Journalist and public relations consultant, Lekan Fatodu has secured an order of court for substituted service of a defamation lawsuit against Sowore Omoyele, publisher of Saharareporters.

In a court document with suit no: ID/ADR/492/2017 a High Court of Lagos State granted an order that the lawsuit against Sowore and two other defendants should be pasted "on the entrance to the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Defendants being their last known address situated and known as 46B Adekunle Fajuyi way, GRA, Ikeja, Lagos state".

Fatodu stated that application for the court order became necessary after several failed attempts to serve Sowore at 46B Adekunle Fajuyi way, GRA Ikeja, Lagos State, the address the Saharareporters founder provided to the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) as his business address, as the gateman at the property claimed the publisher had moved out of the building.

"It's really shameful that a self-appointed apostle of probity like Sowore Omoyele will be employing cunning means to evade justice," Fatodu said.

"This same address, 46B Adekunle Fajuyi way, GRA, Ikeja Lagos State, is the address submitted to Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) by Sowore as his official address and the same address given to MacArthur Foundation by Sowore to secure funding for his blackmailing enterprise.

"Now Sowore has abandoned the property thinking that he will hide from the long arms of the law. I was compelled to procure this court order against Sowore to bring him to justice after several attempts to serve him the defamation lawsuit failed as I suspected he had told the gateman met at the address to lie that he had moved out of the property".

Fatodu further stated that his determination to pursue the case is premised on the need to fight corruption on all sides in Nigeria.

"The greatest mistake we will be making as a nation is to focus our fight against corruption only on politicians forgetting the fact that those politicians didn't drop from heaven. They all emerged from different areas of our lives before stepping into politics. Therefore we should start to fight corrupt online publishers, bankers, doctors, lecturers etc before they move into political circle where it is more difficult to bring them to justice for their despicable conducts.

"Like I've said many times, Sowore and I have been friends for over 20 years. Nonetheless we must ensure that we live up to the highest of standards we always demand from others.

"I'm obviously not the first friend Sowore will maliciously blackmail and attack. He once did it to Barrister Festus Keyamo SAN, who is a good brother and friend of mine. Sowore only later warmed up to Keyamo as the dogged human rights advocate was ready to expose him. He also did it to Idowu Daramola, I will definitely speak more on that at a later date.


"But I'm first to get Sowore arrested and drag him to court. And I'm certain this case will be a valuable resource, reference and lesson for digital media practitioners and students of mass communication on ethical and responsible online publishing.

Recall that Fatodu got Sowore arrested in January 2017 for threatening his life, criminal defamation and blackmail. And he later filed a N100 million defamation suit against the saharareporters publisher.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UD59R1Ydkzo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UD59R1Ydkzo

casttlebarbz:
friendship is d only ship dat doesn't sink...am sure they wil get over it if truly dey are friends

From what I gathered, Sowore brought a mutual friend to mediate but later pulled out himself

1st picture - Lekan Fatodu and Sowore Omoyele in London in 2009
2nd picture - Sowore's secret office at No 13A Isaac John Street GRA, Ikeja where he was arrested
3rd picture - When Sowore was desperately asking Lekan Fatodu for assistance in London in 2007
4th picture - When Sowore was desperately asking Lekan Fatodu for assistance in London in 2008
5. Sowore, his wife (I concealed the woman's face) his wife family and Lekan Fatodu on a boat cruise to Tarkwa Bay in 2004

Mr Lekan Fatodu who is presently battling Sahara reporters' publisher over allegations threat to life, defamation of character, blackmail and criminal assault called him out this evening. Mr Fatodu has severally accused Mr Sowore of trying to buy public sympathy by claiming he is being victimised by the government instead of facing the allegations levelled against him. Text from Lekan Fatodu


Yesterday I got a text from the office of the DCP at Panti to come on Thursday at 10 am. My friend, Andre, with whom I narrowly escaped the vicious attack that Sowore and his notorious gang launched on us before he was arrested on the 11th of January 2017 also got the same invitation.
Expectedly Sowore and his gang also got the invitation and he has already made it public. But Sowore, in his usual deceitful style, is trying to deflect attention from the crimes he and his gang have committed, and the resultant case that has been with the police. Rather, he is trying to make infantile accusations and to blackmail high government officials on a case that is CLEARLY between him and myself.
I have said it severally and am repeating it now, I can never be used by anybody as Sowore has claimed in a desperate effort to conceal his shame. He said that I am being backed by Mrs. Buhari, Gov. Fayose, Gov. Wike, Lagos CP, Chief of Army Staff amongst other imaginary personalities because he is in utter shock that I can confront him this way over his crime against me. And that is just because he feels he can destroy either tainted or innocent Nigerians at will - something he can never try in America!
As part of his trick to cover his shame, Sowore has abandoned the secret office he’s putting up at No 13A Isaac John Street GRA, Ikeja, the building where the police got him and his thugs arrested and where he had commanded some of the thugs numbering about 8 men to snatch Andre’s phone because he was recording the shameful scene and they got our car terribly damaged with dangerous weapons that included cutlasses.
Sowore believes that because he’s running an online news platform he can deliberately LIE against and DESTROY innocent people and also make attempts on PEOPLE’s lives without being brought to justice.
He thinks that he will blackmail, threaten and even attempt to kill me, a friend who has been his benefactor for almost 20 years, and he will expect me not to use the law to save my life.
When Sowore was desperately asking me for assistance in London in 2007 2008 when he just started his Saharareporters to assist him with stories which I will use my money to buy gadgets to help him out with, I was the best friend ever in his life.
When Sowore came to London in 2009 for an event and I gave him a special treat he was calling repeatedly when he returned to America to thank me for such a great moment.

When Sowore was desperately asking me for assistance in London in 2008

When he got married in the US, and according to him, he had promised a special honeymoon for his wife in Lagos, I was the one that gave all to assist him. This was their first trip ever to Nigeria as a couple in 2004, I offered my car to Sowore without hesitation throughout his stay and made good financial assistance to make the trip memorable for him and his wife.
I have deliberately concealed Sowore’s wife’s face in this picture out of respect for her dignity.

Unfortunately that is the dignity and decency Sowore will never accord anyone!
In January 2016, when, according to Sowore, some people told him about my contract with a government agency and he said he was ready to “help” me, I turned him down saying that I had completed the project and I didn’t need any help from anywhere. And even though I opened my legitimate dealings to Sowore, he went on to run a malicious, wicked, fake and defamatory story about me because I didn’t succumb to his ridiculous and selfish demands.
So Sowore, this case is between you and I, and if you are not guilty you should stay calm and be ready to defend yourself in court!
We shall meet on Thursday!

Source - Lekan Fatodu's Facebook

The legal counsel to Lt. Gen. Tukur Buratai, Chief of Army Staff, Ugochukwu Osuagwu at the weekend denied reports by some media outfits over a matter involving an online publication, Premium Times and the police in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

Osuagwu on Sunday stated that the said publications are false as the statements reported were not made by the police in the FCT. “No such statement was made by FCT police Command nor the police commissioner.

“My attention has been drawn to a publication by a newspaper of January 21 2017 entitled ‘Army, Premium Times Impasse: FCT Police Command Sues for Peace’ and one on a broadcast medium entitled ‘Police Advise premium Times, Army to resolve impasse peaceably’ which falsely stated that the FCT Police Command has urged the management of the Premium Times and the Nigerian Army to resolve and settle their dispute peacefully.

“What we had with the FCT Police Commissioner was a session to extract facts from both sides of the matter before the Police can proceed with filing criminal charges against Premium times personalities involved in peddling injurious falsehood against the person of the Chief of Army Staff,” Osuagwu stated.

He added that the three count charges against the affected Premium Times staff were ready as at 5pm on Friday, adding that they would be arraigned in court this week.

“There is no such thing as peace meeting or reconciliation as claimed by Vanguard. This is a criminal matter and not a civil one where you reconcile. It is therefore embarrassing and unprofessional for some media stations to publish a story that was not verified nor the other party consulted before publishing these stories online.

He added that it is expected that journalists are aware of the existence of the Cyber CRIMES ACT 2015 on the implication of false online publication and asked that the affected media outfits correct false online publications accordingly.

The legal counsel to Lt. Gen. Tukur Buratai, Chief of Army Staff, Ugochukwu Osuagwu at the weekend denied reports by some media outfits over a matter involving an online publication, Premium Times and the police in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

Osuagwu on Sunday stated that the said publications are false as the statements reported were not made by the police in the FCT. “No such statement was made by FCT police Command nor the police commissioner.

“My attention has been drawn to a publication by a newspaper of January 21 2017 entitled ‘Army, Premium Times Impasse: FCT Police Command Sues for Peace’ and one on a broadcast medium entitled ‘Police Advise premium Times, Army to resolve impasse peaceably’ which falsely stated that the FCT Police Command has urged the management of the Premium Times and the Nigerian Army to resolve and settle their dispute peacefully.

“What we had with the FCT Police Commissioner was a session to extract facts from both sides of the matter before the Police can proceed with filing criminal charges against Premium times personalities involved in peddling injurious falsehood against the person of the Chief of Army Staff,” Osuagwu stated.

He added that the three count charges against the affected Premium Times staff were ready as at 5pm on Friday, adding that they would be arraigned in court this week.

“There is no such thing as peace meeting or reconciliation as claimed by Vanguard. This is a criminal matter and not a civil one where you reconcile. It is therefore embarrassing and unprofessional for some media stations to publish a story that was not verified nor the other party consulted before publishing these stories online.

He added that it is expected that journalists are aware of the existence of the Cyber CRIMES ACT 2015 on the implication of false online publication and asked that the affected media outfits correct false online publications accordingly.

After all his LIES that Mrs. Buhari, Governor Fayose, Governor Wike, Lagos Commissioner of Police are supporting me have failed, Sowore has come out with another big LIE that the Chief of Army Staff has given me his lawyer.

Sowore, you know my open accusation against you is revealing that side of you which you don't want the unsuspecting members of the public to know. So you are looking for sympathy everywhere and trying to drag different people into a matter that is purely between you and I.

My case against you is clear: you threatened my life, you assaulted me and my friend, you blackmailed and published defamatory stories about me when I didn't succumb to your demand for money.

Instead of you to return to Panti as expected of any honourable individual, you are on Social Media trying to deceive your followers with LIES.

Myself and my lawyers were in Panti today, but you didn't turn up. And you didn't leave a physical address in Lagos where the police can locate you.

Just do the honourable. Show up!

Copied from LEKAN FATODU's FB Page

This is a statement from UK-based journalist, Lekan Fatodu, who recently filed a petition to the police against Sahara Reporters publisher, Omoyele Sowore. Read below...
I'm dropping this quick note because Sowore violated the idea of reconciliation suggested to the Police by his team of lawyers and supporters led by the elder statesman, Dr. Tunji Abayomi on Thursday. Sowore was at the Panti Police station with about 15 lawyers . I didn't go with any because I didn't need to. I know my case against him is incontrovertible!

It's however surprising that one of Sowore's lawyers who was part of the agreement for reconciliation has come out to spew lies and try to twist the story against the Police. But it won't work because everyone is aware of Sowore's shady operations.

Sowore is understandably rattled and bitter that Lekan Fatodu is the FIRST person to ever confront him for his characteristic threat to people's life, blackmail and extortionism.

I had petitioned the police on a threat to my life and career, criminal defamation and blackmail by Sowore. And that's contrary to the lies that Sowore has been spreading about an attempt on his life. I will share the true story of the event of Sowore's arrest with video evidence in due time. And I bet that the world will be shocked to see what really happened on that day.

I knew that Sowore's idea of reconciliation was to "buy" enough time to cook up some lies to change the narrative on his criminality. Hence, I agreed to it only to give him the benefit of doubt. But he has since been using proxies to write different articles in his favour and also fabricating lies that some people in power are behind me. They've been churning out many lies but I am not bothered in the least.

I'm glad myself and Sowore are presently in Nigeria and the court shall verify the text messages, emails and Whatsapp messages that we exchanged when he, using different insidious means, demanded 100 million naira bribe from me out of a fictitious 500 million that he claimed he heard that I got out of a strange 1.7b naira from the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA). And I will include other strong evidences of his attempt on my life particularly on the day he was arrested.

Sowore, I'm sure you can't deny the attached Text Message!

Once again, I am proud of the excellent job I did for the ONSA and for which I was paid 12 million náírà. Meanwhile, the Presidency under the leadership of President Muhammadu Buhari has already validated the work my company, Leeman Communication in different national dailies. And I won't stop seeking government's contract where my expertise is required. It's my legal right as a Nigeria!

Of course, Sowore is ashamed and sad that his wicked plot against me didn't work.

And for violating his own idea of reconciliation, I SHALL BE DRAGGING SOWORE TO COURT!

This is a statement from UK-based journalist, Lekan Fatodu, who recently filed a petition to the police against Sahara Reporters publisher, Omoyele Sowore. Read below...
I'm dropping this quick note because Sowore violated the idea of reconciliation suggested to the Police by his team of lawyers and supporters led by the elder statesman, Dr. Tunji Abayomi on Thursday. Sowore was at the Panti Police station with about 15 lawyers . I didn't go with any because I didn't need to. I know my case against him is incontrovertible!

It's however surprising that one of Sowore's lawyers who was part of the agreement for reconciliation has come out to spew lies and try to twist the story against the Police. But it won't work because everyone is aware of Sowore's shady operations.

Sowore is understandably rattled and bitter that Lekan Fatodu is the FIRST person to ever confront him for his characteristic threat to people's life, blackmail and extortionism.

I had petitioned the police on a threat to my life and career, criminal defamation and blackmail by Sowore. And that's contrary to the lies that Sowore has been spreading about an attempt on his life. I will share the true story of the event of Sowore's arrest with video evidence in due time. And I bet that the world will be shocked to see what really happened on that day.

I knew that Sowore's idea of reconciliation was to "buy" enough time to cook up some lies to change the narrative on his criminality. Hence, I agreed to it only to give him the benefit of doubt. But he has since been using proxies to write different articles in his favour and also fabricating lies that some people in power are behind me. They've been churning out many lies but I am not bothered in the least.

I'm glad myself and Sowore are presently in Nigeria and the court shall verify the text messages, emails and Whatsapp messages that we exchanged when he, using different insidious means, demanded 100 million naira bribe from me out of a fictitious 500 million that he claimed he heard that I got out of a strange 1.7b naira from the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA). And I will include other strong evidences of his attempt on my life particularly on the day he was arrested.

Sowore, I'm sure you can't deny the attached Text Message!

Once again, I am proud of the excellent job I did for the ONSA and for which I was paid 12 million náírà. Meanwhile, the Presidency under the leadership of President Muhammadu Buhari has already validated the work my company, Leeman Communication in different national dailies. And I won't stop seeking government's contract where my expertise is required. It's my legal right as a Nigeria!

Of course, Sowore is ashamed and sad that his wicked plot against me didn't work.

And for violating his own idea of reconciliation, I SHALL BE DRAGGING SOWORE TO COURT!

In the wake of the unexpected demise of Mrs. Beatrice Omawumi Udoh, the Member representing Warri South Constituency I in the Delta State House of Ass...

In the wake of the unexpected demise of Mrs. Beatrice Omawumi Udoh, the Member representing Warri South Constituency I in the Delta State House of Assembly, the political landscape of the constituency has suddenly opened up a mosaic of possibilities as to her likely successor in the House.

While a multiplicity of aspirants are already networking for the post, the two frontrunners are undoubtedly, Godwin Abigor of the Social Democratic Party, SDP, and Michael Tidi of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP.

Surprisingly, Robinson Ariyor, who many had speculated would become the All Progressives Congress, APC’s, candidate for the race having flown the party’s flag in the last election, has indicated that he would not be running, a decision that came as a big surprise to watchers of political trends in the area. Certain stakeholders have indicated that the firebrand lawyer sees the demise of Omawumi Udoh as a rather very sad development and that he would prefer someone from her own political family to complete her term in the House of Assembly rather than for someone of his pedigree to be seen to be trying to take advantage of her sad passing to scheme his way into the House.

While several commentators have held that such a disposition betrays political naivety on the part of Ariyor given that politics is a dirty game in which even the death of a person can be legitimately taken advantage of by his or her enemies, others have pointed to the fact that Ariyor has always been known for his strongly held views of honour, decency and decorum, and as such should be respected as a man of genuine integrity who should receive the appropriate political recognition going forward.

Another political player who has lost no time in throwing his hat into the ring is Mofe Edema, the current Local Government Chairman of the late Omawumi Udoh’s constituency, Warri South. Unfortunately for Edema, not only is he not a match for the likes of Godwin Abigor and Michael Tidi, he has been severely criticized for greedily eyeing the post of one of his deceased constituents at a time at which he is still a sitting chairman of her constituency and should be more concerned with according her a befitting burial.

Another candidate currently being touted for the post is Mrs. Shola Daibo. While her sponsors have been projecting her as a fitting replacement for the late Omawumi Udoh given that thus a woman would be replacing a woman, others point to the fact that she and Udoh never saw eye to eye while the latter was alive and that it would be unwholesome for Daibo to replace someone she was opposed to till death simply because they are both women.

It is instructive that those pushing Daibo are also doing so on the basis that she came a distant third during the PDP primaries in which she actually got only one vote as a sentimental consolation for her efforts in order for her not to seem like a complete failure during the exercise against the late Omawumi Udoh. This reasoning has however been punctured by the fact that a bye-election both in law and historically in electoral tradition, is an entirely fresh political tussle without bearing to what hitherto transpired as would have been the case in a rerun election.

As such who came third or whatever during the primaries of any given political party is completely of no consequence whatsoever for the purpose of conducting a bye-election. Furthermore, it has been pointed out that even in the PDP constitution there is absolutely no basis for such imposition and many commentators have pointed out that upon the death of the late Senator Pius Ewerhido, persons like Senator Igoyota Amori who came second in the substantive election did not automatically get the PDP ticket which rather went to Senator Emmanuel Aguariavwodo.

As for Godwin Abigor, it has been pointed out that it would be most unfair for Abigor to take over Udoh’s post now that she is dead. Abigor and his paymasters are accused of hounding and tormenting her right up to the point she passed away and many feel that giving Abigor her post now that she is dead would amount to rewarding his camp for harassing her in life.

This is more so given that the woman’s house in the legislative quarters in Asaba was burnt by miscreants suspected to be Abigor’s supporters immediately he was sacked from the House of Assembly by the Court of Appeal. Additionally and equally rather unfortunately for Abigor, reports have been rife in Warri and environs that Abigor’s supporters were celebrating upon news of her demise, something that did not go down well with her grieving supporters and sympathizers alike.

In any case, pundits have speculated that those touting the names of persons like Daibo and projecting them as desirable flag bearers for the PDP are actually trying to play a fast one on the Okowa led PDP administration in the state, confident that she has no political credibility and is, as such, most unlikely to win the election in the constituency. In fact, the entire idea of presenting such persons is believed to be orchestrated by the sponsors of Godwin Abigor whose real agenda is for him to fly the APC ticket and defeat someone like Daibo should she get the PDP ticket.

The problem with Abigor running under APC is the fact that he is seen as former Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan’s right-hand man and that Uduaghan is insisting on his winning the race if only to prove that he remains a force to be reckoned with in the politics of Delta. More crucial from a political standpoint is the fact that should Abigor win, especially against someone like Tidi, he would have ended up defeating a candidate of the Governor Okowa led PDP, with whom Uduaghan is perceived to be having ongoing disagreements with.

The calculation here is that an Abigor victory would amount to a disgrace to Governor Okowa and a precursor to what is likely to happen at the gubernatorial level come 2019. By the same token, should Tidi defeat Abigor, which is a very likely possibility going by facts on the ground in Warri, it would signpost the ascendancy of the Okowa political machine over his traducers within the constituency and by extension, Delta South as a whole.

Compounding issues for Abigor is the fact that many stakeholders in Delta APC are not necessarily in support of his aspiration. Many of them view his attempts to join their party at this late hour as opportunistic and therefore quite unreliable from a strict loyalist standpoint.

Moreover, many have questioned why former Governor Uduaghan should be sending his boy to join their party when he himself is yet to join. It was recently rumoured that even the likes of Chief Ayiri Emami had raised eyebrows about Abigor joining the APC on the orders of Uduaghan when the latter is yet to join, pointing out that as a committed APC stalwart, he Ayiri had been quite disappointed that Uduaghan is yet to join the party and prefers to continue to sit on the fence even though it is the same Uduaghan who encouraged him to decamp from PDP to APC in the first place.

Perhaps Abigor can hope for succour in someone like Olorogun O’tega Emerhor, the de facto leader of the party in the state and its gubernatorial candidate in the last election in the calculation that Emerhor would be quite enthusiastic for APC to produce an elected official at state level preparatory to 2019.

However, even Emerhor is speculated to be uncomfortable, like other stakeholders of the party in the state, of an Uduaghan boy becoming the first elected official of the party at state level and as such would prefer an authentic member of the party to fly its flag in the bye-election. This may not be surprising since, were Abigor to emerge victorious and become a member of the House of Assembly, his loyalty would undoubtedly be to Uduaghan and not in any genuine way to Emerhor or even APC as a party, when his master Uduaghan is still reluctant to decamp as pointed out above.

This brings us to Michael Tidi. Tidi happens to be an aide to Governor Ifeanyi Okowa and actually has an office right within Government House Asaba where he generally reports for work on a daily basis. This has given rise to speculation that he would naturally be the Governor’s choice especially against the background of the fact that he remains an unapologetic defender of the Okowa administration, a tendency that has made him quite unattractive to Abigor’s open and secret backers who are rumoured to continue to have serious differences with the Governor.

Unfortunately for Tidi, stalwarts of the PDP in the constituency, such as Dr. Joseph Otumara, are determined that he must not be the next member representing the constituency in the House of Assembly, having worked tirelessly for the late Omawumi Udoh against Abigor, their candidate of choice in the last election.

Tidi’s supporters’ counter that Otumara is a leader of questionable loyalty in the PDP given that as party stalwart in the constituency, he worked for Abigor of SDP against Udoh, the candidate of his own party, PDP, unlike Tidi who stood tirelessly by her side during her struggle with Abigor despite having been her major opponent during the 2011 polls.

They additionally allude to the fact that Tidi is morally entitled to aspire to the position as the member of her political family who had once contested against her and later returned to become her staunchest supporter against Abigor and the political juggernauts that bankrolled his campaign.

They similarly reiterate that for Uduaghan to have punished Tidi so severely after the 2011 polls, which he is believed to have actually won, and wickedly refused to compensate him for dropping his election petition against Udoh, only for the same Uduaghan to seek to dump the same Udoh like a piece of political rubbish in 2015 in favour of Abigor, entitled Tidi to support her especially as she was firmly in the camp of Governor Okowa, then the gubernatorial candidate of the PDP.

According to them, rather than those who hounded the woman till her death in a London hospital inheriting her post, someone from her political camp should be the one to serve out the remainder of what would have been her term had she lived.

The problem with their position is that despite Tidi’s closeness to Governor Okowa, the Governor has not indicated in any way that Tidi is his preferred candidate, more so when persons like Otumara whom Okowa seemingly cannot do without in Warri are not rooting for his aide.

Tidi, himself, is arguably not exactly in a position to help matters, given that thus far, he has woefully failed to conduct himself in the manner of a typical Nigerian politician. On the contrary, he seems torn between concentrating on evacuating his late leader’s body from London back to Warri for a befitting burial and at the same time striving to protect her political legacy from the vultures now circling to feast on her vacated seat, instead of abandoning her corpse to her family and concentrating on claiming the post for himself as any well tutored Nigerian politician should be doing.

In fact, to the shock of most people who know him as a genuinely tough, fearless go-getting writer, intellectual and politician, he actually broke down crying profusely upon being told of Omawumi Udoh’s death. Even though his grief was quite genuine as attested to by his fellow party members and even members of the opposition alike, it nevertheless revealed a softer side to Tidi which in the opinion of certain stakeholders, makes him unsuitable since a typical politician would simply pretend to be devastated and then immediately begin focusing on who will replace her in the House of Assembly.

Furthermore, with Uduaghan not ready to countenance Tidi to succeeding Udoh, it is highly unlikely that Okowa would have the nerve to push his own aide to challenge Abigor in defiance of Uduaghan and would rather prefer to let Uduagan call the shots even if this proves to be quite politically costly to him at the end of the day.

Tidi’s supporters however counter that such a move by the Governor is highly unlikely and entirely inconsistent with his pedigree as an astute grassroots political grandmaster, arguing that the Okowa they know would not empower the sort of enemies that are not likely to become his friends and would only use such empowerment to fight him when it matters most, being implacable enemies to whom no concession is enough to turn them into friends.

It is therefore quite clear that the sad and most unfortunate death of the resplendently beautiful and resourceful Omawumi Udoh has opened up a political vista the likes of which we do not often see albeit in just one of the 29 constituencies represented in the Delta State House of Assembly.

Clearly, this is a race between Godwin Abigor, scion of the Uduaghan political machine, who has already tasted the sweetness of the post albeit very briefly, and has occupied various positions of political power in the present dispensation, and, Michael Tidi, aide to the incumbent Governor who once fought the late Omawumi Udoh for the post and yet became her chief supporter when those who initially supported her against him later vociferously turned against her in favour of Abigor.

If I were to indulge myself by playing counsel cum advocate for all sides, what would my Machiavellian advice to each be?

On Abigor, I would insist that over his dead body should he allow Tidi, a close ally of Udoh to defeat him. He may have been defeated at the polls and then in court by Tidi’s constituency leader, Udoh, but now she is dead and the world is for the living and not the dead. Indeed, this is his moment, especially with the likes of Uduaghan and Otumara solidly behind him.

Uduaghan just has to insist that, this being the moment for his resurrection in the political firmament of Delta, Abigor, his boy, must get there whether or not Okowa, the party or anyone else for that matter thinks otherwise. He was after all a potentate in Delta and must be given his due no matter whose ox is gored. If he cannot insist on Abigor winning, he will only be demonstrating that Okowa is actually a better politician than himself and but for the instrumentality of Ibori, who favoured him over Okowa, Okowa would have ended up as Governor after Ibori far back in 2007!

On Tidi, I would advise that, despite his popularity and grassroots appeal, he might as well consider quitting the race what with his Governor and current boss, Okowa, sitting on the fence and unlikely anytime soon to muster the courage to challenge a Hurricane Uduaghan on the latter’s turf. It is indeed sad that his former ally and leader, Omawumi Udoh is dead and it is indeed commendable that in death he inadvertently displayed his true fondness for his erstwhile political opponent by genuinely weeping for her as opposed to the rivers of crocodile tears that might have been shed by those now scheming to take her seat.

Unfortunately for Tidi, such disposition is not appreciated in this clime and all his genuine sorrow is immaterial in the cold calculations of the nitty-gritty of naked politics in Nigeria. His boss, even though the Governor, cannot withstand Uduaghan in Delta South and even if he wins the genuine vote Uduaghan will definitely have his way this time around. Unfortunately for him, his madam is dead and her enemies may likely inherit her post if care is not taken.

For the long suffering people of Warri, I can only say, ignore my advice to both political gladiators and insist that this time around, your voices will be heard in Warri South and the candidate of your choosing will replace Omawumi Udoh. Just vote for the candidate that best represents your interests in the House of Assembly regardless of the antics of demigods in the constituency.

Lest we forget the dead and be like those now scheming to feast on her carcass, may the sweet soul of Omawumi Udoh rest in peace as our Lord Jesus sends the Holy Spirit to comfort the Husband, children, family, friends and constituents she left behind. Amen!

Ejiro Ernest Ofoye, Esq is a public affairs analyst.

The appearance of President Muhammadu Buhari of Nigeria in a captivating military gear is said to have forced the new militant group, the Niger Delta Avengers, NDA, to surrender.

In what has been described as a tactical military manoeuvring and a stern warning to the nemeses of the nation such as the Avengers, the Nigerian leader stepped out in full military attire for an official assignment within a region of his country.

The NDA, representing the fresh face of militancy in the Niger Delta area of Nigeria, has launched a series of devastating attacks on various oil installations serving as the major revenue earners for Nigeria.

The relentless bombardment of the oil infrastructures has significantly reduced the country’s production capacity of 2.2 million barrels per day, upon which the government’s budget for 2016 is based, to about 900,000 barrels per day.

Even in the face of the apparent provocation and incapacitation caused to the government by the Avengers which has led to failures in payment of salaries and provision of basic amenities to the citizens, the Buhari government has made efforts to invite the militants, albeit unsuccessfully, to a negotiating table.

However, like the much talked-about powerful and somewhat magical body language of President Buhari that supplied electricity into every home and provided surplus fuel in all filling stations during the early days of his administration, the emergence of the president in military uniform, according to a reliable source, has surprisingly caused many of the militants to be begging to lay down their weapons while some have reportedly scampered for cover in the inner most parts of the Niger Delta creeks.

“Honestly, the ferocious Avengers are now desperately calling to surrender after seeing the president in that unusual military outfit. Some of the militants confided in me that that strange appearance gave an eerie reminder of Buhari’s regime as a military head of state in Nigeria over 30 years ago when all forms of decrees were in place to punish the slightest misconduct. So it was thought that with the manner some economic crime suspects are presently being locked in jail without due recourse to judicial prescriptions, the President may be coming after the militants with full force soon”, said the source.

Meanwhile, the Nigerian government has continued its engagements with thought leaders from the Niger Delta region, who have been visiting the president in the Villa in a bid to achieving “technical victory” over any enemy of the state, as seen in the government’s “technical defeat” of the Boko Haram, and in ensuring peace across the land
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The appearance of President Muhammadu Buhari of Nigeria in a captivating military gear is said to have forced the new militant group, the Niger Delta Avengers, NDA, to surrender.

In what has been described as a tactical military manoeuvring and a stern warning to the nemeses of the nation such as the Avengers, the Nigerian leader stepped out in full military attire for an official assignment within a region of his country.

The NDA, representing the fresh face of militancy in the Niger Delta area of Nigeria, has launched a series of devastating attacks on various oil installations serving as the major revenue earners for Nigeria.

The relentless bombardment of the oil infrastructures has significantly reduced the country’s production capacity of 2.2 million barrels per day, upon which the government’s budget for 2016 is based, to about 900,000 barrels per day.

Even in the face of the apparent provocation and incapacitation caused to the government by the Avengers which has led to failures in payment of salaries and provision of basic amenities to the citizens, the Buhari government has made efforts to invite the militants, albeit unsuccessfully, to a negotiating table.

However, like the much talked-about powerful and somewhat magical body language of President Buhari that supplied electricity into every home and provided surplus fuel in all filling stations during the early days of his administration, the emergence of the president in military uniform, according to a reliable source, has surprisingly caused many of the militants to be begging to lay down their weapons while some have reportedly scampered for cover in the inner most parts of the Niger Delta creeks.

“Honestly, the ferocious Avengers are now desperately calling to surrender after seeing the president in that unusual military outfit. Some of the militants confided in me that that strange appearance gave an eerie reminder of Buhari’s regime as a military head of state in Nigeria over 30 years ago when all forms of decrees were in place to punish the slightest misconduct. So it was thought that with the manner some economic crime suspects are presently being locked in jail without due recourse to judicial prescriptions, the President may be coming after the militants with full force soon”, said the source.

Meanwhile, the Nigerian government has continued its engagements with thought leaders from the Niger Delta region, who have been visiting the president in the Villa in a bid to achieving “technical victory” over any enemy of the state, as seen in the government’s “technical defeat” of the Boko Haram, and in ensuring peace across the land.
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Odein Ajumogobia, former minister of state for petroleum resources, says reports that he had agreed to represent Niger Delta militants in a dialogue with the federal government are not accurate.

The former Rivers state attorney-general said he does not know the alleged perpetrators of attacks on oil installations and had not offered to serve as their representative in the planned dialogue.

Ajumogobia, who was appointed minister of foreign affairs after serving as junior petroleum minister from 2007-2010, said it was true he got a call from someone claiming to represent the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) but it was a different conversation they had.

AJUMOGOBIA’S STATEMENT IN FULL

My attention has been drawn to widespread reports in the media claiming that I have agreed to participate in negotiations with the Federal Government over the issue of attacks against oil installations in the Niger Delta on behalf of some of the alleged perpetrators of these actions or connected persons. This is not so. I wish to make it absolutely clear that I do not know the alleged perpetrators nor have I offered to serve as their representative in prospective discussions with the Federal Government in any capacity whatsoever.

I was recently contacted by someone who claimed to represent the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND). In that conversation the caller asked if I would be willing to participate in an initiative to find ways to end the attacks on oil installations through dialogue towards restoring peace and stability in the region.

My brief response was that if the Federal Government was genuinely interested in entering into discussions with credible parties who could help to facilitate such a dialogue to halt the actions that were undermining the social and economic stability of the region and the nation I would readily participate. In such an event I would seek to articulate the proper interests of all law abiding Nigerians generally and the ordinary people of the Niger Delta States, in particular.

I am not affiliated to or the official or legal representative of any particular group and I am certainly not an advocate of the unstated demands or actions of any insurgent organisations.

SGD. H. Odein Ajumogobia SAN

Odein Ajumogobia, former minister of state for petroleum resources, says reports that he had agreed to represent Niger Delta militants in a dialogue with the federal government are not accurate.

The former Rivers state attorney-general said he does not know the alleged perpetrators of attacks on oil installations and had not offered to serve as their representative in the planned dialogue.

Ajumogobia, who was appointed minister of foreign affairs after serving as junior petroleum minister from 2007-2010, said it was true he got a call from someone claiming to represent the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) but it was a different conversation they had.

AJUMOGOBIA’S STATEMENT IN FULL

My attention has been drawn to widespread reports in the media claiming that I have agreed to participate in negotiations with the Federal Government over the issue of attacks against oil installations in the Niger Delta on behalf of some of the alleged perpetrators of these actions or connected persons. This is not so. I wish to make it absolutely clear that I do not know the alleged perpetrators nor have I offered to serve as their representative in prospective discussions with the Federal Government in any capacity whatsoever.

I was recently contacted by someone who claimed to represent the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND). In that conversation the caller asked if I would be willing to participate in an initiative to find ways to end the attacks on oil installations through dialogue towards restoring peace and stability in the region.

My brief response was that if the Federal Government was genuinely interested in entering into discussions with credible parties who could help to facilitate such a dialogue to halt the actions that were undermining the social and economic stability of the region and the nation I would readily participate. In such an event I would seek to articulate the proper interests of all law abiding Nigerians generally and the ordinary people of the Niger Delta States, in particular.

I am not affiliated to or the official or legal representative of any particular group and I am certainly not an advocate of the unstated demands or actions of any insurgent organisations.

SGD. H. Odein Ajumogobia SAN

The Lagos state government today closed down the operation of a new lotto firm, Naija Lottery, for running without an operating license and legal permits from the state.

The crackdown was carried out by some officers of the Lagos State Lotteries Board (LSLB), who were led by Mr. D.O Umaren and a team of armed personnel from the Lagos State Task Force.

The combined team arrived at the Naija Lottery office located in Jibowu area of Lagos state and moved to seal up the business which, they claimed, was operating illegally in Lagos state.

Initially the law enforcers confronted a bit of resistance from the security guards and an officer of the company who tried to stop them from gaining access to the premises.

Eventually, another staff member of the company intervened, and the LSBS team was allowed to conduct their enforcement duty.

Meanwhile a senior staff of Naija Lottery, simply identified as George, claimed that the business was duly operating under the law of Nigeria and had procured a license from the National Lottery Regulatory Commission which, he said, guarantees their services and lotto activities in any part of Nigeria.

Umaren countered the claims, saying that the company had failed to produce a license from the Lagos state’s regulatory board, which he said is the requirement of the law of the state before the commencement of a lotto business or any venture that is game-related.

He addded that anything contrary to the fulfillment of such requirement is a violation of the law and illegal.

In the meantime, Naija Lottery, the latest entrant into the business of lottery in Lagos state, who just launched last weekend has been advised to liase with the appropriate authorities and follow due process before it can re-open for business in Lagos state.

An insider, who preferred anonymity, has said that vested interests encouraged attack on a businessman at Abuja airport.

Speaking on the assault on Mr. Chidi Kanu, the CEO of VIKO Nigeria by some individuals reportedly identified as members of the Abuja Car Hire Association of Nigeria (ACHAN), the insider with the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), who have chosen not to be named for security reasons, alleged that some officials of the government’s agency are complicit in the circumstances that led to the severe beating metted out on the VIKO boss a week ago.

“It’s actually unfortunate that the VIKO boss, Chidi Kanu is a victim of an institutional decay that the new government is fighting. I can tell you without ambiguity that some officials of the FAAN who have their proxies as drivers at the Abuja airport who are also members of the Abuja Car Hire Association of Nigeria (ACHAN) instigated the attack on the gentleman, Kanu, based on the fact that they, the ACHAN operators, could not deliver the excellent services that kanu’s VIKO is rendering to air travellers who require vehicles to and fro their various destinations in Abuja. And as such the patronage for ACHAN was going down while VIKO continue to gain more grounds and attract customers. So the officials and the ACHAN guys orchestrated that heinous plan to get rid of VIKO and its owner by all means. And that’s sadly the reason for what happened to Kanu last Friday”, the source said.

The CEO of VIKO Nigeria, Chidi Kanu was on Friday, February 19, 2016 at Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport beaten to a pulp by a group of about 50 men.
The men were reportedly members of the Abuja Car Hire Association of Nigeria (ACHAN).

Kanu’s Viko also runs a privately-owned car hire service business at the Abuja airport.

According reports, Kanu reportedly incurred the wrath of the ACHAN operators because his company VIKO “runs an innovative and organized free-return service at a very reasonable cost for customers who have a return-leg of an air ticket to their destinations after completing their activities in Abuja.”

Speaking to a team of journalists after the incident, Kanu said it was a clear attempt at murder just because he was trying to improve car hire services at a prime airport like Abuja, create jobs for the unemployed and help in lifting families out of poverty.

The businessman has, as a result of the ugly incident, urged the relevant security authorities to look into his case and bring the evil perpetrators to book, especially the leadership of the ACHAN, who spearheaded the attack while appealing to the federal government to improve security across the country and especially at the airports for the safety of the citizens and visitors to Nigeria.‎

And in similar way, the source at the FAAN has admonished the Minister of Transportation, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi, to constitute a panel that will conduct a through investigation on the matter, and on his allegation of complicity involving some FAAN officials and the ACHAN members.

“The best thing to be done is for the Minister of Transportation, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi to constitute a panel that will thoroughly investigate the attack on Kanu and also the moonlighting that has become part of some FAAN’s personnel’s engagement as well as the unethical practices between the FAAN officials and the ACHAN drivers”, he suggested.

Air travellers were left in utter shock and sent into panic mode as they saw a mob stop and attack a businessman at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja.

According to eyewitnesses, the victim, later identified as Mr. Chidi Kanu, CEO of Viko Nigeria, was pulled out of his car by a group of about 50 men who then pounced on him, beating him to a pulp on Friday, February 19, 2016.

The mob was identified as members of the Abuja Car Hire Association of Nigeria (ACHAN).

Kanu’s Viko Nigeria also runs a privately-owned car hire service at the Abuja airport.

According to reliable sources, all had not been well between Kanu and ACHAN following the latter’s disapproval of the former’s entrance into the car hire service business at the airport.

Sources say that Kanu incurred the wrath of the ACHAN operators because his company VIKO “runs an innovative and organized free-return service at a very reasonable cost for customers who have a return-leg of an air ticket to their destinations after completing their activities in Abuja.”

Apparently, the innovation endeared many travellers to VIKO which simultaneously fuelled resentment from other operators. And they have not been silent about their disapproval.

It was learnt the executives of ACHAN had, previously demonstrated disapproval and hatred over the right granted VIKO by FAAN to run car hire services at the Abuja airport. They had written series of protest letters to FAAN to stop VIKO from operating within the airport.

Each time, FAAN had affirmed the company’s right to legally operate in the airport. But the ACHAN operators would not be pacified.

Incidentally, Kanu had just left a meeting where he and representatives of ACHAN had entered a peace agreement to peacefully interact as they conduct their businesses at the airport when he was attacked.

The meeting, called by the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), had in attendance representatives of the security agencies such as the Nigeria Police Force, Airforce, DSS, FRSC, Immigration amongst others.

Speaking to a team of journalists after the incident, Kanu said it was a clear attempt at murder just because he was trying to improve car hire services at a prime airport like Abuja, create jobs for the unemployed and help in lifting families out of poverty.

“It is just by the grace of God that I am alive to speak with you here. I must say this is more of a testimony than a press briefing. Because what happened to me can only be best described as a narrow escape from death. My attackers, the ACHAN members, were actually set out to take my life. And this is just because I was trying to operate according to best practices, create employments and assist the government in its efforts to reducing poverty in the country”, a visibly shaken Kanu lamented.

Kanu also urged the relevant security authorities to look into his case and bring the evil perpetrators to book, especially the leadership of the ACHAN, who spearheaded the attack while appealing to the federal government to improve security across the country and especially at the airports for the safety of the citizens and visitors to Nigeria.

Air travellers were left in utter shock and sent into panic mode as they saw a mob stop and attack a businessman at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja.

According to eyewitnesses, the victim, later identified as Mr. Chidi Kanu, CEO of Viko Nigeria, was pulled out of his car by a group of about 50 men who then pounced on him, beating him to a pulp on Friday, February 19, 2016.

The mob was identified as members of the Abuja Car Hire Association of Nigeria (ACHAN).

Kanu’s Viko Nigeria also runs a privately-owned car hire service at the Abuja airport.

According to reliable sources, all had not been well between Kanu and ACHAN following the latter’s disapproval of the former’s entrance into the car hire service business at the airport.

Sources say that Kanu incurred the wrath of the ACHAN operators because his company VIKO “runs an innovative and organized free-return service at a very reasonable cost for customers who have a return-leg of an air ticket to their destinations after completing their activities in Abuja.”

Apparently, the innovation endeared many travellers to VIKO which simultaneously fuelled resentment from other operators. And they have not been silent about their disapproval.

It was learnt the executives of ACHAN had, previously demonstrated disapproval and hatred over the right granted VIKO by FAAN to run car hire services at the Abuja airport. They had written series of protest letters to FAAN to stop VIKO from operating within the airport.

Each time, FAAN had affirmed the company’s right to legally operate in the airport. But the ACHAN operators would not be pacified.

Incidentally, Kanu had just left a meeting where he and representatives of ACHAN had entered a peace agreement to peacefully interact as they conduct their businesses at the airport when he was attacked.

The meeting, called by the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), had in attendance representatives of the security agencies such as the Nigeria Police Force, Airforce, DSS, FRSC, Immigration amongst others.

Speaking to a team of journalists after the incident, Kanu said it was a clear attempt at murder just because he was trying to improve car hire services at a prime airport like Abuja, create jobs for the unemployed and help in lifting families out of poverty.

“It is just by the grace of God that I am alive to speak with you here. I must say this is more of a testimony than a press briefing. Because what happened to me can only be best described as a narrow escape from death. My attackers, the ACHAN members, were actually set out to take my life. And this is just because I was trying to operate according to best practices, create employments and assist the government in its efforts to reducing poverty in the country”, a visibly shaken Kanu lamented.

Kanu also urged the relevant security authorities to look into his case and bring the evil perpetrators to book, especially the leadership of the ACHAN, who spearheaded the attack while appealing to the federal government to improve security across the country and especially at the airports for the safety of the citizens and visitors to Nigeria.

Leeman Communications, a PR consultancy firm registered in Nigeria has described as untrue and untoward, a report by an online news, Sahara Reporters, linking the firm to the ongoing arms scandal for which the former National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki, is facing court charges.

In a statement by the PR agency, the spokesman for the agency, Mr. Bolaji Adegbite, described the report as a blackmail and irresponsible journalism.

“We are concerned about this report published by Sahara Reporters linking our work with the arms scandal. We simply did a legitimate business with the government in 2014. It’s not our job to decide for the government from which of its account payment for our contract should be authorized.

“The news medium has acted unprofessionally in reporting the story and dragging the name of our Executive Director, Mr Lekan Fatodu into it, despite available evidence that Leeman Communications is a legal entity with legal right to do business in the country.

“We wish to state that Leeman Communications did not receive a donation from the office of the National Security Adviser as being cunningly puts out in a different manner by Sahara Reporters.

“Leeman Communications was not a front for Mr. Femi Fani-Kayode or any individual. There was no connection between our work with him and the arms scandal.”

S HIGH AS N77.58 PER LITER IN 2011 AS SHOWN IN THE CHART 6 BELOW: FIGURE 2: SIGNIFICANT EVENTS IMPACTING ON PPPRA PRICING TEMPLATE AND SUBSIDY
3.2 FINANCIAL BURDEN OF PRICE REGULATION AND CASH-BASED SUBSIDY IN NIGERIA
Nigeria has fully experienced unprecedented evil of cash-based subsidy regime to the extent that its unsustainability is very glaring, given the continuous huge leakages associated with its implementation.
The implementation of cash based subsidy regime in Nigeria runs contrary to the equity maxim on double dipping.
It is instructive to note that the cash-based subsidy regime was intended to be an interventionist mechanism pending full deregulation of the downstream sector, however, Nigerians have come to accept it as the norm despite that is implementation has defied the law of equity and its impracticality in the midst of dwindling National revenue.
Considering the population of Nigeria, subsidizing the downstream sector over the years has been a very expensive fiscal burden, accounting for a huge chunk of the yearly budget and starving the Country of much needed funding for other vital sectors of the economy.
From inception of the PSF in 2006, the subsidy gap has risen from an average of N9.92 per liter to a

Based on the current average demand of 45 Million liters per day as reported by OPEC, this translates to about N1 Billion per day or N30 Billion per month of subsidy at the peak period.
However, it is estimated that total subsidy expenditure since the inception of the PSF fund from 2006 to 2014 amounts to about N8 trillion.
3.3 UNSUSTAINABILITY OF REGULATED PRICING IN NIGERIA
In developed countries the retail pump price for PMS is more than double that of Nigeria. This is because petroleum products are taxed appropriately, hence, the government derives revenue in the form of taxes. Whereas, in Nigeria, taxes of any guise (e.g. import tax, fuel tax, highway maintenance .etc.) are not levied. Perhaps the reason behind that is with a view not to further aggravate the EOMP and retail pump price.
The chart below shows a comparison of the current PMS prices in $ per liter for OPEC member countries:

scan 80005
CHART 7: OPEC COUNTRIES PMS RETAIL PRICE IN $/LITER

From chart 4 above, the current subsidized price for PMS in Nigeria is higher than most of its counterparts in OPEC, however, this information could be misleading from this perspective alone. The true picture can only be derived by examining a combination of macroeconomic factors such as population, petroleum product demand, refining capacity, GDP, National income, foreign reserves, public debt etc.
Scan9
CHART 8: POPULATION AND UNEMPLOYMENT RATES IN OPEC COUNTRIES AS AT 2014
Scan100004
CHART 9: FOREIGN RESERVES OF OPEC COUNTRIES IN BILLION $

Scan11110007
CHART 10: TOTAL PUBLIC DEBT OF OPEC COUNTRIES IN BILLION $

From the above, considering the current economic circumstances of Nigeria with a population of over 170 Million people, dwindling foreign reserves, depressing exchange rate to the US Dollar, saddled with a public debt of over $60 Billion and estimated petroleum subsidy in excess of N30 Billion per month is quite unsustainable.
Furthermore, if 50% of the actual subsidy outlay from 2006 to 2014 which equates to about N4 Trillion was utilized towards building new refineries, Nigeria would have been a net exporter of refined products by now as this could have increased domestic refining capacity by at least 1 Million barrels per day and secured additional PMS yield of 64 Million Liters per day. Based on the current estimates for National demand for PMS this would have generated a PMS export of 10 – 20 Million Liters per day.
4.0 PRICE DEREGULATION
Attempts have been made in the past to fully deregulate the downstream sector to allow market forces to determine petroleum product prices, while creating savings for the Federal Government for funding of key capital projects. However, these have been unsuccessful due to resistance from the public as experienced in early 2013.
Nevertheless, the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) which is currently before the National Assembly intends to address the challenge of deregulation of the downstream as well as other interventions to bolster the oil and gas industry for improved National revenue, but until such time when the bill is passed by the National Assembly the downstream oil sector still remains in a confused state to operators, potential investors and consumers.
5.0 CASE STUDY OF OTHER COUNTRIES
Many countries have attempted to reform their petroleum subsidies, with varying degrees of success. The motivations behind these reforms includes desire to reduce fiscal expenditure, improve energy efficiency or to reduce air urban pollution and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. However, if poorly planned and executed, the removal of subsidies can cause adverse economic, social or environmental repercussions as a result of higher energy prices. Governments that implement subsidy reform haphazardly will pay a high political price. Successful subsidy reform requires the permanent removal of subsidies, while reducing the short-term impacts of de-subsidization. Each country contemplating subsidy reform faces different challenges, depending on the nature of the subsidy to be reformed, its role in the economy and national circumstances.
Countries committed to phasing out inefficient fossil-fuel subsidies over the medium term to improve energy efficiency and security, boost investment in clean energy sources and address climate change. Some governments simply “seize the day” when an opportunity to reform arises, such as when falling prices present an opportunity to remove assistance. However, such reforms are unlikely to result in permanent change unless policies are put in place to prevent backsliding as decision-makers come under political pressure for renewed subsidization.
5.1 CASE OF INDONESIA
Indonesia is the biggest oil producer in South East Asia, though due to decline in production of crude oil they became a net importer of oil from 2004 and subsidized domestic supply of petroleum products at 3% of GDP and about 30% of their National budget.
This was obviously unsustainable. Quite similar to the Nigerian experience, attempts by the government to remove subsidy was greeted with mass revolt from the public and eventually resulted in unpleasant consequences for the government.
Subsequently, Indonesia was able to reduce its subsidies through public enlightenment and aggressive social programs to help the economy cope with higher prices, such as Increase in tax-free threshold for income tax, exemption of VAT on agricultural commodities, reduction in interest rates, removal of certain road and transportation charges, basic health care packages, educational assistance and food aid for the poor.
5.2 CASE OF GHANA
In 2004, the Ghanaian government spent about 2.2% of GDP on subsidy of petroleum products and by 2005 the government concluded that this was not sustainable.
An Independent Poverty and Social Impact Assessment was conducted to ascertain how the populace would be affected by deregulation and devised a strategic plan for its implementation and in February 2005 the government increased prices by 50%. Ghana finally removed it subsidy on petroleum product price (retaining foreign exchange differentials only) in July 2014.
During the journey to deregulation, Ghana took essential steps in alleviating the suffering of the masses in other ways such as eliminating fees for state-owned primary and secondary schools, overhauling the public transportation sector and putting a cap on fares, raising minimum wage, improving primary health care services and expansion of rural electrification schemes.
5.3 CASE OF IRAN
The Iranian case is quite unique in the sense that the government opted for direct cash payment to its citizens to compensate for the removal of subsidy as against spending on other aspects of the economy to reduce the impact of higher fuel prices.
This programs was carefully planned in advance prior to the removal of subsidy and eligible citizens were able to apply with new bank accounts created specifically to receive their entitlement. Though the government had to ramp up the banking sector through expansion of ATM machines and other infrastructure. The program was successful and reached over 80% of the Iranian population.
6.0 CONCLUSION/WAY FORWARD FOR SEAMLESS PRODUCTS SUPPLY IN NIGERIA
We have in the forgoing pointed out that cash-based petroleum subsidy is expensive and inefficient as it encourages wasteful consumption, fosters double take against acknowledged equity maxim and creates unbearable financial burden on government budgets which competes disproportionately with provisions of essential infrastructures in the Country.
Considering the above, the way forward to curtail fuel scarcity and encourage private sector participation in crude oil refining in order to increase the refining capacity of the Nation in the long run and free up funds used for subsidy payments by the Federal Government are as follows:
1. The full deregulation of the downstream sector. It is important to emphasize that what the Nigerian masses are afraid of is not the mere economic terminology called deregulation, the fear is abuse in terms of profiteering post-deregulation regime. It is our strong view that performance contract with the duo of DPR and PPPRA (Industry technical and commercial regulators) can address that.
2. Passage of PIB to give deregulation the force of law.
3. Partial privatization of NNPC refineries for optimum utilization of the domestic crude allocation, where Government owns not beyond 30% equity being strategic assets and the rest owned by private investors.
4. Immediate policy on National strategic reserve as obtained in advance economies. This is necessary because energy security is an appendage of National security. It however has cost implications in terms of establishing and maintaining the strategic reserve.
5. Expanding the jetty’s reception facilities to allow Long Range (LR) vessels with lower freight cost per MT through construction of offshore Single Point Mooring (SPMs) and the dredging of ports by NPA to improve draft limitation across the Nigerian coast and reduce/eliminate transhipment and demurrage costs.
6. Encourage the private sector in establishing modular refineries.
7. Merge the commercial arm of DPR with PPPRA with a view to empower PPPRA to enforce pricing policy and effectively manage the post-deregulation regime and guard against excessive price escalation.
8. Rehabilitate aging and dilapidated NNPC oil pipelines and depot facilities.
9. Implement open access regime for critical downstream oil and gas assets to improve access to reception logistics and distribution of petroleum products Nationwide.
10. Implement programs that encourage the use of cleaner and cheaper sources of energy like LPG as an alternative to kerosene as done in India, solar energy for power and the use of hybrid vehicles.
11. Improve National power supply in order to reduce consumption of fuel by generators. This would have a ripple effect on cost of goods and services, Investment and employment.
12. Accelerate bulk and cheaper alternative for transportation infrastructure projects such as rail, which could also serve a cheaper alternative for transporting and distributing petroleum products.
13. Accelerate development of cheaper alternative (rail system) for bulk transportation of petroleum products throughout the Country.
CULLED FROM POLIGIST.COM
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2.0 STATUS OF STORAGE AND LOGISTICS FACILITIES IN NIGERIAN DOWNSTREAM SECTOR
2.1 NNPC DOWNSTREAM LOGISTICS FACILITIES
NNPC/PPMC has over 5,000 KM of pipeline network connected to the three (3) national refineries with installed capacity of 445,000 barrel/day, 21 storage depots with 2.2 Billion Liters product capacity (PMS: 1.5 Billion Liters), 21 pump stations, 7 jetties and 8 LPG butanization plants.
The jetties at Atlas Cove, Apapa, Okrika, Calabar and Warri are very critical to the successful operation of PPMC coastal movement of vessels to convey petroleum products to the designated coastal depots.
However, the poor state of the jetties consistently hampers the evacuation and movement of bulk petroleum products by marine vessels. This is mainly as a result of the shallow draft of the jetties, which only allows for the reception of vessels with limited capacity. Furthermore, the bureaucracy in government agencies granting clearances to discharge petroleum products at the jetties is a major bottleneck in the smooth supply and distribution of petroleum products, not to mention the financial impact the delays cause the industry in form of aggravated demurrage and high freight rates.
NNPC’s storage depots suffer under capacity utilization, because majority of the connecting pipeline network are unavailable due to age of the pipelines and incessant vandalism. Although, significant progress was recently recorded in curbing the activities of vandals, specifically along pipeline segments of system 2B following the deployment of the Nigerian Armed Forces to secure the pipelines, however, due to insufficiency of logistics and the difficult terrain (creeks and swampy areas) of some pipeline segments, the vandals continued to perpetrate their criminal activities leading to total shutdown of pumping operations sometimes across the Corporation’s critical supply and distribution network with attendant negative consequences on the country.
The challenge has over the years resulted in NNPC/PPMC relying heavily on 3rd party storage facility owners to facilitate bulk distribution of petroleum products on its behalf on throughput basis at huge cost often attributed as part of loss by NNPC.
Nonetheless, even if the current Nation’s refineries were well maintained and operated at full capacity it is still inadequate as the combined installed refining capacity has stagnated at 445,000 barrels per day since 1980 when population was about 68 Million. Population has more than doubled since then to about 178 Million as often quoted by policy analysts, this divergence between population growth and refining capacity is depicted in the chart 4 below:

there is clearly an urgent need to increase the Nation’s domestic refining capacity as Nigeria has the lowest refining capacity per capita with 445,000 barrels/day to 178 Million people, while, Saudi Arabia has almost 3 Million barrels/day to only 31 Million people.
2.1.1 OPPORTUNITY COST OF DOMESTIC REFINING CAPACITY EXPANSION VERSUS EXPENDITURE ON CASH-BASED SUBSIDY REGIME
The table below depicts both actual and estimated costs of constructing brand new refineries with installed capacities ranging from 40,000 to over 600,000 barrels/day, with a view to deriving the number of brand new refineries and additional domestic refining capacity that could be achieved with the sum of N8 Trillion being the total amount expended on petroleum subsidies from 2006 to 2014.
S/N Name Capacity Cost ($) Cost (N) Remark
1 Pakistan State Oil Islamabad 40,000BPD $600M (Est.)
Final cost TBD after feasibility studies N119.34B (with N8 Trillion, 67 refineries of 40,000 B/d could be constructed with combined capacity of 2.7 MB/d) • Expected to be fully commissioned in 2016/2017

2 Ugandan Petroleum Refinery 60,000BPD $2.5B (Est.)
Final cost TBD after feasibility studies N497.3B (with N8 Trillion, 16 refineries of 60,000 B/d could be constructed with combined capacity of 960,000 B/d) • Construction will start in 2015
• By 2017 production will start with 30,000BPD
• Full production of 60,000BPD starts in 2019
3 BYCO Oil Petroleum Ltd. Pakistan 120,000BPD Above $750m as at 2012 N149.18B (with N8 Trillion, 53 refineries of 120,000 B/d could be constructed with combined capacity of 6.4 MB/d) • Commissioned in 2014
• First stage of production is 50,000BPD as at 2014
• Next Phase is 90,000BPD
• Final stage is 120,000
4 Dangote Refinery Complex 650,000BPD $11B (Est.) N2.2TR (with N8 Trillion, 4 refineries of 650,000 B/d could be constructed with combined capacity of 2.6 MB/d) • Expected to come on stream by end of 2016
• Includes a fertilizer plant
5 Jamnagar Refinery (Owned By Reliance Industries)
668,000BPD $6B N1.2TR (with N8 Trillion, 6 refineries of 668,000 B/d could be constructed with combined capacity of 4.5 MB/d) • Commissioned in 1999
• built within 36 months
CBN EXCHANGE RATE AS AT 30TH NOVEMBER 2015 – $1= N198.9
The table above illustrating the various cost of building brand new refineries reveals the opportunity cost in terms of possible domestic refining capacity expansion lost by Nigeria in favour of cash-based subsidy regime implementation, aside the derivative incomes from petrochemical industries and employment opportunities for a host of unemployed Nigerians
2.2 PRIVATE SECTOR OWNED DOWNSTREAM LOGISTICS FACILITIES
Private sector participation and investment in the downstream sector has thrived over the years. This is largely attributable to the enactment of the local content act in the Country.
There are over 70 tank farms scattered along the Nigerian coast with over 2 Billion liters product capacity (PMS: over 1 Billion liters), over 7,000 filling stations and 28,000 trucks.
Remarkably, the nation has adequate and operational infrastructure in the downstream sector, however, the integrity of the public facilities are constantly being compromised by vandals, poor maintenance due to a host of reasons ranging from poor planning to constraints of fund. On the other hand, the private sector facilities in the downstream sector are suffering from under capacity utilization arising from financial constraints to maximally operate the asset in supporting the economy.
3.0 PRICE REGULATION AND CASH BASED SUBSIDY REGIME IN NIGERIA
3.1 COMPLEXITIES IN PETROLEUM PRODUCTS PRICING UNDER A REGULATED REGIME
The pricing of petroleum products (specifically PMS) is driven by eighteen (18) cost elements as published in the PPPRA product pricing template. It is important to emphasize that majority of the cost elements are dynamic in nature and respond to the international crude oil and products markets, hence, are uncontrollable and are based on import parity pricing principle. For instance, the product cost exhibits linearity with the crude cost and constitutes about 65% – 75% of the total Expected Open Market Price (EOMP), therefore, any slight movement in this cost element significantly impacts the EOMP.
Subsidy in the context of the pricing template is the difference between the EOMP and approved retail price (or the difference between the landing cost and Ex-depot price). Therefore, whenever government makes slight change in the retail pump price, it translates into reduction or increase in subsidy element without necessarily changing all other elements of the pricing template. As previously highlighted, changes in exchange rates between the Naira and US Dollar as well as access to foreign currency at CBN rates have a significant impact on the subsidy cost itself, exposes importers to transactional currency risk (i.e. difference in exchange rate between time of petroleum product import and subsidy settlement), aggravates the landing cost and erodes operator’s margins.
Nevertheless, there are some controllable cost elements which are fixed based on the inherent economic realities of importing petroleum products into the Country. It is equally vital to note that the controllable cost elements are directly or indirectly linked to other sectors of the economy, for example, the financing cost element is a function of interest rates arising from CBN Monetary Policy Rate (MPR) and commercial bank lending rates. It is expected that in post-deregulation regime, the government via the commercial regulator (PPPRA) would enthrone policies that will positively impact the controllable cost elements to bring about reduction in landing cost and the EOMP of petroleum products.
The pie above illustrates the average percentage contribution of the various cost elements for January to August 2015
CHART 5: AVERAGE % CONTRIBUTION OF COST ELEMENTS IN PPPRA PRICING TEMPLATE FROM JAN. – AUG. 2015
Figure 2 depicts the significant events that have affected the cost elements on the PPPRA pricing template over the last 5 years with attendant impact on retail pump prices and subsidy obligations of government.
CULLED FROM POLIGIST,COM
www.poligist.com/towardsseamlesspetroleum/

1.0 Introduction
In recent times, in the face of efforts by the NNPC and the relevant subsidiaries, the general public have been grappling with needless trauma of petroleum products scarcity and the attendant long queues at the retail pump stations. As the seventh largest crude oil producer and exporter of crude oil after Venezuela, it has remained paradoxical that the nation should be experiencing such.
Incidentally, economic activities in the country revolves around fuel supply as the predominant source of energy. Hence, the impact of fuel scarcity is felt by almost every citizen. The economic loss to the nation in times of scarcity are so enormous and impacts negatively on the gross national income in terms of productivity loss or unrealizable income.
It is in the light of the two parameters – productivity loss and unrealizable income, especially at a time of depressed national revenue occasioned by the downward swing in the international price of crude oil that this piece attempts a comprehensive look at issues around subsidy implementation in Nigeria ranging from the historical perspective to price regulation, comparison of the Nigeria’s performance with other OPEC nations, the role of the National Oil Corporation (NNPC), the opportunity cost of expending about N8 Trillion on subsidy from Jan. 2006 to Dec. 2014, the unsustainability of price regulation in Nigeria and way forward for seamless petroleum product supply in the Country.
1.1 OIL: ENERGY SOURCE WITH MULTIPLIER SECTORAL EFFECT ON THE ECONOMY
The crisis of petroleum product (PMS) scarcity in Nigeria with its attendant negative consequences on the economy is quite complex and multifaceted, largely due to the fact that almost all economic activities in the Country revolve around the oil and gas sector.
it is evident that any disruption in crude oil production has negative impact on volume of crude oil for domestic refining and government revenues, this in turn erodes the amount of funds available to the three (3) tiers of government as well as supply of foreign currency to service the economy, of which the private players in the petroleum sector and indeed importers of goods and services heavily depend to provide goods and services for the Nigerian populace. In a nutshell, scarcity of petroleum products is inimical to the Nigerian economy, in the form of disruption to supply of energy, transportation and multiplier effect on prices of goods and services.
1.2 HISTORICAL BACKGROUND TO PETROLEUM PRODUCTS PRICE REGULATION IN NIGERIA
Prior to the Petroleum Products Decree of 1969, petroleum products prices were determined by the market as exchange rates of the Naira were relatively stable. Subsequently, petroleum products prices were fixed by marketers in agreement with Government. The Country was divided into 26 Zones from distances between points of supply and the respective zones of distribution. In other words, prices were set differentially for each zone.

The challenge of petroleum products pricing and indeed subsidy started from the 1st of October 1973 when uniform pricing was introduced. This gave rise to reluctance of petroleum marketers to distribute products or expand facilities beyond the main supply sources in the southern part of the country leading to perennial scarcity in other areas. To resolve this challenge, the Petroleum Equalisation Fund (PEF) was established in 1975 to reimburse petroleum marketers for transportation of petroleum products from point of supply to all parts of the country.

While, the design of PEF arrangement appears a good initiative on paper, the reality has negated the achievement of the objective, as consumers from inner parts of the country hardly purchase products at government regulated prices inspite of the huge expenditures on settlement of bridging and equalization claims.

However, from 1986 following the introduction of the Structural Adjustment Programme and rapid devaluation of the Naira the pricing of petroleum products has been grossly problematic with continuous upward reviews and subsequent downward reviews to quench public protests and labour strikes to avoid disruption in the economy.

It is important to note that prior to 2004, the NNPC being the petroleum products supplier of last resort was allocated crude oil for domestic consumption of petroleum products at a fixed price of $22/barrel, but due to windfalls and high volatility in international crude oil prices and the reciprocal impact on petroleum products supply, the NNPC was mandated to pay export parity for the domestic crude oil allocations at International open market price.
This was followed with the establishment of the Petroleum Support Fund (PSF) to reimburse petroleum products suppliers including NNPC with the differential between the landing cost and government regulated ex-depot price.
The Petroleum Support Fund (PSF) commenced in January 2006 as an interventionist mechanism to mitigate against price volatility in the international market and unintended translation of same to a permanent feature in the Nigerian downstream petroleum sector. However, with the attendant huge financial burden on the economy, aided by the unmitigated leakages associated with subsidy implementation in spite of the alarming depression of the price of crude oil in the international market, it has become a scourge to government finances and the economy as a whole.
1.3 NATIONAL DEMAND FOR PMS
Updated data on petroleum products discharges from PPPRA indicate that the current daily National consumption of PMS is about 53 Million Liters, which equates to about 19.3 Billion Liters per annum. It is important to note that previously, the figure of 40 Million liters per day was used as the basis for daily National consumption of PMS by the PPPRA and indeed all other government agencies in the oil and gas sector.
Nevertheless, actual figures of total PMS supply (i.e. Imports and Refinery production) between 2013 and June 2015 from DPR indicates that an average of 50 Million Liters per day is consumed, while OPEC in its annual statistic bulletin for 2015 reported that an average annual PMS demand of 45 Million Liters per day.
At the moment, given the controversy surrounding the exact National demand figure, there is the need to establish a valid benchmark for National PMS demand for proper planning and decision making as it affect the downstream petroleum sector.
1.3.1 POWER SHORTAGE AND DOMESTIC DEMAND FOR PETROLEUM PRODUCTS
At the moment, Nigeria is said to be generating 3,500 megawatts into the power grid, while, Nigerian businesses and households generate an additional 2500 megawatts from diesel and petrol generators. Also, about 20% of the national daily consumption of PMS for running of petrol generators (Source: Nigerian Oil and Gas Conference 2015).
Furthermore, the Community Research and Development Center (CREDC) estimates that Nigerians spend over N796 Billion annually on diesel and PMS for the purpose of running power generating sets. Of this amount, about N256 Billion is expended on PMS alone.
Assuming the current retail pump price of PMS at N87 per liter, we can estimate that the average volume of PMS consumed by petrol generator sets in Nigeria is about 8 Million liters per day. This represents about 15 – 20% of the National consumption.
scan oil2
CHART 1: ELECTRICITY ACCESS BY OPEC COUNTRIES AS AT 2013
SOURCE: IEA WORLD ENERGY OUTLOOK 2015 ELECTRICITY DATABASE
As illustrated in chart 1 above, Nigeria has the highest number of people living without electricity among OPEC countries. Also, the National electrification rate of Nigeria is less than 50% compared to most OPEC member countries which have an average National electrification rate of 99% excluding Angola which is 30%.
1.4 NNPC/PPMC PETROLEUM PRODUCTS SUPPLIER OF LAST RESORT
NNPC/PPMC besides its other business objectives, also plays the role of the supplier of last resort as well as a stabilizing force in petroleum products supply to the domestic market.

NNPC/PPMC is allocated 445,000 barrels of crude oil per day for the purpose of supplying the domestic market with refined products. This volume of crude oil is based on the combined installed capacity of the Nation’s refineries, with estimated gross PMS yield of about 19 Million liters per day of petroleum products, while the gap between the domestic refinery production and estimated National consumption is expected to be bridged through imports by NNPC and other marketers approved by the PPPRA.

However, due to experienced delays in Turn Around Maintenance (TAM), pipeline vandalism and lack of feed stock (Crude oil supply), the refineries have experienced long periods of downtime leading to accelerated degradation of plants and equipments, hence, the refineries could not operate at full capacity. Consequently, this created a supply gap in meeting the national products consumption requirement as Nigeria became a huge net importer of refined products as depicted in the charts below:
Nigeria has the highest deficit as net importer of PMS among OPEC nations followed by the UAE, while the highest net exporter of PMS is Ecuador.

Given the necessity to address this core issue, NNPC/PPMC then commenced petroleum products importation on the basis of open account through tender from reliable Oil Trading companies. However, NNPC/PPMC started witnessing default in deliveries when most of the contracted companies defaulted in performance, especially around the winter months, citing reasons of high cost of products and vessels’ freights for non-performance. This resulted in severe fuel scarcity especially in 2009/2010 with its attendant negative consequences on the Nigerian economy.

Therefore, in order to mitigate such vulnerability in price and shortages in products availability and guarantee steady supply to the market, NNPC/PPMC entered into Offshore Processing Arrangements and Crude Exchange Agreements (SWAP) where 210,000 barrels/day of domestic crude oil is allocated to the contracted operators.

Incidentally, the latest policy direction of Direct Sale Direct Purchase (DSDP) by implication reverts NNPC supply model to open account products supply mechanism, while the limitations of the model based on institutional memory will hopefully be addressed.
1.5 INVOLVEMENT OF MAJOR/INDEPENDENT MARKETERS
Major and Independent marketers like NNPC are expected to fulfil their PPPRA allocated volumes through direct importation of petroleum products to close the supply gap as earlier highlighted.

Obviously, these are business people whose utmost objective is to maximise profit. Therefore, it is expected that all financial risks must be taken into account prior to fulfilling their obligation to supply in accordance with their PPPRA allocated volume.

Over the years, this inclination has often been expressed in the form of meeting supply obligations only when market conditions are favourable to profit. This practice in itself creates disruptions in the market, such as the PMS supply glut experienced in most of 2013, scarcity in early 2014 and the current crisis which started in early 2015.

It is important to note that the root cause of marketer’s unwillingness to supply their quota of petroleum products at this material time is borne out of crisis of confidence in sustainability of subsidy implementation. In the belief of marketers , the crisis of confidence is compounded by the delays in payment of subsidy to marketers and insufficient releases of FOREX in the economy by CBN causing marketers to source FOREX at Interbank rates, leading to higher costs to finance importation of petroleum products. This is further exacerbated by differential between FOREX rate associated with PPPRA pricing template and current market realities, such as when the Naira losses significant value between the time of petroleum product importation and subsidy payment.

Incidentally, as government is battling with settlement of legacy subsidy obligations, the independent marketer (IPMAN) will equally be agitating for settlement of bridging and equalization claims from PEF aside unending demand for review of operator’s margins on PPPRA pricing template even in the face of widely acknowledged double dip practices associated with implementation of cash-based subsidy regime in Nigeria. Here lies the complexity and unsustainability of implementing smooth price regulation regime.

http://poligist.com/towardsseamlesspetroleum/
Culled from Poligist.com

With the Global Entrepreneurship Week coming up in December and the Africa Shapers Initiative marking it in Lagos on November 19, how far can innovative businesses shape the continent, writes Solomon Elusoji


Imagine for a moment that the new Finance Minister Kemi Adeosun hits his head in a domestic accident and goes into coma for six months. When she wakes up, it is fair bet that the first number she would ask for is Gross Domestic Product (GDP), the total value of all goods and services produced in an economy. Most economists do not agree that GDP is a comprehensive tool to measure an economy’s progress, but it is a good place to start.

Nigeria’s GDP figure, as at 2013, stands at some $521.8 billion, while South Africa’s is $350.6 billion. One can be quick to conclude that the Nigerian economy is more productive than South Africa’s, but that’s before you weigh in GDP per capita, the number of goods and services produced in an economy divided by the population of that economy. When that’s considered, South Africa has a GDP per capita of $6,617, while Nigeria’s is a meager $3,005, due to the latter’s mammoth population.

This is not to suggest that population is a bad thing. In fact, a large population is an incredible asset for a modern economy, but only when the development of human capital is prioritised. China epitomises this assertion, as it bullies its way to the top of the economic chain with sheer size. Nigeria, the largest black nation on earth, and the African continent, have a lot to learn from this.

However, over the past century, African leaders appear not to be paying attention to these lessons. The economy of most African countries is driven by relying on natural resources. Where there are no natural resources, economies operate on debt. Government revenue, usually, is diverted into private pockets, and the right investments in infrastructure and human capital are not made. This can only result in one thing – underdevelopment. In 2010, 414 million people were living in extreme poverty across sub-Saharan Africa. According to the World Bank, those living on $1.25-a-day accounted for 48.5 percent of the population in that region in 2010.

In recent times, efforts have been made to beef up the continent’s capacity to lift itself, and promoting entrepreneurship seems to be the best way to lift the continent. A significant initiative in this regard is the Tony Elumelu Entrepreneurship Programme (TEEP). TEEP is championed by one of Africa’s richest men, Tony Elumelu, through his Foundation, the Tony Elumelu Foundation (TEF). The mission of the programme is simple: to identify, grow and create 10,000 start-ups across Africa that have developed ingenious solutions for pressing economic challenges in their communities and countries; to improve lives, generate employment, and create prosperity and wealth.

“My personal commitment to this programme and to each and every one of you, coupled with your incredible energy and dedication, has been so profound that we have actually reoriented the focus of the entire Tony Elumelu Foundation to the cause of African entrepreneurship,” Elumelu told the first batch of entrepreneurs selected across Africa earlier in the year. “This effort is not just a programme: it is an act of faith in you to be successful Africa capitalists and engines for the creation of both economic and social wealth across Africa.”

Another of such projects is the African Shapers Initiative, which is a forward-looking action that is set out to acknowledge and engage the people and ideas that are shaping development in Africa towards increasing shared opportunities, promoting innovation and encouraging knowledge transfer on the continent.

According to the Initiative, in a press statement, “African countries must accelerate effort to support entrepreneurship on the continent in five different areas that include funding, education, policy, infrastructure and culture.”

As part of its efforts to contribute to the continent’s development, the Initiative is set to celebrate this year’s Global Entrepreneurship Week. In a statement, the Director, Africa Shapers, Lekan Fatodu, explained that the 2015 Global Entrepreneurship Week to be observed in Lagos will be held at Four Points by Sheraton on November 19.

According to him, the event will attract conference speakers that include Nigeria’s former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Odein Ajumogobia (SAN), the first Nigerian that delivered an Offshore Subsea Construction Vessel for oil and gas sector and the Chief Executive Officer of Marine Platforms, Mr. Taofik  Adegbite, a consummate businesswoman and Chief Executive Officer of Mojec International, Ms. Chantelle Abdul, the founder and CEO of the London-based Bright Entertainment Network (BEN) Television, Alistair Soyode, a Ugandan social crusader and the youngest African to be nominated for Nobel Prize, Victor Ochen and the Nigeria Police Spokesperson, an Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP), Bisi Kolawole who will speak on security framework for entrepreneurship growth in Africa.

Fatodu said: “Our continent must prepare to meet the opportunities of this century. Entrepreneurship will be the driver of change for the entire continent. That is the reason this conference is holding. There must be a platform for exchange of that idea and that is what African Shapers is known for.”

He added: “When Barack Obama visited Kenya recently for the Global Entrepreneurship Summit, GeoPoll, the world’s largest mobile survey platform surveyed 200 entrepreneurs per country in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, and South Africa, asking them what resources are most needed to encourage entrepreneurship, what programs they have participated in to improve their businesses, and what are the biggest challenges facing new businesses, they all talked about financial resources, better facilities and services, and government support to alleviate the challenges new businesses face.

“We know that starting a business is both fun and exciting but at the same time it can be extremely hard and complex. Many first-time founders get discouraged when looking at the survival rates of new startups, and fear the societal pressures of what might happen if they fail. This is the gap that African Shapers is trying to fill by providing mentors and educators who can help by enabling the founders to regain their self-confidence and providing them with tangible tools to overcome the typical barriers.”

Fatodu explained further that “the event will also create opportunity to discuss the recent adoption of sustainable development goal by the United Nations as a way of ensuring that we create responsible businesses on the continent in our quest for enduring entrepreneurship.”

Just like GDP as a measure of economic progress, entrepreneurship is not the panacea for Africa’s problems, but it is a good place to start.

The Federal House of Representatives, after a long and almost unending battle on who to occupy prime leadership positions to serve as presiding officers of the House, seems to have settled for work now. But before you get it twisted, you must know that the work isn’t actually the real legislative assignment for which millions of Nigerians from across the geo-political zones of the country voted for the members of the House. Their mandate is clear: deepen genuine representation on salient issues of national interest, contribute to good governance through sound legislation and be alive to oversight functions on government Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs).

But to the dismay of many a Nigerian, some parliamentarians, as members of various committees in the lower assembly, have displayed gross misplacement of priority. In place of their constitutional oversight functions, these ‘honourables’ have launched a ‘forensic investigation’ into the Nigeria National Petroleum Company’s (NNPC) Oil swap deals. And that seems to be a noble idea except that a number of agencies exists mainly for such duties. Sadly though, most of the investigations conducted in the past by the lower house haven’t yielded any positive result with direct impact on Nigerians.

Many of such investigations, in addition to public hearings, have been held in the past with little or nothing to show for them. Previously, the house has constituted different committees on varying oil and gas issues and the committees have produced reports from statements of hundreds of witnesses and about 2, 500 volumes of documents taken in evidence from both the regulators and top operators in the industry.

Yet, those otherwise credit-worthy steps have been dogged with controversies and scandalous allegations. Of particular reference is the Farouk Lawan-led House of Representatives ad-hoc committee constituted to probe the subsidy regime in 2012. After what many Nigerians had thought would be a watershed in the country’s oil sector reforms, the entire nation was shocked by a scandalous revelation: the chief reformer had soiled his hands, or so it was alleged.

All was almost set when a major oil marketer, Femi Otedola publicly alleged that the chairman of the ad-hoc committee, Farouk Lawan, had demanded a $3m bribe from him. This claim was substantiated by an audio recording of their conversations.

Incidentally, the spokesman of the House of Representative at the time, Zakari Mohammed, who assured Nigerians that the House of Representatives would ensure the implementation of the report of the Lawan-led committee, when adopted, chairs the current ad-hoc committee on refined product exchange agreement / crude oil swap that is seeking for a new “forensic investigation” into the activities of an aspect of the oil industry and aiming to “expose corruption, inefficiency or waste in the operations of the SWAP agreement…” as said in a full page advertorial published in a national newspaper.

To me, it is actually sheer waste of precious legislative hours and taxpayers’ resources to embark on an endeavour that will amount to waste as the past undertakings have proven. Why should the House continue to delve on investigation if not for racketeering as believed in many quarters?

Not a few Nigerians believe that most of the hearings conducted by these various committees are smokescreens to negotiate kickback and to service the pecuniary desire of the committee members. Not surprisingly, some of these standing committees have become great money-spinners, albeit illegal ones, making them do-or-die pursuits for many legislators. Subsequently, many of the reports of such committees end up in the legislative archives or library (if there is anything of such in practical sense) or in the bin of history where they actually prepared it for.

Honestly, I do not see any sense in earmarking our scarce resources for a “forensic investigation” especially when it is already common knowledge that the Presidency in conjunction with the relevant state’s security agencies, which according to reliable reports, are in concert with foreign security operatives, has set out to unravel the fraud that went down in the name of the SWAP scheme and subsequently prosecute any individuals or organisations found to have defaulted.

It is most baffling that our legislators have taken needless journeys into the oily streams when the entities that have the genuine mandate to perform such duties are already at work. And we, ever-trusting Nigerians, are here yearning for life-changing legislations from our legislators.

By now, I suppose the House of Representatives should know that she cannot be trusted with any effort to examine either the downstream sector or the upstream sector of the Nigerian oil and gas industry. That is because her past attempts in similar direction did not yield any good or meaningful outcome. Instead, not only did such efforts failed woefully but they also brought shame and disrepute to the hollowed chamber. And that was after millions of taxpayers’ funds had been expended on sitting arrangements and all-what-not.

Seriously, it is high time we had a rethink and get the boys to the real and very crucial legislative works for which they were voted in the first instance, rather than the constitution of any self-profiting committee.

By Lekan Fatodu

The former Governor of Lagos State and National Leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Tinubu is undoubtedly a man running on enormous wits.

According to those close to him, Tinubu’s uncanny knack for solving complex problems, especially when others are at crossroads is his greatest weapon of influence and power.

Feelers had it that, in the run up to the 2015 Presidential election, a watershed that paved the way for the first victory of the opposition against a ruling party in Nigeria’s history, Tinubu as the leader of the then leading opposition party (ACN) had used his influence to rally other fragmented parties in the opposition to form what would later become the most formidable and biggest opposition party (APC) which eventually wrest power from the incumbent PDP in April this year.

It was also remarked that as part of the moves towards achieving this feat, Tinubu aggressively advocated a bloodless revolution which he aptly christened ‘common sense revolution’. This revolution, he posited, would be achieved through a peaceful agitation for a change, and for a better Nigeria.

He followed his conviction on the practicability of this variant of revolution with a 40-page book titled - Common Sense Revolution.  In it, he highlighted some of the challenges faced by Nigerians and Nigeria, and provided many socio-political and economic interventions through which the myriads of problems bedeviling Nigeria can be effectively tackled.

The Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo,  (he was, at the time the book was published, the Vice Presidential Candidate of the All Progressives Congress) submitted in the foreword of the book that: “This nation needs to return to decency and straightforward, common sense way of resolving our challenges”.

Prof. Osinbajo also added that: “This document (the Common Sense Revolution book) along with the manifesto of the All Progressives Congress (APC) will become the milestones of progressive ideals in our nation”.

While juxtaposing these profound pronouncements with the latest political development in the country particularly in the new “House of Change” (the 8th National Assembly), one can conveniently glean some obvious contradictions between the ideals the newly elected officials proclaimed ever so loudly in the days preceding the elections and the path they now seem to be headed with their current posturing and leadership crisis. 

Therefore, it may be safe to say that the principles that would uphold sound progressivism in Nigeria could be short-changed by some pretentious reactionaries that could frustrate the spread of such lofty ideals if pragmatic decisions and pro-people reforms are not urgently accorded priority.

Truly, in saner climes and as elaborately espoused in the book, there are actions that should ordinarily be dictated by the application of simple propriety both by leaders and the citizens. That our leaders are duty-bound to deliver, at the least, on basic services to the people is, of course, a matter of plain common sense; and that we, the citizens, should be provoked to action when we are taken for a ride by a government we voted into power is, by all means, a matter of elementary cognition.

Requirements such as the foregoing are called a no-brainer! The predilection for good deeds doesn’t demand grueling mental exertion or technical know-how from the political opportunists who parade our national life and in whose hands the key to the nation’s treasury has, unfortunately, been entrusted.

That Nigerians are seriously in need of stable electricity, better hospitals, good roads, sound educational system and other necessities favoured by plain common sense which, of course, should be the drive of any reasonable government is an incontrovertible fact.


In fact, the greatest onslaught on the common sense of the generality of Nigerians is the body language of the crop of politicians who presently sit at the National Assembly and are already getting itchy and ready to bamboozle the Revenue Mobilization Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) into validating their preposterous allowances even under the current harsh economic climate.  

Some of the well-meaning politicians, policy-makers, and technocrats who sacrificed all in making this new government a reality should know that their apparent ambivalence and taciturnity in the face of their colleagues’ indecency and insensitivity is not healthy in the early life of Buhari’s administration. It is what Professor Wole Soyinka alluded to in The Man Died. To keep silence in the face of oppression is to allow a more dangerous thing to happen.

If truly, as Prof. Osinbajo was earlier quoted, the common sense document and the APC’s manifesto run in tandem, then the APC’s lieutenants, especially the beneficiaries of the electoral capital of the persuasion of change who apparently gave allegiance to the agenda of the party during the campaign, should be urgently called to order and made to re-dedicate themselves to the true service of the people.

It is instructive to note that the propagation of “common sense” as an ideal for social justice and change has been successfully experimented by some visionary leaders in the advanced democracies of Europe and North America. Actually a pamphlet, with the same name, released by a renowned English-American political activist, Thomas Paine in 1776 was regarded as the intellectual and ideological fire that largely ignited the call for the liberation of the Colonies from the British Empire and led to the American independence.


Now that Nigerians have equally responded to the push of Common Sense through the successful enthronement of a new government, the task before Tinubu and the direct beneficiaries of this popular mandate who currently occupy several political offices is to really make sense in their words and deeds.

The vote for change and support for the Common Sense Revolution wasn’t a vote for public officers and “Change-agents” who can not make personal sacrifices of buying their newspapers, toothbrushes, bathroom flip-flops and toiletries to save every Kobo available towards revamping the crippling economy.

Quite ironically, many of these politicians, from the federal to the state level, who are asking for wardrobe allowances and other ridiculous and indecent perks of office through the connivance of a feckless Revenue Mobilization Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) can conveniently feed a whole community. Yet, their inherent gluttony has beclouded them against propriety.
So, Asiwaju, the Nigerian apostle of common sense, should brace up for the task ahead. He and his Generals behind the timely Common Sense Revolution shouldn’t be too complacent and presume that the popular revolt that ushered in the Buhari-Osinbajo-led government was just against the PDP that largely took the stick in his book as the only cankerworm that was eating up the society. Rather, it was an audacious move against all the greedy elites (across every political party in Nigeria) who place their personal interest above the interest of the nation.

Moreover, basic knowledge has hinted, and as equally corroborated by Tinubu in that citizen-focused literary endeavour, that fierce provocation and confrontation from the people await any politician and government practice that tend to subvert the yearnings of the people in this new Nigeria.

Fatodu, a United Kingdom-based journalist is a media entrepreneur and publisher of Check-Out magazine
http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/tasking-tinubu-s-common-sense/213120/

Hahahahaha; somebody just said something to Nobody and everyone keeps watching...loll

The President has presented his handover notes to the President-elect.

Both men, Goodluck Jonathan and Muhammadu Buhari are perhaps meeting for the last time before the handover.

The presentation was done inside the Council Chambers of the Presidential Villa, Abuja shortly after President Jonathan conducted Buhari round the Presidential Villa.

Jonathan also presented an executive summary of his handover notes and a copy of the National Conference report to the President-elect, Muhammadu Buhari.

Mr. Buhari says the telephone call by President Jonathan changed the course of Nigeria’s political history and by that Jonathan has stabilised the system of multi party democracy.

Buhari spoke after a familiarisation tour of the presidential villa and the acceptance of the hand over notes.
According to Buhari, if President Jonathan had attempted to make things difficult, that would have been at the expense of lives of poor Nigerians.

In the same vein, Vice President Namadi Sambo took the incoming Vice President Prof. Yemi Osinbajo round the Vice Presidential office also to show him.

After the tour, every one converged on the Council Chambers, also present are Ministers in the Jonathan Administration and some other APC chieftains and officials that came with the President and Vice President elect.

President Jonathan from a fifteen page speech reeled out what his administration has done, and what they were to do and what he would want the Buhari Administration to implement.
http://poligist.com/president-jonathan-presents-handover-note-to-buhari/

The Special Adviser to President Jonathan on Niger Delta and Chairman of the Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP), Mr. Kingsley Kuku, bid farewell to ex-agitators and other beneficiaries of the Amnesty programme while pledging to continue on peace advocacy as he rounds up his national assignment with the expiration of Jonathan’s Presidency.

The Ijaw leader and former state legislator in Ondo State gave comprehensive accounts of his challenges, successes and legacies as the head of PAP at a valedictory press conference in Abuja on Wednesday.

He said he will be living the office as a fulfilled man having delivered excellently on the mandate of the Amnesty scheme and secured the the mainstay of Nigeria’s economy – oil – through the relative peace in the Niger-Delta areas which was made possible by the management of the Amnesty programme.

Meanwhile, contrary to speculation that he was unwilling to work with the incoming government after the defeat suffered by his boss, Kuku has given assurance that he will continue on peace advocacy and will offer necessary assistance to his successor.

He said, “I will continue to offer my expertise and give useful contacts to my successor and the incoming government in ensuring sustainable peace and development in Nigeria particularly in the Niger-Delta region

“I will not cease to advocate for peace in my personal capacity and inspire a generation of peace advocates in order to keep our dear country, Nigeria, as one”, he said.
http://poligist.com/kuku-bids-farewell-pledges-to-continue-on-peace-advocacy/

The Special Adviser to President Jonathan on Niger Delta and Chairman of the Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP), Mr. Kingsley Kuku, bid farewell to ex-agitators and other beneficiaries of the Amnesty programme while pledging to continue on peace advocacy as he rounds up his national assignment with the expiration of Jonathan’s Presidency.

The Ijaw leader and former state legislator in Ondo State gave comprehensive accounts of his challenges, successes and legacies as the head of PAP at a valedictory press conference in Abuja on Wednesday.

He said he will be living the office as a fulfilled man having delivered excellently on the mandate of the Amnesty scheme and secured the the mainstay of Nigeria’s economy – oil – through the relative peace in the Niger-Delta areas which was made possible by the management of the Amnesty programme.

Meanwhile, contrary to speculation that he was unwilling to work with the incoming government after the defeat suffered by his boss, Kuku has given assurance that he will continue on peace advocacy and will offer necessary assistance to his successor.

He said, “I will continue to offer my expertise and give useful contacts to my successor and the incoming government in ensuring sustainable peace and development in Nigeria particularly in the Niger-Delta region

“I will not cease to advocate for peace in my personal capacity and inspire a generation of peace advocates in order to keep our dear country, Nigeria, as one”, he said.
http://poligist.com/kuku-bids-farewell-pledges-to-continue-on-peace-advocacy/

It is a common saying in Africa, particularly amongst Africans of Nigerian extraction, that whoever deems it fit to appreciate an act of kindness or opportunity accorded them shall have the benefit of enjoying greater opportunities in the future. No one can really tell if there will be an opportunity bigger than what President Jonathan has so far given some individuals after leaving the highest position in Nigeria in May 29th, but one of his top aides still thought it was worth appreciating what the President has done in his life without looking in the direction of any future gains.

The special adviser to President Goodluck Jonathan on Niger-Delta Affairs and Chairman Presidential Amnesty Programme, Hon. Kingsley Kuku recently paid a massive debt of gratitude by dedicating an award received in the US to his boss.

In a thrilling, highly emotional and articulate speech delivered, without reading from a note, at the Georgia Legislative Black Caucus Commendation & Award ceremony, 2015, the Ondo State-born Ijaw leader got the audience spell-bound through anecdotes that captured his journey of life from relative obscurity to a position of national and international recognition and limelight.

He stated that his tale of national and global relevance cannot be told without starting from a man who was born into abject poverty but rose to become the President of Nigeria – President Jonathan.

Kuku said it was the same man that spotted the streak of leadership and excellence in him and offered him an opportunity to harness it through his appointment as one of the President’s top aides and head of the Presidential Amnesty Programmes.

Hon. Kingsley Kuku was selected as a recipient of Georgia Legislative Black Caucus Commendation; and awarded the Honorary Citizenship of the State of Georgia in Atlanta , Georgia.

According to the US Black Caucus, the youthful Nigerian leader and politician was recognised on the premise of his sterling leadership qualities, excellent performance in public office and development of workable model to sustaining peace.

He said, “This very distinguished award actually belongs to one man who was born into abject poverty but rose through humility, dedication, focus and trust in God to become the President of Nigeria

“President Goodluck Jonathan identified in him a mark of leadership and excellence, and accorded me an opportunity to unravel, nurture and deploy my talents creditably to the service and advancement of Nigeria”, Kuku said.

“He truly deserves this honour, so I hereby dedicate this award to my boss, President Goodluck Jonathan – a selfless leader and gentleman who always puts the interest of the nation ahead in all endeavours”, Kuku Stated.

Kuku’s unexpected excellent rendition and unequivocal expression of gratitude to President Jonathan attracted commendations and exaltations from all the participants at the occasion who also gave him standing ovation for his (Kuku’s ) honourable gesture.

Hosted in the heart of the famed City of Atlanta, Georgia in the United States of America, the Georgia Legislative Black Caucus Commendation & Award ceremony of 2015 is perhaps the best gathering of the global influencers, politicians, policymakers, development experts and particularly the leading advocates of the advancement of black race across the world.

The Honorary Citizenship of Georgia award was presented to Hon. Kuku by the Chair, Georgia Legislative Black Caucus, Rep. Dee Dawkins-Haigler, who was supported by a foremost civil rights activist, Amb. Joe Beasley and Senator Steen Miles.

Also present at the important occasion were top government officials and Nigerian legislators from across political divide such the Minister for Culture & Tourism, Edem Duke, Vice Chairman Senate Committee on Niger-Delta Affairs, Mallam Nurudeen Abatemi Usman and a notable member of the House of Representaives, Hon. Jumoke Okoya-Thomas of the opposition party to member a few. The attendance also included friends and associates of Hon. Kuku.

With the trappings and colourful appearances reminiscence of the meetings of the historic American civil rights movements and leaders , the famous Peachtree Street in downtown Atlanta brought back the steps that culminated in the liberation of the American blacks against segregation.

And the event also signified progress in the efforts of the African-Americans in keeping extensive touch and tab with the happenings in the Motherland Land – Africa, and particularly in a strategic part of the Land, Nigeria towards creating a better future for the black race the world over.

http://poligist.com/commendations-as-kuku-dedicates-us-award-to-jonathan/