FBN Holdings Nigeria oldest bank has appointed three new directors for the HoldCo and two more for the Bank marking the beginning of billionaire investor, Femi Otedola’s, tenure as chairman of the holding company.

The directors appointed by the bank all have intimidating resume’s suggesting a new direction for one of Nigeria’s largest financial institution.

• The holding company announced the appointment of Mr. Olusola Adeeyo, and Mr. Viswanathan Shankar as Non-Executive Directors of FBN Holdings Plc respectively.
• The bank (a subsidiary of the HoldCo) also appointed Mrs. Remilekun Adetola Odunlami as Non-Executive Director and Mr. Anil Dua and Mrs Fatima Ibrahim Ali as Independent Non-Executive Directors of FirstBank .

All the appointments are subject to the approval of Central Bank of Nigeria and the shareholders at the next Annual General Meeting of the Company.

Recommended reading: Femi Otedola appointed as new chairman of FBN Holdings

Profile of the elite directors

Until February 2023, Mr. Adeeyo was the Chairman, AXA Mansard Insurance Plc and had previously served on the board of other reputable companies Including, Central Securities and Clearing Company Plc and Viathan Engineering Limited, among others.

• Mr. Adeeyo’s banking career started at the Corporate Banking Department of the Nigerian International Bank (Citibank) and was later moved to the reconstituted Treasury and Foreign Exchange Unlt of the same bank where he had a remarkable stint.
• He capped his banking career as part of the founding management team/owner group that built and nurtured Investment Banking & Trust Company Limited (IBTC), now Stanbic IBTC Bank Pic, as Director/Group Head, Treasury, and he was credited with significant contributions in formulating and Implementing the strategic direction of the bank.

Viswanathan Shankar, a vastly experienced personality is  Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Gateway Partners, a private equity and alternative investments manager focused on investing in the dynamic growth markets of Africa, Asia and the Middle East.

• He previously served as CEO – Europe, Middle East, Africa and Americas, and member of the global board of Standard Chartered Plc.
• Prior to that, he served as Head of Investment Banking for the Asia Pacific at Bank of America. Mr. Shankar is currently a Non-Executive Director on the board of the following companies; Dangote Industries Limited, Nigeria; Vision Blue Resources, Guernsey; Gateway Real Estate Africa, Mauritius; and, Fund for Export Development in AfrIca, Egypt.
• Hls past appointments in Non-Executive roles include the boards of the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore; Enterprise Singapore; Majid Al Futtaim Holdings, and Vice-Chair of the Future of Banking Global Agenda Council of the World Economic Forum.

Remi Odunlami has served In various management and board leadership positions such as the Director/Country Risk Manager in CitiBank Nigeria Limited where she managed the credit portfolio and enterprise risk management processes within the bank, and she was the first female in Citibank across Africa to serve as an Independent Risk Senior Credit Officer.

• She also served as the Executive Director, Chief Risk Officer in FirstBank, managing a credit portfolio in excess of N1.5 trillion, and simultaneously, as a Non-Executive Director across other FirstBank affiliated entities and subsidiary such as FirstBank UK, FBN Capital and Kakawa Discount House.
• She currently sits on the Board of Access Pensions Limited as an Independent Non-Executive Director and on the Board of Rand Merchant Bank Limited as a Non-Executive Director.
• She Is a fellow of the Chartered Association of Certified Accountants (FCCA), honorary member of the Chartered Institute of Bankers in Nigeria (CIBN), and member of the Institute of Directors (loD).

Mr. Anil Dua has sat on the boards of Standard Chartered Bank Limited in Ghana, Nigeria, Cameroon, and Cote D’Ivoire.

• He also served on the Board of Dangote GSP Offshore FZE, Seychelles International Mercantile Banking Corporation, Heirs Holdings Oil and Gas Limited, Matador Investment Management Limited and Africa Property Development Managers.
• Anil currently sits on the Board of major institutions Including, African Export-Import Bank (Egypt), Network International Plc (United Kingdom), Geregu Power Plc (Nigeria), Gateway Holdings Limited and its several other operating partners.

Mrs Fatima Ibrahim All founded Santi Food and Beverage Limited In 2015, drove the company’s strategic direction and orchestrated business development efforts that yielded over 300% growth in consumer retail and supply channels within the first five years of establishment.

• Prior to that, she co-founded Adcity Limited, establishing strategic partnerships and spearheading operational processes that expanded the business footprint across multiple regions.
• She also co-founded magnet Limited where she brought to bear her skill in policy formulation to set standards for the company’s operations thus delivering strong performance in the financials.
• She currently sits on the Board of Reconnect Health Development Initiative International, a mental health charity organisation and she also partners with other government and non-government organisations to champion the course of education for less privileged children across Nigeria.

Otedola’s influence

FBN Holdings Plc announced the appointment of Mr. Olufemi Otedola as its new Chairman of the Board of Directors in January succeeding Alhaji Ahmad Abudullahi.

His appointment as sets off a new chapter in the 130 year history of the bank.

• Collectively, these appointments suggest that FBN Holdings is moving towards a governance model that values diverse, cross-sectoral experience.
• The caliber of these professionals points to a strategic thrust for better oversight, risk management, and corporate governance, aiming to enhance the bank’s operational resilience and strategic agility.
• This new era at FBN Holdings, steered by Mr. Otedola and supported by the expertise of the appointed directors, seems set to foster an environment of prudent management and strategic growth, bolstering the bank’s standing in the Nigerian and international banking sectors.

FBN Holding Share Price closed at N39.6/share 10% shy of its year high of N43.95/share. The stock is up 68% YTD and one of the best performing banking stocks.

[Nairametrics]

President Bola Tinubu has banned public funded international trips for ministers, officials and heads of agencies.

Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila, conveyed the directive in a letter to the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, George Akume.

Tinubu said exemptions would need presidential approvals which must be sought two weeks ahead of the planned trip.

The letter read in part, “Mr. President has concerns about the rising cost of travel expenses borne by Ministries, Department and Agencies of Government as well as the growing need for Cabinet Members and heads of MDAs to focus on their respective mandates for effective service delivery.

“Considering the current economic challenges and the need for responsible fiscal management, I am writing to communicate Mr President’s directive to place a temporary ban on all public funded international trips for all Federal Government officials at all levels, for an initial period of three (3) months from Is April 2024.

“This temporary measure is aimed at cost reduction in governance and intended as a cost-saving measure without compromising government functions.

“All government officials who intend to go on any public funded international trips must seek and obtain Presidential approval at least two (2) weeks prior to embarking on any such trip, which must be deemed absolutely necessary.”

The development comes after a recent overseas trip by the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation (OAGF) sparked reactions.

The OAGF held a workshop on Public Financial Management and International Public Sector Accounting Standards in London, UK.

It held at Copthorne Tara Hotel, Kensington London, between March 4 and March 9, 2024.

The workshop, titled “Public Financial Management and IPSAS,” brought together state commissioners of finance and officials from the OAGF.

Nigerians had expressed reservation over the workshop at a time the country is battling forex crisis.

[DailyTrust]

The National Assembly, on Wednesday, passed the Students Loans (Access to Higher Education) Act (Repeal and Re-Enactment) Bill, 2024. This comes after separate considerations by both the Senate and the House of Representatives of the report of the Committee on Tertiary Institutions and TETFund

DAILY POST recalls that less than one year after President Bola Tinubu signed the Students Loan Bill into law, the legislation was returned to the National Assembly for a complete overhaul.

For eight months, President Tinubu, who campaigned on providing loans to students, struggled to implement the law with several missed deadlines.

The president faced criticism over the several missed deadlines for the implementation of the policy.

However, Mr Tinubu on Thursday forwarded a bill to the National Assembly seeking a repeal and re-enactment of the bill.

According to the president, some of the provisions of the law made it difficult to kickstart the project. He, therefore, urged lawmakers to do a complete overhaul of the legislation.

“The bill seeks to address the challenges relating to the management structure of the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELF), applicant eligibility requirements, loan purpose, funding sources and disbursement and repayment procedures,” the president said in a letter addressed to the National Assembly.

In this report, DAILY POST reviews some of the changes President Tinubu is proposing in the law.

Inclusion of all students

One of the major issues the proposed amendment seeks to cure is the exclusion of some of the group of students because of the wording of the law.

The existing Act provides that the loan is for payment of tuition fees and nothing more. President Tinubu, in the letter, said such provision would prevent federal university students from accessing the loan because they don’t pay tuition.

Under the current legislation, students can only apply for loans to pay tuition fees. Federal tertiary institutions don’t charge tuition fees. However, students must pay other institutional charges.

Also, under the current Act, students would not be able to apply to the Fund for loans to cover those other institutional charges or their other upkeep costs, thus defeating the purpose of the loan, which is to ease access to tertiary education for young Nigerians.

The proposed bill says the fund can “provide loans to qualified Nigerians for tuition, fees, charges, and upkeep during their studies in approved tertiary education institutions and vocational and skills acquisition institutions in Nigeria.”

Transfer of operational powers from the CBN governor

In the current Act, the CBN Governor has the responsibility of administering the fund. The administration of the Fund is vested in a Special Committee, with the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) as the Chairman. The Governor implements the committee’s executive decisions and appoints a Secretary to assist.

If the new bill is passed, the CBN governor will be stripped of the implementation of the fund. The implementation will now be handled by the Managing Director of the Fund.

Mr Tinubu said in his letter: “The Act imposes on the Governor of the CBN management and executive responsibilities outside the core mandate of the CBN, which should be the Governor’s focus.”

Removing Guarantors

The bill by the President is also seeking to remove some of the conditions to qualify students for the loan.

For instance, for any student to qualify for the loan, he must provide two guarantors who shall be a civil servant of level 12 and above, a lawyer with ten years post-call experience, a judicial officer, or a justice of the peace

Also, the current Act allows only applicants with a combined family income of less than N500,000 per annum to apply. Under this provision, the child of a person who earns N45,000 a month is disqualified from applying for this loan.

Children of loan defaulters banned from accessing loan

In addition, the Act contains a provision that bans the children of defaulters from accessing loans.

In the proposed Act, student applicants can no longer be disqualified based on their parent’s loan history.

Payment to commence two years after work

The Act criminalises failure to repay loans obtained from the Fund without consideration for circumstances, including unemployment, death, or disability, that may affect an individual’s ability to pay.

It merely provides that “The Fund shall not initiate loan recovery efforts until two years after the completion of the National Youth Service programme.”

In the letter, the president said beneficiaries of the Fund shall begin repayment as soon as they are employed in any capacity.

Loan forgiveness on event of death

In the proposed bill, the loan ends with the death of a beneficiary.

The president said the bill “makes provision for loan forgiveness in the event of death or acts of God causing inability to repay.”

“A beneficiary may request an extension of enforcement action by the Fund by providing a sworn affidavit indicating that he is not employed in any capacity and is not receiving any income.

“Only a person who provides a false statement to the Fund under this section is guilty of a felony and is liable to imprisonment for three years.”

[DailyPost]

The initial lull in the activities of terrorists, bandits and militants visiting pain and death on Nigerians was probably to test if President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s approach would be different from those of his predecessors. Sadly, the nightmare of haunted Nigerians has returned and now in full swing. Over 280 schoolchildren and some teachers abducted from Kuriga, Chikun Local Government Area of Kaduna State, by bandits on Thursday, March 7, are currently marooned in the forest with their captors.   A fresh attack on the same Dogon-Noma community, Kajuru Local Government Area in the early hours of Saturday, barely three days after left one dead and eight women kidnapped.  A renewed attack on Sunday resulted in the harvesting of an additional 87 captives.

The nation’s nightmare continued with Sunday’s mindless killing of 17 gallant soldiers of the 181 Amphibious Battalion, Bomadi Local Government Area of Delta State by irate youths while on a peace mission to Okuoma community over land dispute.

 Once again, as tragic as the above incidents are, the two different events are mere symptoms of our unresolved national question. We cannot continue to do the same thing over and over and expect different result. A people that refuse to learn from history will be punished by history. Our leaders enjoy playing the ostrich instead of helping us to confront our own demons.

For instance, where will bandits get ungoverned forest to hide 285 children in a strong northwest region, with state police, community police and forest guards heavily armed to secure communities and their forests? And what will be the business of highly trained military personnel with local land dispute in a Bomadi LGA, not created and funded from Abuja but created, funded and run by the natives?

President Tinubu however must take full responsibility for the continued nightmare of Nigerians. The buck stops at his table. He asked for the job and had 20 years to prepare for it. Kuriga was preventable because the president was familiar with the April 14, 2014 abduction of 214 Chibok schoolgirls and fruitless search by Babagana Monguno’s (the National Security Adviser (NSA) 100 jet fighters. President Tinubu could not have suddenly forgotten that the February 19, 2018 carting away of 110 students of Government Girls’ Science Technical College (GGSTC), Dapchi, in 11 trucks by suspected Boko Haram terrorists in military fatigues was blamed by the international community on absence of governance.

President Tinubu understands the nature of our crisis of nation-building and the solutions canvassed by Nigerian stakeholders since 1970. Some two months back, Wole Soyinka, regarded as the conscience of the nation, was with him in Abuja to remind him of the imperative of restructuring.  Just last week, Akinwunmi Adesina, an internationally acknowledged Nigerian star during his presentation of the Awo Foundation lecture, spoke of the possibility of “a united states of Nigeria”. And just this last Monday, Emeka Anyaoku, another recognized Nigerian star who spoke at the gathering of ‘The Patriot’, a group initiated by late Professor Ben Nwabueze and Rotimi Williams both of whom regretted foisting a unitary constitution on the country in 1979, where he reminded us that like most multi-ethnic societies, the federal option is the only way of liberating individual and groups from the tyranny of the state.

The implication of this is that if the police as a vital state institution is defined by society, we don’t in the real sense of it have federal police but police that wear the colours of ethnic nationalities. And this is why the police is not answerable to the state but to ethnic groups, powerful individuals and the highest bidder including criminals. We could not have suddenly forgotten how President Buhari’s IGP Ibrahim Idris told Nigerians that terrorists who killed, maimed and confiscated the community land of victim condemned to IDP camps were ghosts.

A structure that sustains an IGP’s arrogance in selectively determining which states laws to implement cannot effectively address states’ security challenges.  This is why it has been tales after tales from one IGP to the other even as killings by terrorists and kidnapping by bandits continue in many of the states.

President Tinubu understands where the rain started to beat us and has not got the luxury of playing the ostrich.

Our founding fathers bequeathed onto us a working federal constitution. Military adventurers in search of a vision of better society they were ill-equipped to understand starting with Aguiyi Ironsi came up with the 1966 Unification Decree 34.

Eleven of Gowon military messiahs were found to be men with feet of clay. Murtala Muhammed destroyed academia and bureaucracy, the two institutions without which society decays.

Fast forward to the Babangida regime in 1985. While he was busy turning the nation to net importer of labour of other societies by ceding the commanding heights of the economy to mostly dubious and ill-equipped members of the governing elite interested only in asset stripping, he was christened “Prince of the Lower Niger’’ by grovelling intellectuals and received the National Economic Society of Nigeria’s (NES) highest honour for his handling of the economy.

 Obasanjo started massive centralization of states institutions. As an elected president, he sold our patrimony in the name of privatization. And without understanding that no modern state has ever developed since the 18th century without the central role of political parties, he destroyed PDP, AD and ANPP in the name of “mainstreaming”. Out of office, perhaps as an admission of failure, he in 2018 inaugurated a short-lived movement he claimed “will mobilise our population for unity, cooperation, development, rule of law, employment, law and order, justice, integration, peace, security, stability, welfare and well-being”.

If only on account of the humongous amount stolen under President Goodluck Jonathan’s watch, those who claimed he was the answer to the national question served none but themselves.

We have seen how Muhammadu Buhari frittered away goodwill of Nigerians for eight years while being held hostage by terrorists visiting death on Nigerians.

Well prepared Tinubu, unlike his ill-prepared predecessors who instead of learning how other multi-ethnic societies face their own demons played the ostrich while self-serving members of the governing elite demonstrated their lack of faith in the country by stealing the country blind, has an edge.  From his experience from the trenches and strategic studies, he understands very clearly that lack of faith in one’s country arises from social discontent, marginalisation, injustice and denial of quest for self-actualisation, all of which find expression in social strife, sabotage of economic activities, rebellion, militancy and sometimes civil war.

Our nation has experienced these manifestations since the military misadventure into politics in 1966. If his predecessors did everything except addressing the causes of these malcontents, President Tinubu has his work cut out for him.

Settlement boosts economic confidence

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has cleared all $7 billion foreign exchange (forex) backlog inherited by Governor Yemi Cardoso.

In a statement yesterday, Acting Director of Corporate Communications, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mrs. Hakama Sidi Ali, confirmed the settlement of all valid forex backlog claims.

She explained that the CBN had employed Deloitte Consulting, an independent auditing firm, to meticulously assess the transactions, ensuring that only legitimate claims were honoured. 

“Any invalid transactions were referred to the relevant authorities for further investigation,” Sidi Ali said.

Governor Cardoso had emphasised the importance of clearing the backlog to restore credibility in the Nigerian economy. 

He stated that, “we made clearing the forex backlog a priority to restore credibility and confidence in the Nigerian economy.”

Cardoso further highlighted the completion of a “credible process” to verify the authenticity of these obligations and expressed his satisfaction in clearing all “genuine, verifiable transactions.”

He underscored the significance of resolving this issue, stating, “This encumbrance to market confidence in the country’s ability to meet its obligations is now totally behind us.”

The CBN’s commitment to tackling the forex backlog appeared to be paying off.  External reserves have seen a significant rise. The Nation had reported the reserves rose to its highest point in nine moinths last weekened. This increase was attributed to a notable rise in remittance payments from Nigerians abroad and increased foreign investment in local assets, including government debt securities.

The CBN’s actions are part of a broader strategy outlined during the last Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting. 

This strategy aims to stabilise the exchange rate by maintaining a stable exchange rate that helps to curb imported inflation and fosters a more predictable economic environment.

Sidi Ali said clearing the backlog demonstrates the CBN’s commitment to transparency and accountability, potentially enhancing confidence in the financial sector.

Analysts said increased foreign exchange reserves and improved liquidity in the forex market can contribute to economic growth by facilitating international trade and investment.

They noted that Cardoso’s efforts to address the forex backlog and manage foreign reserves strategically demonstrate the CBN’s focus on fostering a more stable and investor-friendly Nigerian economy.

[TheNation]

Much of the conversations regarding the sad and unwarranted attack on the men of the Nigerian Army in Okuama community of Ughelli South Local Government Area of Delta State have bordered around reprisal. Everyone seems concerned that the dead soldiers’ colleagues will go on a rampage. Several media reports that members of the Okuama community have reportedly gone into hiding, either fleeing into the bush or seeking refuge from neighbouring communities. Some reports keep recirculating one single photo that purportedly shows Okuama being razed by wrathful soldiers. The preoccupation with retaliation is understandable, given Nigeria’s history.

We all remember a similar incident in Odi community in Bayelsa State, in the same restive Niger Delta region, where a gang killed soldiers (and police officers) over issues of oil resources within their environment, the devastation it has caused, and the general degradation of their relationship with the Nigerian state. Nobody can forget the military response to that incident. From sexual assault to mass murder, Nigerian troops dealt with Odi. Two years after that incident, the military also invaded Zaki-Biam communities in Benue State after some members of their community abducted and murdered 19 soldiers. Several reports estimated that no less than 100 people were killed to avenge the death of their officers. Another unforgettable incident involving the Nigerian troops is the 2015 massacre of the Shiites. While not exactly a reprisal, the Shiites had reportedly stood in the path of the motorcade of then Chief of Army Staff Tukur Buratai. At least 350 of them—going by official figures—were killed for it.

I am bringing up these sundry histories not to relativise what happened to the soldiers in Okuama but to point out how the brutality of the Nigerian troops has overshadowed the humanity of their fallen soldiers. We have focused so much on what the troops will do to get even and redacted the supreme sacrifice of these soldiers’ lives in the process. The people who died are humans too and they left loved ones behind. Elsewhere, the focus would have been on the lives they led, not on the ferocity of their unforgiving peers. Their humanity must not be lost in our sight even as we get jittery about possible retaliatory attacks.

What is also being obscured in the discussions around the recent attack is that the Okuama killing is one of the many that have consumed Nigerian soldiers since the country started warring with—and within—itself. There are many—and God knows, too many! —reports of Nigerian officers getting killed within the warfront called Nigeria every time. Those casualty rates might not be worse if they fight an enemy nation outside the country’s borders. The frequency with which these Nigerian soldiers get ambushed calls into question everything from the larger structural problems of Nigeria’s insecurity to the training and intelligence reports these soldiers received, down to the character of the people within communities where these attacks are perpetuated.

For instance, at least 50 Nigerian soldiers were reported killed in an ambush in Gorgi, Yobe State, in March 2020. Before then, in 2018, there was another one in Zari village in Borno that claimed the lives of 48 soldiers. Also, 34 soldiers (and eight policemen) were also reported killed in June 2022 after being ambushed by gunmen who had attacked a mine in the Shiroro area of Niger State. The soldiers had been deployed to search for mine workers—including four Chinese—who had been reported kidnapped. Like the Okuama case, the soldiers were also responding to a distress call when they were surrounded and brutally murdered. One year later, in the same Shiroro area, another 36 soldiers were reported killed in twin attacks. Just last August, another 36 were killed in Chukuba, Niger State.

Look, I could go on and on cataloguing the series of ambushes Nigerian troops have faced in the course of their duty to the nation, but it is starting to get too morbid. Please also note that I have deliberately excluded the many occasions where soldiers got killed as a result of direct attacks by bandits and terrorists. The ones I listed here are those reported as an “ambush,” and they mimic the Okuama killings (that is, troops attacked and killed while responding to distress calls or on a supposed peacekeeping mission).

There are some vital factors to note about the frequency of the ambushes. One is that the fear of reprisal has not stopped the attacks on Nigerian troops. Whoever was behind the Okuama killings knew very well what the military could do to them or their communities in return, but even that was no deterrence. They still went ahead and killed those poor officers gruesomely. That suggests that, in reality, the reputation of the military as ruthless when provoked does not have the force people tend to associate with it when the thought of reprisal looms in their imagination.

That was why it was in poor form for the president, Bola Tinubu, to give the military “full authority” (whatever that was supposed to mean in practice) to bring those behind the killings to justice. As a supposedly democratic president, he should know better than put the “full authority” to ensure justice in the hands of the military when he knows there is still something in Nigeria called “the police” and “the courts.” The military was not set up to do justice; why apportion the responsibility to them? Given their history of retaliation against offending communities, why send them to go do “full justice”? He might as well just sign an execution order against the poor people of Okuama!

Our focus on Okuama and its aftermath should also not occlude the circumstances that led to the death of the poor soldiers. Several of the conflicting accounts explaining why the soldiers went to Okuama seemed like people trying too hard to alleviate the moral impact of the murder. Nothing justifies murder, simple. That said, the government owes us some clarity on what happened in Okuama. How did the soldiers die? What weapons or training did their assailants have that they could overpower so many trained officers? What pre-existing relationship did they have with their killers that precipitated the attacks on the soldiers?

In a press release by lawmaker Rt. Hon. Francis Waive representing Ughelli North, Ughelli South, and Udu Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives, he noted the population of Okuama as “only a few hundred inhabitants” and wondered how a few people would inflict such damage. Like him, I am also curious to understand how the attack happened—the people involved, whether they had external help, and how they even mustered the confidence to stand up to armed soldiers. How did it happen that soldiers on a supposed peacekeeping mission ended up dead? There are many missing details that the military and the people of Okuama owe us, and the focus on reprisal is not helping the story to get clearer.

The Federal High Court in Abuja, on Wednesday, declined to halt the impeachment proceedings activated by the Edo State House of Assembly against the Deputy Governor, Philip Shaibu.

Justice James Omotosho declined an oral application by Shaibu’s lawyer, Prof. Olawoyin Awoyale, (SAN), asking the court to order parties in the suit marked  FHC/ABJ/CS/321/2024, to maintain the status quo.

In declining the prayer, the judge noted that “The Governor of Edo State and the Edo State House of Assembly, who are the principal actors in the matter,  have not been served with the Originating Summons of the suit as required by law.’’

He subsequently granted Shaibu’s prayer to serve the court papers on Obaseki and the state House of Assembly by substituted means.

Justice Omotoso ordered that the court process be pasted at the entrance gate of the Edo State Government House and the gate of the state House of Assembly Complex in Benin.

The Judge also directed that all court papers be served on parties in the matter with the use of a registered courier company.

Justice Omotoso adjourned further proceedings till April 15.

The Edo State  House of Assembly had on March 5, 2024, commenced impeachment proceedings against Shaibu over allegations of leaking of government’s secrets.

On Tuesday, the Assembly wrote to the Chief Judge of the state to constitute a seven-man panel to probe the allegations against Shaibu.

To stop the impeachment Shaibu filed the suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/321/2024 before Justice Omotoso.

He is praying for an order restraining the defendants from proceeding with his impeachment.

However, for the second time on Wednesday, the judge refused to grant Shaibu a temporary relief to halt the impeachment move.

The judge had earlier in a ruling on March 13 turned down Shaibu’s ex parte application seeking an interim order to halt the proceedings pending the final determination of the suit.

“The motion ex parte for interim injunction dated and filed 8th day of March 2024 is hereby refused,” the judge held.

He adjourned till Wednesday for hearing in another motion ex parte brought by Shaibu seeking substituted service on the defendants due to his inability to serve them.

The impeachment move is believed to be the latest development in the rift between Shaibu and his principal, Governor Godwin Obaseki. There had been an uneasy calm between the deputy governor and his principal since last year when Shaibu declared his interest to join this year’s Edo governorship race.

[Punch]

A bill proposing a new structure of salaries and allowances for judicial officers in the country has passed the third reading at the House of Representatives.

President Bola Tinubu forwarded a letter along with the executive bill to the House of Representatives on Tuesday, urging swift passage of the proposed legislation.

In the letter, the president said the bill seeks to end the “prolonged stagnation” of the remuneration of judicial officers.

“The judicial office holders salaries and allowances bill seeks to prescribe salaries and allowances and fringe benefits for judicial officials to end the prolonged stagnation in their remuneration and to reflect contemporary socio-economic realities.”

Yesterday, the lower legislative chamber passed the bill after the third reading.

In the breakdown of the bill seen by TheCable, the Chief Justice of Nigeria, CJN, will receive a monthly salary of N5.4 million, amounting to N64.8 million per annum.

The breakdown of the remuneration shows that the CJN will receive a monthly basic salary of N1.1 million and N4.3 million in regular allowances.

The annual pay includes various components such as personal assistant allowance of N3.6 million, hardship allowance of N6.7 million, entertainment allowance of N6 million, utility allowance of N4 million, outfit allowance of N3.3 million, journal subscription allowance of N2 million, medical allowance of N5.3 million, long service allowance of N1.3 million, restricted or forced lifestyle allowance of N6.7 million, dual responsibility allowance of N2.9 million, and legal researchers’ allowance of N6.9 million.

The bill also proposes N61.4 million annually for justices of the Supreme Court.

[Vanguard]

Come Wednesday, I will be in Asaba, Delta State as one of the faculties at the Nigerian Army Quarterly Media dialogue. With the theme, ‘The imperatives of military-media partnership for the attainment of national security’, it is part of their efforts to secure the buy-in of critical stakeholders as they tackle the challenge of insecurity in Nigeria. Incidentally, 12 years ago in the same Asaba, I was one of the speakers at the Chief of Army Staff Annual Conference under Lt General Azubuike Ihejirika (rtd). Unfortunately, the mood will be different this time considering what happened last Thursday when some criminal gangs in Ughelli South Local Government ambushed troops of the 181 Amphibious Battalion after which the commanding officer, a Lt Colonel, two Majors, one Captain and 12 Soldiers were gruesomely murdered.

I join millions of Nigerians in commiserating with the families of the deceased and the Nigerian Army. As President Bola Tinubu rightly noted while granting full authority to the military high command to apprehend and bring to justice those responsible for the “unconscionable crime against the Nigerian people”, the unfortunate tragedy “demonstrates the dangers faced by our servicemen and women in the line of duty.” I also agree with the president that “As a nation, we must constantly remember and honour all those who have paid the ultimate price to keep our nation safe, strong, and united.”

From available reports, the CO and his troops did not die in a gun duel with the criminal gangs. They were ambushed and executed after which their bodies were cannibalised. No army in the world would allow such audacious barbarism against its officers and men to go unpunished. Meanwhile, I have read several posts either to excuse the bestiality as a ‘mistake’ because victims were taken for fake soldiers or provide justification on the pretext that the military had taken sides in the communal conflicts. For me, there is no defence for what happened. More worrisome is the recurrence of these killings of military troops by communal warlords in a nation where people who have lived together for centuries are now up in arms against one another.

Exactly three years ago (in March 2021 to be specific), a Captain and 11 soldiers were mowed down while trying to keep peace between the Bonta people of Konshisha local government and their neighbours, the Ukpute people of Oju local government in Benue State. As I explained at the time, both the Bontas (who are Tiv speaking) and the Ukputes (Igede speaking) are predominantly peasant farmers. The two groups have also cross settled in several villages along their boundary and even in some cases inter-married. Following a violent crisis at the time over the ownership of a parcel of land, troops were sent in to restore order only to run into an ambush orchestrated by one of the parties in the dispute. According to a statement by the army, not only were the soldiers brutally massacred, “the bandits proceeded to burn all the eleven soldiers and their officers beyond recognition while their weapons and ammunition were carted away.”

That the circumstances of the Delta killings bear similarities to what happened in Benue State three years ago is why the authorities must do more than perfunctory knee-jerk reactions. Between January 2018 and August 2022, according to a report by the National Boundary Commission, no fewer than 676 persons were killed in various communal land disputes across the country. In 2021, Patrick Okigbo’s ‘Nextier SPD’, a development research firm, also revealed that communal clashes accounted for 14 out of the 890 conflict incidents and 80 out of the 3,787 casualties that year. From north to the south, but mostly in the latter, many contiguous communities that have lived together for decades are at war over lands that are not put to any productive use. And it is the poor of our society, expendable ‘youths’ that do the fighting while those supplying the AK-47 and other deadly weapons are secure in the knowledge that they, and members of their immediate families, are far away from the theatres of war. And that nobody would ever try to fish them out for punishment.

In a January 2018 column, ‘When a Nation Becomes Funeral Home’, I used the chilling December 2023 report released by the United States-based Human Rights Watch, ‘Leave Everything to God: Accountability for Inter-Communal Violence in Plateau and Kaduna States, Nigeria’ to illustrate this point. In that report, authorities were indicted for “taking no meaningful steps to address underlying grievances” or bring to justice those responsible for “tit-for-tat killings” with victims targeted for extermination, “often in horrific circumstances”. What this has created is a serious national security challenge.

Ordinarily, restoring law and order is the primary responsibility of the Police. Not the Army. But in most communities across the country today, belligerents no longer fear the police. No incident perhaps demonstrated that better than what happened on 7th May 2013 in Nasarawa State. On that tragic day, 63 police officers and 10 state security service (SSS) operatives sent to restore law and order were gruesomely murdered. Today, in most theatres across the country, this recurring mayhem over land disputes is hardly ever quelled until military troops are drafted in. That is the genesis to the tragedy in Okuama.

However, even in this moment of anger and pain, the military should be methodical in their approach. Two things should happen. One, they need to investigate the circumstances under which the troops were in the area and get all the details as to what transpired. Two, they must fish out all the culprits and bring them to justice, however long it takes. In doing that, they should avoid anything that suggests applying collective punishment, especially on residents of Okuama community. On that score, those who trivialise the bestial killings by peddling dangerous narratives are not helping matters.

The most thoughtful intervention on this tragedy has been from elder statesman and leader of the Ijaw Nation, Edwin Clark, who knows the slain officers personally and admitted speaking to them on an unrelated issue shortly before their death. Describing what happened as “very shocking, very barbaric and wicked,” Clarke called for a collaboration between the military and the communities to fish out the culprits. “I was so sad when I heard that Lt Col. Ali was involved because on Thursday, 14 March (same day the troops were killed), I spoke to him about my younger brother, Col Bernard Clark (rtd), who died recently and was to be buried on (last) Friday,” said Clarke who defended the action of the military in the aftermath while at the same time appealing for restraint. “I had to contact him (the deceased CO). And he told me he was in a vehicle and that he would speak to me later, only to hear that he was among them. At that time, he was speaking to me from Agbor in Delta State.”

I am aware of the anger within the military and justifiably so too, given the barbaric manner the lives of their officers and men were terminated. But the application of Odi or Zaki Biam principle would be unhelpful in the circumstance. Both in international law and the laws of war, collective punishment is prohibited, based on the fact the actions of one or a few individuals should not attract punishment for innocent people. A cornerstone of justice systems worldwide, as one writer puts it, “is the presumption of innocence (while) collective punishment flips this principle on its head, presuming guilt by association.”

Let me make myself clear once again. The criminals who killed our soldiers deserve no sympathy. But I am also aware that those who committed such a heinous crime would have left the scene, knowing the gravity of their deed and what would follow. So, apprehending them (and their collaborators) would require intelligence gathering and painstaking efforts. Under an atmosphere of collective punishment that often reduces sense of remorse and heightens perceived grievances, the military will not get the requisite information they need. Besides, it could exacerbate the initial problem they were trying to solve, especially now that the two sides in the dispute are on the propaganda offensive in a bid to profit from the tragedy. The military should not fall for their tricks.

A Day at the Lekki Free Zone
During a recent encounter with Mr Haresh Vaswani, who I was meeting for the first time, a mutual friend said jocularly that he was sure I would have at least two of his (Aswani’s) company’s products in our house. I expressed my doubt. When the friend identified the company as Tolaram Group, a Singaporean family business to which I wasn’t familiar, I became even more curious. Until he mentioned Indomie Instant Noodles as one of their products. Indomie is without doubt one of the biggest brands not only of Noodles but also of any products in the country today.

Incidentally, Aswani, who chairs Tolaram Group in Africa has been in Nigeria for more than three decades and is also the Honorary Consul-General of Singapore in our country. As I would learn, Indomie is just one of the many premium household products either being manufactured by the Tolaram Group or in which they are the main distributor. Dano Milk, Colgate toothpaste, Power Oil, Hypo cleaner, Kellogg’s, Pringles, Coco Pops are some of the others. But what Aswani focused on that day is the Lagos Free Zone (LFZ), a project he described as Nigeria’s first privately owned free zone with a fully integrated deep-sea port, covering an area of 830 hectares. In Lagos a few weeks ago, I visited the LFZ. Fully equipped with world-class infrastructure, a single clearance window for ease of doing business, and integrated with the Lekki deep seaport spanning 90 hectares, I was dazed by what I saw.

Built in partnership with China Habouring Engineering Company (CHEC), the Lagos State Government and the Nigeria Port Authority (NPA), construction of the Lekki Port was commenced in 2012 when Babatunde Fashola was governor and is to date the single largest private infrastructure investment in the country. That such a significant investment of about $2.5 billion would be committed along the Lekki Corridor is an indication of the potential of that axis for the development of both Lagos and our country. The Lekki Corridor stretches from Victoria Island along the Peninsula to Epe with the Expressway serving as its primary artery. In my chat with the LFZ Managing Director, Dinesh Rathi who took me on a tour of completed facilities, what they are trying to create within the economic zone which entices businesses with tax breaks and simplified procedures, “is a ‘city within a city’ that integrates industries, residences, and commercial spaces, all functioning seamlessly together.”

The Lekki Corridor, as Rathi explained, is divided into four quadrants. The fourth quadrant is where the Lekki Deep Sea Port, Lagos Free Zone, Dangote Fertilizers & Refinery Complex are domiciled. “It is a dynamic region on the rise. It offers exciting opportunities for businesses and residents seeking a modern and vibrant environment,” said Rathi who reeled out the benefits of the Lekki Port equipped with modern facilities, including those not available in either Apapa or Tin Can Ports. For instance, the Lekki Port has five ship-to-shore (STS) cranes for loading and unloading intermodal containers from ships and 15 rubber tired gantry (RTG) cranes. Completed in April last year, the Lekki Port recently welcomed its first transshipment vessel and consistently receives an average of one vessel per week since its launch, according to Rathi.

I was also taken through the history of the Tolaram Group. Established in 1948, and structured as a holding company, it boasts a diverse portfolio spanning various sectors, including fintech ventures which, according to Rathi, “involves providing innovative solutions for financial services and transactions in emerging markets.” Additionally, their infrastructure and industrial projects contribute to building essential structures and industries that form the backbone of economic activity. Some of the facilities I saw include a modern fire station, an expansive truck park, the Colgate factory where I was taken through production processes, several warehouses, a medical facility, police station, residential tower, solid waste management centre, security command center, helipad and three banks. To ensure a reliable and cost-effective energy source for its tenants, as Rathi explained, the LFZ has secured a 20-year Gas Infrastructure Development Agreement (GIDA) that will connect it directly to the national gas transportation grid. To actualise this, a consortium already formed to develop the main pipeline and distribution network within the zone, ultimately delivering piped natural gas to each tenant. The agreement, I was told, also incorporates an LNG solution.

I left the LFZ feeling more optimistic about Nigeria and the prospects for economic growth with the right policies and incentives for investors, local and foreign. But on my way back to the Island, I spent several hours in traffic gridlock along the same Lekki-Epe highway. I can only imagine what would happen on that axis during the coming rainy season and the years to come. This is one of the issues that would have to be resolved by the Lagos State government for the dream of the Lekki Corridor, the LFZ and other big businesses along that axis to become a reality. The federal government can help resolve that if they expedite action on the Coastal Road that has been in the pipelines for years. But for the Tolaram Group, I believe they have taken a huge bet on Nigeria. I hope it pays off. Both in their interest and that of our country.