle over Frivolous Petitions BillCplusplusPsalmprax

Guys, why are you people arguing? Theysaid they want to pass the bill even thoughit is against the fundamental human rights.They must also pass the bill where anypolitical leader whether present or pastwho is found guilty of corruption shouldbe sentenced to death by firing squad orby hanging. This is the real bill that theyshould pass.AnthonyIfeanyefobi1

Dictator Buhari is secretly supportinganti-media bill but openly deceivingpeople he considered senseless as heregarded and termed Nigerian peoplebefore.Nijanackedwire

He who kills to make a living, is alwaysafraid of a man with a knife behind him.You deceptive party came on board byusing the social media to sell Nigerianslies against an innocent man, Jonathan.Now you are afraid of same social media.You lie, you hear me,you lie,even if youpass the law that any one caught will bejailed 83 years,Nigerians will write... Beready to put all Nigerians in jail becausewe knew that it will come to this.Shameless man.Mr. Josh

All things must be regulated, have youregulated your frivolous salaries andallowances? Rubbish!Jim Nwachukwu

The social platform must remain a freespace for all. If you climb up a tree and

destroy the ladder, you are doomedbecause you will need it on your waydown. Senate should leave free speechalone, don’t gag Nigerians. Let all operateby their conscience. If you are clean, youshould not be afraid. If indeed what peoplesay are frivolous, why spend time on it,the best is to ignore them. We have freedomsquares every where, let Nigerians alonewith free speech. Spend more time on theeconomy and how to make Nigerians farebetter.

Bayelsa poll: Call your aides toorder, candidates tell Buhari

OpyThese are obviously pretenders and not

contenders. We know which party istagged the nest of killers party, their modeof operation and what they are capable ofdoing. Bloodletting is their trademark. Sothe unsolicited advice should be directedto the PDP. Glad power changed hands!

J. LawaniBuhari’s Janjaweed APC is an evil party

that came in disguise..What they did inBayelsa is a shame to the black race.Buhari’s sheep clothing was torn to shredsin Bayelsa and we have seen his real wolfself

OkokoWhen I watched the video of the Army

and SSS snatching ballot boxes in Bayelsa,I felt sorry for Nigeria. Indeed, somethingworse than the OBJ era is here with usagain.


FRESH CHARGES AGAINST KANU: MASSOBaccuses DSS...vows to continue protests•Kanu’s detention may mar Nigeria —Ohanaeze•Reactions trail killing of jubilating IPOB members in Onitsha•Uwazuruike converts MASSOB to BIM youth wing, appoints 3 key officers

By Francis Igata,Nwabueze Okonkwo &

Ugochukwu Alaribe

TENSION IS building upin the South-East and

parts of South-Southgeopolitical zones following thecontinued detention of theleader of Indigenous People ofBiafra, IPOB, and Director, RadioBiafra, Nnamdi Kanu, who was,last Wednesday, discharged andacquitted by a Magistrate's Courtin Abuja of the treason chargepreferred on him by theDepartment of State SecurityServices, DSS.

It will be recalled that JusticeAdemola Adeniyi of a FederalHigh Court, also in Abuja, had,last Thursday, ordered Kanu’simmediate release from DSSdetention.

Nnamdi was arrested onOctober 17, by DSS operatives,shortly after he arrived Nigeriafrom his base in the UnitedKingdom, which prompted overone month protests after he wasarraigned secretly at Wuse 2Magistrate's Court, whichgranted him bail on October 19.

Meanwhile, the youth wing ofOhanaeze Ndigbo has warnedthat the continued detention of theleader Nnamdi Kanu by the DDS,against court order, could spelldoom for Nigeria.

The youth group under thebanner of Ohanaeze YouthCouncil, OYC, expressed shockthat four days after the FederalHigh Court, Abuja gave orderedKanu’s unconditional release, theDSS had continued to hold him.

Similarly, reactions havecontinued to trail last Thursday’sshooting and killing of fivemembers of IPOB by the JointTask Force, compromising Armyand Navy stationed at the Bridge-head area of the commercial cityof Onitsha, Anambra State, whowere jubilating the court order forthe release of Kanu.

Among those who had so farreacted to the incident include theleader of Biafra IndependenceMovement, BIM, Chief RalphUwazuruike; the Ogirishi ofIgboland, Chief RommyEzeonwuka, and other humanrights groups.

Nerves frayed as Kanu’s notreleased

The leader of Movement for theActualization of the State of Biafra,MASSOB, Uchenna Madu, hasaccused the DSS of deliberatelycontinuing to detain NnamdiKanu against two court rulingsordering the security agency torelease their leaderunconditionally.

“The continued detention ofNnamdi Kanu by DSS after bothMagistrate, Federal High courtshave discharged and acquittedhim of all the frivolous chargesagainst him shows that Nigerianjudiciary is not independent. Theindependency of the three armsof government is a completesham, which portrays Nigeria asan undemocratic state.

“It is a sign of frustration onNigeria because of Nnamdi

Kanu, agitators for Biafrarepresents the very truth Nigeriaknows but always avoids toidentify with it. I know NnamdiKanu. He is a real Biafran, whocan never succumb tointimidation, deviate orcompromise.

“His illegal detention willworsen the already batteredimage of Nigeria. MAASOB willnever relent in identifying withNnamdi Kanu. We shall continueto press for his release with everylegitimate action supported,backed by internationallyrecongised law, decrees andcharters. MASSOB mustmaintain our non-violent stance,although we have found out thatthe DSS wants to re-arraign himon fresh trumped-up chargeswhich we will resist, “MASSOBleader warned.

Kanu’s detention may marNigeria —Ohanaeze

The Youth Wing of OhanaezeNdigbo in a statement by itsNational President of OYC, MaziOkechukwu Isiguzoro,condemned the attitude of theDSS over the detained Biafraactivist.

“Nigeria is sitting on thelooming danger of renewedprotests by Kanu’s followers,sympathisers and Biafra agitatorsis capable of consuming Nigeriaand should be avoided. For us,Ohanaeze Youth Council, we arepleading with the FederalGovernment to, as a matter ofsacrifice for the unity of Nigeria,release Nnamdi Kanu.

“This call has become necessarybecause it will be extremelydifficult for us to continue to calmhis followers and sympathizerswhose see his detention as a

provocation. We know how mucheffort it took us to prevail on IPOBand MASSOB members to stoptheir protests before the courtruling, and we don’t know whatto tell them again as Kanu is stillin detention four days after hewas discharge by a court ofcompetent jurisdiction.

“President MuhammaduBuhari should help save thecountry from unnecessarytension by prevailing on the DSSto release Kanu since the courtshave discharged and acquittedhim.

"OYC also called on theinternational community tointervene and save Nigeria fromplunging into another avoidablecivil disturbance instead ofcoming with aids to refugeecamps."

The youth group appealed toBuhari, to prevail on the DSS tofree the detained IPOB leader inthe interest of peace.

Ohanaeze, also appealed toBiafra agitators and Igbo youthsto remain calm as efforts werebeing intensified to securefreedom for Kanu.

Reactions trail killing of jubilatingIPOB members

Meanwhile, reacting to Kanu’scontinued detention, Uwazuruikecondemned the killing ofunarmed civilians by thesoldiers, adding that even if thejubilators blocked the road, itshould not have been enoughexcuse to open fire and kill them.

“After all, if the DSS hadreleased Kanu since theMagistrate's Court gave an orderto do so, these orgy of protestswould not have arisen in the firstplace. Ndigbo would henceforth,no longer tolerate indiscriminate

shooting and wasting of humanlives here in Igbo land by trigger-happy security agencies.”

The Biafran IndependenceMovement, BIM, leaderwondered why the soldiers usedlive bullets on the crowd insteadof using rubber bullets or eventear-gas canisters to scare thejubilators if at all they blocked theroad.

Reacting to the development,Chief Ezeonwuka, who spoke tonewsmen at the scene of theincident, also condemned theshooting and killing of unarmedpersons with live bullets, addingthat on the other hand, if it wastrue that the jubilators had blockedthe roads, it was not proper.

“We don’t want shedding ofblood here in Igbo land any longerand we don’t want more proteststoo. What are they protestingabout and who are they shootingat? There is nothing to warrantshooting or protesting,particularly now that NnamdiKanu has been released by thecourt.”

Chairman of South East zoneof Campaign for Democracy, CD,Uzor A. Uzor, called on thegovernment to set up a panel ofinquiry to investigate theshooting and punish the culpritsaccordingly.

Also reacting, the InternationalSociety for Civil Liberties and theRule of Law, Intersociety said, ina statement, yesterday, that theCommander of the OnitshaMilitary Cantonment and hisChief of Army Staff, COAS as wellas the government of AnambraState, should be held fullyresponsible for the death, injuriesand whereabouts of some missingcitizens and the murdered IPOBmembers.

The statement by its chairman,Emeka Umeagbalasi, Intersocietysaid: “We have it on goodauthority that four to eight deadvictims and 13 critically injuredmembers of the public, who wereshot dead and critically injuredby the soldiers of the OnitshaMilitary Cantonment in theevening of December 17, 2015, atthe Ojukwu Gateway, OnitshaNiger Bridge-head, have beentaken away to unknowndestination by soldiers of theCantonment.

“The soldiers after perpetratingthe heinous act at the NigerBridgehead between 2p.m., and3.30p.m., stormed the MulticareHospital, on Limca Road, Nkpor,Anambra State, between 8p.m.,and 9p.m., and abducted 13critically injured citizens broughtfor treatment.

"The four dead citizens were alsosaid to have earlier been takenaway by the soldiers from thescene of the shooting. Till thismoment, their whereabouts haveremained unknown.”

Uwazuruike converts MASSOBto BIM youth wing

Meanwhile, in his bid to exerthis authority and ensure thatcharlatans do not infiltrateMASSOB, its founder and leaderof BIM, Chief RalphUwazuruike, has convertedMASSOB into youth wing ofBIM.

Uwazuruike said with itsinauguration and appointment ofits key officers, MASSOB, hasbeen restructured andstrengthened to continue with thenon-violent struggle in therevalidation of a Biafranstatehood.

A statement, yesterday, byBIM’s Deputy Director ofInformation, Mazi Chris Mocha,quoted Uwazuuruike as sayingthat before one could be admittedinto the hierarchy of BIM, suchan officer must have worked forMASSOB which is BIM’s youth-wing for at least, five years andabove to be able to understandthe principles of non-violence inthe Biafra struggle.

The statement recalled theBiafran leader, Uwazuruike hadat an enlarged special meetingof BIM/MASSOB, attended byBiafran elders-in-council, Biafranzonal leaders, Biafran regionaladministrators and directors,named Chief Solomon Chukwuas the leader of MASSOB, theyouth wing of BIM, while Mr.Sunny Okereafor and GreatAgomo were named as MASSOBNational Director for Informationand MASSOB National Directorfor Seminar, respectively.

MASS: From left, Chief Willie Obiano, Governor of Anambra State; Chief Ebelechukwu Obiano, hiswife; Dr. Nkem Okeke, Deputy Governor, and Hon. Rita Maduagwu, Speaker, Anambra State Houseof Assembly, during the Special Thanksgiving Mass to close the year, at the Gech Auditorium, Aguleri,weekend.

VIRGINIA

KAPTAIN AFRIKA in “Pretty Lunatic’ By Andy Akman

[email protected]

TERROR MUDA in “Never say goodbye” By Lanre Kehinde

HOME & ABROAD By Lawrence Akapa

ASTROLOGICAL COUNSELLINGASTROLOGICAL COUNSELLINGASTROLOGICAL COUNSELLINGASTROLOGICAL COUNSELLINGASTROLOGICAL COUNSELLINGSend ySend ySend ySend ySend your datour datour datour datour date and place of bire and place of bire and place of bire and place of bire and place of bir th tth tth tth tth to the Aso the Aso the Aso the Aso the Astrtrtrtrtrologicalologicalologicalologicalological

Counselling, PCounselling, PCounselling, PCounselling, PCounselling, P.M.B 1.M.B 1.M.B 1.M.B 1.M.B 100000000007, Apapa, Lagos7, Apapa, Lagos7, Apapa, Lagos7, Apapa, Lagos7, Apapa, Lagos

YOUR LUCK TODAYYOUR LUCK TODAYYOUR LUCK TODAYYOUR LUCK TODAYYOUR LUCK TODAY

By Joshua Adeyemo Phone 08056180139


L E I S U R ETHOUGHT FOR TODATHOUGHT FOR TODATHOUGHT FOR TODATHOUGHT FOR TODATHOUGHT FOR TODAYYYYY

By Richard EromoseleGEMINI: Your creativity quotient within your workingarena will today be enhanced. You’ll be blamed if youkeep official issues secrets from your challenges at work.

CANCER: After a few tension soaked days, you’ll havethe needed opportunity to look through windows of theworld and have your way as well. Magnetic and/or magicdays is predicted for lovers today.

LEO: Even if you continue to work under pressure viaincreased workload, you will have good results to showfor your efforts today. Be steadfast.

VIRGO: Better than yesterday. And the more co-operative you are today the better for you. Those of youtravelling for love are in for an exciting day.

LIBRA: Those of you willing to let go hard feelings atwork are for a progressive day to the betterment of yourfinances. Let go yesterday, move ahead.

SCORPIO: Once again, you’ll have the neededopportunity to assert yourself to the administration ofothers. Both love and financial success can be yours withefforts. Reason with your tried and trusted friends.

SAGITTARIUS: You can make it a successful day withpositive approach on your part. You will be in a betterposition to defuse tension within your working arena.Try to be more ambitious.

CAPRICORN Yes! You’re not scared a bit even, whenopposition and/or competition come your way but, ifyou give in to diplomatic approach, you’ll fare bettertoday.

AQUARIUS: Pressure that came your way suddenly willgive way unexpectedly, today, to the betterment of yourcourse. The more financially ambitious you are today,the better for you. Be steadfast.

PISCES: You sincerely believe in intelligent argumentor discussion. And if you allow your ability to bediplomatic come to play today, you’ll be better for it.Enjoy your love life.

ARIES: You’ll tend to become both creative andpersuasive to the administration of others. Then thosewho’ve been resisting secret love may slip suddenly andbecome excited.

TAURUS: Even if opposition persists, supports you aregetting from the influential people will be enough to seeyou through. Yet, the more cooperative you are the better.

What’s my day?

God is watchinger under the stone,under the water andunder the dark, hop-ing and praying thatwe will not becaught. We live a life.We forget that air bearwitness to our cruel

act; the sun by ourshadow takes ourphotograph, and ourconscience convictsus daily.

Beware, God iswatching. Your sinswill find you out.

Think about it!

RIGHT from agesman has contin-

ued to look for waysof clothing his na-kedness. Nakednessdoes not just meannot wearing clothesalone. It includescovering our evil

deeds, wicked acts,ways and sins etc.

As it was in thedays of the biblicalAdam and Eve, so itis today. When wecommit heinouscrime, we run for cov-

Dear Joshua,According to the date I was born I should be a Libran bymy star but most of the time when I read horoscopeswritten by both yourself and foreign Astrologers Scorpioalways applicable to me, why?Kindly tell me how theplanets lined up when I was born and the day of the weekI was born but don’t publish my date of birth.Bode, Mina.

Dear Bode,You were born on a Sunday. You were wrong to havetaken Libra as your Sun sign because the Sun was placedin early degree of Scorpio together with many otherheavenly bodies. Then with the Moon in Libra when youwere born will equally be influential in yourcharacteristics build up but, you are mainly a Scorpioborn personYOUR HOROSCOPE DATADay of Birth = SundaySun Sign = Scorpio. Sun in Zero Degree of ScorpioMoon Sign = Libra: Moon in 5th Degree of LibraMercury in 12th Degree of ScorpioVenus in Zero Degree of SagittariusMars in 1st Degree of AquariusJupiter in 29th Degree of CancerSaturn in 10th Degree of ScorpioUranus in 27th Degree of CancerNeptune in 25th Degree of LibraPluto in 26th Degree of LeoNorth Node in 8th Degree of CapricornSouth Node in 8th Degree of CancerNo planet in earth spar sign, one in available, two infire, three in air, four in cardinal, fixed and water starsigns hosted five planets each.PHYSICAL INFLUENCE = 50%NON-PHYSICAL INFLUENCE =50%PLANET AT HOME = NONEANALYSIS OF THE HOROSCOPE DATAYou are both an intelligent and emotional person. Andas there was planet at home when you were born, toomany ideas will always struggle for prominent place inyour mind, thus decision making is difficult but mosttimes, your intelligence comes to the rescue.Certainly, you appear to other as a gentle person whocan be mistaken for soft fellow but your inner-self is thepersonality with a steel like will power. You are theconsistent type who may find it difficult to change onceyou have made up your mind as indicated by distributionof the planets as written out in paragraph two of thisexercise.One major challenge you have been battling for a verylong time is constant worries, some times, necessarilyand the other time, uncalled for, as indicated byconjunction Mercury and Saturn formed when you wereborn. Placement of your natal Sun (basic self head) andMoon (your sub-conscious self) in Scorpio and Librarespectively are indications of your being mainlyScorpio born person and partly in Libran. And that is tosay basic characteristics of both Scorpio and Libra arehighly pronounced in you. Then, you are spirituallygifted; if you don’t develop it is another thing.


on the clock, a swingingcorner fell into the handsof Bogdan, who wasdeputising for the injuredSimon Mignolet, but hedropped the ball into thepath of Ake - on-loan fromChelsea - who proddedhome his first PremierLeague goal.

However, replaysshowed that Bogdan mayhave had both hands onthe ball at the time ofAke’s strike.

Watford then made it 2-0 when Troy Deeneyplayed an excellent ball

Ighalothrough to Ighalo, whomuscled off Martin Skrteland fired the ball into thebottom-right corner ofBogdan’s goal - his 27thleague goal of 2015.

With five minutesremaining, Deeney fedthe ball through tosubstitute Behrami, andthe Swiss internationalcomposed himself anddelivered a super ballonto the head of the in-form Ighalo, who noddedpast a sprawling Bogdanto secure an excellentwin.

continued from B/P

Bayern confirm Guardiola’s exit,welcomes AncelottiPEP Guardiola is to

leave BayernMunich at the end of theseason and will bereplaced by CarloAncelotti, the Germanchampions haveconfirmed.

The 44-year-old, whohas been persistentlylinked with ManchesterCity, ManchesterUnited, Chelsea andArsenal, has won twoleague titles and theGerman Cup sincejoining Bayern in 2013.Former Chelsea, ACMilan and Real Madridmanager Ancelotti willreplace Guardiola at theend of the currentcampaign.

Bayern’s CEO Karl-Heinz Rummenigge toldBild: “We are thankful toGuardiola for all hegave our club and hopeto celebrate moresuccess in the currentseason.

“With Ancelotti wehave another verysuccessful coach comingto Bayern. We arelooking forward toworking together.”“Carlo has enjoyedsuccess everywhere as acoach and has won theChampions Leaguethree times,” continuedRummenigge. “He is acalm, balanced expert,who knows how to dealwith stars and favours amultifaceted style ofplay – we were lookingfor this, and we havefound it.”

The news had beenexpected, but Bayernconfirmed furtherdetails including thelength of Ancelotti’scontract, which will rununtil 2019.

The Italian tweeted hisreaction to the news,saying it is “an honourto become part of thisgreat club” and thatwhen he knew ofBayern’s interest he“didn’t want to considerany other offer.

NIKE brings quality products to Nigerian athletes

TOP kits manufacturingoutfit, NIKE, is out to

take care of women andprofessional athletes as

the body opened a newoutlet on Friday in Lekki.

NIKE GeneralManager, Mike Brown,said during theinauguration of the newoutlet at Lekki Mall thatthe outfit was all out tosatisfy the needs ofcustomers.

Brown said it wasimportant to increase thelevel of women kits from20 per cent to 50 percentin all parts of the world.

“We have the sameobjective all over ouroutlets globally. Theprices are the same andthe quality are also thesame. What you see inNew York, South Africa,Cairo and the UK are thesame with what we havein Lagos and all overNigeria. We want to getcloser to the people andafter our study, werealised we should boostthe kits for female outlets

all over the world,”Brown said.

The NIKE outfit at thePalms Mall has varioussegments for customers.

They are tagged “ToRun,” ‘’To Live” and “ToTrain.” The ones forrunning and training arefor athletes to pick forvarious degrees of their

professional needs whilethe ones tagged “To live”are casual wears.

NIKE Brand Manager,Jumoke Adekunle, alsonoted that the outlet inIkeja Mall would soon beupgraded to the standardof the new one in Lekki.

Adekunle stressed thatNIKE was not new in

Nigeria but only decidedrecently to get closer to itsconsumers worldwide.

“We are not botheredabout counterfeits but wealways appeal to ourcustomers to buy productsfrom designated outletsand not just anywhere,”she said.

Court restrains Gabros from interfering withFC Ifeanyiubah

By Jude Opara,Abuja

AS the confusion overthe acquisition of

defunct Gabros Utd FC ofNnewi by businessmogul, Chief IfeanyiUbah continues, a HighCourt of the FederalCapital Territory (FCT)last Friday restrainedChief Gabriel Chukwumafrom interfering with theoperations of FC IfeanyiUbah as a football cluband its participation in theelite Nigeria ProfessionalFootball League (NPFL).

Remember that ChiefGabriel Chukwuma whosold Gabros Utd as wellas its stadium to ChiefIfeanyi Ubah recentlyclaimed that he hasretaken possession of theclub and was makingarrangements to take partin the forthcoming 2015/16 football season.

The court presided overby Justice Valentine Ashihad restrained ChiefChukwuma, his agents,servants, privies bywhatever name called andhowsoever described frominterfering, impeding,

obstructing or otherwisedisturbing the plaintiffs(Dr Ubah and FC IfeanyiUbah) in their exclusiveuse of the Club’s footballstadium pending thehearing anddetermination of thesubstantive suit.

The petitioners hadthrough their CounselBabalola Akinwunmiasked the Court for anorder restraining thedefendant, ChiefChukwuma frominterfering with orimpeding with their rightsto operate as a football

club and to participate inthe Nigerian footballleague or other relevantfootball activities within oroutside Nigeria pendingthe hearing anddetermination of the suit.

They equally sought foran interlocutory orderrestraining thedefendant, his agents,servants, privies andwhatsoever frominterfering, impeding,obstructing or otherwisedisturbing the plaintiffs inthe exclusive use of theclub’s stadium pendingthe hearing and

determination of the suit.The court has fixed

definite hearing on thesubstantive suit forMarch 1st, 2016.

FCMB excites fans asCOPA Lagos ends

FIRST City MonumentBank (FCMB) Limited

has restated itscommitment to supportinitiatives geared towardsyouths, sports and overallnational development.The assurance was givenby the Group ManagingDirector/Chief Executiveof the Bank, Mr. LadiBalogun, during theclosing ceremony of thisyear ’s COPA LagosBeach Soccer tournamenton December 20, 2015.The tournament,organised by KineticSports Limited andsponsored by the financialinstitution for the fifthconsecutive year, tookplace from December 18 to20, 2015 at Eko AtlanticBeach, Victoria Island,Lagos.

Defending Champ-ions,Cote d’Ivoire won thetrophy yesterday. Thetournament featured thenational beach soccer

teams of Nigeria,England, Cote D’ivoireand Lebanon. The Beachsoccer teams of BarcelonaFootball Club of Spain,Kano Pillars, ShootingStars Sports Club andPepsi Academy; all ofNigeria, also participatedin the highly colourfuland entertaining 3-daysoccer fiesta.

Koblan Assouan wasvoted as the MostValuable Player of thetournament.

According to Mr.Balogun, the Bank’sinterventions in the areaof sports are aimed atdeveloping the minds,body and abilities of thepopulace, especiallyyouths, to contributesignificantly to the growthof the country.

Apart from theexcitement which FCMBbuilt around the footballmatches, the Bank alsotreated guests andcustomers that attendedthe fiesta to a VIPtreatment at its hospitalitylounge.

Guests and spectatorswere also provided withopportunity to experiencethe unique bankingservices of FCMB as thesales team of the Bankwas on ground toshowcase its array ofvalued-added productsand services.

•Ifeanyi Ubah

•CELEBRATION...Super Sand Eagles’ players celebrate after their victory againstEngland

Gov. Ambode doubles Gov’s Cup Tennisprize money

By John Egbokhan

IN a ground-breakingmove, the Lagos State

Governor, AkinwunmiAmbode has increasedthe prize money ofGovernor’s Cup FuturesI and II by twice itsprevious amount.

Disclosing this duringthe closing ceremony oftournament at the LagosLawn Tennis Club,

Onikan, GovernorAmbode said that it wasin line with hisadministration’s objectiveto engender players’development and putLagos in the internationallimelight all year round.

Currently, the men’stournament, which comeswith hospitality is a $15,000 event while thewomen’s, withouthospitality is $25, 000.

Both run for two weeks,making it an $80, 000tournament. Whenincreased, it comes to$160, 000.

This is the first time thatthe tournament, whichserved off in 2000, will bewitnessing a significantrise in prize money andthe attendant upgradingto an ATP event, whichwill both be implementedin next year’s edition.


Barca win Club World CupBARCELONA end

2015 with fivetrophies as goals fromLionel Messi and LuisSuarez delivered a 3-0victory over River Plate inthe Club World Cup onSunday.

The Copa Libertadoresholders failed to keep LaBlaugrana at bay for toomuch longer, althoughthey initially hadgoalkeeper MarceloBarovero to thank after hesomehow denied Messifrom point-blank rangeand tipped a free kickfrom his countrymanwide.

However, the custodiancould do nothing aboutBarca’s opener as DaniAlves’ hanging cross wasknocked down by Neymar

in the box for Messi, whothen allowed the ball toroll across him, beforevolleying a finish home forhis third goal in as manyClub World Cup finals.

The restart saw Barcatake control of the game,scoring their second justnine minutes in as SergioBusquets visionarythrough ball releasedSuarez, who made nomistake about his finish,which he squeezedthrough Baroveros legs.

The victory was thensealed with little over 20minutes remaining asNeymar proceeded to winhis duel with GabrielMercado, bending apinpoint cross onto thehead of Suarez, whoeffortlessly guided hisheader home.

Madrid record la decima againstVallecanoREAL Madrid

capitalised on twoearly red cards to hitdouble digits in a 10-2annihilation of RayoVallecano in La Ligayesterday.

Madrid took the leadinside just three minutes asDanilo finished off asweeping counterattack,but they were soon shell-shocked, when formerWigan Athletic defenderAntonio Amaya poweredhome a free header pastKeylor Navas.

Lightning then strucktwice, Jozabed takingadvantage of yet moredismal Madrid defenderwith another header. Rayowere dreaming, having losttheir last 14 meetings withLos Blancos, but theywould throw it all away.

The turning point camewhen Tito was shown astraight red card for aterrible lunge on Kroos,which risked breaking themidfielder ’s leg, andGareth Bale promptly flunghimself onto the end ofDanilo’s cross for theequaliser. Rayo’s afternoonthen went from bad toworse as Raul Baena wasgiven his marching ordersfor a second bookableoffence on Sergio Ramosafter he appeared to pullback the defender in thebox. Up stepped CristianoRonaldo, who convertedthe penalty.

Ancelotti to replaceGuardiola at Bayern

PEP Guardiola willleave Bayern Munich

at the end of the seasonto be replaced by CarloAncelotti, club CEO Karl-Heinz Rummenigge hasconfirmed.

The former Barcelonamanager’s deal expires atthe end of the campaignafter two and a halfseasons in which he hasled the Bavarian giants totwo Bundesliga titles andconsecutive ChampionsLeague semi-finals.

Ancelotti’s new deal willlast three years and comesafter he spent a year onsabbatical following hissacking by Real Madridlast summer.

Rummenigge told Bild:“We are grateful toGuardiola for everythinghe has given our club andhope that we willcelebrate many successesthis season. “With Ancelotti we again

will have a verysuccessful coach for FCBayern.”

Ancelotti added: “I amvery honoured that I willbe coach of the great clubFC Bayern from nextseason.”

Hiddink to bring Drogbaback to Chelsea

GUUS Hiddink hasconfirmed that he

would like club legend-Didier Drogba to joinhim in the Chelsea backroom staff.

Hiddink, 69, will be inthe dugout for the Box-ing Day match againstin-form Watford afteragreeing to return toChelsea for a secondspell as an interim man-ager.

Drogba was one of the

key men at the club dur-ing Hiddink’s first spellin 2009, when Chelsearecovered from a disas-trous start to the seasonto qualify for the Cham-pions League and winthe FA Cup.

“I’d be happy to havehim here,” Hiddink said.“At the moment he is stillattached to his contractin Canada. But it is in-tended that he’s in-volved.”

Pogba: Juve mademistakes against Carpi

PAUL Pogba concedesJuventus “made life

difficult for ourselves” inthe tense 3-2 victoryover Carpi.

“We are all very happyfor the fundamental anddeserved victory, even ifwe made life difficult forourselves at the end,”Pogba told Sky Sport Ita-lia.

“That must absolutelynot happen again. Nowwe have a break forChristmas, but when weget back on the field wemust do it with humilityand the awareness we’vedone nothing yet. It isstill a very long journey.

“Who do I dedicate thegoal to? Myself, as I amaware that I can givemore to help the teamwin another Scudetto.”

S

Foreigners rule Gov’s Cup Futures IIBy John Egbokhan

THE final matches ofthe Governor’s Cup

Lagos Tennis Futures IIwere played weekendwith two foreigners,Antal Van Der Duim of

Holland and ConnyPerrin of Switzerlandwinning the men’s andwomen’s singles titlesrespectively.

Perrin defeated TadejaMajeric in three thrilling

sets, 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 to liftthe women’s crown,while Van Der Duim wona repeat of Futures 3quarter final match,defeating Zimbabwe’sTakanyi Garangaga 6-3,7-6 to land the title.

In the media exhibitiongame played earlier inthe day, Fred Edoreh,chairman of LagosSWAN, defeated GaniyuSalman of NigeriaTribune in straight set of6-1, 6-3.

Suarez

Guardiola

Ancelotti

Pogba

Bale (c) jumps to head the ball against Valncano

Hiddink (l) and Drogba

Vanguard, MONDAY, DECEMBER 21 , 2015 — 63

CMYK

Printed and Published by VANGUARD MEDIA LIMITED, Vanguard Avenue, Kirikiri Canal, P.M.B.1007, Apapa. Phone: Newsroom: 018773962. Deputy Editor: 01-4548355. Advert Dept Hotline: 01-4544821. Abuja Advert Hotline: 09-2921024. E-mail: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]. Advert:[email protected]

Website: www.vanguardngr.com (ISSN 0794-652X) Editor: MIDENO BAYAGBON. Phone: 01-7742861, All correspondence to P.M.B. 1007, Apapa Lagos.

How to Play Sudoku

Place a number (1-9) in each blank cell. (No line canhave two of the same number).

Each row (nine lines from left to right), column, (alsonine lines from top to bottom) and 3 X 3 block within abold block (nine blocks) contains number from 1through 9. This means that no number can appear twicein any block, column or row.

No mathematics is involved – no adding, subtraction, divisionor multiplication, just plain logic and your imagination.

FRIFRIFRIFRIFRIDDDDDAAAAAY'S ANSY'S ANSY'S ANSY'S ANSY'S ANSWERSWERSWERSWERSWERSTTTTTODODODODODAAAAAY'S PUZZLEY'S PUZZLEY'S PUZZLEY'S PUZZLEY'S PUZZLE

Vanguard, MONDAY, DECEMBER 21, 2015

CMYK

YESTERDAY'S SOLUTIONS

QUICK CRQUICK CRQUICK CRQUICK CRQUICK CROSSOSSOSSOSSOSSWORDWORDWORDWORDWORD

Barca win ClubWorld Cup —

P.62

Ighalo sinks Liverpool

Continues on Page 61

ODION Ighaloscored twice as

Watford recorded acomfortable 3-0 victoryover Liverpool atVicarage Road yesterday.

Nathan Ake made themost of an Adam Bogdanhowler to open thescoring at VicarageRoad, before Ighalodoubled Watford’s lead

after just 15 minutes.The Nigerian striker

then doubled his tallyfor the game afternodding in ValonBehrami’s superb cross,

leaving Watford just onepoint off the ChampionsLeague places.

With just three minutes

Bayern confirm Guardiola’sexit, welcomes Ancelotti —

P.61

•Ancelotti •Guardiola

Club Kings...Barcelona forward Andres Iniesta, forward Lionel Messi,forward Neymar and forward Luis Suarez celebrates with his team-matesaround the FIFA Club World Cup trophy on the podium of the Club WorldCup football tournament final in Yokohama. Photo AFP

•Ighalo

RealMadrid

blow-outRayo

Vallecano10-2

—P.6

2

•Bale

ACROSS1 Perspire (5)2 Lunge (6)8 Penitent «5)10 Middle (6)11 Poke (4)14 Consuming (6)15 Discussed (7)18 Through (3)19 Barrier (3)21 Adroit (4)23 Dissuade (5)24 Network (4)27 Lair (3)29 Summit (3)31 Swung (7)32 Lent (6)34 Departed (4)35 Amatory (6)38 Tree (5)39 Fiery (6)40 Coin (5)

DOWN2 Sorrow (3)3 Wrong (6)4 Hill (3)(5) Sort (4)6 Rebelled (6)7 Objective (6)9 Ebbed (7)12 Knock (3)13 Dreadful (4)16 Relax (4)17 Old-fashioned (5)20 Threatened (7)22 Repute (4)24 Pester (6)25 Deer (4)26 Venerate (6)28 Disregard (6)30 Enclosure (3)33 Deceased (4)36 Material (3)37 Tavern (3)

ACROSS: 1, Select 5, Void 8, Organ 9, Rob10. Nude 11, Clan 12, Essay 13, Abroad 16,Sign 18, Cram 20, Ate 22, Lot 23, Yen 24,Pier 25, Item 28, Divert 30. Screw 32, Root33, Near 34, Van 35, Fence 36, Load 37,Bridge.

DOWN: 1, Spread 2, Liberate 3, Canvas 4,Presented 5, Vacancy 6, Only 7, Dune 8,Ode 14, Diligence 15, Man 17, Got 19,Reserved 20, Aim 21, Erected 26, Mirror 27,Stance 29, Oral 30, Sofa 31, Wee.

Documents

Stolen funds: No plea bargain- FG